Coming to Canada  
By Martin Zhang 

Currently, I am seventeen and came to Canada over ten years ago. In retrospect, coming to Canada should have been a great change from my life in China. However, I don’t remember there being any feelings of nervousness or worry. I remember my parents telling me that we were leaving our home and moving far away. I followed their orders without much question, still trapped in my childish dreams of playing cars or watching television. Little did I know how much my life would be changed.

I enjoyed my newfound life in Canada. I was eager to meet my father for the first time—he left China before I was born, in order to pursue further education. Although I don’t remember, my mother said I instantly recognized him. This compensated for moving away from all our family members back home. As well, my classmates were very hospitable. In China, my kindergarten class had around one hundred students, whereas my class in Canada had less than twenty. This way, all the students got to know one another easily and quickly. Overall, my peers were very nice. I remember on my first Valentines Day, I received cards and candy, wishing me well. However, I did not know about this custom and didn’t give any back. Despite this embarrassing moment, they were understanding enough to forgive me immediately—how wonderful childhood is! Because of the support from my parents, teachers, and students, I slowly grew to understand Canadian culture, though still retaining my identity.

I developed, quite a bit, in my first year in the adopted country by moving past my barriers. I learned English, first picking up simple words and phrases mostly copied from morning cartoons on TV. I remember having an entire ‘conversation’ without understanding anything my bewildered classmate was saying by just replying with ‘yes’ or ‘no’. She still played with me later on, so I suspect that I guessed my answers well – either that or she was just being nice. Furthermore, I began to see the small details of Canadian life. The existence of snow days (where I used to live, school is never cancelled and snow did not exist), the celebration of Halloween (where I used to live, people never dressed as monsters, nor received any candy for trying to be one), the making of sandwiches (in my country, we didn’t eat bread, nor did we have meat that came in plastic wrappings) – learning about all were great Canadian moments. These small things, I now take for granted; however, they used to be so new, confusing, and interesting when I first heard about them.

Coming to Canada was a thrilling experience. It was a land of strange people, and stranger ideas. However, it is now my adopted country. My experiences were enjoyable, and only until now, in retrospect, did I realize how many things I went through. Although I am still a teenager, I am definitely willing to share my little moments to any newcomer to Canada, and to speak with pride of how great a country this is.