Back in Canada (British Columbia)

My return to Canada could have been easier. Because of all the snow storms, my flight was delayed by more than five hours. Waiting for the departure of my flight, I actually slept for some time on the carpet of the waiting room in which I was at the Honolulu airport.

Then, upon arriving in Vancouver, I was shocked to see all the snow and feel the cold. It felt more like Montreal than Vancouver. After spending months in hot climates, I was confronted with the results of the worst weather in over a decade.

But that was nothing compared to what was to come. When I was in Hawaii, I had the choice to fly to San Francisco or to Vancouver. A friend had agreed to let me stay at his place south of San Fran while he's in Montreal visiting friends and family. My ex-girlfriend also told me I could stay at her place (or even the place of one of her friends) in Vancouver while she was away for the holidays with her new boyfriend. Since the plane ticket to Vancouver was half the price of that to San Francisco and since I needed to go to Vancouver to get my things back and tie some loose ends before moving out of that city, I opted to fly to Vancouver.

But, when I got to her place, my ex-girlfriend quickly came back to me with the encounters I had with bedbugs while abroad. She told me that because there was a risk that my bags were carrying bedbugs, I could not stay at her place nor at her friend's place. She seemed very upset. That I had washed most of my things; gotten rid of the others and placed all the items I had brought back with me from my trip in a sealed garbage bag didn't reassure her. Nor did the facts that I had not been bitten and had not seen a single bedbug (despite multiple inspections of my luggage) since leaving the infested hotel in Australia.

My ex-girlfriend sometimes panics or blows things out of proportion, especially when she is stressed or upset. Rather than try to convince her that my things in the garbage bag did not pose a threat to the salubrity of her apartment, I offered to simply get rid of the bag (or store it outside on one of my friends' balcony).

But, the issue wasn't really about bedbugs. It was about me being around. In a very emotional scene, she told me how my presence reminds her of the past and how she is tired of me being closer than she is comfortable with despite her efforts to push me away by being abrupt or even mean with me. There is something I don't understand in all of this. Then, she went on telling me that my presence was jeopardizing her relationship with her new boyfriend (after all, who likes ex'es hanging around?) and she seemed very distressed. I then told her I would leave rather than cause her strife. She took her keys back and I found myself homeless in Vancouver without my things in the middle of the snow.

Fortunately, a friend of mine was downtown at one of her friends' place who is renting a room. The room happened to be free until January and I found myself a place to stay. The next day, I thought my ex-girlfriend would have calmed down, but I got an email from her telling me that I couldn't stay at her or her friend's place; that she would have a common friend meet me while she was gone so that I could get my things and that I should no longer contact her.

All of this is enough to mess up one's Christmas. All I wanted was to peacefully go about doing my own things in Vancouver before leaving for Montreal in January. Why did she feel compelled to do this to me (and in such a rough manner)? Why was she so emotional during that whole episode? Why end the remaining friendship when I was days from leaving Vancouver? As I mentioned before, there is something I don't understand about all this. I likely never will.