Reflections...Life in the Land of Plenty by Edgar Millan

graphical representation of the title Reflections

LIFE IN THE LAND OF PLENTY

I came here in Canada back in October 1995. I applied for Permanent Resident Visa at the Canadian Embassy in Makati and it took approximately six months for my application papers to get processed. Back then, there were no line-ups and Canada's immigration policy was still lenient in contrast of today's post 9/11 aftermath.

My point of entry was Toronto and for the next six months I stayed with my uncle who lives in Scarborough with his family. I didn't have a job for a full month as I had to go through the adjustment period of acclimatizing with the weather (I arrived at the beginning of winter), applied to get my S.I.N. card (Social Insurance Number), health card (called OHIP or Ontario Health Insurance Plan) and learning the basic rudiments like riding the TTC (Toronto Transit Corp.) bus and subway train among other things, learning my way around this big new environment and eventually trying to find a gainful employment. My relatives have been a big help to me during that time.

Eventually, I got my first job working as machine operator for a plastic fabrication/ moulding company that supplies one of the automobile industries here in Ontario. To be honest, that was not a pleasant first job experience. I did the afternoon shift from 3 in the afternoon to 11 o'clock in the evening. Most of that time was spent standing in front of a moving conveyor inspecting assembly parts for quality and adding a few items which reminded me very much of being a robot doing the same thing over and over, day after day. Although it was hard work, the wage was relatively good starting at $12 per hour. But that job only lasted a little over a month as I got my first taste of being laid off close to Christmas. Welcome to Canada, I thought to myself. But I was still able to count my blessings.

Then I decided to look again for employment and thankfully found a job as horticultural technician. This was more fun because all I had to do was water plants and keep them from dying. This was a high-end service and we counted among our customers some of the big companies in Toronto which maintained various exotic and tropical plants in their offices. I was able to develop my social skills as I get to meet a lot of people from different walks of life from presidents of these companies to all kinds of Canadians from from both ends of the spectrum. I stayed on with this job for more than two years until another opportunity beckoned for a better job that brought me to my present work and five years later as production manager of a biological systems company.

During that time, I went back home to the Philippines, got married, brought my wife back with me and settled in this small town of Leamington, otherwise known as the tomato capital of Canada. Life here is both a blessing and a curse. The former because you get to realize your hopes and aspirations of affording the luxuries that you only once dreamed of. Whereas before, back in the old country, you had to worry where to find a place to work and consequently where your next meal comes from, here there's plenty of food as you can very well afford to eat what the rich people also eat. There is value and honor in doing work because you get paid well enough to be able to spend as you please in buying clothes, rent a nice apartment to live in, and get the latest model in electronics and household appliances with the help of course of your new found friend, the plastic card otherwise known as credit card.

And life here can also be a curse because there's a price to pay for all these extravagance and that is: sacrifice. The lonely life of being away from families, loved ones and old friends. The sadness that comes with being thousands of miles away and oceans apart from the land of your birth. Nothing could be more tragic. But life still goes on.

Edgar Millan

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