Today marks year number 3 since I first set foot in Canada as part of my relocation. On 4th of July, 2008 I landed late that evening, tired and excited about a new life far, far away from all the turmoil.

It's not always been easy though. Especially in the beginning - it is hard to move from one place where you were very credit worthy to another where none of that is recognised. So you start over... Building up your reputation slowly but surely. The hardest for me was not knowing whether you would be able to stay - to be here on a temporary work visa is scary to say the least. At any moment you could be kicked out of the country. Seeing that I SOLD everything in SA at a huge loss, that would have been devastating.

Fortunately things worked out and here I am - three years later. I own my condo, I have a car and am doing well for myself. But there are some myths I want to bust - at least in my line of work.

Firstly, it is nonsense that one earn more here overseas than you do in SA. My rate is exactly the same in Canada as it is in South Africa - this is not due to where I set it at, but rather what the market was able to pay. Yet expenses are way higher. A dinner for three - two adults and one child - at an average restaurant (The Keg) is never less than $120, assuming one glass of wine and a main course - skipping starters and desert. That translates to about R840. In South Africa it is at most a third of that. Yet my income is the same. Cars cost the same. Houses are WAY more expensive. A small 3 bedroom condo far from the city goes for about $300 000, which is more than R2mil. For that I can buy a huge house in a good area in South Africa.

But like everything in life, Canada has its ups and downs. It is more expensive to live here, people are not as much fun as South Africans, I miss being able to speak Afrikaans, I miss our rough seas, sandy beaches and warm winters. But I do like the public transport here, the lack of corruption compared to South Africa, the awesome combination of snow capped mountains overlooking the ocean, the vast country that is open for exploration, lower priced electronics and faster availability of new released products, better safety, and my forest across my home!

No idea where the future will lead me but the first two years of coming over was certainly fun. The last year was absolute crap because I made a terrible mistake in judgement, which will never happen again.