Tuesday 27 October 2015

I have a home!

Well, things seemed to have happened pretty quickly!

After finding out that I had got the job last night, my aim for the rest of this week was to find a place. As rentals here go by the first of the month and it was already the 26th I was determined to try and find a place pretty quickly. It only left me 5 days to find a place!

Honestly, I was freaking out a bit. I think I was a bit too chilled about it last week, only sending a couple of emails per day, but then realised after talking to the aussie couple whose place I checked out last week where they said they received hundreds of emails, I realised it was time to step up the game!

Knowing that I have a job though really helps, especially in terms of my budget and where to live. So I concentrated on the area around the hospital which is the area I'm staying in right now and the area that I'm familiar with as I lived not to far from here previously.

Today, was a beautiful day but I stayed in, determined to send as many emails as possible!  I have no idea how many I sent - maybe 10-15? It doesn't sound like much, but when you have to read through every ad that peaks your interest and then decide whether or not to email them it's very time consuming. I also got a bit desperate and put my own ad up on Craigslist!!

However, I heard back from 2 girls who I contacted after seeing their ad, both of whom had a 2 bed apartment and both were a 5 minute walk from where I'm going to work!

The first one, would be sharing with an Irish girl. She initially said she had someone but then later emailed to say it had fallen through and could I go and see the place. Of course I agreed!

The second one would be sharing with a girl from Vancouver Island. She sounded really cool but the thing that kinda put me off was that it cost a little bit more and you have to pay to use the washer and dryer. One of my personal checklists is to have an in suite washer/dryer. Kinda important when you sweat it out regularly at the gym.

Anyway, I had agreed to meet with both.

The first one was the Irish girl. It's a decent size, 2 bed apartment. "My" room was already partly furnished and has a queen size bed. She is so chilled and seems like she'll be really easy to get along with. What can I say though? Irish in general are very cool people. :)  She mentioned she had a younger girl who was also interested but she wasn't so keen on renting it to her. So right then and there I decided this was the place for me! It works for both of us! We're around the same age and I think it'll work out well.

I then emailed the other chick and said I have taken a room. I think sometimes you have to go with your gut and I think this will be a good place to live. Not only is it a 5 minute walk to work, it's a 10 minute walk to the gym and Zoe and Matthew (who I'm currently staying with) have already advised of many good places to check out around there.

I feel good about it and move in on Friday. It is such a relief to have found somewhere. I honestly wasn't expecting to find a place today but I'm glad I did!

Now I can enjoy the rest of the week and buy a few necessities before I move in. Looking forward to making the room my own!

Oh and if you happen to visit Vancouver there is a sofa bed (apparently it's a bit uncomfortable) or there'll be enough room in my room for a blow up bed! So come visit!!

By the way, my ad on Craigslist? I received about 10 or more emails responding to it! Honestly, I didn't think I would get any response, but Craigslist is a bit of a strange place. I can happily say, that I've now deleted that ad so I don't get any more emails!

Monday 26 October 2015

I got the job!!

YIPPEE!!

It's time to celebrate! After the interview I went to this morning, I found out tonight that I got the job! It's a program assistant for the students who are in second year at the faculty of medicine at the University of British Columbia.

I start next week and can't wait to be busy again and earning a wage!

Now all I need is a place to live and I'm set. That will be my main aim for the rest of the week. Although I should enjoy my freedom while I can.


Week 1.

It's unbelievable. I've already been here a week today and so much has happened already!

After arriving last Monday afternoon, waiting for 40 minutes and being issued a visa in less than 5 minutes I was back! It really did feel like I came home.  But I guess it was home for almost 18 months. It's a weird feeling though when you don't have a place to live or a job or any real security except for the people you know.

I arrived safely at my friend's Zoe and Matthew's place who have kindly allowed me to spend a couple of weeks on their sofa bed while I get settled.

Day 1 - Tuesday

I did all the boring stuff, like re-opening my bank account, getting a social insurance number (SIN - like a tax file number) and telephone number were all sorted out. They all seem to take hours though. Waited an hour at Service Canada for my SIN, must have been at the bank for about an hour, and then went downtown to get my phone number. Went with a different company and I forgot how crap the phone plans are compared to ours. But I am now contactable. :)

Tuesday night I had organised with one of the ladies I know who works at the gym I used to go to get a free pass...but I thought stuff it and joined instead!! It's nice to have some sort of stability and I know a lot of people that go there. It was really lovely as some people had no idea that I was coming back and they were really happy to see me. Following that I was supposed to catch up with some other people at the movies but as I hadn't really committed by the time I got to the theatre it had sold out! (apparently the movie was crap - it was called Crimson Peak). Anyway, I went to my favourite sushi place on Granville St and texted another friend who said they were home...and apparently lived just the next block over! It was awesome to catch up with Helena, Sam and Adam again. :)

Day 2 - Wednesday

Before I arrived, while I was in LA, I had emailed one of the temp companies I got regular work for and they got back to me pretty quickly. I had a meeting with them on Wednesday.  It all seemed pretty positive and they already had a suggestion for a job at a marketing company. But they needed some time to talk to them first.

I also caught up with another mate Ahmed for a great lunch eating delicious pizza and then that night caught up with my friend Jess to see the movie The Martian. Awesome movie except for the fact we were in the front row for 2.5 hours looking at a massive Matt Damon. I do recommend it though. One of the most exciting things happened when we were walking home and we saw a skunk!! Neither Jess nor I have seen one before. Us 2 aussies were super excited!!


SKUNK!!! Right by the courts in downtown Vancouver.

Day 3 - Thursday

It was supposed to be more of a chilled day, I was going to spend some time at home house hunting, go to the gym and go for a walk.  Some of this happened, I house hunted and sent a few emails and heard back from some of them, then after I came home from the gym I thought I'd go for a walk. But while out I received a call from the temp agency to say the marketing company wanted to meet with me. So I had less than an hour to get myself downtown to see them. They seem nice enough but honestly I'm not too sure about the position.

In the meantime I had received an email from one of the places to meet up with them that night so after another gym session (omg who am I, I never go to the gym twice in a day!!!) I got some take away and headed home. However, while waiting for the take out I noticed I had received an email for an interview for a position at the UBC Faculty of Health as a program assistant. It really is all happening!

After a quick bite, I met with the Aussie couple who were renting out their room. They were nice enough but unfortunately it wasn't suitable.  That's ok, I wasn't too worried!

Day 4 - Friday

Not too much happened on Friday either but I did go and have a look at a place in East Vancouver. It was really nice and the girl was lovely but it was just a bit too far out!

I also received a message from one of my friends Olga, to ask if I wanted to go hiking on Saturday...um hell yes!!

Day 5 - Saturday

It was an early start as we were to meet downtown at 8am. We went hiking at Joffre Lakes which is north of Whistler and about a 2.5 hour drive from Vancouver. It was so good as I caught up with people that I hadn't seen since January and also met some new people.

It was such a good day and the lakes are gorgeous. There are 3 of them and it wasn't till we got there I had realised I had been to the first lake when I did a tour a couple of years ago.  It only took an hour to get to the second lake and then we hiked up to the third one.

It was absolutely freezing (about 3 degrees) so was all layered up...except the problem is you get super hot and sweaty from hiking up the hill! The views were absolutely worth it though!


The whole group. Don't let the pic deceive you. It was really cold!
(Photo courtesy of Tzveta)


The lakes in Canada are truly breathtaking!!

I was supposed to be back in Vancouver for my welcome back dinner/party at 7pm. But traffic is always terrible driving back to Vancouver. We made it downtown at about 6.50pm! I had no time to change, so changed my shirt and pants in the Fairmont Hotel bathroom and tried to freshen up a bit! Classy!! After a delicious Thai dinner I rushed home, had a shower and met everyone back at a bar where we stayed till all hours! It was a good night. :)

Day 6 - Sunday

What can I say. It was a pretty nothing day. Very much a recovery day from the day/night before so I vegged out. As I had an interview today, I did some prep and had an early night.

Day 7 - Monday

It's only part way through the day and I had a job interview this morning. Not counting my chickens but I think it's looking good! Just have to get responses from my references I think and hopefully I'll start soon. But more on that when it's 100% confirmed. :) Not bad for being in the country for a week. Honestly it feels like I've been here for a really long time already!

The rest of today has been more house hunting which is not that exciting. Catching up with a former work colleague for dinner tonight which should be great!

I'll try and not write too many long blogs but sometimes it's just easier to do it all in one and also when there's lots of news!

Until next time! :)


Monday 19 October 2015

Vancouver Bound.

I’m currently at LAX airport. Cannot believe it. The time is finally here to go back to Vancouver. The last few months have lead up to this point. No big deal! I do admit that sometimes I question whether this is the right decision and right now I’m having one of those moments. But I think it’s right. For now anyway.

The last few days in LA were good. It was lovely to see and catch up with April again. Jet lag was really tough though. It took a good 4 days to feel normal and actually sleep through the night without lying awake for 2-3 hours at a time! Yesterday was the first time I felt myself. You forget how much travelling that far really takes a toll and the fact that not only is it the time difference (only 17 hours), but also the climate and food have an effect too - because everything is new and different again! Even simple things like crossing the street is strange. Without a doubt I look the wrong way every time.

Anyway, catching up with April again was great. We went to the LA Ultimate Women’s Expo yesterday which was interesting. It had a lot of products geared towards women, notably lots of wine tasting and those belts that supposedly help you lose weight! We scored a lot of freebies. Bonus! It was in downtown LA which is nothing to write home about. We then had a lovely 10km walk around the Santa Monica/Venice Beach area. Both of us were trying to take advantage of the warm weather and the beach as we both realised that it would be a long time before either of us experienced both of these again! April is heading back to Banff where it has been snowing (!!) and Vancouver has been raining…surprise, surprise!!

Thanks April, it was great to see you and I look forward to catching up with you soon - either in Banff or Vancouver! x

So now the holiday is officially over. It’s time to find a place and job. A place to live is high on my priorities as Canada rentals work by month. Everyone moves in to their new places on the 1st (or sometimes 15th) of the month. As November 1 is next weekend, I really need to find something!

I have a few leads and have made a few contacts which I will meet up with this week once I get a phone number. Need to look at a few places though before I decide.

Really looking forward to catching up with my friends too, so that’s also in the mix in the next couple of weeks.

That’s all for now, will update again soon. Let the new chapter begin!

Thursday 15 October 2015

First stop. LA.

I made it! After so much planning and saving I'm finally here! It's still so surreal, but that could also be the jet lag speaking.

After an awesome week in Cairns, I had 2 days to pack all my stuff that I wanted to take. Let me tell you, packing your life up is a little difficult! Had a bit of difficulty fitting stuff in, but by Tuesday night it was all well and truly done!

Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night. Not good for the upcoming flight. Think I ended up with about 4 hours sleep. We were up early and at the airport by 7.30am. I was still worried about the weight of my bags. Max. allowed was 23kg per bag. We weighed them and they were a little over. So had to get rid of some more tim tams and lollies. Oops! May have been a bit enthusiastic in buying them!!

Anyway, there was nothing to worry about. Check in was easy. After a lovely coffee with Mum and a phone call to Dad, it was time to go. Many tears were shed by both Mum and I. It's always hard to say goodbye.

I won't go into the boring details of the flight. There's not alot you can do on a 12 hour flight except watch 4 movies, have 2 hours of broken sleep and eat. However, I did watch Wild with Reese Witherspoon which was very good and also quite enjoyed Jurassic World. Except I couldn't get over how the lead actress could run around for the whole movie (through the jungle) in heels!

We landed in LA at about 6am. Gee the airport is nice now! So much better than before. After a quick freshen up it was time to face the customs guard. Far out. Have never been asked so many questions by border security before. It was all basically because of the address I was staying at. As I'm not staying at a hotel and staying in a house I had to go into every single detail of how I knew the people who own it, what they do, how'd they get their green card, what I do, what I'll be doing in Canada, my job back home, when my flight to Canada is, what I'll be doing in LA, do you plan on working in the US, why did you go to Blaine so many times etc etc. FAR OUT!! I may as well have just told him my life story. Just let me in the country, I only want to stay 5 days!! Next time I'm staying in a hotel or at least putting down the name of a hotel!! Didn't need that with the little amount of sleep. It's a little stressful.

Anyway, I'm here and got to finally see April! Have not seen her since she waved me off in front of my place when I left Vancouver in January. It feels like no time has passed. After a quick hello and brief catch up, she left me so I could have a nap and a shower which was fab. Later in the afternoon we caught an uber to Whole Foods then went for a walk on the path between Santa Monica and Venice.

April signed me up for Grit Cardio and Bodypump. I was keen to give them a go but by this stage was feeling pretty tired. I could barely get through the 30 minute Grit Cardio session. Being tired and not having much energy really takes its toll! So I left April and caught an uber home. (Gee uber is so good and so cheap!) I was still awake by the time April got home and we ended up catching up until about midnight! Oops! So much for going to bed early.

After a decent 9.5 hours sleep, I've pretty much chilled out for the majority of the day. April has been out all day so I've done really exciting stuff, like updated my resume, looked for places to live in Vancouver, taken the dogs for a couple of walks and basically just chilled out. Still pretty tired so thinking it'll be an early one.

Not sure how regularly these blogs will be written, but thought I'd better do one while I have the time!

Monday 12 October 2015

It's almost time.

Time is a crazy thing. Cannot believe that I'm leaving in less than 2 days. Packing is under a reasonable amount of control and so much has happened since the last post.

Since the last blog, I have now finished work and become a certified open water diver. That was seriously one of the best experiences I've ever had. It was hard, and sometimes mentally challenging but got through it. You have to when it ultimately is a life and death situation.  You have air or you don't. Pretty simple!

We had 2 days of classroom and pool training and 3 days on a liveaboard where we did 4 training dives and 5 optional dives. Of course I did every dive, including the night dive. That was a bit scary!

A moment of truth came to me (I guess you could call it that) when we were in the ocean and one of the skills we had to do was to flood our mask with water and then clear it. Now, clearing my mask is not one of my strong points (getting there!) so when I flooded it, I panicked. A thousand thoughts go through your head in a matter of seconds...I have to get out of here, I can't get out of here I'm 10m underwater, breathe, remember how to clear your mask, breathe, clear your mask, breathe, ok that didn't work, breathe etc etc. It's amazing what the mind can do. I eventually calmed myself down and what seemed like 5 minutes later finally cleared my mask. Success!!

Scuba diving opens up a whole new world (literally) of places to go. It has now been ticked off the bucket list but has added a whole heap more to it!

I can highly recommend it. It really is amazing.

Then we had 5 lovely days up at Port Douglas where we just relaxed. We were going to go out on a day trip to the reef but the weather was terrible. (And I suffered from land sickness and blocked ears. The land sickness just stopped today but still have a blocked ear!!) The 3 days I was out on the reef it was really windy (20-25 knots) and it just continued for the rest of the time. Instead we went up to the Daintree rainforest and Cape Tribulation. It was gorgeous up there!

We arrived home last night and today has been a day of packing. My best friend from high school, Marnie came over for lunch and helped me pack. It was so nice to have her here and keep me motivated. Going to miss her so much.

Tonight it's off to Dad's for dinner and then tomorrow it really is the final countdown. Packing will need to be completed! It's so surreal!