Here we are! Living the dream in Canada! Its been a few weeks now and things have been working out splendidly!
Arrival in Ottawa saw us arranging visa’s and setting ourselves up in our serviced apartment. The flight over had been uneventful and surprisingly relaxing but, having never seen our city of choice in the flesh, we grew more and more curious (?? Alright, alright … we were nervous!) as we got closer and closer to landing. There was no need to be.

Day one saw us up early to check out our new home and we were NOT disappointed! Those of you who have been here will already know that it is a beautiful city! Exceptionally pretty. The Rideau canal runs through the city (every single Ottawan **side note - Joep calls them Ottawanadians ... love the Dutchman** you meet will not hesitate to tell you how it freezes over in the winter and is the worlds largest natural ice skating rink … this is a very specific title because apparently those Damn Manitobans (the neighbouring province) decided to steal the Ottawan’s thunder and built a bigger ice skating rink but that is not as cool oz its not natural … hmmmm) … anyway I got side tracked for a second. The canal runs through the city, there are many beautiful buildings including the National Parliament and all in all the city is very well laid out. A brief wander around the city also indicates that it is not particularly large making it more than manageable by foot … Joep’s dreams of owning a large 4WD are slowly dwindling.
As planned we hit the ground running and from day 1 we were very busy setting up appointments to see houses. In the first 3 days we saw 20 apartments and townhouses. Sound excessive? Perhaps. But worth it to make sure we got the best place for our new home!
And find it we did!! A 2 bed/2 bath condo in the Byward Market. The Byward Market is the main going out district (don’t get excited! The nightlife here is very quiet … Perth, eat your heart out!) meaning that we are walking distance from many great restaurants and bars and a very nice shopping mall (Delany girls take note – this is something to entice you to come visit!). Oh and PS, a condo is just a fancy name for an apartment complex with amenities. The Canadians have random names for all kinds of stuff. I just learned Dutch and now I have to figure out Canadian?? Pffft.
SO apartment found, we were all set to get furniture and get out of our serviced apartment. Now, I’ll be honest with you. It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. The getting furniture bit has proven more challenging that you could imagine. We have received many furniture deliveries

Most of them have been incomplete, incorrect or … just haven’t arrived. Now Joep and I both hate shopping with a passion. We have a good 10 minute window to find what we want and get out of a store before we get side tracked, cranky or both. Buying a whole apartment worth of furniture was always going to be a challenge. You have no idea.
We went to the Ikea every single day for a week in order to return things, ask where things were or return things or … ask where things were. It was unbearable. The Ikea in Ottawa now has a customer file on us with a record of all of our problems. It was so bad that they gave us free stuff. This may also have been to stop me from crying hysterically at the returns desk or to stop Joep from shouting at them … either way, we got free stuff. Good cop, bad cop act is very effective. Who would have guessed that I would be the good cop in this scenario??!!
The important thing is that we have finally managed to get furniture. We have also abandoned the Ikea.
So within weeks of our arrival we have found and furnished our new home! We have also both started working … I am yet to recover from the shock to the system after 6 weeks off. My feet hurt a lot from wearing closed toe shoes every day after being in thongs for so long.

Never fear though! We have made sure we have had enough time to enjoy the local nightlife, restaurantlife and relax a bit ... we haven't changed a bit!
We have also spent much time lazing around local parks reading books and trying to cuddle the squirrels ... the squirrel cuddling is just me. Joep keeps trying to stop me in case they have diseases but locals tell me that the squirrels are safe. Its the racoons you have to be careful of.
Oh yeah! I also meant to mention that the weather is gloooooorious! The sun has been shining almost every day and it has been wonderfully hot! There is talk of winter temperatures as low as -40 degrees but that is hard to imagine at the moment! I believe them though. So we are making the most of the good weather.
Let the adventures begin!!
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