Finally, a hook

Another hectic day in To, but quite fruitful. It seems that I will close a chapter here, in Mtl, in a matter of weeks. It could not have been otherwise, unfortunately. Or, it could have been, but what would have been the price?

 

On a different note…There is an article in RUSQ about the generation 1.5. They are children of refugees from various countries (e.g. Vietnam), who settled in US while ago. These children grew up as bilinguals and acculturated, that is, they understand American cultural clues and idioms, but need more years of academic instruction than their native counterparts. They are not really the second generation of immigrants, but cannot be considered as the first generation either. Somewhere in between. They learn the language by ear, while international students, by eye. The latter have good reading skills since they are highly educated in their home countries, but do not necessarily have good listening or speaking skills (I believe that I have been in the second category in my first academic years in Canada.)

 The point of the matter is that I can understand, since I have experienced that myself, the specific hardships that these cultural minorities face to make a place for themselves in a society that seems to lack patience for their efforts.  

 

Speaking of patience, though, while I was in To to look for a place to live, I checked out an apt owned by someone who barely spoke English. How can you communicate to conclude a transaction in that case? I had no patience for that, I must admit.