#头条创作挑战赛 #
This is the story of the 755th real person we tell
My name is Zhang Xiaochai @ Zhang Xiaochai in Canada, post-90s Anhui people.
Failed the college entrance examination, and I chose a 2+2 university. From the age of 20, he began to live overseas for 11 years. He studied in the UK for two years, then went to Canada for two years to graduate school, and now lives in Toronto.
I met my wife in college, and she accompanied me from home to abroad, from youth to maturity, from campus to marriage.
11 years of inseparable companionship has become the source of my motivation, but also brought me good luck, when buying stocks crazy surge, plus savings, even bought a villa.
Now, with her support, I have given up my 6-year job as an electrical engineer and embarked on the road of starting a business in a foreign country. However, I far underestimated the difficulties of starting a business.
(My wife and I went to a concert on Mayday)
I was born in 1991 in Tongling, Anhui Province, the only son of my family. My parents are both electrical engineers, my father socializes more, works during the day, is often not at home at night, and rarely accompanies me.
Our family's financial conditions are not bad, they are almost responsive to me, and they rarely restrain me when they spend money.
When I was in elementary school, I felt that the knowledge in the textbook was very boring, so I didn't study seriously, resulting in very average grades.
But I like to read some extracurricular books, especially history, and I love to read them every time. The long-standing Five-thousand-year-old Civilization of China has greatly broadened my horizons.
Later, when I went to junior high school, I was not as free as before, and I also understood the importance of learning, so I put all my thoughts into learning. During that time, my academic performance was consistently at the top of the class.
(Skiing in Canada)
But after high school, this sense of superiority disappeared. After so many years of study, high school was the most memorable for me.
Although I was admitted to the best high school in the city, there were many top students from all over the world, and the increase in the difficulty of each subject made me have a hard time learning.
Especially in the second year of high school, the grades fell even more severely, from the first few to more than 30. I started to worry that I wouldn't be able to go to college, and over time I developed a tendency to be depressed.
Repeating the compact study life every day made me feel deeply depressed, and I gradually lost interest in learning and began to indulge in playing basketball all day long.
After the teacher knew about my situation, he specifically talked to me and told me not to put too much pressure on myself and to treat it with a normal heart.
Hearing the encouragement of the teacher, I began to slowly adjust my mentality, and people became confident. The kung fu paid off, and I finally sprinted to the top few in the first semester of my junior year of high school.
(Photo shoot after vaccination in Canada)
But what I didn't expect was that I still couldn't get into the university of my choice, which became the most regrettable thing in my life.
Although I left regrets, I believe that all this is the best arrangement in heaven, because later I got more opportunities for growth.
In 2009, I was admitted to a 2+2 university, studying in China for the first two years and studying in the UK for the last two years. Influenced by my parents, I chose to major in electrical engineering.
In order to better exercise myself, I began to actively participate in the student union and various club activities, and I received scholarships many times during my time at the school.
During this period, I also practiced English wildly, in addition to actively taking notes in class, I also made posters of difficult words and sentences and pasted them in the most conspicuous places in the dormitory, which is convenient for remembering at any time and preparing for going abroad in the future.
The happiest thing is that I also talked about campus love, and my girlfriend was my classmate. I remember one time, she lost her mobile phone and was so anxious that she was crying.
(At the lawn wedding site)
I hurried to look for her, and finally found it in the library, and she was immediately happy like a child. Looking at the girl in front of her who wanted to cry for a second and now smiles like a flower, I think it is cute and funny.
Later, I had more contact, and I could feel that she was an easy girl to satisfy, and everything would be considered for others. Slowly, I was moved and began to pursue her, but she quickly agreed.
2011 can be regarded as a harvest year. Because he not only had love, but also participated in the World Mathematical Modeling Competition and won the first prize of the team.
This competition not only improved my logical thinking ability, but also enhanced my sense of teamwork, and also gave me an insight into the unique way of thinking of young people around the world. Although I have won the first prize, I still gain a lot from the excellent entries.
(Taken when I went to Calgary on a business trip)
After the domestic course, my girlfriend and I came to the UK to study together. The school is located in Liverpool, because the English is ok, so the daily communication problem is not very big.
But I did not dare to relax the study of English, because in the language environment, the progress is still quite fast, and after a period of time, I can understand the technical terms in the classroom.
However, when we first came here, we were not familiar with life, and there would be some inconveniences, and we had also suffered provocations from others.
I remember one night, my girlfriend and I were walking next to the dormitory, and I met a small child who inexplicably said a lot of insulting things to us. At that time, with the attitude that more was better than less, I did not think about it.
But I felt very uncomfortable in my heart, and I felt that some people here were not very friendly to Chinese. However, I have also felt a lot of warmth in a foreign country.
(Many ski enthusiasts in Canada)
Once, I drank too much and my girlfriend struggled to help me. There were many locals on the road who offered to help, but at that time, my thinking was clear and I could move around, so I politely refused.
So in any country, there are good people and bad people, and all we have to do is be good at ourselves.
There is also a strong focus on the spread of culture, and the school organizes regular trips to let us know about the local culture. I will also organize a tour of Europe, and the most impressive thing is to go to France, where I have seen the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral and the beautiful Palace of Versailles.
On this trip, you also learned about the revolutionary history of France. In the two years of studying abroad, as I traveled more and more places, I became more and more interested in the history of each country, and sometimes I would focus on reading related books.
I remember when I first came to the UK with my girlfriend, I was only 20 years old, and my biggest feeling was fear, fear of future life, fear of unfamiliar countries. As the horizon broadens, it is replaced by an unlimited desire to explore the future.
(Going to pick up relatives on the wedding day)
My previous experience of studying independently has made me very adaptable and good at various survival skills.
When I rented a small house with my girlfriend, I worked part-time in a restaurant and usually cooked with my girlfriend. Later, I also wanted to share it, so I learned to stir-fry.
It was a failure, and I still remember the plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes that was completely unrecognizable. Later, I slowly found the inspiration to cook, began to be handy, and finally I could share the hard work of my girlfriend.
When I graduated in 2013, I found that my knowledge of various aspects was still lacking, so I thought of continuing my studies and was admitted to a university in Saskatoon, Canada.
(Night view of Toronto I took)
After graduation, my girlfriend and I came here. The moment the plane landed, I carefully looked at everything around me, looked at this beautiful grassland city, and felt extremely excited.
But the real problem was immediately in front of us, and we decided to solve the problem first. Because I didn't dare to spend money indiscriminately, I finally rented a cheap small house.
And so we started our lives in Canada again, but my girlfriend never found a suitable job. Although I had scholarships, it was not enough to support my living expenses, so I found a part-time job and taught students at a university.
I remember once, a student wanted me to help raise the score of the homework, so he bought a lot of gifts, but I directly refused. I think that to be a person should seek truth from facts, if there is a deficiency, it is the right way to catch up.
Later, the leader saw that I worked rigorously and seriously, and it didn't take long to increase my salary, and my life was not so tight.
(The snow in front of the house is so thick in winter)
It is sparsely populated and somewhat inconvenient. Once I went out to buy vegetables, the weather was more than ten degrees below zero, I did not catch the bus, I had to wait for another half an hour, and the milk and vegetables were frozen.
After much thought, I decided to take my driver's license. The cars on this side are all right-hand driving, but the driving experience is similar to that on the left. Luckily, I had a domestic driver's license, and because I was old enough to get my driver's license quickly.
After having a local driver's license, I bought a scooter and made life much easier.
After graduating in 2015, my girlfriend and I planned to go to the immigrant city of Toronto to see if there were suitable employment opportunities.
Unexpectedly, I successfully found a job as an electronic engineer, and the salary was not bad. When I first came into contact with society, I had a job like this, and I was quite satisfied at that time.
(Tofu milk seen in a Canadian supermarket)
It didn't take long to catch up with the emergency work transfer. A colleague left because the work was not done well, there were only 3 people left in the team, the other two were on vacation, the leader wanted me to take over his job, and he agreed without thinking about it.
Although I have not done product delivery and logistics work, the headquarters arranged a learning course, and after a period of exploration and practice, I slowly found a working method.
During that time, sleep was seriously insufficient, and the mental state of the whole person was not very good. My girlfriend was very distressed to see it, and often said to me: "It doesn't matter if you have more money or less money, but you must not tire yourself." ”
In fact, why shouldn't she be tired? Every day I get up early, make my favorite meals, and then rush to work. No matter how late in the evening, I will wait for me to come home, and I will be kindly prepared for various suppers. Sometimes looking at her busy back, I feel that it is worth it to be tired.
(Cemetery near Canadian Community)
After months of such busyness, i finally recruited a new employee. And my efforts, the leaders are in the eyes, so after the new employees can be competent for the job, first give me a month off, but also increased the salary of 30%.
This experience also made me realize that those who are willing to "suffer losses" will not be able to suffer losses after all. Because there is always a reward for giving, I also get a better opportunity for development.
After working for a year, I also had a little savings, so I played with stocks. Unexpectedly, I was very lucky and soon earned hundreds of thousands of yuan.
After having enough money, I first bought a big house here. My girlfriend and I looked at the villa in front of us and were overjoyed that we finally had our own home.
The houses here are all made of wooden planks, so the cost is not high and the price is moderate. There are also many large supermarkets opened by Chinese people next to it, where you can buy a lot of Chinese goods, and the price is not expensive.
(Holding my son to watch fireworks on National Day)
However, many communities here like to build next to cemeteries, which are said to be blessed by their ancestors and are a symbol of blessing. Moreover, the closer you get, the more expensive you sell.
Some kindergartens and schools will also be built next to the cemetery, do you want children to look down on life and death from an early age? In short, contrary to our culture, I was still a little unacceptable and chose the neighborhood far away from the cemetery.
Canada's aging is more serious, and the salary of retirees is about 700 Canadian dollars, about 3600 yuan.
But the tax revenue in this country is a bit high, and every working person has to pay taxes. My house also needs to pay more than 30,000 yuan in taxes every year.
Moreover, it also penetrates into all aspects of life, even eating, shopping have to pay taxes, large and small taxes, really a lot of cattle feathers. Therefore, Canada is also known as the "country of ten thousand taxes".
(Wife pushing the child for a walk)
In the blink of an eye, my girlfriend and I have been in love for 7 years. So in 2018, we decided to go into marriage. I had planned to let my parents go abroad to see it, but because of the long distance, they couldn't stand the rush, so we went back to China and held a wedding.
There was still a lot of unfinished work on hand, so I didn't stay long and rushed back. The job, though stable, is not free enough, and is paid a fixed monthly salary, sometimes feeling too restrictive.
After studying outside for so many years, I also want to see how capable I really am. I saw that many people made a lot of money as a study abroad agency, so I always wanted to try it. I always feel that when I am young, I should challenge new things more, so that I can leave no regrets in my life.
Later, the outbreak of the epidemic affected the income, so the idea of starting a business was started again. After my wife knew, she expressed her support, which also gave me more confidence to try.
(Eating turkey legs at Disneyland)
So after the epidemic improved, I began to act in 2021. Only then did I find that entrepreneurship is not as good as I imagined, and with each step, there will be all kinds of difficulties waiting for you.
Because we don't have many connections abroad, it is difficult to find people online to gain their trust. Coupled with the epidemic, many people are unemployed, so they are more afraid of being deceived, resulting in no customers at all.
Since starting a business, I have been suffering day by day, so I have bought a lot of books on sales and communication, and when I encounter problems that I do not understand, I will also ask my peers for advice, which has learned some experience.
Slowly, there were first customers, and people began to become confident. After doing this line of work, I found that there are many scammers, and I deeply hate this kind of behavior. Because no matter what you do, integrity is the first, only in this way can we go long.
(With the magician)
It was also in this year that a son was born. My mother came to us from Anhui to help take care of the children together.
I remember the day my wife gave birth, it was snowing heavily outside, it was the epidemic situation, the bed was particularly troublesome, and no one was allowed to enter. Fortunately, in the end, I successfully entered the delivery room, not only witnessing the miracle of life birth, but also seeing the hardships of my wife.
When her son was 8 months old, her mother wanted to return to China, and her relatives at home especially wanted to see her son. So the three of them went back to China together, and I couldn't go with them because of my work.
After my wife and children returned to China, I put all my thoughts into my work. Because we have gradually found a way, the income is not bad, enough for the living expenses of our family.
After living apart for a long time, the two places will miss their wives and children especially, so they often video with their wives to understand each other's living conditions. Fortunately, this year, the mother and son have returned to me, and the family of three has been reunited.
(At The Harry Potter Theme Pavilion at Disneyland)
Later, I got used to recording my life with video, so I started self-media. This will not only increase an income, but also explain the relevant study abroad knowledge for everyone, and you can also understand the exotic style through my lens.
I didn't expect to be liked by many netizens, and I also gained a group of loyal fans. They spoke highly of me and said that the things I shared were practical and fun, which made me more motivated.
Growing up abroad for these years, I have learned that transformation is not a one-time thing, but painful and long.
Only by resisting the pressure can we break through the cocoon and become a butterfly, fly higher, and see farther. Life is to continue to toss, in order to keep improving.
I am very fortunate to meet my parents who fully support me in this life, to marry a lover who is full of love, and now I have a lovely son, and my life is more complete.
I have been running around for so many years, and I have gained and regretted. Now I just want to take advantage of the health of my parents, take advantage of my youth, work hard for my career, work hard to earn money, and support my family. In the future, we will return to China as soon as possible to develop, guard our parents, and fulfill the obligations of a son.
【Dictation: Zhang Xiaochai】
【Editor: Zhiyi】
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