I’m sorry if the title brought you here in hopes I’d be talking about who would win in a fist fight between Canada and South Africa. That would be ridiculous because there couldn’t be any possible way of knowing (but for the record, it would totally be Canada. We’re able to harness the power of poutine). When I say Canada vs South Africa, what I MEAN to say is I’m going to look at the differences I’ve noticed between the two […]
July, 2017
The World’s Most Grueling Competition
I’m not necessarily saying I’m competitive or anything, but I like to win. If you beat me at Monopoly, I’ll train bees to attack you. I like boxing with my 7-year-old son because I can beat him at LEAST 78% of the time. He’s a pansy (at least for now). I always finished exams first when I was in school, whether I knew the answers or not. Being first was more important than performing well. Same with sex. I ALWAYS […]
Why You Should Become an Expat (And Why You Shouldn’t), Part 2
Last week, I started to explain why you should (or shouldn’t) consider taking an expat contract. But, like always, I broke the rules of blogging by not keeping it short and sweet, so I only got through three points. Here are some more thoughts to consider before becoming an expat: 4) You Can Totally Show How Valuable You Are To Your Company Your bosses wouldn’t have asked you to relocate if they didn’t think you had great value- or potential value- […]
Why You Should Become an Expat (And Why You Shouldn’t), Part 1
We (me, my wife and 2 young kids) moved from Vancouver, Canada to Pretoria, South Africa in September 2016. A lot of people have asked the same question: “Why?” Several people who are considering making a similar move away from their home country have contacted me and asked what it’s like to leave behind everything and everyone you know. To be honest- it’s awesome. And awful. Here are a few reasons you should become an expat. And a few reasons […]
The Person Who Does That…
I’m going to throw a quite common scenario at you. You’re at your office in North America, and you’re about to go on your yearly vacation to see all the severed whale wieners you can imagine. You set your “out of office” notification on your email, informing anybody who may try to contact you that you’ll be away, but there’s an alternate person who can help them out. Same with your voicemail. Now, your customers can still get what they […]
Canada Day in SA
I love life in South Africa. There are many times I’m sure I never want to move back home to Canada. Canada is polite. Everyone will say hello back to you when you greet them, and everyone will ask how you’re doing, but they don’t really care. We know better than to reply with anything other than a simple “fine,” “good,” or, if we’re feeling particularly boisterous that day and feel like taking the risk of alarming people, we say […]