Inspiration: Who's gonna write a book someday ... in English?

Maybe someone from our class!



But first, update your blogs.

Proposed Field Trip: Walk Down Church Street Downtown

This one will require walking shoes. Hmm, maybe two pairs! Snacks, water, and umbrellas might be handy also.

It's a walk down memory lane--Toronto's history, but in reverse, starting from Wellesley Subway Station and ending around St Lawrence Market:


View Larger Map

Discover:

1. Why it's called Church Street after all
2. Which world-famous parade marches down this street every year
3. Where you can enjoy a pipe organ concert for free
   
4. What kind of differences there are between denominations
5. How much feta cheese costs at St Lawrence Market
   

Meeting Point:
Tuesday June 9, 2009 (Rain date: June 16)
Southbound Platform at Sheppard-Yonge Subway Station
Departing the station platform at 10 a.m.

Speaking of Justice

1. Do you agree with the protest?
2. Can you understand what the crowds are chanting?

Log your Comments below!

A $250 Course on the Toronto Justice System

The place to pay parking fines

Today, I went to court in Canada for the first time to fight a ticket for parking in a fire route in Toronto. After nine months, the case finally went to trial at Room E9 on the second floor of Ontario Court of Justice, 1530 Markham Rd, at 10:30 a.m. When I got there 10 minutes before the start, there were about thirty people already in the room, and prosecutors were encouraging us to "plead guilty with explanation" and get our fines halved. Most people did that.

I was among six or seven stubborn ones who chose to plead not guilty. The reason was that the address stated for the offense was wrong--I was parked between 644 and 642 and not "at 640" as on the charge sheet. I assumed that basic accuracy of the charge was important and refused to plead guilty to something that isn't true.

It was a long wait, first for the guilty pleas to get cleared, and then for the not guilty ones to stand trial. One case took a long time as the defendant went into details on the interpretation of parking signs. Another one got rescheduled as the judge disallowed the defender's daughter to act on his behalf and as his Tagalog interpreter. Numerous cases got dropped as prosecution could not find the police or parking officer. My name was the second last, heard past the 11:30 recess, but allowed as the judge said she was willing to stay till 12 o'clock.

My case is pretty simple. The charge states:

On the 08 day of AUGUST 2008 AT 12:57 PM AT 640 (STREET NAME) you did commit the offence of: PARK IN A FIRE ROUTE contrary to the CITY OF TORONTO MUNICIPAL CODE; CHAPTER 880-14(A)

Posed picture: my car between buildings number 644 (in front) and 642 (behind)


Fire route sign for No. 644


The charge sheet

First, the judge asked me to state and spell my name. The charges were then read, and I was asked to plead either guilty or not guilty. I stated the latter. Then the parking officer who ticketed me took the stand and made his statement, and I was given the chance to cross-examine him. The judge asked if I would allow him to use his notes to refresh his memory, and I said yes. So we proceeded with the questioning. Best I remember, it went:

Me: What was the building to the front of my car? (correct answer
would be 644, my apartment building)

Officer: Number 640, [street name].

Me: And what was the building behind my car?

Officer: Um. (shifts uncomfortably)

Judge: OK, that's enough. Witness may step down.

I didn't object then, thinking that the officer had established his lack of certainty and accuracy.

I was then given the chance to state my case under oath. I began by pointing out that what the charge states is simply not true, that at the time of the ticket, I was not parked "at 640." Also, I explained that my car wasn't even parked in the fire route. It was parked outside a fire route, between two fire routes, in fact. Although I had pictures and a 2:49-minute clip on my computer with me, I wasn't allowed to show them. I also gave further details, pointing out that I was away from the car for a few minutes with my kids drying out our tents--we'd just come back from a camping trip--and my kids were underaged; so I couldn't leave them by themselves. But the main point was the inaccuracy of the charge.


Drying out these tents from our Bon Echo trip was what started it all.


My 2:47-long clip of the car park

Prosecution then asked me several questions, mainly whether there were signs posted at the fire routes. And then I stepped down from the witness box, and prosecution, I, and the judge made our final submissions.

As soon as the judge started into her final comments, I knew my case was dead. Her overriding concern was simply that the officer had no motivation to lie, which was never a consideration in the first place. When her "I find the defendant guilty" was pronounced, I accepted the fine and paid it promptly on the ground floor. For some reason, phrases like cash grab, a good education, almost like Singapore, and now you know came to mind. The cashier seemed sympathetic--maybe she's sympathetic to everyone!--and asked for the details, which I gave her. But I reminded her, as I usually tell people, that the end is not yet. We will not always see justice in this world, but we shall see all wrongs righted when that great day comes. And that's best living for!


Fine assessed in full


Paid in full

Now over to you. What would you have done? Please log your comments below!

ESL Volunteer Opportunity for Advanced Students Who Speak Mandarin or Tamil

A LINC school conveniently located next to Finch Subway Station is looking for advanced ESL students who speak Mandarin or Tamil to help their lower-level students along. In return, the volunteer gets many opportunities to use the English language and relate it meaningfully to his or her first language, all of which amount to more "Canadian experience." 

The LINC school has contacted me to see if anyone might be interested.

View Larger Map

Please let me know if you'd like to volunteer in a LINC school, and I'll put you in touch with them.

Today's Field Trip

It's 10 o'clock at College Park Food Court. Where's José?


Stragglers ... don't impress Waldi. C'mon, time to hit them streetcars!


Donald points the way forward.


Let's go south from College to Dundas!


The weather's perfectly cooperative. Keep following the white toupee, willya?


Arriving at Old Chinatown, tempting sights galore!


Someone spotted broccoli, two bunches for a dollar. More fell for it.


Entering Kensington Market.




Can't ignore the staff of life!




One for the road, eh?


Don't say cheese!


George Dubya Bush, for young and old, always a crowd pleaser!


Artsy pencils of the Ontario College of Art & Design


At the Grange: a stairway to heaven?


What a fine, fine day--here's where the field trip winds up.


Viorica, Cathy, Joan, José (lost 'n' found, there he is), and Hossein (his rescuer). Where's Tanya?


Last pose--Ariane's already got her naughty pic.

Field Trip Friday to Kensington Market, Old Chinatown, and Wherever Else Donald Leads

Meeting Place: College Park Food Court--get there from College Subway Station on the Yonge line.
Time: 10 a.m. (Some of your classmates may be leaving from Don Mills Station at 9 a.m..)
Hang on to your TTC transfers--we'll be riding on the streetcar and getting token reimbursements from Tanya.
Wear walking shoes and bring water and snacks.


A picture of College Park Food Court off the Internet

Kensington Market: off the Internet


Old Chinatown: off the Internet

See you all there!

Victoria Day at Colonel Danforth Park

It was fun for us to be together on Victoria Day, mostly Singaporean and Malaysian Canadians, at Colonel Danforth Park. Getting there was difficult. For some reason, the GPS directed us to Wanita Park, and we wasted about 30 minutes hunting all over for the place (I'm even dubious about the google map below). We got close once but turned away as we didn't see the park sign; so it was another runaround before finally getting there around 10:30 a.m.


View Larger Map

But it was so worth the trip.




First at the trough: Who's that swine in shorts?

All the favourite fare was there: Nonya laksa, Siamese kueh, pulot hitam, beehoon goreng, etc. There were egg and ham sandwiches and cut fruits for our Canadian-Canadian friends. We sat around for three hours reminiscing about our lives, discussing the Bible, and making plans for the summer.



I'd have to say the best thing about the park is the trail that runs by a creek right down to Lake Ontario. Looking out at the expanse of water, on the left looms the Pickering nuclear plant, and over to the right the beach stretches on towards Toronto's downtown, which wasn't visible. On the sandy beach itself was a bunch of bone-white driftwood. What a stunning sight.

It also helped that I'd looked up the history of the park and of the "colonel" the night before.

Bumper Attendance Yesterday: 21

Thanks, Sveta, for the above!




Thanks to Viorica for these pix!

So, who can add the names under Comments?
(Maybe clockwise, starting from Hossein at the extreme right?)

Six Years to Professional Job -- Worth It?

RICHARD LAUTENS/TORONTO STAR

Zardasht Gaf, pictured with his fiancee, Cynthia Leung, arrived in Canada from Kurdistan, Iraq, in 2003, seeking refuge from Saddam Hussein's tyranny.

This Kurdish doctor volunteers at a hospital and flips his dictionaries and pizza on the way to becoming a Canadian doctor. Check out his story here:



More stories here.

Taking Attendance

The Stroller Squad.


Follow the Leader!


Awaiting Part 2 ...


Jose and Hossein with the leader.


Big cheese!


Yorkville!


Having crossed the Red Sea, Moses takes us through the Yorkwilderness.


This civil engineer thought the fire station was cool.


Can the English dance? A May Day moment in Yorkville.


Yes ... they ... can!


The founder of the U of T. How do you say this guy's last name? Stra ... Stra ...


The U of T war dead, from WWII.


Didn't stay too long here in this too-hot room.


One for the road ... a class photo.

Here's me as the mean teacher who takes attendance from basement of the Toronto Reference Library. Here's those who showed up today:

1. Hossein
2. Siwen
3. Cindy
4. Joan
5. Vivian

Did I miss out anybody? Where's the rest of you?

Thanks to Siwen for that bottle of water, which was probably the spare for her baby, and to Joan for the Redoxon tablet, without which I probably wouldn't have been able to make it through the day!

Well, we got to see the top (5th) floor, beginning with a briefing by the Audio/ESL staff, continuing through the languages section, and finishing with the performing arts section and view over the Don Valley.

Next was the second level--we had to take the elevators with strollers in tow--where we saw the great OED (what's that?) and other reference resources. It was a little too difficult for the kids to keep up; so the stroller delegation headed for the main lobby to keep the little people amused.

Joan and I continued looking at the main stacks of the second level before heading for the basement--the newspaper section. Joan's quietly reading her paper while I'm driving the person watching youtube next to me crazy with this tap-a-tapping off a noisy keyboard.

So far so good ... we met up with everybody at 11:30 a.m. at the lobby, took our group photos, and then followed Donald to historic Yorkville and his alma mater, the University of Toronto. For the rest, we'll let the pictures tell a thousand words each.