Snow!!! and the YMCA

Today snowed!!

Well, not for long and not enough to be in the ground, but enough for me to take a picture and LOVE it, I don't know how can anyone say that I will hate it before april, I think it's impossible :p

We also went to the YMCA and registered there, they gave us a LOT of information of the things we need to do the first days, tips to find a job (there are some excelents tips I will write about in the future) and now we have an appointment to take an english test on monday to know which level we are, and a lot of jobs ask for that level (I will let you know about the test later).

Then we went to the bank and our VISA credit cards should arrive in 2 weeks aprox. :) and went to the Eaton Centre to buy more winter clothes but there was a huge ad that said tomorrow there is going to be a big sale, so we'll be back :D

In conclusion: I LOVE THE SNOW :D

Metropass

We love the TTC, we have been everywhere with our feets and the subway, so you need a way of saving time and money when you are using it that much.

Every time you are going to use the subway, you need a token (a little coin) for 2.25$, but if you are using the subway a LOT, you would do go buying the metropass, wich can be weekly or monthly.

The weekly card is useful from monday to sunday of the ongoing week, so if you need to take the subway a saturday, you are better off buying tokens until monday and then buy the new card. This metropass is priced at a little bit more than 30$.

The monthly card is valid from the first day of the month until the last one, and is priced at 109$, so if you need it on the 27th like us, you better buy the weekly or tokens until the first one of the next month.

You can buy the monthly metropass between the 24th of the previous month and the 4th of the month for wich you are buying the card, and that card (and the weekly) can be paid with credit or debit in the following stations:

• Debit: Finch, Kennedy, Kipling y Downsview.
• Debit o Credit: Union, Dundas (east side only), Bloor-Yonge (north side only), and Davisville.

Although we buy them at Bloor-Yonge and the machine (you do it yourself) said "only debit", the same in Union station; I didn't try to use credit ^^

First day

Hi everyone! I'm finally writing about our trip and our first day i Toronto :D

This is our plane; the picture is pretty dark because it was taken at night, from far, and behind a security glass at the airport xD

The flight was pretty cool and nice, and I even slept a lot! :D

We arrived in Toronto at 6:00am since we took off almost half an hour late from Caracas, around 1:20am aprox. (flight time of almost 6 hours with the time difference)

We first went to the immigration boots where everyone has to go and they ask you the motive of your trip and how long you will be here; then you go to the immigration booths where only foreigns have to go and if you are doing the landing (like us) you have to give them the residence confirmation and show them your bank statement. Then you look for your bags and go to another area where you have to give them the list of goods to follow (they didn't want the list of goods we carried).

We were ready at 7:30am because one of the suitcase didn't arrive with us, so we spend a while fixing that. It turns out that the identification tag that Air Canada gave us went missing, so be very careful with that. But don't worry, when we arrived at night at the apartment, the suitcase was already here :)

The apartment where we are staying is great! It has a very good kitchen with everything, several closets, the bathroom is very clean and everything is working properly and it's clean; the balcony... is great!!!

That first day (yesterday) we went to get of social insurance number, around 15 minutes, and you need your permanent residence confirmation, an address (it can be a friend's address) and passports. We didn't do it at the airport but went to the Human Resources Centre in St. Claire Ave. where they have free Internet access where you can look for a job.

We went to the bank to open our accounts. We did it with RBC with a venezuelan that works in the closest agency to the HRC.

And last we went to the Eaton Centre to buy our new cell phones, where we sign an agreement with FIDO with the couples plan; you pay 35$, 45$ or 55$ and you get unlimited phone calls between the people in the agreement, and free minutes for calls in Toronto. Another good thing is that you get unlimited free calls in Toronto for the first 3 months, they don't charge you with incoming calls and you don't need a credit card, so you can sign it with a debit card.

The cold is enjoyable and I'm very happy with my new city :D The cold is not annoying and the city is so beautiful and cool that the cold is a fun extra ;)

We are here!

HI!!! We are here!!! :D I'll let you know later how it went, but everything is great and beautiful and I'm really happy!!!

Tomorrow is the day

Tomorrow we are leaving to the airport, the first part with our luggage is over y we are in the max. allowed in weight, size and quantity with everything, from checked baggage to laptop bag :)

We are tired but excited, happy to begin our new life but sad that we are leaving our families and friends, but we are leaving them all with the same message "We'll see each other again there!"

Every goodbye has taken a little bit of my heart, and it's so small right now, I never experienced that, maybe it's because I haven't cry?

I have told everyone not to cry because we are going to see each other again, we are not saying goodbye forever, and everyone has a piece of my heart; maybe that it's why I feel my heart so small.

I have said goodbye to a grandmother, uncles and aunts, cousands and their sons and daughters, I'm taking with my pictures of everyone and the most beautiful memories of so much love and care, and I'll miss EVERYONE, I love them all and I hope to see them again.

In fact, I'm leaving a few boxes they have to take with them when they go to visit us, I'll give then a roof and/or food :D. At the end, we are leaving 6 big boxes, 4 small ones and a bag ;)

Now I have to get ready to go to the airport tomorrow and leave the rest of my heart with my parents; if I'm feeling my heart so small right now, could I feel it at all tomorrow?

Certifying papers

Today I went to the embassy and took my university degree, scores, and more, to get certified by the Canadian Embassy :)

I had to be there in the morning since they don't accept them in the afternoon, with a lot of money so they would certify all of our university papers! They will take 2 days, so I have to pick them up Monday morning, then lunch with our parents and take off!!!!

It's SO close already :D And yet so far with snow falling today in Toronto; I really wanted to be there for the first snow, but it's ok, I'll be there next week! Wait for me Toronto, here we come :D

International Driver's License

More paperwork! xD I came back from Maracay this week and decided to spend time with my family, but wednesday was appointment with the endocrinologist (done) and the dentist (done), UCV work letter (done) and international driver's license (done).

Tomorrow is party with all my family :D

So, the international driver's license allows you to drive for a year without the Canadian driver's license. I also read somewhere that you need it to get the Canadian driver's license faster and easier, I'll let you know about that! ^^

That one is a little booklet with your picture, some information, and your license level (our third one is B), and some pages with the same information in Italian, french, english, german, etc.

I got it whith the Touring y Automovil club de Venezuela, that is part of the AAA in the United States. You need a picture 3x4, your driver's license, and your identification, and photocopies in color of the driver's license and your identification.

This is my bag

My friend Zhu taged me with another meme xD This time I need to show my bag and whats inside ^^

I'll make it short since I still have a ton of stuff to do ;)


This is my bag :D
I have a few others, but this one is perfect for my everyday , is beautiful and can handle everything I need ;)


These are the items that fit inside and that I always try to carry with me ^^

I have my reading glasses, makeup, a little mirror, my unbrella, wallet, coin bag, book (of course I change it everytime I finish it :p ), cellular phone, pen, check book, pill case, usb memory (1 GB), and a swiss army knife with microlight :D


This time I won't name wich girls I want to tag since everyone is so busy, but you are all invited to do this meme :D

The beach!

Sorry that I didn't post before, I was at the beach :D

We are visiting my husband's family and since we are so close to the beautiful beach and we are going to spend so much time in the snow, we decided to take a lot of sun for 3 days :D

So today I'm back to my mothers in law house ^^ The Internet is painfully slow, and I can't post a link or post pictures of where I was, but it was great there! The 2 of us alone in an apartment and around 10 people in 100meters of beach, so cool!

Update! The Internet is a little bit better, so here it is, 2 pictures of where we were (I didn't take them, I forgot my camara :( )

On a side note, we are so sad with what is happening in Venezuela I can't even post about it, I can't think about it or I'll cry :(

Power of attorney

I'm sorry I haven't been around commenting in my daily blogs and posting in mine, but I've been very busy with all the things I must get ready as soon as possible. I've been visiting your blogs, just not commenting since I do it as fast as I can :$

This week we got our powers of attorney! A power of attorney is a legal document where you give power to someone else to act in your behalf in all kind of situations, you can specify the situation(s) or be a little more general if you don't have something specific in mind.

For example, my mum can buy a house for me, sell things, close my bank account, open bank accounts, etc. You have to give this to someone you really really trust because is very delicate.

We are leaving a few general powers of attorney to our parents, so they can finish anything we don't have time to do so, or so they can do something for us once we are in Canada so we don't have to come back. This is specially important for us in Venezuela since we don't know if we'll be back even on vacations; we are pretty afraid that once we are outside Venezuela, if we comeback even for a day, they may not let us go back to Canada.

Think about having one of these before immigrating, is very useful and you never know when you'll need it ;)