mini update!

So I realised I forgot to write a "OK we're going on vacation now!!" post.

So yes, we're about a week away from the end of our vacation (and a week away from Glen and I parting ways for a few months *cries*). We're having a great time and have been extremely busy. Our internet access is really spotty but for some reason my laptop has connected to the wireless upstairs and has been working for almost an hour (this is a first!!).

So I'll leave you with this and hope that everyone is well. I'll hopefully have more updates and pictures when I get back north!

(yes I really did take this)

Reflecting and Looking Forward

Now that I have all my flights booked, things are starting to feel a little more real. Calling Air New Zealand to confirm things and have my booking actually be on their computer, waiting for the charges to show up on my credit card, weeding through the endless piles of stuff and packing...

In general I read a fair amount of ex-pat blogs - part by coincidence and part because I enjoy reading about people discovering new places. Seeing the world through the eyes of someone seeing it and experiencing it for the first time is something I enjoy. I've started searching for a few more ex-pat blogs - specifically people in Australia and I've been thinking a lot about what my own experience is going to be like.
The thing with reading about ex-pats (and if I'm lucky, Canadians) in Australia is I'm interested to see what they found difficult and then gauge what my reaction to the specific situation would be.
I've had the privilege to do a bit of travelling. I spent a total of 6 months living in Germany (1 month the first time as a "tester" and then went back a few months later for a 5 month stay), I've been to England, Holland and Australia.

I've thankfully (? haha) had my rough ex-pat experience (Germany) and I think my time in the Arctic has prepared me and might even make the transition a bit easier.

When I first moved up here there was a HUGE list of things I couldn't get here (and there's still a pretty sizeable list) so even though I'm still in Canada it's almost like living in a different country - the culture and customs up here are even different. I've gotten used to things not being like they were "back home", I've managed to survive for the last 6 years and I even kind of forget how things were before. I almost get culture shock when I go south (especially with all the people, the traffic, the bright lights, loud noises/etc).

I think with this move I have more things working for me than against me and the major "for" is my support system. For me, it's not about having a hard time finding my favourite foods it's ALL about being homesick and missing family (#1 reason my experience in Germany was tough). This is going to be the first time that I will have family and a built in network of friends ready and waiting for me.

So this long winded post is basically me saying that I'm optimistic that this is going to turn out OK (because trust me, when you have one bad living abroad experience, it makes you worry!).

I hope you guys aren't getting sick of all this trip talk!


Temperature: +9C
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a

Needle Felting! (and a confirmed moving day)

The arts festival is almost a month away so this week I have started a little more in earnest to get ready for it.

My workshop supplies arrived on Monday (needle felting again), I sent a disc with pictures to my Aunt in BC to get printed and I've started doing a bit of needle felting. This is what I finished yesterday:

For those of you that don't know, it's the Igloo Church - Inuvik's most famous landmark. I've been wanting to do a needle felting of this for quite a while now and finally sat down and did it.
Needle felting doesn't really photograph well --- the grass at the bottom is significantly more filled in than it looks and I don't think the cross on top is as crooked as it looks there (that spot might not be as filled in as the rest so the colour doesn't show up in the picture). The piece of felt is 12"x12" so it's pretty big.

My landlady comes back today which means I'm going to be truckless again (after having it since February I think?) so I'm going to haul out the bike again this year (I didn't use it at all last year :-( ). I have to run by the hardware store to get a new lock and a tire pump though.

I got confirmation today that I have a flight booked to leave Inuvik (it was booked on points so it took a few days). I'll be leaving on August 28th - almost a year to the day that my brother left (and actually the 28th is his birthday). I have mixed feelings - I mean, I really want to move and I'm excited but I've been here for six years it's kind of hard to imagine not being here - if you get what I mean?

Temperature: +14C
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a

What's That Sound?

So we were laying in bed last night (more accurately, this morning at 5am) chatting when we both stopped and were like "What is that?!". I crawled over the bed to the window and it was... RAIN! I don't think we've had rain in 8 or 9 months!
Even though rain is awesome (because well it means it's at least warm enough that it isn't snow!) I'm kind of glad it didn't last. The reason for this is because weather up here in the delta is kind of funny. It seems that weather kind of gets "stuck" so if we have sun we'll have sun for a while and then if it rains it seems we have clouds and rain for weeks. (this happens a lot in the summer, we'll have a few weeks of AWESOME weather and then it'll rain and then our summer is over).

So I've been spending a good majority of my time packing and I have 8 boxes sealed up with another 4 in progress... I have one empty 2cu box left and I'm not done the packrat room yet so I'll have to go get more boxes tomorrow I think.
I think the packrat room is the biggest packing job and once I'm done that things should go quicker.
My tentative leaving date is the end of August (my boss is actually trying to book me a points ticket right now) but I'd like to be packed up before we go to Victoria on the 19th. Just because then it's done and I won't have to worry about it since I won't be back until July 8th and then I have the festival to concentrate on.

So I thought that once I had my visa a lot of the stress & anxiety would be gone. Yeah, SO wrong. I had the WORST dream last night (why I was up at 5am). I suppose having anxiety attacks in the middle of the night is preferable to having them during the day while I'm at work or the grocery store or something though...


Temperature: +13C+
Sunrise: n/a
Sunset: n/a

The Wait is Over!

Look what I got in the mail today:

We weren't sure how I was going to find out. A lot of people get emails from their case officers and I got a surprise when I picked up the mail (I'm not going to lie, I cried a little at the post office).

*phew!*

Here is my timeline in case anyone is interested:

16/03/09: Sent application to processing centre in Ottawa
20/03/09: Application received by Australian High Commission in Ottawa, case officer assigned.
08/04/09: Letter received requesting medical check and passport to be sent to AHC in Ottawa.
22/04/09: Medical complete.
29/04/09: Medical information received by AHC in Ottawa.
07/05/09: Passport sent to AHC in Ottawa.
12/05/09: Passport received by AHC in Ottawa.
20/05/09: VISA APPROVED!!
25/05/09: Passport received by me with visa sticker!!!!

So it turns out that on paper my visa was approved exactly two months after my application was received by them.

We are SO relieved that it's been approved and we can start planning how the next 4 months are going to go. I can actually start packing, I can start selling all the stuff we won't take with us and I can start just "letting go" of all the stuff that doesn't matter - especially when it comes to work.
Now to start making lists of stuff I have to do and figure out the logistics of it all... Getting there isn't what I'm worried about, it's the whole forwarding mail/taxes/CPP/EI/keeping credit cards stuff that I'm most worried about actually.

Wow!


Temperature: +9C
Sunrise: n/a*
Sunset: n/a*

*We're a day or two into 24 hours daylight now. Worrying about my visa being denied had me TOTALLY distracted and I forgot about it until today. It's such a gradual thing so you don't really notice when you have sunset for 2 hours vs 0hrs.

Whole Lotta Nothin'

There hasn't been much bloggable activity going on up here lately. I've been way stressed out with everything that's been going on so I've been trying to not do too much besides relax and lay in bed.

No news on the visa front (they've had my passport for a week now) which is the source of most of my stress and is actually causing me to have anxiety attacks and really awful anxiety dreams. Fun times. Yay for ativan!

One semi exciting thing we did was go to the Giant Colon Tour. The nerd in me was super excited to go (I've gotten pretty acquainted with this body part over the last year with having Crohn's) but I was actually a bit disappointed. The sound wasn't working properly inside the colon and with all the air pumps (it was inflatable) you could hardly hear all the nifty facts on the TVs inside.

Our weather has finally gotten a bit better - we had over a week of snow, clouds and freezing cold (sorry Alberta, I think you got it from us!!) so that's improved my mood a bit -- SUN!! We're probably about 4 days away from 24hrs of daylight and even though we have a (brief) sunset now, it's not getting dark.

There has been no crafting going on (maybe another source of my misery?) so I've got to get back on that... I need to get some pieces for the arts festival done (as well as order prints... Oh man :-( ) and I need to start working on my quilts again.

Anyway! I better get ready for work!


Temperature: +8C
Sunrise: 3:56am
Sunset: 1:52pm

mini update

About a week ago I emailed my Immigration Case Officer regarding sending in my passport (basically my question was if I should attn it to him or send it to the regular address) and I asked if they were able to let me know if/when my medical had been received by the office.

The date that my passport had to be in was coming up quick so I sent it on Thursday before I'd heard back from my CO (they want it by the 14th)
I got an email yesterday letting me know that they received my medical on the 29th of April (I wasn't expecting it that soon! And of course I get the email the day after I send my passport!)

So I wonder if we're getting close? Yesterday was the 7 week mark from when they received my application and they told me that decisions are usually made between 12 and 16 weeks. 12 weeks is on June 12th (yes, we printed out a calendar and we've numbered the weeks and are crossing off the days!) and I'm wondering if it's going to take that long or if we'll hear back soonish?

You better believe I've been scouring the internet for stories of how long it's taken other people (even joined a few forums!) but there aren't a lot of people in a similar situation (applying offshore for a spouse visa). There are A LOT of people applying for skilled worker visas and those take waaaaaaay longer than spouse ones.

Definitely resisting the urge to spend all my time looking at the photos from our trip to Australia in 2007!

Temperature: -3C (feels like -9C ---- we had snow yesterday!! booo)
Sunrise: 5:05am
Sunset: 12:39am