“If you don’t like the weather, just wait”

Here we are in Canmore. It has been some time since we’ve last posted something and to be honest we almost wanted to stop with this blog.

By now most of you have seen stunning pictures and movie clips of the Canmore-Kananaskis surroundings. I won’t bother you with any more of that here. That’s what Instagram is for. I’d like to use this page for a more in-depth view of life as it is in Canmore.

THE PRICE WE HAVE TO PAY

The town of Canmore is located in heaven, and you’ll surely pay for that. Finding housing here can be tough, but paying your rent is the real challenge. We miraculously found a three-bedroom basement apartment for 1550 CAD, which is reasonable. With the minimum wage, that most of the temporary workers are getting, you won’t be able to cover the cost of living here in this town. The minimum wage is 15 cad/hour. Just don’t ask us about any of the meat prices. Oh and bring your own booze!

We rented unfurnished so we had to go both online and to couples that were selling at liquidation prices. Thank you Aussies for the almost brand new stuff. You guy’s are doing great buying quality gear and we absolutely love it that you are leaving after a few months!

“Dress for warm, never for fancy!” (layers, layers and layers….oh and layers)

IT GETS COLD.

When I say cold it’s not just a European -10 night during mid-winter. I’m talking -16 in October with blizzards during the days (locals find this nothing yet and keep laughing at us). We do get a rare phenomenon called Chinooks that can eat all the snow in just a few hours. In short, The weather can change so dramatically you shouldn’t be looking at the google weather forecast. It will dazzle you with its inaccuracy. A good start of the day is usually after a good start with the car!

Update after our Canadian adventure: -32-celsiusday was the coldest we had to work outside.

“If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far go together”

During the Australian adventure, the Aboriginal people have taught us how to live remotely without friends and family. Here in Canmore days are really getting shorter and we’re finding ourselves spending more time inside our basement than we used to when we were still enjoying the warmer weekends. For us, it also means more facebook and Whatsapp video calls to the homeland (more 4g and higher bills!). Maybe it is obvious that in Australia you get to spend more time outside because of the nice weather, but here it’s also the complete absence of stimulus after a days work that is having an impact on your mood. For some people however, this is exactly what they are looking for.

There are just a number of things one can do after work, unless you don’t mind spending fortunes in pubs and then also paying the unexpected 15 percent tip and awkward tax on top of the 9 dollar beer. For this reason, we mostly stay inside and get cozy.

Having said that, the center of Banff is only a 20-minute drive and it is well-known for its vibrant, outgoing culture. Especially youngsters come together after work and party away their hard-earned wages.

“It’s all about your colleagues”

So the one million dollar question: Where on earth are you guys working?

Youlia is currently employed in a timber framing company where she is doing hard outside manual labor. Oh no, that’s Ben (joke). She is actually doing administrative work but she does have to drive through the dark, freezing mornings. It’s not a bad drive though.

At the moment I am working in Childcare. It’s only an 8-minute walk from where we live and I am lucky enough to be working with an amazing team. Those 8 minutes will get your legs frozen.

In short, we are having an incredible experience working with locals in one of the most stunning places we’ve ever come across. Weekends mean vacation as national parks are our play area and having a casual coffee also means going snowboarding at Lake Louise.

We are looking forward to seeing some familiar faces soon.

We’ll keep you posted. Hopefully, the next post will still be in 2019. If not Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Y & J