Five years ago today, 30 April 2004, it was as clear and sunny a day as we're now enjoying. I remember the day vividly as I arose full of anticipation and zipped through the morning routine with gusto. We had been in Tacoma, WA a fortnight visiting my student haunts at the U. of Puget Sound and staying with a dear friend, Dave that I had met 14 years previously in 1990 through squash. Not a minute too soon, the car with suitcases was packed and we were on our way North to a new life.

Today marks the 5th anniversary of our arrival in Canada. Dave drove us over the Peace Arch border crossing and waited patiently while our paperwork was processed. This moment represented the culmination of a migration that was 12 years in the planning, a mountain of paperwork, bureaucracy that wouldn't budge, opposition from an unlikely source and more expense than there were funds in the bank for.

This was not the first time that Dave and I had crossed this border. Thirteen years previously in 1991, we had driven from Tacoma to Vancouver to play in a squash tournament at the Jericho club. It was then that I had become enamoured of Vancouver and promised myself that I would some day return to live. I'm glad I didn't know then that it would take 13 years to pull it off. In fact, no sooner had I graduated in 1992 and returned to South Africa than I contacted the Canadian Consulate in Pretoria and began making inquiries about emgrating. The process was just a 6-month one back then but exciting job prospects beckoned.

After being welcomed into Canada by our customs official as landed immigrants, my immediate sentiment was not jubilition though I did throw my hands up in the air like a prize fighter after delivering a knockout blow. It was a gesture of defiance rather than celebration. I had a strange flashback to the South African lady working at the Canadian Consulate whose response to my query whether it was really necessary to submit a police clearance certificate from every US state in which I had resided for longer than 6 months was: "Either comply or exercise your option to withdraw your application." This, after two years in the queue. I argued that I had already submitted an all-encompassing FBI report which the US Embassy itself confirmed covered every State. "Comply or withdraw your application!" She may just as well have been ordering me off her beach or to use the restaurant's side window rather than the main entrance, if you know what I mean. I had hurdled obstacles that, in my mind anyway, often seemed designed to keep us out but in reality are there to keep the bureaucratic machine oiled and bureaucrats employed. My sentiment was relief and and I suddenly felt very tired. I attempted to engage my wife, Shamin in a warm embrace but it was coolly received, not reciprocated. She was justifiably still sceptical and, although married for 4 years by this time, was pining for home as a baby wrenched from its mother's arms.

Our drive to Vancouver was quiet as Shamin and I pondered our future. Dave recognised our need for reflection. It was after all a huge moment in our lives. I was not to know at the time that the road after the border would become one that we traversed often. We now live in White Rock and drive the route of our arrival daily.

Our first stop in Vancouver was to meet in person for the first time a friend, Sherin with whom we had been corresponding electronically for four months. We first made contact through a site known as Canada Coffee Club. Her family had arrived the previous June from Durban and we discovered we had a lot in common. Sherin had been instrumental in arranging our first apartment rental, a four-month sub-let on Cambie at 41st. We overcame the tenant's suspicion of an African scam by paying cash up-front for the full stint. After setting down our luggage and freshening up, we decided to explore our new town.

By now very hungry, we had our first meal in Canada, pizza at the Flying Wedge on Denman in the West End. It was a scorcher of a day and everyone was out-and-about in as little clothing as possible. We walked to English Bay and that first impression was a lasting one for Shamin who calls this her favourite place in all of Vancouver. Countless visits later including squeezing in with the masses during our famous "Celebration of Light" fireworks displays, English Bay and Stanley Park remain our favourite leisure destinations.

Five years since arriving, we have become citizens, filed four tax returns as of yesterday, purchased and are renovating our first condo, bought and sold four vehicles and run a small business that ended last December with the conclusion of a book vending contract. Shamin remains the mainstay of our financial future by being gainfully employed. I am returning to University full-time to train to become an accountant. Four years from now, I hope to become a CA at the age of 49. Some mid-life, mid-career change, eh?

I don't remember much of the rest of our first day in Canada. By this time, I was just numbed into the gravity of the moment. To some extent I think I felt like an escaped prisoner but one who didn't face the propsect of being recaptured. We had enjoyed a nice stint in South Africa and gotten out without becoming casualties in the few robberies that we had experienced. I had this feeling once before, when I sold my first-and-only motorcylcle after a year. I simply felt that I had gained an experience and gotten out without getting hurt.

Dave stayed over, crashing on a futon in the living room. We used his car the next morning to rack up a $200 grocery bill at Safeway in the Oakridge Mall. Then, like a Leopard who has trained it's progeny for survival, he took off and left us to our own devices in our adopted city.

Thanks Neeven. We loved reading this.

Just a thought: someone with your sense of humour and energy can hardly fail in Canada, now can they? We enjoyed your story about your first "foreign" trip with your brand new Canadian passport just as much.

Cathy K

Good writing, Neeven! You certainly are gifted with words.

Thanks, Cathy. I've always maintained that a good sense of humour is a necessary ingredient not only for success but to get you through life in general. Sometimes, the result is that people don't take you seriously. That's why I'm becoming an accountant. Everyone takes them seriously except for the ones who did the books for Enron.

Very kind of you to say, Indrid.

By the way, I went to school in Port Shepstone. (Lived in Hibberdene at that time.) Best place in SA...the South Coast. Go Sharks!

If you guys ever feel like a cuppa tea, we are out in Langley.

That's why I'm becoming an accountant. Everyone takes them seriously.....

Not in the current economic situation.

What I find truly amazing in most Canadians ( a nation of which we are now proud to be part of) is the ease with which they are willing to switch careers and study hard to achieve this. Most of us would have balked at the thought of going back to the books after many years.

It's difficult enough to balance my own books! Liked oupa's way better, What else can you use that little money tin under the mattress for.

Cathy K

Hehehe....then one has to become a forensic auditor like a relative of mine, Cathy....so you can catch all the thieves and greedy fat cats, lol.

Nice ....

I read your post with great pleasure. The best of luck for your CA . I was a Chartered Accountant when I came to Canada from SA and I know how valuable this diploma is.
Altought I didn't become a Canadian CA , the background I had helped me achieve other goals in a finance-related career.

And when you graduate , don't let anybody call you a " bean counter " LOL

I think everybody remembers their first day in Canada. As for me , I landed on a cold January night at the Montreal airport where my wife-to-be ( Stéphanie ) was waiting for me.I had a few suitcases but no winter clothing so Stéphanie had brought me winter stuff ; some lumberjack winter jacket with the sleeves about 8 inches too short ,a fur hat and what they call here ski-doo boots . So we get in the car where Stéphanie , a friend and and her brother start talking to me and I don't understand anything they say . they were talking in a French I didn't understand, the Quebec French they call "joual" and is very tough to understand. I had met Stéphanie when she was back-packing in SA but all the time she had been speaking a sweet "international" French that was easy to understand for me ( French mom ) . So here I am in the car trying to understand the conversation , tired , completely confused and scared. An hour later , we stop for a coffee halfway in a city called Drummondville. I go to the bathroom and take a look at myself in the mirror . The lumberjack thing , the fur hat , I mean I looked like a russian paesant LOOOLLLL Dr. Zhivago !!

Things are better now but I will never forget this first day in Canada.

Again, the best of luck for your CA ;

JeanDV

Guys your stories bring back memories of our arrival in 2004, since it is now also 5 years for us.
I met my Canadian employer in Spring of 2004.
After two rounds of layoffs I am still working for the same company and thankful for what we have.
To me, life is about people and our life here in Canada exists
because of great people that we met.

I arrived on my own and lived in a hotel for a month, then moved to
a rented apartment, getting by with very little furniture, and then
unpacked the container in time for hubby to arrive at the end of 2004.
We had no car for more than two years (in Toronto one can get by
using only public transit and the occasional taxi). So we saved
and bought our home in Bronte in 2006. We decided to keep
our life simple and have only one car. We want to pay off
the house as soon as we can, instead of spending the same
as a car payment on car insurance every month.

Our son was born in January 2008, so now we really feel that
Canada is our 'home and native land' : Home to us and Native Land to our boy.

In these tough economic times some reflection on our journey
just makes me feel thankful and blessed that we can live here,
in relative safety and peace. To me the journey has been
a ten-year adventure since I first came as a visitor. But all
the challenges along the way seem to be trivial now. It
has all worked out. Thanks for everything, Canada!

November 1 will be our 13th anniversary since landing, and we have been citizens for 5 years. Time sure flies!

Oh wow! Congratulations. What are you guys going to do for your anniversary?

Hubby's 10th anniversary for arrival in Canada will be Sept 25th. Mine is exactly one month later!: :

Congratulations. Hope you guys do something special.

We don't normally do anything special --- just mark the day! I only remember because it's the day after Halloween and one of my best friend's birthday. My husband also arrived about a month earlier --- around the 10th October.

Congratulations on everyone else's anniversary.

Congrats everyone, and happy anniversary to me ... ! Twenty-five years today 15 May since I got on that Air Luxavia plane at (then) Jan Smuts Airport. I was young and idealistic then, but 5 countries and half a life-time later (including 5 years in Canada), I can look back and say despite some tough times, I've made the right decision and that I've had a happy life since leaving South Africa.