Nelju

After 5 years living in Calgary I feel sick and not motivated. This place is so boring and dull. No friends. I have a decent salary in a job I hate, but I realized money is not everything. This is a ghost city where people seems to hide inside their houses, and just go outside to work or study. Downtown is dead after 7 pm, so besides going to the mall there is not much to do on here. Everything is expensive. People is ultra boring and closed minded. It does not help I am a visible minority and have an accent. Almost everyday and everywhere I got those looks and attitudes like I am an alien or something like that. All of my coworkers are white and sometimes they are talking bad things about blacks, natives and minorities. They dont tell things directly to me, but I guess in my back they have some funny conversations. Normally, it is the people from Alberta that I dont like. I have met some canadians from other places and they seem way nicer than here. I am hispanic by the way. This place deserves redneck city reputation. I was surprised beyond the words by neo nazi parades being allowed in the city.

I could go for hours writing about Calgary. The only good thing about the city is being a sunny place. Nothing else. The point is I am super depressed here. My health is being affected.

I want to give a last try to Canada by going to Vancouver. I have been to the city three times and really like the scenery, street life, and big city feeling (at least for me). Another good point is many visible minorities in the place. I think I would feel less isolated than here. I know the place is expensive, the economy is not that good, and have some sketchy areas but I like it in general. The thing I do not really like is the gloomy weather in winter, but I want to try and see how bad really is.

Can you elaborate in some others bad aspects of Vancouver? I want to be realist and grounded in my expectations. I would really appreciate some advise, tips, areas to avoid in Vancouver, and recommended places to rent. By the way, I have liked the few british I have met in Calgary. You seem to be a bunch of educated, well mannered, and cultured people. I normally like to talk to europeans because you can talk to them about interesting subjects. I cannot avoid falling asleep when talking to canadians . Sorry for my rant, but I need to express my feelings. Not having a good time here. Of course, it is just my experience.

el_richo

By the sounds of things, you should move to Toronto.

JonboyE

For sure, there are a lot of visible minorities in Vancouver. It is one of the reasons we moved here (at least, close by) and continue to be happy here. However, the Hispanic population is small considering the size of the city.

With so many faces from different places people seem to get used to the fact that others are different to them and generally live and let live. I am not trying to say that there are not people with racist views around, but they generally know to keep their mouth shut in public. This is my experience. YMMV

The only really bad part of Vancouver is the Downtown Eastside and this is only a few blocks around Main and Hastings. I am loath to try and make suggestions because there are so many factors that go into choosing a place to live. Your best bet is to visit and spend some time walking the streets of the various neighborhoods to find one that suites you.

Look here http://britishexpats.com/wiki/Vancouver

The winters? Yes, it rains a lot (at sea level). Yes it can be dull. But it is not all the time. I can put up with it though I live in one of the driest parts of Metro Vancouver. Some people can't. Summers are lovely - when they get here.

ExKiwilass

I think Toronto or Vancouver or Montreal would be worth checking out for you. Vancouver is gloomy in winter but the flipside is great skiing etc very close to teh city. Have you considered visiting Montreal or Toronto?

Novocastrian

+1

insearchoflife

I am visiting Calgary this month to check out the place and to see if I want to Canada or not. Some of the things you mentioned like the Nazi march seems to be there on youtube. You have given me some food for thought now.
Will try to visit Edmonton to evaluate the city.

Nelju

Thanks, JonboyE

The link is excellent. By reading the posts in this forum I get the feeling most people in BC are happy with their choices. On the other hand I see some people complaining and bored to death in Alberta or Calgary, so I am not probably the only one looking to move.

dbd33

Frying pan. Fire.

I agree with the posters above, if you want to be in a place where everyone's a minority, try Toronto.

Nelju

insearchoflife

These youtube videos are good examples of certain things I dislike in Calgary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plQpLPy1eao
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgHel...eature=related

I am not saying is that bad in Calgary, but you get a bad vibe here if you don't belong to the caucasian population. Since the first day I came to Calgary I knew something was wrong. I do not want to make this a thread about discrimination and racism, but it is evident to me after living five years in Calgary some people strongly dislike visible minorities. Neonazis in Calgary have been around beating people and spreading hate propaganda for a while. Like I said it is not that bad. That kind of violence is not common. It is more like a silent discrimination. They just ignored you and it is more difficult for a visible minority to get a good job or keep it. Never mind trying to make caucasian friends or dating white girls. Besides some women preferences for black guys (perceived normally as hypermasculine), minorities normally are rejected, although Caucasian men date more minorities for sure. Also, most people know visible minorities have a difficult time even with the language skills, experience and education needed:

http://www.iamrichmond.ca/discussion...ies-earn-less/

Anyways, I am generally a very intuitive guy and when I watch the body language and looks of most people in Calgary I get a bad vibe. I am not saying all are the same. Certainly, I have met some great people, but they are the exception and not the rule. They tolerate us and smile to us when doing business, but that's it. On real life normally you just get ignored and a bad look at you, and that's discouraging. They complain about minorities not integrating and I laugh at it. Yeah sure. It is all my fault . However I want to end the post in a positive note. I see youth people in Calgary more mixed and having friends of diverse origins, so probably it is one of the things going to change Calgary slowly as more people from overseas move here.

Nelju

kiwilass, el-richo, dbd33, novocastrian

I lived in Montreal and Mont-Tremblant for a year and really liked. I was lured by the boom in Alberta and left Quebec. I missed it for a while, because I found the people in Quebec very warm and more akin to my latin roots. Moving to Toronto or Montreal is something to think about but after six winters in Canada I am somehow tempted for a milder climate.

el_richo

Fair enough. Just be aware that you would be moving to an expensive place to live where downtown is dead after 7pm (Vancouver), which appears to be what you are trying to avoid.

You wouldn't be a minority with regards to an accent but you would be with regards to your nationality. That said, i've only witnessed a couple of racist incidents here but that was an Asian group of kids on an Indian (east indian) friend, and also an Indian (east indian) on an Asian. One of my closest friends is Mexican (albeit lived in Vancouver most his life), who is married to a Filipino (also lived most her life in Vancouver) and never had any issues, nor would they expect to.

Try it and see for yourself whether it works or not. For rental, if your work is there, stay downtown for a while. Look at the West End, Kitsilano, South Granville, or False Creek (i prefer the south side). Commercial Drive area gets rave reviews but i've not spent time there so have no idea.

Don't forget to bring an umbrella

ExKiwilass

Commercial Drive is arguably the most latin part of Vancouver - my feeling is the OP would like it. And it's def. not dead after 7pm

Steve_

I'll be your friend.

I've had people discriminate against me and I must be one of the whitest people on Earth. Anything to be an asshole I guess.

I always think the reason Calgary feels so deserted is because it's so spread out.

I keep thinking about moving to BC but I just can't hack the rain, and Kelowna is a bit on the small side. Plus the cost of living is higher.

xxdb

Funnily enough I've made more friends quicker here in Calgary than in Toronto. In Toronto you would definitely be "discriminated against" less but quite honestly I don't really know if you really are being discriminated against or if it's just redneck ignorance. I'm not excusing it in any way by the way because my wife (who is also latin) tends to get ignored or get stuck in bureacracy in a way that I don't but on the other hand I'm as white as you can possibly get (milk lol) and I get treated like I'm a knownuff too just because I'm not Canadian. On the other hand I find a total lack of connection to some of my new Calgarian "friends". It's like it takes a half hour of awkwardness to start a conversation and many of the conversations seem to be about "look at me I just bought a nice new truck" or "look at me my furniture is better than yours" etc. That said, they are just fine to work with, working conditions in Canada I have always found to be much better than in the UK, less politics and less backstabbing by far (not saying there's none, just less). But then again, my mate from my home town has the exact opposite experience.

Where I will agree 100% is that there's a very strong streak among especially the uneducated (who I would refer to as redneck hillbillies) who just don't like anyone coming here and "taking their jobs". Their ire is not only reserved for foreigners but also for fellow Canucks.

If you don't have any friends, I suggest you join a couple of clubs. I'm not talking about the gym. Maybe something like a kung fu class or maybe a continuing education course or something, where you will end up talking to people eventually. I've found Canadians much easier to relate to (in fact you can't shut them up - especially the one guy who comes to my desk at work every day and blabbers on and on lol) when you have something in common with them.

My 2p/2c.

Nelju

Hey Steve!, mi amigo (my friend):

I believe it is probably more a culture shock what I have been experiencing here. I have been reading lately these forums (specially the canniversary section), and now I have another fresh perspective of immigration. It is good to be in a place where most people know how hard can be to immigrate to a new country, even harder for people like me standing out in the crowd due to the ethnicity and accent. I know you british also have an accent, but that is certainly not a problem for you, as most people like it .

Calgary is probably a good place for families. Higher wages, less taxes, generally a good labour market, and reasonable housing, but I cannot feel it is home, and never will. I grew up in a small town in Venezuela (20 000 p), and I feel my small town had more street life than this city .