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2 years in Manitoba
Hi,
Well its been 2 years and I have to say, we have been very lucky. My wife got a term teaching position 14 days after we landed, the year after she got a second term position and then in June this year got a permanent position with Brandon School Division. She loves teaching here, smaller class sizes, more holidays and more pay and health benefits. Teachers seem to be valued here in Canada, unlike the UK. She says that she is allowed to be a teacher here without all the OFSTED fiasco in the UK. So in less than 2 years she got a permanent contract. Having been ex UK military, I decided to work for a well known armed cash security company. I was hired 18 months ago, sent to Calgary on an all expenses paid training course, which they also paid me a salary. I now service ATM/ABM machines, pick up cash from all the national banks and deliver locally or take the big armoured truck to Winnipeg and deliver to the main Vaults of RBC, BMO, TD etc. Its a great job and pays well compared to other security jobs. I had to get my Canadian restricted firearms licence (PAL) and have to requalify using hand gun and shot gun yearly. With my military pension and UK property income I am earning the same as I was when in the military. We bought a house that is way bigger than our UK properties and installed a swimming pool last year, so our quality of life is way better now. Our 2 kids love it here in Brandon, we got our son into hockey around a year before we landed, that was the best thing we ever did. He is now entering his second year in Atom. He loves school here and the freedom he has to go out and about with his friends. He is also kept busy with other activities. Our daughter plays a little hockey, plays piano and has many friends who live on our street. She came to Canada with a very southern English accent, 2 years later at nearly 9, she has no British accent left, our son is 18 months older and is 60% Canadian. We were different than most who came to Canada, in that I had my parents and 2 brothers who had been resident since 1992. My parents live just 8 houses from us, so we have great babysitters when needed. Kids also see there cousins fairly regularly. On the downside, my wife left here parents, brother & nephew in England, however we rarely saw them when we lived in the UK, we actually saw more of them last year when they visited us for 2 weeks, that's more days of seeing them than 1 year in the UK! I do not miss anything about the UK, apart from Sky TV, but think I may have a way of getting this also. I brought my UK smart TV with us, and using a DNS switching service can watch BBC, C4, C5 & ITV in HD. Its great than we can still see all our favourite UK shows whenever we want, including the BBC news at 1,6 & 10. Yes there has been some frustrations, but then we would have had that anywhere that we decided to live. We have lived in 3 different countries and what we have found out is that every country has the same problems, its just how they are dealt with. Canada seems to be more laid back (Too laid back in some respects) but we feel that its a great place to bring up kids. Because we have other family here and we had an extensive network before we arrived, our economic settlement has been so much easier than most. We have met UK expats here who live in very rural areas, who regret their move and would if they could afford to move back to the UK. Living in a small city like Brandon is the best thing we did, plenty to keep you occupied in those long winter months and no feeling of isolation. All in all, as I said previously, we have been very lucky. We have had a great 2 years and are now living the Canadian dream. We will definitely be making Canada our permanent residence for the foreseeable future. |
Re: 2 years in Manitoba
Hello Andrew,
so happy for you, congrats mate! :thumbup::thumbsup: Dito, and so true: We have lived in 3 different countries and what we have found out is that every country has the same problems, its just how they are dealt with. More or less the same struggle in daily life, just in a different setting (myself still preferring the Canadian one). All the best and greetings to Brandon. Mark |
Re: 2 years in Manitoba
Originally Posted by Conmar
(Post 11745540)
Hello Andrew,
so happy for you, congrats mate! :thumbup::thumbsup: Dito, and so true: We have lived in 3 different countries and what we have found out is that every country has the same problems, its just how they are dealt with. More or less the same struggle in daily life, just in a different setting (myself still preferring the Canadian one). All the best and greetings to Brandon. Mark Thanks, congrats to you too, BZ |
Re: 2 years in Manitoba
Originally Posted by chiefmissile
(Post 11744131)
Hi,
Well its been 2 years and I have to say, we have been very lucky. My wife got a term teaching position 14 days after we landed, the year after she got a second term position and then in June this year got a permanent position with Brandon School Division. She loves teaching here, smaller class sizes, more holidays and more pay and health benefits. Teachers seem to be valued here in Canada, unlike the UK. She says that she is allowed to be a teacher here without all the OFSTED fiasco in the UK. So in less than 2 years she got a permanent contract. Having been ex UK military, I decided to work for a well known armed cash security company. I was hired 18 months ago, sent to Calgary on an all expenses paid training course, which they also paid me a salary. I now service ATM/ABM machines, pick up cash from all the national banks and deliver locally or take the big armoured truck to Winnipeg and deliver to the main Vaults of RBC, BMO, TD etc. Its a great job and pays well compared to other security jobs. I had to get my Canadian restricted firearms licence (PAL) and have to requalify using hand gun and shot gun yearly. With my military pension and UK property income I am earning the same as I was when in the military. We bought a house that is way bigger than our UK properties and installed a swimming pool last year, so our quality of life is way better now. Our 2 kids love it here in Brandon, we got our son into hockey around a year before we landed, that was the best thing we ever did. He is now entering his second year in Atom. He loves school here and the freedom he has to go out and about with his friends. He is also kept busy with other activities. Our daughter plays a little hockey, plays piano and has many friends who live on our street. She came to Canada with a very southern English accent, 2 years later at nearly 9, she has no British accent left, our son is 18 months older and is 60% Canadian. We were different than most who came to Canada, in that I had my parents and 2 brothers who had been resident since 1992. My parents live just 8 houses from us, so we have great babysitters when needed. Kids also see there cousins fairly regularly. On the downside, my wife left here parents, brother & nephew in England, however we rarely saw them when we lived in the UK, we actually saw more of them last year when they visited us for 2 weeks, that's more days of seeing them than 1 year in the UK! I do not miss anything about the UK, apart from Sky TV, but think I may have a way of getting this also. I brought my UK smart TV with us, and using a DNS switching service can watch BBC, C4, C5 & ITV in HD. Its great than we can still see all our favourite UK shows whenever we want, including the BBC news at 1,6 & 10. Yes there has been some frustrations, but then we would have had that anywhere that we decided to live. We have lived in 3 different countries and what we have found out is that every country has the same problems, its just how they are dealt with. Canada seems to be more laid back (Too laid back in some respects) but we feel that its a great place to bring up kids. Because we have other family here and we had an extensive network before we arrived, our economic settlement has been so much easier than most. We have met UK expats here who live in very rural areas, who regret their move and would if they could afford to move back to the UK. Living in a small city like Brandon is the best thing we did, plenty to keep you occupied in those long winter months and no feeling of isolation. All in all, as I said previously, we have been very lucky. We have had a great 2 years and are now living the Canadian dream. We will definitely be making Canada our permanent residence for the foreseeable future. |
Re: 2 years in Manitoba
Originally Posted by Mikeypm
(Post 11747329)
Congrats and sounds like its all worked out for you and your family :), in October it will be two years for us and we have no plans to go back. This is home now :)
|
Re: 2 years in Manitoba
Originally Posted by chiefmissile
(Post 11744131)
Hi,
Well its been 2 years and I have to say, we have been very lucky. My wife got a term teaching position 14 days after we landed, the year after she got a second term position and then in June this year got a permanent position with Brandon School Division. She loves teaching here, smaller class sizes, more holidays and more pay and health benefits. Teachers seem to be valued here in Canada, unlike the UK. She says that she is allowed to be a teacher here without all the OFSTED fiasco in the UK. So in less than 2 years she got a permanent contract. Having been ex UK military, I decided to work for a well known armed cash security company. I was hired 18 months ago, sent to Calgary on an all expenses paid training course, which they also paid me a salary. I now service ATM/ABM machines, pick up cash from all the national banks and deliver locally or take the big armoured truck to Winnipeg and deliver to the main Vaults of RBC, BMO, TD etc. Its a great job and pays well compared to other security jobs. I had to get my Canadian restricted firearms licence (PAL) and have to requalify using hand gun and shot gun yearly. With my military pension and UK property income I am earning the same as I was when in the military. We bought a house that is way bigger than our UK properties and installed a swimming pool last year, so our quality of life is way better now. Our 2 kids love it here in Brandon, we got our son into hockey around a year before we landed, that was the best thing we ever did. He is now entering his second year in Atom. He loves school here and the freedom he has to go out and about with his friends. He is also kept busy with other activities. Our daughter plays a little hockey, plays piano and has many friends who live on our street. She came to Canada with a very southern English accent, 2 years later at nearly 9, she has no British accent left, our son is 18 months older and is 60% Canadian. We were different than most who came to Canada, in that I had my parents and 2 brothers who had been resident since 1992. My parents live just 8 houses from us, so we have great babysitters when needed. Kids also see there cousins fairly regularly. On the downside, my wife left here parents, brother & nephew in England, however we rarely saw them when we lived in the UK, we actually saw more of them last year when they visited us for 2 weeks, that's more days of seeing them than 1 year in the UK! I do not miss anything about the UK, apart from Sky TV, but think I may have a way of getting this also. I brought my UK smart TV with us, and using a DNS switching service can watch BBC, C4, C5 & ITV in HD. Its great than we can still see all our favourite UK shows whenever we want, including the BBC news at 1,6 & 10. Yes there has been some frustrations, but then we would have had that anywhere that we decided to live. We have lived in 3 different countries and what we have found out is that every country has the same problems, its just how they are dealt with. Canada seems to be more laid back (Too laid back in some respects) but we feel that its a great place to bring up kids. Because we have other family here and we had an extensive network before we arrived, our economic settlement has been so much easier than most. We have met UK expats here who live in very rural areas, who regret their move and would if they could afford to move back to the UK. Living in a small city like Brandon is the best thing we did, plenty to keep you occupied in those long winter months and no feeling of isolation. All in all, as I said previously, we have been very lucky. We have had a great 2 years and are now living the Canadian dream. We will definitely be making Canada our permanent residence for the foreseeable future. Glad it all has worked out. We have been here 5 years and love it!!! Could not cope with UK weather now lol. |
Re: 2 years in Manitoba
Originally Posted by chiefmissile
(Post 11744131)
Hi,
Well its been 2 years and I have to say, we have been very lucky... |
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