RE: Don't Waste.

After a lot of thinking I felt really bad for wasting that chunk of rice. Even though it was not so big i thought it was a waste. - Julie Le, Don't waste it

 As I was browsing through some blogs, and finding some responce posts to write for this week, I decide to choose one of Julie Le's post about wasting foods.

There is an old saying in chinese, which says " every piece of rice, is from hardworks and sweats". It might sound disgusting to hear, but it is true. It takes a lot of procedures and hard works just to make a piece of rice out from the monocot plants, and true the process of making it into real piece of rice by a machine.

Rices are pretty much grown in Asia because of the hot climates, and large plains.
The worst part for the farmers is the weather. They already take a long time, and hard works just to grow it and sometimes, unfortunantely all the plants  gets  destroyed because of the monsoon times of the year, and it might even rain for months unceasingly. Or, either it gets very hot during the summer and have droughts.

My mother taught me and always reminds me ever since I learns how to eat by myself to not waste food and must finish the whole thing if possible. There are lots of people in the world today, like in Africa, people are in great hunger and they get sicks because they don't get the nutrition they should get everyday. Some people gets a fat tummy not because they are full, but because they are so hungry that they are suffering  a disease called Kwashiorkor, due to an extreme lack of proteins. It is so sad to see those African children on televisions that are suffering all these things at their age.

We should all appreciate what we already have now, and always remind ourselves how hungry those peoples are, and we should't  waste any foods.!!!!!

CE: Education in Asia

Asia is renowned for producing some of the best and brightest students in the world. Such academic achievement is often underpinned by parental pressure, strict discipline and relentless hard study.

 In Asia, education is not as free as we have in the Americas. I mean by 'free' is like free extra times, and kids here are not as stressed. Every student's  schedule are pretty much filled and full with extra curriculum classes, tutoring programs, sports, and some lessons that they take. It does not mean that they are not smart so they have to take so much classes, but it is for their own knowledge and mostly because parents are also very strict about their educations.

In Hong Kong or China Mainland, school works and studying are very tough and stressed. The kids don't have much free time as we do here in Americas, and they always studies their butts off like until ten o'clock at night.Kids in Hong Kong or Asia  regularly are in the top global rankings for math and science subjects.

Kids are mostly stressed under all those school works, and parental pressures. Kids don't have to go to schools that are near their residence, but they are assigned to go where depending on their rankings and grades that the school likes to accept them. About 60% of students, did not get to college after their three years in high school, and they are off to find a job or going to community colleges.

There has been some cases to some students that commit suicides because of all those hard studying, and  pressures that they get from parents and themselves.They are obsessed with perfection in their knowledge.

 I feel sorry for those students in Asia, and we really don't have the ability to whine over studying and works here in America comparing to kids in Asia. 

FREE: The Drill

On Tuesday October 18th, I participated in the lock down drill that happened in school. About seven hundreds of students participated, and it made a mess.
In my opinion, I think it was dumb. Not because of the drill, but all the extra works that should have done in a better way, and all the times that we waited for. If it was not for the twenty community services hours and it will be stated in the transcript, I would not have done it. I do kind of regret because a lot of my friends were already out of school, and I am still in school sitting in a classroom for two and a half hours FREEZING. And now, I am sick :( 

First of all, I think passing the name tags out to everyone should have done a faster way so we did not have to sit in the Kofman Auditorium. They should have just got everything already set up and ready, so they can give it to us when we sign in the first time with the room number that were assigned to us. It took another forty five minutes listening and waiting for our names to be called, and going up the stage to get it, which made a lot of confusions too. Then, a fire department officer fianlly came and made a speech or something. I remember he said this drill was planned for over a year. [?!?!?!?]

So after the speech the fire department officer made, I thought the drill had finally started. So everyone went to the room they were assigned, and half an hour later, the drill finally started. There were some people acting they were injured or killed which was kind of funny because of the make ups they had on.
Unfortunately, I was assigned to the last class to leave campus after two hours of sitting on the cold floor and doing nothing. I bet if a lock down real happens in school, it will take forever and someone might already got hurt because they were so so so so SLOW.!!

We finally got released by the police after two and a half hour later, and finally leaving the campus. There was another fifteen minutes waiting for the school bus to come pick us up to the base again.
When we got to the base, we waited for another half an hour to be picked up again, and heading toward the O'club to find our parents.

All those extra works should have done better, so it did not have to take so long, and we could have finish the drill in its own plan and on time.

RE: I need a break too.

As I was browsing through some blog posts, I decide to write about this one.
For this week, I will do a response post on Angela Zhou's post, I need a break.

It is the seventh week of school. My tiredness almost takes over all of my other feelings. I lost all the motivation for going to school and doing my homework.  

One day of school feels like months for me. [So sad...]
It is just the seventh week of school, which school has not even past a quarter yet...
When do we break or holidays again, so we can have a day off of school?

I feel so stupid in math class. Everyone can understand the concept of everything, even without the teacher explaining it. Everyone looks like they have known all those things since last year, or already known it since a long time ago...
I am afraid to raise my hand to ask questions too, because I will look more stupid and embarrassed in front of the whole class.
I wonder why are they so smart, and I am like the only one who is clueless and so slow in learning :(

Time passes and everything feels so slow for me.
I don't know why I don't have the motivation to go to school anymore.
Everything seems to be so long. And I am having difficulties to pay attention in class.
I wish I could just get the assignments done without having to listen to the teacher talk, and get everything done.
I am getting more lazier and lazier now these days :(
~sigh...~

CE: Earthquake hits to Indonesia

So this week for the current events post, I will be writing about another tragic disaster that happened in Indonesia.
Sad story again. On Thursday October 13th, a powerful earthquake hits the Indonesia's resort of Bali. The Indonesia's geological agency said the quake's magnitude is at 6.0 . No tsunami alert was reported, but the discrepancy was not immediately clear out to people. This earth quake left at least fifty people injured. But fortunatley, no death was reported.

Most injuries are some cuts, broken bones, and head injuries.
There are twelve students and three teachers who got injured because the ceiling of their high school caved in.
Tourists and visitors were all frightened and were all in panic because it was chaotic. One of the hotel managers said everyone was scared and ran out of the building. Good thing that no buildings had fall down, and no one dies, but some effects are made in the hospitals too.

Some pictures shows huge damages had made to cars, houses, and walls...etc.
Some students can not go to school anymore since the ceilings and walls of the classrooms had fallen off and damaged. It will take some time for remodeling everything, and getting all the materials and furnitures back for the students.
The report also says, the quake struck about sixty kilo meters beneath the ocean floor.

I feel sad for the tourists and visitors because they were suppose to be there for vacation, but now they got injured and scared. It ruined most of their trips, but luckily no one dies.
Another place on earth needs reconstruction again...  :(

FREE: Mirror of Heaven: Bolivia

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia 

watch this :)-*

There is a place in this world, where heaven can really be visited.
Well, it is not like the heaven that you go to when you past away, but it is an utopia land that looks as pretty as heaven is described.
It is a place that you can feel the distance from the sky to the ground is zero, and you only feel like walking on solid clouds only.

This heaven-like place is in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. Located in the southwestern regions of Oruno and Potosi.
It is the world's largest salt flat land, and it is known for the two mirror lake, Poopo and Uru Uru, and there are hundreds of pink flamingos there too.

When the salt ground is covered by water, the whole empty land becomes a gigantic mirror, reflecting the blue sky and its clouds, making the land it a very beautiful heavenly scene.
You can feel like you are touching the clouds when you jump up among the clouds.

And especially in the night time, the ground reflects to the dark sky, where stars from the sky are so beautiful.
It feels like a paradise there, where troubles are not to be found.

I would really want to go visit this heaven-like place in the future.
[No offense to say for myself, but maybe if I die someday, I wish my ashes would be released there.
So I can be in that special land, where not much people would visit me.]
~It is the closest door way to heaven...

BC: Jobs' words

When Steve Jobs was 17, he read a quote that says something like, "If you live each day as if it was your last day, someday you will most certainly be right".
Since then, he looked in the mirror everyday and asked himself, "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am going to do?" This innovated him which changed his living habits to be a more useful person. And whenever the answer has been "No" to many times, he know he needs to change something.

I think Steve Jobs is correct. Not only that quote is inspirational and gave Jobs a goal for living everyday, but we should use that quote as a model and goal to live everyday too.

I'm reminding myself of his words every morning. (Even though I would not go to school if it was the last day of my life, but I still need to follow my normal schedule.)
His words do innovates me by being as happy as I can and do things that I'm happy about.

We don't know what would happen tomorrow. Maybe an earthquake will occur, or maybe a tsunami will happen...etc. Who knows?
Plus, you would not even know if you can finish your day. ( But of course, we would not want that to happen).
There are too much that is happening today in the world. And maybe the 2012 world disaster comes earlier and everyone will die soon.
No matter how rich you are, or how special you are, you will die. someday. Then why not do something you are happy with, or do something that would make it special like it is your last day?

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose".

Life is surprising. And as I already said, we can die tomorrow, and might not even get a chance to finish today. We should not leave anything is regret and not finish, before we get sorry to the point ,and before we can take the last breath.... Who knows right?

"You are already naked. There is no reason why not to follow your heart."

There is no reason to hesitate and think when you are coming to face something that looks small, but would make difference no matter. Just follow your heart. We should always keep in mind that life is precious and we should appreciate we can live another day.

I read something on the web the other day which says something like, " A lot of people lost Jobs this year. But now, we all lost Jobs."
It is sad that we lost Professor Jobs, but actually it might be a good thing for Jobs because now he does not need to face all those pains that he carried for years anymore.
I don't really know what advice I can give to people, but if you live happy  it is worth it.

We will always keep in memories that this genius inventor which brought us  the i-pods, the i-pads, and the i-phones...etc today. His inventions gave us a better way of living and a simpler uses of the personal technologies, and it made our livings more entertained along the way.
We should always keep in mind of his inspirational quote to us and the world, so we can live today like it is our last day, so we can also make the big choices in our life.

FREE: The Weather

Fall has finally arrived, which I am actually not very excited about.
Even though we are already lucky that we don't have to face disasters like storms or tornadoes, like in other states or countries, but I don't like rainy seasons and I  hate the cold weathers too.

For me,  I hate the cold wind, and I just really dislike the environment that makes me feel tired and sleepy!
The rain especially, really irritates me which reminds me of sad things in the past.
There's no place fun to go to either, and I don't like the feeling of being wet when I am outside like when I am in school.
I tries to be happy and go with the mood, but it is really hard for me.
Everything seems very slow moving, and things are feeling tough to do...

The dark grey sky does not  look happy either :(  
I wonder why is the weather here so weird this year?
Some days, it rains really hard for a few minutes, and after I get my umbrella out, the sum comes out shining for a while again the next seconds...

My grandmother used to tell me the sky is sad, so it's crying when it is raining, which also makes me sad and wants to cry too...
Especially these couple of days, the rainy days made my days go more longer and feels more sad...
I hope the sun comes out soon, so the weather becomes warmer and my mood would be back:)

CE: Train accident in Shanghai

 Reading the world event's that happened in Asia on Aljazeera caught my mind.
What?!! another train accident AGAIN??
One just happened in Wenzhou, Beijing not long ago in July. Two high speed trains collided each other, and four car trains fell off the rail.  About three hundreds of passengers were injured and killed in this accident.

This train accident happened in Beijing, China. More than two hundreds of people were injured in this accident, and all of the passengers were very alarmed. But this time, the train accident happened because one train hit another train's rear-end.

Fortunately, no death reports of any passengers were reported, but some of the pictures on the website show some of the passengers were bleeding and were in pain. I feel sorry for the senior passengers and infants because some are not even walking that well, and some are disabled too.

The metro company in Beijing said about five hundreds of the passengers had been evacuated from the trains, and about two hundred forty of the injured passengers had been sent to the hospital. They immediately closed down all the train stations to prevent any other problems occur on that day. 

I wonder if the metro company will pay for the medical and injure fees for the injured passengers and innocent ones, since they are just trying to reach there destination, and unfortunately got in a train accident and a lot of them  got injured.
The Chinese Government should improve and check more carefully for each trains speed and destination reaches so there won't be such tragic event will happen again in the future.

RE: Alone. In my own world

I like the feeling of being in my own little world, have my music on, and I can express my feeling or emotions. Music is big part of my life, especially when I like to listen to them loudly sometimes.

While just reading Ming Suen's blog, Walking around at night   caught my attention.
Same here goes for me.  I like to have my own little world too.
During the day, I may be active and look happy in front of friends and family, but actually that's not always the real me.  

On some nights,  I like to sit outside the balcony, where no one is with me and I could just stare at the dark night for a long time. Sometimes, I can sit until the sun has risen again, and my family will find me outside the balcony just fallen asleep.

Night time is probably the only time I can not care of anything, and just drop all my problems aside for a while.
I would have my music on, and follow the lyrics that  reads my heart and feelings...
It's the only time, where my tears don't have to hide, and I can express my feelings or emotions that I hided them in my heart for a long time. (But I have to be quiet too because my family is already asleep.)

Another thing that I also enjoy is staring at the dark night, and counting the stars in the sky, where they are staying with me the whole night. A lot of memories will come up to my mind like I am watching a movie of my own life. Then slowly, my tears will begin to shed again. The stars also remind me of my beloved ones and family who I missed. Who they are somewhere far from me, and some I will never see again until I go to the place where they are at.

I believe they can see mee too, watching me grow up and stand on my own feet.

The Meaning of Humanity.

What does it really mean to be human? What is the main goal to live as human?
...This is a tough question. There are no real answer to this since it is a broad question, and there are infinite answers that can explain what a human being is. What is the main goal to be living on earth? To be a human being?

Apparently, Humans are somehow greedy; greed for wealth, greed for power, and greed for their own benefits.
But what is that greed all about?
In my opinion, even though greed is also one characteristic of humanity, the main definitive characteristic of a human being is LOVE. To show love. To give love. and To express love.
Everyone in this world, no matter who you are, needs love.

Why do humans greed for power?wealth? benefits???
People are complex and selfish. It's natural that we try to gain power, so we can live in a better place or situation with our love ones. We tries to give our loves ones more and better of anything when we have power. We tries to buy them anything when we have wealth. We tries to buy happiness, and which hope to bring them happiness. We human beings, also greed for benefits too, for our own personal goods and for our love ones. We tries to make them feel special by having more benefits that can bring them happiness and to show much we love them.
But without love, all the greeds of powers and wealth are worth nothing.

Even though we tries to be fair and nice to people, we humans are selfish. You might not be always selfish, but when something comes that you have to choose from the one or the other, most likely you are trying to save yourself than another person first.

Love can be our main goal to be living on earth, and being human. For example, people cheats on love. Even though monogamous is a part of law, but there's  probably one out of three people that will end up having problems in their marriage. It is pretty common now.  You might call them a bastard, or a cheater,  but is this really so?  Have you ever think what makes up the problems? ......
 I see and hear people all the times saying they hate their Ex, or saying that they hurted them or something, but is that really true? Did they really hurt you?!

I think of love in a postive way and pretty straight forward. Humans seek for their right ones and tries to find the love that they expect whom to be. And there are no right or wrong in relationships. It is not like all the problems are caused by the opposite side...
Have you ever think why they hurt you, or left you? We humans are probably going to blame on the other person most likely. But dont you think the reason why they hurted you is because you can't give them the love that they want? You can't bring them the happiness that they expect to have when being with you?
This is crucial, but that's just the real truth behind all the lies in love. It is part of life.

Love not only can be marriage or boyfriends or girlfriends, but  can also be from our family. Humans need  shelters, and a home and a family that can give them support. Support is a kind of  love too. It is the most stable love you can probably find because my families will not likely to hurt you.
When I'm down or feel like a failure, I go to the people that can give me the kind of love I need. They will give me the support and encouragement that will  get me stand back up and get on my knees again to start climbing . It's not the same love that your boyfriend or girfriend can give you, but it's the love that your family can give to you, for support and structure. No matter how independent or strong, humans wants something that they can rely on sometimes. Families are the kind of love that ensures you are not alone, and they will never betray you.  There is always love for you to have when you go for it.

Humans are born with sincerity and actually very fragile. We always expect and want someone that we can fall back on. Our emotions shows everything of a person's real personality, and we can get hurt really easily. Most of the times, it's all because of love. Love is powerful, undefined, and maybe bitter-sweet in some ways.

Love is equal, and undivided. No matter how rich you are, what race you are, or where are you from, love won't be lessened nor increased. It only depends how much you give in, or have you met the right person yet. It doesn't always have to be real relationships, but also showing how much you care for something or someone does makes a difference. For example, doing community services is a kind of way of showing compassion and  how much attention you pays to the world and community. Every human being needs cares and helps from other people's, or else the world would be very cold and hopeless. We should reach out our hands to show love to the world, and make the whole world united.

The whole meaning of life is to find love, and love can bring us happiness. I see some old seniors sometimes, still holding hands with their partner, slowly walking and holding each others hands tightly. No matter how slow they walks, no matter how the weather is beautiful or not, they are still holding hands and just in love like back in their young ages. It doesn't really matter if the world is going to end tomorrow or not, they will not be frightened because they already found the true meaning of being a human, and living on earth.  Love can hold people together, and we humans are made of love from our parents, and families too.

CE: Typhoon Roke

Disaster happened in Japan again. After the huge earthquake that happened in May this year, now it comes  again with the rain.
Typhoon Roke struck the city of Nagoya, central Japan and made more than one million people to leave the city on Tuesday. The heavy rain continued on cutting through  past Tokyo on Wednesday. It made transportation really difficult for the citizens there, and affected more than  millions of  passengers. This is the second biggest storm to hit Japan this month after Typhoon Talas hit western Japan and left about 100 people dead or missing. About two to four typhoons happened this year already. Typhoon Roke left six people dead, and six others missing after the pounding rain. 


The rain also caused a lot of trees in Nagoya to fall down, and destroyed a lot of electricity cables. The heavy rains also caused lots of housed damaged, and bursting rivers banks. Earlier this month, Typhoon Talas already invaded central Japan, killed at least one thousands people.

It is sad to hear bad news again from Japan, which they had an convulse earthquake in May, and affected a lot of people and their land. Now the new storms, Typhoon Roke and Typhoon Talas had struck and killed so much people again, Japan will need a lot of help to rebuild and reorganize the things.  The land is still recovering and the houses are not all rebuild yet. Some people are still trying to rebuild their home, but now rain has made big changes again to the progress they've built.

RE: Cry Baby

 Crying feels good when you want to let personal thoughts that no one knows, out of you. But it's usually better to cry in private because you wouldn't want people to start getting wrong ideas.

As I was looking though other classmates's posts,  I really agree with Bridget Kim's  Crying doesn't always makes you a baby post.
Its really natural for girls especially to cry. Its just human nature, and we all have feelings. I seriously doesn't get why how some people calls others a "cry-baby" when they are crying. I mean, come'on! It's not like you've never cried before! Why do you have to make a comment behind people's back when they are feeling down?!

It comes to a situation for me once when my tears starts to come out when the teacher asked and consoled me about the lose of my family. My tears just starts to fall down the minute she asked because I didn't want to think about it. I don't blame the teacher because I know she's just showing sympathy and caring for me.
 I went back to school the next day feeling not too happy about it, since I just lost a precious family member, and I hear this person behind me "whispering" in a loud voice, saying " gosh, why is she crying?... Grow up already!"
Seriously, that's just not helping at all! I mean, SHUT UP and MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!!!
I don't want to be mean and I am usually a pretty nice and calm person ( I should say), but I just really want to yell at them at that moment!

Free: Finally its Friday!!

YAY!!!
Its finally Friday after this long week that felt like years for me, and the weather is sooo hot!
I waited for this day since Monday since I had different tests in some classes, and it went so slow I felt like each day is doubled.
But I had a great day today, and Thank God its Friday!
(Today is also the first day of Autumn, so I guess the hot weather won't last too long any more.)

In my first period English class, Mr. Sutherland asked everyone to make collages that will fill up the room since its like empty and plain.  It is a pretty fun thing to do and, I  find it pretty funny too.
I made a small A6 collage, with ripped out pieces of letters that makes the word "Sutherland". While flipping through pages in the magazine, I found a picture of a little baby wearing the same kind of duckbill hats that looks like Mr. Sutherland's.  The baby reminded me of Mr. Sutherland xD

I find it pretty interesting too when flipping magazines, and at the same time trying to cut out all the letters for his name. Some people also made pretty cool collages too, and I think everyone had a fun time.
We also got the whole class together and took a class picture together.

I am also excited for the weekend since I'm going to do community service with the Build-On club at San Francisco, and it's the first time doing community service with Build-On.
I hope it the weather won't be too hot tomorrow...

BC: In The Darkened Room...

Winter break is almost over. In fact, the new semester is starting tomorrow. As I am heading toward the east building for my new dorm, I walked through a garden with beautiful pine trees and bushes.  The new environment doesn't seem like all the rumors that I had heard about it like its haunted, or people are crazy there... is true.

I observed the front of the house, there's nothing wrong with it except it's old.  As I tried  to open the front door, the door was hard to push and made a loud creak sound and a weird feeling starts to appear. I guess I'm just over worried about the rumors and stuffs that I have heard. I studies the house and counted  how many rooms are there by just one look. The first floor is the lobby, and there are 4 chairs in the middle surrounding a small table with mainly rule books and school information placed neatly on the table.I slowly moved all my luggages and stuffs up the floor. I walked down the hallway on the second floor, searching for my room number, 214. I found it, it is the fourth room from the end of the hall.

I went in the room and unpacked everything. As I sat down on a chair in my half of the room, I found a school paper that stated "Welcome to your new house. As a friendly reminder, every student must return to their own room before 10 p.m...Welcome back to St.Brooklyn University."  I checked the desk  in the other side of the room that belongs to my room mate which I haven't met yet, but I didnt see one on her desk. What?! 10 p.m? Are you kidding me?!

I quickly placed everything in place and headed to a party in my old dorm house. The party began and everyone had a fun time.  I told my friends about my new dorm and they told me new rumors about it again, and ask me to move back here. Every time I talk about the East dorm house, theres always some new rumors that comes up.

The party went on until the old chimes clock ringed when it strucked at eleven. I had too much fun that I  totally forgot about the "return to your dorm by 10" policy. Oh well, I dont think anyone would be back at their rooms by 10 anyways, so I'm just gonna leave it. Its been a long time since having a reunion with my friends ever since winter break started.  After the countdown for the new year, my friend drove me back to the dorm.

 It started to snow again and the cold air froze my runny nose. No lights were turned on and its so dark that I couldnt see anything clearly. I got to the door and reached for the keys in my purse. I was so quiet that I can hear myself breathe. The front door was actually unlocked, and the light wasn't turned on at all. It is so dark in here that I can't even see my hands. I stood in front of the lobby for a few seconds trying to get my sight back and see through the dark lobby. I reached in to my purse to find my phone for flashlight, but I accidentally dropped my keys. I knelled down to pick them up, but it wasn't there. I'm starting to get scared and I'm feeling some goosebumps . The cold floor felt so cold that burned my finger like touching dry ice. I used my foot to try to find it, but it wasn't there either. It mus be somewhere near me, where else could it  be?

I crawled down to the floor and searched for it. Wasn't there some chairs here before I left  from the place it should be that I estimated? It was empty. I saw a glow of dim light of my key chain from the stairs. I don't know why it's on the first step of the stairs, but I'm too afraid to think about it now. Is there someone behind me?  My hands starts to get colder and colder as I feel the weirdness from somewhere. I slowly walked up the stairs to my room, and it took me like ten minutes to finish the stairs. Gravity seems to pull me down. Where is my room? There were no lights at all. I'm starting to wonder if anyone has gone home yet, or are they all in beds already. The whole house was silent. So silent that I feel frightened. Where is my room? I feel the cold air pasting through me while just standing there. The feeling of this hall feels like Great Wall of China. Am I in the wrong building? Is anyone here?

I really want to cry right now. I'm so frightened and cold. My hands are shivering like its vibrating in my pockets. I am so tired right now that my eyelids are so heavy it will close at any minute. I leaned on the cold rocky wall, it feels like a freezer behind my back. Where is my room?! I can't see the exit anymore. Am I trapped here?! It feels like something is pulling be down from leaning. I'm too tired to stand back up. It darkened again. What's happening???

"Ahhhh...!" I screamed to the top of my voice and sat up. I can feel its bright now. I slowly open my eyes. Where am I now? What happened to me? What is this place?!
My hair is all wet. I didn't recognize where I am at until I saw my bags and one of my shoe is upside down.
I need to catch a breath and calm down before get up. Its all gone. I'm not in a darken trap place and my coldness of my whole body is gone.
Finally, my nightmare is gone and my new day is just ready to begin.

The flood in Pakistan

All of the 40 houses there were destroyed by the heavy rains and resulting floods. The destruction was astonishing to see.  A few walls remained here-and-there but, not much else.In fact, there was no way of getting close to what was left of the village apart from swimming through murky flood water that is nearly a metre and a half deep.

It rained so hard in Pakistan. The heavy rains are back because of the monsoon time of the year. Nothing can prepare the citizens there, but to see the devastated causes after all the rains.  A lot of people lost their home, and they are in great hunger. 


There are more than twenty millions of people who's affected by this worst flooding disaster in the country's history. What is left there is just left over pieces of destroyed furniture, and some people are still trying to collect what they can find that belongs to them. Their lives and future seemed very bleak. 

One of the flood victim, Nazia Bibi said, " the roof of our house collapsed while we were [ the family] eating. Two of my daughters are dead, and one of them is carrying her second child."  

She and her son-in law couldn't help, but only to wait for aides to help and hopefully the the land would recover soon. 

The government has not been doing anything that will help the victims yet, but some aides are starting slowly to arrive. The citizens there are saying their lives are destroyed and hopeless. They are in great hunger, and without shelter. 

Although the rain had stopped, the suffers of citizens there has not. 

RE: I'm Still Young

Have you guys ever been asked what you wanted to be when you grew up?

I was reading some of the blogs other classmates wrote, and Sharon Wong's I'm still young blog caught my attention .
My mom always ask and warn me, "How are you doing in school? Please be responsible for your own future!"

 I live in a strict family, and most of my family members is educated to at least  high school graduate. My grandpa is a retired English teacher and my aunt is a kindergarten teacher. My mom expects and gives high hopes for me since I'm the oldest child in my family, and she want me to find a good job that's not painstaking like hers. Her job is a waitress captain in a restaurant in Oakland. She works a lot of hours but salary isn't too much.

 I understand why and how she's worried about me in school and my education, but she gives me too much pressure sometimes.Most of my cousins got in to UC Berkeley, so she wants me to get in to Berkeley also.
She started to ask me what I want to be when I grow up, and where do I want to go to college ever since I was in elementary. Please mom! It's WAY to early to talk about this stuff!
I'm not saying that planning for the future is not right, but giving me so much pressure won't help me in school either.... in fact, I'm still young.

FREE: Mid Autumn Moon Festival

Have you ever heard of the Chinese Moon Festival, also known as the Mid Autumn Festival? It was on Monday, September 12th this year. It's a Chinese traditional celebration for the harvest and inspiring the moon. The moon is very full and bright that night. Families gather together for a union dinner and eat lots of appetizers and moon cakes.Accompanying the celebration, there are additional cultural or regional customs, such as children playing with lanterns, burning incense, and eating moon cakes which is the main part. 
This festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese Calender, which is in September or early October in the Western Calender.

Do you know why we Chinese celebrate this festival?
There are different versions of how this Moon Festival came up, but mainly its because farmers and agriculture traders wants to celebrate the harvests.

Celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival is associated with the legend of Houyi and Sheung Ngor, the moon lady. This myth has been retold and passed down from generations. But one of the version is Sheung Ngor is an beautiful  immortal, and Houyi, her husband is a skillful hunter and archer. But they were forced to live on Earth because Sheung Ngor is banished to live in Heaven.

At that time, there were 10 suns. The weather and temperature was extremely hot, and made difficulties for farmers and agriculture. Emperor Yao, the emperor of Heaven, asked Houyi to shoot down nine suns. After Houyi accomplished his mission Yao gave him, not only Yao is thankful, but citizens were too. Yao promised him for a reward.
Houyi was sent to Heaven to see Emperor Yao. Emperor Yao rewarded Houyi with a pill that granted eternal life. Emperor Yao advised Houyi not to swallow the pill immediately but instead to prepare himself by praying and fasting for a year before taking it.

Houyi took the pill home and hide it somewhere only Sheung Ngor and him knows.
But people in town heard about it, and they greed for the pill of immortality. One day, while Houyi's out and only Sheung Ngor was home, some burglar tries to steal it from Sheung Ngor.
Sheung Ngor swallowed it immediately and arised to the sky.

She then later lived on the moon and people would honor her by eating moon cakes.
One of the original moon cakes is made of lotus seed pastes and in the center is the salty egg yolk, which represents the bright moon. 

This traditional celebration is still celebrated today, and will be passed on from generations and generations. If you have a chance, you should try the moon cake!

FREE: Hold On...

He once told her he will love her.

He once told her he will hold on to her. 

He once told her he will change to be better for her. 

He once promised her he will never let go of her. 

And yes, he did change and worked hard from a 2.0 to a 3.0 gpa as he promised to be better for her. 

.............

She did believed in him.

She did fall for his words. 

She did only focused on him. 

She did many things that made him happy. 

And yes, She fell in love with him . 

..................

He kept his promise as what he told her at first. 

He kept contact with her every night and day. 

He kept his patience for her while she's busy. 

He kept his phone near him, waiting for her to call back. 

And yes, he kept his love only for her. 

.........................

She heard he's busy on his own. 

She heard he's hanging out with his friends. 

She heard lesser of the ringtone calling from him

She heard his voices and words lesser and lesser.. 

And yes, she heard some of his attitudes had changed, but she didn't want to listen to what her "devil" side is telling her. 

...................................

He forgot what he promised her at the beginning, 

He forgot to call her at night and kiss her goodnight

He forgot to wait for her when she's busy, or maybe he just didn't want to wait. 

He forgot to text her telling her he missed her, or maybe he just didn't . 

And yes, he forgot she's still waiting for him, and she's waiting for him very painfully. 

.............................................

She once told herself he will come back.

She did cry at night when she waiting for his phone call, but he's asleep. 

She kept telling herself he's just busy, and it happens to be a lie for herself. 

She heard a lot of comments and suggestions from friends and people, but she didn't care and ignored. 

She forgot the taste of her old days when she's alone, because it was too sweet when she's with him. 

And yes, she has feelings too. She's tired of waiting and crying alone by herself. 

.......................................................

He once was lost in love , and he's her dream come true. 

He did do the things he promised, but didn't last forever

He kept thinking simple,and believed she's fine with it. 

He heard people asking about her, but just briefly answered and turned away. He stopped and hesitates. 

He forgot she's been waiting for his call all day, and forgot she had wings too.

And yes, he broke her heart, and she flew away.
He only left her with fading memories and a scar in her heart. 

He's too late to hold on to her now. 

RE: A response to Gigi Zheng's post

I know spiders are good for the enviroment and all, but they just scare me.

 This is my first response post. I was just looking and reading some of the posts that other students wrote and something popped up as I was reading Gigi's "I am Deathly Afraid of Spiders" post.
 I totally agree with this. I hate SPIDERS. Spiders are soooo ugly and just really freaks my out!

So, on Labor Day, my family and I went to my cousin's house down in Sunnyvale to barbecue and there were some of her friends too. It was pretty hot that day, so we decided to go swimming at the pool.
When I got up to the surface of the water with my goggles on, I saw a big spider floating in front of my face!!D:
AHHH..!! I was so freaked out and without a second, I jumped out the water and SCREAMED!!
Every one else turned and looked at me like I was crazy. So EMBARRASSING, but fortunately they are my families and friends. But still, made me looked crazy and stupid in front of all these people..

I was frightened to go swimming again after until I had my cousin to clean the pool again. But it took a while to clean...
Gladly she didn't get mad at me because she has to serve so much people and also helped me clean the pool again until nothing was in the water. Not even a piece of dust! xD
Then I got to enjoy my rest of the day! ~~

CE: We Will Never Forget (9/11)

Remember what happened 10 years ago in New York City that made HUGE changes to the world?

well...honestly, I have to admit I don't remember much because I was still small. But I remember watching the news during dinner time with my family and hearing the adults saying, " Oh, this is SERIOUS?"
It is like watching a disaster movie like 2012, but watching in the news and all of a sudden, i see the big buildings collapsed.

Lets rewind history back to 10 years ago...

It was just probably a normal Tuesday morning in New York City, while people might just have left their house and got to work. The day probably just started as usual and no one knew that those unfortunate ones never got the chance to return home again. Then later on, tragedies happened that made changes to the world today.

On that morning, 19- al Qaeda terrorists hijacked 4 passenger jets, and crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Wide Center in New York City, and both towers collapsed within the two hours. The first  hijacked planes crashed American Airline Flight into the World Trade Center's North Tower at 8:46. A lot of innocent people died that day, and the whole New York City were messed up.  Not only the people who were in the tower died, but also the innocent passengers that were suppose to fly for vacation or their destination.Then later on, the other planes crashed again to the other side of the towers...

Not only the buildings were destroyed and about 3,000 people died, but also the lives of people and the economy of the world had changed. Some people got sick because of the huge smoke and pollution afterward.

It is heart breaking to hear and to remember what happened in New York City, even though it already passed a decade, and the anniversary is coming up this Sunday. This tragic event will not be forget, and there are still some people today that is still living with fear that affected them today. 

The whole world will be mourning and remembering this date that made big changes not only to the United States, but also for the world too.

BC: Let me introduce myself first...

First, let me introduce myself to all of you whose reading my blog first. My name is Aili Sun, fifteen years-old this year and I'm a sophomore in Alameda, California. This is my first time writing a blog actually, which I'm not  really familiar with, but I will keep blogging since it’s my homework too.

I live in a small town called Alameda in California, but California is actually my second home. I was born in China, so my first language is of course Chinese. I can speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. My mother and I immigrated to the U.S eight years ago when I was seven. It was a total new start of life for me and my mother when we first moved here.

Language, transportation, laws, and everything were different from China, and we had big difficulties to learn and get use to the things we were unfamiliar with. But fortunately, some of our relatives helped us to settle everything first. When we first came, I had to separate from my mom and live with my aunts for six months because I had to go to a school that would accept me as a new immigrant. I only see my mom ones a week. Those days were really foreign and tough for me and my mother. I always miss my family and want to move back to China.

The environment made me be an independent girl . I can never forget the tough first few years until I start to learn more English and get use to this lifestyle in America.

           
Don’t get fool by me because I don’t really speak much and I’m pretty quiet in class, I like to talk a lot outside and I have a passion for music, especially vocal. My grandma told me whenever I get shots when I was small like at the age of  three, every other toddler in the hospital will cry and scream, but I would yell and sing my voice out to cover the pain. I really love singing and I guess that’s just me.

 When I was in the fourth grade six years ago, I got selected from the school choir called “Purple Silk Orchestra and Chorus” which they recorded a CD and I got to participate in the NBA game to sing the “Stars Spangled Banner” for the Houston Rockets and Warriors at the opening of the game in the Oracle in Oakland. There were thousands of people watching that night, and the applause from the audience was so touching in my heart. That night felt like a dream come true, which I’ll never forget that moment also.

     
   First, I have to admit writing is kind of a problem for me. Since English is my third language, my writings are sometimes hard to understand and my grammar is bad too.  My writing goals for the year are to improve my grammar and to write in a convincing way. I want to become a better writer so my writings are not as boring and will entertain people in a way.