A sound bath is a meditative experience in which musical instruments like singing bowls are used to relax, realign, and re-energize the body and mind. All are invited to bring a yoga mat, blanket, or pillow, and enjoy submerging themselves in this relaxing experience led by Cassandra Usener and Jessica Dixon of Cloud 9 Wellness.

Mini Horses & Cocoa

There’s a chill in the air, and the backyard at Westbank is full of miniature horses, Silly Sparkles balloon creations, and cups of hot cocoa from Trianon! Live music will be provided by a quartet from Westlake High School. Put on a jacket and scarf, and join your neighbors for a magical meet-up to welcome wintertime at Westbank.

Get help with technology from tech-savvy teen volunteers! Bring your devices (phones, tablets, laptops) or questions about social media, apps, and more to Westbank Library. You will get one-on-one help with all your technology questions.

Tech help will be available on Tuesday evenings, 4:30pm to 6:30pm and Saturday afternoons, 2pm to 4pm.

“中文游乐园-Chinese Learning Playground” is a Mandarin Chinese study group for school-age children. This program is led by volunteer native-Chinese-speaking parents, and teaches Chinese through an immersive setting to two tiers of learners — Advanced and Junior. The Advanced group is suitable for students with several years of Chinese learning experience. This year’s sessions follow an adaptation of the classic Chinese novel, Journey to the West,  to reinforce and expand a learner’s vocabulary and communication skills. The Junior group hosts lower elementary kids, teaching the language through reading folk rhymes and simple stories in Chinese, as well as memorizing and writing Chinese characters. The sessions sometimes incorporate games, crafts, and puzzles to keep the learning experience fun and engaging.

中文游乐园-Chinese learning playground is currently organized by four volunteer parents:

• Xiaoqing Zhu, a research scientist working on video coding and streaming, whose favorite activity is reciting and chatting about Chinese poetry along with her daughter.
• Wendy You, a college finance professor, who finds it more challenging to teach her two daughters than to teach a college class.
• Nan Jiang, a Ph.D. from UT Austin and the Data Science Practice Lead at her firm, has always been passionate about helping people, especially her American-born kids, to understand and appreciate the rich Chinese culture and history, including its difficult-to-learn but fascinating language.
• Qiong Zeng, a data scientist on mobile games and automobiles, has two daughters and enjoys teaching kids Chinese and Chinese cultures.

This month’s selection, La Brigade, is available to view on Kanopy.

Summary:

Cathy, a determined 40-year-old sous-chef, dreams of opening her own gourmet restaurant. As she faces financial difficulties, Cathy takes a job in the cafeteria of a shelter for the youth. While she struggles with her new position, Cathy’s skills and passion for cuisine start to change the kids’ lives.