Should I give my heart to Canada

As I filled out the last of my forms for Permanent Residency today I wondered how much effort one should put into to have the right to be welcomed to another country?

I’ve probably spent up to 4 hours now of ensuring I have all the right forms, rereading the detailed instructions, saying the right things and proving I’m not a criminal. The overwhelming message CIC puts out is that `if you stuff up we’ll make your life difficult and delay your application’. So it pays to get it right the first time.

And pay I will. Is $1500 too much to pay to become a resident of another country? I’d say probably not, it’s an honour right? But if you don’t get accepted I’d feel pretty hard done by. Plus they say funny things here like `It’s only a ways away’

I was super excited to get a fast track to perm residency by being nominated under the BC Provincial Nominee Program. Essentially a rubber stamp approval from this lovely province saying they’d like to keep me on and I won’t be a drain on the local economy, or sponge off the government. Plus rather than waiting 3 years you get to apply straight away – a huge bonus. That privilege cost me $550. And if I hadn’t been accepted it still would have cost me that much – how reasonable.

But wait there’s more, for only two easy installments of $490 – a landing fee (wait a minute I landed 9 months ago….. ) and another $550 per applicant. Once again I still might not get accepted as a PR (that doesn’t stand for press release – although I might write an opinionated one if things don’t work out for me).

I guess I should be happy as I’m living in the No1 city of the world `livability’ wise according to the Economist. That said another report today showed as a brand, Vancouver pales in comparison (in 18th/50) to Paris, Sydney, London and Vienna. Luckily branding is one of my fortes so perhaps Vancouver can pay me to help get their ranking up in return for waiving for fees?

The branding index measures the world’s perception of each city, which influences people’s choices on where to live, work and vacation. Luckily Vancouver scores 3rd on the prerequisites factor – affordable accommodations (really? The houses in Kits and Point Grey seem pretty pricey to me) and quality of public amenities (if only they had more places to lock up my now stolen bike)

But the big question is for $1500 will I get the same pleasure molesting Canadian Moose as I did shagging sheep in New Zealand?

Today people around the world are doing their bit by taking meaningful action to show they care for the future of our earth.

I bought a bicycle last week which means I’m cycling to work, sports practice, the gym, to friends, and I love the freedom I now have in the city. I feel I’ve got a fairly small footprint too.

I usually grab a lift with my generous friends if going further distances and they seem very conscious of car pooling.

I attempt to take my reuseable`green bags’ when I visit the supermarket, I recycle, I switch all lights off when not using them, I aim to use less water when washing up and avoid excessive toilet flushing….

Zara & I use green products for cleaning at home that are organic, and I reuse plastic bottles as my drink bottle until they’re well and truly worn.

Nothing mind blowing but every little action counts. And it needs too especially when you look at this picture above and the amount of waste that the world produces!

So today, if there’s 3 things you should attempt to do from each day on they are:

REUSE - make art out of egg cartons and use glass jars for holding pens
REDUCE – the amount of packaging you purchase and use reuseable containers or cloth bags
RECYCLE – what you can and ensure you inspire others do too the same

Finally the other exciting thing about today is that I’ve successfully exported my blog over from Blogger to WordPress as you can see, as well as bought my own name as a domain so now it’s super easy to find me because it’s just nataliesisson.com

I’ll be changing the look and feel of this blog over the next week or so as I become more adept at it.

Thanks for visiting!