Welcome, Spring

You Should Be There

2012-06-26T21:04:00.000-07:00

You Should Be There

Imagine that you are sitting alone in a park when you are sixty years old in a beautiful afternoon. What will you recall to mind in this situation? The happiest time with your families? The worst days in your life? The most important contribution you made? Maybe these scenes will follow through your mind like a movie. You will feel the smiles, the pain, again and again. Even the stone you are sitting on you can remember . It is exactly the one your 5-year-old son jumped off thirty years ago. At that time he was yelling and laughing. Why can you recall these scenes? Because you are there. If you are not there, nothing for you and nothing for the others.

If you are absent for the moments in your children's childhood, the absence is forever. Crisanta Sampang worked as a maid in Singapore and Canada and left her three little daughters in her hometown. She worked hard and benefited the family a lot: posted money back, presented the lastest fashion goods, sent her children to a better school. After working overseas for twenty-two years. She found out that she could not make up for her absence during her daughters' childhood. She missed the time she should have been staying besideher daughters, she missed their birthday parties, missed Christmas dinners, missed thousands hugs. She was not there during scenes. Blank will be foreven for her for these moments. Pity will be foreven for her daughters without their mother during these moments.

Parents are always the best friends and teachers of their children. You need not tell them what to do. You just need to live with them and do as you should do They will learn from you during their daily life. Children whose mother had gone away to work in another country, always met problems: many of them display tendenciers toward materialism because their mothers bought presents to make up for the absence. Many of them showed bad school performance or drup addition. Without parents taking care of their children, the chidren feel that is hard to tell bad from good behaviours. Like a little tree needs surpports and pretection hen it is young. Even though some of them did well in school, we still cant figue out the effects made by the absence of the parents. One of Crissaant Sampang daughter -Maricel, who suddeny married a man fifteen years older than hersef and left her baby to work overseas as her mother. Maybe it was one of the effects.
Time is a one-way travel. You cannot go back and revert. If you are absent from the occasions, you are absent forever. You left the children aside, they grow up by themselves. So, if you have any choice, stay beside your children, just stay with them-you should be there.

Aboriginal Poverty in Canada

2012-04-30T10:42:00.001-07:00

I like the video "They Don't Care About Us ", for three reasons:
First, the music sounds excellent and meaningful.
Second, the information shocked me. How did these issues happened in Canada? I almost can't believe my eyes. 1 in 4 First nations children live in poverty. Suicide accounts for 38% of all deaths for First Nations youth aged 10-19.
Third, the pictures make a deep impression on me. The pictures are telling hopeless, and sad stories.

Keeping Using Chinese Language Gets Advantages

2012-04-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

Keeping Using Chinese Language Gets Advantages

When you listen to radio, you will at least hear one news is about China; When you go shopping, you will find most of the clothes, shoes are made in China; When you walk out in the street in Toronto, you will find half of the people you meet maybe Chinese. So, think about it, you may figure out easily: Chinese immigrants in Canada who keep using Chinese language will get many advantages.

First,keeping use Chinese language may get more chances for the future. As you know, nowhere on this planet is the attraction to global market followers than in the world's most populous country, China-with more than 1.4 billion people. Using Chinese language absolutely is helpful for finding chances in China. Furthermore, Canadian companies are looking for opportunities in China to grow their business. For example, Canadian energy companies, industrial goods and materials products will find their customers in China. They need a huge number of employees who can speak Chinese. Last, more and more Chinese are travelling around. Some Chinese are coming to Canada s immigrants. They need service in Chinese language. For instance, in the year 2010, there are more than thirty thousands Chinese immigrants into Canada. Similarly, there are 140 thousands Chinese travellers visited BC province in the year 2011. All these people need Chinese language service. In brief, by using Chinese language, you can develop a global perspective on your future and get more opportunities.

Second, keeping using Chinese language you may get more reaction. Firstly, many Chinese movies and songs are good. For example, the movie "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" is wonderful. The Chinese folk song "Jasmine" is also amazing. If you can enjoy them in Chinese, you will get more sense. Secondly, using Chinese language will get you travel in China freely. As you know, China is a huge country as Canada. There are thousands beautiful places are valuable to visit. You may easily think out many famous places such as: the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, City Xi An and Shang Hai. What wonderful thing if you may travel these places with using Chinese language freely. Thirdly, you may find tons of interesting stories the Chinese long history. China is a country with an ancient civilisation with more than five thousand years. Tremendous historical stories will amuse you. In short, using Chinese Chinese language will make you enjoy your leisure time better.

Third, keeping using Chinese language will benefit you from the Chinese culture. When a person is using a language, they will get well known about the culture. First of all, knowing well about the culture do help for the business make a deal with Chinese people. To illustrate, Canadian negotiators tend to say NO if they mean no. But Chinese negotiators usually say MAYBE when they mean no. Furthermore, in Chinese culture, it believes creating a happy life and bright future through hard work. Following this, you will live more actively. On the other hand, Chinese culture contains proverbs, which may give you life experiences or advices. For one thing, a Chinese proverb " It's more meaningful to travel over tens of thousands of miles than to read tens of thousands of books". It courages young people go out connect with the social to get experience. Using Chinese language and knowing Chinese culture, you will get advantages.

To sum up, Chinese immigrants have a Chinese background. Their parents or ancestors came from China. It is easier for them to keep using Chinese language and making sense about Chinese culture. Keeping using Chinese language you will get more chances for your business or career. At the same time you may get more interesting things in your spare time. And you will get advantages from the Chinese culture. So, why not keep using it?

Automated bill payments not always a good idea (From Moneyville)

2011-12-16T06:56:00.000-08:00

Automated bill payments not always a good idea

August 09, 2011 By Krystal Yee

Shutterstock

Many personal finance professionals will tell you that automating your finances is one of the best ways to manage your money. You can automate your pay cheque deposits, deposits to savings, RRSPs and investment accounts, as well as all of your monthly recurring bills.

But when you think you’re making your life easier by automating everything and not having to stress about whether you paid the bills on time, you might be doing more harm than good. Automating your finances can lead to bad spending habits, because you aren’t conscious of where your money is going. And, when all of the work is being done for you, you might not check on your accounts as often as you should.

I personally only automate the essentials – such as my pay cheque from my full-time job, my mortgage payment, and my maintenance fees. Everything else – such as utilities, cell phone, internet/cable, credit card bills, and taxes – I make as manual payments.

Here’s why:

My income fluctuates
Even though I have a full-time job, my income can fluctuate wildly from week to week, depending on how much money I bring in from my part-time and freelancing jobs. While it’s possible to budget and automate when your income varies, I find it’s a lot easier (and a lot less stressful) to manually enter in bill payments. Especially when not all companies and services offer monthly billing cycles that end at the end of each month. Instead, I keep track of when my payments are due by tracking them in Quicken, as well as in a Google calendar. That way, I always know that I have money in my account to pay each invoice.

I like seeing progress
It is extremely satisfying to click a few buttons and see bills getting paid, or my savings account growing. It’s proof that my hard work is worth something, and it reminds me that my goals are real and attainable. It’s a feeling you can’t get when the bank does all of the work for you.

Don’t forget to read the terms and conditions
Sometimes life can get busy, and by the time you get around to looking through your cell phone bill, you might have already had the payment deducted from your account. I worked in a call centre for a company whose terms and conditions stated that receiving payment is your acknowledgment and agreement to all of the charges on the invoice. So it’s important to look through your invoices in a timely manner, as well as carefully read through your terms and conditions of service with each company.

It forces me to pay attention
Over the past five years, I’ve made it a habit to log into my online bank accounts at least three times each week. This year I caught two fraudulent charges on my credit card. If my credit card bill payments were automated, I would be much less inclined to check my accounts as often, or as closely, so I might have missed catching and disputing those charges.

Companies make it so easy to automate payments. From your Netflix account to your gym membership to those domain names you’ve never used that keep auto-renewing every year – sitting down to pay your bills might take an extra hour out of each month, but it really forces you to see where your money is going. It helps you have a better relationship with your finances, and you might realize that you’re paying for a lot of things that you just don’t use.

Do you have your finances on automation?

Dragon Boat Festival

2011-12-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, the 5th day of the 5th lunar month, has had a history of more than 2,000 years in China. There are some traditional activities on this Chinese annual festival.

Holding Dragon Boat Racing

The most well-known activity is Dragon Boat Racing. This activity is to memorise a famous scholar-statesman named Chu Yuan. He was a royal minister. At the beginning he worked well with the king. the country was strong. later the king believed someone else, and did not trust him anymore.The king drove him faraway from the capital. The country was in a mess. At last the capital was occupied by the enemies, the king was killed. Chu Yuan was so sad and so disappointed. He jumped into the Mi Luo River on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. Respecting the minister as an upright and honest man, the people who lived in the area jumped into their boats and rushed out search for him. This unsuccessful rescue attempt is a part of what the Dragon Boat Festival commemorates every year.

Eating Zong-Zi

Another activity of the Festival is the making and eating of a kind of an especial food named Zong-Zi. Zong-Zi is connected with Chu Yuan too. When people found Chu Yuan had jumped into the river, It’s too late to save him. They couldn’t find his body. In case fish eating his body, they made and threw Zong-Zi into the river to feed the fish. Zong-Zi has a form of pyramid. It is filled with meat, nuts and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Now, Zong-Zi is a general food in our daily life. There are hundreds different kinds of Zong-Zi. They are very delicious.

Using Folk Medicines

Since antiquity, they have believed that this month is a danger-fraught period. people tend to concentrate their efforts during this time attempting to protect their families from ills and misfortune. Most families hang calamus and Artemisia above their doors. On this day the children love to collect the colourful Hsiang Bao. Hsiang Bao is a kind of handmade craft filled with folk medicines sometime.

The Meaning of the Dragon Boats Festival

Probably the most exciting and interesting aspect of the festival is the racing of the Dragon Boats. These races not only symbolise the people's attempt to save Chu Yuan, they also demonstrate the Chinese virtues of cooperation and teamwork.

A Better Life in Canada

2011-12-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

Why do a large amount of people in other countries want to immigrant to Canada? I think it is because Canada will provide a better life for at least reasons. First,it is free for children's education. To demonstrate, my son is in kindergarten, I did not have to pay a dollar for his education. Second,It is equal for everyone, no matter yours skin colour,your religion or the money you have.One example of this is even if you are the mayor of Toronto, you have to pay your private activities by yourself. Third,it is safe for a daily life. Frequently, the food which is showing in the grocery store is safe; the money in your bank or in your wallet is safe; the house you are living in is safe. Therefore, in Canada, you can get free education,feel equality and safely. Don't you think it is a better life?

My Favourite Holiday: the New Year's Day

2011-12-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

The most important holiday to me is the New Year's Day for three reasons.The first reason is on the New Year's Day I will have a chance to meet my family members. For example,my family always has a family dinner on New Year's Day . My parents, my sisters and brothers meet together at home. I always feel happiness at this time. The second reason is I have a chance to check what has happened during the last year. For instance, a year has passed,it is a time that I can look through what I have done in the last year. So I can figure out what I should do but haven't finished. The third reason is I can make a plan for the new year. As you know, most people make a new resolution for the new year, so do I. After I check the situation about last year, I will make a new plan about what I should do in the new year. In conclusion, on the New Year's Day, I can meet my family members,check out what has happened in the last year and make a plan for the new year. Thus I believe the New Year's Day is the most important favourite holiday to me.

A Win-Win Way to Go TO School: Carpool

2011-12-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

A Win-Win Way

to Go TO School: Carpool

When the advantages of taking a carpool are analysed, it is understandable why people would choose to take a carpool. The first advantage is saving your time. For instance, last week I went to school by bus, I had to exchange the bus to subway then to bus. I had to wait for a long time, so it always takes me more than an hour to cover the distance. If I do a carpool, it is just 20 minutes for me to get to school. By doing this, I won’t have to wake up early. The second advantage is saving your money. For example, I pay $2.5 every time when I take a bus. Now it is only $2 for the carpool. The third advantage is gaining information. As you know, it is very challenging to learn English, you always have a lot of pratices to do. You have no time to exchange information. When you take a carpool, you will get benefits from each other. To sum up ,taking carpool may save your time, save your money and gain information.

Lucky Knot

2011-11-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Good afternoon! Everyone. My Chinese name is Xiaohua Wang, you may call me Victor. Today, I want to show you this knot. Its name is “Lucky Knot”. It is purely hand-made, made of a single red rope with three pieces of jade. It is named by its specific form and meaning.

Knot, in Chinese 'Jie' has the meanings of friendliness, warm, marriage, love and so on.Traditional Chinese Knots is a handicraft arts that began as a form of Chinese folk art 1000 years ago. Chinese knots are often used to express some good wishes including happiness, love, good luck and no evils.

My mother sent me the knot before we set off to

Canada

. She hopes we can travel safely, health and avoid troubles. I always keep this knot beside me, and till today all of the things run well.

(This is my first presentation in SCAS)

Every day is a new one!

2011-11-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

Our family have been in Canada for more than 3 months. During this time, I have visited a large number of places; Have taken part in a lot kinds of activities; Have met many kinds of people. I have made some plans for the future, but you always find things do not go the direction you have imaged. Sometimes you have to make changes for the new situation. Everything is new for us, Every day is a new one! We have to adjust to get used to the new life style. We believe finding a direction and working hard you will get want you want.

A try

2011-11-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

Last time I typed an article in my blogger, but I failed to publish it on the website. This is a new one, I wish this time it will success.

Winter is Coming

2011-10-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Winter is around the corner. I heard winter in Toronto is very cold, and I don't know whether it will be OK without a car. Everybody has to prepare for the season. Are you ready?