A few days ago, The Boyfriend and I went to T&T, which is a large Asian grocery store here in Vancouver. I love this place intensely, in the same way that I loved the Japanese grocery stores in the Bay Area. I’ll go to an Asian grocery store just for fun, because I find them endlessly entertaining.
I know, I’m weird.
So when I found out that T&T offered a points card, I immediately got one and stuck it in my wallet, thinking gleefully of how I’d put it to good use. But it also got me thinking about something else: my wallet, of all things, is becoming a sort of record of my move to Canada.
Almost everything in it has been replaced over the course of the last month. My American driver’s license has been replaced by a Canadian ID card. My American debit card has been replaced by a Canadian one, and a new credit card is soon to follow. My library card is now for the Vancouver Public Library, my grocery points card is for T&T, and my dozens of flimsy NYC metro cards have been replaced by a sturdy plastic Compass card.
I’ve had to set aside all of the cards that serve me in America. They sit next to my passport now, patiently waiting their turn to be useful again.
I hadn’t realized that would happen. Of course, Canada is a different country than the United States. But moving to Vancouver feels far less drastic than my move to New York did, since I spent a lot more time here before moving. On the first day that I crossed the border with my work visa, I already knew the apartment I would be in. I knew where the closest coffee shop was, where the parks were, where to wait for the bus, where to get bubble tea when the craving hit at 11:00pm.
And not only was I physically familiar with the neighborhood that I’d live in, but I also had less of a cultural shift to adjust to. While the Bay Area and Vancouver are certainly different, they’ve got a lot more in common than the Bay Area and New York.
I still stand by this. Moving to Vancouver has been leagues easier than moving to New York, despite the international logistics that Vancouver requires. But it’s the little signs that I’m moving to Vancouver to stay, not just to go to school, that catch me by surprise. My wallet is one of them.
My end game here is not a degree, it’s citizenship. It’s a different passport, with my name underneath a different nationality. Of course, that goal is years away (at least six, and that’s only if everything goes perfectly smoothly. And these things rarely do), but its already affecting my choices here and how I think about things.
I don’t know how much of my life will play out in Canada. It’s possible that it could be the majority, or it could only be a blip in the timeline. It’s too early to tell. But regardless of how long I actually spend here, I still need to be able to use the ATM, check out books, get discounts at the grocery store, and so on. My wallet is a tangible sign that I’m not just a visitor here.
My first month in Canada is teaching me what to expect if I want to live abroad in other countries too. Will I end up with multiple sets of cards for my wallet, eventually? A set for the United States, a set for Canada, a set for Japan… maybe one for Korea, or the Netherlands, or Italy?
I guess I’ll have to wait and find out. But to be honest, I hope that this is only the beginning of my wallet’s very long, very adventurous life.
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