Bella Cullen

I meant to update this at the beginning of last month but things have a habit of getting in the way.

So, we've been in Markham Ontario (about 25 mins from downtown Toronto) since 7th Sept. last year.

It has been pretty eventful. We moved with my husband, me, our then 16yr old, 6yr old and 10 week old daughters with only a 23kg suitcase each. My husband already had a job and transferred from the UK office but not using Intra Company Transfer but PNP. We secured our house from the UK and one of OH's colleagues viewed it for us and gave us a skype tour

Schools were fine for both girls, although it took 2 weeks to have them sit their "tests" with York region school board. Both settled in quickly and made friends easily enough. our eldest daughter who is almost 18 didn't continue to do well and started to struggle greatly both with school and in sustaining friendships. She hated being here and it was decided she could return to the UK to live with her grandmother. She's just gone back and this has been a hard blow for us all. She is loving being back in the UK though and I remain hopeful she'll come back in the not too distant future.

We bought a car from a local dealer which turned out to be a total lemon but with minimal recourse from them and they kept saying they needed it for a week or so to "put right" but it was never put right no matter how long they had it. We ended up trading it in with Toyota for a brand new lease vehicle and took a $3000 hit on it. However, Toyota were fine with giving us a lease for 2 years which was the same amount of time as our TWP.

In January I got a job and found child care for the baby. It was a licensed day care centre. Then two months later when I went to pick the baby up I was met with the ministry of education who were saying it was closing down and wouldn't be reopening due to a number of allegations, several of which included the physical and emotional abuse of children. This was a harrowing time for us - even though nothing had happened to our daughter it was still difficult as this centre had rave reviews and we'd been happy with it up until that point. It took a while to find somewhere else and I was worried about losing my job, however my employer was fantastic and I worked from home for 2 weeks whilst the new childcare kicked in. In a way it was a valuable experience as the new carer is FAR better than what we had before.

We've had a number of problems getting used to the way things work here in terms of bills and that direct debits aren't the same as in the UK and that Rogers, for example, can just take the bill when they feel like it - no matter what the bank or they tell you. We were left in a pickle when they took their bill within 13 days of the previous one "because the billing cycle had changed" another surprise was the cost of car insurance which came in at a whopping $620 per month. Yes, per month. However, when we renewed it has come down to $440pm. We were pleased with this which is funny.

Health care may be free here, however medication is not and that has been another shocker. The baby got pneumonia and an ear and eye infection earlier in the year and even with our benefits from work her medication was A LOT of money. Just buying Advil and Tylenol is like $10 each (it's 16p for 16 paracetamol or ibuprofen in the supermarkets in the UK)

We adopted a dog from the humane society and that has been lovely. She's a total daft monstrous beast (a rottweiler shepherd cross) and to say we wanted a "small family dog that'd be good with the kids" we chose the biggest in the building. Well, I say we chose, she chose us and she fits right in

Trying not to sound too much like my kids, but making friends hasn't been easy. You don't realise how much you take for granted the life long friendships you have back home, or the easy camaraderie that comes with established relationships. We're both trying to "get out there" and I am spending more time with a girl from work who I like. It's been harder for my husband who's had the same group of friends since infant school. We're getting there though and have both recently joined meetup.com.

The winter was beautiful. Yes, it was bitterly cold. However, the sun shone every day, there was rarely a cloud in the sky and it's always bright even at -45c. Summer was hot and lovely and everyone is full of the joys of life. Autumn is just stunningly beautiful and my favourite season so far.

There is always something to do in the community and everyone is friendly and always excited to hear our accents (husbands Yorkshire brogue and my Glaswegian one) The 7yr old has a Canadian accent at school but her usual Yorkshire one at home. The baby's accent will be interesting as her childminder is from the West Indies and the other children who attend there are Chinese (with an accent) and Jamaican (with an accent) so I can't wait to hear how her little voice develops

We haven't experienced as much of the country (or province) as I would have liked but we intend to live here forever so there is plenty of time. Next year we're going to Manitoulin Island (we almost lived there a few years back when another company offered my OH a job but it fell through) and we want to do some city breaks.

Would I move back to the UK? Nope, not yet. We love it here. Now to wait for the CIC to make their decision on our PR which I hope isn't too far away!

Piff Poff

Congrats

BristolUK

Problems aside that was a lovely read

Bella Cullen

I realised my post might come across as overly negative but we don't feel negative at all. We love Canada and don't want to leave

BristolUK

No, not my impression at all. I just didn't want to say "lovely" without recognition of a couple of problems.

Pizzawheel

I thought it was a very positive post- sounds like you've come with the right attitude to overcome the difficulties of relocating.

There's a group of us on here getting together at the Scotland Yard pub downtown TO in November- have a look on the maple leaf for the post. If you can find a sitter it's a great way to come and meet new people, albeit mainly British expats.

Shirtback

I like the way you describe the bad side/problems you have faced without descending into b*tch & moan mode (I'm an expert at/guilty of doing that far too often).

The BE November meet-up thread (as referenced by Pizzawheel) is here:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/maple...-865403/page3/

Bella Cullen

Thank you for the link to the thread. I will definitely look at coming to this meet!

DandNHill

Congrats on your first year. Many bumps but it certainly sounds as though you have overcome a lot of those and are coming out the other side of it... We're having a Brit Expats reunion in Barrie next Friday evening but maybe a bit far for you? You're welcome if you don't mind the drive...

Bella Cullen

Thank you but I think Barrie is a wee bit far. Have a great time though!

Shakyuk

Great read cheers

adfletch83

Hey Bella, it's nice to hear you're heading in the right direction. I'm actually in north-Scarborough at the moment living with my wife whilst waiting for PR. We've got SA already so the wait for me to be assessed continues.

I'm also from Yorkshire so it'd be nice to hear a familiar tone one day! This mild winter has me excited about my permanent move in the future

jamesb377

it's great to hear a balanced review. We are currently waiting for PR and trying to transfer my job across!

Gozit

Hi
I never saw this when you initially posted it but I just wanted to commend you for how hard it was to let your daughter live back in the UK... I'm sure it was a hard decision but it was the right one... I was that kid not liking Canada but I was younger (11-16) and my parents have lived here all their lives so i couldn't up sticks. Now I guess i can chalk it up to that i'm "used to it"... meaning I tolerate it here and i'm not mad depressed anymore but if my career leads me to a good job back home i'll take it in a heartbeat. Cheers and good luck...