Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in November

On a chilly Wednesday evening at Baba Kebaba, Trini, Linda and I recruited three young and promising toastmasters. We were three patrons and they were three waitresses. While we discussed the Toastmaster Magazine October issue, Peggy, Ellen and Boom provided the best afterdinner services and entertainment. A joy shared is a joy doubled. What a serendipity that six of us sat down together to have a rectangular table discussion about American Presidential Election November 2008.

After serving as the master of ceremonies at the 14th International Conference on Heavy Metals in the Environment at GIS Conference Center, I received an unexpected gift of a Jazz CD from Professor Ellen Silbergeld of Bloomberg School of Public Health, John Hopkins Universary. Ellen and I met with each other Monday morning and we both loved tap dancing. After the closing ceremony, I invited Ellen for coffee at Starbucks. Ellen told me that she organized Samba party for her students every year. She picked up Portuguese and Samba when she taught and did researches in Amazon in Brazil for three years. Ellen also told me her researches in mining areas in different parts of the wrold. Being a polyglot American, Ellen also speaks Russian to my surprise. One of her dreams is to provide knowledge to people in Mongolia where houses vast amount of natural resources in the world. From heavy metals, dances, languages, politics, we had a joyful chitchat for one and a half hours.

I arrived at Baba Kebaba at 6PM and told the owner that I arrived early. He thought I said I found the restaurant at last (Mandarin pronunciation of "arrive early" is the same as that of "find the place"), we broke the ice instantly in a humorous way. After being sit at the best table, Linda walked in. She also "found the place". Trini arrived on time at 6:30PM. Maybe because the business was slow, maybe because we ordered the full course, from appetizers, main dishes, to desserts, we received an excellent service from Baba Kebaba. Dinner was superb, assorted Turkish cold plate of stuffed rice, olives and pickles, Moroccan stewed chicken and beef, assorted Lebanon shish kebabs along with Pita bread, couscous and saffron rice. Baba Kebaba means dad's skewer literally, their authentic Lebanon skewer was yummy.

After dinner, golden ladies discussed how to invite more toastmasters to join the reading gathering in the future. Trini, Linda and I felt that it would be nice if we invited toastmasters from all walks of life to join our reading gathering and to have fun. Chances are the name of the blog will be changed accordingly next year. After a short reading time, we started walking, dancing, having photos taken with the dazzling costumes and accessories provided by Baba Kebaba.

Golden Ladies took the opportunity to organize an impromptu tabletopics session to showcase the toastmasters meeting. We invited Peggy, Ellen and Boom to take turns serving as the timer. It was a great moment for three young nontoastmasters and three veteran toastmasters to sit together. Without any generation gap, we shared about our believes and doubts. We learned so much from one another how to excel in communication and leadership skills. It was a special and meaningful evening to us. Before we called it a night, Ellen played "The Manhattan Transfer", the Jazz CD from Professor Ellen Silbergeld, and Peggy gave us three 40 percent discout coupons for our future patronage at Baba Kebaba. And we shall return!

Minutes of Tabletopics Session by Trini Ding, DTM

Unexpectedly our reading turned into a table topics session. There was no other but Sherry could think of that idea and tried it out on those restaurant girls. I was afraid that it would embarrass them and might not work well. To my surprise, those girls played along without hesitation.

While doing the table topics session, Toastmasters value was spread out to these three lovely dream girls. I can't tell exactly the reasons that made Sherry come up with this idea, yet must say I was impressed by these girls' frank and open attitude, they all spoke with sincerity and enthusiasm. Linda did most in providing them with excellent sharing and advice. It showed her passion and earnestness. Also I got the chance to understand and study them. The questions raised covered articles in Toastmaster Magazine October 2008 and everyday life issues. Time flies especially when we were having fun. Each of us only got one chance to express their opinion.

In conclusion I must say our daring Sherry once again brought variety and novelty to our monthly reading gathering.

PS: Six tabletopics are as follows,
1. a comparison between Barack Obama and John McCain asked by Linda and answered by Trini;
2. leading without Authority asked by Trini and answered by Ellen;
3. the most regretful thing in your life asked by Peggy and answered by Sherry;
4. talk about dreams and how to get them accomplished asked by Sherry and answered by Peggy;
5. why is life full of worries and problems asked by Boom and answered by Linda;
6. what's there in Toastmasters that attract you to stay asked by Ellen and answered by Trini.