Painting for the First Time in My Life at 105 Gibson Centre's Paint Night Program, Markham, Ontario

Paint Night at 105 Gibson Centre, Markham

105 Gibson Centre offered a series of  Paint Night events on Friday evenings

I am not an artsy person. I love music, theatre and going to shows. However, painting was one area which did not appeal to me as I did not think I have a shred of talent in art nor had I ever any opportunities of trying my hands in this subject.

Fortunately, 105 Gibson Centre recently offered a series of Paint Nights on Friday evenings.

A sample painting by the Paint Night instructor - Lillian S.

Instead of committing to a whole term or a year of painting lessons every week, interested people could sign up for a particular Paint Night when the art instructor would show the class a simple painting to be completed within that lesson. These painting projects were for beginners.

“ It is only for one night. What would I have to lose? Even if I don’t like it, I would not have to pay for the whole term and I don’t even have to invest in buying any brushes and supplies. Why not?” I thought to myself and signed up for my first ever painting lesson last fall.

Everything was ready for us when we arrived for our painting lesson

I loved my first ever painting experience! Organizers of the Paint Night at 105 Gibson Centre did a super job of organizing the class. Everything was set up by 7:30pm on the Friday evening of the class. Tables, chairs, easels, paints and brushes for all the participants were nicely set up when I arrived for the painting class. 

Soft classical music and nice songs playing in the background while we painted

What made this Paint Night special was the added touches.

A dessert and drink table was set up for Paint Night participants

At every Paint Night, soft melodious classical music and songs were softly playing in the background while a drink and dessert table was set up for participants.

The cheese cake and cookies were served at the Paint Nite

We could help themselves freely to some beverages, cheese cakes and other goodies.

I enjoyed my first painting experience tremendously at the 105 Gibson Centre's Paint Night event

Lillian S., the art instructor was kind, knowledgeable and considerate of each participant’s abilities.

The atmosphere was relaxing and the staff was helpful. Painting has always been a bit intimidating for me. My experience at the Paint Night was so positive that I am starting to develop confidence and an affinity for this subject.

The first painting piece I did was a sunset piece at 105 Gibson Centre

My first painting at the Paint Night was a sunset piece.

Cameron Lake, B.C. as captured by me in my latest painting

I enjoyed painting so much that I went back three more times after my first lesson and completed three more pieces.

My Paint Night masterpieces are proudly displayed in our Toronto home.

My paintings are  currently proudly adorning the walls in our home. Every time I look at my work, I feel proud and happy!

Paint Night at 105 Gibson Centre

Thank you, 105 Gibson Centre for organizing and offering these affordable and meaningful classes to the community. I look forward to attending more art classes in the future at the community centre!

R.T.

Paint Nights

105 Gibson Centre

105 Gibson Drive, Markham

Ontario, Canada

The Toronto Raptors Basketball Team Making History and Going to the NBA Finals!

Another exciting thing that happened today was the Toronto Raptos' win over the Milwaukee  basketball team and making it to the final of the NBA games!

We learned of the Raptors historic win from CTV news

The Raptors was started in the 1990's,  a Toronto basketball team, the only NBA team from Canada.

It was exciting following the games as the Raptors came from 3-0 in the last game and from there all the way to tie the game winning it at 4-3!

Jurassic Park, a square outside the Roger Stadium in Toronto where fans could gather and watch any games going on inside the stadium on an outside jumbotron, was jam packed tonight with excited fans from all over Canada and overseas .

Hundreds fans showed up to be in the square, soaking up the exciting atmosphere.

Fans watching in Jurassic Park, downtown Toronto erupted in jubilation over the Raptors' win

The game was a cliffhanger as the Raptors were losing at the beginning of the game, but then turned the game around towards the end, winning the fourth game on home turf.

The place erupted in jubilation and people were wild with excitement.





Finally, the Toronto basketball team fans can now experience the excitement of watching their home team playing in the NBA final playoff! It has been twenty four years in the making!

Being Canadians, no Raptors fans were arrested and there were no violent incidents or burning of cars breaking of shop windows, looting or any other ugly incidents.  We are Canadians, civilized, polite and well behaved ! Proud being a Canadian!!!

Way to go, Raptor fans!  You made us very proud!

The first game of the NBA final will be next Thursday. We can hardly wait to cheer them on in the playoff games!

R.T.
Toronto
May 25, 2019
Photo credit - CTV Evening News
p.s. The whole Canada  is watching the NBA finals cheering on our beloved Raptos basketball team. Raptors won Game 4 against the Golden State Warriors in the finals at Oracle stadium tonight! We are one win away from being the NBA champion, the first time ever!!!  June 8, 2019
 

Chosen and Called to be One of God's Servants

May 25, 2019

It was a wonderful day today!

Together with three other people, I was recommended to be ordained to be a servant of God. The ceremony was held at a Scarborough church.

The ceremony was simple but meaningful and serious. We started the ceremony with worship songs. These songs have etched in my heart forever:

A Seed Fallen to the Ground and Hi Ne Ni have new meaning for me.




In the future when I sing these songs, I will be reminded of the day I was ordained.




After, Rev. Coley and Rev Ko anointed and prayed for me, each of the four reverends present took turns to pray and bless me. I was deeply touched that God has chosen me, an undeserving individual to be one of His servants.

Honoured to be presented with flowers at the ordination ceremony

O God, may your will  and work be done! And may your name be lifted up and glorified through your chosen servants!

R.T.
Scarborough, Ontario

Building Confidence of Recovering Youth Drug Addicts Preparing for Re Entry and Employment

Some people, for whatever reason become addicted to drugs and consequently have disastrous consequences on their lives. Thanks to Operation Dawn, a Christian organization devoted  to bringing these people from the brink of their lives and helping them to quit their addiction.

Without the use of drugs and not requiring the drug addicts paying hefty sums of money for the latest medical equipment and therapies,  Operation Dawn believes and relies on the power of the gospel , prayers and the love of Christ to give these desperate people a second chance in their lives.

I was privileged to have been invited to do a series of workshops with this group of marginalized people. The road to reclaim their new lives is a long one and requires tremendous support. A generous couple has donated their country house located on a three acres land in Stoufville,  a small community located about a 30 minute drive from Toronto.

I have never met the residents of Operation Dawn .The purpose of my first visit was to build trust with the group, helping them to be confident about applying for jobs upon graduating from this program.

We arrived at the house shortly after 1pm and  saw a few shirtless young men playing basketball and enjoying the sunny weather at the front yard.  I had my program all planned out with my PPT ready to go. However, as an educator, I am always mindful of the needs of my audiences. I changed the format of my presentation and decided to hold my presentation outside on the front lawn under the basketball hoop so that the young men could enjoy a nice sunny afternoon outside.

The workshop went as follows:

1. I started the workshop with an introduction about me, my family and background, with pictures on my power point in the classroom.

2. It was followed by an Icebreaker activity –  I took the group outside. I wanted to incorporate some fun into the workshop and discussions.  I asked each participant to dribble the basketball around the group standing in a circle, coming back to his place then say his own name and using the first letter of his name, come up with 2 positive adjectives to describe himself/herself.

Enjoying some outside activities with the participants of the workshop

3.  Attempting to build the confidence of the participants further, I asked the group to reflect and answer these questions in the following sequence:

What am I good at?  name 2 things

What do I like to do?

What kind of jobs would I be looking for ?

Think of a job that can connect my strengths and interests.

Am I ready for job hunting?

Importance of an entry level and first job

Where to look for an entry level position?

Before answering  each question, every participant was asked to dribble the basketball once around the group and perform a favorite basketball trick of his /her own. Then the person with the ball would answer the question before throwing it to the next person.

The group seemed to enjoy this activity, the fine weather, watching others’ tricks and listening to each others ideas. It was a fun hour for me and my husband as well.

I shared with the group some special government programs targeting young people seeking employment. We had very positive feedback from the group as well as the two instructors.

It was a productive afternoon and we were glad that we could share our experience and testimonies with them.  I pray that God would use and bless the Operation Dawn ministry and help these young men to rebuild their lives and lead them to Jesus!

R.T.

Stoufville, Ontario

Celebrating Passover with a Passover Meal Hosted by a Jewish Christian Group in Toronto

I love living in Toronto!

Toronto is the most diverse metropolitan city in North America.

We have immigrants from from every corner of the world. While I was teaching in a middle school a decade ago,students from my school with about seven hundred students came from more than seventy countries. If we feel like eating cuisine from any part of the world, we can almost find it in one of the numerous ethnic restaurants in the city.

We celebrated Passover with a a Passover meal in Toronto recently.

Last Saturday, we celebrated a Passover meal at a local Christian church hosted by a group of Jewish Christians. The event started at 1pm. There were about 100 people attending.

|Our first time singing in Hebrew!

Before the meal started, there was a lot of singing and we sang in both English and Hebrew. I loved it!
I always love Hebrew music. Though I could not understand a word of Hebrew, I enjoy the tune and spirit of the songs.

A message was shared by Gideon who grew up in Israel and became a Christian . We started going to his bible study group on Friday mornings and are learning a lot from him about the historical background of the bible and Jewish customs.


At this Passover celebration, Gideon explained everything in detail what the Jewish people did in the past.

I learned three interesting things from this Passover meal:

The Passover meal table

1. The women in the Jewish home prepared for the Passover celebration a month in advance. They cleaned the house making sure that they got rid of everything to do with leaven. .After the women finished cleaning, the man of the house would take 3 things with him  looking for leaven ( a symbol of sin),  a candle to help him look for the  tiniest amount of leaven, a feather to clean it off and a towel to hold it. Then he would throw the towel into a fire and burn it ( getting rid of sin).

The Seder plates on our table

2. The symbolism of each food on the Seder plate containing the following items:

The food on the Seder plate - full of symbolism

a. A piece of parsley, green representing life
b. Lettuce - representing the root of life is bitter
c. Horseradish - a bitter herb represents the hard labour.
d.Apple and honey -something sweet representing hope
e. Unleavened bread - Israelite leaving in a hurry without enough time to finish baking the bread

Children are involved at the Passover meal

f. Egg - Represents the temple sacrifices which are no longer offered.





3. The active involvement of children at the Passover meal- I really liked that part when the child in the Jewish family asks a number of questions at the meal regarding the food and why they eat them.

After that, the man would tear up the unleavened bread into pieces and hide them in the house. When the child finds the bread, he/ she gets a prize.

A delicious dessert table

After the Seder plate, we continued with the entrees composed of chicken, roast beef, veal, potatoes, vegetables and salad followed by a fantastic dessert table.

It was an enjoyable cultural and enlightening experience.
We enjoy learning about other cultures and tasting different ethnic food. We were grateful we had this opportunity of experiencing a genuine Passover meal without leaving Canada!

R.T.
At my very first Passover Meal
Toronto

The Best Place to Be for Students in TDSB - Monarch Park Collegiate

Front entrance of of Monarch Park Collegiate, TDSB

Recently, I welcome and hosted a group of principals from Asia. They were in Canada to learn about our education system and tour some schools.

Monarch Park Collegiate, Toronto, Ontario

I had the privilege of assuming the role as the host principal presenting lectures, working with them and escorting them on visits to some Ontario schools.

One of the schools we visited was Monarch Park Collegiate in Toronto.

Beautiful artwork adorning the walls throughout the whole school

Located in the mid town area of Toronto, the school has a student population of about 900 students.
Though not a huge secondary school, Monarch Park Collegiate offers excellent facilities and services to its students.

It was a nice spring day when we visited the school. As soon as we entered the school, we saw a free breakfast station set up at the entrance of the school manned by a few students.

This is a food station where students who might have missed breakfast at home could pick up some nutritious food on their way to their classes.

It's free and available to all students attending the school everyday of the week. What an excellent idea! This way students would not go hungry and could concentrate on learning in class instead of thinking about food.

Monarch Park Collegiate has a cheerful and welcoming place. The students and staff were friendly greeting us warmly everywhere we visited.

 We enjoyed the creative and colourful wall murals and students' artwork throughout the school.

Principal Pang welcome the visiting principals from China

Ms. Virginia Pang, principal of the school and the staff welcome us warmly into the school.

After a brief introduction about Monarch Park came the favourite part for our visiting principals -  Principal Pang took us on a tour of the school.

The school has excellent facilities for students such as this swimming pool

We met students, staff and visited the various parts of the school building. 

We learned about the great facilities of the school including: a good size indoor swimming pool, a spacious and welcoming library. 

 

The school also has a spacious gymnasium with workout equipment for students and a wonderful culinary program run by a former professional chef.

The part of the school building we liked most was a spectacular outdoor soccer field covered by a huge dome enabling students and the community to use it throughout the long cold Canadian winter.









The highlights of our visit happened on the indoor soccer field where the visiting principals ran onto the field and started playing soccer enthusiastically like a group of high school kids!

Another enjoyable experience was when we were invited into the staff lounge  for a light lunch.

















Tables were set up for the visiting principals.

We met other members of the Monarch Park Collegiate staff who explained to the visiting principals about programs at the school.

 We learned that students in the culinary program also prepared a lunch for us in the well equipped kitchen.
















Besides serving us a light lunch the students also served us a scrumptious dessert!















The pride and delight of these students were written all over their faces.

It was an educational and memorable visit to Monarch Park Collegiate!

A heartfelt thank you to Principal Pang, the staff and students at the school. Your care to your students and your dedication to education was evident during our visit.















I was glad that we had the opportunity visiting Monarch Park Collegiate -  the best place to be for students in the Danforth Ave. neighborhood!














R.T.
Monarch Park Collegiate
Toronto