North Vancouver

Yesterday was a top day. A top day. A few of us decided to take a tour around North Vancouver and see a bit of the forest (well everyone else decided, I was eventually coerced). And I'm pretty glad I went since it was pretty amazing. The views from the wooded bridges 200 feet above rivers are pretty spectacular, and all within about a 15 minute bus journey of a Western metropolis. I've stolen a few photos from those with cameras (so credits to Rosie and Greg).


This was our lunch spot. Sat on a rock having a sandwich looking at that is slightly better than Ipswich.



A view from the bridge.



Half a second after this was taken I pulled a stupid face. Or was that half a second before?

All finished off by a tour of Chinatown and the Vancouver Public Library. I have a feeling I'm about to become a friend to the library; they give you 2 hours free internet access per day. Job's a goodun'.

The guide was Erik, a Danish guy who's been living in Canada for 47 years. Even though he's retired (he's done the tour as a volunteer for the last 15 years) his enthusiasm was amazing. As Greg said, at the end of the day he didn't look like he wanted it to end.

So all this lead to today which I'm afraid to say was dull. Jobhunting and more jobhunting was the order of the day and there'll be much the same going on tomorrow. If only I could find a job as a paid tour guide...

2/4

Phone - check
Bank account - check

2 to go. I'm viewing a place near Downtown later tonight that sounds OK so progress is definitely being made. I also handed around my first Resumes today and was told there were positions so it's a case of waiting for the phone to ring. Not that I'm stopping though, I'll be registering with some other recruitment agencies tomorrow to see if that brings anything my way.

The weather here is pretty strange, it seems to brighten up around 3-4pm and stay that way for the rest of the day. It's not rained yet but I'm expecting a downpour pretty soon. Anyway that's the English part done - I talked about the weather.

Knackered today - and it's not over yet. I'll be hopping on the Skytrain quite soon to view the flat and I also need to grab some dinner. Too little time as ever.

I need a four-fector

The weekend draws to a close and sadly I'm not much closer in pursuit of the bank, phone, car or home. However tomorrow I should have an HSBC account and a phone so I'll be one step away from a tri-fector.

A fairly lazy day today but I have got a couple of leads on apartments so I'll check them out tomorrow. The job search starts then - once my cell phone number is on my Resume I'll be pounding the streets of downtown Vancouver in search of Help Wanted signs. And yes I know I just used the words Resume and cell phone but I'm not a tourist anymore. Time to blend in with the locals.

Some good exploring has been going on over the last few days, I saw an NCL ship docked earlier this morning and on Friday went by the in-progress 2010 Olympic Village. Also took the Skytrain around Burnaby and back into downtown - it's amazing how close the mountains are everywhere you turn.

So this time tomorrow I'm hoping for good progress, and by the end of the week perhaps something to shout about. Actually I'd be happy if I don't have anything to cry about.

Love your UK mobile

More adventures today in discovering just how expensive some of the stuff in Canada is. I had never even thought about having to pay to receive incoming calls on a mobile phone but apparently that's normal.

Also love your UK bank account - all of the accounts over here charge just to make transactions. Some of them give you a certain number free but even so it seems a bit of a rip off, the same for using a cash machine from a different bank. I'll never moan about Barclays again.

But if that sounds all negative it's really not, it just comes with territory. The weather is fantastic again and I'll be working on my CV (sorry I mean Résumé) later. And I've found one EB Games so far so they will be stop one!

4800 miles later

Coming to you live from the Vancouver Downtown HI. Yes I made it after 2 hours sleep and a 10 hour plane journey. Props to Air Canada for the inflight entertainment, Yes Man and Benjamin Button weren't bad.

It all seemed like just another trip abroad until it was brought home to me by the Immigration official: "You're a Canadian resident now". However this brief moment of clarity was soon overtaken by the city of Vancouver itself - and what a city. Together with some other guys from the BUNAC scheme (including Greg who has provided the laptop - kudos!) we spent a couple of hours wandering round downtown and the amazing Stanley Park. Stunning vistas from almost everywhere and the best weather I've seen in a long time, it's a fantastic way to start (Homer will be happy to hear that they gave the weather as 19C on the plane, even though it was nowhere near).

So onto tomorrow and hopefully a Canadian mobile phone and SIN number. Good times.

I'm leaving on a jet plane

So the moment will arrive tomorrow. Sadly I'm not in keeping with the lyrics in terms of having my bags packed. I'm 80% of the way there.

It's actually quite surprising how little I'm taking away, if you take away clothes it's hardly anything. But what essentials do you really have? As far as I'm concerned if I have my ticket, passport and money anything else is obtainable. Having said that, my DS is making the trip.

The itinerary for the next few days is the SWAP Vancouver office to start the process of sorting my Canadian SIN number along with a bank account. Since the SWAP centre has PCs to use I'll hopefully be able to get the blog updated from there, at least in the short term. So that's all folks.

Panic sets in

The inevitable happened today. What if it all goes wrong? What if it takes me ages to find a job? What if I can't find one at all? What if we don't buy Ribery or Benzema?

OK so the last one is not relevant to Canada but it's still worrying. To be honest part of me is pleased that I have got a sense of panic since it should breed urgency when I arrive. Nothing like The Fear when you're job and flathunting.

I booked an extra few nights in the youth hostel so it's good to know I've got a place to call home for a while. I also bought a backpack so I don't have to lug my 10 year old suitcase around. I'm a novice when it comes to backpacks so I've probably bought a complete pup which may or may not fall apart. It does seem to have 5 million pockets which I suppose is good. Now all I need to do is decide what to pack.

I also realised today it's pointless hanging on to any English money whatsoever, so apologies in advance to the bank employee who receives my fistfuls of change tomorrow afternoon. Now I just need to work out the price of a tea and a go at Virtua Tennis at Heathrow Airport.

Genesis

This time in 5 days I will have left England behind for a year living and working in Canada. And I decided the web needed one more blog.

So I decided a few months ago to get away, do something different and take a bit of a chance. After a fair amount of effort arranging visas, travel plans and raising a bit of cash I'm finally on the brink. I arranged everything via BUNAC, a company that help students (and non-student bums like me) with this sort of thing.

So what started with me taking a chance is now a couple of bags, a visa letter, a place to stay for a few nights and, er, that's it.

I haven't had that moment yet where I panic and wonder what the hell I'm playing at so I've been able to have a loose plan for arrival:

1. Get through customs without any jokes about fruits or vegetables
2. Get a Canadian mobile phone
3. Get a place to live
4. Get a job

I'm just guessing here but I reckon number 4 is going to be the tricky one. Did I say guessing? I meant this time in 2 weeks I will be offering all my possessions in exchange for a job interview.

Anyway I'm hoping to keep this up to date with what's going on (saves me phoning home at least).