Tuesday, November 19, 2013

My First Impressions of Canada

Hi everyone,

My name is Sahar Jallad, 45 years old, and I come from Esfahan, Iran. I recently moved to Canada with my sister to create a better life, and leave all the corruption and war behind. My first few thoughts about Canada are that there are many cultures here, and many people from Iran. I feel a sense of community and home, as I do miss my friends and family in Iran. I hope that this community will help me feel less sad about leaving everything behind.

My English skills are okay, as I grew up speaking Farsi, and I came to Canada thinking that I would be able to work in an architecture firm. This is not the case. I find it very hard to get work because my degree is not taken seriously here, and companies are not impressed with my English skills. I am concerned that this will be very difficult to manage my finances, as I have to work almost 15 hours a day at both my jobs at a local restaurant and retail store to help pay for my bills. Also, I send money to my family back in Esfahan and I find it hard to go to work and pay for my bills. I do not even have the chance to save money to go back to school, and trying to find an English class to take for free that fits my schedule is tiresome. I would like to take online classes, but I am not motivated enough to complete the work. I feel that attending class will force me to do the work, but I do not have time because of my long workdays. I hope that I will find something soon that fits my schedule and will be free or at least cheap.

I plan to look for work experience in an architecture firm and improve my English skills by talking to locals and pushing myself to speak English. After I gain some experience, I hope that the firm will take me more seriously and allow me to work, at least part-time. I would like to attend English classes, as I have heard that MOSAIC is a good program for English learning. I hope to complete my goals by the end of the year.


-Sahar

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