Week of Art

August 19, 2018

Started off the past week with volunteering at a Senior centre on Monday morning, the elderly seemed happy seeing me again and I’m happy that they still remember me and welcomed me to do Chinese calligraphy with them. Had lunch with my friend before I headed downtown to see the Banksy Exhibition and explored the local street arts in the area.

Didn’t do much during the weekdays other than joining a little reunion of university friends on Wed. night. I spent most of my time drawing cartoons in my sister’s basement. I also started painting acrylics again to entertain my little niece while babysitting her on Friday afternoon.

Saturday was a little more fun, I went to do a trial baking class with a friend in the afternoon and did some art jamming with another couple of friends in the evening. I took inspiration from Banksy when working on my art piece 😬.

Just when I thought I had all the time in the world for this trip, I just realized that there are just about 10 days left, it’s time to be more proactive to reach out and catch-up with friends again before heading back to HK!

Week of Friends’ Meetups

August 12, 2018

Without any plans whatsoever, I managed to meet up with different friends for lunch and/or dinner every single day throughout this week. My somewhat loose strategy was to first meet up friends who I didn’t get to see when I was in town last year. I got to meet and catch up with 2 of them, one I haven’t seen for ~10 years and the other for ~20 years! It’s kinda amazing how the schedule worked out so well without much rescheduling or going back and forth forever trying to agree on a time/venue to meet up, a problem often encountered with my busy HK friends.

Besides lunch/dinner, I also got to see some random art in downtown TO last night and took a day trip to Hamilton today (my first time), both also with the accompany of good friends.

I really do enjoy meeting and catching up with friends, hope they would feel likewise and wouldn’t mind seeing a somewhat lost starving artist barging into their regular busy schedules.

Sketch… BTBC

August 6, 2018

Mission Completed, Real Vacation Starts!

August 3, 2018

Barely slept last night, probably due to worries of not getting enough sleep to drive my parents and sister to the airport in the early morning. Worrying about not getting enough sleep is truly a self-fulfilling prophecy. At one point I did fall into a short but deep sleep. I dreamt that my dad found a dim sum restaurant that opens at 4am so we could get some breakfast before heading to the airport, I probably had way too many dim sum for this trip already!

Despite the lack of sleep, I was able to safely drop off my family at the airport and seeing them enter the gate for security check. My mom told me to take care, my sister did the same via messaging before boarding the plane back to HK, I simply replied saying there’s no need to worry about me here in Canada. Didn’t they witness for the pass 3 weeks how comfortable and at ease I am in my “home and native land”?

Dropping my parents at the airport made me recall the story they told me about the time they dropped me off at boarding school in grade 1. They were sobbing in the van worrying about me adapting to the new environment, I on the other hand was already off making new friends and having fun!

Now that I have completed the mission of being the English translator and chauffeur for my family, it’s time to plan my remaining vacation till the end of August. Oh Lord, may you guide my long vacation, may it be restful, enjoyable, yet meaningful and away from sin. 🙏🏻

3-Day Montreal Trip

August 1, 2018

We (my parents, sister, and me) tagged along my Toronto’s sister’s family of four to a 3-day weekend trip to Montreal, Quebec. My brother-in-law lived in Montreal for 4 or 5 years when he first emigrated to Canada with his family, so he knows the city pretty well. He took us to many places including Saint-Joseph du Mont Royal, Notre Dame, Old Montreal, Old Port, Chinatown…

On our way back to Toronto, we briefly stopped by Ottawa. Having worked there for about a year during my undergraduate co-op days, I got to know Canada’s capital city quite well and was able to play a proficient tour guide for my family.

Sketch… Saint-Joseph Basilica

July 30, 2018

Old Neighborhood Visit

July 27, 2018

We have arrived in Toronto for 4 days and had dim sum for lunch every day and of which 3 consecutive days were at the same restaurant! After the dim sum lunch with some family friends today, we went to visit our old neighborhood upon my mom’s request.

We parked our car at the corner plaza, then walked to our old house nearby. Rain started to pour, my parents and I took cover under a big tree near our old house while my sister was at the plaza. When the rain stopped, we took a stroll at the park across our old house, passed my primary school, and then briefly into the nature trail that’s connected to the park. My sister helped my parents take photos along the way.

My parents seemed to enjoy the reminiscing tour, but me not as much since I was here visiting just last October. Regardless, my sister reminded us that it was exactly this day 31 years ago when our family first set foot in Canada, it’s definitely a day to be remembered!

5-day Trip Trough The Rockies

July 23, 2018

Concluded our rushed 5-day local tour through the Rockies yesterday. It was my first time visiting some of the most scenic locations of my home country. We rushed from one tourist attraction to another including Lake Moraine, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper National Park, Maligne Canyon… Being immersed in the breathtaking sceneries, one just cannot help but humble oneself before nature’s awesome Creator! I also now see God as an amazing sculptor on top of being an amazing scenic painter.

The tour was probably too rushed for my parents, and adding to it the jet lagging issue, they seemed exhausted, my mom even fainted and fell on the last day of the tour. Good thing my dad and sister was with her when my mom fell, should also be thankful that one of the other tourists in our group knew a little acupuncture and was able to give my mom some temporary relief.

Now that we’ve finished the rushed tour and are in our more familiar city of Toronto, I pray that my parents could slow down and sleep better and have a healthy body to enjoy the rest of their trip. 🙏🏻

Sketch… Sunday Morning On The Road

July 23, 2018

(Unplanned) Long Vacation Begins…

July 15, 2018

Like the Little Prince who left his tiny B-612 planet to explore the universe, I’ll be leaving my little studio (S-723) to take a (unplanned) long vacation…

I must stress again that the vacation was “unplanned” and that I never thought about visiting Canada again in less than a year.  For reasons still unknown to our family, my mom suddenly decided she wanted to visit Canada after happily avoiding the dreaded long hour flight since 2003 when she flew over with my dad to attend my bachelor graduation.  Upon knowing my mother’s surprising idea, my sister swiftly took our passports and bought plane tickets for herself, me, and our parents the following week!

When planning for my 2nd co-op term (May – Aug), I was thinking about designing a website and start selling some of my brush-and-ink artworks online in July to celebrate the studio’s 4th anniversary. The plan will now be postponed.

I also planned to tell the girl-I-like how much I like her in July for her birthday. I managed to make her an inexpensive bday gift and had a very rush dinner with her, but the moment wasn’t right to tell her what I had in mind. Probably not wise to do this before the long vacation anyway. I guess I’ll just have to temporarily leave the girl-I-like just like the Little Prince leaving his beloved rose and hope that God will guide us to pick up where we left off after I come back 🙏🏻.