Originally Posted by ann m

* The future? You know what? I have no idea!! Many people have said to hubby that “you don’t come here for the work, you come for the lifestyle”. But what does that mean, really ? Forty plus hours a week in a job you don’t like kinda impacts on the old lifestyle argument. He does really like living here. He enjoys his family time, he loves taking our new dog out, he has enjoyed being able to ski mid-week and we look ahead to hopefully another fabulous summer of sunshine and lakes and walks in beautiful places. Is Canada enough ? That ever nagging question

Originally Posted by ann m

* The mountain view from the front of my home never fails to inspire me, and make me nod and smile with great smug satisfaction. However, I nearly cried last month when a “sold” sign went up on the patch of land that gives me the views!! At some point, a new house will loom up out of the ground and block the view and if I’m not careful, I’ll get a reputation as the neighbourhood weirdo that goes peeping through the gaps between the homes opposite to get my mountain view fix – or I could just take up residence in one of their back gardens I suppose. Mmm, now there’s a thought. That’ll teach me to be smug.

Originally Posted by ann m

Girlie hugs

Originally Posted by rae

i've only replied now due to this last line.

Originally Posted by Linda P

Wonderful post.....

My 7 year old wanted to know that a 'bitch' was last week.....my 9 year old son is also asking many questions. I am pleased they ask me.....but I am dreading this next stage. I really think they are too young at 9 & 7.

Oh the joys of parenting!

Linda

Originally Posted by ann m

Well – here’s another one reporting an update - it is our Canniversary this week – one year since we arrived in Alberta – and I suspect a large glass of the chilled bubbly stuff will find it’s way to my lips later on …. So – how has it gone ? Like many other people, I will probably post a mixed and contrary update on our experiences. That’s life, eh?

I’ll go for bullet points to make it more digestible but I warn you now, it’s long, so unless you are sitting comfortably with liquid refreshment to hand, click on another thread ! In absolutely no particular order:

* We like Cochrane very much - love the house, love the skies, love the space. We feel lucky to have found this place on our first hit.

* I really, really have missed the colour green over the winter months. Brown just doesn’t do it for me. I knew I liked gardening and that it might be an issue to me, but potentially didn’t realise quite how much! The bright sunshine has almost made up for it, and has kept me sane – not a trace my own version of SAD this year.

* Winter, per se, was completely fine – no major hassles, or major snow-dumps (a la Ontario), or anything too disruptive for more than a day. It got a tad chilly for a couple of weeks, but nothing too scary (but it was worthy of a few photos of the Weather Channel being emailed back to the UK - “Here guys, look at this – minus 38 degrees”

* Calgary is an architectural wasteland.

* I am generally calm and rarely stressed – no longer shuffling silly shift patterns opposite my husband, and I am working three days a week at a well-known coffee establishment with a great customer base and I go home, without a backward glance, at 3pm to be with the kids. Not a career – but I just don’t care right now.

* The girls (now aged 10 and 8) are pretty settled, lots of friends, activities, playdates and sleepovers. I could never replicate the freedom they have here in the UK.

* Daughter Number One initially had some major boredom issues with the school curriculum (Maths and Literacy) but since Easter, she is finally back on track, has felt challenged, and is learning new things. I cannot fault her teacher for being willing to tackle this. School as general item has been rewarding, welcoming, fun and active.

* I’ve heard it said that kids are kids for longer here in Canada. I only partially agree. Within their own peer group, the girls are still ‘children’ – but they are exposed to a much wider range of age-groups here (on the school bus, in the playground, friend’s siblings, etc) and I wasn’t quite anticipating discussing with my (at the time) rather innocent 9 year old the meaning of bi-sexuality, sex and drugs, or a whole impressive array of swear words she has been exposed to. I’m not one for hiding topics or avoiding the issues, and you’d be hard pushed to offend me – it just took me a little by surprise I guess. Of course I knew these topics were coming at some point in the not too distant future, but when a 9 year old asks you for the definition of rape, it caught me off guard

* Cost of living has not offered any hidden surprises – on balance, it all seems much of a muchness to me compared to the UK. You win on some things and get hammered on others. Houses and petrol, versus cheese and wine. You know the rules by now.

* I have never felt such inner peace as on the hot sunny days last summer when we threw ourselves into cool lakes and brought the portable BBQ out with us. Bliss. I am busting to get on the Bow River this summer with the inflatables and float down into the city centre with all the other sunburnt nutters in blow-up vessels.

* My husband still pretty much dislikes work. And this has proven to be a big grey cloud constantly rumbling in the background of our new life here. Solutions are not easy to come by and although generally well settled here in all other respects, this does unsettle me – and him. We keep coming back to the fact that he just loved his old job in London. So why did he leave?! Me – probably, if we’re honest. He is conscious of feeling disheartened, unhappy and unfulfilled. At least once a week he comes home flying at 3000 feet and steam coming out of his ears. This cannot be a long-term position.

* I have discovered I am crap at keeping fish, which one by one, all went to the great toilet bowl in the sky. 10-gallon tank and accessories anyone ?!

* I have discovered an unknown level of love - for a dog. Our new dog. He’s just boo’ful. And I don’t even like dogs really.

* I drink far less wine here than in the UK. I put it down to the cost, the altitude and the fact that I just can’t hack it like I used to. That’s a good thing, right?

* We’ve made a few friends – they’re mostly Brits and this wasn’t a conscious decision, more just how things have evolved (common ground between the menfolk about their new jobs!). Not deep friendships yet like the ones you leave behind, but that could take years, or not at all. Canadians seem friendly and aloof all at the same time, and need tending, nurturing and effort. Just like anyone else, I guess.

* Drink-driving seems common here, and the laws to deal with it quite deficient in my humble opinion. I haven’t amassed statistics to compare it to the UK, but in the last year there seem to have been so many accidents involving alcohol, and too many fatalities generally – or is that just down to the infamous (on this forum anyway) standard of driving ?

* The mountain view from the front of my home never fails to inspire me, and make me nod and smile with great smug satisfaction. However, I nearly cried last month when a “sold” sign went up on the patch of land that gives me the views!! At some point, a new house will loom up out of the ground and block the view and if I’m not careful, I’ll get a reputation as the neighbourhood weirdo that goes peeping through the gaps between the homes opposite to get my mountain view fix – or I could just take up residence in one of their back gardens I suppose. Mmm, now there’s a thought. That’ll teach me to be smug.

* I still miss phone calls of an evening. I just get the kids to answer our phone anyway, ‘cos it’s never for me.

* I no longer miss M&S ! This is big. I did have a quick fix on a trip back in February but I’m now cured thank you. However, I still haven’t tried to buy a bra here – ladies you know what I’m talking about.

* My hair is actually OK and survived the transition period to this new land – it has not been dyed orange, or cropped badly, and nor do I have a mullet.

* I have started training with a company that gives “safety” talks to women, kids, teens, anyone really, and does corporate stuff too and I would hope to be in a position to co-lead and lead some of these courses by autumn. In one sense, it scares the hell out of me, as I have never taught in any traditional sense, but on the other hand, it can’t be that difficult ( ) and seems an extremely worthwhile challenge for me personally, a rewarding session for the participants - and fun.

* Homesickness has not been an issue for us at all. I only have one brother in the UK (and we’re not that close) but hubby still has both parents and a big, close family. He hasn’t missed them as much as we thought he would and Skype is a great invention. We have fortunately not been faced with any serious health issues by anyone yet, or heaven forbid, a death – but I guess it’s only a matter of time when one chooses this “up-sticks” immigrant life.

* The future? You know what? I have no idea!! Many people have said to hubby that “you don’t come here for the work, you come for the lifestyle”. But what does that mean, really ? Forty plus hours a week in a job you don’t like kinda impacts on the old lifestyle argument. He does really like living here. He enjoys his family time, he loves taking our new dog out, he has enjoyed being able to ski mid-week and we look ahead to hopefully another fabulous summer of sunshine and lakes and walks in beautiful places. Is Canada enough ?

To sum up (thank God, you all say, about time – she does go on, doesn’t she?), this move has been a good move in so many ways. I appreciate my husband and my family more but I am still no clearer in my own mind where I want my life to go or what I want to personally achieve on this planet. Not that I thought emigrating would give me those things, but I am left wondering what I am seeking! Being mortgage-free is liberating in the extreme. I can highly recommend it! Hubby’s brain has been in a complete quandary for the last 6 months ….and he hates the constant conflict in his head. . We talk, discuss, find solutions then change our minds the following week!

In my heart, I would not be surprised if we make the decision to return to the UK. We never left because we didn’t like it – so it makes it potentially easier to think about going back. But I’m not “done” here yet and there is still a lot I want to see and do (learn to kayak; visit Nova Scotia (especially that North Shore bit !! ) and see other chunks of this vast country; I’d like to head south in my RV (that I don’t actually have yet) and “do” bits of the US; I still need to master that ski-ing malarkey; I’d like to hike in the Rockies without confronting a bear and I’d like to beat that patch of land behind my house into submission, and make it into a real garden – the list goes on). But I suppose I don’t have to live here to do all that – it’s just geographically easier and closer to most of it !

There are time-constraints (that I’m not willing to go into right now) that would need us to be making a decision, one way or the other pretty soon. The fear of making the wrong decision is almost as agonising as the decision itself. Watch this space. But would I do it again? Wholeheartedly – yes.