Hi,

Just thought I would share my experience so far!

Me, my husband and cats have been here for a month now! All a bit of a nightmare as house we are selling in UK didnt complete prior to the move so money has been very tight!

So far we have found a lovely rental in North van, got a hideous car as thats all we could afford and a lovely new bed!

Christmas was really hard and very weird as i normally host it with loads of family and friends around so that was a definite down day

I start work on monday and i hope that once we start a routine, meet some people and some money coming in as well as the house completing things will seem a little brighter especially as I will then be able to afford to go snow boarding tee hee!!!!

My hubby is not sure what to do work wise as he ideally wanted to change careers he is a sparky back home! but he is not an overly confidant person and needs a bit of a kick up the bum to get him going!

I have managed to persuade him to challenge the red seal/hours thing with the ita as a back up!

sooo mixed feelings so far, not having a hideous time but not having an amazing time yet! and hopefully things will get better i have a feeling they will!

I miss my family and friends sooooo much more than I thought I would but then I think some of that was the time of year and it doesnt seem quite as heart breaking at the moment!

not really a helpful info post but just thought I would share!

Happy new year to you all

Jodie xx

its just the first month so Im sure you will be ok once you get some more time under your belt. As alot of other people on this forum have noted it takes time to adapt and settle in, but you seem to be positive which should help you through it. There are quite a few meet up groups in Vancouver from ex pats through to running and yoga groups and all sorts so that might be a good avenue to try regards meeting people.

Happy new year and its great you have made it out there and I hope all works out for you

Hey

I think you moved at a very difficult time of year. If I hadn't been here a while (since March) I would have struggled a lot more at Christmas.

First 8 weeks are the hardest for sure. I felt like an alien that had just landed. It gets better... promise....

(I just realised I said "for sure"..... oh dear....)

your becoming Canadian, how AWESOME lol

LOL for sure...

Once you're both working and have a few more months done you'll be laughing.

Only when you start saying Eh at the end of your sentence and it is pointed out by your new Canadian friends...then you know you've arrived!

A few weeks ago my 4 year old (born in the UK and moved 2.5 years old) sat at the dinner table singing "Oh Canada, our home and native land" It gave me goosebumps and I thought we can make this work. Even after 2.5 years I still work on the settling bit. When we came back from our Christmas holiday in England last week, I didn't want to go straight back and actually enjoyed being here. That was a first!
So give it time, owning versus renting makes a big difference, also when job and money things are sorted and you can enjoy the scenery and activities it'll make life a lot easier.
Happy new year