TESL Canada Learners’ Conference – Essay
About my Immigration Experience
Arnaldo J. Perez Garcia
CCI
Advanced class
My experience as an immigrant started three hours and fifteen minutes after I’d left Havana airport. I already had some idea about what changes I would face. However, the reality now shows me that my perception was incomplete and in some ways wrong.
I had been in other countries similar to Canada, but always as an academic. This time was very different: I was an immigrant, and I didn’t know what would happen to me and my family. I could not return to Cuba for a long time, and I would have to adapt to a new culture. In such circumstances, my first decision was to look and walk ahead.
The first advice I received came from a Cuban woman who told me “You should forget what you were before, because this country is not for you, it is for your daughter.” Then I wondered whether or not I should be here, and I told myself that I had no choice.
One day, I went to the library and borrowed a documentary about Terry Fox. I wanted to know about him, but I’d never imagined that in his words “everything is possible if you try” I also would find the attitude that I would have to assume from then on. Before I knew Terry Fox’s words, I felt Canada was on top of me. When I read them I put Canada in front me, so that now, six months later, I am on top of my situation in Canada.
This country offers two good conditions for immigrants: a support infrastructure and friendly people. Both are important, but it is not enough. To the settlement process a proactive attitude from immigrants is indispensable. Canada always fulfills its part, but the latter requirement depends on us entirely. Every day before I sleep I ask myself if I have fulfilled my part. If my answer is yes, I can sleep well.