2. Chris Searles, the student-teacher from Seneca College who did his practicum with us in February 2012, has kindly indicated his availability for private English lessons. Please contact him by email at 2012chrislsearles@gmail.com (delete "2012").
MicroSkills participants Nelly, Senay, Aishah, Rachel, Kazem, and others from Level 1 and 2 had a free taste of first-time skating and concert piano music downtown today.
After a bunch of tomfoolery with Mister Tom (below) on ice, we headed over to our reserved seats at the Four Seasons Centre. For an hour, our aural palates were educated with John Adam's musical rendering of the San Francisco coastline--the water and the waves, the seagulls and the elements--performed by young Canadian pianist Adam Sherkin. Plenty of stuff to deconstruct over the long weekend!
Barely have we flicked the flakes off our jackets, and it's time again for our next field trip--to Nathan Phillips Square for skating (at 10 a.m.) and Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for a piano concert (enter at 11:15 a.m.; concert starts at noon).
Those meeting on the Southbound Platform at Sheppard Yonge will be leaving at 9:30 a.m. for Queen Station. At Nathan Phillips Square, near City Hall, rentals are available.
Here's a Google map with directions, or see the static map below (starting at Queen Station at Queen and Yonge, and going west to Location E, and ending at the Blue Pin):
By the grace of God, what threatened to be an outing fraught with temperature extremes and administrative complication turned out all good, with our MicroSkills skiers and one snowboarder hitting the slopes of Earl Bales Ski & Snowboard Centre.
Enjoy the video clips and then the pictures below:
Thanks be to God who created all the water and snow and grand environment. And thanks to the Earl Bales staff Heather, Nicole, Miriam, Adam, Dwayne, Doug, Danielle, Meghan, Tim, Paul, Samantha, Brian, and all (okay, Comment below if your name gets left out)! Without your help, we wouldn't have dared dream of Friday's trip! And to all the folk from MicroSkills who chipped in in so many ways, the teachers who got everyone signed up and measured and then held the fort on the day itself, the child minders who enthusiastically and energetically supported the event, and Julie who got the tokens of appreciation and then showed up to cheer us on.
UPDATE:Those who did not get prefitted (measured for height, weight, foot size, etc.) last Tuesday will not be skiingbut are very welcome to enjoy the ski centre and all it offers. Due to resource limitations, the ski centre regrets that it cannot offer fitting, equipment, or a lesson for those who did not get prefitted last week. You can still go around taking pictures of classmates and teachers looking silly, drink hot chocolate with Teacher Christine, sit in front of the fireplace, and check out the rest of one of the Toronto's only two urban ski centres.
Does a winter snow storm bring you a smile or a frown? Let our next field trip turn you from a weather-hating newcomer into a snow-loving Canuck!
The skiing lesson will take place at the Earl Bales Ski and Snowboard Centre, a Toronto City-owned park offering snow activities and rentals, at 4169 Bathurst St:
Parking is free, and you can enter via Raoul Wallenburg Rd from Bathurst just south of Sheppard. The introduction, equipment fitting, and skiing lesson are scheduled to start around 10:30 a.m. Those who haven't got their boot sizes prefitted (max. 5 per class, to be submitted to the class teacher by February 8) will have their fitting done after everyone else has gotten their equipment.
Those going by TTC should plan to meet early at Sheppard Yonge Bus Station and leave on the 9:29 a.m. 84 Sheppard Ave West bus to Bathurst. They should cross Bathurst southwards and then hike eastward toward the recreational centre. Take note of the route as this is how you will make your way back out.
Every newcomer knows that fixing teeth here costs an arm and a leg. If the whole family goes, you pay through your nose. Some newcomers even become dental hygienists--good move! But we do want to maintain our ivories and smiles for the life; so what's there to do?
For those who need a discounted rate for a cleaning, I just got this offer of 87% off the usual rate of up to $300. It's part of a group-buy deal under Living Deal, and as of 8:20 a.m., it needs 8 more people to sign up to make it work. Those who buy through clicking on my link will make me very rich--yeah, by ten bucks! But here's the downside: the dental clinic isn't anywhere near Scarborough or Victoria Park Ave.; it's in Woodbridge, at 525 Cityview Blvd. Unit 8 Woodbridge, ON L4H 0Z4, a half hour's drive from school.
So, quit looking a gift horse through its mouth. Thirty-nine bucks for a dental shouldn't be like pulling teeth. But don't complain about today's idiom overload; just grin and bare it!
