First steps

This must be the most tame New Year's Eve that I have ever had.
We had grand plans of meeting up with a friend at Yaletown Pub and going to a house party south of us. However, after grocery shopping, yummy dinner and a couple of glasses of the triple fermentated La Fin Du Monde, we were totally annihilated. We passed out at around 7pm, and didn't wake up until 15 minutes before midnight.

We're now sitting around watching Canadian TV and debating whether we should go to the all-night keg party. We had the brilliant idea of cracking a bottle of sparkling wine and seeing how we feel after that, i.e. if we feel drained then it's better not to go out, and if not then we can go out at 4 am. So in essence, we're sabotaging ourselves into not being capable of going, as to avoid dealing with too many new stimuli.

The New Year's in Vancouver was interesting. We dragged ourselves to the living room, in hopes of seeing some fireworks on the skyline. We basically saw nothing - all the fireworks must have been shot to the sea. The TV was going extra nuts though, broadcasting live from some main square/venue with a billion people squealing and screaming like it was the end of the world. An awful emo band was playing to them and a Canadian version of Queen Latifah sang the New Year's Eve song after 2008 arrived.

I could go on and on about how ridiculous and bad American-influenced Canadian television programming is, but I think I'll leave it to some other time when I am more coherent. In short, it's basically like American TV on crack, because you have the same shows as in the States, but they don't really have any famous hosts, and everybody is trying way too hard to be like America. No offense or anything:) - a regular dose of The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park is guaranteed!

We also went grocery shopping on Commercial today. I hate to draw too many parallels because everything in Vancouver is wonderfully unique... But for or those of you who don't know, Commercial Drive is reminiscent of The Haight in San Francisco, but with gorgeous mountains on the background, and a wee bit more clean.

Here's what we bought:

12 brown eggs (freerange): 3.79
A pound of premium butter: 4.99
A pound of broccoli: 63 cents
2 litres of organic milk: 3.29
Loaf of whole wheat bread: 1.29
Yellow onions (1.36 kilos): 1.49
Heinz beans: 1.09
1 kilo of red grapes: 4.90
Four bananas: 64 cents
Potato, bacon and romano cheese dumplings (1 kg): 3.99
Fusilli pasta: 1.19
Double spice chai black tea: 2.99
Basil & tomato pasta sauce(700ml): 3.99
Siracha Chili Sauce (17oz / 482g): 3.29
A pound of cured bacon: 4.99
Lean ground beef (1.1 lbs): 2.75
2 litres of vanilla soy milk: 3.79

Here's a rough estimate of what the same grocery basket would have cost in Estonia ( may be a little biased toward my new wonderful life in Vancouver, so the cents may have been rounded up by a few, but do bear in mind that beginning Jan. 1st there's also a minimum 9% (!) price jump in Estonia). I've marked everything that seemed to be the same price or more expensive with an asterisk.


12 brown eggs: 1.48 - 2.32. Organic / freerange wouldn't be an easy everyday option.
A pound of premium butter: 4.40
2 litres of milk: 2.40, again, organic isn't really an option
*Loaf of whole wheat bread: 1.30
Yellow onions (1.36 kilos): 0.93, but they'd be a lot crappier looking than the beauties we got here.
*Heinz beans: 1.39
1 kilo of red grapes: 4.18-4.93
*Four bananas: 75 cents
*Potato, bacon and romano cheese dumplings (1 kg): 5.21, the packages in Estonia are much smaller and there's only the meat option.
*Fusilli pasta: 1.39
*Double spice chai black tea: 2.99 - not an option in Estonia, but much less favorable Lipton teas go for 1 - 2 dollars a pack.
*Basil & tomato pasta sauce(700ml): 5.11
*Siracha Chili Sauce (17oz / 482g): ? Not sure what it costs in the specialty section at Stockmann, but it's definitely more expensive than 3 dollars and something.
*A pound of cured bacon: 5.30 - 6.79
*Lean ground beef (1.1 lbs): 2.80 for the cheapest Rakvere mixed minced meat stuff, but for the real ground beef you pay more
2 litres of vanilla soy milk: 3.79 - no idea, because we never bought soy milk, because it was too expensive.

So all in all it looks like the cost of groceries here is about the same as in Estonia, + 15-20%. The extra percentage could be outweighed by the bulk purchasing options that are available (i.e. buy a case of Heinz beans for X cents a can, instead of over a dollar). Mind you, even with the extra percentage, you are definitely getting a lot more quality and health. So basically, we're just paying extra for the tax, and getting a lot more goodness. (And way better healthcare.)

Organic food isn't really an everyday option for most Estonians. For example, when buying eggs, your only option is to buy something from Tallegg, a company that is notoriously famous for having all of their birds get sick and gassed. Yet they remain in the market, because there is simply nobody else there to take care of the demand.
Although I have to admit that we barely looked into the options of buying eggs from the nearby market - perhaps it would have been cheaper there? (But then nobody really checks up on what is being sold on the markets in Estonia..)

I am very sure that I am being overly optimistic right now, but what can you do when everybody is so freakishly friendly!?

It's 2.03 a.m. on New Year's Day and I am blogging about the egg business in Estonia vs. Canada. Jet lag rocks.

Oh, and one more awesome thing. It turns out that our best contact / former buddy in Vancouver is living two blocks from us. The synchronicity party has begun.

Vancouver!

We're finally in Vancouver!

We had a few adrenaline-packed arguments with an uptight security bloke at Heathrow, because he insisted that we check in our carry-on bag that had all of our most valuable fragile items in it. If any of you have ever been to Heathrow, then you know what it means to have only an hour to run from one end of the terminal to the other to catch the plane - it's basically like crossing a small city. It's mind boggling how this insane asylum sustains itself.

8.5 hours of cheesy blockbusters later we finally arrived in Vancouver. Prior to our descent, I was beginning to get really worried that I would just fall flat on my face in front of the immigration officials - the 20hr journey was really catching up with us. However, as soon as I saw the city from the sky, I instantly woke up. This magical city REALLY exists - complete with the fairytalesque mountains, the beautiful hilltops and bridges, and the sparkly downtown! WOW!

The first customs guard we came across was really REALLY nice to us, so it felt like everything was going to be okay, despite the fact that the ground was wobbling and I was seeing little gremlins all over the place. After picking up our luggage, I was directed to line up to speak with an immigration official. The lineup was really the most difficult part of the process - I felt like the ground was banking and I hadn't fastened my seatbelt. At one point we were approached by an uber friendly guy, who showered me with information + two really useful pamphlets containing info on EVERYTHING - from service Canada addresses to info on how to use a computer:) I bet even Canadian citizens aren't this properly equipped for their lives in the country.

Upon exiting the airport, we were greeted by an awesome taxi traffic guy, who hooked us up with a maxi cab in a matter of minutes. Before we knew it, we arrived at our temporary residence in Mt. Pleasant.

We already knew that our landlord was going to be a cool guy, but we didn't know whether he was really real. The man was really understanding of our poor, greasy condition, and provided us with only the bare basics, as to not overload us with information. (Not like everything in the apartment isn't self-explanatory anyway.)

After he left, we did the sketchy thing that we had planned on doing all along - ordered Domino's pizza. We managed to down a few slices and passed out shortly afterwards. We then woke up at 4am, wide awake, and had a few more slices of pizza, and proceeded to fall asleep again. Woke up again at 9am, and went to the Service Canada center, where I was once again greeted by ridiculously friendly people who gave me a social insurance number.

I gotta let Mike on the computer and buy myself my own laptop. We're too hooked to be able to share the same one. I'll write more later.

On our way

I’m posting this from the Helsinki Vantaa airport, where we arrived after our turbulent 20 minute journey across the Finnish Bay. Every five minutes, there’s a kinky sounding female invitation “You want to have a ride?” coming from the crazy-looking pink toy car hinding behind the Christmas trees. Finnair is the official airline for Santa Claus, so the entire nearly empty waiting area is decorated with Santa sculptures and Christmas trees. In Finnair’s waiting lounge it is Christmas every day.

I hear the people at the money changing booth chatting to each other, and ponder about why Finnish sounds so god damn ugly. It’s barely any different from Estonian, but the pronunciation makes a world of difference. Estonian just sounds better. Finnish English is sexier than Estonian English though – gotta give them that. And why bother with a pretty language anyway – provided that you have the talent and brilliance that the Finns possess. Take the Finnish Complaints Choir for example, the Santa Claus parody by Rare Exports Inc., Lordi, or any of the other awesome things that come from Finland. The finns are awesome.

Leaving the hotel was rather interesting. Uniquestay’s shuttle driver happened to be a guy whose father was a former promoter of nationalism, so he also felt very passionate about politics. My father and he spent the entire ride talking about how things were almost better in the Soviet era, when it comes to social care and education. The conversation quickly digressed to blaming the politicians for everything, and talks about the “Estonian breed”, and how all the good genes have already left the country. Fortunately, we arrived at the airport before they got too depressing.

3, 2, 1, expatriation

The time has come! The shiny pink seal in my passport says that I am now officially an IMMIGRANT. I was really hoping to get one of those fancy "Welcome to Canada" pamphlets I saw on another blog, but instead I only received a rather poorly designed slip for the Newcomer Information Centre. The Canadian introductory materials are in desperate need of a makeover. How about some fractals and psychedelic spirals on your "Welcome to Canada!" booklet? I went ahead and made sure at least the FennoUgrics are represented because the only white guy in the shot is obviously Slavic. Check out my freaky head shot next to all the other happy immigrants!:)




According to Expatica News 2004, Vancouver is one of the easiest cities in the world for expatriates to live in.
I never realized that I would be what is considered an expatriate. What an ugly word - sounds like an "ex-patriot". If anything I'll be a bigger patriot when I move - we haven't even left and I'm already seeing everything in blue, black and white. And it's all so beautiful and real, so why are we leaving to begin with?
I walk around eavesdropping, hoping to catch people's complaints about Estonia, the low wages, the weather, anything at all. I spend a large portion of my time at work surfing the web, in hopes of finding more evidence that Vancouver is going to be amazing. (Thanks in advance for any links you can send me! o.o )
Getting cold feet sucks.

ex·pa·tri·ate /v. ɛksˈpeɪtriˌeɪt or, especially Brit., -ˈpætri-; adj., n. ɛksˈpeɪtriɪt, -ˌeɪt or, especially Brit., -ˈpætri-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[v. eks-pey-tree-eyt or, especially Brit., -pa-tree-; adj., n. eks-pey-tree-it, -eyt or, especially Brit., -pa-tree-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation verb, -at·ed, -at·ing, adjective, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to banish (a person) from his or her native country.
2. to withdraw (oneself) from residence in one's native country.
3. to withdraw (oneself) from allegiance to one's country.
–verb (used without object)
4. to become an expatriate: He expatriated from his homeland.
–adjective
5. expatriated; exiled.
–noun
6. an expatriated person: Many American writers were living as expatriates in Paris.
[Origin: 1760–70; < ML expatriātus (ptp. of expatriāre to banish), equiv. to ex- ex-1 + patri(a) native land + -ātus -ate1]

Living costs in Vancouver

It's amazing to what extent the prospect of moving can change one's perspective on life. I've derived a newfound fascination with Estonian weather. It no longer bothers me to watch our street turn into a mucky river on rainy days. I've actually developed a strange sense of compassion for the car drivers who regularly splash me with water as they speed through puddles.

I haven't been procrastinating this much since I was in college. I literally don't give a **** about my current job anymore and it's giving me a sense of freedom of taking things easy and keeping my stomach ulcers at bay. And hey, I can keep track of all my procrastinating endeavors now that I have a blog, which provides me with at least some sense of accomplishment.



Here's the up-to-date housing prices for Vancouver, published by Canada Immigrants, an immigration portal.

I recently came across a forum named Discover Vancouver, featuring an overwhelming number of offensive, racist and just plain stupid posts, such as "Canada sucks" and "Extra Foreskin". Among the spam there seem to be some legitimate posts by residents-to-be, who are generally quickly put down and discouraged from moving to Vancouver because of its high standard of living. What's up with all the hate-mongering? One can only suspect that the people posting are bitter individuals signing in from little hick-villes in the bear's ass, not Vancouver. (At least I'd like to think so!:) )

Anyhow, there was one reasonable post by somebody named nobody, giving an overview of the cost of everyday items.

cable - $30 for basic
Telephone - $30 basic
Internet - $30+
hydro - $30 + - more in the winter
parking - $25+ - some places you need a permit for street parking or parking garage spot
school - public is free but there are a lot of costs - supplies, fees for things etc. a few hundred $$$ a year
medical - i think its $120 or so for a family - per month
gas - $1.10 right now per Litre
transit - $3.75 or so for a 3 zone ticket - $2.25 for a one zone ticket - monthly passes are cheaper
car insurance - $1200 + up - depends on your coverage and driving record

food is fairly cheap - but varies from store to store
4L of milk is anywhere from $3.28 - $4.58

eating out at mcdonalds - $5 - $8 each

eating out at a casual place $8 - $20 each

fancy place $15 +

beer is $20 - $30 for a 12 pack at the liquor store

beer in a club is $3.50 - $8

Vancouver does seem to be expensive, but so was San Francisco. And so is Tallinn, if you're earning average wages.
As far as I can tell from the list, the only things that are definitely cheaper in Estonia are car ownership and beer. (Mind you, beer at a club can go up to the equivalent of $6.)
Medical costs are less if you're working. (I.e. you don't need to pay for the Medicare card.) Cable+internet+phone generally come in a package so you only pay about the equivalent of $30-40 dollars for all. (One thing that the Canadians seriously fail at is cell phone costs - but that's a whole other topic.)
But all in all, things don't seem TOO unreasonable.

I refuse to believe the people bound for Vancouver are doomed. I guess hope dies last, as they say here in Estonia.

Final steps

I've thought about sitting down and writing about the Canadian immigration process for months, so here's me getting around to it!

Lucky for us, I am migrating to Canada on the basis of family ties (i.e. my dearest Canadian hubby .miQ), so the painful waiting part of the application process barely took four months for us. A number of people on different forums report that Americans with no family ties have to wait for up to 36 months before they are able to start their new and improved Canadian lives. It really makes you wonder what they could possibly do with the forms and family pictures for three years...

The whole process began in the beginning of May. Back then we were naive and silly, thinking that we would be able to fly through it in a matter of weeks. Looking at the online manuals, we quickly realized that it was not going to be a cheap or quick process. My case was further complicated by the fact that I had spent a significant portion of time studying in the States, which meant that I needed to get FBI clearance from the U.S. before applying for Canadian permanent residence.

Hence, the first step for me was to find out how to acquire the FBI clearance all the way from Tallinn, Estonia. I talked to a polite fellow at the U.S. embassy who didn't sound too interested in Canadian immigration matters, but sort of pointed me in the right direction. It turned out that I have to submit an FBI Identification Record Request, along with my fingerprints and a payment. Lucky for me, I possess an international credit card. Even luckier for me, the Estonian police were extremely helpful in helping me track down the Estonian fingerprinters, even though it was the first time that they had a random civilian take their fingerprints for the purposes of FBI clearance. (Apparently they had done it for a few criminal individuals, but they had always been escorted by U.S. embassy reps, etc.)

The people at the forensic police department were surprisingly understanding and told me to come in so a lab technician could take my prints. So I took the cab to the south end of Tallinn, to the CSI, Tallinn. I was greeted by a fingerprinting specialist, who led me to a classroom filled with student cops and started dabbing my fingers with ink while they continued their lecture on international crime databases. She was very thorough - after we were done with the first sheet, she got me to wash my hands and put on some moisturizer, so that the prints would come out better on the second, extra sheet (just in case). And because they had never offered this kind of service to civilians off the street, the whole process cost me nothing!
On my way back to work, I stopped at the Tallinn Crime Registry, where I dropped off my application for a copy of my Estonian criminal record (or, rather, lack thereof). The lady who greeted me was quite stern, but after looking me up in her system, she seemed to realize that I am not the usual convict and gave me an inkling of a smile.

That is the one thing I love about Estonians. They may look suicidal, but once they smile, it's the most rewarding smile on the planet and the sun comes out from behind the clouds.

The next step was to get all the official paperwork officially translated, notarized, legalized and validated at the Canadian embassy. I tracked down Luisa Tõlkebüroo, who offered the translating and notarizing service as a package, and managed the translation in a week. Cost: about 1500 kroons. We then proceeded to drop the paperwork off at the Estonian Foreign Ministry, where they charged us 5 x 230 kroons for putting their stamp on each paper. Now, that's all fine and dandy, we're talking about a professional translator doing the job and the big important Foreign Ministry giving their stamp of approval for a couple of hundred kroons.
However, we then realized that we ALSO have to get every piece of paper approved at the Canadian Embassy, for 500 kroons a document, so a total of 2500 kroons.

So, let me see if I got this straight. I've already gotten my documents translated by a professional translator and approved by a legal institution. I've passed the airport-grade security checks to score some signatures at the foreign ministry. But now I also have to pay a ton of money to have the Estonians at the Canadian embassy give me one times five more stamps?
If anyone can explain any rationale behind this requirement, I'd be utterly grateful, because to me it seems like one additional way to squeeze the applicant for his/her money.

It must be also said that the Canadian embassy in Tallinn provided us with no actual support whatsoever. They don't even seem to have any actual Canadians working at the embassy! The only response we got from them was "Contact Poland, we have no idea". Now, I do realize that on their website it says that they are only the embassy and they do not deal with immigration matters, but what do they do there then, besides functioning as a postal office (forwarding everything to Poland) and enjoying the prime view?

Having gotten all the paperwork legalized, we then spent hours and hours going over the instruction manuals provided on the CIC website. Since the manuals were partially useless, we then spent a few weeks bugging the Polish Embassy (responsible for visa and immigration matters in Eastern Europe) with all sorts of questions, until they politely told us that we would probably be fine.

I then scheduled a time with the licenced medical practicioner in Tallinn and went in for my medical checkup. I was so nervous that my blood pressure was 130/80, which is pretty high for me, but the doctor said it would be fine. Paid him a 1000 kroons for 10 minutes of his time, Xray, and a few blood tests.

We then FedExed all the paperwork to the Case Processing Center in Mississauga, ON where it arrived on the 19th of June.

In July, we got a letter from the Mississauga office, confirming that Mike's sponsorhip application had been approved, which meant that our grounds for immigration had been officially validated. Yay! The next letter said that our paperwork had been received in Poland for the rest of the processing and that we shouldn't bug the officials until a given date in October. It was quite relief to know that everything had made it across the ocean and back in one piece. (For the FBI paperwork it was the fourth time crossing the ocean!:) )

There was a major setback in August, when we were informed by the Polish office that their designated medical practicioner had failed to provide them with my HIV test results. Upon inquiring about it from the doctor, it turned out that he had simply forgotten to take my blood test for that purpose. The timing of the notice was flawless as well - we got the letter the night before leaving for our anniversary trip to Paris, France, so we got to spend our time in Paris worrying about our application being on hold... *sigh

I can deal with bureaucracy, but I can't deal with human error. This was by far the most frustrating part of the application process - knowing that you had done everything right and somebody else screwed up, postponing your entire life.
Quite the lesson in patience and human compassion. (Especially when I called the doctor and he actually thought I was immigrating to Australia - wow!)

I went in to give blood as soon as I got back from my trip to Paris. In the online instructions for medical practicioners it says that they are required to brief the patient on the meaning and the potential implications of the HIV test. The instructions also say that the patient should come in in person to get the results and be told what the results mean. In Estonia, things seem to be different. I went in, never saw the doctor, paid MORE money, gave blood, and was told that I could call for the results if I wanted. (Quite different from the procedure in the States, where they release no info whatsoever over the phone...)

Anyhow, on the 4th of October we opened our mailbox and found a yellow envelope. Opened it with shaky hands and rushed to the phone to tell my parents the good news. In the letter I was instructed to bring in my passport to the Canadian embassy in Tallinn, so that they can mail it to Poland. It also wished me a "happy and successful future life in Canada". Cute.

I got up early on the morning of October 8th and climbed all the way up to the embassy, just to find out that the Estonians at the Canadian embassy were taking a day off to celebrate Canadian thanksgiving. The English sign on the door said that they would be closed on the 8th, and the French and Estonian notes said that they would be closed on the 3rd. Go figure. (And yeah, I had to climb back up there during my lunch break on the next day.)

So here we are, five months later, about 15000 kroons poorer, excited, scared, happy. I'm supposed to receive my passport with my "stamp of approval" (and the application for my social insurance number) on October 23rd. We even bought one-way plane tickets and will be arriving in Vancouver on December 30th. Pretty cool eh?