FIRST DAY IN WINNIPEG
Sitting on the plane, I was almost in tears.
I hated the entire plane ride. The plane was small and old, the screen monitor was outdated, they only served a complimentary drink.
I spent a great deal of time staring outside the window, the first view was UBC from up top. It was gorgeous, I could see the mountains and water surrounding my campus. And knowing that I am leaving this place for 8 months made me sick to my stomach.
Fast forward 1.4 hours later, the plane was above Manitoba. No mountain, no ocean, no green land, no tall buildings, it was just flat land with 50 shades of brown. When I got off the plane, I had the first taste of Winnipeg heat.
My mom told me to wear my winter boots and ski jacket on the plane, so I won’t need to pay for the over weight luggage. Picture this, me with my winter boots and warm jacket standing in a 27 degree rural area.
It took quite sometime for me to find my luggage, cause I thought my luggage would be along the same place with the other passengers, but apparently they have a separate place for luggage that is overweight or carry glass objects. It’s basically sending a message of “oh hey these are the baggage that need extra care, and the others you can do whatever you need with them”
Anyways, I immediately spotted the person who came to pick me up. She held out a piece of paper and started to walk around like she’s trying to find a missing person. I couldn’t see what was on the paper, but I’m just gonna go ahead and assume it was my name.
I saw her, but I didn’t want to go over there and claim my name. I wanted the last few minutes of my alone time, just me and my Vancouver thoughts.
But eventually, I met up with her. She took me home to her parents house, the house where I’m staying in. Along the road, it was empty, it was brown, it was dirty, and it was lifeless. When we got to the house, everything around it seemed exactly what google maps show.
The grandparents stepped outside to help me carry the baggage in to their house. First impression of the house: small, hot, gloomy, empty. But the grandparents were very welcoming, the grandma really enjoyed talking to me, so she continued to do so for the next few hours. She had extreme thick Chinese accent, an accent that I can’t really understand. But i nodded politely and laughed when I think I should laugh. She made sure I was comfortable, asking me if everything is alright every few minutes.
She made sure I ate something for lunch and dinner. She showed me the Chinese buns that she made, it looked like the buns that my mom make. But then when she said she was going to heat them up for me. She grabbed a rugged looking towel, drained it with water, wrapped the towel around the bun, and placed it in the microwave.
I think that was a major culture shock for me right there. It was and is pretty un-sanatizing in my point of view, but I still ate in anyways because I didn’t want to seem rude. She also made me a bowl of rice soup, it was so flavorless and different, I instantly started to miss home. I told myself to finish it quickly and head back up to organize my chain of thoughts.
Apparently, I’m not going to be living with an Indian roommate. I’m living with 2 other guys who just arrived here from China last week. I’m not a big fan of fobs, but at this point, I’ll take anything if that means company.
They turned out to be super friendly and nice, we chatted for 2 hours, talking about our anxiety starting out new in Winnipeg and our background story. They offered to go to the supermarket with me tomorrow and show me around.
Instantly, I got extremely comfortable with them. It’s nice to have roommates here to take care of you and help each other out.
So far, I didn’t cry after I landed in Winnipeg. And I didn’t need to open Gary’s “Homesick” letter yet. I’m super proud of that.