Linda – My Favorite Place – Ditan Park’s Book Market

If you ask me which place I like best. My answer is Ditan park. It is not only a park, but also is a book market. It has “book show(书市)”every season. People can a lot of books or something else in a low price.

As it is a park. It has beautiful scenery: Colorful flowers, old trees, old buildings—-which can show us the history and its culture. In the morning, you can see many people doing exercise, chatting or just enjoying the sunshine. In the evening, you can find them dancing, chatting or having a walk after dinner. At that time you will think life is beautiful and easy. Some of your pressure will go away from your daily life.

As it is a market, we can buy the things we need and they are all really cheap.  You can buy all kinds of books in Ditan Park. Including some English original version books. Computer books, fashion books, documentary books, stories and so on. They are all on sale, the cheapest one is 90% discount. (I bet you can see from the picture above. It is said: 90%-70% off the original price. We say it 1 Zhe or 3 zhe).

The book market is one of the most famous activity around here.  At the market, people can both relax themselves by walking around and buying books that they want or need.

If you are hungry, you can get some snacks from the Ditan Park too.  There are Beijijing local people’s style food.  You can taste some snack or sit down on the chair between the road to see the crowd…

Ditan park is really colorful. Although it is an old place, it can show us its bright and vitality. It bring us more happy, healthy, smart.

Here is the photo for Ditan Park.

I hope that when you are here, and we can go there together and try it!

Siqi – A Visit 798 – Artist Gallery in an Old Factory

My father drove me to 798 Art spot. I sat in the car with the windows rolled down. The sky was perfect, cloudless blue. 798 was used to be an old factory which is famous for its art in China nowadays. This picture below if of this moment.

I’m impressed by these artistic works’ connection with reality. And I have never seen a working factory where artists coexist and create with work. Here is a picture of graffiti on a wall at the factory.

It’s a space of freedom and creativity, which is a wonderful thing to have in this city. It locates in the Dashanzi area northeast of Chaoyang District. It was a state-owned facility, but in the past couple years has developed into a Soho-like area, bringing together contemporary art, architecture, and culture in a historically interesting setting.

During this activity, a photographic exhibition has deeply impressed me. They condradicted propaganda because the artists wanted to show us an alternative and lamentable way of life. All the photos in the exhibition open up before our eyes is an other living space called bottom world by me. human being talk, eat and do everything in the bottom world with a dive scuba.
When I saw the exhibit, I thought, “THINK ABOUT HOW WE ARE DESTROYING THE ECOSYSTEM…”
Take a look out of your window right now. It doesn’t matter where you live,the time of day,or the season.What do you see? Do you see skyscrapers and offices filled with computers? Do you see polluted rivers or gray dirty sky?

It always comes back to the one question we ask ourselves: What is our world coming to?Or you might be one of those few lucky people who sees crystal-clear lakes or wildflowers.If so,do you notice the clean blue sky and fresh air? Do you really see and appreciate the thick trees that are home to so many animals? How much of this land are we willing to destroy? Will we keep going and going until none of it is left because all we care about is profit?

What kind of world do you want your grandchildren to live in? If we don’t save the environment now there will be children in the future who will never see a forest or swim in a lake. These things are becoming destroyed and so polluted that it will take years to clean up.

This eye-opener is not for everyone. I do realize that there are some very helpful, caring organizations out there who are doing a wonderful job. But, unfortunately, this is not enough. Imagine how clean our world look if no one littered? If everyone cleaned up their own space,this world would have no problem. And if we all think about the answers then we will know what to teach the next generation

-SiQi

Siqi – Mourning for Si Chuan Earthquake

watch this video here

On May 12th, 2008, we had a horrible earthquake in China. These days all of Chinese leaders and soldiers are helping to save more Sichuan people. But there are still a lot of our Chinese people died during this disaster. I could not believe it just happened around my life. The only thing I can now is keeping my studying and donating some money. I wish I could help them more.
Here is a video from the internet that I download from www.youku.com. It shows that all of China mourned for 3 minutes and the national flags were lowered to pray for the dead.
Here is Red Cross Donation Bank Account. Hope anyone who would like to help us. It will be a big appreciate. Thanks.
帐户名称：中国红十字基金会
(附注：以上两帐号均可网上捐赠 网址：HTTP://www.crcf.org.cn)
开户银行名称：中国银行
BANK NAME：BANK OF CHINA
银行帐号：800100086608091014
A/T NO：800100086608091014
帐号名称：中国红十字基金会
ACCOUNT NAME：THE CHINESE RED CROSS FOUNDATION
电代码：BKCHCNBJ

E-mail – I have a story for my picture!

So last week I wrote a blog post about this photo of symbols and I asked if anyone could write down their story if they understood it. Well I realized that I ask you all to give a story when I hadn’t even given one yet! Here is my story below:

It is in the morning, the alarm was ringing and the guy woke up. He turned on the light and looked at the time. It was 7:00 already! Today he should take the flight to another country and should be there at 11:00. So he stood up and went to the bathroom to take a shower and brushed his teeth, put on a new clothes. Then he went to kitchen to get a cup of coffee and an egg with bread. At that time he would like to say goodbye to his wife and his daughter, so he went to his daughter’s room, and kissed her. After that he went to his wife’s room, he thought she was still sleeping, so he did not go in. He looked at the clock. It is 7:40 already. He must leave now. He checked his bag again to make sure there is the passport and the airplane ticket . He went outside and wanted to take a taxi. He saw one come by, he was waving his hand but there was people in it already. The next five ones are the same. He thought :”it is bad luck!” He looked at his watch, it was 8:00! He was so worried, just at that moment, suddenly he found an empty taxi coming. That is a big relief to him, he got in the taxi and went to the airport.

Maybe it is not the correct answer, but it is my own idea about this picture. Do you agree with me?:) now please tell me what story you see when you look at this!

Thanks! E-mail

Iris – Roots and Shoots: Becoming a Volunteer

There are many unforgettable memories in my life. The most significant memory I always recall is the experience of joining the Roots and Shoots (R&S).

This group is instituted by Doctor Jane Goodall. She is a famous researcher who studies chimpanzees. “R&S is an international hands-on environmental and humanitarian education program, with the goal of creating positive change—for our communities, for animals and for the environment.”

Although we could not solve such a big pollution problem, we can start from every little things. I joined this group 4 years ago and struggled to understand how to best protect our environment. As a member of Green Piece Group, we collected wastes regularly, such as discard bottle and newspapers, and then recycled them. At the same time, other two members and I started to advocate students to use packages and bags instead of plastic packages. Although we did not succeed at the first, the proposa; was accepted by most students finally by combining it with other strategies.

Due to good performance of works, my school presented me with the outstanding delegates to be awarded by Jane Goodall. I believed that this experience will benefit my future because I possess the desire to protect our planet.

Kelen – The White Beard

Do you love the photo of me in this white beard? I bet you love it. Can you guess what material my BEARD is made out of? …Thank you for that. Now I am gonna tell you my story of my white beard.

It was a Sunday afternoon. Dad and mom were not at home. They told me to finish my homework before they came back home. But I did not to do that. You know, the time when the parents are not at home we have to “cherish”. I turned on the TV right after they stepped out of the gate.

Even though there was no programme I enjoyed it all. I still felt cool.

I just like a piece of wood which sat in the front of the TV.

Then the “wood” showed her interest into the fashion programme. A totally attractive woman was teaching women how to use the sunscreen. I was curious in it. It was attractive just like the host.

At that time, I had a short hair and my friends said that Kelen was a boy. To tell you the truth, I couldn’t bear that any more! I decided to learn how to make myself as beautiful as the lady in the TV.

I watched the TV carefully. Then I found my mom’s sunscreen. I tried to put it on my face, but the sunscreen felt sticky which I can not get used to it. I just left a small circle around my mouth. I would like to wash it off. I went to the washroom. On that day I wore an orange jacket when I saw myself in mirror, I was just like the McDonald’s uncle! If I had red hair I would go out and stayed in the front of the McDonald’s gate.

That’s so funny. I adored this face absolutely! I thought that I must take a photo to keep this piece of memory longer.

This is the funny story of my photo. Do you have this kind of funny childhood story would like to share with me? Please write it down, I hope I can read it first. Thanks for your time.

Iris – Chinese Youth: Staring a Story From My Friend

Yesterday, my friend Ding Yuhan who studied at the high school of United States shared her experience of study abroad to me.

Firstly, I asked her what the difference is between education of China and USA. As a bi-cultural student, Ding Yuhan indicated that different teaching methods influenced different logical thinking. She then mentioned an illustrative example. In China, most students study for exams. Their motivations are propelled by teachers but not interests. However, American education tends to foster students’ potentials and then motivate them to study for interests. Students can ask questions without raising hands or asking after class. This flexible atmosphere always evokes creative ideas in the class. Furthermore, Ding Yuhan also explained common phenomenon of Chinese student study abroad. Although, they are always good at mathematics, physics and grammars, they can not solve difficulties when they face practical problems. This point actually exist at Chinese education. Therefore, what can we do and how can we change are topics we should think about.

Ding Yuhan also showed her interests in the music of Justin Timberlake. She prefer the singer’s classical songs rather that hits feat with rappers. We also talked about the significant experience we had. We both applied volunteers for Beijing 2008 Olympics. Unfortunately, I had to give up this chance due to the age limit and my study schedule. Ding Yuhan kept her dream and then became an qualified volunteer.

Ding Yuhan will have volunteer training courses after June. Apart from diplomatic skills , she also need to master related English vocabularies. When I asked what images Beijing citizens should have, Ding Yuhan answered ,“Smile is the best card of volunteers.”

E-mail- Ceramic Class!

Last Friday, my friend and I went to Xidan shopping mall. Suddenly, my friend saw a shop called, Ceramic. We have never played before in Ceramic, so we wanted to have a try. It was a store that allowed you to make your own ceramics!

We choose the machine, which was in the center of the room. Then a teacher came in and taught us how to use this machine. Then he put some pottery clay on the machine and turned it on.

The turntable on the machine helps the clay to turn as a circle. We could use our hands and two thumbs to make the pottery clay to looks like everything.

I like pots, so I made a small pot. When I finished, the teacher put our pots in a kiln and fired it.

After firing for a long time, it was getting to dry.

I made a picture on my pot. I like cartoon, so I put a cartoon picture on it. Here is a picture which was taken by my friend. I was drawing pictures on it.

I like clay model. I like using my hands to make things. Here it is what I made by myself. !