Chinese Culture

  

    The coming Chinese New Year festival is on February 3, 2011.  Traditionally, we have to prepare a big celebration. Different areas have different cultures. In the north, one of them is plum blossom planting. It has a longer bloom. If you control the temperature, and the flower will come into bloom three days before the New Year. It doesn’t have any leaves on it before the bloom fades. My father has been planting a plum blossom for 28 years. He always puts it in the middle of the dinner table on New Year's day. Some another people put it on the wall by a painting or make different colored flowers on a dish by the flour. It is a symbol of happiness and luck for the whole year.

I am a Volunteer too!

    I was a volunteer to help our classmates from LINC two go shopping in Fairview Mall on Friday, January 21, 2011. We only had one and half hours to answer twenty-four questions in English. I was excited when we got the instructions and were dismissed from the food court.

Edidn and Ling

     My team members were Edidn and Ling. We worked hard to find and ask the questions and finally we got twenty answers. Through this activity, I learned which shop is friendly or not, but we always gave them a smile and said, “Thank you so much”.
    In practice, I learned some knowledge. I often repeated myself many times as I taught my team members how to ask a question. For example, those words include cashmere turtleneck, silver cufflinks, jersey shirt, electric razor, and deck of cards and poker chips. The poker chips were sold by the set. 500 of pieces for good material and painting on chips cost $99.99. The normal one of 300 pieces costs $69.99.
    I really appreciated our teacher Joseph and the other teachers Ariane and Christiane, who gave us this opportunity. We learned from each other, from Canadian society, and from other people. I think you are a volunteer too if you help sombody to do something.

A bee ...

    Last night at midnight, my daughter had a nightmare and cried very miserably. Actually, she often dreams and cries at midnight, and I always ask her the same qusetion, "What happened?" There is usually no response, but this time it was different.
     "It's a bee...," my daughter cried to say. "A bee? What happened? Is it following you? Or is it pursuing you?" I asked. "No!!!" she screamed. "Then what happened? Did it bite you?" I continued to ask. "Yes!!!" She cried very miserably. I tried to console her, "The bee is friendly. It will not bite anybody...,"  but she shook her head and said, "NO NO..... ." So I changed my way, to make her stop crying and sleep tight. "Ok, this bee is not a good baby. So mom beat her little buns. Is it ok?" I asked. "OK!" my daughter said and stopped crying. The story is -- she always said, "I am a good baby. Mama and papa never beat my buns. The disobedient baby should be spanked." Children always say cute and silly things.
    This was first time that she could tell me about her dream. I am happy we can communicate with each other more from now on. At least I know why she cries. Today, she is just two and half year old.

The City Career Expo - Jan. 26 -27, 2011

      Hi, everybody! There is another field trip - The City Career Expo. It is the largest employment exhibition in the Toronto/Metro centre. There are many chances to talk to your future boss and practise your courage. Maybe you will go to work tomorrow. Please register before going. It looks like the IEP conference. This time, maybe you can't get an ideal job or any freebies, but you will gain some interview experience. You can't afford to miss it!

Dates:            January 26 -27, 2011
Times:           11:00 am to 6:00 pm
Admission:  $10.00

Location:     Skywalk at Union Station - 7 Station Street, Toronto ON

For more information, please visit  http://www.thecitycareerexpo.com/
Download Invitation:  Click here to download

Student Desk ( 5 to10 sentenses)

    At my age, I used a very old desk when I was an elementary student. It had a big drawer. I could put a lot of secret things in it. In particular, there were my favourite novels and cartoons. In the past, our parents and teachers did not allow us to read those books. Every day we had to do nothing study. It was very boring. So when I finished my class, I took my books out very carefully, and put them back very stealthily. The desk stayed with me about 6 years. It gave me a lot of funny and amazing stories. I love it very much.

About IEP Conference

    I attended the IEP conference at Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Friday, January 14, 2011. I want to share my four things that happened to me.
    First, I lost my way in the subway station. After I sent my daughter to the daycare, I went to of Don Mills TTC station about 8:50. This is my third time taking TTC since I came Toronto. I saw many exits when I arrived at Union station. So I asked a man who looked like white coller worker, and who was drinking coffee at the station.

    xiuli: excuse me, how do I get to the Convention Centre?
    man: (walking around in station centre) I am not sure, I think from that side(south
            bound). He suggested that I go there indoors by the Skywalk, and that I can see it
            on the left.

    He was a nice man who told me the right way, but it was the wrong entrance. I asked another person again. Finally, I arrived at Convention Centre North Building at about 10:00. I was so tired, but it was just break time. I am lucky. I got a free coffee and cookies.

    Second, I missed my box lunch. I was really enjoyed talking to people at various booths in English. It didn't matter if I couldn't understand everything. I just wantted to practise my English even I forgot time, so that when I finished talking at 1:10pm I couldn't find any box lunches. I was left starving.
 
    Third, I got to see many organizations that provide free services to newcomers, I didn't know before. For instance, Robert Perry is a Business Operations Specialist who works at Job skills. He encouraged me to work at their simulated business company. The company will give me more self-confidence and communication opportunities and Canadian experience. I was very glad hear this, but I think my level of English is not good enough.

    Finally, I got lots of freebies in my bag. I was happy. My bag was very heavy. There were a lot of information, pens, a USB stick, note pads, and business cards.

    The infomation from IEP conference is very useful to newcomers. Some successful persons shared their work experience in Canada. The government provides many free programs for us. We should catch those opportunities to learn more knowledge in Canada, so we can find a good job in the future.