Taking Bus in Singapore

            Taking bus to your destination is not easy in Singapore. Why? Because the names of the stops won’t be announced to you, which may confuses newcomers just like me. To be honest, although having been here for nearly two months, sometimes I still have no confidence in getting myself the right direction to go, especially when I need to find my way to go somewhere I do not know. It can be a long tiring journey, and this is not a joke.

            During the spring festival of this lunar year, I stayed with my parents who

Came from China for me, their loved son. Though I felt so excited, a bus experience just made me confused. On February 1^st, after the hectic day, we got back to Eton Hall. Seeing my parents waiting for me, I quickly rushed to them and hugged them. I told them my life here while approaching the bus stop near Queensway. Then we took the bus no.33 to their hotel. The way didn’t seem long because I just paid my attention to my dear parents, and every world from them seemed so beautiful and familiar to me. After dinner, I carried the snacks brought from China to the bus stop near the hotel, waiting for the bus with my parents. Just before the rain came, I got myself a sit on the bus heading for Eton Hall by myself. This time the way was so long and suddenly a flow of loneliness flooded into my heart. However, what is worse, it was 9 o’clock and the darkness and rain made everything outside the window so blurring. It was hard to navigate my position in such a predicament. While feeling helpless, a huge billboard came into my sight, even though it was blurring, I could still identify it. Thinking that was my destination, I tapped the stopping button, grabbed my bag, tapped the card and got off the bus. Then, I just found myself lost because that’s not the right place. I had to wait for another bus and it was already 10 o’clock. Finally, there came the bus. Sweating and tired, I walked back from the bus stop with the heavy bag. Having informed the auntie in hall, I didn’t get in trouble for struggling back so late.

              Although still feel not so comfortable, I was trying to adapt to this. If you cannot change the others, change yourself. Now for me, I will change my way of taking a bus, from negative to positive, as well as my way of life.

To choose again

In the last few weeks, we attended 3 briefings separately held by School of computing, Faculty of Science and Faculty of Engineering. Though these 3 briefings were held in different places, in different time and with different contents, they shared the same topic, major. In August of this year, we will formally become members of NUS, so we have to focus on what we will study in the next 3 or 4 years from now on.
We are the 19th Batch of SM3 Scholars, which shows that we were selected from different universities in China, so we have already gone through the process of choosing majors once. However, things change completely this time. Now, we are in Singapore, whose education system is totally different from Chinese system. When we were in China, if someone said what major in which university was the best and you could be admitted in, then I would choose that one, because there is always a principle going like the better major you are in, the better future you will get. Thus, there are seldom problems in general. The only thing that we focus on is the quality of the course. On the contrary, in NUS, no matter which faculty you are in, which major you graduate from, nearly all the graduates can get a good job. Therefore, our focus is no longer fixed on the quality. What should we focus on? Perhaps most of us are confused. Seniors say that we should choose according to our interests, but the problem is that even we ourselves do not know what our interests are. The only thing we know exactly is that this choice is so important that it can have an effect on our whole life. That is why we think making such a kind of decision is so annoying.
Maybe we need to do more research on the faculties and majors so that we can learn more details about them. When we know more, I think it will be easier to make a decision. Anyway, we need to choose again.

BBQ

To celebrate the Lantern Festival, some friends and I went to the east coast of Singapore to have a barbecue. It was my first time to have a BBQ in Singapore. It was also my first time to go to the east coast.
In Saturday, we should have a lecture about the faculties of science. After the lecture, going without saying, a rich buffet had been prepared for us. Considering that the BBQ would start soon, I had to eat less. It proved to be an advisable decision as I saw a lot of delicious food material as I got to the beach. Without any experience in barbecuing outdoors, I watched the seniors making a fire. I found it was a tough work requiring patience. The fire was no so easy to be made. After several minutes, the seniors were in a sweat before we grilled food but the efforts were rewarded. Then, we could grill food by ourselves. No wonder Singapore is a city with unpredictable weather, so it rained large drops suddenly. To avoid the fire being went out, we held four umbrellas around the barbeque. It was not comfortable job because of the choking smoke. We held the umbrellas alternately and had the delicious food which is barbecued by ourselves during the break.
Our good mood was hardly affected by the rain. We swam in the sea after the BBQ and amused near the beach. It was a really nice time in the festival.

Truman show.

During the weekend, I watched a classic American movie named The Truman Show. It is so famous that more than five friends have recommended it to me before. Indeed, after I completely watched the 103-minute-long film, I did get a powerful shock.
The movie put on in 1998 told a fiction story about an ordinary young man called Truman. Like other common residents living in his town, Truman go to work and back home every day. However, he could not manage to go outside his hometown no matter what approaches he uses. In addition, some unusual things did happen in Truman’s life. Not until Truman found himself always being followed after one day did he make up his mind to find the truth and escape from this boring place.
It is a movie full of sarcasm. The title has already indicated the theme. Nothing is true in the life of Truman. All the people Truman knows or believes are actors even his mother and wife. Those surroundings are fake entirely. What is more inconceivable is that the season changes and the sea tides are all made by the ‘great’ director Christopher. Everything we believe is just a TV show. Luckily, Truman defeated the strong storm on the sea and successfully get out of the false world. While, walking out of the movie, what is the reality meaning to us? Sometimes we may feel like fleeing out of our boring and bald life. Avoiding any calls or works for the whole day just to get relaxed. But we do not live in a virtual world as Truman does. Anyway, life is just about up-and-downs. So we get no choice but to face the difficulty or the challenge in our destiny.

Your eyes big so your world small

Since it is just after the Chinese New Year, my content is also related to it. But I’m not writing about my experience; I would like to share my thoughts. It is the first time for me and the majority of us SM3 students to celebrate the Chinese New Year without our parents nearby. During the holiday, I happened to come across a passage written by an overseas student. She complained about the loneliness and the loss of the festival atmosphere. Besides, the writer showed her envies of the friends in China as well. In fact, every coin has two sides. It is normal for us to feel a bit of homesick because we are far from our dearests. And I also feel a pity that we cannot set off firecrackers here in Singapore. However, at the same time, why not think of those good points of living abroad? We have gotten the opportunity to enjoy a totally different way of celebrating, which our Chinese friends cannot experience. We were invited to our host family’s house to learn how the Singaporeans spend their holiday. They taught me about the customs and in return I told them some specials idioms of Chinese. Apart from that, we have gradually made a number of new friends with local adolescents. The great author Lu Xun once said, the more Chinese the culture seems, the more it belongs to the world. If we stay in the deep well as the frog, we will never see the outside sky. Remember we now call our earth the village.

Choosing Majors

After attending three briefings on School of Computer,Engineering and Science, some of us perhaps feel quite confused about our majors. Actually, majors are so vital that we must take everything into consideration. Here are some tips I would like to share with you.



First of all, choose a major you are interested in. As a saying goes, interest is the best teacher. Only if you like your major can you have passion to learn them well.Generally speaking, learning is a long and tough journey, but interest can give you the confidence and boldness to overcome the difficulties and finally reach the destination.Secondly,try to know more about all majors. Each major has its unique feature, requirement and programming. As long as you have a thorough knowledge about them, you are able to judge whether they are suitable for you. Thirdly,it is helpful to ask your seniors for advice.Undoubtedly, they are more experienced in choosing a major.Furthermore, I suggest that you consult the seniors from different departments,especially the one major in what you are interested in. Therefore ,you can get the comprehensive information. However, remember to have a holistic view of their opinions because it is not wise to listen to them completely.Last but not least, take your plans of the future career into account. If you want to work in a IT company, the School of Computer may be a better choice. If you prefer to become engineers, you can be major in Engineering. If you like working with data, it is better to study Mathematic or Statistic.



In April,we will make the final decision of our majors. Luckily, we still have two months to think over it.Follow our heart and we will make the best choice.

buried, a story about hope

When I wake up with a dizzy spell and body aches, I can feel nothing but breathless. Even worse, my body can hardly move and I can see nothing around me. Instinctively, I scrabble around, searching for something useful. Unexpectedly, I find nothing but a mobile phone lying silently next to me. No signal, no contacts, and the power was low as well. As I lighten up with the mobile phone screen, my heart sank. I realize I am buried alive inside a coffin, with no food and water, just the mobile phone and I. why am I here? Where am I? Who did this to me? How can I get out of this damn coffin? I am just a U.S. contractor working here in Iraq. Why me? Why! The last memory of mine was when I was driving my car across the endless desert, a bomb fiercely exploded in front of my car and when I opened my eyes again, I have already lain helplessly here. Desperation occupies the whole coffin. I can smell the death. Maybe essentially, it is my coffin. I release my rest power to confirm whether there is still an opportunity for me to escape or ask for help. However, nothing works. I am now waiting for the king of terrors while the mobile phone is flickering. It is strange but it doesn’t matter. The army is coming to rescue me, I think, hopefully. It’s a SMS. With my hand trembling open it, there is just few words; I’m waiting for you.

　Actually, this story is adapted from a movie called “buried” and I have simplified it a lot, which can have a good expression and leave my audiences some suspense when I was telling the story. It worked.

The ending of the original movie is told like this. The man who was buried alive inside the coffin do received a rescue call. The team leader told him they had already located the position of his coffin and within few minutes they could dig the coffin out and saved him in time. How excited he was after the call. After few minutes, there was another call. Desperately, he was told that the skeleton inside the coffin, which had been dug out, was the one who had the same situation as him 5 years ago. With the screen light faded away, the movie was over.

The man can be rescued or not? We don’t know. The thing we are sure is that, people’s hopes can be raised much easily when they are in trouble. Meanwhile, it can be easily dashed also and when the hopes are dashed, the result is so serious than we can imagine, even ruin one’s life.

Life is all about this. On the one hand, expectation can raise people’s hope and motivate them to stick on their lives. On the other hand, increasing expectation can be the potential of people’s failure. In a conclusion, keep a balance in expectation is the wise choice, neither under-expect nor over- expect.

A letter to my friend who is confused now

Dear XXX,

Hope you are happy in front of my letter.

Forgive me for writing you in English, for I have not write in Chinese for a long time, and I also want to practice this language. You must also forgive my poor English, I will make progress!

Now let’s talk about the problem you told me this noon. Frankly speaking, I usually do like you. I usually make up my mind and later forget it totally. I decided to recite Band 4 words but I do not finish it until now! Believe it or not, it is really terrible. I cannot remember how many times have I made my decision and eaten my words. I cannot count!

Why? We are all ordinary people. That is to say, most of the people under the sun are ordinary people. I seldom see someone have so strong will that can hold on all the time. If he could, he might become a great man in the future. If more and more people had strong will, there would be more geniuses. However, as we can see, most people cannot. I do not mean to persuade you, I am definitely telling you a truth! It is not your weakness, but the human beings’ weakness.

But we must come up with some measures to deal with it. First, control your ambition before you decide something. Do not be so ambitious that you cannot successfully do it in the end. For instance, I sometimes want to make full use of my time and leave no time among the tasks. So you can easily imagine what will happen. Distractions cannot be avoided, so our plan does not work very well. When we come back and go on our tasks, we are usually upset and disappointed for our behavior. So there comes my second piece of advice, do as much as possible and never care about how much you lost because of distractions or something else. It is exactly what I lack! I used to promise to somebody that I will buy you something if I cannot do something by a particular future time. It does work! It is called “promise to the public” as my third piece of advice I want to share with you. Do you still remember the book “Never run exposed myself” (JUE BU LUO BEN)? It is the main idea of this book. If you promise in the public, you will be afraid of losing face when you cannot do it. So to avoid this occasion happened, you are bond to try your best.

The advice above is what I can come up with. Some will suit you. As for the feast you promised, I must be ready to do have with you as soon as I come back to China. At least, I want to tell you, never give up, have confidence about our future, and lead a happy life with less bothers. We bless for you at such a long distance best wishes to you.

Miss you.

Yours, Tom

add:My friend was confused that she cannot hold on to do something,so I reply her to persuade her to be happy.

feeling

The fragment of heart

Soul mate, this is what I can only write.

Others else, really, I have no idea.

But, I will remember all this.

Lyrics, sentiments, dialogues, whatever from your thought, I am willing to read if only noted by you.

I did not read it on basis of time.

Perhaps it is scanned from bottom to top.

Does time countermarch?  

You say many things will change as time goes by.

So, should we cherish the invariable remaining ones?

Apples are served every day in hall. Are you jealous?

Where did you want to go for mistakenly arriving at

Guanggu?

When did I say I am warm?

Mediocrity, which is extremely suitable to describe us, is also applied by you.

On the contrary, I prefer to it.

“A talk every day” hiahia, you are so naïve.

Playing the guitar pressed a lot pressure of me.

The library and douban are joyous.

The activities like this are full of love.

The reason why your handwriting is bad actually is that what you have written is not that beautiful, essentially.

Ok, happy winter.

WHU is a wonderful team.

choose our major

After being delived the lecture by the science faculty, we were informed officially that we would choose our major in April. What a knotty problem! Scarcely will I forget how difficult it is that I chose my major in China.
We have immersed ourselves in study for twelve years. Suddenly, we have to decide our major, in other world, our future. No one have enough foresight to predict which is better.
What is worse is the confrontation between the reality and the dream. The life is more than fairy, and we are not the prince and princess who are destined to lead a happy life. How we can support ourselves and our families is a question which we cannot omit. Under this circumstance, too many people go after the flood. For example, it is said that people who learn economics can make money much easier than other. So the economics gradually becomes the most popular major and attracts the vast majority top students. Few can resist this lure and devoted to research.
Another problem also confused me is that although I like this major, I am not sure whether it is suitable for me. I still remember that last year I told my parents that I liked mathematics and insisted to learn it. Because of this, I chose the Shandong University and gave up other universities superior to the Shandong University. However, during the several weeks study in Shandong University, I realized that it require indomitable will to learn the mathematics well. While sometimes I tend to give up facing a problem. Sometimes, I felt dull and bring after the whole day’s studying. Can I insist it thorough my life? I am not sure. I feel miserable for I cannot keep my interest.
It is definitely a problem for us to choose a major!

My happy birthday

Feb 14^th is a day for lovers as it is Valentine’s Day. At the same time, it is another day for me---my birthday. It was my first birthday since I came to Singapore. In china, I always had my birthday in winter holidays, but this time, I had to go to school in a foreign country. However, I was not alone and had much fun that day.

On Monday morning, I stepped into the classroom in a hurry because I was afraid of being late as I took the latest bus. Just at the moment, I suddenly heard ‘Happy Birthday’ and all the classmates were all smiling at me. I felt surprised and excited. Moreover, in the afternoon, I received many small letters wishing a happy birthday and better friendships from my classmates. I was so happy that I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t help keeping thanking all my classmates.

To my great surprise, my parents took an ice-cream cake to my dormitory. They came here to celebrate my birthday on Feb 10^th. I called my friends together and shared the delicious cake together. While seeing everyone’s happiness on their faces, I was also surrounded by delight. Besides, my friends gave me a lot of lovely presents. I received many chocolates that day so that I even haven’t finished them until today.

A lot of celebrating SMSs and e-gifts on QQ delighted me much as well. My friends in China sent me e-gifts on QQ full of wishes which impressed me a lot---they still remember me after graduation. It was another surprise that Ms Sabrina, an officer of MOE and an alumna of NUS, sent me an SMS, saying ‘Happy birthday and happy Valentine’s Day’.

The same day of Valentine’s Day and my birthday gives me many different experiences and feelings. I wish all the people a better life and hope I can grow quickly into a successful man in NUS and Singapore, and have my new happy family…

My Oral Report---- Week 8 Advices on programming class

Good morning everyone. What do you think I will share with you today? Will it be another academic thought or some other short stories? But to your surprise, I would like to share some ideas about our programming class and some suggestions today.

Last Friday we had our C programming class again and finally we began our journey of coding. Now please allow me to do a survey about that programming class: We have already attended 3 programming classes so far, I wondered how many of you could assimilate 80% or more about those classes? Very well, could you please tell me what do you know about programming, in other words, what is a program and what can it do in your eyes? And how many of you still have an interest of learning programming? The proportion is just within my expectation, because some of my friends asked me these “what” questions immediately after that class. When facing these questions, as a three-year-old programmer, I felt a little pity about the lecturer for he didn’t explain the things well. But later on, I noticed that it was not that he didn’t convey the information well, but he just omitted some important points, like what is a program, which seemed to be redundant to the class.

In my belief, nobody will be able to handle a thing without knowing what the thing is and how the thing shall be done. We should know what a program is and what kind of problem a program can deal with first, and if possible, we should even know how a language can translate our orders into something that the machine can understand. But what we have now is only the lessons on the grammar and the basic class functions. The studying now is like reciting pi, dull and without any vivacity. It is important though, it shouldn’t be taught without any preparations. Just like the old saying goes, haste makes no success. So my suggestion is, programming is not that boring than you think, try to find some books which provide the introductions to computer science and filled in the blanks you jumped, then you’ll be able to take it as a piece of cake.

A Dangerous Experience

It was a hot but beautiful day of the summer vacation when I was about ten. I was eating the ice-cream and wondering if I should watch TV or play computer games with my friends. Suddenly my mother came in my room and told me "would you like join me to have a picnic on the riverside and swim with my colleagues" As a small boy, going to swim in cool water in the hot afternoon was so attractive that I agreed on it immediately.

There were about twenty persons in our group and we took lots of food including several watermelons, beer, vegetable, beef, and some fish. We got the picnic table ready where there was bower. I began to play cards because I felt a little tired and did not want to swim, however, some jumped into the cool water and others already began to eat. After a while, noticing almost all the people having been into the river I thought it was my turn. I walked into the river slowly with a life buoy. Because I was not able to swim so two uncles near me for assistance and safety.

About three hours passed, we all sat at the bank of river and chatted with each other. At this time, we heard a scream from the place not far. Then uncle Wang realized that there must be someone in trouble and he run there immediately. To our surprise, there was a woman who was drowned and it was very dangerous. Uncle Wang jumped into the water without hesitate and grabbed her hair. He tried his best to help her out of the water. Finally they both got onto the shore. Then Wang returned and noticed that his feet were broken badly and they were both sent to the hospital.

I think we should help others whenever we come across it and we will get emotional reward.

Friendship

The day before yesterday was the Valentine’s Day. In China, just lovers celebrate it. But in Singapore, it is common to celebrate it with our friends. It is for the friendship.
I have been in Singapore for almost two months and I have many friends now. It is very lucky to make friends with all of them. Now we are far from home and we cannot always rely on our parents. And the friends take the place of our parents for the time being in some aspects. For example, on Chinese New Year’s Eve, we could not go back home. We celebrated it with our friends, which really gave us warm and comfort. So friendship is very important.
In my opinion, we cannot live without any friends. Friends can give us their hands when we have trouble; they can give us warm when we feel lonely; they play games with us happily when we are free. Moreover, they can support us a lot and give us comfort. When we face some problems, we can turn to our friends. And I could not imagine my life without any friends, which must be very vapid. They are part of my life.
I think of these because of the Valentine’s Day. Friendship is so precious that no money can buy. To sum up, friendship is one of the most important parts of our lives. So do not break up friendship easily. Let’s smile to our friends and give them warm from now on.

Porcelain

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year’s Eve. I think all of us are very excited. But at the same time, I miss China and miss my hometown-----JDZ. And I am sure that JDZ will remind all of you of the ceramics. Am I right? So today my topic is the ceramics
In north and south dynasty, the ceramics took the first step. And gradually it was prosperous till Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasty. Then it became very famous.
As everyone knows, the porcelain is very beautiful. It is white as jade, thin as paper, bright as mirror and the sound is like inverted bell. The green flower is elegant and beautiful. And the color painting is blazing with color. There are also many kinds of porcelain, such as green flower porcelain, white porcelain, colorful porcelain and so on. Each kind has its special characteristic. To some extent, it demonstrates the culture. It makes sense to the poetry, too. In one word, the porcelain can attract almost everyone’s attention.
Besides, the ceramics make a great contribution to our history. On the Silk Road, it spreads the art of our culture to the world. And it makes the culture in the world abundant. It also promotes the development of the world. So it is of great value.
That’s all. If you want to know more, you can go to JDZ to experience this yourselves. Warmly welcome!

Learn to use what we have learnt

Several days ago, I watched the movie”3 Idiots”. I had never seen a complete Indian movie before. In my memory, Indian movies are full of Indian dances, which have no attraction to me. As many friends commended this movie to me, I had a try in a rainy Saturday afternoon.
Although the movie was called”3 idiots”, I thought they are even much wiser than many so-called good students. We had absorbed so much knowledge since we went to school when we were only 6 years old. The Rancho, one of the three idiots, used the knowledge, which we all learnt in secondary middle school, to prevent his room door from being urinated by a senior. It is just based on the simple theory that salt water is a good conductor of electricity. What a clever idea, but most of us may forget this or ignore such simple theory. He believes in understanding over mindless memorizing. However, nowadays, many students learn a lot of knowledge only applying to examinations. Sometimes, some simple daily problems can stump many good students. They may be the best in examinations, but they cannot make full use of what they have learnt in other aspects.
Learning is a course; learning how to use what we have learnt is the result.

A fat dull-looking chicken

Many years ago, in the big jungle, there lived a fat dull-looking chicken. There were so many carnivores living in the same jungle, so it was especially difficult for such a fat chicken to live in. He could not fly; he could not run fast; but actually he did survive in the jungle. What a mysterious chicken. Could he use magic like Harry Porter? The answer was yes, but it was an absolutely different way of magic.
One day, when he walked in the jungle, suddenly, a vulture landed in front of him. The vulture smiled and said, “Oh baby fat, do you know how I miss you? I am so hungry.” The chicken stared at the vulture and said, “Wow, Mr. Eagle, you look so strong and handsome. You will not eat me.” “What do you call me?” the vulture asked surprisingly. “Mr. Eagle, of course” the chicken replied. “Oh, you are kidding. Eagle is much stronger than me.” “You know, Mr. Eagle, the weather here is so hot that you just lack too much water. Do you see the river over there? If you jump into it and drink enough water, you will be as strong as other eagles.” “Oh, really? Let me have a try. You just stay here or you will be eaten without any bone left.” After that, the vulture flew directly into the river. The chicken looked at the waves the vulture made and sighed, “Poor bird, you should believe what I said. No wonder there is no hair on your head. Foolish bird!” Then, he continued to go.
Then, after a few days, he came across a snake. The snake shook his tail and smiled, “Baby fat, I really love you. Welcome you to join in my dinner.” The chicken stared at the snake and said, “Wow, Mr. Dragon, you look so handsome and dignified. You will not eat me.” “What did you call me?” the snake asked in surprise. “Mr. Dragon.” “Do not you know that dragon can fly?” “Of course I do. Have you heard the fairy tale that the carps jump over the dragon gate? If you jump down the waterfall, you can become dragon and you can fly too.” After hearing this, the snake climbed to the waterfall and jumped down without hesitation. At the same time, the chicken shook his head, said, “Poor snake, you should believe the fairy tale. Who do you think you are? The carp? Hope that God will let you become a dragon in the heaven. Best wishes for you. Amen.”
A few days later, while the chicken was walking on his way, there came a tiger. The dull chicken looked at the tiger and shouted, “Hey, big cat, get out of my way. Do not consider that I will not recognize you when you dress you up. You are just a cat, nothing serious.” The tiger smiled, leaving his sharp teeth out of his mouth, “Really, baby fat, you are not afraid of me? Come to my stomach to have a visit. It will be a nice trip.” The chicken realized that he had already made a big mistake, but it was too late. Before he was eaten by the tiger, he left his last words, “Poor chicken, hope that you will not meet the vulture and the snake in the heaven. May the force be with you, amen.”

my best friend

Today is Valentine’s Day. I was informed that it was also considered as friendship day in Singapore, which evoked my memory of my best friend—Betty.
At our age of ten, we met each other. She had such a sunny disposition that I take to her at my first sight of her. During the four years when we studied in the same class, we chatted almost every break. It was a miracle for we actually did not have plentiful common interest. I reckoned that we were like Ba(OH)2 and CuSO4. Once we met each other, we cannot separate.
I continuously believed that our friendship was unbreakable. However, the fate was unpredictable. Everything began to change when we enter our senior school. We were still in the same class in senior school and there was another girl who was our classmate in junior school in our class. Since at first she was strange to all the classmates except us, she joined us and played with us. At that time both of them boarded at school but I lived at home. As they did not have such experience before, plenty of problems confronted them. They could not stop missing parents, hardly to tolerate the crowd when bought meals and felt uncomfortable to live with eight people. I was not competent enough to understand these troubles. Hence, they were at the same boat, cooperating and comforting each other. With time going by, it seemed that I could not fit into them. I valued the friendship too much that one day I asked her directly “it seems that we are not as intimate as before.” I pushed her into embarrassment which I did not mean to.
After that, she became cautious when we were together. I understood her good intentions but the relationship became strange. There was less and less happiness left. We became estranged from each other.
In my heart, the reason why we get this position is that we care each other too much. She is my best friend, not only in past but also at present.

Why do I need to learn to sing

I always admire those who can sing very well, because I cannot sing a song completely and I do not have a beautiful voice.

I can accept it if only some one can sing very well and others cannot, but the truth is that almost everyone can sing very well except me. And singing is no longer something to be showed off, but something you have to master. It is like a necessity. In every party, every game, there will be a punishment called "sing a song". That is easy to handle for those who are good at singing, and they are always more active at those activities too. But for me, I sometimes hate those games, because all that in my mind is to avoid losing and avoid singing. That is unfair! Does it mean that I can not enjoy the games if I cannot sing?

It is such a pleasure for those who listen to the music, sing themselves to the rhythm and sometimes even dance to the beat. Singing is so popular that it seems I ought to learn it now. What if there were no punishment called singing!

The Cry of The Angels of The Nature

Narrative essay. THE CRY OF A MOM

If I ever had another chance to save a family, I would do it without any hesitation and do it in a better way. I know the feeling when the angels of the nature die in my palm.

When I was young, I treated birds just the opposite way comparing with what those naught boys did. It was strange to those country boys and it was uneasy for me, too. I know how happy and tranquil I am when I listen to the birds singing. They are the angels of the nature.

However, one day in a summer, when I was reading a book, a continuous plaintive cry came out somewhere. “It is a bird.” I wondered,” the sound should not be like that.’ So I ran out of my room to see what had happened.

Oh! It was that bird. She set her home in the tree near our house. And she had given birth to several babies months ago. Now she was flying up and down, here and there. At one moment, she flew up to the top of the house, looking around and calling out. “Babies, my babies, where are you?” Then at another moment, she jumped back to the nest. “Oh, my honey, where are you, where are you? Come back.” Just like this, up and down, round and round, the Mom bird flew and cried, full of worry and anxiety. It was so miserable.

“I must do something.” I told myself. I knew it must be those merciless, heartless boys in my hometown who had wrested her babies. Because several days before the tragedy they had attempted to take away the nest but had bee stopped by me. How I regretted that I could not protect them all the time.

What shall I do? I rarely played with those boys, so they would not give the bird to me so easily, even though they would just played with the birds for a while, throw them away, let them die, or even kill them just for fun. The Mom bird was still crying, and I thought over and over. “What can I do?” Suddenly, an idea struck me.

I went to the boys’ house, finding that they were talking about the baby birds they just stolen from the miserable mom. The baby birds were also crying in the cage. I was 11 that year. They were much stronger than me. But I managed to take my courage in both hands to talk to them, saying:” I want to buy the birds.” Out of my expectation, they agreed quickly and gave me an acceptable price, 5yuan for 2. My money was from my allowance. Hopeful and excited, I bring the birds back home, but something unexpected happened.

The two birds were so weak. They opened their big mouth wide. I knew they were too frightened and they were desperate for their mother. I put them on the top of the house, hoping that the Mom bird would recognize her babies and got them home. But the crying sound in the air has faded and disappeared. No cay any more. Mom bird had left, or even had died? I did not know. But one thing was definite, she lost her belief in human beings, and she died in anger and desperation. ………I could not do anything.

And the next day, the two baby birds also died.

A Love Story

                Once upon a time, there was a gorgeous princess lived in a splendid castle, which was surrounded by a dense forest. The princess was so beautiful and virtuous that all the princes from all over the world made their way to this castle. They admired her reputation so much that they all wanted to marry her at all costs. Some even got into duels just to show how valiant they were and to compete with the others with dignity. Finally five brave and fearless young men stood out among all the princes. Some even got injured or wounded to a degree during the competition. Seeing this, the princess decided to halt the endless fight. She just let the five princes stay. With reluctance, the rest princes grumbled and left. The remaining five young men were led into the castle to meet the mysterious princess, feeling lucky and excited.
            In the castle waited the princess. She already decided to find herself a true partner from these outstanding competitors. But she determined to find him in her own way. She put her right hand behind her back, raising her little finger. Then she said “ I will marry the man who knows which finger I just raised, he will be my soul mate in my whole life.” Having no time to feel surprised, they began to raise their finger instinctively. The first prince showed his thumb. Sadly he was wrong. The second prince stuck out his forefinger, unfortunately that is not the answer, either. Followed by the ring finger, middle finger missed the chance. At last, the last prince with his little finger pointing up undoubtedly became the only one for the princess in her life. The princess soulfully looked into his eyes, slowly put her little finger together with his. Time stopped flowing at that moment, and then the crossed fingers became the symbol of their love of fate.
            However, one day the peace of their honeymoon was broken by the terrible war. To protect the country and most importantly his deeply loved princess, the prince kissed her and crossed the little fingers with her then rode on his trusty warhorse to the battlefield. The princess was left with herself and her burning tears.
            One year passed, the war was over, the prince as well as the brave soldiers have succeeded in winning the war. The citizens were applauding for the heroes. However, at the mean time, the princess was in endless tears because the prince was missing. One day after another, still no message of him. She became more depressed.
            Two more years passed, the princess was still waiting him, but under the heavy pressure of her father, she finally agreed to marry another man. Hearing about this, more men carrying their dreams came to the castle. However, to everyone who tried to capture her heart, she just raised her little finger without saying a single word. Confused about this, they reacted in thousands of ways. Some even put a golden ring around her finger, but the princess just lower her arm letting the ring slide away from her finger. No one understood what she meant.
           Suddenly one day, a beggar came and was stopped by the royal guarders. He was smelly and dirty, seemed not having taken a shower for years. To everyone’s surprise, the princess let him in. Standing face to face with him, she raised her finger again in the same position. After a moment of silence, she abruptly burst into tears when the man stuck out his little finger and crossed it with her. It’s him! It the prince! She couldn’t help crying and trembling at this unbelievable moment. She had been losing her hope for the past 3 years, but at that time, all sorrow disappeared.
          The moon shaped into a disk, and that night she was no longer sleepless, her prince was sleeping just next to her, they fell asleep with fingers crossed. They were with each other again.
          That night passed like a dream, and sun came up in the sky as usual, she slowly woke up and opened her eyes, but to realize her prince missing again.
         Actually the prince had already died on his way back to her. It was his soul that struggled back to see his honey for the last time. 3days after that night, his body was found and taken back to the castle. Again she was in endless tears. But this time her heart was bleeding and blood turned into tears. She only desired to be with him. But he was forever gone, just leaving her alone by herself.
         She ordered the guarders away from her and then took out a bottle of poison. After a kiss on the prince’s cheek, she closed her eyes forever, lying with her deeply loved prince, crossing their little fingers together just like before, tightly and inseparably.
        
               

Wane

Once, “wane” was just a word that was buried deep in my mind. For me, a guy who is energetic, full of ambitions, and always leaves no effort to have the things done, a word which is always connecting with those imperfect things and recessions seems to have non-relevance with me. But radical changes happened right after she appeared in my life. “Wane” became the most precious, the most important and the most elegant word in my dictionary.

I could still recall our first met. That was a sunny September afternoon; I sat on the stair outside our classroom and played my guitar, waiting for the first class meeting in Jilin University. I immersed myself in the lingering melodies and when I looked up, I saw a lovely girl standing in front of me, wearing a broad smile with two dimples on her pinky cheeks. She’s about 1.6 meters tall and dressed in a blue dress, with a light blue ribbon tied on her waist. She bowed slightly and her hair slipped down her shoulders and flowed in the air. “My name is Wane”, she said with a sweet voice, but within a heavy Cantonese accent, “are we in the same class?” “I think so and nice to meet you.” I answered with an unnamed excitement in my heart. And I still don’t how I spend the rest of that day.

At first, we just texted to each other and greeted when we met. Soon we invited each other for walks, café, and meals. We took our classes together, had our self-study courses together and hung out together. Everything seems so bright until October 16th, exactly the date when I knew I was in the list of SM3 scholars.

Time passed even faster from that day. November in Changchun means nothing but freezing cold. She invited me to a movie the night before the last day I spent in Changchun. To be honest, I couldn’t summon my memory about the movie we watched, but all I knew was that she leaned on me and slept tightly.

On our way back, we were unnaturally speechless, unlike what we were like. Piles of words fought for the priority of coming out first but all of them were unable to persuade the others and just stuck in my throat. Then I just sighed, watching the white mist I breathed out dissolved in the air. I looked up at the sky, only to find a waning moon, looming in the floating clouds.

She broke the stiff atmosphere with a naughty request:” Lend me your hands, I’m so cold.” Then she started taking off her gloves. “What are you doing, put…” I couldn’t finish the sentence because she was already in my arms, sobbing. “Don’t go. Who else will remind me to put on more clothes, who else will tell me to bring my umbrella, who else will bring snacks to the class in case I’m hungry, who else will collect the medicine for me when I’m sick, who else will comfort me when I’m upset, who else will encourage me when I’m low, who else will care about me? You said you would play The Castle in the Sky for me whenever I want to listen, but you just failed your promise, how can you play it if you are not beside me, I didn’t hear enough. Please, don’t leave me alone.”

I could do nothing but hold her tight, and fondle her soft black hair. Reasons are as pale as a sheet in front of her words. When she calmed down, I just took off my scarf, tied on her neck, wiped the tears off her face, and murmured, “I’ll be with you, as the always.” She smiled, then took a deep breath, and said, “I’m so sorry for being capricious. Please forgive me. I’m sorry. I know, really, that I shouldn’t be the obstacle in your way, just go for what you want. ” After these devastating words, I couldn’t hold my tears anymore.

Nights drifted, and the final moment came. The car was leaving. I looked through the window, only to see that she was standing there, waving her hands, wearing my scarf, and waning.

The second story I wrote: Purchase

This is the second story I wrote. But you may find it difficult to understand because I didn't arrange it in the order of time. Besides, it is not an ordinary story about the princess and the prince. Here comes the story.

Purchase

When it came to the biggest dream of Tim's, it definitely would be to find the princess, and could scrutinize her, know everything about her. It would be the most impressive and the most meaningful moment for Tim, and the world would be immersed in the holy light it sent out. The light was once mild and serene, but it surged over the control in a sudden and burst into an eruption and it was so bright that it could reveal all the secrets. But, all was just a flash. Soon it dimmed, and died away. The dark, freezing and lonely limbo invaded the sweetest part of Tim's heart. He must find the princess.

Tim set off! He must rescue the princess. The princess was taken away by the horrible and evil monster. All these consequences were causes by Tim's faults. Yes, many faults made by Tim when they were together formed into the current situation. Details of their lives were already looming in the long memory, but the only image carved in his mind was: She turned around abruptly, and the braid just swept his face. He knew that she once tried to forgive him, but it was fruitless when faced to lies, and bigger lies behind them. Though he promised he would never have the same wrongdoing done, their relationship collapsed by no means-princess was no longer to look in his eyes. In this tough world, we were mean to say our forgiveness. We could erase the pain, and could have lessons to be more mature.

Many years ago, Tim once abandoned the princess. He kissed her neck, and then packed the luggage and stepped out the door without looking back. He was regret, at least a little, at the current stage. He was on the journey of finding her again, for telling her he did know the hurt he left for her after the departure without saying goodbye. But, one thing could not be omitted, that is to tell her it was good to live without her. He had considered their match were perfect for a long period. He protected the princess and cared about her, tried his best to convert his faults, to let her get rid of the trouble. It was the same for the princess. She cleared up all her mistakes to please him. Yet, it was dangerous. She must know you entirely to please you. Thus, you could not ignore her expectations, and could not keep away from her eyes. Tim needed to jump out this cage, to search for the hope for escaping. Sometimes, he needed to escape from the care she gave him.
His progress was accumulated by days and nights. He knew he was approaching the princess and sure he would find her! She would change him totally, and brought a radical change to the world.

He felt that every spot in his journey would inspire a certain emotion, and every emotion would evoke a certain memory: a memory of a certain time, and a certain place. He could even evoke the feeling of surrounding by her arms and the smell of the perfume on her body which could make him drunk.

It may be an unassailable truth that a ring can represent the happiness in a perfect world. It stands for the faith that would never fade: even if he could never find the princess, he would absolutely not give it up. He would wear that ring until he died.

He observed the falling apple, the track of the swinging metal ball and the bending spring. Through these clues he could find the princess, and could see her face.
In that terrible night he had a dream. He finally found the monster: a knight with a scary mask. At first, the princess was struggling to escape from the control of the knight, and calling for his help. He summoned all his strength to run as fast as he could and jumped over the traps that set by the knight with the help of the princess. Finally, they met, with all sweat. Suddenly, a harsh light flashed, and time began to flow backward- things changed. This time the princess didn't help him, but try to trap him, and even jumped into the knight's arms!

He woke up with a start, and found he was already at the gate of the castle. He kneed on the ground behind a pillbox and looked through a telescope, and waited.
On that moment hung eternity, still. Space contracted to a pinpoint.

“We made it.”

“Now we are all sons of bitches.”

My Deskmate

In the Spring Festival Gala,the well-known actors, Zhao Benshan and Xiao Shenyang, performed an impressive skit called “My deskmate”.It reminds me of my dear deskmate in the high school.


My deskmate is a girl who is not as outgoing as me.She keeps quite,lost in thought all the time.We have been the deskmates for more than two years.Actually,I do not like the girl very much at the beginning.She seems too cold to get along with.However,when I know more about her,I find that she is really lovely and kind.


She is found of telling jokes.Once she learns a new joke, she will share it with me.I am grateful for her to bring me so much laughter.Besides,I have still remembered that she encouraged me to be confident when I failed in several English exams.She patiently helped me improve my hand writing and teached me how to polish my eassay.Thanks to her support,I got a good grades in my college entrance examination.


The Grade Three is really a tough time for us.We did enormous exercises and felt anxious about our future.During that period,we walked together to our dormitory every night, which is the most happy and relaxing time of a busy and intense day.In the short walking ,we talked about everything interesting and shared dreams with each other.


When I was informed that I had the chance to study in Singapore,she was the first friend I called.She felt happy for me but a little upset.Later,she wrote a blog about us.What touched me most was that time might change something but she believed it could never change our friendship.


I feel quite lucky to have such a deskmate and I hope we will be lifelong friends

A special year

A special year
The year of 2010 has passed and it is time to make a quick review of 2010.
The year of 2010 for me is not an ordinary year. At the beginning of that year, I was busy studying and preparing for the college entrance examination, one of the most important examinations in every Chinese student’s life. I really hoped that I could get a good grade so that I would be admitted to a good college and pay back to my parents, my teachers and others who paid attention to me. However, I did not do well in the examination and got a low mark. Maybe it was not too law, but at least did not make me satisfied. Because of the score I got, I entered Ji Lin University, Car Engineering, which is one of the best major in Ji Lin University and also in China, but I still felt disappointed at the endings. I did spend a few days to adjust myself until I got used to the life in Ji Lin University.
When I was in the university in China, I became the monitor of our class. Everything went smoothly, not only my study, but also my relationship with my classmates and teachers, because in our major, the graduate students, especially the monitor, usually have no pressure to find a good job. The future for me seemed so bright. However, things changed as I took part in the examination for the program of SM3 and I successfully got the chance to go to Singapore, to go to a new university with higher quality. More importantly, I got a chance to go abroad. It was a great honor for me and my family. Later, after a few days’ preparation, I said goodbye to my families and flew to Singapore, at the end of 2010.
Now, my new life has already begun. Although sometimes I feel homesick, I am sure I can overcome such kind of difficulties. I will fight to earn me a brighter future and a better life for my families.

After I Left My Homeland

As I was native in China, I never got the chance to feel the way I feel now in Singapore. Actually, I am a foreigner, and the Spring Festival becomes a link between Chinese and Singaporeans to show the respect for multicultural customs.
Things are just changed in a flash while I even do not get time to adapt in. However, maybe it was exactly the moment when I reached the deep into my heart and surprisingly got to know how much I missed my homeland.
Never had I felt strongly connected with Chinese in Singapore before I came here even though we might never see each other before. I still remembered the exciting feeling when I heard the dialogue of Wuhan where I was born and grew up. I still appreciated the moment spent with my family. I still dreamt of my grandmother, and just could wish that the god would always bless her! Finally, I did deeply understand how much courage people who truly loved me had to take to let me go and sent my wings to help me fly in trade with the time spent together. No one like you will sacrifice so much just to support me, my dear mom.
After I left China, everything just came clear in its own way.
Then one of my favorite sayings occurs to me,’ No one indebted for others, while many people do not know how to cherish others.’ I think maybe I know the adequate way to show my concerns for them now.
I do not know whether it is exactly what people call ‘growth’ for or not. But I am sure it is the process of learning to love and to be loved.

What holds back our dream?

One Sunday morning, one of my roommates and I went jogging with our seniors. When we were running, it started to rain, so we ran in the rain for about half an hour, and when we got back, we were almost all wet through. So other roommates showed empathy to us. ‘It is too terrible! It is raining!’ I also felt that it might be not worth it, so I started to complain about it too. Finally, it turned out that I did not feel like joining them anymore. However, I really wanted to take some exercise at the beginning, and maybe also now. So should I go jogging next Sunday? Or should I listen to my roommates and give up?

What holds back our dreams? It is not what others have said, but ourselves. It is our own decesion that holds our dreams back. We are so easy to change our minds that we cannot realise our dream or even start our dream.

Let’s think about it deeper. Imagine you dream of climbing the highest mountain in the world. Of course, there will be a lot of people around you suggesting you to give up. ‘It is too high to climb! You will die there! Get it out of your mind!’ What is the possiblility that you can insist on your dream? How many people just give up after hearing this? Maybe only one out of one hundred can insist on and finally realise their dream. Others are all held back and do not even have a try.

Maybe sometimes we need a kind of pressure, to force us to do something. Then we have no excuse to escape and what others say can no longer change your mind. You could just say ‘I have no choice, I just have to do it.’ Well, maybe next time, I will just tell my roommates ‘I have no choices. They invited me, so I have to go.’,and join them willingly just as before.

Spring Festival

Since most of the citizens/residents in Singapore are with ethnic group of Chinese, the Chinese New Year becomes a public festival in Singapore. Today is the day before the Chinese New Year, so people leave their work very early and go home to prepare themselves for the coming festival. As a result, our lessons today ended very early, at about three o'clock. Then we made our way to Raffles Hall, where we were going to celebrate the festival there with our senior colleagues. Our plan was very simple, just making dumplings and watching the performance arranged for the Spring Festival on CCTV. So after the dinner arranged by our seniors, we began making dumplings. For me it was the first time to make dumplings without my parents helping me, so I was not very confident. I even thought the dumplings might end up in a mess in the pot. But thanks to our experienced seniors, we were able to eat the dumplings made by ourselves, and they were very tasteful. During the process of making and eating dumplings, we also watched the performance. But the performance was not very satisfying. We watched it through the internet and in consequence, it didn't go smoothly and was not clear enough.

Although we had some activities for the festival, I couldn't feel the atmosphere as that I felt when I was in China. Above all, the way Spring Festival is celebrated in Singapore is different from the one in China. So it was reasonable that I couldn't feel the atmosphere.

But I was still very happy because we were going to have a four-day holiday.

A trip filled with warmth

Last Saturday, one of my Singapore friends took me to her church which is located in her old middle school. That afternoon, I got a very close to the daily life of the Singapore citizens here and had learned a lot about its culture.
There happened to be a group of Taiwan local residents visiting the church. They were all wearing their traditional ethnic costumes and the clothes seemed quite different from the modern ones at this age. We fully appreciated the teenagers’ chorus together with the locals. The pure voice sounded from the Heaven. After the performance, we got some break time to help ourselves with some snacks and dessert. Then it came to the interesting games. During that period, we got the chance to acquaint ourselves with the others. To our surprise, we met quite a number of Chinese. Some were SM1 scholar students, others were workers and doctors. We chatted and as if felt the warm from home. My friend also introduced the neighborhood for me. They were all kind and easy-going. One aunty even invited me to her house for dinner during the spring festival. She was so hospitable that I could not refuse. That evening I ate dumplings for the first time after arrival here.
Truly that I’m now far away from my own family, but I know I’m always in a much bigger family named Chinese.

After Chinese New Year…

This is my first Chinese New Year I have abroad without families beside me, but I spend several wonderful days with my friends. This journey becomes a forever memory of happiness and warm for me.

On 30^th of the last month in Chinese lunar calendar, we still had our classes in COM1, which depressed some of us quite a lot. However, the celebration that afternoon gave all of us great joy. We were blessed to have Chinese traditional food such as jiaozi and delicious sushi for lunch in classroom. Besides, our monitors prepared some interaction games for us. In one impressive game, we should play in two people, one of them is to describe the Chinese idiom printed on the screen in English and the other ought to guess the idiom. I found I was good at Chinese idioms as I got 8 correctly in 3 minutes, the most in my group. After two games, we finished in a song ‘We are the world’ with our dear tutor Ms Christine.

I was honored to be invited to my host family on Feb 2^nd, the Chinese New Year Eve. They showed great hospitalities to supply a substantial meal including some special local dishes. Though theses local food tasted a little bit strange to me, I still felt excited at the great chance to taste it. There were quite a few people in their family with one daughter in Britain, one son studying in Australia but serving the army now, and another daughter studying in secondary school. We chatted a lot happily and I learned much about Singapore and the world as well as China.

After the lovely dinner, I went back to NUS where I celebrated the Chinese New Year with my classmates. We enjoyed the Chinese New Year gala together and chatted freely with our family members and friends online. I was very grateful that our seniors prepared large quantities of snacks so that we could stick to midnight without hunger. By chatting with the seniors, I also learned more about university life which we would experience after the bridging course. It will be an unforgettable memory because it was the first time I waited for the new year to come with my friends abroad since I was born

I was so happy that our befrienders didn’t forget us as one of them invited the whole group to his home on Saturday. Though he was in Serangoon, far away from our Eton Hall in Queen’s Town, we were excited and headed there in the morning. Apart from chatting and eating, we played several interactive games. The most interesting one for me is a kind of card game called ‘saboteur’, in which there are two kinds of roles, miners and saboteurs. Miners should try hard to find the gold mine while saboteurs ought to block miners’ ways to the gold mine. Players don’t know everyone’s role except himself, so we need to pay attention to each person’s actions and guess it. We were absorbed in the game, enjoying the smiles on everyone’s face. At the end, we were so happy that someone even suggested playing ‘Sanguosha’, a more complex but interesting card game, together next time.

These happy days drives away my desperate miss of my homeland and make me feel more excited and warmer inside. The series of experiences will never fade out…

06/02/2011

Before Chinese New Year…

The Chinese New Year is coming. I can’t help missing my homeland much more desperately. The pictures of my life in the past precious time in China are flowing over me continuously. I would like to show my best wishes to my dear parents, respectable teachers and lovely friends as well as anyone I loved and everyone who loved me.

I recall frequently that before the college entrance examination, my dear parents took care of me considerately all the 365 days a year. As soon as I reached home, delicious food is well served on the table. Every moment I got stuck in my study, they are standing by, ready to do anything to help me. However late I went on with my homework at night, my mother would accompany me and assistant me with my study regardless of the great tiredness until I went to bed. Any time I got confused with what I should do and what is the right choice of the following life, my father was always behind me and lightened the way clearly. They helped me a lot.

It can’t be forgotten that my head teacher, Ms Chen, spent her precious time talking with us in class to encourage us heading for our target steadily. It seems just happened that my math teacher, Mr. Zhao, required us strictly with our work and took his humorous lessons to catch our attention so that we could learn more efficiently. It is the same with my Chinese teacher, Mr. Xu, who shared fantastic lives during classes with us and my English teacher, Ms Liu, who spared no efforts to help us enhance our abilities of using English.

I still remember my full commitment in hard study with classmates, the deep conversations and great enjoyment with my wholehearted friends. I was lucky enough to have Chen luyang, a top boy in my class, go along with me all the way in the whole senior high and share valuable experience with me. Wish him success on his way in Fudan University. It is also a great blessedness that I came across Zhou Xinyi, a top girl in my senior 1 class, who inspired me constantly from the first day we met to that big exam, though we were not in the same class after school rearranged classes for our senior 2 courses. Besides, Peng Yihe, an active guy who went into my life after the rearrangement, also give me too much during the two years when we had our sincere conversations about the world, the life, and anything else. There are so many impressive friends that I can hardly talk about them one by one…

The Chinese New Year strengthens my miss of China and these important people in my life. I promise to cherish the memory forever and I want to deliver my best wishes to them; wish all health, happy and success. At the end, I would like to wish all the Singaporeans best as well to express my appreciation to be cared well by them. Happy New Year!

31/01/2011

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year
Being our first Chinese new year in a foreign country by ourselves, the Chinese Rabbit year is really special. Accompanied by many friends, we suffer much less loneliness than our families.
In the afternoon of the Spring Festival Eve, we had a party in our classroom. It doesn’t matter what we did; what really counts is being together. We had dumplings that day. Though they are different from those we had at home, they can also bring us a valuable memory of the happy childhood.
Then came the dinner with our seniors. They cooked ten dishes for us, including chicken, fish, cauliflowers and so on. All of them are very delicious, so I even made up my mind to learn cooking. Their company made us feel less lonely. At night, we made dumplings, called our families and watched the New Year’s Eve entertainment. The program which impressed me most is the song sung by the Xidan Girl. Expressing the words of our hearts, the song really touched me. I still remember she sang” No matter where I go,I cannot go out of your heart. So long as you are there, there is nothing I am afraid of.”
I want to say ‘Thanks’ to all the people who try to give us a happy new year. They are the people who reduce our homesickness. Best wishes, at the beginning of the new year, for all of us can enjoy a better life here.
Happy Chinese New Year!

career and family for famale

During the last several days, I read the novel--- Queen Stain, a Chinese novel written by luoluo. The heroine is a twenty-nine lady, a department manager of a world top 500 enterprise. Successfully in career, she cannot omit the conventional problem-----marriage. All her relatives urge that she is no longer young and had better get married as soon as possible. She is also eager to find a proper man, while the true love seems to be a luxury to her.
It sounds miserable. However this phenomenon is becoming more and more common nowadays. It seems that there is always a conflict for the female between the career and the marriage. With the development of the society, women play an essential role and score tremendous achievements. But some girls have difficulty in finding a proper one to get married, just a proper one. Just like that the female doctors are considered as special. Just like a line in the novel “we have struggled for many years to get this status. Why are we criticized that we are cavil at the boyfriends? Why should we depreciate ourselves? ”
Although everyone admits that nowadays the male and the female are equal, people hold different expectation towards the male and the female. In the subconscious of the vast majority of people, once a woman pays too much attention to her career, the energy she left for the family is limited. And it is the harmonious family that everyone longs for. I have read a comment in china, the author points out that there are more and more girls admitted to the universities and the boys are less. It may be a waste of the social recourse for in the future the girls will focus on the families and will not make as much contribution to the society as the boys. I can understand why he said so and comprehend that it is an element of traditional culture. However, I sincerely hope one day people will not have so much prejudice and this conflict will fade away. .

The relationship between my ex and me

Yesterday I chatted with my ex-girlfriend on QQ. I meant to call her for the Chinese New Year before, but the cell phone was not on her hand. Fortunately we all happened to be online.

Ten months passed after we broke up, when I got in touch with her with the help of my good friend. When I knew that she was in love with a boy in her class for several months, I was so happy without any jealous feelings. Now that I cannot provide happiness for her forever, I really hope there to be such a boy who can care for her. And he really did as far as I knew. He’ll even visit her after such a short separation. She also loves him quite deep. But it made me so surprised that she was not going to be with him next semester, because I don’t know why. For her mother’s disagreement or else, I have no idea. She just said there are a series of reasons. I really want her to feel happy every day in her life. I hope less unhappy happens to her. Because I loved her before, and I even love her now in a way as a brother or somebody like that.

During the talk, she suddenly asked me if it is true that the couple became friends after breakup because they didn’t love deeply. Of course it is definitely wrong. It is a matter of quality of the couple. They became less selfish after breakup, and the friendship became much steadier than ever before.

Looking back, the love between us was so short, with a 3-year preparation and a bitter end. But it does not matter. I never regret this period of love, so she did. I think the best end for us is exactly what we are now. But if we straightly became good friends, it will be a strategy. As is known, the process is the most important. It makes us grow up, and it makes us more mature. Every time I think about this, the happiness always fills in my mind.

We also talked about me, about Zhao Qian. It was not until in Dalian that we have good feeling with each other. She was not beautiful but attractive. Less than ten boys once chased her, off course without me. We have many things in common. I don’t forget the last meet that afternoon, I cannot forget the hug, and I still remember the nights in Dalian we chatted on QQ till midnight. I did not behave well in the NCEE, and went to Dalian University of Technology. I thought it was YUAN FEN that God give me a love. But I didn’t show me my love to her because I was afraid of being in Singapore and getting separated with her. I cannot imagine how horrible it will be. Things developed as I thought. I was able to have the opportunity to study abroad in Singapore in the end. It is also YUAN FEN, a lack of YUAN FEN. I was bond to travel all the time the follow years. I won’t let her await me, because ten years is really a long time, and it is exactly the spring of our life. Even for myself, I don’t have enough confidence that I can wait for ten years. Sometimes, it is bad to promise. Because ten years later, we are not young any more. So I keep in touch with her, calling her sometimes, but don’t very often, I just want to keep our relationship like now.

Long live the two friendships. May they lead a happy life.

The Spring Festival

This year is a special year for me. I spent the Spring Festival in Singapore for the first time. I have never been away from home on Chinese New Year. But I did it this year.
As we all know, when Chinese New year is around the corner, in China, almost every family will be very busy. We buy some sweets, nuts, melon seeds, fruits and many other things to eat. Besides, we also do shopping very often to search for beautiful clothes suitable for us. We always hear that the one with all the resolutions. And before New Year’s Eve, we should clean our house and almost everything in our house. In addition, we can see spring festival scrolls, lanterns and so on. It is full of happy atmosphere. And on Chinese New Year, you can hear the sound of firecrackers everywhere. And we will have a big feast that evening. The whole family will get together to spend the day, chatting and watching programs. At night, beautiful fireworks can be seen as well. Generally speaking, it must be the happiest day of the whole year.
But this year I was not in China, I spent it in Singapore. Although it was so different from that in China, it was unforgettable. Our class had an exciting party, which is very interesting. We released ourselves on that day. We also ate dumplings which were delicious. We played hard and enjoyed ourselves. Then we went to meet our seniors. They treated us a big meal and waited for the first day of this year with us. All in all, it was also meaningful. We are not staying with our parents, but we have many friends here in Singapore. We are not alone.
In conclusion, I am happy to come here. I do not regret. And finally I hope everyone good luck in everything and happy every day in the new year.

My host family

My host family

22th, Jan 2011 Saturday

Today we meet our host families in NUS. We four have an uncle named Ng chin Ann. He is a heavy taxi driver, leading an ordinary life. He is a pious Christian, and he also knows about Chinese culture a lot.

To be honest, as a taxi driver, he is not rich, even leads a kind of poor life in such a rich city. He has to work about twelve hours every day, but he can hardly deposit money for later use. His son is good at schoolwork, however he cannot afford so high school fee in NUS that his son has to work for the government for six years to get the scholarship, just like we scholars.

However, he is not poor in his mind, he definitely knows a lot. From life to society, from religion to culture, during one hour and a half, we four learnt a lot. He also has some unique opinions for the Singapore government and society, some critics let me know that this society also has something to improve. Besides, living in such a safe and strict country, there are also disadvantages. For example, the young do not have the courage to risk, and it results in the lack of big business success. So in his opinion, Singapore is a good place to live in, especially after your retirement, but it is not a very suitable place to set up your career if you are ambitious. What an objective and good opinion! It is exactly what Singapore is like. So I admire him so much.

And he is a pious Christian, also a leader of a group of Christians. He prayers before each meal. He is so kind-hearted that pick up we four scholars even he is not rich.

Before meeting him, I hoped to have a very rich host family living in a big villa, so we can ask them to take us for a visit to Malaysia, or do something romantic. But after the meet, I complained why we were not set in a rich host family at the beginning? But after thinking it over, I really do not take it very serious, it does not matter as long as our host family is kind to us. I love our host family!

Sheep on the Roof

If my memory serves me well, this tittle comes from one of Aesop's Fables. The story is roughly like this. One day, a sheep was basking in the morning sunshine on the roof when a wolf passed by. The sheep took a glance at the wolf and was ready to ridiculed it, saying” Hey, my dear friend, it seems you are not that well. Are you going to hunt some locusts to solve your problem of the breakfast?” The wolf responded coldly, “Don’t be so arrogant, it is the roof that dares say this, you are just on the roof.”
This story suddenly occurred to me when many roommates of mine gather in front of the computer screen, speaking proudly, “Look, the ranking of the NUS in the world outstrips NTU that much.” All of a sudden, I didn’t know what to say at that time, just keeping silent.
There are too many comments on NUS and NTU surrounding me. Before I came to Singapore, someone told me, “If you can be assigned to the NUS, you will be rather promising.” So what? What if I were assigned to the NTU? I don’t know, nor do I care! I always believe it is who I am that counts. Not the height of the roof I am on. If I just content myself with that so-called roof, not trying to improve my ability, even I am on the highest roof in the world, it is meaningless.
So, what I want to say is “Be a self-knowledge person, and just treasure every minute you can control to truly make a difference.”

Do Not Forget Your Mother Tongue

       We have been here for more than 6 weeks. I think through this unusual period, everyone has already gotten a special and unique image of Singapore in mind. So, what is this Lion City like in your point of view?  Is it still unfamiliar or already a homelike place? Is it comfortable to live in or too humid to adapt to? Is it a shopping paradise or just a place with a high consumption level? Well, it’s obvious that every one has got different answers.
        When it comes to starting a new life in another country, the first thing people are sure to consider is the local language. Just like the seniors from PRC universities, we came here to study English in order to prepare for our approaching undergraduate life. We were not born in an English-speaking country, which someone may complain about. However, we should feel really lucky to be born in such a great country with a long history. That means we have a lot of excellent outstanding and brilliant ancestors. We PRC students should have learnt what a distinguished person should possess in his way to success. So what I want to stress is that as a Chinese, we should be proud of our culture and our mother language no matter which place or which situation we are in. If one man only appreciates other’s success and progress, he or she will definitely become nobody because he never knows where his own advantages are. Learning another language is good, but remember do not try to forget your mother tongue just to give your mind some place to remember another language.
        Although compared with those students in England America or even Japan and Korea, we are lucky, because we are studying in a culture-like country----Singapore is quite similar to China. We have less culture shock here than those on another side of earth. However, little doesn’t means no shock. We are now in a multicultural society. Everything that seems the same could be quite different. We are not familiar enough with this country to act or speak freely or even casually yet, because sometimes, may be on religious occasions, our understanding may not be accepted well by others, so if we behave in a self-centered way, conflicts may occur then the already built relationship will be ruined.
        I think all of us are trying to find a proper lifestyle to convert our old mind. But I want to remind you that no matter where you were, no matter where you will be, for now , we are together, we are here, we are in Singapore, it’s our fate that arranged all these things, but do not wait for  the future, try to create the one you want. I believe, this six-month bridging course will be our most unforgettable experience in life! So let’s just enjoy it!