The many things we will miss about Canada... (and a few things we won't!) :)

Beautiful Downtown Calgary

At the end of October, Jeff found out that his work would once again be transferring our family. While we were expecting news of a move this fall, it always still surprises us when we officially find out. We also were quite pleasantly surprised that we were being sent to Denver! We have loved our two years in Calgary and feel quite blessed with the beautiful places we have had the opportunity to see! Not to mention, the wonderful, friendly Canadians we have befriended up here. So, I thought, no time like the present to think back on our time here and jot down a few of the things we will miss!

1. Our friends! Awww...

I know, stereotypical, but we will definitely miss the friends we have made here. I believe (and have seen it be true several times now) that God always goes before us and is faithful to bring wonderful people into our lives. The hard part is having to leave them each time we pack up and head out. From Kansas City, to East Tennessee, and now Calgary, we have had the opportunity to meet so many great people. And I feel like it is such a privilege to have friends all over North America! We always say that our home (wherever it is) is always open to our friends and we mean it! And we know that we always will have a friendly place to stay when we come back to our former hometowns to visit!

A few friends in our small group at the top, and my lovely Mom's group in the lower picture.

2. Our Church

We walked into First Alliance Church not knowing what an Alliance church was. We saw the church on the side of the major highway through Calgary and thought it looked similar to other churches we had attended. We went to FAC the first weekend when we reached Calgary and I was desperate for a sense of familiarity. We had been on the road for a week, eating fast food and staying in hotels and I just really wanted to feel normal. So, when Pastor Scott took the stage that day and started preaching I immediately thought something was weird... and I turned to Jeff and said "He doesn't sound Canadian! He sounds SOUTHERN!" Sure enough, the lead pastor at the random church we had decided to visit was in fact, American, and had most recently preached at a church in Texas before moving to Canada. Who would have guessed it? We have loved our time at this church! Boone was dedicated at FAC and has grown to love the nursery there and the workers show him so much love!

 

Our church building at the top, and in the lower picture, Boone with a few little friends 

from the women's small group I was in!

3. The beauty that surrounds us

We have been spoiled with the immense beauty that is all over Alberta. We have enjoyed the mountains in the winter and the summer. We've skiied, sledded, hiked, toured and taken lots and lots of pictures along the way. If you have never been to Alberta, you are missing out. It really has some of the most beautiful, unspoiled landscape you can see! Put it on your bucket list, it's a must-see! (Thankfully, we are moving to another place with lots of beauty to check out! We are going to get spoiled!)

From Elbow Falls, to Banff to Jasper! BEAUTIFUL!

4. Random Canadian food

Poutine, all-dressed chips, Tim Tams... Those all may not be Canadian, but I don't think we can get them down in the states and we've grown to love them all! Not to mention some delicious restaurants: Cora's and Earl's are two of our faves! We didn't eat out a ton, but we sure found our favorites here!

5. The Real Canadian Superstore

This store gets its own bullet point. I love the Superstore because for probably the first year that I lived here, I was always discovering new things! It sure is random, but this store is huge and has so many great things! We love the Joe Fresh clothing brand that they sell, and love that you can pick up a cute shirt for Boone and some quality Asian food ingredients all in one stop. This store will be sorely missed in my book.

6. Our neighborhood

We live in a planned community area. And while it doesn't seem all that great when you hear about them, in reality, it's pretty wonderful. Even during a weekend when my car was out of commission and Jeff was out of town on business, I was able to pack Boone in a stroller and walk all over our town. Grocery store, gas station, coffee shop, nail salon... not to mention doctors and dentists, all within walking distance. Plus, lots of green space and parks to take Boone to. Mckenzie Towne is a great place to live and I'm glad we landed there.

7. (Relatively) Cheap flights to Missouri.

I mean, we could fly internationally for under $400. Hard to beat!

8. We have a dual citizen in our family

We were excited to have Boone be born in Canada. He now holds both Canadian and American citizenships. We also got a first-hand look at the socialized healthcare here. We had good experiences for the most part. And it was eery to walk out of the hospital with our baby and not have to sign a single bill.

          

And a few things we won't be sad to be leaving north of the border...

1. The cost of cheese (and gas... and everything else!)

We knew the price of things must be a little high after Jeff's salary went up so high when we moved to Canada with the cost of living increase, but wow, it is expensive! 9 dollars for a block of cheese? 8 dollars for a carton of ice cream? Yep... and don't even get me started about gas! Everything was just a bit more expensive up in Canada!

2. The hassle of banking

After much research and asking around, we found the only way to convert our funds from Jeff's salary in American dollars to Canadian dollars was going through one certain bank and manually withdrawing money from our American account (1000 dollars at a time) at an ATM and putting it into an envelope and depositing it back into the very same ATM into our Canadian account. Not a huge hassle, but in a world of so much technology, it's a little crazy that we had to physically go and pull money out of a machine and put it back into the same machine.

3. How far it was from our families

When we moved to Calgary, it took us three days of 8 hour driving to get to Calgary from Missouri! That is a LONG way (especially through remote parts of Montana and Wyoming.) Even to fly, we were looking at a two flight trip! We are looking forward to a much easier commute from Denver to Missouri!

4. Crazy hockey fannatics

I mean, we are from Missouri, we want the Blues to do well, but Jeff would say he always felt funny when he was involved in a conversation about hockey. We just didn't have much to offer to all those Canucks who loved their hockey teams! But hey... Go Flames Go!

I think that about sums it up... We enjoyed our time in Calgary! Of course, there were little things that popped up that we didn't quite expect about living north of the border, but we are glad we took the opportunity and are thankful to Jeff's company for sending us there. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, eh? :)

Lots of love from the "homeless" Robertsons! (Although, we love bunking with family around Christmas!)

Jeff, Emily + Boone