dear members,
i have landed toronto last week by emirates, there was 4 hrs delay in my dubai-toronto route, other than that the journey was ok (although the airbus 380 was nothing special than boeing). Rather as it carries more passengers, it is more crowded and the air hostesses are always more busy. It takes more time for them if you need them. But the hotel service was good. There are two hotels for the transit passengers for emirates, copthorne and millennium. They have quality room and breakfast. Don't forget to take the hotel reservation print out from emirates check in counter at Dhaka airport. I didn't face any hassle at any level at dhaka airport, except the flight was 45 min delay (is emirates service getting worse?) but remember one thing, it is always wise to keep excess dollar (anything exceeding 5000 USD) with your body (not all in one pocket, rather you can put some in inner pocket), keeping all the money in laptop bag, I don't think it's a good idea.
In the plane don't forget to drink enough water and juice and don't hesitate to ask for more, there is drinking water arrangement too, (beside wash room) you can use it. The air is too dry, so you'll need to drink enough water and use the moisturizer/body lotion kept in the wash room. I didn't like emirates food, it is as tasteless and disgusting as it can be, whatever you eat , it tastes like either plastic or rubber. And here first time in my life ive heard something called fish biriani'.
And toronto pearson airport seemed pretty ordinary compared to dubai airport. But the immigration process was super fast, all the immigrants had to go to 3 desks in total, there was long queue but it was fast moving and the officers seemed very helping and friendly. I saw many european immigrants as well. from africa too. In my flight there was at least 5 new bangladeshi immigrant families with 2/3 kids. We had a chat while the flight was dealyed. But remember to have 2 USD/CAD for a trolley in pearson, u can give the machine 5/10 dollar and it will return the balance. Without this you can't have the trolley.
One of my friends came to receive me, his home is pretty close from the airport, it took only 25 min to reach his house, It's in Oakville City, the city is awesome, quiet and calm with many trails and parks nearby, but if u walk in the street people will think there's something wrong with u ( u won't understand it from our country or if u live in downtown or scarborough) as u r the only one walking unless you walk your dog on weekends and in the evening or you jog with headphones on. For new immigrants without the car it's nightmare here. Nearest grocery is 15 min walking and 45 sec car distance, I have Sobey's (pretty expensive i found later on). There's another grocery called Nofrills (25 min walking) is way too cheaper than walmart and sobey's. I found New comers settlement centre yesterday just beside Nofrills.
I went to service canada office the next morning i landed, got my SIN number (they'll send the card in 10/12 days), then went to the bank (TD bank), opened dual currency account, got a credit card for 1000 CAD limit they offered but i reduced it to 500 CAD. Bank service is way too friendly here, first the account opening officer took me to her room, at one point the branch manager came to greet us, probably they were surprised to see someone from Bangladesh, (not much asian or desi people live in this city), They gave me debit card right away, and for the credit card i have to wait few more days and collect it from the branch. One important thing is that for our Savings Account, they call it Chequing Accout here, gave me 4 complimentary cheque page but i have to pay cad 40 for 300 page but i heard there are some 3rd parties who can give cheque books in much lesser price. (how weird
)
Right now im living in a shared apartment with 3 other indians and canadians, luckily i found it in 15 min walking distance from my friends house. His wife is a good cook, still going at least once to my friends house for lunch or dinner, still having all the desi foods like birani polao and khichuri and all kinds of evening snacks like chotpoti, piaju, wings etc, went out to a pizza store named pizza pizza yesterday, their simple cheese pizza tasted awesome and it was 4.99 CAD medium size (and their medium size is like large in pizza hut in dhaka, and cheaper too).
Got my phone connection (public mobile, cdma), any unlock phone from Bangladesh works here, you'll just have to buy a charger / multiplug. But it is hard to find a good package when you buy only a SIM, so I had to buy a phone with 34 CAD monthly package and the set costed 110 cad, (it was 20 CAD discounted as I paid from my debit card).
Milk and egg is much cheaper than other food here. U can get whole grilled halal chicken at 10 CAD from walmart and it's expensive, if you live around scanborough area, you'll get it in much cheaper price. 4 Litre milk costs 3.89 and small size dozen eggs costed 2.67 (walmart price). So if you cook at home, it should cost 100-150 CAD per person depending on your food habit.
The place where I live, there are gardens infront of every house, and people goes to sleep here by 7/8 PM (as they wake up early, like 4/5 AM to catch their office. So, the neighbourhood becomes totally dead just after evening. (although I find it equally dead even at day time
). And there are rabbits and squirrel playing in every house's garden, they are not pet, wild animals and they are in plenty
.
The weather right now here is fully sunny but it can be deceiving from your window, as outside the temperature is 0-2 degree (should be extremely cold for us), but the hot burning summer is coming, that's the good news.
So far I'm enjoying, I'm still to get my SIN card and I got an offer from walmart, but I guess I have to decline it as it is a bit far from where I'm now. Feb-Mar-April is the hiring season here, if you come by april, you don't have to worry about job, it might so happen that from the next day you can start working. I have a plan to work for 1 year and after that start my study.
I'm already missing my family, friends and my country from here, never thought I would though, but you'll never understand it unless you finally leave your country. But it's good if you have your wife and children with you.
