Starting A New Life in Canada
Tuesday, July 12th, 2005It has been three weeks since my last blog. I was very tired and simply didn’t have time to blog. My first days in Canada were very challenging. This country is completely different to Europe and South East Asia… so I was a little bit shock at the beginning. I have been trying my best to adapt to the new life, and so far so good…. I have moved to a new apartment (I will publish some pictures of it soon) and I have started a new job.
There are two things that make my life not so comfortable here. The first thing is public transportation (this is a big problem because I don’t have a car yet… I even don’t have a driving license yet). Canada is a car driving country where public transportation is very difficult, especially in suburb area… and I am living in Richmond area, a suburb of Vancouver. Fortunately I have managed to find an apartment near Richmond Centre where there is a bus going directly to my company.
The second thing is so much hidden cost in this country (I guess the same as in the United States). For example, if we would like to buy something, the price shown on the tag is actually the price before tax. This is quite different with Europe (and Singapore). What made more surprise was when I bought a television. The price shown on the display is not included warranty, so we have to buy the warranty separately…. actually there is a limited warranty from the manufacturer, but it is only for short term and very limited.
Well…. finally I have arrived in my dreamland…. North America…. but the life is not as nice as what I have been imagining so far. Yeah, I think there is no perfect place to live in this world…. (in fact, I have just read that Vancouver is rated as 3rd best city to live according to Mercer’s survey).
