i'm heading out to canada for a little under a year in 2 months. i still haven't really decided where to set up shop but i've heard nothing but good things about vancouver. is it a good place to live and more to the point, is it the best place? also, whats the job situation in that area like at the moment? ta in advance
thats all i've been hearing. provided i can get a job and a place to live within the first two weeks then thats where i'll probably end up. if not then i'll take on the life of a transient
I know a couple Vancouvrians from school. Very cool guys, and they love Vancouver. They were the Bluchunks in college... No idea what jobs are like there. I passed through once and it is incredibly beautiful. I think the now inappropriately named 'TorontoTimmy' is there, but I could be wrong. He'd be the best person to ask. Timmy?! EDIT: You haven't said why you are going to Canadia yet, or did I miss it..?
i was going to go to china after uni to teach english but the credit crunch and the lack of visas available destroyed that. so i decided to get a working visa for americ and do some traveling subsidised by casual labour. unfortunatley you live in a fortress so that destroyed that. now i've decided to get some sort of a working holiday visa and go to canada and work for 8 months or so. then use the rest of the time/monies earned to try and make it down to argentina. its an impossible dream and making it as far as los angeles would be a success of sorts, but these are the years do be trying such things. if it all goes well then next year i'll do the same with australia and asia
Not even the Mexicans want to come here anymore. It will be a weird time in the States for a while. You are welcome when the time comes to get to LA... Come in MLS season and I can guarantee a few excellent adventures.
cheers! i'll hold you to that. to be honest i only really want to go to san francisco though and recreate episodes of monk on my mobile phone.
Only?! That is a mighty aspiration. SF is 'fan'-tastic. If you give enough notice, and you are so inclined, I'd be willing to pack the wife up and drive up to meet you there. It's not too far and always worth the visit. I love that place. My school, the city, the food, the coffee, the scenery, Chinatown, Little Italy, City Lights, Anchor Steam...I love it. It really does have the best food on the West Coast. In football season, I like to catch a game up at Cal, and I've been trying to get an excuse to go up during basketball season to see the new arena and drink beer at Triple Rock in Berkeley. I just need the flimsiest of excuses.
Can vouch that Vancouver is a top notch place. Lots of Chinese, Koreans etc. Plenty of bars and restaraunts if you wanted to just earn dosh and not care. They love the English over there. Try having a browse at the local newspaper for jobs and rents: http://vancouversun.oodle.com/ The weather there is quite similar to here but summer time is very relaxed. There is also a place up in the mountains, called Whistler which is a ski resort. If you go in winter time you could possibly find work in a bar their or other such like duties. A beautiful area with the emarald lakes and forest and of course the Rockies. At the moment i would suspect that Vancouver/Canada has become quite expensive due to the exchange rate collapse of the pound. There is a yourth hostel in the heart of Vancouver, near Hastings/Granville (I think) area which would be cheap accomodation and always plenty of other people. Another option could be to try and get work on one of the cruise ships that go up to Alaska and back. Toronto is also a nice place and 3000 miles nearer home and easy access to New York and Boston. Must say you have picked two of my bestest places in the world - Argentina is ucking awesome. Only a suggestion, but it may be more viable to start with your three months in Argentina ( you won't get through as much dosh) have a budget and see what happens from there. Starting in Vancouver or any part of Canada, you may get through much more dosh and not get down to the Argies which really is worth a visit. Best thing a person can do - travel for a serious length of time. carry your bag sir?
Tha's what I did. A week in suburbian Vancouver followed by a week in Whistler. It's that experience of North American life that convinced me that I one day want to live in America. And didn't I say that Fitz would get it going?
for the newspaper link and suggestiond of cruise ships i could hug you. instead you'll have to make do with talk of an e-hug. i actually once got a job in a bar just so i could qualify to work on a cruise ship incase the situation ever arose
My attempts to secure a working visa in America were equally as futile. I also met the same barriers you did with my mission to teach English in Korea. So now i've given in and decided to try and find a job here. I salute you sir, and wish you the best of luck.
your salutations are warmly accepted amigo. its seems that, like me, you've had a tough time trying to get out. don't give up! you will eventually find yourself in a place where by virtue of having a british accent, jobs and slags are bountiful
As the Soup Nazi would say, NO VISA FOR YOU. You pretty much need to be either David Beckham or a Java developer from India to get a work visa here in the US&A now. You typically need to be in country to get a working visa in Japan, Korea and probably China. There are too many qualified in-country candidates you are competing with, and with the exception of China, speaking the Queen's English is a disadvantage when it comes to teaching English. We who speak Tom Cruise's English have a big advantage otherwise. Sorry, it's the way it is. You probably could get one from out of country if you were really lucky or really qualified for something in particular, but the chances are slim. I just got back from Sushi, and my Japanese skills came in handy as I was able to sweet talk the sushi chef into making several off the menu preparations that were out of this world. One was ume, shiso, cucumber with katsuo shavings in a hand wrap. It was incredibly good. Another was marinated (not common with sushi!) tuna on rice with a salt paste infused with an unusual Japanese citrus fruit called Yuzu. YUM! GO EAST YOUNG MAN
This sorry country has broken my spirit. I was a few months away from achieving the dream and then HBOS decided to terminate my employment and the meagre savings i'd built up are currently being spent on beer and go-karting.
i'm playing the waiting game at the moment. which in retrospect makes the current lack of job/benefits a bit of a mistake but i should get the physical copy of the visa within the next week i think and then i should be ready to go by the 10th of march. which then means come the 13th i'll be homeless and unemployed in another country. which in turn means sometime around november i'm going to be wanting you to tour me round some la hotspots. hooray for dreams! and hooray for the global recession!
my insurancde for the year just dropped from 500 pounds to 80. it pays to be part of a union. or in my case, it pays to have family members who used to be part of a now almost defunct union.
I just told some people that "Libertarians are Al Qaeda's 5th column." Not germaine, but I though I would let you know.
thats two mentions of al qaeda in a row (three now), on the INTERNET!!! you're going to get gitmo'ed for at least a few hours now
The man from Toronto offered some pretty good advice to Senor Fan that may have been lost in the forum purge!
