After a lot of procrastination

Hello world.

Welcome to pukkamoves. The blog's been created a long time ago in preparation for my move from home to Toronto.

And no, I didn't just get here. In fact, I've been here for over three months now. So why start this blog just now? Well, I've always wanted to write about what my new life here is. I had so many plans on how to deliver an interesting story, however I guess it only happens in the movies. My life here so far hasn't been so interesting. I wouldn't say it's not completely uninteresting but it's not like how I imagined.

Anyway, let's start from the beginning.

June 2008: After 22 years of living in the Philippines I was completely comfortable there and you could say I was doing pretty well. Living a cosmopolitan life with my girlfriend, I was happy because work, friends and a steady paycheck that could buy me a comfy lifestyle were all in my pocket. Moreover, my parents, brother, sister, dog, sister in-law and niece were all within a few minutes drive from me and my girlfriend.

Of course you have to remember that this was in the Philippines where prices are lower and after years of being there you get used to the harsh living conditions in a 3rd-world country and simply be thankful for what you got. I have to say, I was happy.

Nonetheless, happiness in there was always given a reality check that it was still an economically crappy place to be in. When that realization hits (and hits quite often), every Filipino wishes they were in a better place.

Under the smiling faces of countless Filipinos is the urgent desire to immigrate to any of the G8 countries. It's practically a default ambition there. When you ask high schoolers what they wanna be when they grow up, they'd always say they wanna go abroad and send money back home.

But I was different, I was born a Canadian. I had a birthright many of my countrymen would suffer for. I had a Canadian citizenship on a silver plate and I stayed home.

For 22 years, I've been hearing people say that I was so lucky to have an all access pass to the western world. When I graduated from university and decided to stay, too many people couldn't understand why. They'd tell me "Do you have any idea how many people would give their left nut for a your birth certificate?" or something to that effect. It really gets annoying. Anyway, I got used to that and continued my blissful existence with my girlfriend, family, dog and friends.

So that was the situation in June 2008 when I finally decided to set my sights on Canada. Why did I do it? Well, regardless if I was happy, I wasn't completely satisfied. I'm not stupid, I know how difficult life can be in the Philippines. And after watching developed countries live in prosperity from afar, I wanted it too.

It was decided then that I would go for the North American dream in the country where I was born. I had the blessing from my mom and dad and the support of my girlfriend. The plan was simple, save enough pocket money to bowl me over in Canada until I get income, stay with my aunt in Toronto until I can afford to rent my own place.

The amount was Php 100,000, about $2400 to last me a maximum of 6 months without income. I know, that amount is cheap. But if you're earning Php 20,000 a month, a hundred grand is a long way to go.

Dec2008: What I thought would take me a year to save up for, I completed in about 6 months. How is that possible? Combined income. Me and my girlfriend lived off about Php10-20k a month and saved the rest of both our paychecks.

On my birthday that month, I bought my plane ticket, one way. ETD was April 24, 2009, 12MN.