To The Year That Was 2016

By Celine -
A mandatory year-end post and my 160th post to end 2016.

As you can see, my number of posts declined starting August. This is primarily because I happily found work. Yay! Jomar pointed out that since this is a travel blog I should focus on summarizing the travels I did for the year 2016. Let's see...

January

Officially my first January in Canada! Highlights: I attended a tech event in Downtown Vancouver and it was my first time to see Canada Place at night and the Earth at the lobby of Vancouver Convention Centre West. Therese, Hovey, and I also went to Capilano Suspension Bridge.


February

I started working part-time at BC Place, my first event is Monster Jam 2016. Alyanna also had baking classes at school so we started doing a lot of baking from cookies to muffins. Alyanna is keeping me sane despite all the challenges. Oh and for Valentine's day, I received flowers from Jomar.


March

It's my first Spring! We went to Queen Elizabeth Park to see Spring colors. I also was able to try restaurants like Cactus Club, Five Guys, Menya Japanese Restaurant, and Waffle Bant.


April

Spring celebration continuous as Therese and I went to Stanley Park for Sakura Illumination. It was really a festival of colors and since we were there early, we had a picnic under the Sakura trees. I also attended a photography meetup and a tech meetup (they destroyed a Chromebook!). Plus, for my brother's birthday we tried an escape room where we lost horribly and was trap inside a train tunnel.


May

Most of my Vancouver City exploration happened this month because Jomar is back! After six months of long distance relationship, we were together for a month! We visited Centennial Beach, The Vancouver Aquarium, Stanley Park, VanDusen Botanical Garden, White Beach, and Capilano Suspension Bridge.

Centennial Beach
The Vancouver Aquarium
Stanley Park
VanDusen Botanical Garden
White Beach
Capilano Suspension Bridge

June

Dating with Jomar continues as we visit the Sun Yat-Sen Park and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and TELUS World of Science.

Sun Yat-Sen Park and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
TELUS World of Science

July

My first Canada Day Celebration! My fave part? The diversity and celebration of culture. There were Japanese and Chinese float together with the BC-focused floats and there's a Filipino booth selling the best barbeque ever! This is also when I started working at Gumstix!


August

We went for a couple of hours drive to Sweltzer Creek Campground for some summer day trip. This is the farthest I've been away from Metro Vancouver.


September

My mom went to Los Angeles for a week so my siblings and I got to spend more time with our dad. This is the month I purchased my first furniture (ever) a sofa bed with storage. But mostly, September is stay in Metro Vancouver month.


October

I feel blessed. I get to see beautiful Autumn colors everyday and witness colorful sunrise before I go to work. Speaking of work, one of my colleagues presented a DIY drone powered by Gumstix AeroCore2 with Dragonboard. I watched my first American football game - let's go BC Lions! Oh and ever since coming to Canada, I fell in love with Salmon Fish and Chips! Yum!


November

My birthday month! The highlight of the month is when Alyanna went to work with me as a school requirement. She met all the amazing engineers I work with everyday. Oh and I had my first Holiday Dinner with colleagues at Seasons in the Park. Delicious food, great company, and mesmerizing view.


December

Jomar is back! Again, after 6 months I will be with Jomar for a month. It was my first time to see snow (much to my colleagues amusement that it is my first time). Jomar and I went to Seattle, WA visited all the tourist spots like the Pike Market and Space Needle. Christmas Celebration with the family. Last date for the year with Jomar is in Granville Island. Yes, I go to Granville Island everyday for lunch but hey, it's a tourist recommendation in Vancouver so we explored the island and walked to the train station to be rewarded with a view of Downtown Vancouver on a clear day sunset.

Welcome Back Jomar! First snow.
Trip to Seattle!
Christmas with the family!
Last date for the year!

That's it! Hoping to travel more this 2017!

Christmas with Jomar

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