{"id":14586,"date":"2023-09-07T19:32:35","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T23:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/?p=14586"},"modified":"2023-09-08T12:17:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T16:17:13","slug":"part-1-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/part-1-name\/","title":{"rendered":"Part 1. Name"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Article written by Yevgeniya Kim in collaboration with the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi Montr\u00e9al Centre-Ville<\/b><\/i><\/p><\/div><\/div>

This piece was submitted to the Citizen Journal project of the Peter-McGill Community Council. Please note that the opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of our organization. This project aims to create space for the voices of residents, students and friends of the neighbourhood through articles, photos, videos, and podcasts in any language. Are you interested in contributing? C<\/em>ontact us at benevolat@petermcgill.org !<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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I\u2019ve lived in Canada for almost 3 years, and the most frequently asked questions I get from people I meet for the first time are:<\/span><\/p>

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What\u2019s your name?<\/span><\/p>

Where are you from?<\/span><\/p>

Why did you come to Canada?<\/span><\/p>

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Three simple, basic questions, right? People normally answer them in a blink of an eye. It\u2019s weird, but since I came to Canada I\u2019ve never had an easy straightforward answer to any of them. Every time these questions spark a wave in my heart. Not particularly a pleasant one. It is similar to a minuscule panic attack. It\u2019s complicated. There are reasons.<\/span><\/p>

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Part 1. Name<\/span><\/p>

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In Kazakhstan (that\u2019s where I come from), the answer to the first question is \u201cJenya\u201d. That\u2019s it: everyone gets it; everyone knows that my full first name is Yevgeniya. Everyone knows how to spell it and understands that I am an ethnic Korean, because most of the Koreans living in Kazakhstan have Russian names. They needed to blend in, you see.<\/span><\/p>

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During the first few months after I moved to Canada, I was preparing my CV to apply for a job. And the person who helped me with it, a very nice and benevolent guy, advised me – almost whispering – that I should probably either change my first name or use my last name as my first. Because with such a name, the chances that I would get called were almost zero. Your name is the first thing a recruitor sees on your CV, and strange, unpronounceable, jawbreaking names usually don\u2019t make it to the shortlist. I needed to come up with a convenient and memorable new name. I needed to blend in, you know.<\/span><\/p>

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That\u2019s how I became Jenny. \u201cWhat\u2019s your name? – I\u2019m Jenny.\u201d Short and sweet. Problem solved!<\/span><\/p>

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I like Jenny. It\u2019s a cute, playful and warm-sounding name. After all, a few of my favourite celebrities are Jennies: Garner, Lawrence, Aniston, J Lo. But here I am, three-years-of-being-Jenny later, I\u2019ve realized that even though I may have left my home country, I just can\u2019t abandon my name. Because it\u2019s important and dear to me. It\u2019s a part of my identity, of who I am.<\/span><\/p>

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The only problem now is that different people whom I have met at different times for the last three years were introduced to different spellings of my name. And I have no clue what spelling to use with each of them now. Zhenya… Genia? Or maybe Genya?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

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Anyway, I\u2019m Jenya. Again. So very pleased to meet you!<\/span><\/p>

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To be continued…<\/span><\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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About the author :
Yevgeniya Kim<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The author, Yevgeniya Kim,\u00a0has never considered herself a writer. She still thinks it is a huge overstatement. However, writing small posts in her blog,\u00a0describing the personal reflection about her journey of immigration,\u00a0has become a newly discovered\u00a0passion. What\u2019s more, it has become a coping mechanism. Her\u00a0narrative is\u00a0usually\u00a0replete with a blend of humour, warmth, and introspection.<\/p>

This particular piece was born spontaneously during a workshop on creative writing. It describes the author\u2019s relationship with her own name\u00a0since the time she arrived in Canada as an immigrant.\u00a0It\u00a0stands as a testament to the author’s adeptness in intertwining personal experience with universal themes of identity, belonging, and the delicate balance between assimilation and\u00a0remaining true to oneself.<\/p>

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tShare your ideas with us!\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYou're passionate about a specific subject and you wish to share your thoughts in a published article? We're open to submissions!\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article written by Yevgeniya Kim in collaboration with the Carrefour jeunesse-emploi Montr\u00e9al Centre-Ville This piece was submitted to the Citizen Journal project of the Peter-McGill Community Council. Please note that the opinions expressed in these articles do not necessarily reflect those of our organization. This project aims to create space for the voices of residents, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":14599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,58],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14586"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14586"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14628,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14586\/revisions\/14628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/old.petermcgill.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}