Adventures in Ottawa - Day 6

Went to the airport early in the morning to see my parents off. I’ll miss them =( then headed straight downtown to Sally’s. I noticed the traffic lights here are pretty slow. Had lunch then did a quick tour of downtown and got some groceries. Headed back to Sally’s where she prepared a delicious meal for us. Then off for a walk along the canal and other areas of downtown. There was a pride parade going on today and the party lasted all day. It’s 9:46 right now and I can still hear the music playing. It's been playing since noon. Who said Ottawa’s not a party town?

Day 6: grateful to have a friend in Ottawa.

Adventures in Ottawa - Day 5

A rainy, but relatively more relaxing day. Some some last minute shopping before returning the car. Reflected upon how I probably spent way too much money on this move over the past few days. Need to do up an excel later. Did laundry, made lunch, then more furniture building. I've become good friends with wrenches, screws and screwdrivers in the past few days. Then I further learnt the art of doing chores efficiently yet effectively. Didn’t get the chance to get it set up yet. Went to the hospital to see if I can get internet access but no luck. The lack of internet at home is starting to drive me crazy. Biggest problem now. Came home and it’s time to make dinner. Took way too long. I probably can’t afford to make such a comprehensive meal when school starts. Then some more furniture building and some major furniture moving then sat down to do that excel I was supposed to do.

Day 5: exhausted

Adventures in Ottawa - Day 4

Lots of things to do today and not much time, so first things first: went to the hospital campus to ask about problem #1 . Found out I need to go to the downtown campus to get some missing blood test done. But first, need to go to the bank and fixed problem #3. Did some more shopping then finally managed to get an Ottawa number and to ask about my texting problem. Hopefully problem #4 is fixed now. Then off to downtown to get the blood test done. More shopping. Finally found a bed-in-a-bag that I like. So excited!! And finally go a map! The GPS is such a deterrent to someone trying to learn an area. Dinner time. First home-made meal in Ottawa =) Built some more furniture, did some cleaning and furniture arrangement and voila, problem #2 is fixed! Some more unpacking before it's time to head to bed.

Day 4: good, but still feels like i'm in war where time is of the essence.

Adventures in Ottawa – Day 3

Didn’t get much sleep again last night due to the time difference and having been woken up thinking about whether I needed all the furniture I purchased yesterday. This led to thoughts about how this furniture should be arranged, which led to me planning out what needs to be done today. First stop: groceries and basic household goods – yay, I can do some cooking now. Spent at least an hour and a half in Loblaws. Forgot my recyclable grocery bags but at least we have a car =) Ate lunch, did some major cleaning and vacuuming. Then waited for the beds to come. They were late, so as soon as the beds came, we headed out. Found the library and finally got access to internet – but the connection was extremely slow and disconnected so didn’t get much done. Found out that there’s something missing from my immunization record – Problem #1. Off to Chinatown for dinner and we decided on some pretty Pho with some amazing fried bananas. Then off to Chinese grocery shopping in the only market In Ottawa’s “china street” – literally one street. Then off again to shop for a bed in a bag – no luck. Got home and assembled some furniture which has arrived. Realized that the furniture arrangement I planned this morning in my head looked a lot better in my head than in reality. Tried moving furniture around many times but still not satisfied – Problem #2. Suddenly, I realized there might be something wrong with my rent payment – Problem #3. Also found out that the texting function (my only way of communication with Vancouverites) on my cell hasn’t been working properly today – Problem #4. Right now I’m half looking forward and half dreading tomorrow where I hope to resolve most if not all of my problems. Last thoughts: The internet is a super useful invention - can’t wait to be reunited with you. I admit the planning of this move needs a lot more improvement :(. Feel overwhelmed. Please bear with me.

Day 3: day full of problems, detours, and regrets.

Adventures in Ottawa – Day 2

Didn’t get much sleep last night due to the cricket sounds outside my window. I’m sure I’ll get used to it after a while though. Bussed to the main campus early in the morning to get some administrative stuff done to get ready to be a student again. Met an aspiring med student while I was there and was happy to find out from him that the wait time to get the student card today has been reduced by at least 20 fold compared to the past two days – sweet. Breakfast: campus food. Picked up the rental car, then off again to go furniture shopping with my roommate! First stop – mattress store! Got my bed – yay!! Feeling much better about this whole moving thing now. Can’t wait to get my bed tomorrow. Then off to Ikea to buy other household goodies. Lunch: Ikea food – perfect poor student diet. Off to pick up more household goodies from a friend then off to do more shopping. Home time. Performed a coin toss to determine the room allocation. Can finally unpack - yay! Dinner then some cleaning. I think it’s time to call it a day. Last thought: having a car makes life so much easier in an unfamiliar city!

Day 2: much better.

Adventures in Ottawa – Day 1

So it all started with my flight being delayed because of the emergency disembarkation of a guest; however, it was a smooth landing in sunny Ottawa. Arriving at the airport we grabbed all 5 of our luggages and headed towards the car rental companies hoping to get a car, only to find that there were none left – not surprisingly. Why it didn’t occur to us before - I’m not sure – my bad. Went with plan B – cabbing, only to find out that we got a taxi driver who doesn’t know how to get to my house and blamed us for not knowing the way – my bad. Called the landlord to find out that he won’t be arriving until an hour later despite our prior arrangements – my bad for not confirming with him before I left. Off to look for dinner. Found the way to the hospital campus and settled on hospital cafeteria food – my bad. Due to the “easy to navigate” nature of hospitals and our neighbourhood, our 10 minute walk home turned out to be more like 20 minutes – my bad. It’s just strange how 3 normally very organized and prepared individuals managed to pull this one off. For those who have asked whether I’m ready, I can tell you now – I’m totally NOT!! Help!

Only consolation: seeing my friends at the airport and having my parents by my side.

Day 1: epic fail.

Being content

You can try to please everyone, but at the end of the day, you cannot be friends with everyone.

You can try to change yourself to be someone else who seems to be "better", but at the end of the day, you need to be yourself.

At the end of the day, do you reflect upon what you've done wrong or think about your accomplishments?

Live in the present, not the past. Be content. You actually have more than you think. People can be greedy and want something more when they realize they are losing it, whether or not this thing may be suitable for them. You have to realize that you can't have everything, and it's ok not to have everything :)