First Three Weeks

Chris and Wayne in Woodstock

We have been in Ontario now for 3 weeks. We arrived in Toronto on Jan 25th via Vancouver where we had an unpleasant encounter with immigration. Geri (Val's sister) and her husband Al collected us from the airport and showed us the house.

Sat was a late start, however, the beginning of some amazing winter weather. It began to snow and continued throughout the day. We toured Woodstock and located St. Mike's and St. Mary's and on Sunday, our community sponsors, Mike and Laurie Rishworth, also showed us the sights. We were treated to Tim Horton's coffee which many Canadians are addicted to and we discovered why as it is so much cheaper than Aussie coffee.

Monday was our first day of school and while I had exams, Wayne was thrown to the lions with 28 grade 8 students and not much idea of what to do. His week continued to get more stressful as mine offered endless time to get organised. Tuesday saw bus cancellations due to ice which means in the high school no students come. Friday we had a massive storm and all of the schools in the London Board were closed. The weather continued to entertain us and my second week was far from normal. Tuesday and Wednesday had bus cancellations due to fog and ice respectively so no school again. The locals say this winter has been particularly severe and cancellations most unusual. Greater Toronto area has seen heavy snowfalls which has disrupted traffic and caused countless accidents. We have only seen sunshine 3 days in the last 3 weeks so I can well understand the phenomenon of "cabin fever."

We have been treated like royalty by the Canadian people who have been so welcoming and helpful. Wayne loves playing the ignorant Aussie tourist, however, it has paid dividends. Shopping has been fun; groceries are generally cheaper and there is certainly more variety; clothing is also relatively cheaper and I have discovered that shampoo, cosmetics and skincare ranges are exactly the same as Aussie -- so no adjustments.

Ontario driving and insurance have proved to be nightmarish. We still do not have our car insurance sorted and if Wayne has to get his Ontario license immediately the procedures are illogical, almost nonsensical.

We have visited London (about 300,000 people) which is about 50 km away as well as Ingersoll (about 10,000). Many of the people we work with commute. Woodstock is a city of 35,000 and many think it is small and quiet. It is not small but it is quiet and the young people don't have a great deal to do apart from sport. St. Mary's is very involved with a variety of sports and the school spirit is strong.