Its been over a year since my last post. Alot has happened in the past year. Alot of blessings, a few tragedies but eventually we were all hit by the silent twister called Covid 19.
I won’t bore you with the details, but we moved to Toronto, CA., in the summer of 2019.
Dubai has/had been our home for nearly 27 years.
The transition was not an easy one, as expected. Its hard to uproot a tree and just place it elsewhere. New surroundings, new environment, new people, new culture, new everything. But I’ve always believed that CHANGE is always for the best. We tend to live in our comfort zone – its easy, it convenient, but its NOT progress. In order to progress, one must move. One must adapt to change. Change can be within or outwardly as well.
In order to make such a drastic move, called for immense planning and organization. Months of endless garage sales to dispose our furniture, tons of kitchen ware, garden ware etc, selling our cars, selling our villas, managing scores of documentation for ourselves and our eight cats. One 40 feet container, 10 suitcases and 8 cat carriers later, we landed in Toronto.
Gosh, how easily I wrote that entire sentence forgoing the millions of incidents, goof ups, episodes of rage, emotional dramas AND confusions, we went through. But I suppose, we all go through those phases. Nothing worthwhile, is found, just lying around. One has to endure, one has to struggle, one has to pay the price of hardships to succeed, as did we.
I will be sharing the story of my cat-travels in another post. But for now, I am counting my blessings. Blessings of being surrounded by love from my children, my husband, my cats and some very good people.
Buying a house, getting our driving license, unpacking 300 cartons, school admissions, university admissions, were some of the larger milestones that we accomplished. We stay in the city of Kitchener now.
Our new home. Our new address. Our new pin code. Bizarre, ain’t it ? Last year this time, we were munching shawarma’s and Hardee’s burgers in Dubai and today, we have become such at-home eaters.
Which brings me to the another new development. I have started uploading videos on my Youtube channel. Presently, becoz its Ramadan, I have been sharing tutorials on Indian dishes. However, I will start posting the link to my Crafts and Diy tutorials here too.
My Youtube Channel – Naush Samama
Getting the house organized has been an ongoing process. We still have cartons stacked in virtually ALL the rooms. But we are getting there. Slow and steady.
There have been a few DIY revamps, that I attempted as well.
Hopefully, I’ll share some of those as well in other posts.
For those of you who are in Dubai or Middle-East, and would like to know what are some of the bigger compromises, that we made in adjusting to the lifestyle here, please feel free to ask in the comments. I will be happy to share them.
Life is good. And happiness is not seeking something. Happiness is being with those whom you love and who love you back equally. May you all find that happiness within you.
Here is a glimpse of some of the few beautiful landscapes, we left behind.
I’m really glad that you stopped by. I hope you stay a while and leave inspired.
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Welcome to Canada Naush and Family! I can only imagine the culture shock you have and are experiencing. I hope there have been some positive things even with Covid-19!!
Thank you Tracy for the welcome. I am an optimist and love being here. A little adjustment works wonders. So long as I have my hubby and boys with me, any place is heaven. Inspite of what people forewarned us, I totally enjoyed the winter. The only annoying thing is getting packed with layers and layers of clothing before going out in the winters. But I simply LOVE CANADA !!
Yes bundling up is annoying sometimes. I didn’t even think of winter when I was thinking of the differences here. I’m happy you enjoyed it. It’s amazing how fast we can adapt when we have our loved ones with us! I also saw that you brought your 8 cats with you. That must have been quite the adventure.
Tracy, our entire trip was primarily revolving around the cats travel. They are all rescued cats. Most of them have physical issues so alot of preparation was involved in travelling with them. But honestly, its so so worth it. All the pressure and effort is totally worth it. They are truly my babies. Sadly, we lost one of the cats, after we moved into our transition home, and one of my Persian cats passed away due to pneumonia. Its heartbreaking. My next door neighbor has major issues with cats !! So my poor babies go for a quick strol after midnight. After a long stuffed up winter, they can finally stretch out these days. Thank you so much for your sweet welcome. Are you in Ontario ?
I’m in Saskatchewan but I was born and raised in Montreal. A lot of my family has moved to Ontario but my hubby and I chose to move to Saskatchewan when our oldest daughter was a baby. Better pay out here but we are sure feeling the oil price drop!
I’m so sorry to hear about your cats passing away. I have dogs and I know the pain of losing one. They are always there when we need them to comfort us and never judge us. It sounds like your cats are very lucky to have you and your family taking care of them and loving them.
Wow Saskatchewan !!! Would love to visit that side some day. The farthest we’ve been is Winnipeg. Although dogs are more responsive, cat owners understand their “blank” look, those eyes speak volumns 🙂 My cats are truly a blessing in my life. I miss Peaches and Gretchen, I tried to give them a happy home. They moved around with me from one home to another, one country to another and hopefully they are sleeping in their final abode peacefully. Thank you for your kind words Tracy. Do you blog ? Are you on social media ?