hi guys today I thought I would do something a little bit more unusual and
I would tell you about 10 things that we have learned since moving to Calgary
so here we go
if you are new to my channel here we basically talked about
navigating life with two small children as newcomers to Canada we moved to
Calgary less than three months ago and we've learned quite a lot already so
consider subscribing but if you've been a fan of my channel for quite a while
why not spread the word how about you share this video on your social media
maybe your friends and family would like to see what it's like to live in Calgary
and I would be very grateful for that so here we go
thing we learned about Calgary number one Calgary is incredibly spread out
it's very big territory wise and it can take you a very very long time to get
from one end of the city to another say an hour an hour and a half thing number
two Calgary is divided into four different areas north west north east
south west and south east we live in southwest at the moment but we have our
eye on Northwest because our daughters will be going to a francophone school in
the northwest that is only if we sell our flat in England keep your fingers
crossed please for that because our last sale fell through don't get me started
when you're looking at areas where to move when you come to Calgary there is a
lot of information online about certain areas being maybe a bit more rough than
other areas people talk about places being not very safe for families or even
young people however since we moved I have spoken to lots of people from
different areas and communities in Calgary and even those that are well
known on the Internet as being unsafe are actually very safe for families
I have people that I speak to on Instagram on Facebook in other social
media that live in what the internet is saying is unsafe areas but they are very
happy their children are safe they're safe and they love living in the suburbs
even though those places get bad rap so do your research before you come rent in
some areas that you think would suit you and then ask around those places with
bad reputation might actually offer cheaper real estate and it would be as
safe as anywhere else in the city thing number three unless you live downtown
prepare to travel to get your groceries some people like ourselves are trying to
plan weekly grocery shopping for once a week go into a big supermarket getting
everything but you know sometimes you do need to just pop down to the shops that
wouldn't be very easy in Calgary you would probably have to get a car to get
to a supermarket so yeah just be a lot better planning what you need for the
week thing number four what I love about Calgary is the sense of community every
little community has like a community center where volunteers organize some
activities for people that live in their area because everyone's driving you
wouldn't ordinarily just bump into somebody even next door but the
community centers organize like a spaghetti evening or wine-tasting
evening or a movie night for children and that's how you get to know your
neighbors and this is absolutely brilliant and most of the time it's free
speaking about volunteering that is actually my number five volunteering
seems huge in Calgary and in Canada in general a lot of people we know do
volunteering on a regular basis like once a month or once a week even a lot
of mothers have to have to volunteer at their children preschools but again
that's you meet new people that's how you build
connection and I think it's a brilliant thing thing number six
Calgary isn't cheap we thought that living in England was very expensive and when
we moved to Calgary we were like well why are some things as expensive as in
England and some things are even more expensive than in England that is not fair
when you look at the price tag don't forget to add five percent of tax that's
what the tax is in Alberta five percent but in some provinces it could be
different in some provinces in Canada you have to wait at least three months
and you need to register to get health insurance in Alberta it's not the case
if you apply for your health card that's how you get your insurance number and in
the meantime you do need to go to the hospital and you need to pay for the
treatment once you get your health card and your health insurance number your
expenses will be reimbursed which is brilliant when we applied for a health
card and the health card is necessary for each family member we had to wait
about a week or two for them to arrive as we came from England we didn't have
to re pass the driving test we just had to update our driving licenses from UK
licenses to Canadian once when you apply for a Canadian driving license you need
to bring your valid driving licence and confirmation of your address we had
problems with that because all the documents we get come in Oli's name I
needed something for myself and the confirmation of your residential status
and you have to wait about a week or two for your new driving licence to come I
already got mine also to add on about driving the cars here are huge the lanes
and roads are huge add parking spaces the huge so big yes from me
thing number nine and my favorite you only need to drive
an hour or an hour and a half to get to the Canadian Rockies the mountains are
magnificent I have been places in my life I have traveled the world quite a
bit but I don't think I have seen anything quite like it and to think that
I live an hour away from such stunning beauty is very uplifting so you can be
worried about your children not behaving you have problems at work on the weekend
jump in your car drive an hour and you are in the presence of absolute beauty
nothing can quite compare with that and last but not least and my second
favorite thing about Calgary it's always sunny
in Calgary always I mean about three hundred and thirty five days a year out
of 365 that is mind blowing and it's absolute true it is sunny now it might
be minus 12 but it is sunny and everyone is happy when it's sunny all right I
think I'm done these were my 10 things we've learned about living in Calgary
there are some downsides to living in Calgary but I'm not gonna talk about
that today figured I'm in a good mood thank you so much for sticking around
till the very end don't forget to subscribe and spread the word and we'll
see you all again next week bye