My Paper

Michael Hamilton 

Interview Essay 

My grandpa Stipe who I call Dida had many reasons to not move to Canada and yet he still went. Dida is from a small Croatian village called Rašeljke and so was the rest of his family “It was the hardest choice I ever made. To leave my whole family just for gamble was terrifying” is what he said. When Dida made it to Canada, he had to overcome many struggles like language, finding a job, paying bills and worst of all watching as his home country was at war, not being able to see his family “I felt so guilty being in Canada when any family could die any day.” Dida had many challenges moving to Canada and even more in Canada, yet he prevailed. 

Dida had a twin brother that moved to Canada after getting married, his brother was able to find a job in construction that was able to support his family. Meanwhile, my Dida had my mother in Croatia and quickly moved to Germany for a better job then had another kid in Germany. One day while working Dida got a call, “We can raise our families together and live together” is what my Didas brother suggested to Stipe so that they could save more money. So, Dida went to Canada with two kids and no job to live with his brother. Did was able to get a good job with him in construction. Now with a house in Canada he and everyone else in our family had to overcome many social and cultural barriers. 

My family moved to Canada not knowing a word of English, but my Baba and Dida were able to teach themselves by watching Canadian TV and by doing a few lessons. “Almost everything was made harder when I didn’t know English” said Dida talking about all the challenges he went through. Making it out of the airport was difficult because he couldn’t write in English, trying to figure out how to get my mom into school, getting a car, doing taxes, and the list goes on. My mom was five when she went to Canada and only knew Croatian, in kindergarten she got bullied a bit for not knowing English but by the time she was in grade 1 she was able to speak it well and even better than Dida. Dida liked many things like having a huge grocery store, being able to travel easily, and having an easy time to find good jobs anywhere. Baba and Dida quickly found out about the Croatian cultural center which is a church for other Croatians in Vancouver, and he loved connecting with other Croatians and meeting new people. One day a while after Dida moved to Canada a war started in former Yugoslavia while most of his family was still in Croatia.  

As soon as it started most of our family moved to Germany because it was safe and had good jobs. Dida contacted everyone then he and his brother started working more hours to be able to send money to support his family. Everybody at the Croatian cultural center would help each other by contributing donations and by doing prayer for the families. The war was very tough on my whole family but after it was all over, they all prospered, and my Dida successfully gave my mom and her sisters the life he wanted to give them. 

My Dida’s decision to move to Canada was a huge gamble that could have been awfully bad for him, but his gamble pay off incredibly well. He was able to successfully overcome every challenge thrown at him, from a language barrier to finding friends to connect with. Saying goodbye to his family was hard for my grandpa, but he can see them more through technology, and he will see them again in person this summer in Croatia. 

The Writing Process

When I was working on the essay I found the interview part to be very easy and fun. Some challenges I had to face were trying to implement quotes in the essay at the correct times and also trying to figure out what topics I was going to present. I was able to include quotes by using trial and error to figure out what I like. To figure out what topics to present I asked my Dida what was most important to him and I used those. I enjoyed learning about my Dida’s past and piecing together the stories I’ve heard my whole life.

Core Competency Reflection

In discussions and conversations, I help to build and extend understanding by asking questions that can lead different topics.

As an active listener, I notice that I can tell if the person speaking is interested in what we are talking about and I can understand what a person is trying to say when they can’t think of the words to use.

I remain open minded as I explore viable options or alternative approaches, like when I changed what I wrote about based on what my Dida found most important.

I want to get better at comparing the things I learn to my life experiences and how they affect them. I can describe how … (this thing I learned at school) relates to this experience I had where. I’ll achieve this goal by thinking about the effects of certain situations on my life.