“Ito ay kinuha sa akin ng isang habang sa pakiramdam Canada,” writes Gael Melville in a recent Globo & Koreo sanaysay, naglalarawan ng kanyang karanasan bilang isang expat na relocated sa Toronto mula sa kanyang katutubong Scotland.

She bemoans the difficulty of wading through the bureaucratic issues:

“What’s a Kasalanan card?” “What’s OHIP?” “Why does the bank charge us for taking our own money out of our account?” …”Why can’t I register to vote?” “Why is my credit card limit a measly $250 when I have the proceeds of the sale of my apartment in my bank account?” “Why can’t I use my professional accounting designation in Canada?”

Pero “what proved significantly more difficult to fix,” siya writes, “was the yawning gap in my cultural knowledge.”

“Sino ang mga Grupo ng mga Pitong?” “Who are Margaret Atwood at Leonard Cohen?” Canadians indulged my lack of knowledge of the arts with patient explanations and visits to cultural sites, but pop-culture references were omnipresent and perplexing. “What is the humidex?” “What is a two-four?”

Ano ang tungkol sa iyo? What were your bureaucratic challenges when you first came to Canada? At kung ano ang mga gaps sa iyong cultural knowledge?

Post a comment and let us know.

Larawan ni odolphie (Flickr)