26 posts tagged “immigration”

The title of this post comes from a book called Writing the West Coast: In Love With Place.  That phrase has stuck with me because it perfectly and succinctly describes how I feel about living in Vancouver.  As we mark our first immigration anniversary today, we are still – most definitely – in love with place.

That’s probably not very surprising to anyone who’s been following our year abroad.  What is surprising (at least to us) are the kinds of things that have now become commonplace, things that a year ago we couldn’t imagine calling normal.  Here is just a partial list.

• The ocean.  We live blocks from it, so it’s become a regular backdrop to our everyday lives.  The related sounds are also included, like the call of seagulls and the deep, resonating notes of ship horns in the harbour.  I used to pause in my day and shake my head at the absurdity of these sounds; now they’re as much a part of life as train whistles were in MN.
  

• The variety of wildlife.  We barely notice when we pass swans, raccoons, black squirrels, herons or ducks on our runs and walks now.  Although we definitely still notice those goddamn skunks.
  

• Rainy days.  Having a full day of rain in MN was not a very regular occurrence, but that’s obviously not the case on the West Coast.  It’s not unusual here to go a full week (or more) without seeing the sun, and we’ve grown quite accustomed to it.
  

• Enormous trees.  I didn’t realize how much I’d adjusted to this until our October trip back to MN.  My first comment after leaving the Minneapolis airport was how weirdly tiny all the trees looked.
  

• Grocery-shopping at the Granville Island Public Market.  And I cannot express to you how much it thrills me to put that item on this list.
  

• Denman Street.  We live three blocks off Denman and do the majority of our shopping (and eating out) there.  So we don’t refer to Denman Street as a location much anymore, as that’s too general.  Now we talk about the specific places along Denman.
  

• Walking everywhere.  We certainly still use our car (at least once a week) (and obviously I’ll be using it for school), but most of our travelling is done now on foot.  Walking 20 minutes to get someplace doesn’t seem that far anymore; Shane continues to walk 35 minutes to and from work every day!
  

• British Columbia licence plates.  The thought of having one of these of our VERY OWN was nothing short of astonishing last year.  At this point, I sometimes forget it’s even there.  (Partially to blame: the enormous gobs of bird shit that are always appearing in new places on The Couv to distract me.)
  

• British spelling and French translations.  The novelty of this took a long time to wear off, and we still do notice new or particularly unusual words, like enrol (which just looks wrong) or crème sure (French for sour cream, which I find inexplicably hilarious).  But in most of our daily life, this is pretty much invisible.
  

• Canadian flags.  It’s at a point now that spotting a U.S. flag is different and fun, like “ooo, stars and stripes, what a concept.”  The two currencies have also done a similar swap (green money? and $1 BILLS? weird).

It will certainly be interesting (for me) to see what else will end up on this list in another year or two.  Hopefully not “tuition bills.”  Haha.

I’ve been thinking a lot this month about last year at this time.  We were on the cusp of this huge change in our lives, and I was a basket of nerves.  There were lots of nights where I would lie wide-awake in bed, running through our never-ending list of To Dos, wondering how we would get them all done.  There were an equal number of moments at work, when my heart would start thumping in my chest as I considered (again) the enormous risk of leaving behind our cushy financial situation.  I was constantly talking myself off the ledge of a panic attack.

Here we are now, though, nearing our one-year anniversary of immigration, and the chaos and upheaval of last March are truly a distant memory.  Our lives have settled down substantially.  Shane just got sworn in to the union at his work; I’m ticking off the days until school.  Our apartment (recently renovated!) (and decluttered!) has become a welcoming home, and our weekly routines feel comfortable and familiar.

That’s not to say the road getting here was easy.  We’ve experienced plenty of ups and downs in the past 12 months, with more undoubtedly on the way.  But we’ve been lucky with the way everything has turned out so far, and I am enormously thankful for that.  It makes me wish I could travel back in time to that sleepless, anxious woman and give her a reassuring smile; let her know that everything will be okay; tell her that she can close her eyes and rest for awhile.

We’ve now been in Vancouver long enough to have given birth to a child (wow), and this is the first month mark in which I actually feel like it’s been that long.  Yep, nine months sounds about right.  And last month for me was one of the best.

Since we decided to immigrate here, I have looked forward to being in Vancouver for the holidays.  I don’t know why exactly, but the idea of seeing Christmas trees and Santa Clauses here always thrilled me; it’s the kind of thing that’s more about residents than tourists, the time of year that would make me feel like a local.  So I was damn excited when the Christmas lights started going up in downtown balconies (and, amusingly, on some construction cranes) in November.  And that was just the beginning.

If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that we had numerous opportunities to experience Christmas events in the city, from parades to tree lightings to extravagant light displays.  I was practically tearing up at the beautiful Festival of Lights – it meant that much to me to be a part of the city's seasonal traditions.  We also did a good chunk of our gift shopping here, first at an annual Canadian craft show at Canada Place, then in Pacific Centre Mall and along Robson Street.  I absolutely loved it (particularly when we were able to find Vancouver- or Canada-centric gifts)!

In addition to the fun, December brought more clarity to my future plans.  I started the application process back in November, and everything finally came together this week: I have been officially offered acceptance at BCIT for a full-time program that begins in April.  I will be attending school for 52 weeks straight, working my way toward a Senior Management Certificate in the field of design/web development.  It will be an intense (and expensive) year, but one I need to want to believe will be worthwhile.

My hope is that, through this program, I will be able to further the technical knowledge (primarily of Adobe products and the interaction of graphics/video/Internet) that I accrued during my university years, making me more marketable in the media/communications field.  Plus, these are software programs I want to learn and will have practical use outside of a job (i.e. for my photos and blog).  So I’m definitely excited about it, although I confess the idea of going to school again does intimidate me after five six (holy fuck) years away!

So, nine months later, this place is starting to feel more and more like home.  And with a new year and new plans ahead of us, I am increasingly optimistic that our life in Canada can only get better from here.  (Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to knock on approximately 1,000 Stanley Park trees to make up for that sudden, uncharacteristic bout of Not Pessimism.)

I was a bit knocked on my ass to realize last week that we’ve been living in Vancouver now for six months.  (Especially as that means I’ve been unemployed for just as long.  Good lord.)  That’s half a year!  And yet we still feel like newbies here in many regards.  We’ve got items lingering on our Immigrant To Do list, from applying for Canadian credit cards to finding a dentist; it takes a lot of time to get truly settled when you up and change countries!  Plus, there’s the whole socializing aspect that we’ve overlooked so far and will eventually need want to tackle.

How do we feel overall, though?  The word that most frequently comes to mind for both of us is lucky.  Extremely, unbelievably lucky.

We really had no idea if coming here would turn out for better or for worse.  We took a leap of faith – albeit a well-researched one – and hoped we would land on our feet.  So far, it seems, we’ve hit the ground running.  Our apartment has worked out wonderfully (knock on wood), Shane has scored an excellent job (while I'm getting closer to figuring out MY end), and we have found Vancouver to be every bit as interesting and accommodating from a resident POV as from a visitor one.

And oh, do I love getting the inside scoop on this place.  I love knowing that mailings from the province always arrive in recycled, brown envelopes.  I love recognizing MP Hedy Fry out campaigning on the streets (as Canada’s election also draws near).  I love learning that tiny restaurant Shima actually serves better sushi than bigger name Tanpopo.  I even love knowing the crappy stuff, like how shaky the rental situation in the West End truly is (knock on wood) (again) or how hosting the Olympics will create new problems even as it tries to solve existing ones.

This is what we wanted, after all – to become acquainted with ALL aspects of Vancouver, getting a close-up perspective not many people can have in a lifetime.  And while it will be quite some time before we get a sense of how long this journey will last, I can now say (confidently) that we will be grateful for whatever amount of time we get to spend here, living in (and loving) The Best Place On Earth.

Unbelievably, we’ve been living in Vancouver now for three months.  That’s one quarter of a year!  It feels like only three weeks ago we were packing up to make the long drive out here.  I guess it’s true what they say about the time and the flying and the fun.

Our weeks here really have been enjoyable.  We’ve loved getting to know the city as residents – figuring out the little things i.e. where to buy the best fruit, what papers we like to read, how to get from one location to another via bus or foot or bike.  Every day we discover something new about this place we call home.

Of course, the homesickness still comes and goes in waves.  We’ve been sad to miss out on opportunities to hang out with (or show support for) our friends and family.  But we also see how those connections are sustained by the wonderfully versatile Internet.  It’s awesome how email, instant messaging and webcams can erase at least some of the distance between BC and MN.

So are we happy with the choice we made to pack up the entirety of our lives and haul it all to Canada?  Honestly, I can’t say.  Not yet.  Without jobs (and with the summer sun shining down upon us), it’s all too easy to think we’re simply on a long (and glorious) Vancouver vacation.  While it sounds silly at this point to say we need more time to mentally adjust, well, that’s exactly where we’re at.  Check in with me at the 6-month mark, and hopefully I’ll have a more concrete answer.

(And, you know, a JOB.)

Yesterday, we landed in Canada as permanent residents.  It took us an hour and a half to get through the border – exporting The Couv from the U.S., importing it to Canada and then going through the paperwork to make our immigration official.  At the end of everything, the customs officer presented us with two tiny Canadian flag pins and said, “Welcome to Canada!”  It was very cool.

We arrived in Vancouver in the early afternoon and drove directly to our apartment.  We met up with the building manager and got a tour of our new digs.  While I was disappointed to learn that the bathroom was NOT renovated as intended (hello, pink tiles!), everything else was in order.  Shane and I agree that this will be a good fit for us starting out, although it will be a very different experience not having a dishwasher (hello, dishpan hands!).

Our time so far has been split between cleaning the apartment (in preparation for moving in next weekend) and running around town to check off items on our all-important To Do list.  Today, we went and applied for our Social Insurance Number – or SIN – cards (the equivalent of U.S. Social Security Numbers), met with representatives from some local banks and…wait for it… GOT LIBRARY CARDS.  This last one is exciting on many levels for me, not the least of which is the awesomeness of being able to check out materials from the spectacular central branch downtown.

The next few days will involve more errand-running and generally enjoying life in Vancouver (before the serious job-hunting starts).  Then on Friday, we’ll head back down to Seattle to shop for apartment stuff and spend the night (before retrieving our shipped belongings on Saturday).

By the way, for those of you wondering whether we were able to transport our wedding sand vase intact, we did!  And we’ve got a sweet little nook in the apartment that fits the vase perfectly.

The past week has been a Tilt-a-Whirl of activity.  Last weekend, we loaded our storage containers – three 5x7x8 boxes – with the majority of our worldly possessions and sent them on their way.  While it was more than a little nerve-wracking trying to cram EVERYTHING WE OWN into such small containers (and then place them all in the hands of COMPLETE (albeit professional) STRANGERS), we were glad to have that gigantic first step out of the way.

 

We then moved into my parents’ house, and I awoke on Easter morning in my old bedroom feeling like I had traveled back in time.  It was very weird; when 2 p.m. rolled around, I half-expected to see my brother groggily emerge from his old room, too.  But we settled in and made the regular Easter rounds, even managing to fit in some games of Ticket to Ride.

 

The last few days have been a balancing act of cleaning the apartment, creating my demo reel (thanks go out to Joel, Elena, their entertaining kids and the basement Hacintosh) and filling out more of that exciting immigration paperwork.  Shane’s last day at work was yesterday, so we spent a chunk of today tying up loose ends together and making last-minute purchases.  We have thankfully managed to overlook the fact that we are spending money now sans income.  Three cheers for savings.  And denial.

 

Truth be told, this whole move has yet to feel real.  Even with all the preparations we’re making, even though we are down to a DAY remaining in MN, neither of us can process the fact that this is finally happening.  After years of waiting, we will be landing as Canadian immigrants on Monday.  And we'll be living in Vancouver.

 

How fucking weird is that?

Our weekend was absolutely insane.  We kicked off with a Friday-night goodbye party, generously organized by our Three Amigos – Carrie, Jon and Shannon.  Many, many thanks to them and to everyone who took the time to attend and wish us well!  We had a blast (at the ever-delicious Chatterbox) and stayed up well past our bedtime.  (And as much as I would love to post some photos from said event, well, it’s really hard to take pictures and be farewelled at the same time.  FYI.)

 

When we finally got up on Saturday, it was time to start packing.  We spent the entire day not only loading boxes, but writing down EACH packed item on a special form for immigration purposes.  Now, I’m as detail-oriented as they come, but this was a whole new level of crazy.  I suppose it’s fitting, though, considering how voluntarily moving cross-country and then across the border is not exactly for the sane-of-heart.

 

Sunday was spent much the same way, slowly transforming our meticulously organized apartment into chaotic piles of paper, cardboard and furniture.  By the evening, we had cleared out every cupboard and closet, taken down every last picture frame, and begun to worry (already) that we had packed something important we’ll need.

 

And just think: this is merely a hint of how we’ll feel for the next several weeks.  (Oh my HELL.)

Since I have been fielding a lot of the same questions lately (about our upcoming move), I thought I would compile and answer them in a single post.

 

1)      Where is Vancouver?

Vancouver is located on the coast of British Columbia, the westernmost province in Canada.  It is right along the Pacific Ocean, about two-and-a-half hours north of Seattle, WA.  (Note: the city is not located on Vancouver Island.)

 

2)      Why did you pick Vancouver?

We have traveled there many times and simply love the character of this unique city.  It is a beautiful place, with a good mix of nature and urban life.  It also happens to be the third largest production city in North America, so I might even find a job in television production (my major in college).

 

3)      Can you immigrate without jobs?

Yes.  We are immigrating to Canada as Skilled Workers.  Our application had to prove that we have work experience and employable skills, but not concrete job offers.  Since we passed the extensive evaluation (including proving we have the funds necessary to move without guaranteed income), it is expected that we will be able to find work in Canada.  You know, before going broke.

 

4)      Will you have a green card?

We will have the equivalent of a U.S. green card: a permanent resident card.  As permanent residents, we will have nearly all the same rights as citizens, except for privileges like voting and running for office.

 

5)      Why did it take so long for you to get visas?

The specific reasons are unknown to us, but we’ve been told the immigration office simply has too many applicants to process.  The paperwork on our end was quite extensive and time-consuming, too, since we needed to complete things like medical exams, background checks, etc.

 

6)      How long will you stay?

We are undecided at this point.  Our permanent resident cards are good for five years, but we can request new ones to extend our residency (or apply to become citizens, see question #7).  Our goal is to stay for at least three years (provided we can comfortably afford it) and make a decision about the future then.  I think we'll end up coming back to Minnesota; Shane believes we’ll stay “for this life and the next one.”  We’ll see what happens...

 

7)      Are you going to become citizens of Canada?  (And will you lose your U.S. citizenship if you do?)

That option will be available to us after we reside in the country for three years (we will need to take citizenship classes and a test, just like in the U.S.).  We do not know if we will choose to become citizens; it depends on how much we like living there!  If we decide to apply, we would eventually become dual citizens of Canada and the U.S., so we wouldn't need to give up anything.

 

8)      How are you getting your stuff out there?

We are loading up storage containers (with our main items and big boxes) that will ship to a city in Washington over Easter weekend.  We will drive our car (and the rest of our belongings) across the border at the end of March, get our apartment situation squared away, then drive to Washington and load a moving van (with our shipped belongings) to bring back.  We plan to be moved in officially by April 6^th (with the help of my brother and Shane’s mom and stepdad, who all live along the U.S. west coast).

 

9)      Can I/we stay with you when visiting?

Of course!  We should warn you, however, that we will only have one couch and a couple of small air mattresses to offer you for sleeping purposes.

 

10)  Are you excited?

Mostly, yes.  Moving is always a stressful experience – and moving to a foreign country all the more so – but we have been anticipating this journey for a long time, so we look forward to seeing how it finally plays out.

 

Let me know if there are other burning (possibly itching?) questions you have!  I would be happy to add them to the list.