I hate it here (Kelowna, British Columbia)!

BeetleGirl · 04-12-2009, 10:46 PM

My selfish little rant! (miscarriage mentioned)

I grew up in Kitchener Ontario and lived their most of my life.
6 years ago, I moved to Toronto and things were good.
2 years later we moved to Markham and lived in our picturesque home in a picturesque community.
Then CRASH! Our lives were changed forever. We lost twins due to negligence,DH's business partner screwed us over and we lost everything, absolutely everything.
From there we were supposed to move to San Francisco after DH excepted a job with UCSF however when an immigration officer made a mistake, we discovered we were destined to remain in Canada. From there we almost ended up in Winnipeg but instead moved to Calgary for 6 months. I really liked it there. Friends were easy to make. All amenities were easily accessible and it was a great place to live.
Then the day came where DH came home and announced he had accepted a job in Kelowna, B.C. and a month later we moved to Kelowna. We have been here almost 3 years.
But I hate here. Really hate it. I loathe it! Despise it!

Unfortunately DH's field of work is pretty specialized and we have to live where he is employed(as he is the main $$$ maker) but I really cannot express how much I hate it here.

We have over 700000 people travel to kelowna for medical treatments yet we don't have an endocrinologist...wtf!?!? Our mall closes at 6:00 pm (was 5:30 when we first moved here), our movie theatres are weeks behind the rest of the country when it comes to new releases, and don't bother going to go see a matinee on a weekday as they don't exsist, but then again nor does food(Other than popcorn) at the concession stands. We lack a Chinese food restuarant that correctly makes fried rice(the best option is the mall food court), Correct that. we lack restaurants in general. There are not enough here by any means. Especially in the summer when all the tourists come and our main road through the city is blocked and it can take an hour to do what is normally a 15 minute trip(maximum). It's so messed up!

The people here are unlike any others that I have met anywhere else in this country. Most are pretentious....but really shouldn't be and the rest are dumb. Somewhere there has to be normal people with proper ethics and morals...I just can't seem to meet these people. Where are they?
People here condone change as if it's a bad thing. City council makes bad choices including the killing of wild bunnies. I really love knowing that a bunny got stomped to death by an idiot being paid with my hard earned tax money. Thanks Mayor!

Anyways, I apologize about the rant but it's tough living in a place that you hate as much as I hate Kelowna but unfortunately we are stuck here for some time.

Anyone else here in Canada feel like they're stuck in the armpit of our country? What did you do to get over the hump? Does it ever get better?

Catwoman2005 · 04-14-2009, 11:11 PM

Sorry to hear you are having a rough time... I can't say that I am as bad off...

I grew up in Unionville my whole life until DH and I bought a house 4 years ago in Pickering... Parts of me miss Unionville and its beauty, but times have changed and it is no where near what it used to be... My parents still live there and when I go to visit them I cringe at the changes and am glad that I have moved... I am still learning about things in Pickering, at least having a child now I am on the look out more for things to do, I still feel somewhat lost here as I don't much around here, I knew every street and detail of Unionville... I do love the fact that I am only a 5 minute drive to the lake, I like the water, the closet body of water I got to see as a kid was Toogood pond and Lake Ontario was soooo far away... Ok the part of the lake I am closest too is by the power plant and the better part to walk on the lake is a 15 minute drive away, but I'll take what I can get...

Hope things get better for you.. If things are that bad, then I think that maybe you need to talk to your DH about it...

dragonboater · 04-18-2009, 10:31 PM

I am sorry to hear that you are having a rough go out in Kelowna. I have lived in Markham my entire life and can send Markham your way if need be!
You need to find a positive out there for your own sake. As hard as this may be, I hope that you do.
I am sorry to hear about your loss of twins.
Let me know if you need any Markham sent your way or if you want to chat about old times, I do feel for you.

mrstweeds · 05-12-2009, 06:04 PM

I'm from Ontario but living in Surrey

BeetleGirl · 05-13-2009, 02:26 PM

Thanks ladies.
It's really tough when you are stuck in a place you hate.
Unfortunately we have to live where dh gets employed or face being homeless. In most families, people chip in and help out during the tough times, for us, this has not been the case in the past nor would we have the support we would need to even consider moving back to Ontario. This is how we ended up out here in the first place, it was sink or swim time and we had to decide moving here over being homeless. People don't intentionally want to be homeless, and we are no different.
If we lived in the U.S. things would be dramatically different as there are 1000x more options in dh's field of work. Here with our small populations and lack of financial stability in health care, it's just not an option. However with that in mind he was just offered a job in Saskatchewan making good $$$ but moving X-country is very expensive(I am still paying off our credit cards from 3 years ago) and with the realestate market the way it is at present we could end up in the negative by alot.
Dh isn't a huge fan of the Kelowna area either but at this point our only viable option is to keep trekking along and hoping that one day we win the 6/49 jackpot so we can move where ever we want and not have to worry about $$$ ever again.

NB_Cindy · 05-18-2009, 04:22 PM

BeetleGirl, I know I am new here but I'm so sorry for everything you've gone through.

I know the feeling all too well. I left Ontario and moved to Fredericton for grad school. It was supposed to be a temporary deal. When I realized that it would be a fairly mid-term I figured I could find work here. No such luck. My SO is working at a call center. He has a MA. The buses here don't run on a Sunday. And on the days they run, the last bus is 9:45pm in some locations and downtown 11:00pm. The 9:45pm bus is from campus and the last classes let out at 9:50pm, so LOTS of students walk 2-20 blocks depending on where they live or cab it home which can get VERY expensive. The buses also run on a select 2 hour rotation. The city is on a hill and is NOT pedestrian friendly.

Over all, I have found the city VERY pretensious and shallow...which is baffling because of how many problems we have here. Getting a doctor is a whole ordeal. You go to the walk in clinic 3 hours before it opens. Rush the windows when the receptionist shows up, sign the sign in sheet. She collects your insurance card or you pay cash. Then you see the doctor. You explain your symptoms and push and prod. They send you to the hospital for bloodwork. It gets lost. Repeat this process 3 more times, and then FINALLY you get a referral. Get it, see a doctor who tells you that huristusim is normal and ignores you.

But I digress.

I hope it gets better, and that your DH gets a job that pays relocation costs. That or you do win the 6/49!