My husband, two children and I came to Belleville from Korea in 2003. My husband, Yoon Do, had already applied to Loyalist College. That was the reason why we chose to live in Belleville.

By the time we came to Canada, he had already learned the importance of Canadian educational networks. He had researched on the internet and found a college which provides a 2 year course in his subject. It was the shortest one in Ontario, and that was what he wanted because he already had a Masters degree. He didn't want to waste time and money. He just wanted to build his own educational network in a very short time.

He also realized that he needed to build a social network in Canada. He chose a Canadian church and got involved in a small Bible study group, even though he couldn't speak English well. It was the best way to make Canadian friends.

After graduation, he applied for jobs all over Ontario. However, we had already bought a house in Belleville and our children were getting used to going to school here. If possible, we preferred to get a job in Belleville. In general, most companies don't usually advertise job openings to the public, so it isn't easy to get your foot in the door. It was very difficult to get information about job openings.

One day, one of our church friends came over and informed Yoon Do of a job opening at Bioniche. He immediately applied to Bioniche and got the job.

From our experience, I would say, building networks is the most important way to get a job as newcomers.

Hye Won Seo is a student in Barbara Dick's class at Loyola, Belleville. She also wrote he following short, short story as a very imaginative response to a class lesson on using modals, and it seems to me that she has recounted an incident that occurs all too often in our lives! Look for the modals in the story below.


An Embarrassing Incident
by Hye Won Seo

I have had many embarrassing incidents in my life. One thing I remember, when I was in Grade 9, I went on a school trip to another city by train. I was talking about my teacher with my friends on the train. We thought we were alone, and we were gossiping about our teacher. Then we realized that our teacher was behind us! He must have heard our gossiping about him. We felt like we could have died. But he didn't say anything. He just smiled at us. He might not have heard anything.

Anyway, we should have been talking more quietly and carefully. In fact, we shouldn't have been gossiping at all!

No Country for Foreign Men
by Hoony Seonghoon Bong (First Place Winner)

"Would you please calm down? I'm trying to do my best, and I'm also exhausted exactly like you." He almost yelled at her.

"I told you over and over that I just wanted regular travel. Like a normal package trip! But you decided by yourself again as you always do. Look at us. Finally, we’re lost. There's no phone, no water and not even any road signs. I’m here to relax not to wander around a totally strange place! I'm really sick of you, Gerald!"

"Who wanted to go to India? Did I? Did I? If you didn't choose this stupid country, it definitely wouldn’t have happened to us. I'm not the one who picked India. It's you! Cynthia! I wanted to go to Cuba. Moreover, you wanted to take a bus today. We should have got a cab!"

"Here we are... The only problem we've had is that you can't see your problems. You don’t even want to see. You've never admitted your faults. Never! You know what? You're pathetic. You're never going to realize your problems. Now, I feel sorry for you"

Gerald thought about something for a while and said calmly;

"You are right. I won't deny my fault any more, but this is not a good time for a quarrel. It makes a bad situation worse. We have to go through this together. You got it?"

"O.K, I'm just afraid. The sun is going down, Gerald, and we don't know even where we are."

"I know that, Cynthia, but we'll be fine..."

"We haven't seen any people or any cars at all since two hours ago. What can we do now?"

Gerald tried to encourage her, but his lethargic voice made her start crying, and her sad eyes with tears made him more depressed. They could no longer keep talking. About two hours later, they’re still walking around the same spots that they had already passed. The sun was almost down, and darkness was coming quickly. The dark made her shiver. Hour after hour, the darker the place she was in, the more afraid she felt. She felt real fear that she hadn’t felt before. She started to give up everything, and said to him feebly.

"Though we can't go back to the hotel, I'll forgi..."

"That's not gonna happen! Let's think in a positive way..." He wanted to tell her more confidently, but also he couldn't be sure what would happen to them. About an hour later, She stopped to tie up her sneakers, and she saw something like lights from very far away.

"Gerald! Can you see that? Is that a light?"

"Oh! Those are head lights! A car is coming to us! We're surviving!"

"Oh my gosh! Stop the car!"

"See? I told you we'll be fine!" Gerald ran to the car, yelled joyfully, and shook his arms at the car that was coming to him. In spite of his big gesture, the car narrowly passed him, and it made him to fall down roughly. The only thing that he could do was stare at the car's back with his dull face.

"Maybe Jesus deserted us..." Cynthia, staring at the car, dropped to her knees and muttered to herself desperately.

Then, the car suddenly hesitated, and stopped. The husband and wife ran toward the car. There was a middle aged Indian man in the dirty old car.

"Namaste, Can you speak English?" Gerald asked him gladly.

"Yes, but no well, no well."

As the driver answered slowly, she smiled at her husband with a sigh of relief. "We've been looking for the way to Varanasi all day long! But we don't even know where we are. Could you help us, please?" She excitedly said to the driver.

"Varanasi?"

It seemed that he didn't understand exactly what she said but at least he hear Varanasi.

"Yes. Yes, we’re going to Varanasi! If you drive us to there, I'll pay you enough money.” Gerald took his wallet out from his pocket and pointed at his pile of bills to the driver and said. "Take us to Varanasi. I'll give you this much."

The driver gazed at Gerald's hand that held the pile of bills and seemed to think.

The driver gave his hand to Gerald and said. "O.K, get in the car." Gerald and Cynthia were frightfully glad. They got into the car quickly. The inside of the car stank badly, but it was not problem for them. They just said to the driver that they really thanked him.

The driver smiled to them kindly, started drive, and said, "Calm down and relax. Varanashi is very far from here, so it will take a long time to get there."

"No matter how far it is, we don't care if we can get there. We are just thankful to meet you. You couldn’t even imagine how afraid we were." She, feeling calmer, said to the driver.

"I feel pity for you. I can see your pale face and fearful eyes although it's dark inside. I can guess how awful you spent today. Mrs..."

"McConnell. Just call me Cynthia. This is my husband Gerald, and you are..."

"Suresh."

"Thank you, Mr. Suresh. By the way, your English is quite good." Gerald said to him, but the driver didn't say anything. He just smiled again and kept driving.

"I'll make a phone call to Jacob and Paul as soon as I arrive the hotel room, Gerald. I really miss their voices..." She hugged her husband, began to cry again, and said, "... And I'm sorry that I spoke to you aggressively. I should have been nicer."

"No, You weren’t as bad as I was. I apologize to you." He kissed her forehead and whispered lowly, however his eyes were staring at the driver in the rearview mirror.

About thirty minutes passed. Her head was leaning on his left shoulder, and she slept deeply. He was also very tired and sleepy, but he didn't fall asleep. It was very quiet inside the car. The only thing that made noise was just some noise from engine. When ten minutes passed more, the car's speed decreased and soon stopped. Gerald was slightly surprised and asked the driver.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s not a big deal. Sometimes my car stops during the driving for no reason. It’s not unusual, don’t worry. As you can see, it’s very old.”

“That sound makes me uneasy.”

“Yes, but I need your help. Could you do me a favor?”

“Of course. Just say it.”

“Well, if you push my car, it’ll help to start it.”

“You want me to get off this car and push the back? Is that what you want?

“Exactly.”

He put her head on the seat and stepped out of the car, and it made her wake up. She asked him in between sleeping and waking.

“Did we arrive at the hotel, Gerald?”

“Not yet, but we’ll soon be there.” He answered shortly and got out of the car. It was very dark outside and quite cold, and the light wind was blowing gloomily. He thought that discovering the car had been a real fortune. On the other hand, he could feel some bad feeling, but he didn’t know why.

“Push at the three! O.K?” The driver opened the window and yelled. He put his hands on the car’s backside to push the car, and shouted more loudly.

“I got it!”

“O.K! One. Two. Three!” As he started to push, the car started to go by itself.

“Now, working!” The driver shouted. Gerald smiled and walked toward the car to get in.

However, he felt mounting anger and terrible frustration instead of feeling fear. Cynthia didn’t have a cell phone or money. Moreover, she didn’t have any information about the hotel where they were staying. The only thing that she knew was just the hotel’s name. If the driver wanted to ask him to pay a ransom, there was no way to contact him. He thought that was biggest problem. He thought about whole properties that he owned and could pay for her. He started to run the way the car was going and started to cry. A bunch of possibility filled his head. A thought that tortured him worst was how he would tell their children if he failed to rescue her. He felt real sorrow.

When several hours passed, he could see some lights from cities. He ran to the city faster than he had run before. Soon he found some people and asked them to bring him to a police station. Fortunately, one of them, named Mohinder, could speak English, and he helped him. They went to a police station as quickly as possible. As he entered the station, he found an old detective who looked like the highest veteran named Zoushe. He told everything that happened to the couple to the detective, and Mohinder helped him by translating. The old detective, with a mild eye, told calmly; “The clues that you gave me are not enough. "

" I’m sorry to trouble you but, we can’t guarantee you that we can rescue her safely. Anyway, before we begin to look for your wife, I have ask you something to do. Please do not call the embassy. Sometimes it happens. Not usually. I mean the missing...or kidnapping... whatever... When it happens, if the damn embassy starts to interfere, the situation always gets worse. I can guarantee this. They don’t do anything helpful. They just sit on the fancy chair, and always order us what to do. They’ve really bugged us, so I want you not to call them. Could you follow my suggestion, please?"

It was a hard decision for him, but he had to do. He decided to accept the suggestion and wanted to believe that this was a reasonable choice. Eventually, the search was started by all the policemen in the district near the police station including Captain Zoushe with Gerald and Mohinder. Nevertheless, unfortunately, the first day they looked for her finished without certain results at midnight.

Four days passed. During the days, there wasn’t any message from the kidnapper to the hotel he has staying in or the police since she had been kidnapped. Gerald was very exhausted about everything. He gradually started to give up hope of finding her. He went back to the hotel room and took his first shower in India. He thought that he would be glad if everything that he was going through was dream. Terrible guiltiness pressed him cruelly. He looked around the room on the bed. The baggage without its owner made him stared to cry. His tears dropped on the floor. If Cynthia were here, she would wipe the tears on his cheek with her sweet hanky tenderly. Suddenly, the phone’s ringing filled his empty room. He picked up the phone quickly. It was Captain Zoushe. He said that it seemed they had found his wife with the kidnapper’s car and maybe the suspect left them on purpose. He asked her safety first, but he spoke the location of her and the car instead of replying his question. He put on a jacket rapidly and went away from the hotel.

Cynthia’s body was laid on the back seat with no clothing in the car. A big white piece of cloth stained with blood, that seemed like hers, covered her pale, cool body. Her eyes were closed without eyeballs, and some straws were held between the eyelids. Her upper body was carved by something knife shaped from the chest to the belly, and the inside of the body was also filled with piles of straws. There was no heart, kidneys or liver. He couldn’t move even slightly and felt a strong vertigo with the horrible sight. He flopped on the ground and tried to collect his mind, but soon he fell into a faint.

The United States ' Struggle for the National Identity
by Momoko Takanobu (Second Place Winner)

It is easy to blame the United States. There was no evidence of weapons of mass destruction on Iraq War. The American government probably has no absolute “justice”. In the first place, there is no perfect rightness and no perfect wrongness in the world.

However, can we laugh at their convulsive struggle to seek a common ideal, which might be a phantom? Can we ridicule their frantic fruitless efforts to seek their identity, which probably just results in causing others trouble?

Each nation has a unique background and a special fate, just as each person does. I cannot help feeling sympathetic understanding for their foolish behavior. They are just struggling against their destiny. Of course it is true that they should sincerely respect every other culture by placing themselves in others’ positions. However, at the same time, it is productive for us to imagine what it would be like if we were American.

No one knows where we come from and where we are going to. However, we can learn something from others’ foolishness. I believe this is the first step toward making our uncertain and ephemeral world more reliable, more meaningful and more ideal.

Atwood had lots of descriptions of her characters’ dreams in order to help to build those characters' personalities. Grace is a successful example of this. Her dreams give the audience main ideas about her character and background. Every time Dr. Jordan came to visit Grace, he asked Grace to describe her dreams, because he thought the images in her dreams might be helpful in this case. Actually, most of Grace's dreams are about the memories of her life. At beginning of chapter 40, Grace said she dreamt that she was walking with Mr. Kinnear, who was her employer, on the way home. There was someone in the house waiting to welcome them back, and she said:" Only it was not Nancy, but Mary Whitney who was waiting; and I felt so happy, to know I would see her again, restored to health and laughing, as she was before…but I had a great yearning towards this house, for it was my real home." Those images demonstrate that in Grace's mind, she thought the real home for her was where she could live with Mary. Mary was the most important person in her memory, because the time she spent with Mary was the happiest period in her life. Following Grace’s dreams, the audience can see that her biggest wish was having a real home and a happy life. Furthermore, in Chapter 27, she told Dr. Jordan that she dreamt about "red flowers" and walking "outside in the yard". She said: " I said that they were red flowers, and quite large, with glossy leaves like a peony. But I did not see that they were made of cloth." The things which Grace dreamt were normal things that most girls dreamt of. She had nothing different from other girls in her dreams, although she had been judged as a criminal. Grace’s dreams show people that as a teenaged girl with a poor family background, she also has a kind heart and pure soul. All of her hopes, as the audience can find out from her dreams, were to have a normal and good life.

Dreams are also used by Atwood to portray Dr. Jordan. Those dreams indicated this character's capacity for good and bad. Dr. Jordan, as a physician, in that particular time, always had a good reputation in people's mind. But people could not realize how bad his was inside. While he was asking about Grace's dreams and knowing the dreams were the real thoughts of her mind, he also dreamt. But all of his dreams were about sex, and audience can feel his sexual restraint. For example, in Chapter 17, he dreamt he was a boy at his old house. He describes: " It was a secret world, one as a boy he wasn't supposed to explore…In his ears, he hears a ringing, a faint and shivery laughter; and then many hands caress him." Those descriptions show how he was interested in women, even when he was a young boy.

Another example in Chapter 22 that he dreamt is: "He tugs it down and it falls across his face, and then he understands that is isn't cloth at all but hair, the long fragrant hair of an unseen woman, which is twining around his neck. He struggles, he is being closely embraced; he can scarcely breathe. The sensation is painful and almost unbearably erotic." His dreams were all about sex and women. Because of his position, nobody would realize how dirty and repressed he was. He acted as a normal and good person in the day time, but he dreamt scandalous things at night. It became harder and harder for him to control himself. In Chapter 42, Dr. Jordan could not control himself anymore, and he had sex with his landlady while he was dreaming. His own sexual restraint did not work at all. His affair broke his good reputation in public; thus, he ran away without finishing Grace's case. Actually, Dr. Jordan was a hypocrite, as Grace pointed out in Chapter 48 while she was in her neuron-hypnotic session. Atwood shows Dr. Jordan's character through his dreams, but she also gives the audience the ideas about his capacity for inappropriate behavior.

Moreover, Atwood also uses dreams to indicate who the real murderer of Nancy was, which should have been Mary Whitney. In Chapter 48, Dr. Jordan and a colleague decided to do a neuron-hypnotic session on Grace. Mary spoke out in the neuron-hypnotic session. She said that she killed Nancy and Grace knew nothing about it. Then Dr. Jordan asked "whether she ever had relations with James McDermott." Mary said: "Really, Doctor, you are such a hypocrite! You want to know if I kissed him, if I slept with him. If I was his paramour! Is that it?" Such speech would never come from Grace, because that was not her personality at all. By Dr. Jordan's analysis, that was called dedoublement .

Dreams are very powerful methods which had been used in Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. The characters' dreams run though the whole story. Describing the details which appeared in the dreams is a useful way to express the main characters' personalities. They gave the audience a different angle at which to view the characters, such as Dr. Simon Jordan, who was an actually dark person inside of his heart. The dreams also help readers to realize the real murderer was Mary Whitney, because of the double consciousness in Grace's brain and the multiple personalities in Grace's body. Dreams are used very successfully in this novel by Atwood. They made both the characters and the story alive. Alias Grace is a valuable novel to recommend to adults; it will give people good messages of viewing others from different angles, and remind readers that appearance does not necessarily represent a person’s real mind.

But why don’t you come with me to the real Paris?

First we will go to the Sacré Coeur and walk on this old Paris hill with those little streets. Then we are going to see the place of the famous movie “Amélie Poulain”. Don’t you think it’s a colourful place? You can see a lot of ethnicities and there is a variety of smells with various restaurants along the street.

Here we are! Barbés! This place is the melting pot point of Paris. Maghreb, Africa, Asia are mixed all together in this fabulous place. You are probably hungry now. Let’s go into this Moroccan restaurant to eat a great Tagine. After this meal a walk will be great! Let’s go to the centre of Paris.

We are in the Marrais. It is the Jewish area but also the gay place. We are near the Place de La Bastille, where we executed our King. Let’s have a Mojito in a Latina bar before taking a taxi to the marvellous restaurant La Tour D’Argent in front of the Seine River where the Bateaux Mouches illuminate the building. Isn’t that beautiful? Enjoy Paris!

By Antoine Beyret
Pat Davis’s ESL Class at Open Book

What Canada Means to Me

The first time I heard about Canada, it was a big country whose people were quiet and relaxed. It also was peaceful and beautiful with maple leaves.

My ideas were totally changed when I arrived in Canada. At that time I felt perplex and difficult, because I had never independently lived in a place out of China. It made me nervous and scared because my English was not enough for communication. In addition, I was shy to talk to others. In that case, Canada is like the second home and this home was not warm.

I have made many good friends up to now, and they usually give me lots of associations. In addition, my English was improved a lot, so I was able to chat with Canadians. Also I am learning many skills which relate to housework. Life is a special culture we have to learn. So now Canada means to me a second home, and this home means becoming independent.

Sisi Yang
Erin Kearney's Class, St. Lawrence College

“Canada” is just one word. But it has a lot of meaning for my husband and me. We came to Canada two years ago as immigrants. After 13 hours flying, we started our new life in Canada with 6 packages.

Since we told our families and friends that we decided to immigrate to Canada, “adventure” was the most frequent word that we heard from them. Our families said, “You don’t know anyone there, if something happened, we couldn’t help you.” Our friends worried whether we could find a job without any network. My uncle who had been to Australia for three years even told me “Emigration is not good for your marriage, I saw many people divorced or separated because of the pressure from life.” Anyway, we still came here with hope.

“New opportunity” is what I want to say after we have been here for two years. In Canada, I can go to school again no matter how old I am, and get a new job even totally different than my old job and background. I have a girlfriend who was an architect in our country. She was successful but she hated her job. After she came here, she told me that she would follow her dream this time. Now she is studying biochemistry in university.

Canada gives us new life and home. From the first day we came here, our life has changed a lot. We have our new house and car. That is a big difference from the packages that we had when we landed. My husband has a new job that he loves very much. I have improved my English a lot. I think I am almost ready to study a new program. We enjoy fishing, BBQ, yard work and so on in the summer, and even the snow and ice in the winter. We love the colorfully decorated fall and the green active spring Xia Zhou Erin Kearney's Class, St. Lawrence College

Canada
When I came down the airplane, I saw the maple leaves falling and withering just like my homesickness.
My tear flowed along my face trickled on the snow.
I think the happiness in the past is locked by the time.
I felt sad; I felt lonely; even can not see my own future.
Until now, Canada changed everything for me; gradually I felt my future holds limitless promise.
It gives me chances to imagine my future.
It gives me chances to arrive at my future.
It gives me safety to enjoy my life.
It gives me a nice place to study and live.
It gives me new ideas to make everything possible.
It gives me a lot of happiness and experiences, so I am never confused, where I am going to; where is my future.

Tao Li
Erin Kearney's Class, St. Lawrence College

Canada-----Flying Free

Original Art Work by Melody Chen,
Erin Kearney's Class, St. Lawrence College

Danny Kim, Grade 6

Nancy You, Grade 7

Carmela Valles, Executive Director of the New Canadians Centre (Peterborough)
(Photo by Svetlana Dylevskaya)

ECOTB is an organization dedicated to improving local labour force, economy and training systems. ECOTB helps local industries, communities, businesses and people prepare for the workplace of the future. You can find more information about ECOTB on the following website: www.focusontraining.com . w.focusontraining.com

Carmela Valles addressed the topic, "Why Hire Immigrants?", and gave insight into the challenges and opportunities facing recent immigrants and foreign-trained workers in Ontario. She also outlined some successful strategies for gaining entry to the workforce. The four key business drivers are:
- The Canadian-born workforce is shrinking and the demand for labour is growing.
- Skilled immigrants can help Canadian companies do business with the world.
- Skilled immigrants bring international expertise and experience.
- The local market is changing. Skilled immigrants within our workforce are a valuable resource for understanding product and service needs of ethno-specific markets.

Canadian employers are facing a shortage of highly educated and skilled candidates; skilled immigrants possess talents and accreditation in a variety of fields. Experience with skilled immigrants can give employers a more positive attitude towards international skills and education and a greater willingness to employ them. Canadian employers report a higher degree of enthusiasm for work and loyalty among skilled immigrants (IBM research).

To see the full version of Carmela's presentation, click on http://www.hireimmigrants.ca/workshops/Workshop_Why_Hire_Immigrants.ppt

Paul Zakos, manager of Prior Learning Assessment and Development at FNTI & Loyalist College, drew from his work with many adult workers across Canada and the world as they have attempted to gain empowerment in their job and career search. Empowerment through portfolio development and PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment&Recognition) was discussed. This is a "fresh" idea even for Canadians who are interested in searching for work successfully.

What is a portfolio? A portfolio is a record in a binder or on a computer file of a person's prior learning acquired by formal and/or informal learning. It guides individuals to bring together important evidence that explains the skills, knowledge and experience that they have acquired. A portfolio can be used to inform others about what a person knows and demonstrates what he/she can do.

Carlos Sebastian talked about his experience as a member of the Policy Roundtable for Mobilizing Professions and Trades in Ontario, the National Roundtable and years of social justice work.
Many newcomers to Canada deal with anger and frustration, particularly in their first year. Carlos gave some useful tips, which can help immigrants not only find a job, but also to integrate in the community. For example, he suggested they should work hard to learn English, be flexible and try to adapt, participate in community and social events to meet new people and make new friends. Immigrants also must be ready to learn and grow continuously, using different resources.

A panel of speakers also responded to questions from participants about the various employment issues facing newcomers and discussed training and education issues.

Svetlana Dylevskaya
Loyola, Belleville
LINC 6-7 class