How a broken car influences my daily life ...
I'm still sorry, for the moment, I wasn't able to finish my previous blog entry. I'm kind of busy, soon I will have my second midterm exams. So I will just keep you updated on what happened last week. (Entry on Banff Trip should still be updated soon)
As you read I was pretty sad to lose my car. Not that I love cars so much, but here in Winnipeg a car is something like a piece of freedom. You can go everywhere at whatever time you want, with the transit that's kind of impossible. And also i had a hard time to accept that I did an error ... I wasn't able to sleep well after the accident and I spent a reflective Sunday.
However, on Monday I already felt better, and I overcame more or less this bad experience. So, Monday morning I had to go to the insurance to make a claim. As I arrived at the insurance claim centre, the employees told me that I could do my claim by phone. So I called the hotline, explained on how the accident happened and what persons were involved. I got a appointment for a face-to-face discussion on the following Thursday. Monday was also my first day back at school after the reading week.
On Tuesday my roommate gave me a ride to have a look at my car and to get my personal stuff. I was pretty curious to see my car, in order to evaluate if it would be a write off or if the insurance would repair my car. The car was brought to a huge parking lot (where many other accident cars are located) close to Transcona.
I was suprised to see on how much my car was damaged. However, I still hoped that they would repair it.
On Thursday I had to go the insurance company as mentioned before. After a short conversation with the insurance agent she told me that my car was a write off. The repairs would add up to more than CAN 13,000, yet my car wasn't worth this amount of money. Thus, I was sent to another insurance agent, who did evaluate the value of my car. Finally, the insurance is pretty generous and will pay me approximately the amount I spent for the car.
Friday, I was invited by some friends of Sylvain for playing Taboo. Taboo is a game where you try to get your team guess the secret word without using some predifined words. We had lots of fun, for most of the group were international students (of Egypt, France, Germany, Switzerland and also Canada ;) ) and sometimes we even didn't understand the secret words. Later on, I was pretty lucky to get a ride home.
On Saturday I started working on a paper for my organization theory class. Nevertheless, I spent most of the day going over ads in the Canada Auto Trader magazine, in order to find a "new used" car. Unfortunately, all the cars I called for were former accident vehicles. Thus, I wasn't able to find a car that fits my expectations. At night I was invited to university by Shinya, he organized a room party ... and finally over 15 guys spent a cool night in this one residence room!!! As a consolation my friends made me a present: A new red car ... a toy car *smile*
Unfortunately, I already had to leave for 11:30 p.m. ... did a short ride by bus and finally took a taxi to get home. The last bus in direction of my area (St. Vital) left university already at 8 p.m.
The next day I went to badminton with Chrissy. Luckily I got another ride to university (thanks!!!) ... we played a few games and had some fun on the running track. Later on, I continued working on my report and also did some other homework.
Life goes on ... I'm lucky for it's not so cold and with exception of the weekends, shopping and leisure it is ok to use the Transit system; nevertheless, I still used to tell: "Fries and Ketchup are complements, as Winnipeg and having a car ..."
As you read I was pretty sad to lose my car. Not that I love cars so much, but here in Winnipeg a car is something like a piece of freedom. You can go everywhere at whatever time you want, with the transit that's kind of impossible. And also i had a hard time to accept that I did an error ... I wasn't able to sleep well after the accident and I spent a reflective Sunday.
However, on Monday I already felt better, and I overcame more or less this bad experience. So, Monday morning I had to go to the insurance to make a claim. As I arrived at the insurance claim centre, the employees told me that I could do my claim by phone. So I called the hotline, explained on how the accident happened and what persons were involved. I got a appointment for a face-to-face discussion on the following Thursday. Monday was also my first day back at school after the reading week.
On Tuesday my roommate gave me a ride to have a look at my car and to get my personal stuff. I was pretty curious to see my car, in order to evaluate if it would be a write off or if the insurance would repair my car. The car was brought to a huge parking lot (where many other accident cars are located) close to Transcona.
I was suprised to see on how much my car was damaged. However, I still hoped that they would repair it.
On Thursday I had to go the insurance company as mentioned before. After a short conversation with the insurance agent she told me that my car was a write off. The repairs would add up to more than CAN 13,000, yet my car wasn't worth this amount of money. Thus, I was sent to another insurance agent, who did evaluate the value of my car. Finally, the insurance is pretty generous and will pay me approximately the amount I spent for the car.
Friday, I was invited by some friends of Sylvain for playing Taboo. Taboo is a game where you try to get your team guess the secret word without using some predifined words. We had lots of fun, for most of the group were international students (of Egypt, France, Germany, Switzerland and also Canada ;) ) and sometimes we even didn't understand the secret words. Later on, I was pretty lucky to get a ride home.
On Saturday I started working on a paper for my organization theory class. Nevertheless, I spent most of the day going over ads in the Canada Auto Trader magazine, in order to find a "new used" car. Unfortunately, all the cars I called for were former accident vehicles. Thus, I wasn't able to find a car that fits my expectations. At night I was invited to university by Shinya, he organized a room party ... and finally over 15 guys spent a cool night in this one residence room!!! As a consolation my friends made me a present: A new red car ... a toy car *smile*
Unfortunately, I already had to leave for 11:30 p.m. ... did a short ride by bus and finally took a taxi to get home. The last bus in direction of my area (St. Vital) left university already at 8 p.m.
The next day I went to badminton with Chrissy. Luckily I got another ride to university (thanks!!!) ... we played a few games and had some fun on the running track. Later on, I continued working on my report and also did some other homework.
Life goes on ... I'm lucky for it's not so cold and with exception of the weekends, shopping and leisure it is ok to use the Transit system; nevertheless, I still used to tell: "Fries and Ketchup are complements, as Winnipeg and having a car ..."
posted by Alain at 22:13
1 Comments:
very reflective indeed... (sniff, sniff). Its hard to get back to the old ways and loose once sense of freedom. Without the car, you are a slave of the transit system. Miss the bus, wait another 45-60 mins to catch the next one. What if its -40 outside? What if my class begins in 30 mins? What if its a weekend and I need to do my grocery? If its just summer when the leaves are green and the air is warm, things might be easier....:(
Its hard, its hard but life goes on.... esp the trauma you had in the accident... I wish I can return the favour as you never-endingly provided me with rides without any hesitation at all. Nonetheless, don't let yourself to be affected too much by the car, there's more to life in Winnipeg without a car... just like me, exposed in the cold and always in a hurry to catch the next bus.
BTW, I need to run, my next bus is in 5 mins :)
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