Left USA for Sarnia.
Sep 12th 2014, 1:31 pm
#1
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2009
Location: Sarnia, Ontario
Posts: 148
Left USA for Sarnia.
My family moved to Sarnia, ON early summer last year. Although we were from the UK we lived in Pennsylvania for 9 years.
Moving is always stressful but I am really enjoying living in Canada. I love Sarnia. It is a small border town surrounded by the most beautiful blue waters. We have a house in Brights Grove just outside the town and I can hear and see Lake Huron from my back garden which we share with about 8 squirrels, 3 or 4 chipmunks and an occasional raccoon. We can drive pretty much anywhere in about 15 minutes and never get stuck in traffic. Many locals nip over to the USA for some of their shopping but we always have complications at the border ( The USA border guards have a hard time understanding why we gave up our green card). I go to London if I want more shops where I do get stuck in traffic. I joined the local Newcomers group as soon as I arrived and they welcomed me into their book group, gourmet evenings, meet ups etc. Our sons have settled in school although the standard of work is so much higher than in the USA.
I can walk in to my kids school without feeling like I am entering a prison and I frequently forget to lock my doors. I can listen to the news again.
We moved to Canada basically to escape all the things that we could not live with in the USA - gun culture, outrageous racism and ignorance, cheap crap food, lets kill ourselves to get more stuff, (lets killl others to get more stuff), kids with life-long injuries due to sports by the age of 14, no mental health services and the repercussions of that etc etc.
Canada is far from perfect but they seem to have some important social/cultural norms that really matter: sanctity of life, kids should be kids, trust others don't fear others, an interest in the world.
In the USA I felt cut off from the world; in Canada I feel I am a part of the world again. The USA is an amazing country with stunning places to visit but give me Canada as a place to live any day. We are still "temporary" but have a "Canadian Experience" application in for permanent residency. It looks like it will be a long time before we can call ourselves citizens as the regulations keep changing to make the process longer and longer.
Anyway thanks to those who gave advice back in 2012/13 suggesting we live in Sarnia rather than commute from the London area. I like Starthroy/London area for its plethora of amenities but life is good here and we don't have to worry about the commute on the 402.
Moving is always stressful but I am really enjoying living in Canada. I love Sarnia. It is a small border town surrounded by the most beautiful blue waters. We have a house in Brights Grove just outside the town and I can hear and see Lake Huron from my back garden which we share with about 8 squirrels, 3 or 4 chipmunks and an occasional raccoon. We can drive pretty much anywhere in about 15 minutes and never get stuck in traffic. Many locals nip over to the USA for some of their shopping but we always have complications at the border ( The USA border guards have a hard time understanding why we gave up our green card). I go to London if I want more shops where I do get stuck in traffic. I joined the local Newcomers group as soon as I arrived and they welcomed me into their book group, gourmet evenings, meet ups etc. Our sons have settled in school although the standard of work is so much higher than in the USA.
I can walk in to my kids school without feeling like I am entering a prison and I frequently forget to lock my doors. I can listen to the news again.
We moved to Canada basically to escape all the things that we could not live with in the USA - gun culture, outrageous racism and ignorance, cheap crap food, lets kill ourselves to get more stuff, (lets killl others to get more stuff), kids with life-long injuries due to sports by the age of 14, no mental health services and the repercussions of that etc etc.
Canada is far from perfect but they seem to have some important social/cultural norms that really matter: sanctity of life, kids should be kids, trust others don't fear others, an interest in the world.
In the USA I felt cut off from the world; in Canada I feel I am a part of the world again. The USA is an amazing country with stunning places to visit but give me Canada as a place to live any day. We are still "temporary" but have a "Canadian Experience" application in for permanent residency. It looks like it will be a long time before we can call ourselves citizens as the regulations keep changing to make the process longer and longer.
Anyway thanks to those who gave advice back in 2012/13 suggesting we live in Sarnia rather than commute from the London area. I like Starthroy/London area for its plethora of amenities but life is good here and we don't have to worry about the commute on the 402.
