Learning to play mah-jong at the Wong Association in Toronto on May 7, 2025.Supplied

Gillian Deacon is the author of A Love Affair with the Unknown: Leaning into the Uncertainty of Modern Life.

The door was unremarkable, wedged between an out-of-business cocktail bar and a hair salon, bearing no signage to indicate I was in the right place. After double-checking the address on my phone, I entered cautiously and made my way up the narrow stairwell. My feet on the brown tiled steps made the only sound. Neon lighting flickered overhead. At the second floor landing a man popped out of a doorway marked “Computer Fix” to ask if I was here for the laptop. “Sorry, no,” I said and continued up the next flight of stairs.

I recognized the quickening of my pulse, the sharpness of my attention; my anticipation antennae were up. What was coming next?

From the archives: Feel like a failure at happiness? Try embracing uncertainty

Sometimes we are forced into uncomfortable circumstances, and usually spend much of our time trying to get out of them. But we can also seek out the unfamiliar by choice.

For a long time I have wanted to learn how to play mah-jong, the tile-based game that originated in 19th-century China. The lore of the game fascinates me, though I’ve only ever seen it played in movies. I don’t know anyone who plays or who wants to join me in learning. So tonight I resolved to give it a try on my own.

Emerging from the stairwell onto the top floor I stepped onto a bright red mat marked WELCOME and entered a new world: the Wong Association community centre’s Wednesday night mah-jong club. A volunteer named Brandon ushered me immediately into a large room scattered with card tables. The comforting scent of frying oil hung lightly in the air. Red paper lanterns dangled from a central light fixture, above which blue sky beamed through angled skylights. A display of Chinese artwork graced the front wall. Though he likely knew before asking, Brandon politely ascertained that I was a beginner and ushered me to a table with five or six other newcomers. We introduced ourselves, a diverse collection of the mahjong-curious: most of us had neither age, experience nor cultural background in common. Our main unifier was the intrigue of this centuries-old game whose mysteries we wanted to crack.

Beginner's night with the Four Winds Mah-jong Group on May 7, 2025.Supplied

A mandarin orange........

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