How I Came Here, Came a Long Way
By Yue Liu

"You are so lucky". This is what I constantly heard from my Chinese friends when I went back to China last summer to visit them. It is true that I am lucky: to be able to come to Canada, such a beautiful country, and to have the experience of living in a different culture and language, but the experience wasn’t always that sweet. I can still recall some bitter feelings from the tough time during my first immigration year. Of course, the biggest problem
I faced was the language barrier.

June 4, 2005 was the date I first came to Canada. A funny (but serious back then) incident occurred at the Toronto Airport, when my mom and I walked out of the plane that was supposed to fly us to Thunder Bay, and found us back where we departed. "Are they speaking English?" my mom asked me. The language they spoke sounded weird and choppy back then, and it wasn’t like the English we used to hear in schools in China. The announcements and the flight attendants spoke so fast that we couldn't catch any word
other than "the". Just when we were frustrated and desperate, a gentle voice spoke slowly and clearly to us. “We cannot land at Thunder Bay because of heavy fog.” It was from a warm-hearted lady who took the same plane. She spoke it again and again with exaggerated hand gestures until we finally got a sense of what she was talking about. More and more problems emerged. We couldn’t make a phone call to the people waiting for us at the Thunder Bay airport. Because of that we got lost with other people on our flight, and we had no idea where to go next or where to find our baggage. The nice lady appeared again - she had noticed that we got lost from the group. She smiled and talked to us in a calm voice and listened to our terrible English with patience, until she got us on a plane later in the evening, while she stayed at the airport with other
passengers overnight.

The story doesn’t end here. Two years later, in the Spanish classroom of PACI high school, I saw that familiar smiling face that once brought me courage again. The world is small after all - she was my Spanish teacher! Again she used her bright smile and warm voice to help me overcome language obstacles and even use my second language for the study of the third language. When I couldn’t understand other teachers’ fast-paced lecture, she advised them to speak slowly and clearly, and to print instead of write on the blackboard. She also encouraged me to participate in a wide variety of extracurricular activities and take part in school clubs of my interest. Slowly but gradually, I found my English improving, my social circle widened, my experience enhanced with participation in a wide array of activities, and the number on my report card grew.

Two more years have passed. Now as an exceptional IB student, a leader and participant of over ten clubs and associations, a candidate for various scholarships and awards, a good friend of all my classmates, a good daughter (according to my mom), and a positive individual that brings a smile to everyone’s face, I am proud of myself, and I am thankful. Thankful to my Spanish teacher, my mom, my friends, and everyone who has helped me to become who I am today, and who I will be tomorrow.