This August will be my 10th anniversary of living and working in the US. I originally came to work for my fraternity. In the summers I would work for the YMCA at a sleep away camp and eventually they offered me a great job.

I moved to NYC 3 months after 9/11 and fell in love with the city. I work for the YMCA running all of the programs related to youth and their familes.

All of my family still lives in Canada, so I am back all the time. I actually got married back in Canada last March, as gays cannot be married in New York.

The reality is that traveling back and forth and communicating with my friends in family in Canada is so easy, so it feels like I am not that far away. The only challenge is teaching the Americans about our history, influences and what good beer really tastes like.

Marty F., , Ontario
July 12, 2007
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I moved to Ridgeway, Wisconsin 5 years ago after graduating from NSAC to work on a dairy farm. It was only to be for a short time but I ended up falling in love and getting married to a wonderful guy from Ohio. I am now a manager for a bank and my husband owns his own business. I guess that means we won't be moving to Canada any time soon. I don't get a chance to go home to Barrington NS a much as I would like but my family comes and vists here. I miss the good Canadian beer, Tim's and hockey but I'm learning to enjoy what Wisconsin calls beer, and you can't help but love their cheese.

I am proud to be Canadian and always will be. I let everyone know what a wonderful country Canada is and how great it was to grow up on the East Coast eating all the seafood you can get. If there are any other Canucks in WI let's get together and show our American friends how to play hockey and drink beer :)

Angela I., Darlington WI, Nova Scotia
June 28, 2007
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I came to Texas to finish college after serving in the Canadian Armed Forces and ended up staying through grad school. The plan was to return home to Calgary, but I met this great girl from the Dallas area while in Corpus Christi and we had the strange problem of having to pick which country to live in when we said "I do." I lost that argument. She had never been to Banff at the time. I fixed that last year. Port Aransas is beautiful and I'm glad to be here to serve the people as their City Manager. We have three little boys and play knee hockey all the time. Drop by and see me and play some roller hockey Sunday nights if you're ever in this great little beach town.

Michael K., Port Aransas TX, Alberta
June 20, 2007
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I originally moved to Virginia from the Edmonton, Alberta area in November 2001. Now I attend Hood College in Frederick, Maryland (45 minutes from both Washington, DC and Baltimore). I am working on a double major in Elementary and Special Education. Because of the job market in my field, chances are I will stay in this area but Alberta (Go Oilers!) will always be home!

Kira R., Washington DC, Alberta
June 13, 2007
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Hello all fellow Canadians! I came to the States for university, and never dreamed I would stay here. I graduated from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia and then taught 'English As A Foreign Language' in South Korea for two years. I returned to Virginia for law school, and now work as a local government attorney in the Virginia Beach area. I love meeting other Canadians, and will stop anyone wearing Roots clothing to see if they are Canadian. While Virginia is a wonderful place to live, I miss all things Canadian, and go home as often as I can. Feel free to contact me; I would love to hear from you.

Rachel A., Hampton VA, Ontario
June 7, 2007
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My family and I are excited to be starting a new chapter here in Woodland Hills, California but will certainly miss our friends and family back home in Canada. My wife recently got a nursing position here and I have a successful music career that will certainly grow in a great entertainment market like Los Angeles. Our daughter is loving the pool at our complex, but we certainly plan on letting her experience snow again back home this winter! Already missing our Tim Hortons coffee ;)

Jeff H., Woodland Hills CA, Alberta
May 31, 2007
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I moved here in 1982 and still have my green card! I don't think I will ever stop being Canadian. My boys are 17 and 4 and both have dual citizenship. I love the feeling that I can always go home to Calgary or BC where I spent my entire childhood. I remember summers in Kamloops at my grandfather's apple farm. I remember looking out of my bedroom window to see if it would be a good ski day in Banff. I will be there again this summer to stock up on Old Dutch ketchup flavored chips!

Lori B., sutter creek CA
May 24, 2007
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My wife and I moved to Connecticut from the Toronto area back in August, 2005, so that she could attend graduate school there. Since then we've moved on and we now live in the Atlanta area, where we're both working as meteorologists.

We like it here a lot, but we both miss Canada quite a bit. Her parents recently brought down a big care package of President's Choice products, Tim Horton's coffee and hot chocolate, and we have friends that send us Coffee Crisp and Mirage bars every once in awhile. For those of you living around Toronto/Mississauga, I really miss Lick's Homeburgers too! ;)

I'm really happy that I found Connect2Canada. It's great getting updates about what's going on back home, and I look forward to connecting with other Canadians in our area!

Scott S., Marietta GA, Ontario
May 17, 2007
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While on vacation in Hawaii in 1963 I met and fell in love with an American Marine. After I went back to my home in Regina, Saskatchewan, we wrote each other and talked on the phone as often as we could. In October of 1964, he got leave, came to Regina and we were married. I have been living in the U.S. ever since. I have a wonderful husband, children and grandchildren. I get to go home often to visit family and friends, but I still miss Canada. I have lived in the U.S for over 40 years, but I still consider myself Canadian. I have never taken out American citizenship.

Donna J.,
May 10, 2007
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This year is a milestone. I have lived half my life in Canada and half in the USA. It doesn't seem possible, but its true. I was born and raised in Windsor Ontario with family spread from coast to coast and throughout Ontario, especially Bolton, Brantford, Sarnia, Peterborough etc. I graduated from U of Windsor in 1981 and worked for Parks Canada in Amherstburg Ontario as an historian/interpreter. My Canadian husband from Toronto finished a MS degree at UW and was trying to decide what to do next when his advisor hooked him up with an American scientist who was moving to U of California and wanted my husband to come. I was in a pickle. I DID NOT want to leave Canada. I loved my job, my friends and family, the environment--it was everything to me. But, my friends pressed me hard to go so I packed up my 10 WEEK old daughter and moved to the heat. As a non-citizen and no legal working status I found myself at home with little ones--an unintended event. I had another daughter in California so she is a dual citizen. A post-doc and another job for my husband moved us to Delaware and Indiana. After 9 years I finally got a green card in Indiana and started graduate school. My life changed dramatically again when my plans and my husband's did not mesh. I went to Chicago to do a PhD and we divorced. My grad program could not support a PhD in Canadian history (my original research area) so I worked on US Environmental History and North American Indians. This took me to the Great Plains where I met my current husband of 11 years. He is the most Canadian American I have ever met--breaking all my stereotypes of what an American was. We have lived in Kansas for 12 years, and raised our daughters here, but they have retained their Canadian connections through frequent visits and attending the University of Toronto. I still live and work on a green card and we are now making plans to retire to Canada in just a few years. The BEST thing about living here is that I am a history professor and I teach Canadian history to American students. This is very fulfilling in ways I never imagined. It has pushed me to consider what it means to be a Canadian, our history and values and how we are different from Americans. I love asking them where Canadians buy Corner Gas (the video store). My sister actually cried when I told her that no one here knew who Terry Fox was. Of course we are all people, but history does make a difference in our values, our direction and of course, in our spelling. This summer I'll be travelling Canada on a grant from the Canadian embassy--Toronto to Edmonton--to gather materials and stories for my classes. I can't wait to eat my first crueller at TH as soon as the plan touches down. Oh Canada!

Bonnie L., Manhattan KS
May 3, 2007
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