GOOD DAYS

Wow, eleven months and over 2,000 miles later I finally made it to Simon Fraser University

A scenic overlook on campus













Around each corner the view keeps getting better








Me on top of the world at SFU's reflecting pool




I believe this is called the quadrangle



Jim and I had left early Wednesday morning to talk to the people at his prospective job and to see what I could get done at SFU. After visiting with the boss at CBS Parts in Burnaby he told him that he can start work as soon as he has his SIN card. So that was very good news. It had looked promising before we left home but until you are actually hired you are kind of on pins and needles waiting to see what will happen.

We then headed up Burnaby Mt to Simon Fraser. Wow! What an absolutely gorgeous drive. Much to my amazement SFU is an enormous campus..I just had no idea. Jim and I walked and walked stopping and asking directions numerous times along the way. We finally found the student center where we were told to begin our day at the registrar's office where I would receive a student ID card. After taking a number and waiting I was told that until I had officially enrolled in classes I could not get my ID.She told me to find a computer, register for classes and come back 24 hours later after the info and been entered into her database. OKAY... The Criminology Dept.(far, far away) was our next stop.The minute I rounded the corner heading into the department I knew I was at home. While they have much more lovely digs than my friends back at Park, in comparison to the Science Hall and other areas of the university that we walked through, the CRIM dept seemed more cozy, if you will. I thought to myself...yes, these are my people, I will feel very comfortable here.


Philip, the graduate secretary was a terrific help, he enrolled me in my classes while I filled out all the TA paperwork. I was also pleased to meet Professor Boyd, Dean of the Graduate Department. He is just as personable as I imagined he would be. After finishing there Jim and I headed to the bookstore where I was able to purchase my books. So tomorrow I will(this time with Mom and Pam)make a trip back to campus to get my ID, buy a parking pass, and enroll in new graduate student orientation. This was actually one of the more productive days I have had thus far...and it felt really good.


Thursday

The heat wave broke and we awoke to a cool, rainy day. Jim headed out early and was successful in obtaining the much coveted and sought-after SIN card. (Much jumping up and down at this point!)As he came in the door he announced to Pam that with this card in his possession he could now officially "SIN" all he wanted to! When he called CBS to tell them the news they told him to plan on starting work 8:00 Monday morning. (imagine cartwheels and backflips!)


Alexis has made a friend. Lauren is the 6 year old daughter of Troy and Linda, the park managers. I am so thankful that she has someone to play with as she has been lamenting that she is bored without other kids around. We had been telling her to just be patient, school will start soon and she will meet others there but Lauren is a sweet little girl and I'm thankful for Alexis's sake that a friend came sooner than later. As Pam and I are sitting in the laundry room...the only dry place to get on the computer...the two of them are in the office playing Polly Pockets.

I don't know where to begin, let's see....

Monday.....there's the issue of needing access to our money that is in the US as well as needing a bank account in Canada so we decided to see what we could accomplish in that regard. We had been (erroneously) led to believe that Scotiabank was a sister bank to our bank,the Bank of Amercia(no transaction fees for using your debit card, etc.) so that's where we headed first. Nope, there is no relation what-so ever, sister or otherwise between the two, but ...for a sizable fee they would be happy to help us access our BOA money....heading down the road...The Royal Bank of Canada was next on our list as they and Bank of Amercia were one of the two Fulbright-approved institutions. This was a very multi-cultural banking experience as were the only two"westerners"there. Compared to the brightly colored menagerie of men in turbans and sari-clad women, Jim and I appeared quite dull and uninspiring in our jeans and t-shirts

When we conveyed our wishes to the customer service girl were nicely told that we would need to make an appointment for another day if we desired to open an account with them. After politley inquiring if there was another branch location that could see us more promptly they (it's a miricale!) found the time to squeeze us in.

Justin Antwar

Remember that name! This young man was great! He had never opened an account for anyone such as ourselves... .. non-Canadian, non-immigrant.....nobodies and he did a wonderful job. As he waded painstakingly through the reams of paper work he kept saying, "This is such a good experience for me. I've never had to do this before but now I will know how to do it. I'm so glad that you came in!" I told Jim that he reminded me of a middle eastern version of Tony. He looked to be the same age and was just very mature and poised. Two hours later we had an account, the catch was we had to go back to the states , find a BOA branch, and wire transfer the money unless we wanted to wait two weeks for the money to clear. Note to self and other international travelers....bring plenty of cash, a bank draft of the money you want to deposit with you and be able to wait two weeks before you access it. We had no idea...Aren't we glad that my Fulbright didn't take me to the North Pole or somewhere overseas! With only twenty miles between us and the border this didn't turn out to be nearly as frustrating as it could have.



Tuesday

Back to the U.S.

The border crossing wait was just as long as last week but not as frustrating. Within 30 seconds of walking in the door two...yes TWO people asked if they could help us, no lines , no taking a number, no being told to come back another day(really RBC? we just want to GIVE you our money??).... It took all of 2 minutes to get to the bank and another ten for them to wire the money to our RBC account.I like to think of this as American efficiency at it's best!

After we got back to Canada in the afternoon we decided to quit window shopping and just pick a cell phone plan. Much to our dismay we don't qualify to have one because we have not established any credit in Canada. Once we have acquired a SIN or Social IInsurance Number(Canada's equivalent to our SSN) we can use that and our passports to get phones. Until then our neighbor Rene, a colorful gentleman from Quebec, has graciously told us to put his number down when contact info is needed. Jim is going first thing tomorrow to apply for his number and the university is helping me with mine.
We'll be set before long.

Losing battery power,

Tomorrow...Jims job and the view from school!

HAPPENINGS

A little about our RV park.


Troy and Linda are the (married) park managers and they are absolutely wonderful. When we arrived late on Wednesday night they had a space already reserved for us...the only problem was that we were too close to our neighbors to even get our awning out and there is major highway construction gong on 24/7 just a few feet a way. It is an understatement to say that I was disappointed...bordering on hysterical is probably closer to it. After the months of anticipation and days of driving our home in Independence could be considered more rustic. Jim is used to the occasional emotional outburst (yes, only occasional!)but I felt sorry for Sam. I'm begging Jim to do something and Sam is trying to be supportive of him but he also feels bad for me because he's not impressed with the site either.


The next morning Jim went and talked to Troy and he drove him to a couple of other available sites and we found one that we liked much better. It's a few rows over from the first one but it has a lot more room and is far enough away from the hwy that much of the noise is muffled. I was so grateful. I'm not sure exactly what Jim must have told Troy when he told him that "we" weren't happy with the lot because when I met him and Linda the following day, they were quick to assure me that I would calm down? and begin to feel more settled after a few days?? and that they too are raising their children here and that I need have no fear of my neighbors???

Oh well, it all worked out and we are most grateful to both of them for being so accommodating to us pushy, and thanks to my husband's portrayal of me, paranoid, Americans.




WE're still trying to nail down our banking,internet and cell phone service. Hopefully we can accomplish all of that tomorrow. Oh yes, and we most definitely will be buying a GPS that works in Canada....

LOST
No, we are not marooned on remote island but many times over the past few days we have felt as hopeless as our poor plane-crashed friends from ABC, in ever finding our way back to our RV park .

The gravitational pull of HWY 1!

Hwy 1 runs right beside our park and as I mentioned it is under construction. Thursday in our travels we spent over two hours stuck in it's powerful force field. With numerous exits and on-ramps that are closed, it keeps circling you round and round back and forth over the Fraser River until you finally find an exit that will let you get away from it. Over the two hours I believe I heard such comments as, "I can't do this much longer I've had to pee for the last 45 minutes!" Papa, are we lost? Will we ever get back to the RV park?" "No, no, NO! We can't be going back around again!! STOP" "If you think you can can get us off this road I'll just pull over right here and let you drive :) someone really did say that!!! I wonder who it could be? "Oh, let's just enjoy the pretty scenery Alexis, what is down there on the river that we haven't seen that last (50) times we we went over it?" Hmmm, who does that cheery voice sound like?


LOST EPISODE 2

Today we tried to go to church. We all got up early, got dressed and spent the next 3 hours driving around Burnaby, Cocquitlam, New Westminster, and Vancouver. Only 45 minutes of it was spent trying to find the church, the other two plus hours were spent trying to find our way home again! Jim announced on our arrival that while we hadn't been able to go to the worship service that he was none-the-less praising God that we had finally made it home!



Alexis enjoying the hot weather

Hey, I know how to convert Celsius to F. Times the C. # by 9. Divide by 5 and add 32. Woohoo!





Where I sit to blog

PHOTO MONTAGE

My new keyboard sound so wonderful !

Dogwood Campground...our B.C. home






Pam all snuggly in Tony's baby blankie



Sam, Jim, and Monty at our home in Surrey

Debra and Pam


We finally made it!


Somewhere west of Missouri :)

Montana

Idaho

Washington

Sam, Debra, and Jenna...without them we wouldn't have made it to Nebraska. Thank you so much,we love you!!

Pam giving Sam his umpteenth Konan Crunch

Alexis in Idaho


How Alexis spent the trip when she wasn't riding in the car
west of the Mississippi

WOW! THAT'S A LONG DRIVE!

Greetings from Surrey, BC,

I haven't completely fallen off the grid but have been busy getting settled and trying to regain some of my sense of humor before I write. Our caravan crossed the border into British Columbia on Wednesday evening about 7pm. We then (per Canadian border agent's command)drove to an adjacent border crossing 10 minutes away,where we returned to the U.S.at 7:20. After a grilling by the U.S. border patrol and tears on my part we, fifteen minutes later (per the U.S. agents direction)made a U-turn and crossed back into Canada.

Let me explain......When we arrived at the border, there had just been an incident. Two cars had collided and then run into a border agents booth. An ambulance was just driving away when we arrived. Needless to say there was gridlock.Without any real problems actually getting through we were told to go to another crossing about 5 miles to the east to speak with customs and immigration officer to obtain visas, work permits, etc.

We drove to the crossing but already being in Canada we had to go back into the states "Why were you only in Canada 10 minutes?Who is the man in that truck to you? (Jim had been in line ahead of me)Why are you so upset?" By this point we had been driving for 10 hours, total exhaustion had sent in and I just wanted the trip to be over....now I'm crying. I explained what had happened as best as I could and seeing I was quickly approaching a complete meltdown he eased up a bit and told me, as he had Sam and Jim before me, to just make a u-turn get back in the Canadian line and have a good day.


I was now making my second entry into Canada in less than one hour and this one went much smoother.Jim, Alexis and I went into the customs and immigration office where we were kindly attended to by a very lovely young lady...who I wish I had taken note of her name so that I could write a most appreciative letter to ger boss. After all the drama she was just a gem.Within an hour and a half we had all teh documentation that we needed and the even dulled the tedium of the process by providing free entertainment...a shakedown and search of some poor guy and his car.

Losing battery power so will write more later...all is well, praise the Lord!

THIRD DAY:WYOMING-MONTANA

It's a cool, stormy night in Billings, Montana and we are feeling extremely tired, yet cozy, in our RV. For the last 450 miles(from Cheyenne, Wyoming to here) the terrain has been ruggedly beautiful.
I-25 provided seemingly endless views of sweeping grasslands and towering buttes. If the land appears this unforgiving in the summer I can only imagine what it must be like when it snows. I'm thinking that it takes a person much heartier than I am to make a home here.

We are all starting to settle into the daily routine...get up and have breakfast, batten down the hatches on the RV,pack snacks and lunches for the car/trucks, drive, stop for Pam to walk/diaper change for Jenna...get gas...keep driving,look for a Walmart to pick up the things we have forgotten, stop for more gas and bathroom breaks, walk some more,drive a lot more and then by 6:00 start looking for a campground, set up the RV and make supper...blog if there is a signal and I'm still alert enough to have a coherent thought, and then hit the sack. Start it all over again the next day.

With 933 miles to Vancouver we anticipate arriving on Wednesday. We'll see.




Pam and Jim trying to hang on in the gale force wind

Tammy somewhere north of Casper, Wyoming
















Alexis at the end of a long day















Yeah we finally made it to the campground for the night!

DAY ONE PIX

Pam, Alexis, and baby Jenna





















Mom






Jim hooking up the water line

Pam and Debra

Alexis heading to the pool after supper

Sam

Jim and me surfing the net