Day 85

Last day in school! I'm really sad to leave the school already after one month. I met so many nice people from all over the world. Thank you to all classmates and teachers.
But I have no time to cry. Today we travel to New York City!!!

An extention of Toronto at night. To fly at night from and to a big city is amazing!

We thought at one o'clock am the traffic in Manhatten is not so bad. But it was! The Taxi-Driver did a good job.

Day 84

Today in school I learned something about skunks.
Our teacher told us that his dog was hit by a skunk. After the dog was completely washed and shaved, it still stank! You can meet skunks also in London downtown. Usually they are peaceful, but when they feel threatened it could be dangerous. Last summer there was a skunk in the backyard of the language school. A asian girl called: "Oh a squirrel!" Fortunately someone could stop her before she petted the skunk.

Day 83

In Unit 5 we talk about Canada and what is typical.

The weather!!! I took this picture today, 24th April.

Day 82

In school we read the poem "We Are More" from Shane Koyczan about Canada. He performed it at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I like it!

Day 81

Monday was test day. My first test where I was running out of time. :(

Unit 5 started with vocabulary:

Mounties = königliche berittene Polizei Kanadas
moose = Elch
beaver = Biber (kanadisches Nationaltier)
maple leaf = Ahornblatt
hockey = Eishockey
Tim Hortons = kanadische Schnellrestaurantkette

Day 80

We went to Springbank Park (London,ON) for jogging. The weather was nice and there were animals everywhere. The whole scenery reminded me of Disney's Snow White when she was sitting in the forest.

Day 79

The Place Beyond the Pines
 

An unusual movie with an atypical structure. The first 2/3 were completely facinating. Unfortunately I was not sure, if the last 1/3 was necessary. From me: 80%

Day 78

This Friday I learned that a syllable in English can have only one letter. For example: cre·a·tive

After school I went with some nice classmates to a Korean restaurant (Gozen Bistro Sushi & Grill, 219 Queens Avenue London, ON). One of the best Asian food, I have ever eaten. From me: 95%

Day 77

We have to merge the two level 8 classes, because one teacher couldn't come today. Approx. 13 students and one teacher in a 16m² class room. Fortunately, I'm not claustrophobic.

In this class, there are students from Saudi Arabian, Senegal, Japan, Korea, Jordan, Poland, Brazil, Libya and Germany. All very kind! Why do we have so much problems in the world?!!!

Day 76

Today I had my second presentation. The topic was left brain and right brain thinking. To that issue I have a book tip: "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" from Betty Edwards.

Here some pictures from the Tiff Bell Lightbox arthouse cinema (Toronto). The cinema is very modern in design and facilities. That arthouse cinema is pretty cool!

We watched the movie "From Up On Poppy Hill" (Studio Ghibli). The design and the animation of that piece of art was amazing. Extremly detailed. It was a story about everyday life, but when it's presented in such a great way, it's also interesting. From me: 80%

Day 75

Half time is reached!

In school we talked about creativity. The teacher showed pictures of world famous creative people (Spielberg, Disney, Elvis, da Vinci,...). I knew them all, but some of the young students only guessed. That shows only one thing: I'm getting old!

Here some pictures from the art gallery of Ontario (Toronto):

Day 74

Today in school we talked about speed dating. I was a little bit surprised that no one have ever heard about that, anyway.

Here some pictures from Kensington Market and Chinatown(Toronto). These two districts are side by side. Ok, it's called Chinatown, however, it is interesting that 95% of the people on the sidewalk are Asian.

Day 73

Toronto(say: Torono) III

During our 3rd trip to Toronto we visited Kesington Market, Chinatown, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Tiff Bell Lightbox arthouse cinema. It was too much to put all pictures on this blogday. I will add some pictures to the next posts...

Day 72

We had dinner at Auberge du Petit Prince in London, 458-460 King Street. It was the first time I ate lobster, pasta with a lobster tail. It was delicious! Around 1900 lobster was food for poor people in Canada. Nowadays it's not expensive, but of course more expensive than 100 years ago. The Homarus americanus you can only find in the Atlantic between Labrador and North Carolina. In Canada 30-40 million lobsters are trapped a year.

Day 71

Game Over for Diablo

After the first level of difficulty my nun reached the level 32. I like the game, but innovation is something different! 74% from me.

By the way, in school we wrote a text summary.

Day 70

Adjective Clause:
He writes a blog. The blog needs more reader.
-> He writes a blog that needs more reader.

There are some readers. They hardly write comments.
-> There are some readers who hardly write comments.

Day 69

Today I decided to change my English-level! So my current level is 8! Tomorrow I will decide, that the civil-war in Syria ends.
No, the language-school offers the chance to change everytime the class and the level, if it's to easy or hard in the current level.
The first issue in my new class was love. What is love? It's more difficult in the new level, indeed!

Day 68

Today we talked about a mathematical genius. A woman from India, born in 1933. There were some examples of her abilities in the text:
- She took only 50 seconds to correctly determine the 23rd root of a 201-digit number. In brackets: It took a computer over a minute to complete the calculation.
- She multiplied two 13-digit numbers in 28 seconds
- If you give her any date in the last century, she can identify the day of the week within seconds
- As a child, she taught herself to read and write

I couldn't believe it... how slow the computer was!

P.s.: It's raining cats and dogs, the whole evening!!!

Day 67

Our topic of today: IQ and EQ
Everyone knows what IQ is. But, what is EQ? EQ is the Emotional intelligence quotient. Emotional intelligence is the ability to motivate oneself, to focus on a goal, and to understand one's emotions and those of others. I think my EQ is higher than my IQ (it's certainly high, of course but my EQ could still be higher). What do you think about your own quotients? Which quotient is more important?

Day 66

At the moment the gas (87 octane) is very cheap. Some weeks ago it cost approx. 1,27 CAD.

1,173 CAD ≈ 0,89 EUR

Day 65

Saturday we watched our first hockey matches. It was a company tournament of brose. I was surprised of the sporting level. It was very fast and ambitious. I'm pretty sure that a lot of the players are member of a club. Now I will watch a professional hockey match in the next months. Unfortunately Brose Canada lost the final 3:4 versus Brose USA. :(

Day 64

Today we talked about the Zodiac Signs. The English word for "Widder" is Aries and a aries is a ram and I am a ram äh an Aries.

The characteristics for an Aries are:
You are adventurous and not afraid to try new things. You are always busy and never lazy. You prefer to work independently and don't have patience with people who are slower or less talented. You're not afraid to fight with others to achieve your goals. In your enthusiasm to get things done, you sometimes work too quickly and don't notice smaller points.

Those who know me can check, if it fits. I have never believed in Zodiac.

In the evening we watched the movie "The iron giant". I already knew the movie, but I always forget how good it is. 90% from me!

Day 63

The snow is melting. On the picture you can see the last bit of our garden. Tomorrow it will be only in our mind!
Today in English-school I wrote my first weekly test and we talked about intelligence.

Howard Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. In which types do you have high-level abilities?
- Visual and Spatial (creating and understanding art)
- Mathematics (working with numbers, calculating amounts, understanding statistics)
- Linguistic (playing with words and learning foreign languages)
- Musical (playing and understanding music)
- Physical (playing sports, good in handcraft)
- Intuitive (creating new ideas, sensing opportunity before other do)
- Interpersonal (cooperating with other people, communicating skills)
- Intrapersonal (completing tasks independently, knowing what your strenghts and weaknesses are)

Day 62

I held my first presentation in English today. I think it was ok. I did one joke, all the people were laughing, so I did it! :)
Today we had the themes "Life changing events" and writing about a time travel into the past. I wrote a story about a time travel to the age of dinosaurs. When I finished my essay, I thought: What about writing about a time travel to 1939 in order to kill Hitler. So that the other students know, that I'm not a Nazi. But unfortunately the time for the task was running out. I have to save the German reputation in another lesson... ;)

P.s.: At the moment there are students from Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Korea, China, France and Poland in the course. It's very interesting to get some informations about so many other cultures.

Day 61

Topic of today: Conditional sentences and using participial adjectives as noun modifiers!
I'm really back to school: a lot of homework, many tests and tomorrow I have to hold a five minute presentation about the Royal Ontario Museum of Toronto ...

No time for more blogging! See you!

Day 60

First day at London Language Institute
On my first day I 've made an assessment test to determine my level of English. It wasn't easy and took 3 hours. After that I was quite exhausted. The result: level 7B, 9 levels exists. :)
In my class there are two men from Saudi Arabia, a woman from Spain, a woman and a man from South Korea, a man from China and a man from France. The topic of this day was "Travel hassles and experiences", express relief and regret and ask for a favor. Let's see what happens next ...
P.s.: Feel free and write a comment to correct my bad English. ;)