Venezuelan passport in Toronto - Part I

I don't know how other countries work to get their immigrants new passports in their new home. Here in Toronto, we had to be happy with renewals of the passport every year (a new picture and seal from the consulate). If you wanted a new passport, you had to go to Venezuela to get it!

They just implemented a new process in which we can get our new passports here! We have to register online to get an appointment and you have to check the web page every day to see when is granted and when it is. You can't go when you have time, you can't go before work hours. You'll get a day and you better stick with it even if you don't like it! And the time will be between 9:30 and 12:30! If you miss the date, you can't ask for another appointment for a few months, and then you try again; ask for the appointment and cross your fingers the new day is not as bad for you.

Yesterday I had my appointment. The first day of the process here in Toronto! I always try to be on top of things and do everything as soon as I can. But pioneers have a problem, pioneers always get everything and anything that can go wrong in a completly new thing.

My appointment was set, January 2nd! Really? In Canada? I called 2 times to the Consulate "are you really open on the 2nd?", "yes, we are". Turns out there was a problem with the system (second strike) and the system didn't take into account that it was a holiday here. Oh, and the first strike? When registering for the appointment, the system didn't take letters in the postal code of your current address... really? I choose Canada but can't use letters on the postal code? Use 0000, 1234, whatever, it works.

So I got there at 9:50am, since my appointment was a 10am (they called from the Consulate to let me know of the time). Happy that is a holiday so I don't have to miss work. Just be here maybe an hour and then I can go and enjoy my day! WRONG!! I left at 4pm!

We spent there hours and hours waiting. "The system conexion is down in Caracas (Venezuela), we can't do anything, they are working on it". We got that every hour aprox. At around 2pm, the consul told us that we could leave and they would make a new appointment for us, or we could keep waiting, because it could come back any minute now! (4 little kids and a baby waiting with their parents, poor little guys). So everyone but 2 of us leave. We decide to stay and gamble the afternoon, the system will be back today!

At 4pm they tell us that they are not even picking up the phone in Venezuela anymore. They seemed to have left, without fixing the system, and without informing the Consulate. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I'm pretty sure this is impossible to believe to any Canadian! One guy was missing work and his employer couldn't believe this actually happened, I hope he gets to keep his job!. Another one, his canadian wife wouldn't believe him. I get it, I really do, this is something straight out of the impossible, but really, if we were going to lie about where we spent the whole day, would we choose something as unbelievable and stupid as this?

Welcome to the third world people, we can be waiting for 6 whole hours to get a picture and fingerprint taken, and still go home empty handed to have to come back another day!

Becoming Canadian :)

Last week I became Canadian! I am now officially Venezuelan-Canadian, just a few days from my 4 year Canadian Anniversary yesterday ^-^

I received in the mail a pink letter that said my ceremony was November 22nd at 12:50pm. Arrived at that time to the Ceremony Center and sat with the other 77 people waiting to be Canadian :)

For the next hour or so, we all had to show our IDs and the landing record (keep it!), plus return out Permanent Resident Card (they keep it :( so no souvenir). They give you the folder with Oath to the Queen and the National Anthem, plus a cultural pass gift and a maple leaf pin :D

Then the judge comes in, gives a speech (very pretty) and we do the oath to the Queen. Next you go and shake hands with the judge (one by one), they give you a letter from the Prime Minister, a letter from the Citizenship Minister, the Citizenship card and a Canadian flag! You sign a book that says you took the Oath and go back to your seat to sing Oh Canada!

After the ceremony, you are free to take as many pictures as you want and just celebrate! You are free to bring friends and family of course. My ceremony took less than 2 hours total and we made up a group of 38 countries! Which the judge say was a pretty impressive number :D

4 books in 4 weeks (TTC war stories and a new job)

Four weeks and 3 days ago, on October 3rd, I started a new job. I left Ganz a few days before that and prepared to come work at my old love, Downtown Toronto. I changed responsabilities, from a Database Developer to a Production Database Administrator. I also changed areas, from the gaming industry to the marketing industry (So far, Education, Municipalities, Communications, Software, Gaming, Marketing :))

Now I don't take the car to go to work, I take the TTC. I can take the subway and the streetcar, or the subway and fast walk aprox. 15 minutes. I get to read and read!! I'm on my 4th week and my 4th book (plus booklet ^^). This is my third Assimov book, plus I read the Wealthy Barber and studied the Citizenship booklet. I'm excited planning my book budget for the coming weeks hahahaha

The TTC has reminded me that you can plan nothing if you are taking it. The times that worked one day may be completely off the next one. You may be sitting one second and standing crushed against people the next one. I have taken 1 hour (the whole ride) some days, and 1 hour and 40 minutes other days! Passenger activated alarms being the main reason most of the times.

One day it took me half an hour from Finch to Eglinton! To hear that we were experiencing signal problems and had to leave the train there and wait for the next one. Needless to say, had to wait around 4 trains (15 minutes) just to be able to get in again. No electricity for the streetcar to work (this one was interesting). Trains crawling to the station for no apparent reason, and/or my record so far, 5 passenger alarms in one trip.

On the bright side, I get to read a lot :D