A Rafflesia by any name stinks as a corpse

As the saying goes, "A rose by any name smells as sweet."

IMHO, the reverse is true. "A Rafflesia by any name stinks as a corpse."

Poverty exists in Canada. Click here for information from Canada Without Poverty. The cut-off is not known officially as the "Poverty Line" but "Low-Income Cut-Off (LICO)". Click here for the official definition of LICO from Statistics Canada. Or click here for the actual statistics -- ACCOUNTABLE, OPEN and TRANSPARENT for all to see.

Unlike a little red dot with officials who deny the existence of poverty, Canada makes no pretense that poverty exists in this first world nation.

Quote Chan Chun Sing (see online news article below), "other developed ones such as New Zealand and Canada also do not subscribe to official poverty lines."

Canada does not have a SINGLE official poverty line. This is because the reality is that the cost of living varies greatly from province-to-province, from community-to-community. Instead Canada defines a range of LICOs that "vary by family size and by size of community".

So what is the Singapore minister trying to say? Your guess is as good as mine. But as the adage goes, "The first step to solving a problem is to recognize that a problem exists." Thereafter, it is often useful to have a method to gauge/measure the success/effectiveness of a solution/policy -- regardless if the measure is called "Poverty Line" or "Low-Income Cut-Off".

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[Extracted from The Straits Times - Singapolitics on 24-Oct-2013.]

Why setting a poverty line may not be helpful: Chan Chun Sing

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 5:03 PM Updated: Oct 23, 2013 5:03 PM

By Robin Chan

Singapore is not considering having an official poverty line, as it would not fully reflect the severity and complexity of issues faced by the poor, and may also lead to those above the line missing out on assistance.

Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing made these points on Monday, amid renewed calls for Singapore to look into having one after Hong Kong set an official poverty line last month.

In a written parliamentary reply, he said the Government's approach is to use broad definitions for the groups it seeks to help, set clear criteria to identify and assess those in need, and come up with tailored schemes.

"If we use a single poverty line to assess the family, we also risk a 'cliff effect', where those below the poverty line receive all forms of assistance, while other genuinely needy citizens outside the poverty line are excluded," he said.

They were the Government's first comments on the issue since Hong Kong's policy change on Sept 30.

Mr Chan said a poverty line would also miss out other issues that poor families face. These include ill health, lack of housing and weak family relationships.

Replying to questions by Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong and Nominated MP Laurence Lien, Mr Chan said Singapore's assessment process for providing help to those in need is "rigorous but also flexible" to cater to the genuinely needy.

This means that those who do not meet certain criteria in help programmes are also able to receive assistance.

The Government also conducts regular reviews to ensure that ComCare assistance remains relevant to the low-income and vulnerable, he said.

ComCare is social assistance provided to low-income families.

Mr Chan said different nations tailor their methods to identify and help their needy according to their circumstances, and other developed ones such as New Zealand and Canada also do not subscribe to official poverty lines.

Hong Kong set its poverty line at half the median household income level according to household size, with about 1.3 million, or a fifth of its population, living under it. So the poverty line for a four-person household is HK$14,300 (S$2,300).

Like Singapore, Hong Kong is grappling with high levels of income inequality. Its Gini co-efficient, a commonly-used measure of income inequality, is 0.53, compared with Singapore's 0.47. The closer the number is to 1, the higher the inequality.

Mr Yee also asked what the Government's internal measure of neediness was when it distributed N95 masks to 200,000 needy households in June during the haze.

Mr Chan said that the one million masks were given to households with a per-capita income below $900.

Their income was verified through their membership in the Community Health Assist Scheme Blue Scheme or by self-declaration of income at the community clubs.

Boyfriend-brand lunchbox

I brought boyfriend-brand lunchbox to work yesterday. It was leftover casserole from last Saturday's brunch cooked and packed by DD, specially for me.

[21-Oct-2013 Boyfriend-brand casserole lunchbox]

It is not the first time that DD had cooked and packed lunchbox for me. We often joked that since he posted photos of his exquisite food in the online dating website where we met, our "deal" was that he would cook, cuddle and pamper me for the rest of our lives. So far, DD has lived up to his end of the deal, he would either cook (DD really enjoys cooking) or we'll eat out (often we split the bill, but sometimes we treat each other). [In fact, my vegetable curry and rendang dishes for Thanksgiving were the first time that DD tried my cooking.]

For last Sunday's brunch, I was too lazy to head out. Thus, DD cooked the macaroni while I cooked the assam soup with ingredients to go with the macaroni. Happily, DD commented that the shrimps were nicely cooked by me (i.e. tender and juicy). [Note: I did not eat the shrimps given that I'm mostly vegetarian.]

I teased DD that our deal still holds, notwithstanding the compliments. He joked in return that he need to speak to his lawyers to re-negotiate for better terms. Funny thing is, DD really enjoys cooking, cuddling and pampering me. It is so refreshing to be totally pampered by a man. *Feeling blessed*

[20-Oct-2013 Boyfriend-brand home-made gourmet crackers]

Late Sunday afternoon, DD got inspired and made his own gourmet crackers. They were delicious! What a man!

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Click here for boyfriend-brand dinner.

Goodbye family nighmares?

On Sunday night / Monday morning, I had 2 "interesting" dreams involving my family members.

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Firstly, I dreamt of my mother. It was a street-side stores setting, like a "pasar malam in Singapore" except that it was daytime. She was shopping for a round-cut clear colourless semi-precious crystals/stone and I was accompanying her. The stall-holder casually took out her bag of crystals and showed it at a short distance to my mom. Mom pointed to a particular round/brillant-cut that looked really shiny like a diamond from the distant. However when the stall-holder passed that crystal into my mom's hand, it did not look as shiny as before, in fact it looked a little clouded on one-side, covering half the table surface. Mom seems disappointed but she did not want to admit it verbally. Thus, I told her, "Let's think about it. I can buy you another one from elsewhere."

The above dream is very interesting to me. Not because I am interested in sparkly diamonds -- the only diamond that I currently have is from an old flame. The above is very interesting to me because it marks the first time in years that my dreams featuring my mother is not a nightmare. Click here and here (see my comments on StorytellERdoc's blog) for examples. In fact, I cannot even recall the last time my mother appeared in a dream that did not turn into a nightmare. As far as I can recall, "a dream with mother = a nightmares" has been the case even before coming to Canada in 2010.

Is the dream a sign of things to come? I don't know. Still, one less nightmare is a good thing, I guess.

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Secondly, I dreamt of my 2 sisters. We were physically adults in the dream but behaving like children. We were all in our shared bedroom at my parents' home. There was a pile of masak-masak (children's toys) on the floor. Some of these were toys of miniature food items, except that in the dream these miniatures were edible. I was sorting through the toys, putting the food items aside, and eating/trying some of them (including some miniature sushi). My elder sister was sorting through the toys with me too, except that she did not eat any of the stuff. 

Then my younger sister entered the room, having just returned from her latest tour. She passed us a plastic bag of more miniature food items toys (souvenirs from her trip). Then she told us that she was too tired to join us and slept on the bed instead. I opened the plastic bag and took out what looked like individually-packed chocolate-like snacks and tried one. I found it delicious. Thus I quickly opened another one, pushed it in front of my elder sister's face and insisted that she tried it, telling her that, "It is delicious, too good to be missed". My elder sister hesitated initially, but then popped it into her mouth after my insistence. Somehow my younger sister was awake (on the bed) and saw us sharing, enjoying and complimenting about her snacks, and she grinned happily.

It is nice to feel the warmth of sisterly love, even though it is just a dream and that in reality we are really miles and miles apart (halfway round the world).

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All the same, happily those dreams were pleasant and I did not wake DD up from his sleep this time round.

Migrating via Student Visa - Part 3

DECLARATION and DISCLAIMER: The following is my personal opinion. I am not any way qualified to give education and/or migration advice to anyone, and thus any content from me shall be construed as a sharing of personal opinion, not advice. I do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information provided by me. Under no circumstances will I or anyone related to this content be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from any reliance on the information or other content posted or linked by me.

This post will cover some odds-and-ends relevant to the issue of migrating via Student Visa. See links to previous posts on this series at the footnotes.

1. Popular sources of information on Canadian university rankings

Those interested in pursuing education in Canadian universities can check out the various popular sources of information on Canadian university rankings.

The Maclean's university ranking website is a well-known and popular source of information for Canadian high-school students heading to universities here. However, its university ranking is not without controversy. That said, it also publishes university rankings done by others, seen from a Canadian perspective. Thus, it is a useful website to read consolidated information related to Canadian universities. E.g. The 2013 Shanghai Jiao Tong University ［上海交通大学］ (China) annual Academic Ranking of World Universities is reported by Maclean's here.

[15-Aug-2013 Maclean's report of SJTU's Annual Ranking of World Universities]

The Globe and Mail (a well-established newspaper in Canada that was ever unsuccessfully sued by one old-man in a little red dot) reports on Education in Canada. E.g. 23-Oct-2012 Canadian University Report 2013: Student satisfaction survey results.

Of course, one can hardly forget the world-famous Time's World University Rankings.

2. Consider the option to transfer university

My understanding from speaking with the locals is that the 1st year of undergraduate studies here is usually a broad-based education (i.e. course credits from various fields). In order to sign up for these courses from such a wide variety of fields, it is not uncommon that one ends up having to do extra courses/certifications prior to entering the university in order to meet the course pre-requisites.

I have met students from China who do some preparatory courses (e.g. 1 year of studies) at, e.g. SFU, in order to gain admission to undergraduate courses in their target universities.

• For a guide on your transfer options in B.C., Canada, check out www.bctransferguide.ca
• As mentioned previously in Part 1, to search on your post-secondary education options in B.C., Canada, check out www.educationplanner.ca
• Finally, to understand more about post-secondary admissions and transfers in B.C., Canada, check out bccat.ca (BC Council on Admissions & Transfers). The BCCAT runs both Education Planner and BC Transfer Guide websites.

3. Consider the weather and economy of the region/city

Please check out the weather and economy of the region/city where you plan to study before making a decision. You don't have to travel to Canada to do so, but at least do some online research (e.g. Google, Wikipedia, region's tourist information, etc). In a country as big as Canada, it can be "too hot" in one city and "too much snow" in another on the same day. Understanding of the local economy will also help the potential students to consider what skills they may need (i.e. training, certification, and/or preparation) to help them clinch part-time work near their schools.

Note: When looking for a job B.C., Canada, employers will typically ask for "2 Canadian work reference". Therefore, it is important to have regular (e.g. once weekly) part-time work and/or volunteer assignments while studying so that one can get one's managers' and/or volunteer co-ordinators' references* to support one's job application after graduation. *That is, get their names, contact numbers (cell/mobile and work number), and their consent/agreement to be your reference.

In B.C., you will need certain certifications even for the "blue collar" jobs. E.g. Waiters need "Food Safe Level 1 Certification" and perhaps also "Serving It Right" (for premises that serves alcohol). E.g. Even volunteers at summer camps may need a current CPR Level C Certification from an approved B.C. authority.

Good luck on your student/migration journey!

Footnotes:

• See Part 1 "How to sort out the paper mills from the really "recognized" education centres?".
• See Part 2 "Factors to consider when selecting an education programme for the purpose of immigration".

Seasonal Jobs - Metro Vancouver

For the new immigrants (e.g. Permanent Residents, Officially-sanctioned Refugees), October is a perfect month for job hunt. This is the time when major retail stores gear-up their seasonal staffing to cope with the expected year-end retail peak. Many will hold walk-in interviews for new seasonal hires and are willing to consider those without "Canadian qualifications" and/or "Canadian references". Of course, many of these jobs would fall into the "minimum wage" category, but IMHO it is a good first step to break that Catch-22 of "no Canadian work reference, and therefore no job offers" and "one has never worked in Canada before, and therefore does not have any Canadian work reference".

Here are some ways to hunt for seasonal jobs in Metro Vancouver.

1. Search job-sites online. For example:

• Craigslist Vancouver - Jobs
• Workopolis Vancouver - Jobs
• Monster.ca Vancouver - Jobs. [Note: This site is currently down.]
• Kijiji Vancouver - Jobs

2. Search career websites of popular large retail chains

• Real Canadian Superstore
• Canadian Tire
• London Drugs
• Sears
• Hudson's Bay (a.k.a. "The Bay")
• HomeSense / Winners
• Best Buy / Future Shop
• Old Navy / Gap
• Toys R Us
• Michaels (Arts & crafts chain)
• Chapters / Indigo

3. Walk around malls and/or shopping districts

For shops actively looking to hire, one may see "We're hiring" signs displayed on their windows. These are often displayed discretely at the bottom of display window, just next to the entrance); but sometimes they are displayed boldly right on the entrances.

[19-Oct-2013 Michaels - W Broadway, Vancouver]

[19-Oct-2013 Toys R Us - W Broadway, Vancouver]

Good luck to all job seekers!