(지난 호에 이어)

Kim came back home late every evening, after closing his store. Upon his arrival, he had his dinner prepared by his remarkable wife, Sookja, then, he held a conversation session with his children. 

Kim knew little about the school system of Quebec. So, his approach was to induce the children to talk about their daily life, about what they felt, about their difficult moments in the school and on the playground.

“Children, you know that your mom and I love you very much!”, said Kim in order to convince the kids of their parental love.

“Children, tell us see how your day was. Was it difficult to learn French? Were teachers nice? How did you do with other kids? Were they nice to you?”, Kim led the conversation.

“Daddy, there is two Korean kids in my class. I think that we could become friends”, said Nancy.

“That is wonderful. Bring them home and have a party!”, reacted  her mom.

“How about you Paul?”, asked Kim

“Well, I don’t know, father! I think I like the French language. But it is a kind of difficult to get used to the teaching method. The teacher asks all the time questions to each of the kids. When my turn comes, I feel little panicky. But, I say to myself that sooner I get used to it, the better!”, explained Paul.

“Bravo! Paul! I like your keen observation and your will to adjust to the way of teaching in Montreal. I am proud of you, Paul! 

Aren’t you Mom of Paul?’, said Kim with pride and a feeling of assurance. Sookja replied with big smile: “Yes!”.

In Kim’s family, the evening session of parents-children conversation became a tradition. This allowed Kim and his wife to get into the kids’ world, understand their perception, their pains, their joys and their dreams. 

It provided Paul and Nancy opportunities to see how much their parents love their children. They felt the power of their parents’ love; they realized how much they were lucky to have such wonderful parents.

It allowed Mr. Kim and Sookza to appreciate how the kids try to overcome the moments of despair, fear, uncertainty, humiliation and racial differentiation. 

For Paul and Nancy, the most important thing in their age was the feeling of being loved by Mom and Dad. They were sure that they had it. This has been a driving force in their advancement in their studies and their careers.

There was another issue that Kim had to cope with. It was the choice of CEGEP (pre-university college) and that of university by language. At the CEGEP level, there were French college and English college. 

One of the most popular English colleges was Marianpolis CEGEP which most of Asian parents preferred. Another well known French CEGEP was the Brebeuf College. 

There were two English speaking universities, McGill and Concordia and two French speaking universities, University of Montreal and Quebec State University in Montreal (UQAM).

The choice of college and university is of vital importance for the career. If one wants to stay in Quebec and have a career, it is important to master both languages. The proficiency of both languages brings premium in the career even in outside Quebec in Canada. 

If one is good in both languages, one can have priority treatment even in Korea, because of the increasing importance of resource diplomacy which puts more and more emphasis on French Africa.

  Kim learned many things about schools in Montreal through many people.  So he wanted to see his kid go to French CEGEP followed by English university or English CEGEP followed by French University. 

But Kim knew that he should not impose this on the kids. Kim decided to discuss with his kids.

A few years prior to their entrance to CEGEP, he asked:

“Paul and Nancy, what would be your preference for College and university?.  asked Kim.

“Father, as for me, I would like to go to French CEGEP and French university. I would like to go to Polytechnique of Montreal University and study electric engineering. You see   Father, the Polytechinique is one of the most famous engineering schools in the world”, explained Paul with conviction.

“Good! In fact, I know a man whose son went to that school and found a high-paying job at one of the multinational engineering firms of Quebec. It is fine, son”, commented Kim.

Now looking at Nancy, Kim asked:

“Well, my princess, how about you?”, asked Kim, looking fondly at his daughter.

“Daddy, I would like go to Concordia University, where the program of communication studies is one of the best in Canada. Daddy, many of the TV anchors in Quebec and Canada are graduates of Concordia University”, told Nancy. 

“My goodness, I did not know that. I thought that McGill was the best in all fields. I guess, Nancy, you want to have a career in the areas of communication. Why not?”, saying this, Kim was pleased by the fact that his children knew what they wanted in life.

This conversation with his kids was a big moral boost for Kim. Kim thought that this positive and constructive attitude of his children was big relief for him; his kids seemed to make right decisions despite the fact that Kim could not provide significant guide for his kids’ school orientation.

Kim felt guilty towards his children. In Korea, he had little time for them; if he had, he was not interested; his survival as bread earner was the priority; even if he had time and interest, he did not know how to approach to children, let alone communicate with them.

Now, he brought them to this unknown country; the decision was largely his. In Montreal, he could not provide any help to them.  Whenever Kim saw his children struggle with the French language, he could not be a great help. When they were lost with mathematics, Kim did not how to help. Kim thought that his children blamed him for forcing them to come to Montreal.

It is true that Kim himself went through awful time to survive. But Kim never gave much attention to the suffering of his children because of the lack of their parents’ help for their studies. 
(다음 호에 계속)

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