Are You Willing to Live with Your Parents?

There is one thing which has been strongly impressed on my memory and made me not to forget it until now.

Two months ago, I went to the emergency department of North York General Hospital for my twisted ankle. During the wait, I noticed an old woman sitting there and waiting for the examination results, she only wore the thin examination gown and holding her arms because of the cold. I looked around her and she had nobody accompaning her. After a while, she couldn't stand the cold and went to the examine room to ask for her clothes. She took her clothes standing there and looked like she did not to know where to change because all examination rooms were closed. So I asked her over to my examination room and helped her change clothes. She told me her shoulder couldn't move freely and the doctor just asked her to exercise and exercise. I asked her why nobody accompanied her to see the doctor. She told me she has three children, one in Banff, the other two in Ottawa and Vancouver, and she lived alone. She explained that they were so busy. When she left, she said to me that good people were all healthy. Looking at her stumbling figure, I felt a little sad.

In modern society, the aging population is increasingly becoming a serious problem. Those baby boomers are all old and they are facing the problem of how to deal with old age. Their children are all middle-aged at the peak of their careers and try to their best to achieve the most in their job and make money to support their family for a better life. They are heavily stressed with job and life and they seem to have no time to take care of their parents. The same is true in China. We call the old people living alone "empty-nest elders". The sad news about these old people is often seen in the newspapers, such as when they are sick and nobody knows or helpe. Although there are many nursing centres for senior people, could they be the only one solution?

I throw myself the same question. My short answer is to live together with your parents, at least in the same city. A Chinese saying goes "having an elder at home is like having a treasure." You take care of them and at the same time you also enjoy caring from them. They are willing to help you in life. Imagie that when you return home, dinner is ready or your children care by themselves when you are busy. Don't these situations make you happy? Maybe you can't live together with your
parents because of some reasons, but at least live near them. When you are free, you can often visit them easily to get to know their needs and let them feel the happiness of family.

I don't know what happened to that old woman. But, I hope that lonely figure is not a picture of my parents, so nor yours.

How to Become a Real Canadian for the Immigrants

Russell Peters, a comedy superstar, expressed vividly the psychological activity of a immigrant who was eager to become a Canadian using his humorous language in a video on YouTube. Russell is a descendant of Indian immigrants, and he knows much about the complexity and difficulty of changing from an immigrant to a Canadian. Everyone knows it is impossible to change just by buying a BBQ and inviting neighbour to have a party or speaking with a Canadian accent. I think to be a real Canadian, immigrants should do the following:

The first and most important thing is you need to know more about Canadian history and culture. Although the history of Canada is very short compared with China's or India's, we can still learn the roots of Canadian culture. Only if you know Canada, can you understand what and why the Canadians do this and not that.

The second thing is that you need to immerse yourself in the company of Canadians. Every country is constantly changing and progressing. Your knowing the history doesn't mean you know the current situation. You must try to talk to people to understand them. Hanging out with another culture is not an easy thing, which needs better language, good social skills and a right attitude.

The third thing is not to lose your original culture. Canada is an immigrant country, which welcomes cultures and customs from any country. There is a saying
"something with national characteristics is also the world's." Don't Canadian culture.

All in all, trying your best to be a real Canadian and know Canada and know yourself.

Attachment is the video of Russell Peters on how to become a Canadian, which makes you think deeply after laughing.

Group Shopping Online

I was an online shopaholic in the past because shopping online was convenient and easy for me especially. Since I had my son, I didn't have any time to go out for shopping. But, after an experience with online fraud, I gradually lost my confidence for shopping online until I found a better shopping style, that is group shopping online.

Just as its name implies, group shopping online means buying items online in groups for a cheaper price. Although it is also online shopping with some potential risks, it has more advantages than individual shopping online.

Firstly, it is safer than individual shopping online. Usually, you only need to pay attention to one group shopping website and follow those who are reliable organizers, such as the moderator or those people who have longer experience with organizing group shopping. And, if you still have concerns, you could only choose local groups or those you can see the real items. I didn't find any statistics about the rate of being cheated through group shopping online, but it is possibly less than individual shopping online based on my own experience. With more shopping experience, you will know what to watch out for.

Secondly, it is more convenient than individual shopping online. You just need to sit at your home to choose which items you want, follow the posts to register and pay as required, and you will receive them soon. You don't need to find the items store by store and bargain with them one by one. Everything is done by the organizers for free or with very low fees, like RMB1-2 per person. You just need to wait for the occurrence of interesting items with patience and catch the chance in time.

Thirdly, it is usually cheaper than individual shopping online. In most situations, the group sale prices are lower than individual online prices because it is easier to bargain with dealers with huge quantities. At the same time, if these items happen to be your long expected famous brand-name products, you stand to gain a lot. You really get a good deal.

Lastly, it will let you make more friends. Generally, the followers have the same interest as the organizer's. The people will become friends, thanks to having the same interest. Sometimes, in order to save on shipping cost, the followers living nearby will ask for a single delivery and split the cost. So, you will have the opportunity to know more new friends. I got to know many new friends who have a similar interest this way.

To sum up, in the past four years I have indulged in group shopping online and enjoyed it. I got a lot from it, which was lots of fun. If you have never tried this way of shopping, give yourself a chance. Give it a try!

Some links on F, C and K that I am interested in

On Freecycle:

1, wanted
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleTO/message/86455;_ylc=X3oDMTM3bGMxdm40BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE1MzY1OTI2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NDIzNQRtc2dJZAM4NjQ1NQRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyNDc2NjM1NzYEdHBjSWQDODY0NTU-

2, offer
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleTO/message/86458;_ylc=X3oDMTM3OTVmODB0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE1MzY1OTI2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NDIzNQRtc2dJZAM4NjQ1OARzZWMDZnRyBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyNDc2NjYzNzgEdHBjSWQDODY0NTg-
3, taken
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreecycleTO/message/86432;_ylc=X3oDMTM3bWVkZXV0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzE1MzY1OTI2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTA2NDIzNQRtc2dJZAM4NjQzMgRzZWMDZnRyBHNsawN2dHBjBHN0aW1lAzEyNDc2MTU5MDYEdHBjSWQDODY0MzI-

On Craigslist:

Most interested in
1,http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/bik/1271067161.html
2,http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/tag/1270946927.html
3,http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/tag/1270950845.html
Least interested in
1,http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/tag/1271321112.html
2,http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/vgm/1271312859.html
3,http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/vgm/1271246540.html

On Kijiji
Sienna 2001 Minivan
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-cars-Toyota-2001-toyota-sienna-mini-van-W0QQAdIdZ141476137

Kayak with a skeg
http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-boats-SWIFT-Trylon-Yellow-Saranac-Kayak-with-Retractable-Skeg-2007-W0QQAdIdZ142227804

Remembering Michael Jackson

When a giant star disappears, the whole world lose the blaze. In the past week, except for the happiness of Canada Day, the newspapers and TVs is full of the sadness for the passing of Michael. I didn't like MJ before and even felt he was a little disgusting because of his whitened skin and the rumours about him. But when I got to know more about him, I gradually came to respect him.

Jackson is a musical genius and started his artistic career when he was 11 years old. He is the first black artist to air on MTV. His song "Thriller" remains the record of the biggest selling album. Except for this, the most moving thing about him is that he is the biggest personal donor in the world, having sponsored more than 30 charities. He loves children and he has rented a giant house for children to play for free every year. He is full of passion and creativity. Affected by him, I searched for some of my favorites sung by MJ to share with everyone. They are posted below. Let's remember the big star together. I wish he could still sing in the heaven!



This is one of my favorites, which is for those living in the war. I can feel the love for life from MJ.



" We are the world" was co-written by MJ and Lionel Rochie.

Experiencing the Border of Canada and USA

It is not strange for most Canadians to walk through the border to USA, which is just like a piece of cake only if you have the US visa. For me, this is the first time standing on the border of Canada and USA without a visa, because I didn't really mean to enter into USA. I just wanted to formalize the immigration landing for my son.

My son didn't have immigrant status before and only got the visa recently. How do I formalize the landing for him because he was already in canada? Does he go back to China and come back again? After consulting the CIC, the most convenient way is to go to the border of Canada & USA to land. So, My son and I experienced going through the border without visa.

The nearest border is of course, Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls near Toronto. I have known about the Niagara Falls for a long time, but I had never been there to see the Falls personally. Now I finally had a chance to go there. Landing in Canada and visiting the Falls are indeed killing two birds with one stone. It was noon when we arrived at the Niagara Falls. I didn't have mood to enjoy the view of the one of seven world's wonders because I had more important thing to do. My son just asked me when he could see the rainbow. When we got to the Falls, the Rainbow Bridge could be also seen. That is really a ordinary bridge and doesn't match its name " Rainbow" one bit. If this bridge didn't have the political and historical significance, it would have been just one of numerous ordinary bridges.

The exit from Canada is a small room and I couldn't almost recoganize it from the appearance. It is simpler inside. Only two coin-changing machines are there and two turnstiles with coin slots. It costs $0.5 per person, $0.25 before. On the glass door opposite the gateways, there are two words " To USA". By just putting in 2 coins, I could enter to USA, which is as easy as entering into the subway. Pushing the glass door, the long bridge greeted us. This bridge is divided two parts by the fence, one for walking and the other for vehicles. Standing on the bridge, the completed falls are all in eyes. The splendid view attracted us to turn the heads to see it often. After 5 minutes, we arrived at the entry of USA. Some immigration officers were on duty. One of them came to ask me to show our ID. I explained my intention as I showed him all the documents for my son. But, the officer asked for my passport. Oh, I had forgotten to bring my passport with me. I showed my PR card to him and tried to explain. The officer frowned and asked us to wait, then he came back. I was so afraid to wait there and all kinds of bad results flooded into my mind. About 10 minutes later, the officer came out and gave me a paper and told me everything was ok. I was totally relieved. So, my son and I returned to Canada. The latter procedure was very simple, like getting through the airport. The whole landing only needed half an hour.

When we walked out from the customs, I told my son," You can stay with mom forever." But my son asked me," Can we go to see the rainbow?" Yes, yes！We can enjoy again the beautiful Falls.