OTHER LIFE, OTHERS CHALLENGES

                                                                 (draft 1)

I came to Canada by family class programme in September of 2015. Despite my husband described for me many times the future place of living in Canada, it was difficult to imagine where I have to live, when I was still in my country origin (Ukraine).

Here, in Canada, my husband and I live in a small village in remote area and there is not any developed infrastructure here. The closest bigger city with good developed infrastructure is located 30km away. The most difficult aspect of adjusting to life in Canada for me is language. My level of language is still not good enough on finding some job or interacting with people.

I have encountered with some barriers since coming here. For instance, huge distances which cause a big problem for me because I cannot drive and there is not a public transport in our area. Also, we have a chance to go to town for shopping only once a week, on weekends, when my husband is off. So I have to buy all our groceries for one week ahead. We don’t have a lot of people around in our area who could be a potential “local teacher” for me on improving my language skills. We have the nearest neighbours who live 100, 150,200 metres far, but they live their lives and not much motivated to contact with us.

It was one funny story when my husband and I were invited to our neighbours for lunch. How much I was surprised when we had to drive almost one hour to get there. Yes, it sounds strange, but they are neighbours.

My adjusting to life here still continues. It is not going fast and easy. I cannot to get used to some aspects of living here. But I know it will come, sooner or later. Just step by step and never give up!