600th Post

Today's song is: Celebration .. Kool and the Gang

Wow, 600 posts and counting.

Yesterday we went for a walk in the Governor General's park. It was -17 but there was no wind so Thavorn and Jaidan were okay with the cold. We were out for about an hour.

What is more fun than a large mirror for selfies

Today is our last day in my sister Ann's condo on Stanley Avenue. Tomorrow, March 1st we move to an airBnB for the next 6 months. It will be fun, making the airBnB ours for the next 6 months. Not that their is much to do as it is fully equipped and furnished. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Canada has a dearth of short term rental properties and airBnB has filled a niche. What I appreciate is I pay one month fee that covers everything such as phone, internet, heat, hydro, cable, etc. All we have to pay for is transportation and food.

What is also important is I don't have to enter into any yearly contracts for internet, phone, and cable.

Thavorn got a kick out of the Service Ontario employee who referred to her as my daughter until I corrected her. It is now a standard daily joke for the next little while :-)

We  have covered most of the administrivia stuff but still need to apply for a bank account for Thavorn in order to get a statement sent to our address as OHIP requires that before enrolloing her.  We also need to buy a printer in order to printout a PDF to apply for the child tax credit for Jaidan. I need the printer for work anyways. A cheap black and white laser is only $139 dollars.

The temperature is going up to 1 degree this afternoon so we will be out for another walk and some more pics.

TTYL

Walk in the Rain

Today's song is: Bus Stop ... Hollies .. 60's

Thavorn was anxious to go out  for a walk and I suggested to her that it had rained overnight and my sister Elaine had informed me the sidewalks were icy. Not to be deterred, Thavorn decided an adventure was in order.

We decided to walk to the Metro grocery store and Thavorn quickly learned about ice. It was funny to watch her but she did not fall. Jaidan almost made it all the way but stepped on a curb which are always icy and banged a knee. He was holding my hand at the time so it was not too bad.

We spent a fair amount of time in the grocery store, exploring and getting warm. The walk back home was uneventful but both Jaidan and Thavorn huddled around the fireplace to get warm.

A walk in the rain ...

Today, my sister Elaine is picking us up at 1 pm and taking us to Service Ontario to register for OHIP and for me to renew my driver's licence.  I hope all that goes well.

Thavorn is finding most of what she needs to eat and cook so that concern has passed. The internet makes staying in contact with family and friends easy and Thavorn is video chatting many times throughout the day.

TTYL

Canada Goose

Today's song is: Dylan with The Band  ..

Canada Goose, the Canadian Winter Clothing company has done a remarkable job on marketing.  They have a unique patch on the left shoulder that screams, 'I have arrived and I am wearing an expensive, stylish jacket!' They have taken a page out of 'Apple's' marketing book and has gone one step better by actually delivering a superior product  :-)

Cool, if I had a spare $1,000  :-)

I, myself am walking around in a 'coach's' shell on top of a Queen's hoodie my daughter bought for me about 15 years ago. Stylish, I am not  :-)

Today is our last full day in our resort condo in the Sheraton Wall Centre. It has turned out to be a great place to recover form jet lag and our cough and colds. It is a beautiful sunny morning and we will go for a walk later today to explore Vancouver.

Thavorn asked for a Timmy's breakfast sausage sandwich and a medium double, double dark roast this morning so it would appear Timmy's has another convert!

TTYL

4Th Day in Canada

Today's song is: Want to Dance with Somebody  .. Whitney

Sunday, our arrival day and subsequently Monday and Tuesday were gobbled up by jet lag and my Asian cold I brought with me. Unfortunately I felt we had to cancel our get together with the Cotton family as I just did not feel up to it and I had no wish to infect another family with the cough and cold.

The good news is, the sun came out today and I am coughing much less today. We hopped a taxi down to Granville Island to hit the market as Thavorn wanted to see some of the fresh fruit I always bragged about, especially the strawberries. Despite being off season, Thavorn was not disappointed.

Jaidan and Thavorn had never seen sea gulls

We caught the Hornby boat ferry and walked back to the hotel.

Beautiful sunny Vancouver day!

Time for a nap :-)

TTYL

Arrival

Today's song is: Survivor  .. Destiny's Child

Thavorn found the flight long and taxing. We arrives after 20 hours of travel and ended up in immigration to affect Thavorn's Permanent Resident Visa. I was not overly impressed by immigration but Thavorn ended up getting a young girl who seemed the best of the bunch.  You would think part of their training course would be to talk at a reduced pace to ESL immigrants but that seems to be missing.

Luckily Jaidan and I joined her in the interview queue even though the pre-clearance bozo told us we should not. Seriously, they should get some social skills training! Training in Tinglish would go a long way!

Most of the people arriving were not immigrants, but students coming to Canada to study and I could see how they could drive the immigration officers to distraction. They were pretty clueless. They had too much cash (over 10,000) and were not declaring it, and also had not prearranged a place to live.  Obviously rich Asian kids. When I lived in downtown Vancouver, there were many living in my $3,000 CDN condo a month. Studying in Canada seems to be the thing to do for their gap years :-)

Jaidan slept for 15 hours straight and is wide awake now. Thavorn is sleeping again after we went out today and bought her some Roots boots on a 50% sale, toque, and gloves.  Jaidan was good to go with a Roots toque and some woollen gloves.  I am making do with a Coach wind breaker, and a Queen's Hoodie that Jamie gave me many years ago.

We ate our first meal at the down IGA food court and brought some groceries back to the resort room.

Tomorrow we further recover from jet lag and visit the Cottons at their condo for meet and greet and some pizza at 4:30.

So far so good. Jaidan and Thavorn are liking Canada so far, especially Thavorn is is finally warm outside.

Jaidan eating popcorn

The jet lag duo

View from the resort

TTYL

1 Sleep and we are gone ..

Today's song is: Leaving on a Jet Plane  .. Goodbye Again  .. John Denver

Well, Thavorn enjoyed our 3 night stay in downtown Bangkok and I used the time to rest by back and get over an evil cold. We also got our flu shots.

We are back at Big Tree and we are trying to lighten our bags somewhat. We are also scrambling for a ride to the airport as it turns out Thavorn's friend did not have sufficient funds to come see us off. I have asked the front desk to arrange a van taxi for us at 5:45 tomorrow morning and I asked her to call me and confirm she was successful. So far no answer. I have a feeling we will be left to GRAB Taxi's mercy at 5 am in the morning. Worst case scenario is we take two taxis.

Tavorn has still not subscribed to my theory, 'If something can go wrong, it will!'

My back is still tender but I have my happy pills for the flight to Canada.

Now that we are close it is becoming real. It has been a two year journey and almost $10,000 to get my family to Canada. We should have just flown to the US and walked across the border. When I arrive, I have to wait 3 months to get OHIP despite paying provincial and federal taxes while I was gone. It must be nice for Ontario to collect provincial taxes and not have to provide any services. Something wrong there. I can see waiting 3 months if you have not been paying taxes but that is not my case.

All my income is Canadian based and taxed at source.

Meanwhile, I have been following the news and anyone that thinks Trudope did f..k up on the Quebec company (sorry, can't be bothered to learn the spelling) is an idiot. Kudos to the indigenous lady who brought it all to our attention. The only thing Trudope seems to be good at is photo bombing people.  Thank you all who elected that idiot. Duh,you thought you would have looked at his resume!

So politics and weather aside, I am looking forward to being back in Canada with friends and family.

My next post will be from Vancouver Canada  :-)

TTYL

2 Sleeps and 1 day and we are in the air.

Today's song is: Stronger  .. Clean Bandit

Thavorn had a great time out with her friends last night.  Tonight was to be my final night out in Bangkok but back pain prevents it happening.  In like a lion and out like a wimp  :-)

The good news is the cold is in its 6 day and just about done.

Tonight is our last night at The Hyatt Place and tomorrow we head back to Big Tree for a night.  Some of Thavorn's friends will drop by to say goodbye, have a few beers and drives us to the airport on Sunday Morning.

The view from the hotel window.

TTYL