crazydaisy

I thought it would be fun to give a general run down of what each of us does in our normal lives here in Canada, so people back home can see if lives are generally more hectic or less so on t'other side. See here goes, me first, me first!...

Well, little ol' me gets up at 6.15, tired and yawning, get ready for work, son ready for school and leave at 7.35 for a 10 minute walk to bus followed by 30 minute bus ride to work, or if I'm lucky a 15 minute car ride if hubby is up and about (he works 12 hour shifts, sometimes days, sometimes nights). Work starts 8.30 but normally there 8.15, tired and yawning. I work in accounting so do accounting type stuff all day and then should finish at 4.30 but usually end up being 4.45 by the time I leave (heck, it gets added to flexi time anyway ). Home by bus or car depending on hubby and then walk the dog around 5.15. Back home for a cuppa and probably a choccie biccie and a quick 15 minute nap (tired and yawning remember) and then cook dinner, make next day's lunch, eat and slump in front of tv for half an hour. Usually BBC News or Doctor Who or summat like that. Then heave myself to the computer to do my 'other jobs' which includes running a forum for Brits in Canada, organizing meetups in Winnipeg, running an Ebay store and writing newsletters for a non profit group. Then bed time - embarrassingly it can often be midnight before I get to snuggle down, so I guess that's the reason for my tired and yawning state!! As for weekends I enjoy country drives and walking the dog, plus we catch up with the shopping etc. depending on hubby's shifts (yep, works weekends too!). Sooo, how about you??

crazydaisy

I forgot I posted this one - did anyone want to add their 'average day' or is it all too :scared: to place on the internet?

deeana

I think this is a good idea, I hope more people post to it. I don't currently live in Canada, but would enjoy being reminded of the plusses and minusses in my decision making process as to whether or not to return one day!!!
Deeana

Purley

Well, seeing nobody replied, I will post what I did today. I got up at 7.10 because one of the dogs was groaning in his crate. I let them outside. Then I fed the puppy and took him outside on a leash. I have to do that because he enjoys eating his food twice. Once when its in his bowl. The second time is after he has eaten it and it comes out the other end!!! So he is not allowed to run around until after I have picked up after him.

I read the paper. Got in the tub around 8 am and then I messed around on the computer. Did some gardening. Shovelled a bunch of pea rock. Phoned my granddaughter. Messed around on the computer some more.

I phoned my Mom around 11 am, but she didn't answer her phone. I then phoned my sister. My Mom lives with them but she always leaves her cordless phone upstairs! Chatted to my sister for while. My cousin and his wife were there. They are lawn bowlers and whenever they are bowling, I think in Staplehurst, they pop in. They have three offspring, the younger girl and boy are both cops with the North Kent Constabulary. I have met the daughter but not the son.

Then my granddaughter came over. She was on MSN for a while - she is always on MSN. Went and had a pita for lunch, then she arranged for friends to come over to swim. I took the cover off the pool, only to find the water level was down about 5 inches. I backwashed the pool yesterday and didn't close the valve properly so the water had been draining out the damn backwash hose all night!

So haul out the hose to put more water in the pool. Granddaughter's friend shows up. They spend the whole afternoon in the pool, filling up balloons on the pool jet and throwing them at one another.

Then my future daughter in law phoned - could we go over so my granddaughter can get a fitting for her bridesmaid dress. I ask when her friend has to be home. I am told "5.30" so I arrange to go over after that. I decide after a while that this is a bit late and I tell her we will go at 5. This produces a load of complaining that she wants to stay in the pool and Kristina is being picked up at 6!!

In the end we dropped Kristina off at around 5.45 and drive to the other end of the city for the bridesmaid dress fitting. My son phones twice to see why its taking so long!

I drop her off at home and get back home in time for supper. Luckily I called my husband and asked him to pick up salad stuff on his way home from work.

I guess my job now is to clean up the mess from supper and make some coffee. We bought one of those Mexican chimineas and see we cut a dead tree down earlier this year, we have plenty of firewood. Too bad nobody is around to invite over.

If anybody fancies coffee around 9.15 - give me a shout. Sorry, we don't have any cake!!!

Mikeg44

That doesn't sound like too bad a day from where i'm sitting CrazyDaisy...

I've got a question regarding your work if you don't mind? I've looked at some other thread on this topic but can't get a definitive answer, i've just graduated as a mature student in accounting and was looking at ACCA or CIMA for a training contract as i get exemptions from roughly 50%.

How did you go about transferring skills from the UK to Canada? And how tough was it!?

wizzard

Have to say that really my day is not too exciting. A lot of the things you do are the same where ever you live. I get up about 6:30 and get ready for work and depending how awake I am I either get the bus at the end of our road at 7am or 7:20am. Sit on the bus for about 25 minutes, read the free paper and get off at the stop about 10 minutes from my work. Walk there, grab a coffee and start work at 7:30-8am depending on which bus I got. Do the old work thing, 30 minutes for lunch, finish up usually around 4:30pm later if there is stuff to finish. The I either go home, or go to the gym first depending on the day. Sometimes stop off at the grocery store on the way home or go downtown first to some shops there. Get home, relax for bit, do anything that needs doing like the dishes etc., make dinner. Watch a TV show if something good is on which currently means Dr Who on CBC on a Tuesday and that's about it. maybe watch a DVD or read a book. Go to bed repeat. I'm hoping to add more "Canadian" things to it once I have a car and a house. Like sitting out on the deck and having a BBQ on a summer night rather than sittingin my apartment next to the window trying to summon the slightest breeze to relieve the 32 degree + humidity, hehe. Or driving up north to hang out by a lake for the weekend etc.

Pretty Flowers

My Day...

Get up between 6.15 and 6.45, have breakfast, a shower and get ready for work.

Leave at 7.30 to get the bus to the Go station. Arrive at the Go by 7.50, and catch the train to Toronto Union station. Arrive at Union by 8.30, catch the TTC (subway) up to work by around 8.45...

Work til 5 ish. This will probably involve joking around with my boss and crying with laughter at some point. Otherwise, it's client meetings, driving up the DVP, or especially at the moment, going to TV company parties as they present their fall schedule line ups...

On Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays make the sprint back to Oakville to the Chiropracter for 6.40. Otherwise its more work/ going out/ meeting up with the bloke. If I meet the bloke then he'll probably drive me home after dinner. Otherwise it's the reverse commute...

Work evenings are filled by catching up with the news from home, watching the TV, and generally attempting to keep awake until 11....

Weekends are for scuba diving with friends, catching up over bbq's, spending time with blokey and attempting to get the house clean for next week's fun and games...

No wonder my house is a mess!

crazydaisy

I must admit that I gave up trying to convert my CIMA qualifications fairly quickly as I found that the CMA exam requires a University degree just to get in. I studied CIMA as a mature student and hence didn't need (or have) a degree. Luckily, I found a position in Winnipeg that asked for fully qualified Accountant or equivalent amount of experience/studies and they seemed happy to take my experience and the English exams that I had taken as enough to get me in. CIMA do have offices around the world and do encourage you to continue studying in other countries, but I found that in both Switzerland and Canada that the CIMA overseas offices never responded to my emails and I got very frustrated with them, so I have only managed to get half way though my exams with them. I don't fancy taking a degree just to carry on in the Canadian equivalent so hopefully I can build my career with employers who are happy for experience to count.

The website for CMA (Management Accounting association) is http://www.cma-canada.org to learn more about the entry requirements. Also there is General Accounting association which seems to be a lot easier to get into http://www.cga-online.org/. They will take college courses, foreign qualifications, experience etc. and allow you to enter at a more senior level - although it does state that to gain the CGA creditation you must have a bachelor's degree by the end of the course, so although they're more lenient to start with you still have to complete Uni courses by the end.

ramac

Here goes:

Get up at 7.00, shower, run downstairs, start breakfast, get 2 kids up, finish preparing breakfast, back upstairs, dry hair, tidy the rooms, back downstairs, check all details, get kids in the car. Leave the house at 8.30 EXACTLY, go to Tim Hortons for coffee, drive to school and drop the kids off, drive to Burlington to work.
Arrive usually around 9.15, do the work thing, leave at 4.30, drive home 40 minutes, get into house, hubbie has started dinner, get the kids uniforms picked out for tomorrow, check homework to be done, get started on homework (hubbie has prepared lunches for tomorrow) prepare table for dinner, serve up dinner, eat dinner, clear table, get kids in the car for either, swimming lessons, math tutor, highland dance lessons, summer ice hockey games, sleepvovers, etc, get home, empty the washing machine or dryer, sort laundry, get kids ready for bed, make sure teeth are done, get them tucked up.
By this time its approx 9.00pm, POUR A GLASS OF WINE, start any work brought home from work, do paperwork, ie, school forms,.
Sometimes go swimming/jogging at 9.15 depending on the fit stage I am at.

This is not even relfective of when I attend classes at Mohawk, or two nights a month when I work to ten oclock or god forbid actually do something for myself.

crazydaisy

Wow - you knackered me out just reading yours!! I think I need a glass of wine to recover! I have by my side some Bertie Bassett's liqourice allsorts and listening to the best of the Stranglers. One of their tracks kept on going round my mind so I decided to dig out the CD for old times sake!!