One of the differences between the States and Canada is in its servicing staff. If you to go to Whistler or the Okanagan or the west coast of Vancouver Island, it's young white kids that are cleaning rooms or picking fruit so that they can pay for their existence (boarding or surfing).But the servicing staff in the States is made up of immigrants, and I know those immigrants aren't making as much as what they make in Canada. And I know what the rents are like in NYC. And so I kept on thinking "why are these people from Mexico or Africa trying to make a living here in one of the most expensive cities in North America?".
Surely people are trying to escape the politics and possibly the warfare of their homeland, but they've got to be working two or three jobs just to make rent, and I just couldn't figure out why.And I think they are doing it just to make a better life for their kids. I think that the people that cleaned our hotel room, that bade us a good morning every day as we shoved oatmeal and yogurt and coffee into our face, were all doing it so that their kids might have a better shot at life than they did.
I can't think of another explanation for why someone would work at a menial job (having to commute in, naturally, since rents are roughly $2,500 or more a month where we were staying) unless they were doing it for altruistic purposes, because you're not going to get rich cleaning hotel rooms or bussing dirty dishes.It's a humbling thought.
The number of shops, restaurants, cafes, grocers, stores in New York was astounding. I kept thinking that everyone there had a story, an explanation for ending up there. And I could care less (to a certain extent) about the people that strike out and try to make it on Broadway: I wanted to know where my cleaning lady lived and how she made rent in such an exorbitantly expensive city. And why.
But now must to bed as we travel again tomorrow.
Yeah, you're right, they are here for their kids. But they bring 3 and sometimes 4 generations of the family with them. These immigrants are accustom to living in tight quarters with lots of family. With 6 or seven adults working and sometimes as many teens too, pumping all that money into one household, they can afford the housing here. I've heard that the US gov. will give immigrants from any country that doesn't border the US a home loan (virtually interest free) and even start up money on a small business. I've never heard it from the horse's mouth but a lot of the hubby's co-workers have homes 3 times the size of ours and small shops (liquor, clothing, convenience stores) on the side, employing many family members, besides working at places like Texas Instruments. And if you ask them how they acquired the home and business they suddenly forget how to speak English.
ReplyDeleteI asked our good friend Ms Perkins why so many immigrants flocked into the US if our school systems were so lacking compared to the rest of the world, say China, Japan, India... She simply told me "you aren't getting the cream of the crop!" For the past 5 years the Valedictorian for our High School graduations has been an Indian child. (not Native American) They leave our native born US citizen kids in the dust when it comes to academics. So they are coming over here for their kids... their kids are taking all the college scholarships, and they are taking all the beer money.
Interesting to hear about that side of it. I suppose from an outsider's perspective it looks very altruistic, but there are always two sides to every coin.
ReplyDeleteIn Vancouver the influx of foreign money from overseas has made it one of the most expensive cities to live in. And similarly it is the foreign students who pay top dollar to go to university here and they ratchet up the GPA as well.