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Hi wesventer777,

Contrary to what you may think the country doesn't grind to a halt just because it's cold or snowy.

Actually it's not as difficult as you might think to cope with Canadian winters once you get used to it you'll even find you enjoy winter a lot. Of course one needs a complete winter wadrobe, lots of warm clothes (many layers of lighter clothing works best).

Canadian homes are all well insulated so they're warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so don't worry about that.

You won't lack things to do, ice skating, hockey, skiing (downhill & cross-country), snowmobiling, tobogganing, ice fishing, ice sailing are just some of the many popular outdoor winter activities to keep your blood and adrenalin pumping.

While I haven't been to Red Deer, I've been to Calgary several times, it's a modern comsmopolitan city that offers anything any other big city does. Red Deer shouldn't be much different, just smaller and maybe less comsmopolitan.

  Cheers, 
  William James Woodward – Brazil Animator, Expat-blog Team

Thank you for that I appreciate your input.

Hi
We are also South African and living in Cape Town.  We are also moving to Red Deer  asap.  Have a job offer but hope to move within the next 6 months.  Will be nice to keep in contact with you
anita.youngrunners@gmail.com

I have been living here fot 40 years and the winters are beautiful and from me coming from the caribbean to here is a wonderful climatic change. I can dress for the cold but I can only take off so much for the heat.

William gave you a great idea of the many things you can do in the winters here. 

I've lived in Calgary since 1978 and have found the winters to be very pleasant with just a few days here and there that are unpleasant.  One of the great things about living here are the big blue skies that you can have all year long, they really make those winter days much more pleasant. 

As mentioned dress for the cold in layers, good gloves, boots and hats and you'll be fine.  I married a wonderful Vietnamese woman from HCMC here in Calgary 5 years ago with temperatures at -30C (very unusual so don't let that scare you).  She was fine and really enjoyed the experience, the hardest thing for her was the extra weight of all the clothes she needed to wear when we went out.  After 5 years she much prefers the climate here to that of HCMC where she'd lived all her life.  She has taken up ice-skating and cross country skiing for the winter and in the summer there is an abundance of hiking and outdoor sports, with the Rocky Mountains only a short distance away you'll find no shortage of things to do all year round.

One of the things to be prepared for are the availability of rental accommodation in Calgary, it's very very tight, Red Deer should hopefully be better and a bit cheaper.

So welcome to Alberta, Canada, we hope you come to love it as much as we do.