The Summer

It is September the first here in Manitoba, September the second if you are in Ontario as I write this post. It has been approximately seventy days since I moved here. To be completely honest, I thought this summer would suck and be just generally rotten. Some parts have. However, many parts have been bright, meaningful, and significant. Right now I just want to kind of recap my summer, and spill the highlights with you.

As soon as I got here, I began looking for a martial arts club. On my first night here I found a judo club. It seemed like a solid place with a good teacher and family atmosphere, but I decided that that particular facility and martial art wasn't for me. A few days later, I tried Thai boxing, and hated it. I decided to stick with it, and have been training in that at the local facility over the summer.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by our new neighbors, (whose names I won't drop online) who gave us a great welcome to our new town. They loaned us some basic furniture, because our truck was taking so bloody long to get here, and invited us to their church, where we have been attending most Sundays over the summer. It seems to be a very solid church. The worship is good, and the teaching is excellent & relevant.

I feel that it is worth mentioning my dirt bike accident on Canada Day. There, I have mentioned it.

We had many, many visitors during the month of July. Both sets of grandparents came for my dad's birthday on the ninth, followed by my aunt, uncle, and three of my cousins after them. It was pretty cool to see all my relatives again, as it had been a few years since we (my cousins and myself/my brother) actually had any contact. After my cousins left, some family friends from Ontario flew in. We had a wonderful time visiting them. While they were here, we also had a surprise visit from my old Waterloo friends, who came up and disturbed our new lives for a week. Just kidding. We had a great time with them. We visited St. Vital's, the Forks, (both in Winnipeg,) and Grand Beach. After that, we had yet more company from Waterloo: one of Tom's best friends. He left the same day I did for Ontario.

My visit to Waterloo was probably the biggest highlight of my summer. It was so good to see everyone again. I spent a lot of time with Iara, we had a lot of fun hanging out and visiting old friends. I also spent a decent amount of time with my old guy friends. We went out for breakfast a couple of times, and had a movie night. All in all, it was an amazing and memorable trip.

After getting back from Waterloo, I washed my clothes, re-packed my bags and drove to Weyburn, Saskatchewan with my family for my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. It was a great time. I especially enjoyed being at my aunt and uncle's farmhouse outside of Weyburn.

Weyburn was our final big shindig of the summer. After that, things began to return to normal. I went back to work, and got back into Muay Thai after nearly two weeks away. I am now just biding my time for the remaining days until school begins. (Highlight I forgot: I got new clothes yesterday!! I got: a new pair of jeans, a long sleeved white teeshirt (for a buck thirteen on a clearance rack) and a brown-and-green polo shirt. I'm excited to show them off at school.)

Well, there you have it. My summer, condensed into a blog post. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to ask. Hope everyone is doing well, and hope to see you all again soon!