April 10th jewellery party

There was a very good turnout at the party.  Twenty people came.  The thunderstorms and rain gave me cause for alarm as I was preparing for the party in the party room.

There are skylights in the room and the water just pounded against them.  At one point, I thought that people would not come at all if the rain continued so heavily.

Fortunately for me, it stopped in time so that people did not get wet coming here. There were so many obstacles in the way of this party that it is a wonder it happened at all!

First of all, the party room was not clean and I had to spend a lot of time cleaning it.  I will be making a complaint about this as it should have been clean, especially before a party.  Second was the lack of a phone to let people into the party room.  Logistically, it was a nightmare, a dirty room, no phone but those who came early helped and stood downstairs at the front door and let people in. the lack of phone was not intentional, it was just an oversight on the part of the superintendent. At my other two parties, the room has always been very clean so this is just a one offf. 

However,  be that as it may, the party started a little later than I had planned but it was a very good success as far as a social gathering went.  I wish my clown could have come but she was too sick to travel from Toronto but if I have another party next year, hopefully she can do her act then.

We started the talent show late as well but everybody did very well.  I was most proud of my son who played and sang for the group.  I hope I can prevail on him next year to do it again!

What a pleasure it was for me to hear him sing again and I could see that the group was enjoying it very much.

One of my Toronto friends read some of her poetry which really moved me.  It prompted a brisk discussion among the group.  I read my friend Moon's short story which told of a young couple in India and their new life in Canada and then return to their home country.  The gist of the story was that even though they loved their home country, they had changed by living in Canada and were happier in Canada.  They returned to Canada to live and no longer were so homesick.  I found that so interesting

My two Toronto friends brought work which spoke of immigrating to Canada and their experiences.  It was marvelous. 

As it happened, I had written a story about a Pakistani family and I read it as well.  It tied in so well with the other two people.  None of us knew what the other was going to bring.

Such a great discussion!  There were people from Ecuador, Germany, Holland, Pakistan, India and people born in Canada at the party.  I think the success of this party is that people came to understand each other's points of view better and Canadians were able to hear what life as an immigrant means.

In spite of all the odds against the party, I can say that it was a success and people really enjoyed themselves.

Thanks for reading my blog.  I'm sorry I cannot post any pictures as I still cannot figure out how to send Goggle a cheque to pay for a year.  My pictures turned out very well and they would have added so much to this blog.