First Detour: The Maine Event

Well, as per usual, it’s been a few days! Our journey has officially begun. We started it off well: when the cab came to pick us up Friday morning at 5:30am, we got halfway down the street when Dave realized he forgot his BA certificate (most job postings require the original, no copies allowed). The cab driver obliged when we asked him to turn around, so crisis averted. Since then, the list of forgotten things (that we’ve noticed) is as follows:

1) Both toothbrushes

2) All my jewelry, which I neatly packed in a box and just simply forgot to put the box in my suitcase

3) Dave’s shave brush and cake (though I remembered the actual razor and refills)

And I’m sure there’s more to discover along the way. But the Maine (pun intended) thing is that we remembered all our paperwork.

And now, we’re in Maine! While I am Canadian by blood, I partially grew up here, and it’s very familiar to me. But for Dave, this is his first time in New England. The reaction seems to be that it’s a lot like Nova Scotia, but more touristy – without the tourists. No one’s here for the Prelude activities just yet, the Christmastime weekend that Kennebunkport is so known for, and it’s far past the summer season. And better for it: it would be awful for him to visit when it’s so insanely busy in the summer:

image from laughmaine.com

The only downside is that Maine isn’t exactly brimming with things to do, besides shopping and seeing sightseeing. The latter is only exciting when you’re not used to Maritime scenery, and Dave is of course very familiar with that.

So generally we’ve just been relaxing and spending some time with my family. Dave is doing very well at impressing everyone from conservative Marines to art teacher hippies. We took a few photos on our trip downtown. One of the funnier finds was a boat in the harbour bearing the same name as my sister:

Maybe she has a secret admirer?

We also had a lovely night with my friends from my old workplace, Abacus. Sarah, Mary, and Paula treated us to Thai food at Mekhong Thai (best Thai food in Southern Maine) and then we had drinks at Bandaloop (a funky bar with excellent everything and music). Sarah’s friend James came along as well. As quiet as he was, he seemed like a pretty cool guy, and I hope we didn’t freak him out with our gregarious nature. I would show a photo of us hanging out, and we took plenty. You’d think we’d have one good photo of us together, but trust me – we don’t. So sad.

Anne Marie, my sister has been highly entertaining as usual and then my mother also played stylist for us. She dyed my hair back to its original colour (extremely dark brown; almost black), and then she cut Dave’s hair. As he says, it’s much more “grown-up.”

Just because his hair has grown up doesn't mean he has to

And that pretty much brings us to today: we are leaving tomorrow from Boston and landing in LA. My dad is bringing us to All Day Breakfast, his favourite place around here and I have to say, I love it as well. My mother has played 40 questions with us, making sure that we’ve covered all our bases, buying us extra socks and underwear, just in case they don’t have those things in Taiwan. Ah, Mom. She’s being an excellent sport about all this.

And as for me, I’ve finally calmed down. I was extremely anxious about this whole trip. Certainly I was excited as well, but I was split right down the middle with the two. But now we’re on our way and there is quite literally no turning back, so I have no choice but to press forward. And that has forced me to think positively – and I like that.

In LA, we will be checking out Project Blowed, a hip-hop open mic, and then spending the rest of the time with my grandparents who are graciously keeping us for the next few days after that. This will be our last leg before heading out to Taiwan (!!). More updates soon.