Snow, friends, and immigration

Life in Canada is good. Very good. It's now November, in fact almost half-way through, and I'm getting excited. Why? Well, on my way to work this morning the suns rays shone down on my face, and the skies were clear for the first time in a week. In the distance I could see the results of a week of rain in Vancouver - the North Shore Mountains are now coated in snow. Here that will mean one thing - the ski and snowboard season is almost under way.


Being rather partial to the latter of those activities, and thus craving the slopes ever since my final evening up on Grouse Mountain back in April, the sight of the white gold to the North is one that got me very excited. I knew that the 2010 Winter Olympic Venue, Whistler, was due to open this weekend, but when I received a text this lunchtime from a friend telling me that the local mountains were also opening for business within the next 24 hours I almost spat out my sandwich. Cheese and Salami shrapnel however is a small price to pay for being able to go riding for the first time in seven months. How time flies.

I've already bought myself a pass that allows discounted rates for the duration of the season at Cypress Mountain, so that will be my first port of call. Soon I'll get to Whistler, but some patience will have to be enforced beforehand.


Another thing that I've been looking forward to greatly is the social aspect of snowboarding. This time last year I lacked many friends who were as into winter sports as I am. I had only a couple of 'boarding buddies, so now having made a number of new friends in the intervening 12 months who are as crazed about riding as I am I can forsee immense group trips to the mountains. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm also going to enjoy teaching Tissa to snowboard. There are good times ahead.

So aside from strapping myself to a piece of wood, fibreglass and plastic, then throwing myself down a mountain at high speed, whilst enrobed in oversized and brightly-coloured attire, what else have I been doing?

Well, working a lot is the answer. Since I got back from my brother's wedding in Armenia, I've been catching up from my time off. It's not all doom and gloom though. I've now completed nine months of employment at Mink, thus I can now apply for the next stage of the immigration process.

As I've learnt over the duration of 2009, immigration to Canada is extremely time-consuming, and sometimes stressful. I like to think that I'm not easily knocked off balance these days, but immigration is one thing that does cause me a burden at times. It took a full six months to get my extended work permit, meaning I'm now legal in Canada until the summer of 2011, but my goal now is gaining landed immigrant, or 'Permanent Resident' status.


With Canada being almost entirely built on immigration these days, there are an untold number of ways to emigrate here permanently. A week ago, the day after I turned 24, I sent off my application for the immigration scheme I want to be on. Now I'm playing the waiting game. Theoretically I should have a response within a month or two, so once again I need to be patient.

Also I've recently been joined in Vancouver by an old friend whom I have shared many fond memories. Anyone who has known me for a while will know of my University buddy Luke. Back in 2006/7 we spent a lot of time hanging around on Luke's roof, playing PS2, being drunk, taking pictures, or generally driving aimlessly around the New Forest back in Southampton. Finally, in the summer of 2007 we embarked on something meaningful, driving around Central Europe, visiting hot spots such as the Nurburgring Nordschleife, the Bavarian paradise of Munich, and the historic city of Salzburg, with its baroque-era architecture.


The last time I saw Luke was in March 2008, and Luke and his good friend Felix I'd met back in the UK had flown on one-way tickets to Vancouver with the aim of buying an R.V. before driving south, to Central America, where they plan to teach English.



The day of arrival dawned, and so after heading to the airport I sat in Arrivals for a few hours, watching all the people the London flight stroll by. Around this time Luke and Felix were collared, and were grilled by immigration authorities regarding why they only had one-way plane tickets to Vancouver. Apparently there was no rubber glove usage, and eventually we were all reunited. Bantering about good times, bad times and ratherdrunken times commenced instantly, and the three of us spent a joyous time wandering around Vancouver, buying an R.V. which was lovingly dubbed 'Clive' before driving it up to Whistler for the day as a test run.



12 days after they flew in they drove out, aiming for Seattle and beyond. I have no idea where they'll end up, and I don't think they do either, but what I do know is they'll have a great time getting there.