Monday 23 January 2012

The arrival: first white-and-red post

 Rupert Street, 19th January 2012, close to my place


Here I am, in a guilty delay, with so many things to write an so little time.
As promised this is my first post from Canada.
I would is its keyword. I would have liked writing it the day arrived, I would have liked to place a proper photo, featuring  Vancouver airport or downtown skyscrapers, but I didn’t manage to do it: too busy and a sense of urgency that will never leave me until I get a job.

I left London Gatwick some days ago, carrying with my baggage the wishes of the owner of a B&B I slept a night in: “I hope you’ll get a wonderful job”. Well… I hope so.
I left in the early morning and arrived after a 10 hours flight in the early morning: it’s so cool to live in a round world, provided you don’t travel too much.
The Vancouver welcome couldn’t be more cold: -7 C. A sort of cold spring, compared to the -14 C in Edmonton.

I quickly archive the idea to take a photo in the airport: what would happen if the Canucks were infected by their southern neighbours with terroristic attacks paranoia? As I have no time to explain a policeman I’m not using camera to plan an attack, I just give up.

The queue at the immigration service reminds me at the first sight why Vancouver is nicknamed Hongcouver: entire families of Chinese people waiting for their work permission.
Canadians know how to put in a queue hopes as well.

It’s my turn. A couple of jokes with the officer, and my work permit is ready.
As every Italian, I am over critic towards bureaucracy, so I’m happy my first impact with the Canadian one is not too hard. The officer must deal with hundreds of people every day, some of them speaking a poor English, yet manages to have a short chat with me: it’s only a way to understand what I’m really willing to do in Canada, I know, but still it’s a human approach. Unfortunately arrogance is quite common in Italian offices.

No time to celebrate anyway: I have to pick up my baggage and reach for my host family. I set for myself a 3 months deadline to get a job, and there’ll be no visa to stop it if I fail.

The Canadian adventure has officially started.


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