Settling into Vancouver, Cats and All

The peaceful view from Coquitlam 

Almost a month ago, a friend from Hong Kong landed in Vancouver. She has been preparing to move for years and now it's finally happened.

We had a chat yesterday on the phone and she seems to be settling in well. She said she spent the first two weeks doing all kinds of mundane but necessary things, from opening up bank accounts, buying insurance to finding a place to live.

One cat investigates the blinds

She is currently staying in an Airbnb in Coquitlam and enjoying it, despite the location not being the most convenient. Her exercise consists of walking up and down hills to get to the supermarket and back, but she loves inhaling the fresh air.

"It's so nice to be here, in freedom," she says. Since she arrived she stopped watching Hong Kong news because she found it depressing. "People are being arrested everyday," she says.

Next month she will move into her rental flat, also in Coquitlam and needs to buy furniture and other household goods and is eyeing the Ikea catalogue. But being in Vancouver is  all exciting to her and she hopes to soon be reunited with her mother, who is currently in Malaysia.

In the meantime her two cats are keeping her company, one 14 years old, the other four years old, though they don't get along. Hopefully they at least like Vancouver!