0
0
Living in Edmonton is fundamentally different from that in Montreal. First of all, the situation with work is completely different here. And it’s not even about language skills, although I understand that looking for a job without knowing French is an amazing challenge in Quebec. I also know that knowledge of French was not always the solution and in Montreal I met a few people from France who had quite serious problems with finding a job. In Montreal, it was also very important to have a local diploma confirming education. You actually had to start your job search with at least two semesters in college or university. Although Alberta is the province where the most people have lost their jobs over the last year compared to Canada as a whole, this mainly applies to the mining industry (due to the fall in oil prices, obtaining oil from the so-called sand fields in Alberta has ceased to be profitable). It is also true that this sector creates a lot of very well paid jobs for people with low qualifications. Which in a sense creates quite serious social problems, because a person who has lost a job in the mining industry cannot do virtually any other job, and even if he has one available, he will usually not take it, because he will be even three times less paid. In addition, the whole culture of life here is based on credits, which are very often ill-considered and distributed left and right, which creates additional problems. My work in Edmonton went fairly smoothly. In August, I completed one project, and in October, I started two different jobs in two different organizations at the same time. Both are based mainly on my professional experience in Montreal, but also in Poland. My education in Poland did not matter much here.
Another issue is housing issues. Renting an apartment in Edmonton is a fairly simple undertaking. This is again helped by cheap oil and the reduced workforce. A lot of people left and you can really choose from in the apartments. Prices are higher than in Montreal, but the quality of the housing available is also higher. In my opinion, it is mainly due to legal solutions in Alberta that protect apartment owners more than renters, as is the case in Montreal. In Quebec, the process of breaking a contract for an unpaid flat may take up to 6 months. This risk means that little investment is made in the rented apartment and it is really in poor condition. Every rental apartment we saw in Edmonton was clean, whatever its standard.
Eating in Edmonton is expensive. Especially vegetables and fruits. They are even 100% more expensive than those in Montreal. There are no so-called greengrocers. Fruit from local farmers in the city is not really available. You have to go outside the city by car, collect and pay yourself. It will also be cheaper and really tastier there. While I would risk saying that the availability of European products is much more varied here compared to Montreal, the variety of products from other parts of the world is not so readily available. While in Montreal all cultures were mixed up, here they exist separately and you need to know where to go to buy Arabic, Korean or Indian products. Still looking for some Montreal delicacies. And that’s the fundamental difference with Montreal. In Montreal, you came across places that were culturally “bizarre” for us. Here you need to have someone to ask about them and you also need to know what to ask about. This may also mean that there is a lack of, for example, culinary cultural exchange. People, despite the fact that they work with people from different cultural backgrounds, know little about their cultures, because the culture itself is a very private aspect of their lives here, which is quite difficult to see in the public sphere. I am sure that easy access to culinary products from around the world in Montreal does more than multicultural festivals.
There is practically no nightlife in Edmonton compared to Montreal. At least it’s not visible. Everything happens within the limits of bars and nightclubs, which are not too much here, and then they are organized in a very different way than anywhere else. There is probably only one serious bar street in town, near which I actually live. Bars that are actually quite popular are scattered all over the city and its surroundings. The lack of a culture of moving around on foot meant that bar settlements simply do not exist here. Many popular places with good drinks and food are close to large parking lots with shops. The same as, for example, the Hard Rock cafe in Warsaw, where I was maybe twice, invited each time.
Living in Edmonton is fundamentally different from that in Montreal. First of all, the situation with work is completely different here. And it’s not even about language skills, although I understand that looking for a job without knowing French is an amazing challenge in Quebec. I also know that knowledge of French was not always the solution and in Montreal I met a few people from France who had quite serious problems with finding a job. In Montreal, it was also very important to have a local diploma confirming education. You actually had to start your job search with at least two semesters in college or university. Although Alberta is the province where the most people have lost their jobs over the last year compared to Canada as a whole, this mainly applies to the mining industry (due to the fall in oil prices, obtaining oil from the so-called sand fields in Alberta has ceased to be profitable). It is also true that this sector creates a lot of very well paid jobs for people with low qualifications. Which in a sense creates quite serious social problems, because a person who has lost a job in the mining industry cannot do virtually any other job, and even if he has one available, he will usually not take it, because he will be even three times less paid. In addition, the whole culture of life here is based on credits, which are very often ill-considered and distributed left and right, which creates additional problems. My work in Edmonton went fairly smoothly. In August, I completed one project, and in October, I started two different jobs in two different organizations at the same time. Both are based mainly on my professional experience in Montreal, but also in Poland. My education in Poland did not matter much here.
Another issue is housing. Renting an apartment in Edmonton is a fairly simple undertaking. This is again helped by cheap oil and the reduced workforce. A lot of people left and you can really choose from in the apartments. Prices are higher than in Montreal, but the quality of the housing available is also higher. In my opinion, it is mainly due to legal solutions in Alberta that protect apartment owners more than renters, as is the case in Montreal. In Quebec, the process of breaking a contract for an unpaid flat may take up to 6 months. This risk means that little investment is made in the rented apartment and it is really in poor condition. Every rental apartment we saw in Edmonton was clean, whatever its standard.
Eating in Edmonton is expensive. Especially vegetables and fruits. They are even 100% more expensive than those in Montreal. There are no so-called greengrocers. Fruit from local farmers in the city is not really available. You have to go outside the city by car, collect and pay yourself. It will also be cheaper and really tastier there. While I would risk saying that the availability of European products is much more varied here compared to Montreal, the variety of products from other parts of the world is not so readily available. While in Montreal all cultures were mixed up, here they exist separately and you need to know where to go to buy Arabic, Korean or Indian products. Still looking for some Montreal delicacies. And that’s the fundamental difference with Montreal. In Montreal, you came across places that were culturally “bizarre” for us. Here you need to have someone to ask about them and you also need to know what to ask about. This may also mean that there is a lack of, for example, culinary cultural exchange. People, despite the fact that they work with people from different cultural backgrounds, know little about their cultures, because the culture itself is a very private aspect of their lives here, which is quite difficult to see in the public sphere. I am sure that easy access to culinary products from around the world in Montreal does more than multicultural festivals.
There is practically no nightlife in Edmonton compared to Montreal. At least it’s not visible. Everything happens within the limits of bars and nightclubs, which are not too many here, and then they are organized in a very different way than anywhere else. There is probably only one serious bar street in town, near which I actually live. Bars that are actually quite popular are scattered all over the city and its surroundings. Due to the lack of a culture of moving around on foot, bar-style settlements simply do not exist here. Many popular places with good drinks and food are close to large parking lots with shops. The same as, for example, the Hard Rock cafe in Warsaw, where I was maybe twice, invited each time.
Gay life, defined as the industry life in Poland, is quite specific here. This is a topic that I find hard to deal with. Alberta is quite a conservative province. Her conservatism is based on her mining industry, where a man (not necessarily prudent but well earning) is the mainstay of the family. As everywhere in Canada, the society is emancipated here, but in the public sphere it is quite difficult to see. A good example is dressing up in costumes for Heloween. In Edmonton, almost every young woman dressed up as a bunny, kitty, etc. These “female” costumes were also very much influenced by sexual contexts. Almost all the guys were super heroes. It really says a lot about the place of women in this society, but also about the perception of masculinity. For this reason, it seems to me this is not a place where being gay does not bring about any stigmatization. There are only two gay bars in Edmonton, a city with almost a million people !!!! On the Internet, on social networking and dating sites, there is a clearly noticeable group of gay men who are married or in a relationship with a woman. Even if they do not have a girlfriend or a wife, they clearly emphasize their isolation from the environment. This particular aspect is very similar to what is happening in Poland. Admittedly, because of the rights of homosexuals in Canada and their popular support, there are many activities in Edmonton that try to promote the visibility of our minority. There is, of course, a parade in which politicians march (in the summer the current prime minister of Alberta and then the then candidate and now prime minister of Kandy) marched there. The city itself creates itself as friendly to homosexuals, and the homosexuals themselves organize various events here, the most visible of which are all possible sports sections, to which, of course, heterosexuals are invited. Me and Sergio are also one. It is the section of the dragon boat. Our LBGTQ team is competing at the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival and is doing pretty decent results.
I was expecting the weather in Edmonton to be slightly different from that in Montreal. Eventually I moved 3,600 kilometers west and I am 2,257.91 kilometers from the North Pole. This means that from June to the end of July the sun shines from around 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. It is always light and being unaccustomed to such long days, it had a negative impact on my well-being. I was losing track of time. At 8pm, the world outside my window looked like the one I know at 2pm. I was afraid that it would be forever dark here in winter. Generally, it is not so that although now in December the sun comes out around 9 am and sets around 3:30 pm, I do not feel it as drastically as the summer brightness. I’m actually functioning fairly normal. Edmonton is also very dry. The condition of my skin has deteriorated a lot and it needs extra moisture. The dryness of the air means that it is not as cold as in Montreal. You can easily wear an autumn jacket up to the temperature of about -10. The temperature around -20 is totally bearable compared to Montreal. This is what I call the still acceptable temperature for walking, assuming you are well dressed. In Montreal, around -20, you could stay a maximum of 20 minutes wearing the same good winter clothes. It is true that this year’s winter is so far light. The temperature ranges from -5 with momentary spikes to a maximum of -19 which is perfectly bearable. Everyone warns me against -40 which I can’t actually imagine. And there are at least 3 and a half months of winter ahead of me. Summer in Edmonton is very short. It’s warm and pleasant for two months, but the evenings are almost always cool. There are no these humid hot weeks no matter what time of day or night it was in Montreal. The golden autumn lasts about two weeks here. All the leaves wilt, turn brown and fall off almost overnight. The Montreal autumn was long, warm and beautiful. And also those clones that created incredibly beautiful landscapes.
Edmonton is a small city. Familiar faces can be found everywhere. It creates a sense of belonging very quickly. Due to the fact that people know each other, they are also nicer to each other. Whether it’s a post office, a bar, a local shop, someone met on the street, gym staff, everyone is always very nice and friendly. In this respect, it is simply nicer to live here. I also live in the oldest district of Edmonton, which is cut off from the city center by a river and which is close to the university campus. It creates a kind of specific town in which a lot is going on due to the university community.
I don’t miss Montreal very much. I miss the river in front of the house, but here I have the Rocky Mountains 4 hours away by car, in which I have already been 4 times. In Edmonton, from my perspective, living, work, friends, contact with local communities, in a few months I managed to achieve what took me years in Montreal. I realize that such a quick adaptation was possible thanks to what I learned in Montreal, but nonetheless living in Edmonton is much easier.
Photos and news on the blog’s facebook page – Shirt left side
Number of views:
25
Living in Edmonton is fundamentally different from that in Montreal. First of all, the situation with work is completely different here. And it’s not even about language skills, although I understand that looking for a job without knowing French is an amazing challenge in Quebec. I also know that knowledge of French was not always the solution and in Montreal I met a few people from France who had quite serious problems with finding a job. In Montreal, it was also very important to have a local diploma confirming education. You actually had to start your job search with at least two semesters in college or university. Although Alberta is the province where the most people have lost their jobs over the last year compared to Canada as a whole, this mainly applies to the mining industry (due to the fall in oil prices, obtaining oil from the so-called sand fields in Alberta has ceased to be profitable). It is also true that this sector creates a lot of very well paid jobs for people with low qualifications. Which in a sense creates quite serious social problems, because a person who has lost a job in the mining industry cannot do virtually any other job, and even if he has one available, he will usually not take it, because he will be even three times less paid. In addition, the whole culture of life here is based on credits, which are very often ill-considered and distributed left and right, which creates additional problems. My work in Edmonton went fairly smoothly. In August, I completed one project, and in October, I started two different jobs in two different organizations at the same time. Both are based mainly on my professional experience in Montreal, but also in Poland. My education in Poland did not matter much here.
Another issue is housing. Renting an apartment in Edmonton is a fairly simple undertaking. This is again helped by cheap oil and the reduced workforce. A lot of people left and you can really choose from in the apartments. Prices are higher than in Montreal, but the quality of the housing available is also higher. In my opinion, it is mainly due to legal solutions in Alberta that protect apartment owners more than renters, as is the case in Montreal. In Quebec, the process of breaking a contract for an unpaid flat may take up to 6 months. This risk means that little investment is made in the rented apartment and it is really in poor condition. Every rental apartment we saw in Edmonton was clean, whatever its standard.
Eating in Edmonton is expensive. Especially vegetables and fruits. They are even 100% more expensive than those in Montreal. There are no so-called greengrocers. Fruit from local farmers in the city is not really available. You have to go outside the city by car, collect and pay yourself. It will also be cheaper and really tastier there. While I would risk saying that the availability of European products is much more varied here compared to Montreal, the variety of products from other parts of the world is not so readily available. While in Montreal all cultures were mixed up, here they exist separately and you need to know where to go to buy Arabic, Korean or Indian products. Still looking for some Montreal delicacies. And that’s the fundamental difference with Montreal. In Montreal, you came across places that were culturally “bizarre” for us. Here you need to have someone to ask about them and you also need to know what to ask about. This may also mean that there is a lack of, for example, culinary cultural exchange. People, despite the fact that they work with people from different cultural backgrounds, know little about their cultures, because the culture itself is a very private aspect of their lives here, which is quite difficult to see in the public sphere. I am sure that easy access to culinary products from around the world in Montreal does more than multicultural festivals.
There is practically no nightlife in Edmonton compared to Montreal. At least it’s not visible. Everything happens within the limits of bars and nightclubs, which are not too many here, and then they are organized in a very different way than anywhere else. There is probably only one serious bar street in town, near which I actually live. Bars that are actually quite popular are scattered all over the city and its surroundings. Due to the lack of a culture of moving around on foot, bar-style settlements simply do not exist here. Many popular places with good drinks and food are close to large parking lots with shops. The same as, for example, the Hard Rock cafe in Warsaw, where I was maybe twice, invited each time.
Gay life, defined as the industry life in Poland, is quite specific here. This is a topic that I find hard to deal with. Alberta is quite a conservative province. Her conservatism is based on her mining industry, where a man (not necessarily prudent but well earning) is the mainstay of the family. As everywhere in Canada, the society is emancipated here, but in the public sphere it is quite difficult to see. A good example is dressing up in costumes for Heloween. In Edmonton, almost every young woman dressed up as a bunny, kitty, etc. These “female” costumes were also very much influenced by sexual contexts. Almost all the guys were super heroes. It really says a lot about the place of women in this society, but also about the perception of masculinity. For this reason, it seems to me this is not a place where being gay does not bring about any stigmatization. There are only two gay bars in Edmonton, a city of almost a million people !!!! On the Internet, on social networking and dating sites, there is a clearly noticeable group of gay men who are married or in a relationship with a woman. Even if they do not have a girlfriend or a wife, they clearly emphasize their isolation from the environment. This particular aspect is very similar to what is happening in Poland. Admittedly, because of the rights of homosexuals in Canada and their popular support, there are many activities in Edmonton that try to promote the visibility of our minority. There is, of course, a parade in which politicians march (in the summer the current prime minister of Alberta and then the then candidate and now prime minister of Kandy) marched there. The city itself creates itself as friendly to homosexuals, and the homosexuals themselves organize various events here, the most visible of which are all possible sports sections, to which, of course, heterosexuals are invited. Me and Sergio are also one. It is the section of the dragon boat. Our LBGTQ team is competing at the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival and is doing pretty decent results.
I was expecting the weather in Edmonton to be slightly different from that in Montreal. Eventually I moved 3,600 kilometers west and I am 2,257.91 kilometers from the North Pole. This means that from June to the end of July the sun shines from around 3 a.m. to 11 p.m. It is always light and being unaccustomed to such long days, it had a negative impact on my well-being. I was losing track of time. At 8pm, the world outside my window looked like the one I know at 2pm. I was afraid that it would be forever dark here in winter. Generally, it is not so that although now in December the sun comes out around 9 am and sets around 3:30 pm, I do not feel it as drastically as the summer brightness. I’m actually functioning fairly normal. Edmonton is also very dry. The condition of my skin has deteriorated a lot and it needs extra moisture. The dryness of the air means that it is not as cold as in Montreal. You can easily wear an autumn jacket up to the temperature of about -10. The temperature around -20 is totally bearable compared to Montreal. This is what I call the still acceptable temperature for walking, assuming you are well dressed. In Montreal, at around -20, you could stay a maximum of 20 minutes wearing the same good winter clothes. It is true that this year’s winter is so far light. The temperature ranges from -5 with momentary spikes to a maximum of -19 which is perfectly bearable. Everyone is warning me against -40 which I can’t really imagine. And there are at least 3 and a half months of winter ahead of me. Summer in Edmonton is very short. It’s warm and pleasant for two months, but the evenings are almost always cool. There are no these humid hot weeks no matter what time of day or night it was in Montreal. The golden autumn lasts for about two weeks here. All the leaves wilt, turn brown and fall off almost overnight. The Montreal autumn was long, warm and beautiful. And also those clones that created incredibly beautiful landscapes.
Edmonton is a small city. Familiar faces can be found everywhere. It creates a sense of belonging very quickly. Due to the fact that people know each other, they are also nicer to each other. Whether it’s a post office, a bar, a local shop, someone met on the street, gym staff, everyone is always very nice and friendly. In this respect, it is simply nicer to live here. I also live in the oldest district of Edmonton, which is cut off from the city center by a river and which is close to the university campus. It creates a kind of specific town in which a lot is going on due to the university community.
I don’t miss Montreal very much. I miss the river in front of the house, but here I have the Rocky Mountains 4 hours away by car, in which I have already been 4 times. In Edmonton, from my perspective, living, work, friends, contact with local communities, in a few months I managed to achieve what took me years in Montreal. I realize that such a quick adaptation was possible thanks to what I learned in Montreal, but nonetheless living in Edmonton is much easier.
Photos and news on the blog’s facebook page – Shirt left side
Number of views:
25
Edmonton is a small city. Familiar faces can be found everywhere. It creates a sense of belonging very quickly. Due to the fact that people know each other, they are also nicer to each other. Whether it’s a post office, a bar, a local shop, someone met on the street, gym staff, everyone is always very nice and friendly. In this respect, it is simply nicer to live here. I also live in the oldest district of Edmonton, which is cut off from the city center by a river and which is close to the university campus. It creates a kind of specific town in which a lot is going on due to the university community.
I do not miss Montreal particularly. I miss the river in front of the house, but here I have the Rocky Mountains 4 hours away by car, in which I have already been 4 times. In Edmonton, from my perspective, living, work, friends, contact with local communities, in a few months I managed to achieve what took me years in Montreal. I realize that such a quick adaptation was possible thanks to what I learned in Montreal, but nonetheless living in Edmonton is much easier.
Photos and news on the blog’s facebook page – Shirt left side
Number of views:
25
