Workshop about Stress

I participated in one interesting workshop this week about Stress. This problem is very common in Canada, which has a high level of stress in its population. The workshop talk about negative and positive causes of stress, a disease that can  lead suicide.

"Rio de Janeiro" - Brazil

My presentation to my classmates is about Rio de Janeiro, the city where I was born and lived in my home country. Rio was founded on January 20, 1501. The Portuguese thought the bay in front of the place was a river, so they named the city "Rio de Janeiro" (River of January). It is a beautiful city, with many beach of clear sand, such as Copacabana, famous all over the world; Ipanema Beach, inspiration for the song "The Girl from Ipanema" (Garota de Ipanema); Leblon; Sao Conrado; and Barra da Tijuca, the last of  which once where I lived for many years, in front of the ocean of clear and crystalline water, and, whenever possible, I walked the sidewalk for many kilometers. Rio has a huge "urban forest", the Tijuca Forest, the biggest in the world. It is also the land of carnival and soccer. Rio will be home to the Summer Olympic Games in 2016, and Brazil as a whole will have the Soccer World Cup in 2014, with many games in Rio.

Thanks, Joseph

Thanks for the attention you spent with every student, correcting our pronunciation and teaching us new things. Thanks for the diversity of your classes with listening, writing, grammar and computer, which I did not have much experience. Thanks for the variety of movies, such as FireProof, and grammar. Thanks for the variety of trips to Toronto Island, the Reference Library, the amazing concert at Roy Thomson Hall and CBC Radio, featuring Sounds of the Season, with beautiful sounds in a pleasant room, with coffee, food and gifts.
Happy Holidays and 2012 with joy and success!

Lunch at the Chinese restaurant.

On Friday, Dec. 9, I attended a lunch with friends of the class 4-5 and the teacher Joseph. It was very nice and my first time in a Chinese buffet, drinking hot water with food. There were good food and interesting soups, fruits and a special produt of coconut, one with the name "nata coco." That was the first time I saw this. Brazil, my home country, is a excellent producer of coconut and used it in  many desserts: candies, cakes and many biscuits, coconut water, coconut milk or just eaten as fruit, which is delicious. 

The Santa Shuffle - Salvation Army

On December 3rd, the Salvation Army held a walk and run to raise funds to assist people in need. Seneca Hill School attended the event where my husband and two children ran. It was a nice event on a cold Saturday morning, where a Salvation Army band presented music of Christmas, with snacks and hot chocolate. Almost 1,500 people attended the event.

Spatial Experience

 Yesterday, my family and I had an extraordinary experience. We went to my children´s school, where two telescopes were installed by an amateur astronomer. We could see the Earth's Moon with its craters and the dark side. We saw Jupiter and four of its moons and many stars. The astronomer, named Chris, also showed a star that had exploded a long time ago and when there was the explosion, the rest of the star formed a ring in the sky. Chris said that if you look right in the middle of the ring it is possible to see a small star. It was beautiful, despite the cold "below."  

Travel to Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is a beautiful place, with a drop of nearly 188 feet down. In summer you can feel the unforgettable thrill of going up near the fall.

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The night lighting is beautiful. Hotels near Niagara has good rooms  and a good view. You can also dine at Brasa Brazilian steakhouse, a traditional Brazilian barbecue.

A Difficult Start

While  in Brazil, we made a study of the best public schools for our children, contacting many of them via email, before deciding on Seneca Hill School.When  we came to Toronto, we stayed in a hotel for almost three months while looking for a residence near at school of choice. We wanted rent a house, even with problems of lack of credit due to being new here in Toronto. We found a house, but we discovered, when checking out the laundry, room on our second visit to the house, that  there were three more men living in the basement. Incredible. We gave up and finally found a different apartment. My husband's international driver's license was valid for six months here in Canada and it only applies to rentals but not for a car purchases.

Fernando de Noronha

 Fernando de Noronha is a beautiful island approximately 20 km long, located in the northeast of Brazil. It has beautiful beaches where you can watch dolphins and swim with turtles, sharks, moray eels, stingrays and many others beautiful fish while snorkelling. There is a project to protect sea turtles at the beaches of Padre Cliff Leao. The turtles lay around 100 eggs in each nest, and return to the sea. These eggs are covered and protected for 40 days. The professionals marked the opening day of the nest, where help open the nests to facilitate their way to the sea. My children had a wonderful experience of catching them in the hands and putting closer to the sea into which they enter and find their way into the future.

Workshop on Immigration to Canada (CBSA)

On Wednesday I attended a workshop which was very interesting. The seminar discussed several important issues, such as the documents required for Canadian residents, travelling alone or with children, making arrangements before leaving your country, jewelry, what kind of goods you can bring back and more.

Train travel from Toronto to Vancouver

 My husband and my children took ​​a beautiful train ride in the winter, passing through Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Edmonton. In Jasper, they remained two days in a beautiful hotel, where the children went skating on the frozen lake, and saw reindeer, wolves, bighorn sheep and moose along the way, and enjoyed a Christmas dinner with family. But, unfortunately, I was working on those days and could not go along. After that, they returned for another day's journey on the train to Vancouver. They stayed 5 days in Vancouver and returned by plane to Toronto.

Adapting to Canada

 I am very happy with the adjustment of my three children in Canada. We have been here for two years and they communicate well in English and have friends at school. On Tuesday, we went to a barbecue at a friend's house and everyone had a great time. My children have also adapted well and do ice skating and hockey, which we do not have in our country of origin due to the tropical climate.

Lunch at Swiss Chalet

I live in Toronto with my husband and my children. At the moment I am studing English at LINC and yesterday there was a lunch at Swiss Chalet to celebrete the birthday of a teacher. It was very interesting and I participated with many other students.