It's official. I've been living in Winnipeg for an entire year. So, what is there to say about it? There has been a definite learning curve in moving to another country, even one so similar to the U.S. For example: Oreos aren't made by Nabisco, but by Mr. Christie instead. And you definitely can't get any of the fun seasonal flavors. Also, it's spelled flavours here. And even though the laptop I'm typing on was made with the Canadian consumer in mind and the keyboard can easily be converted to French, it insists I have spelled flavo(u)rs wrong. All the brands of cigarettes are different and the beer is different, too. In fact, the cigarettes come with scary pictures of tongue cancer and tracheotomies in an attempt to drive consumers away from the product. I don't think it works. I can't use Hulu, Pandora, or Spotify, but those websites insist they are working on ways to get the licensing to make viewing and listening available to the country I live in.
I've begun to understand the intense love/hate relationship everyone who lives here seems to have with Winnipeg. As with any city there are lovely, beautiful places and then there are the horrible places no one wants to go. Winnipeg deserves to have more of the beautiful places and less of the horrible. It's a place with so much potential and I still haven't figured out what is holding it back.
CFL football is still weird to me, but I made it to a couple Bomber games (for free) and really enjoyed myself. It also helped that the stadium has veggie dogs so I wasn't stuck eating the grossest "nachos" ie: chips with "cheese."
Last week I sent in my application for my work permit and I HOPE I get it within a month or so. I have a second "interview" tomorrow in the form of a day of job shadowing. So, here's hoping I have a job by the end of the day. AND once I get my work permit I can walk my way down to Manitoba Health and get my health card, which will allow me to go to the doctor whenever I want. That part still doesn't seem real.
I'm really, really, really frustrated by the cost of houses here, I still don't understand how the government works, I don't believe the province motto "Friendly Manitoba," and I don't like Tim Hortons coffee.
At this point, I can honestly say my first year here was only sort of okay, mostly due to immigration and not having a job. But, I'm hopeful for the future.
