British Expats - 6 Years today

British Expats (https://britishexpats.com/forum/)

- Canniversary (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canniversary-103/)

- - 6 Years today (https://britishexpats.com/forum/canniversary-103/6-years-today-737969/)

Well it doesnt seem that long ago since we rushed through immigration in St John's (unexpected stop) and after a brief stop at Halifax landed at Fredericton Airport without any luggage other than our hand luggage:D Shame I had booked a huge GMC Van with the capacity to carry 8 suitcases plus hand luggage :rofl:

Well for us it was almost text book, landed Saturday Nov 5th, two interviews tuesday 8th Nov one job offer 11th (with a 24 hour limit within which to accept it) and a second offer the following week). Started working on the 21st of Nov, brought a house and moved in on the 17th December :eek:

We had the usual wobbles and homesickness and I am not sure everyone is out of it yet. The pangs still seem to well up when watching something on BBC Canada. For me I am a total convert, my life here is far better than it was in the UK.

We are now Canadian Citizens, (since october 2010) and have had the opportunity to vote in the last general election and the provincial election. My daughters first experience of exercising their civic duty (as I told them :sneaky:) and after they were pleased that they had voted.

We have volunteered at several local charities (something we didn't do in the UK. I believe purely down to more free time here), we own and use chainsaw, axe, gas powered lawn mower, snowblower, snowshoes, cross country skis :thumbup: you have to get out an embrace the winter otherwise you turn into a hermit.

Observations:

Most of our friends are from away, our neighbours are friendly enough but they have lots of friends and dont need any more LOL
We have become use to all the adverts on TV (muting and unmuting and having a conversation while the ads are on)
We celebrate our Britishness probably more than we ever did in England, and try to make sure our daughters know their UK history.
We have developed a liking for BBQ ribs
We like walking in the wilderness and not hearing any traffic noise or aeroplanes flying over head
We love the house and the space it offers, the size of the garden etc...
I like the woodstove and the changing of the seasons, each one needs preparing for and it gives me a sense of ease as we move through them.
Because I have more time I find I do more DIY fixing (not necessarily the things Jules wants me to do:D) I have learnt how to repair car body work, re-polish headlights, repair basic problems on the cooker (stove) and grow our own vegetables.
Teenagers/young adults, university, college etc is expensive regardless of where you live.

Every year we have held a huge bonfire party on our Canniversary, we have had up to 75 guests, but this year it will be a small family affair (I am sure we will regret it tomorrow :rofl:)

Anyway I have to dash, must put the garden furniture away for the winter, winterise the lawn mower and bring the snowblower out of the shed for it's annual pre-winter service.

Re: 6 Years today

Congratulations to your family. Isn't it great when you get what you want out a move. :thumbup:

Because we don't have kids with us we don't celebrate things like bonfire night but we live in a resort town so there are fireworks most weekends in the summer and I still don't like them :rofl:

I hope then next 6 years go just as well for you all.

Re: 6 Years today

Congratulations:thumbsup: Always love to hear success stories, gives the rest of us hope:D

Hope you enjoy many more happy years in Canada.

Tracy
:)

Re: 6 Years today

Nice of you to take the time to give us all a nice report.

Sounds like you have your own little slice of heaven over there.

Would love to see some pictures of your story so far, you must have a few over the last 6 years ;)

Re: 6 Years today

Belated congrats. Dave.

Re: 6 Years today

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave n Ailsa (Post 9717808)

Check out the blog for lots of information and photos, plus the photo albums (see my signature block on this post).

If you check the archives for November / or early December you can review Lessons Learned where I captured what we all thought and provided some feedback for potential newcomers.

Re: 6 Years today

Hi Dave!
Congratulations! We are glad to hear you continue enjoying your life in NB. We love reading your posts, very positive, yet down to earth :-), and informative! We are half-way through the process hopefully, although they've increased processing times twice since we applied. We are not loosing our high spirits though and already booked our tickets for a holiday in NB in June 2012 - we will be driving from Boston.
Our best wishes to you and your family for many-many happy Canadian years to come :-) Zhanna & Alex

Re: 6 Years today

Congrats guys :thumbup::D

Re: 6 Years today

Congratulations and best wishes for many more happy years. :)

Re: 6 Years today

Many Congratulations to you. We can still remember reading your posts when we discovered this site 5 years ago. The photos of your house in deep snow are still in my mind!! :rofl:

Must put the kettle on and check out your blog and photos. :)

Wishing you very many more happy years

Re: 6 Years today

I've started reading your Blogg, which is great by the way.

It has inspired me to start my own.

If I've done it right, it should now appear as a link on my signiature.

here goes...