We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Long time no post, but we've finally arrived! In fact, we've been here nearly a month already! We're living on Burnaby Mountain and loving it. Our dog, Mylo, arrived last week (somewhat traumatic owing to problems with the shipping company and customs!) and he's finally over the jet lag.

So far, we're really enjoying it here. The weather in Vancouver has exceeded our expectations! We've had days recently as high as 35C!! With nights settling around 21C. Way too hot! We've had a couple of showers but nothing major.

We've seen deer but no bears or elk... yet...

Don't want to bore everyone but a quick summary of the past few weeks (in easy to digest bullet form!):

• Canadians are very friendly and welcoming people.
• Absolutely no problem getting work permits, through immigration. Took about 5 minutes after the plane had landed. Very efficient. Very friendly.
• Had to wait a couple of hours to get SIN numbers, but again very efficient and very friendly.
• Opening a bank account was no problem though HSBC wouldn't offer anyone with an SIN starting with a 9 a chequing account. That's essential out here - so we've opened our account with Scotiabank - again very friendly.
• Banking system somewhat archaic compared to the UK and lots of warnings about identity theft being a huge problem out here. We're paying $9.95 per month for unlimited transactions. We just can't get out of the habit of putting everything on a debit card!!
• Sorting the house was fairly easy - and that's even with a golden retriever in tow! Many will tell you that it's hard to find suitable places to rent but we had lots of options available. Need the chequing account because you have to provide 12 months postdated cheques for the year's rental in advance. All we had to pay was an extra deposit (half a month's rent) for our Mylo.
• Sorted a car fairly easily. Rental cars are VERY expensive - mainly because of the insurance you have to add on. We found a great deal on swap-a-lease.com for a Volvo S60 with 10 months remaining for under $400 per month. That'll give us enough time to decide what we want.
• American cars are TERRIBLE to drive. The driving is very "lazy" here. Lots of stop, go, stop. Not difficult to get to grips with but not enjoyable. We haven't booked or taken the test yet (damn you ICBC!!) but we're planning to sort soon and will let you all know. Petrol is cheaper (about half price) than the UK but American cars generally have really poor economy. The Volvo (being european) has a smaller engine but is way more economic. That said, you drive further! For some reason it's cheaper to fillup in the evening than it is in the morning!! Wierd!
• Heth's started her training at The Royal Columbian. Lots of differences with the UK - mainly for the better. Induction and training are very comprehensive and Heth says nurses feel valued and are better rewarded out here.
• Not enjoying the fact that dogs have to be walked on a leash virtually everywhere! And that dog parks are really quite poor compared with all other public parks. Still, we've been out in the mountains, hiking in forests and sunbathing on beaches! All in Vancouver!!
• Food is cheap. Really cheap. Chicken is more expensive, but not prohibitively so. And you can't (at least we can't!) find anything other than frozen lamb from New Zealand.
• Setting up bills with BC Hydro has been a breeze, although you have to send a "void cheque" to setup the equivilant of a direct debit - no providing details over the phone.
• Mobile phones are EXPENSIVE. Mine especially as I need data for email. I'm paying over $110 a month for 350 minutes (and yes, those get used up when receiving a call - not just making one!) and 25MB of data. In the UK that would be about £30 tops - way less than half the cost. Heth's deal was better but only for local calling and local texts with solo mobile. However, Heth's phone drops a lot of calls. Rogers seem to have it more covered out here but the quality isn't as clear as it is in the UK.
• Home phones, TV and Internet (all with Shaw) are excellent. Very easy to setup and very quick and reliable. No complaints!
• Walmart is horrible. Real Canadian Superstore is good, though not much in the way of ingredients. It's all pre-prepared and re-heat stuff. Costco is simply awesome. Same as the UK (missing a few bits).
• LOVE Stanley Park. LOVE Burnaby Mountain Park. LOVE the beaches. LOVE Downtown. LOVE Vancouver.

So that's our summary so far.... In terms of what we're missing...

• Friends. Lots of email and photos back and forth, but it's not the same...
• Family - not so much. We lived a fair distance from them anyway and we speak just as much now as we did there! Calling on VoIP is free and the quality is superb!
• Tescos. Oh how we miss Tesco.
• Decent bacon. Canadian bacon is raved about all over northern America but it's rubbish. All fat and no meat! Seriously - there's no back bacon out here!
• Plug sockets. These things just fall out the wall! It also takes kettles twice as long to boil, toasters twice as long to toast, fryers... well they take weeks to heat up! Most things aren't grounded - even if they have metal bodies!! Yikes!! And plug sockets in bathrooms next to sinks ain't clever!
• Squash. They simply don't have it here!! You can find Ribena in the mixers section in a tiny bottle for over $6!! But that's it! You're only other option is disolvable crystals - euch! Virtually everything is fully loaded with sugar and e-numbers (though they don't have E-numbers here so you can't tell what's in it - but trust me - that colour ain't natural!!). Loads of fruit juices - but again - they're quite sugary!
• A manual gearbox. I guess this one is a preference thing. It all adds to the laziness of driving here though...
• Roundabouts. Four way stops are irritating especially when they're every 50 yards!!
• Television. Adverts adverts and more adverts out here. But hey - that's not why we came!!

So there you have it. Hope that wasn't too painful! If anyone is in BC and wants to meet up we're more than happy to share experiences, explore a little and enjoy life here in Canada! We're in Burnaby but can meet virtually anywhere (in Vancouver people... not Canada!).

Take care.
J&H :D

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

WOW and well done to you lot!!

just read the post very interesting, we are on recci in ontario, so cant help on that side.
But we opened an account and pay nothing, even have checks and can order more if needed, we opened with RBC, very helpful and left with all the stuff, cash cards and internet banking after 20 mins, really good and we dont have SIN numbers yet!!!!
Squash, we came across this problem on last recci, they do tins in the freezer section of most supermarkets, you de-frost and then add to jug and add another in water, near the same so my daughter says :thumbsup:

anyway good luck, so wish we wasnt returning to the uk


gill

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Interesting summary! Sounds like you're having fun. :)

Canadian bacon is back bacon! :p It's also called peameal bacon. The streaky bacon in slices that you find easily in a shop is not 'Canadian bacon'... it's just 'bacon'.

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

If you're able to get a Costco membership they have fresh lamb and it is very good.

Canadian bacon is not the streaky stuff you buy in the stores (well yes it's Canadian, it's processed here) but look for pea meal bacon that is the real Canadian bacon and it is back bacon.

The length of time issue is mostly your imagination things are grounded you just don't think they are, and as for plugs next to sinks in bathrooms they are perfectly safe they are either GFI (ground fault interupted sockets) or the circuit breaker in the main panel is a GFI circuit breaker.For the most part you are correct we don't do squash in Canada but crystals are most definitely not you're only option. Look in the frozen foods section most juice concentrates here are in frozen form.

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Thanks for the info :) We will look out for the real bacon now :)

We've tried the frozen squashes and they're pretty good - a little different. We used to get frozen minute maid from Costco in the UK that reformed as orange juice complete with pulp etc. The same stuff here is much more squash like... I guess Heth is just so infatuated with the Robinsons stuff that she's having withdrawl symptoms!! I've been drinking loads more water here - though added Ozone and bottle deposits for returns are a new one on me!

We have Costco membership from the UK that works here fine - YAY!! But we stupidly forgot to check there for lamb. Will do when we go next though - thanks for the tip!!

One final question - what is Don Air? Is it the same as "donna" in the UK (though presumably not lamb - is it beef or chicken?) We've seen it about loads - is that one that got "lost in translation"??

Thanks again guys
J&H :)

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Compliments of Wikipedia.....


Canada
A variation on the döner kebab known as a Donair was introduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada in the early 1970s. A restaurant called King of Donair claims to have been the first to serve this version in 1973.[1]

The meat in this version of the döner kebab (Halifax donair, as it is sometimes referred to) is sliced from a loaf cooked on a vertical spit, made from a combination of ground beef, flour or bread crumbs, and various spices, while the sauce is made from evaporated milk, sugar, vinegar, and garlic. The meat and sauce are served rolled in pita bread with diced tomato and onion. This version is generally so packed with ingredients, that the pita is almost there for ceremonial purposes; the pita of any true Haligonian donair will be so soaked in sauce that attempts to pick it up will be fruitless.

This version of the donair is very popular throughout the Maritime region of Canada, and is also available in some other areas of the country, with many fast food pizza restaurants also featuring donairs on the menu. Many of them also offer a donair pizza featuring all of the donair ingredients served on a pizza crust. Donair subs are also not uncommon.

Halifax, in particular, seems to take a certain pride in the donair as its own defining fast food. There are long lines to buy them at 3:30 A.M., after the bars close. The donair sauce on its own used to be provided for free though due to it gaining popularity it is often provided for a small fee with garlic fingers or as a pizza topping (e.g., Barbecue chicken pizza with donair sauce) by Halifax pizza restaurants — even local franchises of chains not based in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Great thread. Thanks for sharing all the info with us.

Good to hear you had no trouble with renting with the retriever too as we are hoping to do the same. Mind you, we've got two which may be a bit more tricky. Oh, and two cats! How did you source the property? Presumably you had it all sorted before you got there?

It sounds like the rest of it has been a walk in the park.

Congratulations :D

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Sounds lovely and hope your enjoying the new way of life out there.:thumbsup:

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

I would check on your RBC account as they don't provide a 'free' service. We were given one for the first couple of months whilst settling in but it was only temporary. After that we had to pay for services like everyone else.

We chose the RBC No Limit Banking for $11.95 per month. We use our debit card a lot just like we used our Switch card in the UK. One thing to note is that you will pay each time you use another Bank's cash machine regardless of which account you have. We use our own branch and also 'cash back' at the supermarket.

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Welcome to Canada JaceandHeth :thumbsup:

Good post and by all accounts a fair view of your experiences. I would agree on most things except the cheap food shopping. I find my weekly food bill more expensive here than back in the UK. Some of the food takes getting used to but you find alternatives or ways around it. I agree that the food here is very heavy on the sugar. This was a bit of a shock to me as I thought that UK was virtually the sugar capital of the world.

Donair sauce - yeuck, its far too sweet. If we have take-out donair than we put salsa on top instead, mmmmm much nicer.

Car insurance - shop around as it certainly make a difference. Our car insurance also covers us for car hire too which is something we didn't get in the UK. Handy when we start exploring Canada and have to flydrive.

Driving - we find it much better over here as it was far too aggressive in the UK. I suppose driving in big Canadian cities may be pretty aggressive though.

If your friends and rellies have PCs then use Messenger and get a webcam/mic. I speak to my mum several times a week. No-one has to type and we just chat away. I speak to a few of my other friends that way too. It's free too of course, which is great :thumbsup:

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Out here I think manual tranmissions are a lot more popular than they used to be. Both my sons have manual transmission cars. They prefer them. My older son used to have a Jeep and then they bought an Audi, which I guess was my son's choice because his wife then had to learn how to drive one!

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Hi JaseandHeth - great post - thanks :D

I still can't find the peameal bacon - do they sell it in Safeway?

Try the juice boxes labelled as fruit punch for a taste more similar to squash - its still juice (but seems a bit more watered down). Not the same but a possible replacement? :D

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

hey there! .....:)...i've not seen .:confused:.nor heard of....> pea meal bacon < i will keep an eye out for it as it may just do the trick for me...:).:thumbsup:

Re: We've arrived in Canada!! Looking for friends...
 

nope its free :thumbsup::thumbsup:
App last month they brought in some new stuff and yeah its free, unless we dont use the account for 2 yrs and they charge us $20 to close it.

We are not here, just on a recci trip, wish we was, fingers crossed here soon!!!!
Also try skype, if they sign up as well, you can talk pc to pc free
also we have phoned home so canada to uk cost us 0.01p for 1minute talk, really cheap compared to phone prices.
We brought our laptop with us, so using the local services etc

gill