A couple of weeks ago I started working at a web agency in Toronto and am really enjoying my job. It’s exactly what I wanted to do and the people are great.
Today I got paid for my first two weeks of work. Taxes in Canada are freaking insane. My gross monthly salary is more than I was getting in Korea. But what was surprising to me is that two weeks taxes are significantly more than the taxes I paid for a full months pay back in Korea.
The result is that my net salary is only marginally more than I was making in Korea despite my gross salary being significantly more. People ask why some expats stay in Korea so long on what they perceive as a low wage. Well the key is that the taxes are so much lower that the net wage is approximately equal to a much higher gross salary.
Also one needs to factor in other things like hours worked, vacation time and how much cheaper it is to eat out in Korea and get a healthier lunch for at a better price than one would get in Canada. With all the extra time available as a university teacher in Korea it’s easy to double your monthly wage or more by working on the side.
Taxes and tips are just insane. Plus it is impossible to eat for less than $9 at lunch not including tax or tip.
End result – if I didn’t have kids, I would have stayed in Korea and been much better off.
Having said that, I am enjoying life in Canada. Having a backyard for the kids is great and the air is much cleaner.
I know I rambled a little, but just deal with it.
Found out something interesting about the previous tenant of the house I’m living in. The were also a mixed couple – Caucasian Canadian man and Japanese woman with two kids (about the same age as ours). He lived and worked in Japan for many years as a university teacher before coming back to Canada. Pretty much my story. They returned to Japan after one year though.
Interesting and random fact.
My kids have been in Summer camp for almost four weeks now – Friday will be the end of the fourth week. They’re both doing great and enjoying it alot.
My daughter, 9, has adjusted really well. I haven’t noticed too much improvement in her vocabulary or grammar yet. However her confidence in English has improved a lot and she’s using English a lot more with me now. In any case she can usually get her point across and understands almost everything she hears. Hopefully when she starts grade 4 in the fall she will be able to handle everything.
My son, 5, is also doing quite well as well. Before we came to Canada the only thing he could say in English was “hi” though he could understand quite a bit. In the last few weeks he has progress from that to using simple three and four word sentences with poor grammar. He is trying really hard and is now daily surprising me with new things that he says.
He is also struggling some what. He has asked to skip camp twice now because he’s tired and is frustrated because he can’t communicate very well with the camp counsellers or the other kids. The tired part is expected as he is the youngest kid in the camp and the pace is geared for kids 2-4 years older than he is.
Another example of his need to communicate freely is that our neighbor across our backyard fence is an older Korean couple. My son has started to call to them from the fence and talk to them as much as he can. They seem very patient and understanding of him, but obviously we are trying to discourage this as we don’t want our neighbors to be disturbed by our 5 year old nor do we want to become “those” people.
In any case my sons language progression is interesting to watch and it makes me wish I had kept some of my second language acquisition textbooks so that I could refresh my memory on what I had learned.
Today I received a phone call from Rogers the company that I have cell phone, internet and cable tv through. Here is a letter I sent them via their web site following this phone call.
I just received a call from your customer service checking up on how I feel about Rogers. When i asked if I am getting billed for minutes used on my cell phone because you called me, she said that I am. How can you bill me for cell phone usage when you called me. That’s essentially cheating your customers as you can generate revenue by calling customers and charging them for air time used during the call you initiated.
Second when i asked her about why I wasn’t able to see my internet or cable tv bill online she was unable to assist me in any way as her computer was unable to connect to my account. Remember, you called me and I would think that my account would already be on screen before talking to me. Is this another way to generate income by increasing the length of the phone call?
Finally the agent said she would forward me to another department and then the call was disconnected.
Very helpful, NOT.
Why have I not received a bill for my internet or cable tv? Also why is it not in my account when I log in to Rogers?
The agent that I spoke with was polite the entire time, but clueless.
Delicious
Last.Fm
Library Thing
LinkedIn
Twitter
YouTube
Comments(4)
Tweet
