I had a nice Winter break

Especially because of my fantastic trip

My friends and I planted hundreds of trees

We got tired, lay down and sleep

Food and songs filled our dream

The Best Fish Hot Pot

I have been here in America for three months. For most of people, three months may be not counted much. However, I think these months were a pretty long time, for I miss my beloved Chinese food. If you ask me: “ What do you plan to do during the Winter break?”; my answer will be brief and strong: “Eating.”

I live in the centre of Beijing, where is filled by numerous restaurants and shopping malls. Golden Resource is the one right near my home. It has seven floors, and the fifth floor is the one I love the most. Fish, fried rice, noodles, BBQ, soup, and ice cream. You can almost find everything in it. From all of those amazing restaurants and food bar, fish hot pot stretched my heart all the time. I remember my days in middle school. A huge poster of that fish hot pot restaurant was hung in front of the exit of subway station. When my friends and I went back home from school everyday, our eyes were almost frozen by that spicy and smelly fish with chilli and vegetables around. They were mixed harmoniously in the pot, and the oil reflected the light above table. It attracted all of us, either the poster, or the charming smell that permeated into the air from the fifth floor. Therefore, my friends and I decided to eat the hot pot every two weeks as the award for our heavy school work. Honestly, the taste was the best.

We sat around the table on Friday night. Dumping off all of the worries and work, we only talked and ate. To avoid the interruptions that might brought by the electronic tools, all the cell phones were ruled to fold together at the edge of the table. Most of time we talked about our school life, like the funny stories, gossips, and classmates. We always had endless words to say; maybe that was exactly one of the most important foundations of being good friends. We also talk about ourselves sometimes. Those hot pots witnessed hundreds of deceptions and dreams. Angel wanted to be a free writer; Echo liked all the scientific fictions, and Mary had interests in Computer Science. When I told them I decided to study in America near our “special table”, they said “We trust all of your choices.” I am grateful of having this fantastic restaurant and delicious food. Besides them, I know our friendship was actually what made all of these special. We have discussed what would happened when we are sixty on one of the normal Friday night. We wondered if we would have our dream job, expected life style, and family. For the most important, we all hoped we could still sit together and talk like that after many years, even though the restaurant might disappear, and the tasted will not be the same.

Those food is what I dream to eat every single day in America, but I know that is not what get me back. The connection between family and friends just like thousands of invisible strings that tied homeland and the little kites.

One week later, I will sit in that restaurant as we have always planned, and eat my best fish hot pot in the world.

Atypical Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving has always been an excellent festival for people to spend time with there families. However, for me, a student who has never celebrated Thanksgiving before in China, this first Thanksgiving break was quite different as well as special.

Unlike most of people, I did not stayed with my parents during the Thanksgiving break. I went to my sister’s house in NJ. She was definitely a busy person, so that sometimes I could only explore somewhere interesting by myself. Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I decided to go to NYC and watch the movies that I had always been look forward.

That was a sunny day; I started my unexpected journey without any company. First, I went to the Pass station. Although I got on the wrong side of the station, I noticed my fault immediately, and finally took the right pass. “ This is not hard.” I thought on the pass. Looking through the windows in front of me, I saw the rails, cars, wide sky, and peaceful sea. Beyond those landscape that rapidly rushed behind me, I saw a new world. This this a new world where I am going to study, live, and grow up. “ Ready for the discovery.” I felt the expectation that lives inside of me.

With my “fantastic” Google map, I arrived at the AMC in the last minute. I bought two tickets of Big Hero Six and Interstellar. The movies were amazing! Although watching animation with a bunch of little kids made me feel a bit different, I still enjoyed my all-alone travel style. After the whole day of sitting on the cinema chair, I decided just to take a walk on the streets.

I love city; much more than the countryside. It might because where I have grown up. I got used to walk through the bridges, skyscrapers and even the traffic jam. To be honest, I was unaccustomed to CA’s surroundings at first, because everything seemed so empty and boring. I missed the feeling of walking in my familiar city. Nonetheless, as time passes, I started to like my new life style. “ They are different, but they are both experiences.” I remembered my dad had told me so, “No matter where you lived or where you have been, experiences are all preciouses for you to choose your own way.”  Indeed, wherever I went, I could usually accept the environment. I looked at those busy people walked around me; they all had their own style. They had already found out their right position in the society, and maybe that was exactly what I need to find by my own experiences.

I felt satisfied and relax on my return trip. This was just an ordinary day, but it was also special. Traveling alone always gave me great opportunities to think about myself. I got many answers that can not be found among the happy time with friends or the heavy school work. For the most important, I started to be grateful, because I realised how much I should cherish the life especially at this young age. “ They are precious.” Every second and every minute of living is amazing, and everything, that I have done would be meaningful for my future. Therefore, I am grateful, to my family who have been so supported; to my friends who have always had my back, and for my life, of being such a big present.

No parents, and no Turkey. I still love my first Thanksgiving.

Starting to be thankful. Isn’t that the true meaning of this special festival?

A Special Canvas-final draft

During the Thanksgiving break, I went to The Museum of Modern Art.

Among all of the fantastic modern art works, I found a special painting at a corner near the Impressionism part. A huge canvas was hung from bottom to the top of the wall. Numerous brown horizontal lines were painted as a piece of thick brown blind warded in front of the art work. Through the gaps between those horizontal lines of the blind, a part of New York was exhibited in front of me. The left part of it were many classical buildings with the typical New York style. Some of them were short and old fashioned departments, and others were the modern offices. Posters, advertisements, and hundreds of dark green glasses that reflected the shining light. Different colours of traffic lights looked like some tiny dots that were produced by an skillful oil painter. The painter hold his wild brush, and swung it in front of the canvas. Those colourful dots were complicated, but also kept in some special orders at the same time because of those city designers. Apparently, the painting of NYC could never be a still life. It was full of movements. Everyone knows the yellow cabs’ position in New York. At the bottom of this painting, many yellow rectangles rushed on the grey street. Pedestrians come and go; they twisted their ways though the cabs, and each of them made the painting even more energetic.

At the right part, a white modern building captured my eyes with fantastic decoration. It had little wall, and most part of that side was glass. Therefore, everything in the building can be seen by its audiences. It was an office building that had a very modern style. Furnitures were mostly white with a little red, beige, and green. The first floor had a huge sofa in the middle. Some greens were put around the sofa. Desks were the protagonists in the second floor; it seemed like a meeting room. Hundreds of files were collected together in different shapes of boxes. The third floor was more like their dining hall with red food bars and white chairs. Each floor had different arrangement, but they all took simplicity to extreme. This building can be regard as the counterpart of many New Yorkers’ lives.

Buildings, streets, and decorations. The amazing painting mixed three elements harmoniously.People usually exclaimed about the painter’s wonderful skill. However, you would not believe this painting was just a normal glass in MOMA. All of the objects and colours were actually the real face of New York. From all of the masterpieces in the art museum, people can hardly notice a common glass. Nonetheless, once you stop for it, you would finally explore the meaning of this accidental art as I did.

Art is from life, and this special art work made me realise the different two sides of art. Our cities were built by hundreds of talented designers who were graduated from the professional design school. However, sometimes the quintessences of art may be actually excavated from the cities that we live in. Art can be everywhere, and this is a circulation of the endless inspiration.

In his blog, Mark Kurlansky wrote some of his opinions about the politics, society, science, and democracy. He mentioned Mitt Pomney, Darwin’s theory, Rick Santorum,the politics in America, and why he became a blogger. Mark has obvious personal style and view, and he is exactly a critical thinker. From his writings, I not only learned a lot about this world, but also combined his opinions with mine, and analysed those people and events comprehensively. All in all, Mark in a successful blogger, and his passages that covered many sides of the society are pretty meaningful.

Sera—“The City Of CA” This writing is very organised. She combined the real campus with her imagination pretty well, and everything seems suitable.

Nina—“Magic Bowl” It is very creative, and the whole story attracted me to keep reading. Moreover, I like her character design the most.

Nancy—“A Red Bottle Called Rango” She described the bottle carefully, and many details were mentioned in the writing. The idea of giving her bottle a name is really interesting.

The Notebook

I have an amazing blue notebook. Hundreds of papers were packed under the hard cover. When I touched the notebook with my fingers, a kind of special feeling pushed me hold it up. Actually, it is not an ordinary notebook. People can be led by this to another strange world once they open it. By staying with it, I gradually learned about who marvellous the world was.

 I found it in an old store for my math homework. However, everything changed after I opened this crazy notebook. The first page was just a normal white paper with many horizontal lines. The paper  was neat and beautiful. However, unlike most of the new notebooks, it always smelled like dust. I thought that was just because of the wind and transformation. I grabbed my pen, and prepared to do my homework. Suddenly, the lines started disappearing, and a weird picture emerged from the white. It was a little boy in the picture. He was only five years old I guess. The boy seemed confused, and the background might be the sofa in his home. “ Is this some weird chemical reactions?” I frowned.  After two seconds, I was even more shocked! The boy started moving in my notebook! I wondered if it was really a notebook. I looked at the boy’s face; he was as terrified as me. “ What are you!! Did I buy a new iPad from the grocery store?!” I was curious about what would happened next, then I tried to open the second page.

Same as the last one, after a few seconds, a person’s face appeared on the paper. Nonetheless, this face looked more familiar. She was woman around twenty, who has a bunch of crazy brown hair.  “ You work in that store!” I recognised her. Some words appeared on the paper near her neck. Apparently, she was writing on the paper. “ Hi, sorry for not telling you before this. This notebook, so called The Mirror, can be used for communication. they existed in pairs before. Now, since the order had been broken, it is no more meaningful to us. Exploring the world with it! You are lucky. ” I did not know how to respond. “ However, one day in the future, we would recall all of them, so please keep in touch.” This was so unbelievable! I saw she smiled to me, and disappeared gradually. In the next few days, I took this notebook with me all the time. When ever I opened it, someone would always appear from the other side of the world. Sometimes that was a middle age woman, and sometimes a old man. Scientists, doctors, artists, and students……I have met hundreds of people with my note book. Actually, it was more like my magic box. Whenever I need help, I can easily find the right person to talk with.

I think I own a treasure now. You may say it can not technically be a notebook now, because I used it on nothing more except communication. However, this magic notebook is still used for recording like its millions of siblings, but in another more fabulous way. 

Accidental Art

During the Thanksgiving break, I went to The Museum of Modern Art. It is a famous art museum that stands in the middle of NYC. Among all of the fantastic modern art works, I found a special view at a corner near the Impressionism part. It was actually a big normal glass next to many masterpieces on the fourth floor. Although the glass was not noticeable, the accidental art that was framed by the glass was pretty amazing to me.

It was a huge glass from bottom to the top of the wall. A piece of thick brown blind warded behind it. Through the gaps between those horizontal lines of the blind, a part of New York was exhibited in front of me. I regarded this special art work as a picture. The left part of it were many classical buildings with the typical New York style. Some of them were short and old fashion departments, and others were the modern offices. Posters, advertisements, and hundreds of dark green glasses that reflected the shining light. Different colours of traffic lights looked like some tiny dots that produced by an skilful oil painter. The painter hold his wild brush, and swung it in front of the canvas. Those colourful dots were involuted, but also kept in some special orders at the same time because of those city designers. Apparently, the painting of NYC could never be a still life. It was full of movements. Everyone knows the yellow cabs’ position in New York. At the bottom of this painting, many yellow rectangles rushed on the grey street. Pedestrians come and go; they twisted their ways though the cabs, and each of them made the painting even more energetic.

The right part of the painting was what I liked the most. It was a building stand right opposite of MOMA. It had little wall, and most part of that side were glasses. Therefore, everything in it can be seen by its audiences. It was an office building, but its decoration style was very modern. Furnitures were mostly white with a little red, beige, and green. The first floor of it had a huge sofa in the middle. Some greens were put around the sofa. Desks were the protagonists in the second floor; it seemed like a meeting room. Hundreds of files were collected together in different shapes of boxes. The third floor was more like their dining hall with red food bars and white chairs. Each floor had different arrangement, but they all took simplicity to extreme. In my point of view, that building can be regard as the counterpart of many New Yorkers’ lives. It used its own way to show the visitors in MOMA what is the other side of the modern art.

Buildings, streets, and decorations. The fantastic glass mixed three elements harmoniously.  It lived in Modern Art Museum, and it was indeed an accidental art. Art is from life, and this special art work made me realise the different two faces of art. Our cities were built by hundreds of talented designers who were graduated from the professional design school. However, sometimes the quintessences of art may be actually excavated from the cities that we live in. This is a circulation of the endless inspiration.

strong:

rotating the staw

straw-zig zag

apparent sign "cheshire academy"

things writing on the surface

five circles

weak:

a little dirty on the bottle

the claw

the water is clear

the shape of the bottle

some spray

I ate chicken that made by my aunt in Thanksgiving break. It was pretty amazing! I could even smell it before I got into the door. That was a kind of familiar smell which I grown up with. My grandma used to cook it for me when I was a child. It was the combination of meat, oil, and sauce. The fire and oil made those wings of chicken become gold and orange. However, it was not fried; it was boiled in the pot with many special ingredients, so that the chicken did not taste greasy. When I ate it, I could felt the appropriate amount of salt and pepper, and even the taste of leaves. Moreover, sugar was necessary in this meal. It is because sugar could mix all the ingredients together, and made me feel a much deeper smell of the chicken itself. The chicken meat was not old. Instead, it could almost melt in my mouth. Its skin and meat became separated when I ate it with rice. I love this chicken especially its feeling of childhood.

12. Accidental Art:

During the Thanksgiving break, I went to The Museum of Modern Art. Among all of the fantastic modern art works, I found a special view at a tiny corner. It was actually a normal glass near many masterpieces on the fourth floor. Although the glass was not noticeable, the landscape that was framed by the glass was pretty amazing to me

It was a huge glass from bottom to the top of the wall. A think brown blind warded behind it. Through the gaps between those horizontal lines of the blind, a part of New York was exhibited in front of me. I regarded this special art work as a picture. At the left part of it were many classical buildings with the typical New York style. Posters, advertisements, and hundreds of dark green glasses reflecting light. Different colours form traffic lights looked like some tiny dots that produced by oil painter. Apparently, a painting of NYC could never be a still life. It was full of movements. Everyone knows yellow cabs’ position in New York. At the bottom of this painting, many yellow rectangles rushed on the grey street. Pedestrians come and go; they twisted their ways though the cabs, and each of them made the painting even more energetic.

The right part of the painting was what I liked the most. It was a building stand right opposite of MOMA. It had little wall, and most part of that side were glasses. Therefore, everything in it can be seen by its audiences. It was a office building, but its decoration style was very modern. Furnitures were mostly white with red, beige, and green. Each floor had different arrangement, but they all took simplicity to extreme. Buildings, streets, and inner decorations. The fantastic glass mixed three elements harmoniously. It lived in Modern Art Museum, and it was indeed an accidental art.

15. Eavesdropping:

Sit in a place and listen to the conversations around you. Choose one and create a story using the actual dialogue you overheard.

“ Why don’t you eat lunch?”

“ Oh, no. Dining Hall is disgusting!”

“ I agree, but you need to eat something anyway. You will be hungry!”

“ Don’t worry. I only have two periods left.”

A slim girl is drinking apple juice, and she totally ignores the concern in her friend’s eyes.

“ It is one thirty now. I have to go! See you guys.” The girl catches her bag, and rush out of the Dining Hall.

The first class after lunch is math. She is sleepy and tired. It seems the apple juice did not give her much energy. She wants to focus on what her teacher wrote on the white board, but the only thing she can do is close her eyes and fall in sleep. She dreams of Turkey. Thanksgiving is coming! In her dream, everyone in her family sits near a long rectangle table. A huge, and sweet-smelling turkey is lying in the middle. Beef just came out from her mother’s kitchen, and some good-looking desserts are waiting to be welcome. “ Oh, mom. You are the best cook ever! ” She smiles.

“ What are you talking about!” She is pulled back by a small and nervous voice, “ Wake up! Teacher is coming!” She opens her eyes. “ Is the class over? ” “Nope, we have ten minutes left.” The girl has a sigh. She feels hungry and sad because of the missing Thanksgiving meal.

The next class is biology. The girl has a test today. She has prepared for it since last week. “ It is not hard.” she thinks. Suddenly, she feels dizzy, and the whole world starts twisting in front of her eyes. Finally, she faints away.

The white wall of health centre is the first thing shows up after she regain consciousness.

“Oh, crap!” she recalls her biology test.

“I should aways eat lunch no matter how disgusting the food is!”

16. World of magic (second draft)

I have an amazing blue notebook. It seems normal, but it can lead people to another strange world once they open it. I found it in an old store. Actually, it was for my math homework. However, everything changed after I opened this crazy notebook. The first page was just a normal white paper with many horizontal lines. Suddenly, the lines started disappearing, and a weird picture emerged from the white. It was a little boy in the picture. He was only five years old I guess. He seemed confused. After two seconds, I was even more shocked! The boy started moving in my notebook! I wondered if it was really a notebook. I looked at the boy’s face; he was as terrified as me. I was curious, but I did not want to scared this little boy. Then I tried to open the second page. Same as the last one, after a few seconds, a person’s face appeared on the paper. Nonetheless, this face looked more familiar. “ She works in that store!” I recognised her. Some words appeared near her neck. Apparently, she was writing on the paper. “ Hi, sorry for not telling you before this. This notebook, so called The Mirror, can be used for communication. They existed in pairs before. Now, since the order has been broken, it is no more meaningful to us. Exploring the world with it! You are lucky. ” I did not know how to respond. This was so unbelievable! I saw her smiled to me, and disappeared gradually. This kind of notebooks were separated everywhere, which means I can get touch with some strangers randomly! That sounded excellent!  In the next few days, I took The mirror with me all the time. Whenever I opened it, someone would always appear from the other side of the world. I think I own a treasure now. I have made many new friends with The mirror, and each page of it witnessed my amazing time with them. This magic notebook is still used for recording, but in another more fabulous way. 

Details

It is a normal lip balm. The top of this lip balm is a pink cover. It is made of plastic. Like most of the lip balm, it's a cylinder. The cover is not clean. Something black stick on that. Under the pink cover is its orange body. It is also plastic. A piece of bright yellow paper sticks around it. The background of the paper is full of grapefruit that drawn by light orange lines. The brand of this lip balm is a line of big and red words" BURT'S BEES ", and two red thin lines lies on the two side of the words. Under the brand is a little pink rectangle with white " REFRESHING " on it. " LIP BALM with PINK GRAPEFRUIT" is typed right below the rectangle with small black words. Five lines of INGREDIENTS are very tiny and slim. Between the INGREDIENTS and the brand is the bar code, and two bees are at each side of it as decorations. At the bottom of this lip balm is the axis that used to push the balm out, and it is also orange. As it shows, this balm smells like grapefruit.

This is a cylinder lip balm.

Its cover on the tip is pink, and its body is yellow and orange.

It smells like grapefruit.

Galileo——An Amazing Play

Galileo had always been a hero in our mind. He was a great physicist and astronomer. However, after I watched the play GALILEO that was wrote by Bertolt Brecht, and acted by students in my school, I changed my view toward him. Moreover, this play also helped me get into the world that Galileo lived before.

The story happened during 1500-1600. Galileo was short of money. One day he knew about a telescope that had been found by others, and he replicated it, and published to the world as his own invention. Then he used the telescope to substantiate the former heliocentric model of the solar system. Nonetheless, the heliocentric model was against church’s well, because this model doubted the exist of god. Galileo had some students, but he finally gave up his informal teachings because of the torture and threaten from the church.

In this play, I think Galileo’s daughter Virginia is a very meaningful character. Virginia had no mother. She was a kind and beautiful girl. After Galileo published the telescope, Virginia fell in love with Ludovico. However, Ludovico left because Galileo insisted his informal teachings. Finally, Virginia became a nun, and took care of his father till he died. To be honest, I think Virginia’s life was pathetic. She did not have anything a normal young girl should have. She had no mother when she was a kid, no husband after she grew up, and no child till she was old. She did not blame anyone, and just accepted her own life silently. From her life, I can learn more about the society at that time. That was a patriarchy society; young girls could hardly decide who they were married with. Marriage was established above family and fame. Virginia’s marriage failed because of her father’s actions; apparently, that was unfair. At the end of the play, Virginia and Galileo still lived in their old house.  She cooked for her father, and took care of everything. I felt sad about her, because she was not only one girl in the play, but also the reflection of thousands of girls in the past.

Besides the story, the actors are amazing on the stage. Their fabulous performance and natural expression made the play more vivd and attractive. As a protagonist, Charlotte Lesser did a excellent job! I could tell how much time she had spent on this play. She acted Galileo, a man. Her way of walking, and talking almost gave audiences a real feeling of a seventeenth century male scientist. Moreover, other actors were also fantastic! They did not seem nervous at all of acting in front of teachers and classmate. They put themselves into the play, and that was exactly one of the most important step of a good play.

I like this play every much, and I would definitely recommend my friends to watch it. From those short two hours, I learned a lot. I knew about the history that has been covered by the text book, and the society in hundreds years ago. For the most important, the actors were the soul of the play. As an audience, I want to show my gratitude to the actors for such a wonderful play!

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht born About this sound Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht; 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German Marxist poet, playwright, and theatre director.Brecht left the Berliner Ensemble to his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, which she ran until her death in 1971. Perhaps the most famous German touring theatre of the postwar era, it was primarily devoted to performing Brecht's plays. Brecht has been a controversial figure in Germany, and in his native city of Augsburg there were objections to creating a birthplace museum. By the 1970s, however, Brecht's plays had surpassed Shakespeare's in the number of annual performances in Germany.There are few areas of modern theatrical culture that have not felt the impact or influence of Brecht's ideas and practices; dramatists and directors in whom one may trace a clear Brechtian legacy include: Dario Fo, Augusto Boal, Joan Littlewood, Peter Brook, Máiréad Ní Ghráda, Peter Weiss, Heiner Müller, Pina Bausch, Tony Kushner, Robert Bolt and Caryl Churchill. In addition to the theatre, Brechtian theories and techniques have exerted considerable sway over certain strands of film theory and cinematic practice; Brecht's influence may be detected in the films of Jean-Luc Godard, Lindsay Anderson, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Joseph Losey, Nagisa Oshima, Ritwik Ghatak, Lars von Trier, Jan Bucquoy and Hal Hartley.

Galileo Galilei

 Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) made major contributions to the fields of physics, astronomy, cosmology, mathematics and philosophy. He invented an improved telescope that let him observe and describe the moons of Jupiter, the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus, sunspots and the rugged lunar surface. His flair for self-promotion earned him powerful friends among Italy’s ruling elite and enemies among the Catholic Church’s leaders. His advocacy of a heliocentric universe brought him before religious authorities in 1616 and again in 1633, when he was forced to recant and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Galileo was born in Pisa, Tuscany, on February 15, 1564, the oldest son of Vincenzo Galilei, a musician who made important contributions to the theory and practice of music and who may have performed some experiments with Galileo in 1588–89 on the relationship between pitch and the tension of strings. The family moved to Florence in the early 1570s, where the Galilei family had lived for generations. In his middle teens Galileo attended the monastery school at Vallombrosa, near Florence, and then in 1581 matriculated at the University of Pisa, where he was to study medicine. However, he became enamoured with mathematics and decided to make the mathematical subjects and philosophy his profession, against the protests of his father. Galileo then began to prepare himself to teach Aristotelian philosophy and mathematics, and several of his lectures have survived. In 1585 Galileo left the university without having obtained a degree, and for several years he gave private lessons in the mathematical subjects in Florence and Siena. During this period he designed a new form of hydrostatic balance for weighing small quantities and wrote a short treatise, La bilancetta (“The Little Balance”), that circulated in manuscript form. He also began his studies on motion, which he pursued steadily for the next two decades.

Letter

Dear Ms. Guarino,

First of all, I am so sorry that I did not have my homework today! I did not mean to be that. Believe me, I had a crazy weekend, and I will tell you where my homework is right now in the story below.

Last Friday, I went to the supermarket with my sister Jenny. She just picked me up from school, so that I had my bag with me. We wanted to buy some food for the weekend. However, when we went to the food shelf, a stupid cat rushed in front of me and beat my bag. I was scared, because all of my homework was in the bag, and I was longing to finish it! Therefore, I started fighting with the cat. It was screw. The cat ran away when it found out it had no chance to win. I thought" I am definitely not let that stupid cat destroy my beautiful homework!" Then I abandoned my sister, and ran out of the supermarket after the cat. Although the cat did not turn around at once, it was like it knew I was right after it. 

Why would a cat like my bag? I asked myself. Maybe it was a trap! I was afraid some bad guys were hiding behind the wall. However, it was too late. I have already run into a little street with only one conner in front of me. Suddenly, the cat stopped, and stared straight into my eyes. " Do you know why you are here?" OMG! The cat started talking! I even suspected if I was in my dream! " What are you?" I asked, " You are definitely not a cat!" " Uh, of course not a cat." Its shape was changing, and it got taller and taller! Finally, a young girl of my age stood in front of me. " Are you kidding me! A witch?!" I was almost wordless. " Clam down." She was a pretty witch with brown curly hair,"You are the person we chose. We did not live on this planet before. We lived on a planet where the paper was only for little cats to play. Paper has energy! The spirit of trees live in the paper, and we need this kind of energy to sustain our bodies. However, you people are stealing them from us! Therefore, I need your help to destroy all the homework on the earth, because homework is useless and wasteful. Can you help me?" I thought a lot in a few minutes. I loved my homework, but for the thousands of cats on another planet, I decided to help her destroy the homework.

Ms. Guarino, now you know why I did not have my homework today. Although my homework have been destroyed, its spirit went back to another planet. I was not too lazy to do that. I have to sacrifice my homework in order to save them! I know you love the cats, and I believe you must understand why I did that. I will do the homework on my iPad tonight. Thank you so much!

Sincerely,

Amanda 

The First Two Months In CA —— Enjoying In The Changes

I have been here at Cheshire Academy for two months, and they are also the first two months for me in CA. In those weeks, I met many new friends and learned a lot that I did not have chance to get in China. Now, I am happy and grateful for my life. It is  because I know here at CA, I would have many opportunities to improve, and to study.

At the beginning of this semester, I set some goals for myself. I hoped I could learned something about the culture. Here we have students from more than thirty different countries, and all of us came here to combine to a new community. That was exciting to  me. I like approaching new things, because that would make me feel I am growing and learning each day. I did, from my classmate I did learned a lot. My friend Sera is from Turkey. She told me that in her country, the high school students have much higher pressure than here in America. They have many tests and homework each week, but only a few interesting activities. I was shocked. It was not because of their high pressure; I was shocked by the similarity in Education of Turkey and China. That was exactly what my life was like. Just like Sera, I also made some friends from other different countries. From their stories, I am establishing an outline of this world that we live in, and I think that is very meaningful for me especially at this age. Knowing about culture can help me build a more comprehensive mind to understand the world, and deal with people in the real society.

Furthermore, I also have some improvements on academic subjects. I wanted to be a better writer, and improve myself on language. In those two months, I have written many stories and essays in my English and Writing and Comp classes. Back to two months ago, I had to spend more than forty minutes to finish an writing. However, after those practices, I can clearly feel that my speed of writing is much faster than before. When I wrote my essays, I did not translate everything I want to type down from Chinese to English any more. On the contrary, I can just use English to think, and it is also much easier for me to build the whole passage. During the process of practicing, I wrote, read, amend, and reread my writings over and over again. Each time, I could find some inappropriate points, and each time I was better by eliminating those errors. When I read back to my writings, I felt that they are not only words and sentences, but also the treasures for me.

I did improve myself a lot. However, They are also some wishes that were not completed in the past two months. Besides a better writer, I also wanted to be a better reader. Nonetheless, I did not have enough time to spend on reading. Everyday was fabulous and full, so that after I finished my homework and did some preview, they were not enough time for me to read the books I like. I think I will adjust my time schedule, and make it more scientific. Moreover, I also need to be more active. Usually when the teachers talked about some topics I would have my own ideas. However, I was not used to say my ideas out. It is because I did not think that is necessary at first. When you have something in mind, showing them out would not has much difference to you. Therefore I would rather to keep thinking and making my ideas better. Then, I finally found out that if you speak your ideas out to others, they may give you many useful advices. The brain storms like that are actually what could really improve ourselves.

All in all, I enjoy in my life here. I like my improvements, and even the spaces that wait for me to make progresses. Those months are only a small step; I believe I would keep getting better in the every single day at CA.

Present Perfect tense

1. Definition

2. Video (how to use)

3. The difference between present perfect tense and past simple tense. (questions)

4. Specific & Unspecific expressions

5. What you need to remember.

6. Game time (story) 

The hardest part in my paper—— The analysis of the thesis and content

Every paper I wrote taught me a lot. From the process of writing, amending, and reading, I could easily find many problems and then eliminate them. This time my paper is about a significant moment that happened in my childhood. The story part was not hard for me. However, a good paper needs much more than a single story. The comprehensive analysis of thesis and content is indispensable, and it was also the hardest part in my writing.

When I wrote my paper, the first thing came into my mind was the exciting story. It was very impressive, so that I used almost four fifths of the words in the first draft to prescribe the story. The story happened when I was nine. My cousin Tracy and I knocked the every door in the corridor without locking our own door while our parents came out. From that story I have learned a lot. Nonetheless, I did not focus well on what I have learned in the first draft. The story part was good, but I found out that my story needed more analysis to be supported; otherwise it was just a  funny story without thinking and meaning.

Then I read my writing over and over again, and finally decided to add analysis in the third paragraph and the last paragraph. However, the problems came again——I had to clarify my thesis. I love my story; I finished it, and I had certain places to analyse it, but I did not knew my analysis should be developed from what thesis. That really costed me a lot of time. I recalled the every single fragments of my memory of the Knock Knock, and thought about what I truly felt that day. I felt excited and embarrassed, but more important, I learned how to be a thoughtful and unselfish person.

Therefore, base on the “recklessness” and “selfishness”, I analysed my behaviours during the Knock Knock and developed my thinking into a profounder phase. I used to only care about myself and ignore my responsibility that my parents had given me. After my dad’s “punishment”, I understood that even a little carelessness may cause many undesirable results. Moreover, we can not find any excuse for our selfish actions. Then I connected some social problems with my thesis, and concluded the the impactions that this significant moment had given me. Finally, my analysis part and story part have almost the same proportion in the paper. I was afraid that I could not mix the big part of analysis with a long story, but now, I am proud that I solved the problem which seemed difficult before.

We used more than a week to amend this paper. During the class time, we read each other’s writing, and gave out our own advices.I have learned a lot of skills of writing from my classmates’ papers, such as how to organise the passage’s structure, and how to highlight the thesis better. What I have learned from my classmates leaded me to face those hard parts in my writing. In the next days of Writing and Composition class, I will try my best to deal with those parts that I am not good at----improving my skills of organising the thesis, and make more meaningful and comprehensive analysis.

Knock Knock (final draft)

                                                       

   What makes us who we are? Our lives. In my life, many significant moments combine together and stay with me since I started remembering things. Each of them has given me some unforgettable memories, and I am sure that they would never leave me. It is because what those moments taught me have already embedded in my personality. That is how we grow up——we imagine, practice, fail or succeed, and finally we would learn something, and then we will be more like an “adult”. When I was a kid, I always did something stupid, and that really took me many troubles. Actually I am a little appreciate those troubles now, because at least I won’ t be that stupid again in the high school. From all of those significant moments in my childhood, the Knock Knock game left me the profoundest memory. My cousin and I knocked all the doors in the corridor but left our own door opened, and finally we were punished for it. Although it was kind of like “catastrophe”, it was still educational. This special Knock Knock game lead me to be a person who is more careful and unselfish in some ways.

    That was a summer seven years ago.

   “Hurry up! We have to come back in twenty minutes!” My cousin Tracy running out of the door like an arrow. She rushes to the end of the corridor, and turns around waiting for me.

   This is our “big plan”.

   I am only nine years old now, and she is eleven. Our parents went to the supermarket which is two blocks away from here, and we do not want to waste the precious time that can be totally controlled by ourselves. We want to do something excited, but in a hotel with hundreds of people what is excited for two young kids? After a bitter argument, the “Knock Knock” game became the winner.

   It is really easy; all we need to do is just knocking the every single door in the corridor. However, Tracy says it seems easy, but you should be very careful and fast in order to run away before some furious adults catch you. Therefore Knock Knock is also hard, because once you estimate the wrong time or hide behind the wrong conner, you are definitely “dead”. It reminds me of the math problems. Some of them are pretty easy, but the half of the credit would be lost if you calculate a small number incorrectly. And so does the work, people are always cautious in the company; they do not want their boss to be mad and ask them to leave. My mom said life is also like that, and every step is important to us; we can not fail.

   

   But this would be extremely fun, I think.

   However, trouble comes even before the start.

   “Tracy wait!” I shout at her, “ We don’t have the card! How can we get back to room without the card?” I am nervous; I am afraid our cool game would be killed in swaddle.

   “Uh…”She is pondering; every time Tracy start thinking she would bite her lips.

   “Maybe we can just use something to keep the door open,uh…, like a book, or comb.”

   “Book! So people would not even notice the door is not closed because they are too thin; you are such a genius!”

   “Right, and we can just put it at the bottom of the door, that is not obvious.” She is excited, and run the whole way back to room, and puts her math book between the door and the doorframe.

  “ It’s time for the Knock Knock!”

   Two arrows rush through the corridor. “Knock, Knock”. We hide behind the wall and wait for people to come out. Ten seconds later, a fat old woman opens the door. She frowns and looks around while Tracy and I are laughing behind the hands.

   “So weird.” she murmure,and then turns back inside.

   Oh that is great! I can even imagine how the lights reflect from my eyes. It feels so good to tease someone. Apparently, Tracy also enjoys it, and she even has already started the next door.

   For the next fifteen minutes, almost every door on the this floor has been knocked once or more. We are shrewd. We controlled the time for each door, and that means you can not knock the next door until the last person back in, otherwise many people would be in the corridor and look around at the same time; they will find out they were teased by kids.

   If we were caught by them, they would definitely take us to our parents.

   However, the fact is often much more cruel than the imagination——we are caught by our parents.

   Like I said, sometimes life is just like a game——once you lose, then almost everything would be destroyed.

   It seems like my parents’ faces just came out from the refrigerator, and my aunt, Tracy’s mom does not even look at her. Tracy said this kind of silence is the “you really got in trouble”signal.

   “Do you know what we would lose if someone came in?” Finally, my dad break this terrible silence, “Our passport, cash, phones, and packages. You think you are smart enough to leave the door like that?”

   Oh god! I am screaming inside. They found out the book! So it is not because of the Knock Knock!  “No, that was stupid.” I answer.

   It’s true, we were careless. Maybe it is just because of the limit time, and we did not thought that much. I am not dare to watch my dad’s eyes, because I know what he means; once some thieves came into the room, the loss would be unmeasurable.

   “Come here, I’ll beat each of you ten times on your hands for the punishment.”

   We do not say anything, just accept our punishment wordlessly.

   I swear that was the first time my dad beat me in my life; even seven years past, that was also the only one.

   I think I did learn something form that unforgettable pain.

   Never make any decisions easily when you are eager to do something else.

   It is because you may ignore many important aspects if you are impatient. It just like if you decide to leave the fire in kitchen only because your favourite movie will start in five minute, then maybe after you come back a burning house would be the only thing you have. Recklessness is terrible, it is one of the main reasons of the traffic accident, work fault, and business failure. The little points that we missed in a regular day may be a start of the disaster. Then just take your time and think about what result would be caused by your behaviour instead of what you would be benefit from the speed.

   And never only care about yourselves——that is what my dad said all the time during the “punishment”. Because of selfishness, we ignored our responsibility of taking care of the room and packages. We enjoyed the happiness that the exciting game provided us, and all we had in mind was how to knock the door and hide behind the wall. Actually, that was what my dad really mad at; he said “selfishness” can not be forgiven in this world.

   I remember this all the time. Now, after I finally grew up and became mature enough to understand my dad’s words, I begin to realise the meaning behind it. Everything happened in this world for a reason. Even the bad things. Some people steal wallet because their children need money to study; some people take the bread away without paying for their hungry old parents. However, there are also someone who break the rules for their personal needs. They refuse to think about others’ feelings, the result that caused by themselves, and even the moral rule in society,. They are selfish, and finally become greedy.

   Therefore, I am grateful to my dad and the Knock Knock for what they have taught me when I was a child. At the end of last semester, I was facing a very boring essay, and I was exhausted with that. My friends suggested me to just find a paragraph on the internet and copy it into my essay. However, I refused, because I remembered that impressed Knock Knock, that unlocked door, and my dad's words. They alerted me what to do and what not to do. If I copied others' work on the internet, finally it would be harmful to both the authors and myself. Sometimes the easiest way is not a good way to go.

   Now, I think our “big plan” was actually more like a lesson. After that summer, every time when I planned to do something, the pain of my hands always  reminded me to be thoughtful and take everything into consideration.

Knock knock1

                                                            

   Our lives make us who we are. In my life, many significant moments combine together and stay with me since I started remembering things. Each of them has given me some unforgettable memories, and I am sure that they would never leave me. It is because what those moments taught me have already embedded in my personality. That is how we grow up——we imagine, practice, fail or succeed, and finally we would learn something, and then we will be more like an “adult”.

   When I was a kid, I always did something stupid, and that really took me many troubles. Actually I am a little appreciate those troubles now, because at least I won’ t be that stupid again in the high school.

   From all of those significant moments in my childhood, the Knock Knock game left me the profoundest memory.  Although it was kind of like a “catastrophe”, it was still exciting, and even educational in some ways.

   That was a summer in seven years ago.

   “Hurry up! We have to come back in twenty minutes!”

   My cousin Tracy running out of the door like an arrow. She rushes to the end of the corridor, and turns around waiting for me.

   This is our “big plan”.

   I am only nine years old now, and she is eleven. Our parents went to the supermarket which is two blocks away from here, and we do not want to waste the precious time that can be totally controlled by ourselves. We want to do something excited, but in a hotel with hundreds of people what is excited for two young kids? After a bitter argument, the “Knock Knock” game became the winner.

   It is really easy; all we need to do is just knocking the every single door in the corridor. However, Tracy says it seems easy, but you should be very careful and fast in order to run away before some furious adults catch you. Therefore Knock Knock is also hard, because once you estimate the wrong time or hide behind the wrong conner, you are definitely “dead”. It reminds me of the math problems. Some of them are pretty easy, but the half of the credit would be lost if you calculate a small number incorrectly. And so does the work, people are always cautious in the company; they do not want their boss to be mad and ask them to leave. My mom said life is also like that, and every step is important to us; we can not fail.

  

   But this would be extremely fun, I think.

   However, trouble comes even before the start.

   “Tracy wait!” I shout at her, “ We don’t have the card! How can we get back to room without the card?” I am nervous; I am afraid our cool game would be killed in swaddle.

   “Uh…”She is pondering; every time Tracy start thinking she would bite her lips.

   “Maybe we can just use something to keep the door open,uh…, like a book, or comb.”

   “Book! So people would not even notice the door is not closed because they are too thin; you are such a genius!”

   “Right, and we can just put it at the bottom of the door, that is not obvious.” She is excited, and run the whole way back to room, and puts her math book between the door and the doorframe.

  “ It’s time for the Knock Knock!”

   Two arrows rush through the corridor. “Knock, Knock”. We hide behind the wall and wait for people to come out. Ten seconds later, a fat old woman opens the door. She frowns and looks around while Tracy and I are laughing behind the hands.

   “So weird.” she murmured, and then turns back inside.

   Oh that is great! I can even imagine how the lights reflect from my eyes. It feels so good to tease someone. Apparently, Tracy also enjoys it, and she even has already started the next door.

   For the next fifteen minutes, almost every door on the this floor has been knocked once or more. We are shrewd. We controlled the time for each door, and that means you can not knock the next door until the last person back in, otherwise many people would be in the corridor and look around at the same time; they will find out they were teased by kids.

   If we were caught by them, they would definitely take us to our parents.

   However, the fact is often much more cruel than the imagination——we are caught by our parents.

  

   Like I said, sometimes life is just like a game——once you lose, then almost everything would be destroyed.

It seems like my parents’ faces just came out from the refrigerator, and my aunt, Tracy’s mom does not even look at her. Tracy said this kind of silence is the “you really got in trouble”signal.

   “Do you know what we would lose if someone came in?” Finally, my dad break this terrible silence, “Our passport, cash, phones, and packages. You think you are smart enough to leave the door like that?”

   Oh god! I am screaming inside. They found out the book! So it is not because of the Knock Knock!  “No, that was stupid.” I answer.

   It’s true, we were careless. Maybe it is just because of the limit time, and we did not thought that much. I am not dare to watch my dad’s eyes, because I know what he means; once some thieves came into the room, the loss would be unmeasurable.

   “Come here, I’ll beat each of you ten times on your hands for the punishment.”

   We do not say anything, just accept our punishment wordlessly.

  

  

   I swear that was the first time my dad beat me in my life, and seven years past, that was also the only one.

   I think I did learn something form that unforgettable pain.

   Never make any decisions easily when you are eager to do something else.

   It is because you may ignore many important aspects if you are impatient. It just like if you decide to leave the fire in kitchen only because your favourite movie will start in five minute, then maybe after you come back a burning house would be the only thing you have. Recklessness is terrible, it is one of the main reasons of the traffic accident, work fault, and business failure. The little points that we missed in a regular day may be a start of the disaster. Then just take your time and think about what result would be caused by your behaviour instead of what you would be benefit from the speed.

   And never only care about yourselves——that is what my dad said all the time during the “punishment”. Because of selfishness, we ignored our responsibility of taking care of the room and packages. We enjoyed the happiness that the exciting game provided us, and all we had in mind was how to knock the door and hide behind the wall. Actually, that was what my dad really mad at; he said “selfishness” can not be forgiven in this world.

   I remember this all the time. Now, after I finally grew up and became mature enough to understand my dad’s words, I begin to realise the meaning behind it. Everything happened in this world for a reason. Even the bad things. Some people steal wallet because their children need money to study; some people take the bread away without paying for their hungry old parents. However, there are also someone who break the rules for their personal needs. They refuse to think about others’ feelings, the result that caused by themselves, and even the moral rule in society,. They are selfish, and finally become greedy.

   Therefore, I am grateful to my dad and the Knock Knock for what they have taught me when I was a child.

   Now, I think our “big plan” was actually more like a lesson. After that summer, every time when I planned to do something, the pain of my hands always  reminded me to be thoughtful and take everything into consideration.

Knock knock

“Hurry up! We have to come back in twenty minutes!”

My cousin Tracy running out of the door like an arrow. She rushes to the end of the corridor, and turns around waiting for me.

This is our “big plan”.

I am only nine years old now, and she is eleven. Our parents went to the supermarket which is two blocks away from here, and we do not want to waste the precious time that can be totally controlled by ourselves. We want to do something excited, but in a hotel with hundreds of people what is excited for two young kids? After a bitter argument, the “Knock Knock” game became the winner.

It is really easy; all we need to do is just knocking the every single door in the corridor. However, Tracy says it seems easy, but you should be very careful and fast in order to run away before some furious adults catch you.

It would be extremely fun, I think.

However, trouble comes even before the start.

“Tracy wait!” I shout at her, “ We don’t have the card! How can we get back to room without the card?” I am nervous; I am afraid our cool game would be killed in swaddle.

“uh…”She is pondering; every time Tracy start thinking she would bite her lips.

“Maybe we can just use something to keep the door open,uh…, like a book, or comb.”

“Book! So people would not even notice the door is not closed because they are too thin; you are such a genius!”

“Right, and we can just put it at the bottom of the door, that is not obvious.” She is excited, and run the whole way back to room, and puts her math book between the door and the doorframe.

“ It’s time for the Knock Knock!”

Two arrows rush through the corridor. The first doorbell rings. We hide behind the wall and wait for people to come out.

Ten seconds later, a fat old woman opens the door. She frowns and looks around while Tracy and I are laughing behind the hands.

“So weird.” she murmured, and then turns back inside.

Oh that is great! I can even imagine how the lights reflect form my eyes. It feels so good to tease someone.

Apparently, Tracy also enjoys it, and she even has already started the next door.

For the next fifteen minutes, almost every door on the floor three has been knocked once or more. We are shrewd. We controlled the time for each door, and that means you can not knock the next door until the last person back in, otherwise many people would be in the corridor and look around at the same time , they will find out they were teased by kids.

If we were caught by them, they would definitely take us to our parents.

However, the fact is often much more cruel than the imagination——we are caught by our parents.

It seems like my dad and mom’s faces just came out from the refrigerator, and my aunt, Tracy’s mom does not even look at her.

Tracy said this kind of silence is the “you really got in trouble”signal.

“Do you know what we would lose if someone came in?” Finally, my dad break this terrible silence, “Our passport, cash, phones, and packages. You think you are smart enough to leave the door like that?”

Oh god! I am screaming inside. They found out the book! So it is not because of the Knock Knock!

“No, that was stupid.” I answer. It’s true, we were careless. Maybe it is just because of the limit time, and we did not thought that much. I am not dare to watch my dad’s eyes, because I know what he means; once some thieves came into the room, the loss would be unmeasurable.

“Come here, I’ll beat each of you ten times on your hands for the punishment.”

We do not say anything, just accept our punishment wordlessly.

I swear this is the first time my dad beat me in my life, I think I do learn something form that unforgettable pain.

Never make any decisions easily when you are eager to do something else. It is because you may ignore many important aspects if you are impatient.

And never only think about yourselves——that is what my dad says all the time during the “punishment”. I think our “big plan” is more like a lesson now, and maybe the next time when I plan to do something, the pain of my hands would remind me to be thoughtful and take everything into consideration.

About Grammar

There are two kinds of grammar problems always appear in my writings——Run-on sentence, and Definite and Indefinite articles. Those problems are very small but important, because they can decide the structures of the sentences, and even more important, they can control your grade.

First, according to a grammar website: “A RUN-ON SENTENCE (sometimes called a "fused sentence") has at least two parts, either one of which can stand by itself, but the two parts have been smoothed together instead of being properly connected.” (web, http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/runons.htm,Run-on Sentences, Comma Splices) Both of the  two parts of the sentence are independent sentences, and they are connected by comma. However, comma can not be the only thing stands between them; if you want to connect them together a conjunction is necessary. FOR, AND, NOR, BUT, OR, YET, SO——they are six common conjunctions.

For example, there is a wrong sentence in my writing: “ Griet had a poor family because of her father’s accident, it moved the huge responsibility onto her young shoulders, but even more pathetic, her younger sister Agnes died in the plague.” In this sentence, there is a comma connect the first two clauses. However, I missed a connecter “AND”. Therefore, the correct sentence should be: “Griet had a poor family because of her afters' accident, and it moved the huge responsibility onto her young shoulders…..” The third clause is right, because it has the connecter “BUT”. Furthermore, adding semicolon between those clauses is also a way to solve the problem.

Second, definite and indefinite articles were also confused to me. “THE” the a definite article; we usually put it in front of some specific nouns. For instance: “Please give me the cup.” In this sentence, the cup is a definite noun, because it is obviously which cup I want. Therefore the definite article “THE” must be put in front of the “cup”. As for the differences between definite and indefinite articles; I found an instruction on the website “YOURDICTIONARY”: “ When We’ve introduced it already, or there is only one in existence that matters, or we describe exactly which one we’re talking about; then we can use definite articles. When we are introducing a noun for the first time in a story, or we don’t care which one exactly; then we can use indefinite articles.” (web,http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/definite-and-indefinite-articles.html,Definite and Indefinite Articles )By the way, both of “A” and”AN” are indefinite articles, and which one to use depends on the initial of the noun.

For instance: “……and that do make me feel like I am standing right in the picture when a warm zephyr is blowing through low tides of L’Ally Point and taking the sunshine away.” The “low tides” is an error in this sentence. It is because those low tides’ location is clear; they are just L’Ally Point’s low tides, so I should add “THE” in front of the “low tides”.

I learned those grammar problems and clarified the usages of them this week. Then, I plan to reread my writings before, and mark all the errors in them, because in this way they can leave me a stronger impression and remind me not to make the mistakes again. Throughout this year, I would be more carefully while writing, and read more excellent books in order to study the sentence structures, because I think the grammar is just the first step towards a great essay, and good sentences should be not only correct, but also beautiful.

Letter

Dear Annie,

I am one of Jim’s friends Amanda; 3 days ago I heard about your stories. Jim is so sad now because he just lost his best friend, girl friend, and 1.5 million dollars. As a friend of him, I wanna give you some of my opinions in this letter.

You were his girl friend, the person he loved the most in this world, but you left him just because of the deferred wedding. I have to say that what you have done by now was telling everyone that your boyfriend’s position was even not as high as a stupid wedding. "Annie, I have something to tell you. I need to follow my heart, I need to invest in the musical company, it's my final shot!"--this is what he told you, and you can tell how much he loves music, but you just said he was selfish because he wanted to pursue his dream first. In my point of view, everyone has his right to pursue the dreams. However, what you thought about all day was just the wedding dress, honeymoon, house, and car. To be honest, have you ever cared about him?

Jim said that Sam told him: “ you earn much more money than 1.5 million, that you can provide her with the best life in the world. The only price for her is to wait for a couple of years.” Then he agreed. You see, what he want to pursue was not only his dream, but also a better life that he can provide for you! You may not know, the next day right after your quarrel, he came to find Sam; however Sam betrayed him and left with his money. He was desperate, and when he came back home, your letter appeared. You broke up with him, and your words were just like the last straw that broke his back.

If I were you, I would choose to stay with him and do whatever I can to  help him, because as his fiancé I should also struggle for our  family, and future. Family is composed by both of you, and it is unfair to put all the responsibility on his shoulder. Please, think about your decision. You should calm down and then talk with him. He really needs you now! If you love him, you should support him to chase his dream, and give him courage to get out of grief. Love is not chains, you need to know how to compromise for someone you love, and help him when he is in trouble. However, if you still consist that he should disappear in you life only because of the wedding, then maybe breaking up is lucky for him.

Jim and you were happy, think of those days. Don't hurt him; he is waiting for you!

yours,

Amanda

Letter

Dear Annie,

I am one of Jim’s friends; 3 days ago I heard about your stories. Jim is so sad now because he just lost his beast friend, girl friend, and 1.5 million dollars. As a friend of him, I wanna give you some of my opinions in this letter.

You were his girl friend, the person he loved the most in this world, but you left him just because of the deferred wedding. I have to say that what you have done by now was telling everyone that your boyfriend’s position was even not as high as a stupid wedding. You said he was selfish because he wanted to pursue his dream first. In my point of view, everyone has his right to pursue the dreams. However, what you thought about all day was just the wedding dress, honeymoon, house, and car. To be honest, have you ever cared about him?

Jim said that Sam told him: “ you earn much more money than 1.5 million, that you can provide her with the best life in the world. The only price for her is to wait for a couple of years.” Then he agreed. You see, what he what to pursue was not only his dream, but also a better life that he can provide for you! You may not know, the next day right after your quarrel, he came to find Sam; however Sam betrayed him and left with his money. He was desperate, and when he came back home, your letter appeared. You broke up with him, and your words were just like the last straw that broke his back.

Please, think about your decision. You should calm down and then talk with him. He really needs you now! If you love him, you should support him to chase his dream. Love is not chains, you need to know how to compromise for someone you love, and help him when he is in trouble. However, if you still consist that he should disappear in you life only because of the wedding, then maybe breaking up is lucky for him.

yours,

XXX

Creative writing——Every interesting story has two sides

Creative writing is a kind of story that can be created by yourself. Whenever you are sad, happy, or excited, you can just find a piece of paper and write your story down. Creative writing is a way to express yourself which shows your inner world. In my point of view, the most interesting point of creative writing is its diversity that caused by each individual, and they are not just “creative”.

Everyone has different life experience, and in the creative writing, writers might choose their friends, family, or lovers to be the prototypes. Furthermore, the stories that happened in the creative writing sometimes are also created based on writers’ daily lives. In this way, the writing would be more vivid than just being created, and make readers feel interesting and sink into the stories.

For example, if you read a story about a boy whose parents have fight with each other everyday; you might be attracted by the dialogs between the family; their behaviours of living lives; the sad atmosphere in their home, or the opinions that narrated by the boy. The reason why people like reading it is that in the “unreal” writing like this, people can also find some part of plots they are familiar with; maybe a character, a room, or even an old sofa would reminds them of someone or some where that have appeared in their lives. Moreover, besides of the realistic elements, the creative writing mixes the real and the unreal together, and makes people visualise images that do not even exist. People like that kind of feeling, because that would complete the blank part in their lives and that do interest them a lot.

I have read a lot of creative writings like fictions before. I like the comprehensive relationship between characters; the different background and history of different families, and the beautiful stories happened in a unreal world that created by people . All of those things are the ingredients of the writing, and each of them has its own special taste. Therefore, in my own creative writing, I added some emotional descriptions intensively to make my story resonate with readers. For instance, at the end of my writing, I let Patrick said his feeling about Joanna out by himself, and used metaphor to describe Joanna’s position in his heart in order to inspire readers’ emotion and interest them. During the dialog, I chose to use memory to represent Joanna and Patrick’s past . It is because I knew people like recalling things that happened in their lives, and the description of those good old days would give them a kind of nostalgic feeling, and even think about themselves. In this way, the readers would sink into the story, and have interest to read what happened after. On the other hand, I changed my word more lyric, beautified the environment of the island the protagonists lived, and gave readers some space to imagine by creating the endless love between Joanna and Patrick.

All in all, the creative writing is interesting is not only because of some strange or creative parts, but also the feeling behind it that can be connected with the real world.The writers need to hide this kind of feeling with certain plots and create a world that all the readers have the interest to live in.

Video-The Island

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKZd8QHkj6k&feature=youtu.be

We have been here on the island for two weeks. I woke up early this morning; when I came out, he was just sitting in front of the easel. He is really old and taciturn.

[I come a little bit closer in order to watch the painting clearly. ]

“Are you sad?”

“Sad?”

[he turns to me, but his eyes are looking at another point right behind me ]

"I am not sad, girl, you don’t understand.”

I know what he was looking at—my grandma’s flowers.
This old man is my seventy-year-old step grandpa Patrick. I have never met him before because he and my grandma moved to this island fifteen years ago.
However, a few weeks ago, my grandma died.
My mom said she had no father when she was born, and her sixth birthday party was where my grandma and Patrick fell in love.
He loved my grandma so much, and promised that he would take her to everywhere she want, and never leave her alone. He did, actually, right after I was born, they came here.
Every morning Patrick would make two cups of coffee, and set up his easel out on the mountain. He always works in the morning, before the sunrise. I don’t know why, maybe it is just one of the artist’s weird eccentricities.

“Do you miss her?”

“Look at mountain, what can you see?”

[He points at one of the conner of the painting.]

“Trees. What is that mean?”

[I look straight into his eyes, but he is still looking at somewhere else.]

“We planted them, me and Joanna, your grandma. Now they are as old as you are.”

[He smiles]

“ and look at the sky; you can distinguish the colors. The clouds are not just white and grey; there are yellow, lilac, pink, and sapphire. And look at the sea water, there are beige, gold, and navy blue. We used to argue a lot about the colors. I am the painter, but Joanna always won. She was very sensitive on the colors, and that did make her really excited and talk about them for the whole day.”

[He puts down his pen, and sinks into memory.]

“The first time I met her was forty years ago. I was just some guy who traveled through the town, and going to find my uncle in the next village, but I saw her. She had amazing brown hair as a waterfall was poured from the sky, her cherry-like mouth, attractive eyes, and my favorite white dress."

Past

J" Hi, where are you from?"

P " XXX, just a stupid village, never mind."

P " so you live here?"

J " yeah, with my daughter, I just came out and water those plants, they are crazy, don't they?"

P " They do...wait, you are married?"

J " I did, actually. He was just...just gone."

P "oh...I am sorry."

J "That's ok, it has been many years. It's a long story."

P "I'm willing to hear all about you."

[Sitting on a bench]

J " we loved each other for ten years, we were happy. But as time passes, there were just something, stupid things, but no one said. But then all of those things piled up together, and for a while, we really could not understand each other at all. So after he met another beautiful woman who was younger than me, he just left to somewhere I would never know."

J " I raise my daughter by myself, day after day, I was exhausted, and even thought about giving up. But I can't, I am her mom, I would never leave her alone."

J " But it is so hard..."

P" maybe you can find someone to rely on."

J " I know...I tried, but every time after they knew about my daughter, they gave up."

P" Maybe I can stay..."

Present
"I can never forget that smile; I loved her with my whole life since the first second I saw her.”

“I don’t even know her much,”
“ I am glad to hear these.”

“ You remind me of her, girl.”

[he gets the pen again, and adds a little black on it,]

“she liked to stay here with me and talked whatever appeared in her head.”
“ Joanna missed you a lot. Every time she found there were some kids playing in the water she would start telling me about your mom in her childhood and you brother when he was little, and you, who she was not lucky enough to take care of.”

[Patrick paints some little black outlines of people on the beach. They are playing together, water fight maybe.]

“ But you asked me if I miss her,”

[he stares at the sea water with smile in his eyes, ]

“ No, I don’t.”
“She is just like the low tide in the morning; the new leaves of an old tree that we used to planted; the soft wind fly though my hair.”
“She is a part of my world.”

[He adds two people leaning together behind others.]

“She is a part of me.”

The Island

                                               

   We have been here on the island for two weeks. I woke up early this morning; when I came out, he was just sitting in front of the easel. He is really old and taciturn. I come a little bit closer in order to watch the painting clearly. It is amazing; he painted the west beach with the fabulous sky above the peaceful low tide. It was a sunny day I guess, because the painting is mostly composed by gold and purple.
   “Are you sad?” I ask him.
   “Sad?” he turns to me, but his eyes are looking at another point right behind me , “I am not sad, girl, you don’t understand.”
   I know what he was looking at—my grandma’s flowers.
   This old man is my seventy-year-old step grandpa Patrick. I have never met him before because he and my grandma moved to this island fifteen years ago.   
   However, a few weeks ago, my grandma died.
   My mom said she had no father when she was born, and her sixth birthday party was where my grandma and Patrick fell in love.
   He loved my grandma so much, and promised that he would take her to everywhere she want, and never leave her alone. He did, actually, right after I was born, they came here.
   It is a beautiful island with only a few families. My grandparents lived in an artistic wooden house near the west beach. They have a lovely garden with hundreds of flowers in it. The flowers were my grandma’s job. She liked flowers, she liked their smell, their bright colours, and their different ways of growing. 

   In July, some of visitors would come here by ship and live about two weeks. The scene of this island is famous, especially the beach. The sky is colorful and wide, and it is just like an extremely fabulous mantle covers above the sea water. When you walk on the beach, you can feel the warm sands flow through the toes, and the mild sunshine mixes into the air and murmurs near your ears. Sea gulls' songs break people's sweat dreams in every peaceful dawn, day after day, the old island seems to be the same from the beginning to the end.

   The house is on the conner of cliff. Go back through the garden, is a stair towards the beach under the cliff, and kids often play on the beach, there are many small pebbles can be used to build castles.  Most of the residents here are some old people with their grandchildren. Little girl Jenny told me playing in my grandma’s sweet garden was her favourite part of the whole day.

   Every morning Patrick would make two cups of coffee, and set up his easel out on the mountain. He always works in the morning, before the sunrise. I don’t know why, maybe it is just one of the artist’s weird eccentricities.
   “Do you miss her?” I did not talk with him a lot, but now there are just two of us; I think it is good to start a conversation.
   “Look at mountain, what can you see?” He points at one of the conner of the painting. “Trees. What is that mean?” I look straight into his eyes, but he is still looking at somewhere else.
   “We planted them, me and Joanna, your grandma. Now they are as old as you are.” He smiles, “ and look at the sky; you can distinguish the colours. The clouds are not just white and grey; there are yellow, lilac, pink, and sapphire. And look at the sea water, there are beige, gold, and navy blue. We used to argue a lot about the colours. I am the painter, but Joanna always won. She was very sensitive on the colours, and that did make her really excited and talk about them for the whole day.”
   He puts down his pen, and sinks into memory.
   “The first time I met her was forty years ago. I was just some guy who traveled through the town, and going to find my uncle in the next village, but I saw her. She had amazing brown hair as a waterfall was poured from the sky, her cherry-like mouth, attractive eyes, and my favourite white dress. She was laughing with your mom among the flowers; I can never forget that smile; I loved her with my whole life since the first second I saw her.”
   “I don’t even know her much,” that is true, because the only thing I heard about my grandma form mom was just she was far away from us with her husband, “ I am glad to hear these.”
   “ You remind me of her,” he gets the pen again, and adds a little black on it, “she liked to stay here with me and talked whatever appeared in her head.”
   “ Joanna missed you a lot. Every time she found there were some kids playing in the water she would start telling me about your mom in her childhood and you brother when he was little, and you, who she was not lucky enough to take care of.”
   Patrick paints some little black outlines of people on the beach. They are playing together, water fight maybe.
   “ But you asked me if I miss her,” he stares at the sea water with smile in his eyes, “ No, I don’t.”
   “She is just like the low tide in the morning; the new leaves of an old tree that we used to planted; the soft wind fly though my hair.”
   “She is a part of my world.”
   He adds two people leaning together behind others.
   “She is a part of me.”
  
    

The Island

                                               
   We have been here on the island for two weeks. I woke up early this morning; when I came out, he was just sitting in front of the easel. He is really old and taciturn. I come a little bit closer in order to watch the painting clearly. It is amazing; he painted the west beach with the fabulous sky above the peaceful low tide. It was a sunny day I guess, because the painting is mostly composed by gold and purple.
   “Are you sad?” I ask him.
   “Sad?” he turns to me, but his eyes are looking at another point right behind me , “I am not sad, girl, you don’t understand.”
   I know what he was looking at—my grandma’s flowers.
   This old man is my seventy-year-old step grandpa Patrick. I have never met him before because he and my grandma moved to this island fifteen years ago.   
   However, a few weeks ago, my grandma died.
   My mom said she had no father when she was born, and her sixth birthday party was where my grandma and Patrick fell in love.
   He loved my grandma so much, and promised that he would take her to everywhere she want, and never leave her alone. He did, actually, right after I was born, they came here.
   It is a beautiful island with only a few families. My grandparents lived in an artistic wooden house near the west beach. They have a lovely garden with hundreds of flowers in it. The flowers were my grandma’s job. She liked flowers, she liked their smell, their bright colours, and their different ways of growing. The house is on the conner of cliff. Go back through the garden, is a stair towards the beach under the cliff, and kids often play on the beach, there are many small pebbles can be used to build castles.  Most of the residents here are some old people with their grandchildren. Little girl Jenny told me playing in my grandma’s sweet garden was her favourite part of the whole day.
   Every morning Patrick would make two cups of coffee, and set up his easel out on the mountain. He always works in the morning, before the sunrise. I don’t know why, maybe it is just one of the artist’s weird eccentricities.
   “Do you miss her?” I did not talk with him a lot, but now there are just two of us; I think it is good to start a conversation.
   “Look at mountain, what can you see?” He points at one of the conner of the painting. “Trees. What is that mean?” I look straight into his eyes, but he is still looking at somewhere else.
   “We planted them, me and Joanna, your grandma. Now they are as old as you are.” He smiles, “ and look at the sky; you can distinguish the colours. The clouds are not just white and grey; there are yellow, lilac, pink, and sapphire. And look at the sea water, there are beige, gold, and navy blue. We used to argue a lot about the colours. I am the painter, but Joanna always won. She was very sensitive on the colours, and that did make her really excited and talk about them for the whole day.”
   He puts down his pen, and sinks into memory.
   “The first time I met her was forty years ago. I was just some guy who traveled through the town, and going to find my uncle in the next village, but I saw her. She had amazing brown hair as a waterfall was poured from the sky, her cherry-like mouth, attractive eyes, and my favourite white dress. She was laughing with your mom among the flowers; I can never forget that smile; I loved her with my whole life since the first second I saw her.”
   “I don’t even know her much,” that is true, because the only thing I heard about my grandma form mom was just she was far away from us with her husband, “ I am glad to hear these.”
   “ You remind me of her,” he gets the pen again, and adds a little black on it, “she liked to stay here with me and talked whatever appeared in her head.”
   “ Joanna missed you a lot. Every time she found there were some kids playing in the water she would start telling me about your mom in her childhood and you brother when he was little, and you, who she was not lucky enough to take care of.”
   Patrick paints some little black outlines of people on the beach. They are playing together, water fight maybe.
   “ But you asked me if I miss her,” he stares at the sea water with smile in his eyes, “ No, I don’t.”
   “She is just like the low tide in the morning; the new leaves of an old tree that we used to planted; the soft wind fly though my hair.”
   “She is a part of my world.”
   He adds two people leaning together behind others.
   “She is a part of me.”