Jessie’s Journal From China to Canada

Poems by Jessie Zhang

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Poems by Jessie Zhang

Issuu Publishing

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Copyright©2015 by Jessie Zhang

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Contents

Acknowledgements……………………..4

Landscape……………………………..… 5

Greeting…………………………………. 6

Eye Contact…………………………..…. 7

Homophone……………………….….…11

Pronunciation……………….….……….12

Belonging………………………………..13

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acknowledgements

Thanks to family and friends for the support—

Douglas, Naylor and Zoey, Naylor,

Wayne Krushelnisky.

Thanks to my CREW311 classmates.

Thanks to my instructor Jay Ruzesky.

Thanks to John Hill and John Lepage.

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Landscape

When I first came

People asked me

How I felt about

Canada. I said,

Fresh air, friendly Canadians

What about the landscape?

I said,

The pictures of Canada in

the magazines , TV and movies

are not what I saw in Richmond

Yet, it awoke in me a desire

to explore

Driving from Vancouver

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to Whistler

I looked outside

the snowy Grouse Mountain

The Giant pine trees and

the vast Pacific Ocean

Especially the single houses

The beckoning walk ways

With their enchanting gardens

Shadowed by trees that

changed color through seasons

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Greeting

Come on, my husband won’t bite you,

A lady says as she demonstrates

a hug.

I stand in front of them,

Even as I just observe it

I feel embarrassed

Sorry, I mumble that I can’t

But maybe I’ll try next time

The giggles from a big crowd

Shift through my ears

I notice that a Canadian

Hug is just a way of

Greeting one another

Sometimes it’s so different

A gentleman gives my hand

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a kiss and I flash my hand

away. Yes, instantly

A French man kisses

both my cheeks.

My knees shake like

a leaf in the wind

Among the chuckles the lady asks,

So what do you do when you greet

your friends in China?

Well, we often shake hands, I reply

A hug usually happens in

a relationship of love and

it is taboo to hug in

a public place.

A teasing smile on her face,

But here in Canada,

People hug everywhere

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My mum is a big hugger

So I get a lot of hugs, she says.

At a party, her arms dangling

around her husband’s neck,

she says, this is the warmest hug.

Her husband lifts her in the air

and she struggles for a landing

Ha ha, it’s my turn to laugh,

You can’t fool me

I know how to perform

a proper hug:

Like toddlers

who open their arms

as they see a smiling face

their hugs

have crossed countries

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Eye Contact

The last time I used direct

eye contact was in China.

A city to city bus dropped off

our tourists at a strange restaurant

on the side of the highway

The driver locked the bus door

and suggested that we would

all have a meal at the restaurant

We were all reluctant

A man who turned to be the owner

barked aggressively at me

Why don’t you get inside?

I stood still, stared at him,

eye to eye, like a dragon

spurting fire

sorry, I don’t need it

He backed off

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When I grew up

the respectful way to listen

to people was to lower my head

and look down to the ground

It was almost a symbol

of showing one’s sincerity

by maximizing the hearing of

my ears.

We have a sound conversation

You, my Canadian friend

once irritated by my absence

of eye contact.

You raise your voice

and hold my shoulder say

Look at me

I’m talking to you

Are you paying attention?

“Of course I am,” I answer.

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But you didn’t look at me

Was I talking nonsense?

“No, I respect you and I’m

listening with my ears open

In my culture, it is impolite

to look directly into your eyes.”

Okay, let me show you

The Canadian way.

You point your two fingers

From your nose to my nose

and say, Are you a thief?

Most Canadian thieves

make no eye contact when police

Ask them questions, but it is rude

To talk to someone you know

Without any eye contact

Now I get your point

My helpful Canadian friend

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for the rest of our conversation

I start to adopt your custom

Oh, my goodness

I have never looked at

a man’s face so intently

Your blue eyes

look like double mini-cornflowers

I wonder if your prominent nose

came from a family from

Europe or Israel

You have dimples as you smile

and your lips move as fast as

a machine gun

Obviously, you have

A dynamic expression

Pardon, what did you say?

“I’m supposed to just look into

your eyes, okay, breathe

here I go

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I remember someone said

That an eye is a window to

the soul; and you, my friend

Have a such a good soul

I shall

look into your eyes as I

read your mind.”

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Homophone

Sparkling eyes, smiling face

Your soft voice spreads an invitation

for a discussion at the ESLA class

You say let’s ‘Brain Storm’

I hear ‘Bring Stone’ as I watch you

Jotting down the word education

The moment you raise your hand

in the air holding a marking pen

Against the white board

My mind buzzes with puzzles

Not sure if the ‘Bring Stone’ is

a metaphor or your interpretation

I guess whoever brings a word

shall evoke a strong and solid idea

like a rock

I keep my mouth shut, but my mind

reaches the highest peak of perplexity

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Pronunciation

Hi, I’ve seen you walk around

You are my ‘Neighbour’

I am in a jubilant mood

My voice floats on a pleasant

melody as I say hello to

You, but you stare at me

with a confuse look, you say

I am not your ‘ Laborer’

Wrinkles climb to your high

forehead and I say

“please forgive me and I’d like to

get things straightened out”

You say, Neighbor not Laborer

Repeat after me

and I have no idea what

the differences are

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Belonging

This is how I feel

a sense of belonging:

In the community library,

she says

We would love to have you join us

We have an annual event for

remembering

the miners who once

worked on Protection Island,

Some were Chinese during the

nineteen century

I realize

that there was a Chinese community

one hundred and fifty years ago

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This is how I feel

a sense of belonging:

at the community garden,

he says,

we welcome you to

our garden group.

We plant herbs,

vegetables and flowers

Maybe you can tell us about the Suyo

The seeds have been growing well

I recognize

that Suyo is the Chinese

long cucumber

“Sure,” I nod my head

like a drummer

This is how I feel

a sense of belonging:

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A letter from the

Protection Lions Club

that says,

You are invited to join us

for helping people in need

and creating a better community

I see the spirit of Lei Feng that

spreads

the supportive neighborhoods

all around the world

My response:

“Definitely, I am in.”

This is how I feel a sense of belong:

At the Power Squadron meeting,

She says,

We all have dreams about boats.

Not everyone sails around the world,

but we can share our boating experience

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You don’t have to go to

the North Pole to know

what it looks like, and the guest

speaker will take you on his journey

Yes, if I bring the illustration

of a coast of China and

if each of us can share just one place, we will cover the

whole world

This is how I feel

a sense of belonging:

at the Ukulele Circle,

as the leading singer of

Sisters Are Soul mates

She sings.

More than twenty smiling faces

holding the ukuleles in their hands

I hum a Chinese song

in the same melody

that music has crossed cultures

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When they ask me how I feel

I say that I’m one of your sisters

This is how I feel

a sense of belonging:

at the Tai Chi Club,

the hand movements

travel across cultures

The master says,

We would love to have you

in our class

I bring my traditional style while

learning a new interpretation.

Something that is more than

just sharing the same interests.

I am one of many

Seeking well-being

This is how I feel

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a sense of belonging:

at VIU’s Creative Writing Program,

my peers

are just like me

They appreciate

the beauty of language.

The translation of my Chinese

adds flavor to my broken English

I strive to be one of

the decent writers

This is how I feel

a sense of belonging:

When strangers say

Isn’t it a privilege that always

nice and warm here in B.C?

When my friends say

May I have your thoughts?

When my husband says

Are your ready for dinner?

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Afterward

The collection of short poems from a personal memoir

describes Jessie’s experience as a middle-aged Chinese

woman having immigrated to Canada in 2009. Seeking a

sense of belonging, she misunderstood customs,

experienced the embarrassments of social activities, the

struggles of language studies towards the final fit into the

new country.

Jessie Zhang is a student from the Vancouver Island

University. She lives in Nanaimo, B.C with her husband.