Introduction to the forum - Tell us about yourselves

[kaccad]

Hello to all,

My name is Karim, I am Egyptian married since 2006 and I am currently living in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

I am moving to Canada very soon (most probably Jan 2010).

I am very interested to meet people who are currently in Toronto since I will be moving there and I will be in need of assistance and guidance in finding a house to rent and of course any connection or referral to find a suitable job.

Thanks

Karim

[PaulJS]

Hi there,
As you might have guessed from my login ID my name is Paul, and although I'm not yet an expat living in Canada I am seriously considering it.
I'm actually English despite putting my country of origin as Scotland, the reason for this was simply that I'm originally from the very north of England, but I'm married to a Scot, my children are Scottish, and we currently live in Scotland!
I work in Saudi as a Marine Engineer and my hobbies include sailing, SCUBA diving, and clay pigeon shooting (Although I miss most of them!).
Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting some new friends through the forum, so I'll close this post by wishing you all well.

Paul

[Getting There]

Originally Posted by PaulJS

Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting some new friends through the forum, so I'll close this post by wishing you all well.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Just welcoming you to the forum from Okotoks, Alberta!

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.

[limepikle]

Hi guys

Im Chris 28, born and raised in London England, I have a fiancee and a two year old son (Thomas) and a new baby due in January and we are Itching to live in Canada.

I am an IT and Infrastructure lead Energy reduction specialist here in the UK. i have spent hours reserching moving to Canada with my partner and we are itching to get over ther and start our new life, However we have applied under the skilled worker programme and have been told that the only way we will gain permanent residence is if i have a job offer from a canadian business before we get there!

My partner is an A1 NVQ level 3 Hair and beauty assessor and is currently teaching hairdressing in the UK too!

I am very highly skilled in my chosen field but sadly my qualifications (above A Level) are only recognised in the UK.

We had some bad news in the summer when a good friend of ours was shot in the head by a gang , My friend was an innocent bystander when a fight broke out and was killed because of what he saw!

This cemented our feelings and we now really want to immigrate! does anyone have any advice for a young well educated family?

Please, any advice is welcomed

Chris Heslop

[poptart]

Hi, I'm raised in the US, living in Europe (Netherlands and UK) for 7 years then moved to Vancouver, BC Canada 2 years ago because my partner (now husband) got a job there in the games industry. Moved there shortly after the birth of our daughter and now I'm knocked up again with #2 and dreading giving birth in the Canadian health care system.

Both of us work full time (all 3 of us if you include our daughter who's in daycare 5 days a week).

although, we have somewhat enjoyed our time here in Vancouver (in our short time, been through a layoff, moving, growing family) we're looking forward to leaving next year... most likely back to Europe where we have more family and friends and to start up the visa process to eventually move to the US.

[dgjamison]

Originally Posted by Soo

Hi there
Thanks for your speedy reply. We are also going in April/May for a holiday & to check out areas - Isn't that weird!! No, we have never been to Alberta before but it has been recommended by several people & that's the place we have set our hearts on!

Hi my name is Denise, I am living in Ontario right now,(lake Erie) we returned to Canada after 26 years and I have to say I have seen big changes, I don't find the people as friendly as I remember, and Toronto to me is the pits now a real concrete jungle and no atmosphere at all. We went to BC in april to have a look and i have to say I loved it but housing was too expensive for us as we are retired. We chose Ontario for a few reasons, mostly as my kids are still in Ireland i felt the 6 hour journey was enough for them, and I like the east coast of america for visiting. However I feel we have made a big mistake and my husband feels the same. I would love to hear from anyone who went to Alberta. I think the west coast of Canada is the real Canada, ontario is not to me. Any advise on the cost of living, renting houses ect: re: Alberta would be gratefully appreciated.

[dgjamison]

[QUOTE=Getting There;97786]Re Alberta...we've ben here since 2007 and even now, chuckle to ourselves over the fact that we live in a Province 3 times the size of the UK but with just 3 million people in it! Even the main cities, although busy, feel nothing like our past life in the south east of England. We're sure you will enjoy it here. Excellent too that you are coming out on a research trip - that will add massively to your appreciation of the place and allow you to make much better decisions going forward. Perhaps don't leave Calgary out of your reckoning...with Edmonton, Red Deer and Edmonton all positioned along the same highway, it is easy to check them all out.

Kind regards,

Eamonn & Janet.[/QUOTE
Would love to hear how you chose Alberta and did you compare it to other provinces? Have heard only good reports about alberta would love to see it some time

[Getting There]

Originally Posted by dgjamison

Would love to hear how you chose Alberta and did you compare it to other provinces? Have heard only good reports about alberta would love to see it some time

Hi,

We had looked at coastal BC back in 2003. In going there, we thought that Vancouver may well be the solution for us but it turned out not to be the case. We concluded that we would have to live so far from our likely places of work - given the cost of real estate - that we would have a worse commute than we had in the South East of the UK. Moreover, it was just very busy and we were frequently caught in traffic jams and these were the sorts of things that we were trying to get away from. That said, it is a very beautiful place...Stanley Park is fantastic.

So, we tried again in 2004, this time in Calgary. We also checked out Lethbridge, Red Deer and Edmonton. But Calgary felt like a really good solution for us. We liked the western feel to the place. We liked the people that we encountered. We liked being able to get around with relative ease whilst still feeling like we we would be living in a good sized city. The housing was more affordable (although by no means the cheapest in Canada). Over a rack of ribs at Tony Roma's!...we decided to put in an application when we returned to the UK and two and a half years later, we got our visas.

A couple of years in and it is feeling like a fabulous choice so far. We actually live in Okotoks, just south of Calgary, which has a really friendly and family oriented feel to it.

Hope this helps.

Eamonn & Janet.

[dgjamison]

Originally Posted by sallyzerk

Hi,
I'm Sal. My husband and I and our little boy are moving out from Uk to Calgary hopefully in November. Just need to book our tickets.
We're really excited and can't wait to begin our new adventure. We're going to be looking to settle in Okotoks and we'd love to hear from anyone who's made the move and can give any advice.
Look forward to hearing from you!

Hi my name is Denise, we live in Ontario but I really don't like it, we are retired so maybe thats it. Did you move to Calgary and can I ask you how you are finding it? I have been told the winters are really colder than Ontario. I get the feeling from this forum alberta seems to be the real Canada along with BC, have you settled well? Would love to hear from you how you are finding the changes

[dgjamison]

Originally Posted by Getting There

Hi,

We had looked at coastal BC back in 2003. In going there, we thought that Vancouver may well be the solution for us but it turned out not to be the case. We concluded that we would have to live so far from our likely places of work - given the cost of real estate - that we would have a worse commute than we had in the South East of the UK. Moreover, it was just very busy and we were frequently caught in traffic jams and these were the sorts of things that we were trying to get away from. That said, it is a very beautiful place...Stanley Park is fantastic.

So, we tried again in 2004, this time in Calgary. We also checked out Lethbridge, Red Deer and Edmonton. But Calgary felt like a really good solution for us. We liked the western feel to the place. We liked the people that we encountered. We liked being able to get around with relative ease whilst still feeling like we we would be living in a good sized city. The housing was more affordable (although by no means the cheapest in Canada). Over a rack of ribs at Tony Roma's!...we decided to put in an application when we returned to the UK and two and a half years later, we got our visas.

A couple of years in and it is feeling like a fabulous choice so far. We actually live in Okotoks, just south of Calgary, which has a really friendly and family oriented feel to it.

Hope this helps.

Eamonn & Janet.

Hi and thank you for your reply, it sounds like you really have settled well and Okotoks is now your home. I too wanted the feel of living in a good sized city with the ease of getting round easily, but have to say am not settling well at all and find it so changed from the Ontario I remember. Are the winters in Calgary very severe? My husband and I play golf, are there many golf courses around calgary, for us this is very important as we are retired and it is a way of meeting friends, and becoming involved ? thanks for your time