Being in the middle of two cultures

When Carlos Bautista CPA, CA, CPC (MEXICO), and Silvia Perez CPA, CA, CPC (MEXICO) moved to Edmonton in 2006, they knew exactly one person in this city of approximately then-730,000—an old co-worker from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Mexico City.

After visiting Canada in 2005, Carlos and Silvia fell in love with the beauty of the country. Accepting job offers with PwC in Edmonton was a natural next step in fulfilling their new dream of moving to Canada.

Now almost 15 years later, Carlos, Manager of Financial Reporting at ATCO Gas, reminisces on the move and a big difference he noticed right away: “People take care of each other here.

“In Mexico, people are friendly, but it’s a different kind of friendly,” he says. “We were part of the community as soon as we moved here, even though my English was not as good as it is right now.”

For the first year and a half, Carlos and his wife were in the “honeymoon phase” of moving to Canada. And then the doubts started to set in as they watched their peers in Mexico get promotions while their careers remained steady.

But Carlos says the hardest part was feeling like he didn’t belong anywhere. “You feel like you don’t belong to Canada. At the same time, you feel like you don’t belong to Mexico either. You’re in the middle of two cultures.”

Carlos makes his favourite Mexican dish with fresh, wholesome ingredients

Around the third year, things changed, and Carlos knew Canada was home. By then he had opportunities to attend a controllership program, connect with a professional coach (who also happens to be an accountant), and work with CPAs from other cultures who were succeeding. Carlos asked himself: “If they can do it, why can’t I?”

The biggest thing that helped, though? Carlos brought part of his culture with him to Canada. Or, rather, he learned more about his own culture after moving to Canada. “I’m not a chef,” he says, “but after I moved to Canada, I learned, and I brought with me the culture of cooking traditional Mexican dishes.

“Back in Mexico, you don’t need to know how to cook Mexican food because you can go and buy it. Here, it was shocking because the food does not taste the same.”

So Carlos called up his grandma and learned how to cook his favourite Mexican dishes. Now, he loves cooking real Mexican food when he and his wife entertain friends.

“It does take time to adapt,” says Carlos. “But one day, you feel like you’re doing it, and it’s not a sacrifice anymore.”