We have officially lived in Toronto (well actually Kleinburg, right outside of Toronto) for 6 months now. I cannot believe how fast that went. It hasn’t been easy, but it has been eye opening for sure. Now that I have gathered up six whole months of Canadian wisdom, I thought that I would share some of it with you. Here are 10 things I have learned so far about Canada, or at least Toronto.

(I have been told that some of these things may not apply to all of Canada, so if you are from other parts of Canada, share the differences and similarities in the comments.)

1. It is expensive! Homes in the Toronto area average $900,000.00 dollars CAD. Sales tax is 13%. There is even a 13% sales tax on services. Gas is over $ 4.00 a gallon. Our car insurance has doubled, but more on that later. There is almost no way to eat out for under $20.00 a person unless you eat fast food and even McDonald’s is about $10.00 a person. Our cell phone is the same price, but we went from unlimited data for very limited data. All of that to make my point clear, it is expensive here!

2. There are no garbage disposals! They are actually against the law in Toronto municipal area. And, what makes it even worse, we have a little garbage can that is just for food. This means, at all times, I have a  bucket of rotting food sitting under my sink. This might make me sound a little spoiled, but this whole no garbage disposal things has brought me to tears quite a few times. You cannot judge me unless you have lived without a garbage disposal in your home. There is nothing more nasty than scooping soggy food mush out of the sink and throwing it into a bucket of rotting food.

3. They have bags of milk. I think that there are other countries that do this too, but they definitely don’t have bags of milk in the States. It isn’t the worst thing to adjust to, but it is certainly strange at first.

4. Although school starts a year earlier than it does in the states, something I was totally not expecting or ready for, the school system is pretty cool. Ontario has 4 public school options; basic public school, Catholic public school, French Immersion public school, and Catholic French Immersion public school. In the past few months, Ontario has passed a sex education law that is much too liberal for our family’s standards, but we still have 2 years before we have to start thinking about how to deal with that small issue.

6. I completely failed to realize that we would have to learn the metric system. We also have had to learn to use Celsius. Most of the time I just say miles, and gallons, or check the weather in Fahrenheit, but when I am talking to Canadians, they always look at me so confused.

7. Canadians have 1 and 2 dollar coins and they don’t have pennies. The 1 dollar coin is called a Loonie and the 2 dollar coin is called a Toonie. If you are paying for something in cash, the register will either round up or round down to eliminate the need for pennies.

8. Ontario is a “no fault” providence when it comes to insurance. It drives me nuts! Basically, if I am in a car accident that I didn’t cause, I still have to go through my insurance to get it fixed. The “at fault” driver’s insurance is never responsible for the cost of the damage done to my vehicle. I was told by State Farm that they will not raise my premium on “not at fault” car accidents, but I have been told by other Canadians not to trust what they say. Also, it is highly recommended to have a million dollar policy. The reasoning is complicated, but it has something to do with how the health insurance works. For both of these reasons, car insurance cost is astronomical. We were able to get a policy that only doubled our US rates and we shopped around for a really great deal. Most people can’t believe we found such a low rate policy.

9. Winter is long and cold. We moved here in November and it wasn’t that cold yet. I thought we would have to deal with a cold December, January, and deal with the worst of it in February, and then spring would start to arrive in March. I was wrong. By the end of November, it was already as cold as I thought I could handle and it wasn’t even close to the coldest it would get. I was right about February being the coldest of December, January, and February, but I was so wrong about March. It stayed bitter cold and even snowy all through March and even April! We were finally able to leave the jackets home a couple of days in May, but that was after 6 months of deep freeze! The other day, I saw frost on the rooftops outside of my bedroom window and I almost cried. Come on winter, just leave us alone.

10. There are almost no stay at home moms. This has been one of the hardest lessons to learn. Back in San Diego, it wasn’t hard at all to schedule play dates or lunch dates or middle of the week trips to Sea World because all of my many mom friends were stay at home moms. Because almost all of the children are put into daycare at 1 year old, after the 1 year maternity leave is up, there isn’t even a lot for kids to do during the day. All extra curricular activities are at night or on weekends, organized playdates meet on Saturday mornings, and our neighborhood or near by playgrounds are pretty desolate until school lets out. I am thankful that God crossed my path with someone who runs a mom’s bible study on Tuesday mornings at our church, that has been a life saver. Through that bible study, I have been able to meet a few stay at home moms and a few part time working moms, which has led to a fun-filled schedule.

Thank you for following along with us as we figure out our new life here in Canada. It has been a crazy 6 months, but it has helped us really bond as a family and I am forever thankful to God for that.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

The post Things We have Learned so Far About Canada appeared first on The Glaze Brigade | Official Blog.