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What is it like living in: Canada? How about New Zealand? Germany?
- Thread starter Mason
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videogamer
Banned
Mason said:
How old are you? You sound like a young guy who has his life ahead of him.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
I'll pimp NZ a little. It's a pretty cool place to live. be aware that its very isolated though, so to travel from here (except to Aus) is a big deal. People always move away from here because it's the culture. In your 20s do your OE.
Weather isn't the greatest in the Capital but parts of NZ have great summertime weather, South Island a lot colder than the north, much skiing down south, a little in the middle of the north (Biggest ski field in country is in North Island). People are friendly and we like foreigners, hardly any Americans here, so you would be quite unique if thats a draw.
Money wise its.... eh...... lets see. 120-130 bucks for a video game brand new. Average salary is probably around the 40k mark, with groceries, you could probably get by on 40ish a week (I do the communal thing a bit so it's slightly cheaper)
Free health care (not sure how that works for Americans though).
Oh and It's nothing like the states.
Weather isn't the greatest in the Capital but parts of NZ have great summertime weather, South Island a lot colder than the north, much skiing down south, a little in the middle of the north (Biggest ski field in country is in North Island). People are friendly and we like foreigners, hardly any Americans here, so you would be quite unique if thats a draw.
Money wise its.... eh...... lets see. 120-130 bucks for a video game brand new. Average salary is probably around the 40k mark, with groceries, you could probably get by on 40ish a week (I do the communal thing a bit so it's slightly cheaper)
Free health care (not sure how that works for Americans though).
Oh and It's nothing like the states.
Mason said:
You know, the intention behind the GST (and PSTs) being added after was so you WOULD know they're there. Stores are required to make clear that GST will be added, and anyone who's lived here for any decent period of time should not forget their existence. I think that would be rather difficult.
As for the cell phone service, yes, it's true. We, as a country, have invested a massive amount of money into our landline telecom infrastructure (which enabled us to get cable and dsl internet almost nationally before the US was able to get all the major cities wired), and I think the same telecom companies (who have a stranglehold on legitimacy) resent the move to wireless. In Alberta you can get perfect coverage with Telus and be charged out the ass, or you can get shitty coverage with Fido and pay less. Either way, you pay for 'extras' like voicemail and caller ID. It really is a sad state of affairs.
Oh and by the way, a chequebook is not a valid form of ID because they don't require that your address be correct when they print them. The dude could have just gone to his bank and gotten them to print a statement for him. Might have cost him a few cents or something, but it would have worked.
Mason said:
I don't know how the cell phone service here compares to the one in Britain, but to be fair, Europe is leagues ahead when it comes to that technology. I don't have any problems with the phone service personally, since I haven't experienced any better.
The sales tax is exactly how it's described. I've lived with it all my life, so I can't really compare.
Crazymoogle
Member
Mason said:
Sneaky? More like standard. Hell, it's not unusual in the states either: tax is on everything, and it's not on the pricetag, period. There is a very small amount of non-tax items (fresh foods, for example) and the tax rate varies from province to province (Ontario is what, 15.5%? Alberta is 7%)
Cell Phone service is about as backwards as it gets to the rest of the civilized world. Although the actual timing varies, we tend to be a year behind the US, which itself is long way behind Japan/Korea/Pacific Asia. Coverage isn't really that different but has its share of weak zones; since the phone companies have to handle the infrastructure themselves, I've found CDMA (Telus) a lot more reliable on average than TDMA (Rogers) but if they all got their ass off the couch I'm sure it could be a dead issue. It's funny; my alberta cell coverage was better in Chicago than in my place from 2000-2003.
Cheques? I think the only thing I've needed them for in the past 10 years was rent and paying the accountant, and both situations can be just as easily handled with debit or credit. Figure in the easy online banking systems, a job that supports direct deposit, and low or no-fee debit machines littered everywhere, and you might never have to go back to a bank.
That's a pretty rare temperature. The "bad" winter temperature usually maxes out around -42C. Right now it's bouncing between -5 and +15. Calgary has a great job market, one of the lowest costs of living in the country, and is basically booming bigtime thanks to the Oil Industry (Alberta is also debt free as a result). Of course, minimum wage is noticeably lower too, but I'd think emigrating anywhere to work a minimum wage job would be trouble.
Ontario is 15% and yeah most of the things that annoy him are actually done for greater transparency. People in Britian for example get charged for 999 service too (phone companies don't provide it out of the goodness of their hearts) the charge is just hidden in the standard phone bill. Here we know exactly how much we get charged. Sure the flipside is that some companies start producing extremely convoluted bills to confuse consumers (it happened in Ontario with electricity prices), but the government can legislate standards to prevent that from happening.
Since when is Calgary cold? Jeez. They have chinooks there. It's nothing compared to Edmonton or Winnipeg.rs7k said:
I think the job situation in Calgary is pretty good at the moment.
Most things in Alberta, especially Northern Alberta, are about OIL.
Canada is so diverse that it's hard to describe.
I've only travelled to a few of the major cities and there's a HUGE difference of culture. I think there's something for (almost) everyone.
-jinx- said:
Why... Germany? For you Americans, I would seriously consider moving in Australia, Canada and the few other immigrant-heavy countries. Why make your life harder moving in to a region of the world ambivalent about immigration and one that forces you to learn new languages?
Anyway, as for Germany, it gets a lot easier if you are already a citizen of another EU country. Unless you're part of some of the new member states which are poorer (former Eastern bloc), they basically can not stop you from moving in. It's still better legally and technically to warn them before moving in, so that the necessary paperwork can be done with. And once you're there, I think you have to register at a government building, police station or something. Like in most EU countries, as long as you have a job, any kind of job, they can not throw you out because you have free movement of labor in the EU. And that is how you can gradually become a citizen.
For non-EU citizens, I'm not sure how it is done, but I believe there are certain regions of the world which they prefer to get immigrants from. Not necessarily a racist policy, it has a lot to do with diplomatic and economic ties and also if it's a country that will not flood them with more immigrants. I believe the sort of skill you can bring can make your entry easier. I also think if you go as a businessman, ready to invest and start a store/business, that can automatically open doors for you.
It may vary from country to country, but I'm pretty certain the rules are similar in general.
videogamer
Banned
maharg said:
It's kind of weird that he's using Fahrenheit instead of celcius. Although -50F=-45C so not much of a difference
rs7k said:
Actually, we haven't had a deficit in several years, of course there's still a big debt to knock down eventually (or sooner, if you swing that way)
Not true... Alberta and B.C. both charge health care premiums (ugly healthcare taxes) for their provincial health programs. They're probably a fraction (this is just an assumption) of what you might pay for health insurance in the U.S., and you could argue they're a side effect of two of the cheapest provincial income-tax regimes in the nation. But they're there.
It's called taxation.
Calgary: nice city, but a "me first, I'm in Calgary" attitude tends to prevail these days.
Regina: Meh. And it's in Saskatchewan. Nice if you're a farmer.
Winnipeg: I like Winnipeg, but the winters are pure frosty hell. I've never lived through one, but I've experienced life in northern Canada for a number of years in areas that get as cold or colder... not pleasant.
Edmonton (which you didn't list) is a nice city, with a better cultural base than at least Calgary and Regina. More appreciation of the arts there, better festivals, etc. Better than Regina? Yes. Better than Calgary? Maybe not, but definitely superior in those aspects.
On the weather: last winter, living well north of Edmonton was the first time in a long while I'd seen a sub -40C temperature (before wind chill). After wind it was a few degrees under -50, but that's pretty rare. I was just happy my car started (yay for block heaters). I don't know if you've ever heard about driving on square tires, but that's the weather the expression comes from.
My biggest beef with Canadian life is just the vast gulfs of nothing that exist between the major centres.
Move to Ireland! It's english-speaking, culturally exposed to America without being overwhelmed by it, the economy is booming, the standard of living is high. We're not involved in any wars, and we're not a exactly a major target for terrorism. We're quite rapidly abandoning our conservative history, and religions has pretty much lost its influence on civil life. I've got to say: a few years ago I really just wanted to up and leave, but I've come to appreciate more and more the good things Ireland has to offer. Life is good (if not expensive..but if you get a decent job, you're sorted).
This past winter, it was around -40 degrees celcius in Edmonton for about a week. Windchill dragged the temperature down to about -50.
I forgot to plug in my car and left it parked outside for over 10 hours on one of the days. That was fun! (it totally fucked up my car!)
I forgot to plug in my car and left it parked outside for over 10 hours on one of the days. That was fun! (it totally fucked up my car!)
MrPing1000
Member
Mason said:
hey its possible in most wealthy democracys. We have it in the UK as well. Its not very good but we do have it. And u can go private if u want
Hammy said:
Actually he said both C and F, and he said -50C :/
I suppose with windchill it can get that low, but to say the temperature is -50 sort of implies that with windchill it could feel colder than THAT.
It also got to be about 30C this summer. No one ever mentions that when they talk about temperature in Canada. Gives people the idea it's just ice and snow all year round up here, but the summers are actually really warm -- and even hot for around the same amount of time as it's teeth-chatteringly cold in the winter.
Variety is the spice of life.
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