A Three-day Trip during My Spring Break

Last week was my spring break time. According to what my in-laws said, “We should take advantage of our break time or holiday. Don’t make us to be working machines or studying machines. We have to know how to enjoy our lives”, so we decided to take a small trip around Florida as the New Year Vacation.

The first stop we visited was Sea World. If you are my reader, I think you already knew that we had bought silver tickets for Sea World and Busch Gardens. I like watching all kinds of shows. We arrived in Orlando on Sunday morning. This time, there was no big difference between the last shows I saw there and the ones I saw this time. The only difference was that the Shamu Show was not as exciting as before because they rebuilt their training place.

After visiting Sea World, we lived and enjoyed the night life of Orlando. The next day, we started out for St. Augustine. St. Augustine is the nation’s oldest city founded in 1565. St. Augustine is a special city because of its narrow streets, European architecture, and Spanish colonial flairs. Have you ever gone to Xi’an, China? If you had, I think St. Augustine would remind you of Xi’an. Both of these two cities are historic. We stayed at St. Augustine for two days. The first day we visited the most historically significant structure which is the Castillo de San Marcos, a fort constructed by the Spanish between 1672 and 1695. This fort has never been conquered. The fort has two floors. The first floor was general offices, soldiers’ living-rooms, and rooms for storing weapons. The second floor was full of cannons that were used to protect St. Augustine previously. In front of the fort, there is a large grass area. After visiting the fort, we brought our food and had a picnic-style lunch. The rest of day, we went shopping and had a small cruise around St. Augustine. Before taking the cruise, we went to a Japanese Restaurant to have a dinner.

The next day morning, we went to visit Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth. In this travel spot, there is a well. If you are lucky to have a chance to drink the well-water, you will live forever. My husband and I are lucky people; of course, you also will be if you decide to visit St. Augustine. Although the well water was very disgusting, I still drank a whole cup. Yet, I still think this water is better than Pool water according to my experience. The next spot we went to was the lighthouse. This lighthouse silently stands in St. Augustine for hundreds of years. I still don’t know now what the lighthouse’s function is. Once I asked my husband about this question, but he didn’t give me a specific answer. He just told me that the lighthouse had the same function as the road guide did before, but now it is just a tourist attraction. We took a lot of pictures from the top of the lighthouse. In the lighthouse, I can see the whole of St. Augustine.
Before leaving St. Augustine, we went to the other fort named Fort Matanzas. We didn’t go to the fort; we just looked at it from far away. We walked around the fort and left.

Although this trip was not as exciting as before, I still enjoy visiting profoundly historic spots.

Spring Break

Wo..., my spring break is coming. I am so happy. This will be my longest holiday since the beginning of this semester. Although there are still a lot of homework to do, sometimes I will forget the boring stuff to enjoy my spring break. I like holidays because I don't have to force me to get up.

This spring break, we will have a small trip, but what I want to do is just stay home, watch TV, and do nothing. Yet, I know I will be disappointed again because Weizhi doesn't want to stay home. The first place we will travel is Sea World on Sunday. About the next trip, I forget although he already told me many times. He even asked me some opinion about his plan. It doesn't matter if I know or not. What I should do is follow him and answer his questions-"Do you like it? Did you enjoy it?" Of course, my answer is "yes" because I am not brave enough to say, "No."

Last weekend, we went to Busch Gardens with Ed. Finally, they rode the scariest coaster. When they came down, they said they trembled after getting off the coaster. I am lucky; I didn't ride it. If I ride, I think you guy can't visit my website anymore. In Busch Gardens, most of time we were waiting for some rides. We even waited almost one and half hour for just a 40-second ride. I think they enjoy waiting time because they can take advantage of this chance to talk about Kung Fu, video games, and of course look at sexy ladies. Recently, I found Wei zhi is always the first person who saw sexy ladies. Sometimes, if I saw a beautiful or sexy lady, I ask him to appreciate her, but when I ask him to see her, I found he already stuck his big eyes (he has small eyes) on somewhere of the sexy lady. Fortunately, every time he still gave me some respect; he didn't pour his saliva, but I still failed him =).

Episode VI, Part II

"Where did you go? Why are you so late?" my father asked.

"I went to a festival with my brothers and got lost," I said.

"so, how did you get home?" he asked again.

A man whom I met on the street when I was lost helped me get home."

"You should thank him. Did you know his name?"

"I already odered the local officer to investigate."

"Ok, good. Take care!"

After my father went back to his palace, I was sitting on my bed and thinking about all the things that had happened during the daytime. I didn't know why I asked the local officer to investigate the helpful stranger. "Is it just for my thankfulness or somthing else?" I asked myself. I also didn't know what I should do after getting information about that man. I thought maybe I would do nothing.

The next day, I heard the local officer's report. Finally, I knew his name, address, and all information about him. Yet, I didn't know what I should do next, so I went to my mother's palace to ask her suggestions.

"What? You got lost and a strange man sent you home?" my mother asked.

"Kind of."

"It's too dangerous! You should be careful! You are a princess!

"Mother, do we have to thank him for helping me? If we have to, what should we do?"

"We don't have to do anyting, but if you want, you can do it. Do you know his name and address?"

"Yes, I investigated him."

"You investigated him, why?"

"Because I want-t-t-t to thank him and ..."

"And what? What are you thinking about? Ping, you should think carefully about before you do anything. You are a princess. I want to know every information about this man."

After I came back from my mother's palace, I still decided to send some gifts to him as my thankfulness.

Three months passed by. During these three months, I didn't go anywhere; I just stayed in my palace and did nothing. One day, while I was playing chess with my elder brother, my mother's attendant came to my palace and told me that my mother wanted to see me in her palace. When I arrived atmy mother's palace, I saw my father was there.
Before they saw me, they seemed to be arguing something, so that they didn't see me coming in. I sat beside my father and looked at them.
" Ping, when are you going to get married? Do you know someone whom you like and want to marry him?" my father asked.

"I don't know, but I like..."

.

My Assignments

From now on, I will post some assignments from my writing class about different topics. Here is the first one about the different cultures in giving a name to a new-born baby between China and America.

The Culture of Giving Names

Giving a name to a baby is the most important event throughout the world. It represents the first thing a new couple of parents do for their babies or the love that comes from his or her grandparents in China. As a Chinese person who is living in the United States, I found that there are different cultures of giving a name to a new-born between these two countries in who gives a name, thoughts, and ways.

In China, by tradition, giving name to a baby is her or his grandparents' responsibility, but today, there is a little bit of change. According to what I know, there are at least two important reasons why the baby's grandparents have chance to give a name to their grandchild or grandchildren. Giving a name to your new-born baby would be a most important event to you as a father or mother because it represents the first thing you do for your baby. Furthermore, when your baby grows up and asks you about the history of his or her name, I think you would be very proud to explain how you figured out his or her great name and the meanings about his or her name. Instead, you give this highest honor to your parents. Apparently, your action proves your respect to your parents; so, try to imagine, as your parents, how they can refuse to accept this happy responsibility? Moreover, your parents think they have more experience than you in giving a new-baby a great name. On the contrary, in American culture, almost every baby's name came from his or her parents. I once told my American friend about who gives the baby's name in China and asked them why it's totally different in America. I didn't get an answer, but I guess maybe it's all about the human rights. They may think the baby is their baby, so naturally giving the name to him or her is their "sweet" job.

The family meaning is not only you, your wife, your parents, and your baby in China; the family has a wide meaning in numbers. You have grandparents, parents, your father's brothers, your father's brothers' sons, and even your father's brother's sons' sons - at least three generations in one family. All of them have the same family name (of course, your grandmother and mother had their own family name before getting married to your grandfather and father), so when your parents give a name to your son, they have to think about all of their names, especially your brother's sons' names and your father's brothers' sons' sons' names. These babies' names have to share the same character which has some important meaning in the whole family. Similarly, when naming girls, you have to consider the women's names from the father's side of the family as well. For example, my father has three sisters and female-cousins; his sisters' and female-cousins' names all share a same character meaning "good". My father and his five male cousins didn't share the same character with their sisters' because of the different gender, but they, my father and his five male cousins, share the same character meaning "hero". Therefore, this way is easy to recognize the people's relationships knowing their names because of the history of their family. Yet, you can't choose a word that has the same meaning as the grandparents, great-grandparents' names or more if they are still living. I mentioned one generation share a same character. If your one of middle names is the same as your living ancestor, that means you are your living ancestor's sibling or cousins. It's a big abuse in China, but it very rarely happens. In contrast, in America, the baby's parents often use their own names, their great-grandparents names, and grandparents' names as their baby's name. For instance, I have an American friend whose sister has twin sons. Her sons' names' are Daniel Jameson McGrew and William Francis McGrew. My friend told me the name Daniel came from her great-grandfather's name, and Jameson came from her sister's husband's grandfather's name. William is also her sister's husband's great-grandfather's name, and Francis is her grandfather's name. In addition, they didn't share the same word in the same generation. Therefore, it is a big difference between these two countries.

Chinese people still use the traditional way to decide their babies' name. The grandparents talk about the baby's future fate with fortune tellers. The fortune tellers use the baby's birthday to guess what the baby lacks now or will lack in future life, and then add these things in his or her name to make sure he or she will have a good life. This process is more complicated; I still don't know how they work it out. However, it also one of the Chinese cultures no matter whether it's good or bad. Yet, in America, they use an easy and effective way to decide their babies' name, such as looking in a dictionary, going to the internet, and using their ancestor's names.

All in all, regardless of the differences in giving names to their babies between these two countries, there is still a common point. In both countries, people use different ways to express the same love to their babies and to express the same respect to their ancestor. This is the key thing. Do you agree?

Episode VI, Part I

Two weeks passed by from the last time I posted my website. I can't even remember what I wrote about last time. Did you guys still keep in touch with me during this peroid? If you did, I appreciate it, but if you didn't, I think I will use my Kungfu to "Jiaoxun" you and..... I am just kidding.

How are you, guys? My comment space is not only for your comments about what I wirte, but also for whatever you want to tell me. Please, leave something in my comment place to let me know you like what I am doing now.

These two weeks were a hard time for me. I got a strange illness; it too strange for me to explain it to you, even my doctor couldn't explain to me what caused this illness. He just told me there was somthing wrong with my ears and he also had it several years ago. That's all. Today, I felt better.

Here is my story -Episode VI, Part I

Finally, I got married to a common man who was not born with silver spoon in his mouth. I didn't need the wealth and power of my husband himself or his family to prove mine at all. That was why I decided to marry him, a common man. I met him at a festival (I can't remember which festival) on the street. Although I can't remember the date we fist met, I stil remember the situation we met in.

That day, the street was very crowded. I was separated by the crowd of people with Cishan and other attendants. I was lost. At that time, I was so scared because I had never been there before. (After getting married, I often went there with my husband to reminisce the feeling that I experienced that day.) I stood in the original place where I got lost and looked for CiShan and other attendants. I was so anxious and about to cry. Suddenly, my husband appeared in front of me like an angel, who was sent by God in Heaven to save me, a lost princess on earth.

"Are you lost, little girl?" He said.

"Yes, I am."

"Do you know where you live?"

"I know, but I don't know how to get there."

"If you want, you can tell me your home address and I can send you back."

"You don't have to send me back, you just help me send my message to the local officer here."

"Why? Does the local officer know you?"

"I heard my father said once he is my father's friend. I think he can help me."

"OK, what message do you want me to send?"

"I will write it down. Do you have paper and pen?"

After he asked his servant to send my message to the local officer, we went to a restaurant to have some dessert and wait for the local officer to come. During this period, we talked a lot about him, but I didn't tell him I am a princess at that time. I just told him I was an officer's daughter. He was a businessman with a low social rank. Two years ago, he moved here with his parents and wife. His wife was his childhood friend and....

About two hours later, the officer came and waited outside of the restaurant. I told him that I had to go because it was too late and my father would worried about me.

"Thank you so much! Bye!" I said.

"Bye, take care!" He said.

When I walked out of the restaurant, I remembered that I didn't ask his name. I turned around to the officer and said, "Investigate that man whom I talked with in the restaurant and report to me as soon as quickly."

"Yes, My princess..."

I stared at him and made him stop calling me princess in public.

When I got back, it was already dark and my father was waiting for me in my palace.

An Adventurer's Story

In a small town, there was a little boy named Sherif. He was the seventh son in his family. He had an unhappy childhood because his brothers picked on him. When he was 15 years old, he thought it was time to leave. He was dreaming to travel around the world. It happened that a captain of the ship wanted some sailors to help him. So, Sherif became a sailor. The next day, he left his family and started his journal with his new partners. The first stop they would go was England. When he heard this news, he was so excited that he couldn't sit down any more. He worked, worked, and worked. The conditions on the ship were so bad. His bedroom was so dark, wet, and cold. The food was cold too. Even worse was the captain was always in a bad temper, but for his dream, he ignored all of these bad conditions. He hoped he could arrive in England as soon as possible, but luck didn't follow him this time. One night, he dreamed the ship sank and all the people died. He was awakened by his nightmare. The next day, he told the captain about his nightmare, but the captain laughed at him and said he was crazy. He went back to work, but he couldn't stop thinking about his nightmare. They would stop on an unnamed island in several days. So he was thinking maybe he should leave the ship for safety. Finally, he made up his mind to leave for his safety. The captain agreed to let him leave because he thought he was not a good sailor. On the day they arrived on the island, he was left behind, but he regretted it immediately because there was nothing on the island, except rocks. He even had nothing to survive besides a gun and a bunch of bullets that was given to him by the captain, but starting his survival life on this wild island was a fact already, he had no choice.

With no choice, he started his survival life on the island.

My Writing

Do you guys remember the timed assignment that I wrote in my writing class on Monday? This morning, Mr. McRee gave it back and discussed with us about some common grammar errors in writing. I got a terrible score. I was so sad. I thought there was no one who could have this kind of terrible score. And then, he gave us a sheet explaining the standard of scoring writing. I took a look at the standard for my score; I was shocked. The standard is that the paper presents an incomplete or ambiguous main idea; errors in sentence structure, usage, and mechanics frequently interfere with the writer's ability to communicate. So terrible, right?

After class, I went to his office and asked him to help me go through my essay sentence by sentence. I found my weaknesses in writing, such as forgetting to write articles in front of nouns, confusing how to use prepositions, and choosing precise words.

Later, I will continue my story and write some interesting article. So stay with me! Don't go away!