I realized my last few posts in the A to Z may have been a bit on the dry side, as they were all about the political and historical side of Shayla's world. I hope to lighten things up a bit next week and touch on some more down-to-earth (as it were) topics.
Believe it or not, there has also been life outside of the Challenge, even though it's been a serious challenge keeping up with comments and all the activity on blogs I follow, never mind visiting new blogs in the sign-up list.
We've had a busy Easter weekend so far. Time to make use of the spring sunshine to de-winterize the trailer, tidy up the garage, and clean the deck ready for summer. That last annual job always lifts my spirits. A grimy deck is depressing to look at, but clean it up and it's a promise of good times to come.
So, there's some worthwhile work done, and we all feel good about it. Now we're hoping to enjoy the rest of the weekend off. It looks like a promising start, I've just woken up to a glorious Easter Sunday. We plan to fire up the barbecue later on.
This week, we also had two welcome missives from the Government of Canada.
What? *Gasp* Did I hear that correctly?
First, we got our tax rebates, always a welcome thing at this time of year. But, more significant, we've finally received invitations to take our Canadian citizenship test.
Just as a matter of reference, in case any other immigrants out there are thinking of becoming citizens, it's been twenty months since we mailed off our applications. Things move slowly in Canadian bureaucracy, but we knew that when we sent in our applications. We're just glad to see light at the end of the tunnel.
This is at once exciting and scary. We received a booklet well over a year ago, with all the information needed to take the test. We were also led to believe we'd have plenty of time to swot up between being invited and the actual test.
We have less than two weeks.
On the plus side, we've been practicing online and both repeatedly achieved pass marks without difficulty. It's mostly common sense.
Now all we need to do is pass for real!
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11 comments:
I'm so excited for you....you're going to be an official Canadian. There is no better place in the world to be. Welcome!
Best of luck to you, from a very envious Brit :-)
Delores, we are looking forward to being "official" Canucks at last.
Sarah, we were envious Brits too, until we decided to get up and do something about it. Having said that, it's a hard-working life here as much as anywhere. But we have no regrets about moving.
Hard to believe there's more to life than the A-Z Challenge.
I'm glad that today is a day off.
I've been working in the yard to get it ready for summer, too. And you're right on the money when it comes to having a clean deck.
Ahhhhhhhhhh......................
Of course, you will get no argument from me that there is more to life than just that darned challenge :)
Now then, all you need to know is the quotations of Canada's number one hero's, Bob and Doug McKenzie. Quotes such as, "Take off eh!" "Good day eh!" and of course, "Take off eh! You hoser!"
Seriously all the best and don't forget to wear an official "Canucks" toque :)
Hey, Al, you're right. All this blogging is intense. And there's me slipping an extra post in on my day off, eh?
Gary, I found April such a quiet month last year that I thought I'd join in this time. I'm still trying to squeeze in time to visit non-Challenge blogs too, of course.
I just hope the citizenship test doesn't include anything about hockey :)
Hi. My cousin and her husband emigrated from the UK to Vancouver twenty years ago and never regretted it at all. I have been there three times and I love it. It is one of the few places that I have visited (and I have been to many parts of the world) that I could live. We visited Victoria and that was a lovely place too.
Good luck with the test!
Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’
Thanks, Bazza. We considered Vancouver when we were planning our move, but settled on Victoria instead. We like that Victoria is a manageable size. From downtown, you can be out in countryside in minutes, which is remarkable for a capital city.
Hi Ian .. good to see you've done the winter jobs to end that part of the season. And you have sun - now they've declared a hose pipe ban - it rained .. but that's England .. !!
Good luck with your citizenship exam .. as you say it's mostly commonsense - an Australian asked me to take 'ours' .. and I got most of them right - slightly to my surprise ... some were 'crazy' to my mind!!
Oh yay - and money to burn over the summer - how good does that feel ..
Happy Easter and summer to come .. cheers Hilary
Hilary, the annoying thing about the Canadian exam is that many (maybe most?) native Canadians would struggle to pass, judging by the people we've shown it to.
Sounds like you had a very lovely Easter weekend. We used our BBQ that day too, it was a truly gorgeous day. It's good to hear that all is well with you and that life continues beyond the A-Z. I know it is definitely a tough challenge to keep up with. Congrats on the citizenship and good luck to you. Hope you have a happy and productive week. :) Cheers!!
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