Canada Update

I’ve been meaning to do a general update on our lives here in Canada for a while. I think in reality I was waiting to have good news to write about, mainly that we had both secured jobs for the autumn. SPOILER ALERT: We have jobs! Whoop! Read on to hear all about our new jobs and our current living situation.

Where we live

Since moving back to Canada we have been living with my parents in my childhood home. We will be here for the next year at least, while we save some money and decide where we’d like to buy a house. 

Luckily it is big enough that the kids are able to have their own rooms. Most houses in Canada also have a basement, which provides an extra floor for fun times. We have a pool table down there, which Andy and my dad were getting a lot of use out of, along with a treadmill which has been great for a quick workout. Now that summer is here we are getting a lot of use out of the back garden as well. My parents bought a water table for the kids which has gotten a lot of use, and both kids love to have a calming swing under the trees with my dad. Ella also loves helping my parents in the garden, in particular checking to see if there are any ripe tomatoes or strawberries for her to pick each morning.

We are living in Mississauga, which is the sixth largest city in Canada. It is located just west of Toronto and is in the province of Ontario.

It takes us about 45 minutes to drive into downtown Toronto (traffic dependent of course) and there are many other cities and towns to visit within about an hour of Mississauga, including Niagara Falls. Mississauga is on Lake Ontario, one of the five great lakes in North America. It is so big that you cannot see the other side (which is the USA) and it feels like you are staring out into the ocean, minus any big waves. My parent’s house is at the north end of the city, which is about a 20-25 minute drive from the lakeshore. I would looooove to settle closer to the lake when we are ready to buy a place, however the reality is that the closer you are to the lake, the higher the house price. And house prices in Toronto and surrounding suburbs are crazy, as they are in many big cities worldwide. We can dream…

Jobs

About a week after we arrived in Canada the government in Ontario announced that they were making big cuts in education, including increasing average class size in high schools by six students. This resulted in many public school boards having to cut teachers or at least not hire any new ones. This was a pretty big blow for us, as it meant getting a job in a public school would be pretty much impossible, and our best bet would be trying to get on a supply teaching list. We started looking into private schools for jobs instead, focusing on the list of schools in the Conference of Independent Schools in Ontario, which are the schools that are not for profit and overseen by a Board of Governors. (There are heaps of private schools that are run as businesses, but they don’t typically pay teachers well and they do not have to comply with provincial standards). 

Before we left Australia in March I had a Skype interview with an independent school in Toronto for a job as a supply teacher. It meant that I was able to start working a few weeks after we moved, and gave me some experience in a Canadian school. I was called in to cover absent teachers about two days a week. It was nice to be back in school and working as I’d been off on maternity leave with Ollie for nearly a year at that point. And two days a week is a pretty nice working schedule! 

In May I had two job interviews. The first was at the school I was supply teaching at, and it was a one-year contract teaching grade 7, 8 & 9 maths. It seems very common that a one-year contract is all that is on offer in the private schools. I suppose you have to prove yourself in your first year before getting a permanent position. 

The second interview was at another independent school in the northern part of Toronto. I originally applied for a job teaching Grade 6 Maths part-time, however they encouraged me to re-interview for a full time job in the role of Learning Strategist. The Learning Strategist is the special education teacher in the school, who works with students who may have a learning disability or other needs. This is a totally new position for me, so in the end I decided to take this role. I’m really excited to be learning something new, and the school is going to support me in taking courses so that I will be officially qualified in Special Education. I am also really excited as my new school is part of the Round Square Network, which is an international network of schools. My old school in Melbourne was also a part of this network and I am really happy to be in a school with similar values and teaching frameworks. 

Andy has had all sorts of problems getting registered to teach in Ontario. The Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) is the regulating body here, and they will not certify him to teach Product Design Technology (which he has always taught) because they require any “technology” teacher to have two years of work experience in their industry. This has been a pretty big source of stress, as Andy’s degree is in “Industrial Design and Technology” so he isn’t really qualified to teach anything else! He had to take two online courses in order to register with the OCT, and he is now qualified to teach Grades 4-10, and his teachable subject is Art. This isn’t really a great qualification for finding a job, especially as Andy has very little experience teaching Art. 

Fortunately, Andy came across a company called Future Design School, an expanding start-up that delivers professional development to educators and school leaders, using Design Thinking to facilitate learning. After a lengthy interview process, Andy was offered a job as an Education Lead. Hurray! It is a super exciting opportunity, and he will be working with schools across North America. This was his first week, and he is currently in Utah, shadowing one of his colleagues running a session at a school. Then they will travel to Atlanta where she is presenting at Google. Pretty cool!

So we are feeling a lot more settled now that we both have jobs. As I mentioned, Andy has just started work this week, and I start next week. So our days of “semi-retirement” are over, and although it has been nice to have this extended time off to do some travelling and spend time with Ella and Ollie, we are both looking forward to getting back to work and routine. (I’m sure I will have another post in about a month talking about how exhausted we are, haha!)

New Car

A few weeks ago we bought a new car. I love it! It's a 2019 Mazda3, and it will be my car to commute to work (Andy will mostly take public transport). My commute is pretty terrible, a drive along the notorious highway 401 through Mississauga into Toronto. There is actually a TV show about this highway, which I refuse to watch. If there was no traffic it would only take me 30-35 minutes to drive to work, however in traffic it will probably end up taking me 1-1.5 hours each way. Ouch! But it helps that the car has some nice features like Apple CarPlay (so I can listen to podcasts), heated seats and steering wheel (needed through the cold Canadian winter) and safety features such as a blind spot monitor, forward sensing monitor, rear cross traffic alerts, and driver attention alerts - the car will alert you if it thinks you need to take a break from driving! I'm usually not that in to cars but I do love my little Mazda3!

Kids

Ella turned four years old in July, which means she starts school at the beginning of September. She will be in Junior Kindergarten, and it is full days, from 9am - 3pm. So far she seems very excited about it, she is constantly asking if she can go to school, when she will start, etc. I think she is looking forward to meeting some new friends. We only know a few people with kids around her age, so playdates have been somewhat rare. I think she is really going to love school (after some initial adjustment of course) so I’m looking forward to this starting.

We’ve also just registered Ella for swimming and dance lessons. Lately she is obsessed with dance, and wants to be a ballerina. She puts on little dances for us after dinner in the backyard, which is so cute. 

Ollie will be staying home with my parents until he is 18 months old at least. Daycare is very expensive here for a child under 18 months, as the staff to child ratio is lower. He will also be doing swimming lessons, which my parents will be taking him to once a week. 

Both kids are absolutely loving having so much time and attention with their grandparents. It’s great having so much help, and Andy and I have actually been able to go out for dinner or meet up with friends without the kids, which is amazing. Long term we will move into our own house, but for now we are focused on restarting our careers, saving some money, and settling down into our new lives here.