Victoria, British Columbia from the Perspective of A Filipino Immigrant

This post is to help other Filipinos who are planning to migrate to Canada and looking for which city to settle in. When I was in the Philippines, I have never heard of Victoria BC. Most Filipinos who migrated to Canada either settle in Vancouver or Toronto. I only started to hear Victoria BC when I was in Edmonton when one of my co-worker was saying "You should visit Victoria, BC. It is very beautiful city". That time, I still did not put Victoria in my to visit list.

I have lived in 3 different cities in Canada, Edmonton for about 6 months, Toronto for about 1.5 year and Victoria for 7 years, and I have traveled to Montreal, Quebec, Ottawa, Vancouver and Calgary. Victoria BC has a distinct characteristic that is different from other Canadian Cities. Here are some of my observations:

• Friendly small talk is very common in Victoria, people here like to initiate conversation. When I first arrive here in Victoria, I was suspicious at first cause coming from Philippines where you have to be always cautious with strangers. I later realized that it is just a very friendly city. Unlike in big cities of Toronto and Vancouver where everyone is in a hurry and don't have the luxury of acknowledging other people.

• Majority of the people have very active lifestyle. Early morning you will see lots of people running in the trails or on the scenic areas. You will also see a group of cyclist riding together, sometimes its as big as 50 people riding together. Runners say good morning to you. And cyclist raised their index fingers to acknowledge you. Be ready to smile back and say good morning and raised your index finger when cycling.

• Only in Victoria where passengers says "Thank You" to the bus drivers when they get off. I got this habit that even if I'm travelling to other cities, I say "Thank You" to the bus drivers and other passengers look at me as if I'm from another planet.

• Deer crossing the road is pretty normal. You know someone is a visitor when they stop and took photos of a deer. Sometimes cougar sightings are also reported.

• Victoria has very mild winter. If it snows, just a normal snow for other cities, in Victoria it stops the city to function. It takes a while for the city to clear up some snow. In January, you see people wearing shorts. In March, people already started swimming in lakes with a wet suit of course.

• All year round, the weather is more likely a feel of Spring even during the summer. It does not get too hot.

• Real estate is very expensive! A modest single family house in Victoria could cost you 550K dollar. There are lots of million dollar houses here.

• There is a small Filipino community called "Bayanihan". They serve Filipino meal during Sundays.

• There are lots of retired people here. According to statistics only 54% are working, the rest are either students or retirees. A lot of people from colder cities moved to Victoria when they retire.

• Most of the jobs are in health care and tourism. There are lots of health care facilities here, so they require nurses and care givers. Victoria is also a cruise ship stop point, there are lots of services that cater to the tourist such as restaurants, travel and tours businesses and hotels.

• Majority of the technology jobs are for the government projects. Even if you don't work directly for the government, you could be working in private companies that contract jobs from the provincial government. If you are a software engineer your choice of jobs are government projects or jobs with startup companies. But the startup companies are very few.

• Getting a driving license is tough. Some people took 5 times to pass the road test. I attempted twice already and still failed. I gave up my driving at the moment.

• Victoria, BC is composed of 13 municipalities. Each municipalities has its own firemen and policemen. The Victoria municipality is just the portion near the downtown Victoria.

• There a lots of Subway Sandwich Shops here. In the area where I live, there are 3 shops that are less than 2 km from each other. I specifically mentioned this because we always get Subway sandwich when we are lazy cooking.

• The Fairways grocery shop is where many Asians do their grocery shopping. You could get Filipino products in there.

Hope this helps some future immigrants to Canada!

Cassandra Developer Certification

Cassandra Certification

Yesterday, I took my Cassandra Developer Certification at the Academy of Learning College and I'm proud to say that I made the cut! I am a Cassandra Developer Certified. The Academy of Learning College is the only Test Centre here in Victoria that can administer the Cassandra Certifications. You can register here http://www.oreilly.com/data/cassandracert.

This is the first year that Datastax Academy and O'Reilly has joined efforts in creating the Cassandra Certification. The very first certification was offered last Sept. 22 at the Cassandra 2015 Summit in Santa Clara, California. I was there, however, during the exam, I encountered some technical issues with my account. I was asked by the Proctor, if I could either wait for the technician to fix the technical issue or I can just take the certification in any test centres later. I choose the later, because the time has been ticking and they are not extending my exam time. I have to exit the room heart broken because I already set my heart and mind to be one of the first Cassandra Developer Certified.

Cassandra Summit 2015

How did I prepare for the certification?

• The company that I worked for has already migrated our large sensor data from Oracle to Cassandra. Having hands on experience helped me a lot.
• I took the Datastax Academy Self-Paced Course
• I did all the exercises in the Self-Paced Course
• I practised lots of data modelling
• The learnings that I acquired during the conference is also a great help

Benefits of being Cassandra Certified

• Cassandra is very in-demand technology and being one of the few people that are Cassandra Certified increases your market value.
• Most tech companies are all about NoSql database and big data.  If you want to be in, then get yourself certified
• Being certified is the easiest way to prove your skillset

What To Expect In Canadian Citizenship Knowledge Test And Interview

Canadian Citizenship

I submitted my application for Canadian Citizenship last February 2015. After a month, I got a confirmation by email that they have received my application, and is advised to prepare for a knowledge test. They provided a link through email for the Discover Canada, an online study guide about the roles and responsibilities of a Canadian, history and government of Canada. Not knowing when will I be scheduled for the knowledge test, I just did a quick scan of the document cause I have other priorities that needs to be done first. My first reaction is am I gonna pass the exam? Seeing a lot of posts in facebook of those who got their citizenship, it gives me hope that it is not as bad as I thought. I just forget about it for awhile, until in first week of October I got a noticed to appear for a knowledge test scheduled for Oct. 21, 2015 at the Victoria Conference Center at 8:35 AM. So, now I think I'm in s--it. I have two major exams that are coming up in October. A Cassandra Developer Certification which I was supposed to take during the Cassandra Developer Summit 2015, but for unfortunate reason there was some technical issues with my account. Since, the time has been ticking, the proctor told me that I can take the exam in other test Center. I'll make a separate blog about it, my exam is scheduled for Oct. 30, 2015.   

Exam Day

In the test notice that were send to us, we were informed to allocate about 3 hours for the waiting, the knowledge test and the interview. I arrived 30 minutes before the schedule, I used the android app that I downloaded to do some last minute practice test while waiting. 

About 5 minutes before the exam schedule we were asked to line a single file and prepare the Test Notice and the Permanent Resident Card. One by one, they check our test notice and PR card and highlight the UCI number in the test notice, and let us in the test room. You can choose where to seat, each allocated seat has a pencil and an answer sheet. Once everybody are in, the Immigration officer explain the rules. No Cheating! The exam, is like taking a university entrance exam where there is an answer sheet and the questionaire is distributed once the proctor has finished explaining the instruction. Once you finished the exam, you go in front and hand in your answer sheet, the questionnaire and the test notice to the immigration officer. And that's it! You can get out quietly in the room and wait for your interview.

The answer sheet is checked by the Immigration Officer right after you finished the exam. Because I did not file a vacation leave from work, I just inform my co-workers that I will be in late for work that day. I was on a mission to get my exam done as fast as I can, so I will get an interview first. The first guy who finished was just a second ahead of me. The woman who finished next beats me in line up cause she was a bit nearer in the front compare to me. Well, I finished 3rd. 

Well, being 3rd is not too bad. This is a very important exam to becoming a Canadian. If you are not confident with your answers, spend time and review it. You are given 30 minutes to answer 20 questions. You encircle the correct answer. You need to get a score of at least 15 to pass the exam.

Luckily, when it is about time for the interview. I am the first one to get interviewed. The Immigration officer told me that I got a score of 20. Ask a few questions, and make me sign a document that what I said is the truth. And he told me, I am approving your Citizenship, you will have an oath taking when we next come back to Victoria.

Tips

• You really need to study the Discover Canada Guide. Even if you know the current events in Canada, it is not enough. 
• Don't trust the apps that you download, I found an app that has wrong answers in it. I double check from Discover Canada Study Guide. It is indeed wrong.
• Prepare the documents that you need to bring beforehand. Review your documents before you leave home. On my case, I almost forgot one photocopy of my passport.
• As I mentioned earlier, they checked your answer sheet right after you finished the exam. Well, if you finished last then your chances of getting an interview would be at the end too. But I really don't know how they order the interview. This is just my hypothesis.
• If you can take a vacation leave from work on your exam day, that will be better. You don't need to hurry up and you can just relax after.

Good luck to becoming a Canadian!

How To Live Frugally in Victoria

Living in Victoria

Its been 7 years since I moved in Victoria. When I first arrived here, I used to go window shopping when I'm bored. But well, it's a very costly hobby, even if I initially did not plan to purchase anything. There's always temptation on the windows. That was the time when I was not thinking much about the future. I got tons of clothes that does not fit into my closet, lots of bags and shoes. Those days are way behind me. Everytime I think about it, I was like the money that I had purchased all those stuff could have earn a lot had I invested it in stocks back then. I had regrets but its not too late yet to change my habit. So, here I am living frugally but not cheaply since 4 years ago.

Living frugally does not mean that you just sulk at home. There are lots of ways to enjoy life without having to spend some money. Victoria is very beautiful city. I think this is the most beautiful city that I had been to or lived. But for some reason, I did not see its beauty before, I thought this was the most boring city ever! To those new immigrants who feel the same way. Here are some frugal hobby tips below.

Frugal living in Victoria

• In grocery shopping, Shop at Walmart. It's way cheaper than other grocery stores. A Roma tomato in walmart that only cost 99 cents/lb is double the price in other grocery stores. 
• If you shop at walmart, get a Walmart Credit Card. For every purchase you do, you get points that has an equivalent dollar amount. In our case, we always get 5 dollars every other week. Given, that it is already cheap in price, and you get an additional discount. That's a lot of savings. In a year, we save 120 dollars just in credit card points.
• Bike or Walk To Work. A monthly bus pass cost  85 dollars. If you live in Victoria or even in Langford and work in Victoria, there are lots of bike lanes and trails. That saves you 1020 dollars a year. Hmmm... that will be several units of stocks! On my case, when I'm on a marathon training, I just run to and from work. Or walk to and from work. 
• For the hobby part, if you are very sociable. You can Join a Cycling Group that meet every weekend. There are a lot to choose from, there are some that is only women's group or some are mix men and women group. Some groups are free, some you have to pay a minimal registration. After a bike, you all have coffee socializing. Instead of socializing in a pub, this is way healthier option. People in Victoria are very friendly in general.
• If you just want to be on your own. You can Go to Mt. Douglas Beach bring a book and read. I even see some people meditating in there.
• You can Go for a Hike with your dog or friends. There are lots of hiking trails here from easy, moderate and difficult trails. 
• There are also lots of recreation centers. For about 30/month you get to use the gym facilities and attend some fitness classes.

I'm just glad that I choose not to leave Victoria. This is the best city to have an active lifestyle and living frugally.

An Investment Account As Gift To Kids

I'm Back

It has been two years since I last posted my blog. The initial intention for this blog is to document my triathlon training, marathon and cycling. But having a full time job and training at the same time, I got lazy blogging and I just make use of my free time trying to catch up on sleep. In the past 2 years since I last blog I had completed 2 marathons, several half marathons, and several sprint triathlons. Anyways, this blog is no longer about my training. I have decided not to do any races yet or maybe I might participate some cycling event. This blog will now be anything that I am interested of, investing, software development and just anything.

An Investment Account As Gift To Kids

 Its already a -ber month, so it means Christmas is coming! I only learn about stock investing when I met the runkinman. I never learn financial literacy from my parents, because their money is only enough for our basic needs, food, clothing and education. It's even not enough, most of the time my mother has to borrow money from her sister which sometimes causes some conflict. I regret not knowing about investment when I was young. I vowed to impart financial literacy to my siblings, nephews and nieces. So, they will learn at a very young age.

For 5,000 pesos, which is about 150 CAD you can open an investment account for minors in COL Financial in the Philippines. For details check out this blog How To Open Col-Account For Minors. Instead of giving kids material things why not give them an investment account that they could have access to when they are old enough. At the same it is teaching them by example on how to use money wisely. Kids will outgrow material things, but having an investment account, it will grow as they aged.

  

I'm opening an investment account for my 3 month old niece. I will invest her money on Jollibee stocks. I'm pretty sure once she's a toddler and telling her that she's an investor at Jollibee she'll love it!

Sofia, our little Jollibee investor! Photo by: Lloyed Valenzuela Photography