Our life in Canada

Our new life in Calgary

Moving from the Dominican Republic to Calgary felt at first like a relief. The hardship from the Dominican Republic were non-existent in 'civilized' Canada. It was only a matter of time before we started missing our challenges. Calgary challenged us in a different way. It has however, never been so easy to set up a new life. Once the bureaucratic hurdles are taken (and believe me, there are quite a few!) melting in with Canadians was the easy part.

 

Challenges

From Tropical to a walk-in Freezer. It's only a few months 'summer' in Calgary and 9 out of 12 months the streets are covered with snow. Our biggest shock was the climate-shock and we all had to learn how to wear layers of clothes, how to drive safely on icy and slippery roads. Although Calgary could be bitterly cold in the winter, we did not have the blanket of clouds, as we see in Europe. Our house had big, high windows so whether it was winter or not, our house was always bright and sunny (inside)...

 

Outdoor

We loved hiking in the Rocky Mountains, not to far from Calgary. We had the Rocky's in our 'back yard'. Kananaskis was a favorite destination as it wasn't too far. During our camping trips in the summer, we explored many trails and have seen the most magnificent views in beautiful Canada.

 

Education

Our children moved from private education in the Dominican Republic to public education in Calgary following the Alberta curriculum. Neighborhoods have 'designated' schools so in fact there was no free choice of schooling. After studying school results from their designated schools, we realized that there was significant difference in quality. We than decided to choose our own school (in a neighboring community) and requested a transfer from the CBE. Onno and Noelle went to a school in the community in Dalhousie and Niels started high school in Edgemont. Both schools accepted our children and although official changing the designated schools had certain consequences (e.g. losing the right for transport for your child) it was an acceptable prize to pay.

 

Outpost

Mary continued her volunteer contributions to the Outpost Network . She wrote articles for new expatriates about the educational situation in Calgary and started a newsletter for Shell expatriates in Calgary.

Broekhuijsen, M.G. (2007). My Suitcase. Destinations issue 36. (pp. 24-26). Den Haag, Destinations Magazine.

Skiing

None of us knew how to ski when we arrived in Calgary. During the first month after our arrival, I ended up talking to a Canadian in a sports store. He offered me his precious advise, and I'm still grateful for this: He warned me that Canadian winters are long and cold and learning how to ski would make winter more fun. As my children weren't into ice hockey at all, he encouraged me not to plant that seed, avoid hockey rings and just take lessons at COP (Canada Olympic Park) getting the whole family involved. The first year we all signed up for lessons and the second year we enjoyed the Rocky Mountains as novice skiers. The last time Mary skied, she broke her ankle during a nasty fall...

 

Theatre School

Mary turned 40 during the assignment in Calgary and decided that this is a good time to follow a few of her dreams. One was acting and she signed up for professional acting classes at the Epcor Center in Calgary. She joined for a few seasons and did various classes. She followed weekly classes on Improvising, contemporary scene playing and Shakespeare scenes (analysing the script and acting scenes). All seasons ended with short public plays.

 

YMCA

The existence of the YMCA in Calgary North West has been the best thing for our whole family in Calgary. The philosophy, their mission and their inclusive approach towards all people any nationality and any religion has been an inspiring addition to our life. The YMCA offered many sports classes, summer camps and community activities. Mary supported their approach so much, she signed up as volunteer for the Aquatic Department and got involved as a swim coach.

 

Swimming

During the first year in Calgary, Mary joined Master Swim sessions at the YMCA in Calgary North West. A year later she joined the more challenging Calgary Master Swim Club and trained about 4 times a week in the Talisman Center. The CMSC competed in local, regional and international championships and many of the swimmers were ex-professionals who pursued their swimming career as a Master Swimmer.

 

Breastfeeding

Mary continued her activities as a Breastfeeding Consultant and founded the (non-profit) Calgary Breastfeeding Support Group aiming to educate, assist, coach and advocate healthy Breastfeeding practices for young parents. She also joined the Calgary Breastfeeding Matter Group a networking group for breastfeeding professionals in the Calgary area and volunteered as Webmaster.

 

Author

Stefan Kleintjes (owner of www.borstvoeding.com, children nutritionist and author) and Mary teamed up to start a new project to write a new Breastfeeding book for the Dutch readers in the Netherlands. They started their project early 2007 and only a few weeks after signing our contract with the publisher, a new international transfer came on our doorsteps...

 

Biking

With 'only' one car (very European and not Canadian), Thijs decided to commute Downtown (23 km one way) every day to work on his bike. He's been riding around 10.000 km total in Calgary and it has kept him in a good shape and sane. The hills in Calgary makes biking challenging and he has never been in a better shape. Thijs biked summer and winter. Especially the winters were challenging. He used special clothing to protect from cold and wind (frost bite) and he would come home with a bottle of frozen water...

 

Scouting

The whole family, except Mary, got involved in scouting Canada: Noëlle in cubs, Thijs as her leader and the boys as scouts. Joining the scouts gave our children the opportunity to explore Canadian Style Outdoor activities and some great surviving skills.

 

End of assignment

Our end of assignment came quite unexpected and left us devastated for a week or two. Our children were having the best life they could think of and it was hard to digest that this would all come to an end. Thijs followed an opportunity to start a new role in Saudi Arabia and while Thijs and Mary traveled to Bahrain to orientate themselves, our house was sold. Things were happening so fast, we couldn't keep up with all developments. During that time, Mary has kept a regular blog describing all the things happening in their life.