People & Places
Wallace's Canadian Blog July 07
Rachel Wallace, our blogger in Nova Scotia, provides her sixth slice of family life in Eastern Canada
I can't believe we have been here eight months already. Where does the time go? Well, a lot of it went getting us up and running and sorting out houses, schools, cars, etcetera. Was it worth it? Yes, definitely. I still sit here looking at our view thinking we don't know how lucky we are then think to myself that I do realise exactly how lucky we are. Sometimes I worry that something bad must be on its way to counteract the good.
Would I do anything differently? No, probably not. There is only so much you can find out before hand and in a lot of cases you need to be here before you can do certain things, like getting your kids into school, taking driving tests, getting SIN and healthcare numbers, etcetera. Having a fact-finding trip is certainly a good idea especially to see if you like the area or not and to check out job prospects. We have now met many hopeful immigrants and a couple of families we met earlier on in the year have now also moved here. It is nice to keep in touch with them and swap ideas and helpful hints.
The weather here lately has been quite changeable with rain and cloud but also sun and temperatures up to about 29 degrees. We managed to get an old rowing boat cheaply, although it does leak a bit. We rowed Jack and Kerry round the lake to the public access area where they then went swimming with their friends. It's still too cold for me but they weren't worried by it. They just love the fact that they have a 'swimming pool' at the end of the garden which can also be used for boating, fishing, skating, etcetera.
We have just celebrated Canada Day and had an English BBQ. June and Mark Spindloe from the Mumford B&B came along and June was a great help and took over the cooking. Mark busied himself playing snooker on the full size table which was left here. We had a few families come round which have only emigrated this year so it was good to all swap stories.
Ian has now passed the dreaded stability exam and has only two more to go so hopefully by mid August will be working on a tug boat. He keeps telling me he has been having a 'gap' year! I think he will find it strange once he finally starts work again.
My Mum is visiting at the moment so it is nice to go to all the touristy places. We visited Peggy's Cove the other day and went to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay today which are really beautiful. She can't get over how empty the roads are on our travels. Like June once said, the skies look bigger here as all you can see is the road, loads of trees and even more sky.
The children are now off for nine weeks but hopefully they will have plenty to keep them occupied. They have made several friends and have different camps to go to.
Well that's me done for another month. Glad to see the emails keep coming. I can't believe how many people are coming out this way - it's great!
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