Whoa. It’s hard to believe that it’s my Sweet 16. I’m definitely quasi-stoked.

Let me correct myself— it’s not just my big day, but also my family’s. So put away your smooshy ballad CD’s and spin-the-bottle bottles— and also send all the cute teenage boys home (I should be barred for saying that) because it’s not time for a Sweet 16 party— though crazyily enough, it sounds fun.

It was 16 years ago today, that a little young Chinese tot (me) immigrated to Canada with his beloved family. To get away from all the Hong Kong sovereignity issues, and the poor environmental conditions— but most of all, to experience a better life and a better education— my parents decided to fill in some papers and move to Canada.

I was only 5 at the time and just graduated from St. Stephen’s Catholic Kindergarten. I seriously didn’t know what was going on. All I knew was that I was going to leave all my little friends and move to a place called “Canada.” Which really doesn’t help, since I didn’t really know where or what that is. All I know was it was north of Hong Kong, meaning it will be colder.

“So where’s north?,” I asked
“Where the compass points to,” Dad replied
I must say how helpful his answer was at the time.

I remember making fun of the name “Canada”— you know how children are— because “Canada” in Chinese is “???”; which is the name’s Chinese phonetic interpretation— it sounds quite similar in Mandarin (ja-na-da), but not so much in Cantonese (ka-la-dai). Anyways, in Chinese, it means “plus take big” if taken character-for-character.

So yeah, being kids, I’d make fun of that. :P

According to my parents, when they applied for a visa, their initial choice of settlement was Calgary because apparently there was proportionately more support for immigrants there at the time (no evidence if that was true), but ultimately we decided to settle in Toronto, specfically in North York.

Anyways, after a long plane ride on the now defunct Canadian Airlines. I clearly remember:

• vomitting on my flap-down table because there was so much turbulence— at least to me. The flight attendant was so grossed out that she totally just steered clear from me and just offered tissues for my dad to clean up my mess


• seeing the Hong Kong skyline and how dangerously close we were to the structures nearby. As some of you might recall, the now non-operational Kai Tak Airport was surrounded by dangerously tall densely populated areas


• eating the bad airline food. yuck!
  
• sitting in the aisle seat, since my sister always got her way— mind you I was the younger brother.

When we finally arrived to Canada, I didn’t really notice all that much, probably because I just wasn’t observant. However, one thing I vividly remember was how much better the air was. I didn’t exactly realize it at the time, but I just found myself enjoying taking really big breaths — as if the air was scarce and that I must intake it all in.

Our parents and I were shocked to be coming to a place that had sunshine until 9:00. It was amazing.

Now, 16 years later, we don’t really celebrate it much, but we do definitely observe this momentious day in our family’s history. I remember how it was a really big deal for the first five or six years and we’d go out for a nice dinner— as it was a big milestone for us at the time considering the difficulties of settling here from a foreign country.

I will take this opportunity to praise Canada. We live in a great country and we demonstrate a grand social showcase that is strikingly unique to the world. Our general acceptance for diversity and our collective-leaning society (i.e. strive for societal needs) is something we should truly be proud of. Never shall anyone try to take that away from us. (Ahem, Ralph Klein)