In late July, I went to Kingston for a short trip to visit Dan and to hopefully start house hunting. My first impression of Kingston, although brief, was full of contradictions but ultimately, I came home looking forward more than ever to my big move. 

It was really wonderful to see Dan and also much harder than I thought to come home on my own.  There are many positive aspects to me remaining in Canada a while longer: for instance, he has a couple of months to get settled into his new job and just focus on that without having to worry about being around all the time to help me settle in; we have more time to organize getting the dogs and all our stuff down there; I can finish up my current contract with Ellipsis - which I worked soooo hard to get - and (hopefully!) get some footage shot for the short documentary I've been developing for the past while; and we have some time to ourselves before jumping into this huge change in our lives, which I know is going to be so valuable for us both.  It's definitely the right thing to do for me to stay here until September for so many reasons so I was never too conflicted about it and I'm truly enjoying my Erin-time... but sometimes my house just feels a bit too empty for my taste.  [Also, my dog (Maddie) has gone completely mental since Dan moved and she's driving me crazyl!]

The drive from the airport to the Hilton in New Kingston, where I stayed for the first night, isn't exactly scenic. I had somewhat prepared myself in that I was aware we were going to drive through a rough, industrial area but I couldn't help feeling a bit anxious for the duration of the car ride.  We didn't do much that first day because I was pretty exhausted from my flights. We spent most of the day relaxing and catching up and went out for lunch and dinner, where I had my first authentic jerk chicken and discovered "escovitch fish" and "fried bammy" - all of which were delicious!

The next afternoon, we moved from the Hilton to Dan's temporary residence.  The apartment isn't the most modern place ever but aside from that, it's amazing.  It's on the ground floor of a building in a gated community; there are about 4-6 units in each building and about 6-7 buildings in the community.  Aside from the simple fact that it's beautifully decorated, there's a nice little porch and a pool in the (shared) backyard!  A few interesting facts: 

1) They turn the water off at 11pm.  We found this out that first night when we arrived home after a few too many beers - with nothing in the fridge - and tried turn on the tap in the kitchen to pour ourselves a drink of water.  We spent the night parched and woke up with awful headaches! 

2) Just because there's a security guard doesn't mean you're secure.  Let's just say it wasn't so hard to get into the complex and I was very happy to see the abundance of burlgar bars around the apartment.  Still, I woke up quite anxious in the middle of the night a few times over the next couple of days, worried that I'd heard something outside or that we'd forgotten to close all the windows or lock all the gates.

3) There are little lizards in the backyard and in the house!  They're very small and completely harmless but somehow, they are far more startling and scream-inducing than they should be

Aside from the above mentioned facts, I loved the place and more importantly (because he's the one living there until we find a permanent house) Dan likes it a lot as well.

I'll write more about the rest of my trip over the next week or so, while things are still somewhat fresh in my mind.