1993 was a busy year for me. Many things happened, good and bad, and with happiness and with sorrow. For immigration reason, I was not allowed to leave the country for two years starting from the date of application. So, I finally became a full Canadian citizen in spring 1993 right after my graduation from the Faculty of Education. With the citizenship, came the passport application. We were happy to be able to finally travel back to Taiwan although we could not do it due to a new financial reason.
While I was quite happy with the completion of my schooling and my new citizenship, my husband’s court case was also finally settled in the spring of 1993. He was involved in a car accident in 1983, with no fault of his own. However, the motorcycle guy who hit him had some disagreement with his own insurance company, which consequently affected the insurance payout to my husband. Of course, they all went to court, the motorcycle guy, his insurance carrier, my husband and his insurance carrier. It was like a farce for ten long years!
Finally ten years later in 1993, the case was settled OUT OF COURT. Who won in this case? The lawyers! More than half of my husband entitlement went to pay the lawyers. The motorcycle guy apparently would be on the wheelchair for the rest of his life, and my husband’s health was also wrecked. It was really a joke of the system. Anyway, with the little insurance payout, we decided to put it down as a down payment to purchase our first detached home. Due to the recession, the interest rate was falling to the all time low. It was a good time for us to finally secure a piece of our own real estate. Since I would be starting working full time at the store, it would make sense to start thinking about our financial plan. So, we purchased our first home and moved in the summer of 1993.
Right after we moved into our new home, I also got myself a part time teaching position at the local Chinese School which was not too far from the house. I accepted the teaching position for September not because of the money. They certainly haven’t paid teachers enough to teach those multi-level heritage language classes. It was more of an opportunity to be in a Canadian classroom, to meet Chinese people in the community, and to establish a sense of belonging here in a new country. All heritage language schools have been run by the local Board of Education. In fact, there were at least 10 different languages being taught at the time. That tells you how diverse Canada has become.
About a week before September 1993, I got a phone call from my brother in Taiwan. He warned me of my dad’s deteriorating health and asked me to standby and be prepared to go home. My heart just sank! I called the airline immediately that night and got the ticket to fly home. A week before my full time job and the brand new class, I had to take time off and fly back to Taiwan with my new passport. Sad! Irony!
I did not expect to go home to say good bye to my dad that way! For those first few years in Canada, I thought of him and my family everyday while I was struggling to reestablish my life here. It is very difficult and emotional for me to explain my kind of sorrow to people who have not been through similar experiences. To this day, I am still not able to fully record this part of my story without wiping tears off my eyes.
To be continued
While I was quite happy with the completion of my schooling and my new citizenship, my husband’s court case was also finally settled in the spring of 1993. He was involved in a car accident in 1983, with no fault of his own. However, the motorcycle guy who hit him had some disagreement with his own insurance company, which consequently affected the insurance payout to my husband. Of course, they all went to court, the motorcycle guy, his insurance carrier, my husband and his insurance carrier. It was like a farce for ten long years!
Finally ten years later in 1993, the case was settled OUT OF COURT. Who won in this case? The lawyers! More than half of my husband entitlement went to pay the lawyers. The motorcycle guy apparently would be on the wheelchair for the rest of his life, and my husband’s health was also wrecked. It was really a joke of the system. Anyway, with the little insurance payout, we decided to put it down as a down payment to purchase our first detached home. Due to the recession, the interest rate was falling to the all time low. It was a good time for us to finally secure a piece of our own real estate. Since I would be starting working full time at the store, it would make sense to start thinking about our financial plan. So, we purchased our first home and moved in the summer of 1993.
Right after we moved into our new home, I also got myself a part time teaching position at the local Chinese School which was not too far from the house. I accepted the teaching position for September not because of the money. They certainly haven’t paid teachers enough to teach those multi-level heritage language classes. It was more of an opportunity to be in a Canadian classroom, to meet Chinese people in the community, and to establish a sense of belonging here in a new country. All heritage language schools have been run by the local Board of Education. In fact, there were at least 10 different languages being taught at the time. That tells you how diverse Canada has become.
About a week before September 1993, I got a phone call from my brother in Taiwan. He warned me of my dad’s deteriorating health and asked me to standby and be prepared to go home. My heart just sank! I called the airline immediately that night and got the ticket to fly home. A week before my full time job and the brand new class, I had to take time off and fly back to Taiwan with my new passport. Sad! Irony!
I did not expect to go home to say good bye to my dad that way! For those first few years in Canada, I thought of him and my family everyday while I was struggling to reestablish my life here. It is very difficult and emotional for me to explain my kind of sorrow to people who have not been through similar experiences. To this day, I am still not able to fully record this part of my story without wiping tears off my eyes.
To be continued
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