Hello! Welcome to VGW’s first ever blog.
So for those that haven’t been following along, I am Victoria and about 3 weeks ago I moved myself and my small business to Canada!
For the last 3 years I’ve ran Victoria Giles Watercolour alongside working in Agri Business, which has been amazing, allowed me to grow my small business, and has taught me I enjoy being busy and sleep is overrated (haha maybe fibbing on the sleep part!) but I decided to quit the corporate rat race, buy some thermals and I fly to the Canadian mountains!
Since leaving ive had lotssss of questions about the move so I thought I’d do a little blog to keep you all updated!
I am here on an IEC visa which is like a working holiday and I got granted 2 years at the border, Woohooo! (for anyone wanting to do this they based their decision purely on the length of my health insurance and yes as bonkers as it sounds you don’t know till you get to the border how long you have, you just have a letter inviting you in!)
So where did I begin?
I found a room to live in on a Facebook page for the location I wanted to be in, this was NOT an easy task and took a lot of time searching online, it paid off as im located in British Columbia and am living just outside a ski resort (ski resorts in particular are hard to get housing here) on a ranch for the winter, the place is beautiful, its like being in a film and when I look out of the window from my painting desk it feels like I have hit the jack pot!
Since arriving I have spanked all my savings, that I planned to live off till Christmas, oops…
..Everything (despite the currently good exchange rate) is expensive here! I decided to get a part time job so I am doing a couple of days a week in a little donut and ice cream parlour up in the ski village – what more could I wish for (BIG ice cream fan over here!) I am absolutely loving having so much more time to dedicate to VGW too, to have whole days dedicated to a commission feels like such a luxury.
The first week I was here I sorted a bed, desk etc all from Facebook marketplace or the wonderful land of Value Village (a huge shop for cheap second hand things; literally the sell everything and it is huge).
I also sorted a car and wow this was mind blowing, you have to pay tax on what you’ve brought and there are no MOT’s or any equivalent so cars are all pretty shit and its buy and hope for the best.
Car secured next is car insurance…again $$$$ and you cannot shop around there was one broker that I could have gone to and the price was the price, haha (£800 for 6 months, gulp!) Number plates are assigned to you not the vehicle too, so these were given to me when I got insurance. To give you more of an idea of the car world here, I brought a 2004 Hyundai with nearly 300,000 miles on, for $4000 (about £2350). I thought the second-hand car market in England was crazy! Its also law to drive in BC with winter tyres on so the good thing about my old gal is that she came with studded winter tyres, as well as a normal set for summer. So after all this spending naturally I headed to the bar for some beers and to check out my local.
Once I’d got my new home and some transport sorted it was time to get some gear for the hill, I headed to one of the local ski shops and with some trading of free donuts I purchased some ski boots and poles, my boss at my new job very kindly lent me a pair of skis so this has given me some time to save and figure out what I want to buy.
And we go, my first day skiing (Nov 21st) which was dreamy, I’ve had 3 years off so I was a little rusty but absolutely loved getting back out there. Also worth mentioning I purchased my season pass when I was back in England, this was about £800. We have pretty average snow conditions at the moment so there is only 1 chairlift open, but probably a good thing for me to get back into things, my legs are in tatters after 2 days so safe to say my ski fitness isn’t really there!
I am also of course busy with commissions at the moment I have 8 weddings on the go and a few Christmas paintings so there’s not much time for twiddling my thumbs that’s for sure, Ali G (Aka Mum/Alison) is doing the most amazing job packing all your parcels and getting them to you in time for Christmas!
There are lots of weird and wonderful things and differences I am discovering about living in Canada but I feel like that might be a blog post in itself, especially on food! I tried my first Poutine the other day which is the signature Canadian dish, the standard version is chips with cheese curds and gravy and then there are sooo many variations with bacon, sausage, fried chicken just all the goodness…it sounds so rogue but honestly if you find yourself here its sooo good, a must try and just what you want on a hangover or a cold day up the hill skiing.
Thanks for popping by for a read and I hope you enjoy joining my journey, for the next addition don’t forget to subscribe!
V xx
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