October 12, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 16 – Back to China
Like Elbert Hubbard wrote in A message to Garcia, no man needs a vacation so much as the man who just had one. Last four days are just not enough. Today is our last day in Canada. We hit the road at 8:00 am. This travel has been so great, going back is literally the last thing I want to do. However, severing the passport won’t help. So it’s definitely time to say goodbye.
如同Elbert Hubbard在《致加西亚的信》中写的：没有比刚刚度过假的人更需要假期的了。过去的四天怎么看都不够，而今天是我们在加拿大的最后一天，我们早上8点就上了路。这次旅行太棒了，回家真的不是我现在所希望的。但是，撕了护照显然没什么用，所以是时候说再见。
We grabbed some food at about 9 o’clock and arrived at the airport at 1:00 pm. I tried to retrace everyone I’ve met these days like professor Wang and Loughheed, Sarah, Sam, Amanda, Roxanne and so many others. All I’ve learned and experienced here will be a treasure in my life.
我们在9点左右吃了点东西，并在下午1点抵达了机场。我试图追忆起这些天来我遇到的每个人，如王教授和Loughheed教授，Sarah, Sam, Amanda, Roxanne和其他人。所有我在这里学到和经历过的将成为我生命中的财富。
After a little shopping, we get on the plane and that was the end of our journey to Canada. It might not be a long one, but absolutely an excellent one. Abraham Lincoln once said,” in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” The memories will last forever.
在一些购物之后，我们登上了飞机，加拿大之旅也就此告一段落。这段时间也许不是很长，但是绝对是非常美妙的。亚伯拉罕林肯曾说过：“到头来，你活了多少岁不算什么。重要的是你是如何度过这些岁月的。”这些记忆将永存我心。
Hello, China. We are back!
你好，中国。我们回来了！
Group A, Mingmin Zhao, Tian Tian, Yinghe Zheng
October 11, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 15
Today is 11th, Oct, 2011. It was the last day of our Canada trip, so sad. We spent the whole morning driving to Royal Botanic Garden. The botanic garden was so different from the ones in China, we failed to find anything man-made. It was made on the foundation of a natural forest. We only went to two points for the limit of time. To our surprises, the curbs in Canada were such big that I have never seen and imaged. The staff in botanic garden told us that the curbs in Canada would keep growing to 60years old for no human’s fishing, natural enemy and plentitude nutrient substance. And the curbs would impact the local species, taking up too much share of nutrition. Canadian had to separate the curbs and the other species by machine.
Niagara Falls！！！！！！It was the most most most exciting thing!!The fall was so great and beautiful that we realized the mystery and great of nature and the smallness of us. We couldn’t wait getting on the ship and sailing to the falls. We became more and more excited while the distance was closer and closer. When we were under the falls, we couldn’t see the falls because everywhere we saw was all the water drops, we couldn’t tell which was the river, which was the fall and which was the sky. Although we all got wet, we would never forget this special experience.
The hotel we stayed at night was near the Niagara Falls, we ten people had steak except for Mingmin. He played electronic games with a couple of Canadians…… He was so talkative and loved talking, I couldn’t believe that he would give up a chance of talking~~The Niagara Falls in the evening was also beautiful, the colorful light shone on the fall, red, yellow and green. When we saw the colorful falls and realized it was the last day in Canada, it was so sad and pitiful. Anyway, enjoy the moment,right?
今天是2011年10月11日，是我们在加拿大的最后一天了，好伤感啊……18天的欢乐与辛苦就这么过去了，有些不舍。好了，言归正传，今天我们花了一上午的时间驾车去了Royal Botanic Garden，我觉得加拿大的植物园和中国的完全不一样，加拿大的是以一片原始森林为基础简单的开辟些供人通行的小路和小桥，其它的任何人工设施我们都看不到。由于时间有限我们只前往了两个地点。让我们一行人最最吃惊的事情是看到了一条巨大的鲤鱼，管理人员告诉我们鲤鱼在加拿大是入侵物种，由于没有天敌营养丰富无人捕捞，可以活到60岁，长达80厘米，重达十几斤的巨型鲤鱼！！我怀疑在中国它们五岁之前就被人捞起来吃掉了……==！但这些鲤鱼对加拿大当地的物种也有不好的影响，占有了太多的营养物质。加拿大人不吃淡水鱼我觉得好神奇，后来经过严谨的分析我觉得是加拿大那面饮食文化比较薄弱，对于鱼的做法除了炸鱼排以外没有其它的种类了，所以如果是淡水鱼多刺的话做起来太麻烦了……
接下来就是最最最最最兴奋的事情了！！！尼亚加拉大瀑布！！！！！我们的最后一站！！落差达70多米，真的是很宏伟。站在瀑布底下时真真切切的感受到了大自然的鬼斧神工和人类的渺小。我们迫不及待的登上了船向瀑布驶去，离瀑布越近心里越激动。当来到了瀑布下方时巨大的落差溅起的水花彻底遮住了我们的双眼，我们已经分不清哪里是天哪里是瀑布而哪里又是河，虽然浑身湿透了，但这种经历是我们永远不会忘记的。
晚上入住的酒店就在瀑布旁边，晚饭除了明旻同学外其余十个人一起去吃的牛排~很好吃哈！后来得知明旻同学一个人去打电玩……然后和一对小情侣谈的十分火热！！这孩子太爱与人交流了，我怀疑他是不是不会放弃任何一个机会去说话……晚上的尼亚加拉大瀑布也很美，彩色的灯光不断的照射在瀑布上，红色、黄色、绿色，让人炫目。当看着瀑布想起我们这最后一天的加拿大之行，真的很不舍，以后没有了划着船看日出日落，捉鸟捕鱼。感受着大自然和朋友们开心的欢笑的日子，没有了和Pro. Wang开玩笑的日子，但无论如何，美好的回忆会永远存在心里。享受此刻不是吗？
October 10, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 14 – Bruce Trail
We stay in the Town of Collingwood today. It is quite great that we can get up a little bit late this morning. I did not get up until 8:30 am. After a quick breakfast, we set out to our first destination – Bruce Trail.
This may be the fifth hiking I did in this week, but still very excited. During our 1 hour hiking we encounter many families hiking, cycling and rock climbing, and get quite surprised that these are all common activities for a Canadian vacation, which are all quite rare in China. We get to a spring which is famous for its clear and sweet spring. All of us taste the spring and it is indeed very tasty!! Scott also takes us to a rocky area and help us climb through it. This is the first time for me to do rock climbing but luckily I successfully climb through the area without hurting myself.
We have lunch at a small general store and encounter a nice Canadian couple. They buy small maple candies and search around the store to give each of us a candy to taste the typical Canadian taste. So moving!!
We go to apple picking this afternoon and are all shocked by the apple plant. So many apple trees, so many kinds of apple and so many apples dropped on the ground!! We have fun in the apple plant, picking apples, act the drama “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and make different poses.
Scott invites us to his house for a Thanksgiving dinner. We make Chinese dumplings all by ourselves and help with pies. So perfect a party that all of us will never forget, the food, the firework and all you kind Canadians. Thank you Scott and your friends!!
今天我们仍然呆在Collingwood。今天直到8点半才起床（我到加拿大后的第一个懒觉啊）。早餐后我们赶往第一个目的地——Bruce Trail。这已经是我一周以内的第五次徒步了，但是仍然很兴奋。在我们徒步的路中，遇到了很多徒步、自行车以及攀岩的加拿大家庭，Sarah告诉我们这就是加拿大家庭假期的常见活动！！好神奇啊，这在中国是无法想象的。我们去尝了那个传说中非常没美味的泉水，水很凉很清很好喝。Scott还带领大家穿过了一片岩石地区，我们都是手脚并用爬了过去。虽然看上去有些危险，但是我们都非常兴奋。
我们在一家乡村小店中吃了午饭。一对非常友好的加拿大夫妇特意买了一袋枫糖，并且在店里面到处找我们，希望我们都能尝一下“加拿大的味道”。好感动！！
下午我们去苹果园摘了苹果。好多的苹果树，好多中苹果，好多苹果已经掉在了地上！！我们几乎都震惊了
。在苹果园里的大家各种欢乐，采苹果，尝苹果，摆造型，还演出了一幕白雪公主与七个小矮人的童话故事。
Scott带我们去了他家享用了一餐真正的Canadian Dinner。我们还发挥了各自的特长做了一盘非常传统的中国水饺。晚餐非常完美，还有烟火，还有很多非常友善的加拿大朋友。我想这是一餐我们都永远不会忘记的晚餐。谢谢你Scott以及你的朋友们！！
October 9, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 13 – Bruce Peninsula
We left Toronto, heading for next stop. We met Scot and enjoy beautiful scenary together. The woods we went to used to farmland. It’s amazing that the trees grew so well after only a few decades. Nature’s ability of recovering is more than we can imagine. In the afternoon, we saw fish ladder built near a dam to help salmon go back to fresh water, which showed us how Canadian care about the environment. I hope in China we can do similar things some day.
After settling down in the hotel, we planned to have dinner together. Qu Mingzhi offered to pay for us, which is very generous. There were few people in the street when we were heading for food, which made us quite excited.
We had our dinner in a balcony of a restaurant. While we were eating, the sky gradually turned dark, which is quite beautiful. We had a great time during dinner and took lots of pictures of the whole group. When we got out of the restaurant, we were misrecognized as a group of Japanese by a passer-by, who showed sympathy.
Then we enjoyed ourselves in a supermarket, which opens for 24 hours a day. It was so much fun to explore a supermarket in a total strange country, since goods were very different.
离开坑爹的多伦多，来到了下一站，当时还太早，不能入住，于是先与Scot见面，一行人来到附近的山上，此处几十年前还是农田，现在已经是一片树林了，虽然仔细观察能看出林子年轻得很，但已称得上郁郁葱葱欣欣向荣了。大自然的恢复能力着实惊人。下午参观了大坝边帮助鲑鱼洄游的fish ladder，不禁感慨加拿大人对生态保护的用心。
傍晚来到宾馆，安顿好之后，大家打算共进晚餐，助教大人慷慨地决定请客，我们便兴奋地冲着牛排出发了。小城市人少，又因为感恩节将至，出来闲逛的人几乎没有，人行道上空空如也，只有我们十一个中国人浩浩荡荡地欢笑着觅食，景象堪称壮观。
晚饭是在夕阳下的露台上进行的，大快朵颐之时夜晚一寸寸降临，天色由明亮至昏黄，继而转为深邃的蓝。这是极欢乐的一顿饭，说足了笑话，拍足了合照。出了门被路人错认为一群日本人，对方很郑重地对大海啸表示哀悼，实乃奇事一桩。
此后的时间便砸给那个24小时营业的超市了。到底是半个地球以外的地方，水果蔬菜的种类都大不相同，琳琅满目的商品足以让人着迷。流连了小半个晚上才回去。如此，又过了充实的一天。
October 8, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 12 – QUBS -> Toronto
Today is our last day in QUBS, and also our last chance to see Prof. Wang and Prof. Lougheed recently. Moring we say goodbye to our dear Veronica and her daughter Elena, Mark and his wife, thank them for taking care of us those days. Elena says we are cookie monster, we always eat out all the cookies.
The hardest thing is say goodbye to Steve, although we don’t have too much changes communicating with him, we still have a great time with this smart funny professor. We take photos with him one by one, and then wave goodbye.
Our last trip with Prof. Wang is from QUBS to Queen’s, when we having lunch at Queen’s Biological Complex, we’ve told that we’ll stop at Toronto tonight, and Sarah may take us go shopping at Toronto. In Canada, all the shops would close at 6:00 pm, since we arrived at Toronto at around 7, we can only go to shops for Chinese people, so we go to a mall dominated by Chinese people, Pacific Mall. Before this, I always wondered, why foreigners don’t like Chinese. After seeing this mall, I find out the answers. Chinese not only bring in our culture, also bring our bad habits in Canada, dirty, pirate, that’s what impression we leave for foreigners.
After long time hanging out and buying nothing, we meet with TA at 9, and return to our hotel, preparing for tomorrow’s plan.
今天是我们在QUBS的最后一天，也是我们最后见到Steve Lougheed教授和Yuxiang Wang教授的一天。我们挥别Veronica和她女儿Elena，Mark和他的妻子，感谢他们这么多天来对我们的照顾，Elena说我们就是cookie monster，每天都会吃光所有的cookie，和所有的食物。
最难的事情就是和Steve说再见了，虽然由于工作原因，我们并没有和他相处很长时间，但Steve一直尽量地抽出时间和我们在一起，他是一个睿智而又风趣的教授，我们都很喜欢他给我们指导。我们最后和他合影，说再见了。
我们最后与王教授的旅途是从QUBS到Queen’s，当我们在Queen’s的生物大楼里吃午饭时，王教授意外地告诉大家今天晚上我们会停留在多伦多，而且Sarah还可能会带大家去购物，我们都很兴奋。如我们知道的，加拿大的商店统统6点就关门的，鉴于我们7点才到多伦多，所以我们能去的也只能是中国人开的店了。以前我总是不明白，为什么中国人在外国人眼里的印象都那么差，到了Pacific Mall我才明白了这一点，中国人不仅带来了我们的文化，还带来了我们的坏习惯，这里分明就是脏乱中国的代表，话说我们即便是在国内，也一般不会碰到这样的场所。
在闲逛了好久以后，我们9点与助教们会合，回到我们的旅馆，为明天的形成做准备了。
October 7, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 11 – Bird Watching & Elbow Lake Research
It was the last day in QUBS. We went on our yesterday researches around Elbow Lake. What we need to do is to finish our assessment for wetland in Elbow Lake.
In the morning, mark took us to birds capturing at bio station with a mist net. We were very lucky that we caught 3 birds in few minutes, two white-breasted nuthatches and one chickadee. Mark told us how to identify a bird with guide books. Then, we found two woodpeckers on the trees; it was someone first time to see woodpeckers. Cool, right?!
About 10:30 we arrived at the Elbow Lake and continued with our researches. Every group got a good idea and worked very hard on it. We worked on aquatic plants, another on fishes, etc. After 6h walking through jungles, we finished our task and went back to QUBS. We found that field work was really tough. You should know clearly what you need in the field research as well as find a suitable place to settle your experiment. Also, you would come across jungles and dangerous animals and plants.
About 6:00 pm we arrived at QUBS. Last supper! And we got packed in the evening. Lots of tiny things. Bye QUBS, bye yuxiang Wang and steve Lougheed, bye everyone in the QUBS.
这是我们在QUBS的最后一天。我们继续着昨天没有搞定Elbow Lake的调查任务。
早上，mark带着我们一起用雾网捕鸟。我们很幸运地在几分钟内捕到了三只鸟，两只白胸五子雀和一只山雀。Mark告诉我们怎样用指导书来鉴别一直鸟。过后，我们又用声音诱惑招来了几只啄木鸟。某人第一次看到啄木鸟，打鸡血了有木有啊！！！
大约十点半，我们来到了Elbow Lake并继续我们昨天初步确定的研究项目。每一组都有自己很不错的想法并且十分努力。我们组是做关于水生植物的，另外一组是鱼的……在草丛加灌木从中穿行了六个小时之后，我们终于完成了工作并且坐车回到了生物站。野外工作确实是很艰苦的。在研究工作前你必须有对自己研究项目详细的规划，知道要带什么，怎么研究。更不要提走那么艰辛的路，遇到一项危险的动植物了。
下午六点多，我们到达了生物站。最后的晚餐啊！！！在晚上，我们没什么任务，只是打包了下，准备了离开要交的东西。再见了QUBS，再见了大叔和steve大叔，再见了在QUBS里的每一个人。
October 6, 2011 – Canada Part: Day 10 – Elbow Lake Research
It’s a beautiful day. In the morning, we got up early to watch the sunrise. On my way to the boat house, I saw a few deer wandering near the cabins that we used to live in. That was the first time I ever get so close to a deer. What a magnificent creature!
The sunrise at the boat house was gorgeous. I’ve never actually seen a sunrise before, maybe because I was lazy. But when I really saw it, i was calmed. The sun was rising, little by little, and the sky started to brighten up. When the sun rose above the horizon and finally, rose above the trees on the other side of the lake. I was totally speechless. Such occasions just constantly remind me of how magical and powerful nature is.
Later in the morning, we drove to Elbow Lake and started to work on our field project. At first my group wanted to work on birds, but after a short walk aroud a few marshes, we found out that it was not very feasible. So later in the day we shifted to another plan.
The walk around the Elbow Lake area was pleasant. We saw two marshes caused by the flood due to the beaver dams. On our way back, I caught a snake, It was a Easten Garter Snake. It was black and had 3 golden stripes on its back. I called him Roger. When I was walking in the woods or around those big marshes, I started to have the feeling that I’m really doing the fieldwork now. And that idea excited me a lot.
In the afternoon, we came back to QUBS. And after dinner, we went canoeing once more to see the sunset. The end of the day is just as beautiful as the beginning of the day. It was a bit windy so it was a bit wavy. But we enjoyed it anyway. Far in one of the islands, we heart some very sad howling. Iy might be a coyote or a wolf.
At night, we had our last seminar. When Yuxiang told us that Saturday would be our last at QUBS and we will then on our own to the national park and niagara fall, we were sad. I guess each one of us just didn’t expect the goodbyes would come so soon.
QUBS is really beautiful, and I swear that these few days were by far the best experience of my life because I have learned so much here. So, so I really don’t want to leave, and I guess that makes every one of us.
这是美丽的一天。早上，我们早起去看了日出。在去船屋的途中，我在以前住过的小木屋边上反现了几只鹿，这也是第一次我这么近距离接触它们。真是美丽的生物啊！
船屋边上的日出实在是太美了。过去我从来没有真正意义上看过日出，可能是因为我太懒了。但当我真的看到了日出，我发现我变得特别平静。太阳一点一点地爬上来，越过地平线，越过远处小岛上那一丛一丛的树林，天空也渐渐明亮起来。此时此刻我找不到任何词语来形容这样的美景。而这样的时刻，也在一遍又一遍地让我体会到大自然的神奇。
早饭过后我们到Elbow Lake开始展开我们自己的野外调查项目。一开始我们小组准备研究鸟类，但是在一番实地考察之后，我们发现这个方案不太可行，于是晚些时候我们组换了另一个题目来做。
在Elbow Lake的徒步让人感觉很好。我们看到了两片由于海狸筑坝而被淹而形成的沼泽。在我们回程的途中，我捉到了一条蛇，它是一条Easten Garter Snake。通体漆黑，在它的背上有三条金色的条纹从头部后方一直延伸到尾部，我给他取名叫Roger。当我在林子里面和沼泽边走的时候，我突然意识到，自己的确是在做野外工作了，这样的想法，或者说是感觉，让我觉得异常兴奋。
下午我们回到了QUBS。晚饭后我们划着独木舟去看了日落。一天的结束和一天的开始一样非常美丽。傍晚起风了，所以浪有点大。但是我们仍然玩得很开心。在远处的一座小岛上，传来了几声凄厉的嚎叫，可能是鬣狗，也有可能是狼。
当晚我们组织了最后一次的讨论会。讨论会后，当宇翔告诉我们周六将会是我们在基地的最后一天，而那之后他也会离开我们，我们将会自己到国家公园和尼亚加拉大瀑布的时候，我们都有点伤心。我想大家都没有想到这么快就要分开了吧。
QUBS真的是个美丽的地方。我也发誓，在这里的几天是我这辈子里过的最开心的几天。因为我在这里体验到了很多以前从未体验过的东西，同时也学到了很多东西。所以我是真的真的不想离开，而这，我想，应该也是我们每个人心里的想法吧。
