Journal of a Canadian Immigrant

It's not my material and I don't know who wrote it, but I thought I would share it with you anyway.  It's just classic.  If it's yours let me know and I'll let everyone know.

12. Sept.

-We bought a new home in Canada. I am very excited. It's so beautiful here. Mountains are of indescribable splendour. I can not wait to see them covered with snow.

14. Oct.

-Canada. It's the most beautiful country on Earth. The leaves have received all those beautiful shades of yellow and orange. I drove through nature and saw some deer. They are so graceful. Deer are the most beautiful animals. I think we have arrived in paradise. I love Canada.

Nov. 11

Today is a public holiday, deer hunting season starts soon. I can not believe that someone can kill an animal so beautiful. I hope it will snow soon. It's so beautiful here.

2. Dec.

-Last night it snowed for the first time. I got up and saw that everywhere it was just white, just like in the most beautiful scenes. I went outside, I cleaned the front of the house and then we had a snowball fight (I won). The snowplough came past to clear the snow in the road out front and so I had to clear up the snow again. Great country. I love Canada.

12. Dec.

- Last night it snowed again. The snowplough came past again and cleaned up the snow it left in my yard again. It blocked the entrance to the driveway. It is splendid here.

19. Dec.

- Last night it snowed again. I could not go to work because I couldn't get the car out. It is very nice here, I am just tired of shoveling snow. Again the damn snowplough.

22.Dec.

This white snow has not stopped all night. I have corns on my hands from shovelling and my back hurts. This snowplough monkey lies just around the corner and waits for me to finish clearing my driveway only to bring back more snow. Damn.

25. Dec.

Merry Christmas. It snowed again.. this stupid snow. If I catch that snowplow driver I will kill him. Why don’t they throw more salt on the road.

27. Dec.

- Last night it snowed again. I did not go out of the house for three days just kept shoveling every time the snowplow passed by. I can not go anywhere, the car is stuck under a hill of snow and it is very cold. They said tonight will fall another 30 cm of snow… this stupid snow.

28. Dec.

-The weather report was wrong. We got 50 cm of snow, not 30 cm. If it continues like this it will not melt until summer. The snowplough driver got stuck and he came to ask me for a shovel. I told him I already broke six cleaning up that sh… that he threw in my front yard. I was about to hit him with the shovel.

4. January.

-I finally left the house. I went to buy food and on my way back I hit a deer. The car was damaged to the amount of $3,000. Those beasts should be killed. They are everywhere. Why didn’t the hunters kill them all last fall?

3. May

-I took the car to a mechanic. Its unbelievable how much rust the car has from the damn salt... lots of salt all winter long and still for nothing.

10. May

-I am moving to Florida. I can not imagine how any normal human being can live in Canada!

Getting into the Christmas Spirit good and proper

I'm really enjoying Canada. Most people here are warning me about the winter. Most tell me how long and cold it's going to be, but I knew that before I came, it might even have been the only thing I knew about Canada before coming here. Being a South African though, it gives me an appreciation for the seasons. Growing up in South Africa I didn't really notice the different seasons, it got colder for a week or two in July, but that was about it, I never even noticed a difference in the time the sun set, when I went to the UK it suddenly dawned on me that dawn actually did happen at different times during summer and winter! I looked it up, 5:30 pm in winter and 7pm in summer.

That all meant that the winter festivities didn't go over well in South Africa. Christmas is the middle of summer so we usually went away then, sure wet got presents, but that was just because we could get away with demanding them then. You couldn't drink hot chocolate nor wish for a white Christmas! 

We went to Allan Gardens this weekend (2nd December) and they were handing out apple cider and cookies, there were horse cart rides, Christmas carols and plenty activities for the kids. We met a few folk and even joined in the singing. My Christmas carolling is so bad I only know the first verse of jingle bells! We had a great time colouring things in, taking a ride on the cart with the amazing horses, our daughter really enjoyed the time and was quite upset to have to head home.

For anyone interested in the free activities they will be doing the same thing at Centennial Park Conservatory on Sunday the 11th of December 2016.  If you want to enjoy some Candlelit celebrations then you can go to Allan Gardens on the 11th and Centennial Gardens on the 17th of December 2016.

Here is a link to Centennial Gardens on google maps and here is to Allan Gardens on google maps.

Happy Christmas to you all and tell me about any other fun free activities you may be enjoying!

The silly things I did

It's quite funny moving to a new country. There are things you thought you knew, but they just work a bit differently here.

For example I've been hearing a lot about Tim Hortons so I decided I was going to try them out. I think I can buy a cup of coffee and drink it! Nothing complicated about that. So I pop into the shop and order a cappuccino. Swipe my card and I get my coffee and walk out. Thank you very much. Now I want to drink it, but I can't open the lid! I can see it's meant to be opened, it had the whole clip and everything, but I tug at it and it feels like the whole cup it's just going to spill coffee over everything if I pull any harder. So I slide back into the shop (thankfully it wasn't busy) and ask the attendant how do I open the lid. She unhelpfully replied that you just pull it. I felt like a bit of an idiot while she went to fetch another lid to demonstrate for me.

Here's the trick, you need to TEAR the lid. Never had I had a take away cuppa that you had to tear. Well, it was a good laugh and something I chuckle about when I retell.   Here is a Canadian comparison of Tim Hortons coffee cup lids with other take away lids, which is where this lid comparison chart comes from.

Actually that's why I'm combining these stories, I was chatting to some Canadians and pointed out to them no matter how prepared you are to live in a new country there are always going to be done things that flummox you. I pointed out thom to them even seemingly simple things are difficult to those who are not used to it. They enjoyed both these stories as I recounted them.

I've taken a bus before, you've taken a bus before. You prepare for your journey, but your ticket, get on at the right place and get off at the right place. So I did my research and bought 10 TTC tokens from the nearest subway station (it's a bit cheaper if you buy in bulk). I got on at the right place and saw my stop coming up and pressed the Request Stop button, paranoia took over that the bus was not going to stop there anyway). So I'm standing by the back door as the bus draws up to the stop. It stops and I wait in anticipation of the doors opening and nothing happens, I see the front doors open so I look at the driver and back at the back doors. Nothing happens. That's it, there must be some reason I'm not allowed to exit out the back. So I stroll up to the top of the bus and exit out the front doors. I have a look around, there is no reason why I couldn't have exited the bus from the back. The pavement is clear, no different from where the front doors were. Oh well, I thought, I'll try on my way back again.

I do my thing and on my way back again the same thing happens. This time though I'm much faster to exit embarrassedly out the front doors. Finally, the third time I took the bus things were a little busier. I wisely let someone else exit first and saw that you have to push the back doors open, the green light above the door turns on and then you are able to push them open for yourself.

So, yes, when you move here you are going to embarrass yourself, you're going to learn what assumptions you make without thinking. To me that is one of the joys of moving to another county. You learn things about yourself you never realized, like the fact that I think a bus driver will open the door for me like a chaffuer. I felt guilty about that and the feeling grew into a great appreciation for bus drivers, they treat us with such courtesy and patience, yet we don't often acknowledge them for their daily service.

So thank you bus drivers for being there for us every single day!

Career webinar

This is just a quick one for anyone interested in some information about growing your career prospects in Canada.

Sometimes it can be a bit difficult communicating with someone who has different cultural references than you.  I remember when I first arrived here I even had trouble getting some change. I asked for change for a fifty dollar note and the guy asked me what I wanted. I said I wanted change, what he meant was what format of the change I wanted, did I want coins or notes.

Anyway, so here is the link to the webinar.

http://knowledge.wes.org/GTB-Canada-registration-communication-skills-career-success-Canada.html

Buying a car too early

There really is such a thing as buying your car too early in Canada.  You can't get off the plane and climb into a brand new car and drive away (well, you can, but you'll be driving illegally). As usual, the dealer selling you the car won't bother to give you all the details.  They just want to do the sale.

So, what makes it too early and illegal?  The fact that you can't legally drive without car insurance and you can't get car insurance here without a Canadian Drivers license!

Probably the best source of information on getting ready to drive in Canada is on the CIC website here. The article is called Driving in Canada.

The Financial Services Commission states it a little more explicitly.

My story goes like this for those who are interested:
I moved into an area where the distances between shops and home was just a little bit too far to carry a two-year-old daughter and some groceries.  The bus links were also somewhat far away.  So we decided that we should get a car.  As a tip for those wanting to rent initially, use Enterprise, I found them to be much more reasonable than all the other car rental places here.  Renting a car for an extended period of time though is really expensive.  So we bought the day before I went to get my G1 license.  Then I heard that it was illegal to drive without insurance (You can still drive any other car on your international license, just not your own un-insured one).
There I was calling every insurer I could find, even dealing with a few unscrupulous ones that wanted me to sign, but couldn't insure me until I had my G2.  So I booked my G2 test ASAP, travelled a bit to get to a place that had a test open the next week and got my G2.  Now I could be insured, but since I only had a G2 license, not a Full G license, you can imagine the insurance was a bit hefty.  Getting my full G was the next top priority*.  Unfortunately it was not possible to find any testing center that had an opening within any kind of driving distance, so I got an insurance that was not a contract and waited about another 3 weeks.  Getting the full G still did not bring down the insurance that much.  Thank goodness I had a great insurance agent and with some major help and many documents I managed to get my insurance down to about $1500 a year, and I could legally drive!  In all my time driving on the roads in Canada I have yet to be stopped by the cops, but it is much more comforting driving legally.

So, I hear you asking, what are the work arounds?
There are only two I can think of.  The first is hardly worth mentioning because I don't know of an insurer back home that would insure a car bought in another country, but you could try.  So this owrk around only works if you ship your car over to Canada.  Then you can carry on under your old insurer while you get your Canadian Licence.
Then of course you can also get someone who has a Canadian Licence to buy your car for you and then they can insure the car in their name.  I imagine you may want someone you really trust.

If neither of those options work for you.  Well then, don't lose hope!  Just get your Canadian License really quickly!  I managed to get my full G in just one month.

*To be able to do the Full G Driving Test you need to provide the Drive Test center with a letter from your Road Authority showing you have two or more years experience.

Move to Canada

Phew, immigration is tough when you have a family.  Back in the day I left all my junk at my parents house and hopped off to another country, it was easy!  Now I have too much junk to store at my parents place and besides, they don't want it any more.

The amount you need to spend to ship your things overseas is ridiculously expensive!

Anyway, so, I'm no longer in SA.  I have to change the Title, but I'm still on the go.  Now I'm a new immigrant in Canada and I'll be sharing my lessons learnt the hard way with you so that you don't have to do the same thing.

The journey to applying for immigration I haven't documented because it was time consuming enough just to get all the paperwork together, but please feel free to ask me on the contact link above or the comments below.  I breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

If you go to CIC website here you will be able to see that there have been approximately one thousand South Africans that immigrate to Canada each year.  I have even found a few of them already.  Of course it doesn't come anywhere near the numbers you get from other countries, about forty thousand each from the Philippines and India in 2014.

Phew, immigratio
n is tough when you have a family.  Back in the day I left all my junk at my parents house and hopped off to another country, it was easy!  Now I have too much junk to store at my parents place and besides, they don't want it any more.

The amount you need to spend to ship your things overseas is ridiculously expensive!

Anyway, so, I'm no longer in SA.  I have to change the Title, but I'm still on the go.  Now I'm a new immigrant in Canada and I'll be sharing my lessons learnt the hard way with you so that you don't have to do the same thing.

The journey to applying for immigration I haven't documented because it was time consuming enough just to get all the paperwork together, but please feel free to ask me on the contact link above or the comments below.  I breathed a sigh of relief when it was over.

If you go to CIC website here you will be able to see that there have been approximately one thousand South Africans that immigrate to Canada each year.  I have even found a few of them already.  Of course it doesn't come anywhere near the numbers you get from other countries, about forty thousand each from the Philippines and India in 2014.

Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Review

You never know how good you've got it until it changes to..... how good you had it.

I had an iPad, but due to circumstances I needed to be mobile and have Windows. The Surface Pro 4 sounded ideal and ticked all the boxes. I read the reviews and most were positive, they did mention not having a place to put the pen was annoying, but I thought What did you need a pen for? I prefer typing to writing anyway!". I had a Samsung note and hardly used the pen, I just played with it when I was bored.

So I looked for the cheapest price and was very happy to find an excellent price on Orange. I've always wanted to shop there. The device arrived a few days later than I expected, but I wasn't concerned because I was busy.  Once it arrived it was nicely packaged in a box that was much larger than the device and I enjoyed unpacking it. It was fully charged so I went about setting it up immediately.

The first irk was the keyboard, typing on a touchscreen means you often make typos and I've always had these little errors corrected for me. Whereas on the Surface only some apps do it, on Chrome (the app I use the most) it never happened. Even MS Edge doesn't do it.  The only app so far that I can remember is my email which is called Touchmail.

Then of course there is the pen. To browse some websites you have to have it, those menu options that the mouse needs to hover over, well you need the pen for that. Nothing happens if you just tap your finger, so you're forced to go fetch the pen.  Of course, because the pen is not securely attached to the device you need to try remember where you used it last, go look for it and when you finally find it you've been signed out of your internet banking platform.

Then suddenly, just over one month of using the device I saw a hairline crack going from the top middle of the device all the way to the left middle of the screen. I hadn't dropped it, I hadn't banged it,

You can see the crack clearly from the middle bottom to the right and up

I hadn't treated it roughly at all. The iPad 2 I had got treated badly in all sorts of ways. Towards the end we didn't really care and its corners were reshaped into a "dropped on" shape, that's how many times it got dropped, bumped and badly handled.
So, is there any way to sort this out? Of course Microsoft doesn't guarantee the screen, they know its rubbish. Therefore any of you out there with kids, DO NOT get a surface, it'll be unable to be used within the first week!

When that happened I thought I had better get the Surface keyboard. At a premium of about R2000 I never wanted to, but its better than losing the whole device. So I got one and  few days later I flipped the keyboard around the back and started playing a driving game. Immediately one of the keys came off.  So now every time I was to play a game that uses the movement of the tablet I have to remove the keyboard and plug it back in again.  Then, because of the changes there are times the keyboard doesn't register.  Another frustration to annoy you on a "busy" day.

Finally there are the freezing problems. Windows has always had problems of programs crashing and your computer freezing, but when the Surface freezes I tried to hold in the power button to switch it off.  All that happens is it sometimes comes up with a "Slide down to Shut down" screen. However you can't slide the bar down! It's extremely annoying, all I've managed to do so far is leave it until it decides it wants to cooperate again.  Sometimes that is only the next day.

Conclusion:
While the device is nice and functions reasonably well it lacks the refinement of Apple products that just make using them so easy.  They have introduced a product before properly solving the problems of differentiating between a click and moving the mouse cursor, the problem of somewhere to put the pen and delivering a hardy product at a reasonable price. The Surface Pro was very expensive and to cut costs on the most common breakage item, the screen, is absolutely annoying.

So, my rating, out of five stars, would be three stars. It's great having a PC in this small form, but it doesn't work well as a tablet. To enjoy it you still need PC accessories, and the build quality isn't suitable for this form factor.

Rating: A poor 3\5