An unforgetable outing - The sun finally decided to show its face without the cloud for 3 or 4 days in a roll this week. I finally got my wish of taking my ESL students to an excusion. We decided to go Graville Island because it is colorful, for we'd been shut indoor under the grey sky for too long.
My plan was to be with 5 or 6 women and a few of their older children. When I got to the centre. Everyone I expected to be there was there, except one family who misunderstood to be given a ride, needed to come by public transport. So we waited over an hour for them. But before they even got there. Other women started arriving. Some with strollers loaded with food, clothes and kids; a very heavily weighted grandma; and a very pregnant young mother etc. In our final count, I could'nt believe there were 14 adults and teenagers plus 7 children, some as young as 1 1/2 years old. I asked L how did that happen. She said those women were eager to get out of their apartments. I said this was not going to work, it would be boring for the children to be lugged around from shop to shop. Unless we change plan to go to a local park. But she was reluctent to agree. Finally, we decided that Stantly Park would be a better place for the situation. Of course, I make sure she explain to the young mothers that it would be an arduous journey, hoping that some would be deterred. But I guess no one was intimidated by the prospect, afterall, they had travelled across half of the world to come to Canada. So we all headed to the skytrain.
On the skytrain, the youngest kid decided to kick up a fit. He screamed all the way through 12 stations. Nothing could please him because he wanted to go for a long walk to the other end of the train compartment. After we got off the skytrain, we decided to walk instead of catching another bus. We were along the water front where everyone wanted to stop for millions of pictures. With 14 women who wanted to mix match taking picture with different friends. One can imagine how long it took to move from site to site. They were having such fun that everything else was a non-issue. We probably replaced the scene for the locals visitors too.
Finally, to the relieve of some, we got to the entrance of the park. The young mothers could feed their babes and let them run around a bit. The mom with the gigantic backpack could off load her burden. I couldn't understand why she said she need to sit down every 10 minutes when I am twice her age. Of course I only focused on her face and not her back :(
Then someone found a children's playgound not too far away on their way to the loo. That was a happy day for everyone. M was more than happy to sit down and spread out her refrigerator. (Last time when we went to Crescent Beach in two cars with her family, there were barely room for people and food.) H and I decided to head out to the rose garden. It was amazing the roses were in beautiful blooms even under such wet sky in the past two months. I guess to the credit of treeless surrounding. We were crazy over their beauty and trespassed to make many good shots. Then we head back to the crowd, whom I urged to pack up their banquet in order to enjoy the garden.
This time the young mothers abandoned the playground and came with us too. L saw a young woman who was shrouded liked a mummy and talked to her for quite a while, while some of us kept snapping photos.
I became their photographer and coach for park ettequet. It was more fun to take pictures than to be taken, anyway. Then we came to the trellis for climbing roses. They were having so much fun picking the right spots and flowers that they aroused three Canadians ladies who were sitting on a bench enjoying themselves. They got talking to H and decided to join in the fun. Our ladies took turn to take pictures with them, laughing, joking and just having a ball. Finally, the three ladies wished them happy stay in Canada and departed. I was pleased that the party did not last till sunset.
After much herding. We finally found the bus which would take us back to the skytrain. I was praying that we could all get on the same bus. Lo and behold, an empty bus pulled up beside us. I asked the driver if she could wait till all of us boarded. She was happy to carry her duty more meaningfully and we all got on. To everyone's wish, our youngest charge fell asleep after all the exhausting play and we had a quiet trip home.
On the way back to the centre. I mentioned to L what Philippian 4:13 says. She said that is what she has been trying to tell the ladies. No wonder no one wanted to drop out. We had a blast!
My plan was to be with 5 or 6 women and a few of their older children. When I got to the centre. Everyone I expected to be there was there, except one family who misunderstood to be given a ride, needed to come by public transport. So we waited over an hour for them. But before they even got there. Other women started arriving. Some with strollers loaded with food, clothes and kids; a very heavily weighted grandma; and a very pregnant young mother etc. In our final count, I could'nt believe there were 14 adults and teenagers plus 7 children, some as young as 1 1/2 years old. I asked L how did that happen. She said those women were eager to get out of their apartments. I said this was not going to work, it would be boring for the children to be lugged around from shop to shop. Unless we change plan to go to a local park. But she was reluctent to agree. Finally, we decided that Stantly Park would be a better place for the situation. Of course, I make sure she explain to the young mothers that it would be an arduous journey, hoping that some would be deterred. But I guess no one was intimidated by the prospect, afterall, they had travelled across half of the world to come to Canada. So we all headed to the skytrain.
On the skytrain, the youngest kid decided to kick up a fit. He screamed all the way through 12 stations. Nothing could please him because he wanted to go for a long walk to the other end of the train compartment. After we got off the skytrain, we decided to walk instead of catching another bus. We were along the water front where everyone wanted to stop for millions of pictures. With 14 women who wanted to mix match taking picture with different friends. One can imagine how long it took to move from site to site. They were having such fun that everything else was a non-issue. We probably replaced the scene for the locals visitors too.
Finally, to the relieve of some, we got to the entrance of the park. The young mothers could feed their babes and let them run around a bit. The mom with the gigantic backpack could off load her burden. I couldn't understand why she said she need to sit down every 10 minutes when I am twice her age. Of course I only focused on her face and not her back :(
Then someone found a children's playgound not too far away on their way to the loo. That was a happy day for everyone. M was more than happy to sit down and spread out her refrigerator. (Last time when we went to Crescent Beach in two cars with her family, there were barely room for people and food.) H and I decided to head out to the rose garden. It was amazing the roses were in beautiful blooms even under such wet sky in the past two months. I guess to the credit of treeless surrounding. We were crazy over their beauty and trespassed to make many good shots. Then we head back to the crowd, whom I urged to pack up their banquet in order to enjoy the garden.
This time the young mothers abandoned the playground and came with us too. L saw a young woman who was shrouded liked a mummy and talked to her for quite a while, while some of us kept snapping photos.
I became their photographer and coach for park ettequet. It was more fun to take pictures than to be taken, anyway. Then we came to the trellis for climbing roses. They were having so much fun picking the right spots and flowers that they aroused three Canadians ladies who were sitting on a bench enjoying themselves. They got talking to H and decided to join in the fun. Our ladies took turn to take pictures with them, laughing, joking and just having a ball. Finally, the three ladies wished them happy stay in Canada and departed. I was pleased that the party did not last till sunset.
After much herding. We finally found the bus which would take us back to the skytrain. I was praying that we could all get on the same bus. Lo and behold, an empty bus pulled up beside us. I asked the driver if she could wait till all of us boarded. She was happy to carry her duty more meaningfully and we all got on. To everyone's wish, our youngest charge fell asleep after all the exhausting play and we had a quiet trip home.
On the way back to the centre. I mentioned to L what Philippian 4:13 says. She said that is what she has been trying to tell the ladies. No wonder no one wanted to drop out. We had a blast!
posted by Echo at 8:51 AM
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