You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'libraries' tag.
Have spent most of the day in To. The fellow that showed us different places also explained quite clearly what is the ethnic makeup in different areas of To, and, obviously, what to expect. That was amongst the most interesting subjects of our conversation, but cannot get into more details here.
Hadn’t I had some reading material, I would have found the trip boring, especially that it takes so many hours by train back and forth between Montreal and To. In addition to reading some library material, I also found that literary criticism appeals to me more than I would have expected at this point. I remember that I used to read quite a bit of that in Romanian, when I was a teenager and, later on, in my early twenties. But social changes that affected my native country and my departure to Canada, along with the long quest of finding my way in my adoptive country, seemed to have put a stop to my literary passion. Also, I had to work pretty hard, and sometimes that seemed close to impossible, to bring my knowledge of English, including Canadian cultural references, to comparable levels of (at least two) literacies of my native Romanian. Overall, I have perceived that the cultural adaptation was the most challenging. (I must have experienced the same emotions as an anthropologist doing field work). Right now, I feel that only after fifteen years of living here in Canada, and especially in the last two years (of graduate studies), I crossed that imaginary border, as I have realized that after long conversations with my mother and my sister, just recently, in Norway.
The question is if it took me so many years to adapt, as an educated person and having a reasonable command of English, –and speaking French acceptably well–, to the Canadian society, what about so many immigrants who simply do not have the time to learn well either language, or culture, because they have to work hellishly to support their families? How can they ever integrate? Or integrate in which way?
As this country becomes increasingly multicultural, how can libraries in big cities, To being a good example, can attract these immigrants, and their children, to read or even socialize in these cultural centres?
