The Vent - Part 2

[KarenCee 3]

I'm just getting really frustrated.

Call 2 different Canada border places, the info place (where the woman was very nice and well informed) who says we can just say our vehicle is 'to follow' for importing and import it when we get to Calgary and the guy at the border (also very nice) who says no, you need to import it at the border.

The snippy U.S. border person who didn't like me asking how we access U.S. customs on our way in to Canada (I prefaced it by saying it was a dumb question!)

And this is just great - you cannot import your own bed back in to Canada unless you have a certificate saying it has been cleaned and fumigated.

Sigh...I dread it when we start shipping things home. Not sure when we'll start doing that but I don't want to leave it too long. So, where do you get this certificate and do you have to have this cleaning and fumigation done by someone other than yourself? I have my antique bed that I'd like to ship to Joel's mom so she can store it in her basement. We thought we could just ship a few things here and there so we wouldn't have so much later on, when we actually make our permanent move.

[trailmix 77]

I'm just getting really frustrated.

Call 2 different Canada border places, the info place (where the woman was very nice and well informed) who says we can just say our vehicle is 'to follow' for importing and import it when we get to Calgary and the guy at the border (also very nice) who says no, you need to import it at the border.

The snippy U.S. border person who didn't like me asking how we access U.S. customs on our way in to Canada (I prefaced it by saying it was a dumb question!)

And this is just great - you cannot import your own bed back in to Canada unless you have a certificate saying it has been cleaned and fumigated.

I have definitely had that experience, they are definitely not the most friendly people to call! The runaround I had to do to get my car exported back to Canada... I have never heard of beds not being able to be imported...

Well from what I am reading elsewhere they don't have to be fumigated - whatever! Although the woman who told me that also told me that we could import our car once we got to Calgary - whatever!

Minnew - you exported your car back? Did you do that at the border or after you arrived in Canada?

[minnew 4]

I'm just getting really frustrated.

Call 2 different Canada border places, the info place (where the woman was very nice and well informed) who says we can just say our vehicle is 'to follow' for importing and import it when we get to Calgary and the guy at the border (also very nice) who says no, you need to import it at the border.

The snippy U.S. border person who didn't like me asking how we access U.S. customs on our way in to Canada (I prefaced it by saying it was a dumb question!)

And this is just great - you cannot import your own bed back in to Canada unless you have a certificate saying it has been cleaned and fumigated.

I have definitely had that experience, they are definitely not the most friendly people to call! The runaround I had to do to get my car exported back to Canada... I have never heard of beds not being able to be imported...

Well from what I am reading elsewhere they don't have to be fumigated - whatever! Although the woman who told me that also told me that we could import our car once we got to Calgary - whatever!

Minnew - you exported your car back? Did you do that at the border or after you arrived in Canada?

Yup I had to temp import it to the US due to no longer being a college student in the USA, I was on OPT, but still on F-1.....grrrr... I had to fax the US border the ownership and registration information 72 hours before I planned to export it from the US back to Canada. I can't remember what the process was for the Canadian side of things...importing it back to Canada, it was pretty simple from what I remember, the car was purchased in Canada though. Oh and I went through North Portal, ND.

Edited July 20, 2009 by minnew

[trailmix 77]

Ahh ok, makes sense.

Well I have made some progress. Understand the car thing, have booked the Upak trailer (we are using the trailer this time instead of a relocube - since they don't actually deliver the relocubes - except on the 26 foot trailer in Calgary - there is no point using relocubes as they are more expensive).

I've also booked the movers and someone to come and clean the floors and do some general cleaning.

But i'm still putting it in the vent thread because that is where moving stuff belongs lol

[DeadPoolX 9]

In general, I really like my apartment building. However, there was an incidence yesterday that really ticked me off.

My wife drove home from grocery shopping and she noticed a man just "hanging around" in the parking garage. He wasn't waiting at the entrance door and he wasn't moving to any car in particular. This concerned my wife. The man didn't seem overly dangerous (although she was worried about that too), but when she got up to our apartment, she told me about him. We both figured he might be looking into break into someone's car.

My car has "the club" on it and the ignition can only be started by the microchips in our car keys. I suppose it'd be possible to hotwire, but that'd be really difficult and probably be far more effort than most car thieves would want. Regardless, we didn't want someone breaking into ANY car down there.

So we called the downstairs management. Some guy answered (not the normal manager) and his command of the English language was about as good as my Russian. I started telling him about the guy in the garage and he responded, "Have the window washers come by yet?"

I wasn't sure what to say to that. Yes, there were window washers making the rounds outside the building, but that was a completely separate topic. I ask him for the number to call security. He says, "Secure, yes, it's secure."

Okay... I ask him again and he gives me a phone number, only it's lacking the last four digits. I tell him that and he repeats it.

At this point, I was getting really pissed off. I hand the phone over to my wife who's more patient than I am and she has the same trouble. After wrestling with this for about ten minutes, we finally get the number. We call it and it's out of service.

Both my wife and I were annoyed. Not just because the phone number was either wrong or out of service, but because the stand-in manager could barely speak English. As far as I know, in Canada you have to speak either English or French (and probably both if living in Ottawa). Even though this manager was only temporary, he needed to be able to communicate better than that!

As an aside... he was Asian. That point becomes relevant in a moment. My wife and I live in a building where there are a lot of Asians and while on the phone, the stand-in manager said, "I speak Asian." We didn't even ask WHAT he spoke, but here's where my confusion comes in: there's more than one Asian language. For example, I'm pretty sure Japanese and Vietnamese are a little different.

[Sprailenes 47]

What living down in Texas you never ran into a language barrier with the Spanish speaking population?

Canada has a huge Asian population, that's what it's like in the cities. I don't know about a "rule" that you HAVE to speak English or French. Canada is a little more accepting of diversity... yes you should try to speak English but I don't know about a rule. It sounded like he was trying to speak English though which is good, sometimes you'll just get a grunt and a nod.

[thetreble 19]

Deadpool, there is no rule that someone can enforce to make you speak any language. We have two national languages, this is true. But there is no rule that you have to speak either of them.

[Ban Hammer 13,283]

celebrate that diversity, deadpool

[thetreble 19]

celebrate that diversity, deadpool

He's from Texas. They don't like diversity down there.

[Sprailenes 47]

Theres a cheesesteak place in Philly that has a sign on it's window that says: "ORDER IN ENGLISH ONLY!"

and I always see shirts down at the shore for sale that say: "Welcome to America, SPEAK ENGLISH!"

I dunno, that kind of attitude disgusts me. I understand the frustration of language barriers, BUT imagine how someone must feel coming here. They are probably more frustrated and overwhelmed than we are. I mean we deal with it off and on, and for them it's constant.

[DeadPoolX 9]

What living down in Texas you never ran into a language barrier with the Spanish speaking population?

Canada has a huge Asian population, that's what it's like in the cities. I don't know about a "rule" that you HAVE to speak English or French. Canada is a little more accepting of diversity... yes you should try to speak English but I don't know about a rule. It sounded like he was trying to speak English though which is good, sometimes you'll just get a grunt and a nod.

AND

Deadpool, there is no rule that someone can enforce to make you speak any language. We have two national languages, this is true. But there is no rule that you have to speak either of them.

Okay, so what's the point of an official language? I was told that all immigrants had to learn to speak English or French and had to take language classes when entering. The reason the U.S. has so much trouble is because there is no official language. If it doesn't make a difference, then why bother making any language official?

Regardless of "diversity", this guy was acting as the entire building's manager. That means he was responsible for EVERYONE there. So needed to know English well enough to understand and communicate effectively. He didn't and that could've caused some real problems.

celebrate that diversity, deadpool

He's from Texas. They don't like diversity down there.

Idiot.

[KarenCee 3]

Deadpool, there is no rule that someone can enforce to make you speak any language. We have two national languages, this is true. But there is no rule that you have to speak either of them.

....but it sure as h3ll keep you from getting a job! There are so many jobs on the GA DOL website that either hubby or myself fit the bill for except one thing...we aren't bilingual in Spanish. Many many businesses in Gainesville GA REQUIRE you to be bilingual to apply for positions. I have nothing against the Hispanic population nor do I have a problem with being bilingual in and of itself...I just don't feel it's right to REQUIRE someone applying for a job to be bilingual.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

WAIT. Trailmix is moving back to Calgary???? Why wasn't I informed of this???

[Ban Hammer 13,283]

celebrate that diversity, deadpool

He's from Texas. They don't like diversity down there.

yes we do!

[JillA 2]

Theres a cheesesteak place in Philly that has a sign on it's window that says: "ORDER IN ENGLISH ONLY!"

and I always see shirts down at the shore for sale that say: "Welcome to America, SPEAK ENGLISH!"

I dunno, that kind of attitude disgusts me. I understand the frustration of language barriers, BUT imagine how someone must feel coming here. They are probably more frustrated and overwhelmed than we are. I mean we deal with it off and on, and for them it's constant.

I heard about that steak place... I would NEVER give them any business! Bunch of bigots