My First Impression of Canada
I first arrived here when I was 15 years old, and I must say that cultural shock is so real, especially if you’re coming from a conservative background. So here’re some of my discoveries:
💧 Drinking tap water is safe 💧
Upon arrival, I still couldn’t accept this fact, and for the first couple weeks, I used to buy bottled water from convenience stores.
🎩 People are very polite 🎩
You will notice that people smile often even to strangers, hold doors for each other, and apologize a lot even if someone bumped into them.
🧾 Taxes are not included in the price tag 🧾
When you shop for something pricey, a laptop, for example, if you see a price tag say $1289, don’t be fooled just yet!😂 You’ll pay at least additional $168 for taxes. So your total would come up to $1457 🥲. Over time, you just get used to estimating a total calculation including taxes in your mind. That’s actually something that many immigrants still don’t understand - why doesn’t Canada and US include taxes in the price tag like any other Eastern parts of the world? 🤔
💬 If you’re not Canadian-born, what other cultural shock experiences did you encounter? Let me know in the comments!
Look out for PART 2! 👀