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22 settembre Middle Moon Festival EveBelieve or not, these bizarre cookies suppose to be moon cakes. Moon cake is a kind of special cake made for Middle Moon Festival, which is one of three most important Chinese traditional festivals. These cakes are both non tasty and over calorie, but we still eat them every year. It's like a culture tradition. Although you may not enjoy its taste, still, you will feel something missed if you don't have one on that day. In Vicotria, there are moon cakes in supermarket, but they are extraordinary expensive. I can't afford them. Instead, I tried to do some self-made moon cake to amuse myself.
We don't have some necessary materials and utensils here, so I try to do it in my own way. I used raisin for stuffing, and made some other strange moves as well. However, as you can see, it turns out they neither taste or look like a really moon cake. I might do something wrong, probably.
Anyway, the good part is, the taste is not as bad as their appearance.
Nevertheless, I did something right as well. These chicken wing I made was a triumph. I like them. I bet they beat KFC at least. 21 settembre Bible discovery nightLeon was right. Daniel's place is a great place to go. By the way, Leon, if you are reading this blog, thank you. :)
Daniel is a Canadian and a Christian. I don't know his job, a scholar? Probably. He and his family invite international students to his house every Thursday night, offering a potluck meal as well as a discussion about Bible.
Frankly speaking, I'm not a big fan of Christianism. But it was a great night, which made people feel warm inside, especially to those of us who just came to a foreign country. The interesting part is that all the visitors are from Asia. I think it's because people from other continent perhaps already have their own belief.
Anyway, I decided to take it as one of my routine activities. 19 settembre Everyday RoutineI feel better today. My supervisor didn't kill me on routine meeting, and 1st year college boys started to call me "Sir" in class. Although it's 9:00pm when I finish all my job, I have to do my daily routine job ---- cooking.
I cook different dishes everyday. I think it's interesting as well as I can learn some cooking skills. Besides, the most important thing is I can have some tasty food by the way. I'm not a big fan of Canadian food, just like sandwich or pizza. I prefer Chinese food.
Today's dish is: potato and beef. (Actually this food is not very Chinese. Many western countries have this too.)
They only have electric oven and flat pans here.
One for lunch, one for dinner. 18 settembre busyI still can't believe that they assigning me to be an instructor.
The course I teach is easy. The advantage is that it's easy to prepare. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that all my students are native speakers, so they expect their teacher to be someone funny who can make them laugh. I could be funny, but only in Chinese. Here, my speech isn't funny but make me funny, and my word can't make people laugh but make them laugh at me. (I know that so I didn't try to joke them.)
It's shame.
Besides, I've got tons of works to do. I'm insanely busy right now.
I wrote to my Uncle to talk about my anxiety about my English and whole busy thing. Uncle Hu used to be a student in University of Alberta 10 years ago. Now, he is a professor in US. He told me that English is still a problem to him right now, and it seems to be a life time problem. It happens to every foreigner, he said. His words make me feel better. I know he used to be an excellent student. He was the president of student union in U of A. And he was both outstanding in research as well as in sociality. I would proud of myself if I could be half of him. So I think, if English still bothers him so much, perhaps my feeling of frustration is not that bad.
And he told me that he was also extremely busy on his first year. He compared it to his 3rd year in senior high school in China. I agree: it is that busy. Oh no, not to me. In 3rd senior high, I spent most of my time hanging out with my friends. OK, let's put it this way: it reminds me the summer when I was preparing my math contest. However, things changed a little. In math contest, if I succeed, I win everything; if I lose, I am still what I am. But now, if I succeed, I am still what I am; if I lose, I will lose everything. It's similar situation, but more pressure. I hope it won't change the result of my efforts.
Talking about effort, Canadians do have different definition. In here, if you start doing your homework 3 days before deadline, you are diligent. But to a typical 3rd senior high student in China, if you waste 9 hours on sleeping during the night, you are the lazy one. 13 settembre Being An InstructorCan you imagine a guy who barely speaking English at all but teaching college students? Yeah, that's me.
My TA (Teaching Assistant) job is instructor. I think somebody made a mistake. Because instructor is like the most difficult job (perhaps except leaders). As a foreigner and an ESLer, I thought they would give me a job like a marker or a consultant, which do not need to speak too much. However, they gave me this one.
Why? Why? W, H, Y, Why?
This afternoon, I taught 2 classes of college students of basic computer skills. The course is easy, but speaking English is difficult. I've never spoken so much English. And as a foreigner, speaking in front of people publicly makes me so nervous. Although I used to teach a little in China before, that was a totally different situation. My experience doesn't help at all.
Anyway, I successfully survived today. It was a terrible class though. Well, next week it'll be better, wishfully.
PS: Do you wanna hear something interesting? Here you are. This professor is in charge of the course which I am teaching. He has pierced lips, and he is a musician of a local band as well as a local DJ. He is also a big fun of motorcycles. It's cool, isn't it? Why we don't have this kind of professor in China?
12 settembre ShameToday is open club day. There are lots of clubs in Students Center. I went and checked out badminton club, while, I found something interesting.
There are Japan students association, Korean students association and Taiwan students association, but there is no Chinese association. What's even more sarcastic is that there is a "Japanese Welcomed" signboard on Taiwan students association.
Why?
10 settembre Views from department buildingThis is Mount Olympus of Olympic Mountain, a glaciated mount which located in U.S. This picture was taken from the lounge of the ECS buidling (Engineering and Computer Science). The building has 6 floors, but it's still the highest building around.
By the way, the word "Olympus" also means paradise in English.
I wish my office faced south so I can see the Olympus whenever I wanted to. Unfortunately, it doesn't. But the view from my desk is good too. This is a view from the window near my desk. It used to be a second generation rain forest. When I staring at these trees, I feel peaceful. (and good to eyes)
Poor apartmentIt turns out that this house is cheap for reasons. I can not access to MSN or QQ now, and I can't download any files either.(It's a temporary problem, hopefully.) Laundry cost is expensive and the machine doesn't work well. Personally speaking, my landlords are overly closefisted. Although I am Chinese myself, I have to say they are typical traditional Chinese, just like my father. While there is a difference, which is my father is only closefisted to himself. We've got an apartment for rent in Beijing as well, and he has never been so mean to the tenants.
On the other hand, their behaviors are understandable. In 80s of last century, China was an insane communist evil country. These early immigrants had to be hardhanded to survived in a totally unfriendly environment.
So, I'm kind of thinking about moving out after this contract is over. Hello WorldThis is my 4th blog at least, I guess. I will keep writing this in foreign language to improve my poor English. |
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