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.
