CelinedGuzman

         My name is Celine and I am a high school student from the West coast of Canada. I find joy in reading and making music. I often enjoy going to school and my favourite classes are science and math; I someday hope that my career would be in either of those fields. I do not at all look forward to graduating because I really like high school and I don’t think that I am ready to face all the seriousness and responsibilities of the adult world yet. Unfortunately, these two years are the last, so I’ll be sure to make the most out of it.

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                                                                    January 14, 2013

My Heroic Journey

          Never have I dreamed or even thought about wanting to live in such a foreign place. Canada was just another country to me and I had absolutely no idea that soon enough, it would become my new home. It all started way back in 2002, when the already corrupt Philippine government seemed to be getting itself in more trouble. My parents knowing that it’ll be hard for my siblings and I to live a good life in the future, seeing how the country is becoming worse and worse, they decided to apply to immigrate to Canada. The idea wasn’t new to them because some of their friends have already sent their applications three to four years before we did, to get there families here too. We weren’t expecting to have such a quick reply from the agency, but within eighteen months, we got it. My parents didn’t know whether or not that was a good thing or not, because though it meant that they had very good credentials to get in fast, it meant that we had to fly here soon or else our applications would expire. And at that time, we were all still unsure if we really wanted to come and live here.

Moving to a new country, into a new city barely knowing anybody is hard enough. But leaving your whole family and life behind is even harder. Of course we were all reluctant to leave our lives in the Philippines. We had everything that we needed to have a comfortable life. All our family and friends lived nearby, both my parents had very good jobs, our home was big and we had servants, and everything just seemed so convenient and perfect. But my parents would never make my siblings and I do something that even they’re not sure of. So in 2004, my dad left.

For three years, he lived away from us and lived in the home of one of my parent’s very close friends and their children. It was a totally different life but my dad had no other choice. With the help of his friend, my dad was able to get a job and start recreating the life we had back home. Everything felt like it was falling apart, our perfect life wasn’t so perfect anymore. But, we all knew that we had to do what was necessary. And for me, it was accepting that maybe him leaving was a good thing after all, that this was all planned out and maybe we were all meant to grow up and live here because something better awaits us here.

By the year 2007, my parents had decided that my siblings and I should live here with our dad, in time for my sister and I to start grade 6 and my brother to start grade 9. And it was horrible. Our life was forever changed. Instead of the big home that we were used to, we moved into a small place that my dad had just started renting. It was big enough for us to live comfortably in, but tiny compared to what we had. My siblings and I all had to learn how to be responsible and independent because there wasn’t anybody around waiting on us anymore. We learned how to do chores, clean, cook, do the laundry, things that we thought we would never have to do. Knowing that we were going to be living this way from now on, and that we all had to make our own sacrifices, we finally, but unwillingly, accepted our new life.

As my parents expected, things did get better. Five months after our arrival it was September. It wasn’t so bad because though we did spend a lot of time adjusting to our Canadian life, we also had a very long summer break in which our dad showed us how wonderful Canada is. School wasn’t so bad either because we finally met new people and made friends. Elementary school was fun and easy and the friends we had made there are still with us up to this point in our lives.

Even though my family’s life still isn’t the way we want it to be, it’s getting better. It’s taken a really long time but my mom has finally decided to leave her job in the Philippines and come to live here with us. And by summer of this year, we would have a mortgage-free house!