Old-Timey Stuff

After the War, my Dad worked in several countries as an air traffic controller. Both parents were in Greenland, Newfoundland and finally Iceland before we came back to the US. They were both from Baltimore, Maryland and I remember all the different parts of the city where the majority of the Greeks, Polish, Italian, and the Irish lived. There were many more groups, but lived too far from my young legs to reach, but you could meet all the groups at the 'markets' in Baltimore. Most of the kids had Grandparents who spoke broken English but the kids also could listen and speak a lot of the home language just fine.

I grew up in Vancouver, BC, which is a multi-cultural city. I went to school with Italians, Portuguese, East Indians, Greek, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Russian, Mexican and Central American, Lebanese, and many other ethnicities. I think that going to my friends' homes for dinners started my love of international food. Given a choice, I wouldn't choose our bland Canadian diet. Some of those kids went to language school for an hour after regular school and I learned a bit from them. Looking back, it was such a broadening experience.