This year’s, 2019, the 37th IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference, was held at the West Canada’s city, Calgary at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
I had been invited to present two research papers at the conference. This is a process that started in November 2018 with the submission of abstracts, their acceptance, submission of full papers, their peer review (by three reviewers for each paper), their acceptance and final submissions.
Preparation for attending this conference started in January, with the payment of the US$400 conference fee. This was a discounted fee since I am a student member of IEEE and IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS). I will confess, submitting the papers to such a high-level conference was daunting and I didn’t really know how I would react if they got rejected! But I was upbeat nevertheless.
Once I confirmed that they were all accepted, the next step involved applying for a Canada Visa. But there was a hitch. I still was using the outdated Kenyan Passport that won’t be acceptable by the Canadian Embassy. So I had to apply for a new passport. This process was very hectic and took almost three weeks. Finally, the passport came out and I at once applied for the Canadian Passport on 28th May 2019. This took two weeks. Ideally, it takes at least 21 days. I had no luxury of such time and I actually had to write follow up letters to the Canadian Embassy to fast track the process. Which they did.
Visa application is normally through the Canada Visa Application Centre Parkfield Building, 5th Floor, Muthangari Drive, Off Waiyaki Way. So even communication to the embassy is through the VFS. So, you cannot visit the embassy in person. Had tried to but the guards at the gates (of the Canadian Embassy) made it clear that you cannot just enter the premises without prior appointment. So I ended up sending the follow up letter via G4S. I also wrote them several emails.
Another issue was the flight costs? Who would fund this? Luckily, (Kenya Education Network) KENET came in and funded the whole Journey and including accommodation and food stipends. KENET offers travel and conference grants to students. So you have to apply for the same. I am truly thankful for them. You can apply for the same by going to this link:
https://sig.kenet.or.ke/grant_application
KENET is doing great work even in the ICT sector by connecting the educational institutions into the internet. Such organizations should be supported by all and sundry.
Thank you KENET.
Flight.
The journey started at JKIA, at around 7 am, on Thursday, and we connected through Cairo, then Toronto and then lastly to Calgary. We travelled by Egypt Air. Due to very long stopovers and delay by Egypt Air, I ended at Calgary at 8.20am, Saturday, 16th June. That is to say, I slept at the airports on two occasions(nights). There is no public WIFI in Cairo Airport so there was no easy way even to communicate. Flight from Toronto to Calgary was through Canada Air. Along the way, I had to sleep at the Toronto Airport as we sorted the delay issue and book another flight. Delay at Cairo had caused the flight from Toronto to be forfeited since I didn’t show up on time (at 11.am), as we arrived in Toronto at 12 pm. This is a story for another day.
I had carried the book “Antifragile” by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. I was re-reading the book. It helped me appreciate positively the impact of stressors, volatility, randomness and uncertainty. So, in whole, I was at peace with myself, nevertheless. What shocked me was the absence of WIFI at the Cairo Airport. Hence there is no way to communicate with their flight in case of delays. Calls and SMS are extremely expensive.
Canadian airports have very fast and strong WIFI network and this truly came handy. Especially when I was communicating with the KENET team in Kenya. The Canadian immigration officer who served me was very friendly and we even struck a short conversation. I was impressed by his knowledge of Kenya.
My flight back started at 1 am, from Calgary Airport to Toronto Airport. Finally, we arrived in JKIA, Nairobi at 5 am, on Saturday, 22nd June. My clock system is still confused and so I had to sleep. I am writing this article at 4 am, 23rd June, since I would be awake at this hour if I was in Calgary.
Accommodation.
As usual, I decided to use Airbnb. I have vowed to always use Airbnb whenever I can. I wanted to stay close to the Calgary residents and a hotel stay may not offer the same opportunity that Airbnb offers.
So I stayed at House 619, 13th Avenue, in Calgary. I liked the way the houses are organized in this part of the world.
The next step was doing shopping at the Coop Mall, which was 5 minutes’ walk from my place of stay.
In-country travelling.
Upon arrival in Calgary, I bought a local sim card that I loaded with 8GB data. Then I updated my Uber Account with the new number. Uber here doesn’t accept cash payments. Hence had to use my debit card.
Travelling to and fro any place was now sorted. So, I even used Uber from the Calgary Airport to my place of stay.
The Conference.
The conference officially ran from 16th to 19th June 2019. I presented my two papers on 17th June, Monday, one at 2.55pm, and the other at around 4.30-6.30pm. The audience primarily consisted of experts in the field of electrical insulation and of those who actually make the IEEE standards and codes that I used during my experimental study. Their questions and feedback were incredible.
Generally, the presentations were well received. It was a nice way of benchmarking what other top researchers are doing. Much research on this field (Electrical Insulation) is now focused on Diagnostic and especially work on partial discharges. Roughly, 75% of the papers presented had something to do with partial discharges.
I met and made new friends from all over the world, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, the USA, Turkey, the UK, India, Kurdistan, China, Australia.
We had the conference reception and dinner on Tuesday at 6pm-8pm.
Flaneuring and my impressions of the Canadians.
Generally, I can say they are very polite, friendly, and helpful. Upon arrival at the Toronto Airport, the immigration officers were polite and friendly. I can say they were more polite than the Egyptians and even considering we were transiting through Cairo.
Canadians(at least in Calgary where I was) strictly observe traffic rules(and lights?). Both the drivers and pedestrians. No one crosses the road even when there is no car on sight when lights are red. No car moves when the lights are green even when there is no pedestrian on site. No traffic police officers to be seen. I have also recently been to New Delhi, India and Bloemfontein, South Africa and it was exactly the same behaviour. Citizens strictly obey the traffic rules(and lights) in these places. May be my observations are skewed. But I couldn’t help contrasting what I was observing with what I am used to in my home country.
I had time to go around the city downtown, visited the visited Calgary’s Museums such as Glenbow Museum, The Wonder Sculpture, The Five Women Statues(or the Statues of the famous five)………I would have visited the famous Banff town and take pictures of the Rocky Mountains, but I had no time plus it was pretty much expensive.
The Glenbow Museum is pretty impressive. It has incredible history contained therein and I spent almost 4 hours inside the building.
I couldn’t miss visiting their bookshops. I ended up buying 4 nonfiction books. Two for a special friend back in Kenya, and two for myself.
The stay was truly eye-opening. I learned wonderful stuff at the conference and also in the streets.
Given, I would plan again to perhaps visit Calgary once again or other cities in Canada.
It was a wonderful journey and I truly thank all those who contributed to its success.
