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Traveling is such a valuable time and I haven't been keeping up to date with all my blog entries lately, which now makes me realise how important it really is. Parts of Colombia, Mexico and the USA are all still places I haven't written about yet. So much happened in each country that for me to go back and recreate what happened will be somewhat possible, but not the same as when I was there. I am now very glad that I did as much writing as I did while in South America, capturing as many memories, thoughts, stories and experiences as I could through my blogs, photos and in my memory. So for now I am going to write about Vancouver while the past few weeks are fresh in my mind, and soon I will update all my blogs.
It has been three weeks now since we arrived in Vancouver after our long train ride from San Fransisco followed by a three hour bus ride from Seattle. We must have been the only foreigners on the bus who needed their work visas collected by customs as we were directed to another room at the customs office. After a little wait, we left with our two year work permits ready to go and a bus half full of passengers wondering what we had been doing. After four months of traveling through seven countries we have now arrived in our eighth country on the list as we make our voyage around the globe. The time has come for us to stay in the one place for a couple of months, set up a home away from home and enter the world of employment again. After having moved about forty times from one room to another, city to town, hostel to hotel, we are now able to relax a little until the alarm starts telling us it's time to go to work!
We arrived in the city in the middle of the night and were picked up by a taxi driver who tells us this is a great city to visit, but not to live. We will find out for ourselves whether this is a great city to live in or not, and are glad to be here after months and months of planning. Our reasons for coming here are to earn some money to fund our trip, visit Dustin's cousin and to explore a city that is surrounded by endless mountains and national parks. I have heard many great things about this city from its beautiful landscapes to it's vibrant city. For the first two weeks we were lucky to stay with Dustin's cousin and his girlfriend while we started to set up our home away from home.
Within two weeks we have secured a rental apartment in West End which is only about a ten minute walk from downtown, opened up our Canadian bank accounts, sorted our social security numbers and are now the owners of a local mobile phone number. For months I was traveling without a wallet or mobile phone, and now that has all changed as we are back in the modern world and things already feel very similar to home. I decided to not travel with a wallet in South America so that was there was no wallet for the sneaky people to pick pocket! I kept my cards and cash in a secure pocket in my secure bag, or in Dustin's wallet. It worked and we were lucky to never got pick pocketed again. Already I miss the free feeling of traveling without much but my backpack in South America, but the reality is that one must earn a living so here we are seeking just that. Everything else we need to set up a life here has fallen into place nicely, all we need now is some work and we will be set!
It has been a few years now since I have had to look for a job and it doesn't take long for the task to feel like a job in itself! The minimum wage here is very low compared to Australia so it seems rather crazy to apply for a job that pays lower than my part time job I had while at school at the age of 17! We were aware that the minimum wage here was low and if we can even just earn enough money to break even, that will be okay however this will then alter the rest of our plans for our trip. So ideally we would like to be able to save some money that will give us the funds we need to make the most of our time in Europe and Asia after leaving Canada. The advantage is that our rental apartment is not very expensive and compared to what you would get in Australia for the location is an amazing price. Not to mention all the free things we can get from craigslist .com to furnish it!
So many hours of our day have been spent searching for jobs, writing cover letters, polishing up our CV's and putting together our design portfolios that we haven't had much time to explore the city just yet. We have made time each day to get out and go for a walk though, and every direction we head there is either beautiful tree lined streets with the odd squirrel darting about, amazing lush parks, the big wide world of the city centre and if it's not that we are at the waters edge which surrounds most of West End and parts Downtown. The days here are also very long the the sun setting close to 10pm! For the past week we have been staying in a rental apartment about ten minutes out of the city while we wait until our own rental apartment is free for us to move into, which should hopefully be tomorrow. We are looking forward to making it our home for our time here. The location is perfect with Stanley Park at one end of the street and downtown at the other. We have a little balcony and swimming pool which is a nice bonus! It won't take long for it to feel like our home although there will be our two little fury friends missing. However I hear they are both doing well back home and that's what matters.
So for now we will continue with the job hunting, however this weekend we think it's time to get out and have some fun! Hopefully some work will come through soon, and if things don't work out, well we can just keep on moving. We are lucky to have this much freedom and I couldn't ask for anything more.
Oh and the photo you see for this blog entry is Stanley Park! Amazing how such a big park that is more like a forest is walking distance form downtown.
- comments
Pamela Neill It's great to hear from you again B. I hope that you enjoy your stay there and get some time to explore as well. All my love to you both. Pamela, mum. x x x
Rob gGreat update, much appreciated.
Claire Good luck with the job hunt and enjoy it all. x