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Small Town Girls: Growing Up Between Worlds
47 Plays9 days ago
In this episode, Janice and Suzanne reflect on their childhood growing up in Squamish, British Columbia, and share memories of small-town life, family traditions, cultural identity, and the experiences that shaped them as first-generation Asian Canadian kids. From wandering around neighborhood creeks and parks to helping at family businesses and navigating life as one of the only Asian families in town, the conversation is filled with humor, nostalgia, and heartfelt stories about growing up in the 90s.
Timestamps
• 00:01 – Welcome to the podcast and why Janice & Suzanne started the show
• 01:23 – Growing up in Squamish and memories of different neighborhoods
• 05:10 – Creek adventures, backyard playtime, and classic small-town childhood memories
• 07:00 – Playing around town, family restaurants, and growing up with independence
• 10:10 – Parents working constantly and helping out in the family business
• 12:04 – Being some of the only Asian kids in school and experiences with identity and bullying
• 18:07 – Strict Asian teachers, school stories, and childhood discipline
• 21:37 – Taekwondo, piano lessons, Chinese school, and extracurricular activities
• 26:50 – Childhood memories they would relive again and reflections on home
Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Let's just go for it. Okay, welcome to our podcast. okay This your first time. um my name is Janice and I have my wonderful childhood friend with me, Suzanne, and we first-time podcasters. And this is a very exciting moment for us because this is a way for us to connect.
00:00:20
Speaker
We tell our childhood stories. We both grew up from a small town located in Squamish. And if you don't know where that is, that's in Vancouver, Canada, beautiful British Columbia, and it's just 30 minutes away. Well, it's actually snugged right in between Whistler and Vancouver, and people sometimes forget about Squamish, but if you're local enough, you might remember it. um Suzanne, welcome, and I'm so excited to have you to co-host with me.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yes. Tell me a little bit about yourself.
Childhood Memories of Squamish
00:00:50
Speaker
Well, first of all, when you're talking about Squamish, I was just imagining when I was young, it was always the big M between <unk> ah Vancouver and Whistler. We were always the McDonald's between. That's how people knew where we were.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yes, that's a good. were the pit stop. We were the pit stop in between. Yeah. And I haven't talked to you often because we both have families now. We've become mothers. So this is kind of actually a nice getaway. This is our cleaner version us venting and talking.
00:01:23
Speaker
yeah um But we both grew up in Squamish and it's such a special time in memory for us. going back there Growing up there and going back to those memories. And how did we even meet? What did you remember most about Squamish?
00:01:40
Speaker
What I remember most, I mean, I remember most is in in my neighborhood. We actually just went up to Squamish this weekend. um um My husband, Raul, he rode up on his bike to Squamish and I drove with two kids in the back.
00:01:56
Speaker
um And we basically revisited everything and it's so different. now than it was from before. We visited our own house or the old house where dad built. and Where did you grow up again? Again? i know this. we were in air Yeah, I knew that. by business for the audience Yeah. So the Garibaldi to to me was like, Oh, that's the rich kids. i mean Yeah.
00:02:23
Speaker
I was oblivious. I think I was oblivious to all the other places until we were in House Downs, until we went to high school.
Social Class and Neighborhood Reflections
00:02:31
Speaker
Really, I mean, middle school, we were in Don Ross, which was also in Brackendale. AKA Brackendale. Yeah, they renamed it.
00:02:38
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. um But yeah, I mean, our father built the house when I was born 1988.
00:02:47
Speaker
Just to reveal my age there. You're the dragons, yo. Yeah. And yeah, born and raised. Really.
00:02:57
Speaker
Purebred. Squamishian. Is that what we're called? Squamishian? I don't know. I guess we can call ourselves Squamishians, can't we? i I never knew that that's what people called us or that's what we refer to. We just, we never, we never...
00:03:15
Speaker
I didn't know that's what we were called until I think after we graduated was that's what we were squamishy and somebody said what they call us I'm like okay whatever. once we became city folk or tried to introduce ourselves into being city folks.
00:03:29
Speaker
Right right right. Janice where were you which neighborhood were you in? I was at the bottom of Garibaldi well as the poor.
00:03:43
Speaker
No, it was, yeah, Garibaldi, because, you know, it was up the mountain. I mean, there was also a Valley Cliff, too, but Valley Cliff was, like, the valley, you know? ah that's lot That's what I imagined. It was, like, you know, the valley of of, you know, people in California, and they're like, oh, people don't go to that valley. They're like,
00:04:02
Speaker
I won't say that because we have some wonderful friends that also lived in Valley It's funny because Valley Cliff to me was the druggie area, like drug addicts. like It was just a place where if you wanted to score something, that's where you would go. There's always a promiscuous part of town, the risky part of town. And And I think it was not all parts, but certain areas was also like lower income. Yeah.
Freedom and Childhood Adventures
00:04:33
Speaker
Same thing with bottom of Garibaldi. I lived on like government road and we, I mean, we lived in a townhouse, but yeah, most of my friends, they had like big houses. I didn't know that your dad built.
00:04:44
Speaker
your whole house and it was just there but because it just blended with all the other houses there. You know, was it? Well, my husband calls it the Vancouver specials kind of. Oh, yes. Yeah. well I didn't even know what that term was until he told me about it. Yeah. Ours wasn't quite a Vancouver special, um but it's pretty close. I mean, we have very similar features or we had very similar. Not exactly. Yeah.
00:05:10
Speaker
I agree. yeah What was, um yeah, we were just talking about our towns and cities. What did you do Did you stay around Garibaldi a lot? Or did you ever venture out to different neighborhoods?
00:05:23
Speaker
Um, it wasn't until I was older that we started walking around other neighborhoods, but typically when we were young, um, literally five minutes up the road, there was a Creek and that's much where we spent a lot of time. We would walk up to the Creek with a bucket, like one of those ice cream buckets, you know, the one with the,
00:05:42
Speaker
had Neapolitan ice cream in it. Oh, you mean the physical ice cream bucket? A physical ice cream bucket. Yeah, an actual ice cream bucket. The Neapolitan ice cream bucket. We would eat all the ice cream and we'd bring the bucket with the handle to the creek and we would fill it with water and catch the tadpoles.
00:06:00
Speaker
And we would release them. We would catch and release. But it was really cool to just like catch them and take a look at them. And then we would release them. But then otherwise I'd be in our backyard. Like our yard was huge. We would have a huge front yard where we played badminton in the backyard. We had a playground.
00:06:17
Speaker
We'd catch grasshoppers. We had a little veggie garden. Dad's tool shed that we would play inside when we were not supposed to because we knew where the key was. But yeah, was not sound so idyllic.
00:06:30
Speaker
so It does. it says This is what rich people talked about when they're growing up in Garibaldi Highlands. Yeah, it was pretty chill. And we would just like walk down to Porcupine Park, which is where we we visited the other day with my ah children. And um we would I would climb trees basically all day. I would just climb trees and play in the park and catch grasshoppers and ladybugs. And I wouldn't go home until I heard my mom scream from the window, six, five, nine.
00:07:00
Speaker
Yeah, that's dinner time. Dinner time. Dinner time. Yeah. And then we would go to the Yeah, I did kind of something similar because I live close. I was really close the Squamish River, the bridge. So it was within like 10, 15 minutes walking distance. But yeah, because I lived in townhome, I played with sometimes the neighbor's kids. And that was really fun, too. We would just meet at the back where, you know, the common backyard area where everyone played and we would just go to each other's houses. That was really fun. um because then I had you know friends that I could just see sometimes and then I also live right next to my elementary school so sometimes I would just go to my elementary school it's literally like over the fence and we just walk through and and play and I would meet with my elementary friends and everyone because that was our school that was everyone's familiar but everyone's familiar too and they were just
00:08:02
Speaker
knock on my door and be like hey you want to go want to go play and I'm like okay so that was I remember that that was really fun my parents also had a restaurant too that was less fun because I would just have to stay at the restaurant all a lot at the time and or I would go out outside which is like in front of our store and I would literally play with dirt and then I think at one point my parents had made me they're um a DIY kite and I would try to fly a kite in the middle of the road.
00:08:32
Speaker
But yeah, it never really worked out. So I had a lot alone time and my sister was a lot older. She was like six
Cultural Identity and Isolation
00:08:38
Speaker
years older than me. So she had her own group of friends and I was still very young, but I was like walking around because, you know, back in the day it was so safe. You would just go wherever you want and we just,
00:08:49
Speaker
It would just be safe. I go to the candy shop and I would just literally buy a five cents candy. Or I would go to the little mall and like buy little stickers or visit the shop owners. And they would all know me as like little kid, little Janice, like walking around and like, hi, what would you want? Everyone thought I was so cute. So they always give me free stuff.
00:09:08
Speaker
And I think it's interesting because um I don't know if it's because we're in the city and it feels kind of everything is so much more spaced out You have to walk such a far distance. I mean, depending on where you live. But for us, we have to walk such a far distance just to get to a central area. That's the downside of being rich.
00:09:28
Speaker
Whereas in Squamish, it's kind of, you know, Well, actually, yeah. No, I had to walk quite week. I had to walk. I i used to walk 45 minutes, half an hour, 45 minutes, all the way down the hill just to get my front seat candies from 7-Eleven. It's a steep hill. It is steep hill. Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
We found like little trails and stuff, where but it would be... You know, I remember it being quite steep and pretty rocky and you would have to go with friends or usually I would go with friends. I wouldn't go it alone or else, you know, it would be kind of boring, I guess, such a long walk for a young kid. But um yeah, it's interesting that I think maybe also is because our parents were so busy.
00:10:10
Speaker
Yeah, they were just busy working all the time, 100%. They were just trying to make sure we maintain our lifestyle. And that's all they did. They work, work, work. and we just kind of had to find our own entertainment.
00:10:23
Speaker
but I'm sure like a lot of people did that, but it felt, I don't know, it felt different for us. Yes. Yeah. It felt very different for us of why they had to work so hard. So were you ever required to help?
00:10:36
Speaker
um No, I was honestly, I was just too young. My sister helped. Oh, okay, okay. My sister helped. um And yeah, i just i just stayed in the back. I think at one point I would help my mom maybe make wontons or...
00:10:52
Speaker
I remember using the wok when I was five years old. Wow. Yeah. I remember because, you know, when there's when it wasn't busy, I'm like, I'm hungry. I'm just like, how's up? So chop suey, that's what they call it. I was the famous, you know, popular dishes called, you know, everyone's just chop suey, pretty much just random shit that you just put in. Leftover in the fridge. Yeah, literally. That's what it's like.
00:11:16
Speaker
chop suey is like you chop up whatever you want you just throw it in in the wok and i mean it wasn't like huge flame and I have like my little step stool and I would just like casually cook it and i would I remember I would cook it I was such a I was such a brat I would cook it and then like okay I'm done and you're like you're not gonna eat it I'm like no just cook it ah see a yeah I heard like excuse me like were you playing were you just playing I'm like yeah hu which is now something my kids would do they would be like i want this oh yeah this is fun like okay are you gonna eat it like no i'm like what i'm sorry i get so mad long meal right i get so mad yeah so speaking of like different what did you realize when you were different um and we we didn't yeah have a lot of
00:12:04
Speaker
We didn't have a lot of Asian people. We didn't even meet until we were in high school. Yeah, that's right. um So I actually had one Asian friend and I remember her name was Tiffany. And she lived on the road.
00:12:18
Speaker
And I actually have a picture of her, of us together eating hot pot for Christmas. at the um But she was only around really short for a very short period of time. And then I think they moved to the city and I have no idea who this person is or where she is. I have. You never keep in touch?
00:12:38
Speaker
No, I never. i mean, I was too young. If I ask my parents right now, um they probably wouldn't know where they were or perhaps that would, but I'm not sure. But um yeah, she was the only Asian person I knew. She lived a couple houses down. And then when she moved away, um there was a couple of Asian people who lived behind us who also moved away. so it was really just...
00:13:01
Speaker
me and my sisters had two older sisters and we were the only Asians who lived in the highlands that were in the elementary school huh so it was pretty it was pretty fast realizing that I was different you know I became a victim of of bullying pretty quickly. i think it was in in grade three, about grade three when that started happening. But prior to that, I mean, it's pretty, you know, nowadays when I, when I look at children playing, you can tell that younger children, they don't see the color of your skin. But I think in elementary school, you know, when kids started realizing,
00:13:44
Speaker
um physical features, characteristics and things. And you can tell that you're not the same as everybody else. And it was pretty evident. Yeah. Jet black hair and, you know, super Asian was as Asian as. Yeah.
00:13:59
Speaker
yeah I was like, why am I not blonde or why I don't have brunette hair? How did their eyes get so blue? And I think it wasn't so, so bad at some point because we had one Asian teacher.
00:14:13
Speaker
And his last name was also Lam. The same name. Oh, wow. is He was Mr. Lam. And at first, a lot of people were like, oh, are you related to Mr. Lam? i'm like, no, I'm not. But he was pretty far from being Asian. he didn't Was he nice? Was he a nice Asian teacher? he was a typical Asian man. I feel like a little bit more gentle because he yeah didn't really have much of an accent at all. like i don't I think he was Canadianized.
00:14:41
Speaker
But... He was he was definitely one of the more strict teachers in the in the school. um And so at least I saw a little bit of myself, I guess, around, but not much. I mean, in terms of students, I was the only Asian. um But yeah, how about you?
00:15:01
Speaker
Yeah, that was the same for me, too. I was just well, other than having my sister, i was yeah pretty much the only Chinese kid, let alone, i think, yeah, the only Chinese kid in class majority was pretty much Caucasian. And then I was like, oh, okay. And I didn't think much of it because was just like, well, you know, naive little girl. She's like, oh, we just peoples. We just don't know we just peoples. We just peoples. But um yeah, I think when like people started coming into our restaurant and no one was like Chinese, they it's just how people approached us. That's how I'm like, okay, yeah, we're different. Like I...
00:15:44
Speaker
I knew that we spoke a different language and and everything, but it was just really how people treated us. And sometimes it was good, but so it was just like standoffish. It's like, oh, hi, you know, just not understanding that we might not speak the language. But we're like, first and foremost, like yeah yeah like my father didn't have an accent. I didn't have an accent. My mom did, though. My mom had a really heavy accent. i ah meant Her accent was so strong.
00:16:12
Speaker
i just... i I'm just thinking about it. I won't mock her because she's improved so much. But man, was her accent strong. And I think I remember just watching old videos of her talking. She had the short haircut and she had the big, thick glasses. Bigger than mine right now, obviously. And she had the mom jeans. She had the sweater. Like, I'm sure your mom did, too. Yeah, it was always the 90s cut. Yes. The ninety s short haircut. Yes. I mean, it's not a pixie cut. It's just a like a boy's cut.
00:16:46
Speaker
Almost like a bowl cut. A bowl cut. Right? I mean, yeah, I'm pretty sure that, I mean, i
Family Dynamics and Humor
00:16:53
Speaker
i don't know. Okay, hold on. Yeah. Look at this. Oh, God, did your mom have a bowl? You were bringing out pictures. Oh, I think my mom had a similar. Oh, my God. But your mom looks so cute. Your mom looks so cute. How do you have these pictures? I should do that, too. Note to self, bring pictures. I am the third girl of the three girls in the family. And I don't have many. i have Yeah.
00:17:20
Speaker
a very small album. My oldest sister has like an entire book filled with baby pictures. Yeah. Because they're older. Yeah. Of course. Yeah. Belinda had, name named drop in here, my sister.
00:17:36
Speaker
ah She had, yeah, she had all the pictures. And then um she went to She went to Catholic school. She was baptized. Oh, wow. I'm nothing.
00:17:48
Speaker
I got nothing. um as As non-religious, as non- as as atheist as it comes. As a non-religious practicing person. I'm not saying i don't not I don't believe in anything, but yeah, it's just never introduced to me. And then...
00:18:07
Speaker
yeah and then What I going to say? ah Yeah, it was. You talked about your teacher. I also had an Asian teacher, too. was a girl. It was a female. And she was really strict.
00:18:23
Speaker
Almost seemed like she was purposely being more strict on me because I was and she was my grade two teacher and she actually gave me detention. I don't do too good detention.
00:18:34
Speaker
How did she? Like she actually several times, too. thing all times too like i think I remember I dropped something and I went to go pick it up and kept it kept dropping so I kept picking it up and then she's like Janice that's enough check mark besides your name you know five more or three more than you get detention kind of thing I'm like what but my other people were doing it too or if we like whisper to each other very briefly or giggle or something another check mark like she was the only one that did check marks okay do you remember what her name was because I just remembered that we also had an Asian teacher you know oh no no no our ours was Miss Galloway
00:19:19
Speaker
Oh, okay. We had two, actually. We had two. Yeah. yeah Galloway was was Asian? She was Asian? yeah I guess she married Caucasian, but... Galloway was Asian?
00:19:31
Speaker
Oh, wow. She took her husband's name then. guess so Okay. Yeah, but she was very, very strict, I remember. And that was been that was the first year that I ever did homework.
00:19:46
Speaker
And she contacted, I hid my homework. She contacted my parents and said, hey, you know, Suzanne hasn't handed in her problem solving book in a while. Maybe you can check in on that.
00:19:59
Speaker
And my father was so angry. He's like a full, super traditional Asian. So like bamboo stick kind of person. Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:12
Speaker
He made me take it out, which I hid in my closet, and had to sit there all night finishing my problem-solving book. It was so bad. it was it was really awful. Is it because you didn't want to do it, or you were just or was it hard? I didn't want to do it. No, I didn't want to do it.
00:20:27
Speaker
Yeah. Yes. I definitely i didn't do that, but... Yeah, she was just really strict. And I was also a very, i was a very timid little child. So if you laid down the law on me, usually I would obey.
00:20:44
Speaker
i would most likely obey. But at home, I was really goofy. I was, i was like the comedian in the family. and like i always I would always be the comedic relief in the family. Everyone in my family was always like, kind of more serious or just, you know, one tone kind of thing. Not saying that they were boring, they just one tone, but I always like spice it up. And I always, I always did imitations of my family.
00:21:11
Speaker
and And my parents loved it. I think I remember one time it was, it was downtime during in the restaurant and my mom made me do put on a show and I'm like, okay, introducing, would say my mom's name. la but but yeah And then I would walk like her, I would talk like her and then I would do that for like everyone and they would just get a crock out of it. And i think parents,
00:21:37
Speaker
behind the scenes probably Victoria might recall this because I did that in our l LA trip once. That is so Yeah, I guess I, ah and now I'm just thinking about it. Yeah, i I was always doing that. Did you ever do anything after school wise? Like what was your extracurricular activity?
00:21:57
Speaker
i know one thing. We were in a multitude of things.
Extracurricular Activities and Aspirations
00:22:03
Speaker
My choice? No. um no Never by choice. um I basically, the so there was a Taekwondo gym. There still is.
00:22:15
Speaker
We went to visit and they just sold their their gym or changed ownership to somebody else, which was really sad. They're going to live on top of the the dojo. They're going to live on top of the gym. Oh, wow.
00:22:28
Speaker
But I remember the last time I saw the surf, um he told me that I was just a baby when he first met me and basically I was just like running around the gym when my my dad would go and practice yeah and um so we were known as the lamb sisters and the lamb family in the taekwondo gym because we were the only ones uh and ah Everyone became a black belt. That's how long we lasted there for basically childhood until early adulthood.
00:23:00
Speaker
And then um so I would have to to be i would to be in Taekwondo and i would be in piano. And in the weekend, I know, I know. Yeah, I know. Yep. I was forced to take piano.
00:23:13
Speaker
I did not enjoy it. um But I still remember one of the songs that I played all the time. And yeah, I heard it on the radio actually the other day. What was it?
00:23:26
Speaker
Now I have to remember the name. Better, no, Something Together. m
00:23:35
Speaker
Happy Together. Happy Together. yeah yes um and I would have piano so taekwondo piano and then on the weekends I had to take Chinese school in an evangelical church and oh wow as you are I'm so far away from being religious like I have no religion tied to me whatsoever um and and I think I don't know. i mean, maybe something else will come to me, but I'm pretty sure that that was about it. But that's quite a bit for a child. well help What up about you? ah
00:24:14
Speaker
I had nothing. You know, like had nothing. had nothing. I mean, I think my parents tried to. OK, no, I can't say not nothing, but there was nothing that I took for that long of a time.
00:24:26
Speaker
Like I've tried, um i i did swimming. i was on a swim team. And I think that lasted maybe a year at most. And then parents couldn't commit to it because, you know, they're busy working. So and then i didn't take figure skating, but she had a friend. Oh, my God, my phone is ringing because of work.
00:24:48
Speaker
um ignore it because i'm on lunch but i can't i can't decline it because then they know i'll hang i hung up on them that's okay leave it week because i can't see anything okay good can you hear anything though did you hear the ringing no no can't hear anything oh okay good i sure just kept talking then so if that happens again i'll just keep talking um no i didn't have any extracurricular activity um Other than like swimming for a year, i went figure skating, not figures, not actually skating, just like going to public skating um last time. And it would be with like my mom's friends and their kids. Then, um yeah I think it was only when when I was older. I was i want i really wanted to join a team. I actually wanted to do, like, taekwondo. I wanted to do just something that just to keep me going. um i didn't do piano. didn't do Chinese school. I i actually actually really wanted to do Chinese school. i wanted to I went to Chinatown, and my parents, I asked them to get me, like, a pen, like, more button, like, the ink pen and the paper just for me to play around with. yeah we had to do that we had to do that in school like do calligraphy yeah I would have loved that you know see I would if any other like Asian parent they would have loved me yeah exactly i think but I actually want to do that stuff know i go to school yeah I was really into like my Asian heritage roots but we can talk about that another time that's like a whole nother thing a topic but yeah it was only when I was older than I would
00:26:23
Speaker
ah go um I signed up for volleyball and that was kind of my calling and I did that throughout high school joined like some like rec teams afterwards that was fun for me yeah we did school sports too all of us did school sports with like in basketball and volleyball in the track team yeah we kept busy that was good That's good.
00:26:50
Speaker
And I know you're like a pretty active person too. Not anymore. Well, kids so the kids keep us active.
Cherished Memories and Conclusion
00:26:58
Speaker
Yes. Yeah, they do. um What would you, if there was one thing that you wanted to remember or maybe step back in the same shoes again when you were a kid, or what would you want to do What would I want to do? oh Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:16
Speaker
I would want to have the the same core memories. we would love I would love to lie down in our backyard because it was literally the only place that had no streetlights.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah. oh Titch black. And we would watch the shooting stars, like the meteor showers every summer. was amazing. Wow. I would definitely love to do that because that's so hard to find in the city. You just can't.
00:27:41
Speaker
That's so cute. You loved your house. You loved your house. I loved my house. I still love my house. Every year when I check it every time it's on sale and I want to see how much it is. And do you think you'll buy it one day? you think I wish. I mean, we were literally talking about the lottery. yeah And Raul was saying, oh, if we win the lottery, we'll move back to Svamesh. And I said, and I'm buying my house. Yeah.
00:28:05
Speaker
and my must please that's a good thing too that's a good question too what would you do if you had money i think if I had to go back to like a core memory i kind of want to silly enough I kind of want to go back to the restaurant a little bit just to because I learned I a lot of my upbringing was there like I I learned to ride my bike inside my restaurant oh wow yeah I mean we had the space for and there was like yeah again downtime I mean I would learn to ride it outside too but Yeah, I remember at one point, my parents would like hold the back of my seat as I'm going through the walks in the kitchen and in the area and the seating area.
00:28:45
Speaker
But I was like that small at that time. That was a lot fun memory. I think I had lot of when I was like five years old. So I would love to go back to that time. e Well, thank you for listening. And that was our first take of our episode one of what was our childhood like in Squamish?
00:29:06
Speaker
Thank you for listening.