Canada

I don't know what the capital city means to most people living in Canada. Today, I moved to Ottawa from Richmond Hill and I am ready to start my new life. We moved because my husband has gotten his first job in Ottawa after we came to Canada 1 year ago, so we had to move to Ottawa.

At the first I was warried to move since I had lived in Richmond Hill for the last 6 months and even bought a house there. So, I visited Ottawa once before moving to see if it suits us to move there. After that trip I got more nervous and started to refuse to move Ottawa. I have seen the winters in Ottawa and they make me just feel cooler.  Ottawa is smaller and a messier city than Toronto. I told my friends my feelings about my visit to Ottawa, I hoped I could get some supports to refuse to move. But when my friends talked to me about Ottawa, they all said: “Ottawa is a beautiful place!”  And my English teacher Diane told me: “You are lucky because you have chance to move to Ottawa.” And she told me that I can do lots of fun things in Ottawa. The most impressive thing is about the tulips’ story in Ottawa. So, I regained confidence to move there.

Moving has never been easy.  We have had to do so many preliminary preparations; such as rent a house, make sure of the moving date and rent a moving truck.  Like all people, I was busy cleaning, tiding and packing.  It took me the most time and made me very tired. With the nervous, tired and excited mood, moving day was coming. After a five-hour trek, we arrived at Ottawa. But the better things did not arrive together. I found problems with the rental house. The house had broken lights, a dirty kitchen, and uncleaned carpets! I was so angry! I must be busy unpacking and cleaning, and at the same time I argued with the rental company. Finally, they fixed the problems after one week.

After that my life was back to normal. I started to become familiar with the environment. At first my husband took me out to show me around.  We went to the supermarket, bank, Canada Post and so on. All these stores gave me the familiar feeling because all Canadian cities have the same stores/bank.  I found there is a Chinese supermarket that I can buy Chinese foods the same as Richmond Hill.

Second, I took my older daughter to her new school for registration. At the beginning, we decided to keep her home because summer vacation was after a few weeks, but she felt very bored staying at home, and she always made trouble for me when I took care of her younger sister or I cleaned up the house. So, we took her to school, let the teacher help us to give her more fun things to do. A few days after school, she told me she has new friends and felt so happy about that. I was very happy when I heard that because that proved that she adapted to her new life.

Finally, I started my social network. I joined a social group through the Wechat app, which is a Chinese social app. Talking on the Internet made me feel very convenient because I asked the group members and they told me how to deal with the problems. That is very useful. And I even bought some second-hand toys for my daughters via the social group. That made my daughters happy and saved my money.

After all these annoying things, I am looking for better things coming soon! My husband took us to visit the Natural Museum and we went downtown. Summer in Ottawa brings me a different view than before. What a pretty city! There are lots of historic buildings, winding rivers and friendly people.  I think a smaller city than Toronto means a more exquisite. Now I have been set up with a new rhythm for my new life in Ottawa.  I will fall in love with this wonderful city as my teacher told me.