mek14

So you've only been here for a year? wow, you just live around the corner from me, im in the subdivision off eagle/concession called "nantucket village"

deenailz

lol well we live near christ the king school , just near northview heights lookout .. we should meet up for a coffee or tea , lol

Aange

Thanks, schooling replies are reassuring. I like the idea of the kids learning French from an early age - my younger son is actually learning some French over here in uk. Not sure if my 15yr old will be so interested.

Can anyone help me with this? My older son (15yrs) is due to finish his GCSE's next year, are Canadian kids still in secondary school longer than uk? Not sure whether he will start college or continue at school?

Does Cambridge have similar activities as Kitchener/Waterloo; walking/cycle trails,parks, ice-skating etc in winter?

One last Q!! I am a practice nurse in Uk, does anyone know the name of a Health center in Cambridge that has practice nurses?

mek14

Cant help you on the school or nursing question, but as far as Kitchener/Waterloo vs Cambridge. They both have equally as much things to offer...and its only 10 mins to Kitchener by car, 20 minutes to uptown Waterloo, so close enough to take to take advantage of whats on offer in all of them.
Kitchener/Waterloo is more expensive to buy property, and Waterloo is a university town, so a lot of university age kids around - other than that, all 3 towns have a lot to offer with regards to parks/trails etc

deenailz

hi i cant help with the nusring question , but the kids here stay in school till 18 .. i think its because they start later , hth x

Aange

Thanks for your help, Cambridge does look good on the website, just wondered if there will be enough older kids too?We are hoping to do a reci next year and have a look at the areas.
Just hope application process doesn't take ages!!!

We're not sure whether to rent our house in UK or sell it? We do need the capital to buy/rent in Canada, can anyone offer advice on what you have done?

mrsr0binson

Give me a shout if you are in the Cambridge area during your reci; I will be glad to meet up and have a chat etc...

There are PLENTY of older kids in this area; I have several high schools within 5 minutes of my house - Catholic, Independent and Public.

We have rented our house out in the UK; and are renting here for a year. On hindsight, if we had known how much we would like it here; we would have sold up and bought here. Even though our house in the UK is 'fully managed' it had been a pain in the neck !! There are always problems with the payments (from the agent, not the tenants).

On the up side our place here is fabulous, and the landlady is a gem... At the time we really felt that we could not break all ties with the UK; just in case... etc. We came here with the mind-set that this would be a year long working holiday and adventure; after which we would then decide whether it was for us or not. In my opinion it was the right thing for us to do. I can see Canada possibly not being for everyone - there are HUGE culture differences. I guess it really depends on what you hoping to achieve by moving here.

Good luck with your choices; and enjoy the adventure...x

deenailz

i agree we rented our house out in the uk and it was a total pain in the backside !! stuff going worng , tenant not paying rent and basically theres bugger all ya can do !!! its a red tape nightmare even if it is managed as the law is set up to protect tenants !!!
have a look on landlord action.co.uk to see what sorta of stuff you need to do b4 hand if you are going to rent
we sold our house in may and thank god am glad to be rid of it , i love it here and wouldnt want to be a landlord again
good luck x

Aange

Thanks, this is really helpful. My IELTS english results arrived today I needed 6 overall and got 8.5 so I'm really chuffed. I can put all the application together and send it off. You probably didn't need to do the English test? Apparantly was added in Aug10, just hope I don't need to do the academic one too.

Did you bring much over with you or start again? How much rent would I expect to pay for standard 3 bed family home?

Anyone missing the great British weather??

deenailz

hi hun nope we didnt have to do the test ... thank god !!! lol i do remember chatting to a guy at our medicals and he had to do it to go to oz ... even though he was english .. its bloody crazy !!

we brought most of our stuff but even then i wish we had brought more .. like i didnt bring my nice ironing board lol and wished i had because it took hubby 3 months to find a job you start watching yer savings every very carefully because you will be surpirsed how quick your money disapeers !!! hence we got bits at yards sales , lol

we paid 1400 a month for a 3 bed detatched (craphole !!) but then we moved to this house and paid 1400 again and its lovely (so lovely we bought it , lmao)
but theres some around depending on areas that are going for 2k a month !!!
but we are happy with what we paid as its a good house in a good area etc...

its peeing it down today and very much reminds me of uk !! i do not like it , but to be fair it dont rain much so its ok , x

mrsr0binson

Totally agree - bring EVERYTHING and some more!! We trawled the thrift shops etc for start-up bits and pieces... But, boy, it doesn't take long for the pennies to disappear.

We are renting a 4+1 bedroomed house in Hespeler for £1700 with the hope of possibly buying it; once the house in the UK is sold. Most places range from about $1300-$1600 a month it depends whether you want a semi, townhouse or detached property. Here is the Email address or our realtor - he was AMAZING. He deals with rental properties in Cambridge, Waterloo, Kitchener and Guelph.

[email protected]

Isn't this weather fabulous!!

Aange

Hi there,

Did you bring all your electrical stuff too?? Renting sounds really expensive.

I have sent off the visa application today, so we'll see how long it takes to get to the next stage? My older son is really worried about being the new boy, that everyone will be in established groups. He makes friends easily, and loves sport so I'm sure he'll be ok, just don't want to be worrying about money too!

Sorting out CV next on my list.

Thanks for the contact, I'll have a look at that.

mek14

You've only been here since June? wow? Did you come straight to Cambridge then?

You, me and Deenailz should all meet up some time!

Karen1203

Hello! I didn't realise there was so many Cambridge folks around here If you are still looking for a Health Centre, we use Langs Farm - they have an excellent set-up and employ at least one practice nurse (the one I've seen there is actually originally from the UK!)
http://www.langs.org/chc.php

mrsr0binson

Yep - we were originally going to look at Guelph; but fell in love with Cambridge as soon as we saw it. We live in Hespeler, just off of Jamison Pwy. It was the best thing we ever did.

It would be great to all meet up sometime - it's not like we are short of places to have coffee here..