Just for a change, since everybody seem to have happy canniversaries...

We have been here for only 2 months and well...I know beginnings are always difficult but I am starting to regret comming to Canada.

I specially have problems finding a decent place to rent.
I've just cleaned the bathroom and kitchen and I want to cry. That vinyl must have been there for at least 40 years. No matter how much I scrub dirty water keeps comming out from it.

The good part is that from next week both of us will be working. But let's be honest, I found a job only because my partner pressed a little bit his company to hire me. From all of the resumes I've sent I haven't had one single reply, even if my qualifications were higher than those needed.

Hopefully it will get better.

I take my hat off to people who move here with all the family. It must be very stressfull.

daiske, take heart, it probably will get better. In some ways, once you have decided to load the kid and the cats and the dog, you are more enfranchised to make a success of things....you just don't have the option to throw in the towel. Had someone given me a return ticket after the first seven days, I would have grabbed it and run like hell.

It's different, and unlike a holiday, you know you don't get to go home soon! You don't have the same support network of friends and family, and even the blasted supermarkets seem alien...you just locate something you like and they go and move it! Everything takes more time and involves a 'history' of who you are, why you are and what you are. Some days it's great that people are interested, but when you are having an attack of the grotts and are feeling tired, the interest and enthusiasm can be hard to take.

On a practical level, can you change where you live? Yes... Your job may not be ideal, but it's a start and we all have to start somewhere. The further I have come along this move to Canada adventure, I have realised that the day to day emotions are all part of a process, and there's nothing I can do to hurry it along. I won't be 'instantly' happy...but I can try to ensure I'm not miserable. Maybe you need to get onto Kajiji and change your home? Best of luck.

Whereabouts are you?
Things will get better and we are all here to help

We're also two months in. We got here first week of July and spent the next seven weeks frantically trying to organise our new lives. With a seventeen year old in tow, it's no bed of roses I can tell you. However, we were always so busy sorting this and that and buying that and this we didn't seem to have time to not like it. This week hubby and DS started respective work and school...now it's me, myself and I....all alone and daunted by the prospect of what that entails. I know I have to get out there, get myself a job (no matter what it is) and start to integrate into real life. I can't deny that a few times I've wondered whether the last five years of waiting to get here have been worth it but I'm jolly well going to give it the best shot I can to make it work. Like MillieF says, when you have children and they do not want to go back at all, you have to pull up your socks and get stuck in. I'm just thankful DS does like it and has found a really nice friend at school (another newbie Brit so it's nice they can help each other in their new lives). For the most part, things have gone smoothly but not without a certain amount of stress and anxiety. Luckily DH found work within the first two weeks of being here so that has certainly helped. Try to hang in there....nobody says it's easy doing this emigrating malarky but I always think to myself that this is an adventure that many are not lucky enough to try and if CIC suddenly told us our visas were to be returned, I know we'd be devastated. It's different here, you start your life all over again and that's strange but I'm sure (I hope) it will get easier. Lucky you have a job because in my experience, that's when life and friendships begin. Now I just have to get brave and get out there myself . Good luck with everything, I'm sure you'll be okay soon enough.

Hang in there..... we're coming up on 4 months and its been ups and downs. had it not been for family we'd be out of luck and heading home.

My wife is degree qualified and not getting anywhere with a job (including shelf packing at walmart!!), I'm managed to get myself a temporary job doing school photos and its bringing in some money.

There are lots of frustrating things out there and to offer a bit of advice, watch the job agencies, I've been offered jobs only to get in to interview for them and find they've pulled the old bait and switch!. it's been a pain.

Stick with it and it will get better, as the others have said we all start somewhere and the only way is up. sure your ass may bump along the ground for a while but we're there with u! :-)

marty

Thanks for all the replies. I've been a bit busy during the last days...but finally...we have a car!
Next step is to find a better place to live, although is proving quite difficult.
Here in Winnipeg I find the rental prices very high for the quality of the buildings but hopefully we'll find a decent place at reasonable price..

Hang in there.

We have been here almost 6 months and there are times I have wanted to get on a plane - homesickness is really hard when it hits. Everyone has this.

It doesn't matter how you got your job... you have one...

You will feel a lot better once you get into your new place

I forgot to mention that dirty homes/rentals are not exclusive to Canada. In the UK, we moved into our 'lovely' home only to discover that once all the previous owner's furniture was removed, it was a disgusting, filthy hell hole which took me weeks of scrubbing. There are dirty peops everywhere
We moved into our rental here and blow me down if I didn't have to pull on the Marigolds again and scrub a dub dub! What is it with people?! Whenever we leave a place it's scrubbed within an inch of it's life! We've been here for six weeks now and have only just started to get rid of the smells of the last occupant's cooking smells. Grrrr......

Hope your jobs go well and good luck for your future. You've always got us on BE to rant with!

Marty, can you explain that to me... because I don't understand, and I would like...maybe in a couple of months, to be gainfully employed if possible. Many thanks.

Ditto. Took me 2 hours to clean one of the showers here. Whilst I was cleaning it hubby comes running in - "turn off the shower"... it was pouring water through the floor, through the ceiling downstairs, through the floor in the hallway and flooding the basement.

This is a "luxury" house too. Too bad the landlord turned the heating off in the winter. Boy he paid for it in repairs... serves him right...

You're right. I once found under the bed, a flip-flop, bits of nails (painted in red), and a condom....errrrr...used. This was in Dublin a few years ago.
People have really wierd habits...