A Busy Day

Today is the first day of Easter break that I have expected for a long time, because I haven’t gone shopping for a long time. My friend Pan will go back to China next month, and I want her to take some gifts to my family for me, so I have to buy some gifts in this Easter break. Yesterday Sheng, Xiaojing, Pan and me decided to go to one big shopping mall of Long Island to go shopping today. This morning, my friend drove us there at about 10:00. we looked for the clothes and shoes that we wanted and the time went so fast, when it was 3:00p.m, I didn’t buy anything. But Nancy invited us to her house to barbecue at 3:00 this afternoon, so we immediately called her and told her that we would go there later. we had continued to shop for about one hour and left the mall to Nancy’s house at 4:00 p.m. Even the mall is very big and there are a lot of stores that sale many different brands, I didn’t find anything that I liked.
When we arrived at Nancy’s house, Hieu, Weiting, and Yan had already been there. They had already helped Nancy cook some food, such as dumplings, spring rolls and Hieu was barbecuing for us in the yard. We were so tired and so hungry, so we immediately ate the dumplings and spring rolls. All the food was very delicious and we thanked them very much. Nancy also cooked the soup for us which was also very good. After we ate some food, we went to barbecue. There was a lot of food, such as: beef, pork steak, chicken legs, corn, sweet potato, and so on. These food were so delicious that we enjoyed very much!
Because we have an important to do, Pan, Sheng and I had to say goodbye to them at about 6:00 p.m. We enjoyed the dinner very much and thanks Nancy very much!

A Busy Day

Today is the first day of Easter break that I have expected for a long time, because I haven’t gone shopping for a long time. My friend Pan will go back to China next month, and I want her to take some gifts to my family for me, so I have to buy some gifts in this Easter break. Yesterday Sheng, Xiaojing, Pan and me decided to go to one big shopping mall of Long Island to go shopping today. This morning, my friend drove us there at about 10:00. we looked for the clothes and shoes that we wanted and the time went so fast, when it was 3:00p.m, I didn’t buy anything. But Nancy invited us to her house to barbecue at 3:00 this afternoon, so we immediately called her and told her that we would go there later. we had continued to shop for about one hour and left the mall to Nancy’s house at 4:00 p.m. Even the mall is very big and there are a lot of stores that sale many different brands, I didn’t find anything that I liked.
When we arrived at Nancy’s house, Hieu, Weiting, and Yan had already been there. They had already helped Nancy cook some food, such as dumplings, spring rolls and Hieu was barbecuing for us in the yard. We were so tired and so hungry, so we immediately ate the dumplings and spring rolls. All the food was very delicious and we thanked them very much. Nancy also cooked the soup for us which was also very good. After we ate some food, we went to barbecue. There was a lot of food, such as: beef, pork steak, chicken legs, corn, sweet potato, and so on. These food were so delicious that we enjoyed very much!
Because we have an important to do, Pan, Sheng and I had to say goodbye to them at about 6:00 p.m. We enjoyed the dinner very much and thanks Nancy very much!

What is Happiness

Happiness means different things to different people. For example, some people believe that if they have lots of money, they will be happy. They believe that if they are wealthy, they will be able to do anything they want, which means happiness. On the other hand, some people believe that holding a high position in the government is happiness. In this way, you have not only money, but also many other things which can't be bought by money.
However, other people believe that having lots of money is not happiness nor is holding a high position in the government. These people value their beliefs, or their intelligence, or their health. They think these can make them happy.
For me, happiness is closely tied to my studies, my family and my friends. When I do well in my study, when all the members in my family live in harmony, sharing good and sad times, and when my friends live in well, I am happy. Although the definition of happiness depends on each individual ,my "wealth" of happiness is in my studies,my family and my friends.

A beautiful town-----Fenghuang

Now I ‘ll talk about a beautiful town---Fenghuang. Fenghuang translate into phoenix in English, which represent perfection in chica, so it is a very nice name. The sight and people of the town are so good as the name.
Fenghuang, an old and small town, is located in the west of my hometown----Hunan province. It has several hundred years’ history and it still keeps its original character. The live of the town is very natural and plain and the people in the town are very friendly and warm-hearted. There isn’t big city’s noise and fright. When you live there, you will feel very comfortable and leisure.
The town is embraced by a bi mountain and a river flows along it. There are green trees and clear water, so the whole town is full of poetry and art. Every day a lot of artist come here to draw the nature. The river nurture the Fenghuang people. They wash clothes in the river and in summer they swim in the river. All the buildings of the town are located in both of the river and they are kept the old style. These buildings have more than 100 years’ history. They are made of wood and brick and most of them are called Diaojiao Building because they are built along the river and part of the building is over the river. Because all the people of the town live in both sides of the river, the main vehicle is boat. They go from one side to the other side by boat. When they are boating, they usually sing songs and say “hello” to the people they meet in the river. So when you go there, you can sit in a boat and travel long the river. You can enjoy the beautiful sight of the mountain along the river when you are listening to local people’s graceful songs which are very particular and different from pop songs we sing. The street of the town is made of stone and is very narrow. When you walk along the street, you will feel you return to the old times.
There are three races in the small town, including Tujia, Miao, Han. The population of the town is mostly Tujia and Miao which are minorities. They have particular and traditional customs. Everyone in the town likes singing songs. when you are there, you will hear songs in everywhere at any time. These songs are different from the pop songs and are made by themselves, but they are very graceful. when you listen, you will like it, they usually sing songs between mountains or between river and it mostly happens between one man and one woman. Usually, one in the one side of the mountain or river sings toward the other in the other side of the mountain or river, and the other answers the song. They use the songs to make friends and transmit emotion. Every April 8th, June 6th,
the young men and young women from different places of the town go to one place to sing songs. If one man has feeling to one woman, he will sing song to the woman, if the woman friendly answers the sing, it means she also has feeling to the man and she will make a date with the man in the songs. Their clothes are distinctive, especially embroiders, headband, ribbon, waistband.
Their local products are: bacon, ginger sugar, green tea, samshu. Their food is acid and spicy and I like this kind food very much.
Fenghuang is such a magic and interesting place and every year, millions travelers from different places go there to enjoy the beautiful sight and its original customs. It is regretfully, I haven’t gone there, I’ll have a trip there when I go back to China.

A Surprise Test

After 9 days’ spring break, we returned to regular study. This Monday, I came across a big surprise in economics class. When I got to the classroom, I saw an unknown teacher standing in the front of the classroom and just several students in the classroom, I thought the last class hadn’t been over, so I decided to wait for a minute out of the classroom. However, after a while nobody came out from the classroom and other students came into the classroom. I was very strange and also came into the classroom. It was so surprise that the teacher was giving out paper and the girl who has been sitting beside me from the beginning of this term sat there. I immediately thought of that on Saturday evening when I was checking my emails, there were several emails in which some classmates asked about if there would be a test on economic class on Monday. Because I didn’t hear the teacher said we would have a test on Monday, I didn’t pay attention to it and also didn’t review the notebook and textbook. So I immediately put down my bag and went to take a paper from the teacher. When I got the paper, I immediately had a glance at the paper. After glancing my heart fell down because I couldn’t remember the knowledge about these questions after such a long break. There were three questions and I just could do two questions and was not sure that the answer was right. In the test many students said they hadn’t known there would be a test on Monday and were very angry why had the teacher not told us and also were very strange why the teacher didn’t came to the class. The professor of the economics is really not very responsible that he has just taught us several diagrams from the beginning of the term to now and he has a very heavy accent, even native students couldn’t understood what he says. Even unfortunately he said there would be three tests this term and every test would cover one of three. I did so bad in this test and I am very worried it would affect my total grade.

A Food Show

Today is Thursday and the Spring Break is going to be over. I planed to go to Washington D.C with my friend on Wendesday,but it was very cold and snowed, so we didn't go there. These days I just stayed at home except weekend and Tuesday. On Tuesday the boss of the restaurant that I do part-time job on weekends asked me and my friend to join a international restaurant show which was hold in Mahanttan. His reastaurant had several stalls to show their foods which are mainly Chinese food, such as sui-mai, pork bun, custard bun,vegetable bun, lotus dumpling, pork dumpling, shrimp dumpling,spring roll, and so on. These food were made by hand and were very delicious.
The show was began at 10:00, but we had to prepare the food, so we set out at 7:30 am and I got up 7:00 am, it was so early for me. It took us for us about one and half hour to drive there. When we got there, we immediately washed steam box , cooker, pan, put food on the table, steam buns and sui-mai, fry dumplings and rolls. when everything is prepared, the customer were coming. We friendly asked them to try our food and introduce our food. After they tried, they all said our food were very delicious and many of them left their contact information which means they may order our food in future.
The show was very great and there were a lot of kinds food from different places. There were cookie, ice cream, dessert , break, cake, candy, drink, wine, noodle, rice, and so on. You could try any food and some company sent present to you. Because there were 4 employees working for the boss, the boss permit two of us to go to other stalls to try food every time. The kinds of the food were so many that I didn't know what to taste. There were many food that I hadn't tasted, so when I saw I tried. Every time we returned with a lot of food in hand and enjoy them slowly. I especially liked one kind of ice cream which I hadn't taste and was very delicious. After I ate up, I went to have another one the next time.That day I had a lot of food and was very full.
The show ended at 4:00 pm. we put away all things and drove home. Although I was a little tired, I felt very happy because I tasted a lot of delicious food and practise my English.

A Busy Week

This week is so busy!! Firstly we had midterm in this week , so I had to prepare for it. I had the business law exam on Monday. Before the exam, I asked the professor about the form of the exam and she said it just included 50 choices. When I heard these, I felt very relaxed, because I am afraid to do question that need to write a lot. I reviewed all the notes in home on Saturday and Sunday, so I do very smoothly in the exam. On Friday I had a exam of philosophy which is very difficult for me. It is very abstract and I can’t understand it very much. Even though I can understand the words of the professor, I can’t write down all the notes. I just had a little notes and I was very afraid to it. I also didn’t know how to prepare for it. I just reviewed the notes that I had and went to take the exam on Friday. It included four questions for us to answer. When I saw the question, I was confused. I wrote down whatever in my mind and I thought it was very terrible.
Secondly, I was looking for an apartment to move in. I was living in a house with a Chinese family. I felt it was not very free to live in other’s house and I wanted to live in an apartment with friends. So I went to the website to look for the apartment last Sunday I found one which is located in 71 AV,163 ST. It includes 3 bedrooms, 1 living room, 2 bathrooms, 1 kitchen and the environment is very good, so I decided to rent it with my friends Pan and Sheng. We called the landlord to asked about the price of the apartment and made an appointment with him to look at it on Monday. On Monday morning we went to look at it and all thought it was good, so we agreed to rent it and gave the deposit to the landlord .Because there isn’t any furniture in the house, so we had to buy some. On Wednesday we went to Flushing to buy furniture .we booked two beds, one TV table, one coffee table ,one sofa and one desk and they will be delivered to the house on Sunday. Everything was done and we will move into the house next week. I am very exited that I will have a comfort room and live with friends. We can invite friends to our house to have parties after we move into it. Welcome all of you to our house!

It is 0:30 a.m. now,but I didn't have any sleepiness. Just now I called my father and I knew that he was in bad mood from his words. But he pretended to be happy because he didn't want me to worry about him. He catched a cold several days ago and got better yesterday after taking days' medicine and injection. Unfortunately, he had a toothache today.The toothache is very painful and terrible.When it comes, he feels very painflul and has to go to have injection to releive the pain. When I called he, he is having injection in hospital. His sound was very deep and I couldn't help to cry when I heard his sound. At that moment I missed my father very much and hoped I was in his side and talked with him . But I was so far from him that I just can bless him will get better soon.
When the Chinese New Year comes, my father and mother go back to our hometown to have the festival with our families .They run a factory in Guangdong which is 10 hours' drive way to my hometown. Every year they drive so long way to go home to celebrate the New Year with our families. It is very hard to drive so long way and there are a lot of work waiting for them to do. So they are very busy in New Year and have a little time to have a rest. After about 10 days,they have to go to work. It originally is to have a holiday with families and have a good rest,but finally they feel very tired. But they insist on going home every year to have the New Year because it is a traditional festival in China and they care about our families. As usual this year, they went home five days before New Year. There are too many affairs for them to do.In my family, my father is responsible everything ,so he is the busiest and the tiredest man. He said he was doing a lot of trivial things these days and haven't had a good sleep until today. He is very tired and he will drive to Guangdong tomorrow. I wish my parent smoothly arrived in Guangdong tomorrow and have a good rest after arriving there, so have a good mood to start work.

Happy New Year

Today is the Chinese New Year. This is the biggest and most important day in China, so all family members spend the holiday together. Because there is 13 hours time difference between China and New York, the Chinese New Year began at 11:oo a.m. yesterday. When it was 11:00,I immediately called my parents and sent my best wishes to them and that they would be blessed with good luck in the new year. Because I wanted to be the first person to give wishes to them.They were very happy and proud that they have such a filial daughter and their daughter is grown up. They also blessed me so I can study well,live well .Last night I called my grandfather and gave my wishes to him.My grandfather's family is very big, and every New Year Day the whole family goes to my gandfather's home to celebrate the big holiday.Every year I was very happy to share the moment with so many family members ,but this year I have to spend it alone.When I called ,my uncles,aunts and cousins were all in my grandfather's home ,so I spoke to every one of them. They were very happy and surprise that I called them and gave them best wishes from the other side of the earth .They all wish for me to study hard ,learn knowledge and skills and go back to china to reunite with them after graduation. I promised them I would study hard and go back home as soon as possible. When I heard their kind sound and good wishes, I felt very happy and warm.
In the previous bogger I wrote that I might cry because of missing my family on New Year 's Day.Surprisely I didn't cry even though I missed them ,because their sincere wishes let me feel so warm .I am very proud that I become more and more strong and wish for myself that everything will be good in the new year.

Wow, it snows eventually. The snow is so heavy and white. When I came to NY, others told that the winter of NY is very cold and it snows on about Christmas Day and the snow is very heavy. My hometown is in the south of China, so it snows rarely in winter. Although it snows, there is just little. When the sun comes, the snow will melt immediately. So when we see the snow, we will feel very excited. Since the winter came, I have expected the snow. It is so strange, it hadn't snowed until the end of 2006 and it has just snowed twice until this morning and every time the snow was very little. I was very disappointed. The weather forecast said it would snow on this Tuesday and Wednesday, when I heard this I was very excited.This morning, when I wake up I went to the window to make sure if it snows. When I raised the window curtain, I was so surprise that the whole world was white and it was snowing. I haven’t seen so heavy snow before. Though I was very happy that I see the snow that I have expected so long time, at the same time, the trouble came. Because the snow is too heavy, there are so much snow accumulated on the road and it is very difficult for the walkers. Today I have three classes, so I went to school at about 12:00am. Unfortunately, when I opened the side door, I couldn’t open it, because it was stuffed by the snow, so I had to walk through the front door .Even terribly, the snow on the road was so deep that I could hardly walk. I walked very carefully and slowly because I was afraid to slip. I went ahead so difficultly in the snow as though I climbed the mountain. It took me almost half an hour to go to school and I was very tired and felt the whole body was very warm. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the classroom, there were few students and the teacher said we would not have class. I was almost crazy. I had walked so far and so hard, but I didn’t need to have the class. So I went to have lunch and went to have another class at 2:30, the teacher also told us that we didn’t have class and the school would close at 2:30pm today due to the bad weather condition. I was so surprise that the whole school didn’t have class because of the bad weather, this case have never happened in China. I had to go home and it was more difficult to walk. When I got home, my feet were almost frozen and I felt very tired.Even I didn’t have class after I walked so far and so difficultly, I am still very happy ,because I saw the snow that I have expected so long time.

A Dinner for Celebrating Chinese New Year

Last Saturday afternoon, I took part in a dinner for celebrating Chinese New Year. It was held by the Chinese restaurant where I do part time job in weekend. The restaurant is near our school and it mainly provides seafood. I have worked here almost five months and my job is heating and frying food for customers which are mainly Guangdong flavors, such as Shaomai, Dumpling, Turnip cake, chive cake ,and so on. The work is very easy and the work time is very short that just from 10am to 3pm,so I enjoy the work very much. The restaurant is a Chinese one, so its employees are all Chinese and the consumers are almost the Chinese .And the employees are very kind and warm-hearted to me, I feel very comfortable and like at home when I work here.Because this Sunday is Chinese New Year Day and it will be a very busy day to the restaurant , so they celebrated it on lastSaturday. We had a dinner together .We were very happy and enjoyed the dinner very much. In the dinner we said “Happy New Year” together and blessed each other. This is the first time that I celebrate our traditional New Year with so many people in the place which is far from my country, and I felt very exited and surprise. Because every year I had the Chinese New Year with my family before I came to America. A few days ago , I was worrying how should I celebrate the festival .I was very suprise and lucky that I could celebrate it with so many friends.It make me feel I were in home and relieve my miss of home.

Friendship

This week we learned two articles about friendship. It caused me think of my best friend, who is studying in China now. I met her in the first class of the fifth semester of High School. I remembered clearly that when we were listening the teacher saying the things about new semester, suddenly a girl came to the classroom with a lot of books in her hands. She knew she was late and said sorry to us with a nice smile. Her smile was so nice that we all forgave her sudden interruption. Then she walked straight to the desk which was behind me. After class she said hello to me and we introduced each other. From her words, I felt she was very kind and optimistic. I thought we could be friends. In fact, we have been the best friends from that day.First of all, we have the similar personalities and interestings, so we have a lot of topics to talk. We talked about our families, ambitions and studies. Every time we enjoyed our talks very much. As the time passed, we knew each other better and better and our affection got deeper and deeper. we trusted each other and there was no secret between us. We could share intimate aspects of our personal lives and feelings. Most importantly, we could share good and bad news. When I had happy things, I would tell her the first time. On the other hand, when I came across some troubles and difficulties, I would turn to her for help. And she would give me some suggestions and helped me deal with them. When I was in bad mood, I also talked with her and told her my thoughts and feelings. After talking with her, I would felt relaxed and my mood would get better.The living of the last year of high school was very intense and we studied for a long time every day, so sometimes we felt very boring and didn't want to study. At this time, we encouraged each other .I had difficulty in maths and she was very good at it, so she usually tutored my maths. Under his help, my maths improved a lot. In that year, we shared a lot of happiness and difficulties together. Unfortunately, we went to the different university in different cities after graduating from high school, but we usually called each other and talked about our studies and lives. Even now I am in New York, I also usually call her. Last Sunday morning I talked with her about one and half hours in the phone. Because it was a long time that we hadn't talked detailedly. She is a senior student and she was preparing for the graduation entrance exam during last semester. She was very busy and had little free time to talk with me. And there is 13 hours' time difference between New York and China, so it is not very convenient for us to call each other. So every time I called her, we just talked for a short time. We promised that we were going to have a long talk after she taking the exam. Last week she took the exam, so I called her at once and asked about her exam .We talked our lives and studies during the past 5 months and our plans in the new year. We were very happy hearing each other' news.I am very proud that I have such a good friend and I will cherish our friendship forever.

Difficulties and Challengers

Oh,my god,the time flies so quickly! It have been three weeks since the new semester started. But I have not accumstomed to these professors' access and their quickly speaking speed who are all my major teachers and I still can't completely understand what the professors say in the class.The professor of my Microeconomics has a very heavy access , so I just can understand his word a little. What's more , he didn't teach as the textbook and write any note in the blackboard. I am very worried that if I can pass it . There are so many notes and so many new professional terms I haven't seen before in the Business Law class, and the professer speaks so quickly, so I can hardly write down anything.Look around the other students, I am so surprised that they can follow the professor and write down everything. Because they are all native American students.I borrrowed their notes to home to copy and review them after the class.There are so many difficulties and chanllenges for me to have my major class.Fortunately,my writting class teacher gave some suggestions to me and my friend who have studied in our school many years also encouraged me and told me his studing experiences .
Thank them very much and I will follow their advice.Hope it will get better and better in coming days.

Miss

Tomorrow is Feb 1,and it will be China's New Year soon.The New Year is a very traditional and important festival in China, so all family have it together.Those who study or work away from home go home to celebrate the festival with their families.They have dinner together and talk about their work,studies and lives.They also talk about their new plans for the new year and their families will give them suggestions and their blessing.

This is the firt time that I can't have the New Year with my family.I will have it lonely in New York, which is in the other half of the earth and it is so far from China.The bell of the New Year is going to ring at once,and I miss my family and friends in China more and more.Perhaps I will not have the New Year with my family in the coming several years when I will study in New York,because the time of school's winter break doesn't coincide with the time of China's New Year. So I think I should learn to accustome to it from now on and I believe I can do it.

I wish my family and friends will be happy and fortunate in the coming year.

Confusion,Surprise,Depressed and Happiness

I came to St.John's University with my great dream in late August,2006.I am a transfer student ,and I was a junior student in China university.My major in China was Electronic Information Engineering ,but now I am major in Accounting.Most people are very strange that why I transfer to American to study and why I change my major.It is very difficult to explain to them,because there are many reasons.
When I came here,I was very confused and a little nervous,because everthing was new to me and Icould not understand everyone's word very well.I went to school to take the ESL Exam on the second day after I arrived in NewYork,and Iwent to get my Exam result the next day.The ESL officer told me I needed two ESL courses ,and then I went to St.John's College(I was accepted by the Economics major of this college ) to choose my courses. Unfortunately, when I talked with my adviser he said I had to study one semester English in IEP and sent me to the IEP office.I was very confused and I didn't what to do, so called a friend who studied here for 5 years. She talked with the adviser for very long time, but the result wasI had to study English for a semester and could not take any major courses. Because he thought my speaking ability was very poor ,and my friend said he just didn't like Asians,because he was not kind and patient with us . So I studied English in IEP last semester.
Many people say Economics is very boring and it is very difficut to find a good job,and I am also not interested in it,so I decided to transfer to TCB to study Accouting when I entered the University. I handed in my transfer application to the office of TCB in November and they told me that they would give me the result in January ,2007. Because I was not sure if the TCB will accept me ,I had to go to St.John's College to choose courses for my spring semester in the end of the last semester. But they told me that I had to coutinue studying English in spring semester.Even worse ,I had to mail my previous University transcript to World Education Service to evaluate my subjects that I studied in Chinese University if I want to transfor my credits.When I heard this,I was disappointed.I didn't know how to do ,so I went to Admission Office to ask suggestion from Ms lam who is also a chinese and is very kind . Every time I asked her help, she was very enthusiastic and helped me .This time she suggested me firstly wait the result from TCB,because this College doesn't need the transfer students to mail their former transcripts to WES.So I decided to wait for the result of TCB.
In the early January I went to TCB to ask the result and they they told me that they were too busy to review my application and I could call them in January 16 .When I called them on that day,they told me they hadn't have decision and they would tell me the next day .But when I went there the next day ,they didn't have decision and promised me that they would give me decision the next day .I was so disappointed and decided to give up.I was so surprise that they accepted me and told me I don't need to study English in IEP.They also chose courses ,and tranfered credits for me .And the adviser was very kind ,patient to help me.When I heard that I was accepted ,I was very happy.I went online to register and chose courses and paid for tuition at once .When I went to pay for the tuition ,suddenly I thought I have scholarship from school,so I went to finance aid office to ask about my scholarship.They checked it for me and said I could get my scholarship.It took so much time and so many difficulties to be a regular student of TCB.But I think it is very worthy and I understand that you can succeed after experiencing a lot of difficulties.
This semester I have 5 courses to study,includingESLS,ESLW,BUSINESSLAW,MACROECONOMICS,PHILOSOPHY.Though it is a little difficult and challenge for me ,I believe that I can do well through my hard work.

New Start

I am very happy that I have my own blog.I have been in NewYork for 5 months till tomorrow,and I came across a lot of interesting things and made many friends in this period time. Every time I called my friends who are in China and told them about my life in NewYork ,they advise me to start a blog to write down everything that happens to me and my thoughts ,so they can share these with me .I also it is a good idea, but I have not start a blog till today,because I think I am not very good at expressing my thoughts and feels.This semester I have a ESL Writting class and everyone need to start a blog and write our stories,so we can improve our English day by day.I am sure it is a good way to improve my English,so I am very glad to start one.I will write some interesting things and experience of my life from now on,and I believe that my English will get better and better!!!!!!!!!!!