One Door Closes

We handed in our documents to apply for sponsorship in late April 2022. Looking back, it is astounding to think about how long this process took. With spring in full swing, we were about to leave Munich, our home for the previous 13 months.

We started to get the Canada-ball rolling in later January. I think neither of us expected to need around 3 months to acquire all the necessary documents. First, we thought we could hand in everything in February. Early March. Then late March. Early April… there was always one last thing that we were missing, a signature, a scan, a notarized copy and so on.

Time to wait

When we finally hit submit and told our consultant that we had reviewed everything, it was a huge relief. But then the waiting began. There are no deadlines that we’re aware of. We don’t know if we’ll get an update at some point in time or at what point.

At the time, we started slowly wrapping up life in Munich. After May, it was no longer our home, and we’re now in some sort of limbo for some time. We sold the furniture we purchased when we first moved in. Our apartment went from really cozy to increasingly barren in the span of just one week, and it  only got worse as the amount of boxes increased and everything that had made this space homely slowly disappeared.

Leaving a place always gives you a nostalgic lens. It doesn’t matter how attached you originally were. I enjoyed my time in Munich, but we both realized quite early on that we would probably not stay there long term. For a few years, maybe. But never longer than that. 

But as it sunk it that we were about to leave, I barely noticed the things that would deter me from staying. At the same time, I looked at the things I did enjoy through rose-tinted glasses. The river near our place never looked so good, how lovely that we could just walk by it and watch baby ducks and dogs alike splash around in the water. How great to have a beer garden just down our street, perfect for a drink at the end of the day. How cool to be in a place with so much history and so many beautiful buildings. How handy to have public transit and to have both the city center and the Alps not too far away.

Being realistic

Those were (and are) all great things. But there’ll be rivers, lakes, and pubs elsewhere too (though I will say that beer gardens and terraces should start to become way more common outside of Germany and Europe). Our rent was incredibly high, because we were paying to live in one of the most expensive cities in the country. I also paid a decent chunk of money to use public transit, and, realistically, we rarely went downtown unless we had visitors, because, as with all large cities, getting from A to B can actually take you 45 minutes or more. In some areas, you could reach a completely different city in that time - by train, too! 

But as we were about to leave, these more negative aspects didn’t really matter anymore. I was trying to cherish our last weeks there. I miss our local river and resident baby ducks, but fortunately for us, they have baby birds in Canada too.

To read more of my Canadian adventure, click here.