ralstne

Hi Rae
I'm off to Edmonton in two days time :scared: ! I know exactly how you feel, having first fallen in love with Vancouver and Whistler, we wouldn't initially have chosen Edmonton as a destination, but, thats where the job is and thanks to the wonders of the PNP route it hasn't taken us too long to acheive. Having had a year to research and think about everything seriously, I think that Edmonton is going to be a great place to live. My Uncle has lived there with his family for the last ten years and they love it! Every weekend I hear that he's taken the kids to the lake to go boating or wakeboarding, or in the winter I hear that he's just off to Rabit Hill for a spot of skiing. We're going to be living in Beaumont which is far enough away from the urban sprawl to feel like a friendly little town but close enough to get into work easily or get to the city for shopping, entertainment etc. In February we drove to Jasper in just over 3 hours. My Uncle thinks nothing of getting up early and making the drive to Marmot Basin for a days skiing and then heading home the same night. It takes about the same amount of time to get down to Banff and I just love the idea of exploring these areas whenever I feel like a weekend away.
Even if you've got there via PNP it doesn't mean you're tied there forever, if after a couple of years in Edmonton you decide you don't like it you can always move elsewhere. I think most Canadian Police forces require three years of service with a Canadian police force for a lateral transfer.
Personally, I can't wait to get started with my new life in Edmonton and I have a sneeky feeling I'm gonna like it!
Good luck!

oceanMDX

Regarding culture in Edmonton:

The city has more than its fair share of festivals. Here is Winspear (home of Symphony Orchestra) in downtown Edmonton:





The Citadel Theatre:



There are also plans to build a major new museum in the city.

AnyaT

I think it's a bit of both. Certainly moving somewhere with a positive attitude will do wonders for settling in and coping with differences and problems as they arise. However, sometimes a city just won't work for you no matter how much you try to like it and succeed in it. That is what happened to us in Toronto. We moved there with the expectation that we would be settling there long term but, as I said, after two years we couldn't wait to leave. We just found the atmosphere of the city, a lot of the petty little rules and enforcement (or lack) thereof, and the general attitude of people not work for us (apologies to fans of Toronto).

oceanMDX

Just another point on culture:

Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival has grown to become the continent's biggest, now drawing more than 550,000 people to its 10-day run every August.

Deer Hunter

Fair enough but it should be noted that almost all of the festivals are in the summer. The winter months are long and lean. I lived in Edmonton for most of my youth so I am simply relating my opinions on the place. I find it culturally vapid and a difficult place to live. If you like it then good on you! Clearly there are many happy migrants to Edmonton which is great. It all depends on what you are looking for in the place you live.

R2D2

The classroom assistant at my sons school is married to a Brit and spent about 18 months living in Chester with him. When I was waffling on about life here in Canada and all the wonderful things we were doing and seeing, she stopped me and said that I sounded just like she had sounded about life in the UK.

My point being, that when you grow up in a place , you don't necessarily have the same appreciation of what you have. Its just the same old, same old to you. Whereas to us, Edm is different, Canada is beautiful and exciting and we are living an alternative way of life now.

oceanMDX

Here's a list of the festivals:

http://www.festivalcity.ca/festivalcalendar/

Note, most are in summer or fall, but a few are in winter and spring.

Be sure to check out the photo gallery.




.... and then there is the sports scene (more culture).... Edmonton has professional football, hockey and other teams:



I understand that Edmonton isn't everyone's cup of tea... the place has its issues.... but it certainly isn't the poster boy for a city with a cultural vacuum. We are all entitled to our opinions, but classifying Edmonton's culture as "vapid" is very hard to back up with objective evidence.

Linda P

[QUOTE=R2D2]Over to you Linda P..................she's a big fan of Edm, and lives more IN the city than I do...........so I'm sure she'll be able to enlighten you more.


Hi there, Sorry I have only just read this thread........

As R2D2 has said we love it here in Edmonton. We have been here 17 months now and have felt this was from day one.

The children 7 & 5 love their school, and we were very impressed with the level at which the children here were being taught, as we were led to believe it was behind here, this is not what we have found.

Hubby, a nurse and has settled in very well, and is working with a great bunch. Although we would prefer him to have more holidays, he is paid well for a hard day/ nights work. I suppose you can't have it all.

The river valley is beautiful and full of little critters. We also go the Elk Island and love it there (although not spotted an elk yet!!!). The kid's learnt to ski last winter in Banff & they are great at ice- skating. We also have passes for the West Ed Mall, so we can go to Galaxy land (fair), play golf, ice-skate, swimming in a pool that has 21 slides no less!!!!!!
Just steps from the house, on the school fields is a lovely park where we play.

There is a very friendly family feel we have found where ever we go. People genuinely wanting to know about you, and offering their help.

Yes, property is going up very quick, which is a complete bummer for us and many others trying to buy now.......but compared to the UK we will still be able to have a larger house for less money..... I need to keep repeating this to myself.


For us Edmonton is everything we wanted, of course we miss our family and would like to see them more often, that is the pay off. But other than that, we now have a very good life with money to enjoy the fun things.....in the UK there was never money left at the end of the month.

Life's good......


Linda P

rae

thanks to all who have replied, its good of you to take the time. it also reinforces my belief that we will have no trouble fitting in and making friends, which i think is one of my wife's chief concerns.
this thread for me was to reassure me that Edmonton was ok, which it has, and secondly to see if it really mattered. what i mean is you could be living in paradise, but if you personally didn't like the place or your family weren't happy it isn't going to work, even if the beer is free and everyone gets a Ferrari to drive(think I'd stay and pack her off if that was the case).
from what I've seen and heard can't wait and hope to hook up with people when i get there, nuff said.
thanks again Rae.

skorch

I was raised in Edmonton and lived there for 20 years until I moved to London. I grew up in the "older" (It's old for Edmonton!), central neighbourhoods. I've lived in Old Gleonora, Downtown, Old Strathcona and Garneau.

I know a lot of people love to live in new houses on the outskirts of the city with lots of space, but I prefer the older, mature neighbourhoods of Edmonton.

They're central - 20min commute on a bad day.
They've got massive, old trees which completely cover the streets in the summer.
The houses are unique and colourful.
They have traditional high streets with local shops
They're pedestrian friendly
Local schools are in walking distance and much smaller.
They're typically right on the river valley
They're typically where all of the activities in the city happen. Most festivals are downtown, in the river valley or in Strathcona

The downside are the skyrocketing housing prices. If you can afford them though, they'll be the houses to hold and increase in value the most in the city. I've got a house in Garneau which has more than doubled in value over the last 5 years.

I love Edmonton, but the things I love most about it are all in the heart of the city since that's where I grew up.

Deer Hunter

I'm from North Glenora... Maybe we know each other

Linda P

We totally agree, we live in Brookside, it's a wonderful place to raise a family. But unfortunately we have been priced out of the area, a year ago we could have afforded to buy a lovely place here, but now we are having to look 10 mins further West.
It's still in a good area, and the children will go to the same great school, but those older, well established areas are just too expensive for us.

Linda P

R2D2

If you have children, then I think your wife will find all the other Mums at school/pre-school sooooo nice and freindly, and the English accent immediately gets people talking to you and asking a zillion questions about why you came here. Everyone will think you are incredibly brave to do such a huge thing as emigrating ! We get it all the time.

The Mums here do lots of "playdates" as they call them (coffee morning with the kids to you and I ) and that is a really nice way to start developing friendships.

One of my biggest worries coming here was, ......what if something happened, ie I fell really sick or the kids did, whilst hub was away etc..........who would I have to turn to??? And at first it dawned on me that there was no-one.....no Mum here to call around. But NOW, I know i would only have to call anyone of a number of people who would help me out in flash and have done ! People here would go out of their way for you. So kind.

Tiffin Tease

Wow, it's so nice to read all these things about Edmonton - having made an all too brief visit there recently we decided we loved St. Albert and Spruce Grove but could anyone tell me what the 'real time' drive would be from there to the Calgary Trail/Whitemud Drive area would be? My hubby will be working on 97th (I think) and he doesn't fancy a super trek there and back, especially in the winter...
Ki

oceanMDX

You can expect a driving time of 25 - 30 minutes from St. Albert to Calgary Trail/Whitemud, and a couple of minutes more from Spruce Grove.

One thing I like about Edmonton is that the traffic is rather light.