When he first arrived in Fredericton, Bravo took advantage of the free English classes that the Multicultural Association of Fredericton (MCAF). He took classes there for two months and thinks the concept of free English classes for immigrants is great. He realizes, however, that the quality of the classes isn’t as good as if, for example, you were taking classes from a university.
“Right now I’m not really doing anything to learn English, because I’m learning French. I learn English from ‘mis amigos de la calle’ (my friends of the street),” Bravo said.
For the first few months he was here, he didn’t really have any English speaking friends. In April, he met Hector Tovar at a Latin Party at McGinnis Landing. Tovar introduced him to his roommate, Jonathan Bojorquez.
Both Tovar and Bojorquez are from Mexico and although they both speak English normally they would all speak Spanish.
But even though they speak Spanish most of the time, friends like Bojorquez help Bravo with his English as well.
Bravo would like to see the Multicultural Association have more social activities for immigrants coming to Fredericton. He believes a lot of immigrants feel “rejected” and thinks it would help for them to be connected with other people, especially Canadian people.
Bravo laughs about how he meets his Canadian friends.
“I meet them at Nicky Zees. The people I meet at school, it’s a problem because they all are 16 or 17 years old. So I can’t say to them, ‘Let’s go to the bar!’ I hang out with them at school, but on the weekends I hang out with friends that I meet at the bars,” Bravo said.
Bravo says he hangs out with his classmates during breaks at school, but he doesn’t want to get in any legal trouble, since he is so much older than his classmates.
Now Bravo has more friends that speak English than those that speak Spanish. He is still friends with Tovar and Bojorquez but the majority of his friends are Canadians. He says this can be hard sometimes because of the language barrier, but even when he isn’t speaking all of his friends are speaking in English so it helps him learn.
Bravo says he is quiet with most of his friends here.
“In Colombia, it was different because all of my friends spoke Spanish.
I was always talking with them. It’s harder here because I can’t speak English very well, so I am quiet a lot. I was more active in Colombia because I could speak the language,” Bravo said.
Bravo says he is “quiet” in Canada, but personally I would never use that word to describe him. Maybe the fact that I speak Spanish, I see more of how he would act in Colombia.
But sometimes words aren’t necessary to communicate. Bravo is always smiling and joking around, his body language makes up for the English that he doesn’t know.
When he first arrived in Fredericton Bravo lived with his family. But after a few months he moved out to live with three other guys and a girl. This January he moved to a different apartment with a girl he met through his old roommates.
“She is a really good person. A lot of the time it is hard though, because she speaks English and I don’t speak English. Most of the time it is quiet in our apartment. She will want to talk to me but it will be quiet because I don’t know how to answer,” Bravo said.
He still sees or talks to his family almost every day, but Bravo likes the freedom of living on his own. However it became hard because he didn’t have a job, and he needed money to pay for bills such as his rent, his cell phone and food.
At the beginning of February, Bravo started working at the Mexican restaurant, El Burrito Loco. Right now he is learning how to be a waiter, and if he passes the training he can continue.
“I got the job because I speak a little English and most people there only speak Spanish. I like the job. It’s good for me since they all speak Spanish [so] I don’t have to worry about not understanding.”
Despite the language barrier, he is happy to be here in Canada. He hopes to enroll in the English Language Program at the University of New Brunswick.
“Canada is a different culture. Canada is quiet, Colombia is … I don’t know. There’s a lot of cars, a lot of people. I don’t know how to describe it,” Bravo said.
Bravo claimed there to be 42 million people living in Medellín. But he realized this was too large of a number.
“Ok, I’m lost. I guess I don’t know the population [of Medellín]. But a lot of people live there.”
Bravo says a lot of people have the wrong idea about how life in Colombia is.
“My family had two cars, a house, an apartment, a farm. This was normal in Colombia. I wasn’t rich at all. I knew people who had seven houses. People think that Colombia is ugly, but they don’t know.”
Bravo says they still have some things in Colombia. For example his family still owns a house in Medellín.
Bravo plans to get his Canadian citizenship and live in New Brunswick. He says that he can get his citizenship in roughly three years, however if he goes back to Colombia it will take longer. This is a sacrifice he is willing to take. He misses Medellin and plans to go back to visit family and friends soon.
Although Bravo is accustomed to the “big-city life” of Medellín, he is excited for his future in Fredericton.
“I don’t understand why people would want to leave New Brunswick. I love it here and want to stay. [Fredericton] is a very calm city and all the people are very friendly. There are a lot of good opportunities here.”
