Newcomer joins Team Canada
Image Credit: Steven Lelham via Unsplash
By Kamala Prabhu
I come from a country where we don’t wear our national pride on our hearts – our clothing doesn’t have INDIA emblazoned on it. But then, as my husband points out, there’s no need to identify our clothing with labels, it looks Indian by its very colour, texture and patterns!
Be that as it may, I had only seen the names of countries on sports uniforms. So when I passed a young woman out for a jog every morning as I walked our kids to school, and noticed that she wore leggings with Canada written on the sides, I assumed she represented Canada in some international sports event. Specially since she ran really fast, almost effortlessly flying over the surface. And her leggings were red and white – Canada’s colours! What can I say? Everything pointed to the conclusion I came to.
I came home and told my husband we had an Olympian living on our street. He was also duly impressed. Then I asked a neighbour if she knew which sport the young lady played (by then there was no doubt in my mind about her being an athlete) and if she had won any medals.
“We have an Olympian on our street? Who could that be?” responded my neighbour in a puzzled voice. “I’ve lived here for years and I don’t know one.”
I told her that I passed this young woman every morning and described her as best as I could.
“Oh you mean Sharon?” she laughed, cluing in. “She’s very into fitness, but she’s no Olympian. What made you think that she was?”
So then I had to tell her about the leggings. My neighbour was laughing so hard it took her a few seconds to compose herself.
“A lot of brands print Canada on hoodies and leggings and sportswear,” she said. “In winter you’ll see many of us walking around wearing red hats and mitts with Canada written on them.”
And her parting shot? “You must come in and see my Olympian outfits too!”
What’s your story? Every newcomer, no matter how savvy or where he or she comes from, has a Fresh Off the Plane (FOP) story to share about their early days in Canada. Do you want to share your story? E-mail it to us at canadaboundimmigrant@rogers.com