I arrived to Canada with Working Holiday visa in May 2018. I came with no expectations. With my way of life I was sure I would stay in Canada for half a year and then I would move somewhere else. Again. However, it has been almost a year and I have been still living in Canada and been pretty happy at the same time. How is that? Let me give you fours reasons why I am still very satisfied in Vancouver. May it be your inspiration for trying life in Canada, too.
1 – WORK & FINANCIAL FREEDOM
This reason of my happiness in Canada is very personal and individual because it depends solely on us what kind of job we are looking for and eventually get. Also a bit of good luck may play some role here. And I was super lucky with my job of a server in Vancouver as this job not only gives me my financial freedom (servers earn really nice money here) but I also have great managers, amazing colleagues and a lot of free time as my schedule is pretty flexible and I have free weekends. I can also take as much vacation as I feel for as my managers always find a way how to make me and rest of my colleagues happy. If you want to know more about my job, read my article ” Why my job of a server in Vancouver makes me happy“.
2 – CANADIAN NATURE
I have loved nature since forever. Mountains in my country (Slovakia) always take my breath away. And I couldn´t have chosen better country for my 2018/19 experience than Canada when it comes to nature. I live in Vancouver which is surrounded on one side by the ocean and on other side by breathtaking mountains. Within two hours of driving you can get to amazing lakes, glaciers and incredible mountain peaks. That is why I have also written an article about my TOP 3 hikes in surrounding of Vancouver.
PS: My very first Canadian Peak was SEA TO SKY where I got with GONDOLA. Roundtrip tickets for Sea to Sky Gondola can be booked here.
3 – CANADIANS
Ok. Canadians are not latino people who I love most of all the cultures I have met with. Especially because of their generosity, passion and positive energy. However, also Canadians made great impression on me. Most Canadians I have met are well educated and well behaved. Canadians always greet, smile at you in the street even if they don´t know you, say thanks or sorry very often. As an example I set a situation with bus transportation in Vancouver. Canadians tend to make a queue and wait patiently for bus, after they get on a bus they say hi to a bus driver and when they get off the bus from the rear door they always yell long “thaaanks” so the driver could hear them. I find it super nice and polite.
4 – TRAVELLING
Because of above mention job I have in Vancouver which gives me a lot of financial and time freedom, I was able to travel a lot in the past year. Within 12 months of my stay in Canada I have been three times in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in order to see my family and friends and to spread a word about beauty of Latin America through my public speaking. Besides trips to Slovakia, I have made a 10 day trip to Hawaii (Kauai island) and in February 2019 I travelled to Mexican Puerto Vallarta for 7 days. In addition to that, as I work from Monday to Friday, almost every weekend I explore beauty of Canadian nature and mountains. Could I be happier here?
But what is the ONE reason because of which I am not decided to stay settled in Canada for the rest of my life? Well, it´s my FAMILY and FRIENDS.
Everything is about people. And although I have met some nice people in Vancouver and made some friends, it´s still not same. Back home I have friends who know me since I was a child. I have supportive loving family and while being away on my travels for more than 7 years, I am missing important family reunions, birthday parties, anniversaries, weddings, …
And I am asking myself – is it all worth it? Has my time to go home and settle down arrived? Or not yet? What would you do?
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If you go home and settle down, I would sure miss your blog! You must do what makes you happy!!
Muffy, although I will try to settle down back home, it doesn´t mean I stop travelling or blogging. Travelling is my addiction, blogging in my passion 🙂 I will just have to figure out how to settle down in Slovakia and do short-term travelling from there, too. 🙂
Ahoj, moc hezky napsany. Pekne se to cetlo a rada si prectu dalsi clanky na tvem blog. Ja uz jsem tu temer 18 let a musim rict, ze jen poslednich par let me zacina svedit zadek zda jet domu – duvody – Kanada, Vancouver, je neuveritelne drahy kdyz clovek nechce jen cestovat a uzivat si. Usadit se tu, mit hypoteku, ci studovat znamena zadluzit az po pudu. Mam uz ted baby a co slysim zdravotnictvi, socialni zabezpeceni, skolky, jesle je doma na uplne jine urovni. Kanadani jsou slusni, ale vetsina mych znamych jsou stale lide jine kultury. Takze kdyz to shrnu, asi kazda krajina ma sve pro a proti a uz samozrejme ani nevim asi kam patrim 🙂 – pokanadctena ceska :):). Good luck a tesim se na dalsi blogs.
Ahoj Lenka, úplne ti rozumiem a chápem tvoje otázky či pochybnosti ohľadom toho, kam vlastne patríš. Ja budem dávať Slovensku šancu a uvidím po čase, či to bolo správne rozhodnutie. Hádam áno. No písať budem blog naďalej, takže ak budeš pokračovať v čítaní, tak sa dozvieš, ako som dopadla. 🙂
Ahoj Mili, pekne napisane a presne viem, ako sa asi citis. Zila som v Kanade 6 rokov a prve 3-4 roky som mala presne takyto pohlad ako mas ty. Potom asi aj s pribudajucimi rokmi, ked sa ti menia aj priority a hodnoty, sa zacal menit aj moj pohlad a zacala som vo Vancouveri vnimat viac veci, ktore mi az tak nevyhovovali. Dospelo to az k tomu, ze som sa rozhodla proste odstahovat naspat na Slovensko, bez toho aby som mala na to nejaky konkretny dovod, pricom som uz mala PR, super pracu s velmi slusnym platom, dobry byt a pod. Su veci, ktore proste nevies vysvetlit a ja osobne si myslim, ze je velmi dolezite pocuvat iba svoj vnutorny hlas (alebo inak povedane “you should trust your gut”). Kanada a Vancouver je uzasna krajina a da ti vela novych skusenosti a zazitkov, ktore ta posuvaju vpred a ked raz dospejes do stadia, ked citis, ze ta to taha niekam inam, alebo trebars aj domov, treba to aj napriek tomu aka je Kanada super pocuvnut a ist za svojim srdcom 😉 Ja som uz druhy rok na Slovensku a ani na chvilku som neolutovala svoje rozhodnutie 😉 Viem, ze proste teraz mam byt tu a co bude o par rokov? Neviem, ale tym sa teraz netrapim. Prajem vela stastia, este krasny pobyt a vela zazitkov v Kanade a vela stastia pri rozhodovani! 😉
Lucia, ďakujem za tento nesmierne krásny koment, podporil ma v mojom rozhodovaní a dodal mi energiu, ktorú som potrebovala! 🙂 Hádam sa nám potom na SVK podarí stretnúť a pozdieľať si spoločné zážitky z Kanady a zo sveta 🙂