Maple Milestone: The Six Month Mark

July 11^th marked my six month anniversary in Vancouver, and also tipped me over the half way point of my first year living abroad in Canada. How time flies when you’re having fun, and fun I have most definitely had. Work, friends and travel have taken over my life to the extent that I can hardly remember what living in Southampton, England, was like, and definitely can’t imagine being back there.

The first thing to report at this major milestone is that my visa has now been approved for 2012, and my Letter of Introduction (the document I had to immigration on the way into the country) is sitting in my inbox waiting to be activated on January 11^th2012, the day my current visa expires. I was pretty certain at the three month mark that I wanted to stay here for longer than my original year, and now I’m at the half way line there’s no going back. To England that is. I’m still not sure yet whether Vancouver could be a permanent home, but home it is for the time being.

This is the life...

On the flip side, a number of our original group from the BUNAC flight have now left Vancouver, with more and more ‘biting the dust’ the further into the year we get. Some have gone on to further travel, some to University, and others back home.  Some have shortened their trip, and some have extended it. Many were only ever here in the short term whereas others, like me, have applied for their 2012 visas and are looking to stay past Christmas. Either way, January 5^th 2011 seems like a lifetime ago.

A Day in the Life of Me

Today has been one of those days where I’ve been having some of those moments. The ‘oh right, I live in Canada now’ kind of moments.

It’s easier than it sounds to forget that on any given day I’m over 4700 miles from home as I’m not only settled inVancouver, but firmly established in my own work/life routine.  I often find myself sitting on the bus checking Facebook on my phone (nothing new there) when I’ll see that it’s a friend’s birthday, or an annual event I used to go to, and I’ll suddenly realize that I’m travelling down West Broadway, in a hockey jersey, on my way to work at Canada’s only national cancer charity. Crazy. Six months ago I left my old life in Southampton so excited but completely unable to imagine what my new life inVancouverwould be like.  Now I know, and I love it. Here’s a little taste of a day in the life of me:

6:30am – The alarm goes off, it’s time to get up.

7:40am– Leave for work. My daily commute involves a 10 minute walk to the bus stop, a 20 minute bus ride, a wait for another 10 minute bus ride, and a 10 minute walk to work. But hey, at least I’m not sitting on the tube.

The CCS Greater Vancouver Region team celebrating Daffodil Day 2011 - http://www.cancer.ca

8:30am – Arrive at work. I work for the Canadian Cancer Society BCY (British Columbia& theYukon) and the Greater Vancouver Regional office is on the border of Vancouver and Burnaby, another city to the East. My job as aVolunteer Engagement Coordinator involves attracting, recruiting and managing volunteers, as well as working with the rest of the team to improve the volunteer experience and make us the charity of choice in BCY.  My day can include everything from interviewing volunteers and designing training modules to discussing campaign progress with our Revenue Development teams  and organizing a volunteer recognition event. Yes, I’m a geek. But I love it!

Living the Dream

Today has been a particularly stressful day at the beginning of what will be a particularly stressful week at work, and every time I open a particularly frustrating email or receive a particularly irritating telephone call I remind myself that in 12 weeks and 3 days I will leave my office for the last time, and in 15 weeks and one day I will be on flight AC855 to YVR (Vancouver International to those who don’t speak airport).

Handing in my notice to leave for a completely new country with absolutely no idea what I’m going to do for work is a dream I find exhilaratingly liberating, perhaps because it is the perfect excuse to start from scratch and choose a job that I genuinely do enjoy.  At the end of my working holiday I’ll be returning to the UK, and to my career, and I’m starting to view my year in Vancouver as a parallel universe in which I can do absolutely anything without it really mattering in the ‘real world’ back home.  I like cheese, so maybe I’ll work in a deli?  I like bath and beauty products, so maybe I’ll work in The Body Shop?  I like chocolate, so maybe I’ll work in a Hershey factory?

12 weeks and 3 days to go...

As a Volunteer Coordinator by trade, I’m a great believer in the benefits of giving up one’s time, both to the individual and to the chosen organisation, particularly when it comes to developing new skills.  This week I discovered the amazing http://govolunteer.ca/, a fantastic source of hundreds of volunteering opportunities across all of Vancouver, and I am confident that I’ll be able to use my spare time to volunteer in a role that  utilises my UK experience and keeps my CV ticking along.

Although I’m under no illusion that Vancouverites don’t work hard or that all Vancouver jobs are easy, the thought of doing even the most mundane administrative role doesn’t sound quite so boring ‘over there’.  I like to think that even when the in-tray is piling up, just knowing I’m half way across the world in a thriving city by both the beach and the mountains will be enough to get through 9-5 and live for the evenings, weekends and bank holiday Mondays.  As with any new place I’m sure the novelty will wear off eventually, I just hope that time comes long after I’m on a plane back home for Christmas!