Minutes May 17th, 2018

May 17, 2018

Minutes by Jackie

Participants: Aaron, Agnes, Jackie, Jeffery, Wendy, Yan, Yang, Yong

The meet began with participants doing their 1-minute presentations. Yang expressed her thoughts on a novel she is currently reading called ‘Pachinko’, which is a story about a family of Korean immigrants in Japan and emphasizes on the issue of discrimination. Yong described the events that took place when he had to take his car to be repaired after it was recalled for a defective engine. Jackie gave his thoughts on a film called ‘Shinjuku Incident’, which is a film about a group of illegal Chinese immigrants in Tokyo and their struggles to get money. Aaron shared his plan for the weekend of inviting his friends over to make some food together after he was noticed borrowing a cookbook at his school library. Yan brought up the news on how the Japanese Empress wishes to break the tradition of being buried with the Emperor and gave her thoughts on it. Wendy informed us that most of the talk at her workplace was about Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding, which she believes is causing too much stress for Meghan’s family. Agnes described her trip to a DIBC camp organized by Scouts Canada, and the unique activities that she did there, such as smashing old cars with hammers. Jeffery talked about his track and field meet, where he got four 1st place ribbons, one 2nd, and one 3rd place ribbon.

Afterwards, participants conferred of ‘Chapter 8: Dining Out’ in the book Emily Post’s Etiquette. New information that stood out to the participants included, what seats were considered ‘the best’, the intricate seating plans for men, women, and guests of honour, the details of ordering beverages such as wine, the proper way to inform the waiter that you wish to not have any wine, and  the proper manner to call over waiters.

For the conclusion, the character of ‘Apu’ in the sitcom The Simpsons was discussed by the participants. Different people had different opinions, but everyone was acceptant of one another’s opinions and agreed to certain aspects as well. Participants then began to discuss the difference between bullying and making jokes, which has a very thin line separating them.