Javier: 0:00

When, in a third country like Mexico, you hear about Canada, you usually envision that things are going to be better, both of us together sharing a room because, as you know, canada is expensive.

Javier: 0:12

So the only thing we could afford was sharing a bedroom in basement. I was kind of like terrified because it was a really old house from the 70s. It has mold in it. I can see that it has some water damage. It was really bad. We would get into a system that is more welcoming for international students and immigrants, but I have found that it's not the case. Everything is harder for international students. Even opening your bank account back then was super hard. You want to rent an apartment? Good luck, because you need Canadian references. The actual system is not aligned to welcome people.

Javier: 0:56

It's quite the opposite.

Gurasis: 1:01

So navigating life as an international student is a thrilling roller coaster filled with twists, turns and unexpected loops. In this intricate journey, having a reliable guide is not just valuable, it's indispensable. And today we are in for a treat as we sit down with the visionary founder behind a crucial resource for international students. His narrative takes us from the vibrant landscapes of Mexico to the dynamic streets of Canada. Our conversation delves into the intricacies of Immigration 101, touching upon the highs and lows, the job search saga and the delicate process of unlearning and relearning.

Gurasis: 1:39

I love talking about this, but that's not all. He's not just an explorer of the Canadian dream. He's also the driving force behind Thrive magazine, a digital sanctuary tailored for international students, crafted by former global academics. For the current wave of learners, thrive is more than a magazine. It's a compass, guiding students to the twists and turns of their academic adventure of their academic adventure. So join us for a profound discussion that peels back the layers of identity, confronting the challenges of accents and addressing the weighty question of imposter syndrome. Please welcome Javier Lavelle.

Javier: 2:17

Thank you, my friend. Thank you, you know, from now on, whenever somebody asks me what I do and who I am, I'm going to play that intro, because that was amazing. That was amazing. I couldn't have done it any better, my friend. Thank you so much.

Gurasis: 2:30

Well, I'm really really glad to hear that. Thank you for being here and welcome to the podcast.

Javier: 2:36

Thank you. Thank you, super excited, my friend. Thank you so much.

Gurasis: 2:39

Okay, perfect. So, javier, this episode is actually part of my second season, where I'm trying to turn up the fun factor a little bit, so I will start with some fun questions. So are you ready?

Javier: 2:49

Yeah, let's go.

Gurasis: 2:51

Perfect. So first is what's your go-to breakfast?

Javier: 2:55

My go-to breakfast. Huh, that's a good question. I'm a sweet tooth, so probably would be french toast, um, okay as you know, when you get older, uh, your body doesn't process things um, as you did before, so now I shouldn't eat that so I need to find another go-to breakfast, sadly enough okay, so you are still on the french toast.

Gurasis: 3:20

You're saying not anymore, not anymore.

Javier: 3:22

That was usually my go-to breakfast, but not anymore.

Gurasis: 3:26

Yes, okay, so. So what is it then now, if you can share?

Javier: 3:31

I'm finding, I'm trying to find it.

Gurasis: 3:32

That's the thing yeah, okay, okay, now I am lost. Now I am lost, yes okay, I usually eat the oats like I think I'm eating the overnight oats from past many years, so that's like my go-to.

Javier: 3:49

Yeah, that too, Oats with a little bit of fruit yogurt.

Gurasis: 3:53

Yeah, exactly, okay. So second is share, like a favorite song or a dialogue or a movie, and tell us why it's significant to you.

Javier: 4:05

That's a good question. Um, I think one of my favorite movies would be the martian with mike damon, the one in he in which he is stuck in mars.

Javier: 4:15

I don't know if you have seen that one okay and I really like it because it's um, it's science fiction and the whole movie. It has two things that I'm interested in, which is science, but also it's quite fun. Even though it's a serious topic and it's a scientific topic, it's a really, really fun movie. So I really like it. And the reason I like it so much is because in this movie, this person, matt Damon, he gets abandoned on Mars. So when you're alone, completely alone, in a strange planet, you need to survive on your own. So there's many aspects of that that I identify with being an immigrant, right.

Gurasis: 4:59

Absolutely. Yeah, it's kind of like when you said that he's abandoned in a new world. It kind of reminded me of the immigrant experience.

Javier: 5:05

That's how it is right.

Gurasis: 5:06

Yes, Okay, great. So next is if you could teach us something in your native language, that would be great.

Javier: 5:16

Teach us. Do you want me to speak in Spanish?

Gurasis: 5:20

Yeah, something like a phrase or a word or like a greeting, anything you can teach us.

Javier: 5:26

Oh, okay, okay. I would say vamos por unas cervezas, which is let's go for some beers. What is it? Vamos por unas cervezas, let's go for some beers.

Gurasis: 5:39

Oh, let's go for some beers. Okay, I'm not going to try to say that I'll completely butcher it, but I'll definitely add that in the show notes. Gonna try to say that I'll completely butcher it, but I'll definitely add that in the show notes for listeners to see that you know any work in spanish me yeah I do know like hola como estas estovia?

Gurasis: 5:55

you know I look like the initial greeting. I know that, but I don't know in detail. Yeah, I actually had a classmate she taught she was from chile and I think she taught me this word. I don't know how to pronounce it, I'll just try again.

Javier: 6:07

It was called chivre, which means like amazing like that is that, so we don't say it that much, but we have that in Mexico too she had a sticker on her laptop and that's why I asked her why that sticker?

Gurasis: 6:23

so that's how I got that, yeah got it.

Javier: 6:26

Got it, yes, check it yeah, okay.

Gurasis: 6:30

So lastly, if you could teleport back to a particular place from your home country or anywhere, where would it be and what would you do?

Javier: 6:38

um, I think that's an easy question. I would go back to my home's part, my parents home. Um, it's a really nice house. I I have a lot of uh, nostalgic feeling when I think about the house of my parents. So I will go back to the house back then, not even now, because now my father has removed some parts of the house so it feels different, especially because these changes came when I was already here in canada. So I go back to my childhood house. Does that make sense?

Gurasis: 7:07

Okay, yeah, it did, definitely. Yeah, you know, I think it's also like when I sometimes visit back, what I, I, I, I, I honestly think about this one. Could I know where exactly I heard it? Which is why, like everything looks the same, seems the same, but the only thing that's changed is you like you're also like sort of like changed now right when you come, go to like a new place.

Gurasis: 7:28

So, yeah, okay right, right, yes so, speaking of that, let me take you back to the time you spent in mexico. Tell us a little bit about your formative years there, and how was it like just growing up there?

Javier: 7:39

sure, um, growing up in mexico, so. So I'm from mexico city which, as you probably know, is a really, really big city 22 million people, something like that, so it's 10 times bigger than Vancouver. And Mexico City on its own is like its own entity. It has a personality. You know, every city has a personality. Mexico City has one. For me, mexico City has two Mexicos in it. There's a Mexico in which people are struggling a lot and therefore is quite chaotic and violent and there's crime happening. And there's the other Mexico, in which people are having the best time and also all the people there is really warm, they're willing to help. It's all about helping others. And also people is kind of all the people there is really warm, they're willing to help, right, it's all about helping others. So if you think about it, those two Mexicos are quite different.

Gurasis: 8:34

They're actually opposites, right.

Javier: 8:35

So it's hard growing in Mexico City because many times you feel like I really like this Mexico but I don't like the other one, the one that is really hard and therefore the sensation that that experience growing up there gave me was like I'm not sure if I like it here or not, because I'm in love with the Mexico that is really warm with you, but I'm totally, totally opposed to the other kind of Mexico. So it's a weird sensation.

Gurasis: 9:04

How about navigating these two worlds, then? Where were you before, or how do you like? Do like, just jump from one to the other, or how was it like?

Javier: 9:11

yeah, so that's the thing um. I grew up in a family that uh, fortunately for us, we didn't miss uh anything economic speaking um okay and therefore you are in the Mexico. That is quite nice, right, but when you go down into the real world, for example, when you go to school I went to school with people that had almost nothing and therefore you need to interact with the reality, and their reality affects us right.

Javier: 9:37

So again, it was a weird feeling, trying to identify like, oh wow, so these things that people are going going through, which are quite real, which are not known to me, right um, they are a real thing and I didn't know, I grew up in a bubble, right um yeah so seeing that first hand only, especially when I get to to, uh, middle school and high school, because, um, that's the moment in which I went out of my bubble, so that was kind of hard and that feeling gave to me the sensation that I have right now with Canada, which is, I'm not from here, but I'm not from there either, which probably you have when I go back to.

Javier: 10:16

Mexico. Now I have this feeling that I don't belong anymore to Mexico because I've been so long in Canada now that it's kind of like I don't belong there. But I also in canada. I don't think I belong. Right, I'm still the immigrant or the outsider. So that same sensation is the one that I had in mexico all the time.

Gurasis: 10:33

Yeah, okay, you know, I definitely, it's true. I think when I also go back, I'm not, uh, indian enough anymore and I'm when I and I'm here, I'm not canadian enough for the local people. So you're like kind of in the limbo. I think we have covered this multiple times on the podcast. You definitely feel like, okay, where do I actually belong? So kind of like lost and still finding your path, so to say. Um, but tell me a little bit about your family dynamics, like how was it like within the house you know, amongst the parents, about maybe the siblings? You can tell a little bit about that yeah, for sure, for sure.

Javier: 11:06

So. So for my family, it's something that really, um, marked us as a family. It's music. So my family from my father's side, uh, all of my, all of the guys from my father's side, my uncles, cousins, my, my father they are all musicians, right, they all play the guitar or they play the bass or they are singers. I am the first drummer in the family, so of course, we played together and the music we liked the most was rock music and all the different genders that come through rock music. So, therefore, um, my family was really active and close together because of music, right, which was really nice, um sure, and then that brought us closer, but at the same time, it was really hard to talk about anything else, right, it's like okay.

Javier: 12:04

Like those movies in which the father was, you know, like the american footballer and therefore he wants the son to be an american footballer, but if he's not, and they don't know how to talk, it was kind of like that yeah right. Um, okay, but other than that, it was a great family. They were, well, really welcoming, with me bringing friends to the house all the time. It was really fun growing up there. It was a really fun family.

Gurasis: 12:25

Um, I'm really happy with the life I have there, for sure okay, you know I think this, you told me this and now I think it explains where I read on your profile you were like the freelance musician and it was like a for a fundraiser, I believe I think you still do that. I read that on your linkedin.

Javier: 12:40

Oh, yeah, I don't do it anymore, but um, back in mexico, we, uh, I had multiple bands, different bands, but, um, it was not weird for us that different organizations, ngos and so on would reach out to us and say, hey, we are doing an event, would you be willing to play for free? Uh, and we did it. We did it. Um, big organizations we played for. We played for make Make-A-Wish Make-A-Wish Foundation, mexico, of course, and we played also for a Greenpeace event. So different organizations like that, and many, many local organizations as well, just for fun and just to help.

Gurasis: 13:19

Of course, yeah, and do you still play anything, any other instruments?

Javier: 13:24

So I brought here to Canada a cajon. So cajon is a wooden box, literally a wooden box, quite weak, that you sit on it and you play on it.

Gurasis: 13:37

Okay.

Javier: 13:38

Right, it originally comes from Spain. It was usually used to play flamenco, and then I brought it to try to bring some of the music with me. So here I have some friends that also play, and every now and then we play, but not that, not not as often, uh, as I would wish, right, and we haven't played for any organizations anymore. I wish it would be cool to do it, but I just don't find the time.

Gurasis: 14:05

Okay, so tell us what also led you to start your own even management company. How did that happen?

Javier: 14:11

Sure, it's funny because my brother has always had the dream to have his own brand of guitars. He wants to make guitars from scratch and at that time we said, okay, how can we get from not having a business to actually having a business? Because doing guitars takes a lot of money. You need a lot of equipment and you need to buy a lot of things and whatnot.

Javier: 14:34

So I said to him well, we can use the equipment we use for the band, because we have the microphones, we have the sound system, we have some lightning and do events right, because we already have the equipment, why not? And that's how the event management company came to be, because we wanted to gather enough funds to actually fund for my brother's idea of making guitars. So that's how we started and it was quite a good business. I had it for a while and we specialized in organizing theme events. So if somebody wanted to do an alice in wonderland party or something, we tried to do that okay, yeah, it was really nice.

Gurasis: 15:09

Okay, okay. Yeah, it sounds like a fun. I believe it was called make some noise productions. The name is actually pretty catchy, yeah it is, it is.

Javier: 15:17

Thank you, thank you. Uh, yeah, it was really fun, really fun actually. When I came here to vancouver I said, oh, maybe I can do some events, but man, it's so difficult to do things in canada. You need to have so many certifications and so many steps and so many rules, which I mean they make the country where it is, which is a safe country, and things work well yeah, but in mexico. You don't need those things to actually do events. You can do, go whatever, do whatever, right in that sense yeah yeah, yeah yeah, it sounds like a fun thing for sure.

Gurasis: 15:47

Uh, tell me also something about mexico. You did explain. You know the two kinds of mexico that people might not know about. Anything else that people might not know about that you would like to share?

Javier: 15:58

anything else about mexico? Um, yeah, I think, I think it's. It was quite shocking to me that Mexico, at least Mexico City. For me, mexico City feels like a first world country on its own.

Javier: 16:13

It's quite technological, especially Ciudad de Mexico, not Mexico State, but Ciudad de Mexico. Public transportation is quite good. The banking system is really really good. How you do your taxes and declare your taxes, it's all digital, quite safe, right. All of these things I thought a country like Canada would have, but I was impressed when they didn't. So I came from a third world country thinking that there was going to be so many things better here and they aren't. For example, just two days ago I was talking about how here the public lightning um, lighting in the streets is not that good. At least in vancouver right, it's quite dim, there's not too many lights. And I thought to myself well, maybe that is because canada is such a safe country that you don't need that many lights at night. I I don't know, but in Mexico it's not like that.

Javier: 17:06

It has quite proper lightning at night and I was like, why is that? So those are the small details that I thought wow, Mexico is more advanced in so many things that I didn't thought. At least Mexico City Compared to Canada, which is for me a first world country, so that was shocking.

Gurasis: 17:26

Okay, very, very, very interesting. Okay, you know, I also like to pivot towards your career choice. Amongst all this music and, uh, art that you, your family kind of like, belonged into and you chose to do psychology. You did your bachelor's in psychology. I'm sure there must be a story behind it, that what led you to get into that?

Javier: 17:45

yeah sure, so so, um, I actually wanted to be to do a bachelor in drumming. I wanted to be drumming, yeah, I wanted to be a professional drummer, and when I told that my father. He was like uh, no, you need to have a real career.

Javier: 18:02

So I went to him, I and said well, I think if it's not drumming, I would like to go into psychology. And then he said the same phrase. No, you need to have a real career. I was like, hey, listen, it's going to be either drumming or psychology. And I chose psychology. Why did I choose psychology At the time? I chose psychology because I have always found interesting human behavior and I have always had this passion for helping people. So I thought psychology made sense. But there was a point mid of my career, of my bachelor, that I realized that I was doing that more out of curiosity than anything else, and I was just in the middle of the of the bachelor that I realized I don't think I want to do this for a living.

Javier: 18:42

I was just trying the middle of the of the bachelor that I realized I don't think I want to do this for a living. I was just trying to satisfy my curiosity of how we work. But that's about it. But the choice was made right, so I needed to finish my career.

Gurasis: 18:54

Yeah somehow okay. Did that in any way help you discover something about yourself? I mean three years of psychology. You tap into various parts of yourself. Also, I believe you might have not before something that you discovered yeah, of course, of course.

Javier: 19:08

Uh, it was. It was four years of psychology and something that I discovered is that by the end of the bachelor, the last two semesters, you need to do your practicum. So you, you need to deal with real patients. And what I discover is that I'm really empathetic, so much that when I was hearing one of my patients talk, I was like, oh man, I cannot do this, because it was this woman that was telling me how her husband beat her, her father, okay to her and now her uncle was trying to steal some of his children from her.

Javier: 19:42

It was a crazy story man. It was a crazy, crazy story. And she gave to me, a 21 year old kid, for help. I was like I cannot do 21 year old.

Javier: 19:52

Yeah, oh my god yeah, like that was not okay, right. So, yeah, I discovered that I'm much more empathetic than I thought, uh, and at the same time I said to myself I don't think I can do this for a living because the emotional charge of this negative thing is so much. Not everybody can handle that. Right, and my respect to people it was not for me.

Gurasis: 20:12

So I thought to myself I think I can help people elsewhere, yeah, is that the advice you would give to somebody who is, who might think of going into psychology?

Javier: 20:24

I I would say I would say two things. First of all, make sure that you're going for the right reasons because, to be honest, most people who are going to most of the choices we make, my friend, they are projections of what we have in our mind, right? So most people that go into psychology, they usually go because they are trying to solve an issue, internal issue they have through studying psychology, right?

Javier: 20:48

So, first of all, I would say make sure that you're going for the right reasons, which is passion to help somebody else and passion for psychology as an art right.

Gurasis: 20:58

Absolutely.

Javier: 20:59

So make sure you're going for that and not for you to try to solve an internal issue, because if that's the case, you're not going to have a good time trying to help somebody else. Right, yeah, yes absolutely no.

Gurasis: 21:11

that's definitely a great advice. Thank you for sharing that. So now we'll talk about you deciding to move to Canada, packing your life in two suitcases and coming to a different country your life in two suitcases and coming to a different country. But before that, tell us a little bit about, like, what you were doing just before you moved and then what influenced the decision to move to canada sure, sure so.

Javier: 21:32

So right after finishing my psychology bachelor, I was trying to get into human resources in mexico, which usually human resources is a profession that only psychologists practice in Mexico, Okay, but in Mexico at least. Back in that time you needed to be a woman to work in human resources. So I went to a lot of interviews in which they say no because I'm a man. And after so many rejections and six months of looking for a job and not getting any, I was like, okay, I need to do something else. So the only opportunity that came to me was the opportunity to work in an agency that was selling programs to study abroad Canada, US, UK, Australia, any English-speaking country and I got the job and I happened to be really good at it. So I was a good salesperson. And I was a good salesperson not because I'm a really good salesperson, but because I'm really honest. So when I was telling people how going to study in Canada was, I was not trying to say what I thought they wanted to hear. I was just being honest.

Javier: 22:38

I was being hey listen getting a job is really hard. Hey, listen, if you go to a homestay, this is going to be the situation. It might not be nice and because of that I didn't sell the most programs. I was not the one that was making the most money, but I was the one with less rejections. Right, not less rejections, less cancellations okay my problems were once they were sold. They were sold, no cancellations um and no complaints.

Javier: 23:07

So so that's what I was the best salesperson, um, and as a reward of being the best salesperson, that that one year that I worked there, they sent me to vancouver to get to know some of the schools that we were representing. And that's how the opportunity of coming here came, because one of those schools said hey, man, listen, we listen, we really like you, we are going to give you a scholarship if you want to come.

Gurasis: 23:29

Okay.

Javier: 23:30

Yes.

Gurasis: 23:31

So you're saying, during the time that you were working, that agency sent you to Vancouver, that's correct.

Javier: 23:37

That's correct. Yes, they sent me to Vancouver with a group of students really young students like 10 years old to 17. With a group of students really young, students like 10 years old to 17. So they needed somebody older to get them through the airport and whatnot, for them to come to their summer camps right, okay.

Javier: 23:53

I came as a chaperone for one month and during that month they told me hey, man, listen, the kids are going to be there having fun, but we want you to get to know some of our partner schools. And I got to know some of the partner schools and one of them offered me the scholarship. And then, when I went back to Mexico, I talked to my father. And then, when I was young, when my brother and I were young I was just 10 years old my mother went through. How do you say this in English? Brainstroke, Stroke, Brainstroke. Okay, yeah.

Javier: 24:27

So from that moment on on, my mother has been handicapped right and since we were children, my father told my brother and me listen, when you get older, you need to get um, get responsible for your mother, right, you need to be there for her. And therefore you, you cannot go anywhere out of mexico, out of me at all. So for us, it was always you need to be here for your mother. After this opportunity came to be and I said to my father hey, listen, this happened to me. A school is offering me a scholarship. He said you know what? I think I can manage to do my work here and I think I can take care of your mothers from here to when we die. So you are free to go. And that, for me, was the decision maker, because all my life I grew up thinking I cannot go anywhere because I need to take care of my mother. And suddenly my father said you know, I think, I think you can actually do it.

Gurasis: 25:16

So I said like, okay, let's do it right, yeah okay, um, I I'm kind of like I'm not sure how to react to that, because it's kind of like a very sensitive issue, like you literally like deciding to just go away like that from your family. What were your initial thoughts and emotions when you just thought of doing that?

Javier: 25:42

So it was concern, of course, because my first reaction was like are you sure I could go? Right, I think you guys need me, I want to be close to my family, and so on. But then my father told me that this is an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime. And then, if things don't go well, if things go south, you can always come back to Mexico and we'll be here, but you cannot always go Absolutely. Right, so that was the decision maker.

Gurasis: 26:08

Okay, okay. So how was the process for you? How long did it take you to really come here?

Javier: 26:13

Not so long, because I knew the process already. I was working in the industry, so I was familiar with the business application and so on. So for me it was quite fast. It was just three months.

Gurasis: 26:24

Okay. In three months you were able to land yeah, so it was quite fast.

Javier: 26:27

Uh, no, four months, four months or so, yeah, um okay but again, that was only because I knew the process already. I had the scholarship for the one school that I wanted to go to, so I skipped all the research phase. I skipped all the how to play for the visa and so on and so forth okay, okay, so I believe you came to canada in 2018, right? That's correct.

Gurasis: 26:52

Yes, january 2018 tell us january 2018. Okay, tell us about your first day and what was just going on in your mind when you landed first day.

Javier: 27:01

You know, I was just so tired because I didn't sleep through the flight and it was an overnight flight, so it was from 12 am in the morning from Mexico to 5 am in the morning Vancouver, and I didn't sleep. So I was just tired, I didn't care, I was in another country, I didn't care about visas or whatever. I was like man, I just want to sleep. But we arrived here to Vancouver. I came here with my best friend. He came with me to Canada and we happened to book an accommodation, both of us together sharing a room, because, as you know, canada is expensive.

Gurasis: 27:37

So the only thing we could afford was sharing a bedroom in a basement.

Javier: 27:43

So when we arrived to the place that we booked I was kind of like terrified, because it was a really old house from the 70s. It has mold in it. It smells really, really bad. I can see that it has some water damage. It was really bad and, of course, as I mentioned to you, when in a third country like Mexico you hear about Canada, you usually envision that things are going to be better, right.

Gurasis: 28:11

Rosy yeah.

Javier: 28:12

Yes, of course, of course. So, that was not the kind of house I was expected to land in a first world country. So for me that was a shock, right, but I accepted it. I said you know, I think everybody needs to start somewhere when you come to Canada, because it's just like hitting the restart button on your life. And I accepted quite quickly.

Gurasis: 28:37

So you know, I read one of your recent posts about the Canadian dream being broken and international students don't deserve to be treated as chronic ATMs. You know, did read about that and you were referring to another article. Of course, I want to know from you that what was your perception of Canadian dream when you came? As things have changed now it's 2024, it's going to be like six years almost. It's actually six years. We are recording in January 2024. Tell me, what was your perceptional Canadian dream when you decided to come here?

Javier: 29:08

Right, sure. So for me one of the biggest shocks is that I was working in the industry already international education from Mexico, selling courses for Mexicans to study abroad. So I was trained to say things that were not entirely true, or at least I was trained to hide the truth. But how would I know? Right, I was in Mexico. I had never left Mexico before I didn't know, Canada.

Javier: 29:34

So when I arrived here as an international student and I realized that there was many things that they were not working properly or as I was selling, that for me was a shock, right Like oh wow, there's many things that I was not properly saying. Just for me to close the sale right.

Javier: 29:52

And that was not right. That, for me, was not right. So what I thought the Canadian dream would be is that I thought we would get into a system that is more welcoming for international students and immigrants, but I have found that is not the case. Everything is harder for international students immigrants but I have found that is not the case. Everything is harder for international students, like if even opening your bank account back then was super hard right I think nowadays there are more banks that are open to that.

Javier: 30:15

But everything is hard, man, you want to rent an apartment, good luck, because you need canadian references, right, and you need to have a job to rent an, rent an apartment, but if you're just arriving the credit's caught as well, it doesn't make sense.

Javier: 30:27

So the actual system is not aligned to welcome people. It's quite the opposite, right? So that's what I mean when I say I think the Canadian dream is broken, because what Canada is pitching and is trying to say to other countries hey, we welcome immigrants is not also true. Now I'm going to give Canada its credit. From all the countries that usually receive immigrants, I think Canada is the easiest for you to immigrate.

Gurasis: 30:52

Right.

Javier: 30:53

But that doesn't mean that it's actually easy to immigrate.

Gurasis: 30:58

Yeah.

Javier: 30:59

And, at the end of the day, what they're pitching to the world hey come, we welcome international students is not quite true, right? So that's what I mean when I say that the canada dream is broken yeah, no, it definitely makes sense.

Gurasis: 31:12

Uh, was there anything other thing particular that you were selling and you were like completely shocked by it? That, oh my god, that what was I saying? This doesn't make any sense yes, yes.

Javier: 31:21

So, uh, the whole accommodation situation and that for me was so um, when you came to canada, what type of accommodation did you get? Did you get your own accommodation or homestay, or well?

Gurasis: 31:34

well, my, I have shared that story come back a lot of times. I'll share with you. I believe I could not find a house. I think I was prepared for everything else. I knew I can do my chores, my own, my laundry, cooking, everything. I wasn't prepared that it will take me forever, javier, to find a house, because every second week I was just moving literally with my three big luggage bags, you know, because I could not find a house properly. I was just changing places, had I had just like one pant, one shirt which I was still waiting in the to my school, like every other day.

Javier: 32:04

You know, it was like that for the first at least, for I remember like I think I got my house in my fifth week in canada so, yeah, it was pretty hard for me, yeah, so yeah, yeah, for me, accommodation was one of the biggest shocks, in the sense that, uh, I was trained to say that if you go to a homestay, which is that a canadian family would would host you, you will be welcomed by a family that was going to introduce you into Canadian culture, whatever the Canadian culture is. But it's usually not true, at least in Vancouver. Most of those families are Filipino families and most of them actually don't speak proper English and they don't care.

Javier: 32:42

Oh yes, so it's like we don't even speak to you. A student, here's your food, and then I want you to come at home at this time. Um, so that idea of us promoting, hey, you're going to be welcomed by a canadian family, they're going to show you the culture. Some of my co-workers co-workers on the day even promote the idea of saying, hey, the families are so welcoming that sometimes they're going to even take you to the zoo and they're going to take you to know the town.

Javier: 33:08

And it's not true right no, um, shared accommodation, right like you're going into a student house. Uh, was also experience that I was seeing. It's really nice, you know you're going to have a great time, but man, I went to a shared accommodation and it was really, really, really not a good time. I had bedbugs in my mattress and the company tried to charge us for the bedbugs, saying, hey, man, the bedbugs probably got into the house because you had them, but it was not true.

Javier: 33:37

There was a lot of things in the house, as I mentioned before, that they were not working properly, they were broken. It was not a nice house. So all of those things are things that I I think students should know before coming here, right?

Gurasis: 33:50

yeah, definitely. I think what you mentioned about the, the filipino families welcoming, I feel like it's less of an integration and it's more of like just a shelter, like this is the place. Okay, live it. You know they're not really like showing you around or not helping you integrate into the culture well for them.

Javier: 34:06

For them, it's just financial aid, right it's. It's like absolutely many of them came here as refugees as well, um, and maybe because of that they don't have the english language to do something else, uh, but they were able to afford a house and therefore they want to make the most of their house.

Javier: 34:24

So it's hey, why don't we rent a room? But that's it for them. International students are usually just um, uh, they represent financial aid for them. It's not that they actually want to host the students. I mean, their family is like that, of course, but the majority account is not like that.

Gurasis: 34:42

Yeah okay, yeah, all right. I also want to talk a little bit about the courses that you chose. They were a little different from what you were doing pursuing in mexico. You end up doing digital marketing and ui ux the web and app designing. So why did you get into that? And was it like difficult to go back to school again? I don't know how long you were off the teaching, uh, the learning, but how was it like for you?

Javier: 35:05

yeah. So I I don't think it's that different from psychology. I think if I could go to the past and study something else, I would study marketing. And then marketing and psychology are, of course, quite related, right. And UI, ux also when you get to know what they actually do is quite related to psychology as well. So it's just human behavior polarized and translated into design. So again, it's psychology. I went into marketing because the school that offered me to come here to canada uh and they offered me a quite good scholarship uh was just teaching three things web development, ui, ux and marketing, digital marketing. So from those two programs I was like, well, marketing sounds interesting to me. That's why I decided to study that. But it's quite related to psychology, right. How it was for me to study. It was quite nice. That school in particular had a system that I really liked because they were only focused on tech programs, system that I really liked because they were only focused on tech programs.

Javier: 36:12

Their whole structure was similar to how a real agency works, in the sense that they will be real clients with real problems from the world Professionals? Yes, and they would ask for the school to do solutions and then the students would try to implement, and there was a lot of cross-collaboration between the different programs. So it was really nice.

Gurasis: 36:27

It was quite interesting Really yeah, yeah, even in my program I had like a stage they call it in french which is basically like an internship sort of a thing, but it was a real project for me. We have here the cases called nanook cases I don't know if you know about that brand. They make like heavy gear cases and we were like asked to do like for one of the new products. We were like asked to make like a full marketing campaign. So that was like a really big learning process, which is something also I loved about my program as well, yeah.

Javier: 36:56

Yeah, so that that that hands-on experience aspect I really liked.

Gurasis: 37:02

Yeah, absolutely yeah. And were you studying while? Were you not studying? I meant to say that were you working anywhere else when you were studying? Were you working anywhere?

Javier: 37:11

uh, yes, yes, yes, I I as many mexicans do. It's like che, mexican, I started working construction for the first couple of months that I didn't find the proper job, so, um okay, working in construction in the winter was one of the hardest things I have done. Man, it's really, really hard. I'm sure yeah, and then I worked in a restaurant, a poke restaurant okay, and you did that like throughout your studies yes, I did a co-op program, so it was part-time studying, part-time well, full-time studying, part-time working.

Javier: 37:46

so I did a co-op program, so it was part-time studying, part-time well full-time studying, part-time working. So I did that, yeah, and then back in that in that moment in 2018, if you were working part-time in any place, you were able to afford rent and whatever right you were able to. Now you can.

Gurasis: 38:02

I see what you are saying. Now you can able to do, Now you can.

Javier: 38:05

I see what you are saying Now you can. Of course, that's one of the other things that I would encourage international students to consider is it's really hard to make a living right now only working part-time?

Gurasis: 38:14

yeah, do you remember your very first rent that you were paying?

Javier: 38:17

yeah, it was really cheap because I was paying, uh, we were paying 450 dollars each, uh, for a shared room. It was a big room, um, but it was just 450 dollars yes, what a coincidence.

Gurasis: 38:30

I was paying 450 as well for my room. Yeah, it was, but, but in montreal it was a little cheaper. It's a little cheaper compared to the rest of canada accommodation, but I was paying like 450 for my like personal. It was a little cheaper. It's a little cheaper compared to the rest of Canada, but I was paying like $4.50 for my personal room. It was a good room, very sweet, good room. I think I stayed in that house for like two years. I believe I never left that house.

Javier: 38:48

I love that For a personal room. That's good. That's good Private.

Gurasis: 38:52

Yeah, that's a good price. Now I don't think you can find something like that man?

Javier: 39:01

no, not at all. Yeah, things have changed, for sure.

Gurasis: 39:02

Yeah, just six years right, which is crazy tell us like something within your immigrant journey before thrive, before you got into thrive, that uh, where you were literally like in your lowest, and how did you pull yourself out of that?

Javier: 39:18

you know, imposter syndrome, pit so to say I think one of my lowest points was um, after finishing my studies and after outcoming the just working part-time, I was working already in in my industry, which is marketing and international education. Um, covid happened right and I got laid off because I was working for an international student accommodation provider and they closed the border, so there was no more students coming in right.

Javier: 39:49

So because there was no students, they laid me off and I was unemployed for around six to seven months and I have never felt the lowest in my life because, even though I mean there has there has never been a situation like this, like a pandemic, um, that was this scale so big and so many people affected, like it was not my fault or anybody else's fault that I was laid off yeah, regardless imposter syndrome told me man, you are not making it because of you, right?

Javier: 40:22

You don't have the skills, you are not good enough. And then it was really hard for me because at that time I was working in a closed work permit, which meant that I was only allowed to work for my employer, and my employer has declared bankruptcy.

Gurasis: 40:37

So what do I? Do oh my.

Javier: 40:40

God. So back in those days I was living only on my savings and also the employment insurance, which, thank God, there's an employment insurance here in Canada, right. But man, I felt really, really bad because I was doing nothing most of the days. Right, I was trying to apply to jobs, but there was not that many jobs. First of all, and second of all the ones that there there were, they were not interested in me because I had a close world permit, right.

Javier: 41:08

So they would need to sponsor me again, and for them that is a headache. That's another thing. Most employers here are not willing to sponsor immigrants yeah yeah, and I'm sorry to tell that so harshly, because I know there's many people saying, hey, I want to go to canada and get a sponsor, but so many of them are not even familiar with how to sponsor people and sometimes it's not even that complicated yet they don't want to deal with that right, so that I think that was my lowest, my friend.

Gurasis: 41:35

Yeah so how did you pull yourself out of it then? What was like the driving force for you?

Javier: 41:41

Drugs no, I'm joking. My family for sure. My family for sure, my friends. Because back in that time I was living with my friends in a really big house but we were living with seven people there, all of them my friends. So, being with them after they finished working because, thankfully for them, their industry didn't stop because of the pandemic, they just migrated to work remotely after they finished working, I would go downstairs, play some games with them, chat, you know, uh, they were kind enough to. Sometimes they bought me, they pay for my meal or whatever. So I I feel I felt loved. So the fact that my friends were there for me, that was uh, quite, quite nice.

Javier: 42:25

And then um when canada opened its borders again, opportunity to start coming my way, so I felt better about myself too, right, so so okay yeah, I think that that was it yeah okay.

Gurasis: 42:39

So short answer is your friend's love was your drug that put you out yes, tell me more in terms of anything related to your accent. You know, maybe something that act, do you think at any point your accent actors as a hindrance, or any anecdotes related to the accent?

Javier: 42:55

um, you know, I thought about it like even when you, when I saw the name of your podcast, I thought like, hmm, has my accent ever played a role in in something in my life in canada? Um, that was yeah, it was, uh, impactful. I don't think my accent has been an issue. I think sometimes cultural difference have been an issue. So I thought of this one time that I was working in my in the poker restaurant. Do you know what?

Javier: 43:22

absolutely, it's the poke bowl, the yeah, so it's kind of like sushi, but in a bowl, right absolutely somebody's sharing this and they don't know. It's just sushi in a bowl. Um, I was working on the poker restaurant and then this one guy it was one of my first weeks. One guy comes in, he orders a tuna poke or whatever, and we go to them and when he paid me, he paid me in cash and he said can you give me one extra tuni please?

Gurasis: 43:49

And I didn't know that in Canada a $1 coin is a loonie and a $2 coin is a tuni.

Javier: 43:56

So, because I didn't know and he said can you give me an extra, toonie, please? Toonie, toonie, I relate toonie with tuna. So I went ahead and I grabbed a scoop of tuna with an ice cream scoop.

Javier: 44:09

Right, I grabbed a scoop of tuna and I went to the guy and I approached him and I offered kind of like, kind of like, without saying anything. I offered the spoon to him and I was kind of like about to drop the spoon of tuna on his hand and for some reason the guy I think he didn't understand what was happening either, but he's standing- in his hand.

Javier: 44:25

He put the hand like give me that. So there was a really uncomfortable moment that we were both looking at our eyes like, is this okay? Is this what you're asking? I feel like what are you doing? They were were like, well, just for more tuna? No, no, no, I asked for an extra tuna, right, I mean $2. Oh, I didn't know, man, nobody trained me that loonie and tuna was a thing. So, I was about to serve this guy, a spoon of tuna in his hand, because I didn't know.

Gurasis: 44:53

Oh my God, that is hilarious. It's one of the funniest stories I've heard, for sure to this day.

Javier: 44:58

I remember his eyes. It was so intense man, it was a really intimate moment for me to try to scoop the tuna on his hand wow, love that yeah all right, um, you know.

Gurasis: 45:09

Now I wanna once again, you know, circle back on the point we were discussing about the canadian dream and I once again I want to mention your post again you know, where you addressed the broken Canadian dream. I want to talk a little bit about that and how the Thrive magazine, which you work on, can help international students fix that broken Canadian dream.

Javier: 45:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah for sure. So I co-founded Thrive magazine, which is a magazine for and by international students, in which what we are trying to do is inform students or prospective students in how life is in Canada like for real. Because the thing is that most of the information that is out there of how to come to Canada and whatnot is usually provided or delivered by either schools or agencies, which are the middle guys who are trying to get you into Canada, and therefore a lot of that information is biased. Maybe they're trying to convince you to go to a particular school, or maybe they're not saying how hard it's actually to get a job, or that people are not that willing to sponsor. There's many misinformation or information that has not been told. There's many misinformation or information that has not been told. So that's what I wanted to create an unbiased resource of information for international students so that they make an informed decision of whether they want to come to Canada or not. That's the idea. So for us to do that, we do two things First of all, we write a lot of articles Most of them are written by international students that share their own experience and second, if we don't know something, we go to an expert and try to talk to that expert so that we can provide proper information, like immigration consultants or financial analysts and so on and so forth.

Javier: 46:52

So how does this support the Canadian dream, which is what you asked for? I think the canadian dream might be broken, but that doesn't mean it's it's it's a dream that you shouldn't pursue. The only thing that that means is that you should know what you're going to be challenged right by going to for through this dream. So it's just for people that made this decision to make them informed. You want to come to canada here is how it actually is but you still want to come, then let's do it, because at the end of the day, it's going to make you grow a lot professionally and personally. It's a really big challenge, but if you were coming, man, you can do anything right. And secondly, I still do believe that, even though canada has its flaws in many, many things, it's it's quite a better place, um, than some of our home countries, right, for many reasons that I'm not going to get into, but uh, yeah yeah, well, you know, uh, like I told you before, I did go through.

Gurasis: 47:52

You know some articles and obviously, the, the magazines that come every month. They are incredible and for the listeners I would like to read, to read a few lines from your mission which are catering to international students, which says that Thrive is more than just a media and publishing company. We are your ally on your international student journey. We are here to make your experience richer and more rewarding. Our approach is rooted in research and expertise. Rewarding our approach is rooted in research and expertise. We collaborate with industry leaders and conduct extensive research to provide you with top quality, unbiased and honest content, and I feel like that's everything that a national student does need and, like I mentioned initially in my intro as well, there's some sort of like a resource, a reliable resource, that one needs when they come new to the country, and I highly recommend to my listeners to definitely check that out the thrive magazine for sure and where they can find that. Please tell us more about that yeah, of course.

Javier: 48:45

So they can go to thriveca, which is thrive, with double b? Um, thrive comes from the english word of uh, to thrive, which is kind of like to prosper or to grow, uh. But we added a second v in it because of Vancouver, because we started as an international student magazine for Vancouver alone.

Javier: 49:04

The reason why is because me and my business partner, rafa, having been in Vancouver for so long, we know a lot of Vancouver, so that's why we wanted to write a magazine just for Vancouver. Now we are expanding to all of Canada, so we are going to invite people from all of Canada to help us write these articles. But, yeah, they can go to our website directly or they can go to our Instagram or TikTok and really soon we are going to open also our YouTube channel.

Gurasis: 49:34

Okay, this was actually one of my questions. I hesitated to ask and why there is a double V, but thank you for answering that. I was actually one of my questions. I was hesitant to ask why there is a double V, but thank you for answering that. I was very curious about that. I like that.

Javier: 49:42

Yeah, be a part of our group.

Gurasis: 49:45

Yeah, Okay. So the links to check out the website and all the articles can be found in the show notes. So before Javier, we get into the final segment of the podcast, I have introduced this new segment in this season, which I call Know your Host, where I give my guests an opportunity to ask me any questions they might have. So go ahead 100 percent.

Javier: 50:06

I wanted to ask you this actually, which would be what would you say has been the biggest challenge for you in this whole journey?

Gurasis: 50:14

Wow, I mean, that would be a long answer to answer that, but I I'll try to make it short. I think the biggest challenge was definitely, uh, you know, letting people know the value of the work I have done back in india, because I was like always, um, you know, within I I wasn't do advertising back in india. I have done marketing. I've done bachelor's in journalism and mass communication. I did a little bit of radio as well. You know, I have been a writer all my life and all these things. I feel like it was hard for me to convey that value to people here. That was definitely the biggest challenge. But at the same time, it was also about getting very comfortable in my own skin, getting very comfortable with my own identity, and I feel that was kind of hard, and you should. I say that because there have been, you know, infinite examples, which I've shared on the podcast as well, which were regarding my accent. Yes, it has evolved now because it's been six years and I speak English most of my time. Like 18 hours of the day I just speak English. You know, out of 24 I'm awake. So that that was, that was the definitely a challenge, you know, understanding the local culture, understanding the, the tiny, tiny nuances, which kind of makes you feel more belonged in a new country.

Gurasis: 51:29

And obviously you know, navigating a life as an immigrant where I was in the four walls of my house, four walls of my parents' house, where everything is kind of soft to you, never went out, never reached out to anybody for any sort of help, even in terms of jobs.

Gurasis: 51:47

Somebody knew somebody who knew somebody who was hiring and they end up hiring you. So I feel like all these aspects, it was literally like starting from scratch, starting from zero again. So I would say this is something which I've just said sort of like encompasses the challenges sort of I have faced. A lot of other things were there here and there during the job search also, where the question have been more about my looks or my accent and less about the skills that I've had, and so all those things came my way, some comments and some some other, uh, you know aspects where, even like managing your taxes for the first time, you know cooking for the first time I don't know how to cook back in India. So, yeah, I think everything which I'm sure, like many of the listeners would relate to that also, all the above was something which was challenging, but I'm glad I have no complaints. Honestly, I'm glad I've gone through all that because it definitely built me into the person I am today.

Javier: 52:39

Yeah, okay, and and is there something that, if you would have the opportunity to go back to a younger self, is there something that you would like that younger self to know? Uh like, hey, you should know this before going to canada yeah.

Gurasis: 52:57

So one thing which I actually another guest also asked me this question and I did reflect on that again and I think I would say definitely, like, stop questioning yourself, you know a lot, or don't be so hard on yourself, because we do have this tendency to to, like you know, do more and be also the point where you said be all the time. We were like I was like taught you know, like be positive, everything is okay and fine, I feel like it. It went to the level of toxic positivity. Also, you don't have to be positive all the time. It's okay to go up and down and have those emotions and embrace those emotions. I feel like that is something I will teach that younger girl see that it's okay to feel emotions happy, sad, angry, whatever it is. These are just emotions and they need to be embraced. Don't be shy away from all this, because once you are able to tackle that, you'll be able to tackle everything else in your life. So this is something I would definitely say to the younger self.

Javier: 53:48

Yeah okay, great, great. I think that's that's a good advice, not only for the younger self, but for people in general. Right, yeah, yeah absolutely love it, love it. Okay, and then I think, another question I have for you there's more yeah I'm really glad to see that there's more and more people like yourself doing things to inform and create awareness of some difficulties that immigrants had in canada, like um. What pushed you to doing this right? I know that probably this comes because of the challenges you went through.

Gurasis: 54:24

Absolutely.

Javier: 54:25

But like? Did you try to find some resources about this before you decided to start your own?

Gurasis: 54:33

You know, javier, I was working in like a market research company and I was interviewing international students who were recent graduates, especially from the Ontario College. I was working on the third party, basically on behalf of Ontario's Ministry of Education, so I was interviewing them just to understand their challenges and how the life has been after graduating. And I was kind of in the same boat where I was trying to figure out, like how can I get into, get the foot in the door? You know, in my industry I was trying to do that as well. I worked in that place for I believe, like almost like I think 18 months or so, but I feel like that gave me a very good insight of the challenges that other people are also facing and I realized that, okay, these guys need help, and so do I.

Gurasis: 55:23

But I was like instead of me, you know, reinventing the wheel, starting something new like a career coaching or like a resource, something like that. I said, how about I collaborate with these exceptional people, just like yourself and you're also partners with is Empower? You know Ramne're also partners with is empower. You know ramneet and pat. So those guys you know.

Gurasis: 55:41

I said, okay, these guys are doing incredible work, even like rithika, you know from redefined all this, we have said why not to collaborate with these people, bring out their stories and then tell people that, hey, these are the resources available for all of you to access, which were not there maybe like five, six years ago. So I would say, like my research was that conversations I was having with people and I think I don't even have the number of students I've spoken to and how many of them have really cried on the phone because they all are in the same boat as me, where my work permit is expiring and so is theirs, and they were not able to find a job and they might have to go back to their countries. It was like that. So I feel like that was like a good market research for me to prepare myself to start this podcast.

Javier: 56:27

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and and I'm really happy that you're doing this because, um, back in the day when I started working in this industry, I realized that most of the people involved in your journey as an international student they are not international students. They were either people from your home country that has never left, or at least that was my case in Mexico, and people in Canada who are Canadian and therefore they don't understand the international student journey.

Javier: 56:54

I'm really happy to see there's more and more companies popping up, founded by international students, managed by international students, especially agencies. So those are the best. If you manage to get help from somebody who was in your shoes, that's the best thing to do. And I have seen more and more and more pop up, which for me means that these feelings that we have, everybody else is having and this loss that we are seeing, everybody else saw already. So hopefully our own actions and our own proactivity is going to lead to more of us helping us right.

Javier: 57:27

Yeah, because I don't know if you agree with this statement, but I don't think there's a proper international student community. I think we are just international students and that's it, and we are kind of like stand-alones. And then when you arrive, probably if you are from India, then you hang out with Indians, if you're from Mexico, you hang out with Mexicans, but we don't hang out and we don't cooperate together as international students, and I think we should.

Gurasis: 57:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I totally agree with you, ab. At the same time, I totally agree with you, but at the same time, I would say I don't blame them. Also because in this foreign land, everybody seeks that some sort of familiarity and comfort, and I think you tend to find that in your own language, you know the people who speak the same language or people who eat the same food. Sometimes I feel like that's one of the reasons it could be, but I do see a lot of like changes happening. Like look at us today. You know we belong to like sort of like a different cultures and different groups as well, and now we are collaborating together. I feel like that line is getting blurred and I, I I'm hoping you know and I am pretty positive honestly that it's gonna, if you all are going to get together, integrate more and more in the future.

Javier: 58:34

I have a, I agree. That's why I'm happy to see more and more of us starting to make our own projects. Yeah.

Gurasis: 58:40

Yeah, perfect, awesome. Thank you for those questions, love them. Yeah, of course, of course. Okay, so now we're in the final segment of the podcast. I call it Beneath the Accent. I'm going to ask a couple of questions. You can answer them in one word or a sentence, or how several you feel like. The idea is just to know more about you. So ready, so the question that you asked me. So what advice would you give to your younger self, and at what age?

Javier: 59:07

um, I would go back to uh when I was just out of uh, out of the bachelor um, and I would go back and say do your proper research. That's what I would say.

Gurasis: 59:21

What's that one dish from your home country that always brings you comfort and nostalgia?

Javier: 59:28

So as a Mexican, I have to say tacos. But there's so many different kinds of tacos, but there's one in particular, one dish, that is mole. I love mole man. It's really good. Good, which it could be kind of similar to, to curry actually, but the base of the mole is chocolate oh, okay yeah so, so what?

Gurasis: 59:48

what is in it?

Javier: 59:49

it's not a sweet dish, even though it has chocolate. Okay, it's actually spicy okay, a little bit spicy. It's chocolate, uh, and and different kinds of uh chile and so many, so many different uh spices go into it and then you make kind of like a sauce or a curry with it and you put it over usually chicken and rice and that's it.

Gurasis: 1:00:09

But it's amazing, it's amazing okay, yeah, I hope it's readily available in canada. I would love to try it.

Javier: 1:00:16

Kind of sounds interesting yeah, of course, of course. If I, if I find a place near you that they said no, I'm gonna let you know yeah, please do.

Gurasis: 1:00:23

Yeah, right, um, what's your favorite cultural festival or celebration in canada and have you like started celebrating anything?

Javier: 1:00:35

that's a good question. Um, I think here in Vancouver there's a celebration they do which is called Honda Celebration of Life. I don't know if it's cultural or not, but it's something really Vancouverite, which is a fireworks competition, international fireworks competition. So every year they invite three different countries to participate in this competition and they do a half an hour continuously non-stop show of fireworks that they need to synchronize with music and that's that event for me it's amazing because there's so many people that go to see that event.

Javier: 1:01:13

It's like half a million people gather in the beach to go see that event oh, wow um, and usually that event celebrates each of the country's uh culture that they invite, because they have invited uh india, korea, japan, mexico and they usually play music from their own country to also celebrate. So I know it's a really interesting and fun event to go and watch yeah, sounds very, very fun.

Gurasis: 1:01:35

I wish I could be able to witness that sometime this year maybe. It's amazing.

Javier: 1:01:40

Yes, yeah, wow, okay, tell us about your first friend that you made in Canada. First friend that I made in Canada. So I would say that's a Brazilian classmate that I had. I mean, I came in with my best friend, so for me I had already a friend in Canada, right, of course, yeah, but someone that I met here was this friend from Brazil that we met in our school. We're really close friends, really good. She's really funny and there's so many similarities in Mexican and Brazilian culture, of course, because we are Latinos, so we are loud and we are usually extrovert and that kind of stuff. So it was really nice to see somebody else that I could feel related to, even though we were from different countries, right?

Gurasis: 1:02:29

Hmm, OK, and you are still in contact. You said right.

Javier: 1:02:32

Yeah, of course, Of course. And for me, for me she's kind of like a mentor also because she already had a lot of experience in marketing and I was just quite new, I was a baby, but she has already been working in marketing for a while. So every question I had in the program I would go and look at her like hey, can you help me with this?

Gurasis: 1:02:50

And she would help me out Okay. Yeah, amazing, and I'm not sure if you have any Punjabi friends. But being loud and extrovert is not limited to Latinos. We are very loud and extrovert as well, if you don't know.

Javier: 1:03:02

No, you know the school that I went to, most of the students were Latin American, so Colombian, mexican, brazilian, and we had a couple of people that I don't know how they ended up there, but somebody from Kenya, somebody from Indonesia, but we didn't have any Indian at the time in that school. So if it's not on school, it was really hard for me to meet people from other countries. So, no, I have never had the pleasure to hang out with Punjabi friends.

Javier: 1:03:36

Now I know more people because I've been working in the industry. But back in the day, when I was a student.

Gurasis: 1:03:43

it was not the case. Okay, Well, now you've added me to the list. Yeah, of course. Of course, my friend.

Javier: 1:03:48

And I can see a lot of similarities between Latinos and Punjabi.

Gurasis: 1:03:53

Absolutely. I mean all my student life I've just hung out with Latinos, literally Really. I've gone to, like their parties and their food and everything, but surprisingly, none of them introduced me to mole. I don't know why.

Javier: 1:04:07

No, bad Latinos, Bad Latinos, bad Latinos, yeah, yeah.

Gurasis: 1:04:11

All right, tell me what's something that you ate for the first time in Canada.

Javier: 1:04:17

Something that I ate for the first time in Canada. Something that I ate for the first time. There's many things that I ate in Canada for the first time, Because one of the things I like about here is that it's so multicultural that you get to try things right.

Gurasis: 1:04:29

Yeah.

Javier: 1:04:30

I tried Lebanese food for the first time here, which was quite good Mediterranean food also really really good Different dishes from India that I have tried here for the first time, because of course in Mexico we have Indian food, but it's our own version of it, so I don't know if it counts. So here it's more authentic, I would say Canadian dishes. There's not that many. So of course, for the first time ever, I tried poutine here, Beaver tails, but that's about it, Okay.

Gurasis: 1:05:03

And did you like it, poutine? Did you like poutine?

Javier: 1:05:07

It's okay.

Gurasis: 1:05:09

It's not that special.

Javier: 1:05:09

to be honest, yeah.

Gurasis: 1:05:12

Okay, I get that response. That's why I asked you. I get that response a lot.

Javier: 1:05:17

It's just okay.

Gurasis: 1:05:20

There's actually no, no culinary culture in canada unfortunately no, yeah, yeah, okay, if you had to describe yourself as any creature, what would it be and why?

Javier: 1:05:30

any creature, um, I think I would say uh, uh, a wolf, a wolf, um, okay. The reason why is because I do understand that it's quite common for them in their social behavior to know when they need to go in a pack and know when they need to move and shift, uh, for a while to be alone, but they can't come back if needed, right?

Gurasis: 1:05:53

so I would say yeah if you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Javier: 1:05:58

one superpower, I think that would be teleportation. No question, no question. So I would go back to my family. It's a mole. Come back to my, to my work, something like that.

Gurasis: 1:06:08

Go visit different countries okay, if you had to create this one law that everybody has to follow, what would it be?

Javier: 1:06:18

One law Taco Tuesday.

Gurasis: 1:06:23

Okay, no, no, no, I'm joking, that would be fun.

Javier: 1:06:25

I'm joking. Yeah, it would be nice, but I'm joking. You know. I think something I would do for one law in Canada is that I would make it mandatory for recruiters or companies to know about immigration for them to be able to operate, because it's so basic for companies to need to hire immigrants. We are 50 percent of the workforce or more, in canada, right, and companies still don't know about immigration and laws, and it's, it's infuriating yeah, I agree.

Gurasis: 1:06:57

Yeah, I would create another law which would be like five weeks of vacation for immigrants rather than just two weeks.

Javier: 1:07:03

That would be amazing too.

Gurasis: 1:07:06

Yeah, because it's not limited for us to just do the local things. Sometimes we want to travel back and we cannot, because one week is not enough. Like two weeks is not enough when you're traveling like seven seas apart after like 22-hour flight. You know, that's fine.

Javier: 1:07:21

That would be good. That would be good, or at least for you to work up to one month remotely if you're going to your home country or something like that. I don't know, but that would be really nice. I would vote for you if you were to run for prime minister.

Gurasis: 1:07:37

All right, thank you for that, um, and how would you describe canada in one?

Javier: 1:07:45

word or a sentence, oof, that's a tough one, I would say challenging. I would say challenging because, again, coming from a third world country to a first world country, challenge is not something that you think you're going to encounter, but Canada is definitely challenging you all the time, man, all the time, yeah.

Gurasis: 1:08:06

Yeah, yeah, okay. So, lastly, if you could leave me with one piece of advice, javier, what would it be?

Javier: 1:08:14

Leave you with one piece of advice. I think we were talking a lot about um imposter syndrome, and I think that would be that. Not everything that goes through your head it's true. Right, we usually, whatever thoughts come to our head, we usually treat them as if they were true or if they were real. But we need to understand that many of them, they are simply not true. So we need to be able to tell apart between something that is useful for us and could help us drive forward and things that are there just to mess our heads. So we need to be self-conscious, like whenever one of these thoughts come like hey, maybe you are not enough. It's like no, no, no, no, no, this thing you're saying is not true. Don't listen to that.

Gurasis: 1:09:05

So are not enough. It's like no, no, no, no. This thing you're saying is not true.

Javier: 1:09:07

Don't listen to that so yeah, wow, that's, that's deep. Thank you for uh sharing that.

Gurasis: 1:09:08

I feel like I needed to hear that somehow, so thank you for that. Yeah, of course. Yeah, okay. And lastly, how would you describe your experience of being on this podcast today?

Javier: 1:09:16

loved it, loved it I I. There's um incredible podcast. You go from some really fun stuff, deep stuff, nostalgic, because you start asking about people's background, so I think it's quite a holistic experience, um, and I can't wait to hear more and more stories of people that you bring into the podcast. My friend, friend.

Gurasis: 1:09:37

Awesome, really glad to hear that, so thank you. Thank you so much, javier, for being on the podcast and adding value to my listeners. Thank you.

Javier: 1:09:44

No, no, on the contrary, my friend, thank you for inviting me and providing information to people like us that might need it and that might need inspiration or resources for them to move forward. So thank you for what you're doing.