BACKGROUND
Michael Christian tells of his beginning moments in North America, first coming to Canada in 1989 then onto the US in 1998. He details his determination and his desired achievements for coming to America.
TRANSCRIPT
TRANSCRIBED BY Anjli Patel (x 3)
Okay, go ahead and state your name and where you came.
Well, my name is Michael Christian. And, I come from India.
State?
State in India?
Yeah!
Yeah, state is called Gujarat. Alright.
I’m the eldest of four siblings. So, I had a lot of responsibilities. I came from a really, really poor family. We used to live in one room. There was six people living in one room. But my parents, they were smart enough to put us through private English medium schooling. So, they worked really hard, so we can have a better life.
So, I got the opportunity to first come to Canada, which is a part of North America, obviously. And my first thought was to buy a home for my family back home. Because they spent all the money on me. And my aunt, she sponsored me to come there, to Canada.
The first few years were extremely tough because I did not know anybody. There was a huge culture shock. I did not have any friends. And I was just basically working all the time. It’s bitter cold. I used to walk. I did not have a car. So, I used to walk in knee deep snow to go from one job to another. I used to work basically 80 to 90 hours a week. And went to school at the same time because I studied hotel and restaurant management. But it finally paid off. Within two years, I was able to buy a really nice condominium for my parents back home, fully paid off. So, they were extremely happy. And then I was able to get my degree from Canada and I paid that off in full, as well. And I started working at a managerial job. So, those were my accomplishments. Within four years, I was able to achieve a lot.
What’s your first moments like, can you remember anything from that first weekend and anticipation getting here?
Well, I was extremely excited to because I had never traveled abroad. So, everything was like brand new. Completely different. You know India is a much poorer country than obviously America and Canada. So, I was shocked with you know, the different amount of food that we have over here, different variety, clean transportation, you know. Everything is so, so beautiful. I just seen that in the movies and I was able to experience it firsthand, in real life. There was a bit of a culture shock, but I was extremely happy and excited that I was able to move to North America.
Yeah, do you remember what the biggest shock there was besides like food?
People, I thought they were a little bit more conservative than what I'm used to. You know, like, in India, everybody’s like super friendly; everybody’s very outgoing. And over here, I found that people had their own little cliques. And until you get in there, you know, somehow, it takes people a lot longer to kind of open up and welcome you into their circle. Where else, you know then again, I was living in India my whole life. But, that’s the major difference. Besides the extremely cold weather, I thought that people were also a little bit more introvert, rather than— yeah.
And did you come over right during the school year or like were you here a little bit before the school year?
As soon as I came here, I started school.
Okay, just right, integrated into like the college life, and started working right away.
Working right away and started like doing evening school. So, I finished all my classes during the evening school. Yeah, I used to work during the daytime; go to school in the evenings.
Wow, that’s crazy. Thank you, Michael. I appreciate that.
