Free activities for international students in Cambridge, Kitchener, and Waterloo

Sunset over the Grand River at Linear Park in Cambridge, Ontario Canada.
Sunset over the Grand River at Linear Park in Cambridge, Ontario Canada.

I share tips for inexpensive fun and relaxation with my international students at Conestoga College.

Here’s a list of my recent suggestions to my Technical Communications classes, with a focus on minimal cost recreation. This is also likely of interest to any student at Conestoga, and at the University of Waterloo or Wilfrid Laurier University.

During the break week, when I’m not teaching, I share information about activities that don’t cost much or any money.

I encourage them to spend time outside visiting:

Kitchener Public LibraryWaterloo Public Library and the IdeaExchange library in Cambridge, offer events, such as movies, crafts, and a 3D printer access. Yes, the libraries still offer books and movies to borrow.  (Students will be asked to sign up for a library card for any registered events).

There’s an e-sports gaming hub open to Conestoga Students at the Waterloo Campus of Conestoga College, at 108 University Avenue, in Waterloo.

There are also Farmer’s Markets to visit in Kitchener, St. Jacobs, and Cambridge.

I also always suggest international students go for a walk in Downtown Cambridge, which straddles the Grand River. Four bridges are open for pedestrians to cross the river in what was the City of Galt. Galt, Preston, Hespeler and parts of Waterloo and North Dumfries townships were joined in 1973 to create the City of Cambridge.

There’s also evening video shows projected on the Old Post Office branch of IdeaExchange, the Cambridge public library system. Times and shows follow the seasons.

Cambridge is a popular place for movie and television production companies looking for filming locations, often including historic buildings and the Main Street bridge as backdrops.

Are you ready to use Ai to build your public speaking and leadership skills?

Robot Technology” by Alex Knight/ CC0 1.0

So, how will you use generative artificial intelligence to help you improve your next speech or presentation?

That’s the question I asked in an Ai-themed education session at my Cambridge Toastmasters Club meeting on Aug. 17, 2023.

Some people replied they were already experimenting with it, while others were curious.  I remain open to exploring it, with a wary outlook. Yes, I do worry about how generative Ai will impact student – and faculty – learning in my business communication classes at Conestoga College.

Whatever you do, I encourage you not to trust whatever answer an Ai tool like ChatGPT delivers to you.  It efficiently delivers what appear to be facts, but it doesn’t really know anything. Things don’t always go well, even when you ask it to share its sources and references.

How ChatGPT Ai works

Sometimes, Ai chatbots don’t know what to say and “hallucinate” to complete the task. They make stuff up, kind of like the way humans do.

Keep all your fingers

So stay in control of the tool – don’t let that tool control you. As someone who’s used to using power tools in woodworking, control is a good thing.  I still have all my fingers. 

In my experiments with Ai, it often felt like magic. Other times, it was brilliantly stupid.

I’ve sometimes received wrong information in a chat response. Or the words looked pretty, like an empty crystal vase: all packaging and nothing inside.

I’ve found the more precisely I frame a question, the more accurate the response.  Prompt engineering is a thing.  Learn more about how to ask Ai effective questions in this free online course offered by The University of Michigan.

Trying on Ai for size

Yoodli is an Ai company that records your speech or presentation on video and offers speech coaching. Toastmasters International partnered with the startup company, offering a custom interface as part of your membership. Here’s the Toastmasters Yoodli FAQ list.

I used Yoodli to help me prepare for the speech. I found it helpful, offering me a tally of my filler words and reviewing my word choices. I’ll keep experimenting with it.

In 4 Ways to Use ChatGPT in Toastmasters, Mark-Shane Scale of Talbot Trail Toastmasters suggests using Ai to help with Toastmasters club meetings:

  • Generating or Brainstorming a Theme for the Meeting
  • Speech Writing Brainstorming Support
  • Impromptu Speaking Prompts/Questions
  • Word of the day suggestions 

I encourage you to experiment with Ai and explore your comfort level with the technology I believe is here to stay.

Proceed with caution

Sign up for ChatGPT at openai.com. The basic tier is offered at no charge, but be aware that your data will be used to help the Ai service improve.  So, effectively you’re paying use of the tool with the data you share, and you’re nudged to sign up for the paid version ChatGPT Plus for $US20 a month (as of July 2023).  

Or you can sign up for the Microsoft version of ChatGPT that’s cooked into the company’s Bing online search engine.  You ask questions in a chat, and it offers summarized answers with links to source websites.   Microsoft is also pitching its Edge internet browser as a “copilot for the web.” 

Google’s Bard Ai tool is not yet available in Canada.

To minimize exposing your personal data to any online service or email list, consider creating a “burner” email account. It’s essentially a throwaway email account distanced from your personal or business accounts. Even then, I won’t share any personal or copywritten information with Ai. I don’t know where or how it will be used.

And if you use Ai generated content in a speech, ethically, I suggest you make your research source clear – just as if you quoted a book or a movie. It’s the ethical and human thing to do.

No sweat! Don’t celebrate Canada Day like I used to on the family farm?

Canada Day is Sat., July 1, 2023. Photo by Praveen Kumar Nandagiri on Unsplash

Canada Day was usually just another work day on the farm when I was growing up.

Not like today, when it’s a holiday with community parades and fireworks in Cambridge, Kitchener, or Waterloo. Or a backyard family barbecue might be more appealing.

Now that I’m a business communications professor at Conestoga College, I encourage the international students I teach to enjoy the break from classes, join in community events and learn more about Canada.

Canada Day events Waterloo Region

For my students at the Doon or Downtown Kitchener campuses, there are Canada Day festivities in Waterloo Region. The Canada Day parade down King Street in Cambridge ends at Riverside Park, where fireworks light up the skies.

And for my Brantford students, there’s plenty to do on Canada Day in Brantford, too.

July 1 now is so different than when I was growing up on a farm just south of Hamilton, Ontario.

Late June and early July was in prime time for cutting and bailing hay, before putting it in the barns to feed cattle over the winter. The weather was usually stinking hot and humid. And it felt even hotter when working the upstairs mow of the barn, under a sheet metal roof with minimal air circulation and clover dust burning my eyes.

Days that felt like 35 C outside felt more like 45C or 50C up in the mow. I remember sweat stinging my eyes and running down my back as I worked beside my dad and brother with hooks to drag, lift and stack 30 kg bales of cut and bundled grasses.

It looked like what was happening in this video, except we would always be wearing gloves. The video below shows how I remember the bales of hay carried up into the barn for stacking.

Didn’t care about Canada Day

Almost five decades ago, I didn’t care that most stores were closed on July 1. If was sunny and hot, we were putting bales up and in the hayloft, not shopping.

Now, I tell my international students that since July 1 is a national holiday, most stores and businesses will be closed across Canada.

It wasn’t until I turned 16, and started working part-time in a camera store in shopping centre off the farm, that I started paying attention to the Canada Day Holiday. Especially when it fell on a Saturday, like in 2023, when my holiday day might end up on Friday, or a Monday. I learned to like working on July 1, because I was paid a premium rate.

And later, when a newspaper reporter and assigned to work on holidays, the employee union contract guaranteed I receive double-time pay.

Some designated tourist areas, such as St. Jacob’s village and Farmer’s Market district north of Waterloo, Toronto and Niagara Falls, have exemptions that allow stores to remain open on a “statutory holiday” such as Canada Day.

You probably won’t find me at the St. Jacob’s farmer’s market on Canada Day now.

It’s a place far removed from the farm I grew up on. It’s dressed up for tourists driving Teslas, not this old farm boy who is fond of pickup trucks.

Without a bit of sweat on my brow, I have a tough time reliving warm memories of being with my family, on a working holiday celebrating Canada Day.

Authentic Italian meals, a favourite pet, and a dash of history – Neighbours of West Galt magazine January 2023 edition

Daniela Sfara’s stories of visiting Italy and regional food made me hungry as I edited the January 2023 edition of Neighbours of West Galt magazine.

She came to town and fell in love with the architecture in Cambridge, Ontario – especially on the west side of the Grand River. She’s now a private chef creating and serving gourmet meals in homes across West Galt. Photographer Stan Switalski provided the cover and inside images to accompany the story.

The monthly magazine is published by Best Version Media and delivered by Canada Post to mailboxes in my neighbourhood.

For 17 years, I worked as a journalist, photographer, and editor at the former Cambridge Reporter newspaper. Now, 20 years since it closed, I continue to put my local news and writing skills to work as a content coordinator for Neighbours of West Galt. It’s an analog anomaly in the 21st century: a print-only, local magazine.

I’m always looking for news, event, and photo submissions about West Galt, at this email.

Stories and photos submitted to the magazine in the January edition included:

Another book published: Tara Mondou released another of her fiction novels, entitled Tara’s story.

Sculpture Garden enhanced: The Cambridge Sculpture Garden announced it enhanced the outdoor arts area along Grand Avenue, beside the Grand River. Included in the $30,000 project were new signs, lighting, banners, and a bench.

Galt Railway history: Local historian Trevor Parkins-Scibarras shared one of his Transit Time Warp photo comparisons. It shows a train crossing the Grand River in 1900 and again in the same spot in 2022, using the landmark Canadian Pacific Railway bridge over the Grand River.

Pet of the Month: Bubbles, a Labradoodle dog who greets customers entering Molloy’s Soap at 7 Grand Avenue South.

Season of stage performances: Drayton Entertainment, with it’s main theatre in Cambridge, announced an ambitious 2023 season of dramas, musicals, and comedies planned for its six stages across southern Ontario.

2022 Community Awards: The Cambridge Chamber of Commerce announced its 2022 winners of the Cambridge and North Dumfries Community Awards.

New, high-tech hospital equipment: Cambridge Memorial hospital shared news about opening a new endoscopic ultrasound surgical clinic.

Free holiday light shows at the Old Post Office digital library in downtown Cambridge

The Christmas light display is about to start in the 2020 show at the Old Post Office IdeaExchange Digital Library in Downtown Cambridge, Ontario. Photo by Kevin Swayze

Throughout the year, animated light shows are projected on the historic Old Post Office IdeaExchange in Downtown Cambridge. Christmas-themed shows continue on the half hour between 8-10 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sundays until Jan. 5, 2023.

You can drive and park in the parking lot across the street and watch the show from the warmth of your car. Tune your car radio to FM 92.5 to listen to music choreographed with the show.

Here’s a video of a show from last year.

For my COMM8450 Conestoga College students living in Kitchener, the light show is one block away from the Grand River Transit Terminal on Ainslie Street in Cambridge

Taking the bus from Kitchener, use the Route 57Route 206 or Route 302 (with onboard Wi-Fi) directly to Ainslie Street terminal. The Old Post Office library is one block west, at 12 Water St. S. Look for the clock tower.  

If you’re taking the bus or planning to watch the light show on foot, I suggest dressing warmly and bring along hot drinks.