I Japa at 40+ 🇳🇬 → 🇨🇦

I got my first job in Canada🇨🇦 in 4 weeks…after arrival and lost it in under 9 days. 😄 Welcome to my Japa reality. I came in eager, ready to “tap into the system,” experience this almighty Canadian work culture, and most importantly… start earning. Because let’s be honest, that Proof of Funds we all arrive with? It has wings. It flies away at the speed of light. So I jumped at the opportunity, after throwing almost 50 applications at different fields I had experience in, coming from Naija. First job. First taste of the system. First paycheck loading (or so I thought). Then boom, just like that, I was let go. No long story on this (yet)… but trust me, that one is coming someday. Was it painful? Yes. Was it humbling? Absolutely. Did it shake me? For a moment. But that short, almost embarrassing experience taught me more than comfort ever could. It opened my eyes to how things actually work here. It forced me to adjust quickly. It tested my mindset early. And more importantly… it confirmed something I already believed deep down: I’m built for this journey. Because moving abroad is not just about landing, it’s about adapting, failing, learning, and going again. No matter how long it takes. So yes, I lost my first job in less than 10 days… But I gained something far more valuable: clarity, resilience, and proof that I can keep going. And honestly? That’s a better foundation than any Canadian😃 #40PlusImmigrant #LifeAbroad #NewBeginnings

@AreYourOrLah @gamerwalt Deep!!! For real!

Believe me, If people can use "LOL" without even laughing. Surely, they can use "I LOVE YOU" without even loving you. So don't be fooled.

@VrumVictor 🤣🤣🤣 exactly

@40PlusImmigrant E go de sound like lecture for your ear “At the intersection, walk 500m up north and take the east ramp towards the south, then ur destination will be 100m ahead” Ur eyes go first blur

I thought I knew how to use Google Maps… until I Japa! 🤣 As a JJC (Johnny Just Come), I came with confidence steeze. After all, I was a well-grounded student of Geography back home, and used maps sparingly when I had to. I thought navigation would be easy. Wetin Google Maps use my eyes see eehh! 🥴I passed my destination countless times, ended up in the wrong vicinity, got frustrated, gave up, and booked rides… only for the ride apps to charge me a few dollars, I was clinging on to, to get by in this land, and still drop me on the same street I had already walked past without realizing it was my destination. 🤣 That was when humility entered my personal group chat 😂. I had to abandon pride, slow down, relearn how to read maps properly, understand directions better, and pay attention to measurement in distance to cover, North-South-East-West turns, and how locations are structured here. All the time I goofed, and still goofing, because learning many things in this society is ongoing, I switch to making fun of myself, thinking about them, and talking to people about them, in comic ways😁. Many things to unlearn. Many things to relearn. Many simple life skills to adapt to. Japa go humble you. 😂

@lao_kani @gamerwalt @msmocrown Interesting thought

@gamerwalt @msmocrown @40PlusImmigrant They may discontinue likely be a loss for them even in Uk many of them stop selling African products

The bigs stores are now selling African groceries in Canada. Nofrills, Frescho... Which other ones have you seen? Will our small African businesses sell still?

@Olasheyni2 Yeah, you know it

@40PlusImmigrant Yeah map reading helps. I remember learning ATLAS in my junior secondary days. So I guess that helped plus I was already used to Google maps in Nigeria, though there's a difference but it helped.

@Ejisky1 @hezxotuata That one is a tough call based on how the immigration systems have changed. It happened in the past, I wouldn't say how often that happens currently, you must be a top talent that an organization have failed to find in Canada for that to easily happen nowadays

@40PlusImmigrant @hezxotuata Bro... thank you again and again. Please so sorry I ask questions a lot. How can one secure job from naija here to Cana...?

I got a role with the Canadian Red Cross… before I even entered Canada. 😄 I landed a Volunteer Role with the Canadian Red Cross while in Nigeria, 1 month before I left. There is an edge in thoroughly making your own research about anything and everything about the country you want to move to before making that move. Trust me, all the vital information you’d get would help you settle in, and it would merge with the information people who were already there before you, would dish out to you. Having learned how vital volunteering is in the Canadian work culture, I started approaching preferred organisations once it was sure that our travel documents were in our hands. I remember that email and the subsequent call that followed from CRC to learn more about me and my drive to decide to join as a volunteer once I landed. It blew my mind that, oh, shit is possible. I felt seen and valued, and if I had failed that remote interview, I wouldn’t have been sad, because I was really proud that they even interviewed me. When I got the mail saying I had passed, it still felt like a mirage till I landed in Canada. After informing them of my availability, I had to wait 6 weeks to receive my Volunteer ID, which was sent to my doorstep via Canada Post. This one came after I was dramatically sacked (laughs 😄) from the first job I landed just 4 weeks after entering the country. That funny story is coming. With that ID, I was so wowed and eager, and I must say, the quality of training and protocols you are placed to take as a volunteer is no different from what the full staff get. You are assigned organizational email address, you pick the days you are available to show up, you are allowed to have the experience you are gathering with them to be on your resume, to help your job hunt, and you can be given reference if you land a job outside, sometimes you are sent vouchers for discounts in their partner shops and free to attend career improvement events, etc. My spouse also made the volunteering move when we landed and got a position in Customer Support in a Community Service Organisation, which I am not allowed to mention here. She also has a job now with that Canadian Work Experience. I still feel proud looking at my ID/Tag and its neck ribbon! 😄Volunteering culture is a big flex in Canada and in the Western world, and it can really open up great opportunities for you while you are on it or later on, and I am sure a lot of people here can attest to this. I still make time from my main job now to keep up with my volunteer position at the Canadian Red Cross, when I can, because it doesn’t stop. I volunteer in a department that works in line with health and safety, and it played a big role in landing me a job. If you are out there and still finding that job and have never tried stepping out to pick up a volunteer role in any organisation at all, give it a try… you’d never know! Udo!

Let’s get to work!

@Tunnyflo009 @EmilojuofCA Seen in my 1st week of this my new account

I’ve come to realize one fact about X and it’s that the more you engage actively the more you grow organically.

@Morris_Monye Make dem dey play.

I like this pattern.

As seen on the internet. Will you believe this is an AI video?

@msmocrown AI? Wow! This one played me.

♾️

@chukschinedu @TimHortons You are right bro. Appreciate it anytime someone even shows it in any little way and also show yours in the ways you can.

@40PlusImmigrant @TimHortons Beautiful story, there are a lot of kind people out there but the world is changing drastically so it doesn’t show as much as. Strangers have been unusually kind to me and I am totally grateful. I never forget an act of kindness regardless of the value.

A stranger tapped me on a rainy morning in 🇨🇦Canada… …and offered me 2 pieces of @TimHortons buns. What happened next stayed with me longer than the food ever could. #JapaReceipts Starting over abroad in your 40s teaches you things fast. Like this: For your first few months (sometimes years), Your car is… the bus. Your routine is… transit. That morning, it was cloudy. Light rain is falling. I had just stepped off the train, waiting to catch a connecting bus to my volunteer shift. Phone in hand. Tracking the bus. Calling a friend back home. About a minute into the call…I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned…… A middle-aged woman. Blonde hair. Warm smile. Calm presence. “Good morning,” she said. “What a nice cloudy day with the rain… how are you?” Not rushed. Not forced. Just… present. I smiled, excused myself from the call. “Good morning! It’s nice… but I just wish the rain would let me cross and catch my bus.” She laughed softly. “We’ll just have to wait and be hopeful.” Then she did something I didn’t expect. She stretched out her hand and said: “I tapped you because I want to share part of my breakfast.” I paused. “Ah… thank you, that’s kind, but I already ate before leaving home.” She smiled again. Calm. Certain. “Please take it. It makes me happy to share. You can have it later.” No pressure. Just genuine kindness. I accepted. In my hand…Two pieces of Tim Hortons buns. And in that moment, I wasn’t just holding bread. I was holding a contrast. Because where I come from… That same gesture? You’d hesitate. You’d question it. You might even reject it. Not because people are bad…But because trust is expensive. And intentions are often second-guessed. But here? A stranger saw me… and chose kindness. No agenda. No suspicion. No story attached. That moment stayed with me. Not because of what I received, but because of what it revealed. It reminded me: Kindness still exists. Simple. Quiet. Unannounced. And as someone starting over in a new country…You begin to ask yourself: “What kind of person do I want to be here?” For me, the answer is becoming clearer: Be warm. Be kind. Be the kind of person people don’t have to fear. Because sometimes…It’s not the big opportunities that shape you. It’s small, unexpected moments on a random rainy morning. Now let me ask you…If you were in my shoes, would you have accepted it? And yes…Did I eat the buns later?😄That’s a story for another day. Life abroad will teach you many things. But some lessons come quietly…Wrapped in something as simple as 2 pieces of buns. #40PlusImmigrant #LifeAbroad #CanadaLife

@40PlusImmigrant Funny enough, I never had this issue. The only issue I had was memorising name of places. Gilleygate, Piccadilly, Harrogate... I depended on Google map for my movement.

@Olasheyni2 Yeah, some have it easy like you. There are people naturally not good with directions, not to talk of the coordinates in technical details like this. What saved me was a bit of map reading and trigonometry knowledge back in secondary school

@40PlusImmigrant U see that google map own Omo, I can’t explain my experience U must know east west north and south by force

@VrumVictor 😂😂😂 bro, even when you stop Oyibo for road to ask, you will head, walk a couple of meters, turn southwest or 60 ° degree north 😂 you will remember how you were unserious with trigonometry and Bearing in Senior Secondary school mathematics

@Kike_Sowemimo Yeah, already signing up for some more.

@40PlusImmigrant Let her go for trips this summer. Look for activities that would involve trips. They usually use the school bus to transport them.

In Canada🇨🇦, one of my daughter’s biggest dreams is… a yellow school bus. 💛🚌 and the reason she can’t ride one? That’s the part that stayed with me.** Not Disneyland. Not toys.........let me say it............

@chukschinedu Omo. Our minds dey there. We will only do the ones that are sacrosanct. I go soon tweet how they set me up to change phone, after forming, my old phone will rugged me for 1year first before new one

@40PlusImmigrant They always have enticing deals to lure you into literally anything. Phones, mortgages, car payments et al.. still pretty new here so I just dey look them

@chukschinedu Exactly! And the older the model of the car, the more liabilities the car brings, including insurance

@40PlusImmigrant I think buying a car isn’t much of a problem, it is getting a sound vehicle(beware of high mileage Kia/Hyundai/American autos lol) and the insurance payments that come with it.

@chukschinedu You'd ask yourself if you won't die before the day ends 🤣

@40PlusImmigrant Standing under the cold or wind is gangster sha lol