Happy One Year Anniversary Canada

Well we made it... 1 year since we moved to Canada and 1 year 10 days ago we married.

They say the first year of marriage is the the hardest and I can honestly say this past year has been one of the most exciting, crazy, scary eye opening AND hardest years of my life. Moving to Canada as two newly weds with nothing to lose has given us some of the best experiences and challenges we could have hoped to gain in our first year of marriage.

We have learnt to depend on and trust each other like never before, we have become closer than ever and we have learnt to become resourceful and careful when it comes to money matters (We didnt expect such a cut in wages compared to what we earnt in Australia)

Before we left Australia we were burdened with the all to common illness of "taking life for granted" or "the grass is always greener on the other side".

Right up until the moment we stepped off the plane in Vancouver I truly believed this was it- "I'm going to live in Canada FOREVER!" Well, forever looks like a very long time the moment you realise that you just left a well established life, job, career, friendship circle and family network and you literally don't even have a real bed to sleep on (we slept on a blow up mattress for a good 6 months, and our backs still don't forgive us)

The first week was exhausting physically and mentally. We were jet lagged and emotional. "What now?" Plagued our minds in so many ways. We had to find jobs and build a life again. Thankfully we did have family here that were ever so helpful in the first few months but when your a grown up married couple who have lived on their own for quite some time, relying on others in itself can be truly terrifying. Within a mere few weeks we found jobs at a local coffee shop (an interesting experience of our first taste of employment in Canada, but it was a start)

The first few weeks turned into a month and a month turned into month(s) The first 3 months were hard, it was a big adjustment and going through the emotional roller coaster of moving country whilst living under someone else's roof was a challenge. I missed my friends, I missed my job (and the very generous income that came with it) and I missed my "home"... This wasn't a "working holiday", this was real, I was an "immigrant", we moved our whole lives half way across the world to settle in a new country and we may have been a little under prepared...

If it wasn't for meeting Jess in May when she was hired at the same place we worked after

moving from Ontario, I think I would have been back in Aus by now. Jess was a breath of fresh air, she was new to the city and had lived in Australia for a year, prior to moving to BC (and Melbourne at that!) She understood exactly what I was going through in regards to adjusting to life in a strange new place and she was the closest link to an Aussie we had, (she actually understood our jokes!)

Her friendship was my saviour during that time and I'll cherish it forever and boy did we get up to some crazy fun shit in the lead up to summer!

We (Hubby, Jess, another work friend and I) also had a mad business plan - "giggling ninja" may have been a hit! But that's for another story altogether...

Cue my 26th Birthday on the 18th of June and the exact day we were accepted for our very own place, (which was actually not the easiest task as so many places in Victoria dont allow pets!)

A little one bedroom apartment minutes from Downtown, Victoria. It was a massive weight off our shoulders to feel like grown ups again.(Hello Freedom) We

spent the rest of summer drinking too much, eating too much and having the best summer of our lives!

"This is it" I kept thinking to myself. "Canada is where it's at, I'm never leaving" Of course there were the small things that bugged us but nothing was too terrible as long as the sun kept shining and the drinks kept coming. We were in the summer bubble of happiness and nothing could burst it!

Highlights of summer included

- Me going to Vancouver and shooting a same sex marriage for a local radio station with Vance joy performing, the mayor of vancouver attending and getting to capture two beautiful people get married.

- adventures up island

- hiking almost daily

- nights out with new friends

- copious amounts of alcohol

- The Quarry!!

It was without a doubt the best summer we have had in years.

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall" - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Like all good things, summer came to an end... It was a slow end but with each rainy day and freshly fallen leaf we knew it was ending. The excitement of Thanksgiving, Halloween and my little brother coming to visit in October followed by a road trip down to the States kept our moods high! I loved experiencing Thanksgiving (any excuse to eat turkey is good for me)

We had one of my friends from Australia vist us during her round the world trip which was so exciting to be able to show someone my new home, and have a connection with old friends again.

The Halloween lead up was so fun, I changed my costume choice so much, from a Dead Housewife to Harlequin to IDK what the fuck I wanted to go as, and finally settling on David Bowie Circa Ziggy Stardust era - (may he RIP).

My little bro arrived just a couple days before Halloween, his first overseas experience! We were so excited to show him around and adventure with him. It was so funny to see him and his raw Aussie ways, he sounded so "Australian" after beingsurrounded by the Canadian accent for so long.

We had such an awesome time while he was here, with a two week road trip along the West

Coast, we visited Portland, San Francisco, Disneyland,

Hollywood, Vegas, The Grand Canyon and so many places in between! Sadly the month he was here for ended too soon and I was driving him to the airport and saying our goodbyes, with no idea when we would see each other again in person! It was about at this point that the Homesickness really hit me hard and I became engulfed in my own mind and endless questions "Do I want to be here?" "Is this where I want to raise a family?" "Do I want to go back to Australia or do I just miss the idea of it?" "what am I going to do now?"... The thoughts were endless, I felt completely dependant on Ryan, I didn't feel as confident as I used too, I wasn't taking photos anymore, I hardly knew anyone, I was lonely, we had spent most of our savings while in the USA due to the poor Canadian Dollar, I was working a minimum wage job and earning less than I ever had in my entire life! My qualifications were useless here and apparently with no qualifications, getting a decent paying job seem just about impossible (atleast on the Island, I can't speak for the rest of Canada) I felt exactly how I didn't want to feel when we made the decision to move half way across the world "TRAPPED" and I didn't know how to escape it.

Christmas was probably my most depressing experience to date, I had some romantic idea in my head about how amazing it would be to celebrate a "cold" christmas With hot apple ciders and twinkle lights surrounding the city whilst carols played in the streets.... I had visited Canada one Christmas a few years before and when your on holiday it is like that... It's magical! However when you live through it, your homesick, stuck in a minimum wage job you don't want to be in, dealing with grumpy customers serving them coffee to help them get through the holidays and a husband whose new job was making him work almost 12hr days, it doesn't leave much time to be jolly.

I worked through out the festive season and only had Christmas Day off and we were both tired and ready for the Holidays to be over.

This is when we also started discussing the possibility to return to Australia much earlier than we ever anticipated. Winter was setting in, the days were so short and dark and my mind and heart was being pulled in a thousand different directions! I also felt especially guilty as Ryan had spent 15 years in Australia away from his family, and I couldn't even seem to survive 12 months!

There is so much to love about this Island, the mountains, the ocean, the beautiful scenery, the

fact nothing ever takes more than 15 minutes to get too and if it does it's obviously an adventure to something fun, Vancouver Island is a truly unique place but is it where I belong? Is Melbourne where I belong? Why did I miss Melbourne when I was so eager to leave? Maybe there's somewhere else in this world I should be? The questions were endless.... at times I felt like I might just lose my mind. I'm sure Ryan was convinced I had! We had just spent so much money and time and effort to get here, and I was ready to throw in the towel and go home, and that even scared me.

I jumped from the notion of returning to Australia, to moving to Seattle, then to Alberta, back to Australia where we would buy a van and travel like nomads and whatever else in between. We are living in a world where options are endless now.

We are constantly being exposed to wonderful images and stories and notions of freedom and exploration and adventures. Is it a bad thing to have so many options? Of course not! But can it become confusing and overwhelming? Hell yes! and I was certainly confused as to where our next step was going to be towards.

So where does that leave us? A year on from the day we jumped on a plane and said "see ya later" to our family, friends and take on a new adventure. It leaves us with the knowledge that no matter where we live, we always miss something, we will always miss someone, and its okay to miss people and places because if you didn't then your not living. It also reinforces the fact that life doesn't go as planned, and while it can be disappointing, its also exciting to not know whats going to happen next. It leaves us more wise, and we know what we will and will not do next time we decide to embark on a big move across the oceans. It leaves me in particular feeling lucky, and thankful and proud of myself for doing something that I always dreamed of doing. We may not have all the money in the world right now, we may be starting all over again, we may be homesick and feel like we don't have it figured out! But does anyone truly have this "life" thing figured all out? I am grateful for the experience, the challenges, the adventures and the knowledge of knowing that when we do return to Australia we have alot to return too and if we stay in Canada for a little while longer then, thats ok too... We are figuring life out together and building memories and making mistakes and learning from those mistakes. We are seeing new things and meeting new people and creating new stories to tell. We don't have all the answers, but atleast we made the leap into the unknown and we are facing our fears, and tackling the challenges head on.... And knowing we have learnt and achieved all that in just 12 months is priceless Happy One Year Anniversary Canada! You have been a blast

#Canada #VancouverIsland #LifeAbroad #yyj