lindaANDneil

Awesome! (see I am learning Canadian already!) ;-) Would love to meet up with you in August, the more the merrier!! Will PM you to chat more.

Linda

hrt2fnd

been here for 6 months now and was very lucky to get a good job right away couple of weeks after landing. however, i cant tell that my current life is different from what i had before in europe: used to live in a big city and now live in toronto. job and income is pretty much like back home. no big change. would i do it again? yes and no. i dont regret it - i was curious. but if i had this all known before, i wouldnt go through this all again. especially applying for a PR (been a long waiting time with ups and downs). i can remember i did a scoring list some time ago - kinda EU vs CA with pros and cons. CA made it - 10:5. guess if i did it again, it would be more of a 9:6 for EU.

go for it but make sure you always can go back or move on....

Alberta_Rose

Perhaps you should be careful about inhaling too deeply then!

Grats to hubby on the job front!

John_B

Been here for just over 5 years. This is a really great place to live. The winters can be rough though. I have two young children and this is a great place to raise them. Very safe and clean with tons of facilities such as sports centres, parks and many extra curricular programmes. The Canadian people are really friendly. In short, this is a great country. But it isn't home. The key question for me is not how good it is here, but is it worth the price of leaving behind friends and family. Friendships forged over many years are not easily replaced in a new country.

ann m

And that sums up immigration for so many people.


This thread, at least, shows that sometimes we BE'ers can be a positive bunch when we put our minds to it.

Steve_P

Very true, but this applies even when you move within your own country.

How much you depend on family and friendships means an awful lot.

Mrs_P and myself don't have many real friends, by and large we are a very self contained unit.

Lots of others people don't/can't operate that way and it's only when they make the "big" move that they realize this.

Souvy

Define "friend".

Caitilin

Your husband has no job and you have no place to live...I suspect at this point wherever you go there are pretty large changes ahead. And if you go with a view to returning, you'll always be wanting to return. Commit wholeheartedly! And for the record- "m loving it here!

Exilelass

Yup, Hunting, Ice Hockey, kayaking and standing in the driveway on a Saturday afternoon drinking Coors or Molson with two or three other couples and discussing whatever.

Happy as sandboys they are, and good luck to them.

NatsnSid

SORRY ESSAY!

Weve been here 18 months and we all love it here!

I moved over with a then 8 year old and a 10 year old. It was a big thing for them to leave their friends but I showed them all the ways they could stay in touch and let them ring their best friends for a good old chinwag once in a while (they never have anything to talk about if they ring too often and its painful to listen to hahah).

I have noticed one thing since being here and keeping up to date with kids in the UK - kids are kids for longer here. I mean I see my daughters friends in the UK all wearing make-up already and its all about boys right now and I look at here and they are not as forward. (Of course there are always exceptions but its just my observation locally).

My daughter is nowhere as streetwise (sensible and aware but not what I call Streetwise) as I was as a kid....some might say thats a bad thing - I don't! With being streetwise comes the knowledge of 'what goes down', where to hang out with the "older" kids (who are always doing older kids things). Anyway - it could just be my daughter - but she LOVES it here. School is better she's not being put in a headlock here (it happened alot in the UK by a boy in her class...little xxxx). Since being here she's been on the principals honor roll for grades, which she has worked hard for. Recently she won a competition that Barbie (I thought she was too old haha but obviously not) ran on the TV - she won a range of I can Be dolls and a $5000 Education savings plan - she's one lucky moo but I can tell you it came after a long graft in getting the Canadian way of doing Math and her grades up - so she deserved it! She's entered spelling B's, Track Meets, Poetry competitions - bah I can't remember them all but the opportunities are fab.

My son loves the sports - he plays footie (soccer grrr that grips my...), Basketball and street Hockey and can hold his own in all three after 18 months. School wise he's doing great academically too. He loves his school.

They have made alot of new friends, have sleepovers, days out, offers to go camping with them at least twice each. Its fab.

We have made super friends with mainly all their friends parents and was invited to Christmas dinner just gone. We often go to the pub or round each others for drinks/curry or Poker (which we never played before but its fun).

I LOVE IT here. I love the fact that my kids no longer have all the up to date electronic gadgets/tv/dvd's in their rooms - they don't need it, they are always outside.

I love that there are farm markets all around me, meat producers all around me and I am not paying an arm or a leg! I love the fact that I can drive down the road, see a rainbow end in the bay and watch an Eagle fly overhead....I still stare in awe at these huge birds. I recently purchased 2.5lb of still live Prawns of a boat - to die for, and you can't get fresher than that!

I love that no matter where I go people will ask me "are you visiting" ready to help with local information - even when I say no we are lucky enough to live here - they love to hear you say that and they always tell you the best places to get this and that.

So many things I love about where I am (sorry if I am boring you haha) - you could say physically and mentally...life is in prospective. Job wise it took me 3 months to get a job that I wasn't really looking for...I stayed for 10 months until the Canadian equivalent of my UK employer rang to offer me a job (I kept in contact from when I touched down ....in hope and it worked luckily).

We've just sold our house back in the UK and won't be doing anything with the proceeds for probably a year or so until there is a recovery. We are fine just how we are and have accomplished many things in a short space of time.

As long as you come ready to start over and relish it - you won't be disappointed - if you come thinking that you are going to have this that and everything - you may be! (Unless you are minted hahah). The first 3 months are the hardest you feel that half of you is in the UK and half of you in Canada - but eventually you'll hopefully feel right at home.

Good luck

Nats

I am going back to the UK next week and I look forward to seeing it, seeing how I feel about it and reporting back when I return

Exilelass

Perhaps we should start a club for those of us who love Canada for what it is and has given us, but who will never be at home here?

Steve_P

Interesting point, now you're making me think.

Someone who you share similar thoughts and ideas with, who you would invite into your home for meals. Look after their kids, look after their home when they go on vacation, maybe even vacation with them.

Someone who you would share things with (i.e. tools, videos etc) and would go and help at a moments notice, no questions asked.

Perhaps rather than real friends I should have said close friends.

Exilelass

I find Canadians tend to say 'friends' when I would say 'acquaintances'. When you said friends I assumed you meant what you later defined.

John_B

A friend can just be a person you like to hang out with, and whose company you enjoy.

But the best friendships take time for forge. This type of friend is somebody who has been there with you in good times and bad. Someone you can lean on and who can lean on you. Your shared experiences give you an insight into what each of you may be thinking. Somebody who understands you, your values and sense of humour. Someone you can be comfortable with when sitting in silence.

Partially discharged

There is assimilation and going native but some things can be taken too far....have they no standards?