Research by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada suggests there are perhaps nearly three million Canadians abroad. As a share of the population, Canada's "diaspora" is larger than the overseas communities of the United States, Australia, China or India.
...
Sixty-four per cent of Canadians abroad consider Canada "home." Interestingly, naturalized Canadians living abroad are more likely to call Canada home than native-born Canadians — a finding that challenges the view that return migrants are somehow less Canadian because they have chosen not to live in Canada.
...
Nearly 70 per cent intend to return to Canada to establish their principal residence. Overseas Canadians originally from British Columbia are most likely to return to establish their principal residence, followed by Canadians originally from Ontario. The two most important reasons for returning to Canada are family and quality of life. Fewer than one in five respondents identified Canada's health care or social services as a reason for returning.
...
The emergence of a Canadian diaspora is not a transient phenomenon. It is the flip side of large immigration inflows over the past two decades, and a function of global competition for skilled workers. To some extent, outmigration is a response to the difficulty that many new immigrants face in finding suitable work in Canada. But a far more important reason for the rise in Canadians overseas is the burgeoning economic opportunities in immigrant source countries such as India and China.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Counting Canadians abroad
From an article in today's Globe and Mail:
Friday, December 14, 2007
Beaten to a pulp
Canadian forestry industry realizes it's getting its ass kicked by Finnish forestry industry. Details on this and other interesting non-World Cup hockey related Canada vs. Finland facts laid out by the excellent Konrad Yakabuski in ROB online.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Approaching normal
As moving madness blurs into holiday madness, I can feel a shift to a new stage in our little immi experiment. We're mastering the morning rush, we know which shops have which stuff (we even made rye bread and squeaky cheese), we have our brunch place and a few well-kept secrets, our friends are used to our being in the same area code. I've even been back to Edmonton twice already, with another trip coming soon. And if Mr. O gets this job, which is (dare I say) likely, then things will be different/improving/almost normal.
Okay, so Mr. O is still judging Finland vs. Canada matches in his head on a daily basis, but he's also starting to see that both places have both advantages and disadvantages. A woman I know who moved here from Denmark more than 40 years ago told me the other day that the thing that appealed to her about this place was that nobody was going to carry you through, you really had to make your own way. And it's true. While I'll never stop believing in the basic social net that the Nordic countries have so perfected, and you'll never convince me that free universal daycare and post-secondary education are anything but pretty damn sweet, I can see a point there. Living in Finland, you start to expect that the government will clean up every mess - the rampant alcoholism that spread its ugly all over our old neighbourhood comes to mind - and so the individual need not ever stick his neck out. Canadians, with their head-up-ass time-waste of a government, suffer from no such illusions. Even in Toronto, which is the quintessential every-man-for-himself city, people still help each other out. It's a ultra-thin lining, but there it is all the same.
A week ago, we were seriously talking about picking up and heading back to Stockholm, where Mr. O would have a sweet job and I'd take a Swedish course, make meatballs. In a way, it feels like the easy option. On the other hand, the thought of packing alone gives me vertigo. And Mr. O, fed up as he was, couldn't give up on the few plans we've already made on this continent next summer: a trip down south for a family wedding, a weekend at the Folk Fest with my sibs. There are still things we need to do here, and so Stockholm will have to wait. So will Berlin, and Helsinki, and all the other places we still want to go. Now that things have calmed down a bit move-wise, we can take a bit of time to have a good time, or just do nothing at all.
Okay, so Mr. O is still judging Finland vs. Canada matches in his head on a daily basis, but he's also starting to see that both places have both advantages and disadvantages. A woman I know who moved here from Denmark more than 40 years ago told me the other day that the thing that appealed to her about this place was that nobody was going to carry you through, you really had to make your own way. And it's true. While I'll never stop believing in the basic social net that the Nordic countries have so perfected, and you'll never convince me that free universal daycare and post-secondary education are anything but pretty damn sweet, I can see a point there. Living in Finland, you start to expect that the government will clean up every mess - the rampant alcoholism that spread its ugly all over our old neighbourhood comes to mind - and so the individual need not ever stick his neck out. Canadians, with their head-up-ass time-waste of a government, suffer from no such illusions. Even in Toronto, which is the quintessential every-man-for-himself city, people still help each other out. It's a ultra-thin lining, but there it is all the same.
A week ago, we were seriously talking about picking up and heading back to Stockholm, where Mr. O would have a sweet job and I'd take a Swedish course, make meatballs. In a way, it feels like the easy option. On the other hand, the thought of packing alone gives me vertigo. And Mr. O, fed up as he was, couldn't give up on the few plans we've already made on this continent next summer: a trip down south for a family wedding, a weekend at the Folk Fest with my sibs. There are still things we need to do here, and so Stockholm will have to wait. So will Berlin, and Helsinki, and all the other places we still want to go. Now that things have calmed down a bit move-wise, we can take a bit of time to have a good time, or just do nothing at all.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
National occupation
So Mr O. is, for the second time in a month, *this* close to scoring a real job. In fact, they'd like him to start next week. Trouble is, you know what the trouble is: six weeks' wait and a long detour to the CHC in London. Whether or not he could apply through a domestic office because he is already in Canada on a temporary permit is unclear.
With a bit of digging, however, it seems that there is a potential short cut: jobs listed on the "National Occupational List" are eligible for concurrent processing, which means that we can send in the visa application before receiving an LMO - which means saving around two weeks.
BUT - and there is always a but - the catch is that, in order to qualify, the application has to go through a foreign office, i.e. CHC. Which would suggest that otherwise he could go through a domestic office, or that as a temporary resident he's not eligible at all. We shall see.
With a bit of digging, however, it seems that there is a potential short cut: jobs listed on the "National Occupational List" are eligible for concurrent processing, which means that we can send in the visa application before receiving an LMO - which means saving around two weeks.
BUT - and there is always a but - the catch is that, in order to qualify, the application has to go through a foreign office, i.e. CHC. Which would suggest that otherwise he could go through a domestic office, or that as a temporary resident he's not eligible at all. We shall see.
Monday, December 3, 2007
On the clock
E-cas update: Mr. O's file is officially "in process" as of last Monday (although the updates don't appear till Tuesday, we discovered) - exactly 29 days later. Total count to date: 33 days and counting.
Thus spake the mighty e-cas:
Thus spake the mighty e-cas:
"We received your application for permanent residence on October 29, 2007.So longer than most of my peeps on immigration.ca, but still in under a month. I bite my tongue.
We started processing your application on November 26, 2007."
Monday, November 26, 2007
Fall down, get up, fall down...
Alas, Mr. O didn't get the great job after all. It came down to him and one other candidate, and the other guy got it. Although this sucks for multiple reasons, I am somehow grateful that he didn't get it because he wasn't the right guy, rather than because of the visa BS involved. However, the woman who interviewed him was apparently very impressed, and has passed his name on to several other potential employers. He already has another second interview this week.
To make matters worse, Mr. O saw an email from his current employer not intended for his eyes, which sorta kinda said that staff in other locations doing the same job were being paid $6 more an hour. Since his probation had just ended, he talked to his superior about a potential raise, and got a lame answer about it "not being in the business plan." All of which makes it that much harder to stay and work when he could be doing something more interesting for more money elsewhere.
And of course, this is where it really gets complicated: he gets a call from a woman in Stockholm looking for talent to staff a new company, and is he coming to Europe any time soon and would he like an interview? And does he have a family, because they would pay to relocate? Etc. etc. Maybe it's just the winter blahs, but Stockholm sounds pretty fun right now. We could quit a few months early, do a cross-Canada tour for two months, and then head on home on someone else's tab. Mr. O says This is more like it.
So that's the current fantasy. As a consolation prize, his employer has agreed to let Mr. O work from home, so he'll have more time for other things, maybe a pro bono project to keep his portfolio fresh, some music stuff, playing with the cat, whatever. I'm hoping that this, coupled with a steady-enough stream of interviews and other interest from local agencies, will carry us through to the new year career-wise.
To be fair, he's feeling much more pragmatic about the whole thing lately. There was a little bit of doom and gloom last week, and I have to agree that it would have been much easier to do this kind of thing at 25, like I did, than at 30, like he is. But to take off for Scandinavia after all of four months would be like cheating, worse, it would be a pathetic defeat. And so we take small victories and go from there.
To make matters worse, Mr. O saw an email from his current employer not intended for his eyes, which sorta kinda said that staff in other locations doing the same job were being paid $6 more an hour. Since his probation had just ended, he talked to his superior about a potential raise, and got a lame answer about it "not being in the business plan." All of which makes it that much harder to stay and work when he could be doing something more interesting for more money elsewhere.
And of course, this is where it really gets complicated: he gets a call from a woman in Stockholm looking for talent to staff a new company, and is he coming to Europe any time soon and would he like an interview? And does he have a family, because they would pay to relocate? Etc. etc. Maybe it's just the winter blahs, but Stockholm sounds pretty fun right now. We could quit a few months early, do a cross-Canada tour for two months, and then head on home on someone else's tab. Mr. O says This is more like it.
So that's the current fantasy. As a consolation prize, his employer has agreed to let Mr. O work from home, so he'll have more time for other things, maybe a pro bono project to keep his portfolio fresh, some music stuff, playing with the cat, whatever. I'm hoping that this, coupled with a steady-enough stream of interviews and other interest from local agencies, will carry us through to the new year career-wise.
To be fair, he's feeling much more pragmatic about the whole thing lately. There was a little bit of doom and gloom last week, and I have to agree that it would have been much easier to do this kind of thing at 25, like I did, than at 30, like he is. But to take off for Scandinavia after all of four months would be like cheating, worse, it would be a pathetic defeat. And so we take small victories and go from there.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
CIC annual report
The 2007 Annual Report to Parliament on Immigration was presented on Oct 31. My favorite highlight:
The 2008 levels plan upholds Canada’s support for family reunification by planning for between 68,000 and 71,000 admissions of spouses, partners, dependants, parents and grandparents in 2008.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Track it
Matthew Carroll (Carroll.org.uk) tracks the CIC's historical performance according to the fluctuating estimates and averages provided by the CIC itself. I note with a sneer that times for "Sponsor - spouse" are up slightly, but the fact that 'PR - spouse' has decreased by a good four months since we talked to that nice immigration lawyer in January.
Trakitt.com takes a spreadsheet approach, with pages for immi to Canada, the US, UK, and India, divided by application class. The family class page for a country lists all cases according to date and shows the office and all the major milestone dates from application to approval, which makes it easy to compare your case with others from the same office, and count on your fingers and toes how long it took them to get through. It also gives examples of standard documents such as the AOR letter, which the friendly CIC woman told me that we wouldn't be receiving on an inland. Note there is not a single member of Finnish nationality listed on the page.
Based on trakkit, estimated times on the CIC site seem to be relatively accurate, though not astounding by any stretch. A sample case of an American applying through Vegreville April 26 had his/her sponsorship approved Nov 7, with the landing interview scheduled for Nov 27. That's seven months on the nose, door to door. At the time the sponsor was approved, the AIP would also have come, and so at that time the open work permit could be granted (apparently you can also send the OWP application in ahead of time, so it can - theoretically - be processed at the same time. Otherwise it can also take a while.). So while times from app to sponsorship approval are much faster say, through the Buffalo office (which, along with Vegreville, seems to take a larger share of applications), those people have to wait another five to six months afterward, so it all works out about the same in the end.
Trakitt.com takes a spreadsheet approach, with pages for immi to Canada, the US, UK, and India, divided by application class. The family class page for a country lists all cases according to date and shows the office and all the major milestone dates from application to approval, which makes it easy to compare your case with others from the same office, and count on your fingers and toes how long it took them to get through. It also gives examples of standard documents such as the AOR letter, which the friendly CIC woman told me that we wouldn't be receiving on an inland. Note there is not a single member of Finnish nationality listed on the page.
Based on trakkit, estimated times on the CIC site seem to be relatively accurate, though not astounding by any stretch. A sample case of an American applying through Vegreville April 26 had his/her sponsorship approved Nov 7, with the landing interview scheduled for Nov 27. That's seven months on the nose, door to door. At the time the sponsor was approved, the AIP would also have come, and so at that time the open work permit could be granted (apparently you can also send the OWP application in ahead of time, so it can - theoretically - be processed at the same time. Otherwise it can also take a while.). So while times from app to sponsorship approval are much faster say, through the Buffalo office (which, along with Vegreville, seems to take a larger share of applications), those people have to wait another five to six months afterward, so it all works out about the same in the end.
3 weeks and counting
Unless we've somehow got the number wrong, it's been three weeks, which is about the average time (according to my highly unscientific research trawling the immigration.ca forums) it takes for an app to go from 'received' to 'in process'. They usually update e-cas on Mondays, so whether we got in just under the line or it's fallen behind a desk somewhere, we won't know till for at least another week.
My curiosity about the immigration officers, their training and systems is growing by the day. I am dying to know what their offices look like, for instance, and what kind of set-up they have. Do they do the background checks themselves, or through consulates, or police? It seems like an interesting job, though I've never met anyone who does it. Have you?
According to Wikipedia, some basic trivia:
My curiosity about the immigration officers, their training and systems is growing by the day. I am dying to know what their offices look like, for instance, and what kind of set-up they have. Do they do the background checks themselves, or through consulates, or police? It seems like an interesting job, though I've never met anyone who does it. Have you?
According to Wikipedia, some basic trivia:
The Citizenship and Immigration Canada department employs 5,000 staff, which on a per-capita basis is three times as many as the 15,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employees, but recoups some of its department costs through landing fees. In 2006 the Canadian government reduced the landing fee per immigrant by 50%.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
While the getting's good
If I could change one thing about our little immigration process, it would be to change the law to allow spouses of Canadian citizens temporary open work permits while their applications are in process (Interestingly, this option is open to spouses of temporary workers).
The motivation for this particular whinge is simple and timely: Mr. O is *this* close to a job offer in his field, but if and when he gets it, he'll have the unenviable task of informing his new would-be employer that they need to okay it with the federal government first. And in his case, through the Canadian High Commission in London. Last time it took seven weeks, and right now the average processing times are longer than they were last time around. In such a competitive industry, there is a real chance that they won't be willing to wait that long, especially when Human Resources and Social Development Canada has veto rights.
Lucky for us, Mr. O fits into the title of "Interactive Media Developer," dont'chaknow, which seems to be a sought-after category, a.k.a. a "good" job. The Ontario Immigration portal lists these by municipal region. (Go ahead, look yourself up. I know you're curious.)
The motivation for this particular whinge is simple and timely: Mr. O is *this* close to a job offer in his field, but if and when he gets it, he'll have the unenviable task of informing his new would-be employer that they need to okay it with the federal government first. And in his case, through the Canadian High Commission in London. Last time it took seven weeks, and right now the average processing times are longer than they were last time around. In such a competitive industry, there is a real chance that they won't be willing to wait that long, especially when Human Resources and Social Development Canada has veto rights.
Lucky for us, Mr. O fits into the title of "Interactive Media Developer," dont'chaknow, which seems to be a sought-after category, a.k.a. a "good" job. The Ontario Immigration portal lists these by municipal region. (Go ahead, look yourself up. I know you're curious.)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Smarter than your average Canadian
And yet more likely to be unemployed. Authors of an Institute for Research on Public Policy study contributed a column to today's Globe and Mail:
"Immigration and integration - More must be done to improve the economic prospects of highly educated immigrants"
"Much of the rhetoric in today's debate on reasonable accommodation of minorities misses a critical and obvious point: that integration into a new society begins with a job. Work is a source of both cultural socialization and acclimation.
For this reason, a recently released Statistics Canada report on immigrant labour-market integration is troubling. It revealed, among other things, that unemployment among newcomers is double the Canadian average.
While the fact that recent arrivals make less money and experience higher unemployment is hardly news, the profile of the current cohort of immigrants makes this very troubling. Since the 1990s, Ottawa and Quebec (which establishes its own selection requirements) have emphasized education and experience as criteria for immigrants. As a result, recent groups of newcomers are better educated and more skilled than previous generations. Their educational credentials now surpass those of the average Canadian-born citizen..."
Brahim Boudarbat and Maude Boulet are, respectively, a professor and a PhD student at Université de Montréal. Their study, "Détérioration des salaires des nouveaux immigrants au Québec par rapport à l'Ontario et à la Colombie-Britannique," published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, is available at www.irpp.org.
"Immigration and integration - More must be done to improve the economic prospects of highly educated immigrants"
"Much of the rhetoric in today's debate on reasonable accommodation of minorities misses a critical and obvious point: that integration into a new society begins with a job. Work is a source of both cultural socialization and acclimation.
For this reason, a recently released Statistics Canada report on immigrant labour-market integration is troubling. It revealed, among other things, that unemployment among newcomers is double the Canadian average.
While the fact that recent arrivals make less money and experience higher unemployment is hardly news, the profile of the current cohort of immigrants makes this very troubling. Since the 1990s, Ottawa and Quebec (which establishes its own selection requirements) have emphasized education and experience as criteria for immigrants. As a result, recent groups of newcomers are better educated and more skilled than previous generations. Their educational credentials now surpass those of the average Canadian-born citizen..."
Brahim Boudarbat and Maude Boulet are, respectively, a professor and a PhD student at Université de Montréal. Their study, "Détérioration des salaires des nouveaux immigrants au Québec par rapport à l'Ontario et à la Colombie-Britannique," published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy, is available at www.irpp.org.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Facing e-casing
Today I had my first conversation with a real live CIC rep on the phone, in an attempt to get our client number to track our e-cas status online. It turns out that this number is the same that is on Mr. O's temporary work permit (it was a blank on the fees receipt that we didn't fill, although apparently this doesn't matter). If I had dealt with CIC in the past, I would also be able to use the number issued then to track this sponsorship. One number per person? That's almost Finnish in its organization and coordination! Who knew the Canadians were so coordinated and organized? And why didn't we find this little detail on the site anywhere? Reputations are at stake!
Interesting also that she couldn't release the number to me, even though I'm his sponsor - apparently we'd have to send in a release of information or use of a representative form in order to grant me access. Of course, Mr. O could call in and request the information himself, since it's his file. She also said that even with the number it was unlikely that we'd see anything on the file at this early date. Don't think that's going to stop me from punching it in as soon as I get home tonight.
She also said that in-Canada sponsorships work a bit differently, and that, unless they have to contact us to request clarification or missing information on the app, we shouldn't expect to hear from the CIC for about six months after the date of receipt, at which point Mr. O will get his first stage approval and can apply for an open work permit. It's apparently at that stage that I would receive my very own client ID number for e-cas, although what this would show me about Mr. O's status is unclear. While it's nice that it's all bundled into one step, it's a bit strange that they don't send any confirmation of receipt.
Interesting also that she couldn't release the number to me, even though I'm his sponsor - apparently we'd have to send in a release of information or use of a representative form in order to grant me access. Of course, Mr. O could call in and request the information himself, since it's his file. She also said that even with the number it was unlikely that we'd see anything on the file at this early date. Don't think that's going to stop me from punching it in as soon as I get home tonight.
She also said that in-Canada sponsorships work a bit differently, and that, unless they have to contact us to request clarification or missing information on the app, we shouldn't expect to hear from the CIC for about six months after the date of receipt, at which point Mr. O will get his first stage approval and can apply for an open work permit. It's apparently at that stage that I would receive my very own client ID number for e-cas, although what this would show me about Mr. O's status is unclear. While it's nice that it's all bundled into one step, it's a bit strange that they don't send any confirmation of receipt.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Finland in TO
Ah, the expat social calendar is filling up. What's on the agenda? Drooling drunken kossu-fueled pikkujoulut? Nah. Pity.
Saturday Nov 24, Toronto Finnish Theatre Co (sorta like the Finn Brit Players but in reverse, shudder) presents a comedy in Finnish: Suur-Jussilan isännän kompleksi. Don't tell me: a post-modern Seven brothers?
Tuesday Nov 27, Suomi-Koti Outreach Program presents a cheery speaker, Tohtori Veli Ylänkö, speaking on "Preparing for death". Musical guests for the evening are Mikko ja Kari, otherwise known as Kaksi miestä ja kitara.
Friday Nov 30, Finland's' 90th independence day gala, at the Granite Club, featuring keynote speaker Ossi Kervinen, Director of Public Relations, Defense Command Finland. Tickets a steal at $100 a pop, but warning, first come first served.
I couldn't make this stuff up.
Saturday Nov 24, Toronto Finnish Theatre Co (sorta like the Finn Brit Players but in reverse, shudder) presents a comedy in Finnish: Suur-Jussilan isännän kompleksi. Don't tell me: a post-modern Seven brothers?
Tuesday Nov 27, Suomi-Koti Outreach Program presents a cheery speaker, Tohtori Veli Ylänkö, speaking on "Preparing for death". Musical guests for the evening are Mikko ja Kari, otherwise known as Kaksi miestä ja kitara.
Friday Nov 30, Finland's' 90th independence day gala, at the Granite Club, featuring keynote speaker Ossi Kervinen, Director of Public Relations, Defense Command Finland. Tickets a steal at $100 a pop, but warning, first come first served.
I couldn't make this stuff up.
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
From sOHIP to nOHIP - cont.
So Mr. O got his OHIP card in the mail today and I didn't get mine! No fair! On the other hand, lucky I shelled out for private health insurance, in case they've actually lost it or something...I wonder how I might go about checking on that, considering I have no receipt or reference number?
E-cas
Browsing the immigration.ca forums I found a thread started by my people - others who have started the application process in October 07. This three-legged race seems to be measured by electronic client application status or e-cas statements, which are valuable yet painfully incomplete little crumbs and fragments of information provided on your file. To access your e-cas you need a client ID number, which I don't have, but that I can apparently get by calling CIC. I'm also expecting a letter of some kind confirming the receipt of my application, that should also state our case number, but who knows how long that might take to arrive.
Now is when I get paranoid about not having my tax forms from Canada, and being rejected as a sponsor on that basis despite my polite letter and Finnish substitution. At least the forum peeps are relatively optimistic about the whole thing, and it will be interesting to see how we all fare in the coming months. Most of them had an update from "received" to "in process" within a few weeks. Let's get this Mr. O show on the road, hmm?
Now is when I get paranoid about not having my tax forms from Canada, and being rejected as a sponsor on that basis despite my polite letter and Finnish substitution. At least the forum peeps are relatively optimistic about the whole thing, and it will be interesting to see how we all fare in the coming months. Most of them had an update from "received" to "in process" within a few weeks. Let's get this Mr. O show on the road, hmm?
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
And now the fun part
According to Canada Post our application arrived in Vegreville on Monday. So now we wait. Current processing time: 2 days. According to the latest estimates on the CIC site, in-Canada permanent residence applications are currently processed in 6 - 7 months, which means April/May 2008, which means we have only 182 - 213 days to go! Shall we open a pool? How many jellybeans in this jar? Pick a date and win!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
That's that, mattress man
Okay, we're done, it's all in an envelope, ready to go tomorrow morning. Tonight was supposed to be quick and easy, just attach the photos and we're done, but it was actually very stressful, like applying to the college of your dreams, intensified 1,000 times. All of the moving and everything we've done up to now is basically dependent on the safe arrival and acceptance of this envelope. If for some reason I'm rejected as a sponsor or our application is otherwise deemed unworthy, we're basically moving back to Finland.
And so it was strange that, amidst all my hyper-organized control-freaking tonight, I found myself suddenly longing to be back there. It was a totally inappropriate moment for an attack of homesickness, if there ever was one. I think I miss the ease of it, the security of the happy impermanence that was life there. I wonder if I should have listened to the part of me that, when we were really actually uprooting and moving, was telling me to stay. I can think of as many neighborhoods there as here that I would love to live in, and I don't need anyone's permission to do so.
I know all of this is knee-jerk against the insecurity of our position here. I have specific goals, dreams, fears for our future, and I don't want to be told that they can't happen based on someone else's idea of of who can live here and who can't. I want a house and a family, and a good job for my man – so we can both have fulfilling careers rather than just one of us. I want a holiday so we can visit his folks or get sun. That's pretty much it. And that's all in this large yet surprisingly skinny envelope. So now I have to mail it and just wait. Ten months or so and then life can begin again. Mail it and figure out what to do in the meantime.
And so it was strange that, amidst all my hyper-organized control-freaking tonight, I found myself suddenly longing to be back there. It was a totally inappropriate moment for an attack of homesickness, if there ever was one. I think I miss the ease of it, the security of the happy impermanence that was life there. I wonder if I should have listened to the part of me that, when we were really actually uprooting and moving, was telling me to stay. I can think of as many neighborhoods there as here that I would love to live in, and I don't need anyone's permission to do so.
I know all of this is knee-jerk against the insecurity of our position here. I have specific goals, dreams, fears for our future, and I don't want to be told that they can't happen based on someone else's idea of of who can live here and who can't. I want a house and a family, and a good job for my man – so we can both have fulfilling careers rather than just one of us. I want a holiday so we can visit his folks or get sun. That's pretty much it. And that's all in this large yet surprisingly skinny envelope. So now I have to mail it and just wait. Ten months or so and then life can begin again. Mail it and figure out what to do in the meantime.
Monday, October 22, 2007
THE CHECKLIST - REVISED
FORMS (which are all online here)
For me:
-Application to Sponsor and Undertaking CHECK
-Sponsorship agreement CHECK
-Sponsorship evaluation CHECK
For him:
-In-Canada Application for Permanent Residence and Schedule 1 CHECK despite Mr. O's swearing at trying to fit all kinds of educational information into tiny little fields (solution: attach an extra sheet) and trying to remember every address he's lived at over the past 10 years – about 10 in 3 or 4 different cities. I can't even remember the address of the last place we lived in
-Spouse/common-law partner questionnaire TK - this one is tricksy, with all kinds of hidden documents required, such as proof of relationship, common residence, etc., so it is really 7 or 8 docs in one.
For both of us:
-Document checklist CHECK (how meta)
PHOTOCOPIES (not certified)
For me:
-proof of Canadian citizenship, i.e. passport or birth certificate CHECK
For him:
-passport (photo page and page with stamp of most recent entry to Canada) CHECK
-indication of status in Canada (i.e. work visa) CHECK
-birth certificate, er, population record CHECK
-original police certificates (i.e. not photocopies) CHECK
-proof of medical examination (copy of receipt) CHECK
For both:
-photocopy of marriage certificate CHECK
-photographs of the marriage, if applicable (huh?)
PHOTOS
-2 of him
PROOF OF INCOME
-a letter from my employer CHECK (delay: 1 week)
-an original Option C printout of my last notice of Assessment for the most recent taxation year along with printouts of all income slips (T4, etc.) CHECK - sort of. Fun with taxes! The nice CRA woman sent me the empty printout of my Canadian record, which unfortunately but understandably still listed me as single. To this I attached a copy of my Finnish tax statement, a translation of that (thanks Kristian!) and a letter explaining it all. (delay: 1 week)
FEES
-receipt from online payment - Following the advice in the guide, this is the last thing we'll do
At least we're getting closer. Each time I sit down I think we'll finish before I get up, but so far it hasn't happened. My docs held us up two weeks, and we still haven't filled in the last few forms.
For me:
-Application to Sponsor and Undertaking CHECK
-Sponsorship agreement CHECK
-Sponsorship evaluation CHECK
For him:
-In-Canada Application for Permanent Residence and Schedule 1 CHECK despite Mr. O's swearing at trying to fit all kinds of educational information into tiny little fields (solution: attach an extra sheet) and trying to remember every address he's lived at over the past 10 years – about 10 in 3 or 4 different cities. I can't even remember the address of the last place we lived in
-Spouse/common-law partner questionnaire TK - this one is tricksy, with all kinds of hidden documents required, such as proof of relationship, common residence, etc., so it is really 7 or 8 docs in one.
For both of us:
-Document checklist CHECK (how meta)
PHOTOCOPIES (not certified)
For me:
-proof of Canadian citizenship, i.e. passport or birth certificate CHECK
For him:
-passport (photo page and page with stamp of most recent entry to Canada) CHECK
-indication of status in Canada (i.e. work visa) CHECK
-birth certificate, er, population record CHECK
-original police certificates (i.e. not photocopies) CHECK
-proof of medical examination (copy of receipt) CHECK
For both:
-photocopy of marriage certificate CHECK
-photographs of the marriage, if applicable (huh?)
PHOTOS
-2 of him
PROOF OF INCOME
-a letter from my employer CHECK (delay: 1 week)
-an original Option C printout of my last notice of Assessment for the most recent taxation year along with printouts of all income slips (T4, etc.) CHECK - sort of. Fun with taxes! The nice CRA woman sent me the empty printout of my Canadian record, which unfortunately but understandably still listed me as single. To this I attached a copy of my Finnish tax statement, a translation of that (thanks Kristian!) and a letter explaining it all. (delay: 1 week)
FEES
-receipt from online payment - Following the advice in the guide, this is the last thing we'll do
At least we're getting closer. Each time I sit down I think we'll finish before I get up, but so far it hasn't happened. My docs held us up two weeks, and we still haven't filled in the last few forms.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Masters of Immigration
Now you can be one too, according to an article on website The Canadian Immigrant. Think they hand out honorary degrees?
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Immigrants helping immigrants
Thanks for your email Carey,
There are several organizations in Toronto that you could contact about volunteer opportunities. You can find their contact details through their websites. These are listed on the CCRMs website at: http://www.ccrweb.ca/eng/links/links.htm#ON
I would suggest contacting:
- COSTI Immigrant Services
- FCJ Refugee Centre
- Catholic Cross Cultural Services
- Matthew House
- Romero House
...among others
I hope that this gives you a good starting point!
Kind regards,
Colleen
At 10:14 AM 21/09/2007, you wrote:
>Hi Colleen,
>
>My husband and I recently moved (back) to Canada; I'm Canadian and he's Finnish. He >volunteered at a refugee centre in Finland in his teens and it changed his life. Now that we've >immigrated ourselves, we're looking for a way to give back. Is there a centre in Toronto
>that could use our help? We speak a few languages and I have my ESL teaching certificate, my >husband has computer skills. But we could just help out around the place, talk with people, >whatever. Please share any contacts you might have. Thanks!
>
>Warm regards,
>Carey
>
>
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database:
>269.13.27/1020 - Release Date: 20/09/2007 12:07 PM
"FAMILY SEPARATION: Who Pays the Cost?"
Participate in our Family Reunification campaign at www.reunification.ca
"LA SÉPARATION DES FAMILLES : qui en paie le coût?"
Participez à notre campagne pour la réunification des familles à
www.reunification.ca
_______________
Colleen French
Communications and Networking Coordinator/
Coordinatrice de la communication et du réseautage
Canadian Council for Refugees/
Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés
6839 Drolet #302
Montréal, QC, H2S 2T1
Tel:514-277-7223 extension/poste 1
Fax: 514-277-1447
email: ccr4@web.ca
website: http://www.web.ca/ccr
There are several organizations in Toronto that you could contact about volunteer opportunities. You can find their contact details through their websites. These are listed on the CCRMs website at: http://www.ccrweb.ca/eng/links/links.htm#ON
I would suggest contacting:
- COSTI Immigrant Services
- FCJ Refugee Centre
- Catholic Cross Cultural Services
- Matthew House
- Romero House
...among others
I hope that this gives you a good starting point!
Kind regards,
Colleen
At 10:14 AM 21/09/2007, you wrote:
>Hi Colleen,
>
>My husband and I recently moved (back) to Canada; I'm Canadian and he's Finnish. He >volunteered at a refugee centre in Finland in his teens and it changed his life. Now that we've >immigrated ourselves, we're looking for a way to give back. Is there a centre in Toronto
>that could use our help? We speak a few languages and I have my ESL teaching certificate, my >husband has computer skills. But we could just help out around the place, talk with people, >whatever. Please share any contacts you might have. Thanks!
>
>Warm regards,
>Carey
>
>
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.488 / Virus Database:
>269.13.27/1020 - Release Date: 20/09/2007 12:07 PM
"FAMILY SEPARATION: Who Pays the Cost?"
Participate in our Family Reunification campaign at www.reunification.ca
"LA SÉPARATION DES FAMILLES : qui en paie le coût?"
Participez à notre campagne pour la réunification des familles à
www.reunification.ca
_______________
Colleen French
Communications and Networking Coordinator/
Coordinatrice de la communication et du réseautage
Canadian Council for Refugees/
Conseil canadien pour les réfugiés
6839 Drolet #302
Montréal, QC, H2S 2T1
Tel:514-277-7223 extension/poste 1
Fax: 514-277-1447
email: ccr4@web.ca
website: http://www.web.ca/ccr
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Fun with taxes
So here's a reversal that reminds me of my first days in Finland: Nice Canadian tax lady bends the rules, grouchy Finnish tax lady toes the line.
I hesitatingly called the CRA last week to ask about the infamous Option C printout and the person on the end of the line was very helpful. Before she could even try to take a printout, which she assumed would be blank but I thought might be useful anyway, she had to update my address, which was a serious task. Akin to changing your PIN number at the bank, changing your address at the Canadian Revenue Agency is a many-stepped process, which involves answering questions about your tax history and other info that, if it is all five-plus years old, is actually very tricky. Because I had no tax history (at least, for the last while) she had to come up with other, security-type questions that only I could answer, in order for the system to let her in to change it. What was my first address in Finland (I could remember the street but not the number)? Where did I live in Toronto before I moved (as in, all three addresses since I started working)? I was feeling a bit embarrassed until she said she was surprised I could remember that much, considering the fragmented state of my file (okay, so she didn't use the word fragmented, exactly). Then I felt better, and she updated my address and sent me the blank form, strongly suggesting I call Finland and get a statement from them. Thanks!
Then I tracked down the international number for the Finnish verotoimisto, and got up bright and early Tuesday morning to call them inside office hours. I had this idea that they would be flexible and accommodating, kind of like your mom, or the owner of a small business. The woman answered in English, but she really didn't seem happy about it. I wasn't so happy to be up at that time either, but we choked our way through a short convo, the gist of which was that a) a statement of my 2006 income was already in the mail, as per their usual schedule, to my Toronto address, and b) no, it wasn't in English, nor could they send me an English version. And that was that, no negotiation. Kiitos, hei hei.
So the thing arrived yesterday, and now the next delay will be to get it translated. I can either scan it and send it to my dear friend in Finland, or figger out a place to get it done here. Either way, it'll be another week before we can send Mr. O's application.
I hesitatingly called the CRA last week to ask about the infamous Option C printout and the person on the end of the line was very helpful. Before she could even try to take a printout, which she assumed would be blank but I thought might be useful anyway, she had to update my address, which was a serious task. Akin to changing your PIN number at the bank, changing your address at the Canadian Revenue Agency is a many-stepped process, which involves answering questions about your tax history and other info that, if it is all five-plus years old, is actually very tricky. Because I had no tax history (at least, for the last while) she had to come up with other, security-type questions that only I could answer, in order for the system to let her in to change it. What was my first address in Finland (I could remember the street but not the number)? Where did I live in Toronto before I moved (as in, all three addresses since I started working)? I was feeling a bit embarrassed until she said she was surprised I could remember that much, considering the fragmented state of my file (okay, so she didn't use the word fragmented, exactly). Then I felt better, and she updated my address and sent me the blank form, strongly suggesting I call Finland and get a statement from them. Thanks!
Then I tracked down the international number for the Finnish verotoimisto, and got up bright and early Tuesday morning to call them inside office hours. I had this idea that they would be flexible and accommodating, kind of like your mom, or the owner of a small business. The woman answered in English, but she really didn't seem happy about it. I wasn't so happy to be up at that time either, but we choked our way through a short convo, the gist of which was that a) a statement of my 2006 income was already in the mail, as per their usual schedule, to my Toronto address, and b) no, it wasn't in English, nor could they send me an English version. And that was that, no negotiation. Kiitos, hei hei.
So the thing arrived yesterday, and now the next delay will be to get it translated. I can either scan it and send it to my dear friend in Finland, or figger out a place to get it done here. Either way, it'll be another week before we can send Mr. O's application.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
THE CHECKLIST
FORMS (which are all online here)
For me:
-Application to Sponsor and Undertaking CHECK
-Sponsorship agreement CHECK
-Sponsorship evaluation CHECK
For him:
-In-Canada Application for Permanent Residence and Schedule 1
-Spouse/common-law partner questionnaire
For both of us:
-Document checklist
PHOTOCOPIES (not certified)
For me:
-proof of Canadian citizenship, i.e. passport or birth certificate
For him:
-passport (photo page and page with stamp of most recent entry to Canada)
-indication of status in Canada (i.e. work visa)
-birth certificate
-original police certificates (i.e. not photocopies) CHECK
-proof of medical examination (copy of receipt) CHECK
For both:
-photocopy of marriage certificate
-photographs of the marriage, if applicable (huh?)
PHOTOS
-2 of him
PROOF OF INCOME
-a letter from my employer
-an original Option C printout of my last notice of Assessment for the most recent taxation year along with printouts of all income slips (T4, etc.) *this one will be tricky as I haven't been living in Canada, will call the Canada Revenue Agency and get back to you...
Okay, so we're not actually almost ready to go. Good thing I checked the checklist...
For me:
-Application to Sponsor and Undertaking CHECK
-Sponsorship agreement CHECK
-Sponsorship evaluation CHECK
For him:
-In-Canada Application for Permanent Residence and Schedule 1
-Spouse/common-law partner questionnaire
For both of us:
-Document checklist
PHOTOCOPIES (not certified)
For me:
-proof of Canadian citizenship, i.e. passport or birth certificate
For him:
-passport (photo page and page with stamp of most recent entry to Canada)
-indication of status in Canada (i.e. work visa)
-birth certificate
-original police certificates (i.e. not photocopies) CHECK
-proof of medical examination (copy of receipt) CHECK
For both:
-photocopy of marriage certificate
-photographs of the marriage, if applicable (huh?)
PHOTOS
-2 of him
PROOF OF INCOME
-a letter from my employer
-an original Option C printout of my last notice of Assessment for the most recent taxation year along with printouts of all income slips (T4, etc.) *this one will be tricky as I haven't been living in Canada, will call the Canada Revenue Agency and get back to you...
Okay, so we're not actually almost ready to go. Good thing I checked the checklist...
Doctor doctor
Mr. O went for his official government medical examination yesterday, as required by the CIC. When he booked the appointment, the clerk asked him to be sure to bring the right form (which, though it's labelled correctly, somehow doesn't seem to be the right form, but anyway), as well as ID (which nowadays means passport plus one of several official pieces of paper with address, just in case), his work visa, his glasses and/or contact lenses, and three passport photos (the CIC site says four, the clerk says three, you decide). Oh yeah, and 150 bucks.
The place was one of a list of sanctioned offices here in TO, but that didn't mean it wasn't a bit sketchy. First of all, and this is a minor thing, but speaks to the level of infrastructure in general, the place only accepts cash – no credit or debt card reader in sight. In general the overhead was a bit low, especially the X-ray lab, where he wasn't given a protective vest and the machine looked about 30 years out of date. The worst bit, though, was the lab tech who kinda missed his vein, causing his arm to swell up somewhat ominously – albeit temporarily – on the way out.
The doc keeps the form and mails it to the CIC office in Vegreville, AB, where all in-Canada spousal apps are sent. Mr. O was given a receipt, which, as we understand it, will be enough proof to include with our application, which is otherwise pretty much ready to go, except for the fees, which we'll pay just before we send it (you never know). Otherwise, we would have to wait at least three weeks, which is the time it takes for the medical exam to be processed - this from the doctor, who asked my O to call back after that period of time to get his very own case file number to confirm that the medical information had been successfully processed. Why this goes through the doctors offices, instead of directly from the CIC to the applicant, is unclear.
The place was one of a list of sanctioned offices here in TO, but that didn't mean it wasn't a bit sketchy. First of all, and this is a minor thing, but speaks to the level of infrastructure in general, the place only accepts cash – no credit or debt card reader in sight. In general the overhead was a bit low, especially the X-ray lab, where he wasn't given a protective vest and the machine looked about 30 years out of date. The worst bit, though, was the lab tech who kinda missed his vein, causing his arm to swell up somewhat ominously – albeit temporarily – on the way out.
The doc keeps the form and mails it to the CIC office in Vegreville, AB, where all in-Canada spousal apps are sent. Mr. O was given a receipt, which, as we understand it, will be enough proof to include with our application, which is otherwise pretty much ready to go, except for the fees, which we'll pay just before we send it (you never know). Otherwise, we would have to wait at least three weeks, which is the time it takes for the medical exam to be processed - this from the doctor, who asked my O to call back after that period of time to get his very own case file number to confirm that the medical information had been successfully processed. Why this goes through the doctors offices, instead of directly from the CIC to the applicant, is unclear.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Moyo and the cucumber (OT)
Moyo is our cat. The first night she arrived she caught a tiny little mouse, scaring away the rest of the mice forever. Since then she has been forced to hunt other, more easily available prey, such as cucumbers.
From sOHIP to nOHIP
I haven't posted in ages, but not for lack of things to be ungrateful about. Just as Mr. O was scheming ways to make the most of his time "off" and endear himself to the local industry (take on graphic and web design projects for free and hence legally without a permit, take a professional development course to get something local on his CV), the one-month culture shock kicked in – big time. Two weeks ago on our way to work Mr. O crashed his bike, doing a somersault over the handlebars and landing on his arm and head (with helmet, luckily). Acting on impulse (and knowledge of head injuries) I hauled him bleeding and dizzy into a cab to the emergency at the nearest hospital. We arrived to an empty waiting room, and a nurse who took his credit card information and had him sign forms before receiving any medical attention. Of course, our nOHIP doesn't kick in for three months from the time of application, which means some time at the end of November. In the meantime, we had assumed that our respective work insurance policies would cover any emergencies; nope, they also carry a three-month probationary clause. So Mr. O forked over 430$ for a three-and-a-half hour wait, a blood-pressure check, and a bandaid and headrub from a medical student. By the time I tracked him down on the phone he was ready to leave, not only from the pain (he had been given no painkiller and had seen no doctor), but also because the people who were already waiting before him had also not been treated, including one woman who started to cry, and because he hadn't had any food or water since arriving at the hospital.
I remember feeling rather haughty watching Morgan Spurlock trying to get basic medical treatment in the US (after all, Mr. O's injuries were non-life threatening) but I can do so no longer. The Canadian "social welfare" system is all but non-existent for new Canadians. For those of you who raise their eyebrows at my claims, try to imagine moving to a country with no police force. That's how it strikes someone coming from a functional social welfare system into Canada.
To be fair, we were warned to buy health insurance before coming to Canada. The main reason we didn't was because we thought our work insurance would cover us. At that point Mr. O already had the job, although had not yet laid eyes on his contract nor on his insurance policy – but he did know that there was one. It's surprising to me that a company that brings in foreign workers doesn't provide for their welfare once they arrive. It is also of note that we are paying taxes during this period, though for what, I've yet to see with my own eyes.
So this was Mr. O's entree into "culture shock." I talked to a fellow importer of foreign men (read: man) and she said her import was experiencing a similar tendency to hide away and just flat out hate this new place for a little while. As for me, I am only slightly better off, having shelled out another 450$, this time to Manulife, for "Visitors to Canada insurance" a variation on travel insurance designed for liminal folks like us. Word to the wise: get it before it gets you. This, and a verbal agreement with Mr. O that we are not committed to staying here for any length of time, is the compromise we've arrived at. The idea that we had made a mistake coming here at all crossed my mind for the first time.
After disappearing into our little house of a hole for a week or so (coming out for work and food only) we were feeling better. Mr. O has a scar in the shape of a guy driving a tractor on his left elbow, and a bruise the size of a field underneath. But he has also completed a rite of passage: he has tasted the wrath of Toronto's viciously slippery and cruel streetcar tracks, which means he is officially a Local Cyclist.
I remember feeling rather haughty watching Morgan Spurlock trying to get basic medical treatment in the US (after all, Mr. O's injuries were non-life threatening) but I can do so no longer. The Canadian "social welfare" system is all but non-existent for new Canadians. For those of you who raise their eyebrows at my claims, try to imagine moving to a country with no police force. That's how it strikes someone coming from a functional social welfare system into Canada.
To be fair, we were warned to buy health insurance before coming to Canada. The main reason we didn't was because we thought our work insurance would cover us. At that point Mr. O already had the job, although had not yet laid eyes on his contract nor on his insurance policy – but he did know that there was one. It's surprising to me that a company that brings in foreign workers doesn't provide for their welfare once they arrive. It is also of note that we are paying taxes during this period, though for what, I've yet to see with my own eyes.
So this was Mr. O's entree into "culture shock." I talked to a fellow importer of foreign men (read: man) and she said her import was experiencing a similar tendency to hide away and just flat out hate this new place for a little while. As for me, I am only slightly better off, having shelled out another 450$, this time to Manulife, for "Visitors to Canada insurance" a variation on travel insurance designed for liminal folks like us. Word to the wise: get it before it gets you. This, and a verbal agreement with Mr. O that we are not committed to staying here for any length of time, is the compromise we've arrived at. The idea that we had made a mistake coming here at all crossed my mind for the first time.
After disappearing into our little house of a hole for a week or so (coming out for work and food only) we were feeling better. Mr. O has a scar in the shape of a guy driving a tractor on his left elbow, and a bruise the size of a field underneath. But he has also completed a rite of passage: he has tasted the wrath of Toronto's viciously slippery and cruel streetcar tracks, which means he is officially a Local Cyclist.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Service Ontario rules
No, that's not a typo, nor a sarcastic headline. I have nothing to complain about today. Yesterday we went to College Park to apply for sOHIP and it was fast and easy.
Okay, I might complain that it was my second trip there, after an aborted attempt on Friday afternoon before which I failed to RTFM and double check the required docs, so came with a VISA statement from the bank instead of a chequing or savings account statement, lease, or other proof of address (arbitrary, yes; negotiable, no) and was sent packing – but for that I have nobody to blame but myself. To add insult to my personal injury (surely it was personal) I witnessed a gentleman urinating into the recycling bin on our way out. Oh shit, I thought, the wait times must be brutal. Poor guy's been here for hours and is so terrified of missing his turn that he just pissed in the garbage can.
So I came back yesterday with low expectations. But the system works quite well, if you speak English, at least. They have hired some interns to stand at the door and direct people to various reception desks, at which they do a preliminary check of your documents (at which point I was rejected last Friday) and give you a number. According to the sOHIP site: "Your eligibility for Ontario health coverage is not determined by whether you have a job or are unemployed, or where you pay your income tax. It is based solely on your meeting one of the above citizenship or immigration categories and on you making your permanent and principal home in Ontario." Then you go sit in a big room of chairs and wait. The place is clean, cooled, and relatively quiet, compared at least to the zoo up the street at 900 Bay where we spent three sweltering days before and after our wedding to get a fast-track marriage certificate back in the day (full disclosure: without checking the address I went there first on Friday, only to find they had moved). This room is much bigger, and you don't have to line up in the hallway (bonus!). We waited for about 30 minutes on a Monday afternoon. The clerk was friendly and jokey and they seem to have a good working system for taking your photo, etc. It was all over before we knew it.
Now, the real wait is for three months before the sOHIP kicks in. I can't figure out why they impose this little quarantine period (the site doesn't elaborate), but it requires you to either buy private insurance or keep your fingers crossed. We both have medical coverage from our employers, so we're okay, but I'm sure plenty of other people are left without anything but luck for the first 90 days. Which sucks. There, something to complain about, finally.
Okay, I might complain that it was my second trip there, after an aborted attempt on Friday afternoon before which I failed to RTFM and double check the required docs, so came with a VISA statement from the bank instead of a chequing or savings account statement, lease, or other proof of address (arbitrary, yes; negotiable, no) and was sent packing – but for that I have nobody to blame but myself. To add insult to my personal injury (surely it was personal) I witnessed a gentleman urinating into the recycling bin on our way out. Oh shit, I thought, the wait times must be brutal. Poor guy's been here for hours and is so terrified of missing his turn that he just pissed in the garbage can.
So I came back yesterday with low expectations. But the system works quite well, if you speak English, at least. They have hired some interns to stand at the door and direct people to various reception desks, at which they do a preliminary check of your documents (at which point I was rejected last Friday) and give you a number. According to the sOHIP site: "Your eligibility for Ontario health coverage is not determined by whether you have a job or are unemployed, or where you pay your income tax. It is based solely on your meeting one of the above citizenship or immigration categories and on you making your permanent and principal home in Ontario." Then you go sit in a big room of chairs and wait. The place is clean, cooled, and relatively quiet, compared at least to the zoo up the street at 900 Bay where we spent three sweltering days before and after our wedding to get a fast-track marriage certificate back in the day (full disclosure: without checking the address I went there first on Friday, only to find they had moved). This room is much bigger, and you don't have to line up in the hallway (bonus!). We waited for about 30 minutes on a Monday afternoon. The clerk was friendly and jokey and they seem to have a good working system for taking your photo, etc. It was all over before we knew it.
Now, the real wait is for three months before the sOHIP kicks in. I can't figure out why they impose this little quarantine period (the site doesn't elaborate), but it requires you to either buy private insurance or keep your fingers crossed. We both have medical coverage from our employers, so we're okay, but I'm sure plenty of other people are left without anything but luck for the first 90 days. Which sucks. There, something to complain about, finally.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Mistake?
So after a little run-in with our new Canadian bank last night (nota bene: don't online/telephone bank when tired and a wee bit drunk) I think we had our first moment of Movers Regret. Actually it started earlier in the day, as Mr. O read through his contract and came to the conclusion that labour law in Canada favours businesses over workers, a depressing thought when your presence in the country is largely dependent on your employer.
Then we had a bit of a scrap over nothing as we walked all the way up my new favourite street, carrying a bedside table, over just how much Mr. O can vent about his new homeland and just how much I can take before I have to take the defensive on its behalf. Actually, it might sound like I'm defending my country (such a tough phrase) but really I'm defending our decision to move here, which, really, given the late night attack of MR I'm obviously still not 100 percent in favour of. Which, if I run with it, makes me wonder what the hell we're doing amassing furniture and adopting cats (who insist on kicking their litter boxes all over the floor, but that's veering off topic a bit).
I'm willing to chalk at least half of this rotten moody mood to the fact that it's gray and about 99 percent humidity today. My shirt was soaked just walking to the (closed till 2 pm) movie store. But I am obliged to mention that said movie store is quite possibly the most fantastic movie store next to which I've ever had the privilege of living, and without a doubt beats the hell out of any Makuuni. I love that everything in my new hood is open on Sunday and closed on Monday (who doesn't feel that way?) and that I can get organic Bronto Burgers and fresh raisin bread from the bakery and the lady at the Polish butcher with the broken Interac machine just offered to let me pay her next time. I love the 125 year old houses and jaywalking and how everybody is from some place else. I remember why Finland felt so barren when I first arrived there. And everybody knows the Big 5 banks suck anyway, so fuck it, we're going to the Finnish Credit Union.
Then we had a bit of a scrap over nothing as we walked all the way up my new favourite street, carrying a bedside table, over just how much Mr. O can vent about his new homeland and just how much I can take before I have to take the defensive on its behalf. Actually, it might sound like I'm defending my country (such a tough phrase) but really I'm defending our decision to move here, which, really, given the late night attack of MR I'm obviously still not 100 percent in favour of. Which, if I run with it, makes me wonder what the hell we're doing amassing furniture and adopting cats (who insist on kicking their litter boxes all over the floor, but that's veering off topic a bit).
I'm willing to chalk at least half of this rotten moody mood to the fact that it's gray and about 99 percent humidity today. My shirt was soaked just walking to the (closed till 2 pm) movie store. But I am obliged to mention that said movie store is quite possibly the most fantastic movie store next to which I've ever had the privilege of living, and without a doubt beats the hell out of any Makuuni. I love that everything in my new hood is open on Sunday and closed on Monday (who doesn't feel that way?) and that I can get organic Bronto Burgers and fresh raisin bread from the bakery and the lady at the Polish butcher with the broken Interac machine just offered to let me pay her next time. I love the 125 year old houses and jaywalking and how everybody is from some place else. I remember why Finland felt so barren when I first arrived there. And everybody knows the Big 5 banks suck anyway, so fuck it, we're going to the Finnish Credit Union.
New view
The view from Church and Wellesley (19th floor) tonight. Note that most of the traditional skyline (CN Tower, etc) is totally obscured by clouds.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Fully furnished
At last, things are slowing down a bit. It took a full week to finish painting the bedroom, living room and kitchen after we moved in last Wednesday, which meant yesterday we could start unpacking boxes. No really, the previous tenants put a lot of time and effort into painting the place three or four shades of brown. The bedroom was sponged and spackled to resemble a Du Maurier cigarette, which took three coats of tooth-bleach white to cover. When we weren't painting we were driving around the city – make that province – collecting various pieces of furniture. First was the bed, which involved a long trek up Bathurst all the way from Queens Quay to Sheppard (which is parallel to Pearson airport, for those like me who forget how huge this city is) and then all the way back down Yonge (after scoring a parking ticket in North York, one more reason never to go back there) the literal turning point being Mel Lastman Square, which I had always heard of but never seen. It was actually an interesting little tour, in our very rattly U-haul van, on some of the patchiest roads I've seen in Canada, through some phenomenal neighbourhoods. At the same time, Toronto feels more manageable now than it did when I lived here in the nineties. We've both changed.
We also made some new friends collecting kitchen stuff from a couple who are moving to South Africa – more on that below. Then on Saturday we took an east-west tour up along the lake to Kingston to collect a Danish teak dining room set from the grandparents of one of my closest friends. It's a nice drive considering it's on such a nasty freeway, and every now and then Lake Ontario peeks out from between maple covered hills, reminding you of the rest of the world outside the Big Smoke. The table is the only thing we've acquired so far in our little recycling project which has a real story attached to it that I'm aware of, and it's nice to keep things like that more or less in the family. And it's beautiful, in perfect condition. I've never had a real piece of furniture before...
Since then we've also had a chance to check out the strip of Dundas west of our place. It has the feel of the main street in a small town, with a handful of random corner markets, a mechanic, a spectacular organic vegetarian cafe, a coffee shop and a bank. It also has its fair share of junk shops and a few great furniture places, many of which rescue and refurbish old stuff. In general I think we've landed in the right place. We found a perfectly good espresso maker at a junk store, and a vacuum at a cheap electronics place, plus a large stripped and unfinished dresser from an ornery old dude called Ray, who lent us his dolly to wheel it home.
So the place is a little less hollow than it was last week. The finishing touch is Moyo, a tiny black cat we adopted from the couple moving to S. Africa. We brought her home last night and within three hours she'd caught a mouse – the primary reason we'd considered getting a cat, given our proximity to the train yards. She thought she'd found the ultimate plaything and batted it around until we took it outside (where it was immediately claimed by a bird who was less playful, I think). Since then she's been looking for it frantically, and woke us up several times last night to ask if we'd seen it. But when I came home this afternoon to find her crashed out on the bed, it really started to feel like home.
We also made some new friends collecting kitchen stuff from a couple who are moving to South Africa – more on that below. Then on Saturday we took an east-west tour up along the lake to Kingston to collect a Danish teak dining room set from the grandparents of one of my closest friends. It's a nice drive considering it's on such a nasty freeway, and every now and then Lake Ontario peeks out from between maple covered hills, reminding you of the rest of the world outside the Big Smoke. The table is the only thing we've acquired so far in our little recycling project which has a real story attached to it that I'm aware of, and it's nice to keep things like that more or less in the family. And it's beautiful, in perfect condition. I've never had a real piece of furniture before...
Since then we've also had a chance to check out the strip of Dundas west of our place. It has the feel of the main street in a small town, with a handful of random corner markets, a mechanic, a spectacular organic vegetarian cafe, a coffee shop and a bank. It also has its fair share of junk shops and a few great furniture places, many of which rescue and refurbish old stuff. In general I think we've landed in the right place. We found a perfectly good espresso maker at a junk store, and a vacuum at a cheap electronics place, plus a large stripped and unfinished dresser from an ornery old dude called Ray, who lent us his dolly to wheel it home.
So the place is a little less hollow than it was last week. The finishing touch is Moyo, a tiny black cat we adopted from the couple moving to S. Africa. We brought her home last night and within three hours she'd caught a mouse – the primary reason we'd considered getting a cat, given our proximity to the train yards. She thought she'd found the ultimate plaything and batted it around until we took it outside (where it was immediately claimed by a bird who was less playful, I think). Since then she's been looking for it frantically, and woke us up several times last night to ask if we'd seen it. But when I came home this afternoon to find her crashed out on the bed, it really started to feel like home.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Landing
We left Helsinki yesterday at about 4 pm, holding our breath as we loaded our overweight luggage (read: bursting at the seams) and two bicycles onto the rack. The nice Finnair guy was the first in a series of helpful people that made everything go as smoothly as possible, averting his eyes from the weight meter and sending it all through without extra charges.
The flight itself was like a holiday; after three weeks of chaos there was nothing to do but sit still, read, sleep. We arrived and the border guard sent us into immigration, where we were led into a drab cubicle by a young blonde officer who was likely younger than either of us. She asked Mr. O a few questions, entered his employment info and address into her computer, and stapled his permit into his passport. The whole thing was over in 10 minutes. On the way out a woman at a welcome desk gave us an application for OHIP and a social insurance number.
What took us longer than anything was getting our luggage. Even after our interview the ramp hadn't moved an inch (okay, I'm already speaking imperial again) and after we collected our bags our bikes were still nowhere to be found. Another nice Finnair guy took down our info and sent us through to secondary customs, where I presented my list of goods to follow, mandatory for all returning residents. While we were adding up my grand total the same Finnair guy came running through to announce that our bikes had arrived, and Mr. O followed him back to the luggage area to bring them in with a porter. By the time they reappeared I had finished with the customs officer and was waiting with our two-cart caravan by the door. At this point, just metres from the exit, I started to feel excited for the first time all day. We had made it.
In general the process was smooth and easy for us. I noticed thought that others weren't always having such an easy time of it, as officers asked questions that people couldn't answer, most often in languages they barely understood. Our friends waiting on the other side asked an immigration rep how long it would take for us to make it through the whole process, to which the optimistic reply was, "Oh, three hours, easy." It did take us about three hours from landing to leave the parkade, but that was more due to the brilliant organization of the GTAA than to any immigration hold-up.
The flight itself was like a holiday; after three weeks of chaos there was nothing to do but sit still, read, sleep. We arrived and the border guard sent us into immigration, where we were led into a drab cubicle by a young blonde officer who was likely younger than either of us. She asked Mr. O a few questions, entered his employment info and address into her computer, and stapled his permit into his passport. The whole thing was over in 10 minutes. On the way out a woman at a welcome desk gave us an application for OHIP and a social insurance number.
What took us longer than anything was getting our luggage. Even after our interview the ramp hadn't moved an inch (okay, I'm already speaking imperial again) and after we collected our bags our bikes were still nowhere to be found. Another nice Finnair guy took down our info and sent us through to secondary customs, where I presented my list of goods to follow, mandatory for all returning residents. While we were adding up my grand total the same Finnair guy came running through to announce that our bikes had arrived, and Mr. O followed him back to the luggage area to bring them in with a porter. By the time they reappeared I had finished with the customs officer and was waiting with our two-cart caravan by the door. At this point, just metres from the exit, I started to feel excited for the first time all day. We had made it.
In general the process was smooth and easy for us. I noticed thought that others weren't always having such an easy time of it, as officers asked questions that people couldn't answer, most often in languages they barely understood. Our friends waiting on the other side asked an immigration rep how long it would take for us to make it through the whole process, to which the optimistic reply was, "Oh, three hours, easy." It did take us about three hours from landing to leave the parkade, but that was more due to the brilliant organization of the GTAA than to any immigration hold-up.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Listless
The Canadian Border Services Agency have a page of info dedicated to lucky souls moving back to Canada. This page describes in reasonable detail how to properly declare all the foreign spoils you're bringing back into the country with you. Lucky for us, everything we have to import (including our now-infamous 18 boxes, which arrived six days ahead of schedule) falls under personal effects, on which we aren't required to pay any tax. At the bottom of this page is a reference – not a link (?) – to a document lovingly named B4. B4 is a Personal Effects Accounting Document which all returning residents need to complete and present to the border guard when returning to Canada. Goods sent ahead or afterward need to be listed separately from those which you bring with you when you come, and everything needs a description, value, and even serial number (if applicable). Since I know you're all curious folk, here's my list:
PROPERTY LIST
SENT IN ADVANCE
-175 used books (value 600 CAD)
-binders, papers, instructional materials (value 0)
-2 blankets (value 100 CAD)
-2 board games (value 20 CAD)
-2 photo albums (value 0)
-6 picture frames (value 10 CAD)
-5 magazines (value 0)
-3 notebooks (value 10 CAD)
-personal office supplies (value 10 CAD)
-1 toy camera (value 25 CAD – purchased in Canada 2001)
-1 optical mouse (value 20 CAD)
-1 set watercolour paints (value 0)
-4 glass candleholders (value 20 CAD)
-2 small boxes of souvenirs (value 0)
-1 costume wig (value 10 CAD)
-120 audio CDs (value 200 CAD)
-14 DVDs (value 200 CAD)
-1 pr headphones (value 50 CAD)
-1 KORG EA-1 synthesizer (value X CAD)
-1 KORG ER-1 synthesizer (value X CAD)
-1 KORG synthesizer keyboard
-1 pr M-Audio monitor speakers
-1 x-Session DJ controller
-1 Hercules DJ controller
-1 Ableton Live computer software
-1 M-Audio Midisport interface
-20 audio/video cables
-1 Archos MP3 records
-1 Sanyo digital voice recorder
-1 Kodak Super8 film splicer
-25 reels Super8 home films
-1 Canon 514XL-S Canosound Super8 film camera
-72 vinyl records
-1 2-person MEC tent
-2 sleeping bags
-1 wool poncho
-12 wine glasses
-8 ceramic dishes
-2 large Iittala glass vases
-1 small Iittala glass dish
-1 small glass teapot
-2 glass mugs
-7 painted glass cups
-3 metal tins
-2 Iittala glass goblets
-1 large metal Iittala dish
-2 Japanese sushi knives
-15 ceramic mugs and cups (Arabia Finland)
-1 stainless steel salt and pepper
-1 stainless steel cream and sugar
-40 pc. stainless steel silverware
-1 knife sharpener
-6 small plates
-6 dinner plates
-12 ceramic bowls
-1 stainless steel shot glass
-1 wooden box
-3 ceramic plant feeders
-2 small glasses
-1 glass bottle
-1 small felt mat
-1 small wooden tray
-1 metal paperweight
-1 egg timer
-1 ceramic soap dish
-1 small box sewing notions (scissors, pins, thread, etc.)
-4 video games
-personal photographs, letters
-6 pairs gloves
-2 scarves
-4 hats
-2 dresses
-1 ski suit
-1 winter jacket
-9 women’s handbags
-4 men’s ties
-2 men’s suits
-4 towels
-3 jackets
-3 shawls
-2 housecoats
-1 men’s pajamas
-19 plastic clothes hangers
-6 pairs women’s shoes
-3 pairs boots
-2 pairs hiking boots
-4 women’s sweaters
-1 pair ski pants
-2 sets long underwear
-25 Xmas ornaments
-4 Xmas stockings
-2 men’s winter jackets
-10 fridge magnets
-1 laptop bag
-1 screwdriver set
-1 feather boa
-candy
-2 sets curtains
IMPORTED WITH ME:
-1 Apple Powerbook G4 laptop computer (2000CAD)
-1 4GB iPod mini (200 CAD)
-1 Samsung SGH-D900 mobile phone (400 CAD)
-1 Panasonic LUMIX DMC LX-2 digital camera (600 CAD)
-1 Nikon F-55 film camera (300 CAD)
-2 diamond wedding rings (1000 CAD)
-1 CROSS black metal fountain pen (100 CAD)
-1 PEUGEOT women’s 21-speed bicycle (400 CAD- purchased in Canada 2000)
-12 pairs women’s pants
-2 umbrellas
-1 large crocheted blanket
-11 skirts
-25 t-shirts
-6 blouses
-3 bikinis
-50 undergarments
-1 pr slippers
-15 women’s sweaters
-5 handbags
-3 pr sunglasses
-7 pairs women’s shoes
-3 hats
-6 dresses
-22 data CDs
-personal documents, keepsakes, costume jewelry
-toiletries, makeup
-prescription medicines (birth control pills, minor infections)
-6 pr contact lenses
The funny thing (aside from the whole stupidly long and embarrassing list of stuff I just listed for the world to see, that is) as those of you who couldn't resist downloading it from the link provided above will notice, is that B4 provides exactly 6 lines in which to list this information. Since the page clearly states that "Goods that arrive later will qualify for free importation under your entitlement as a former resident only if they are on your list," I have to assume they don't want me to summarize. At first I planned on simply tagging a full list onto the form, but then I found B4's longer, lankier brother, B4A. B4A is exactly what I was looking for, a nice long page of empty fields where I can list my egg timers (you know that one was just for fun, a la Cpn Hook) and costume accessories in roomy comfort – note that page [blank] of [blank] at the top right! In fact I'm a bit hurt that the CBSA tried to hide him from me under the guise of a related yet separate yet equally obscure file name. So I mention him here to save you the trouble, should you ever suffer from overly long lists someday. Ta.
PROPERTY LIST
SENT IN ADVANCE
-175 used books (value 600 CAD)
-binders, papers, instructional materials (value 0)
-2 blankets (value 100 CAD)
-2 board games (value 20 CAD)
-2 photo albums (value 0)
-6 picture frames (value 10 CAD)
-5 magazines (value 0)
-3 notebooks (value 10 CAD)
-personal office supplies (value 10 CAD)
-1 toy camera (value 25 CAD – purchased in Canada 2001)
-1 optical mouse (value 20 CAD)
-1 set watercolour paints (value 0)
-4 glass candleholders (value 20 CAD)
-2 small boxes of souvenirs (value 0)
-1 costume wig (value 10 CAD)
-120 audio CDs (value 200 CAD)
-14 DVDs (value 200 CAD)
-1 pr headphones (value 50 CAD)
-1 KORG EA-1 synthesizer (value X CAD)
-1 KORG ER-1 synthesizer (value X CAD)
-1 KORG synthesizer keyboard
-1 pr M-Audio monitor speakers
-1 x-Session DJ controller
-1 Hercules DJ controller
-1 Ableton Live computer software
-1 M-Audio Midisport interface
-20 audio/video cables
-1 Archos MP3 records
-1 Sanyo digital voice recorder
-1 Kodak Super8 film splicer
-25 reels Super8 home films
-1 Canon 514XL-S Canosound Super8 film camera
-72 vinyl records
-1 2-person MEC tent
-2 sleeping bags
-1 wool poncho
-12 wine glasses
-8 ceramic dishes
-2 large Iittala glass vases
-1 small Iittala glass dish
-1 small glass teapot
-2 glass mugs
-7 painted glass cups
-3 metal tins
-2 Iittala glass goblets
-1 large metal Iittala dish
-2 Japanese sushi knives
-15 ceramic mugs and cups (Arabia Finland)
-1 stainless steel salt and pepper
-1 stainless steel cream and sugar
-40 pc. stainless steel silverware
-1 knife sharpener
-6 small plates
-6 dinner plates
-12 ceramic bowls
-1 stainless steel shot glass
-1 wooden box
-3 ceramic plant feeders
-2 small glasses
-1 glass bottle
-1 small felt mat
-1 small wooden tray
-1 metal paperweight
-1 egg timer
-1 ceramic soap dish
-1 small box sewing notions (scissors, pins, thread, etc.)
-4 video games
-personal photographs, letters
-6 pairs gloves
-2 scarves
-4 hats
-2 dresses
-1 ski suit
-1 winter jacket
-9 women’s handbags
-4 men’s ties
-2 men’s suits
-4 towels
-3 jackets
-3 shawls
-2 housecoats
-1 men’s pajamas
-19 plastic clothes hangers
-6 pairs women’s shoes
-3 pairs boots
-2 pairs hiking boots
-4 women’s sweaters
-1 pair ski pants
-2 sets long underwear
-25 Xmas ornaments
-4 Xmas stockings
-2 men’s winter jackets
-10 fridge magnets
-1 laptop bag
-1 screwdriver set
-1 feather boa
-candy
-2 sets curtains
IMPORTED WITH ME:
-1 Apple Powerbook G4 laptop computer (2000CAD)
-1 4GB iPod mini (200 CAD)
-1 Samsung SGH-D900 mobile phone (400 CAD)
-1 Panasonic LUMIX DMC LX-2 digital camera (600 CAD)
-1 Nikon F-55 film camera (300 CAD)
-2 diamond wedding rings (1000 CAD)
-1 CROSS black metal fountain pen (100 CAD)
-1 PEUGEOT women’s 21-speed bicycle (400 CAD- purchased in Canada 2000)
-12 pairs women’s pants
-2 umbrellas
-1 large crocheted blanket
-11 skirts
-25 t-shirts
-6 blouses
-3 bikinis
-50 undergarments
-1 pr slippers
-15 women’s sweaters
-5 handbags
-3 pr sunglasses
-7 pairs women’s shoes
-3 hats
-6 dresses
-22 data CDs
-personal documents, keepsakes, costume jewelry
-toiletries, makeup
-prescription medicines (birth control pills, minor infections)
-6 pr contact lenses
The funny thing (aside from the whole stupidly long and embarrassing list of stuff I just listed for the world to see, that is) as those of you who couldn't resist downloading it from the link provided above will notice, is that B4 provides exactly 6 lines in which to list this information. Since the page clearly states that "Goods that arrive later will qualify for free importation under your entitlement as a former resident only if they are on your list," I have to assume they don't want me to summarize. At first I planned on simply tagging a full list onto the form, but then I found B4's longer, lankier brother, B4A. B4A is exactly what I was looking for, a nice long page of empty fields where I can list my egg timers (you know that one was just for fun, a la Cpn Hook) and costume accessories in roomy comfort – note that page [blank] of [blank] at the top right! In fact I'm a bit hurt that the CBSA tried to hide him from me under the guise of a related yet separate yet equally obscure file name. So I mention him here to save you the trouble, should you ever suffer from overly long lists someday. Ta.
Preloading (warning OT)
There's this theory that you can beat jetlag by simply readjusting your daily routine to match that of your destination. We are putting this to the test this week, in the interests of science, of course, as well as the interests of stamina, as, well, if we thought this week was hard...basically our whole move up to this point has been focused on the goal of this Sunday, when we get on the plane and arrive in TO on the other end. What we're now realizing is that this purported goal was really more like a halfway point between two states of inertia known as Normal Life.
You know, moving sucks, but really at the moment it's the social life that's killing me. Since my last post I have met with, eaten/drank/drank more with, and bid farewell to approximately 77 people, and while each individual meeting has been very important and meaningful, as a mass the process has been emotionally and physically exhausting. A girl can only withstand so many lunch/patio/dinner/midnight swimming dates in a single day...and yes, I do take full responsibility for each and every one.
Our official going-away party was last weekend, and involved forty-odd happy, beautiful people, a rooftop patio with sauna and grill, and a whole lot of sunshine. I am personally proud of my new cava-marathon record, a whopping seven hours of steady, measured consumption! It was, if I do say so myself, a total blowup, and everyone had too much fun. I had a chance to stuff my friends full of food and drink and kind words and get plenty of same in return. This part of leaving is like a drug, it feels wonderful at the time but ultimately leaves you a bit low.
The last two days have been mad with running around, completing a billion tiny tasks one at a time, like returning library books, returning emails, taking old clothes to the donation box, mailing last-minute boxes (BTW our July 31 boxes arrived in TO Aug 9, a full six days ahead of schedule!), dropping off borrowed dishes, etc, etc, etc. I have mastered the art of round trips, heading out the door with as much as I can carry and hitting two or three spots in one go. Between each round is a coffee/beer/glass of wine with someone I won't be seeing for an indefinite period of time. It is wonderful and terrible and completely exhausting.
What is really causing my vertigo though is the realisation that on the opposite side of this perpetual downhill ride a whole other set of parties, hellos, family, jobs, apartments, furniture, and general mayhem awaits. Both of my parents called me today, reminding me of the world that exists beyond the gate at the airport. I have been so busy here that I completely forgot to inform either of them of our schedule, address in TO, etc.
I would recommend at least a month off on either side of flight day for anyone attempting this kind of transatlantic migration; I finished work last Friday, Aug 3 – ahem – which would make this week the first of my holiday/unemployment. I ate lunch at 4.30 today, and had crackers for dinner. I am too busy to put on sunscreen (and Helsinki is HOT). But despite the exhaustion and melancholy I am deliriously happy.
You know, moving sucks, but really at the moment it's the social life that's killing me. Since my last post I have met with, eaten/drank/drank more with, and bid farewell to approximately 77 people, and while each individual meeting has been very important and meaningful, as a mass the process has been emotionally and physically exhausting. A girl can only withstand so many lunch/patio/dinner/midnight swimming dates in a single day...and yes, I do take full responsibility for each and every one.
Our official going-away party was last weekend, and involved forty-odd happy, beautiful people, a rooftop patio with sauna and grill, and a whole lot of sunshine. I am personally proud of my new cava-marathon record, a whopping seven hours of steady, measured consumption! It was, if I do say so myself, a total blowup, and everyone had too much fun. I had a chance to stuff my friends full of food and drink and kind words and get plenty of same in return. This part of leaving is like a drug, it feels wonderful at the time but ultimately leaves you a bit low.
The last two days have been mad with running around, completing a billion tiny tasks one at a time, like returning library books, returning emails, taking old clothes to the donation box, mailing last-minute boxes (BTW our July 31 boxes arrived in TO Aug 9, a full six days ahead of schedule!), dropping off borrowed dishes, etc, etc, etc. I have mastered the art of round trips, heading out the door with as much as I can carry and hitting two or three spots in one go. Between each round is a coffee/beer/glass of wine with someone I won't be seeing for an indefinite period of time. It is wonderful and terrible and completely exhausting.
What is really causing my vertigo though is the realisation that on the opposite side of this perpetual downhill ride a whole other set of parties, hellos, family, jobs, apartments, furniture, and general mayhem awaits. Both of my parents called me today, reminding me of the world that exists beyond the gate at the airport. I have been so busy here that I completely forgot to inform either of them of our schedule, address in TO, etc.
I would recommend at least a month off on either side of flight day for anyone attempting this kind of transatlantic migration; I finished work last Friday, Aug 3 – ahem – which would make this week the first of my holiday/unemployment. I ate lunch at 4.30 today, and had crackers for dinner. I am too busy to put on sunscreen (and Helsinki is HOT). But despite the exhaustion and melancholy I am deliriously happy.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Friday
I had a grand plan of documenting the fantastic growing pile of boxes through photos but at some point after Friday (which was, I am well aware, five whole days ago now) I cleverly packed away my camera so this is all you get. Try to visualize, though, if you will, a total of seven of those little plastic blue ones plus six of those smaller brown cardboard ones, plus that one enormous cardboard meanie, plus a couple oddly shaped extras, and you'll have an idea of what we took to Posti yesterday. I also wish I had a photo of the expression on the guy at the counter's face as he added it all up. Those of you who wish to guess at the final cost (the actual retail price without going over) are welcome to do so, but I'll give you a hint: it was about one-fifth the worth of the actual goods inside. Which is actually a good argument for shipping (i.e. burning oil) rather than replacing (i.e. filling landfill).Between then and now we had a two-day long marathon of a garage sale at our house, through which we availed ourselves of the great majority of our worldly possessions (read: Mr. O's bachelor furniture, my espresso machine, one nice lamp and a pile of junk), avoiding both the aforementioned environmental crimes and providing us with fuzzy feelings all over to think of our old things in happy new homes. Luckily we supplemented our bargain-basementing with a heavy dose of nightlife, which meant that by the time Monday rolled around I was right shattered and ready for a nice relaxing day off. And so I started packing the rest of our stuff to move out Tuesday.
Tuesday was the really busy day, starting at 10 with a trip to the cafe for a latte (no espresso machine!) in the pouring rain. Mr. O went to get the truck and we loaded up the dregs of our sale to take to the recycling centre, which also takes broken appliances, etc. If I wasn't moving away, I would have spent some serious time rummaging around in there, but as it was I had to live vicariously through the guys who snatched up Mr. O's abandoned crates of records (I know) like sea gulls on an ice cream cone. Then we came back for the load bound for Canada and spent two hours at Posti filling in customs forms and watching the staff throw our boxes around (did I mention that I ROCK at packing?). Then it was back for the rest of the furniture, some of which went to a friend and some came to stay at the place we're living now – so we have another two weeks with our own bed, washing machine, and coffee table. Uncanny, really.
I can't remember the last time I was this tired. But we arrived at our temporary home safe and sound last night, nestled between the cheap&good Italian place and the bowling alley. Phew.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
It's only been 46 years...
As I work my two beloved jobs right through the summer (no posh Finnish six-week vacation for this freelancer with no job waiting in TO), Mr. O has been crossing things off a long list. One of these has been The Documents, which first had to be translated (traded a friend's services for our big off-white shag wool rug), and then notarized, legalized, etc. at three or four different offices, which is not only a big pain in the ass, but also expensive. According to Mr. O, the Notary Public in Finland charges €6 per document, then the Foreign Ministry of Finland charges €20 per document, and then the Canadian Embassy (God bless 'em) charges $50, which is about €35 per document. For five documents (the bare minimum) the grand total is 305 euros, or 436.67 CAD. This turned out to be the reason behind the recent muttering and one ranting email...and I had to admit it seemed a bit exorbitant.
Most countries avoid this kind of extortionist Brazilian bureaucracy (the film, not the country) with a fancy little thing called the Hague Convention of 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. (If that kind of thing makes you hot you can read the full text.) Pretty much everybody and their mother, certainly the rest of the formerly-known-as-the Commonwealth, has signed this puppy, like, before I was born. But not my motherland. Nope, apparently the provinces have their own special ways of notarizing things (everybody gets their own stamp) and the federal government body known as DFAIT has been slaving tirelessly for the past 46 years to push it through on the federal level. If that's the kind of thing that gets you hot, you can read the weird PDF.
So let's recap:
2 certificates for getting an Ontario driver's licence
+1 spotless criminal record
+2 population data records
________________________
Nearly the same price as our second-hand, mint condition, queen-sized Sealy Posturepedic Sweet Escape Eurotop (Health Plus) mattress, giftwrapped in an allergen/spill protection cover and purchased in advance today from a nice girl on Craigslist. And I'll have that mattress for at least 46 years.
Most countries avoid this kind of extortionist Brazilian bureaucracy (the film, not the country) with a fancy little thing called the Hague Convention of 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents. (If that kind of thing makes you hot you can read the full text.) Pretty much everybody and their mother, certainly the rest of the formerly-known-as-the Commonwealth, has signed this puppy, like, before I was born. But not my motherland. Nope, apparently the provinces have their own special ways of notarizing things (everybody gets their own stamp) and the federal government body known as DFAIT has been slaving tirelessly for the past 46 years to push it through on the federal level. If that's the kind of thing that gets you hot, you can read the weird PDF.
So let's recap:
2 certificates for getting an Ontario driver's licence
+1 spotless criminal record
+2 population data records
________________________
Nearly the same price as our second-hand, mint condition, queen-sized Sealy Posturepedic Sweet Escape Eurotop (Health Plus) mattress, giftwrapped in an allergen/spill protection cover and purchased in advance today from a nice girl on Craigslist. And I'll have that mattress for at least 46 years.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Keepin it in the family
So a few months back, as I told her about our plans to furnish our new place completely in recycled and vintage furniture, appliances, etc., my GTA born-and-bred girl Alli mentioned that her grandparents were moving out of their place, and might have a big old table for us. With grandparents it can go either way, but Alli doesn't seem the type to have shelves of china dogs in her family so I asked her to send photos. The attached is a bit blurry, but just look at the line on that leg. 25+ years old, solid Danish teak. Closed, the whole thing is as long as I am, while opened it could fit all eight of my brothers and sisters plus Mr. O and myself comfortably. You'll also notice a matching sideboard – how I love it when things come with matching sideboards! Needless to say Alli is happy to keep it in the family, and we are proud to have our very first piece of grownup furniture, complete with history, no assembly required. Anybody willing and able to lend a hand to drag the beast home from Kingston will earn him- or herself a place around it, fo sho.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Packing day
As of today our apartment (all whopping 60m2 of it) has been divided into two camps: keeping and leaving. The keeping camp is, theoretically at least, smaller and more precious than the leaving side, which is a side only metaphorically, as it includes all of our furniture, which will remain evenly dispersed across the aforementioned tiny territory that is our home for another 17 days.
In fact the whole thing is barely a metaphor at the moment, but hopefully as the week progresses a clearer picture will emerge...ordering boxes on Monday and somehow doubting that the original 10 will be enough. We have, to be blunt, a whole lot of crap. I am, right now, publicly declaring that I shall not be purchasing another item of clothing or footwear before I leave. Nor books. Not a one. So there. But I'm not at the sacrifice-making point yet. We're going to Pori Jazz next weekend, after which the real line will be drawn. In fact, my whole schema for life is now divided into Things I Need to Do Before PJ and Things That Can Be Done Afterward. It's been working quite well, thus far, as anybody who knows me knows how much I loathe moving. Ironic, masochistic even, but true.
At least that nagging feeling that this is all a huge, horrible mistake has disappeared. Helsinki has been beautiful this summer and I've been, ahem, drinking it all in, taking midnight bike rides, seeing beautiful friends, etc., so I think that that's made it easier, actually. We just spent a week in the archipelago which has also left me very appreciative and zen. I'm still sorry to leave, of course, but I'm also getting very excited to arrive...
In fact the whole thing is barely a metaphor at the moment, but hopefully as the week progresses a clearer picture will emerge...ordering boxes on Monday and somehow doubting that the original 10 will be enough. We have, to be blunt, a whole lot of crap. I am, right now, publicly declaring that I shall not be purchasing another item of clothing or footwear before I leave. Nor books. Not a one. So there. But I'm not at the sacrifice-making point yet. We're going to Pori Jazz next weekend, after which the real line will be drawn. In fact, my whole schema for life is now divided into Things I Need to Do Before PJ and Things That Can Be Done Afterward. It's been working quite well, thus far, as anybody who knows me knows how much I loathe moving. Ironic, masochistic even, but true.
At least that nagging feeling that this is all a huge, horrible mistake has disappeared. Helsinki has been beautiful this summer and I've been, ahem, drinking it all in, taking midnight bike rides, seeing beautiful friends, etc., so I think that that's made it easier, actually. We just spent a week in the archipelago which has also left me very appreciative and zen. I'm still sorry to leave, of course, but I'm also getting very excited to arrive...
Friday, July 13, 2007
One month and counting
I have been a bad immigrant, out bike riding instead of in blogging. Time has been moving fast, and yesterday we passed the one-month-left mark while wrapping up a week at a tiny sauna cabin on the Finnish archipelago.
No rest for the wicked, however, and things have been moving along; we have an apartment, apparently, although the landlord hasn't mailed us the lease or cashed our deposit cheque yet, so hopefully it will still be there when we land. We've also sold almost all of our furniture, and expect more to go at our sale. We gave up our lease on our flat here in Helsinki and will move into a friend's place around the corner on August 1. I think I'm going to keep my phone number till August 15th or so. What am I forgetting?
No rest for the wicked, however, and things have been moving along; we have an apartment, apparently, although the landlord hasn't mailed us the lease or cashed our deposit cheque yet, so hopefully it will still be there when we land. We've also sold almost all of our furniture, and expect more to go at our sale. We gave up our lease on our flat here in Helsinki and will move into a friend's place around the corner on August 1. I think I'm going to keep my phone number till August 15th or so. What am I forgetting?
Monday, June 25, 2007
Trust me
I took a week off from being ungrateful to celebrate Mr. O's work visa and the Midsummer holiday here in Finland. But the fact remains that, with less than seven weeks to go till landing, I am still apartmentless and jobless.
The apartment hunt has been consuming more of my energy these days. So I'm checking viewit.ca, craigslist, and myriad other sites of various reach and quality twice a day, every day, for the past 10 days or so. Originally we had thought of getting a furnished temp place for the first two weeks while Mr. O starts work and I shop for jobs and furniture, etc. Something private with a wireless net connection starts at around 500 CAD/week, while at the other end of the spectrum you have places targeted directly at immigrants, which are typically out in the middle of nowhere and priced accordingly.
So we decided to do neither and find a permanent lease starting August 1 instead. The extra advantage to this is that we'd have an address before we left to give to CIC and Posti, while the downside is that we won't have any furniture so we'll be camping out in our sleeping bags [better than a tent - Ed.] – if we can find a place, that is. Our budget is a bit tight for a two-bedroom place, and while I lived in numerous super-sketchy Toronto neighbourhoods in the nineties, I think I've been spoiled by low Finnish crime rates since then.
So pickings are slim to start, and as if that weren't enough, we have discovered that we are not, be still my beating ego, the most ideal tenants. Landlords typically want to look potentials in the eyes before agreeing to anything, which is understandable but no less frustrating when you're trying to set something up remotely. We've been roping various friends into going to flats to scout for us ("Test the water pressure!") but so far haven't even gotten that far, as places are whisked out from under our noses. Our strategy was to offer a few months' extra cash upfront, to compensate for the lack of local credit/references/bank info, but we haven't found that to work yet either. I can almost hear their eyes glazing over when I mention Finland -- if I were in their shoes I might rather avoid the extra hassle of foreignness too. Little do they know that under our foreign skins we are budding bourgeoisie with considerable savings and dreams of worm composting, maybe the odd patio party. Sigh.
But all is not lost. Last night we found a possibility in the Junction, which is apparently a trendy area despite the fact that you have to take a bus to the centre, managed by the world's most laid-back landlord ever. So if our local representatives find it acceptable, all of this might be moot by the time you read it. I'll keep you posted.
The apartment hunt has been consuming more of my energy these days. So I'm checking viewit.ca, craigslist, and myriad other sites of various reach and quality twice a day, every day, for the past 10 days or so. Originally we had thought of getting a furnished temp place for the first two weeks while Mr. O starts work and I shop for jobs and furniture, etc. Something private with a wireless net connection starts at around 500 CAD/week, while at the other end of the spectrum you have places targeted directly at immigrants, which are typically out in the middle of nowhere and priced accordingly.
So we decided to do neither and find a permanent lease starting August 1 instead. The extra advantage to this is that we'd have an address before we left to give to CIC and Posti, while the downside is that we won't have any furniture so we'll be camping out in our sleeping bags [better than a tent - Ed.] – if we can find a place, that is. Our budget is a bit tight for a two-bedroom place, and while I lived in numerous super-sketchy Toronto neighbourhoods in the nineties, I think I've been spoiled by low Finnish crime rates since then.
So pickings are slim to start, and as if that weren't enough, we have discovered that we are not, be still my beating ego, the most ideal tenants. Landlords typically want to look potentials in the eyes before agreeing to anything, which is understandable but no less frustrating when you're trying to set something up remotely. We've been roping various friends into going to flats to scout for us ("Test the water pressure!") but so far haven't even gotten that far, as places are whisked out from under our noses. Our strategy was to offer a few months' extra cash upfront, to compensate for the lack of local credit/references/bank info, but we haven't found that to work yet either. I can almost hear their eyes glazing over when I mention Finland -- if I were in their shoes I might rather avoid the extra hassle of foreignness too. Little do they know that under our foreign skins we are budding bourgeoisie with considerable savings and dreams of worm composting, maybe the odd patio party. Sigh.
But all is not lost. Last night we found a possibility in the Junction, which is apparently a trendy area despite the fact that you have to take a bus to the centre, managed by the world's most laid-back landlord ever. So if our local representatives find it acceptable, all of this might be moot by the time you read it. I'll keep you posted.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
In business
Subject: RE: Case Specific Enquiry
Dear Ms. Ojanen,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Please note that your Work Permit has been issued and was mailed to you on 08 June 2007. This document should be received by you shortly.
Sincerely,
Client Services
Immigration Division, LDN
###
Okay, I am so willing to overlook the fact that they mistook Mr. O for a girl. A small price to pay, really. Just gimme the paper, yo!
Dear Ms. Ojanen,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Please note that your Work Permit has been issued and was mailed to you on 08 June 2007. This document should be received by you shortly.
Sincerely,
Client Services
Immigration Division, LDN
###
Okay, I am so willing to overlook the fact that they mistook Mr. O for a girl. A small price to pay, really. Just gimme the paper, yo!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Extra points for bringing me brownies
MoJo tells of the American shift to a Canada-style point system. The strange choice they've made in the bill, however, is to replace the broader family class system (kids and spouses can still get in) with a worker class system. Why not have both?
Friday, June 1, 2007
Anywhere but
I know that Canada's international reputation is on the wane, thanks to our pathetic record on the environment and some rather high-profile deportation cock-ups, but this site is right up my ungrateful alley: a full-on hate-on for immigration to Canada in general.
Yes, the site is extreme [borderline crazy talk - Ed.], calling Canada an apartheid state, and it takes about three minutes to become repulsed by the ranting and move on. But it's also obvious that the people who have created it are very angry, and there are some good reasons for that, as well. Why are there so many doctors working as cab drivers in TO? Mr. O's theory is that the point system raises the expectations of those who score well and then assume they'll find work based on the fact that they're in the "urgently needed" category, only to arrive and discover they need further training to get licensed, which they can't afford. Part of this is the fault of the applicant, of course, for not researching the licensing requirements before coming, but part of the fault could also be seen as the "false promise" of the point system. A bit of research on both sides might be worthwhile, considering the time and expense of immigrating in the first place.
Yes, the site is extreme [borderline crazy talk - Ed.], calling Canada an apartheid state, and it takes about three minutes to become repulsed by the ranting and move on. But it's also obvious that the people who have created it are very angry, and there are some good reasons for that, as well. Why are there so many doctors working as cab drivers in TO? Mr. O's theory is that the point system raises the expectations of those who score well and then assume they'll find work based on the fact that they're in the "urgently needed" category, only to arrive and discover they need further training to get licensed, which they can't afford. Part of this is the fault of the applicant, of course, for not researching the licensing requirements before coming, but part of the fault could also be seen as the "false promise" of the point system. A bit of research on both sides might be worthwhile, considering the time and expense of immigrating in the first place.
To CAIPS or not to CAIPS
From CAIPS FileCheck:
"What is CAIPS?
CAIPS is short for 'Computer Assisted Immigration Processing System'. It is the computer system used by Citizenship & Immigration Canada to process visa applications, and holds all the information on the current status of every immigration application being processed by overseas offices (i.e. those outside of Canada).
Why is this interesting?
If you are not applying for a Canadian visa, then caips notes are of no interest to you! If you have applied to emigrate to Canada with a PR visa - as a skilled worker, business applicant/investor or as a spouse or other family member of someone already in Canada - then, with our help, you can obtain a copy of your CAIPS report and find out what has happened to your application so far, and get an indication of what will happen next with your file, and when. For more detailed information on what is in CAIPSnotes, see our sample CAIPSfiles. The system also holds information on work permits, study permits and visitor visas, and we can also apply for these reports on your behalf
Should I get my file?
There are many situations where you may want to get your CAIPS file. If you have been asked to attend an interview, then you should definitely get your notes to find out why the interview was requested, so that you can be well prepared for the interview. Any reputable immigration consultant would request the client's notes in this circumstance.
Also, if you feel that your application is taking longer than usual, or you have not heard anything from the visa office for a surprisingly long time, then you should consider getting your CAIPS notes to check that your application is on track. We have often tracked unexplained delays down to missing letters or documents which have been highlighted as soon as the file is obtained. For example, CIC may have written to an applicant requesting additional references, educational transcripts or language tests.
Finally if you have any other worry about your application status or progress, or are just generally curious as to what has happened so far, then you can get your CAIPSnotes to put your mind at rest."
Very tempting...prices are tiered according to level of desperation and correlated to ability to decipher a print-out from an "old fashioned terminal based program...not designed for reading on paper."
LOL
Canada to speed up work permits
22 March 2007
Full disclosure: Mr. O's translation job isn't on the list - but his LMO slid right on through. The bottleneck is at the CIC, where four weeks becomes six weeks becomes...any minute now...
22 March 2007
The Canadian government has recently announced some more changes to its Temporary Foreign Worker Programme (TFWP)
These changes could further speed up processing times for work permit applications.
Following on from the introduction of Regional Occupations Under Pressure lists for Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia earlier this year - designed to speed up applications for work permits for positions included on these lists - the Canadian government has now said that from the beginning of April employers will be able to submit applications for a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) online. A positive LMO is needed from Service Canada before Citizenship and Immigration Canada will approve a work permit application.
It is hoped that by granting employers more power to get the work permit application in motion sooner, processing times could be expedited by around three weeks.
Another key change made to the TFWP is the government's decision to extend the length of time a work permit holder may stay employed in Canada. Previously, temporary foreign workers would have had to leave Canada after 12 months for four months, and then re-apply to go back and work in the country. It will now be possible for a work permit holder to stay for up to 24 months without the need to request an extension.
"Employers who have exhausted their search for Canadian workers often need to hire temporary workers to work for a period longer than a year," explained immigration minister Monty Solberg upon announcing the changes. "Today's announcement will allow this to happen," he added.
It seems, then, that as far as work permits are concerned the Canadian government is doing its utmost to avoid the kind of backlogs that can currently be witnessed through the Skilled Worker category.
(From emigrate2.co.uk)Full disclosure: Mr. O's translation job isn't on the list - but his LMO slid right on through. The bottleneck is at the CIC, where four weeks becomes six weeks becomes...any minute now...
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Still waiting
The Immigration section of the CHC London website has been given a wee makeover, and the processing times have been extended in the process...This may very well explain why Mr. O has yet to hear anything back on his temporary work permit application, which he sent in the middle of April. At that time the average wait time was 28 days, so he would be hearing back right about now. Whether he got in before or after the bell we can only wait to find out. An email request for a status update hasn't even received a so-called "automatic" reply, so barring any typos on our side, not very encouraging.
That said, today is Sunday, and, just as the bus always comes when you light a cigarette and the phone always rings when you're on the toilet, I hope that by posting this today I'll naturally be proven wrong in tomorrow's mail.
That said, today is Sunday, and, just as the bus always comes when you light a cigarette and the phone always rings when you're on the toilet, I hope that by posting this today I'll naturally be proven wrong in tomorrow's mail.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Something to look forward to
A few weeks old but timeless, really. Thanks, R.M. Vaughan.
"...all the bad things the rest of the country says about Toronto are so wonderfully, refreshingly true: It's trashy, dirty, dangerous, rude and full of itself."
Read the whole article
"...all the bad things the rest of the country says about Toronto are so wonderfully, refreshingly true: It's trashy, dirty, dangerous, rude and full of itself."
Read the whole article
Shedding extra tonnes
Funny the things that get you. Mr. O sold our car last night, our cute little fuel-efficient black Renault Clio, and even though we had it for only a year and it was by no means one of my most cherished possessions, and even though nobody was born or died in there, and really cars are sort of the devil anyway, I still felt that naked, floating sensation of loss, like I had instantly shed a few pounds. [Sell that car and ride your bike instead and you will lose a few pounds - Ed.] I know this is just the beginning of the process, but the point is that it has begun. With a car.I hate driving in strange cities where I don't know where I'm going. I will never drive in Calgary again, for instance. So driving in Helsinki was a bit of a trip for me; I was 'from' here and I knew where I was going and even got myself unlost once or twice. I was driving home from the airport the other day listening to Bassoradio and between cheap, derivative West Coast rap songs I realized that I could understand everything the mic-abusing DJs were saying. At the same time I have to admit that this connection between driving and belonging most definitely marks me as a Ca-merican rather than a Finn-opean.
While on driving, I have to take this opportunity to vent about the Gilliamesque system of licence renewal in Ontario. I had a brush with this monster before leaving, when my bag was snatched at Industry (this was a long, long time ago) and I had to replace my Alberta DL with an Ontario one. Now that has expired, and despite the fact that we will be sans auto for the foreseeable future, we will both have to take driver's tests in order to get cards. This comes as a surprise considering that Canada and Finland are both part of the same international agreement by which one country's licence can be exchanged for the other; at least that's how it worked when I moved here, no test, no nothing. I'd almost be better off keeping my Finnish licence (to get my Canadian card back I'll have to exchange it at the police station here) or getting an international licence.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Don't call us, we'll call you
Found item: Canadian High Commission London website:
"NOTE: We will NOT respond to case status enquiries unless the following period of time has elapsed from the date we receive an application: Skilled Worker, Entrepreneur, Investor, Self-employed: 45 months"
...45 months???
Mr. O adds: "There's another note on the website asking people who have applied ages ago to update their application now, because they've made changes to the laws meanwhile, even though they haven't been able to process the applications yet."
That is some serious backlog...
"NOTE: We will NOT respond to case status enquiries unless the following period of time has elapsed from the date we receive an application: Skilled Worker, Entrepreneur, Investor, Self-employed: 45 months"
...45 months???
Mr. O adds: "There's another note on the website asking people who have applied ages ago to update their application now, because they've made changes to the laws meanwhile, even though they haven't been able to process the applications yet."
That is some serious backlog...
Monday, May 7, 2007
The good news, part 2
Sometimes the best way to get things done is not to try -- to say to hell with it and throw a dinner party instead. The girls came over on Friday and in between drinks and dinner they'd called dibs on our bed, our table, and our espresso machine, all of which will be going up for sale with the rest of Mr. O's old bachelor furniture when we move out of this place come end of July.
Did somebody say end of July? Yep, we don't have to pay August rent on this place (which, as of last night, I sort of hate, as they REFUSE to turn the heat off in the building and we have no thermostat) because my lovely, talented friend Minna the video artist is living in residence on Suomenlinna this summer and needs someone to take her place for two weeks at the start of August, which is pretty much freaking perfect timing. Minna is also buying our coffee table.
So yeah, aside from the 12-hour hangover on Saturday, a very productive weekend. Anybody need a couch?
Did somebody say end of July? Yep, we don't have to pay August rent on this place (which, as of last night, I sort of hate, as they REFUSE to turn the heat off in the building and we have no thermostat) because my lovely, talented friend Minna the video artist is living in residence on Suomenlinna this summer and needs someone to take her place for two weeks at the start of August, which is pretty much freaking perfect timing. Minna is also buying our coffee table.
So yeah, aside from the 12-hour hangover on Saturday, a very productive weekend. Anybody need a couch?
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Things to do in Finland before I die -- I mean, move
-Walk on the ramparts at Suomenlinna
-Nude beach at Pihlajasaari (with my 'mos)
-Siivikkala to see Karri's old 'hood [check! -Ed.]
-a week with my man at the sauna cabin in Kustavi
-Bike ride to Kallahti
-Lintsi!
-Find me some nice Finnish art
-Fancy-pants graduation dinner at Saari
-Trip to the old homestead in Herttoniemi
-Climb the Olympiastadion tower
-BBQ at Mustikkamaa (yes Virginia, that means Blueberryland)
-Basketball
-Stock up
-A summer's day in Tampere
-Hakaniemenhalli and kauppatori
-Fiskars with my moms when she comes in June
-Hot air balloon TOMORROW
-Cheap trip to Copenhagen [check! -Ed.]
-Cheap literary pilgrimage to Dublin
-Cheap party pilgrimage to Berlin (and the last of our carbon-combusting weekends for a long, long while)
-Nude beach at Pihlajasaari (with my 'mos)
-Siivikkala to see Karri's old 'hood [check! -Ed.]
-a week with my man at the sauna cabin in Kustavi
-Bike ride to Kallahti
-Lintsi!
-Find me some nice Finnish art
-Fancy-pants graduation dinner at Saari
-Trip to the old homestead in Herttoniemi
-Climb the Olympiastadion tower
-BBQ at Mustikkamaa (yes Virginia, that means Blueberryland)
-Basketball
-Stock up
-A summer's day in Tampere
-Hakaniemenhalli and kauppatori
-Fiskars with my moms when she comes in June
-Hot air balloon TOMORROW
-Cheap trip to Copenhagen [check! -Ed.]
-Cheap literary pilgrimage to Dublin
-Cheap party pilgrimage to Berlin (and the last of our carbon-combusting weekends for a long, long while)
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Waiting waiting...
Mr. O is patiently waiting to hear back from the High Commission in London about his temporary work visa. He sent the LMO + application + fee (a banker's cheque for 150 CAD that the bank here charged him 20 euros to cut -- nobody uses cheques here any more -- why not allow an EU bank transfer between Finland and the UK for FREE? Anyway.) about two weeks ago and it shouldn't take more than a month. About 12 days ago he was ridiculing Royal mail for taking so long to deliver the package. About a week ago he wondered out loud if he could call them to check, since it had been 10 days, hadn't it? Afraid of raising the ire of underpaid and overworked public servants who might take pleasure in slipping an annoying applicant's file to the bottom of the pile (who would do such a thing?!), I told him to chill.
He's not just manic though. Since Finns take their summer holidays very seriously, usually firms here ask their employees to inform them of their holiday plans right after Mayday, which would be right about now. Rather than get into the whole deal with his boss, he gave the dates according to our optimistic plan that he gets the visa and it's all good. Positive thinking et cetera. If he doesn't get it (and there. is. no. reason. why. he. wouldn't.) we had planned that he could take his vacation later, come with me to TO to find an apartment, visit the family etc., and then come back and work for a bit. Which would suck, even by Plan B standards.
So I'm all playing it cool, because I know it's going to be fine, and then my friend in Copenhagen tells me about how the CIC in Ottawa totally botched her application for her son's citizenship certificate, stupid things like spelling his name wrong on the document, screwing up the postal code, etc. In the end it took 18 months or so to get the document, just because of a typo. Not exactly encouraging. It makes me wonder about the people who work there, what sort of hours they work, what they get paid, etc. Mr. O will disagree I'm sure, but Finnish names are kinda hard to spell. And I know from my rewarding experiences with Royal Bank Visa that Canadian input systems don't like funny European address formats. Hmm. I think I'll go distract myself with something else now...
He's not just manic though. Since Finns take their summer holidays very seriously, usually firms here ask their employees to inform them of their holiday plans right after Mayday, which would be right about now. Rather than get into the whole deal with his boss, he gave the dates according to our optimistic plan that he gets the visa and it's all good. Positive thinking et cetera. If he doesn't get it (and there. is. no. reason. why. he. wouldn't.) we had planned that he could take his vacation later, come with me to TO to find an apartment, visit the family etc., and then come back and work for a bit. Which would suck, even by Plan B standards.
So I'm all playing it cool, because I know it's going to be fine, and then my friend in Copenhagen tells me about how the CIC in Ottawa totally botched her application for her son's citizenship certificate, stupid things like spelling his name wrong on the document, screwing up the postal code, etc. In the end it took 18 months or so to get the document, just because of a typo. Not exactly encouraging. It makes me wonder about the people who work there, what sort of hours they work, what they get paid, etc. Mr. O will disagree I'm sure, but Finnish names are kinda hard to spell. And I know from my rewarding experiences with Royal Bank Visa that Canadian input systems don't like funny European address formats. Hmm. I think I'll go distract myself with something else now...
Thursday, April 26, 2007
If you run out of room write on the back of this sh
Found item: Form IMM-5562 "Supplementary information - Your travels
List all trips you, and if applicable, your family members have taken outside your country of origin or of residence in the last ten years (or since your 18th birthday if this was less than ten years ago). Include all trips: tourism, business, training, etc. If you or your family member did not travel outside of your country during this period, check 'did not travel'"
Required only for those applying to the Paris office ie. Not Us. Thank god. Even if we could remember every trip we'd taken in the past five years (never mind 10) and even if we had more than four lines to write on, it would be none of their goddamn business.
List all trips you, and if applicable, your family members have taken outside your country of origin or of residence in the last ten years (or since your 18th birthday if this was less than ten years ago). Include all trips: tourism, business, training, etc. If you or your family member did not travel outside of your country during this period, check 'did not travel'"
Required only for those applying to the Paris office ie. Not Us. Thank god. Even if we could remember every trip we'd taken in the past five years (never mind 10) and even if we had more than four lines to write on, it would be none of their goddamn business.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
One less thing
I handed in my thesis today. Yes, the thesis that I spontaneously decided to take on four years ago, thereby lengthening my stay here indefinitely; the thesis that has kept us here till now, as the last Thing To Do before we could move home. Not that I'm in any huge rush - I'm quite happy to enjoy the city thesis-free for a few months before leaving. Guilt-free afternoons on the terassi? No, kyllä!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Give it away, give it away, give it away now
Since Mr. O is currently in the process of cataloguing and selling hundreds of old records (I mean those dusty crates from 1994 that are all labelled "DJ Kashmir" that he thought he'd be giving to his children as an inheritance) I am playing fair and going through my books. I figure four boxes of books (160 pounds worth) is a bit much to ship home *whimper* as much as I hate to get rid of anything. I have amassed a lovely collection of vintage paperbacks (Penguin oranges, Faber and Faber classics) from used book stores in Amsterdam, Stratford, and yes, Toronto, that I smuggled onto my cheap IKEA bookshelf here over the years, and I'm not going to part with those, so many of my Elizabeth Bishop critical works are going into a box in Grandma and Grandpa O's garage for now (thank you Bonnie Costello, University of Harvard Press; it's nothing personal) to be claimed at a later date. I'm also making a bit of wiggle room by dumping Don McKellar movies on VHS and by burning all of our DVDs onto a hard drive and selling the discs for super cheap. Moving is at present the driving factor in our digital shift...
But I'm not cheating my way through this, and I managed to clear out a whole box worth of books (*muffled sob*). I know you're all wondering: what am I giving away? A short list of sacrifices:
*Eudora Welty The Optimist's Daughter - standard Vintage paperback bought at a flea market for 50 cents
*Finland - The Northern Experience, New Europe and the Next Millenium
*Carol Shields' Jane Austen bio
*An extra copy of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
*Jamaica Kincaid Annie John -- Postcolonial 101 but a hideous edition
*Pietro Aretino The School of Whoredom -- Ill-chosen book club casualty
*Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
*A Discovery guide to Mauritius
*A cheap edition of Dorian Gray
*The Rough Guide to Techno
* JM Coetzee's Youth (I'm wavering on this one, it was a gift)
*The Paris Review # 177 (with Shakespeare and co. stamp)
*Confessions of an Opium Eater (you would think it's interesting but it's kind of not)
*A Taschen mini coffee table book on Berlin interiors
*Simone de Beauvoir Today (today being 1982)
*Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (I love East-coast girls with boy names)
*A lovely looking book called Monsoon Diary that Mr. O gave me and I never read
*The Writing Life by Annie Dillard that I think I "borrowed" from Kali
*A falling-apart Penguin Vanity Fair
*A falling-apart Penguin Ovid's Erotic Poems that was found inexplicably amongst digital marketing textbooks at my former workplace that I thought I could give a good home...I was wrong
*The United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2003
*MG Vassanji's The In-between World of Vikram Lall in hardcover (apologies to Morgan)
*Anthony Bourdain in Finnish translation Kobraa Lautasella
*A free chapbook from a Kiasma exhibit
Okay, so maybe not a sacrifice after all, but a much-needed spring cull. It's Round 2 that will be the bitch...
But I'm not cheating my way through this, and I managed to clear out a whole box worth of books (*muffled sob*). I know you're all wondering: what am I giving away? A short list of sacrifices:
*Eudora Welty The Optimist's Daughter - standard Vintage paperback bought at a flea market for 50 cents
*Finland - The Northern Experience, New Europe and the Next Millenium
*Carol Shields' Jane Austen bio
*An extra copy of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
*Jamaica Kincaid Annie John -- Postcolonial 101 but a hideous edition
*Pietro Aretino The School of Whoredom -- Ill-chosen book club casualty
*Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
*A Discovery guide to Mauritius
*A cheap edition of Dorian Gray
*The Rough Guide to Techno
* JM Coetzee's Youth (I'm wavering on this one, it was a gift)
*The Paris Review # 177 (with Shakespeare and co. stamp)
*Confessions of an Opium Eater (you would think it's interesting but it's kind of not)
*A Taschen mini coffee table book on Berlin interiors
*Simone de Beauvoir Today (today being 1982)
*Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (I love East-coast girls with boy names)
*A lovely looking book called Monsoon Diary that Mr. O gave me and I never read
*The Writing Life by Annie Dillard that I think I "borrowed" from Kali
*A falling-apart Penguin Vanity Fair
*A falling-apart Penguin Ovid's Erotic Poems that was found inexplicably amongst digital marketing textbooks at my former workplace that I thought I could give a good home...I was wrong
*The United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2003
*MG Vassanji's The In-between World of Vikram Lall in hardcover (apologies to Morgan)
*Anthony Bourdain in Finnish translation Kobraa Lautasella
*A free chapbook from a Kiasma exhibit
Okay, so maybe not a sacrifice after all, but a much-needed spring cull. It's Round 2 that will be the bitch...
Who you callin' immigrant?!
After I posted a link to this blog on Facebook (an addiction from which I am slowly recovering) I got a few short notes on my wall from friends also dwelling in foreign lands. It might sound odd to some but, having lived in Helsinki now for as long as I lived in Toronto, and not having lived in my hometown outside Edmonton for more than 10 years, it is difficult to really say where I'm "from" any more. Add that to the mountain of paperwork involved in moving home with my foreign man and I start to feel like an immigrant to my own country.
True, I could come home any time I wanted, no questions asked, if I were alone. But since I'm not, coming home is actually rather complex -- and not just bureaucratically. Anyone who's ever lived abroad for any period of time knows how it feels to find yourself wholly out of context, without the family, friends, job, language, etc. that define you -- a definition that you don't even really realize until it's gone -- and what sort of task it is to rebuild your identity from the ground up. To use a violent metaphor, it's like growing a new skin. Until it's completed, you feel uncomfortable often and sometimes intensely so. I am an invisible minority here, since I look "typically Finnish" (ie. white, blonde) but, at least in the beginning, as soon as I opened my mouth my outside-ness was revealed. (Now I can hold off for 20 mins or so before running out of words.) I still don't read Hesari (although I do use the slang name for it) and I can't follow a lot of politics because the vocabulary is still inscrutable to me. But I can follow a conversation among friends and I've lost all fear of making an ass of myself in public - one of the 12 steps for any adult language learner.
Now coming back, I expect that both Mr. O and I will go through the same process all over again; definitely for Mr. O, who has spent time in TO but never lived there, but also for me, if in a muted measure. I wonder how Toronto will feel, old and new again, what neighborhood will appeal to us now, in 2007, compared to where I liked to hang out as a 21-year-old in 2000. The last few times we visited I was flushing mad to lose my bearings in TTC stations and even on Bloor Street -- humiliating for a girl who took pride in knowing all the best bike lanes (all the way down St. George -- no lights!) and afterhours on offer in the late 90s. And I know my immigrant experience here has certainly changed my outlook on how nationality and language as well as appearance influence identity. My husband has a name mostly unpronounceable by English-speakers, and if and when we ever have kids their names will likely strike some kind of compromise between the vowel-heavy phonetics of Finnish and the wooden Anglo tongue. Does that make me an immigrant? When do you start belonging to the place where you live, and stop belonging to the place where you were born?
True, I could come home any time I wanted, no questions asked, if I were alone. But since I'm not, coming home is actually rather complex -- and not just bureaucratically. Anyone who's ever lived abroad for any period of time knows how it feels to find yourself wholly out of context, without the family, friends, job, language, etc. that define you -- a definition that you don't even really realize until it's gone -- and what sort of task it is to rebuild your identity from the ground up. To use a violent metaphor, it's like growing a new skin. Until it's completed, you feel uncomfortable often and sometimes intensely so. I am an invisible minority here, since I look "typically Finnish" (ie. white, blonde) but, at least in the beginning, as soon as I opened my mouth my outside-ness was revealed. (Now I can hold off for 20 mins or so before running out of words.) I still don't read Hesari (although I do use the slang name for it) and I can't follow a lot of politics because the vocabulary is still inscrutable to me. But I can follow a conversation among friends and I've lost all fear of making an ass of myself in public - one of the 12 steps for any adult language learner.
Now coming back, I expect that both Mr. O and I will go through the same process all over again; definitely for Mr. O, who has spent time in TO but never lived there, but also for me, if in a muted measure. I wonder how Toronto will feel, old and new again, what neighborhood will appeal to us now, in 2007, compared to where I liked to hang out as a 21-year-old in 2000. The last few times we visited I was flushing mad to lose my bearings in TTC stations and even on Bloor Street -- humiliating for a girl who took pride in knowing all the best bike lanes (all the way down St. George -- no lights!) and afterhours on offer in the late 90s. And I know my immigrant experience here has certainly changed my outlook on how nationality and language as well as appearance influence identity. My husband has a name mostly unpronounceable by English-speakers, and if and when we ever have kids their names will likely strike some kind of compromise between the vowel-heavy phonetics of Finnish and the wooden Anglo tongue. Does that make me an immigrant? When do you start belonging to the place where you live, and stop belonging to the place where you were born?
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