Hello everyone!

This is my first written blog of my Community Field Experience at the UBC Learning Centre, located at the heart of Chinatown, Vancouver. Today is my first day! I am very glad to be working with Joanna as part of our field experience.

Our day started at 9 a.m. with a brief orientation of what to do and what are expected when working at the Learning Exchange. After our orientation, Joanna and I toured for 2 hours around Chinatown. I have to say – this is a very interesting neighbourhood! I see that the neighbourhood is comprised of the old with the new. This juxtaposition of the old and the new brings a diversified and authentic environment to the community as a whole. We went to a lot of galleries and stores hosted by local shopkeepers and artists – although some stores weren’t open until 11 a.m. – but thankfully others were open, so we were able to go inside and explore! We also visited the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden in Chinatown, and explored various shops that sell Chinese artifacts and stationery.

After our tour, we headed back to the LE for lunch, and we met with other LE staff, which was wonderful. For the rest of the day, we were left on our own with reading materials on Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), which is a strategy that the DTES (Downtown East Side) thrives upon.

We have already assigned our tasks for the week, which mainly revolves around preparing for the conference that the UBC Learning Exchange will be presenting at the Japanese Language School on May 3 and 4!