Sunday in Fredericton

Well, it's been quite a week. I haven't had the time or energy to post, but, on a quiet Sunday morning, I thought I'd take a moment to say a little something about my adventure here...

I arrived on Tuesday evening and, having met up with another sociologist at the airport baggage claim, had a nice dinner before settling in at the UNB residence hall. I got up Wednesday morning and, sitting at the desk, turned to the left only to hear a loud "pop" in my left knee. I couldn't walk at all. I hopped to the car, hopped into the res life office, hopped out of the car at Shoppers Drug Mart. A guy helped me hop up the steps. A woman brought me a wheelchair - it's located in a clinic building - and I wheeled myself to the home care counter. I bought myself a pair of crutches and then, having consulted with P, drove myself to the hospital. Good thing I had rented an automatic. Thus began my first adventure with Canadian health care. I had planned to write a more detailed entry about it, but, as above, have been tired and busy.

In brief, I spent seven hours in the ER. But, unlike most of you, I will get to pay for it because I don't live here yet and NB has a three month waiting period. As much as I hate to say it, the experience was quite dreadful. After being checked in, I was offered no ice and finally asked for some water. Fortunately my angel-winged realtor showed up and went to get lunch from the hospital canteen. I was moved from the waiting room to one of the little curtained beds at 2:30 and waited in there until 4:30. I was ready to leave - I was in quite a state - and the nurse convinced me that I would be seen soon. The problem was that with triage, my injury not being life threatening or "dire," everyone kept getting prioritized ahead of me. I watched people come and go all day. Finally, around 5 pm - I had arrived at 10:30 - I saw the doctor. He was wonderful. Torn meniscus. Basically he confirmed what I suspected and confirmed what I would have done as treatment. I had gone because I was concerned that if I were wrong, ignoring it for a week could complicate the healing.

Now, as dreadful as my seven hours in the ER really was, in a way it was all worthwhile. Here's why. When I was getting checked I was asked, "Are you married?" I was able to say, simply, "Yes." It was really quite something. For three years I have answered that question with, "Yes, but it's not recognized here" - meaning the US. But, I was simply able to say, "Yes." She then asked for the name and contact info of my next of kin and when I gave P's info she asked for "relationship" and I said, "Uh, spouse, I guess." It was surreal. And, of course, even in little Fredericton, there was not a flicker of confusion, etc. It was really something...

So, I got to show up at the Wednesday evening opening reception on crutches. Nice.

I spent all day Thursday at the conference, had a nice dinner out with a couple of guys I'd met - one from Denver and one from Montreal who is moving here. Then, on Friday... crash!

Long story short - the appraisal on the plans for the house didn't come in high enough due to the extra cost of green building. I'm not going to go into the details except to say that we're now dealing with another lender and working on the "Plan B" (C?) for if that fails. One appraiser I know said, in essence, if you were doing this in five years, no problem. It's the penalty for being an early adopter. NB Power, the provinces, the feds, are offering all kinds of incentives for green retro-fits, green building, etc., but the banks haven't caught up. In the US, and apparently in some parts of Canada, "green mortgages" allow for the additional up front cost of green building, but not CIBC. So, I spent all day Friday with the builder, the (former) lender, the realtor, a new bank, etc. Stay tuned. But, heavens, if I encounter another road block...

In the good news category, my presentation on immigration went well; I located a storage unit for our stuff; and I got a PO box so we now have our first Canadian address. Yippee!

That's it for now. Just thought I'd check in. Oh, and my knee is improving dramatically. On Wednesday I couldn't put the slightest weight on that leg and today I can, carefully, actually walk crutch-free. And, it's sunny and dry! Things are looking up!