My Last Night in Canada

So, tonight is my last night in Canada. I had a lovely dinner with my family and got the bulk of my packing done. Tomorrow I have some errands to run, some cleaning to do and last minute checks… Do I have this, do I even need that etc.

As the immensity of what I’m doing weighs on me I thought I’d do a little post about what I am going to miss the most about Canada and what I am looking forward to the most.

I’ll start with the negative so I can end on the positive.

1. Ontario fall- gorge colours and crisp mornings.
2. Count down to Christmas- which even includes working at Starbucks during the holidays (this would have been my 5th season)
3. Being in the same time zone as my friends and family and my safety net (dad).
4. Toronto… I love that city and London is very different.. I hope I grow to love it too.
5. Snow… Yep, I think I’ll miss even that.

Ok, what am I looking forward to…
1. A sense of accomplishment from working in my field, regularly, for the first time.
2. Weekends off and a regular schedule. (I’ve never ever had that).
3. New sights and sounds. Lots of places to travel close at hand. (And the food!!! Oh yay)
4. More opportunities to grow as a person by being challenged (especially to try and be more outgoing).
5. Finally, some of my favorite bands are British and I hope I can see some of them live. That would just be so great.

Tonight I will be sleeping in my childhood room at my parents house, tomorrow I will be “sleeping” on a plane and no one can be sure where I will be sleeping on Sunday. The stress is overwhelming but I know I’m not the first to do it, and in a week I will be able to look back jovially on this moment; knowing how it all worked out.

A quiet mix for my flight.

So I had some time to kill tonight … well… alright, let’s be honest… I have a tendency to procrastinate when I get stressed… so, even though I have a very long to do list, I spent a better part of the evening making mixes on 8tracks.com and listening to those made by others.

When I was making this mix though, I thought it would be a great way to drown out the murmur on the plane so I can hopefully nap away some of my flight.

Finding a place to live.

This has to be the hardest thing when it comes to moving to England, or maybe it’s just because I’m moving to London.

In Canada, in my experience, when you want to find a place to live you begin your search one-two months before your desired move in date. Tenants have to give a months notice, generally, so there is a defined time to look. Perhaps the difference is that I’ve always been looking for apartments.

First difference, I cannot afford my own flat in Greenwich (what I’ve come to believe is like Richmond Hill to Toronto). Even if I could afford a flat, it is against the law for a Agent to rent to an international person with out their physical presence. So I’m out of luck on that front. That’s ok, what seems to be far more popular there is renting a room in a flat share or house share. I have two friends living like this in Toronto right now so I am some what familiar with the concept now.

Once I reconciled myself to this idea, I started looking using Gumtree.com (the British version of Craig’s list) and spareroom.co.uk Luckily, most places come furnished and there are many options even in the smallish borough that I’ll be living in.

Unexpectedly, they are expensive and go FAST. A room in a flat share, where you are entitled to a tiny bedroom, sharing a bathroom, living room may not be included and a studio apartment style kitchen can cost £500 ($800) to £800 ($1270). The cheaper ones are very cheap, student housing that looks like glorified residence and the more expensive ones look like smaller apartments than my one bedroom in Toronto ($900inc).

Finally, the rooms posted, if they are decent are always gone the same day. SAME day… I don’t stand a chance.

Anyway, long story short, I have not found a place to live yet and I’ve started looking at hostel options for Greenwich just in case. I suppose once I’m there, without the comfort of my own bed to crawl into, I’ll settle on something quickly.

Well I’m taking off in a week.

Alright so I’ve decided to blog about my experiences living abroad in England for the year. I intend this blog to be about what my life is like in England and what it is like teaching in England (and the experiences of a first year teacher). Mainly a way to keep my family and friends on the same page because its hard to update everyone with all the details.

To get everyone up to date, I’ve recently been hired by an agency called Engage Education to teach in England. Basically I have a one year supply teaching contract for Greenwich, England. They also set up interviews for full time positions and if I am offered one of those, then it cancels my supply teaching contract. I am guaranteed to be paid four out of five days of each working week so I don’t need to worry about getting calls like I would here.

Where am I in the process? Well I am travelling using the (tier 5) youth mobility (migrant) working visa that is good for two years. Any Canadian can apply for this if you are between the ages of 18 and 35 (I think), you have a passport, and you can prove you have £1800 available to you (about 3000 Canadian dollars). It entitles you to work in any industry for two years. My visa got approved today and I am just waiting for the actual physical visa and my passport to be mailed back to me.

I am going to try to fly out on the 30th (ish) because I need to be in England for the 1st of October to start working. Part of me keeps thinking that something is going to go wrong and I won’t be able to fly out that soon so I haven’t booked my flight yet. I’m quite nervous about the next week and I have a lot people to see and a lot of things to do. -And packing … Erg!

So that’s basically it for now. I will try to keep this regularly updated; if only to keep my mom satisfied that I’m happy and healthy. So far, so good mom.