Chez-moi à San Francisco

Let me preface by saying that people in San Francisco don't take as much pride in their home as people in Ottawa. The reason is simple: They live in the city, not in their home. The weather is always nice. People walk everywhere. Restaurants and coffee shops are packed every single day. The result is that apartments are old and outdated. However, they are perfect for urbanites and I am willing to trade all the stainless steel in the world for that kind of lifestyle.

Without further ado, here's our apartment!

Welcome!


Modest but functional kitchen


Living room/Dining room


Bedroom separated from living room with French doors


Bedroom

(Kinki's giant scratching post by the window. He loves it!)


"Office" in front of the bed


Bathroom (and my attempt at increasing storage space!)


(and me trying to add some colour)

Our furniture has arrived!

*English to follow...*

Allo et bonne fête des mères! Nous ne sommes pas assez avancés pour vous montrez des photos de l'apartment mais en voici quelques-unes de notre journée. On est fatigué et on s'en va se coucher!

Our furniture was picked up in Ottawa on April 27. When we inquired early last week about the estimated time of arrival, we were told May 23rd. The shock! To our surprise, we got a call from the driver Thursday afternoon to let us know that he will be here Saturday at 8am (this morning). Yippee! Except that we needed a parking permit for the truck which required a 3-day notice. Oops. We asked what our alternatives were because obviously we couldn't give a 3-day notice. The police told us to double park and pay the fine. Hehe... We didn't get a fine and saved ourselves $125!

Living without furniture was an interesting experience. Plastic "China" and cutlery, air mattress, camping chair... It was like camping but indoor. I realized that I really don't need any of that stuff to be happy (except for my computer!). It does make life more comfortable, but it doesn't contribute much to my overall happiness.

The Move

What an adventure. The moving company picked up our furniture on Friday April 27^th. We packed until 1am the night before at which point we ran out of boxes and I had to be creative. Who knew a laundry basket could be such a great ‘box’ for pillows? Thursday was also the first night we started sleeping on an air mattress using towels as pillows (man, my neck hurts).

My last day at work was quite emotional. I’ve always been ready to move on whenever I resigned from a job. Not this time. I loved my job and the people I worked with. I was not ready to leave. My coworkers were so thoughtful. My immediate team prepared a “me” gift basket which included a beautiful necklace, a bed for Kinki, baby food (my favourite!), an electric toothbrush (I brush 6 times a day), and the soap my manager uses (to remember her!). I also received four books about San Francisco from my extended team. My manager and I were both crying like babies when she escorted me out!

We needed to vacate the condo for the tenant on Sunday so we went to a hotel. It was an interesting experience with Kinki. We wanted a convenient, cheap hotel that accepts cats. Let’s just say that it was yucky, but Kinki made himself right at home.

We drove to the airport Monday morning with our 9 luggages and Kinki. We’re usually light travelers so it felt quite weird. We had to reorganize the luggage at the airport because one was 35kg (limit 32kg). I think the computer and the three bottles of wine inside did it, oops. I was not leaving without my computer! Kinki was checked in and all was good.

I had the scare of my life in Toronto. Kinki was beyond traumatized. When they returned him to us, he was rolled up, hiding in the kennel as much as he could, not moving. I thought he was dead. It was the worse feeling in the world. R started yelling “Kinki” and he finally moved. He was shaking and not meowing. He was completely traumatized. I guess the flight training should have involved airport chaos, not just take off. He had peed all over himself. The water and food had spilled all over. The kennel needed a make-over, but I didn’t have time to fix it. We had to go through custom.

By the time we were done, it was 3 pm. Getting our visa was extremely stressful. We gave the paper work to a custom officer and waited until we were called. Two hours later, R was asked a couple of questions, his degrees and our marriage certificate. After that, it took about an hour to get our visa. It was a smooth process, but still stressful as the custom officer has the power to deny your application for pretty much any reasons. Although we had a strong case, there was no guarantee we would go through easily.

By that time, Kinki was feeling much better. He even ate a bit. I cleaned up his cage and we were off to US security. They asked that I take Kinki out of the kennel to X-ray it. Fine, except that the kennel was clearly too big for the machine and BROKE. I was almost in tears with a traumatized cat in my arms in the middle of the busiest airport in Canada. How the heck were we supposed to catch our flight to San Francisco without a kennel for Kinki??? Even if the kennel was fixed, there was no way AC would allow it on the cargo as it was not in perfect condition. I’ve seen a lot of incompetence in my life but the airport staff was by far the most incompetent people I have ever encountered. They were standing there doing NOTHING. They were like “oh well, too bad”. Needless to say none of us needed this extra stress. Thanks to wonderful Air Canada staff, we managed to buy another kennel. While I was holding Kinki as tight as I could trying not to burst into tears in the middle of the airport, R and an Air Canada person rushed out of the terminal to buy another kennel. The Air Canada person was so amazing. Once you clear custom, you are theoretically not allowed to come out. She escorted him to the store and back in 30 minutes. Then we had to put the kennel together. I felt like I was in a bad reality show. Kinki was so scared and I was about to have a nervous breakdown.

When the drama was over, there was about 40 mins left before boarding. We had a bite in the AC lounge (like I was hungry). The five hours flight went smoothly, but I was dead worried about Kinki and the condition I was going to find him in. When he came out, he seemed in a much better shape than he was after the Ottawa-Toronto flight. The kennel was a mess, he was shaking, but at least he was moving. If we have to move again, I don’t know what I am going to do with him. I never want to put him through that again.

We grabbed a mini-van taxi for our giant luggages and Kinki. We made it here at 20:45 pacific time (so 23:45 Ottawa time… about 15 hrs after we left Ottawa). I was nervous about seeing the apartment in real life. The location is awesome. The architecture of the place is very cool, but it’s a bit old (like 1920s old!). It’s got character, that’s for sure! I’ll post pictures after I am done with the make-over and we get our furniture.

We were exhausted. The air mattress had never been more comfortable! I can’t believe we’re finally here.

We're "home"!

And getting here was the most stressful experience of my life. More details to come!

Hurdling our way to San Francisco

Now that the “big stuff” has been taken care of, I am taking a moment to update my blog.

Move: Our move is scheduled on April 27^th. More packing for us. Our one way flight will be on April 30^th.

Immigration: Not much on that front. We have an appointment with our lawyer next week to discuss the interview process.

Apartment in SF: We rented a one bedroom apartment in Russian Hill, a dreamy location downtown San Francisco (picture).It’s not stainless steal fancy, but it’s very charming and has lots of character (think Carrie’s apartment in Sex in the City).

Condo: As most people know, we just moved into our brand new condo. Our contract with the builder stipulates that we are not allowed to “advertise”, “offer to sale”, or “sale” our unit until they have sold all of their units up to a maximum of year after our closing. We were aware of that when we purchased our place. But between July 2005 and now, some called "life" happened. As of now, they have three units left for sale. We attempted, unsuccessfully, to negotiate our way out of this clause. The builder did not grant us permission but we did get something. Instead of allowing us to sell in February 2008 only, we can sell as of October 2007.

We were faced with the dilemma of leaving the condo empty for five months (and pay for it) or rent it out. We were concerned about renting it out for a couple of reasons. First, there are several tax implications (especially as non-residents). After studying the Canadian Tax Act thoroughly (oh the pain), it appears that renting it makes sense financially. We were also worried about the material damage a tenant could potentially cause.

After much consideration, we decided to rent. We advertised and signed a 5-month lease within 24 hrs. We believe that we have found the perfect tenant: 40ish, divorced, lobbyist. I still can't think of myself as a "landlord".

We’re still planning to sell privately as soon as we are legally allowed. Flying twenty times (round trips) between Ottawa and San Francisco is still cheaper than giving 5% away to a realtor. It’s going to be exhausting, but worth it in the end.

Car: Note to self, selling an Audi is not an easy thing. We had two very interested buyers. The first deal fell through because the idiot didn’t know that he had to pay PST, duh. He basically wanted the car with the PST included in the price we agreed on. Right. The second buyer had much more realistic expectations. We closed the deal this morning. Whee.

Job: Since I can’t work until my work permit is processed, I found a great place to volunteer at. I am starting as soon as we arrived. Keeping busy is the key otherwise I am gonna go to the dark side.

I think we’re all set!

Two steps forward, one step back

There is so much going on right now, I really don't know where to start. My life is a real estate/tax/immigration/HR chaos. We've had many major, life altering decisions to make in the past few weeks. I am stressed out and exhausted, but I have to say that it has been an empowering experience.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most responsive to change" (Darwin) has never been more true.

More details to come...

The Move in Progress

We’ve got some big things checked off our list, but there’s a lot more.

Done:

-Opened US account through RBC
-Cancelled our trip to Spain/Morocco as I am not allow to get out of the US for a while :(
-Received our immigration papers from the lawyer
-Booked a vet appointment for Kinki

In progress:

-Select a moving company. I never thought moving would be so complicated. I just wish we could sell everything and go! It’ll take approximately 2-3 weeks to get our stuff down there. Before the moving truck crosses the US, we need to be in the US with our visas in hand. What are we going to do for three weeks? Air mattress and sleeping bag it is!
-Research immigration requirements for Kinki

To do:

-Sell condo & car
-Talk to lawyer and prepare for immigration interview (3-5 hrs we were told)
-Booked our one-way flights
-Rent a place in SF (through email!)

Extra, Extra! The Big Announcement

I revealed The Secret at work today so it’s time to share with the world. Oh, and congratulations to those of you who have guessed already (*Waving at Phat and Foxy*).

Hubby and I are making the move, literally. We are moving to San Francisco in May!!!

We’ve had this project in mind for a couple of years now. We wanted to do it right in order to maximize our relocation success. The last couple of months have been crazy busy. His company has taken care of all the legal issues. The paper work is now completed. We’re going on an L1 and L2 visa (company transfer) which will allow me to work in the US. That being said, my EAD (employment authorization document) will take approximately two months to process. During those two months, I am neither allowed to work (in the US or Canada) nor leave the US. It’s an annoyance but I can’t complain. It could have been a lot worse. I’ll use those two months to find a job and finish my marketing research certificate.

As you all know, we just moved into our condo. Anyone needs a condo? It’s going to be for sale shortly. It’s a lovely condo, but at the end of the day, it’s just ‘stuff’. I live for experiences, not ‘stuff’. And we’re also selling the car. It’s a nice car, but we just don’t need one downtown SF.

We’re planning to buy a property as soon as possible, but we need to build our credit first. For the next six months, we’re hoping to rent a one bedroom apartment while we familiarize ourselves with the different neighborhoods. We spent the weekend in San Francisco looking at apartments. For anyone familiar with SF, we’re looking at Union Square, Russian Hill, Nob Hill, North Beach, and Embarcadero.

ETA: I am adding a map! We want an apartment inside that circle.

In the next month or so, I have a million things to wrap up at work. As mentionned, we have to sale the car and the condo. And the obvious, pack and move AGAIN! Thankfully, I didn’t unpack everything. We also need to get Kinki’s shot up-to-date for his arrival in the US.

I am excited and terrified (if that makes sense), but we live only once, right?!?

Home Alone

R is in Whistler, B.C. skiing with his friends this weekend. I have enough work to keep myself busy all weekend, but it still sucks. I especially hate sleeping and eating alone. Ugh.

We’re moving in three weeks. My cubicle is full of empty cardboard boxes. My living room is full of empty cardboard boxes. My colleagues call me the “box lady” and my husband calls me “box bunny”!

We got our mortgage approved last week. We went with the CIBC AeroMortgage. I am a point whore, what can I say? RBC was not happy, but they deserve it. When we bought our first house in 2002, we were a tad clueless. Because the rates were so good, we opted for a seven year closed mortgage. We never even thought that perhaps we would sell before the end of the seven year period. Duh, seven years is a life time. What were we thinking?!? When the house was sold after less than two years, RBC charged us a $5,000 penalty. Oh, we tried to fight that one. Despite the fact that we invested the profit with them and a potential guarantee that we would get another RBC mortgage in the future, they wouldn’t budge. Last week, when we asked our RBC financial advisor to transfer money from our investment account to our saving account, he said: “that’s going to be for your RBC mortgage?” Let me think…noooo. Loyalty goes both ways, dude.