(VERSION 2^ND, FINAL)

                                         Another Life, Different Challenges

I came to Canada on the family class programme in September of 2015. Despite my husband’s describing to me many times our future home in Canada, it was difficult to imagine where I have to live, when I was still in my country of origin (Ukraine).

Here, in Canada, my husband and I live in a small village in a remote area without any developed infrastructure around. The closet big city with good 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 to find a job or interact with people.

I have encountered with some barriers since coming here. For instance, huge distances are a big problem for me because I cannot drive and there is no 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 always have to buy all our groceries one week ahead. We don’t have a lot of people around in our area who could be a potential “local teacher” to improve my language skills. We have neighbours who live anywhere from 100m to 60km away. Our nearest neighbours live their own lives and are not much motivated to contact us.

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

My adjustment 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 keep going step by step and never give up!