Category: Immigration
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The Truth About Weather
Immigration changes you in many ways. Big ways, definitely. If you’re interested, I’ve chatted about our experiences, wins, and struggles as immigrants in past posts (find them here). But there are also the small ways. For example, I now have this weird not-Canadian, not-South African accent going. 😅 I think it might be because of…
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Five
It was unreasonably sunny, after the ordeal we’d had. Kayla–not yet two–had experienced the worst possible first flight. She’d been sick and unable to sleep, and while I’d struggled to soothe her, the creepy flight attendant had flirted with me all night. I’d also been motion sick, overheated, and generally uncomfortable, but all of it…
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Four Years an Immigrant
I was pretty shocked to realise our four-year immigration anniversary came and went on the 25th of August. I was feverish with writing the final chapter or two of A Trial of Sparks & Kindling, so I didn’t even realise the anniversary had passed until a few days later. Four years an immigrant. In the…
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Survival Tips for New Immigrants
Lately, I’ve constantly been thinking about life as a new immigrant. I know so many people who have either just moved or are about to make a home in a new country, and they’re sharing so many firsts photos in their feeds. It’s difficult not to get all nostalgic about the same time in my…
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Things I Don’t Understand – Canada Edition
You know, we’ve been living in Canada for just over a year, and there are still things we really don’t understand. So many things are done differently in South Africa–which makes sense when compared to Germany, but one would think that Canada and South Africa would share more similarities, considering that both have a strong…
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What’s Different – Calgary Edition
Freshly landed in Germany, I did a post comparing the most obvious differences between Johannesburg and Mülheim an der Ruhr. The post was pretty popular on the old blog, and ultimately led to quite a few comparison-type posts. I’ll link to all of these at the end of this post, if you’re interested. In the…
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Calgary
Toronto is a city of skyscrapers. Steel and glass. Grey. Yet, there’s an energy that refuses to be contained. It’s always on the move. Vendors and tourists and professionals, rushing from place to place, night or day. Festival after festival, ball games, concerts, camera crews, and every culture represented in food and drink. Millions of…
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Moving On
I guess now that the affected parties have been notified, it’s time to announce it here too. Due to circumstances beyond our control, the high cost of living in Toronto, and some personal reasons, our little family is moving on again. This time, we’re staying in the same country, thank goodness, but are moving to…
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9 Months
To be exact, we hit the nine-month mark last Thursday. It’s the strangest feeling, looking at the calendar and realising how long we’ve lived in Canada. I can still recall the exact mix of excitement and grief when we had to say goodbye to our loved ones at Düsseldorf airport, then board the plane to…
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A Comparison – Shopping
Let’s keep chatting about the differences between the cities where we’ve lived today. If you want to go back to the post that started it all, click here. Okay. Shopping in Johannesburg is simple. The shoppers are mostly laid back and the cashiers are friendly. There’s no rush either. People wait in line patiently and…
Yolandie Horak 