I am lying in bed again. Huge grin on my face. The sun is shining outside but it’s zero degrees. This feels surreal. Like I am on a business trip, but I will not return home any time soon. I have such a huge grin on my face though. Huge one. So thankful to be here. Since I arrived, I have slept for 17 hours, one for every hour I sat on that Ethiopian airline flight.
Getting here truly was an experience. I flew for 7 hours to Addis Ababa; another 7 or so hours to Dublin for the plane to refuel, and 6 hours, 30 minutes to Toronto. If you add in the pre-travel time, I have travelled for one whole day, across several time zones.
The best feeling had to be arriving Toronto Pearson airport and the huge relief from not having to sit down any longer. My visa and all my papers were stamped and one of the ladies at Immigration said, ‘Welcome to Canada’.
I’m here. It’s my time of many firsts. First time in Canada. First time in North America. First time in all the Americas. First time travelling 18 hours. First time travelling on Ethiopian airlines (which so help me God, I’m never doing again). First time seeing snow. First time travelling from the African continent
Alive.
Well. Still Sleepy.
But Thankful.
Grateful.
Freezing but on an adventure.
One of the best pieces of advice I received was from Vicks, one of my friends who said,
‘Relocating is one of the best opportunities to reinvent yourself, to be the best version of yourself’. I’m taking it seriously.
My host who picked me up from the airport also said to me,
‘Welcome, Now you are a Canadian. Yes, you don’t have your citizenship yet, but you have all the rights and benefits of a Canadian except to Vote & Be voted for. Don’t allow anybody make you feel less’.
I was doing cartwheels in my subconscious, like, Yes boss. I’m here. It’s gonna be great!
As I arrived here, I received a decline from the top company I was interviewing for a job- GE actually. I’m not too sad though. The job was gonna be in Winnipeg, or like the locals call it- Winterpeg and it had the look and feel of a suffer-head job. One I would have needed to mentally be ready for. So, I’m grateful that job hasn’t worked out.
Like Oprah says, ‘I am here to live Out Loud’. The Urhobo & Nigerian within me is speaking.
Let’s get right to it.
Hopefully, after I have slept another 8 hours.
