"If I knew what January 2022 would be like, I would probably not take the ride" - Ana February 2022
January 2023, when everyone creates goals, opens opportunities and closes circles. It is also when we reflect on last year's journey and how we have grown since today's previous year.
That made me remember how 2022 began. I was arriving in Vancouver, Canada, at the end of an ongoing pandemic and had a huge to-do list to complete before the school term started in a new country. When I arrived, I waited 5 hours in customs to receive my student permit and let me enter the country. But little would I know that would mean the beginning of the crazy next 20 days.
The plan was to arrive the next day at the home holding me for a year with Pablo (my cousin). I arrived the next day at the apartment fully tired after sleeping a couple of hours in a hurry to begin the moving. At the end of the day, Pablo arrived, and the logistics began.
At that moment, I needed to wait inside my apartment because I needed to wait for my COVID test result to arrive before going out; if not, I would be fined a $5,000 dollar penalty fee. Until that happened, I waited in my room, and my cousin went to the grocery store to buy as much as possible of essentials since we didn't have anything, only a few napkins from a restaurant I ordered from Uber Eats while waiting.
Pablo arrived at the grocery store when I Facetime them to let them know I came up positive from the test and we needed to isolate, and apparently him too. He grabbed as much as they could and headed back home.
We freaked out; we didn't have anything (furniture). And we were afraid of the enormous penalty fee of going out.
Thankfully the following day, I called the COVID number and explained our case, and they let us know everyone didn't need to isolate if they didn't have a positive COVID test result.
So my new roommate headed to IKEA to buy the furniture and bring it home with proper beads, a kitchen table and a sofa; instead of the lovely plastic bags, we use them as Sofa and dining chairs.
This may look like the end of the story, but for us, it was only the beginning. Vancouver at that time had a massive flood in some parts of the city, causing many goods drivers to stop major deliveries, including Ikea.
I waited at the apartment and took photos of our view and flat. I rotate in the camping mattress I was sleeping in a couple of times, scroll every streaming platform without watching anything, and swipe and mop the floor.
The magic sound of the entrance door opening and hearing "IKEA is empty; I bought only the things we available."
Are our mattresses arriving today?
Nope
What about the dining table to have a proper place to eat?
There was none; we didn't have the chance to pick.
After weeks, some items arrived. Slowly, now funny and definitely challenging. But I couldn't leave this moment to appreciate the journey so far, from our New Year, with plastic bags as seats and full of hope to a new year in 2023 full of opportunities and a proper dining table.