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Rethinking my repatriation - Toronto a possibility

The past few days my wife has become more vocal about her dislike of moving to Ottawa. At first I thought it was just because the city was smaller than Seoul, but she’s been doing some research online and reading some Korean blogs about Ottawa and has raised some valid points.

  1. not very many Koreans, only 2,000 versus 70,000+ in Toronto. I understand this as most of my long term friends in Korea have been other expats. So the potential for her to be lonely due to lack of other Koreans is there.
  2. it’s cold, really freaking cold. My answer to that is that all of Canada is freaking cold. She wants to live in Vancouver, but there is no way I’m going to move back to Vancouver. Bonus for Toronto according to what she has read is that due to the subway there is a lot of underground shopping/tunnels to avoid the cold.
  3. jobs – will be more difficult to get work due to French being a requirement for many jobs in Ottawa. This is true and something I guess I had kind of ignored, but I really do need to think about that since my web development business isn’t doing to well and between the two of we can count to 5 in French and say do you speak English. Definitely doesn’t bode well when French language skills are a requirement.
  4. small town. My wife is not really interested in living in a small town and Ottawa is effectively a small town compared to all of the major cities here in Korea. I personally like the size of Ottawa, but also recognize that a bigger city is more interesting and will afford more opportunities.

The result, now I need to do some research into Toronto before making a final decision. I’m positive that we won’t be living in Toronto proper but rather one of the suburbs that makes up the greater Toronto region. Things to look at are the costs of housing, both rental and owning, good neighborhoods, good schools etcetera. If we go to Toronto then it seems like my trip to Ottawa this past summer was in vain, though I did meet some good people and enjoyed my time there very much.

Time to rethink my repatriation.

Sep 15, 2010 Comments(9) Save on Facebook
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Comments

Picture of Perry Goodwin

Perry Goodwin: Wednesday Sep 15, 2010  at  07:46 AM Canada

Toronto! Awesome! , Korean town in Toronto is very cool http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koreatown,_Toronto
Look at Mississauga or Etobicoke for residential, how far do you want to be from the downtown core?

Picture of Sean

Sean: Wednesday Sep 15, 2010  at  07:54 AM United States

Perry,
Somewhere affordable - downtown is not too important to me. close to a subway or somewhere with a park and ride. Still thinking about this, but Toronto is now a distinct possibility.

I looked at a couple of real estate sites, but they were extremely fugly and user unfriendly - will need to find something better.

Picture of Perry Goodwin

Perry Goodwin: Wednesday Sep 15, 2010  at  07:59 AM Canada

http://www.realtor.ca/index.aspx?cul=1

Picture of Doug

Doug: Friday Sep 17, 2010  at  05:17 PM Korea (South)

With the possible exception of #3, your wife’s points aren’t valid. Ottawa is NOT freaking cold in the Canadian sense, a community of 2,000 Koreans is more than enough to find friends in, and all Canadian cities are small towns that roll up the sidewalk early when compared with Seoul. Don’t rethink your plan, it’s a good one

Picture of surprisesaplenty

surprisesaplenty: Sunday Sep 19, 2010  at  06:49 AM Korea (South)

I’m with Perry; Ottawa cold won’t feel as bad as Seoul cold.  The sidewalks will be clear and the buildings will be warm.  Teachers won’t need to wear winter coats while they teach and office workers won’t need electric heaters under their desks.

And, on the plus side, you will be able to skate on the canal!  I have never done that and I have always wanted to.

Picture of Sean

Sean: Sunday Sep 19, 2010  at  06:59 AM United States

Well we talked some today and using comments on this blog and on facebook we’ve decided to stick with Ottawa. I think it was just a case of cold feet, something that another one of my friends told me his wife has had a few times as they get closer to their move back to the Calgary area.

Picture of Joel

Joel: Wednesday Sep 22, 2010  at  11:01 AM Japan

Ottawa is the best city in Canada:
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20100429/best-cities-100429/
Cheers!

Picture of David K

David K: Thursday Sep 23, 2010  at  07:06 PM Canada

This is the first time, I think, that you have mentioned your wife’s perspective.
You may wish to consider that when you, your wife and children settle in Canada, you each will be making very different journeys. Each has different motivations, adjustment challenges and developmental consequences. You will be repatriating. Your wife will be expatriating, either as an immigrant or as a sojourner. In the former case, she will come to Canada with the intention of making it her home, with no intentions to return to Korea. If she comes as a sojourner, she will see Canada as a temporary residence.
Your children, have no choice in the matter, but the development of their identities and cultural loyalties and competencies will be dramatically different than if they had grown up in Korea. What does your wife think of this? What do her parent’s think of this? Are they concerned that they may become kyopoes?

Picture of Sean

Sean: Thursday Sep 23, 2010  at  07:31 PM United States

David,
This is all stuff we’ve talked about. My wife’s family is aware of our move and supports us. Besides we’ve lived in Korea, married, for 10 years now. Anyhow thanks for your thoughts.

I don’t talk about my wife much here, because she prefers to be a little more private than I am.

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