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-   -   Canada... but where? (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canada-56/canada-but-where-847531/)

marchhare Nov 21st 2014 3:32 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by Souvy (Post 11480115)
Mindset, mainly. You will find that eastern and western Canadians don't get along too well.

Be wary of the "laid back and welcoming" idea. It's often true with respect to how tourists are treated. Perhaps not so much when you go to live somewhere.

Most of Canada has, er, lots of woodland.

Good point :o I guess I just figured it meant more woodland very close by as opposed to travelling a couple of hours to get to it. This is why I need to visit, until them I'm just speculating a lot despite my research :lol: It's difficult not to. Also a good point about the tourist/immigrant part.

Is the difference in mindset the reason east and west don't get along? What tends to be different between each mindset?

JonboyE Nov 21st 2014 4:09 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 
I think that people who come from Birmingham are extraordinarily lucky.

MillieF Nov 21st 2014 4:12 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by Souvy (Post 11480115)
Mindset, mainly. You will find that eastern and western Canadians don't get along too well.

Be wary of the "laid back and welcoming" idea. It's often true with respect to how tourists are treated. Perhaps not so much when you go to live somewhere.

Most of Canada has, er, lots of woodland.

Yes, it's true that the rest of you have woodland Souvy....but BOY do WE have woodland...no vistas, no views, just trees, and trees....any yet more trees.

Fredericton is laid back, and the people are welcoming.... the people from the Maritimes are really very nice. However, there is not much work here, the economy is horrible, and we are at the bottom of every bad league table. Fredericton is pretty and has lots of positives, but we have a lot of winter, the ground is frozen solid now, and it's -6, and it won't warm up again until the end of April at least - last April it was still snowing. We are well worth a visit though:thumbup: Best of luck!

Shirtback Nov 21st 2014 5:09 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 
The following example is taking things to the extreme. But:

Perhaps if you view each Canadian province as if it were a separate country, you might start to get a grip of our wildly differing opinions on "Canada". I.e. (To take it to the extreme once again) it's a bit like asking "where in Europe should I choose" :). QC/NFL/NS v. BC is almost as different as asking UK v. Greece, for example ;).

(I nearly went to uni in Brum, & lived there for 9 months, once upon a time. Not the worst place I've ever been, but was glad to leave!).

S

Zoe Bell Nov 21st 2014 5:22 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 11480179)
I think that people who come from Birmingham are extraordinarily lucky.

why thank you , sir!

caretaker Nov 21st 2014 10:21 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by Souvy (Post 11480115)
Mindset, mainly. You will find that eastern and western Canadians don't get along too well.

Be wary of the "laid back and welcoming" idea. It's often true with respect to how tourists are treated. Perhaps not so much when you go to live somewhere.

Most of Canada has, er, lots of woodland.

*Experiences may vary :lol:

not2old Nov 21st 2014 11:52 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by Souvy (Post 11480115)
Mindset, mainly. You will find that eastern and western Canadians don't get along too well.

Be wary of the "laid back and welcoming" idea. It's often true with respect to how tourists are treated. Perhaps not so much when you go to live somewhere.

Most of Canada has, er, lots of woodland.

Laid back, its so true that Canadians are hockey watching with their feet up on a case of 24 Molson Canadian eh! :rofl:

http://www.bobanddoug.com/sounds.html

covered in snow & more snow ... well, it just seems that way most of the time:eek:

Lychee Nov 21st 2014 11:55 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

"I'm pretty early in my journey although I've been wanting to move to Europe for several years, I'm still researching and hopefully planning a visit sooner rather than later. I know everyone is different and therefore have varying opinions on where is the best place to live in Europe, but considering when I visit I won't be able to do a Europe-wide tour, I'd like to choose a place I'm likely to enjoy visiting and possibly eventually move to later on.

I research as much as I can but I'd like to ask you guys for your thoughts, if you would be so kind as to offer them. To give an idea of what I'd ideally like in a destination... I currently live in Toronto and I hate it. I've always hated it. Born here and moved east and west over the years only to return through necessity. So anywhere like Toronto, if you know it, I would like to avoid. Unless of course such a place has some significant benefits to balance out the bad.

I like the outdoors, nature, generally prefer winter to summer so don't mind cooler places. I'm not overly interested in clubbing and such but would prefer not to be too isolated, I'd still like to meet people! That said, I like time to myself too, I like calm.

Is that too much to ask?"
It's not too much to ask, but it's still incredibly vague. ;) I rearranged what you wrote to put it into a UK perspective. If I asked the above, how would you respond? Where in Europe would you send me? Would you even begin to explain to me the cultural and economic differences from one European country to the next, if all I wanted was "not Toronto" and "outdoors"?

My question back to you is this - rather than describe where you don't want to live, why not describe (in detail) your ideal place to live? "Laid back" and "near woods" is still too vague.

If you had to move anywhere in Europe, where would you move to?

What kind of culture do you want? By culture, I don't mean ballet and art galleries, but what do you hope to have in common with your neighbours? What values do you hope they'll have? What kind of food do you hope to eat? If you could drive for 30 minutes, what would you hope to see out your window? How would you spend your weekends? What hobbies do you wish to pursue without having to take a flight to access? What would you expect to find in your city? How do you intend to travel? By car? By bicycle? Public transit?

Knowing the answers to these questions can help us steer you in the right direction.

marchhare Nov 23rd 2014 6:33 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by JonboyE (Post 11480179)
I think that people who come from Birmingham are extraordinarily lucky.

Why do you think so?


Originally Posted by MillieF (Post 11480182)
Yes, it's true that the rest of you have woodland Souvy....but BOY do WE have woodland...no vistas, no views, just trees, and trees....any yet more trees.

Fredericton is laid back, and the people are welcoming.... the people from the Maritimes are really very nice. However, there is not much work here, the economy is horrible, and we are at the bottom of every bad league table. Fredericton is pretty and has lots of positives, but we have a lot of winter, the ground is frozen solid now, and it's -6, and it won't warm up again until the end of April at least - last April it was still snowing. We are well worth a visit though:thumbup: Best of luck!

I'd definitely like to visit even if I end up not considering it as a place to potentially settle. The job prospects of a place are of course a huge consideration. Might sound an odd question but are there many self-employed people in Fredericton?


Originally Posted by Shirtback (Post 11480244)
The following example is taking things to the extreme. But:

Perhaps if you view each Canadian province as if it were a separate country, you might start to get a grip of our wildly differing opinions on "Canada". I.e. (To take it to the extreme once again) it's a bit like asking "where in Europe should I choose" :). QC/NFL/NS v. BC is almost as different as asking UK v. Greece, for example ;).

(I nearly went to uni in Brum, & lived there for 9 months, once upon a time. Not the worst place I've ever been, but was glad to leave!).

S

That's a good way to look at it, I guess it is a hard question to answer in that respect :/ And that's even before the differing opinions part.

(I envy you only living here for 9 months :p )

marchhare Nov 23rd 2014 6:36 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by Lychee (Post 11480595)
It's not too much to ask, but it's still incredibly vague. ;) I rearranged what you wrote to put it into a UK perspective. If I asked the above, how would you respond? Where in Europe would you send me? Would you even begin to explain to me the cultural and economic differences from one European country to the next, if all I wanted was "not Toronto" and "outdoors"?

My question back to you is this - rather than describe where you don't want to live, why not describe (in detail) your ideal place to live? "Laid back" and "near woods" is still too vague.

If you had to move anywhere in Europe, where would you move to?

What kind of culture do you want? By culture, I don't mean ballet and art galleries, but what do you hope to have in common with your neighbours? What values do you hope they'll have? What kind of food do you hope to eat? If you could drive for 30 minutes, what would you hope to see out your window? How would you spend your weekends? What hobbies do you wish to pursue without having to take a flight to access? What would you expect to find in your city? How do you intend to travel? By car? By bicycle? Public transit?

Knowing the answers to these questions can help us steer you in the right direction.

That makes a lot of sense and I realise I asked a massively vague question here! As I said I'm at the visiting stage so in asking for advice on a place to visit, I guess I made it harder adding the 'place to live' part in there. At the same time, I mentioned that because as some of you have said, living in a place isn't the same as visiting.

But you're right! Let me see if I can give a little more detail with your questions.

What kind of culture do you want? By culture, I don't mean ballet and art galleries, but what do you hope to have in common with your neighbours? What values do you hope they'll have?
In an ideal world I'd like to be among people with a friendly sense of community without being imposing. You know, people who won't look like they've been insulted if a stranger says hi. People who appreciate life more than work. Not that working hard isn't a virtue, but a view that the rat race isn't everything. It's good to stop and smell the (frozen) roses once in a while?

What kind of food do you hope to eat?
More local produce would be great. In a buying local is good for the place rather than a pretentious way, if that makes sense. :blink:

If you could drive for 30 minutes, what would you hope to see out your window?
A lot of nature of opposed to a lot of architecture. Trees, mountains, hills would all be lovely. Ocean is nice too, but not a necessity if I had the trees and mountains part. And wildlife. If I was going to drive for 30 minutes to work, I'm not saying I wouldn't expect to see any buildings or traffic or city life, but I'd like some greenery mixed in there too.

How would you spend your weekends? What hobbies do you wish to pursue without having to take a flight to access? What would you expect to find in your city?
I'm not averse to going to a pub, restaurant or cinema, I'm not entirely anti-social :o so I would enjoy these things too, but I'd also like to take a bike ride, hike, stroll, get away from the hussle and bussle whenever I wanted. Regularly.

How do you intend to travel? By car? By bicycle? Public transit?
If I could cycle or walk to work, that'd be lovely. I don't drive at the moment, so I'll say by bike, public transport or by foot.

I know that nowhere is perfect, people aren't perfect, I'm certainly not perfect. Still, we generally try to aim for something good, don't we? Even if we have to some drawbacks.

magnumpi Nov 23rd 2014 7:24 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 
Move here

It's a wonderful life in Windermere - Places - Lancashire Life

Tirytory Nov 23rd 2014 9:35 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by magnumpi (Post 11481801)

Ha ha funnily enough I thought pretty much the same thing with just a variation on place. You could achieve all of that by moving to more rural parts of Wales! No need to cross the Atlantic at all!

marchhare Nov 23rd 2014 10:02 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by magnumpi (Post 11481801)


Originally Posted by Tirytory (Post 11481881)
Ha ha funnily enough I thought pretty much the same thing with just a variation on place. You could achieve all of that by moving to more rural parts of Wales! No need to cross the Atlantic at all!

Thank you for your replies, but I'd like to know specifically about places in Canada.

magnumpi Nov 23rd 2014 10:12 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 

Originally Posted by marchhare (Post 11481902)
Thank you for your replies, but I'd like to know specifically about places in Canada.

They have one too

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winde...itish_Columbia)

izzi81 Nov 23rd 2014 11:15 am

Re: Canada... but where?
 
Halifax NS? Small city, very friendly, close to nature (no mountains but lakes, forests, coastline), calm, lots of space just outside the city, local produce available...


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