What should I say to the friend who told me her relative was passed? She is my language exchange partner, who is an American. Practicing together several times, we do not really know each other very well. But yesterday she emailed me her uncle was passed and we needed to arrange our language exchange schedule, I still felt so sorry for her. However, I was not very sure to say what could let her feel better. I tried to google it (<- Haha, kind of funny, right?) and wrote her back shortly: .......... I'm sorry to hear about that. This must be so hard for you. May you take comfort in knowing an angel is watching over you. ........... Does anybody have some good ideas? I hope I can express more than this but still suitable if some of my friends have this kind of situations next time. Thanks a lot.

A polite way to refer to the third person? I've asked my question to my language exchange partner. Before I asked him I also check some information on the Internet. But I still have a question about this. (Now, I'll also add some infomation from the comment below in this essay. Thanks Kate.) (Q1) A polite way to refer to the third person? We can refer to the third person politely with "lady/gentleman". Regarding the age, we might refer to them as young lady/ young boy (not young gentleman). For example, if I'm in a store and there is a man need a help, I can tell the clerk, "There is a gentleman over there. He might need your help." Anyway, does anybody knows how to refer to the third gender person politely? If they might can't be classified into the male or female? (The comment below from Kate gives an advice, "person". It reminds me that my partner also mentioned this word. I think it's a good idea. Thanks Kate.) (Q2) How to call people politely face-to-face? A2-0. After collecting information from the Internet, I thought "ma’am/sir" was ideal for me. For example, if I want to say hello or good morning to a police officer, I might say "Good morning, sir." A2-1. But my language partner said that it's more natural to say "Good morning, officer." or "Hello, officer." If you drive too fast and a police warn you to drive slowly, then you can answer "Yes, sir." If we want to say hello to a doctor, we would also say "Hello, doctor." A2-2. My partner also told me that if we know people's last name, and they might be our boss or something, we could use "Mr._/Mrs._" A2-3. If you see somebody's thing fall out from his bag and I want to tell him, I can say "Hey, sir. Your thing has fallen out from your bag!" (Q3)Which sentence can let me ask people how to call them face-in-face? A3. My partner said, "how should I address you?" In Chinese, we usually do not call other's first name directly, especially if they are elder than ourselves. We would use wether job title or age title. For example, "陳醫師、黃老師", "張阿姨、洪大哥、林伯伯"。It's rarely for me to call an elder generation in their first name. So in a new cultural environment in Canada, I still want to know how other people would like to be addressed in advanced. (Q4) what’s the time to say male/female/guys? A4. I saw some people would call their group of friend as "males/females" in some TV series, however, my partner didn't think it's a usual way. But we can say "Hey, guys." or "What's up?" in casual conversation.

My friend invites me to his BBQ party via cell phone text Me: I'm interested in the BBQ. But I haven't known other people, except you, is that ok? I'm a little shy for meeting lots of new friends at a time, haha. Anyway, thanks for your invitation. My friend: u are welcome to come over. I will ask my son in the morning what bus you will need to take if you want to come. Me: I see. That's alright. I can check the bus on google map by myself, no problem. Thanks for always trying to help my traffic issue. See you then. P.S If you want to rearrange your BBQ to other time for more people available to come, just let me know. I'd like to join too. My friend: "Getting people together for a meeting (or swim and BBQ!), is like herding cats." I would like to know how long it takes you to get to my place from your location though and how much $. (P.S My friend is my volunteer boss) Me: Haha! It's an intriguing metaphor. I'd like to learn more interesting English expressions like this. It will take me about one hour to your house without any fee, because I have bus monthly ticket. Look forward to it.

My language exchange partners is sick. I hope she can become better soon. She said: I can't believe I got sick two Saturdays in a row. This week, I don't think I and well enough to practice. I am sad to miss out on our session. Can we please come back next week? Thanks! My reply: Oh, it's too bad to hear that! Please drink more water and sleep more. Wish you can get better soon. See you next Saturday. Hope you will have a full recovery at then.

QT2SBIPoC Meet & Eat! This was an event which was held by The Gilbert Centre. They prepared really good food and they were very generous toward people who joined this event. I've learnt several new terms, such as pronouns(How people want to be called. It might be she/her/they/them, or they/them), two-spirit, indigenous(naturally existing in a place or country rather than arriving from another place). Although this was an interesting event, I thought it wasn't suitable for us. This group was gathering for Black, indigenous, people of colour/racialized people that were also part of the LGBTQQI2SA+ community to share the intersecting experiences of racism, homophobia, colonialism, transphobia and to build community. Nevertheless, we just arrived in Canada. We haven't related experience which could be shared in this group yet. Though we hoped to meet some Barrie local LGBT friends. Unfortunately, there were only four people came from Barrie, and two of them were Kim and me. There was a woman whose nephew was an LGBT. She just came for trying to know more about this community. The other person we might not match with him. Other people in the group were friends of the GC worker. They didn't live in Barrie. They just came from other places to support this group. Anyway, this event lets me think about organizing a local LGBT community in Barrie. That should be fun, haha.