So, back to last Saturday. We had a minor panic in Seattle when we realised the travelling had finally taken it's toll and we had both sleepily miss read the time of our final coach up to Vancouver and had therefore missed it, but thanks to the lovely lady at Greyhound Seattle we were soon on our way.
Four hours later we arrived at the Samesun Hostel, tired and sick to the back teeth of lugging our bags around!
We chose the Samesun as it seems to be where most Work Canada participants stay, and where almost everyone on the Facebook group that I have mentioned previously were going to be based. We found that it has a lively bar and lots of activities to take part in and serves as a great place to meet people. In fact, less than an hour after we arrived we were sat supping a well deserved beer when I was asked "are you Aimee?" Thank god for that Facebook group! There they were - the faces I had seen online for the last few months, sat in the bar. Some had been there a few months and some had also just arrived - all of them were lovely and made us feel so welcome and calmed our nerves. I look forward to being that friendly face for the next lot of Brits who arrive this weekend.
The Samesun itself is well run and the staff definitely know what they're doing. They were always happy to answer our questions and the rooms themselves were full of plug sockets, clothes hooks,reading lights, large lockers and a handy fan as it was fairly hot when we arrived. It is important to remember however, that it does what it says on the tin. It is a hostel. The bathrooms and showers are generally clean, and I saw them being cleaned often, but there are a lot of people using them. The showers work well and are private - but I would recommend flip flops to step into once you get out. There is some noise late at night and early in the morning, but again - it's a hostel, people are there to enjoy themselves!
Location wise - its great. Right in the heart of downtown, its close to the bars, banks, SWAP office and Service Canada (where you need to go to get your Social Insurance Number). I would definitely recommend a stay here - even if it's just for the people you meet!
Our game plan was work now, play later. We had only booked one week at the hostel and were a little concerned when we heard that it took others up to a month to find somewhere to live. We decided that our best bet was to get out and get our bank accounts, phone line and SIN as quickly as possible and spent every spare minute checking Craigslist, emailing and calling every suitable apartment listing. In 4 days we had a tick next to all four.
Bank account: In Canada you have to pay to have a regular current (or "chequing") account. Crazy! You also get charged for using cash points (or ATM's as I now call them) that aren't run by your bank and can be limited as to how many times you can use your card a month. We went for the TD "unlimited" account, which costs $14.99 a month but means you can use your card as many times as you like online and in shops (or "stores" - I'm getting good at this lingo, eh?!). As I never ever seem to have cash, this was important to me and TD have lots of ATM's around the city.
Telephone: We had bought our unlocked smartphones from the UK, as we had been told we would be able to use a Canadian SIM card in it. Mobile ("cell") phones here are not cheap, and if you want data on your phone - you're going to pay through the nose for it. We found a great deal with Mobilicity, however we found that their SIM will not work with a UK phone and instead ended up going for a $30/pm plan with Fido. This gives us unlimited text to international numbers, unlimited text to Canadian numbers, 200 minutes and free calls after 5pm. Unfortunately in Canada you have to pay for the privilege of actually seeing who is calling ("caller ID"), even if they are a contact in your address book (!), the same goes for a missed call: unless you pay the extra, you will not be told who called! You also have to pay for voicemail. After all this, paying another $25 for 500MB of data (half of what I had with O2 in the UK and the maximum amount of data available) seems more than excessive! I will have to make do with wifi hotspots, at least for now!
SIN: This was actually the easiest thing we had to do. You walk into the Service Canada office, tell them you are here for your SIN, show them your passport with work permit inside and wait for your name to be called. Five minutes and a very, very simple form later (mothers maiden name, are you a twin etc...) and a print out of your SIN is handed to you. The card is then sent 3-4 weeks later to either the office, where you can collect it, or an address you provide. Easy!
Apartment: Before we left the UK we did a lot of research on the kind of areas we would like to live in, the types of accommodation available and the cost. We would watch the listings as they came up and make a note of the areas and buildings we liked. Once we got here, we wrote a standard email telling the advertiser a little about us and asking for a viewing and sent it out to hundreds of potential landlords. The first thing we found is that guys get more replies than girls. We sent the exact same email, but somehow Mr L'amour always got more responses, go figure! The second thing we found was that most of the replies said, "you guys sound great, but sorry - no couples." After a day of emailing we decided to change tactic and use the payphone in the hostel to call the advertisers. This allowed us to set up a day packed full of viewings!
The first apartment we viewed was great - however, as with many Vancouver apartments, we found there were five, yes five other tenants in the 2 bed apartment (one in an office room, two in a single bed storage room and two strangers sharing a double bed.) Thanks, but no thanks. However a second viewing proved more fruitful and we instantly said yes! We moved in two days later. I can't believe after all these months of hard work, I am finally sat here in my "dream apartment". It can be done!
So, what's next? Well
this week we start the search for jobs and start to explore our new city! We
are off to Granville Island on Thursday and have planned a British get together
for Thanksgiving at the weekend.
Things are looking good. No, they're looking great!
Aimée L’amour x
www.twitter.com/aimeelamour
