March 2008 ~ Filipino in Canada

Monday, March 31, 2008

Canada's Point System

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 5:54 PM

you probably have heard about the point system. yes, it’s canada’s point system that will determine whether you are qualified to migrate or not. it is canada’s way of assessing your capability to “make it” here.

the point system measures 6 areas and i promise to discuss each area at length in my next posts. for now, i will just give a rundown of what these areas are. out of a 100 points, the current passing score is 67.

1. education. education gets a maximum of 25 points. simply put, the higher your education, the higher your points. you get points based on the number of years you have spent studying.

2. fluency in English and/or French. fluency in canada’s official language will help you score a maximum of 24 points. your ability to listen, speak, read and write in these languages will be evaluated. you will also be required to provide proof of your fluency either by taking the IELTS or by submitting any written proof of your capability.

3. work experience. points are awarded based on the number of years you have spent working either full time or part time. if you have at least 4 years of work experience, you get a maximum of 21 points.

4. age. if you are between 21-49 years old, you get a maximum of 10 points. this will be based on your age when you submit your application.

5. arranged employer. simply put, you get 10 points if you have a ready employer to work for when you land in canada.

6. adaptability. basically, they would like to know how well you can adjust to life in canada. if you can show that you have what it takes, then they give you a maximum of 10 points.

think you can score at least 67 points? click here and find out. good luck!

My First Encounter: Birthday Parties

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 7:43 AM

my son is attending a birthday party today. no, not his classmate this year but a classmate from last year. and he's excited.

im excited too. every time he gets invited to one, i am happy for him. because being invited to a birthday party here is not like being invited to a party in the philippines. being invited here is like a seal of approval.

in fact, one of the mommies i regularly hang out with (who is not a filipino) takes birthday invitations really seriously. whenever her son gets one, she always has to ask me whether my son is going too.

the very first time she asked me, i thought she just wanted to know who's coming and who's not. so i thought it best to let her know that my son is also attending the other 2 invitations as well.

that's when i found out. the look on her face said it all. not everyone gets invited.

being a classmate doesn't automatically mean you get an invitation. so it's a good thing to be invited. to be in the circle. the more friends you have, the more invitations you get.

even your mom's friendliness comes into the equation. the friendlier your mom is to the other moms, the more chances of being invited. just recently, my son was one of 3boys invited to a dominantly girls party just because i was "friends" with the mom.

so try to imagine the look on my face when my non-filipino friend told me that she met the other mom and asked why her son wasn't invited. talk about being competitive.

back home, we dont have this. i have yet to talk to a mom who got stressed because her kid wasn't invited to a party. back home, everyone gets invited (at least in the grade school level).

if you're a classmate, then you're invited. as they say, invited ang buong barangay!

U Comment, I Follow

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 1:51 PM

allow me to veer away from my usual posts today to tell you that i have recently joined the u comment, i follow campaign.

what does this mean?

this means that from now on, everytime you comment on my site, i give you back the much needed link love. nice huh?

if you wanna join me in spreading some love around, i suggest you head over to randa clay and get yourself a cool logo as well.

love me and i will love you right back! :)

Brave Coffee Anyone?

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 9:14 PM

my husband takes the train to work. i bring him to the train station. this works well because: (1) he gets to relax on his way to work, (2) he doesn't have to look for parking, (3) i get to use the car during the day instead of it being stuck in some parking lot, and (4) there is always entertainment on board.

the thing with public transportation here, whether it be the train, the bus or the streetcar, is that people tend to speak as if they are the only people on board. so, it is not unusual to hear snippets of conversation here and there.

just yesterday, on his way home, he was seated across two filipinos and their canadian friend. they were discussing how their days went and how much they love coffee. when suddenly one of the filipinos asked the canadian friend, "so have you ever tried... uh... have you ever tried brave coffee?"

brave coffee?! what IS brave coffee? this conversation has obviously caught my husband's attention. he was curious. what is brave coffee?! he's never heard of it before.

quite interestingly, even the filipino's friends didnt know what he was talking about too. my husband could see him trying to explain what brave coffee is. to no avail. he just kept on repeating the words "brave coffee... you know... brave..."

until finally, out of this guy's frustration, he turned to his fellow filipino friend and decided to speak in tagalog. "pare, ano ba?! brave coffee... yung kapeng matapang!"

like i always say, word for word translation is definitely not the way to go.

Hoppy Easter!

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 10:56 PM

did you know that the easter bunny actually visits homes to leave eggs for good children?

would you believe that i didn't know this? would you believe that the easter bunny never visited me? nor did the easter bunny visit any of my friends in the philippines.

i just found out today that the easter bunny visits children here in canada. and i'd have to thank our parish priest for that. he ended the mass today by addressing the children and saying, "i hope the easter bunny found all your homes today."

what?! i looked at my kids right away. thankfully, they were so busy putting on their jackets and preparing to leave that they did not hear what the priest said. i was definitely not prepared to answer why the easter bunny did not visit us today. and i can't just tell them i didn't know it was supposed to visit us, can i?

when i was a kid, egg hunting was what we did. we didn't know that the easter bunny could spare us the trouble by bringing us some. not that we didnt enjoy egg hunting.

to the easter bunny, if you're reading this, you owe me some eggs!!!

Spring is Here!

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 5:52 PM

spring officially started yesterday. unfortunately, the first day of spring didn't come with it.

my kids were so happy that spring is here that they seem to be oblivious to the fact that the huge pile of snow in our front yard still hasn't melted. they seem to be oblivious to the fact that the weather is still -18C outside. they are just really excited.

i am excited too. if there is one thing i look forward to, its the change of seasons. since we got here, we've experienced 9 season changes. and up to now, the change of season still amuses me. everytime i see it, its still like seeing it for the first time.

i love the change that comes with each season. the change in weather. the environment. the activities. the clothes. the decor. the fruits. even our street changes its look. right now, it is lined with pine trees. but come spring, new trees will line our street. it is so amazing how our street transforms. and i am equally amazed at the fact that even the placement of trees was well thought of by the people who designed our street.

yes, we look forward to spring and everything that comes with it. flowers, pink trees, spring cleaning, garage sales, and road trips to name a few.

it is unfortunate however that the official start of the season doesn't always coincide with the first day of the season. while the groundhogs had predicted an early spring this year, the winter weather doesnt seem to want to leave yet. at least not for a couple more weeks. prompting our local newspaper to say... "groundhogs, you're fired!"

Its All Very Canadian

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 12:52 PM

when my mom went back to the philippines from her vacation here, her friends asked her how canada was like. to which she replied, "oh, it's all very canadian." luto canadian (ka na diyan)... laba canadian (ka na diyan)... linis canadian (ka na diyan)....

and i know it isn't only my mom saying that. almost all moms i know who come and visit here would never regard their trip here as a vacation. but rather as work.. hard work! moms who have maids back home suddenly find themselves being "maids" to their daughter/son.

when we came over, i didn't know how to cook. i never washed dishes. i never did laundry. and i certainly did not iron nor did i have any inclination to do the garden. plain and simple, i don't do housework. any housework. i am simply not made for it. i am not built that way.

so imagine a person like me suddenly cast off into canada. with no moms. no maids. and 2 babies. disaster. complete and utter disaster! my solution: send an SOS to my mom pronto!

i had barely unpacked my stuff when my mom came over to answer my distress call. in the 3 months she stayed with us, she helped us settle down and taught me things i need to know. how to cook, what to look for when buying raw meat or fish, what cut of meat to buy, how to store food, how to do the laundry, etc. mommy-stuff.

living in canada forced me to learn these things. things i would never have the need to know had i gone on living in the philippines. because there is always someone who would do things for us. someone to cook for us. to do the laundry. to pay your bills. to register your car. to watch over your kids. to buy take out. name it and someone else will do it for you. almost everything can be done by someone else. in fact, more important than knowing how to do something yourself is knowing who can do it best for you.

2 years in canada forced me to learn how to do things myself. to cook. to wash dishes. to clean. to vacuum. to mow. etc. and although i still cannot say that my housekeeping abilities are perfect, i have definitely come a long way. heck! i even know how to make kutsinta by myself now. and sushi rolls! yummy...

Taglish Redefined

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 9:35 AM

when we hear the word taglish, "i wanna make tusok tusok the fishball" immediately comes to mind. i grew up making fun of that sentence. my teachers couldn't help but overemphasize the importance of speaking straight english or straight tagalog for that matter.

so, do you think that nothing can trump "tusok tusok the fishball?"

how about "mom, i'm gonna ligo?" or worse, "im ligoing."

during my first few days in canada, when my aunt was looking for my cousin, he replied, "im ligoing." i go, "what?! he's what?!" "he's ligoing. ligo-ing. as in taking a bath." whew... and i thought tusok tusok the fishball was bad.

yup. taglish definitely has gone on to a new level here. a whole new hybrid. gone are the rules. naliligo = ligo + ing. makes sense? maybe it does. maybe it doesn't. i hear words like, "you subo" to mean take a bite. "i wanna tulog" to mean i wanna sleep. "you kain the food" to mean... well you know what that means. and though i have strong objections to this kind of taglish, i have taken to speaking this kind of language to my kids in an attempt to teach them tagalog.

unfortunately, my kids did not get to learn the language when we were in manila. why they never learned it is beyond me. it's not that i don't speak tagalog. i do. my husband does too. but somehow, tagalog just didnt seem to funnel through them. and when we were in the philippines, the absence of tagalog words in their vocabulary didn't bother me one bit. neither did it bother anyone else.

so now, i am handed the difficult task of teaching them tagalog. and in my attempt to do so, i have utitilized the same method as above. you subo. you kain. i want tubig. lets tulog. little words. repeatedly. translating one word per sentence at a time in the hope of finally reaching the sentence tulog na tayo.

funny sounding words i gather have more recall with my kids. therefore no difficulty in teaching them kiliti sa kilikili. or you wanna face the dingding?

and while this kind of taglish has taught my kids to finally say, "gusto ko ng tubig," translating word for word is not the way to go. once i asked my daughter, "gusto mo ng isda?" she looked at me and i can see in her eyes that she had understood and was formulating her answer in her mind. after a moment, she smiled and proudly said... "hindi... ako... isda!"

enough said.

My First Encounter: Palm Sunday

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 1:17 PM

if there is one thing living in canada has done for me, it is to push me way beyond my comfort zone. suddenly i have to deal with things i have taken for granted. things i don't even think about. things that i dont dare put my finger on. and things i have never ever thought of doing back in the philippines.

i think it is in writing about these things that you will understand what everyday life is for a filipino in canada. a lot of my writings will be in comparing my life in the philippines versus my life here. and i will be discussing general everyday scenarios some of which still amuse me to date.

just today, we celebrated palm sunday. and while palm sunday would bring pictures of vendors surrounding all of our churches in the philippines with their fancily woven and colorfully decorated palm leaves or palaspas, as we call them, such a sight will never be seen here. from the outside of the church, you won't even know its palm sunday.

instead, what you will see when you enter the church (at least for the church that my family goes to) is a table full of palm leaves. everyone who enters the church can just help himself/herself to it. nope, they are not decorated. neither do they have little red flowers on them. and they are definitely not woven.

they are just plain palm leaves. palm leaves which the priest had blessed prior to the beginning of the mass. so we no longer have the need to wave them up in the air while the priest goes around blessing them.

on occasion, you would see some people creating crosses from the palm leaves they got. and i, coming from the philippines, and having played with woven palm leaves in my childhood felt confident that i could make a woven cross for my kids so they can look up to me in awe. and of course several attempts and several palm leaves after, it was actually my husband who was able to create one on his first try. har-har. show-off!

so while i do miss the elaborate palaspas we have back home, i do enjoy the opportunity of learning to make it myself.

by the way, should you know how to make a woven cross, please leave me the directions below.

Weird and Insane

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 3:37 PM

it does seem awfully weird and insane to want to live in a country that i have zero knowledge about. a country i have never seen before. a country i have not even thought about until recently. a country where i didn't have any family nor friends.

ok. that isn't entirely true. i do know know one thing about canada. they have one-year maternity leaves. yes!!! one year!!! and to a mom with a newborn baby who is having a hard time looking for the perfect yaya, that seems to be enough. enough to want to move to canada.

and i do have family here. my lola's brother lives here. never mind that i've only seen him twice in my life. but surely that would count as family wouldn't it?

and friends. my husband's classmate from kindergarten is here. and so is his classmate from college. surely, 2 friends are enough right? oh! and did i mention that my bestfriend's officemate who i have never met is here too? but its ok. my bestfriend is going to introduce me to her through email. so that makes 3.

3 friends. 1 family. 1 year maternity leave. that should definitely be enough!

or is it?

prior to coming to canada, one of the things i had a hard time researching about was how life in canada would be like. and whether canada was for me. and my family. i remember asking friends for movies filmed in canada. so i can more or less have a glimpse of what everyday life looks like.

it is after all in seeing what everyday life looks like that we can best judge whether canada is right for us.

What, Why and Who?

Posted by Filipino in Canada on 5:51 PM

first things first.

what is this blog about? why am i doing it? and who am i?

what is this blog about? simply put, this blog is an attempt to help filipinos who want to migrate to canada.

why am i writing it? since coming to canada 2 years ago, i have found myself constantly being asked about how i did it. i answer emails from family and friends. i give them websites to visit. steps to take. advice on what to do. and answer the ever constant question of what life in canada is like. more specifically, how life in canada compares to the life i left behind in the philippines.

who am i? i opened this account with the thought of not revealing my identity. however, as i write this, it occurs to me that readers would want to know where i am coming from and why my opinions are so.

when i was in the philippines researching about life in canada, i joined a couple of yahoogroups which aimed to "help" people who wanted to migrate. some have very encouraging words while others express such negative feedback that would make you want to stay put in the philippines. opinions vary. life experiences are never the same. i find that greater understanding of opinions expressed come from knowing who the writer is.

that said, i have come to terms with revealing some parts of myself. i am "new" to canada. it has only been 2 years since i landed here. hence, i write about life in canada from a newcomer's point of view and from somebody who still calls philippines her home.

so, join me as i explore canada. i will be posting information as i go along. and hopefully, help you in your quest to migrate to canada.