Before I write anything else, I must first say this: it’s impossible and ridiculous to generalize about an entire nation in terms of its ‘culture’, especially one as large and ...
Recent Musings
How to be a Great Immigration CLIENT!
Are you a good immigration CLIENT? Searching for the perfect immigration consultant can be a daunting task, and prospective clients often bounce around hoping for as much free advice as possible before they have to bite the bullet and actually pay someone to represent them or provide a consultation. When they choose someone, prospective clients […]
New-Year Style
I’ve decided to start the new year with a new post written in a new style. Instead of having a specific topic and title in mind, I have not yet decided what this post will be about and will write stream-of-consciousness style until a topic naturally emerges. A new year seems to be the perfect […]
Waiting…for visas…
Waiting for temporary resident visas (visitor/travel visas) to be approved is my LEAST favourite part of being an immigration consultant. In the days and frantic hours leading to the submission of the application, all I do is obsess about making sure that the application has absolutely EVERYTHING that a visa officer could possibly want to […]
My Top 5 Things About Living Abroad
Living abroad as an expat worker, international student or immigrant has its ups and downs, pros and cons. There are moments when you experience the highest of highs and feel like you never want to go back, and others when you experience the lowest of lows and feel like returning ‘home’ is the only way […]
English Language Proficiency Exams: IELTS
This is the first of a series of posts on the various English language proficiency exams that people encounter when planning to live, work or study in Canada. As a certified English as a Second Language (ESL) instructor and licensed Canadian Language Benchmarks Placement Test assessor, I am familiar with most of these exams and […]
Getting Along With Canadians: The First Meeting
Before I write anything else, I must first say this: it’s impossible and ridiculous to generalize about an entire nation in terms of its ‘culture’, especially one as large and diverse as Canada. Canadians can’t even really agree on what it means to be ‘Canadian’, so analyzing Canadian culture certainly has its challenges. However, I […]
But It’s Just a Canadian Travel/Holiday/Unimportant Visa – Right?
WRONG… Imagine: A travel agent or visa company helps you with your Canadian travel visa. You don’t bother to check to see if the company is associated with an Authorized Representative because the company says they know what they are doing or because your friend used that person last month and his visa application was […]
Emigration: Leaving Home or Going Home?
The post below was written while on my flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town. At that time, I was only intending on staying in Africa for two months. It’s now been 2.5 years and I have no plans to return to Canada. Sometimes, immigration is accidental! This post is very special to me…I hope that […]
Thoughts on the Expat Life
I wrote this about a month after I first arrived in Cape Town, South Africa – thought I should re-post. March 2, 2010 Living as an expat is one of the most exciting yet stressful things a person can experience. It allows one to be a voyeur, able to watch with fascination, but also lends […]
Culture Shock – It’s Real!
I previously touched on culture shock in my post about pre-immigration syndrome, but I’d like to explore it here in a bit in more detail. Most people have heard of culture shock and quite naturally associate the term with the challenges involved with adapting to a new culture, whether during travel, living as an expat […]
