As many of you at CD are aware, I left Canada in 1995 and my last visit was in 2002 which was just for 2 weeks. I just returned from a 3-week visit.... WHAT A SHOCK!!!!

The first scene to greet me when I got off the plane at Pierson airport was like something from a failed state in the former Soviet Union. There was a line-up of Croats and Russians in ill-fitting red uniforms and baggy black slacks yelling at me, wanting to take my baggage. I couldn't believe my eyes! These guys were really in rough shape. The average age was about 50 and I wondered what salary (if any) they were getting for pushing people's bags 50m or so to a car.

When I looked around my hometown of London, I got another big shock: the downtown has been invaded by down and out types. It looked like a scene from a George Romero movie. The walking wounded. I had to wear my iPod everywhere because there were so many beggars hassling me for change.

There were drug dealers on the corner of Dundas and Richmond... the malls are dead and half the stores are closed. People told me that 'big box' stores are driving the malls into bankruptcy. Friends told me that begging, drug dealing and prostitution is rife in the east of the city and the police rarely intervene because (1) they don't have the resources and (2) people 'have to make a living' (!!!!).

It was not a pretty picture.

The only vibrant place seemed to be the Covent Market Garden.

I took a trip to the Science Centre in TO with my daughter and to my surprise, nothing there had changed since i had been there last (20 years ago). Some of the escalators were not working and many exhibits needed renovations or were shut down... I was quite disappointed.

Niagara Falls was fine... seemed fairly vibrant and full of tourists from all over the world.

Anyway, I feel quite good that I left Canada. I think London is still a good place to retire to (there doesn't seem to be much business activity) and the suburbs are still nice and clean, but overall my impressions were quite negative.

I'm used to everything being dynamic with building going on all around me where I am (Indonesia).

Anyway, just thought I'd share my impressions.

Maybe I didn't see the big picture... 3 weeks isn't a long time to take everything in.

I hope my friends from Canadiandesi have found their way in Canada.

My Good Wishes with you, where ever in Asia you are.

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SS
Reiki Grand Master

Thanks, SS !

One funny thing, my daughter is in grade 2 and so she went to a canadian school for a day (one of my friends is coincidently a grade 2 teacher) and sat in a math and english class.

In Indonesia she is already doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with big numbers (eg. 456 + 311 +989) while in Canada they are only doing 4 +1 = 5 etc.

In English class too she was surprised to see that the kids couldn't spell. The teacher said her math and reading were at a grade 4 or 5 level....

Reality Bites .........................Ouch !.


There are more than 800,000 files sitting at various Canadian Consulates waiting for immigration to this land of milk and honey !.

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Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our
vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the
starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my
children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India
who would make you starve, if you don't.'"

If your daughter went to a US classroom they would still be learning 1,2,3,4 forget about adding

Quote:

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Originally posted by Chris

One funny thing, my daughter is in grade 2 and so she went to a canadian school for a day (one of my friends is coincidently a grade 2 teacher) and sat in a math and english class.

In Indonesia she is already doing addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with big numbers (eg. 456 + 311 +989) while in Canada they are only doing 4 +1 = 5 etc.

In English class too she was surprised to see that the kids couldn't spell. The teacher said her math and reading were at a grade 4 or 5 level....

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I know a couple's kids who are doing much better in school here than back in India.

At first I thought it was the miraculous TO air