Getting Started and Discovering the City

The 15-day quarantine was difficult. I wasn’t allowed to step out of the house, so I couldn’t walk, or stretch my legs. Some of that initial enthusiasm when I landed started to wane, and when the quarantine was over, I really didn’t know where to start. My Airbnb renter took me to a supermarket chain so that I could have a proper cooked meal. Although I’d been in American and British supermarkets before, it was still surprising to see the variety of breads, cheeses, meats, and vegetables. Although, I’d told myself not to do this, I was converting the prices in dollars to Indian rupees. Finally, I bought just what I needed and paid in cash because I didn’t have a bank account yet.

After lunch, I mustered courage, put on my jacket and walked down to a park in Danforth. I walked around in circles until I was exhausted. But I came back with a smile on my face. The next day, my mobile SIM card came in the post, so now I had courage to explore some more. I went down to a pharmacy and bought a Presto card. I rode the Green Line Metro down to Ossington, had lunch at a sandwich joint and rode the Metro back.

I wanted to get my SIN and bank account, so I got an appointment to visit Service Canada in person. The day after, I got there 15 minutes ahead of time, and a friendly staff member got me sorted out. I came back home elated and booked an appointment with one of the Big Five banks to open an account as well as apply for a credit card. The credit score is a very important thing for newcomers to obtain and improve as soon as possible!

At this stage, my tenancy at the Airbnb was coming to an end. I tried to view several apartment listings, but kept striking out because they all wanted employed tenants or high credit scores. The original plan was for me to stay with an old friend from my university days, but with the pandemic, this was no longer an option. I understood this pain-point for Canadian newcomers and wondered how those with a language or other cultural barriers would navigate this. I heaved a huge sigh of relief when a renter in North York agreed to lease to me.

Over the next couple of weeks, I spent my days walking up and down Downtown Toronto, experiencing its sights and sounds. I would pack a small lunch and a water bottle and just try to experience as much of the city in fall as I could before winter set in. I also started working on updating my resume and trying to find other newcomers to connect to, so that I would have some community in a new city and a new country.

This was the start of an adventure.