Meeting New People!
July 7, 2016 7:13 pm Leave your thoughts
Grande Prairie is bigger than it may look. 2015 census puts its population at nearly 70 thousand people, and in the early 2000s, it was the fastest growing city in Alberta. Even though it is Alberta’s seventh largest city, there aren’t many Asians. Among the Asian population in the town, Filipinos are the most common, and rarely Koreans.
For the last six months, I’ve been working here, I crossed paths with people with various backgrounds and ethnicities, but it wasn’t until recently I met another Koreans. Living in the local college residence exposed me to students similar to my age. Many of them came from the Peace Country region outside the City of Grande Prairie.
Grace and Amanda are nursing students in the college. They live in residence units right behind mine, so I was able to hear them out of my window. Thanks to them, I had a rare chance to converse in Korea with people outside my family. Since immigrating to Canada 13 years ago, my family wasn’t involved with local Korean communities, thus the language wasn’t used much outside the house.
My encounter with them is another reason Grande Prairie is starting to feel like my second home. I’m starting to know the town and its people. Maybe one day, I’ll be a part of it all.