I live in Vancouver now. I arrived yesterday. It's all a little weird.

What a beautiful place to live, though! It's really too good to be true. The trees are everywhere, and they're big. You know on Super Mario Bros. where you go into big world sometimes? Everything is double the size it's supposed to be! I think it's because it rains here. It rained today. It was ok, though. In Vancouver, you have to get used to the rain. Wanna see the view from a block away from my house? Here it is:

Yeah, that's the ocean. I had to taste it to believe it. I went down there with Danice and we played guitar for a while. Danice is my roommate. She's great. She's pretty much been taking care of me. It's weird to have to rely on people so much. I'd really be lost without her help. Literally. Roaming the streets of Vancouver. She took me on the sky-train today, and we bought groceries. The downside is that neither of us can cook. We're going to do a lot of experimenting. Tomorrow we'll go see Regent, and Jordan will come.

Generally, emotionally I'm doing well. It's weird to feel like a tourist but know you're going to have to become familiar with a place. It's weird to know you have some ownership over a piece of a beautiful city that really doesn't feel like it's yours. I miss my family, I miss Chris, I miss everyone else at church - so much . . . it almost feels like physical pain sometimes. I've been trying to distract myself with the excitement of a new place. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I think I will find friends here, but not replacements. Never replacements. If you had a role in my life before now, you cannot slack off. No slacking. It's still your job. I'm hoping you will leave jobs open in your lives for me, too. There will be no lay-offs. This is labor day.

I will keep posting. I miss you.