Well ...
Thank you for the encouraging words again on behalf of my "blogging". I may indeed better go and set up my own website where I can blog.
Who knows, I will find a job and start to root in but sure I will keep up the good work and carry on with my contributions, help people to find some answers and see the things through the eyes of a real honest realistic person who took the plunge and is going through it all alone and with less to no help from other people and looking things up herself, finding the way on her own and seeking for answers her own way and far from contradicted opinions, marketing pruposes and/or any other reason that is there to just rob you from your youth and money.
First of all, my most valuable impression so far is that Canada by far is not what I had expected from it. It might look gorgeous, big, vast, spacious and pretty, but when you are in the cities and deal with the ordinary life, there is nothing that special about it and in fact ,does appear quite tacky and messed up too and poorly organized in the eyes of an Western European like me who accidentally comes from the richest EU country ( fyi, the richest country inside EU, the European Union is the Netherlands with the lowest unemployment rate as it was pusblished two weeks ago across EU and according to this annual survey in Brussels!), so, that is why I am now more than proud to hold on to my Dutch passport and be proud of where I come from but also to be embracing this country and its unique culture as it is just a real country with a real culture, one that is quite complex and somehow confusing, but if you just take it all easy and be an easy-going person too, it won't take long for you to get used to it and go with the flow as I say.
My reasons as to move over to Canada was not "seeking for a job", because I was convinced I will find a job in my own field and/or somewhere close to it but on an entry level perhaps, but above all, of the ever increasing gap between Europeans and Immigrants in the Netherlands, the fact people were no longer/ are no longer living together but along side of each other, either you are "one of them" or you are a "foreigner" which is no where close to such conduct here in Canada. As soon as you land, you are considered a Canadian and nobody will even care who you are and where you do come from. But is in most cases keen to get to know you and your culture and adapt or embrace it fully, which having said that, isn't the case in my home country. There, like I told to Saudi in a pm, as soon as you mention you are an Arab and from in his case Saudi Arabia, people will run away from you and consider you being a threat to their culture.
There, you are a visible minority just because of the colour of you hair and your hazel eyes! Not because one is Gay or First Nations or a handicaped etc. " Visible minority" has a true meaning and definition here, but in most EU countries, especially the rather spoiled rich North Western parts, sadly no definition and is solely based on one's perception of you having other skin colour or hair or eye and/or accent than her.
I 've been working for International companies there and believe it or not, I did hear indiginous people talking down on anybody from anywhere even from USA or Canada but not much so about Irish or Brits. Maybe because Irish or Brits are culturally speaking close to their own and so they do associate themselves with them and won't talk down on them, but yeah ... it depends on where you work, where you live and who you are befriend with.
Large cities and/or capital do not represent these well developped industrial countries with rich old history but only rural areas and more so smaller towns where in recent years and by large in the last past two decaded more and more average Joe and Jane kind has been living and settling in as to be far from the "feral species" that are destroying their cultures. So, the county has become like one with two identities, one of a big city with hardly any influence of a real culture as even the foreigners has to adapt themselves in order to fit in and so they set aside much of their traditions and get along with that of their new home and that results in a sort of "boring" society where hardly any other colour and/or taste is to be found or experienced, unlike here in Canada where at least you can see and taste let's say Ethiopean food, real Chinese Chinese or Lebanese while in my country, all that is available is either "fine dining and cuisine" or a few fast food corps that have been lobbying for too long to win the competion and set foot in the country.
So, less tastes, less colours, less fun and less value for your money, unless you go on vacation and can for a while experience something else but that again isn't much different than what you have at home. All you see are Cathedrals, churches, palaces, parks, same people, same shops, same food, etc.
So, sure North America does offer a quite fun and unique perspective for those like me who are interested in the world itself. I am/was one of the few Dutch who was not born in India and didn't speak the language and yet again, did like to watch Bollywood movies, or if there was some dancers performing at a theater did go to see them and marvel at their splendid or did enjoy Japanese music or Chinese cuisine as it should be etc. (don't worry, I am not a hippie!)
I remember one of my co-workers telling me: huh? you like all that stuff? eewwww... they are so noisy, if you can call it music, and the food, gosh, all that curry and spices, "yeaks" and I hear everybody else in the department respond " yeaaahhhhkkksssss....eeuwww...groooosssss!!! dirty people with an ugly culture '' ... anyway ... No offence to many of you from India or Pakistan or Sri Lanka, but believe it or not, that is how the majority of people in my country thinks of you!
Yes, they LOVE to go to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos or Cambodja as vacation, why? because they want to see something so old, ugly, chaotic and kind of funny whihc is different than their own peaceful loving environment. Anyway ...
I always found it hard to get used to that "mentality". You can be isolated at work, in your neighbourhood, among your friends, because I should and would always and for years pretend to like what they like and talk about, while none of them really understand my "likes" and "interests" and so I shall keep my mouth shut and don't mention it and play the game until I am away and in Canada or USA for a while and on my holidays as to be who I am and enjoy the flavours, the people, the cultures, the sounds, the sights, you name it.
I wanted to be part of the "world" and not excluded and just be happy for the fact I was living a luxuary life in a rich small nation that does not really know that people in India, Iran, Pakistan, much of Africa and Asia do know what " Potato" is!
If you want to hear me talk, then don't have me start the conversation. If you had an idea how often I 've been hearing people asking me " Do people eat or know Potatoe in the Middle East?"
and I say " Did you know that Green Pepper, Carrots and even Tomato was not growing in Europe but in Mexico?, so yes, off course we know what Potato is and we also have oil and gas and lots of other stuff and veggi you 've never heard of"!
Ten days before me leaving NL, I threw a party at work and made a few dishes from my home country "Middle East" and took to work, others too did come up with pot locks and all. Really nobody touched my food. They didn't know what it was and so they didn't touch it! And these were people I 've been working with for years. I was like " How on Earth can one teach them to not be afraid and embrace the world?".
NL is not an immigrant country, I know, but then again, taht doesn't mean they should not ignore or fear those who are living in it and are as good as they are or do it as good as they do.
Anyways...
Lots of reasons for me to come here, personal reasons, but none of lack of a job or being in an industry that faces competition from Poland or Romania etc, because all those I talk about and these are milions of people living there, do not have anu plumber or electrician that is not speaking Dutch coming over to their home and fix things, because they fear being robbed killed or murdered for their money, so if you think that a Polish plumber or engineer has a good chance of making much money in NL or Germany, you are wrong!
I know quite a few expats who were once working with me at an International company in Amsterdam who are now all living in their home country, India, USA, France, Poland or Russia, they all somehow leave the country when they can. None did make plans to stay there forever. Even a Canadian co-worker from Edmonton, is now living with her husband in Edmonton. Once a great job at a Pharmaceutical company in Amsterdam, now a teacher in Edmonton and she is more than happy to be back.
Anyways ...
But we are now here, all of us, we are all new here and we are all the new "Canadians" who can contribute to build this nation from the beginning again and if we talk about these topics with friends and family or coworkers as we live in this country, we sure will contribute each to a better place for the near future new Canadians to be settling here and so they will have better chances of landing jobs and less refusals, rejections, "hidden" discrimination etc and as to know they are welcome and they should keep up the good work, be who they are, but also accept all others as equals and understand that even those from well developped nations are not here for no reason or just because they felt like it, but because they have good reasons to choose for a vibrant challenging place such as Canada.
So, I am happy that our respected forumer " Hamsafar" raised the topic and does at least use this platform to voice his opinion and not go through life with this on his chest and wondering why one from an EU country might come here? No offence towards me Hamsafar, I mean it in a way that there are sadly people out there, who think the same, but don't know or hear me talking or understand such and yet again are reviewing cover letters and applications and if they see a Dutch name or German name, simply ignore it because they think" Oh, you go back to where you come from cause you ll be OK anyway" and might onl focus on names that sound like his own "kind" and invites those, same for people of any other nation.
I do remind a girl, from Afghanistan. We wanted to hire a "receptionist" ... a few years ago at a previous job, big boss asked me to use my magic and find a good receptionist. So I did. I came up with a girl from Afghanistan and one from Russia. He said " Are you sure? I do not want any of both because I am not sure they can speak the Dutch language." " Well, you won't know if you don't meet them anyway, right?" I replied. A whole conversation followed and I had to convince him that it is good to have them over and see who they are. He agreed and we hired the "Afghani" girl. She was so happy and I never forget the night I was at home and knew I had made a person in my country so happy and had given her such a chance to make good name and build up a great resumé. The Russian woman was really bad sadly, she couldn't pronounce some letters in the alphabet and that was totally a disaster so just a day and I had to personally ask her to leave.
:'(
So we hired the Afghani girl and she did an excellent work and later, she found another job and left. Then I was no longer in that department and so their new receptionists were always either calling sick, or were on holiday or pregnant or had to study, or had to attend college or didn't do anything at all while at work but texting or were allergic to perfume and high heels (we had to all wear perfum and high heels and always dressed up etc), so ... yeah, finally we found a woman from Mexico who was not only pretty but also fun and worked really hard and always at work, on time and never complaining about anything and guess what who found her? MOI!
But now I am here and I face the same kind of discrimination but this time it is more disappointing and hurting me as I know that those who might decide about my fate are not Canadian Canadians, but people from all over the world who I 've been given a good chance to succeed in my own country but now facing ?! myself?!
So, if I have to return to my " well established old life" and land in one of those jobs where I decide as whether or not to hire somebody of other skin colour or language, then I might still be who I am and do what I 've always done and give them a chance, but hopefully, this whole nation will hear my voice today and think twice before blindly reject any new comer of any skin colour or race or even home country and name simply because he/she thinks that it won't be fair to hire somebody that is not from his/her own culture.
Why I tell you this?
Because I today first handedly got this confirmed by a recruiter that told me in all honesty, that companies these days rather have someboday who really speaks English fluentely and WITHOUT an accent (so Dutch I shall say!, I was like 'huh? I am back in Netherlands?) or they just have bad experiences with certain people and rather weed them out and ignore. So, he couldn't promise me any jobs, although we was struck by my resumé and how very well qualified and skilled and professional I was, did look great and was extremely accepting and flexible in all offered options and choices, (remember: plan A, B, C, D, E, .... Z! story) and yet again, he told me that it depends on employer to want you and not necessarily need you.
Anyway...
So far so good ... I have new hope today and at least am doing a great job as a volunteer, filing up a new system and also offering help arranging and editing/clean up their data base and have impressed the coordinator who personally gave me her cell phone so I can use her as my reference because she now WANTS to be my reference given having seen how organised I am and such a great asset to this country.
" I now know why the Netherlands is such a rich yet little nation as you told me, becaue they had you" She said! ;D
God bless you all and have a great weekend.
