Some good news

So Chris called the immigration hotline once more tonight and they were able to settle our unsettled minds at least a little with regards to our application on the loose. They said this other address which I was given and thus used was for the immigration centre, not the processing centre, and the only two things that could happen to our application are: it would get returned to us, or it would get forwarded to the right address.

We're hoping it has been forwarded since we haven't received any mail lately.

After seeing 28 weeks later we saw 28 days later today, which is the prequel (is that a word?) and we were hoping to find answers to a bunch of questions that were stirred watching the sequel. Alas, no answers were found, but we were mildly entertained.

And the aftermath from the Toronto Green Community-meeting is: I'm not only doing the slideshow, I am also doing the sponsor-logo-banner-poster-thing. I think I have found my niche, InDesign and Photoshop. I shall focus on becoming a pro on those programs, and maybe throw in some flash just for fun, muahahah.

Speaking of muahahah, halloween is just around the corner! I anticipate lots of little witches on the streets tomorrow. I myself will spend tomorrow cleaning this filthy apartment and then going to the gym to work off the three-person meal I had today at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It is apparently a Canadian tradition, but one that I only have to experience once, as I do not wish to gain 100 pounds. I mean kilos. Damn these americanizations.

Here's a photo of some appetizing spaghetti! There was also unlimited bread, soup and ice cream for dessert (not unlimited, thank heavens, I was stuffed when it was presented to me, but what could I do but enjoy its savoury sweetness).

Halloweekend

The weekend was nice, I had to volunteer on Saturday as well as finish off a lot of untranslated translations, but I managed to relax a bit and get some sleep. Chris worked both days which gave me time to work and go to the gym (yeah so I can do that even with him around, I just don't want to).

We decided to check out "night of dread" at Dufferin Park on Saturday, but it was already over when we arrived. I'm not surprised, as it was a very windy and cold night. But it seems a little pathetic that a "night of dread" ends at 8pm. So instead, we just walked around and then went for dinner at Nirvana, which quickly became my new favourite Toronto restaurant, seeing how cheap and good the food is.

The picture is from after the "night of dread"-search but before the food. Yes, I admit it, that is a tetra of wine. Yum yum, bet you wish you had one as well.

Sunday we decided to rent a scary movie and make spicy pumpkin soup. The soup turned out great (although it felt a bit like dessert what with the butter and brown sugar). We rented "28 weeks later", which wasn't scary at all, but how is one to find a good scary movie these days? It was about a virus turning people into zombie-like killing machines. Silly stuff.

Today I am finishing off my 40 hours and tonight I have a meeting with the Toronto Greens about their upcoming gala. Oh why do I take on these things. :)

The Islands and The Week of Fatigue

So the islands were great, we went on the most beautiful day. Sunny and slightly chilly but quite windy. Chris rented a bike and I had mine and we brought lunch. Very nice. Here's a map for you! We took the ferry to Ward's Island (the only one in function during winter) and then biked all around the place. We live just where it says Airport Ferry, on the mainland, of course.

So this week has been tough. I've been getting up at 7.50ish every morning, except Friday, when I just couldn't take it anymore and got up later. I fell asleep when I got home on Thursday, that's how exhausted I was. I slept for about an hour and then we went to Lee's Palace to see a show by Jesu, of whom I had never heard before. They were ok, but that kind of ambient music and dull stage show isn't really what you want when you're falling asleep. We ended up leaving after about five songs (and two opening bands) because we were too tired to care.

So now it's Saturday and I have translations to do as well as volunteering at the International Festival of Authors at the Harbourfront Centre. I'd rather be sleeping, I feel like crap. But at least I have tomorrow off.... It's supposed to be Halloween soon, and so there are a lot of Halloween happenings this weekend, but I'm busy and Chris is working, so we probably won't do a lot.

Here's a blurry picture from the islands, taken off my bike.

Tired, so tired.

So last week I basically spent my time going to the gym. What else did I do, I wonder. Nothing much. We went out for drinks and food yesterday, but nothing much. Then I couldn't sleep so now I'm damn tired. We're headed for the Islands but Chris is talking on the phone. Blaah.
Oh I have exciting news for the following week, but I can't post it here, so if I know you well enough I'll tell you in person. And now I'm going to force Chris out the door.

Still hoping to hear from immigration.......... :(

All we can do is wait

This morning I woke early as Chris had to go to work and I had to phone the post office at eight and ask if there is any way of stopping out mis-addressed mail. There wasn't. So I phone CIC again (who put us in this position to start with) to see if there is anything I can do about this package...

The guy who answered this time was sceptical that I would have been told the wrong address, and kept checking up on the address "for sake of argument". But finally he found the other address and gave me a fax number, and told me I must have spoken to someone really new at the call centre, because apparently "all the people have it memorized by heart". Well bloody much good that does me.

I faxed the wrong place today and asked if they could please forward the package to the right address as quickly as possible, as it is a matter of uttermost importance. I really really hope they will do it fast, because this could end up being more than a minor bump in the road.

Forget that then

Yeah so screw everything in my last post. It was NOT lucky I called the idiot on the help hotline for the address, cause he gave me the WRONG address. Jackass. Sorry. But I'm a little pissed off. Now the package is in the mail and it's going to the wrong place. Let's see how we sort this out.

FINALLY!

Yes, finally, the application for permanent residence is in the mail. Now all we have to do is wait and wait some more! Shouldn't take more than a month for them to approve Chris as a sponsor, a few weeks of the application sitting on a desk in London, and then about two to four months before I get approved... Hopefully.... Hmmm... So we're looking at maybe February? Geez. Well at least now it's no longer in our hands.

It took me forever to get it sent off today, I went to Staples to do copies and send it, but as I had copied and organized everything I noticed I'd forgotten the pictures at home. So I biked off home, ate lunch, worked on my translations a bit, and biked back to Staples to buy a box and send it via Purolator. However the box I bought was too small (so I got a big envelope), and the lady who was gonna send it was operating a computer for the first time in her life (or so it seemed, at least she told me she'd never done Purolator before) and she pushed the keys of the computer keyboard one at a time with one finger, doing capital letters by clicking caps lock and then unclicking caps lock. It took forever. And when it was finally done, another woman came up (who was more knowing) and said they don't ship to PO Boxes.

So then I called the immigration hotline to make sure I had the right address, and apparently I didn't! Very good luck that I went there and tried them, or the package would have gotten a little lost. Yikes. But the right address was also a PO Box, which meant I had to bike off to a real post office and send it off from there.

Phew! Now I'm home and own about six huge envelopes I have no use for (they only sold them in bundles), and I need to get some work done. We're heading out to a party tonight which will rid all this clutter from my mind.

Tomorrow I need to be at Extreme Fitness at 1.30 for my introduction to the free month..

Photos and prizes

Oh man oh man. I just got 8 passport pictures, finally, for 50 dollars, up in the Annex (part of the city). I tried getting pictures (for the pr-application, that is) yesterday, and encountered some minor difficulties... Black's would do them, but for 180 dollars, and the Bay was just simply unprofessional. A woman took my picture (which was overexposed, miscoloured, and my head was too small), and she proceeded to cutting them by hand. How the hell would pictures like that be accepted anywhere?

She had cut about six of them when I reached for her ruler to measure the pictures as they looked small (not to mention uneven with my head in a different place on each one), and they turned out to be 2 mm too narrow. I told her this, and she, disappointed and apparently hurt, put down her cutting tools and said she had told me to go somewhere else to get the pictures done, since she couldn't guarantee that the pictures would be accepted at the visa office! Honestly! It's a big department store and they are completely incompetent when it comes to filling the needs of a customer. She made me feel like shit and so I left, and was luckily able to find a store with professional staff and cheap prices today. Agh. Now all Chris and I have to do is refill every goddamn form on our computers and print them out, and I have to try to somehow remember all the places I have travelled in the last 10 years...

Oh but speaking of prices! And prizes! I just got a phone call from extreme fitness - apparently the little ballot I filled while we were eating at Cora's paid off. I won a free gym membership! Only for a month though... But better than nothing...

A week and a half of stuff

Okay so long time no post, here we go.

Stratford was wonderful! The whole weekend was just great. The air was clean (you could take deep breaths and even see the stars!), the trees were orange and we had a lot of fun. Oh and the theatre was good, too. We saw an ideal husband on Saturday at 2, and after that we had the whole two days to explore the city.. Which we did in about two hours. The bed and breakfast we stayed at bragged about having such a big breakfast that you didn't need lunch, and we ordered lots of things off the menu, which the owners decided was too much for us and thus downsized. But it was barely enough not to be hungry anymore.

So what then? The next week went pretty fast, trying to get the paperwork done (it's still not sent off but hopefully on Thursday), volunteering, and such. I went to a meeting for the Toronto Green Community, volunteered at a thing they were organizing on Wednesday, then volunteered some more at the Harbourfront Centre on Saturday. That was dull, just sitting in a room with someone else who was getting paid, guarding an exhibition nobody came to see.

And yesterday we went for a walk out in the 31 degree heat. It was probably the worst day here so far, I felt like fainting or crying. Later at night we had a thanksgiving dinner here at our place for us two and Chris' cousin and brother. Oh the food was good. The pumpkin pie took an hour to cook so next year I'm voting for pre-made stuff.

Here's a picture from when the fog took over the city last week.