Landed!

I spent a very hectic week and a half in Westmoreland with my mother and was able to see my brothers and Grandmother as well.  It was worth all the running about just to say I was there and able to see them.

Yesterday was the all-important day, the day I landed in Canada as a permanent resident.  After a harrowing landing from what had started as a routine international flight, followed by an involuntary 2-hour confinement on the tarmac in the plane while the airport recovered from the thunderstorms that so terrified me during the landing, I was finally able to enter the airport and process through the various final steps to becoming a permanent resident (PR).

First, the Canadian Border Services Agency examined my declaration card that I was required to fill out on the flight, and directed me to Immigration.  Immigration went as expected, and perhaps even more smoothly than it would normally, as I was already so familiar with the requirements of the Act that the officer was relieved of the need to make any explanations, needing only to certify my various documents and then send me on to the next stage.

Stage 3 was declaring my accompanying and to-follow goods and property, and again, preparation made that a smooth process.  I had already prepared the necessary forms, so all the Customs officer needed to do was certify them after double-checking they were correctly and completely prepared.

Stage 4 was running to catch my next flight, which was delayed and delayed again until the two hours spent sitting on the tarmac were fully lost and never made up.  I arrived in Sudbury at 2:30 a.m. when it should have been midnight, and we were home in Elliot Lake two hours later.

Today has been about settling into the house, getting used to the location of things and re-establishing routines we used to have, such as my doing the dishes after meals because G is the cook.  The comfort of these routines  will ease me into accepting my new surroundings, and I look forward to each as they come back to us.