My first-ever job-interview in Canada

Today I got my first-ever job-interview in Canada. It was a clothes store chain I applied about a month ago. On Friday I got an email from the store telling me that they had a hiring event coming on the next day. And so I went, without bringing my resume whatsoever. I stepped in the store and found a line of people queuing up. When it is my turn, I was asked why I was interested in working there and one best team I had ever worked in. I was actually cheating, because I heard people in front of me being asked the same questions and prepared myself with them. After that, the manager told me to come back next Tuesday or Wednesday for an audition. I did not even know what on earth that was. Asking the manager, she told me it was a group interview where candidates talk, play etc. to know each other better and the like.

I then searched the Internet for tips and advice for group interview, getting myself prepared. When Wednesday came, I went back to the store after school. To my amazement, I did not feel nervous at all.

I and a young woman were the only two out of five or so people who showed up. Even with fewer candidates, I did not feel I would win the job anyway lol. The manager first asked us to introduce ourselves and tell her one thing that we knew about the company. At that moment, my head swam a little. What? I did not do any research about the company at all. I ended up telling them that I find staffs there are nice (Yeah, that was what I got…). Then she took a roll of toilet paper (yup), and ripped off some, gave it to us, asking us to do the same. That was for the next part of the interview. As it turned out, we had to tell one another interesting facts about ourselves with the amount of paper sheets we got. The manager told us 12 things and the young woman got 16. I got 13 sheets, a good omen… (just joking, I am not that superstitious lol)

The final part is to throw a dice and we had to complete the mission shown on it. “Find apparel combination with a T-shirt for a customer’s blind date” is what I got, after my fourth attempt (The first time is the same with the young woman, therefore, I needed to do it again, and I got 2 blanks in a row…).

I then enthusiastically went shopping for clothes, women clothes lol. I do not know what others were thinking. This guy seems really happy shopping for women clothes perhaps. Since it was a blind date and a T-shirt, I went for casualness. A pair of jeans, a pair of sneakers, a shirt functioned as a jacket and a little bag are my combination. The manager then told us to put them back exactly where we had found them. Dramatically enough, we both got back from different directions at the same time.

That was it. The manager told us that whoever gets the job would be contacted via email and thanked us for coming. Then we thanked back in return, blah blah blah. When I was walking home, I thought I’m so not getting the job. Because of my lack of knowledge about the company and explanation to the clothes I chose; especially when compare to the young woman’s awareness of the new arrival of swimming suits in the store.

As I had expected, I did not get the job. Even so, I consider this a very interesting and rewarding experience. It makes me aware that I really need to at least get to know the company in which I apply a position, such as their policy, aims, achievements etc.

My Experience of Language Assessment Test

It was finally March 28^th. I would not say I got all nervous about it, yet this is, after all, a test. I certainly would not want to be late, so I set my alarm clock to 6:40. And, believe it or not, it took me 44 minutes to finish my routine, (just) including morning no. 1 (you know, pee), face washing, teeth brushing, breakfast making and consuming (five-minute instant noodle), sweater and coat donning, shoes changing, and making sure I have everything necessary in my bag (trying hard to list everything, so that it seems that I am actually not that slow a person. lol).

It was another hour later when I finally got to the language assessment centre on Grosvenor (and yeah, I was going to a language assessment centre for my LINC class. Didn’t mention that before? Oh well…). I reported to the staff, and was told to sit somewhere to wait. About 5 minutes later, my language assessor (assessor, I just learned this word today, I thought I should call her teacher or coach lol), a beautiful woman, called me and led me to an office. Before we started (I actually thought we HAD already started), we small-talked a little, about stuffs like the heavy rain last night. And to my surprise, she could pronounce my Vietnamese name after only 2 demonstrations from me.

During our listening and speaking tests, on a topic about comparison between Toronto and my home city, I learned that she had been to Ho Chi Minh City! I was saying pedestrians are more comfortable (for lack of a better word, limited vocabulary…) in Toronto, then she said she totally understands, because when she was in HCMC, she would spend a long time standing there, not daring to cross the street. After the listening and speaking tests, she led me to a larger room where other test-takers were finishing their writing and reading tests. And there I started panicking, because the third task of the writing asked me to discuss a topic, and discussing is never my thing. I ended up not finishing the third one due to time limit. The last test was reading. The tasks got more and more difficult as I progressed, passages containing many words that I did not know (and honestly I came across and learned some of them before, just could not remember them). When time was up, I left the last (29^th) question uncircled, over which I spent three or so minutes poring. (The last two tests have a thirty-minute limit each. The test ended at 9:55)

Then I went outside sitting on the same bench where I sat when registered. About 20 minutes later, we got back to her office (and I later figured out that during my writing and reading tests, she was actually going to meet a new test-taker for their listening and speaking. So busy). In there, she showed me my result. I got 6s in listening and writing, a 7 in speaking and an 8 in reading (According to a piece of informative paper provided by the centre, the benchmark system has 12 benchmarks (benchmark, meaning level, learned it before, but again, I forgot it), and the assessment measures our ability of using English within the first 8 benchmarks. Probably because the last four are for advanced English speakers). Then she gave me some addresses of school near my postal code and explained what their courses were about.

Now when I think back, there was this one thing I usually do not like doing and never do it before somebody starts it. Shaking hands (yeah, I know it is socially essential, but I just…meh). BUT, when we were done, I automatically stretched out my right hand, so naturally that I did not even notice it until now, when I am typing. I guess there are indeed some situations where you really appreciate somebody that you will do things you normally would not (like SHAKING HANDS, lol).

Before I left, I asked her a question that had nothing to do with the event. An expression I heard when opening bank accounts and said it for the first time to somebody (to her). It was if am I good to go is an appropriate way to ask. Am I good to go? It basically means is everything done? I can go home now? And she said something that really encourages me. She said I had used it correctly. It was informal but it was good, because that meant I am rather good at speaking English (Not boasting but a big smile on that : ))

I left the centre at about 10:43.

If ever asked advice on this, I would say just like any tests, relax. I think it will be really stressing to speak in a non-native language in tests. But seriously, all you can do is to relax, and talk just like when you do with your friends. Your friends will not make fun of or laugh at you. Well, even though sometimes they do, they will correct you after that. Do not worry about making mistakes. I sometimes make mistakes when speaking in Cantonese, my first language. Everybody makes mistakes. And through them, you learn. There is no reason to get all nervous (well, a little bit is all right) about it. Just do your best.

And I actually made a video about this (basically for practicing English~) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELGg-EVdtYw

My Experience of Going Through CBSA and CIC

It was March 4^th 2016. It was a big day. And it certainly was a new start.

I could not sleep well on the plane, and fought the air-sick valiantly. But I lost, was crushed into pieces, to be more precisely.

The worst part is, I was all nervous about meeting with the CBSA (the Customs) and CIC (Citizenship and Immigration Canada). What with my broken English and not filling out a B4 form in advance. My thought started to wander. What happened if I failed this?

Before moving, I searched the Internet for as much information as I could. But I never found anything about this. And mind you, I did it in Chinese, English and Vietnamese. The best thing I found was it might take about one or two hours to go through.

And it actually does not. It took only about 15 minutes, at least in my case.

I believe if you ever google for what to expect when immigrating to Canada, you definitely will hear about something called a declaration card, B4 form and B4a.

The declaration card is compulsory. You have to fill it out on the plane, or at least most of them, e.g. some personal information. I myself did not, but I believe it would be just fine if you left some sections blank and asked the officer at the Customs for help or details as to what to write, if you did not understand what they mean. About the B4a, it is necessary if you have any stuffs that will come to Canada on a later date. You can download the form on the CIC website. It is something called Goods to Follow. As for B4, I made a list in advance but did not fill it out and guess what, the officer did not ask for that.

When me and my family got to a counter, the officer took the declaration card, asked us some questions. For instance, what kind of food and how much money we were bringing into Canada. Those questions are not difficult to answer, just make sure that you are honest, especially if you are bringing more than ten thousand Canadian dollars. It needs to be declared. And make sure that you understand what they are asking before answering. Just ask them to repeat more slowly if you cannot hear it. I did when we went to a CIC counter. The officer asked us some questions. I could not understand what he was saying and he patiently repeated it. Then he reminded us that one of my family members needed a medical surveillance.

And that is it.

I think there are people out there (probably not many though) who are also nervous and want this kind of information. So I promised myself that after we have landed, I would make a video and write something about it, just to make other people like me feel more assured and less worried.

Here’s the link to a video I made:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lajrsa8TyfU

C.O.G. 觀後感，大量劇透 (雖然已經是2013年的電影)

C.O.G. 觀後感，大量劇透 (雖然已經是2013年的電影)

首先說說，片名 C.O.G. 是 Child of God 的縮寫，意為神的孩子。

主角叫David，剛完成碩士學位，跟家人因為同志身份鬧意見(事實是一開始我根本不知道他是同志，而全片同不同志也不是重點)，便打算跟朋友到農村，體驗一下「生活」。

本以為朋友半路讓他獨自一人搭長途巴士、在車上遇到形形色色的惱人乘客、難以入睡已經是難受的上限，到達時還在電話中留言給家人道， It’s gonna be amazing(一切都會很精彩的)，殊不知到了目的地，田園生活和工作並非想像的愜意，即使是摘蘋果，也不是猜想的那般容易，更別提拖著空瓦斯瓶下山到鎮裡，再一個人把補滿的瓶子推上山。

朋友幾天後上山，帶著新結識的男朋友，但不是上來過農村生活，而是告訴他，她打算不幹了；在山上認識的，語言不通的墨西哥朋友又要離開莊園；幾經輾轉，來到了蘋果工厰(是能吃的那種蘋果 XD)，才發覺交朋友並不是這麼容易，好不容易遇到一個知心的，以為甚至可以發展成情侶的朋友，結果對方也是有所謀圖，落荒而逃後終於心生去意。偏偏這時候發現這些日子打工的錢不知被誰偷走了。這大概是他第一次感受到金錢給生活帶來的壓力，發了瘋似的在宿舍裡翻找，最後不果。

David是個有點倔強、反叛的人。當初朋友到山上來說，他可以跟他們一起下山，這裡不是他們待的地方，他嘴硬回說這裡很適合他；園主問他你朋友都不來了，你應該也想走了吧，他說其實想多留一陣子；明明一點也不寫意，卻告訴母親生活很不錯；而從後來打電話給家人的說話內容，看得出他對他們的思念，卻還是沒有說出口，這也表現出他堅持的一面，他不能成為這場鬥爭中動搖的一方。即使是此時，錢被偷去了，前路茫茫，打算打電話回家求助，卻在聽到母親聲音時趕緊把它掛掉。

David本身是無神論者，極度不願跟宗教打交道。瓦斯瓶可以勉強一個人推上山，但眼下無家可歸，身無分文，無奈下，只好打給某天在路上遇到的基督教教徒Jon，Jon二話不說開車來接他。但Jon本身也是寄住在某教友的家，現在多帶一個人回來，該戶主人的耳語被剛步出浴室的David聽到，讓他再次感受到生活的真實面和難堪。

Jon和這家人都是虔誠的教徒，開朗的Jon更是無時無刻都為小事感恩著，開工前還得好好感謝主一番。有天，主人終於表示，他們再也不能收容他和David兩人，但已經為他們找到另一處容身所—一間舊髮廊。忽然間，Jon像是變了一個人，對於這件事相當不滿，大發雷霆，覺得髮廊不是一個好地方，拍桌大喝 Christians don’t give and take away (基督教徒是不會給了人家東西又拿回去的)。

不過他們還是得搬走。來到新地方後，David開始對Jon的職業有興趣(加工玉塊成工藝品，Jon要拿到三個星期後的展覽會擺賣)，用空閑時間和多餘的小玉塊構思並做出自己的東西，同時，他對宗教信仰似乎有了一點改觀。就像天意一般，那個圖謀不軌的「朋友」這時候找上門來，企圖性侵David，自知無力反抗的他看到掛在牆上的耶穌像，很自然地喊了句 Jesus, please, help me(神啊，求你救救我)，靈光一閃轉頭大喝 I'm a Christian! Don't you see I can't do this with you? (我是基督教徒啊！難道你都不知道我們不能那個嗎？)這才得救了(但對方怎麼就這麼簡單放過倒是沒看懂)。

後來一次禮拜上，他終於步上台，正式成為基督教徒，在懇求寬恕的時候，他說了句 please help me to get married soon(求你幫我，讓我可以結婚)，幾秒後，他又補充 to a woman (跟一個女人結婚)，一直打轉的眼淚終於流了下來。大概他在掙扎，知道「懇求就可以改變」，聽起來很荒謬，但這刻卻真的有那麼一點相信。

展覽會終於開幕，David和Jon帶著他們的工藝品來到集市，Jon對David做的東西不以為然，覺得它們毫無用處，不會有人買。結果是，客人都對David做的小盒子有興趣而不願買Jon的時鐘，為此他十分不滿。集市結束後，已經接近電影尾聲，看到這裡我有點疑惑，怎麼會這裡結束？短短幾分鐘夠交代接下來的事情嗎？

兩人開著車回家，半途上，Jon停下車，說 I don't like being used (我討厭被人利用)；I gave you the only thing I have. You use it against me? (我傳了你手藝，你現在要用它來反我？) 接著告訴David他參戰時遇到的一個同志，表示你也跟他一樣那麼變態，是吧？David說 I'm as sick as they come (我就是這麼變態(可能是諷刺說法))承認性向，Jon 接著言詞尖酸地暗示「你不配當教徒」，Christians aren't users. Christians aren't takers. They certainly aren't faggots (基督教徒不會利用人，更加不會是同性戀)。這時候David一定很絕望，我覺得那行眼淚在這時滑下來很合時，安排得很好。他的新寄托，他的教友、師傳兼朋友，原來並不是他外表看起來的如此友善。

Jon從集市賣東西的錢裡數了些零錢丟給David，趕他下車，讓他滾得遠遠的。David準備離開時，Jon突然提醒巴士站位置(可能是想起上帝)，David說句 okay 後關上車門，看著車子離開，掉頭找公車站。

David背著行裝，走在路上，一臉難過、失望，他不自覺看看身上的毛衣，用背包的帶子把上面的紅色Y字遮住—那是他就讀的耶魯大學的校徽(應該是校徽沒錯)，表情變得沒那麼緊繃，換上一抹淺笑，繼續走著，直至走出鏡頭。

電影結束得好，連片尾字幕也不忘給你驚喜。字幕後半段，Jon一個人唱著"I’m just doing the Lord’s work”(片中David向他求救後，表示十分感謝，Jon在車上有唱過一次給David聽，暗示是神的旨意)，中間有說一些話，大意是請對方一起唱，突顯其勸人信教的性格，但問題是(可能是故意安排的？)，並沒有人跟著唱，而最後，他話說到一半就突然中斷了。

不得不承認，David(Jonathan Groff)的演技真的不錯(跟他長得很帥沒關係 XD)，發現錢被偷去時，被Jon奚落時，很多幕都很到位；而最後把Y字遮住，他的表情像在告訴你，我唸了快二十年書，始終需要真的面對現實生活，方能真正完成一開始來農村的動機，體會生活；也讓人感受到，由不屑宗教，到見證教友們的各種面貌，到自己本身渴望從中得到「幸福和正常的生活」這件事上，他能夠對這有更好更完整的定義。

有些關頭，人會自然想到自己，這是殘酷但真實的人之常情：那個收留他們的家庭，總不能一直多兩個人的負擔，即使女主人不願意，還是要選擇請二人離開；如果Jon把錢都給了David，他要怎樣過活？

Jon說過，Christians don’t give and take away，但到頭來，他說話變得十分刻薄，忿然趕David下車，原來很多事情，不是只要說句「宗教徒應該怎樣、不應該怎樣」就可以改變，它們跟信仰無關，關鍵是人本身。

我真的很喜歡這電影。結束得也這麼精彩：David沿著大路走，表情隨著每一步變化，最後離開鏡頭，給人很多想象和思考的空間。

戴竹笠的女生

今天遇到一名妙齡女子，不過給我留下印象的不是她的長髮圓臉，清眉秀目，而是頭上的一頂竹笠。
工作的地方對面就是市場，每天看到很多戴竹笠的人，特別在於這女子一身白領裝束(本人並沒特別將竹笠跟藍領階級劃等號)，依每日所見，現在已經很少年輕女 生會戴竹笠以遮陽擋雨，只讓它們在藝術照中客串，令其彷彿變成拍照的道具。我在後面目送她轉過彎，不算纖纖麗影，戴帽摘帽之間卻散發出一種樸素的魅力，讓 人移不開眼睛。
之後我想，如果當時手上有相機，就會把這種美拍下來，題為「純樸」，那是一種林立的高樓，繁鬧的交通都淹沒不了的純樸。

壞印象

有一種生命力最強的種子 
發了芽 
就可以在別人眼裏永遠存活