End of the year, time for an
evaluation. I’d say it’s like a sort of reverted Christmas, where the letters
are maybe written only mentally, the writers are “old kids” like myself, and
the content is not about gifts to get as a present but what this finishing year
has already brought to us.
It’s been a complicated year: a
never-ending (in fact not ended yet) fight with the immigration, the desperate
need for a new place to live in order to save myself from a possible physical
assault coming from a crazy fucking alcoholic, the struggle to get finally
hired full-time in my company and start learning some interesting cool stuff, a
sense of loneliness capable to strike all in a sudden and make my cry (hey,
there’s a man behind this screen), friends who left and that I miss (especially
one, who sometimes comes across to these pages).
It’s also been a year of successes,
and yes, if I look back to 2012, I can only say that things, far from being
perfect, are anyway going better:
1) a job, sometimes hard, sometimes
funny, in general interesting, maybe the first one after years I can really say
I care of and that I don’t see a simple salary provider
2) a work permit on its way (I hope)
3) a place close to the office,
close to the sea, close to supermarkets, close to everything I need, where may
not have found my best friends ever, but certainly more normal and less
psychotic people, and with a landlord that so far proved to be the best since I’m
in Canada
4) a more active social life, with
some friends to hang out with from time to time, and colleagues to have
culinary experiences with in ethnic restaurants that contribute to Vancouver’s
fame.
Not only culinary to be honest: a
couple of weeks ago I was at my company’s Christmas party, and it was great. I had
fun and won a full bottle of maple syrup.
As I decided to head to a nightclub
with a bunch of colleagues, I kept drinking from the 750ml bottle, leaving maybe less than
half, just to make my night sweeter.
The bouncer at the entrance, at the
beginning reluctant to let me in, thinking I was an alcoholic, reacted with a
mixture of surprise and indignation: “Are you really drinking maple syrup”
while his colleague was carefully checking the bottle.
Well man… you know, I didn’t win any
booze at the Christmas party, we are in Canada, so yeah, I’m drinking maple
syrup. “By the way, can I get in with the bottle, leave it at the cashier and
pick it back when I’ll get out?”.
To much of my surprise the answer
was “Yes”: power of the sweetness or award for the most original customer of
the night.
The day after I was in hang-over, my
first one without having been even tipsy the night before: the bitter side of
the syrup maybe?
A meeting with Italians a couple of
days after made me see many new faces: bad signal, meaning many Italians who
came here last year failed to find a job, and many other who failed in Italy
came here packing clothes and hopes all together.
I don’t know what 2014 will bring to
me: in few weeks it will be my second year in Vancouver.
Still here, against all odds and
predictions, farther than I could imagine.
I have not a list of things to ask
to the incoming year, but just the hope that in a year time I will be writing a
new post, saying that things have been better than 2013.
Everything can happen in this
challenging city, including the beauty of the English Bay and Stanley Park covered with snow
10 days ago.
Happy New Year.
