Trying to come up with the best naming of this blog, is not easy. Actually my result was not that cool as I expected. But it's me. I am a student who had never imagined to become a student again, in my life.
After I graduated the University in Japan obtaining Bachelor of Arts ABOUT 10 years ago (Oh my gosh, a decade!!), I had built up my life there via several job titles and careers. Getting married supposed to be just a part of my life event, moreover, my life build there was about to go on as it had been, with my husband-to-be.
We used to talk about visiting his country Canada or living there in future, however I never imagined that our Canadian life would start in right away. It came so sudden.
"Can I quit my job?"
It was the day we paid for the upcoming wedding reception.
I couldn't really say no. I knew his company was doing something wrong legally and the managers were something wrong professionally. So I said "If you want".
Amazingly, He got job soon as his job hunting started in Canada. As the result, I left my country to live with my husband, and that's how I got here.
As some of you may know, people who have visitor status in Canada are unable to work while waiting for your immigration status. I was one of them, so I decided to start doing volunteer for "Canadian experience" which seems to be a common thing that employers would ask you at interviews. Then I met Social Work there and I became really into it.
Although the office did not have enough both social workers who are obtaining degrees and trained and budget to hire them more, cases which volunteers are not allowed to touch and number of clients were waiting for their tern to talk to the workers. To handle cases you need knowledge - of cause, and special training to understand them and lead them. For example, you may have some friends who are very talkative or expressive and you don't really have to guess what they are really thinking in their mind, and some who you have to doubt that they are hiding their mind behind their words or expressions so they don't throw the ball straight back makes you confuse or hard to catch. You have to know how to catch their balls even if it was extremely curved or awfully bounded. Sometimes you may have to start looking for where the ball has gone, some clients may even not be able to throw the ball with some reasons.
Anyway, I understood the path that I have to take to be a social worker. To apply the university course my resume needs more than one volunteer experience and reference letter from them, so I did another volunteer at the senior home. I will be ready to apply after I pass the ESL class safely.
My parents were not happy with my decision because of my age. They think I should have baby before it hits my limit physically. In Japan, this "next to marriage is the baby"(baby comes first in some cases) thing is very general among their generation and some still remain nowadays. Of course it is totally depends on individual values and I am NOT a feminist. There are some people actually being parents and also students, but I know I can not handle both at once. This is a lack of my ability, but that is life. You may be able to give up being a student or having a job but you will NEVER be able to quit being a parent whatever the way you attach to them, once you became.
Moreover, you never know what is going to happen to your life, just as 10 years ago I could never imagined to have my life in a different country and become a student there. My husband and I talk about our life often. He supports me and my decision happily, I may be the luckiest person in the world.
I want to be an independent. I want to be able to make choice of my life, on my own.
I, Student.
I am an ESL student now and I want to be a student in the university. You are going to know what kind of path actually I am going to walk.
Doing Okay.. sort of
13 years ago
1 comment:
Thanks for the post. It's good to know about people's stories, and yours sounds a little familiar to me!
A little while ago I had an occasion to ask my brother (who is a psychologist in the U.S.) about the job prospects for social workers (I was asking for a friend), and he told me that there were reasons why an M.S.W. degree could be a very useful one there. Mainly, it was because a lot of people in the U.S. have health insurance through their employers and thus through operations like HMO's. The HMOs often will pay for psychotherapy -- but they don't want to pay the $150 per hour that a full psychologist will charge. So they decided to pay for counseling with MSW social workers, which has made the degree a useful one there.
I don't know about Canada. I understand that in Ontario, MD doctors can do therapy as a part of their practice, and that would be covered by OHIP. I'm not sure what arrangements ther are for social workers in the system otherwise. Maybe you can tell us something about that. What level of English do you need? (For doctors, it is quite high). What kind of places do social workers work in here?
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