A first-timer in Canada
By: John Parado
Tags: Travel, Canada, Canada Immigration, Experience

I have been dreading to move to Canada for as long as I can remember. Why Canada? To be honest, Canada was not my first choice to immigrate to. I just had no idea where to move to but I was certain I am not going to stay in the country I left from.

but of course, I’ll make sure to visit once in a while.

My brother has been staying in Canada for 8 years now. He helped me fix up all the applications that I needed to do and went all through the process of moving here. I was not expecting a 3-year process but immigrating into a new country can be tricky and many intricacies along the way, but I guess, in a way it was all worth it.

Coming from a tropical country transitioning into a land full of snow and cold weather can be tough. The first weeks I was here, things were happening to my skin more on my face. My cheeks turned red, looked all dried up and rough. Every time I try putting moisturizer on, my face feels like it’s burning.

Until I tried putting olive oil on my face. It works!

The extreme drop in temperature here is unbelievable to me. I wore at least two sweaters and I top it off with a winter jacket and it’s still cold. I had to wear three socks every time I go out just to make sure that my piggies are kept warm and in the hopes of one toe are still intact.

All my clothes were made for hot weather so think about that. I did bring thick jackets and sweaters but fitting all of it into my supposed to be spacious luggage did not work out. So I had to leave some of my favorite hoodies.

May my hoodies be at the right people, make them feel warm and safe.

Unfortunately, I have not witnessed the color changing of the leaves when I got here. Fall is the season that I’ve been wanting to see. Wondering what it would be like to see the trees on the mountains changing colors. I instead got here at wintertime which is the longest season here I was told. It is not bad, I just think that if I had a favorite season it would be autumn.

picture is mine

So, the first time I saw snow, well kind of what I expected. Cold and white.

But me stepping on snow can’t remind me of anything I stepped on my whole life. Literally, I can’t think of anything I can compare it from. The crunch of it when the snow has been on the ground for a couple of days. The fluffiness of it when the snow just hits the ground. How you want to just brush it off with your hands or step on for satisfying reasons was all so new to me.

It was all so magical until I got used to it, got bored with it, slipped on it, and definitely annoyed by it.

picture is mine

Like TV shows, movies and all those social media show me. Canadians are known to be polite. Not all of them, but most people I encounter with. They are. I tried walking through the neighborhoods and parks, the first thing I noticed is whenever I cross the street they let me go first and waits for me to cross before they go. I do not know if there’s a law or rule for that here, but that is so polite.

because from where I am from, everyone just crosses to a non-crossing lane and hopefully get to the other side safely.

The things that make me smile every time I walk by someone at the park, they smile at me ask how’s my well being, how’s my day going, tells me how great the weather is or they just simply smile at my nephews and waves hi to them while I walk them to the park. Those simple things make me think how different my home country and the country where I am currently at.

The biggest insecurity that I had here was my height. In the first place, I should not be insecure about it because back home I am at average height, and considering my race reflects who I am not only my skin tone and facial features. I am still trying to get this insecurity out of my system, but hopefully, it will pass.

The fact that I look like a teenager and I have the height of a hobbit affects every aspect of my future job placement. I am worried…

picture is mine

Majestic mountains and beautiful lakes made me speechless. It looked unrealistic to me considering that I haven’t able to view anything like it back home. I only see those two together in a Windows wallpaper but when I saw it, I suddenly felt like I am in the picture. I appreciated how nature was so preserved and the city was isolated from it. It helps nature to be as it is and flow naturally on its own while people can still appreciate every inch of it.

There is still so much to talk about, I still have to gather moments and observations since I just moved here quite recently. All in all, my experiences in Canada made a huge impact on my life. I am way beyond my comfort zone and I learned many things about other cultures and other people. I hope to keep learning new things on the way and be a better version of myself in the future.