Farshad
Selected Quotes
“Newly arrived immigrants are not tourists. They are not here to visit buildings [tourist attractions]. They are here to have a life. That means that if we do not appreciate the differences and [if] there is no communication going on, we’ll have segregated communities in different parts of the city. So immigrants won’t really feel integrated into Canadian society.”
"When I arrived here I thought I would find good friends quickly, find a job and not have any difficulties communicating with other people. All of these things turned out to be false."
“I was Iranian when I was in Iran but I know that I am undergoing a transformation here. So I know that I will not be the same person that is talking to you right now in three or four years, as I will have developed other characteristics. Those characteristics will come from Quebecois and Canadian culture.”
"Often immigrants are very much in the dark and confused about how things work here. Yet, we are supposed to understand and know how things like the law and the correct codes of behaviour work, but nobody really explains these things to you, yet everybody expects you to know it."
Extracts from the interview
Leaving and Arriving
Can you tell me the reasons for leaving Iran?
We all have different reasons for leaving our homeland and it is not a small decision, so you have to give yourself very good reasons to leave. Financially speaking, my salary was about four dollars per hour, working in a language institute, and I could not survive on that salary, especially with inflation in Iran at twenty-seven percent. So I asked myself if I could continue to do this and stay with my family for my whole life. [Ultimately] I made the decision to leave and improve my financial situation. Secondly, we are living in a globalization era and we are so immersed in different images from other cultures and [as a result] I became curious and interested in seeing other places. I had itchy feet, but it was not possible for me to take a trip to other places, because it is so difficult for Iranians to get out of Iran, and I really wanted to experience life outside Iran, so I decided to leave. The third reason is that you don’t have many educational facilities in Iran. I wanted to write a dissertation, which was part of my project for my MA program, and had to get a load of books that were available on Amazon, but were not available in Iran. So I went to the bank to get a credit card and the bank said what do mean we are all under an embargo and have no connect with the outside world. You cannot have a credit card. Unfortunately, right now, Iran has a tense relationship with the Western world and doesn’t enjoy a very free relationship with them. So, Iranian credit cards are not accepted by many non-Iranian companies. Another reason for leaving is that culturally and politically we are very much a repressed people and from time to time I felt very overwhelmed by this and wanted to find a new place to develop and grow and meet new people. So these are a couple of reasons why I left Iran.
Why Canada? What was your vision of Canada before you came here?
Well, Canada is not very often in the news, which means that it is a very safe country, as the news [networks] usually only give you bad news. So Canada is safe and its people are respectable to you.
Is this what you were thinking before coming here?
Yes, this is the image many people have of Canada. Canadians are respectful, friendly and cool. These are the adjectives that come to mind when you think of Canadians. For me it was an open country. It had good relationships with many countries, had never been in a war and seemed neutral. For me it felt like a great place to grow and explore and have a new life, and it accepts immigrants from all over the world.
You’ve been here only three months. Are there observations that have surprized you about life here and the way people behave?
Yes. Well we don’t have a subway [metro] in Shiraz – the city from which I come – and here the subway is an important part of your life. When I [first] went on the metro, I think it was quite a phenomenon, because as an Iranian, people [who are in public places] bars or on the metro are supposed to be talking to each other, speaking loudly. But when I went there [on the metro train], I saw people listening to music on iPods, others checking something on laptops and another person reading something. Sometimes they speak, but often they are very, very drowned in their own world. They are there but I was amazed that there was really no communication going on. So it was very much different from what I have experienced before. Second, the things that are [seemingly] minute are sometimes very important.
Minute?
Things that are very intricate sometimes turn out to the most important things. The things that are not very noticeable are very important. One important difference is that here [in Montreal] people do not stare directly at other people. Now, in Iran, that’s okay you can look at people without [necessarily] gazing at them, you can look at people – look at them in the eye. But here, when I do that, people do not feel very comfortable with that. Sometimes people look back at me with an appearance [a face that says] “Why are you looking at me in this way? Is there something wrong with me? You’re still looking at me.” So I understood that here if you want to look at people, you have to look at them through the corner of your eye. You’re not supposed to turn your whole body round to look at someone. You have to be very discreet otherwise people will be very uncomfortable.
Click here to read Farshad's 'Words of Wisdom' for new Canadian immigrants
Selected Quotes
“Newly arrived immigrants are not tourists. They are not here to visit buildings [tourist attractions]. They are here to have a life. That means that if we do not appreciate the differences and [if] there is no communication going on, we’ll have segregated communities in different parts of the city. So immigrants won’t really feel integrated into Canadian society.”
"When I arrived here I thought I would find good friends quickly, find a job and not have any difficulties communicating with other people. All of these things turned out to be false."
“I was Iranian when I was in Iran but I know that I am undergoing a transformation here. So I know that I will not be the same person that is talking to you right now in three or four years, as I will have developed other characteristics. Those characteristics will come from Quebecois and Canadian culture.”
"Often immigrants are very much in the dark and confused about how things work here. Yet, we are supposed to understand and know how things like the law and the correct codes of behaviour work, but nobody really explains these things to you, yet everybody expects you to know it."
Extracts from the interview
Leaving and Arriving
Can you tell me the reasons for leaving Iran?
We all have different reasons for leaving our homeland and it is not a small decision, so you have to give yourself very good reasons to leave. Financially speaking, my salary was about four dollars per hour, working in a language institute, and I could not survive on that salary, especially with inflation in Iran at twenty-seven percent. So I asked myself if I could continue to do this and stay with my family for my whole life. [Ultimately] I made the decision to leave and improve my financial situation. Secondly, we are living in a globalization era and we are so immersed in different images from other cultures and [as a result] I became curious and interested in seeing other places. I had itchy feet, but it was not possible for me to take a trip to other places, because it is so difficult for Iranians to get out of Iran, and I really wanted to experience life outside Iran, so I decided to leave. The third reason is that you don’t have many educational facilities in Iran. I wanted to write a dissertation, which was part of my project for my MA program, and had to get a load of books that were available on Amazon, but were not available in Iran. So I went to the bank to get a credit card and the bank said what do mean we are all under an embargo and have no connect with the outside world. You cannot have a credit card. Unfortunately, right now, Iran has a tense relationship with the Western world and doesn’t enjoy a very free relationship with them. So, Iranian credit cards are not accepted by many non-Iranian companies. Another reason for leaving is that culturally and politically we are very much a repressed people and from time to time I felt very overwhelmed by this and wanted to find a new place to develop and grow and meet new people. So these are a couple of reasons why I left Iran.
Why Canada? What was your vision of Canada before you came here?
Well, Canada is not very often in the news, which means that it is a very safe country, as the news [networks] usually only give you bad news. So Canada is safe and its people are respectable to you.
Is this what you were thinking before coming here?
Yes, this is the image many people have of Canada. Canadians are respectful, friendly and cool. These are the adjectives that come to mind when you think of Canadians. For me it was an open country. It had good relationships with many countries, had never been in a war and seemed neutral. For me it felt like a great place to grow and explore and have a new life, and it accepts immigrants from all over the world.
You’ve been here only three months. Are there observations that have surprized you about life here and the way people behave?
Yes. Well we don’t have a subway [metro] in Shiraz – the city from which I come – and here the subway is an important part of your life. When I [first] went on the metro, I think it was quite a phenomenon, because as an Iranian, people [who are in public places] bars or on the metro are supposed to be talking to each other, speaking loudly. But when I went there [on the metro train], I saw people listening to music on iPods, others checking something on laptops and another person reading something. Sometimes they speak, but often they are very, very drowned in their own world. They are there but I was amazed that there was really no communication going on. So it was very much different from what I have experienced before. Second, the things that are [seemingly] minute are sometimes very important.
Minute?
Things that are very intricate sometimes turn out to the most important things. The things that are not very noticeable are very important. One important difference is that here [in Montreal] people do not stare directly at other people. Now, in Iran, that’s okay you can look at people without [necessarily] gazing at them, you can look at people – look at them in the eye. But here, when I do that, people do not feel very comfortable with that. Sometimes people look back at me with an appearance [a face that says] “Why are you looking at me in this way? Is there something wrong with me? You’re still looking at me.” So I understood that here if you want to look at people, you have to look at them through the corner of your eye. You’re not supposed to turn your whole body round to look at someone. You have to be very discreet otherwise people will be very uncomfortable.
Click here to read Farshad's 'Words of Wisdom' for new Canadian immigrants