Settling in

Five weeks really have whizzed by; not much time to sit and contemplate. We collected our new vehicle a week ago and it really has given us 'freedom'. We have decided to look for property in either the SW or NW of Calgary; this side of Calgary has quick access to Highway 1 and the mountains.

Last weekend we went hiking in Kananaskis/Peter Loughead Provincial Parks. As we passed through Canmore the locals looked fit and tanned - I think we have some work to do in tightening those muscles! The Nordic Centre is well worth a visit as it has maps, trails, biking trails and a new sport disk golf, all good fun and it gets you into the great outdoors. The views really were spectacular. Our journey took us past Grassi Lake off the tarmaced road and onto dirt cum gravel ... our nice new clean car not for long.

We passed long horned sheep, a cute young black bear on our journey to the trailhead; sorry no photographs why? Because we decided to watch and the camera remained on the floor of the car. Next time it will be see the animal and take a photograph. We hiked upto Windy Pass and were greeted by a welcoming breeze, a group of friendly Canadians and views that did take your breath away. What wonderful places Bill takes me to for lunch! Our sanwiches never tasted so good. The breeze meant that there were few biting insects about. We certainly enjoyed seeing what is on our doorstep and easily within an hours drive from SW Calgary where we are staying.

The job front is slow, we have put in a number of applications and are now just waiting to see what becomes of them. Zofia has also put in papers to the Alberta Teaching Association for accreditation of her qualifications: nothing is cheap 250C$ and then a further 85C$ at the Notary. All copies had to be 'notarised' I had a shock as the Notary was signing and stamping each copy as two people before us had paid 25C$ for just one signature on a document. So imagine the relief when he said 85 dollars .. phew! The Association didn't seem to think that sending originals by post wasn't normal. The Notary however did agree with us - never send originals by post. Also UK trained teachers in Alberta must contact every post secondary institution for a transcript of the course studied, these transcripts must be sent directly to the Alberta Teacher Association so it doesn't matter if you have a copy with you it won't count. Also you will need to contact the GTC for a statement of Professional Standing. Once everything as arrived at the Registry the process will take 11 - 14 weeks.

Usually when we come on holiday in the summer thoughts at this time of August turn to returning home and going back to work. We guess that psychologically this week will be one of emotional turmoil for us both, as we are not returning from holiday .. in fact this summer has been busy completing paperwork, applying for jobs (not a usual holiday activity), finding our way around, looking at showhomes and contemplating a mortgage and oh hoping for an improved exchange rate!

Two weeks have flown

Two weeks ago we left Manchester Airport a little delayed in taking off and charged with emotions difficult to set down in words. Once airborne thoughts turned to our forthcoming adventures. We made up a fair amount of time in the air and landed only fifteen minutes late at 6.45 pm. What followed was unbelievable; we left the aircraft, proceeded through immigration, collected our bags went through customs and were walking out through the doors by 7.30 pm!! The family were not expecting us through so quickly and there were no parking charges to pay at the airport.

We arrived to warmth and sunshine, although the weather this past week has been interesting what with thunderstorms, lightening displays, hail and torrential downpours.

One of the first things we did was visit our Bank and alter a few things with our account and apply for a credit card. We also exchanged our old UK driving licences for Alberta ones; we took the sight test, had our photographs taken and are awaiting our new licences. We also went into the City to obtain our Social Insurance Numbers - the cards have already arrived. We hope that our PR cards will also arrive soon. Once these have all arrived we will be able to register for our medical cards. Cards with your name, photograph and address are invaluable here.

Bill spent a great deal of time researching vehicles: we are fortunate to have our nephew's car for use. Car reports reflect a different set of values to the ones we were used to in the UK: reliability is key here and the Japanese producers top the tables, could be due to the fact that they import their models from Japan and therefore have a better hold on build. The makes we would usually go for do not come out well in reports and also are on the pricier side. We have opted for a Toyota 4Runner which give us the ability to navigate mountain and logging roads to reach trail heads for our hikes. Having credit reports from Experian and Equifax proved useful when looking for a small amount of financing.

We spent time looking at car insurance, wow what a shock we were quoted over 3000C$ for the pair of us! However, we remembered Wiki on the British Expats site and we found a company, Canadian Direct, which took into account our driving records from the UK. Prior to leaving the UK we changed our licences to the new plastic ones and on receipt of them also received paper copies of our driving record.

The exchange rate is not doing what it is supposed to so we are only exchanging enough monies for the car deposit and for living expenses at the moment. We hope it will rise somewhat when we come to buying a house.

We have both applied for jobs in a variety of sectors hoping to utilise our transferable skills acquired through so many years of teaching. Fingers crossed.

Two weeks in and we feel it is time to slow down a little and relax.