Moving Day Part 2

Our container had left Rotterdam on the Maersk Pembroek vessel in the direction of Montreal on November 21. We were able to track the vessel on a marine website and saw that it arrived in Montreal on December 5th. From Montreal, it was loaded on a train and arrived in Vancouver a few days later, just 3 weeks after it left the Netherlands. That was the easy part.

The shipping agent here in Vancouver contacted us early on a Monday morning telling us that our container had arrived and that they had to deliver it by Wednesday without paying any additional storage costs either at the rail road or at their warehouse. We also had to make an appointment with Canada customs immediately and get in touch with the BC liquor control board to get an import license for our wine. Getting the appointment with Canada customs was no problem, however, the earliest we could go there was on Wednesday morning which meant that we had to get the container stored somewhere. Getting a liquor license was a different story, the shipping agent couldn't give me a phone number to call so after surfing the internet I called to an office where they couldn't help me but advised me to contact the liquor distribution branch. If you Google the liquor control board and the liquor distribution branch, you end up on the same website, and I really don't know what the difference is. Anyway, after being connected to 5 different departments, I finally spoke to someone who was able to assist me. She got the import license sorted out and we were good to go to Canada customs on Wednesday morning.
After paying CAD$320 to import our 60 bottles of wine (that was a small price to pay given the prices for wine and liquor in this country), the customs officer cleared out container without inspecting it.

The delivery of the container was scheduled for Monday, December 19th and just before 8am, the truck driver called me to let me know he was parked somewhere outside.

With our help, he backed up the container into the loading bay and left the container there. The crew was supposed to arrive between 8.30 and 9.30am, however, no crew showed up. When we called the shipping agent, they told us that the container had arrived (as if we hadn't noticed it...) and that the crew should be there shortly. Finally, 2 guys showed up an hour later and started to unload. Of course, it took way longer than expected and the concierge charged us extra for having the elevator blocked an additional 2 hours. The guys brought all of our 177 boxes into our apartment and unwrapped the furniture, however, left us with unpacking most of the stuff ourselves.
As great as the service was in the Netherlands, the service we got from the Canadian counterparts definitely did not meet our expectations. In the end, we were happy to have our belongings before the holidays and thanks to our first visitor Yvonne, who helped me unpack and clean, our house started to look like a home again.

Moving day

On Thursday morning 4 guys from the moving company showed up with boxes and packing material to start packing up our belongings. Our only tasks were to make coffee and to tell them what not to pack. Anything that didn't have a label 'do not move' was packed up. Within a few hours, our house was full of moving boxes.

On Friday morning, 5 movers showed up and packed the remaining pieces of furniture. We were a bit surprised at the size of the container that showed up early afternoon, but in the end it was only half full. The movers managed to load the 170 boxes in about an hour and after the container was sealed, it was taken to Rotterdam.

It was a weird feeling to be in our empty house after the boxes were removed.

The container left Rotterdam on the vessel 'Maersk Pembroke' this morning and is scheduled to arrive in Vancouver on December 12th. If all goes well with customs, we will have our stuff before Christmas.

Now, all I have to move is myself!

Our new home in Vancouver

It's been almost a month since my first visit to Vancouver and a lot has happened in the meantime. While I am trying to get our move organized, getting some work done in our apartment in Amsterdam and finishing up my last few weeks at work, Remco has been busy working at his new job at YVR airport and looking for an apartment in Vancouver.
Last Saturday, I travelled to Vancouver for the second time and upon arrival we went straight to our new apartment to pick up they keys. It's located in Yaleown, a great and lively neighborhood in the city, and close to Falls Creek. The apartment is in one of the big apartment complexes with a couple of high rise buildings, some town homes and great amenities such as an indoor swimming pool, a gym, a small movie theater (we can have our private movie nights...), underground parking and a 24-hour concierge desk. The security cameras remind me a bit of the movie 'Sliver' with Sharon Stone, the concierge can monitor what's going on in and around the building.....
Our apartment is on the 3rd floor facing the communal courtyard or lagoon as they call it here, and has 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 private patios, an open kitchen and living room.

On Sunday, we went to IKEA to buy the basics as the apartment is unfurnished and our furniture won't arrive here until sometime in December. We spent quite some time putting the IKEA furniture together, which to my surprise went without cursing (Remco loves putting IKEA furniture together.... NOT). Slowly, it starts to feel like a home and last night, we cooked our first meal there.

Another item checked off the to-do list. Tomorrow, I will go to the social security office to get my SIN (social insurance number) number and hopefully, also get my Canadian driver's license. Once that's done, I can be added to Remco's bank account which is very important since I won't have my own income for a while :-)....
I am flying back to Amsterdam on Saturday and will spend the next 2 months preparing for the big move.

Vancouver

On Monday morning, we will travel to Vancouver for a few days to check out the different neighborhoods and surroundings and to find a place to live. Yes, you read correctly, we are moving to Vancouver!!

The past few months have been hectic, stressful and full of unexpected twists and turns, but also very exciting and inspiring. Remco had been working on a project in Canada since the beginning of this year and on his last trip to Toronto at the end of June, his company offered him a job in Vancouver. While he also had the opportunity to move into another role here in the Netherlands, the position in Vancouver will be a great experience for him, an opportunity he couldn’t let pass. What does that mean for me? After 11 years with my current employer, I feel it is time for me to look for a new challenge. While I will be sad to leave our friends and our home of 9 years behind, I embrace this new wonderful opportunity with an open mind and see what opportunities Canada has to offer. As a spouse, I am able to get an open work permit for Canada that allows me to work for any company there.

In the meantime, there is a lot to do and think about in the next 2 months. It’s all going very fast, Remco is already spending the majority of his time in Canada and a lot of tasks fall on my shoulder now; my to-do-list is growing each day. Since taking our decision, we have redecorated our bedroom and rebuilt the shower and installed a new shower stall in order to get the house ready for rental. There is still plenty of work that needs to be done in and around the house, but we’ll have to rely on contractors now instead of doing it ourselves. There are still lots of questions that need to be answered; shall we rent the house furnished or un-furnished; shall we ship our furniture or put it in storage; what to get rid of and what to keep; the list is endless……

Needless to say, we are very excited and will keep you posted on our new adventure!

Travel stories: Change

Travel stories: Change: "It's been a while since my last post and my promise to change is bearing fruit. In the past 3 months I have done a lot of soul searching, ta..."

Change

It's been a while since my last post and my promise to change is bearing fruit. In the past 3 months I have done a lot of soul searching, talking to friends, colleagues and family. A friend who just finished a coaching course and offered me some career coaching sessions. The main focus of the sessions were career progression and professional development as I felt stuck at where I was with my career.
Honestly, when we started the sessions, I didn't expect much out of them but now, 6 months later, a lot of things have happened. I have opened myself for change and I got a lot more than I ever expected and it's all very exciting.
A few weeks ago, I turned down a position that I was offered within my department. It would have been a great opportunity for me to learn a lot but it just didn't feel right to me, it wasn't something that I would have wanted to do long term. One evening, while I was driving home after conducting an interview with a possible candidate for one of our open positions, a thought crossed my mind that made me smile. Why am I not trying to develop myself further in human resources? All of a sudden, this felt the right way to go and it gave me a lot of energy and zest to make it happen. I had conversations with the relevant people in my company to get what I want and they were open to discuss it and see what they can do for me, which made me very happy.
In the meantime, my life is taking an unexpected turn with a lot more change than I had expected, but that will be another post whenever I am ready to share the news!

The moral of this post is that if you want change, open yourself up, talk about it and welcome it. Change is great and makes life more interesting!

Cultural Exchange

Part of the Cross Cultural Solutions program is cultural exchange, we bring our knowledge and skills to the local community and at the same time learn about the culture in our host country.

The mornings are spent at our volunteer placements and in the afternoon CCS offers cultural programs. We have Portuguese lessons twice per week with Tatiana, a local language teacher.

On Monday evenings, we have Capoeira and Samba classes with Beto, one of the local guys working at the house. He is part of the Capoeira group ‘Ginga Mundo’ in Salvador. Capoeira is a combination of martial arts, sports and music and was initially created by descendants of African slaves around the 16^th century.

Beto gave us all a Capoeira name and taught us some of the basic steps and movements of Capoeira. Ginga is the basic step of Capoeira. While teaching us some Samba, he kept saying ‘mushy mushy bum bum’, that’s his way of saying shake your booty.

 Every Tuesday afternoon, Bruno, a local with blue eyes which is very rare in this part of Brazil, takes us around parts of the city. Our first city tour was through Pelourinho, Salvador’s famous old town built by the Portuguese which is now an UNESCO world heritage site. Although Pelourinho is very touristy it is a wonderful place to visit. The cobble stone streets are lined with colorful houses that have been restored and now house restaurants, small hotels, shops, theatres and museums. We also visited the Pierre Verger exhibition; he was a photographer who spent a lot of time documenting Candomblé ceremonies in the 1950’s. Pelourinho is great on Tuesday evenings as there are small bands playing everywhere in the neighborhood. 

This week Bruno took us through São Cateano, one of Salvador’s favela. We also stopped at a tile artist’s house in the Ribeiro neighborhood; his name is Prentice and all of his tiles are hand-painted and depict Bahian life. After a short stop at the oldest ice cream shop where we tried peanut ice cream we visited the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim, which is the most famous church in Salvador and is famous for its power to effect miraculous healing cures. There is a shrine inside the church with all sorts of plastic body parts such as arms, legs and heads, put there by people who got cured of their ailments. Thousands of colorful Bonfim wish ribbons are tied to the iron fence outside the church.

Professor Fred comes one afternoon per week and teaches us Brazilian history. He is a wonderful character born to a Lebanese father and Negro Brazilian mother (in Brazil, black people are called Negroes and it is not an insult). He traveled around the world for 10 years without any money when he was in his 20’s and he had some interesting stories to share with us.

Kultur Ausstausch

Cross Cultural Solutions bietet uns die Gelegenheit, mehr über unser Gastland und dessen Geschichte und Kultur zu lernen, indem sie unter der Woche verschiedene Aktivitäten organisieren. Zweimal pro Woche kommt Tatiana, eine Sprachlehrerin, die uns jeweils eine Stunde Portugiesisch unterrichtet.

Jeden Montagabend gibt Beto, ein einheimischer Junge, der Mitglied der Capoeiragruppe ‘Ginga Mundo’ ist, Capoeira Stunden. Capoeira ist eine Kombination aus Kampfsport und Musik mit Brazilianischem Einfluss, welche von den Nachkommen der Sklaven im 16. Jahrhundert zuerst ausgeführt wurde und nun zur Bahianischen Kultur gehört. Beto gab uns allen einen Capoeiraname und lernte uns einige Grundschritte, während er Capoeiralieder sang. Er lernte uns auch ein bisschen Samba, wobei man den Hintern kräftig durchschütteln muss, was für Nicht-Brasilianer ziemlich schwer ist. Brasilianer wachsen mit Samba auf und haben den Rythmus im Blut.

Am Dienstagnachmittag steht Bruno auf dem Programm, er führte uns durch verschiedene Quartiere der Stadt und erzählte uns sehr viel über die Geschichte und über die Kunst und Kultur Salvador’s. Die erste Woche besuchten wir den historischen Stadteil ‘Pelourinho’, ein UNESCO Weltkulturerbe’, der von den Portugiesen in der Kolonialzeit erbaut wurde. Salvador war der erste Hafen Brasiliens, und hier kamen auch alle afrikanischen Sklaven an, was auch der Grund ist, dass die Bevölkerung Salvadors 80% Schwarz ist. Ein Teil Pelourinho’s mit den gepflasterten Strassen und bunten Häuser ist sehr schön restauriert und dienen nun als Läden, Restaurants, Hotels oder Theater. Am Dienstagabend gibt es im ganzen Quartier Live-Musik und es herrscht eine tolle Stimmung.

 Diese Woche uns führte Bruno durch die Favela ‘São Cateano’, Salvador ist eine der armsten Städte Brasiliens, jedoch sind die Favelas nicht mehr so schlimm wie früher. Der letzte Präsident hat sich sehr für die Armen eingesetzt und die Familien erhalten Familienzulagen, wenn sie ihre Kinder in die Schule schicken.

Danach besuchten wir den Künstler “Prentice’, der Fliesen mit Bahianischen Motiven bemalt. Nach einer kurzen Pause in der ältesten Eisdiele Salvadors schauten wir uns  die Kirche von Nosso Senhor do Bonfim an. Sie ist die bekannteste Kirche Salvadors und ist berühmt für ihre Wunderheilung. In der Kirche ist ein Schrein, wo die geheilten Leute verschiedene Körperteile aus Plastik wie Beine und Arme niederlegen, um den Heiligen zu danken, dass sie geheilt wurden. 

 Professor Fred ist ein weiterer Sprecher, der uns ein Mal pro Woche über die Geschichte Brasiliens erzählt. Er ist ein sehr interessanter Mensch der aus einer Multi-kulturellen Familie stammt. Sein Vater ist ein libanesischer Jude und seine Mutter eine Schwarze aus Salvador. Als er Mitte 20 war, reiste er ohne Geld 10 Jahre kreuz und quer durch die Welt und spricht 7 Sprachen. 

 

Wir haben in den letzten 2 Wochen so viel über das Leben hier in Salvador gelernt, man sieht die Stadt mit ganz anderen Augen als wenn man nur als Tourist kommt.

Sisters / Schwestern

Two sisters both called Yasmin, they are the saddest looking girls at the day care, they never smile, they just have this empty look in their faces. The older one usually takes care of the smaller one, they would hold hands or older Yasmin would carry younger Yasmin around. They really break my heart.

Zwei Schwestern, die beide Yasmin heissen. Sie haben stets einen leeren, traurigen Blick und lachen nie. Die aeltere Yasmin kuemmert sich immer um ihre juengere Schwester, sie sind unzertrennlich und spielen nie mit den anderen Kindern. Sie tun mir so leid.

Another day at the day care/ Ein weiterer Tag in der Kinderkrippe

Playing Bingo with the ladies / Bingo spielen mit den aelteren Frauen

Sister Mariana sings with the children before lunch/ Schwester Mariana singt mit den Kindern vor dem Mittagessen

Potty time after lunch / Nach dem Mittagessen gehts auf's Toepchen

Nap time / Mittagschlaefchen

A day at the day care

Wochenende auf Morro do São Paul

Morro do São Paulo ist eine Insel ca. 40km südlich von Salvador, die man mit einem Katamaran erreichen in knapp 2 Stunden kann. Da der Wellengang ziemlich hoch war, verbrachten wir jedoch fast 3 Stunden auf dem Schiff und fühlten uns wie auf einer Achterbahn. Die Insel ist autofrei und Einheimischen fungieren als Taxichaffeurs, die mit einer Schubkarre das Gepäck der Gäste in die Hotels bringen. Unsere ‘Pousada’ lag am 3. Strand mit Aussicht auf das Meer und an einem Strand voller Krebse. Den Abend verbrachten wir am 2. Strand, das Partyzentrum der Insel mit unzähligen Strandbars, Restaurants und Caipirinha-Stände. Auf jeder Menukarte findet das Bahianische Nationalgericht ‘moqueca’, ein Fischeintopf aus Fischfilets, Kokosmilch, Palmöl und Tomaten. Wir propierten auch Tapioka-Crèpes, die man mit verschiedenen Zutaten wie Käse, Schinken, Kokos, Bananen, etc. Gefüllt sind.

Die Insel ist ein tolles, tropisches Ferienparadies mit türkisfarbenem Wasser, weisse Strände, unzählige Aktivitäten, kleine Boutiques, die vorallem Bikinis und Strandmode verkaufen und natürlich leckere Caipririnhas.

Die Rückreise war viel angenehmer, wir wurden zur nächsten Ortschaft auf dem Festland gebracht, da die See zu rauh war. Von dort aus wurden wir mit einem klimatisierten Bus (wir haben im Haus keine Klimaanlage und die Ventilatoren laufen auf hochtouren, aber es ist denoch sehr warm) auf eine andere Insel gefahren, wo ein Katamaran auf uns wartete, der uns über die Allerheiligenbucht zurück nach Salvador brachte.

Die Allerheiligenbucht ist die grösste Bucht Brasiliens und wurde durch Amerigo Vespucci am 1. November 1501 entdeckt.

Weekend trip to Morro do São Paulo

Morro do São Paulo is an island off the coast about 30 miles South of Salvador and can be reached by catamaran. The boat company advertises that the trip takes 1 hour and 50 minutes, but it was a 2 ½- hour rollercoaster ride on the open sea which felt like it was never going to end. We were so happy when we reached the island just as the sun was setting. Since the island has no cars the taxis consisted of a wheelbarrow and a local guy pushing it. Our pousada Paraiso do Morro was located on the 3^rd beach, supposedly a 20-minute walk from the harbor, however, we had somehow missed and ended up at the end of the 3^rd beach. We had to hike back across a crab invested beach and finally found the pousada. Morro do Sao Paulo seems to be a party place, the 2^nd beach is full of beach bars and restaurants with music. After dinner, Jane and I walked around the little town for a while and looked at some shops. We also tried tapioca crepes which can be ordered with different fillings such as banana, coconut, grilled cheese, etc and they are delicious.

On Sunday morning, we had a leisurely breakfast at the pousada before we went to the beach for a couple of hours. The tide was out and the water was very shallow, and there were lots of colorful fishes and little crabs in the tide pools between the rocks. The island is very pretty and lush; it seems to be the perfect vacation spot for those you like activities as well as tranquility.

Our boat was scheduled to leave at 3pm and we all dreaded the long ride back to Salvador. However, as we boarded, we were informed that the sea was too rough, although the weather was gorgeous, and that we were being dropped off in Valença, a small town on the mainland from where we would take an air-conditioned bus to Ihla Itaparica and then another catamaran back to Salvador. The journey, although longer, was so much more comfortable than on Saturday and we got to watch a beautiful sunset over All Saints Bay.