My 2nd day in Canada

2nd day: 6th October, 2008 Cool and windy

I didn’t have a good sleep last night as I woke up several times and couldn’t too bed. I was not sure whether it was something due with jetlag or I was a little bit worried about going to school on the first day. My host mum said I need at least one hour to get to school. It is really a long journey and I was scared of getting lost. Canada is so big, as well as York University. I hope I will have a good day today. (finished at 5:55 a.m.) to be continued…

Takashi went to Woodbine subway with me this morning at around 7:30 a.m. We walked there and took the train together. However, our destinations are different. So I still had to go to York by myself. Luckily, I could find the bus stop, took the bus safely and took off the bus and walked to Winter’s College and eventually to the right room without asking anyone to help me. I was surprised that I could be so independent and clever, Haha!! I was the second one to go into the room. I took a rest and I talked with Bell and Vicky. I told them that it is my second time to come to Canada and I showed them the pictures that I took six years ago.

This morning, York University staff introduced themselves to us. Tove explained the importance and meaning of this programme. She used the maple leaves Canada to compare with teacher’s own reflection and improvement in teaching. I agreed with that and I also thought that it is a great opportunity for me to evaluate my own teaching. I want to bring some new ideas and teaching methods to Hong Kong, to my colleagues and even to my students. I hope all parties can benefit from this programme. Then, the representative from the insurance company explained the content and details of the insurance policy to us all. Then, we were divided into two groups. Christie and Deidre talked to us, listened to us and responded to our questions. After that, 4 students from York introduced themselves to us as they were our tour guide in the afternoon. They were pretty kind and nice. We picked some sandwiches and water and we followed the tour guide to walk around the school campus. The campus is quite big and the buildings are very similar to one another.

We took buses and subway and we started our journey. We went to the old and new City Hall. Then, my group took subway to Queen Quay and took a streetcar to Waterfront. We spent a lot of time visiting the place and taking pictures. I like walking around the waterside and looking at the seagulls. Lastly, we left there at around 4 p.m., we took a streetcar and subway and returned home by ourselves. I was glad to visit all the places even it is not my first time to visit Toronto.

Tonight, I gave my host mum the souvenirs that I bought for her from Hong Kong. She liked the Chinese style bag and the pencil bag very much. I showed her my family members’ photos and I asked her to keep the pictures. I also showed her the pictures of my previous homestay family, the two cats. We had a nice talk together.