Walsh Clan

Morning everyone,

So 4 year ago today my husband, daughter and I landed in Toronto on 26th June 2011 and with the help of friends we had met online in 2005, moved to Barrie Ontario. We had already activated our PR's and left again in 2009, so we were definitely here to stay.

When I reflect on the past four years we have been so lucky to have been given very many opportunities and to make a few more. Both my husband and I are working full time since then. I love my job and love going to work everyday, working in a healthcare system that seems a lot more favourable than the one we left in Ireland. Our daughter is now 15 and even though she still has a foot in each country and would still consider herself Irish, she has a long list of great friends and has just finished grade 10, only two more years of high school to go. I think it has been the toughest on her because school was really tough the first yer. I believe it's the teacher who makes it or breaks it and in that first year the teacher basically told her to conform ("I don't know how you do things in the UK", well neither do I!) was his response that first year but her second school (we moved house out of Barrie) was just the most amazing school, with the the kindest and nicest teachers who cared about her mental health and her previous experiences (school isin the north end of Barrie) I have ever come across.

We lived in Barrie for that first year and in my own opinion, people in Barrie, on a one to one basis, are not very nice to each other, so as much as I said hello to everyone, the atmosphere was getting me down. So we moved north to just beyond Shanty Bay in Oro-Medonte, 20 mins north of the city and it is like night and day, beautiful trails, water, people and atmosphere - it is so lovely out here in all weather types. I do my shopping in Orillia and we go for drives to places like Algonquin during the summer, only an hour away. My daughter goes swimming and at 15 has a lot of the challenges a teenager has, with the added complication of an abundant acceptance of smoking weed at a young age, something we will never understand. Each to their own I suppose.

This year I completed my Masters Degree in Royal Roads University in Victoria and although it was very expensive and full time for the last two years (it is a blended course, I was in Victoria on Vancouver island for 4 weeks and the rest was online), I earned so much about the people across Canada, it was a great experience. I am now on a Board of Directors for a charitable organization in Winnipeg, Manitoba and am very accepted for the experiences I bring from an international level. And I am very grateful for that, I do not take it lightly (though it might also be that they needed woman and I happened to be the right sex, but I'll take it anyway!!).

My husband struggles with the differences in people, he finds they are less social and less able to say what they really think, which really frustrates him. I think the most difficult thing for both of us is not being able to highlight the negatives as well as the positives to Canadians when you have such strong Irish accents - I began to test pilot my theory in training sessions when I would say to people "If I said that the people were generally not friendly in Barrie, or Canada was 20 years behind Ireland, what would you think"? and 80% of people would say "if you don't like it, then go back to where you came from". I wonder would I think the same way in Ireland? There is a luxury of being able to freely disagree with the way your home country is, because you have a voice and are accepted for your opinion, we find not so freely here. But then again, perhaps it is in the way you say it??

I'm sure this is home forever, I'm not sure if I want to grow old here, it is not a place for the old in my small experiences. My daughter is talking about university in Ireland a lot so if she goes, we may go too. We have gotten a lot but we have given a lot, so I don't think we will be slighted for not making an effort to fit in, tie will tell. I have made such great friends all across Canada, I know that of it ends up only being another two years, this was the right decision at the right time for all of us, and I hope at the end of the day, Canada will feel the same!

Thanks for reading..

Moira.

PS Two tips, don't buy straightaway (we did and regretted it), get a feeling for a place first and reapply for your PR well in advance of the 5 years, it can take up to 187 days to get your new card (we nearly had to cancel a trip to the States!)

not2old

well done & congrats on your degree

Interesting comment about 'growing old in Canada' after being here only 4-years

And the other comment about renting first, buying later.... good advice I'm sure for those new to Canada

BristolUK

Good read. Like so many things this might vary.

We visited our target city/town in this province from Montreal on a four day trip, determined to buy and we did. No mortgage involved.

We've lived here for over 10 years - good heavens, we missed our 10 year anniversary of this house - and we couldn't have done better in terms of location and facilities. But I have a rental property in a different part of town and I'd happily be there too. There's very little difference across 90% of the town.

Renting would have meant an unnecessary monthly spend above the cost of Insurance, water and property tax on the owned home plus at least one set of removals costs for furniture and appliances accumulated in the renting period that for any number of reasons might involve more than one rental home.

Walsh Clan

Thanks and yes, you are right, after four years it seems a very blanket statement to make. Though two things made me think this. 1. working in health care and seeing family structures that are very different to what I was used to (long term care facilities, elderly with no one to visit them because their families are very far away) means a pretty tough existence when there will be less money for us in the coffers and 2. Cost of living is so high - I see older couples having to be very frugal in the grocery stores on a regular basis. Again only my own observations, I could be making general assumptions without more investigation. We were both 40 when we came so as I approach 45 I think about this more and more!

Walsh Clan

You are so right. For us it would have saved us 5% realtors fees - but it definitely depends on the circumstance and person.

BristolUK

Ah...yes...that's definitely a significant cost.

not2old

Having emigrated from the UK in the mid 60's, little money, no job, Canada has been good. Likely, the times, people, place & things have changed lots on both sides of the pond.

As me & my missus approach 70, we could be considered old, and yes, we are also frugal.

At this stage of our lives we don't know any different, nor what at this stage of our lifves it would be like living out our days in the UK.

So for now we sit & ponder....

Good luck to you with your life in Canada & maybe one day you'll return back to the UK

Walsh Clan

Lol, thank you, perhaps one day we will return to the British isles!!

Perhaps you have hit the nail on the head - we were both employed and left our jobs thinking we could do that much better here and in hindsight we have, but that's because we are currently both working really hard and taking every opportunity given to us. If that changes, we worry about our plan B in terms of income - we don't have one.

It's amazing how our focus changes, we have definitely become more materialistic, thud very reason I stated we left Ireland in the first place. Hypocritical on our part.

As an aside it is bucketing down here in Oro Medonte, our hydro has been gone since 12 and we are watching the water levels rise around our sump pump in the basement (which we just completed). Time for a generator.. Any suggestion folks?

not2old

minimum 3000W (3Kw) & a must one that has dual 100V & 220v output sockets

Generators | Canadian Tire

the best deal at the moment

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/ch...-0550317p.html

Walsh Clan

Thank you so much, I'll take a look now..

MikeUK

Go Honda

IMHO they know how to make reliable engines

and for an emergency generator, I'd want something that can handle neglect, poor maintenance and any thing else that could be throw at it..


Best evidence for Honda's engine design, is the spotty Herberts that mod them all the time, bolting on anything say says it give hp on the box, and they still run and don't forget how old some of those old Honda's are too.... that's a lot of abuse

not2old

OP for things like a sump pump or basic lighting, you could always have one of these for emergency.

Sure it means running the car engine in the driveway, but what the heck. Also handy on camping trips

12V Power Inverter : Power Inverters - Walmart.com

Walsh Clan

Thank you so much for your advice but my OH is adamant we need a monster generator so he is looking at a Generac with an automatic switch, all in will probably cost $5,000 at least *sigh*. Only bonus is that he is an electrician, so at least that's covered!

MikeUK

The Generacs are Top Notch
mostly statics and can be wired in to start automatically, can even get 'gas' powered units permanently plumb into the natural gas pipeline

It was what we were looking at when we lived in Caledon...

Walsh Clan

Thanks Mike, that's exactly what we are looking at now, 16KW generac in Home Depot is $3700 all in this week, and gas fitter around the corner so we are nearly there..