Originally Posted by johnh009 (Post 9220539)

I always thought that the seasonal differences was one of the best things about Southern Ontario and the Autumns are spectactular.

Originally Posted by phat-dave (Post 9220614)

paragraphs are over rated :D

Originally Posted by Monique_in_Canada (Post 9220586)

I have given this thread a good read, so will try and give you a good general outline of wot I have encountered over the (almost) 10 years we have been here sorry but this is going to be long....

We moved here in June 2001, we are near Windsor, we chose this area as my husband is an engineer in the auto industry,

we applied and got accepted in 4 months, and he got a job offer 2 months before we came, we sold our house in the UK quickly and got a good exchange rate of 2.2, we came over Easter of 2001, bought our house in 4 days, then when we all came over to land in June 2001, stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, then moved straight into our new home,

our furniture came a few weeks later,

now some people say we were destined to come, as everything just happened right....I believe it was partly that, but partly the hard work we put into the organization and it was 10 years ago too

the first 2 years were the hardest, boys went to school (they were 5 and 7) hubby went to work, I tried to keep busy with cleaning and building my new home.

I was extremely lonely, there were no downloading English TV back then, UK didn't even have hi speed when we left, facebook wasn't even invented nor was Skype, i struggled with lots of things, so I guess this is where the advice starts.

Meeting people was hard, no standing in the playground like in the UK talking to other mums, kids take buses, shopping for groceries was another obstacle, altho English foods have become more available as time has gone by, I had to re invent my weekly family menu.

Meat is cheaper and the quality is better, no English sausages or bacon tho, but how excited were we when we discovered something English, was that little piece of familiarity that we end up craving, not only with foods, but we craved familiarity in our surroundings, like cars and even down to zoning in on an English accent if we heard one as we were out and about exploring our new country.

Even today I can spot an English person just from how they walk.
<eh?>

Anyway I am digressing, the summer holidays had just begun when we came, so got to meet a few of my neighbours.....most with pools, they were all very friendly, all want to hear you speak, but no one wants to hear wot you have to say, as they just love to hear that Australian, oooops I mean English accent.

I have found I have met lots of Canadians in my time here, but haven't found one I have a connection with, except one who is English that has been here since she was 10, not one Cdn gets that British sense of humour we were blessed with, so have found myself hunting out the Brits cos when we get together we have that good laugh that only the Brits know how too. <Oh God>

I did try to make friends with Cdn's, I joined a needle work class, I joined an evening college course, I joined line dancing, not one of them produced me a friendship, but i didn't loose <lose> heart, and kept working at it and over the years have found some fantastic English friends.

I was very very homesick for the first 2 years, now I can't imagine myself living back in the UK, we came here because we wanted to try living in a diff country.

Insurance threw us a curve ball, never thought it would be as hi as it was, but has come down a little, we had to take driving tests when we came.

And yes the bugs, the mosquitoes are BIG compared to English ones....but i have found over the years you build up some kinda of immune to the bites, they don't irritate and itch for a week anymore or end up with a big red hot spot that is over a foot round.

I enjoy my life here, mainly cos my family are happy, we have a good quality of life, but we have worked hard at making it a good quality of life, we have much more family time than we ever had in the UK, the winters are tolerable because the summers are fantastic, if its too hot we have air con.

We all use to dread the school summer holidays in the UK, never anything to do because of the weather, I get depressed here when the boys went back to school, and hate the end of the summer as we have so much fun, lots of swimming and BBQ's and just lots and lots of family time, so i guess the moral of the story is "same shit diff country" but you only get out wot you put in.

I am yet to find someone who misses England more than me, yet I am still here and very happy in my new country.

My husband works in the states now which came with its own issues, and threw us another learning curve, but that is part of the adventure, we took our Cdn citizenship in 2005.

I go back once a year to have my roots watered, just for a week, and am happy to be back in Canada where I am not sitting in traffic for hours every day.

Originally Posted by Monique_in_Canada (Post 9220634)

anal-ness is underrated!!

Originally Posted by Monique_in_Canada (Post 9220586)

....even today I can spot an English person just from how they walk.