I was born in Burnaby, B.C and lived there for 14 years with my parents and two siblings. I come from a Spanish background so Spanish was most spoken at home. Later, my parents learned more English and we began to speak Spanglish. Grade 5 is when I began to be interested in Asian cultures. Before that I never paid attention to other cultures but probably because of the advanced technology, I was exposed to more.
I can speak Spanish, English, basic Japanese and a good amount of Korean, which is a great skill I’ve obtained. Another hobby of mine is learning new languages. I can introduce myself in six languages: Hindi, Spanish, English, French, Korean and Japanese. My friends and parents are always startled by my comprehension of a different language. For this reason, I strive to learn new languages. Not many people have the skill to comprehend a different language at a fast pace. People always say that my pronunciation is perfect which gives me hope. Therefore, I’m aiming to be a fluent speaker in multiple languages. Anyone who knows me very well will most likely know about my desire to learn new languages. I particularly find the Korean language fascinating. Perhaps in a few years I can travel to South Korea. Some aspects of their culture that I’ve learned is their filmography\music, like K-dramas and Kpop customs, traditions and lifestyle. For many years now, I have been watching a variety of dramas and listening to korean music and through these I gained so much knowledge. As a result, listening to kpop songs and watching K-dramas became a hobby. In fact, both aspects today are extremely popular worldwide even more than before when I was introduced to it.
Is transferring during high schools twice difficult? From my experience, it is difficult. In 2013, I moved from Burnaby to Surrey which meant transferring to a different school halfway through ninth grade. I had to say goodbye to my friends, classmates, teachers, childhood friends and my 14 year old home. On the other hand, I was excited for a new change: bigger house, new surroundings and new friends. However, I did not expect the opposite, such as a non-multicultural environment ( 90% south asian ), an exceptional attitude from classmates, as well as deviant behaviour from students. I imagined an awesome school with welcoming classmates but it was not. I literally wanted to go back to Burnaby because it was difficult to make friends there since everyone had their own group already. I eventually was able to join a group and they were very nice.
The time at this school did not last long. After 3 years of living in Newton we had to move again and I was in my eleventh grade. The new area we were moving to had a good vibe and I felt good about this place. I was thrilled. I was hoping that this school would be very different than the other school. Surprisingly, my first week of school went great because classmates were actually welcoming and I was able to find an awesome and hilarious friend group. People in our new neighborhood were very welcoming too.
In high school there are accomplishments which I achieved and demonstrated well throughout grade eight to twelve. In addition, I am able to solve problems, using information to develop opinions and make decisions which is something I could not achieve at the beginning of high school. I was able to accomplish this for the first time when I had to solve a problem on my own at Science World when I was an assistant facilitator. There was an elderly lady smoking in the “no smoking” area and workers tried to tell her but the lady could only speak Spanish. Luckily, I knew how to speak Spanish; therefore I helped with the situation. Surprisingly, I was awarded for what I did. I learned numerous things in school and experienced various things which helped me realize things about myself. I plan to use these attributes I achieved to develop my critical thinking, self-reflection and communication skills.
Acquiring education is the only way to achieve my goals, which is why I plan to complete my undergraduate degree at Capilano University and optimistically pursue a career in teaching. I wish to become a language teacher. When I was deciding on my program, the Liberal Studies program stood out for me. The reason for this is because it consisted of a four year degree and it involved exploring fundamental courses in the Arts and Sciences such as Anthropology and seemed very flexible. At first I had no clue what career I wanted to pursue so I thought that this program would be a good choice. Overall, I hope to approach knowledge in various ways and to develop my critical thinking. In brief, moving to three different high schools was difficult. However, I learned something from each school and that is to not care what others think but to be yourself and don’t change for others.