lukedulaq

I am very close to having to say no to my whole Canadian emmigration.
My visa is going to run out and I will have wasted a fantastic opportunity.

I have so resisted my desire to go to Canada

Why ??

My window for going has fallen in bad times.
Coming recesssion, and nothing but bad press from recent landed immigrants on this forum.

Mind you I have read my umpteenth book about Canada, and Quebec, I know the place
In side out and very much admire many aspects of Canadian society. I have researched,
Travelled and dreamt of Quebec for so long now, I am quebecois without really being so.

I do not however want to financially invest in this adventure, and I do not want to put my career on the line if I am only going to face unfathomable difficulties to find work. I have lived abroad having a terribly difficult time trying to find a job before. Do not get me wrong. I do not mind working in a job way below my qualifications and experience. I have a masters, I am an architect and planner and I speak 4 lanugages, plus 10 years of work experience all over Europe.

For me Quebec has been a goal, that I have wanted to achieve for so long.

Please encourage me or discourage me.

Adapting to a new culture is a real life decision. There is no point in doing it by half measures. “Give it your all and it will work.�

My doubts are crippling me.

I am not like many on this forum who reject their home country or who have to move because their home coutnry does not offer any secure or interesting opportunities.

I want Quebec as a matter of passion, preference and linguistic bias. Because I am a bilingual Franglais and think that Montreal is the ideal bilingual place for me.

Is this true, do you think I have a chance.

Please be honest.

(Join the forum on http://www.immigrer.com to see the French language version of this same message.)


Je suis si pres a renoncer a mon projet d’immigrer au Canada. Mon visa va bientot etre plus valable et je vais avoir rate une opportunite fantastique........

CN Tower

Start by rereading your post. I just have. Its 1am and I am exhausted, in a 90 degree hotel-room, with RSI in my hands, but I can't not respond!

I work for a new media company. Today we were told that a further 25% staff were going to be made redundant, in addition to the 30% that were 'liberated' just two months ago. I am lucky in the sense that I have not been, but today it made me realise that things happen all the time that are beyond our control, but we survive because we have to.

Your career is important, but you are not completely your career, just as you are not your financial status. You are also not the 'recent landed immigrants' from this NG. If you go to Canada and things are not as you hoped, then you are not jeopardising what you currently have, because you can have it again, wherever you are now. If it seemed that you were wavering because there were aspects of the move that were unappealing...that would be different. But I can't find anything in your post that implies that this isn't what you want and believe me, I have looked!

I am in danger of spouting cliche after cliche (it's the heat, honest!), so I will pick this one. It is far, far better to regret having done something than spend the rest of your life wondering what may have been if you had jumped off...

You have so much going for you in a professional sense, you are obviously eloquent and lucid, not to mention open-minded. Most importantly, there are many people who never want anything as much as you obviously do: "..I want Quebec as a matter of passion"
Don't ever doubt the validity of that sentiment, it's bloody inspired and inspiring!
Cross the border...
Claire

Blindog

this is a wonderful, heartfelt post and it deserves an honest response.

Of course, it sounds like you already know the answer yourself. If you feel that not
immigrating would be something you would deeply regret then it's undoubtedly better
to go through the hardship rather than to live with regret!

Your adjustment to life in Canada will be difficult - everybody's adjustment
is. I don't know where you live now but the initial shock of North American society
as compared with Europe is great. I was born and raised in Prague. Before coming
to Canada I lived in the U.K. and in Israel and after coming here I also spent a
few years in Iceland. Canada is in some ways harsher but more rewarding than any
of those places. Harsher because more emphasis is placed on self reliance,
harsher because the weather is tough, harsher because the culture is not as
"refined" (whatever that means). But the rewards are great: the feeling of huge
open spaces, the gorgeous nature, the amount of choice - be it goods, people or
cities. There is a feeling of purity here as compared to life in Europe that is
very difficult to describe - it is not quantifiable but it is definitely there.
And by purity I don't necessarily mean big city air in mid-summer

And Montreal...wow. It's a great city. The late, great Canadian writer Mordecai
Richler claimed he couldn't live anywhere else in Canada and came back to live in
Montreal from a protracted London exile. Montreal is cosmopolitan and as axciting as
any city in the world but without many of the hassles of a New York or a London
(service is generally much better than in those places and prices much lower; even
after the recent boom real estate prices in Montreal are reasonable) I am not
bilingual and so have chosen to live elsewhere (Toronto) but I travel to Montreal and
Quebec City often and it's just fantastic.

You're facing a tough decision and no one can make it for you. But after my long
wanderings through the world I can unequivocally say that Canada is *the* place!!
Don't listen to the naysayers in the NG. The obstacles are great but if you persist
the rewards are many.

All the very best of luck to you. If you wish to contact me outside of this ng please
email [email protected]

BD

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Mark Pan

in article [email protected], lukedulaq at
[email protected] wrote on 23/8/01 7:15 am:

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Hi Luke,

The answer to your question is actually in your post itself! As you yourself say,
"Give it your all and it will work". Its always healthy to have doubts. And there
will always be people who had bad experiences.

The question is, will you let these bad experiences sway your PASSION?

As far as I can say, you've answered your own questions ... good luck

Mark Pan Website:http://home.pacific.net.sg/~mmenace
--
Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You,
too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices
were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Baz
Luhrman / Mary Schmich

Dajinof

After many deceptions in my life, I decided to stop listening to everybody and trust
my instincts.

I read this thought one day and since my life is richer and happier. I don't judge
myself after a bad experience, I take it as an enriching experience:

"Les choses qu'on regrette sont celles qu'on a pas faites" - Jean Cocteau

Only yourself can answer your dilemna. You will never know what you missed if you
don't do it. If you feel you will not have any regrets by not doing it, it is o.k.
But if you keep thinking about it asking yourself time after time "what if?", then
follow your instincts, follow your heart.

Passions are matters of the heart.

"Your heart is free, have the courage to follow it" - From the movie BraveHeart.

Good luck

Colette

"lukedulaq"
[email protected]...
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Tim Taylor

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Cliche I know, but it's exactly what I was going to say. Lifes an adventure. We're
not around for long so make the most of your experiences while you can, good and bad.

Tim

Kenul Gurbanova

I'm going to quote from one of my favourite books:

"Life naturally evolves in the direction of happiness. We must constantly ask
ourselves if what we are doing is going to make us, and those around us, happy.
Because happiness is the ultimate goal. It is the goal of all other goals. When we
seek money, or a good relationship, or a great job, what we are really seeking is
happiness. The mistake we make is not going for happiness first. If we did,
everything else would follow." -- Deepak Chopra

Blindog

disagree! You can strive for integrity, for accomplishment, for fulfillment but
striving for happiness is a fool's game. Do you think that Dostoyevsky's "Crime and
Punishment" or Mozart's "Requiem" or Goya's "Los desastres de la guerra" were created
out of happiness?

[sorry this is off-topic, yet again. I'd better watch it!]

BD

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Chopra

A.Sharma

Hi!

although my fellow indians may not believe,I immigrated because i wanted to
experience new cultures and places in canada. i was also experiencing cold feet
before coming but always had the confidence that if i dont like it in canada,
professionally and personally,i can always go back to india and resume my life from
where i left.

guess what, i was offered a permanent job as a scheduler within 15 days of my landing
and here i am at edmonton enjoying the summer and bracing up for a canadian winter.
my only regret is that i have not been to the rockey mountains yet.

I dont want to trivalise the struggle of new immigrants but I suspect that for every
person who cribs about lack of oppertunity in canada,there is a person who got
settled quickly and who has stopped visiting discussion groups like this.

a.sharma

lukedulaq <[email protected]>
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Ashley Watson

Oh Lucke

You are in a right old quandry arent you? Ive already posted some replies to your
questions about Quebec.

I have no doubt from reading your posts and gaining a very slight understanding of
your character that you would succeed if you decided to emigrate. You are just going
to have to accept that there will be low points in the process. Believe me Ive
already had a few ups and downs since I arrived in Quebec in Decemeber last year. I
see them all part of my personal development.

The fact that you are in two minds means that your going to be dammed if you go, and
dammed if you stay. You are going to have regrets and fears either way I think
whether you stay or go.

The nettle is there, are you going to grab it or leave it?

Either way you will always be left wondering "What if I had stayed/went?"

Good luck

Ashley Watson

M K Doss

Hi there Luke,

I do not wish to trivialize the issue, but you mentioned passion and that is
something I can relate to. When it comes to passion my friend, one does not think
about the consequences, one just goes ahead. My philosophy (especially more relevant
when it comes to passion) is that it is better to have done and regretted than not to
have done and wondered!

Go for it Luke! I am in the same situation as you are (come from a third world
country, lived in many countries, succeeded everywhere, am in a very comfortable and
even enviable position now, am immigrating to Canada with absolutely nobody to help
me there and no job and no home and no car and having to start all over again at the
ripe old age of 39) and I am going for it.

Cheers mate and may the Force be with you *grin*

lukedulaq <[email protected]>
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