Decorating House for Christmas

Christmas will be coming in three weeks. I have been expecting Christmas in Canada because my husband told me that it would be different from my hometown. The other day, I was wondering what the difference between my hometown and Canada would be. I did not know the difference until this week. It was the atmosphere of Christmas. Christmas music is everywhere, including radio, TV, shopping malls, restaurants and supermarkets. In my hometown, Christmas music was not as widespread. During the Christmas season, we always eat breakfast with Christmas music from the radio.
Besides this, I noticed that many houses appeared different in my community. Some of the houses have already been decorated by their owners. They have many different wreaths hung on their front doors and Christmas trees with ornaments on the yard. The most special part is the outdoor lights. There are many different kinds of Christmas lights, such as: Santa Claus, stockings, snowmen and reindeer. In addition, we can see Christmas lights around trees and across the front the house. It was very beautiful with rich Christmas atmosphere. When I drove in my community, I drove slowly to enjoy it. I am very grateful towards people who go all out to decorate their houses for Christmas and l have the chance to enjoy it.
       

My To- Do List

This week, I attended a new course: Skills Life Canada.  The skills can help newcomers become independent and confident for life in Canada. This program includes thinking about yourself, caring for your relationships, and finally, thinking for yourself. I was interested in positive interpersonal communication skills. We all came from different countries and we all had different cultural backgrounds. We will need to learn positive communication skills for Canada that will bring success to our business, family and personal life. For example, communicate often, keep smiling, praise and compliment, stick to the issue and be respectful. I though communication skills was very useful to me. It can improve my relationships.
Beside this, I was also interested in the program of setting goals. Everyone has their own goals and I have  mine too. On the last day of the class, we did an exercise about" my to-do list "to help achieve our own goals. After the exercise, everyone shared his or her own list, and everyone wants a job in Canada. I though it was normal. So, I have already done my list, and l wish to complete it successfully.  My list is as follows:

Long and short-term goals:
1. Continue my job as a nurse in Toronto, my long-term goal, 3 years.
2. Improve my English from level 6 to level 7, my mild-term goal, 6 months.
3. Improve my English from level 5 to level 6, my short-term goal, 3-4 months
 When my English improves to level 7,  I can attend nursing programs provided by the government. The program can prepare me to join nursing schools in Toronto.

My bite-sized steps:
1. Go to LINC school everyday.
2. Write a blog once a week.
3. Watch CBC news from 5:30 to 6:30 every afternoon.
4. Watch English TV as much as I can.
5. Read a grammar book by myself three time a week.
6. Chat in English with friends.
7. Writting with English in my notes, messages and emails

Benefit of Smile

 

The other day, my friend sent me an email with pictures of smile. It told about the benefits of smiling? Smiling is a great way to make yourself stand out while helping your body to function better. I was interested, so I would like to share it with everyone.
Do you know what the most beautiful expression is? It is you smile. Smiling improves your health, stress level and attractiveness.
First, smiling makes us more attractive and easy to approach. If frowns, scowls and grimaces keep people away.smile is good for everyone.
Second.Smiling changes our moods. Next time you are feeling down, try putting on a smile. There is a 
 good chance that your mood will get better.
Third, smiling is contagious. When someone is smiling, it can lighten up the room, and it can change the mood of others. It makes people happier. A smiling person brings happiness with him or her.
Fourth, smiling relieves stress. Stress can really show up on our face. Smile helps to prevent us from looking tired. When you are stressed, put on a smile. The stress will be reduced and you'll feel better. Fifth, smiling boosts your immune system. When you smile, immune function improves because you are more relaxed. You can prevent the flu and colds by smiling.
Last, smile makes you look successful. Smiling people appear more confident. They are more likely to be promoted and approached. Put on a smile at work and people will react to you differently.
So, no matter what bad things happen to you, keep a smile on you face and you will get the benefits of your smile. 

A Film about War

Since this Friday will be Remembrance Day, we watched a film about war on Tuesday morning. The film's name is Passchendaele. The film was a story of the war and described soldiers protecting their country. It was a very moving film. The leading actor was a really brave soldier. He led the army to protect the country and saved his friend's life. Eventually, he was killed by the enemy. I was a little sad but I am proud of him. It was a good film. It told me the origin of Remembrance Day. War is terrible because it make everyone lose family menbers and many other things. I don't like war. I am very grateful that the world is peaceful now. We should value everything we have.
 

Volunteering at a Chinese School on Sunday

Last Sunday, I went volunteering at a Chinese School on Sunday. This was my second time there. The students at school don't speak Chinese very well. Their parents came from Asian countries, and they want their children to learn the Chinese language well. Those students go to regular school from Monday to Friday. Besides this, they go to the Chinese school every Sunday. When they come to school, many of them feel tired. Some of them would yawn, some of them would nap, others would draw pictures and still others would listen to their teachers. One of the students told me that he didn't like go to Chinese school on Sunday because he was tired. He wanted to play with his friends or watch movies at home.
 Sometimes, teachers play games with students or share funny stories with them. It makes the class more interesting. I thought it was a good idea. So, the teachers were working hard, and the students were learning hard, too.
  I think it is very important for one to know his or her mother tongue. Knowing one's mother tongue may be useful in the future. If you have a chance to learn other languages, the addition language will be useful in your life. So, I am happy that I have the chance to learn English. Although sometimes it was difficult to learn, I will still continue to learn the language.

     
  

Making of Korean Kimchi

Since there was no class on Thursday and Friday, we had an interesting plan to make Korean Kimchi. I have a friend who can make kimchi. So today, l invited her and my other friends to make kimchi at my home. We were so noisy because we were excited. Everyone worked hard to learn how to make kimchi. It looks easy, but actually it was difficult. We make a mistake once when we were making the sauce. First, we put salt on each a napa leaf, and let it a napa shrink. Second, we made the sauce. We needed 2tablespoom of rice powder, some chili powder, and a bowl of water, all mixed together on a warm pot. When the sauce thickened, we put in some slices of carrot and some slices of green onion mixed together. We waited for the sauce to cool down. Finally, we put the sauce on each napa leaf. After ten minutes, we cut it, and we put it into an empty jar. When we finished cooking the kimchi, we were amazed at ourselves. We could do it. The kimchi can be served with rice, noodles, or hot pot. It can make any kind of food taste good. That's great. We liked making kimchi very much.

Lunch Time

Today at noon, when I was microwaving my lunch box in the school, my Taiwanese friends gave me good news. They invited Mizuho and I to lunch at a dim-sum restaurant. It was a famous restaurant of Hong Kong cuisine. We decided to go for lunch with my Taiwanese friends. We were so sorry to our English teacher, because we disappeared again from the afternoon computer class. During our lunch, we ate many different foods. We ordered different steam dumplings, rice cake, congee, steam squid tentacle, fried turnip patties, steam fingers of chicken....It was very delicious. I liked it a lot. We shared experience of Canadian life, such as: how to find the Taiwanese supermarkets, a good hair salon, a good bakery store and delicious restaurants. We all enjoyed. l think it is very important to make friends who let you get to know Canada. You can talk to each other for about everything, and they can help you adapt to Canada. So I was happy in my lunch time.