Apartment Hunting is like Job Hunting

Lucked out a bit on this one. Found a place, in the same neighborhood, a block or two from the bus stop and a straight shot down Yew to the beach.

There was a huge wave of relief at first. There’s just something internally settling about having your own space to call home in a foreign land. Space I can fill with my stuff, and make it home. Not that I don’t appreciate my temporary space. It provided some much needed familiarity upon arrival. Made it easy to learn my way around, see what’s what.

And now it’s time to spread my wings a little bit more and take roost in my own space, and all that comes with it. Electric bills. Internet. Actual mail. I’d be remiss if I didn’t admit a but of childlike wonder at this new stage.

Childlike wonder as an adult, I’m finding, brings with adult worries and concerns.

For instance: I have no furniture here. It’s all back home. Couch. Bed. Bookcase. I have no dishes, pots, pans or utensils. All back home. No TV at all. No chairs, no dresser. Just the clothes and few books and things I brought with me.

I have to go back home anyway,

That’s as far as I got in my Evernote writings this morning. A thing I’ve noticed is that, in Evernote on an #android device, that seems like a lot! Posted to WP, well, not so much. But yeah, found an apartment.

The Vancouver rental market is a crap shoot, really. It may sound stupid, but Craigslist is really your best bet, and you have to do a lot of work to find a place, contact people, arrange a viewing, etc. It’s a laborious, time consuming process, very much like job hunting. Scour ads, look up information, send out inquiries, talk to people, schedule an interview and, at the end of the day, keep your fingers crossed.

And apartment hunting is just as emotionally exhausting as job hunting. It is rather crushing when you find a place you really like, and don’t get it, for whatever reason. And you have to start back at square one.

Ah, but when you get the place, or job, such elation! Of course, that will wear off, in due time. The point is to recognize it, and take it for the important step that it is.

In a way, job hunting seems to have been good preparation for this first…er…second phase of moving. It requires patience and persistence, which is pretty much what this entire process, from visa application on up, has required.

Guess I don’t have to ask myself if I’m patient, persistent and resilient.

So now I have to figure out how to temporarily furnish my new place until I get home to sort through the rest of that. I’m tempted to just start fresh, with the exception of my couch and bookcase back home. An air mattress or sleeping bag will more than likely be my sleeping accommodations until I get home, which has the bonus of being sleep accommodations whenever people come to visit. I confess that’s not very appetizing to me today, though it sounded just fine on Friday. Kind of adventurous, but also kind of college-like.

But, who knows? It’s only Monday, February 20, 2012.