Beginning of school

So, school begins again.

Abigail is going to start in Grand section and boy, she is looking forward to go to school. What she doesn't know is that two of her friends are not going to be there. One of her boyfriends will be in elementaire (CP), but at least another one Ewan will be there. However I am sure she will make it just fine.

David starts in 6eme and already has been asking about when the autumn vacations will start. However there is a special girl in the class, whom he is looking forward to see again. I wonder how it will be. Most of his classmates are at least 6 month to a year and a half older than him and in the age of 11-12 fun development begins. And knowing that girls grow up, at a certain point, faster than the boys, it will be fun to see him coping with that.

It is time not only for the school bills but time to sign the kids to the activities as well. During the camp we were recommended to sign Abigail into sports, and not to sign David into sports. (fair enough, I believe so)

So, one thing we are holding to a Jewish tradition, we will continue with the violin with David, but have decided that he should probably do some sports but stay away from the balls. So he will be starting running in the team, and continue swimming.

As for Abigail, we will try to sign her for gymnastics (apparently we were recommended to sign her in particularly into gymnastics), and swimming, and of course, she will be, as everyone in my family, playing violin.

With a new addition coming up, it will be a logistics beyond believes, but this is what you will do to make sure your kids are not on your neck every day in the afternoons.

Master the requirements process

It looks like we are finally heading in right direction. Well, we were heading there all the time just with some road blocks and pit-stops.

One thing we have learned from last year is to do everything ourselves. So this time, we have submitted our papers well in advance and then we start calling, and calling, and calling. Even while in France we were keeping calling, (try to call a toll-free Canada only number from Europe, good luck!). And we were calling. Time passed, we have returned from vacations, and we were still calling.

Finally, one beautiful day (isn't it that what they say in fairy tales), we got our approval. What a relieve!  Just a fact that I am about to go on a maternity leave, and trust me to get paid in North America, while you are on leave, is something people will die for, and was a huge motivation to renew the paperwork before the baby... You grab an opportunity and not letting it go.

So, last weekend, with lots of hopes and paperwork we headed north. Getting ourselves first to Burlington, Vermont for a great lunch, getting a beer supply in Plattsburg, New York and then up to the boarder.

I love Canadian immigration. They are so nice. I think they are the nicest people in the public authorities. The paperwork was organized very fast. When we asked for an additional info, corrections, there was not problem what so ever.

So a huge road block was removed that day. However, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw my work permit.

Yes, you are reading it correctly! Just up to 24th of July this year, sex related professions were on the list of demanded professions in Canada. What are you going to do, if there is a lack of qualified and skilled workers in that area. So it was perfectly legal to get a job offer from a strip joint and apply for a 3-year work permit. Wow, how on earth Mortens company didn't think about that?

A very simple business case:

1. One registrate a strip club in one of the offices in Toronto. SimStrip as an example (checked the name is still available)

2. Give an offer (you don't even need to work as a stripper, as long as you have a job offer) to the consultants spouses/girlfriends.

3. Spouses apply for visa and get it.

4. Consultants get an open spouse visa (no need to show tons of paperwork, proof of education, etc.)

5. The company faces a minimum cost (ok, face it, they should probably invest in high-hill shoes and a push-up bra with the belt, to make it look provable while crossing the border).

And that is it. I am sure there is a demand to all kind of woman, so that could be a perfect scenario.

The worse part of all that joke is, that this was a complete legal scenario!

Oh well, I am sure some other opportunities will come along. Just for me, at that particular moment, standing there with two kids, broken foot and highly pregnant, and looking at that note, gave me tears in my eyes (joy? sorrow? hard to say! but a sense of keep living and experience things!) Definitely worth it!

"Loosing" a friend

Yesterday I called one of my dear friends, I got to know during my French classes in Montreal. It was wonderful to hear her voice, but the news I got was not that wonderful. She has been applying for an extention of her stay in Canada. It was a long process and last Thursday she got a negative answer. So now, she has to leave the country as soon as possible.
It is not only I am loosing a friend, thanks to Internet, Scype, Facebook, we will keep in touch, and Ukraine is something where I can go to, but it is the fact of that a person like her, a hard-working person, honest, has been denied an apportunity to stay.
As many from the former Soviet Union, people try to find a better life outside of their country: - some, for themselves, - some are motivated to create a better future for their children, - some, just don't see any future in their motherlands. When these poeple come to a new country, they don't sit and wait for the government to support them, to provide for everything. They work, they integrate, they do all they can to do a be the citizens of the country they are in. So the question is, why? Why do countries don't allow these people to continue to contribute to the society.
During my life in Denmark I have seen people that were granded a status of an immigrant, because there were "in danger" in their own country (right, maybe 5% were, but not all of them), and as soon as they recieved their status, they did nothing, absolutely nothing. It took them years to learn the language (forgive me, but Danish is one of the easiest language to learn), but why to hurry, they got paid to go to the language school. Then the job, again, why to find it, if you can get away with receiving a support money from the government and stay at home. The best way is to get as many children as possible and then you are good to go for a long time.
And then there were people like me: learning language, taking education (again, as my education was apparently not good enough, or I should say not Danish enough), getting jobs, paying taxes,never get any government support. But somehow we always found ourselves in a worse position, always had to prove that we were worth to be allowed to stay.
My friend has a Ph.D in phylosophy, but she was working as a cleaning lady for the past several years. Not by choice, but because she needed to feed herself and her son. She never asked for any government help, she just did all she could to provide. She even paid for French courses out of her own pocket just to make sure she can be a full part of the society. And now... She has to go back.
Yes, there is no war in Ukraine, there is no political regression, but have you been there? It is glamour, it is peaceful, but is there any future in that country for her or for anyone who is honest?
She is not just 25 years old lady, that can somehow start her life again.
I wish I could help, I wish I could put sense in the immigration authority and point out to what idiots they are. But right now, I can only cry with her and try to incourage her not to give up and to try to find another way out of there.