Yes, really. We are moving to Canada. Toronto specifically. Indeed, given an earlier visit there by the family it is somewhat surprising they'll have us. I was offered at great position at the University of Toronto and, frankly, the family have enjoyed being in North America so we took the chance to give something new a go.
We were reluctant to move our kids around more and, indeed, we had so loved our time in Brookline we did want to stay. But alas the options weren't there and so the kids (and the adults) had to accept that you can't always live where you want. We will leave with great memories.
But the constrained choice was very marginal. Toronto is the city in the world that most reminds me of Melbourne. Of course, you trade off cold (against heat) for location. Even Canadians will only take that so far as they hug the border constraint leaving most of the country wild. And location does matter. For the kids, it meant that they could still go to summer camp in the US and their horizons are broadened further. And they get to stay in their new grades at school and not repeat half a year. For me, it gives the opportunity to pursue my research in different directions and to be more connected with the international academic community. And for the remaining adult, she gets a big chance to pursue her career in directions that simply weren't available in Australia.
I must admit that I never thought we'd be on the life is an adventure route but here we are. There's lots of work to be done over the next few months but far fewer forms to fill out compared to just coming to the US for a visit. And you can be sure that adventure means more blog fodder, so stay tuned.
