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本帖最后由 billzhao 于 2019-3-15 08:26 编辑 ~4 G3 N- G$ r7 W% v$ U
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As an owner of a house and a condo which I paid in cash, I cannot help wondering how this happened. The thought of looking back at the 12 years in Canada just cannot be stopped. Then here it is, the reminiscence of the past of an international student. # A0 z f4 U8 C) `2 R
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The memory of coming to Edmonton on August 17, 2006 was so vivid that seems like only yesterday. The first night was awful because the bed coverings and quilt were kept in the luggage that did not arrive with me. However the next morning it was sunny with very blue sky, the most beautiful sky I had never seen. The other thing I noticed was the lawns that were incredibly green and fantastically fresh. $ g/ B/ |7 N0 z. E1 N- N! g
& O! V j) C0 u" z w- SOne day when I was walking along the trail beside some new houses, I wondered when I could own one of the houses, which look like the villas in China only wealthy people live. I was a Ph.D. student at that time and no matter how frugal I was with my scholarship, buying a house seemed like a dream. 0 Z4 u1 H6 w2 Z9 l' l
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Life is full of miracles and loaded with things expected and unexpected. I had my first full time job I wish it would last. I moved out of Michener Park, the University of Alberta residence and rented an apartment in the small city. When the job finished I talked to my boss (I was a residence assistant and maintenance assistant for five years in Michener Park) hoping to return, I got a ruthless no as an answer. I rented a room at a nice couple’s townhouse, which was unbearably small and crowded.
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: u Q1 ]+ d1 W+ W/ xI thought about buying a house or something all the time but no action was taken until I visited a friend’s newly-purchased house. I bought an apartment which I loved so much that I would still have lived there if I was not forced to sell it two years later. The apartment was more spacious than my apartment in China. It was lovable also because I turned a wretched place into a two-bedroom home with my own hands. I was a so called scholar whose hands are too feeble to truss a chicken. Just kidding, in fact I was very athletic and played tennis almost everyday for hours. I had muscles but I had no clue how to apply them in renovation.
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Harry was a master graduate in the early 1980s and a successful businessman before migrating to Canada. He was smart and hardworking, and had been in the profession of renovation for many years. He was my Master and great friend who showed me how to install flooring and paint walls. Ever since the work of converting a nearly condemned apartment to a beautiful home I become a handyman myself.
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