I saw whales!

Animal World is one of my favorite TV programs. And of this program , I like to see the Sea World most. When I think of the Sea World, I always like to think of the whales——they are always very fascinating and interesting for me . Unfortunately , they are also very mysterious ,too. Maybe it just because they are too big and we don’t have a big enough pool to raise it. Or it because they are the animals who should born wildly and freely, it so cruel to take away their freedom. So ,although I had went to a lot of aquariums in China, I hadn’t seen any alive whale, only their bones.

But when I got to Boston, I saw an advertisement .It said I could see the whales by boat in the high seas. It sounds amazing! So I decided to give up some sights in my plan to see the whales without hesitate.

It took me one and a half hour to go to the high seas where we could find the whales. It just the constant route the whales will pass only in a period of the summer. And we were so lucky to find six humpback whales! Two mother whales and four baby whales. The baby whale were very active to jump out of the water . They didn’t even afraid of the ship and swam toward our ship. It just like they were doing a show for us, they were very cute and amazing!

The guide could even tell the name of them just by their tails! I couldn’t at all. It made me think I just a passer-by of these amazing creature and didn’t know them well at all. I was so envy about this talent of the guide. I hope one day ,I could also have more chance to contact with these amazing creature in the earth ,and maybe I can also tell their difference just by their tails!

be locked out

 I live in a single room in Yale . Although there are a lot of advantages for living alone， when you forget your keys and be locked out, you wouldn’t think like that.

One day , I remembered I had left the door open when I went to take a shower. But when I finished the shower and got out from the bathroom, I was astonished by the closed door. I was wrapped the bath towel, standing outside the door and felt very helpless, because it was already passed 3:00 am, I thought everyone should had slept.

I wanted to call the staff for help, but I didn’t have the phone. So I knocked the door of administrator, and there was no response as expected. But I found her key was just on the lock, so after a short time for thinking, I finally decided to open the door. Than I found she was sleeping on the bed but her phone was just on the desk. So I just took out her phone silently like a thief  because I didn’t want to wake her up. And I was very happy to find that there was no password of her phone.

I tried to found the paper which has the number of the staff. It used  to be stuck on the door. But it had gone in that emergency! Luckily, when I was worried, a man who came out from the playroom was just passing by my door.

“Are you locked out?”

“Yes” I said in embarrassment.

“Can I help you?”

“Yeah, do you have the number of the Yale security?”

“Actually , I do have!”

He said and show me the number. But because I didn’t have the glasses in that time, I couldn’t see the number clearly. So I stretched my arm to him with the phone in my hand and he laughed:

“Okay, I know”

 Than he helped me to put the number.

“I am so happy to be helpful, it really have a distance to go to the office.” He said.

Especially when I wearing like this! I added in my heart.

“Really thank you !”I said to him and called the staff.

Finally, a middle-aged man came and helped me open the door. I was so exhausted after the whole thing and hoped I could have a roommate.

Philadelphia and Washington DC

Last weekend, I went to Washington DC with a group of my classmates. We rented a car and a driver to take us from Yale to Philadelphia, and then to Washington DC.When we got to Philadelphia, we only had a little time to see Independence Hall and Liberty Bell. Standing on the street of Philadelphia, I could tell its history from the old buildings . But I liked it, as if the old days came in front of my eyes.

 Liberty Bell

standing on the street

We went to the Capitol in Washington DC in Saturday’s morning. The weather was warm and comfortable. And the Capitol was so beautiful . It had a white round dome , and a statue of liberty was standing on the dome wearing with a high hat.

the weather is wonderful

Stand in the Capital , you could see a long grass through the heart of the city. 

the long grass go throught the heart of the city

I spent almost a whole day in the Natural History Museum. I thougt it was even interesting than Metropolitan Museum of Art! In fact , there were a lot of children in the museum, maybe the children's things suit me.

see butterfly in the green house

There were a lot of interesting things in the museum. I even touched the stomach of a big mantis! And the most famous thing in that museum was the gem. Women all loved gem! I saw a lot of different and top-level gems in the museum and I do want to have one in my dream~

the Hope

the beatiful gems

the original ore of gems

the final impresion of America

I have spent a really busy month in America.

I still remember the first day I arrived, the car picked me up at Newark Airport after the long trip. But I didn’t want to sleep in the car at all. I opened my eyes to see everything passing by. When the car stopped in the service station, I walked into it. The station was full of people .I saw a big Golden Retriever sitting by his master, a lot of people were standing in the line to buy some ice cream or hamburgers whose brands I had never seen before. I picked a bottle of water which I hadn’t recognized. Everything seemed amazing to me .

When I got to Yale, I started the busy life of learning . In the first week, because of time difference, I got up at 5:00 am every morning .So I could take a leisurely breakfast and go to the class early. But as I adapted to the life here , getting up early in the morning became more and more difficult~

Beside the busy work days, I had even more busy weekends every week. I tried my best to see America and those was really amazing experiences for me to see the outside world  for  the first time.

Maybe for somebody, one month sounds like a long time. But for me , since I began to love it , I have to say goodbye to it now. Although I usually have to stay up late in the night to finish the homework and be bothered by a lot of trouble came in my life , I also got used to the brand of the water and ice cream, I learnt how to take the train or bus or plane to wherever I want to  go in America . I tried to learn how to live in an unknown city by myself.

But I know, what I have seen in this month is just the tip of the iceberg. I still need to learn a lot of things in America ,and I really want to have a try. Say goodbye but not forever, I am also at the threshold of the next period of my life, now. Life is continuing, I am growing.

Boston

I went to Boston by myself last weekend. Solo trip again, which I found I really enjoy .

Compared with New York, Boston is more fascinating in its easy life.

When I walked into Common Park, an instrument’s sound surprised me immediately. “ Is it an ErHu?” I thought. Than I found a Chinese old man was sitting there and playing ErHu attentively. He even played the songs of FengHuangChuanQi (a famous group in China which is widely loved by middle-aged people).With that sound, I felt I was walking in a park in China——it’s really weird.

walking along Charles River, I thought it was a really beautiful river. The most fascinating thing was ,people could swim just in the big river or rowed the small and narrow roofless boat used the oars . Some people were just lying on the platform built in the river, taking sunbaths and seemed very relaxed. I don’t know  exactly what the definition of happiness is,but I thought maybe one kind of happiness is just like this.

I was lying on the grass of the park, under a big old tree, enjoying the shadow given by the tree, trying to observe the people walking by. I found the sky was too blue to believe, it was just like the sky in the oil painting. Under the blue sky and white clouds , there were some houses with typical European style. It was just like I burst into a world which only existed in the Grimm’s fairy tales.Finally,I fell asleep on the grass,and dreamed deeply of the Grimm's world.

New York (part 2)

“Ok, I’ll return you half of the money” he said and tried to walk away.

“What? I just bought it one minute ago!”

As we were arguing, another group of people were coming and was interested in the tickets sold by the scalper. A girl who had heard what I said asked : “Why doesn’t she want this ticket?”

I looked at this girl and just smiled at her, I hoped she could know what I meant. The black guy wanted to walk away , but I just followed on the heels of him and kept speaking in a louder tone : “I don’t want this ticket!”

So , the girl kept asking the man: “Why? Why doesn’t she want this ticket?” The man began to fair I would ruin his business , so he said to the girl: “You heard ? She said her friends had bought a ticket for her!”

“I want $40 back” I added( he even have charged me the tips which I didn’t intend to give him).

He gave me $40 back quickly and I walked away.

I was so sorry I couldn’t tell the truth to the girl straightly, hope she could know what I meant in that smile.

So, I have a question in my heart. Why are the scalpers so furious in America .They even have the machine to print the tickets, who gave them the machine?

With these questions ,I got up to the top of Empire State Building. Thanks for the beautiful night scene, it comforted my upset caused by the scalpers and the long queue.

A talent makes me unusual

In China, there was a period that in order to encourage people to 

ask for a receipt from sellers to prevent tax evasion, the government 

issued a kind of receipt that was also a scratch prize. And the prize 

could be a little money ,for example 10 RMB which was about 

$1.6 , or a big prize which could be a lot of money.

Although there were a lot of people who got different receipts 

everyday, not everyone could win a prize .For example, my 

dad was the one who got the most receipts in our family ,but he 

never won a prize .

So ,here is my amazing talent——I can win a prize every time. If the receipts’ face value was 10RMB I would win a 10RMB 

prize. And if I have more than three 10 RMB receipts , the 

possibility of my scratching two prizes is very big.

People who have seen this all thought it was unbelievable , and I also 

thought it was amazing just like I could do magic and I didn’t 

know why. Many people have not seen the prize until they ate 

with me , and when I got the prize ,they all said surprisingly: “ 

why I have never found that it is so easy to win the prize? How 

did you make that?” and I just said “I don’t know, maybe luck?” 

 I often ate outside in restaurants with my cousin 

during that time because he didn’t have a girlfriend in that time. 

Once he got a girlfriend ,he abandoned me immediately and I 

couldn’t find him anywhere . He was very doubtful with this 

talent of mine .So, when I was scratching ,it just like gambling 

between us. He always bet that I couldn’t win a prize 

and he laughed at me : “why are you taking it so seriously “ 

and when I won ,he would say:” restrain yourself ,miss. Don’t eat at

this restaurant again .”

Some people joked that maybe I have the good fortune to get 

some easy money, and my mom said :”what easy money ,it's just a 

little luck to win some small prize.”

 I also don’t know why I always had this little luck. Why  can’t they

be saved up and become  big luck and a big prize ? I know it 

is greedy, in fact ,I was satisfied with these small prizes and felt 

very happy every time when I won them.

Unfortunately , the government found a new method to prevent 

tax evasion, so they changed the receipts and no more scratch 

area at all. It is nothing for most people except me. I can’t get a

discount anymore!

However ,I believe ,there is still a lot of luck in my life. Maybe it is 

just an on time subway or comfortable shoes ,but I enjoy them 

and appreciate them . And I still believe, I have a special talent to 

get luck and that makes me unusual.

the wardrobe in my house

There is a big wardrobe in my parents' bedroom. When I was a child , I was always fascinated by it . It was a brown wooden wardrobe with four small round golden handle. And it looked so high and huge in a child’s eyes.

  I always liked to worm myself in the big wardrobe when my parents were not looking. Crouched in the big wardrobe ,I felt everything was silent and peaceful. I enjoy the black in the wardrobe ,and firmly believed the black could protect me .

I also liked the soft clothes in the big wardrobe. The wardrobe had two separate compartments. The left one  belonged to my mom, and my dad’s  was on the right. I always wormed myself into the left one just because of  the mom’s clothes. There were so many different clothes in  my mom’s wardrobe. The cotton, the silk and the linen ,I loved them all when they touched my body. And the smell of mom also made me feel so relieved so that I usually slept in the wardrobe. When my parents couldn’t find me ,they opened the door of the wardrobe .But because of the long clothes hanging in the wardrobe ,they said: “oh, she is not here,  where she was gone?”

Although we moved house ,my parents still kept this wardrobe and I was so happy with that. But the day when I found I couldn’t sleep in the wardrobe anymore just because it was too small, I knew I had grown up. 

an observation in the morning

(Choose a public place around Yale campus and describe what you see.)

It was an afternoon  in Yale .The weather was beautiful. The sun was shining brightly, not many clouds in the sky, you could hear the birdcalls in campus. I was sitting  on the bench in front of our classroom building, holding an egg in my hand which I want to eat as my late breakfast. I was trying to find something happening around me.

There was a man who was squatting on the ground, stretching his arm again and again. He aroused my interest ,so I just walked to him to see what was he doing.

“hi, what are you doing?”

“hi! I am pulling up the weeds ,so only this grass can live” he pointed the grass for me.

I had known what  he was doing and I don’t have more topics to speak with him, but I was still curious about his job .So I just stood there, watched him silently and started to eat my egg. He seemed a little bit embarrassed .Maybe he thought to be watched directly by a girl who was eating an egg was an strange thing. But I didn’t care, I just stood there until I finished my egg and left him feeling that I was mysterious or brainsick .

the trip to New York(part 1)

I went to New York by myself!

This is my first time to go abroad ,first time to travel alone ,and I just went to New York BY MYSELF!

Actually ,it was not as difficult as I thought. Before leaving, I bought two maps, one was of Manhattan, the other was of the New York’s subway. It looks so complicated on the map of the subway lines, but after the first time I took it , it just became much more clear in my mind. In fact, the road of New York was very easy to maneuver, because they use numbers to name the roads and the roads was very orderly. To be honest, comparing with the first day when I walked in Yale confusedly ,trying to find the place to take the texts while dragging the big suitcases ,it was more easy to travel in New York.

I had wrote a list before I went there and tried to get to as many as possible.

I visited the metropolitan museum of art first. When I looked this suit, a man stood next me screamed : “wow! He must be very hot!”

When I rested on the grass of Central Park, I saw two man hugging, they didn’t  care about other people’s opinions, and I also enjoy this feeling.

When I went to see the Empire State Building, something happened. A black man who dressed like a policeman asked me to stop . After I stopped ,he asked me if I have the tickets for  Empire State Building and I said no. So he just printed a ticket from a small machine and it was $39 . But when I got to  the building, I found it was just $29  per person.  I asked the staff ,who were the people standing outside and they just said: “sorry, they don’t work for us. But this ticket can be used ,too.” I felt astonished that they also have scalpers in America ,I thought American had such good rules. Although the black man looked tall and big and scary, I thought it was in the central of the city and they couldn’t do something horrible. So I just waked back and said straight: “I don’t want this ticket.”  he didn't want to talk to me,
“why?“he asked, 
“because my friends have bought a ticket for me, and I don’t know. They are waiting for me now.”

The Fade of the Flowers ——adapted from Eileen Chang’s Hua Diao

  {go to the Yale Art Gallery,find a work of art that speaks to you then tell it's story}
There is a bunch of flowers on the table, they were just brought by the maid. People told her these flowers were sent by him. She really likes the color of these flowers ,pure white, light pink, faint yellow, they look so fresh and alive——not like her at all.

“Maybe I could recover from this dilatory illness ,maybe he is still longing for me,” She thinks ,“But If he really misses me, why hasn’t he come for such a long time. He knows I feel lonely.” 
She began to doubt ,“Maybe he is dating with another young lady now ,who is beautiful and healthy,who can go to parties and dance with him. She will keep company with him ,go to picnics and he would like to introduce her to his friends and tell jokes to make her laugh……”
 She couldn't stop thinking such terrible things and the source of these problem was that he did not come to see her for about one month.he only sent these flowers to her everyday. “ Why doesn’t he come?  He maybe doesn’t want to see my face , I know I’m ugly now.”

She looks at the window of this lifeless room .They have closed the window and drawn the curtains to stop the wind and light. Only a beam of light travels through the crack between the curtains and shine on the flowers in the corner. The room is so quiet ,she can’t hear any sound outside the door, nobody is coming and nobody is passing. “Maybe I will never recover,” She thinks.

Two month later, she died ,her family held a big funeral for her. He  came with his fiancée and put a bunch of flowers before her grave. The Tombstone reads:“ a young and beautiful lady,loved by everyone.”

Scavenger Hunt Story

{Tell the story of your group's scavenger hunt.}
Three girls and one boy ran along the Wall street under the strong sunshine trying to find Sterling Memorial Library as quickly as possible.

A nice lady with a cup of coffee suddenly came by .

I bet that we must have looked very confused at that moment, so the lady gently asked “Do you guys need some help?”

We answered one after another.

“Oh, yes please!” Monica shouted.

“We’re trying to find the Stupid Gargoyle!” I exclaimed.

“But it sounds impossible for us to figure out which one it is!” Doris wailed.

“Time is so limited!” Joanna insisted.

Then she smiled and said, "Calm down you guys. "

Then she brought us inside the library. Behind the desk, there was another lady.

She said "Oh my god, they are doing it again! They do it every summer but I forget it every time. Maybe I can ask others for help."

Then she made a string of phone call. While she was doing it, more staff gathered around us. Among those people, one woman suddenly said "He is sure to help you guys. He knows everything!" pointing to a man with her finger.

The man looked like a wise man. So knowledgeable, insightful and sophisticated.

He pointed out one gargoyle with 100 percent confidence.

We trusted him with no doubt and then we took a picture immediately.

We believed that our mission was perfectly completed.

However, after we came back to our class, it turned out that what we had done was just like the letter on the book that the gargoyle held. It said “U R A JOKE”!!

The letter on the book that Stupid Gargoyle held was supposed to be just “Stupid.”

Oh my god, we didn’t notice the words!

july 4th weekend

This is my first weekend I spent in America. On July 4^th , the school bus took us to the lakeside to celebrate Independence Day in America . I was excited to have a chance to take the distinct bus I have seen a lot of times in the movies.

 It was a rainy day and the lake was so beautiful in the rain. There was a mid-lake island in the lake which was full of green. I even saw a duck in the lake (I guess. If not ,I might have found a new monster in the world~),she putted her head under the water at a time and then looked up and kept swimming in the lack, she was so cute and alive in the rain. Thanks for Taka’s raincoat, I didn’t get wet in the rain.

The teacher said we would eat BBQ ,and I thought it should be like this  

But the we ate like this

I want to know if I misunderstood about the meaning of BBQ?

 When we came back from the lack , I couldn’t find the teacher who have found my key. But the kind bus driver gave me help and I thought her smile was so beautiful.

On the Saturday ,I went shopping in an outlets . but I didn’t buy a lot of things because I found most of them are made in China.  And the most impressive thing is ,we ran under the strong sunshine to try to catch the train. When we finally ran to the train station, out of breath, the sound from the station “the train is approaching, please stand in the yellow line” just began. And I thought maybe in the 20 years ,when I think back to this summer in America, I would till remember some girls, running under the big sun, trying to catch the train.

the First Impression of America

This is my first time to go aboard and the first foreign country I landed is America which has a long distance from my home, and just at the back of my home in the earth.

Through a long and tough time in the air, the plane of UNITED AIRLINE gave me a cruel lesson that the seat can be put down and sleep comfortably is just a lie told by the movies.

When the plane landed, I was picked up by a car to take me to Yale. The scenery I saw along the highway was very unfamiliar to me. The first impression that it gave me was countryside. I suddenly understood why the countryside music is so popular in America, because it is all over here! It seemed no one take care of the road environment such as cutting the grass in the centre divide of road . The wild grass in the field was taller than me and I could imagine a lion suddenly caming out and roaring at me .I thought it looked like Africa on TV ! because even in the countryside of China, I haven’t seen a large area of such high grass,almost every wild field have been taken to plant food.

The houses are beautiful and cute. No high buildings ,no crowd of people, it seemed they live a very easy life in America . The public transport was unexpectedly terrible，I couldn’t imagine a bus stop without a sign. Maybe it explained why American people are facinated by cars .

And this is just my first impression of America and his countryside life.

No More Kindergarten

 I remember when I was in the kindergarten, I was so active. I was curious about everything and too energetic to fall asleep during the daytime. I couldn't stop thinking about going outside to play just like the pet dog I kept when I grew up. But in the kindergarten, the teacher asked us to go to sleep during the lunch time. And if I talk with friends in the bedroom ,the teacher would abuse us and even made us stand outside the bedroom’s door.

 One day, when I was laying in my bed , it was so silent in the kindergarten's bedroom which was as big as a factory workshop and could place thirty beds for the children. No one dared to make a little noise, I even couldn't hear the breathiness of the other children who were already sleep. The only thing I could do was to watch people walk through the bedroom’s heavy window easily and voicelessly . It seemed that everything in the outside world was fine but the air in the bedroom was frozen , and the worse thing was ——I was still alive in that suffering time. if the devil had given me a chance to make a deal with him in that time , maybe I would like to come to an agreement with him to exchange my freedom.

 Maybe , there are many frightening things in the world , but I learned in that time ,one of them is living without freedom. 

the kindergarden's bedroom and classroom

 a picture of me