Field Trip of University of Toronto

Yesterday, we took a field trip to University of Toronto. I have been to U of T before. I knew I just looked around the campus. But this time, we would have a tour guide and could  have a depth travel. She was a beautiful girl with lovely smile. Whenever she smiled, her eyes became crescent shape. After explaining and visiting a spot, she asked us whether we had any questions, I always said in my mind, “repeat, speak three times.” I knew it was due to my poor listening comprehension, I could not catch her words.
U of T's predecessor was King College.Then during a long time, some colleges united together to form U of T of today. The guide showed us the building of University College that is very famous and magnificent. When I went in it, to my surprise, it is rather simple. Because I thought that a beautiful castle must be luxury. Looking over the lawn, there is a building with a circle roof that has a big classroom.  It is up to you to choose big classroom or small classroom for studying or having a seminar. The Soldiers' Tower is a monument that commemorates the students of the U of T serving in World Wars. Then we went to the Hart House that is used as entertainment place, not for study. We visited the St. Michael's College, Victoria College, and Trinity College. In Trinity College, the guide took us to see a chapel, and the pastor will come in meeting time. Wedding can also be hold there. Near the cafeteria, I saw a board on the wall that lists the leaders of the college and divinity, Because it was so hurry, I could not see it clearly, the leader was changed every year, why? We also visited the libraries. It was so amazing that there are 44 libraries in U of T. We visited Robarts library that is a 14-floor building. It looks like a turkey or peacock. It has collected a large number of books, especially there are some old and precious books. 1-8 floors are open for public, others are for students.  Besides studying, students need physical exercises. A big sports center shocked me. There are a standard Olympic swimming pool, sports ground,  many exercise rooms in it. I thought the students are really enjoying their lives in the University. How I hope I can study there! Maybe my daughter will have the chance. Before 1 p.m., our trip came to an end. 

Recorder of ESL PODCAST 413

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Record Conversation of ESLPOD 717

    
 
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Last week was a busy week.The week before last week, my daughter came back from Albion Hill, she had been there for three days. I washed all her clothes that she took there. Housework was unlimited, I felt boring everyday. But Wednesday,the Chinese classmates went to Teresa's House. She made so many tasted foods to treat us. Feng's dumplings looked delicate and tasted good. We were all happy and took photos. I learned the way of cooking some dishes.I will try later if I prepare the stuff. And for next two-day's supper, I did oyster soup. Because these days the Olympic game was hold. I watched the hockey games that Canada team played. It was so great that Canada won the gold medal in men and women hockey games. Canada hockey team has wonderful skills and smart performance.I like captain Crosby and goalie Price. They are all 26 years old, and did great job in the match. It was pity that I had not practiced my English at all.

Job for Babysitter

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snow storm

It was already Wed. 0:30 a.m., I looked outside, it had not snowed yet. I slept, and woke up earlier at seven. Then I checked the teacher’s blog where a message was posted that the school had been closed. I wondered if the children need to go to school. I browsed the TDSB website. On the top of the webpage, there was a notice that the school remained open. I left a message at my chat group of the Linc class, “sleep, do not go to school.”  Then I cooked for my daughter. When I came back home after sending her to school, Iris said in the chat group that today school was still open.

I realized I had not refreshed the blog, and did not know the latest message. It was a heavy snow. It was hard to decide whether to go or not. I knew if I did not go to school, maybe I would surf the Internet all day. I decided to go and learn something in school. There were more people in the bus than usual. I got off the bus, the snow was thick, and it was higher than my ankle. It was hard to walk on the snow road. I thought that the workers may be busy and they swept the main street first. It was only six students who had come to school. We had a pronunciation class. After the class, Ada met her friends, we talked a lot. Her friends were very kind, and told us some useful information. At the park lot, we found it was a big problem to drive through the snow. Pei swept a long trail for the car, and it was a hard job. The tires were slipping on the snow, and it was not easy to back the car. We spent much time to sweep the snow for the car. When we got on the car, we were all relieved.

I was told how to make fish balls before. I just bought two basa fillets. I prepare the material, including: pork stuffing, fillet, wine, salt, ginger, pepper powder, soy sauce, oyster sauce, egg, and flour. Because the fillet has vein, I had to use knife to scratch the fish meat at first. If you have no time, you can chop the fillet up. Of course the best way is to use a machine to smash the fillets. The fish meat was so sticky that I scratched the meat from the knife and my hands. Then I mixed all the material and stirred them along the same direction. If I felt the stuff was not very sticky and crunchy, I would add some flour. When I felt the stuff was all right, I grasped a piece of meat, made it into a ball and put it on a plastic bag. After I had finished, I put all the fish balls into the refrigerator. When I cook noodle, I can put some fish balls in it. It is so easy to do that, isn’t it?

A Trip to Pacific Mall

We went to Pacific Mall on Jan.31st. It was the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. As it is the year of horse, We can see the figures of horses everywhere. In the middle of the mall, there was a big stage that was decorated in red with a picture of horses on board set in the back of the stage. We were told there would be a show at 1 p.m. We wanted to take photos in front of the stage. A nice staff member said we could stand on the stage. Chang took a lot of photos for us. Many of my classmates were attracted to Chinese herb. They bought Luohanguo to treat coughs.
Then we went upstairs. There are so many restaurants and small shops. At noon,we had lunch there. I chose a stall that sells fishballs,beef balls etc. I have heard the beef balls are crunchy and tasty. I tasted it, but I felt it was just so-so. Anyway it was an interesting trip.