Just another adventure: May 2014

Before I dive into my story today, here are some pics from my last few days in Vancouver:

View from downtown Vancouver on the Lions

View from near my house on the Lions

Wildlife near my house!

View on downtowns waterfront

I'm loving Vancouver and I hope I will be back!

Adventures

Part of a good adventure is the not knowing what's next. Lately though, I've been having a hate-love relationship with that aspect of my adventure.

I don't think I have to explain the love part. The surprises of little fun adventures I have been having are plenty and I have been sharing lots of them here, too. No need for explaining, right?

But the hate part has been bugging me the last few weeks, it is all about work permits and government speediness... oooh, here it goes:

Without wanting to bore you with facts and paperwork trouble, I do want to explain a bit more about my visa situation because there have been people asking me about it.

First of all, I have been here on a working holiday visa this past year. It is an open work permit that allows young people to work for a year in Canada for any employer. But it is a once in a lifetime thing and you cannot extend it.

That means that once it expires you need a new work permit to be able to work in Canada. I can stay in Canada on a visitor visa, no problem, but I wouldn't be allowed to work. (And as I am not rich, I kinda need a job to survive in this expensive country.) In order to get a work permit fast, you need a job offer and with that you could apply for a work permit.

Great news!! I was offered a job at Timberwolf tours again, to work as a tour guide this summer. And you know how much I loved it last year, so of course I said yes. We applied for permission for a work permit in February. Now, end of May, we are still waiting for an answer.

More good news, in April I heard from Imtech. It's a dutch engineering company that had opened a new office in Vancouver. We really liked each other, and thought it would be great if I would join the company! I have been able to work for them for a few weeks until my work permit expired and we are now hoping to get me a work permit starting after the summer. That would mean I could live and work in Vancouver for another few years, which I would love to do! But again, waiting for an answer.

It turns out that getting a work permit in Canada used to be easy if you had a job offer. Not any longer though. You need the government to give the employer permission to hire a foreigner, and then you, as a potential employee, would be checked if you are allowed in the country.

Recent frauds from some fast food chains and other companies abusing foreign workers have lead to a stricter policy of the government on the foreign temporary worker program, which also results in immense waiting times for these work permits.

In my situation it means that I could either stay in Canada a few years longer with a nice job, or not. (In which case I would choose to start a new adventure and find a new job somewhere back in Europe.) I just have to be patient and wait for the answer from the government of Canada. It could take months...

Lots of people have asked me if I find it stressful to not know what will happen. Yes, of course it is nerv-racking! I've got two job offers lined up but I don't know if I am allowed to work and I'll need all the patience in the world to wait for the answers. It can be very frustrating. But what use is it to lie awake at night and to ponder over something that is out of my hands? I've read up all about the visa possibilities and I have done everything I can do.

I am very realistic about my adventure, I know it is not always easy and effortless and sometimes it is just time for a new adventure. It's just that I am enjoying this adventure a lot and I am not ready to give it up yet! Living and working in Vancouver has really grown on me.

Oh well, as I always say myself: without the lows you would not appreciate the highs.

Still beats a day at the office!

Back in the Rockies

Since a week now, I've been back in the Rockies to prepare for the tour guiding job, enjoying life while waiting for answers and visiting some friends. There is magical medicine around here: Get into nature, paddle a lake, hike a mountain and stress will automatically disappear. Seeing wildlife helps too, it is just thrilling, still, to see a bear or a grizzly. (I've already counted 9 so far!)