You are basically listing all of the reasons why I LEFT Canada and came to Poland instead.
In Canada, the groceries are terrible quality, with very little variance in brands and choices. Don’t even get me started on the “bread”. I looked for good bread for over a decade and never found it. MOST bread here in Poland is amazing.
The house prices were just beginning to grow where I lived, but at this point you can kiss any chance of living somewhere “nicer” (AKA not the prairies/winter wasteland) goodbye. Nobody is able to afford owning anything anymore in the nicer cities, that’s a time long past.
10 days vacation?! It takes 2 days to fly out anywhere from Canada! That leaves you with 8 days a YEAR, which most people dip into if they don’t have sick days to use.
And the weather… omg. I don’t think I can ever return to 6 month winters as cold as -55C. I got here to Poland in May, it seemed like summer already… then it continued to be summer in my mind until middle of October. End of October and November were beautiful, warm fall months- super cozy and enjoyable. I am told April is already nice and warm. That’s almost 7 months of ideal weather, I can’t even believe it… Where I am from in Canada, it still sometimes snowed in May, didn’t warm up until middle of June, then already tapered off by mid August early September if we were lucky, at which point the nights get cold, etc. And good luck picking a non-storm week or two to enjoy your measely time off in the nice months.
Many people are putting on a mask in Canada, acting differently around different groups of people- which I can’t stand. The environment shouldn’t dictate your personality- and that’s what seems to happen with Canadians. Polish people are just who they are, everywhere. They don’t play masks.
But the deciding factor for me was definitely SAFETY. The safety in my Canadian city was always a terrible thing- stabbings all the time, theft, attacks, murder capital of Canada, yada yada. I am so traumatized by the whole situation there that I am constantly looking over my shoulder and being paranoid here… only to see families and women walking around at 10 pm, no problem. It is so much safer here. So much more lively, so much more alive than downtown in Canada. Downtown in Canada was empty except for people uncomfortably walking to their destinations or homeless populations begging. SO MANY BEGGARS. I’ve seen 2 here, in half a year.
So yeah… consider all of your options and don’t believe the grass is greener in the west. The grass is dead and brown and freezing cold for 6 months.
Are you from Poland?
You are basically listing all of the reasons why I LEFT Canada and came to Poland instead.
In Canada, the groceries are terrible quality, with very little variance in brands and choices. Don’t even get me started on the “bread”. I looked for good bread for over a decade and never found it. MOST bread here in Poland is amazing.
The house prices were just beginning to grow where I lived, but at this point you can kiss any chance of living somewhere “nicer” (AKA not the prairies/winter wasteland) goodbye. Nobody is able to afford owning anything anymore in the nicer cities, that’s a time long past.
10 days vacation?! It takes 2 days to fly out anywhere from Canada! That leaves you with 8 days a YEAR, which most people dip into if they don’t have sick days to use.
And the weather… omg. I don’t think I can ever return to 6 month winters as cold as -55C. I got here to Poland in May, it seemed like summer already… then it continued to be summer in my mind until middle of October. End of October and November were beautiful, warm fall months- super cozy and enjoyable. I am told April is already nice and warm. That’s almost 7 months of ideal weather, I can’t even believe it… Where I am from in Canada, it still sometimes snowed in May, didn’t warm up until middle of June, then already tapered off by mid August early September if we were lucky, at which point the nights get cold, etc. And good luck picking a non-storm week or two to enjoy your measely time off in the nice months.
Many people are putting on a mask in Canada, acting differently around different groups of people- which I can’t stand. The environment shouldn’t dictate your personality- and that’s what seems to happen with Canadians. Polish people are just who they are, everywhere. They don’t play masks.
But the deciding factor for me was definitely SAFETY. The safety in my Canadian city was always a terrible thing- stabbings all the time, theft, attacks, murder capital of Canada, yada yada. I am so traumatized by the whole situation there that I am constantly looking over my shoulder and being paranoid here… only to see families and women walking around at 10 pm, no problem. It is so much safer here. So much more lively, so much more alive than downtown in Canada. Downtown in Canada was empty except for people uncomfortably walking to their destinations or homeless populations begging. SO MANY BEGGARS. I’ve seen 2 here, in half a year.
So yeah… consider all of your options and don’t believe the grass is greener in the west. The grass is dead and brown and freezing cold for 6 months.