America, improved

We're watching the House of Commons on TV right now and I must say that Canada has the most exciting political institution at work that I have ever witnessed. Live broadcasts from the Estonian Riigikogu are a real bore, with half of the representatives shopping for Armani and the other half arguing about things that don't really matter for the common man. The Canadian House of Commons is better than the Maury Show! Picture a room packed with passionate representatives, screaming questions and concerns to each other in French and English, with cheers and complaints echoing in the background. Everybody is involved, every representative is fully and vocally present, to express the opinion of his/her voters. The topic of the day happens to be Canada's involvement in Afganistan and all of the representatives are accusing the Canadian gov't of misrepresentation. This, of course, provides for good bunch of heated arguments and a fully electrified House of Commons.

I have been fully and thoroughly impressed by Canada. From intelligent self-running Skytrains, to governmental support of green living, to the many initiatives for better health and living, Canada truly is an advanced country. Homer Simpson referred to Canada as America Junior, but I would think of it more as America, improved. Many Canadians would dislike the reference to America, but you cannot deny the massive impact that American politics, economy and entertainment have had and will continue to have on Canada. However, it has been truly refreshing and inspiring to witness Canadians stand up for their global involvement, pulling back from the war and promoting clean, intelligent living. There are many areas of improvement, just like everywhere else, but at least there is an overwhelming sense of hope that each and every individual can truly make a difference. The notion may be cheesy and soapy and American, but it's what makes this country tick. With passion.

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.

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.