[Goanet] The Canadian Dream
Top ten reasons why some new immigrants leave Canada, presented by a Ukrainian/Russian who lived in Qatar when young. Some part comic (without intending it), some part true but on the whole, quite balanced. https://youtu.be/-oZivZha5Fs Roland. Toronto.
[Goanet] The Canadian Dream
Selma, How I enjoyed your comments to Roland. Your mention of a young girl trying to teach you(a highly educated individual) how to send faxes (and perhaps make coffee !!)reminded me of something I experienced at my first job in London. My colleagues and I shared a Dictaphone and were expected to dictate quite a few letters daily. Imagine my surprise(and anger!) when one of the typists came up to me and asked whether I'd used the wrong word. The word I'd used was exculpate which she'd never heard.. As for punctuation and grammar, forget about it; and yet, when we had hardly been in the country for 5 minutes, we were often asked by recruitment agencies, have you any London experience? The rest is history! Mervyn (Maciel)
[Goanet] The Canadian Dream
Forwarded by a friend, from one of the desi magazines. Roland. Desi Trends Articles of Interest to South Asians in Canada The Canadian Dream We moved to Canada, our family of four, in July 2008. It is almost one year since we left Chennai airport and flew into Toronto with our PR cards in hand and looking for the end of the rainbow. Well, we haven't found it yet. Why have I titled this article, The Canadian Dream? Because if you are planning on moving to Canada, from India or the Middle East or wherever you live now, thinking that your life is going to be like what you see in foreign magazines or English movies . . . wake up . . . you are dreaming!! We live in a relatively mixed neighbourhood. Indians, Canadians, Philippino's and Pakistanis. We have met many Indians who have moved both from India and from other countries, especially the Middle East. One thing in common with nearly everybody you meet? Their opinion of having moved to Canada quickly becomes apparent. Conversations normally begin with, 'So, have you found a job yet?', or, 'Are you still living in a basement?' Let me set the picture straight: When you went for your PR card interview and the person behind the counter nodded and said the magic words, 'Here is your visa', like all of us, you must have breathed a huge sigh of relief. Glad that the stress of filling in all those forms, taking those endless Xerox copies and making all those pocket pinching money transfers is finally over! Now you can start booking your tickets and packing your bags! You sell your assets, throw or give away your household goods, get your children's transfer certificates from school and travel across the ocean to reach your dream destination. Standing outside the airport, you get the first of many shocks. First - the weather. If you have landed anytime between the end of September and the beginning of April, the cold will hit you like a ton of bricks. Be prepared! The second shock? The taxi ride (unless you are lucky and know someone who is picking you up) to any place is going to cost you at least $60 CAN. Plus tip. If you have come with a ton of luggage..lucky you, you get to take two taxis, because most of them don't have the space for our world famous, Indian luggage capacity! Remember, if you have also come with ten members of your extended family, each and every one of them is going to need a seat belt. So, forget the days of traveling in crammed up Ambassadors or cheap autos. Once you get to where you are staying, jet lag will hit you. This is a good thing. This means that you will have your only good nights sleep in the near future, as you will be too tired to even think about the fact that you now have no job, no home and no income. Sweet dreams. Day two of reality checks: The family member that you are staying with, who is still giving you that welcoming smile while handing you the mornings cup of coffee, is actually thinking, 'When is this guy going to get a job, find a house and leave our house?'. So don't get fooled by the smiles. Unless, that guy too happens to be an immigrant who moved just before you did, and is still staying in the same Uncles' house that sponsored you plus the other four families. You take the newspaper to read the 'jobs wanted' section. You circle the ones you think are interesting, the ones that require your skill and knowledge. The ones that will earn you the dollars you had been dreaming about. You send out your resumes and give them your Uncles address and phone number. Then you wait. One week, two weeks and three weeks later . . . you think, 'Okay, maybe the post office lost my letters. How come no one has called me for an interview??'. Your name happens to be Dharminder Singh. Your Uncle suggests you change the name on your resume to, 'Danny S'. The first week you get three calls. The first interview morning, you are riding the bus with forty other people to get to the other side of the City. Remember, you don't have a license to drive, or a car yet. If it is winter, you will be layered in two or three sets of clothing, boots, gloves and hat. Let's skip over to the interview. You shake hands; you sit down and then stand up again. You have been asked only one question, 'Do you have any work experience in Canada?' The second you say, 'no', the interview is over. You get back on the bus and head home. Oops. Your Uncle's home. Three interviews and rejections later, it slowly sinks in that maybe all your experience and qualification in India . . . are worthless here in Canada. You quickly find out that all your neighbors are immigrants too, and the guy next door knows of an opening where he works. He can get you in. You don't even have to know English or have any previous experience in Canada. Sounds good! Your new place of work is huge! You get your own id badge and employee number. Maybe even a uniform! Then someone hands you a broom and asks you to start sweeping the floor before the customers
Re: [Goanet] The Canadian Dream
The title could very well read The USA Dream or The UK Dream or The Australian Dream. A hard hitting article that many immigrants will concur with. Yet, most if not all immigrants have surmounted the odds and through their intelligence, sheer dint of hard work and dedication, have gone on to a better life. This article should be Must reading for anyone aspiring to immigrate to the West. Not to discourage them from trying to better themselves, but to blow apart any illusion they might have about the promised land. From my own experiences as an immigrant, I believe that the younger one is, the better one is able to adapt and work oneself up the ladder. Forget about your status in the country you immigrated from. Unless you are incredibly lucky, you have to start at the bottom of the ladder. Most immigrants having seen hardship, work very hard and work themselves up the ladder of success. Remember, you are coming to their country, and have to work twice as hard to prove to your prospective employer that you are worth employing and retaining. Adaptability is the key. If you were a doctor or professor, and are now required to sweep floors. So be it. Bide your time, work hard to feed your family while networking and keeping an eye open for opportunities in your field of expertise. Eventually you will succeed. .
[Goanet] The Canadian Dream (Roland)
Dear Roland, I had a good laugh when I read your excerpt. So many of the things were so true of our first years in America, ten years ago, especially not having a car and having to cart things from the supermarket in minus zero temperatures. Our hands would freeze and lock, and our teeth would stiffen so we couldn't even scream. My husband would offer to carry some of my bags and I would ask him to save himself and go ahead without me, because I was so sure I was going to die. As you know, we were luckier than most because we were not immigrants, just what India and Consulates around the world call, intra-company transferees. In those first few years, before America and India figured out what to do with us and how to bracket us, we ended up paying taxes in both America and India. Indeed the world was changing so fast, the laws of both countries had still not caught up. In the end, it was the corporate world that decided how the issue would be resolved. Who says corporations don't make the rules. When I was allowed to look for a job - as America had initially decided not to allow dependent wives to work - I sent my resume on high-quality paper fully expecting the phone to be ringing off the hook. Nobody called. I finally got a call from a Spanish company wanting to know if I could handle their Spanish employees. That Portuguese surname had come in handy at last. Pity I couldn't speak Portuguese or Spanish. Eventually, I landed a job as an admin assistant (that too just temporary as it was a pregnancy replacement) in a bank. A young girl insisted on teaching me how to send faxes. I, who had two degrees, two diplomas and had been HR Officer, now had to swallow my pride and learn to send faxes and make coffee from someone who was 10 years younger than me and called me honey. Remember that god-awful job of mine from which I would send depressing emails to you and everyone I knew - a real low point. But I do want to say, it is not all that depressing. The experience of my younger brother and his wife, both of who have pretty solid degrees from India, in the science field have had no problems finding jobs in America - even though they arrived in the worst depression ever - and are just sailing through. And even those of us who enter the administrative field, eventually do manage to break through. In the West, initiative and drive goes a long way in getting ahead. Best, selma
Re: [Goanet] The Canadian Dream
Folks, I guess every immigrant has his/her own expectations and aspirations prior to arriving in the west. Some are dreamers and others are realists. The difference between N. America and the countries people immigrate from is that in N. America the only way to the top is by working smarter. Those who have understood this, got it. Those who have not, never will. Lastly, when I was seven or eight years old, in the 1960's the newspapers in Tanzania announced that a satellite would be passing directly overhead at 7.00pm one evening and it could be viewed with the naked eye. That night everybody was out on their balconies, looking skywards, trying to spot the satellite. That is when I overheard a child asking her dad, Why would anyone work if they had a million dollars? The dad replied, Honey, when you make your first million dollars, you will know the answer. That child is now in Toronto. A millionaire. I know a few other kids I grew up with who are sailing in the same boat. The possibilities here are endless. Mervyn1396Lobo
