Learn Dec 2017
New Habits for a New Year | International Students Reflect on Their First Winter in Ottawa | Winter Interiorscaping with Greenery | Christmas & Holiday Cupcake Creations
New Habits for a New Year
Contributed by Sarah Dehler
Ringing in the new year is a popular time to make resolutions – exercising more, eating healthy, practicing mindfulness, adopting new “good” habits or getting rid of less desirable ones.
TEDx speaker and Director of the Persuasive Tech Lab at Stanford, BJ Fogg is an expert on the topic of how to quickly adopt new habits that can lead to big lifestyle, health, productivity, and other positive changes.
What might be best of all, is that BJ Fogg shares his expertise broadly and is ready to help anyone adopt THREE new habits in FIVE days, for FREE.
Interested? Check out the theory that drives the program by watching a 17-minute TEDx video, or jump right in and sign up at: http://tinyhabits.com/join/
Here are suggestions for positive “tiny habits” to adopt this year that will support Algonquin College’s sustainability journey and your physical and financial well-being:
- Drink more water while creating no waste with a new tiny habit to help you have a reusable water bottle with you more often
- Create less waste from your daily coffee or tea routine with a new tiny habit to ensure your reusable coffee mug is with you the next time you are ready for your hot beverage
- Adopt a new “end-of-workday” / “leaving the office” routine that includes powering down all electricity-using devices to avoid wasted (and costly) energy use
Happy New Year and here’s to a full year of lasting, positive “tiny habits” that can lead to big impacts.
International Students Reflect on Their First Winter in Ottawa
Submitted by Sue Hodgins
“My name is Wei Cai. I am from China. My major is Interactive Media design and it will start in January 2018. I have been in Ottawa more than one year but into winter I am happy. I lived in a hot area where has not ever been in the snow, so I saw my first snow in Ottawa. I felt excited, magical and just as living in the picture postcard.
“When I touched the snow, it was soft and light; furthermore, the snow fell as symmetrical, six-sided snowflakes. However, I can not only focus on snow. I should prepare my major courses, such as learning how to use HTML and CSS.
“Actually, I never studied computer science or programming language; therefore, it was difficult for me. But when I could create a new website, I gained funny and successful experience.
“Even though it is the holiday season, I must be assiduous in learning new skills.
“By the way, the most important Chinese traditional holiday is Chinese New Year. It is more than 4000 years old. Additionally, it has deeper meaning: it is also a time to reunite with relatives. Even many Chinese who live abroad, want to go back to China and meet their families at this time of every year.
“Finally, if international students hope to be an academic success, social acceptance is significant. According to International Students’ Confidence and Academic Success, the international student can find a partner who is a local student. It kills two birds with one stone. While the international student reduces mental pressure easily, the local student can learn more other country information.
“At Algonquin College, The AC Hub is a department helping students have more chances to meet new friends and provides multifarious events for students, such as community projects, global projects, and volunteer opportunities. I wish every student has an unforgettable memory at Algonquin College.”
References
Helgeson, L., Kingsbury, C., & Telbis, N. M. (2014). International Students’ Confidence and Academic Success. 330.
“First of all, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Douglas de Oliveira, I am Brazilian, and I have been studying at Algonquin College since May 2017, I started my English studies at EAP, level 6 and finished level 7 in September. I am currently studying Business Management and Entrepreneurship.
I arrived in Ottawa in April and had the privilege of seeing spring in Canada, the summer and now the beginning of winter. The experience is just fantastic, as it is like seeing the same different landscape in every season. My experience with snow in Ottawa was unforgettable; in my country it does not snow, and when I first saw it, it was magical. It’s lovely to see the snow falling, to see the trees and houses covered with snow, it’s like I’m in a movie. Nature is responsible for creating several works of art, using only snow, ice and the unique white, which appears like sugar.
For my holiday season, I plan to buy a bike, visit other parks that I could not take advantage of last summer and travel to Montreal by train.
In my country the holiday season happens in July, December and January, and it is very common for people to travel with the family to the beach or cottage, to enjoy the summer.
My advice that I would like to share with new international students is to take advantage of all the structure that the college offers, participate in all possible events and participate in volunteer work. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet new people, meet new friends from different countries and learn a new culture.
Finally, if you are arriving here in Ottawa in May, buy a bike and enjoy the summer biking in the company of exuberant nature in this beautiful city of Ottawa.”
Winter Interiorscaping with Greenery
Contributed by Rachel Rhoades
When decorating your home for winter—whether you celebrate a religious holiday or just need a winter decorating idea—consider the pros and cons of live plants, cut plants, or faux plants for decorating ideas.
The benefit to live plants is that they last longer than cut plants, are fairly environmentally friendly, and easy to dispose of when the season is over. They will need care—but minimal. Just the occasional watering. Poinsettias are a popular option.
What was once a standard red plant now comes in a variety of colors from pink, white, burgundy, to even variegated or painted poinsettia—which come in blues, purples or simply glitter. They may need to be watered a few times a week. Once the colour has worn off, and the plant drops its bracts (brightly coloured leaves, often perceived to be the flower) the plant can be composted in your city’s green bin or in your back yard.
Potted evergreens tend to be smaller than cut trees, and if you celebrate Christmas can be decorated like a cut tree. They are a good option for apartments as they tend to be smaller, and are a houseplant rather than a “real tree” which is forbidden in many apartment buildings. They can be moved outdoors in the spring and planted in the landscape although they might take a few years to fully adjust after having spent a winter indoors. They may need to be watered about once a week. If you don’t have anywhere to plant it, you can always offer it up for free to a neighbour or friend for planting in their landscape.
“Christmas cacti” are a succulent that blooms around the end of November and can be found at most flower retail locations. The bloom will come back every year if kept on a natural daylength schedule—shorter days make it bloom, so unlike the other live plant option these can be kept as a year-round houseplant.
Fake greenery is one of the lowest maintenance options for your home. It’s often the best options for people whose pets would otherwise consume real plants or for people who may be travelling for extended periods of time. However it can be detrimental to the environment, and environmental cost of production, as well as landfill waste at season’s end should be considered.
Cut plants are another great choice, and there are more options from which to choose than live plants. Evergreen boughs can be used to frame photos, decorate stairwells, or place on mantel pieces. Vase arrangements or wreaths can be made from cut evergreens, pine cones, dogwood, or willow branches. And of course there is the typical live cut tree option for those celebrating Christmas. Everything can be topped off with some decorative berries like juniper, holly or the classic mistletoe.
Many of these are available from your local farmer’s market—often one of the last items for sale before season’s end. They can also be found them in flower shops. Avoid picking these items from public spaces. Trees and shrubbery can be quickly damaged when the entire city heads out in full force to decorate their homes. However, if you have family or friends who maintain wood lots or live in the country, ask them for permission to harvest from their land. In this way city trees and national parks are left to grow for another season.
The downside to cut greenery is that it can become a fire hazard if it gets too dry (hence why live trees are often forbidden in rental units). If you have a cut tree, water it daily with fresh water. Mist any other natural greenery with water to keep the plants from desiccating. After your winter holiday is past, you can put all your natural greenery on the curb for green bin pick up.
Happy Holidays and happy Greenscaping.
Christmas & Holiday Cupcake Creations
Contributed by Alicia Wilmott
In high school, I always wanted to go to school for the Baking Program. but I went into Business and Accounting instead. I still love to bake and create in the kitchen though.
As a previous employee for Godiva for about 2 years out west in Alberta, I gained valuable experience and knowledge with all types of chocolate. Using my experience with dipping, I have made chocolate dipped strawberries (individual and on a stick), other fruits, almond bark and peanut butter cups. There have been moments where I would experiment doing special occasion treats such as Halloween, making chocolate spider webs on top of the peanut butter cups. Because of my training and experience working with chocolate, I am able to temper chocolate properly to be able to make pieces for cupcakes such as the antlers for reindeer or pretzel trees.
When I moved back to Ottawa, I started working for the Tea Shoppe which was located in Connections the Campus Store at Algonquin College. I was able to put my previous experience with Godiva to good advantage by using the chocolate dipper in the Tea Shoppe.
I gained further knowledge with pastries including cupcakes that we brought in from The Cupcake Lounge, Beyond The Batter, and La Rocca as well as several other specialty suppliers. When the Tea Shoppe closed, we were then unable to bring in delicious cupcakes for special events within the department. So with my experience with baked goods, I would occasionally be asked to bake and decorate cupcakes for several different events. I have made colourful swirled cupcakes like idea #5 by playing around with a purchased kit.
I have gotten many of my interesting ideas from internet sites, by watching YouTube videos, and by trying new fun ideas. I have created swirled cupcakes, cupcakes with a cookie topping, and cupcakes with fondant icing topping for a bachelorette party (my first try turned out amazing!)
I have also learned how to use fondant for making roses, which can be a little tricky but these also came put really well. With these random ideas and cupcake making, I have surprised colleagues, family and friends. I have had a few people suggest doing cakes as a side business, but I enjoy just doing them occasionally for colleagues and friends.
These ideas that I have shared are fairly basic, so it is easy and fun because it allows you to experiment with different ways of making cupcakes, such as making your own frosting, which I have made a cream cheese frosting one time. Making cupcakes are like arts and crafts but in the end you get to eat it!
My next experiment will be making snow globe cupcakes, it will be so much fun and they are really cute. It all gets you in the mood for the holidays. Jump in to try some of these and have fun!
Idea #1 – simple white icing with black lines with M&M’s or Smarties as lights
Idea #2 – A thin layer of icing with coconut shreds and how to make the trees if a pretzel and white chocolate melted and coloured green, drizzle over in the shape of tree. The higher you drizzle the finer the lines.
Idea #3 – to make the tree: you would ice cream cones smaller kind and decorate them with green icing. The cone gives that point look.
Idea #4 – Hot chocolate cupcakes: flower tip icing and add chocolate chips and marshmallows and small candy cane to the side and sprinkled on top.
Idea #5 – the way to get this 3 colour is by adding 3 piping bags together: you can get a kit that does this from Loblaws that is about $10.00. very easy J
Idea #6: – snow man: I suggest using a thick open tip for the body to make it round. You will then need large marshmallows and thin tip.
Idea #7 – snow flakes – use a flower tip for the base – to make the snow flakes I would melt chocolate into a piping bag with a thin tip to make the design and let chocolate cool
Idea # 8 – reindeer, you use pretzels for the antlers and you can do icing for the face or a small cookie
Idea #9 – you can make the gingerbread man out of melted chocolate and when cooled stick them into the icing
