If you’re looking for creative ways to connect with your new community this summer, August is your month. There is certainly no shortage of affordable events going on around town, from cultural festivals and live theatre to sports tournaments and the PNE. Here's a freebie, for those of you interested in music and discussions around social change... [Continue]
The other day I was sitting in on a training session with Romanda, and while talking about mentoring relationships a few points were brought up concerning various interactions, life in general and the values each of us holds. Values such as commitment, honesty, trust, respect, integrity (and many more) all concern individuals to this or that extent. For me, positive attitude is of high significance. This is probably genetic –it’s my personality – but also, it’s because of my experience learning how to exercise positive affirmations in life. [Continue]
In Meri's words: Mentoring Connections is giving many of us “newly arrived immigrants” the chance to use the talents that we possess. We all are pretty sure where we stand when we come to the Land of Opportunities, but we do not know in which direction we are moving or should be moving... [Continue]
It’s unbelievable how two years can pass so quickly when you’re having fun. My first day as Laurie’s Mentoring Connections first hire doesn’t feel like it was two years ago, and the memories of each team member joining our team are still very fresh in my mind. Two years sounds like a long time when you have very passionate and excited coworkers who come to the office every single day with the same enthusiasm as their first day at work. [Continue]
Yesterday, we finally got together with some of our mentors and mentees to pick our players and teams for our 2010 World Cup Contest. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the awesome draft at the Irish Heather, organized by Jericho and Catherine. However, Romanda acted as a wonderful representative picking most of my first choice players. She was quite upset for not being fast enough to pick Kaká, though, which is very unfortunate, since she practiced the pronunciation all day yesterday! [Continue]
There are some memories that stand out when I look back on my first year in school in Canada. The people were nice, they understood what I was saying, the math was easy and California kickball was part of the school day. After a few weeks, I made the decision to stay. Canada was not so bad. [Continue]
"As an FTN, you must be prepared to embrace the BC system, and to forgo some of what you are familiar with. One of the primary challenges is a lack of fluency in spoken English. This can cause a lot of miscommunication between professionals, clients and FTNs. While undergoing accreditation or training, try and get as much work experience as possible that allows you to practice and demonstrate your people and communication skills." [Continue]
For those of you who are new to this, the Childcare Subsidy is money provided by the Ministry of Children and Family Development otherwise known as MCFD, used to help pay for licensed or non-licensed child care. This means the daycare, a babysitter, a relative who’s babysitting, or by other means which is further explained on their website. So who, you might ask, can avail of the subsidy? The following can apply... [Continue]
You have heard some of the ideas written here before. You may have even tried them. I want to take a look at it from another perspective. Using some of the ideas put forth in the Gladwell article, I would like to discuss the successful tactics of underdogs from other time periods, in other places and in different situations. [Continue]
Every year my dad hears the rumblings at work. He sees the newspapers. He sees the flags on the cars. He’s a sports fan but he doesn’t follow hockey in the regular season. So why now? Because it’s easy to get swept up in the energy, excitement, and frustration of a Canucks playoff run. [Continue]