.. and where it all begins now

Yesterday was my last day at work.

One of the agencies, which I described in the previous post, and which helped me immensely in the beginning of my new life in Canada, had turned into my employer 10 months later. I started as an employment counsellor and facilitator, then became involved in testing a new Ontario wide curriculum, and a year later became a project coordinator of that same program. Another program was given to me too, and I was soon leading a team of 14. My team was helping over 100 newcomers every month, and every day I felt how our work makes a difference in newcomers' life.

An exciting, and at time exhausting 1.5 year followed; in addition to supporting and leading my team, I was heavily involved in streamlining services, which meant constant troubleshooting and problem solving. I was loving it. I was able to create, initiate and implement.

So why did I leave? Because all the hard work had paid off, and it had started to feel that the structure is in place, the services are more or less streamlined, and my team is strong. Even though there was still plenty of work to do, I felt my part was done. Leaving the organization wasn't an easy decision, and it took me almost six months to think about it before I finally felt that now is the time. So in early October I announced I will be leaving by the end of the month.

I thought that giving 3.5 weeks notice will give me and everyone else plenty of time to get used to the idea. And I thought that since the most difficult thing - telling the news to my team - was behind, the farewell party would be piece of cake. Well it wasn't: my speech of 11 sentences took about 5 min because of all the crying, blowing the nose, and breathing I had to do between the sentences. Not the most graceful speech, but hopefully memorable at least!

It went something like this:

"When I immigrated almost four years ago I had plenty of plans and dreams. But I didn’t have confidence or knowledge. When I became a client here, I started to build knowledge, and gain confidence. When I became an employee here, it further continued. Three years here have been an amazing experience. I’ve learnt so much, developed new skills and met wonderful people. Working here has fulfilled one of my dreams – working on immigration. And above all, this past three years have given me confidence in my own skills and abilities. Therefore it’s time to use that confidence to reach my other goals, which I had four years ago. This organization will always be a huge part of my life, because it made me who I am today. And it helped me to make Canada my home."

The worries and hesitations I described in my previous post are gone, and they are replaced with confidence, knowledge and connections. I feel like I am having a second round of immigration now, and I'm excited to explore what it brings to me this time!