This is our 3855th true story
My name is Silva. I was born in Heze, Shandong Province in 1982.
I am only 1.5 meters tall, which worries my mother. How can I do farm work? It's hard to get married in the future!
But in fact, I went to college, started a company, married a good man, and had tens of millions of assets.
Later, I had a son. In order not to let him "roll" in Beijing, I decided to immigrate to Canada with an old cat and dog.
Unexpectedly, the cost of living here is so high, only the rent is 23000 yuan. I was wondering if I would like to work as a cleaner. I can earn 26000 yuan a month.
(I'm Silva)
My parents do wholesale and retail of tobacco, alcohol and non-staple food. The business is getting bigger and bigger. At least 1/3 of tobacco, alcohol and non-staple food in the county are wholesale from my home. I also have a brother, and we have a good life since childhood.
From primary school to high school, my life was calm and contented. I watched my parents ponder how to do business every day. It seemed that I was familiar with business.
The only drawback is that my height is not strong enough. I only grew to 1.5 meters in high school. Alas, it really drags off Shandong beauties.
For this reason, my mother almost had a heart attack and always sighed, saying that my head could not even plant the land, and it would be difficult to find my husband's family in the future. The best way is to enter the university and find an office job.
Listening to my mother's repeated nagging, I became more and more sensitive to my own "defects", so I felt inferior and could not help but put more effort into my study.
In 2002, I was admitted to the finance major of Heilongjiang University. Although I didn't like this major, I finally got rid of the fate of farming.
(My hometown in rural Shandong)
In 2006, the second semester of my senior year, I joined an international logistics company. The moment I got my salary, I told my mother at the first time that she was happy, but she was not so worried about my future.
When I graduated, because I couldn't stand the strict control of the company's director, I changed to a global chain restaurant as a management trainee. However, the rigid workflow and conversation skills made me more unbearable. Three months later, I resigned again.
Later, I intended to look for creative work. Until 2007, when I joined an enterprise in Guangzhou to operate, I felt the happiness and self-worth of my work. My writing and planning skills were brought into play, and people gradually became confident.
I also found business opportunities in my work. At that time, I thought how wonderful it would be if I could start a business and make my own decisions! Just do what you say. At the end of 2008, my brother and I joined hands to register a cosmetics e-commerce company in Guangzhou.
(I was in the entrepreneurial period)
The business experience learned from my parents when I was young comes in handy. Although the business is different, it never changes. First, we should understand customer needs, grasp customer psychology, and second, we should be good at communicating with customers.
My brother is particularly good at negotiation, and my writing and planning skills are also one of the core competitiveness of the company.
The advertising words I wrote were copied repeatedly and had to be changed constantly. Fortunately, they copied them less quickly than I did, and we always maintained our advantage.
But entrepreneurship is doomed to be difficult. I was overwhelmed by the high intensity work, and I was almost busy for 16 hours every day.
My "night shift" often goes like this: just after closing my eyes, the phone rings, my conditioned reflex jumps out of bed, adjusts to a sober state, clears my throat, raises my mouth, and then answers the phone: "Hello!"
In this way, we worked hard day and night for more than a year, and the company is on the right track. This year, I didn't see the sunset, so I took a few days off and went to the seaside to play. Looking at the sky reddened by the setting sun, I feel as strange as coming to an alien planet.
(Shot in Guangzhou at that time)
Catching up with the e-commerce outlet, the company's business has been climbing higher and higher, with more than 70 employees, and I have earned the first bucket of gold in my life.
Looking back at the beginning of entrepreneurship, I was not confident in front of the employees because of my "defect", and I was afraid that they would not be able to live in the "town". But later, I spoke with my ability, and the employees were convinced.
Therefore, I realized that if I want to get rid of the inferiority complex, only by making myself stronger and making achievements can I be truly confident.
After making money, I was no longer the one my mother said could not marry, but became a high-quality girl in everyone's eyes. My relatives and friends rushed to introduce me. The man either has a stable job and good salary, or has a successful career, all of which have good conditions.
But I care more about whether they can communicate spiritually. I believe that the soul mate is waiting for me somewhere.
(Heals my lovely cat)
With the steady profitability of the company, I was able to relax my nervous body and mind and began to pursue my dream of writing.
I have published a series of novels on the Internet. Several times, they unexpectedly appeared on the home page of a well-known app. During that time, some people applied for reprinting, and others came to me to talk about the right of adaptation, saying that they would shoot TV dramas.
But I was high spirited and afraid of being cheated, so I ignored it. It's a pity to give up such an opportunity.
The money earned by the company is enough to make our brothers, sisters and parents live well. I don't have much desire to make money and want to be free.
But the company's business is very troublesome. I have to make decisions and participate in decision-making meetings. I feel like a money making machine, trapped in a strange circle, and have no freedom. The more I worked, the more depressed I became.
For a while, when I opened my eyes in the morning, I wondered how I could die. Walking on the road, I thought I would just let the car crash to death. Every day, my mind is occupied by "death".
I realized that this would not work, so I began to save myself. I traveled everywhere, learned Zen and Buddhism, and adopted a cat.
The cat is cute and clingy. It depends on me to eat, drink and laze. In the company of the cat, I was cured and finally came out.
(I adopted a border animal)
In 2011, I met a boy from the Internet. He works in IT in Beijing. He is very kind and ambitious. I found that our three views are too consistent. When we hit the same words on the keyboard, we rush in both directions and devote ourselves to online love.
At the beginning of 2013, I transferred my e-commerce company in Guangzhou, rushed to my boyfriend at all costs, and settled down in Beijing.
In fact, he is worth it. After marriage, he held me in the palm of his hand and considered everything for me, as if I could not take care of myself.
My husband tried hard to "move bricks", while I used the money I earned before to invest in real estate and other things, and also had a lot of time to do things I like. I also adopted a border herder at an animal rescue station. I watched movies, wrote articles, learned to draw, played with cats and dogs on weekdays... and lived a "free" life.
(This father is exemplary)
In 2016, our son was born. Although it was hard to take him, we felt very happy every day when he grew up.
When our son was two and a half years old, we sent him to an international kindergarten in Wangjing. The tuition plus school bus fees and meals cost 200000 yuan a year. For the convenience of picking up and seeing off our son, our family moved to Wangjing and rented a 150 square meter house with a rent of nearly 30000 yuan per month.
Many of my son's classmates have signed up for more than one interest class. My son said that there are many others, but he does not. Seeing our son's loss, my husband and I were both distressed and anxious. They don't want their children to "roll", but they are worried that such a big environment will affect their psychological development.
I hope my son can learn knowledge as well as have a healthy body and personality. We all think of immigration.
My husband and I are not only children. I have a brother, he has a sister, and the elderly on both sides have their company. We don't need to worry too much for the time being. After comprehensive consideration, we decided to go to Canada.
(Feeling the sunset)
The handling process was really full of twists and turns. It took five years.
At the end of 2018, we began to try to invest in immigration, but the waiting time was too long to give up. Later, he tried to study abroad and immigrate, but he was rejected three times because he was old and applied for a foreign college from a domestic undergraduate.
At the beginning of 2022, my husband submitted an application for skilled migration, which was finally approved in April 2023.
In five years, many things have happened. What caught us unprepared most was that my investment suffered heavy losses and my assets shrank rapidly from tens of millions.
I was about to achieve financial freedom, but in the blink of an eye, it was too far away. I almost had a relapse of depression.
Fortunately, the husband's income is still stable, ensuring the quality of life of the family. He was more emotionally stable. He didn't blame me for my investment failure, but worked with me to find a way, which greatly soothed my frustration.
The ups and downs in finance did not affect our family atmosphere. What my son saw was family harmony and the continuous efforts we made for the family.
(Every day that I accompany my son, I am happy as well as happy)
Although the money is not as much as before, I think it is nothing. My family is harmonious, my son is smart and healthy, and the elderly on both sides are also very good. I am satisfied.
I also realized that people can not get away from the background of the times, and it is not hard work that will lead to results. At any time, we should put our mind at a level. When we are in high light, we should not be complacent or make public; Don't complain when you are in trouble. In addition to life and death, everything else is trivial. It's good to live seriously every day.
At that time, only my husband's work permit was approved. My son and I had a tourist visa, but the approval was not smooth.
We are facing an embarrassing situation. If the husband does not pass for a long time, he will be questioned by the Canadian side. But he didn't want to leave his family, so he continued to wait for the visa results of my son and me. This process is very complicated and painful.
Five months later, the visa still hasn't come down. No way, my husband had to go to Canada alone first.
At this time, my cat was 15 years old and my dog was 11 years old. We could not give up our family. No matter where we moved, there were five people in one family.
(I hope my son will grow up healthily and happily)
After discussion, we decided that the husband would take the cat and dog away first.
My husband consulted the entry and exit procedures of pets, vaccinated them, implanted chips, and issued various certificates... The flight also specially chose direct flights, and there were pet oxygen cabins.
In order to avoid their long-distance flight stress reaction, we also did training in advance and drove them to long distances. This is really effective. They have survived the flight for more than ten hours without any discomfort after arriving in Canada.
After my husband went to Canada first, I estimated that my son and I would be able to sign a travel visa for two months. I decided to use this time to find an international school to improve my son's English.
However, international schools in Beijing do not accept new students, and the tuition fees are also paid by semester. I am worried that there is no suitable one. I learned from my son's classmate's mother that Dali has some innovation. The school has a good cost performance and can pay weekly fees for all English teaching. Without any hesitation, I took my son to Dali to live and study.
(My son's study tour in Dali has brought him unexpected gains.)
In this school, my son's language, social interaction and physical ability have improved a lot, and the personality change has surprised me even more. My son has changed from a super homeboy during the epidemic to a "social cattle" now.
My son had a good time learning, and I had a good time. Two months passed in a flash, and we finally got the visa. In November 2023, my son and I landed in Canada.
The headmaster of my son's school is an American. When I left Dali, I was puzzled about our immigration to North America and said that Dali is the best place in the world.
It's like a besieged city. People inside want to come out and people outside want to go in. It can be seen that at a certain stage, people will have some kind of life they want and some place they want to go.
When entering Canada, my travel visa needs to be replaced by my work visa and my son's school visa needs to be replaced. Unexpectedly, the whole process took only one hour, which was surprisingly smooth.
It was winter, and it was also the rainy season in Vancouver. The continuous rain made us a little uncomfortable. However, with the arrival of spring, the sun is shining brightly and flowers can be seen everywhere.
(The son's physical ability has been greatly improved)
I used to worry about language problems, but I found that it was not a problem because there were too many Chinese here. 95% of my neighbors are Chinese. In my son's class, there are 22 Chinese in 25 people.
I often have the illusion that I am still in Sanlitun, Beijing.
Now, we have been in Vancouver for several months. My husband works regularly, seldom works overtime, and has more time to accompany us. My son loves the outdoors even more, and his sports ability has been greatly improved.
The topic of communication among parents is no longer how to play with children, but where to take children to play.
Of course, I also heard a lot of complaints. For example, in China, one mobile phone can solve many problems such as shopping and takeout, but it can't be done in Vancouver. There are also acclimatized people who have been here for several years and are allergic every year.
I saw a neighbor who kept sneezing, sniveling and crying when the flowers bloomed in March. It was very uncomfortable. She also complained that it was difficult to see a doctor here, and she had to wait for a long time to make an offer.
Different places have their own advantages and disadvantages, and we have been prepared for that.
(Both father and son are family experts)
At present, what bothers us most is that the husband's salary is not as high as that in China, but the cost of living here is much higher than that in China.
The rent is the biggest expense. The house we rented is 1690 square feet, about 188 square meters. The monthly rent is 4500 Canadian dollars, about 23000 yuan.
Both food materials and labor are expensive here. Whether you order takeout or go to a restaurant, they are very expensive. For a bowl of noodles, it's about 20 Canadian dollars. A family of three goes to a restaurant for dinner, and it's more than 100 Canadian dollars. This makes me, who seldom cooks, instantly have the power to cook by myself.
However, we feel that the prospect is good. When my husband gets permanent residence in the IT industry, his salary should be greatly improved.
I also pay attention to how to make money. The cleaning income here is $25/hour. If it is deep cleaning, the salary can reach $30/hour. If you work full time, you can earn more than 5000 Canadian dollars a month, equivalent to about 26000 yuan. The income is considerable.
In my opinion, there is no high or low position in the profession. It is not shameful to exchange labor for remuneration. If necessary, I will not reject doing cleaning. I am also considering making money with my writing hobby. If I have the opportunity, I will also consider starting a business again.
(The first Spring Festival in Canada, this is my New Year's Eve dinner)
For the future, my husband and I hope to live a well-off life, retire at a certain age, and do what we like.
But one thing is certain, even if we get the right of permanent residence, we will not give up Chinese nationality, because that is our root.
I, a 1.5m tall woman from Shandong, went from being sensitive and inferiority complex to bravely challenging life, from having tens of millions of assets to investment failure, and along the way, I feel that life has become extremely rich.
The ups and downs are the normal state of life. As long as the whole family is neat and serious, it is good.
[Oral: Silva]
[Edit: Natural]
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(* This article is sorted out according to the oral statement of the party concerned, and the authenticity is the responsibility of the oral person. This account friendly reminder: please identify the relevant risks yourself, and do not blindly follow the trend to make impulsive decisions.)
