Randomly update

Today I went out and had a walk alone. I walked to TJ max to buy hair clipper set. Oh my god! I thought it should be a little bit cool, so I decided to walk there. However, just the opposite, it's not cool, it's so hot. I was sweating while walking to TJ max. When I got back home, My T-shirt was wet. Now I am aware of something. No wonder people would never like to go out door in summer. He he, anyway, it was a good experience. Next time, I will never go out side without knowing the weather.

It seems that fall is here, although it's still hot around noon. I really enjoy the weather in the morning and in the evening. It is cool.

I guess that the winter is coming soon in Grand Forks. I had the experience of living in a cold area, so I'm pretty sure about wishing winter comes a little slower. :-) However, I somewhat can't wait to see what's the weather like here in winter. Do I need to count the date again in winter? I mean I always count the date to see how many days left to see spring.(I know I'm so silly, am I? Winter can not be end by my wishing. It will end at the right time. ) I am not sure. Let's just wait and see what will go on in winter.

Be safe.

Hurricane Ike was downgraded to a tropical storm before it hit Brazos county. College Station is safe now. As Aaron said that we just got a bunch of rain and a bit of wind during Ike destroying Galveston.(Thank you for your word!) I am really really glad that we are not living on the coast; in the meantime, i feel so sorry for those people who lost their homes. Natural disaster is not easy to avoid, but when you have a chance to evacuate from the dangerous location, you can avoid the disaster. Actually, the government did a good job to help people avoid the Hurricane Ike. However, many people didn't believe what the governor said. They just wanted to stay with their houses without a reason. Nevertheless, they called for help at last. I think this is a good lesson for them to learn. For me, be safe is more important than any other reason.

Waiting for Hurricane Ike

It's getting cloudy, but not very windy now. The road outside is quiet. There are only a few cars on the way to somewhere. Maybe they are on the way home from work; maybe they are from South Texas... It seems most of people are staying at home, waiting for the upcoming hurricane Ike. According to the forecast, it won't be here until Saturday. Hopefully, it won't very strong when it comes here.

Getting ready to face hurricane

In order to get ready to face the hurricane, we prepared every necessary thing as the others who are living in Brazos county did last night. I guess you will never see people adding gas and getting grocery at the same time, if you never undergo an upcoming hurricane. We went to the grocery store as well last night. It was so crowd in HEB. The funny thing was that the bread, bottle water, canned food, and crackers sections were almost empty. We bought a lot of canned food in case no electricity. When we were on the way back from HEB, the traffic line was about three blocks long. I never saw that before.

When I woke up this morning, I thought it should be raining. However, I was wrong. It's still sunny now. If the hurricane wouldn't come, it should be a nice day. Let's see what will happen later.

Schools closed Friday

All schools will be closed Friday in Brazos county because of Hurricane Ike. As a precautionary measure as Hurricane Ike nears the Texas coast and tropical storm winds and heavy rain are projected to reach the Bryan-College Station area, President of A&M, Elsa Murano, announced Thursday. It is said that the hurricane has changed the direction, it is coming toward College Station now. I am a little bit worried about it. Hurricane is a disaster. Where it comes by; there are damages. I hope that it won't pass the area that people live around.:(
Due to weather conditions in next couple days, we need to prepare plenty of food and water for surviving today. However what should we do from tomorrow to Saturday? Maybe the electricity will be shut down for safety. I am not sure yet. Let's see what will happen in next a few days. Hopefully College Station is a safe place. God bless us, god bless all people!

Mid-Autumn Day

Mid-Autumn Day is almost here. We are counting this day by the Lunar calendar, so it doesn't always fall on the same day. This year, it falls on September 14.

This is an important day for Chinese people. People respect this day because it is the family reunion time. All families like to spend this happy night together. Usually, the family will have a big dinner first. After dinner, they will taste moon cakes and appreciate the bright moon. It maybe just a simple day, but it means much to a family. People are busy doing their own work every day, less and less people have time to spend with their parents. Therefore this day is more important to parents. We all know that most of the parents want their children to be around, however, it can't happen to every family ……

My new class

I have enrolled the ESL class, and my class just started today. There are many classes, which are also teaching English in College Station. Most of them are teaching Bible combined with English, not the pure English teaching program. Only Barbara Bush Parent Center has the pure English classes. However, due to the space of the school, they need to control the number of each class. They have four classes, and for each class they can only arrange thirty students in. So that means not every person can enroll the class. As i knew that there were one hundred and eighty people registered, but only one hundred and twenty enrolled those classes. I am so happy that i am in the class now.

Today is the first day of my class. I have already met my new classmates and my new teacher.
The name of my new teacher is Kristie . She is a great teacher. Before the class started, she introduced herself first, and then we introduced ourselves as well. Can you believe that? In my class, people are from thirteen different countries. So this year, i probably will learn many different cultures from those different counties. That would be so much fun. When class started, we discussed about some pictures which were prepared by Kristie. From those pictures, we extended to our goals. That actually was a very interesting way to open our minds and find out our own goals. I like the way that Kristie teaches. Hope i can learn much from her and the other students.

We have been in College Station for almost a month. In this month, i have met many people from many countries. They are seemingly nice. Actually, i don't know exactly how they are. I still need time to know them well.
It is said that here doesn't have much fun place to have fun. He he, i haven't known much yet. We will figure out it later.
People here are friendly, but i don't think they belong to nice people. Maybe that is because we are new here, and we are new to them. That's not a big deal, we will be nice to them anyway.
The weather here is hot and a little bit humid, but i like it. At least, i can wear skirt in this summer. Does it sound weird to you? He he, this is me, like to stay at a warm place.

To my surprise, Labor Day was not a holiday for the schools in College Station. Maybe you will feel a little confused about why i knew that. :-) Because I made an appointment for today's oral interview on Labor Day morning. My interview went well today. The tester just asked me a few simple questions. They just wanted to know which class we should enroll, and arrange people into different classes. In addition, they need control the number of the students because they don't have much room for too many students. The tester said that only one hundred and twenty people could enroll the school; the others would be on the waiting list. As the minister said that there are one hundred and eight people have registered already. So i am not sure if i can get in or not. I still need to wait for the result. The result will be posted on this Saturday morning. Hopefully, i can get in the class.

The weather in Texas is extremely hot around noon in summer. Although it is fine in the morning and at night, it is barely endured at the rest of the daytime. Thus, having an A/C in the apartment is really important in Texas. Now the temperature is more like our hometown's, therefore, i pretty enjoy it. :-)

The other aspect of the weather in Texas is humid. Summers are warm and hot with occasional showers being the only real variation in weather. High humidity makes people feel hotter outside in summer because it reduces the effectiveness of sweating to cool the body by preventing the evaporation of perspiration from the skin. However, i think it is not very humid this year. It is said that this is not the average humidity. This year is quite different from the passed years. The local climate is subtropical. Periods of low temperatures usually lasting less than two months. Snow and ice are extremely rare. He he, that's so great, i like that.

Settling down well in College Station

We are settling down well in College Station. The weather here is hot, and a little humid, but not too bad. However, i think i can survive here, but i still need a while to get used to it. That's fine. :-) We are kind of lucky. Since we came here we have met a few nice people. They helped us a lot. That's so great.

The traffic here is heavier than it is in Grand Forks. The Campus of Texas A&M is much bigger than UND's. Although it is bigger, we need to walk or ride a bike on Campus because it's not very convenient to drive a car on Campus. The road is complicated and also it is not very easy to find a parking lot. The permit of parking on Campus is very expensive. The parking lot for students is far away from the study building.

We are living off campus, but our apartment is convenient for the shops and the campus. The bus stop is downstairs, and the shops are a walk distances from our apartment . And also we can take a shuttle bus to go to the food store which is named HEB. HEB has a variety of fresh vegetables and Asian food. Target and Wal-mart is not very far from there either. Near Wal-mart, there is a Asian store. That store has lots of Chinese food. It was surprised me that it has frog legs and quails. Although i don't know how to cook them, i quite like to enjoy them. He he ……:-P

@ Dallas airport

Now Jin and I are waiting for the airplane to College Station at Dallas. Here is the free computure for us to use, but only thirty minutes limit. He he, it is interesting and awesome. It was so cold in Denver airport last night. We stayed there overnight. Fortunately, i brought a blanket. We will be College Station in a few hours.

Ready to move.

Time flies. I can't believe that this is the last week in ND. Since we are busy preparing to leave, i haven't been feeling good in my deep mind. I can't image the days without these closed friends in the future. I certainly am going to miss these good friends when we move to College Station.

I think we should enjoy the last week here with our good friends this week, but we still have lots of things to do. Anyway, Jin's graduation is on Friday. Jimmie and Aaron is going to hold a going away party at their house for Jin and Brad after the graduation. Therefore, we can spend a whole night together. I am sure that we will have a great time there. Thanks Jimmie, Aaron and the other friends. When i saw our pictures these days, i missed the happy time that we spent together. These happy memories will last forever in my mind.

I am going to the historical Museum tomorrow afternoon with Anna and my classmates. This will be the last time to spend time with my whole class in ND. I am not sure we can meet again some time or not after i leave. Hope some day we could meet again somewhere.

Jin and i are planning to pack up and finish cleaning this weekend. And also, we need Feng and Rona to come over and take all the stuff away. Then our apartment will be empty, except us and our luggage. Then we are ready to leave. :-) It will be a busy weekend.

Jin's defense's done today. We went to Apple bee's to celebrate it. After dinner, we went back directly because Jin is tired. He had been so busy preparing that in the past few days. At this moment, he is ready to have a rest in this weekend. I somewhat can set my heart at rest in the next month. At least, he is eligible to graduate this semester. Sometime, i consider that i am the big distraction for him, but he said no. Even though sometime he has to take care of me after a whole day's working. He didn't say anything. I feel sorry about that deeply, and also i deeply appreciate for what he did for me. So far, i think i am the happiest girl in the world. :-) Anyway, life is life, life is alive; it needs both of us to manage……

Actually, when i see Jin is busy, i want to do something to help him. But i don't know his stuff, then i will think about my old job. I really want to perform an operation again sometime. I haven't practice for a long time. I need to practice. It's so pity that i can't operate here. Besides that i don't really know what i can do as my job? I will see what will happen in the future. Hopefully i can find my own position.

Beijing welcomes you.mkv

Beijing-2008-Olympic logo


We all know that Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Games of the XXIX Olympiad from August 8-24,2008. This is an important event for China. Every Chinese people is excited about it. People have been preparing and waiting for it for a long time. Thus far, works are almost done. This song is for welcoming every one who would like to go to Beijing for a visit. Beijing is the capital of China. It is a great place for you to visit. :-) Hope you will like this song, and like Beijing.

I am somewhat boring.

The weather in the past few days was so cold in Grand Forks. I am kind of thinking that maybe this is still spring. However, now is June, it should be summer time. I remembered that the weather in last June was better than this year. We went hiking and kayaking, and we had lots of fun during that time. I really miss that time. However, this year is different from last year. People are very busy with their own stuff. This make me miss the scalpel, miss the time in the operate room performing an operation in the hospital. At that time, i was busy treating my patients and i would never feel lonely and bored. I was always busy thinking about the disease and how to cure a patient. However that was the past, i really miss that time. I know that past is history; present is a gift; future is a mystery. I should grab the present time and do what i should do and make it more valuable. I am continuing my new year's resolution. So far it goes well. I will let it go well in the future. :-)

Unfortunately, Jin's airplane was canceled because of the bad weather. He won't be back until tomorrow noon. Therefore, he needs to stay at the airport for more than 14 hours. It was sunny in the daytime, but it suddenly changed in the afternoon. Poor Jin! Hopefully, the weather would be good tomorrow.

Random update

Our picnic organized by Anna is on the schedule, but we still have no idea about the weather. From forecast, it will be rain on that day. So far, i am not quite sure about the exact time. In addition, during waiting for Anna's next mail, my MSN account has a problem. I couldn't sign in by that account, so i applied for another one. But Anna doesn't know my new email address and i can't remember hers either. I lost all email addresses of my classmates, even phone numbers. Hope Manoj can help me to get their email addresses.

Jin will return Grand Forks today. In the past few days, he was so busy in College Station. He probably is very tired and hungry now. Therefore, i am going to make some dumpling for him for dinner.

More pictures of Roxie

Licking its fur

Great pose!

Biting its cage

Lying and relaxing

Looking for something?!

Washing its face

Roxie is with me now.

JJ and Zhe went back China a few days ago, they couldn't leave Roxie alone at the apartment. Therefore, they left him to me to take care of him. Now, he is with me.








Hey, look at this little body, he is so cute, isn't he? And he is naughty too! He doesn't like to stay at the cage all day. Once he can come out of the cage, he always jumps and runs happily. He also likes to bite things, especially papers. While i am not at his side, he bites every thing , including his cage.:-)He eats a lot every day. No wonder he grows so fast. he he :-p

Mom's birthday is coming.

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Actually, from tonight to tomorrow morning is her birthday because of the jet gap. Virtually, i feel guilty sometime for my absence in every important moment. I prefer live around my parents. I love them and they love me too. They raised me, but i haven't done anything for them until now. I know they don't need me do anything, but i still can't stop thinking about that. Although, i am not at home with you, but my spirit is with you now! I am ready to talk with you online tonight and tomorrow morning. :-)
Happy birthday to you, mom! Thanks mom, I LOVE YOU! Wish you healthy and happy for ever! In addition, i will be a good person as you wish!

Congratulations on Jin.

Jin just passed the road test one and half hours ago. I knew he could do it well. He indeed did it well. From now on, he can officially drive a car alone. Congratulations on you, honey!:-)

Jin's driving skill is improved.

It's time for Jin to take the road test. He passed the written test last October, but he is not eager to take the road test after the written test. Because he doesn't formally learn about driving, he made many mistakes during driving in the past a few months. I was trying to teach him in months, but he paid less attention to it. I was worried about him very much during him driving. Finally Jin decided to take the test and seriously learned it in couple days. He somewhat surprised me. He improves his driving skills so quickly. Now i am quite confident that he will pass the road test. He's going to take the road test tomorrow morning. This afternoon, i will give him the last lesson. Hopefully, he will pass the test smoothly. Good luck, Jin!

Symbol is only a symbol!

This morning, Jin received an e-mail from und_announce. This mail is Statement from UND President Dr. Charles Kupchella and UND Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Greg Weisenstein. Yesterday afternoon, staff at the University of North Dakota School of Law discovered an 8-by-10-inch figure of a swastika on the outside of a window near one of the Law School entrances. In the mail, they mentioned that the swastika has come to be a symbol of hate, conveying a message of intimidation, violence and intolerance. They said "we are saddened, disappointed and disgusted that swastikas have appeared on our campus. These acts are NOT tolerated at UND. There is no place the University of North Dakota -- or anywhere else, for that matter -- for harassing, demeaning or culturally insensitive acts. We will continue to investigate these activities and when perpetrators are identified, we will seek prosecution through our Code of Student life and, where warranted, through the court systems."
Actually, swastika is not only the symbol of the Nazis, but also the symbol of good things. Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck. Throughout the subcontinent of India, it can be seen on the sides of temples, religious scriptures, gift items, and letterheads. Therefore, maybe the swastika on the outside of the window means sun, power, strength, and good luck. I heard about the swastika from an Indian before. She told me that they still use it as a symbol in a good way now. Then I am a little confused, how can people know it is used in a bad way or in a good way?
In my opinion, people don't need to be too sensitive about that symbol. After all, the Nazis will never come back again!Symbol is only a symbol!

I am trying to find an apartment.

A long time ago, we have already heard about that the apartment in A&M is not easy to apply.We still had a hope of getting one. After telephoning them, we know that the amount of apartments is limited in A&M. We are not able to get an on-campus apartment by the early August. Therefore, we need to find an off-campus house. It's really hard to find one near by the university. In addition, the price is pretty high if we want to get an appropriate one. Due to this, we decided to find a one bedroom and one bathroom apartment now. Even this kind of apartment with A/C, Internet &W/D is around $550-750 per month, and electric is not included yet. If without A/C, Internet & W/D, it is cheaper, it's around $375-500 per month. An average of the cost of electric is more than $100 per month. I prefer the apartment with A/C &W/D. How can people live without A/C in summer in TX? What do you think? Please give me some advice, i am trying to find a good place to live.
In addition, i don't want to share my apartment with bugs. It's too dangerous to live with them! :-P

President Hu pays silent tribute to earthquake victims

Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday afternoon paid a three-minute silent tribute to victims of the May 12 earthquake in the central government compound of Zhongnanhai in Beijing.

At a ceremony that began at 2:28 p.m., Hu, in a dark suit with a white flower pinned to the chest, bowed his head under a national flag which was lowered at half-mast. He looked sad and solemn.

Hu was joined by his colleagues in China's top decision-making body, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, including Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang.

The short ceremony took place while air raid sirens, cars, trains and ship horns sounded across the Chinese capital and most public activities came to a halt in the city, as part of the nationwide observation of a three-day mourning period for the quake victims.

It was the exact moment a week ago that the devastating 8.0-magnitude tremor hit Wenchuan County and its neighboring areas in southwest China's Sichuan Province, claiming 32,173 lives and leaving more than 220,000 injured as of 7 p.m. Sunday in Sichuan Province.

Nationwide, the confirmed death toll climbed to 34,073 by 12 a.m. on Monday, while the final figure was estimated to exceed 50,000.

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin also stood in silence for the quake victims at a separate place at the same time.

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, observed the silence in Beichuan County of Sichuan, one of the worst hid regions in the earthquake. Li was there overseeing the rescue and relief work.

The State Council, China's cabinet, on Sunday ordered a nationwide display of respect for the dead of the quake. The ongoing torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, slated to open on Aug. 8, was also suspended from Monday to Wednesday.

Flags are flying at half-mast across China and all public amusements have been suspended from Monday, as the country of 1.3 billion people enters the three-day mourning period.

Chinese diplomatic missions abroad also observed the mourning, some holding the silent tribute simultaneously with domestic public despite the time difference. Condolence books were opened in the Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates around the world.

The Chinese president just returned from a three-day visit to the quake-hit areas. During the trip, Hu stressed, "quake relief work has entered the most crucial phase. We must make every effort, race against time and overcome all difficulties to achieve the final victory."

He asked rescuers on Sunday to use "every available means" to reach every village affected by the earthquake, instead of just working in towns and cities.

Shortly before the national silent mourning, a 5.4-magnitude aftershock hit Qingchuan County of Sichuan, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The tremor, which occurred at 2:06 p.m, was the latest major quake monitored following more than 20 aftershocks above magnitude 5 that rocked the hardest-hit area in Sichuan.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)

China accepts foreign medical teams to help relief work

China has agreed that foreign medical teams could come to China to help relief work in the wake of the massive earthquake in southwest Sichuan Province, said Qin Gang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, on Monday.

"Considering the need of the current relief work, China Red Cross is authorized to accept medical teams from foreign countries to come to assist medical and treatment work," he said.

China would like to keep close contact with all nations on the rescue and relief work, Qin said.

He said some countries and Red Cross societies have expressed their hopes of sending medical teams to China, and the Chinese government and people are thankful for it.

The spokesman said the Chinese government is mobilizing all forces of the nation, including military and medical staffs, to join the relief work.

With regard to the time when foreign medical teams could enter China, the spokesman said the Chinese side has made necessary preparation, and medical teams from relevant countries should contact with the China Red Cross society as soon as possible. They can also contact with Chinese embassies in those countries, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2008)

Let's help them.

The confirmed death toll rose Sunday to 32,476. Another 220,109 people suffered injuries, a State Council statement said. Some 9,500 remained buried in Sichuan, the provincial government said.Officials have said the final death toll is expected to surpass 50,000.

All the victims and survivors in the earthquake need help from all the people in the world. China has accepted a lot of donation from people with a loving heart. That helps them a lot. Let's help them with our hands. Your a little donation can help all of them.

Crazy ants overrun Houston.

The following news is from http://www.kauz.com/news/18989644.html
Now, I am scared of moving to Texas because of those crazy ants. Maybe there have more dangerous bugs.

Crazy ants overrun Houston.
Some crazy ants are making the trek to North Texas--they're tiny and are found in the Houston area.

Officials say the ants, called 'crazy rasberry ants' are invading homes. They arrived in Texas a few years ago aboard a cargo ship and have since spread across several counties. And it seems no matter what homeowners do, they can't get rid of the pesky insects.

Patsy Murphow can't get rid of the ants and says, "I went down and bought RAID and they'd figure out where the areas were I sprayed and they go around 'em."

Tom Rasberry of Budget Pest Control says, "You can kill them by the millions and even billions, but the problem is you can't kill all of them because their numbers are too high."

The ants are named after Tom Rasberry of Budget Pest Control because he first noticed the ants. The bugs are called 'crazy' because they don't travel in a single line, instead they move in irregular patterns. They don't sting, but they do bite.

More information about crazy ants http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=news-bytes-ants-teeth

Summer holidays

Our class was ended by a wonderful potluck yesterday. Our teacher, Anna, made a plan for our summer picnic. Our first picnic time will be on June 10 at University Park. Our classmates will meet there on that day. Hopefully, that day will be a very nice day.
Grand Forks only has a short summer every year. So we'd better enjoy every nice day during summer holidays. Since i am going to leaving for Taxes, i will miss the summer in Grand Forks very much next year. And also i will miss my friends, especially a few of my best friends here. I hope we could get together more often during this summer.
I am thinking about learning swimming again now. When the swimming pool is open to every one, i will go there and swim. I am not sure if i still remember the skills of swimming that my friends taught me, but anyhow i will try my best to practice. :-)

Bless my country.

This is a virtually harsh year for China. After the big snowstorm, China only had a little break, then Earthquake attacked China without any warning sign. It ruthlessly killed more than 12,000 people till now. More than 26,000 people were injured during the only a few minutes earthquake, meanwhile, many buildings collapsed. Those numbers are not included all. We still have three cities that are not able to get in until now, because of the damage and the bad weather. It's too much damage from the earthquake. Due to this serious earthquake, many Chinese people lost their family members and became homeless. They are in May God bless my country. I am praying for my country, for all Chinese people. Hopefully, this would be the end of all disasters of China.
How can people avoid this kind of natural calamities？How should people do now?Chinese people, let's help each other please and create a new life.

The seeds have sprouted.

I am so surprised that most of the seeds i planted in my gardening class have sprouted. Three tomato seeds and six green bean seeds were separately planted into two flower pots. They all grow well. Even though they didn't sprout in the same time, they really have a intense competition in those pots. I water them regularly and place them nearby the window, so it can be easy to get some sunlight when there is sunlight in the early morning. If the wind is not very strong, I also open the window to let them get fresh air from outside. Virtually, you can't see any changes in the daytime. They always give me a big surprise in the early morning. Every sprout grows faster at night. When i saw that the first tomato seed sprouted, i felt very excited. I somewhat hoped that it could grow up to a tomato tree immediately. And then I hoped that it could fruit very well soon. I know that sounds like a daydreaming. :-P But i really hope that it could happen later. I had given them to Cynthia, who is my classmate, on the other day. So i am sort of missing them.

Mother’s Day is coming.

There is nothing new recently. I just want to say that Mother's Day is coming. This Sunday, May 11 is Mother's Day. Are you ready to give your mother a sweet phone call, or prepare a gift for your mom? Being a mother is a hard job for every woman. This job is for nothing, expect for raising their children and taking care of families. No matter how hard it is, mothers would never quit. Mothers deserve the greatest glory.

Need help!

What is Family Values? I wrote an essay on Family Values last week, but the essay I wrote was about the Importance of Family. I totally misunderstood the meaning of the topic. What is Family Values? I am confused.
In the words of my own, Family values is influenced by every single person in the family. Every person has family values that comes from their parents before they get married. After the marriage, new family values comes from both of the family members. It depends on many aspects, such as backgrounds, cultures, environment, and so on. Am I right? I don't really know. In addition, i also think that the values is the way to see or to treat something. Most of the time, it can be influenced by family members, society, country cultures, etc. I am not quite sure about that...

The importance of the family unit

Family is a group of people related by blood or marriage. We all belong to a family. In a family, people support each other, depend on each other, respect each other and comfort each other. Each of us in a family accepts the responsibilities of being a part of the family. People receive what they need so that others may have their share, and helping to strengthen the family through other services. Family values are very important to every one. Family also means home---a place to grow up, to store memories, to heal and to perform a duty.
For children, some times they feel that a family is like a cage. When they are young, they want to be independent. They want to get out of the cage. Nonetheless, when they are getting older or they get some problems, they will turn to their families for help. In addition, family is also the first school in every one's life. People can learn much from their families, such as knowledge, good manners, cultures and so on. Family can influence on a person's life and future; it can influence on our society as well.
For Parents, most of them feel that a family means responsibilities. They are trying their best to give everything their families need. In order to make their families happy and healthy, they are totally willing to pay more to gain more. They never stop being concerned for their children, no matter how old their children are. This is a good effect upon children. However, on the contrary, few of parents pay less attention to their children. Sometime, they set a bad example for children. This is a very bad effect. Many of those children are able to have a tendency toward having some psychological problems.
Therefore, family is critical to human beings.

China's Labor Day is May 1.

One of my friends just got married on May 1. I virtually hope i could congratulate him on the marriage in person, but it is hard for me now. May 1 is the Labor Day of China. People have three days off. (It was a week off in the past few years. It just modified the last year, and it is put in practice from this year.) Generally we take a short vacation on this holidays, or we return home to spend that time with parents. Time flies. I have been here for more than a year. I miss my parents , my parents-in-law and my little brother so much. Even though we can see each other online by camera sometimes, I can't stop missing them all. I hope we could find a time and go back to China for a vacation next year. However I guess May 1 couldn't be the appropriate time. :-)

o(∩_∩)o...

I am a little bit lazy recently. I had been feeling sleepy for a few days. Somehow I just didn't want to do things. :-P ~~~~~~

There were couple things happened in the past few days. First, we went to India Center for dinner last Thursday because there were free foods for people. In fact, they were supposed to have a BBQ at University Park. However, the bad weather made them changed the location.
The weather was so bad last week, especially last Friday and Saturday. It was snowed on Friday late night until Saturday early morning. No matter how bad the weather was, Atmospheric Department's banquet was on time last Friday at Holiday Inn. I attended it with Jin. (He is graduating in the following July. )After this banquet, there was a after-party at Jimmie and Aaron's house. Even though we left a little earlier, we had a great time. I guess it should be the last snowfall in Spring because it's already the end of April. I am ready for the warm weather. :-)

Know myself clearly from the test.

I took an exam today. Our exams have four different levels: E(easy), M(median), D(difficult), A(advanced). We were tested when we enrolled ELL class. According to the score of those tests, I took A test in Reading and D test in Language this time. I found the reading test somewhat difficult for me because of the vocabulary. During the test, i could totally understand the meaning of all those articles, but sometimes i was stuck over some words. Actually, those words seemed familiar, but i couldn't get another words to replace them as the same meaning. While choosing the answer, i was a little bit confused. It seemed like i didn't learn those words at all. This exam indeed made me see more clearly about my problems in studies. And i am well aware of that review is very necessary to keep all that i have learned in mind. And also I need to put them in use more often. Nevertheless, some words are not used in oral English. Anyhow, i need to find a way to keep them in my mind. I need to work harder!!!

Gardening class

The weather is getting good and it's time for planting. Yesterday I had a gardening class. In the class, all of the materials were prepared by the teachers, including seeds, specific soil and flowerpots. Before planting, a professional gardening teacher taught us some knowledge of planting and taking care of vegetable. I was aware of that different seeds had different rules to be sowed. Watering is not that easy as i thought before. About how to keep soil moist really have a knack. I didn't know if i could do it well, but i would like to have a try. :-) I chose green bean and tomato seeds. Following the teacher's advise, I took two flowerpots, one I put three tomato seeds; the other one I put six green bean seeds. Due to the differences of different plants, we need to sow different seeds in different deep. Tomato seeds needed to be sowed in about two or three centimeters deep; green bean seeds needed a little deeper---about five centimeters. When them grow up bigger enough, they need to be transplant in a bigger flowerpot or in a garden. Our teachers want to see how those plants will grow later. Maybe i can find my classmate to take care of them for me, and later she can let those teachers and classmates to see how them grow. In addition, i can't stay here long enough to see them produce fruits. For now, I just put them near the window, so they can get some fresh air. And i also had watered them for a few times these days. I hope those seeds could grow up very well and produce fruits. :-)

Avatar the last airbender

These days, I am kind of attracted by an animated cartoon. This animated cartoon was produced by America, but the story was from East countries. It mentioned four important elements of the world: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. These four elements can keep the world in balance.
Background:
In a lost age, the world is divided into four nations: Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. Within each nation, there is a remarkable order of men and women called the "benders" who can learn to harness their inborn talent and manipulate their native element. Bending is a powerful form combining martial art and elemental magic.
In each generation, only one bender is solely capable of controlling all four elements. That bender is the Avatar. The Avatar is the spirit of the world manifests in human form. When the Avatar dies, it reincarnates into the next nation in the cycle. Starting with the mastery of his or her native element, the Avatar learns to bend all four elements. Throughout the ages, the countless incarnations of the Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony.

This story is more like Chinese mythology. The leading characters' name are Aang-the avatar, Katara and Sokka---sister and brother from the Water Tribes. The four nations were living in peace before the Fire nation started attacking. Only the avatar could master the four elements of the world and only he could stop the Fire nations' attack. But when the world needed the Avatar the most, he disappeared. After a hundred years, Katara and Sokka discovered Aang in a huge ice hill, and then they helped Aang to find a way to stop the Fire nation's attack...

Random update

On April 10th, we went to Sioux Center to watch the Curling competition. It was supposed to be China vs Canada, but it wasn't. There were eight teams in four competitions: DEN vs SCO, SWE vs CZE, CAN vs USA, AUS vs NOR . China wasn't in these competitions. I felt a little boring while watching them playing at the beginning. However, i felt much better at the end. :-) Actually, i don't really like to watch Curling, I just wanted to see China team playing.


On April 11th, we went to a party which was held for Becky at Jimmie's house. Becky just finished her defense, and she is going to graduate and start her new job in California. In order to celebrate this, we got together and played together. After dinner, we drank, danced and played games. We all had a great time at that night.

I like Applebee's food.

Becky just finished her defense yesterday afternoon. For celebrating this, Becky invited us to Applebee's to have dinner. This was the first time for me to have dinner at Applebee's. From the menu, I found that the food there was at reasonable price and looked great. I ordered Fiesta Lime chicken---grilled chicken drizzled with zesty lime sauce, topped with Mexi-ranch and Jack-cheddar sauces, and served with crisp tortilla strips, seasoned rice, and pico de gallo. Jin ordered Buffalo chicken wings and Mini Baco cheeseburgers. There was 10 Chicken wings and four mini burgers. Those were a lot for him, even for both of us they were enough. The most important thing was that we liked the food there. Those food was really tasty. :-) I guess I will go there again sometime, maybe some special time~~~~:-) By the way, after Becky's graduation, Jin will be the next one in couple months. I hope that Jin can pass the defense successfully.

A weird topic in our class.

My class was useful. I learned much knowledge from this class. But today's topic in our class was kind of weird. We talked about our choice to life or to die. When people need to live on life support, do you know how that feels? Do you think he or she would like to live like this? I don't think I would like to live in this way. If i need to survive in this condition, i prefer die to live. But if that is not me, whoever is that patient, i don't want him or her to choose die. I always think there might be a chance to come back to life. It sounds weird to talk about this. :-) Whatever...... some people have to face this kind of thing in life. Sometimes there is a miracle happened, people come back to live. However, most of time there isn't. Life is so fragile, i just want to die in peace and quickly if i were dying. :-)

The Right to Die vs. The Right to Life

With unprecedented advances in medical technology, a debate has developed over whether or not a person on life support has the right to die. On one side of the debate are those who say that withdrawing a feeding tube or turning off a respirator gives doctors the power to take another's life. On the other side is the view that fundamentally personal decisions about whether to continue living in an irreversible coma should be left to an individual or a family. This debate over euthanasia, the act of ending the life of an individual suffering from a terminal even political. As we advance toward the future, these ethics will involve the lives, deaths, and destinies of more and more people.
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The debate over euthanasia will only become more complex as medical technology continues to grow and improve. There are those who contend that it will soon become just part of medical treatment, while others believe that its potential power for eliminating people will prevent it from becoming a solution for human suffering. Most people hope neither they nor their family members will ever have to confront this issue.

Practice makes perfect.

I was supposed to finish my study plan this weekend, however i didn't. I only finished half of it. I need to finish it later. When i just came to US, i didn't have courage to talk to people. Because i was afraid of making mistakes. I didn't want people laugh at me. To my surprise, every one tried to help me and never laughed at me. After a few months, i was not scared of talking, instead of it, i tried to talk to others. But i found another problem about myself. Sometimes when i was ready to talk to people, the words in my mind couldn't come out my mouth clearly. I am a little confused about this. These days, I found a good method to practice---reading loudly for one hour everyday. So far, it works well. In addition, i learn twenty new words everyday to increase my vocabulary. And it works well too. Although i always forget some of them, i still can remember some. This method is good for me. I am going to keep practicing. :-)

Presidential candidates visited Grand Forks.

Do you believe this?We waited almost eight hours to hear the speeches from presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at Alures Center.
My classmates who didn't go there asked me how was the speeches. Actually, I didn't want to give them my comments, however I needed to say something.
Barack Obama's speech was full of encouragement. However I didn't really understand his speech well. I am kind of more like his speech than Hillary's. Hillary Clinton's speech was indeed contained a great plan for solving people's problems, but this plan was too hard to be come true i guess. She really wanted to solve people's problem. she wanted to take back all of the factories from China and other countries to provide more jobs for American people. However i don't think this plan can come true, even Americans can't believe this. If America could take back those factories, there would be more jobs for American people, but the price of all products must go way up. Therefore, American people need to suffer spending more money on high price goods. This isn't the way that people expect to live, i guess. :-) In fact, i don't care about who will be the next president. The only thing i care about is the next president can do good things to help all American people and can show people a better America. If there were no war, i think that would be a positive way to solve the economic problem. I believe that a good president should always think about people's life. :-)

Tickets to Texas was booked.

Jin just booked the tickets to Texas yesterday. We are going to fly there on August 5 afternoon. For preparing moving away, we have already got rid of our furniture which was bought brand new. In another word, our apartment is almost empty, except some necessary but old furniture. Every time i look at the living room, i feel empty and kind of sad. We are going to leave here, and we can't play with my friends any more. I will miss my friends very much. Even now sometimes when i think about the going to leave thing, i feel empty. Although we know that every feast has to be ended when time is up, i can't help thinking about that. Can I be lucky as now? I am not quite sure about this. However, i have a few nice friends here----that's for sure. I am so happy to have these nice friends and i will be glad to tell my future friends that i am lucky to make so many friends in U.S. Hopefully, i can always be lucky. :-)

March is gone.

A month just passed. When i looked back this month, i could see my progress. And also there are lots of things happened in March.
I was going through my alone days while Jin was in Virginia for the conference.
Jin got his formal offer letter from TAMU and UND. Finally, he accepted TAMU's offer. I am happy for him. At least he will go to a better university to finish his PHD. It's good for him. In addition, i will like the weather there.
Jin and I went to watch Hockey on- the- scene for the first time. Later on April 10 , we are going to watch 2008 men's Curling championship competition between China and Canada on-the-scene at Sioux center. I am kind of looking forward to watching this competition.
In order to get rid of our furniture in advance, we posted some information on Und-ground website. Fortunately, it cost us only one week to sold out of our furniture at reasonable prices. The only thing we have is some necessary old furniture. Because we don't want to sale things in the end.
I made a new schedule for my studying. I must study at the study time every day. This is for limiting my play time and sleep time. April is approching. There are only two months left for class. I'm going to have a final exam in May. So i wonder how much progress i have made these months. :-)

After a week's break, i am looking forward to going to school. Instead of having fun, i felt empty in these days. I am eager for enriching my brain.
It's kind of like i don't have good self-control. When there is a break, i prefer having a rest to studying. Even though i feel bored, i don't want to fetch the book and read it. Instead of reading, i would like to watch movies. while watching movies, i can learn words and sentences. It's directly perceived through the senses and it's easier to memorize things. However,unfortunately i can remember them faster but i forget them faster too. I am kind of curious about my brain sometimes, and wonder-- is my brain hurt before?(I am just kidding.) How do my brain treat on me like this. Actually, i know that is because i don't work hard enough to keep all the things in my mind. Although i keep forgetting things, i will keep learning. :-)It would be great to go to class later. :-)

Easter

Easter is the day that Christians believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The date is different each year, but it is always on a Sunday. There are many special days that lead up to Easter. Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
The Sunday before Easter is called Palm Sunday. It reminds Christians of Jesus' arrival 2,000 years ago in the city of Jerusalem. It was five days before he died.
Good Friday marks the day that Jesus died on the cross. It is the saddest day of the Christian year. Easter Sunday is the happiest day of the year for Christians because they believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead many years ago.

Easter is coming soon. Anna prepared eggs and egg dyes for us to decorate eggs in class yesterday, and Anna also took some Jelly beans to us. The class was really great, and the Jelly beans were good too. We tried our best to decorate the eggs. Every one showed their talent of art. :-) We had much fun in this class. I also learned that eggs are kind of the symbol of new life and Easter Bunny is the symbol of fertility.

Gasline price is way up-----a crude reality

Since i came here, the price of gas was kept in balance. Sometimes it went up, but in a few weeks it went down. Unfortunately, U.S. gas prices approach record mark, following oil's recent surge.

According to the news, the gas prices will hit 4 dollar a gallon this Summer. 4 dollar a gallon---it doesn't make sense. Americans are finally starting to say " we wouldn't pay. " The high prices are affecting transportation habits. They try to drive as little as possible. Some of them started to prefer catching a bus. Not only this, the foods' prices in stores are also way up because of the high transportation fees. This makes us more uncomfortable. However ,we have no choice but to say it's a crude reality.

American economy is slow down...... but we cannot help!!!!

Once on-the-scene watching hockey

I am not interested in hockey game, but i want to watch once before we leave UND. Jin's friends bought the tickets, but they couldn't go there on the first gameday. Therefore, they gave us their's, and let us go there to enjoy the game---WCHA playoff game #1 --- UND Fighting sioux men's hockey -vs- Michigan Tech.

Friday night's final : UND 4 , Michigan Tech 0. Even though i didn't go to watch the second match of UND vs Tech, i knew the final: Tech 3 , UND 2, OT. Hopefully UND will win the third one. GO SIOUX!!!!

Our seats were in section 109, C16-C19, and we sat with our two friends. There was a good place to watch the match. It's near the ground. There were all students sitting there. Some of them were crazy on hockey game. During watching the match, I felt like i was one of the fans of hockey game.
Hockey is really an attractive game. I am getting like it. However, we are going to leave here, so we can't come back and watch it in sioux center again. The only way to watch it is watching TV. Anyway, we watched once on-the-scene in sioux center. That's enough for me. We are going to watch Curling with great enthusiasm in the near future later. Because in the curling match, there will be teams: one is from China; one is from Canada. We will cheer on our country. :-) I am looking forward to that day.

Jin has gone to Virginia.

Jin has gone to Virginia to attend a conference in these days. I am at home alone. Instead of feeling lonely, I feel a little scared of staying at home at night alone. The effect of sound insulation is not good in our apartment. Some people always come back apartments very late. So probably I have to get into bed later than regular night.
Good luck, Jin! I hope everything will go well.

More energy in Spring

With good news, I have a good mood; While in a good mood, I can yield twice the result with half the effort.
This Saturday is the daylight saving day, we will miss one hour after midnight. Finally, Spring is coming. The weather begins warmer, even though it changes constantly. This year, winter ends on March 20. On this day, the number of hours of daylight and darkness are equal. Insects hatch, and many animals come out of hibernation. Birds fly north. They begin to build nests..... Everyone is happy for a change in the weather. People seem to have new energy, including me. :-)

Calm down

Since I came to ND, there are more than a year. My vocabulary is increasing so slowly. I can remember some easy words quickly, but how can I remember those complicated words? It's so hard to remember and to use them freely. Every time I remembered, and then forgot; I remembered again, then forgot again...... My god, please help me, I want to make progress in my studies faster. Even though I know “haste brings no success.” , I am still worried about my English level so much. Jin always tried to comfort and encourage me, but I didn't feel comfortable yet. I want to live up to expectations...... Whatever, I can understand people well now. :-)

Okay, I need to calm down and adjust my mood. Need patience.

Good choice.

My husband and I joined Jimmie's birthday dinner at The Toasted Frog last night. Toasted Frog is kind like a bar, they need to see our ID to make sure we are at least 21 years of age. That's different to compare to other restaurant. From this restaurant's name, we could know that probably they had a recommended specialty----Frog legs. Becky and Feng ordered this specialty and shared with us. It tasted more like fish, but unsalted. :-) Somehow, it was good. For dinner, Jin and I shared a shrimp pizza. It tasted pretty good, and it was big enough for both of us. Every time we went out for dinner, we worried about the taste of the food. Some food taste weird because most of them are sour, and too creamy, but we don't like. This was the first time that we went Toasted Frog, so we thought about all foods more carefully. Finally we found the right food for our dinner. That was a good choice. In fact, I am trying to adapt to American food since I came here. I really want to try every American food, but I still don't like the special taste. Probably some day I would like it. :-)
I had a great time last night.

Topic of my recent class

Recent advances in technology have allowed researchers to make great progress in genetic engineering. As the researchers learn more about people's genetic makeup and ways to manipulate genes to treat disease, they also raise ethical issues and create challenges related to privacy and discrimination. Who will have access to genetic information, and what will be done with it once people have it?The ramifications of access to such information and its uses are enormous.

Current research into the human gene system is helping us understand why people have predispositions to certain diseases. Knowing our genetic makeup can help us gauge whether or not we may be stricken by a particular illness, such as cancer. Even before birth, we are able to do genetic screenings to determine what a child's genetic disorders will be. Scientists have already isolated and identified the genes responsible for the more than 4,000 genetic diseases that affect human beings. The implications of this knowledge are staggering. However, shivers down the spine might be in order, for this knowledge can be used for evil as well as good. Therefore, genetic engineering much soldier on----all for the good. Will these discoveries indeed lead to progress in improving the human condition? I think every coin has two sides.

Crazy girls.

Even though I slept almost ten hours，I still felt tired. You have no idea about how a crazy girls' team do window shopping---no time concept. There were a few times situations happening just like yesterday before. Our girls walked around and around in every store without taking a break. Each time we thought about relaxing by doing window shopping before going out, but all of us couldn't give in to temptation. When we saw a beautiful thing, no matter what it was, we wanted it could belong to ourselves. Due to this, we could return home fully supplied. However our pocket was almost empty. Whatever we had much fun during this course. That sounds sort of crazy, but that's girls always like to do. :-)

I guess I need more time to restore strength. :-p

Popular Science Knowledge

Bacteria are the smallest living things. They are simple organisms that consist of one cell. They exist almost everywhere. They are in the air, water, and soil, as well as in the body of all living creatures. There are thousands of kinds of bacteria. Most of them are harmless to human beings, but some cause diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.

Viruses are also microscopic organisms, but viruses live in the cell of other living things. By themselves, they are lifeless particle that cannot reproduce, but inside a living cell they become active and can multiply hundred of times. Viruses cause many diseases. They infect human beings with such illness as influenza, the common cold, measles, and AIDS(Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).Viruses are tiny. The virus that causes AIDS is so small that 203 million of them could fit on the period at the end of this sentence. Today health official are expressing great concern about our health in the future. They feel that today there is an epidemic of infectious condition that are difficult or impossible to treat, such as AIDS.

In addition to this concern about new life-threatening viral infections, health official have discovered that bacterial infections that were once easily handled by antibiotics now pose a serious threat to our health. Many common bacteria have developed resistance to antibiotics and are evolving into form that are unaffected by all known medications. In a world where antibiotics don't work, the simplest infections are capable of escalating into fatal illness. Every year more people are dying of infections that resist every drug doctors try. The potential ineffectiveness of antibiotics is a frightening prospect.

Unfair charge

I received a few informal bills from insurance company. I was shocked by the price of Provider's Charges. I didn't know the price was so high for people to see a doctor, even though I knew it should be high. It was beyond my imagination. It cost me $587, and I need pay $205 for the first time to see the doctor. And the second time, it would cost me more than that I guess. Because I had already received the first list which cost me $411. In addition, the doctor didn't give me any advice and treatment.

I didn't mean to offend them. I just really couldn't understand the way doctors act. Probably I am wrong, but I think the way American doctors act is not the way to help people. That's more like the way to earn money--a profit-seeking business. The purpose of doctor should be trying their best to help patients, not only to take the exam course and earn money. I'm not clear about the standard of charging for seeing a doctor in US. I think it's nonsensical policy, and it doesn't correspond with the way that is taken by humanism. In China, people only need to wait a few hours to get their lab result and in the same day they can be treated. No matter you go to the emergency room or go to the clinic room to see the doctor. Sometimes a doctor may see more than sixty patients a day. They still can manage everything well. In addition, people don't need to make an appointment to see a doctor. Whereas in America, people need to make twice or more times appointments to finish this simple course--take a physical exam and a few lab exams, get the results and get the treatment or suggestion. It's unbelievable. If I know this first, I wouldn't go to see the doctor. I was a doctor before, so I know how to cure illnesses. I also know some treatments for some diseases, of course I need some lab result to help to diagnose. I am disappointed in American doctors. It's unfair. Whatever how much unsatisfied people are, people need doctor and need hospital, even though the cost is high. It is sort of sad.

Pleasantly surprising news.

Remember I made Jin apply TAMU ? There is pleasantly surprising news. He got the offer letter from there. At first, I just wanted him do this for me, basically I couldn't see any hope at that moment. However, I really wanted him to have a try. He tried his best, and now he really made it. I am so happy that we can leave the cold weather far away, but I feel sad because I couldn't see my friends frequently. I am not sure about that. Am I right? or I am wrong. I don't know, I even don't want to know what will go on for now. I hope everything will be fine in the future.

I hate sick.

I missed my Nutrition class yesterday because I was sick. I didn't know how I got sick, but I was really did my best to keep away from cold. However I still didn't avoid being sick. What a pity!:-( If I could get a chance to leave here, I would definitely leave here. But I will be reluctant to leave my friends. Please don't mind, I just want to complain a little bit. :-p I hate sick. This place always makes me sick and uncomfortable. I need workout to keep myself strong and healthy. Spring, please comes a little earlier this year! People in Grand Forks really miss you, especially me!!!

How to get along with people ?

I received an E-mail from a Chinese friend today. She is working as a nurse in a hospital now. She asked me about how to get along with people. She felt it was hard to have a good relationship with her colleagues. I felt sorry about her unfortunate experience, but that's a pretty complicated question.

Harsh truth of life - you can’t please everybody. But since people are social creatures (unless you’re a total scrooge), you just have to learn how to get along with them. Actually, I am not quite sure about this either, but I care about my friends. I won't do anything to hurt my friends; I'm nice to them. And I just do the things that I think they are correct. Of course, since we are not in the same environment, I can't give her much advice. I found ten commandments of how to get along with people from this website http://www.workplaceissues.com/pmtenc.htm
Hopefully it will help her.

I am so lucky that I have a few friends here. And all my friends are very nice to me. :-)

Work to live or Live to work

I am not good at writing in English. Even though I wrote something, I always kept writing like a routine. It is sort of funny. Probably some day, when I read my blog, I would find it's nonsense. Anyway, I want to keep doing it. :-) Please do not laugh at me. :-p

We talked about a topic last week----Work to live or live to work.

This is a pretty common topic in our daily lives. I believe that most of us may say we work to live, but lots of us probably don't have time to give ourselves relaxing time or have many excuses to give up spending holidays. That's not the way "work to live" like, that's pretty like "live to work" . People just like a machine for working. I am sure that everyone has a maximum limit. If limit is overtaken, people would extremely fatigued. So people need time to relax. Just give yourselves a few days without stress, without work, without noisy things.

According to the estimated number of vacation days Americans failed to take in Philadelphia in 2007 , we know that 438 million unused vacation days are worth about $60 billion. About 75 percent of the work force gets paid vacation---an average of 14 days, plus whatever holidays employers grant under labor agreements or by fiat. Psychologists, demographers and others say we pass over time off for many reasons-----everything from an entrenched Puritan work ethic, to fear of being seen as reckless slackers relaxing while the economy burns, to simply squirreling away time for days when we're stuck at home awaiting a repair call. That's true, I agree, and most of people agree.

In addition, Real relaxing can reduce the number of dying of heart attacks. People want to get a good live condition, then working hard. However, many of them less think about their bodies. They are doing a wrong way to achieve their real aims, live to work rather than work to live. Everyone only has one body, if it works out, it could not work well any more. Therefore, please do not ignore your body, and try to work for a better living status.

Normality

My life is kind of smooth and no big waves these days. It was as usual as before.
This Thursday was Valentine's Day. I made a special dinner for this day. We had a great Valentine's Day.
On Friday, Anna lead us to go to Urban girl to buy beads after class. Because this store was moving away, there was a big sale. Due to the time, I didn't buy anything at noon. I went there again with our dance team after rehearsing that afternoon. I bought three strings of beads. They are beautiful and I like them. Actually, there are many stores which sell beads in China, but it's only a few here. In addition, I found that when the stores are on sale, the price is pretty lower than it in China. This is good for us. :-) I like good things at low price.
It was flurries on Saturday, but it was warm. We went to Alerus Center to perform on Saturday evening. After a few times' rehearsals, eventually we had a good ending at Alerus Center. Although a few mistakes were made by us during performing, it didn't create a very bad impression. That was not bad.:-)When the feast of nations was over, Rona and Jeff came to our apartment to play Majon until 12:30am. We had lots of fun at that night.
The weather was very bad today. It was windy, and the temperature was pretty low. I slept in until 10:30am. I didn't want to do anything except lying on the bed and watching movies.

Last Weekend

We went to International Center for dress rehearsal last Friday. Everything went well, except one male dancer was absent due to injury. I had mentioned before----JJ, Yingxin and I were practicing a dance that we are going to perform this Saturday. I am not sure if we can follow what the dance was rehearsed before, because one of the male dancers got his ankle hurt. However, we will perform as well. Some sections probably would be changed later. Hopefully, he will be better in a few days.

CSSA organized a party for Chinese New Year last Saturday at International Center. We attended that party and met a lot of new people there. Of course, we had a great dinner that night. After dinner, we went to JJ and Zhe's apartment to celebrate JJ's birthday. We were planning to go to Gilly's, but my parents-in-law went to my parents house, and they wanted to talk to us online, therefore, we didn't go to the bar. We went back our apartment and had a good conversation with our parents.

Yesterday, JJ, Yingxin, Zhe and Jeff came to our apartment to make dumplings. We really had much fun while preparing food. JJ missed the making process, because she had to finish homework before midnight. All of us are Chinese except Jeff. He tried his best to learn to make dumplings. Although those dumplings he made were not looked good, sort of ugly, they were still tasty. Ha ha…… Of course, they had the same tastes, because they had the same stuffing. :-) Jeff did a good job, even some Chinese couldn't do that. After dinner, we played Mahjong. It was really a wonderful day!!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is Chinese new year. I almost forgot this important day today. Thanks to my classmate to remind me. When I was back from class, it was around 11:50 am. I had missed the Chinese new year's Eve, but fortunately, Hongchun had already made a phone call to our parents. Otherwise, I will regret forgetting this critical day. That's not only because of the day but also because our parents were waiting for us to give them a call on this Eve. My husband and I are abroad now, we couldn't go home and spend this family reunion time with our parents. That makes me quite homesick. I miss our family very much. I yearn for that the next reunion time which also works for us can come soon.

I let my husband applied TAMU.

This is the last day of the first month. I kept accomplishing the first step of my new year resolution. In this month, I got some progress. However, I don't think this was enough for me in a month. I need do harder in the next few months.

In fact, I am missing my families very much because Chinese New Year is coming. So I couldn't focus on English. I really acted an abnormal way these days. Sometime the cold weather really made me crazy. Jin is really a nice man. No matter how I acted, he was capable of handling me. Although I made him distracted, he also could manage his work without complaining after calming me down. Actually, I just really want to leave here. I couldn't stand here more days I think. Although I don't want to leave my friends, I want him try to get an offer from a warmer place. He followed my advice and applied TAMU . TAMU is close to my brother. If we could go there, I think that would be better than we are here..... ????? Okay, I am not quite sure about it, but I believe my six sense. At lease, it will be good for our future. I hope he will make it.

Cold!!!!!!!!!!!

It was very cold yesterday. The temperature felt like -43C. I really scared of this cold weather. I just stayed at home and did yoga to make myself get better. How can I avoid getting cold in such a cold weather? I still can't bear this weather, and I even do not want to stay here for one more day. It always make me feel sick. :-(
Yesterday morning, I had a conversation with my mom. From her, I knew that China had a heavy snow storm Jan 1. except south of Shandong Province. (My home town is in south of Shandong Province. I miss my family and the normal weather.) It rarely had a snowfall all over the country before. This may attract many researchers to discuss this infrequent weather. I'm actually curious too. I wonder how it happened this winter in China. :-)

Poor little creature.

Hongchun found a rabbit when he went back from work. The rabbit was hurt, its one eye was bleeding. Probably, it was hurt by a car. Poor little rabbit!! It might feel painful, feared and cold because it was shivering when Hongchun found it. It is a wild creature, we had no idea how to handle it. Therefore, we just gave it some carrots to eat and left it in the hallway for a while. Because we are not allowed to keep an animal in apartments. Afterward, Hongchun knocked at a door at the first floor to ask them how to handle it; then they called the animal control center for help. After that, when we went downstairs and checked on it, it had already gone. Probably, some people took it away and would treat its injury. I guess so. :-) I will pray for that poor little rabbit.

Monday update

I didn't do much exercise last weekend because I had other things to do. However, I went to dance yesterday afternoon. Before dancing, I walked 20 minutes on the treadmill at a fast speed, and I rode 20 minutes on the stationary bike. ...It was good for me to do that. Although, I felt all my body achy this morning, it was much better than the first time I went to work out. I thought that it was just like it worked well for me to do exercise. As my friends know that, I am skinny, I need to eat more to gain more weight. I think that is a really good way for me to get a good appetite. Therefore, if the weather is good, I'm going to work out more frequently.
This morning, Anna made a phone call to everyone of our class because she couldn't get to school today. Her son was sick. Therefore, we didn't have class today. In this season, the weather changes much and frequently. We really need to pay more attention to it. Don't get yourself in trouble. I always wear more clothes than others, sometimes, people make fun of me. Nevertheless, I don't care. Because I know what I need. However, I felt like I was getting a cold. After coming back from K-mart, I felt uncomfortable. In fact, this feeling started last night, but it's worse today. Probably, I wore less than before yesterday. While driving back from Wellness Center, the temperature was lower than when I left apartment. Right now, I think I need to take some medicine and have a rest.Hopefully, I will be better soon. I dislike the bad weather here! I probably will miss the Yoga class as well this week. :-(
(My friends, please take care of yourselves!)