Reading ReallyCoolDude's journal

The day has finally arrived! My family is leaving Houston for good, and they are arriving here in Vancouver (Canada) this Saturday. We did manage to sell almost all of our furniture (sofaset, dining table, bed, computer desk, etc.) and our car too. Our house is still in the market though, and it's quite tough paying two rents (one here in Vancouver, and our mortgage payment in the USA). The real estate market is a bit down in Texas right now.

Anyways, coming back to point, I am glad that after a gap of 4 months, I am going to start living a family life. Though I did enjoy my bachelor life for the first few days here in Vancouver, it was getting quite tough for me. I have got used to living with my family, and I missed them a lot. The wait is finally over. And, I can't wait for Saturday to arrive.

On a side-note, I am still sick, I still haven't recovered fully from Flu, which I had got more than a month ago, and now it seems like I have chronic bronchitis. People in the office stop-by at my desk daily, and ask me whether I am going to survive or not, and after coughing a lot, I manage to utter a few words out, saying, I definitely hope so! I haven't had a coke in the last 1 month, haven't had proper food too, and have lost almost 15 pounds of weight (around 7 kgs.) in the last 4-5 weeks. I hope when my family arrives here, all is going to change for the better.

How has my experience been in Vancouver so far? Well, Vancouver is a very different city compared to Houston. I moved away from the fattest city in the world to the healthiest city in the world. People are more liberal, more educated, and more friendly. Noone drives big 4x4s (or SUVs) and the pedestrians actually have the right-of-way. The traffic is not that bad as in Houston, and the public transit (commute by bus) is extremely comfortable. In Houston, people are so much afraid of even the notion of traveling in bus or train that they reject the idea of building a metro rail system outright! I doubt if Houston is ever going to have a rail system like the real advanced and metropolitan cities in the world. People are still living in the cowboy world in Houston, and love traveling in their big trucks in spite of the fact that it might take them 2 hours to travel a distance of 5 miles.

Houston has many good things too that I really miss. I miss my neighborhood, the houses are really good (and big). There is a lot of space. And, I miss all the wal-marts (Houston has a wal-mart in every mile -- sometimes closer). I miss the warm (and humid) climate, I never had to wear my jacket throughout the year there. I have not worn a T-shirt, ever since I came to Vancouver. I miss the big roads, and big lanes, and more cleanliness in general. I miss all the new construction. I am not a big history fan, and don't like century-old houses that are abundant out here in Vancouver.

But again, I love the medical plan of Canada, I end up paying $100 per month for all my medical costs, compared to $600 per month in Houston (and I also had to pay $25 as a copay amount in every visit to the doctor, and that was per person). I have heard great things about the educational system in Canada, and am hoping that my decision to immigrate to Canada was not a bad one. Let's see how things turn out. My first goal is to spend around 3 years here, so that I can become a citizen.

I am not happy to leave the USA, but the country had not left a choice for me. Apparantly, they are happy embracing all the illegal immigrants, but people who are well-qualified, and are legal aliens, are turned back due to so much beurocracy. So, if you don't want us, we don't want you either. At least, Canada accepted us with open arms, and our (Canada's and mine) ideals match.

BTW, I would be going to Seattle to pick my family up, they couldn't get a direct flight to Vancouver, and got a really nice deal with SouthWest Airlines for $99/- one-way from Houston to Seattle. From Seattle to Vancouver, the bus-ride is only 3.5 hours, and its only $22/-. So, we saved tons of money that way. But, we found out today only that according to some US law, a parent can not leave the border with a child under the age of 18, unless s/he has a written letter of no-objection from the other parent. Since my family is flying day-after-tomorrow morning, there is no way they can get the letter from me at such a short notice. So, I deemed it better to go to Seattle, pick them up from Seattle airport, and then come back together. If both parents are accompnying the child, then it's fine with them.

Okay, enough from my end, now, it's going to be party time on Sunday (hopefully my throat is much better by then).

Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye opener.

This post was edited by ReallyCoolDude on Feb 11, 2005.