🍜

Teresa

Toishan, China → Oxbow, Saskatchewan

Owner between 2006 → present

• Photos from
The Oxbow Cafe

Teresa was in constant motion, a kinetic force helping customers, clearing dishes and making sure the buffet was full of hot food for the stream of workers coming for lunch from the nearby oil fields and other industries.

I was surprised how busy it was during lunch. The café was full throughout the day with "coffee gangs", older men in their 60s and 70s visiting for coffee and chat, transforming the café into a lively, social space.


I was so excited when I stepped in the door. There was a mix of heightened emotions after a thwarted visit, excitement and raw nerves. It had been so long since I had last visited – on a road trip with my sisters and dad many years ago, a photo of our faces bright and smiling against the lucky red symbolism.

Would I feel some connection to the café when I stepped inside? … Would I like them? The family who had inherited this space over 50 years later, the owners of this little café in this quiet town.

If you come
to Canada,
of course you want to try to have a good life or something like that

“If you come
to Canada,
of course you want to try to have a good life or something like that”

"You know my husband used to be like a medical doctor in China before he came. But their family ran a restaurant in China for a few years…. He didn't help that much because he's a doctor. So, after he came to Canada, he work at a few restaurant and maybe learned that from there.”

“He have no choice his English not very good. So he cannot work like what he wants to - like he can not do what he wants to do like a job or something. So it's hard.”

I could see myself in Teresa’s place, cooking and cleaning while my daughters waited for me in the back, drawing and reading and helping refill the food trays.

* Some details have been amended.

Next Story Uncle Ken Toishan, China → Brandon, Manitoba