Thursday, June 21, 2012

Summer Solstice: the push & pull of migration

Summer solstice: the day Mr Sun works his longest shift each year. Mr Sun started work with dawn at 4+ am this morning. It is now 9:45pm and he is still busy shining his last glimmer of twilight, passing report to Mr Moon who will be taking over his shift.
Note: Summer solstice officially started yesterday evening on 20-June-2012 at 5pm Vancouver time for 24 hours.
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I emigrated from Singapore due more to the push factors than the pull factors. The Singapore policies being a major contributor -- given that I often worry about my future when I become an elderly single person in an increasingly unequal society (click here and here); and its potential impact. In fact, I had wondered if and how long I could survive in Canada's cold weather. Now that I am here in Canada, I really appreciate the cycle of life and passing of time that the seasons mark.

My friend PN, on the other hand, is the reverse of me. She immigrated to Canada due more to the pull factors than the push factors. She had always wanted to try living in a country with 4 notably different seasons and plenty of nature walks. It is only after arriving here that she started looking at Singapore from an outsiders' perspective and saw the loopholes and issues with the current Singapore policies.

Different strokes for different folks. Nevertheless, now that we're here, we share the same goal of integrating into the Canadian society and re-establishing our lives here.

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