My NEW Life in Canada

My NEW Life in Canada

Even though I selected where I was going to, there were lots of stuff to improve. I had spent two whole months to prepare for the trip. Which school? Which city. Obtain a visa and how long was I going to stay and so on.

My first step in Canada was at Sep. 7. 2006. Canada was totally another world. When I came out of the airport, It was so..quiet. There was just a few lights in the city far from the airport. It wasn't so late. It was almost 11 pm. If I were in Korea, It would feel like the daytime at this time. There are lots of neon signs at Friday night, flashing brightly.

I needed to get used to here and my homestay house. On sunday, I was supposed to find a way to get to school with my friend. She also came here with me. I asked my homestay mother how to get to the subway. When I was about to leave home, she asked me "can you make it??" with nervous voice and sighs. I nodded confidently.

It was proved soon that I was wrong after walking only one block. I had just got lost for 30 minutes. I wasn't a brave girl to ask a Canadian. When I found the subway, I was exhausted. Actually it had been in front of me and It had a really small sign compared with Korea's.

After I have been staying here for 6 months, I have figured out some differences between Canada and Korea.

Canadian's life style is a bit slow. For instance, they don't complain even when the subway is out of service suddenly. If the subway is out of service in Korea, many Koreans become a very annoyed crowd. It is posted as a main topic in the morning news, whereas it is just a common thing here in Canada.

Canadians spend lots of time with their family. They are enjoying their life and sports. In my case, I just hardly have seen my family in a day, sometimes I wasn't able to see my family during a whole day. My parents go out at 7: 30 AM and get back at 7 or 8 pm from their work. I was supposed to be in my high school from 8am to 10pm. After it, I also had to go academy school for 3 hours. That means I got home about 1 am while my parents were sleeping. I think the work time is until 4 or 5pm in Canada. It is such a nice aspect to a family.

Also Canada has summer time. when I heard I needed to change time 1 hour back at winter last year, I was so confused. I didn't catch why time was changed. Because it isn't in Korea. It was an interesting thing to me, and I felt I had got one more spare time. Still I'm not sure I've got used to the summer time.

A few days ago, the summer time finished but I didn't know that. At the day, I had a plan to go shopping with my friends at 3 pm. I was just watching a DVD, my phone rang. On the phone, she told me it was 3pm already. However, my clock indicated 2 pm. I was embrassed and she told me the summmer time had finished from the previous morning.

Just what I want to change in Canada is the subway problem and if it's possible, also the brutal cold in the winter season. If you live in Toronto and you usually take the subway the Toronto subway can be out of service. The Canada subway needs to be renovated, fixed and not to be out of service so often.

Also, Toronto is so cold in the winter. I heard it had been warmer than usual in last winter, but still it was extremely cold for me. It frequently had been below 0, like -10 or -15, and it was colder with wind chill I don't want to picture it. Just imagining also makes me feel cold.

However, I'm enjoying the comfortable vacation in my life. I don't need to worry about the difficult tests, what I'm going to do and so on. I've been feeling I'm out of all of things I want to dodge. I like Toronto's life style, multiculture and beautiful nature.

When I'm walking on the street under the bright sunshine, listening to music, I don't envy whoever in the world. Toronto island, high park and Lake Ontario and so on. There are lots of fancy places to shake your mind as like spring wind. Just sitting in these places or seeing the sights is pretty enough to make you happy and get a shiny smile on your face.

Story By: Sue Gyeong Choe ESL in Canada Intern student