Welcoming the Year of the Ox in the Middle of the Pandemic In Canada

It was exactly last year around the same time when the COVID 19 virus starting affecting the lives of the western world.

I remember writing a blog post while celebrating the Chinese New Year and enjoying a lion dance perfomred by a group of lion dancers in a Chinese restaurant. Never in my wildest dream would I have imagined that we are going into the second year of the pandemic in 2021. Depsite the stay home order placed in Ontario, our family tried our best to continue the tradition as muc as possible. Unforunataely, under the weather last week. I could not cook up a storm for the New year dinner. Sneezing and coughing a lot throughout the day, spent most of day lying in bed, resting and watching TV. I felt bad that my husband would not have a good dinner on new year day.

To my surprise my sister and a friend from church brought me various dishes on New year eve. As we were enjoying the food on New Year day. I was enveloped by a lot of love and a warm feeling swelt within me. I was grateful that we have caring and loving family and friends who remembered me, showed their love by bringing us food they prepared with love. It was a fantastic feeling! We also arranged to have zoom calls and dinners together. Our church groups helh online celebratons, sang play games and shared traditions and customs.

Our women's group even held a new year virutal fashio show. After cooping at home in our lounge wear for almost a year, it was fun dressing up, putting on our heels and posted for pictures with pretty clothes.

After a week of rest and feeling better, I got up yesterday and cooked up a storm for my loved ones. I delivered a new year meal to my needy relatives, and gave the kids their red pocket lucky money. Tonight, We had a nice long distance call with our first born who has gotten a nice new job and is now looking for a new place to live. We exchnaged news sharing a couple of jokes and good laugh. We carried on our lunar new year traditions, visiting loved ones and sharing food together (virtually), pandemic or not!

R.T. Toronto, Canada

The Inauguration of Joe Biden and the First female Vice President of the U.S.

There has been so much despair and depressing news in the last tweleve months on TV that  we looked forward to a joyous and celebratory news braodcast today on most of the major TV channels today. 

The U.S. Capitol on the 46th Presidential Inauguration Day

We anticipated with eagerness and looked forward to the inauguration ceremony of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the new administration at the White House.

George Washinton was sworn in as the first American president in New York in April of 1789. Abraham Lincoln gave his first inagural speech at The Capitol before its construction  was finished during the Civil Was.  

One of the speakers acknowledged at the ceremony that - it has been a miracle the U.S. presidential swearing -in ceremony has been taking place every four years for the past 232 years, dispite the two world wars, the Depression and now in the middle of the COVID 19 Pandenic.

We sat and glued in fornt of our tv watching the entire ceremony from beginning to the very end.There were a few touching moments for me.

The first such moment was when Kamala Harris was being sworn in and recited her oath; tears streamed down my face as I saw history being made - Kamala Harris, the first female African, Asian American swearing in as the Vice President of United States. A hundred and eight yeats ago, thousands of people marched at The Capitol for the right to vote; today we witnessed the swearing in of the female visible minority as the first US Vice President!

The second touching moment for me was during President Biden's inaugurration speech. Biden was first elected to the U.S. Senate at 29 years old , the youngest Senator eleced. Now at 78 years old he is the oldest president elected in US history.  The.46th President of the United States, President Biden starts his presidency in an unprecednet challenging times in U.S. history with recorded high unemployment, rise of extremisim, and domestic violence.

He stressed to Americans to be united in order to fight extremism, violence, unemployment, growing of racial unrest, and a raging pandemic.

I was deeply touched especially by President Biden's words:

"Democracy has prevailed!  America has been tested, and has come out stronger.... With purose and resolve, we turn to the tasks at hand. Use the opportunty to reclaim truth, put aside our' differenes and work towards a common goal...a new chapter, a new beginnng.With unity we can do great things. listening and respecting one another, "

Another powerful moment for me was when Amanda Gorman -  the first National Youth Poet Laureate recited the poem - The Hill We Climb, caputuring some of the historical and recent events as well as expressing the hopes and dreams of the future for Americans. That was a beautiful and powerful moment to see young Americans to express their views of their beloved country!

Due to COVID restrictions and public safety concerns, there were no huge crowds cheering on the newly elected president and vice president. There was pomp and circumstance at the ceremony and the joy of the people was evident.

-  the singing of the national anthem by Lady Gaga, pledging of the allengince to the flag by the first
black,  singing of This Land is My Land by Jennifer Lopes, Joe Biden taking his sacred oath, the first oath taken by George Washington, the prayer and benedication and the review of the military foreces afterwards.

People all over the world are watching and will be watching at how the new  White House administration and the American people will move forward in this challenging time among their fractured and diveded country. 

We sincerely will continue to pray and wish President Biden and Vice President Harris all the best and success in their efforts in uniting Americans and overcoming all the emorous challenges facing U.S. today!

R.T.
A Canadian rooting for the new U.S. President and Vice President
Toronto, Canada

 - 

The United States Capitol Under Seige on Jan.6, 2021 as the Electoral College Votes Were Counted

 We got up this morning thinking that it would be another uneventful day. How wrong we were!

The United States has been an inspriation and a shining example to the world for as a democratic country respecting the wills of its people through free and fair elections of its governemnt.

Watching Mitch McConnell's opening speech at the beginning of the joint session around 2pm, I was almost in tears by his touching words. Though a staunch supporter of Trump, he finally came around to accept the result of the November election and urged strongly other Republican colleagues to do the same.

No sooner after Mitch's speech, we watched commotion taking place in the chamber and in a few minutes, the house represetnatives were evaucated. We could not believe what we were seeing live on ourtv screen. While some congressmen were ducking down, some were with guns drawn on guard by the door to the chamber.  Rioters were breaking windows, climbing into the Capitol, roaming around the hall of the Capitol. rummaging through the desks of congressmen/women in the evacuated chamber. 

It was unimaginable what has just transpired this afternoon as Januaury 6, 2021 will be forever remembered as an infamy and a dark day in the recent American history. We thought we were watching a coup d'etat in a third world lawless country run by thugs. The America we have known was better than this. We were so disappointed and appalled at what the whole world was witnessing at that moment.

The only redeeming thing for America on its darkest day in recent history was the brave actions taken by its congressmen/ women on both sides to resume their consititional duties of counting the electoral college votes to certify Joe Biden as the next president of United States!

R.T.
Toronto, Canada

 

Christmas 2020 - Celebrating and Connecting with Loved ones During the COVID 19 Pandemic

Christmas 2020 was none like other before! For the past many decades, we have always celebrated this wonderful important season with our family members, loved ones and our church friends. We were wondering what would happen to this year's Christmas events.

It was wonderful that our church organized an online Christmas celebration via zoom. A committee was formed with some members ordering food, while another team delivered food right to our door step. 

The Christmas turkey dinner included soup, turkey and trimmings, plus a chocolate pudding for dessert! This was the first Christmas turkey dinner which I did not have to do anything at all 

We brought my 94 year old mother from her senior apartment and she was able to enjoy the dinner at our house so she would not be alone for Christmas.

On Christmas day, we were able to have my best friends with us enjoying our turkey dinner together.

We have known each other for over three decades but this was the first time we spent Christmas together. It was a blessing! 

In the past many years since our children were born, we were able to have spent Christmas with both of them, We thank God that as they grew up, finished university, they left our nest as they each started working and started their career path.

E, our first born has always come home and spent Christmas in Canada with us no matter where he is working/ living in the world.  We have always spent time with our big fat family each year.  However, this year, following the health department's guidelines,  we could not hold this annual party. 

However, we were grateful that, Joanne, the oldest cousin in the next generation took up the baton and organized a family zoom Christmas gathering on Boxing Day. 

There were family members from around the world taking part in this festive zoom meeting We spent time catching up with each other and it was the best way to end the year with family memmbers from far and wide.

We gave thanks to God for protecting us this year and blessing us with good health!

R.T.
Waterloo, Ontario
Christmas 2020

The American People Will Have Hope and a Better Country in the Next 4 Years!

l'll  be remised if I didn't mention in my blog about the Biden win in the recent 2020 American election that took place during the week of Nov. 3, 2020.

On the night of the election, my husband and I were watching it in Waterloo, Ontario. We were discouraged at the initial support for Trump and surprised at how tight the race was.

How could Americans ignore the huge challenges and unbelievable death rate facing them under the current Trump administration?

Never could we imagine that America, being one of the richest nations on earth, is leading the number of Covid19 cases and with the most Americans dying in this pandemic? And how could so many Americans and its current president have dismissed the seriousness of this disease?

America has reached a record number of over 11 million COVID cases. Canada is 1/ 10 of  the population of U.S. By the same proportion, we should have over 1 million cases. However, we have much fewer cases here, about 300,000 cases. Thank goodness! Unlike our southern neighbour, Canadians are more united and not politically divided as Americans. We do not politicize anything or everything such as wearing masks in public places. We trust our health officials' advice following their recommendations such as keeping our social distance, wearing masks and restricting our social gathering size, therefore, our infection cases are much much lower than our American counterparts.

Many Canadians have tremendous interest in what's happening in the U.S. as our economy is closely tied to each other. In addition, numerous Canadians have friends, relatives or family members living and working in the U.S. We simply could not believe what has been happening for the past four years in the United States such as the current U.S. Administration in the White House not conceding to Biden's election win and allowing a smooth transition process to take place.

It is  good to see Americans choosing a more honest, better and calmer person as their next president. There will be better things happening in the States. Though not easy,  the new administration in the White House will work hard to rebuild their alliances in the world, regain the U.S. reputation on the world stage. There will be hope that a better America will re emerge, rising from its tattered image as a unpredictable bully and be a admirable world leader again.

It is our prayer and sincere wish that the Biden/ Harris Team will have a smooth transition to the White House. Therefore, they will be able to access the important files and start the challenging work of bringing the virus under control in the U.S. leading the American society back into a normal life again!

All the best to the new American Administration, the new President and the American people in 2021!

From your southern neighbour,

R.T. in Toronto, Canada

 

A 2 Hour Program Schedule for An Autistic Young Adult

In Ontario, regular students are entitled to attend publicly funded schools until eighteen years old. For students with special needs they are given three additional years which means that they can stay in school until they are twenty-one years old. 

However, once when these students reach twenty-one years old, they face a bleak and empty future.  Incapable of work or independent living, these young adults have nowhere to go and stay home all day. Although the Ontario Government does provide some funding to these special needs adults, many of theses programs have been closed during the COVID 19 pandemic.

 Recently, I was asked by parents if I could provide a much needed program to their autistic young adult child. Having known and considered the needs of this particular individual for some time, I designed  a 2 hour program consisting of a variety of activities to help her develop the different skills. 

I was pleased that the morning went well and my autistic young friend did enjoy the activities and had a good time! Below was the two hour program I designed. 

Schedule for a 2 Hour Program

10:00 a.m.             Music - singing to relax and get ready for activities

10: 20                    Math & Language  - Geometric Shape Puzzle, teach vocabulary on shapes, colour        & number                        

10: 35                    Motor Skills -  Pick Up Beads game

10:50                     Life skills – Prepare a milkshake for a snack

11:10                     Physical Fitness – Walk and collect leaves outdoors

11:20                     Art & Craft – Learn to dry leaves, draw a face & glue leaves as hair on the drawn face

11:50                     Recap of activities

11:55                     Life Skills - Put away games and clean up

12:00                     Lunch – Walk to neighbourhood plaza and buy lunch

R.T.

Toronto

Preparing for My First Zoom Workshop for Parents!

 I have been attending zoom meetings since March, 2020 when the lockdown started.

Without dressing up to go out and getting stuck in traffic congestion, I enjoy my multiple weekly zoom meetings. However, I have not have to present one in a zoom meeting until today.

It was exciting preparing for this new experience. I was a little nervous and spent almost two days to get ready prior to my presentation. The following was what I did preparing for my presentation for my zoom meeting:

1. Prepare a good and interesting presentation on a topic relevant to my audience 

2. Prepare a PPT for my presentation with pictures and key words

3. Pick a location with nice background for the zoom meeting. I moved my computer around the different part of the living room until I was happy with the background.

4. Practise Practise and Practise - With help from my husband, I practiced my presentation in a zoom meeting with him.

There were a few technical challenges which I had to overcome such as getting a full screen view and learning how to share a screen allowing me to share my PPT with my audience. We practised two or three times on the first day until I got familiar with Zoom.

The following day, I called the host of the Zoom meeting and practised with her and going over my prestation slides

5. Setting Up the equipment ahead of time 

On the day of the presentation, I set up two computers on our dining room table a few hours prior to the zoom meeting. I had the extra computer as a back up. I tested both computers and send my PPT to my email address so that I could access my PPT from both computers should I need to. Then I tested everything again to make sure there was no technical problem.

I also set up a big mirror in front of me so that I would know how I look throughout the entire presentation and make adjustment to my outfit etc.

6. Dressing up for the event - An hour before my presentation, I picked an appropriate nice outfit and dressed up for the event.  Instead of lounge wear, it was fun putting on make up and looking nice for a change!

 When everything was ready and done, I was confident and ready to take the world by storm! The zoom presentation went without a hitch! We had an excellent turnout and  the feedback from my audience was positive and complimentary!

Mission accomplished!  

R.T. 

Toronto

4.