Oh Canada!
New city, new country and new continent! It's been a little over a month since I moved to the land of opportunity. Away from my family, and in the company of my relatively new family, i.e. my brother in law. Came a couple of months before the ladies, mainly to hunt for an apartment, set it up for their arrival, and start the job hunt process as early in the financial year as possible.
This post is not about my journey so far, but specifically about today, i.e. 19th March 2018. Since it has been such a good day, thought about capturing this day as a brief moment in the fleeting journey of life. Something which I might look back to enjoy seeing the efforts taken at one stage towards trying to achieve long term goals.
So without further ado, did and achieved the following today:
1. Called Scotiabank customer care number to cancel my still un-delivered and un-activated credit card and to issue a new one. I can collect it from my home branch in 3-5 days. This was stuck for a long time now; 32 days since it was approved to be precise; and when I finally get it I can look forward to building the much needed credit score that is required for many things here.
2. Gave general guidance to an MBA college senior in Mumbai on process to come to Canada, who was looking for information. I think of it as my part of giving back to the community.
3. Submitted the signed lease agreement to my new apartment. Since the lady at the rental office was very busy today, it appeared it will take another day of running around to finalise the same, as I had a few doubts. But thankfully I took a photocopy of the agreement myself and waited in the apartment lobby for her to come back to her office in spite of her telling clearly on phone that she would be busy today. It also helped that there was no concierge, nor could any passer by help when I asked them where exactly is the mailing area where I am supposed to leave the agreement. Wasn't feeling confident leaving a signed original agreement in a pile of other documents, accessible to practically anyone having access to the lobby, and the lady later confirmed that I only need to leave a photocopy of the same with them. Also could clarify a few doubts regarding certain clauses and minor corrections.
4. Visited a daycare center near the new apartment. Purely on the suggestion of a stranger lady who was walking with her infant in a stroller, near the apartment, whom I disturbed and asked for whereabouts of nearby daycare centers. My suspicions about the daycare not being available for the next few months came true when the lady running that daycare told me that they are all booked till September. But at least got her visiting card and she said she'll entertain me on email. Fingers crossed for getting a good daycare for Tashu for the eventuality that both me and Krithi will be getting jobs and going to our work places soon.
5. Visited my home branch of Scotiabank. Got the much needed information about details related to swift and other details required to transmit funds to my USD account here. They confirmed that they will call me once my credit card arrives at the branch. Also finished the long drawn chapter of withdrawing limited funds from my pre-loaded forex card and depositing cash to my chequing account in piece meal basis. Tip for people migrating or planning to open a new bank account in their new country of stay: Don't get a pre-loaded forex card, get traveller's cheque(s) instead. This way your only headache is to find a bank that will accept your traveller's cheque(s) while opening a bank account. You won't have to hunt for ATMs with high daily withdrawal limit and keep withdrawing limited cash daily at additional cost; which is 3$ per withdrawal and little extra hidden cost. This is over and above your daily headache of visiting ATMs/ABMs and travelling with all that cash in your pocket.
6. Spoke to a senior regional manager from a prospective employer organisation. He was very forthcoming and sounded very helpful. He agreed to meet me in a couple of days and asked me to send my details and resume to his email. This would be my first meeting with a prospective leader whose team I could join. Also glad about the resume talk, which brings me to the next achievement.
7. Finally met the very helpful HR lady who has a good experience in recruitment for the second time and for the specific purpose of working on our resumes. She spent a good couple of hours with us and gave fantastic tips to change our resumes, so that the chances for our resumes getting selected for a particular role becomes very high. Finally made the much needed changes to my resume and sent it to all the relevant people I could. Also passed on the suggestions to my wife too.
8. Did a big amount of grocery shopping for the next couple of weeks. At least for the next 11 days that we would be in this temporary airbnb shelter.
So hoping that the momentum built today continues well into the next month. Was a very sweet day today. And the icing on the cake? Two video calls from Wifey and Tashvi. Saw Tashvi doing so many new things today that she has learnt over the last few days: Giving kissies on cheek, dancing by shifting her weight on her feet while standing, and trying to wear her bangle herself!
