Busy Week

Thank god it is Friday! Today, we only have a half day class; and I can relax and take a nap this afternoon. It was an exam week, I felt busy and tired. I had Group Work and Culture mid-term exam; and my daughter had French, Language Arts and Science mid-term exam this week. It was an extremely busy day on Thurday because I had Culture exam; my daughter had Language Arts and Science exam. After we finished our exams, I took my daughter to a piano recital in the afternoon. In addtion, we had a friend who lives in Halifax coming to our home and having a dinner in that evening. Even if I was busy, I still felt happy because we met our friend, and my daughter got good grades on her exams.

Art Galleries

I went to McMullen Gallery last Thursday, November 6 after I finished my volunteering at the Chinese Library. It was the Galley's opening ceremony. The Gallery is located on the main floor of the University of Alberta Hospital and it will be holded from November 1st to December 31st, 2008. You can visit there from 10am to 8 pm on Monday to Friday or from noon to 6 pm on the weekend. It is featuring the artworks of the International Visual and Performing Arts Society of Canada. The pictures are great.

In addition, the Edmonton Chinatown Chinese Library is organizing a fund raising Art Exhibition. There will be Chinese traditional paintings, calligraphy and Art Books donated by Master Winson Ng for auction and sale. All proceeds will go to the Chinese Library foundation. The opening ceremony will be hold at 1:00 pm on November 29, 2008, Saturday, and the preview for auction and sale will be at 5pm to 7pm on Friday, November 28. It will located at 2nd Floor, Edmonton Chinatown Multicultural Centre, 9540-102 Avenue, Edmonton.

I will volunteer at there on those days. You are welcome to attend the Galleries.

My Volunteer Experience

Volunteering is a win-win situation. I contribute my skills and knowledge to the society, and I learn new things, meet friends and build networks. I lived in Winnipeg for 2 years, and I volunteered at three places.

My first volunteering experience was when I arrived in Canada for 2 months. I felt everything was new, and I didn’t know what I could do in this new country. I went to the Entry Program. It is a four-week program for newcomers and provides information about the law, the employment, and the health care system. Every Wednesday, a guest speaker who is in that field goes there and gives a presentation about a specific topic. I was in the high level class. In the first week, when my teacher asked who could volunteer to interpret for the basic level students, I raised my hand; However, I still felt a little bit nervous, and I worried about my ability. When the presentation was finished, I knew I could do it. I interpreted clearly and correctly and the students could understand me easily and exactly. I did volunteer four times, and after I finished this program, the director of this program still called me once a week to interpret for them and they paid me.

Because of the culture differences, I don’t know any election things in Canada. I volunteered at our community election office, I made the phone calls and I went door to door with the candidate. When the candidate won, we celebrated together, and I felt that I am one of the Canadians.

The other of my volunteer experience was in my daughter’s school. I worked there for 4 weeks. I helped the teachers to prepare the lessons; I helped the students to learn and study better; I made the presentation about China for students; and I also cooked some Chinese food for the students. They loved the Chinese food.

Recently, I am volunteering at the Chinese Community Centre. They will open the Chinese Library after Chinese New Year. I am inputting the information about the books into the computer. I really enjoy my volunteer jobs.

I like exercises

I like doing exercises because it helps me to keep shape, give me energy and let me feel healthy. When the weather is warm and nice, I take a walk for one hour after dinner every day. However, it is getting cold and dark. What can I do for exercise? When I was in Winnipeg, I played ping-pong with my husband, but now we live in an apartment and we don't have enough space to do exercise.

Today, when I finish my dinner, I was sitting in the sofa and watching TV. I felt getting fat and not comfortable. Then, I decided to run up and down the stairs. My husband and my daughter said that I was wired. When I was running up and down the stairs, I met several neighbours and they all said it was a good idea to do exercises like that. 30 minutes later, I finish my exercises and I feel really good, physically and emotionally.

Movies I watched this weekend

I love movies, and I watch movies every weekend. Watching movies becomes our family activity every weekend. This weekend, we borrowed 5 movies from library and we finished three movies. They are "Shaolin Soccer", "Postman in the Mountains" and "the Pelican Brief". My daughter loves "Shaolin Soccer" because it is a funny, exciting and interesting movie; and she watched it twice. People use the Shaolin Kungfu to play soccer and won the competition. I love "the Pelican Brief" because of the interesting story and the good performance of the main actress and the actor.