Jackie Nguyen

Needle and Thread

Over 15 years ago, I was signed up (against my will) for a cross stitch needlepoint class that took place directly after Chinese school ended. Much to my dismay, I, a Cantonese/Vietnamese child, was in way over my head when I stepped into that class when the teacher could not speak any of the languages I knew. She spoke Mandarin with very limited English, and we could not communicate. She recruited one of the students she knew to act as our translator, and we became fast friends. The first few translations, however made it very clear how unprepared I was for this class. My mom gave me needles but I was empty handed when asked where my thread, cross stich fabric and stencils were. I was mortified. I am as introverted as one can be and being the only one that could not communicate with my teacher while she is telling me how bad my cross-stitching was did not help. The next week, my mom takes me to get all the materials I needed, and I still did not get the right colours of thread, my needles were too large for the cross-stitch fabric, I forgot to bring scissors, the list goes on. My teacher eventually gave up on trying to teach me directly as my translator friend and I would quietly do our craft until the bell rang. Who knew this extracurricular I reluctantly joined would result in a newfound love for sewing and embroidery?