Mr. W and I immigrated to Toronto, Canada in October 1994, and it has been twenty-five years this year. In twenty-five years, we moved three times, and our two daughters were born one after another and had grown up. The eldest daughter graduated from college this summer and is currently working on the job she yearns for. My youngest daughter entered university in September this year and studied her favorite major...
came to a new place and had many things to handle: open an account in the bank and apply for a social insurance card in order to find a job. In addition, after arriving at the port, I learned that the driving license of Ontario will be implemented in the G1, G2 and G level three systems starting from that year, and two road tests are required. There are also new regulations on health insurance cards: new immigrants will only take effect after logging in and reside for three months.
The community public library near our residence was the place we had to go every day, reading newspapers, looking for a job, rewriting our resumes, and also found that there were several Chinese books in the books for borrowing. One of them was written by a Hong Kong immigrant who first arrived in Toronto. It was not too thick, but very practical. It was a life guide for us new immigrants. I benefited a lot after reading it, which made me think that in the future, I would like this author to share my immigration experience with later generations, so as to help everyone adapt to life here as soon as possible.
The only drawback of the book is that some place names and special nouns in it are directly translated into Cantonese Chinese, and the original English name is not marked. For example, "Dundas Street East", we took some effort to match its real name "Dundas Street East". There are also street names such as "Finch" and "Steeles", as well as some commonly used words "Insurance". Therefore, when I wrote articles later, I paid special attention to the fact that whenever I used the names and place names translated into Chinese, I must use English when they first appeared, so that readers can better understand.
Community Library also played an important role in our later lives. Every resident can apply for a book card, borrow books or CDs and other materials. During my parents' visits to Toronto several times, I borrowed some Chinese books for them to enrich their lives. After my two daughters went to school, they often borrowed books according to the book list issued by the school teachers. The books they didn’t borrowed at that time were bookable, which was very convenient. Each borrowing time is 3 weeks and can be renewed when it expires. Booking and renewal were previously done by phone, and later through the website.
For so many years, in addition to the community library, there is also a community activity center, which provides us with cultural and sports facilities such as swimming, skating, and playing ball. When children were young, they learned to learn swimming, skate, dance, etc. at the community activity center. Until now, the children still go to the ice skating rink at the community event center on weekends.
I first arrived in Toronto. Although I had an international driver's license, I did not allow buying a car at that time. We live in the city and there is a subway nearby. But there are only two lines. Now twenty-five years have passed, only one line has been added, which is completely disproportionate to Toronto's growing population. Therefore, although the expressway has added lanes, it is easy to understand that the vehicle is still congested. Public transportation is not developed and convenient enough, which also causes difficulties for people to travel. By the way, when we first arrived in Toronto, the oil price was CAD 0.30-0.40 per liter.
W Mr. successfully found a job one month after we arrived in Toronto. Two months later, we moved from the temporary rental basement to the North York apartment building, and bought furniture and other daily necessities. Many of the things were bought from Zellers, a retail store that closed in a few years ago. Although Zellers are no longer here, the few things in our house still retain the memories of the time, which makes us often think of them.
Shortly after the birth of the eldest daughter, we bought our first house in Brampton City, northwest Toronto. At that time, we only considered the cheap house prices, and did not consider the local population composition, school teaching quality, etc. After moving there, I found that there were very few Chinese people there, and when my eldest daughter started to go to school, she found that the teaching level and quality of the school were not high, so she had to transfer to several schools. The most important thing is that the child encountered unfair treatment from teachers and classmates at school. After negotiations with the teacher and the principal many times, we finally decided to move to an area where there are more Chinese people living now.
Another important reason for choosing this area now is that it is to facilitate children to get in touch with more Chinese culture. Here, there are a wide range of Chinese supermarkets, catering and retail industries, and cultural and entertainment activities are also rich and colorful. It often feels like living in China. As it turns out, this choice is completely correct. Over the years, my two daughters have not only reached a certain level of Chinese, but are very interested in Chinese culture and can switch freely between Chinese and Western cultures.
For twenty-five years, we have always felt the multicultural atmosphere in Canada. Not only does there be Chinese cultural activities, but also regularly hold cultural activities for other ethnic groups such as Italy and Greece every year, giving us often the opportunity to contact and feel the customs of different ethnic groups.
Before immigration, when it comes to Toronto, Canada first thinks of the cold and snowy winter. We were in early October, the climate was the most pleasant and the most beautiful time in Toronto. However, the good times did not last long and it soon became snowy in winter. However, as soon as the next year begins May, all kinds of flowers bloom in a row, allowing people to fully enjoy the joy of spring flowers. But speaking of this, the six-year-long cold and ice and snow are really a test.
As our second hometown, Toronto has lived here for longer than we have lived in China. In twenty-five years, we have witnessed and experienced the development and changes of this city, and have long been familiar with and adapted to life here, and are full of confidence and hope for the future.
(the above content and pictures are from the Internet)
