我们是一群“Toastmasters”。

Toastmasters人邀请各位志同道合人士参加12月19日下午

1：30在南山路102路火知了酒吧举行圣诞大派对。

精彩的是节目，

丰富的是奖品，

 热诚的是来自

Westlake Bilingul Toastmasters Club

Moto Metalk Club

Moto Say hello Club

SSS Hangzhou Club

MSD club

State Street Club

Zhejiang University Club

的每一个Toastmasters人。

一起加入吧！

票价说明：由于Toastmasters为NPO性质的NGO，按照国

际惯例，盈余部分将用作区域Toastmasters俱乐部的发展。

 30.00/人，学生20.00/人。名额有限，请发邮件至

 ying@chinesebridge.info联系Ying，获取门票。

Toastmasters ABCs:

http://hztmc.blog.sohu.com/

www.toastmasters.org

Three meetings within three days!

But I missed one.

I refused to be the next turn President. And I explained why I did so. Thanks for the totally understanding from my dear toastmasters. I promise to be a competent VPPR in the coming year.

The table topic I made for the first time several weeks ago was DO NOT FEAR. But the turtle I bought for the prop and award as well was sent back to the seller, just because I do fear I can’t raise it well.

There are a lot of other things I did fear or do fear.

I was scared of big dogs, because I had been chased by a ferocious dog.

I was afraid of feeling sorry for myself, because I am a completist.

I fear of aging, because I am not such young any more.

I am worried about my parents, they are getting old, but I do not satisfy them. I regret having not planed my life according to the ordinary people’s timetable.

……

One day I started to think why I have so many fears.

Then I found with my growing, the big dogs are not as big as when I was 12 years old, and one of the most ferocious dogs named Husky becomes my favorite one.

I am a person who chases for flawlessness. But now I find out that things are not going worse if I lower my standard.

Age is not only a number. When I count it, the feeling of getting older and the pressure from the people around me affects me truly. But we are lucky that birthday is counted every single year and to each one of us is equal, no one could skip or prolong seconds for minutes, minutes for hours or hours for a day.

My parents are at their sixties; to me they are the most tolerant parents to their children in the world. The more they understand me, the more I feel guilty about what they do for me. Loving them is to put saying into practice.

……

The conclusion I made from the above presumption is my ability to continue with an unpleasant or difficult situation, experience, or activity over a long period of time has been improved. This ability is called endurance.

To endure the scare of ferocious animal, to endure the feeling of sorry for myself, to endure the fear of aging, to endure the worry of regret …

To endure is to experience it and do not avoid it or give up.

I feel ease and peaceful when I suddenly realized it.

I do fear, at the same period, I become mature. It’s growth. As we grow, we learn more. If I stayed at twenty-four, I would always be as ignorant as I was at twenty-four. I turned to my thirties this July, the last few days before my 30’s birthday and the first few days after that time has been one of the most painful time up till now. We hear people always say, “Oh, if I were young again.” We never hear people say, “I wish I were sixty.”

All these fears will happen anyhow, no matter whether we are always going to be unhappy or not. Fears reflect unsatisfied lives, unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning. Because if we’ve found meaning in our life, we don’t want to go back. We want to go forward. We want to see more, do more. And we can’t wait until sixty or even much older.          

The culture we have doesn’t encourage us to think about the question like what if today were the last day you had on earth. We are wrapped up with our career, family, having enough money, meeting the balance, buying a new car, so we don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying, is this all I want? Is something missing?

Having a fear is not such a terrible thing, but lost ourselves is.

The semi-accounting year for Toastmasters is coming. One of my job is getting all the fees from My Dear Tongxie’s pockets into my pocket, of course, it is not ture, only to the club’s accountant, I am the transferring person.

To list the names of the old members and new members is the first work I did. To send them Dures Renewal email is the second step. If there are no feedbacks from them, to be patient, and text them to remind them of this important issue. After doing so, if  it still not works, then call them.  Time is always at the same pace with persistence.

The dues from 7 old members and one new member are tonight’s torphy. Keep on doing……

Last night, we have smoothly concluded a semi-annual contest, but was it a really successful one?

My answer is NO!

As an officer and one of the organizers of this contest, I feel shame about myself. My failed preparation in the previous period of the event which lead to the off and on or the mistakes during the later contest.

Simba said I were the most powerful woman last night. Nevertheless, I did not take advantage of this rare oppotunity. I only prepared the on-competition part, but neglected the pre-contest section.

Because of my fault, Alan Chen didn’t know the rule for evaluation clearly, and Linda Yang didn’t have enough note time, Junny Chen brought his note paper on the stage as what we do in a regular meeting.

Because of my fault, Selene handed the notes back to the contestants.

Because of my fault, I gave away the criterion on Choice Lee’s speech to all the evaluation contestants. I congradulated his C5 speech, which meant the standard for his target speech is C5.  Even I knew it after the end of the contest when Maggie told me, I should notice to ask ahead of this big event.

Because of my fault, the awarding certifications were not given signatures before the opening.

Because of my fault, I did not announce any emergency rules if  the lots-drawn first contestant had come late, induced the awkward of  Tiantian’s speech. I didn’t prepare any about it! And I should asked Tiantian first in the interview time to relieve the tense atmosphere.

Because of my fault, the time was not controlled very well, time minutes over and only 5 minutes for the break talking.  

BUT, I were also very lucky! Even though my practice for the contest was not enough, everyone in the contest room were so active  and friendly. Applause and smile to each contestant.

I were so lucky!  Even if my preparation of the event did not put in place, each officer or member involved in was so patient and helpful. Applause and smile to me.

I were really lucky! Even though the mistakes occured again and again during the contest, everyone attended the meeting was so tolerant and still enjoyed the minutes for competition or silence.

Thank you sooooo much to my dear members and guests! Without your support, I can not stand on that stage. suddenly, there is a voice said to me, Ying, take the Chair, Toastmaster as your position for the coming contest and Wednesday meetings, and keep on doing it, keep on! Never ever give up!

At last, I would like to especially give my thanks to Alex Wang, who recommded me as a Chair for this big event, and thanks to Simba Zhang, who found useful inforations for me, as well as Alex Wang. Junny Chen and Jennifer Li, without you two, our VPEs, I would definitely be confused on the schedule, and thanks to Tony Chu, you are not only a social VPPR, but also a good friend. Thanks a million to everybody!

And big thanks to my dear mama, baba!

Finally, the semi-annual contest ended with a high appraisal.

The toast master is even more interesting and challenging. I told Alex one day that I hope I cloud know TOASTMASTERS earlier. This NGO  is not an organization only to improve your English or language skills. If you take this idea in your mind, then I will say don’t come to Toastmasters, there are a lot of other clubs, like English corners, you can join in.  Toastmasters is a place to excel yourself, to complete yourself, to appreciate yourself. Here, you will have a lot of jobs to take. As a speaker, a evaluator, a timer, a grammarian, a toast master, or a sergeant at arms, a secretary, a vice president membership, a president.  Here, you will know where your limitations are and how you can bulid yourselves physically and mentally strong enough to realize your dreams.

At that night, I challenged my limitation, and bulit my body and mind stonger. I knew I could.

But there was a mistake drawing me to an embarrassed situation, and I didn’t aware the seriousness until Alan called me later after the meeting.

I wrote a draw for this event, cause I thought it was an important thing to me. 9 pages! I figued out all the details first in mind and then I noted them down. And practiced before the meeting for about 5 times with counting minutes.  One time in front of mirror! But I should do that more! I totally agree with what  Alex commented to me. Practice with your passion in front of mirror, and just suppose you were at the stage. Vocal variety and natural guetures  should let your audience influenced which is from Simba’s suggestion to me.

So, so, so…… Preparation is not enough no matter how much time and energy you put onto it!

Emergencies occur all the time. I did prepare some words and phrases for the changes in the meeting. There are something you can not prepare, that are called experience and knowledge. Experience and knowledge are life long term accumulation. They are the background of your eduation. Well-eduated or not, your experience tells, as well as your knowledge. The experience checks whether your knowledge is practicle or not, while the knowledge leads you to gain more experience.

I know I am lack of experience and I has a little knowledge. For me, it’s a long way to go to be well educated!

My deep-heart thanks to Alan can’t express my feeling. So I worte this essay.

What is Toastmasters?

No, we don’t make toasters!

From a humble beginning in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, Toastmasters International has grown to become a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. The nonprofit organization now has nearly 250,000 members in more than 12,000 clubs in 106 countries, offering a proven – and enjoyable! – way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of approximately 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or two. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian.

There is no instructor; instead, each speech and meeting is critiqued by a member in a positive manner, focusing on what was done right and what could be improved.

The Structure of Toastmasters

            District 85 – People’s Republic of China

         Currently there are 78 clubs in China located in five Divisions.  The Divisions include:

•  
  • Division A – currently with clubs in the cities of Beijing, Dalian and Shenyang.
  • Division B – currently with clubs in the cities of Beijing, Huairou, Tianjin and Zhengzhou.
  • Division C - currently with clubs in the cities of Hangzhou, Shanghai.
  • Division D – currently with clubs in the cities of Changshu, Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi.
  • Division E - currently with clubs in the cities of Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen and Zhuhai.
• Area

         The following is the breakout of clubs by Division and Area:

Or you will do something you love to do when your body listens to you.

I went to TMC on time last night. Not just because I am an officer of this club, but I love the environment in Westlake Bilingual Toastmasters Club.  I haven’t opened my mouth for 3 or 4 days owing to my badly sore throat.  But here I opened my mouth and tried to welcome the new guests to our club. My body listened to me at that moment. Unfortunately, it didn’t last a long time. I tried again, the voice was pale and hoarse. I felt frustrated and was a little bit worried about my teaching. I will feel guilty if  I can not continue my lessons with my students. They love me and my lessons. I know what responsibility I have.  And what are the things going on when I have my masters.  My dream and reality!

Ok, back to toastmasters. Many new guests came for last night’s meeting. There was a group from State Street Bank. A  new club will be built  in the company, then the president and her team came for communicating and learning. And there were some invited by the WLBTMC members, read info from the website or just drop-by. Warm welcome!

Westlake Bilingual Toastmasters Club is a very young club as well as the attending people. Only has 33 members up till now. I have been in Shanghai Toastmasters Clubs, the members there are from 18 to 50, 60. TMC in Hangzhou has a long way to go. We need the knowledge from all fields, we need the advice from all ages, we need the speeches in different voices.

 http://hztmc.blog.sohu.com/

http://www.toastmasters.org/

The Tiramisu meeting on that Sunday is a wonderful time in my life, even though the dessert tasted a little bit weird at the moment I put into my mouth. But when I stepped out to the balcony, the scenery I saw in my camera made that Sunday afternoon a forgettable time in my life. And it was  at that minute I decided the topic for my C2 speech.

Here are some pictures I took in that afternoon. You can have a look.

The old bulidings do not match up with the current envirnment and catch up with the modernzational pace, the only result is removing and replacing with the new bulidings. It might be a pity, if remove the typical traditional ones and rebuild with untypical modern ones. But actually, protecting old chinese architecture is easier said than done.

There are three points I would like to put forward to show why I say so. No comparison, no power of persuasion. Here, I will illustrate and present my viewpoint in comparing with old chinsese architecture and old western architecture.

First, the materials. Wood was mostly used in old Chinese architecture, whereas stone was the main material in old western architecture. These two different materials have the different characteristics. Stone will prevent the fire from burning down the whole building, but wood is easier to burn down if there is a fire. In the old chinese architecture, there are 80% or more buildings were built by wood. Do you know how many of them were ruined because of the fire? The figure is also around 80%. After hundrends and thousands years of exposing to wind and rain, the pine, fir and nanmu used in old traditional buildings might be eroded, weakedned or earier to burn. In Jan, 2003, the main building  of Wudang Shan mountain, Yuzhen Gong was destroyed in a fire. I cloudn’t believe when I heart the news from TV, so did the chinese people and the whole world. The pictures here I show you are like they were taken yesterday. The gorgeous taoist temple for memorizing Zhang Sanfeng built by Emperor Zhuli in Ming Dynasty disppeared in the history river.

Second, structure and layout. The structures of the old chinese architecture are not the same as the old western architecture. Oweing to “dougong”, the unique chinese interlinking wooden structure, the walls do not bear the weight. Normally, the hall of the old chinese buildings are very tall and huge. And to refurniture or reconstruct the building is not as easy as what does in the old western architecture. The layout of the old chinese architecture is influenced a lot from chinese painting, being in harmony with the enviroment and againt in full view. So not like western architecture, chinese architecture is always in a group of buildings, which makes the experts or government difficult to protect.

Third, and the most important point is people’s awareness on preservation of buildings of architectureal and historic interest. Without the awareness, the tragedies will happen again and again. The cause of the fire on Wudang shan Yuzhen Gong was not the natural factor, but man-made. The removing of some typical buildings, like Beijing Hutong, was not for the ordinary people’s better lives, but for few people’s the profits and interests. One day, I accompanied one of my students to Huqin Yutang Herbal Medicine Museum. When I explained the beautiful wall window to him, he couldn’t help asking me that why you Chinese don’t keep the origial out-looking of the buildings. In Italy, there is a law that the exterior of all the old buildings should be remained as what it was before. I kept silence, not because in china we don’t have this law, but because I don’t know how to answer the question.

Those are my viewpiont of protecting old chinese architecture is easier said than done.   

Thanks for your time, everybody. And thanks Mr. Toastmaster!