My expriences so far ... first two days in Toronto!!!

[BMWXC60]

CJ,

All i can say is that you are funny.

Rgds

 

[newtone]

Good luck CJ,

Please keep us in mind if you need any highly skilled and educated brown/black/white people from Canada in NL, cause you know behind that taxi steering, inside hotel kitchens, behind that Tim Hortons counter and that security guard in the mall or hotel lobby there is a doctor/engineer or architect waiting for his dream job

Good luck and hope you keep in touch. I am glad we can get a good laugh out of all this
Take care and God bless

 

[jamesbond]

Also CJ,

Let us know how those Eastern Europeans treat you back home.

Oh, but I forgot, you are not gonna hire anyone of them!

 

[abelkwh]

well said and well written CharlotteJ. What u have mentioned in yr well written journal is indeed true and sad.

So u heading back to yr homeland for good? and not continuing yr stay here in Canada? I had thought u were already settling down well in Toronto. Just felt that its a pity and sad to lose such an excellent person in terms of character and education in Canada, all because of these invisible barriers to a well deserving career and life here in Canada.

Wish u very well in all yr future endeavours in yr homeland!

 

[CharlotteJ]

Thank you all.


As soon as I get a job in which I am allowed to hire, I hire according to the quality, personality and "guts" and those who can show me all of that plus the flexibility like much of us and you guys and all of those I 've met here, do possess, I sure do hire making no difference if it is an immigrant or refugee or Dutch, but my personal interest and hope I can use that in my search, will be anybody like the people I met here, with their tastes, flavours, cultures, idea's and gosh, the kindness!

Eastern Europeans are good people and work hard too. You should know them and you will see that they are genuine people too. It takes time to break the ice but once you are in, you are family! and They are fun people.

Let's just hope that Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa and all, will someday be prosperous places, happy places, FREE places! (if not yet free) and so we can just live in our own country smiling more often and enjoying more the life.

...

No, I didn't choose to stay here Abul. I do enjoy it while it can, but yes, although I started to settle in nicely and got good job offers, I declined them all and am heading back home. I was quite a "conservative" before my move, but now I am going back as a socialist and a very liberal person.

I am sure that if Europe starts to think differently and adjust itself and open up a bit more to the rest of the world, having their knowledge, their attitude and expertise in many areas, and being at least 10 years ahead of Canada, we can do it FAR better than here with regards to immigration and progress towards a better continent and so I hope to be one of those who came here, saw it, experienced it and now can go and teach others as how to be thinking and acting and know that exclusion is not the solution, but inclusion and respect as well as proper education and guidance with no prejudice and/or discrimination will be the key for success if we want to keep ahead of the curve.

...

Sharing experiences:

My husband has worked for a company for a few days, as temp, he got his pay check, went to CIBC to cash it out, but he couldn't get his money cash in hands, but only deposited to the chequing account with no access to it until March 8th with no clear reason or explanation! >>> he was upset because he needed the cash to buy some stuff after his visit to the bank.

I called Scotiabank and asked if it will be the case if he has chosen for them now he has his Scotia debit card and "joint" account and they said No. Reason?

He has this CIBC Visa card of max. $500 limit to it and he has spent $300 and been paying off a bit but they somehow don't trust one and keep your money hostage so they can use it to pay off the credit debt! Sounds so ackward and silly. Off course we are not happy with this and I truly do not recommend CIBC to anyone of you if you are new here or want to be here.

Choose for Scotia, TD and/or RBC, but not for CIBC! they are truly the worst case scenario when it comes to liability.

First the decline my credit card application for no obvious reason, now this!

They can check with Scotiabank as to see that we have excellent records with them and always have been paying off our Visa on time and even more than the payment amount due as to skip the high interest rates! ... CIBC . you are no good!!! Noway!

...


If you want to experience Canada, go and visit a hockey game, if you can't go to the game itself, watch it when enjoying a good meal and so you go and visit " Real Sports Bar" at Maple Leaf Square gardens right next to Air Canada Centre in downtown Toronto.

The place is amazingly fun with huge LCD screens where one can watch the games, is trendy, fashionable, good food, great hostesses and tonight, I was enjoying a nice gathering with my friends there and yep!!! Toronto Maple Leafs won the game ;D perhaps to make me happier and give me the chance to see how Torontonians celebrate a game!

IF you visit Toronto, sure visit Real Sports Bar! it is F U N F U N F U N!

 

[Honolulu]

Afscheid

We will miss your bubbly posts.
Good luck in your new life!!

 

[toby]

Sad to read how drastically Charlotte's mood changed in 5 short months. In September Canada was a bright future, while Holland had serious shortcomings. Now, in March, Charlotte is favourable toward Holland again, and negative about Canada.

I can't comment on Charlotte's personal experiences, but I will say that some Canadians have narrow outlooks, as she says, but others are quite open-minded. Many people -- Canadians by birth and immigrants -- must work at jobs they dislike until they finally achieve the career they want. I think that is true in every country. It takes hard work, perseverance, education, and luck.

So good luck, Charlotte, and may you have the life you want -- in whatever part of the world you decide to settle down in.

 

[BMWXC60]

Well put toby

 

[CharlotteJ]

@Toby: Correct and yes, it has surprised myself too quite honestly. You bet it does hurt me more and has surprised me more than you can imagine because it is after all my life, my money, my resources and my health that was put at risk by this move and taking up on such challenge. Canada is a good place, good people, bad people, good chances, bad chances, possibility here, possibility there, etc etc, it is all everywhere we go. There is no such thing as a Paradise and certainly no place that is perfect and the picture perfect we all pursuit and wish, shall never exist or if it does, not meant to be us or else, we will not be here in the first place.

I figured that being an immigrant, I better accept my fate and the fate of the country that fed me, adopted me, helped me to get "good" jobs, have a "solid" life and a healthy level of a life and just accept it and get along with it than struggeling with it, reject it etc.

My situation is different than many of those who visit this forum. I was perhaps stupid to ever think that Canada will be a better place than the Netherlands, but I didn't know until I found out myself by going through a lot of stuff first handedly and in a very very short time and it was an eye opening experience honestly. I too have disliked my previous jobs, but when I do compare them with now, I will be more than happy to have those jobs back and the acceptance and the appreciation for the things I had and will have again, is the key to feel good, to be happy and plan to build a better future for myself and with my husband back home rather than wasting time and money, especially the time, because we live only once and are here on borrowed time, in Canada while I can be wasting half of each and all back home and be Ok!

It is funny that now I mention my move back home to people I know, ALL of them do encourage me and even those who at first were like 'sad" and trying to keep me here, are now telling me that they too rather be living and working in Europe than being here and a few of these people I know, are Canadian born Canadians of old age too, also young succesful business people, who admittebly find Canada's living standards deterioate faster than before, job-wise not much promising at all and like one said " When the rest of the world starts to get out of recession, we will just start to face the real misery as we are behind the rest of the planet and been spending like crazy and doing almost nothing towards the troubles now piling up now that it can be done!"

I am Ok and I am glad I am heading back home. Canada is a good place for many, but obviously not for ME!

 

[jckdry]

I think u r saving yourself n family from the misery and injustice that we experience here
I havent been to Netherland but I am sure its a good place and on top of that u were already established there
I bet there are many people like me, who face things like those u faced here but do not have courage to move back like u do

I stayed in usa for 5 years but i do not have strength n courage to move to USA n since I m not a US citizen - so I have decided to sacrifice, fight n suffer till I get my Canadian passport

 

[SFD]

Dear Charlotte,

None of us can live your life: Do what you think is best for you and your family. As for me, I have lived in a few countries and have always taken decisions that others may disagree but at the end... IT´S YOUR FATE--- AND GUESS WHAT, I NEVER REGREATED TAKING ANY DECISION. I NEVER LOOK BACK..

May God bless and guide you in thes process.

We all think that things will work out for you...

SFD

 

[toby]

I suspect that the way one sees a country has a lot to do with one's personal viewpoint. I remember being in a town in Coats Rica, thinking it was dirty, noisy, depressing. I returned to that town a few years later, after living in Costa Rica and getting used to its ways, and thought "what have they done to this town? It is clean, not so noisy, and rather charming."

It was the same town; it was I who had changed.

I'm also reminded of the old joke about the foreigner who came to a Latin American town and asked the gas-station attendant what he thought of the neighbourhood the foreigner had just moved into. The gas attendant asked "what was your old neighborhood like?" The foreigner said "wonderful, friendly neighbors, clean air -- a real delight." The attendant said "well, your new neighbourhood is much the same."

A few days later a different foreigner came to the gas station, had moved into the same neighbourhood as the other foreigner, and asked the attendant what it was like. The attendant asked what his former neighbourhood had been like, and the foreigner replied "terrible, noisy inconsiderate neighbours, polluted air -- terrible." The attendant replied "well, your new neighbourhood is much the same."

 

[SFD]

I suspect that the way one sees a country has a lot to do with one's personal viewpoint. I remember being in a town in Coats Rica, thinking it was dirty, noisy, depressing. I returned to that town a few years later, after living in Costa Rica and getting used to its ways, and thought "what have they done to this town? It is clean, not so noisy, and rather charming."

It was the same town; it was I who had changed.

I'm also reminded of the old joke about the foreigner who came to a Latin American town and asked the gas-station attendant what he thought of the neighbourhood the foreigner had just moved into. The gas attendant asked "what was your old neighborhood like?" The foreigner said "wonderful, friendly neighbors, clean air -- a real delight." The attendant said "well, your new neighbourhood is much the same."

A few days later a different foreigner came to the gas station, had moved into the same neighbourhood as the other foreigner, and asked the attendant what it was like. The attendant asked what his former neighbourhood had been like, and the foreigner replied "terrible, noisy inconsiderate neighbours, polluted air -- terrible." The attendant replied "well, your new neighbourhood is much the same."

Toby

That is true... I have been in CR... It´s a beautiful place...

Hope our personal viev about Canada gets better. Because, CANADA WILL STAY AT THE SAME PLACE AT ITS OWN PACE...

s
SFD

 

[niwrrehs]

Very very long posts charlotte, base from your previous previous posts, your life style, the way you choose your work,.. I should say you want to fly...
Some or many of us here want to start from 1kph not to go for 320khp in a couple of weeks..
The key to success is:
Don't Stop Believein'
"No Pain, No Gain"
"No Guts, No Glory"!!!

 

[hagr182]

Charlotte,

All I can say is I am Sorry Canada wasn't the right place for you, from your posting on this thread I can clearly see you tried really hard to overcome all the situations literally thrown at you.

However, your time there is not lost time, your experiences there both good and bad will help you in your future in the NL, im sure that what you learned there will help you on the NL, not only in the professional level, but in other levels as the social and cultural levels. You really tried and there is no shame in returning home, on the contrary, you decided you wanted to come to Canada, which in its own measure was a great challenge, a challenge most people are afraid of, people are afraid of leaving the known for the unknown, afraid of trading assured work, family and shelter for the uncertain, a challenge you took, making you one of the few brave enough to try.

Not only that but you helped others on this forum as well, your decision DOES NOT affect my decision to try to come and establish in Canada, it is quite the opposite, it has helped me realize moving to Canada is not an easy decision, its a decision which has many advantages and disadvantages, you have helped me realize its not going to be a piece of cake; but I am motivated and as you did, I will try to overcome whatever Canada throws at me.

I just want to thank you for sharing your experiences with us total strangers united by the desire to live in Canada, I hope everything goes well on your way back to Europe, keep in mind you are in my prayers, I am sure everything is going to turn up just fine!