Hi. I'm Ronnie. A lot of people ask me, "Hey,
Ronnie. How can I make new friends? I've come
to a new country. English is not my first language." It's really hard to make friends
in new countries, and I agree. When I move
to a new city, it's even hard for me to make
friends. I think kind of during the pandemic,
our society changed a lot, and maybe people
became more social or not. It could go both ways. So, one really, really great resource
to help you are the people around you, your neighbours. The people in... These are the
people in your neighbourhood. So, look around
you. Everywhere you look, there's other humans,
especially if you're living in a big city, in
a huge condo. There are literally thousands
of people within a 3-minute walk that probably
would like to be your friend. Yay. Well, not
everyone, and some people you don't want to be friends with, but that's your choice. So
these people are your neighbours. Now, if you're looking at the board and go, "Huh?
Ronnie, you've spelt this word very weirdly.
There's no 'u'?" Well, guess what? There is
a "u" in "neighbours", because I'm Canadian,
we spell it n-e-i-g-h-b-o-u-r-s. In America,
they don't have the "u". There's no "u" in
"neighbours". So, what's the problem with this?
It can be awkward. What do you do? You just rock up to someone's apartment, like, knock
on the door, like, "Hi, I'm your neighbour. Want to hang out and be friends?" So, the
way to win people's hearts is through "you
got it" food. So, you make something, or just
go to the store and buy something, doesn't matter. Tell them you made it, and knock on
the door and say, "Hi. I've made you a pie. Will
you be my friend?" Yeah? Okay. It's awkward,
but at least if you have a pie, the person's
like, "Oh, I love pie. Yeah, yeah, friend,
pie, pie, pie, pie, pie, friend. Okay, good."
So, you've broken the ice, or you've given
them something, maybe a bottle of wine, get
them drunk. That always works. And guess what?
They can be your friend. Make it simple. Don't
make anything crazy, and like, "Hey, you want
to hang out with me?" It's like, "No, I don't
know you. I do not want to hang out with you."
So plan something to do with the person. Why?
Just build the community. Why do you want
a strong community? It helps, and I'm sure that whatever country you were originally
from, you had a really good community of people.
If you needed something, you could go to your
neighbour and say, "Hey, can I borrow some
sugar? I've got a cup of sugar." Or it's just
good to have people around you. Maybe you need someone to check if you've turned off
your oven, or someone to look on your pets
where you've gone away. Neighbours are great,
and they're close. Okay? They're not your friends, but they can be. Your friends can
be your neighbours, and your neighbours can
be your friends. That's cool. You don't have
far to stumble home. You can exchange recipes.
Right? It's great. And you can eat their food.
Yes.
The good thing about neighbours, hopefully, is they help each other. And this is what
building a community is about. If you have a strong community, it's really beneficial
to all of us. So, like I said, it can be awkward.
A really, really good way to avoid the awkwardness
of it is, oh yeah, social media. I know you're
on it. I see you there. You can connect, you
can start, or you can join, like a Facebook group. I know there's one in my area, and
people post things like, "Oh, we're looking for this person. I lost my dog. We're going
to have a fun yard sale", which I will explain
later. It encourages people to know information
about where they live. Maybe there's been a lot of break-ins or robberies in the area.
I know there's a lot of car theft, people stealing cars in my neighbourhood. So it's
just a good warning. It's always a really good safety measure, too, for people. You
can share information, you can give people ideas. People are like, "I don't know what
to make for dinner." And friends are like, "Oh, hey, I'm making a pumpkin casserole."
Like, "Whoa, great idea." So I made pictures,
give me the recipe. Problem solved. You can
get suggestions. Maybe you're looking for a new hairdresser or makeup artist. You can
also give advice. Do you like to give people
advice? Like, I know the best person... I
know the best donuts in the city. So this can really help you. Use what you already
like to do and help people. Offer services.
Maybe your husband or your wife is a plumber
and you need... You need work. You can find jobs. Like, "Hey, I'm just new to Canada or
America or England", wherever you're living,
and I'm looking for a job as a bricklayer.
So these social media groups are really good
to help you get money, make friends, you know,
all the fun stuff. But that's just social media, right? You might actually want to,
like, see the people face-to-face and, like,
you know, lick... Touch them, lick them, go,
"Hey", give them a smell. So I've come up
with some fun, fun, fun, fun things that you
can do. Organize or get involved in, in your
neighbourhood or your community, in your condo
building, in your apartment building, in your
cell block if you're in jail. You can organize
a food or clothing drive. "Ronnie, why are we
driving with food?" It's... You're not driving
with food. Okay? If you... A food or clothing
drive means you collect food and clothes and
you give it to the less fortunate people. It can
be in your neighbourhood or it can be a charity
or an organization in your city or town. And
also, I mentioned before, a yard sale. So you
probably have a lot of junk or stuff, maybe,
lying around your house that you're just like,
"I don't use this", but you don't want to throw
it out. So a yard sale is people bring all of
their crap from their house and they put it
on tables, and people come and buy it. Yeah,
you can make some good coins, some good money
from this. So you take your stuff out of your
house that you don't want, put a price tag on
it, and people come and buy it. It's a whole
culture here. On a Saturday, you can drive around
and you'll see signs, "Garage sale" or "Yard sale".
They're not really selling their garages. I used
to think that when I was a kid, and they're not
selling their yards, I'm like, "Mom, why are
people selling their garages all the time?"
Oh, it's not, Ronnie, it's... Oh, they're selling their stuff in the garage. So,
"garage sale" or "yard sale" is the same. So,
another really fun thing to do is make clubs
based on your interest. Okay? Example, if you
like reading, start or join a book club. If you
don't like reading, I don't like reading, don't
make or join a book club. Do something that you
actually enjoy. Organize a movie night. Everyone
comes to your backyard, and you get a projector,
and watch Turner and Hooch, and have popcorn.
It's great. Sports teams. Hey, maybe you used
to play, like, football in your city, in your
town, and you're like, "I would really love to
play." You can ask people in your... In your
neighborhood, in your community, and start a
little team. Any sport. Basketball, football,
doesn't matter. Knitting, crafting nights. I
love crafting. I like making things. I'm not a
knitter, because I'm like, oh, I get a count,
and I'm like... But I know during the pandemic,
a lot of people picked up knitting. If you pick
up knitting, it means you... You do something as
a hobby. My mom belongs to a group. Get the name
of this? It's called "Stitch and Bitch", or it's
called "Bitch and Stitch", I'm not too sure. But
it's an embroidery club, which I love. So, these
people get together, and they bitch, which means
they talk about things they don't like, and they
embroider. I'm sure it's a lot more bitching going
on than stitching, because when I go to my mom's,
I'm like, "Mom, you haven't even finished the first
thistle. It's been five months. Oh." So, whether
you're bitching or stitching, doesn't matter. You
can have board game nights. Do you like Monopoly?
Play Monopoly. Dinner clubs, oh yeah, food. So,
you can organize one Saturday night, a bunch of
you go to different neighbours' houses and eat
their food. Yes, that sounds great. Sounds like
a lot of stress, but if you're good at cooking,
or you enjoy it... Hey, if you don't like cooking
for people, do not join this club, or just go to
the other people's houses and be sick every time
it's your turn. Really popular hikes and walks.
Maybe you like walking or hiking, but you just
don't know where to go. A lot of people in your
neighbourhood know, "Oh, here's a cool spot. Yeah,
go here, it's great. There's waterfalls. Wow,
no way." Okay, so anything that you like, make
a club about it. Get other people to join it.
Give them money. I'll give you a dollar if you
join my book club. Encourage neighbours to decorate
their houses for different holidays. I don't
know why, people love to do this. Halloween,
Thanksgiving, people don't really put turkeys
outside. Oh, they do. No, they do. It's like a
scarecrow, and, like, bales of hay because we
live in the city, and they just decorate their
house. Christmas, they get all sorts of Christmas
lights, I'm sure you've seen that. In Hollywood
movies, Halloween, my favourite. Make your house
all spooky and scare people. Get those big,
stupid inflatables, put them in your yard. I'm
a ghost. Okay. It doesn't matter. You can be
creative, you don't have to spend a lot of money
on it. Okay? Whatever you want to do. But the
purpose of this is you make a date, set a time
for everyone to walk around, make a little parade,
and you can have a party after and be like, "Oh, this
house number 42 was... Had the best decorations."
Or, "Well, this house sucks because they have no
decorations." The person's like... So make it a
party, make it fun. Make it a contest. People are
very competitive, they like to win things. You
could have a block party or even a barbecue.
Yeah. A block party is basically you just get
everyone together outside and hang out. Cool. And
a barbecue, you know, you eat food. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
There's kind of specific, you know, phrasal verbs
connected with barbecuing. I made a lesson on it,
check it out. Barbecuing phrasal verbs, fun with
Ronnie. Other things, as I mentioned before,
you can help each other. Things are expensive.
Right? Maybe you have older people in your
neighbourhood that they need help with gardening
or snow removal, got to shovel the snow.
Mm, clean up a park. That's fun. Go to the park
and pick up all the trash, all the garbage. Yeah.
Tools. Yeah, maybe your neighbour's got some nice
power tools you'd like to... Mm-hmm, like... Like
to borrow. So anything that you can exchange
to help keep costs down. Maybe you'd like a
stand mixer because you're making a cake and your
neighbour has one, be like, "Hey, can I borrow
your stand mixer, Glenda?" So anything that you
can agree on to have a club. It doesn't have to
be tools. And this is really fun, too. Celebrate
life events together. Obviously choices are
birthdays. Right? "Oh, it's Teddy's 50th birthday.
Yeah." But, like, things like welcoming a new baby
into the neighbourhood, or someone got a new dog,
a new pet turtle, you can have a pet turtle party.
That's always a hit with the kids. Things like
celebrating people's anniversaries, when they
got married. Even bad things, like if somebody
dies in the neighbourhood, people need support.
So building your strong community, it gives
you happiness, you can practice your English,
you can make friends. You can eat other people's
foods. Yes. And you can read books, too. So,
if you've got ideas or you've done any of these,
let me know in the comments, and let's build strong
communities and try and help people instead of
being nasty towards them and ignoring them in
the elevator. I'm Ronnie, and I hope that you and
your neighbours have a wonderful day. Or night.