Asian Heritage Month

Still no call from McD's to start training, I guess my assertiveness has got their back's up.... their loss, you say? Mine too as I would have liked to have started working by now. Not that it's a good time to start working. I have chosen Thursday as a work day, and our birthdays fall on Thursday this year, well, Mitch, Jas and my birthday do. Our wedding anniversary falls on a Thursday too, this coming Thursday to be precise...16 happy years, speckled with the good and bad, the for better or worse, the in sickness and in health, the big and small moves, the raising of 2 great children, we have been lucky.

So, though I am wanting to start asap, I don't want to start asap! Think I am slowly losing the plot.

It's Asian Heritage Month here in Canada in May and the school is being visited by some Hong Kong pupils who will be performing in the school and there will be a little celebration as well. The school choir will be singing a mandarin song, and some elders from a residential home have been invited along as guests. There will be guest speakers and a tea party thrown for the elders after the performance. The whole event is going to be filmed by a local Chinese TV channel.
I have been helping getting the posters ready for the school and feel like I have been in play school today, what with all the cutting and pasting I have been doing.

Here's a  little blurb about it

May is Asian Heritage Month. This acknowledges the long and rich history of Asian Canadians and their contributions to Canada. It also provides an opportunity for Canadians across the country to reflect on and celebrate the contributions of Asian Canadians to the growth and prosperity of Canada.

Canada’s cultural diversity strengthens the country socially, politically and economically in innumerable ways. Asian Heritage Month is an ideal occasion for all to celebrate the beauty and wisdom of various Asian cultures.

We get the keys to the Townhouse we are moving to on Friday, 2 days before the start of the lease.. the kids are really excited about the move, they will have separate bedrooms again. I am looking forward to having 3 flights of stairs, have been living the life of a sloth here in the condo, all on one floor, and not much stair climbing going on apart from the 5 flights down to the lobby, or 7 flights down to the car park.  I do climb back up the stairs, but not as often as I go down them. The washer/ dryer is in the basement of the townhouse, 3 flights down from the bedrooms.. there are 4 bathrooms! We have no backyard (garden) but have 2 balconies... 

Fingers crossed, the apartment we're in right now has also been let from the 15 th of May, and we will be returning the keys to our landlady on the 13th of May, with a refund of our last month's rent from her as well as all the deposits for the keys....

What I am not really looking forward to is the cleaning I am going to be doing over the next 2 week.... the townhouse before we move in, and the condo after we have left... maybe it's just as well McDs have not called... I really have no time for work! Packing, cleaning, unpacking, in between cooking meals, washing, ironing, helping out at school, etc etc...... Bring it on!

Canadian Tax returns for 2010

After having to get the UK tax returns done by Jan 31st, 2011, Dave having to endure weeks of never ending nagging from me, we find ourselves having to go through the same exercise here. We had until the end of April though. We both had to file in a tax return, irrespective of my unemployed status.

We decided to declare everything, well, we had to, global earnings from Jan 2010- Dec 2010. We were told that we would not be liable for any tax for the earnings that were earned whilst we were still not resident here.  The tax specialist at one of the departmental stores...( temporary offices are set up in various dept stores to help people complete their tax returns for a fee) tapped in all the numbers and told us we owed $11,200...... arghhhhhh. I kinda lost my cool and said, we were told we had to declare the earnings, but would not be taxed it as we were not in Canada at the time of earning the said sum.... ok ok said the lady helping us, after making a call to ask for some advice, she proceeded to remove all foreign earnings. She then said,  now, we owe YOU money.... hmmmmmm, I said, feeling confused and slightly guilty..... how much, I asked? She said, oh $Xk. What? Shock evident in my facial expression. You sure, I said?  Yes, she said, pointing to a printout and breakdown of the calculations, yes, that is correct, see you get this and this as personal allowance, then this for the children, this for your wife's allowance as she didn't earn anything, then this for sports fees for your son, this for your pension contributions, this and this and this, and your total is this, you paid this much already in taxes, so you are now owed this! Wow, I said. She said, this is Canada..... ahhhh, I said, I now understand why so many people want to come and live here. First you get taxed, then they give it all back!

We will also receive a child care tax credit for the kids from July of this year til June next year, based on our earnings last year, it's quite a decent amount, it may mean I may be able to stay at home a while longer..  We are going to put the money away for the kids tertiary education I think, and not spend any of it, just in case they got it wrong and demand it back!

I am sure the tax return for the current year will be very different, as we would have figures for the whole year as opposed to the last quarter of the year, which is what we have just filed for 2010. Oh well, this must be the silver lining on the cloud.....

Better add a little p.s..... incase anyone thinks we have money, LOL, we don't! The refund barely covers the real cost of our move over.... so, we are back to square 1, but only just.

I'm no wall flower

Update from my work permit fiasco.....

Being a foreigner in the country you happen to be living in is not always easy.  I know I have vented my frustrations on here about my most recent country of residence, Canada, but thinking back to my early days in the UK, I encountered hurdles along the way too. I guess having lived there for 19 years, the memories of these episodes are somewhat diluted by the passage of time.

Saying that though, I do not think I had quite as many hurdles to cross over. I do remember having to wait 3 months for my work permit, and having to work in the local deli/sandwich shop, being paid cash in hand, as legally I was not allowed to work! My student visa had run out and I was waiting for my work permit to be granted. I survived on cashing in on some savings I had and along with my deli job, which I enjoyed immenselywhere my duties included baking and glazing danishes, making pizza dough and pizza, making pastry bacon twists and sandwiches. My boss was a good laugh and we got along like a house on fire.  I also did a bit of domestic cleaning and ironing for some of the doctors' families I knew.  Luckily for me, I was allowed to stay on in the maisonette that I rented from the hospital. Dave had moved in with me by then, but we were thinking of buying our own place.

The second hurdle resulted in Dave and I getting married!  Once again, it was a work permit issue, after completing my midwifery training, I managed to secure 2 jobs, one of which I turned down only to discover that the job that I had accepted, the HR dept was unable to get me a work permit, and my current work permit was for nursing, so no can do, and to top it all off, that was running out too! In the end, I had to get married, in order to be able to start work.... ok ok.. it's not like you think, Dave and I had been together for more than 3 years, we had a mortgage together, a joint bank account, we were cohabiting and in our minds married apart from the missing marriage cert!  So, we got married in the 5 weeks I had in order to start working. Went to the home office with everything we needed, only to discover that we could have applied for my right to stay on a common law status! Oh well, no regrets, we would have got married one day, and next week we have been married for 16 years!

Oh, the irony of this all is that I wasn't eligible for a work permit to work as a midwife, as the hospital had to prove that  there was no other British or EU national that could fill that post, and they were not prepared to do it.  Just a few months later, there was a massive shortage midwives and nurses, and what happened?? They had to go abroad and recruit from Asia, Australia etc.... I shall always be grateful to the UK for training me to be a nurse and then a midwife, I was paid to train, and they never asked for anything back, there was no ties, I did not have to serve the NHS or the hospital where I had trained.  I also find it surprising that after spending thousands of ££££ training me up, they didn't want to make use of my skills, preferring to go abroad to recruit?

So I guess I just don't have much luck as far as work permits go!  After being told by the McD's 1st manager about their problems with my work permit, I decided to take the bull by the horns and sort this problem out myself.  I know she said she would ring HR on Monday and update on me by Tuesday, but I had already lost confidence in their dealings with my job application. They knew they had a problem with my work permit but had no time to contact me for over a week, in fact, I contacted them. So, being told that I would hear by Tuesday did nothing for me. I understand it's difficult for the managers to get managerial duties done when they are at work, as they have to work on the shop floor, and when it gets busy, it's all hands on deck.

To cut the story short, I contacted HQ HR Monday and talked to them, they said some store managers need educating where work permits were concerned, and apologised about the troubles I was having. Good start, I thought.  Today I got a call from the restaurant and I have given them the copies of the documents they want, so, fingers crossed, it should all be ok now.  I am slightly concerned though, as I hope I have not stepped on any toes. I have been assertive and  solved this problem with the work permit bearing my maiden name. If I have, I feel that sometimes you can't hang about like a wall flower, in the back ground, waiting for things to happen. I did this for a few weeks following my appointment only to have come up with hassle after hassle. I had even bought the non-slip shoes that they said I needed for work! I was losing out on a few weeks work, pittance pay, but pay nonetheless.  I took the bull by the horns and tossed it out in the open, to get some answers, which I did.  For the record, McD does recognise UK marriage certs, it is just that some managers do not know they are an acceptable document.
All's well that ends well........... fingers still crossed, toes too.

Welcome to Canada %$^£%@**&^%

So, here's the thing, I am married, I was married in the UK, I have a UK marriage cert. In a few days time, I would have been married 16 years.  In the UK, I changed my name to Su Yin Jordan. My Malaysian passport however is still in my maiden name- Su Yin Chong,(we're not allowed to change our names in it), therefore my work permit for Canada is in that name. This is a big problem as McDs HR dept in Canada does not recognise my UK marriage cert, and therefore will not allow me to work due to the discrepancy of my surname. It does state in my passport that I am also known as Su Yin Jordan!  Will this do, I ask? We will have to check with head office, I am told. They are shut at the weekends, we will find out on Monday.  I am definitely not warming up to this country.

I have a Social Security Number, which I need in order to work, but guess what name is on there? Su Yin Jordan, as they accepted my marriage certificate and said it would make sense if everything was in my married name.

I have a health card for Ontario, guess what name is on there?

Su Yin Jordan

I have a bank account in guess what name?

Su Yin Jordan

I have a Canadian driver's license, automatically swapped for my UK license, guess the name on there?

Su Yin Jordan

Minimal wage to be earned an hour at McDs, they are wary and cautious that my names do no match, my marriage certificate holds no water as it's not Canadian. 

I thought I was getting used to these hurdles that I keep encountering, but the frustration is beyond belief... 

Back to yoga

I have had a month off yoga for various reasons. The chief one was the upper back pain that I was experiencing. I was not sure what the cause was, but yoga was not helping, in fact it was making it worse! I had asked several of my yoga teachers about it, but none of their advice nor suggestions helped. I noticed a lot of discomfort way back in January, and had put it down to the skiing that I had done just after Christmas. I blamed it on not having skied before and therefore strained some muscles in my back that I wasn't aware I had.

Perhaps I was holding a lot of stress in my shoulders, causing my upper back to compensate and seize up? Stress? What stress? A housewife should not have any stress, surely. Oh well, if you have been reading my blog up to now, you will know what stress, if not, and you're interested, you need to read my earlier posts!

My Iyengar teachers suggested a few shoulder and upper back stretches and strengtheners- I did them, and they were of no help. When was it worse? Worse after a shoulder stand I say. Ok, show us your shoulder stand. Ok. I get into position, legs over my head, hands supporting my back, I get into this inverted position. Ahhhh, they said, I can see your elbows splaying and your shoulder blades are not where they should be..... using a strap to help, she adjusts my elbows and corrects my position..... Ok, I don't actually feel the discomfort during the pose, it's when I have to unravel myself and get down and then I get this sharp stab like pains.... I was dreading coming out of the pose, but I did, and I was in agony.. I did not want to reveal this to the teacher, she was only trying to help after all. I quickly did the counter  fish pose which helped the pain somewhat... It was then that I thought perhaps I should have a break from Yoga, to allow the strain to heal.

Shouder stand-sarvangasana

Fish pose, counter pose for shoulder stand

So after more than a month off, I went to a class this morning, reduced heat, Level 1, should be ok, and it was. I loved being back, did a lot of vinyasas, was sweating like a pig and I felt great..... my upper back seemed to have coped, no twinges or anything.. but we didn't do shoulder stand.  My back started telling me that all was not well as I was walking back to the apartment. I had been evaluating how my body felt on the walk back, and my back started to hurt as I left the elevator and started walking to our door.... arghhhhh... if anyone reading this knows the solution to my problem with my upper back, please tell me, as I do not want to give up yoga!

Last Friday, I went to get my hair cut, the ends were dry and I needed a trim.  Here's the thing, the hairdresser said, your hair is very thin.  Tell me something new, why don't you! Yes, I agreed. How do you want it cut? I don't want it short. It has been Dave's dream for me to have long straight hair down my back, like the kind you see in Chinese kung fu movies! Something like the picture below..

Well, my hair just refuses to grow! Worse still, I am moulting like a Samoyed in the heat of summer, leaving me with thinning hair... :-( . And another thing.. my hair has decided that it is wavy and the ends curl into loose locks when I am not looking!

I was 9 here I think, hair definitely straight!

Anyhow, back to the hairdresser. I said he could cut it anyhow, but it had to remain longish and make me look beautiful... hahaha, tall order, I hope he wasn't put under pressure. He then said, oh, and your hair will need another perm soon! Perm? PERM????  The last perm I had was more than 14 years ago. I told him that my hair wasn't permed... he was surprised, oh he said... they are natural curls? Yes, I said funny how I was born with straight hair and now that I am middle aged, it's curling of it's own accord. I asked him if he knew why this had happened, and he said no idea! Huh, I thought...

Hair cut and straightened with hair straighteners

I think I look ok, and if Dave wants that long hair on me, he has a long wait, or he could pay for hair extensions, or grow it himself!

What else is happening this week? I should be starting my training at McDs, at the service counter. It's not an ideal time to start work as the kids are in a school production of Alice in Wonderland and will be performing 3 nights beginning tomorrow, Tuesday 12.4.2011. The training sessions for McDs run in the afternoon and evening, so will make my life complicated if they want to train me when the performances are on. Dave and I are going to watch on Thursday evening, so I have said please no training then. I must say the management at McDs have been a bit sloppy at arranging training and communicating with me. I want to know when things are likely to be as I have a family to organise and not knowing is frustrating!

Ooh, in the post today I received a knitting pattern book from my brother and sister- in- law in England, it's the Knit Your Own Royal Wedding book.  Thanks Steve and Deb.  I also received my April packet of wool and beads to knit for the mystery blanket.... with all this knitting to do,who has time to work I ask you?  Perhaps I should be happy I haven't been called in for training!

Random acts of kindness...

Yesterday morning, we had to take Mitch for the echocardiogram and blood work requested by our family doctor, following his funny turns at school. The echo was no problem, we were seen on time. which was a good thing, as the waiting room had the most migraine inducing decor..... swirly patterned carpet, almost paisley but not quite, in dark tones, almost brocade covered chairs in rich red tones, and though the wallpaper was monotone, it was a swirly pattern too, I really should have taken some pictures! The lab for this procedure was in  Pfizer building.  We are getting used to having medical investigations done in buildings other than hospitals which would be the norm in the UK.

We then went to the blood lab, in another block, about 2.5 km away, this building was called Chalmers Medical, so, it had several gamily doctors , the blood lab, also medical imaging. Anyhow, we got to the lab, there were people queueing outside the room, not a good sign, it was about 9.15am.  All seats were taken inside and we had to wait in the corridor. Dave took a ticket, for some strange reason, he was very happy, then he showed me the number, it was 88... yipppeee, fatt tatt ler. No so fatt tatt when we checked the number being called, it was 54! Mmm sei, I suppose that is good too, won't die, that is good lol. Ok, for all my non chinese readers, in cantonese the number 8, sounds like the chinese word for luck and prosperity, so to get 88, is double lucky hahhahaha. I said to Dave, you better get a lottery ticket today.

We stood in the corridor waiting for what seemed like ages. We got Mitch to check what number was being called and he said it's still 54, this was after 15 mins of waiting.  I had brought my knitting along, so was standing and knitting, and telling M what to expect from the blood taking. After another 15-20 mins of waiting, the number was still at 54! No one had changed it, but the technicians were just calling out the numbers in the room, how the rest of us could hear this was of no consequence to them.  We continued to chat and wait, me knitting away, placing beads in my work.... then a lady came and I thought she was ready to leave, but she approached us and gave us her ticket, she said, here take this, you will be called next, the ticket was number 63...we said, how about you? She said, I took 2 tickets!

A random act of kindness, why us? Why not anyone else? It was the 88 at play we thought, that was our luck for the day.  Dave felt bad that we were cutting in on others that had come before us, but the couple that had been waiting with us in the same queue just smiled and was happy for our good fortune.  We got called, then waited some more. It was then that I noticed the lady who gave us the ticket had 2 children with her. Ahhh, she had given us the ticket as M was a child and she didn't want him to have to wait long, knowing what it's like herself. Her 2 children were having bloods done too.

We were grateful as our wait was shortened by at least 45mins to an hour, M was seen not long after and was not faint after.  I was worried he would faint, as he had felt weird before on watching a hip replacement operation on TV at the science centre. He also had an EKG/ECG, and we left....

Results back at the doctors in 10 days....