Published February 8, 2022 · Updated September 29, 2026
When Life Surprises You with a Day You Didn’t Plan
When I first came to Canada, I thought exploring would have to wait.
I had come here to study. Tuition had to be paid. I could only work limited hours. Travel and entertainment felt like things I could enjoy someday, when life became a little more settled.
But some of my earliest Canadian memories didn’t happen because I had enough money to plan them.
They happened because someone invited me.
One of those invitations came from Glenda.
She was taking Yassi to Canada’s Wonderland for Halloween Haunt and asked if I wanted to come.
Of course, I said yes.
Looking back, it wasn’t simply an invitation to an amusement park.
It was another small reminder that even while I was busy trying to build a new life, life was already finding little ways to surprise me.
Here’s the story exactly as I originally told it.
The Original Story
When I thought to myself I can only study and work part-time for three years here in Canada (‘coz I can’t afford to go to places yet), God gives me surprises to indeed go to tourist destinations in this wonderful country! I was so lucky to have visited the majestic Niagara Falls on my first day out after quarantine with Tito Tonette and Tita Lorna, gone to Downtown Toronto on my first weekend out with Jef and Cheng, and enjoyed my first Halloween Haunt at Canada’s Wonderland with Glenda and Yassi! Oh, how rich fortunate soul I am! (In contrast to Ursula’s “poor unfortunate soul” song of The Little Mermaid)
One morning Glenda surprisingly messaged me if I’m free on a Saturday because she’s taking her very pretty daughter, Yassi (whose tiny warm hand comforted me during my first winter) out for Halloween Haunt at Canada’s Wonderland. I abruptly said yes because that is such a great blessing to have been invited for a fun day out. So I was so excited that week looking forward to spend a wonderful time with Glenda and Yassi.
We arrived at Canada’s Wonderland in Vaughan which is only an 18-minute drive from our place just in time before the crowd started to pack. Yassi was super excited for trick or treats and we were also blessed with a fine weather that day. Upon entering the parking lot of Canada’s Wonderland, you can hear the shrieks, screams, and squeals of the people taking adventure on the death-defying rides. I am never fond of such thrill rides because I am acrophobic and just by looking at the rides makes my stomach churn. Aside from the aggressive and high thrill rides, there are other attractions Canada’s Wonderland has to offer and here they are:
Enjoying an International Festival
Walking Through International Street
Stepping Into Medieval Faire
Halloween Fun in Kidzville
Our Version of a Thrill Ride at Planet Snoopy
The Pumpkin Patch
T’was indeed a fun, fun day with Glenda and Yassi! Now I just realized that we don’t have photos with Glenda together. Haha! Let’s have our photos taken for next time, Glen ‘coz surely we’re gonna go back when the weather is nice and warm again.
Thank you so much, Lord for blessing people to bless me since day 1 of getting here in Canada!
Watch Our Canada’s Wonderland Adventure
Some memories are even more fun to revisit in motion.
If you’d like to see a little more of our day—from the Halloween decorations to our adventures around the park—come along with us in the video below.
What I Remember Most
Looking back, I don’t remember this day because of a particular ride or attraction.
I remember how happy Yassi was.
I remember the pumpkins everywhere, the Halloween atmosphere, and the sounds of people screaming on rides I had absolutely no intention of trying.
But most of all, I remember being grateful that someone thought of inviting me.
When you’re starting over somewhere new, little invitations can mean so much.
A simple day out can make an unfamiliar place feel a little less unfamiliar.
Maybe that’s why this memory still makes me smile.
Canada’s Wonderland wasn’t one of the places I had dreamed about visiting before coming to Canada.
It simply became part of my story because of the people I experienced it with.
And sometimes, those unexpected places are the ones we remember most.
Months after, I also had my first winter adventure with Yassi where she generously offered her tiny hand to warm me up! →Read Warm Hands and a Beautiful Lesson.
One Ontario Adventure Led to Another
Canada’s Wonderland wasn’t my first unexpected adventure after arriving in Canada.
Only weeks earlier, Tito Tonette and Tita Lorna had taken me to Niagara Falls, another place I never imagined I would actually see in person.
At the time, I was still figuring out how to survive financially as an international student. Years later, I would understand that Niagara taught me something I couldn’t yet see:
an unfinished life can still be a beautiful one.
→ Read: Niagara Falls: Finding Beauty in an Uncertain Season
And there was another kind of exploring happening, too.
Sometimes I had people inviting me somewhere.
Other times, I simply went out and explored on my own.
One of those afternoons took me through Old Town Toronto, walking from Berczy Park to the Gooderham Building, St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery District.
→ Read: Exploring Old Town Toronto on Foot
Together, these early adventures were slowly teaching me that exploring didn’t always require the big travel budget I thought I needed.
Sometimes it began with an invitation.
Sometimes with a walk.
Sometimes simply with saying yes.
You Don’t Need the Biggest Adventure
There’s something else I appreciate about this memory now.
I didn’t ride the biggest roller coasters.
I wasn’t there chasing thrills.
Honestly, just looking at some of those rides was enough to make my stomach churn!
And yet I had a wonderful day.
That’s a reminder I still need sometimes:
We don’t have to experience a place the way everyone else does for it to be meaningful.
You don’t need the most adventurous itinerary.
You don’t need to see everything.
You don’t need the perfect photograph.
Sometimes richness comes from being fully present for the experience that is yours.
From Halloween Pumpkins to My First Fall Festival
The pumpkins and Halloween atmosphere at Canada’s Wonderland were among my early experiences of autumn in Canada.
The following year, fall would give me another unexpected memory—this time in Bala, Muskoka, at my first Canadian fall festival.
What made that trip particularly meaningful was something I could never have planned: Bala is also my paternal grandmother’s family name.
A place in my new country unexpectedly reminded me of home.
→ Read: Bala Cranberry Festival: A Little Piece of Home in Muskoka
One experience led to another.
And slowly, Canada was becoming more than the country where I had come to study.
It was becoming a place filled with memories of my own.
Canada’s Wonderland, Niagara Falls and Bala would eventually become just a few of the Ontario places that captured my heart as I continued exploring the province—some famous, some unexpected, and some meaningful simply because of the memories I made there.
→ Explore: 20 Beautiful Places in Ontario That Could Capture Your Heart
Maybe Richness Isn’t What I Thought It Was
There’s one line from my original post that makes me smile now:
“Oh, how rich fortunate soul I am!”
I wrote it as a playful contrast to Ursula’s “poor unfortunate soul.”
But years later, I think there was more truth in that sentence than I realized.
I certainly wasn’t financially rich.
I was an international student worried about tuition and careful about what I could afford.
But I was being given experiences.
Invitations.
Friendships.
New places.
Little moments of joy in the middle of a demanding season.
Maybe building a richer life isn’t always about being able to afford more.
Sometimes it’s about recognizing the richness already finding its way into our lives.
What Might You Be Overlooking?
Perhaps there’s something in your life right now that doesn’t look particularly significant.
An invitation.
A walk somewhere nearby.
An afternoon with someone you care about.
A place you’ve passed a hundred times but never really noticed.
You don’t always need a major trip to experience something meaningful.
Sometimes you simply need to notice what you’ve already been given.
Want to Practice Noticing More?
That’s also why I created The Beauty Around You: A 7-Day Journey to Slow Down and Notice More.
It’s a gentle invitation to spend seven days paying closer attention to the places, people and ordinary moments already surrounding you.
Because sometimes the life we’re waiting to build has already begun.
→ Begin the 7-Day Journey
Continue Your Journey
Explore Somewhere
From amusement parks and famous landmarks to quiet trails and small Ontario towns, keep discovering the places that have become part of my journey.
Notice Something
Beauty isn’t always waiting at a famous destination. Sometimes it’s hiding inside an invitation, a shared afternoon or an ordinary moment we almost overlook.
Become Something
Some experiences reveal their meaning only when we look back. Explore the stories about starting over, changing and slowly becoming who we’re meant to be.