Day Trip to the Border

Well today Nige and I headed to the Canadian/US border with all our paperwork in order to activate our new work permits.  In order to activate our permits, we have to do what's called, round the flag pole, which entails exiting Canada, entering the US border office and them sending us back to re-enter canada.  

The nearest border crossing to us is Carway which is about 3 hours drive south, so we headed down with our passports, Nigel's LMO letter and our Common-law agreement.  The first half of the process went very quickly and we headed back to the Canadian border and declared our intention to activate our work visas.  We were directed to an office where we handed over our paperwork and were asked to take a seat.  Now I can 'talk' normally, but the fact that we were sat in a room surrounded by cameras and a very intimidating Immigration officer made us both very nervous and i think I only stopped for breath once the entire time we were there!!!!

What we weren't expecting was the 'grilling' that we were given by the immigration officer and 40 minutes of questioning and waiting.  Although on the surface it looked very suspicious that we had been able to support ourselves without having worked for four months and that we genuinely hadn't worked illegally.  For those that know us, they had listened to us moaning about our situation since May and were aware of the two bottom shaped indents on the sofa as Nige and I stayed at home trying to conserve money, but it was very frightening having to convince someone who didn't believe that was the case when we had no evidence.  They were also very suspicious that we had employers that were willing to hold our jobs, something that we hadn't really thought about, but after sometime the officer returned and after a few more questions he handed over the visas and the passports were stamped.  

Thankfully, as I had a letter from my employer at the Foothills, he agreed to give me a permit that entitled me to continue working in healthcare, without another medical.  We also believe that he may have contacted our bank to ensure that we had had no payments enter our account and as we were heading out the office he asked if we'd managed to see much of Canada whilst we'd been off work; we pointed out that we'd only just had enough money to pay the rent, let alone travel.  We thought afterwards that he may have been testing us, but as we had nothing to hide and were nothing but honest, he had obviously been satisfied with our answers.   

We cannot begin to describe the feeling we had as we drove home with that bit of paper stapled in our passports, but its straight back to work tomorrow for Nige and I return back on Tuesday.

At Last!!!!!!!!!

ITS HERE!!!!

Well after what feels like an eternity waiting to hear our fate at precisely 4:11 pm this afternoon we received the news we'd been waiting for.  Service Canada have issued Nigel a positive LMO letter which will allow us to head to a border immigration office to have our work permits processed and issued.  Nigels boss rang yesterday to say that they had submitted the application and that they had spoken to Service Canada (SC) and they assured them that they would review the application as soon as possible.  Then early this morning Nigel received another phone call from one of his bosses to say that they'd had a call from SC in order for them to discuss the application and that they would hear before the end of the week what the outcome would be.

Obviously we were really nervous, so didn't want to get anyones hopes up by giving them the latest news until we knew for sure.  Nigel had decided to go out o0n the bike and on checking his cell phone on his ret

urn he noticed a missed csll from each of his bosses, a voicemail and text asking him to call them back.  Not knowing whether it will be good news or bad news he rang them back, only to be told that they had received a fax of a positive LMO.  

I am writing this before we head out into Downtown for a few celebratory drinks, then its off down south to the US border early next week to activate our work permits.  So a big thank you to all of those that have been crossing various body parts, it obviously worked, and to all of you that have been waiting to book flights, get booking cause it looks like we're staying!!!!

Globalfest 2010

Long term readers will be aware that Nige and I attended the Calgary international fireworks competition last year and this year, despite our current uncertainty, we decided at only $15 each it was a must!  As we still have our house guests, along with our neighbors, the six of us headed up to Elliston Park in Calgary's Greater Forest Lawn district around 6:30pm to make the most of the festivals International Avenue Arts and Culture Centre area for dinner.  We had remembered that last year, still being somewhat new to Calgary and still a little 'green' we had gone very unprepared in order to be comfortable when the sunset.  This year we had been more aware of the sudden drop in temperature that occurred and has brought plenty of layers!  This year we had decided to watch Portugal's performance and were very impressed.  

Although we aren't sure of the exact marking/scoring criteria for the displays, we know that marks are given for the timing of the display to the accompanying music, choice of music and how well the appropriateness of the display to the music.  We had felt that it was far better than the display we'd seen last year and were so pleased that our house guests enjoyed themselves as we'd been raving about it for over a week!!!!!

However, we are yet to reach the true canadian level of 'non-weather specific preparation', as although we were a great deal warmer than last year, as it had been so warm in the day, the drop in temperature felt more severe.  As a result Nige and I have already made a mental packing list for next year which includes a double sleeping bag (I kid you not!!!).

Strange But True!!!

Yes today we were hit by another strange Calgary weather phenomenon.  All day it had been warm, if a little overcast with smoke from the BC forest fires, but certainly pleasant.  Then Sophie went to let out Domino she spotted the unmistakable black clouds in the distance.   We decided that if a storm was on its way in we'd better close the windows, but little did we know that it was more than rain heading our way.


We have had some amazing storms since we moved here, especially in the last 6 months and a month ago there was an enormous hail storm in the North of the city with, apparently, tennis ball sized hail, yet we had missed it here.  As soon as we heard the first crack of thunder the heaven opened and the house was pelted with ping pong ball sized hail.  We'd never seen anything like it and the sound from inside the house was deafening.  The hail continued for around 20 minutes gradually getting smaller and smaller until eventually it became rain, but with the temperature having dropped to around 9 degrees, the hail took most of the night to melt away.


Below are some photographs taken from our back yard.

An Afternoon on the Elbow!

As a Birthday treat, our friend Deedee and Haydn had planned for Nige and I to borrow their equipment and travel/float down the Elbow River, so as the weather forecast was good all was planned for yesterday.  Since we first moved here, we have often talked about getting into some sort of water sport and were hoping to buy a kayak this summer, but obviously with all spending on hold we were really looking forward to some fresh air and relaxing on the water. We headed to theirs in the afternoon and Deedee took us to our Starting off point, a place called Sandy Beach, helped us inflate our vessel then pushed us off down the river.  

NB: For those of you that have forgotten, we are still without a camera so the photos are again coming to you courtesy of Nigels' works iPhone, which for most of the pictures was inside a ziplock bag, hence the appearance of a smog/haze like entity on some of the photos!

Below is a link to a map where we have plotted our route.

Our Route

Areas of the route took us into fairy deep water at times with enough current to float us down the river without having to row and I just steered with the oar out the back of the boat.  There were however, times where it was quite shallow so we did have to get some momentum by rowing, to get to where the stronger current was to going again.

What with the hot summers here, on the weekend especially, lots of people head for the river, so the City is very strict on water safety.  Because of this life vests are compulsary for all and the comsumption of alcohol is prohibited.  We had been very good and were thankful that we had adheared to these rules as the police were out in force issuing $250 fines and stern 'tellings off' to those who didn't comply!

The journey itself took just over an hour and we had a great time.  Apart from a few other groups of teens floating down in lilo's and blow-up recliner chairs it was so peaceful and the scenery was beautiful.  We even got to float by some huge 'posh' houses that backed onto the river.  After we'd reached our docking point, we  met up with Haydn, Deedee and their two children for a fabulous barbeque with homemade burgers, salad and a gorgeous homemade Victoria sponge.  I'm sure we bore you all by repeating this all the time, but you almost have to remind yourself that you're in a huge city, when you're surrounded by nature, plus even though our sky has been very hazy recently (due to the smoke from the huge forest fires in British Columbia) the sun still forced its way through for some awesome temperatures.

So another great day in Canada, thanks to such a thoughtful gift from our friends, that has definitely given us a taste for the river.  We're hoping, if all goes well, to be able to buy our own equipment before the end of the summer, so we can plan an all day trip from the North of the city all the way down to the South City limits.

A night with Michael Buble (well sort of!!)

Around 6 months ago I heard on the radio, on the way to work, that Michael Buble was coming to Calgary, so on my first break at work I jumped onto the internet and purchased a couple of tickets.  Nigel was initially determined not to go as he really isn't a fan, and we could have done with the money, but as we aren't sure if we'll be staying I wanted to make the most of it.  Eventually I managed to persuade Nigel to come with me so we headed off to the Sadledome.

We had spoken to friends of ours that had seen this particular concert in the UK and they had also told us how much they'd enjoyed the support act Naturally 7.  I'd known about them in the UK, but not really heard them preform and was not disappointed.  The band basically do what they call 'vocal play' where the seven members imitate the sound of a large variety of instruments with their voice.  I throughly recommend a quick visit to Youtube to have a look at their version of 'In The Air Tonight'.  

As for Michael, well it was amazing, and he was a definite entertainer, and despite Nigel's initial reluctance he actually really enjoyed it.  Both Nige and I were singing and swaying all night and I was dancing with my favorites.  

Below a few pictures (with the 'ye old faithful' iphone!) of another fantastic night.

        

Suprise Birthday Celebrations

As most of you will know Monday August the16th marked my 28th Birthday, but as our visitors pointed out, with us currenty classed as "visitors' to Canada my birthday could be celebrated from 5pm on Sunday the15th local time (12 midnight on the16th in the UK).

I had been talking for weeks about having an Indian meal as we hadn't had one since our visit to the UK in May.  So Nigel decided he would take me out on the Sunday evening.  So we left our house guests Kathryn and Luke to have a quiet night in while we headed out to the restaurant.  

About 15 minutes down the road Nige realised that he'd left his wallet at home and although I had mine Nige had insisted on going back to get his.  So after much muttering on my part we turned around and headed back home.  Now I've always thought myself as a rather observent person (and for those who know me really well, actually rather nosey!)  So I was rather shocked to find that whilst I had believed we were heading out to the restaurant, it had all been a plot to get me out of the house, so that Kathryn, Luke and our neighbours Samantha and Brian could activate 'Operation Suprise Party'.  In the 25 minutes we'd been out of the house, friends had arrived, tables had been laden with food and drink, and the house, inside and out had been decorated with balloons, banners and assorted birthday paraphernalia.

I was so shocked, especially when I heard all the details of the 'goings on' between everyone involved.  So thanks to my wonderful, yet extremely sneaky friends I had a great evening, plus I got to celebrate for an extra 7 hours!!!!!