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Canada

Canada – My Personal Perspective
by Steve Coetzee

Chapter 1 - A Strange Beautiful World
Having immigrated from Cape Town, South Africa in June 2000, we have come a far
way. The first few months were horrendous with children being rebellious and wanting
to return to South Africa as they don’t have friends in this strange place. The beauty of
Vancouver and Canada however, remind us constantly of what a wonderful place this
really is.

Vancouver Canada
Neither Annie nor I had any jobs lined up and we were unfamiliar on how to settle in a
new country. Words like Social Insurance Numbers, Medical Support Plan, Residency
Cards, and a multitude of other requirements to legalize us foreigners to Canada. For-
tunately, Annie is the organized one and soon had everything under control. She is so
organized that she was also the first one to get a job offer.
As we had arrived just before the long summer school break, the children had the
advantage of an extra-long vacation. I decided to take the family on a road trip to
convince them all that this beautiful place is where we will make our new home. I rent-
ed an SUV for the trip and excitedly everyone got ready for an early morning departure.
Travelling across to Vancouver Island by Ferry was an exciting adventure, as none of us
had done this before.

Vancouver Island
Disembarking at Victoria on Vancouver Island we headed off to view the beautiful
Botanical Gardens and Butterfly Park where Nicole and Annie had their first experience
with a Canadian Garter snake. Screaming, the two women would not pass the flower
bed where the poor creature had disappeared into. This became the joke of the day. The
beauty of the gardens is indescribable and a great few hours were spent admiring the
different fauna and flora.

The Butchart Gardens
Leaving the city of Victoria behind, we headed north up Vancouver Island to Nanaimo
and en route started looking for a place to stop off for lunch. Along the coastline we
found a beautiful little restaurant next to the water and decided to stop. I ordered my
normal refuel for the day of “Beer” and the children requested a “Cool Drink”. Just what
you would do when back in South Africa.
The waitress responded with, “We have lemon, apple or blackberry?”
The children ordered lemon and we all ordered our respective meals. The drinks were
brought out and the cool drink ended up being an alcoholic beverage. Cool Drinks are
not Pepsi, Coke or Fanta but Vodka Coolers. The kids were elated but I gave them the
googly eye and a finger wag. With David at 17 and Nicole at 14 years old they were far
too young to partake in drinking. The legal age for drinking in Canada is 21 years old.
After lunch, a giggling pair of kids were bouncing in the back of the SUV while Annie
and I searched for a place to spend the night. We turned down an interesting road that
advertised accommodation B&B and were surprised to end up right of the ocean.

Vancouver Island
The rest of the trip was just as entertaining and beautiful and a full three days later we
had travelled form south to north along the island and taken more Ferry rides to the
Sunshine Coast for a long winding trip back to Vancouver. Our first month in Canada
had come to an end. The next chapter was soon to start, bringing with it many adven-
tures, tears, heartache and happiness.

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