Interesting Things in Ling's Class

We had an enjoyable time with Ling, discussing 'Skills Of Life' during the past four days. Ling gave us many information about the skills. Here is the list of some interesting things want we did:

1. Played funny warm-up games.
2. Shared useful information about searching for a professional job.
3. Exchanged helpful skills of social communication.
4. Had many discussions, where we learnt from others and had an open mind after discussing.
5. Improved our speaking skills.
6. Learnt to be a good team member.
7. Knew more things about Canadian culture, especially how to communicate in daily life.
8. Found our virtues.
9. Learnt how to enjoy our lives and learnt how to keep a positive attitude.
10. Encouraged us to cherish what we have already and try our best to pursue bright future.

Exciting Experiences

It was a wonderful vacation for me during the past two weeks. I took two trips with my friends and family.

On the first Thursday, my brother's best friend drove my family and her son to visit a small town near Waterloo. That morning, we first visited an antique shop. It was amazing. There were many old things in the shop, and we also saw many kinds of old furniture, jewelry and military tools. I am always attracted by sparkling jewelry. But I could not stop watching my daughter for too many minutes. Because she is always crazy about the small toys and some old but beautiful dresses which were hanging on the wall. I had to hold her hand to make sure that she was keeping up. After we finished visiting the antique shop , we bought many fresh goods from the Farmer's Market. My daughter had her sweet corn, watermelon, strawberry and honey. I bought some hot peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and cauliflower. We were hungry when the farmers finished their busy market day. So we had smoked pig feet as our dinner to finish our busy and amazing trip.

We went on our second trip on the first weekend. My family went to High Park. My daughter had a good time in the Child Playground Centre. Then we had an enjoyable lunch beside the beach. After lunch, my daughter and I took off our shoes and played in the water. We walked back to the parking lot at about 4 p.m. Before we arrived there, I bought 4 ice cream cones for each of us. We finished our High Park trip with sweet ice cream.

I enjoyed my vacation during the two weeks. I kept studying English and had some really exciting outdoor experiences.

AGO Trip

We visited AGO yesterday (July 12, 2012). I enjoyed my time there. We met at Sheppard-Yong station at 9:15 am. Then we took the subway together. We visited the Picasso exhibition fisrtly. It was amazing. There were different types of Picasso's works, like sketching, and oil painting. Most of the works were portraits. I love the people's faces in the works. All of them were looked as live persons. I love the chiaroscuro and the colours in the works. After we'd finished Picasso's works, we went on to Ontario art. In that exhibition hall, we appreciated some oil paintings by The Group of Seven. All of these works are about Canadian landscapes and outdoor life in the early 1900s. The scenes in the works are very engrossing. I could learn about the 1900s' Canadian life from these paintings.
After our short AGO trip in the morning, we spent about one hour visiting ChinaTown nearly. I am a Chinese. There are very strong Chinese customs and practices in ChinaTown. I found I don't need to miss our local dishes too much because I can eat all of our special Chinese reginal food in Toronto. I would not get very seriously homesick for two reasons. First, I love Canada. It's a beautiful country and has a very special culture. I love its multiculturalism. I have many new friends here and all of them come from different countries. We have different backgrounds and can learn many useful things from each other. Second, I can continue my Chinese lifestyle in Canada, e.g. Chinese food, Mandarin schools for my kid.
I love this kind of trip and learning new thing about Canada from the hands-on experience.

My Ideal Career

I was a supervisor in a fruit farm before I came to Canada. I have a bachelor's degree in horticulture. So I hope I can continue my career in the future. I will go to a college or a university to take some programs in related field. I wish I can have my own landscaping or horticulture company one day.

Using Social Media Tools to Develop Your Business

On Tuesday, we went to the Scabourgh Civic Center to attend the Social Marketing Summit. It was a very nice and helpful field trip for me. Business and social media tools are not new things for us. We also buy some things online. But most of us don't know how to do business by using social media tools. The speakers told us many details about how to create relationships with customers and how to expand your business by using social media. They talked about Facebooks and another tool ( I forgot the name of the tool ) in the morning. It's interesting. But being limited in my english, I could only get the big picture from their presentations and PPTs. The speakers were also very adept in social intercourse and ready to help others. All of them gave us their email addresses and their company's names in order for us to contact them later. I think this is another way to help people who are interested in e-trade. And it's also one of the most effective ways to expand their business. They were pleasant to answer every question from the audience. I enjoyed my trip.

Life Will Be Better

I arrived in Canada at the end of last November. Before I came here, I thought Canada is a very beautiful and Toronto must be a very crowded and busy city. But now, I find I was wrong. It's beautiful, but not as busy and crowded as many Chinese cities. And my first short trip in Canada told me that Canadians are very warm and friendly.
It was our first week in this new country. So we needed to do many things, like applying for bank and health cards. It was in winter. Although last winter was not a cold winter, we still had snowy days. The snow was so fresh but also very cold for us who come from the southern cities of China. When we went outside, it was freezing. We didn't have a car. So it was very hard for us, especially for my little daughter. But we were warmed by some people (like hitching a ride on the road). The feeling just liked drinking a cup of warm, fragrant, and sweet coffee in the cold. I found the city is not so busy and everyone living in this country likes to say 'Hello' to you. Many Canadians love to give you a hand when you need a help. I fell in love with Canada from that moment on.
After several weeks, we got our cards. My husband said he found the government officers very friendly and patient, too. Both of us are not very good at listening and speaking. But the officers' good and warm attitude moved us every time. They would explain slowly and repeat thing again and again, and never get angry. They just wanted to make us understand and never refused our questions rudely. And we also found Chinese saying, "canada is a children's paradise" is true. The saying "Canada is a children's paradise" is very popular in china. Before we arrived here, many friends told us about the Canadian government's policies for child care services. Now we found it's really true. And our children benefit from these policies. The country has built a very nice education system and has an almost perfect law to protect children.
Through our friend's help, our new Canadian life will become better and better. My husband and I will start our second career soon. I enjoy my life in Canada even though sometimes I feel tired. I still have passion and a dream. The most fortunate thing is my family are always standing on my side. My parents are still living in China. So I wish them health. I hope we can live together one day. I believe life gets better.

Yan's New Life

In China, 'yan' means swallow. So the meaning of my name is freedom, happiness and a new life. Now I am a newcomer in Canada. And my happy new life is coming.