Source of this article: Taken from readers' contributions!
The world is so big, those unseen landscapes are far more vast than you imagined, and what you see in books and hear from others is not as real as the land you set foot on!
I have been to Canada for a period of time, covering Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and other cities, during which I have experienced the original natural scenery of Canada, experienced the unique customs of Canada, and encountered a piece of Canada's exotic customs.
At this stage, there are many families in China who will choose to send their children to Canada to study, and there are also many Chinese who come to Canada to work and start a business.
Indeed, Canada has attracted many elites from all over the world because of its inclusive, pluralistic and free culture, but when you really come here, you find that Canada's Xi habits, customs, dietary structure, price consumption, and national character are difficult for most people to accept. If you don't do your homework, you will have a very big psychological gap, and if you want to jump into Canada's comfort zone, you might as well understand what the country is like before making a decision!
1. Canada is a young developed country, Canada's development benefits from unique natural resources, east of the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Pacific Ocean, south of the United States, north of the Arctic Ocean, with a land area of 9.98 million square kilometers, is the second largest country in the world, but the population is only 38.13 million (June 2021 data), Canada is also one of the seven major industrial countries in the West, its manufacturing, high-tech industry, The service industry is very developed, in 2022, Canada's total GDP will reach 2,137.94 billion US dollars, ranking ninth in the world, and its per capita GDP will reach 55,000 US dollars, Canada was originally inhabited by Indians and Inuit, and in the early 17th century, it became a French colony, and was later ceded to the United Kingdom, in 1926, Canada gained diplomatic independence, in 1931, Canada became a member of the Commonwealth, and in 1982, the Queen of England signed the Canadian Constitution Act Today, Canada is the second largest country in the world, a member of the International Space Station project, a member of the G20, a member of the G7, a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and a member of NATO.
2. Although Canada is a developed country, but the first time you come to Canada, you will still be surprised by the architectural style here, only Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and other cities can see some high-rise buildings, many places still retain a more primitive architectural style, it looks like a "town", for the wealthy people in Canada, they prefer to live in a single-family villa in the suburbs or the countryside, with garages, basements, Small courtyard, instead of the reinforced concrete house in the city, Canadian children have liberated their nature since childhood, and began to contact ice and snow sports, many schools during the winter vacation, parents will take their children to ski, which also leads to many children when they start school, are tied and tied, such hobbies are not necessarily cool, but must be very fast, in Canada's ski resorts are to sign a disclaimer, after signing, willful play!
3. For Canadians, the abundant natural resources and scarce jobs make the locals have no worries about employment, and there will even be many homeless people who rely on subsidies to survive, but it is becoming more and more difficult for Chinese people to come to Canada to pan for gold, and language communication has a congenital disadvantage, and it is very slow to integrate into the circle of locals. Food delivery, barber shops, supermarkets, investment in RVs, etc., no matter what, it is not at all what everyone imagined: sublimation as soon as you go abroad!
4. Canadians' dietary Xi habits are very different from those in China, which can be called the "gourmet icefield", the locals like to eat cold food and prepared food, but Chinese like to eat stir-fried vegetables and stews, go to the local supermarket to walk around, you will find that there are many pre-made products in the freezer, meat and vegetables are matched, buy home and simply preheat it, the most is vegetable salad and ready-to-eat vegetables: quick-frozen beans, quick-frozen peppers, quick-frozen eggplant, Quick-frozen fruits, Canadian women's cooking skills are very average, their principle is to eat full, not to eat well, parents do not teach from an early age, so children can't learn it.
Canadians are more concerned about the original taste and nutritional value, will not pursue too much taste, Chinese students who are not used to eating Canadian food, can come to Toronto's Chinese restaurant to change the taste, there are familiar Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Beijing cuisine, Shandong cuisine, etc., in addition, Canada also has a fast food culture, but there are too few types of KFC, not as popular as McDonald's, KFC in Canada only has fries, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, burgers, chicken corn, There are very few customers for Coke, and don't expect takeaway delivery to your door, the efficiency is too low!
5. Canadians like to eat dumplings very much, but they don't eat sauerkraut filling, celery filling, green onion filling, cabbage filling, Canadian dumpling filling is either a surprise or a fright, in Canadian supermarkets, there are many bags of finished dumplings for sale, such as: potato cheese filling, cheese wild vegetable filling, cheese potato rainbow dumplings, walnut gourd filling, chicken noodle filling, etc., and these dumplings are very expensive, a bag will cost 13-15 Canadian dollars (the current exchange rate of 1 Canadian dollar =5.36 yuan), what is even more unacceptable is that Canadians eat dumplings dipped in yogurt, not soy sauce, which is a dietary Xi that many Chinese students cannot accept!
6、 Canadians like to drink milk, and even drink milk as water, every time you go to the supermarket and see the locals will push three or four buckets of milk, a bucket will cost 4 liters, no way, in Canada, milk is too cheap, a barrel of 4 liters of milk is only 5.79 Canadian dollars, that is, more than 30 yuan, and the same mineral water is much more expensive than milk, and the price of mineral water is not taxed and bottled, and the mineral water that you really buy is more expensive！
7、 If you stay in Canada for a while, you will find that the drunkard phenomenon here is very common, the winter in Canada is long and cold, many middle-aged frustrated people will choose to drink heavily in order to be able to warm up in the cold winter, of course, it is not excluded that they are paralyzing themselves, how far can they hide when they meet such drunks, there are too many homeless homeless people in Canada, even at Christmas, there will be many homeless homeless people walking aimlessly on the street, because they have no fixed residence, they can only generate heat by walking, and there are many casualties caused by sleeping on the street every year！
8. Don't look at Canada as a developed country, but there are still many people living at the bottom of society. The homeless state of homelessness, the gap between the rich and the poor in Canada is huge, and many untidy beggars can be seen in the bustling city center, which is in stark contrast to the surrounding high-rise buildings, and even on a clear day, you can see a row of homeless people lying neatly on the street basking in the sun, this phenomenon is normal in Canada, and the reason for this phenomenon is mainly because Canada is a "welfare state" For people who have less than $1,000 in their accounts and don't have any income, they are allowed to receive benefits every month, and the amount of funding varies in different regions, ranging from $500 to $700 per month for bachelors and $1,100-$1,300 per month for a family of three, until they find a job, drinking porridge and licking bowls in the middle of the month, and the dilemma of panting against the wind at the end of the month, you can often see some homeless people fighting for a piece of bread, which is really ironic for Canada, a developed country!
9. There are a lot of Chinese students in Canada, but it should be noted that girls must know how to be proportional when they come to Canada, and do not fall in love with locals easily, because even if they break up, they will face being forced to be "roommates" Don't look at Canadian girls young and beautiful, but thirty years old is a watershed, aging quickly after marriage, body and appearance change quickly, but Asian girls' bodies will remain older, so Canadian men like to find Asian girls as "roommates" When it comes to the difference between Chinese girls and Canadian girls, the aesthetics of Canadian girls are not white and beautiful and long legs, but real bodybuilding, the competition is strength and beauty, do everything yourself, roll up your arms yourself, men are responsible for looking beautiful like flowers, women are responsible for making money to support their families, in Canada, praise a girl for being white and clean, that's like scolding!
10、 Canada is a country full of free culture, living for a long time will find that it is simply a good mountain and water and boring, the following kinds of people are not suitable for coming to Canada, people who like the city, people who have big ambitions, people who have no family concept, people who like to be opportunistic, people who like to show off, people who have poor hands-on ability, you know, in Canada, people get along with each other is very simple, there is no too complicated interpersonal relationship, international students should learn to take care of themselves, people are encouraged to express themselves here, accept multiculturalism, no matter what kind of person you are, you will be accepted and respected when you come to Canada！
11. Canada's price consumption makes many people unbearable, the price in the supermarket is not necessarily the final price, because many goods need to be taxed, let's see how high the price in Canada is, large pieces of beef 11 Canadian dollars per kilogram, large pieces of pork 4.39 Canadian dollars per kilogram, whole chicken 10 Canadian dollars, 18 eggs 4.99 Canadian dollars, watermelon 5 Canadian dollars, cucumber 0.99 Canadian dollars, bananas 1.7 Canadian dollars per kilogram, Apples are 5.5 Canadian dollars per kilogram, fortunately, Canadian supermarkets often engage in activities, and you can always buy some special goods, in 2022, Canada will implement a minimum wage of 15.5 Canadian dollars per hour, but you are allowed to work up to 40 hours per week, so it is very simple to earn more than 10,000 per month in Canada, it seems very high, but this can only ensure basic life!
12. In Canada, you have to learn to endure loneliness, the first year is arrogant, the second year is talking to yourself, the third year is talking nonsense, there is no way, international students generally choose to rent a house when they come to Canada, if they are not accompanied by roommates, they are really prone to depression when they are alone for a long time, especially the winter in Canada is too long, in low temperature weather, many stores, Restaurants are not open, even schools will announce the closure of classes, some units will also be temporarily closed, the outdoor temperature in Canada in winter can reach minus 40 degrees, and the physical temperature is close to minus 50 degrees.
13. Is Canada safe or not? In some areas of Canada, you have me, I have everyone, those who break into the house and plot against the house are also afraid that the master will have it, so the general petty theft is not afraid to enter the house, there are so many cities in Canada, the management of different regions is different, when you come to Canada, you must not show your wealth, let alone wear revealing clothes, girls should not walk alone at night, stay away from drunk, masked people, homeless people, there are no special circumstances, it is not recommended to go out alone.
14. Living in Canada, you have to accept the appointment system here, many people don't understand, whether it is a plan to serve people, or people to serve the plan, but in Canada, hair cutting, nail art, seeing a doctor, bank business, and driving license do need to make an appointment, but you don't need to make an appointment to eat in a restaurant.
15. Canada's per capita car ownership rate is very high, and there is no way, Canada, which is located in North America, is sparsely populated because of its vast area. The natural environment is cold and frozen, it is difficult to go out by public transport, the bus in the city center is 20-30 minutes apart, the bus in the residential area is 30-40 minutes apart, it is difficult to imagine what it feels like to wait for the bus in the cold weather, if you are lucky, you can meet the bus station with a windshield, but it does not play any role in keeping warm at all, at best it is to block the wind, you can send the station number to 31100 to inquire about the location of the bus, it is worth mentioning that the bus driver in Canada is more casual, it doesn't matter how much the fare is cast, it is generally 3-4 Canadian dollars, if you say that you have no change, the driver does not count, but not all stations will stop, want to get off the bus and lift the bell, the bus does not have a voice broadcast system, special seats to sit will not attract strange eyes, but if you meet special people need to give up, and there is no right to bargain.
16. Canadians often take half-eaten or half-used goods to the supermarket to return, the reason for the return is very strange, people can't help laughing, no matter what the reason, the success rate of return is quite high, such as: forgot to eat fish, unused toilet paper, uneaten canned food, uneaten meat filling, shrimp without skin, canned herring that smells too smelly, Mattresses that have slept for more than a year, etc., of course, those that can be allowed to return are not affected by secondary sales, and in the return warehouse, you can see piles of goods, which makes it difficult to understand, isn't this a waste of resources?
17. In Canada, we must adapt to the phrase "existence is reasonable", on the streets of the city, you can see people of all kinds of figures, all kinds of skin colors, all kinds of outfits, due to the existence of climate and cultural differences, in the summer of Canada, you can see a lot of sports, comfortable, sexy style, no matter what kind of fancy dress, body proportions, Canadians are keen to show their body wrapped up by the whole winter, the locals will not comment too much on this, will not point fingers, more respect for each other's choice!
18. Why is immigration to Canada highly sought after by Chinese people? You must know that the role of a PR card is too great, and Canadian citizens can enjoy a sound welfare system, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
Free education: public primary and secondary schools are completely free, university education is reliable, grants and scholarships provided by the government or student loans;
Milk payment: In Canada, children can receive this subsidy from birth to before the age of 18, the amount is determined according to the income of the parents last year, low-income families can receive 3,000-4,000 Canadian dollars a month, and high-income families with an annual income of more than 150,000 Canadian dollars do not receive this treatment, the purpose of which is to help low-income families through financial difficulties;
Unemployment Insurance: Temporary financial assistance for Canadian citizens or permanent residents who become unemployed to help them find a job or get training during the period of non-employment, and if they are unemployed, they can receive 55% of their past salary income, but generally not more than 501 Canadian dollars per week;
Medical insurance benefits: provide affordable and high-quality health care plans, except for dental and ophthalmology, patients do not pay for medical expenses, laboratory fees, hospitalization and surgery, etc., and only pay for prescription drugs;
Paid leave: A full-time employee is entitled to two weeks of paid leave each year after one year of service, and three months of paid leave per year after five years of service, and the employee cannot be dismissed because of pregnancy;
Spousal allowance: The spouse is required to be between the ages of 60-64 and be a citizen or legal resident of Canada, and receive this allowance after reaching the age of 18 and having lived in Canada for at least 10 years.
Pension system (OAS): If you have lived in Canada for 10 years and have reached the age of 65, you can receive a pension, if you have lived in Canada for 20 years after reaching the age of 18, you can still receive a pension even if you live abroad, and Canadian residents can deduct a certain amount of pension contributions from their monthly income, and they can receive subsidies through this plan after retirement or when they have a long-term physical disability;
Income Security Allowance: Residents with little or no income can apply for a monthly Income Security Allowance, which includes pensions, living expenses, wages, unemployment insurance benefits, and workers' compensation or benefits from other countries.
That's all I think about Canada?
Is there anything you would like to say about this?