Oh Canada...Part 1

So...It begins. I journey into the world of publishing my thoughts rather than keeping them in my head or stored on my laptop where no-one will see them. It feels sort of liberating actually. I write a great deal, stories, poems and the like but like I say none of it is generally seen by anyone other than close friends or family so here goes..another first!

So to Canada....I moved here in June 2008 after a series of shall we say mishaps (putting it lightly) and traumatic events that ultimately made up my mind to take the step. It was pretty much life or death for me but I will address that another time.

In my world, things seem to go "tits - up" a great deal of the time so the change was quite frankly the only thing I was focused on. I had visited the country a number of times and desperately wanted to live in Canada. When I finally made the decision to come over I felt completely relieved. Canada was, or so I thought, not too different from the UK in culture, politics and general conceptions and of course was English speaking so I was adamant that I would adapt very quickly with ease.

I quickly learnt that this was not the case. The language barrier would prove to be far greater than I initially anticipated. However, I digress...You'll find that I go off on a tangent much of the time but I will try to keep it to a minimum.

Arriving in the country was exhilarating. I'd been to Victoria once and not seen the rest of the Island at all so did not know what to expect. A friend who lives on the Island told me that instead of moving to the Okanagan I should come and stay with her for a while to see if I like it. After all, moving from an island to an island is not a huge leap.

I remember the ferry ride over to the island distinctly. It was a sunny day and as I watched from the top deck I was moved to tears by a number of emotions. The top layer on the hierarchy of head crap was how amazing it all looked. Then there was how much I already missed my parents and my sister...followed by fears of a brand new start. Then came the flood of psychological disturbances from the past. Ghosts racing through my head of how narrowly I had escaped my demise into a very dark place. Tumultuous times, deep hurt and pain had broken me and I was very unsure as to whether I could make it in a new country let alone whether I was able to dis-associate past events from a new start.

But I had to try...

My first few months were really difficult. I was working three jobs to make ends meet, no friends, no family - completely alone. I don't think I had expected it to be quite so hard and at my age it felt sort of futile. In England I had my own home, a job with local government that paid amazingly, a great social life and my family lived 5 minutes away if I needed them for any emergencies. Here there was no fall back. No-one to lean on in times of trouble. So it was tough....There were the 10pm (6am UK time) drunken phone calls every few days to my folks which kind of went like this...

"Heya mum, just wanted you to know that I'm fine (very slurred) How are you guys doing?"

"Nat you know that it's 6am don't you?"

"Did I wake you up? (giggle giggle)"

"Have you had a few drinks tonight Nat?"

"Yep...mum...Can you put the cats on the phone...I miss them....thanks...Jade, Jade, it's mummy...HEEEEELLLOOOO....Jady, Jady...I miss you...."

I've managed to get the phone calls down to once a week now and I very rarely speak to my cats. Weirdly enough, they always know when I'm on the phone though....psychic link.

I struggled with the language barrier...ahhh yes....there is one. Every day there would be something. Examples...

UK = plaster Canada = band aid
UK = trolley Canada = buggy
UK = swede Canada = rutabaga
UK = courgette Canada = zucchini

Tomato, tomato....you get the gist. It's hard trying to unlearn learnt behaviours which you've known all your life. Once you're over that hurdle and the fact you get called Australian 40 or 50 times a day there's the small matter of dealing with new systems and procedures in every day life. Bank accounts, driving license, insurances, SIN card, PR Card, cable, internet...the list goes on. Some of the procedures are very different to the UK so naturally when I was unsure of things that you might find easy over here, people would look at me as if i was an escaped mental patient. I'm not saying they're wrong...

Then there is the changes in weather...My friends told me about the 5 minute rule on the island. That the weather can change in 5 minutes. My first winter here was attrocious. I was snowed into my house for over a week and a half with about 2.5 foot of snow all around me. My car would not be moved and if I wanted to get groceries (UK = shopping) I would have to walk over an hour to get them, then an hour back along the highway. I was incredibly unprepared for that one.

Then there was the sheer distance of everything. In Canada, everything is easily located because you have the block system right? Unless you live in the middle of butt fuck no-where. You have to drive everywhere here. I can't walk to my local like I used to do in the UK because to put it plainly...there is NO local. It's easily located 5 minutes away from me if I drive!

On top of that, as if that wasn't enough, you have to try to make new friends. Now, as you know, I'm a very social person, easy outgoing. I didn't have a single friend, well not one that I was able to see, for about the first year. Everything centres around people's schedules out here. Checking of schedules is very big here. Then there's the promise of socialising but it's entirely empty. I can't tell you how many people had uttered the words "We'll have to get together to go for a drink". Sounds nice........never happened. The good intent was there on their part but life got in the way. Not their fault. They have their own lives to lead but it was very disconcerting for me. In England, if someone says "Want to meet up for a drink?" it happens.

Tough tough times. But it was all about to change.....