Ontario - yours to discover

Hello Hi from Canada.

Burlington was the best decision I've ever made. Or is it Canada? But I can tell you one thing - this place rocks! Auditing not so much - but as they say "We're not here for a long time, we're here for a good time".

I am 2 weeks late with posting my first blog from the very wild (and very cold) west. And for that I'm sorry... What I can say is that I hit the ground running upon arrival in Canada and went straight into 10+ hour work days and a year end deadline.

Leaving South Africa in mild 30 + temperatures caused some packing issues. When you're that hot you cannot imagine being cold so my packing was a little bit of a disaster (not to mention that with a full 50kgs I brought with, I forgot all my shirts in South Africa). However warm shirts are not required here either. Betty (pronounced Batty) our building supervisor arrived at our apartment wearing a T-shirt. Apparently the 8 degree weather on the day we arrived was considered a heat wave in Canada. I thought she was off her head when she took us on a tour of our apartment building and left the building into the cold with no jacket.

Arrival. Canada. Toronto. 7th of January. 

Destination 1: Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Duration: 4 months

View from our apartment

Thus far I have felt and been a complete foreigner/ tourist. I laugh at things constantly because they are so different to what I’m used to from home. I keep forgetting that tax is added at the till, a 25 cent coin is one of the most amusing things I’ve seen and at times I struggle to understand people (and them understand me) even though we’re talking the same language. An e-mail received from work read:

"FYI – IT is down on Saturday – ensure that you have posted all your time to CMS before we leave on Friday so that you are not delinquent. "

Being considered a delinquent still entertains me. But on the positive side – these keep me entertained and very amused – so never a dull moment in Camp Burlington.

I picked up my rental car in the most ominous weather - raining, dark, and misty. I would like to blame it on the weather, but after receiving my key I got into the car on the wrong side of it. I was sitting there thinking – “WOW how spacious is this vehicle!”. The AVIS lady was wondering if giving me a car was a good idea and judging by the look she shot me when I got out to move into the right driving seat – I guessed not. Driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road (mostly in snow) is going to be entertaining – hopefully tomorrow I’ll get into the right side of the car (well left side of the car but who’s counting).



Note to self - getting used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road is proving to be tricky. Drove into oncoming traffic on day 2 and have gotten into the passenger side to drive more than once when leaving work (much to my Canadian colleagues delight when I do that).

All in all – the weather has gone from very cold to absolutely freezing and have had snow twice. So I’m loving itJ

 Hello Canada, you beaut!