Tom Masters

Good idea Rachel. We chose London, Ontario. One of the reasons was because it wasn't too complicated or difficult to get to and not too far away as far as flying time is concerned. I didn't want to live in an isolated spot but we didn't want to live in a large city either so that ruled Toronto out.

I wanted somewhere that was close to water and that had a decent uni. We also wanted somewhere with hot summers and snowy winters. London has a good uni and although it is not right next to any of the lakes, it is only a 50 min drive to either Lake Huron or Lake Eerie. Traffic isn't too bad at all (big plus in my book) and the weather allows for swimming pools/beaches in the summer and skating/tobogganing in the winter. The house prices are very reasonable compared to many parts of Canada.

We chose London with our heads and not our hearts if you know what I mean. I would have loved to have lived in the countryside (except in the winter) with a view of the rockies and the ocean but also close to work, and without a lot of rain!! London doesn't have gorgeous scenery but it has pretty areas - it isn't called Forest City for nothing! It is also a very conservative area which drives me mad sometimes. Many people around here grew up here and love the place. I thought they were all mad at first but it's beginning to grow on me and we are beginning to become part of the place.

Finding employment in our professions has been more difficult than we anticipated given that London is home to 350,000 people, but Tom has a great job and we now have contacts after being here for nearly two years!

Sorry this post is a bit jumbled up, but that is just a few of my thoughts on why we chose London.

Chris

dbd33

Why the importance of the university ?

Tom Masters

I was planning on doing a particular course that Western had, but the professor in charge of it retired and they cancelled it shortly after we arrived! I also think a uni helps to provide a bit of life to somewhere and will be handy if our kids want to study and live at home when they're older.

dbd33

I certainly agree about bringing life to a place. Not sure that study and live at home is a good idea but it could certainly make financial sense, better to have the option than not.

Tom Masters

Yep that's what we thought. As it turns out, my mum came over with us and has just completed her degree here on a student visa.

dbd33

Interesting articles in the paper today comparing life in Toronto with life in the 'burbs. Superficially it's about taxes but, assuming local governments do roughly what local people want, there's a lot more there.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...d=968350130169

I was much amused at the Torontonian, who didn't want to be depicted as a yuppie, sending his kids to swimming lessons at the RCYC; lifeguard daughter taught there for a bit but couldn't deal with the rich bratty kids and their interfering parents.

Otherwise I think it makes a good case for living in the city, rather than the suburbs. If the kids want to swim, skate, sail, or whatever, here we point them to the streetcar and leave them to it. In the suburbs you have to drive them to the facility and pay for the use of it when you get there. Here, a sixteen year old can get around and need only come home when called, in the suburbs Mom has to drive, that must make for thrilling dates. Urban virtues, urban vices as well; that's Toronto. Lots of vice in the suburbs, of course, but I'm at a loss to see the virtue.

dbd33

Oh, good for her ! I so admire people who go back and take/finish degrees.

Three or four years ago I was single (turbulent life this) and dated someone who'd done her PhD at Western. She made me laugh by describing it as a school where girls who are not quite rich and not quite well bred go to find richer boys to marry. She was fabulously prejudiced against 'most everyone, London ON was "WASPs, WASPs and more WASPs, where else is left that people care you were born Catholic ?" so I took her put down of the student body with a grain of salt. Still, it amused me.

I thought that with the UofT, Ryerson, York and George Brown being commutable my children might go to university or college from home. What wishful thinking that turned out to be.

philcUK

I have seen nothing of Canada between Ottawa and it's eastern border, but after living in Calgary for three months and visiting Kelowna several times, I don't feel a need to fill the gap with an experience over that way.

I finally settled in White Rock, because I couldn't find work in Calgary or Kelowna. I would encourage people to visit both of these areas and judge for themselves. If I had the opportunity I would move to either of these places.

Would I live in Ontario? Yes, but I would be always looking for a way to move west.

If I sat down and wrote down my lesson's learned from my move to Canada I would write.........Must save more money before moving to Canada so that I can spend more time in Calgary and hopefully find work

dbd33

That's interesting, why ?

CalgaryBlade

Without realising it at the time, I guess that's what we did.

We very nearly moved to Canada in 1994, and it would have been Toronto at that point. However, it never really grabbed us. We lived in London in the UK so why move to Toronto for less of the same.

In the meantime we visited BC and Alberta and Calgary stood out as the place which offered most of what we were looking for. We liked Vancouver but we wanted to live close to the centre of city and as such the price of real estate made Calgary more appealing.

If you're still hoping to get here, I wish you luck.

dbd33

The crux of the case for Toronto would be that you live in a less of a city but can afford to do more. If you lived in a flat in London you could have a house in Toronto, if you went to the theatre once a year in London you could buy a season ticket in Toronto and go to New York once a year. It is less of the same. but you're a bigger fish in a smaller pond. A move to Calgary is about something else, about not wanting those things but other things, the mountains instead of theatres, a four wheel drive truck instead of a Jag with leather. We have a horse now and we camp thirty nights a year or so, so we're sliding that way, but still I think I'd failed if I denied my children all access to art. Not that there's anything wrong with 4H, I just don't think it should be everything.

philcUK

Because the western part of Canada is where I always wanted to go. If I had not been there I would have always wondered what it would be like to live their, so from a personal perspective it would have always been on my mind.

philcUK

I am not searching for an opportunity, because I love White Rock, but if opportunity came knocking I would not be able to resist.

dbd33

Oh, fair enough. I thought there might have been a reason that could apply to people in general.

Rachelmark

[QUOTE=Rich_007]Hi there,

* There was a thread on here recently from two UK teachers who had so much hassle that they couldn't even get teaching assistant jobs in Ontario, worth searching for this post as it might be very helpful/relevant. *[/I]

Yes, I have heard about the problems getting my teaching qualifications recognised. When we first put in the application, I contacted the BC College of teachers and was told that I would need to study additional modules for another year (Canadian geography and history - which I understand) They also pointed out that even with these additional modules, I would find it very difficult to get a job, mainly as there are already far more teachers in BC than there are jobs, and this applied to a lot of Canada.

However, at least we got points for my degree and Marks MBA which got us to the passmark!!