Posted on: 22-04-04 21:57:43
Chris seems like you detest Canada. Any personal reason for doing that?
What is your point?
What did you mean by "Canada is totally barren socially"
Who said you cannot talk to a girl. I was under the impression that this only happen in Islamic countries. I do not think they are so narrow-minded like from where you come from.... 'to blow their rape whistle'.
Canada seem to have women bus drivers.
This accusation was totally uncalled for. Are you living in a civilized society? I think you have to broaden your horizon.
Make a trip to Canada and see for yourself.
Actions speaks more than words.
Have i been to canada? i am canadian !
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Orginally posted by Chris
in canada no one talks to anyone anyway, so i don't see the point of these acquisitions for 'status'.
That's a bit extreme, isn't it? You probably meant it as a hyperbole, but for the benefit of those who've never been to Canada, that is not my experience at all. I've never tried to talk to a girl on the bus (honestly
), but for most part, I find Canadians rather social. Maybe we just came across different people.I do agree with your other points though, the debt situation here is apalling at best, especially for the most vulnerable; the youth. And its rather pathetic that the govt. is actually encouraging this spending rampage thinking it will boost the economy. The funny (or not so funny) part is that the people on the lower end of the salary spectrum are more inclined to spend lavishly whereas the higher income getters zip their wallets much tighter. In the company I work for, a cust. service rep. who makes about 12-14 bucks an hour will easily outspend the senior IT guys who'd easily be making thrice that much. The guys making over 60k a year bring their lunch almost everyday, bring sodas from home, drive old hondas and stuff, while the younger and much poorer crowd is exactly the opposite.
Things have taken a turn in India too for the worse. It is now extremely easy to get loans and people who were very reluctant to do so few years back are now buying all sorts of things on borrowed money. Just so that they have a bigger car than the neighbors.
I think the majority of first-generation immigrants are pretty ok in this regard in Canada. Not so sure about the coming generations though. I do believe the govt. should be doing more to educate people about the importance of not spending beyond their means.
And as for your Gujarati friends, I can assure they're an exception to the rule. That's coming from a gujarati.
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it's nice to see someone defending canada, ugot and bluelobster, so few do so nowadays.
but tell me the truth; if there was a poll on canadiandesi asking true or false to the following questions, how would people answer?
(1) canadians are warm, gregarious people whose hospitality is famous.
(2) canadians often invite people into their homes and strike up conversations with strangers on the drop of a hat.
(3) canada has a rich, warm social life.
my impression is that most canadians sit at home staring at a machine (computer, gameboy, PS, or TV) alone in the evenings.
the thing i enjoy in indonesia is that people simply 'drop by' for tea, conversation, my company. can you imagine the look on a canadian' face if you showed up to his house and rang the bell? "hi ! just thought i'd stop by for a chat!".
they would be speechless!
bluelobster, i also have friends in singapore who are gujarati. one of my friends, falaq, tells me that gujarati are famous for being successful businessmen who are spread out all over the world. the ones i know are incredibly down to earth and friendly people. i later discovered that some are very wealthy, but you would never know it from speaking to them. they are very down to earth and not at all pretentious.
another one of my friends is from india and speaks marati. he is from the area around new delhi. but he never identifies himself as a member of any group, only that he 'comes from new delhi'. is marati then only a language or does it also denote an ethnic group? is gujarati also a language?
i would assume that indians then define themselves according to their language. am i correct in this assumption?
Chris,
Speaking for myself, it really isn't about defending Canada. Its just me narrating my experiences and presenting the perspective I've formed. And my experiences haven't been that bad at all. Now I'd call myself a lucky exception, but I happen to know quite a few people who feel the same way.
Canadians sitting at home glued in front of their TVs?? Hmm..we definately have come across different people.
Here's my experience. I moved here from the U.S. Back there, my experience with the locals was they like to associate with you on a professional level, maybe sometimes hang out with you, but they always keep their distance. With some exceptions, I found that most had this invisible line that you better not cross over or you'd be staring in the face of awkwardness.
After I moved to Canada and started working, I found things to be the opposite. I had two colleagues working at the same level as me (both whites) and we got to be friends in no time. And shortly after, they started inviting me to their places (one guy was married and the other was a bachelor!). We used to have "gaming" nights at the single guy's place where about 5 of us (me being the only non-white guy) used to get together and play network games on pc's all night. We used to have sleepovers at his place all the time. The married guy would have bbq's at his place and invite me everytime (again I was the only brown guy there). Honestly, the only awkwardness was from my side here. I felt it really strange initially because I wasn't used to this at all. All of us got to be real good buddies and even took a couple of camping trips up north.
And at my current workplace, I find it equally easy to hang out with the people of all colors and nationalities ( we have many). The younger dudes and dudettes always want to go out for a beer after work and I never notice that pervasive awkwrarness I felt in the states while talking to them over a cold one.
I'm of course talking about the 25-35 crowd here, I haven't had much chance to interace personally with the over-40 crowd.
Oh yeah, I come across many snobs but they deserve the life they live. I have too many things happening to blink at them. And I've noticed often that a lot of immigrants don't merge quickly with the locals because of a subconscious inferiority complex, unfamiliarity with customs and a inability to adapt quickly . Once they get over these, anyone who still acts like a snob isn't worth their time anyways.
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the thing i enjoy in indonesia is that people simply 'drop by' for tea, conversation, my company. can you imagine the look on a canadian' face if you showed up to his house and rang the bell? "hi ! just thought i'd stop by for a chat!".
Yeah, I agree this would be pretty wierd for Canadians. But then, we're talking about vastly different cultures here. These norms are dictated by a multitude of factors as opposed to just social attitudes, economics and the pace of life here being a couple.
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Quote:
Orginally posted by Chris
bluelobster, i also have friends in singapore who are gujarati. one of my friends, falaq, tells me that gujarati are famous for being successful businessmen who are spread out all over the world. the ones i know are incredibly down to earth and friendly people. i later discovered that some are very wealthy, but you would never know it from speaking to them. they are very down to earth and not at all pretentious.
another one of my friends is from india and speaks marati. he is from the area around new delhi. but he never identifies himself as a member of any group, only that he 'comes from new delhi'. is marati then only a language or does it also denote an ethnic group? is gujarati also a language?
i would assume that indians then define themselves according to their language. am i correct in this assumption?
Gujarat is a state in India and people from that state speak Gujarati (regardless of where they live in India.) Similarly Maharastra is another state, residents of which speak Marathi.
Yes, people in India do identify themselves by the language they speak. It is simultaneously our biggest strength (the diversity) and weakness (the division). Quite complicated...
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