Kelen – My Thoughts About Friendship: New and Old

All of us have a lot of stories about our friends.   The stories could be funny also could be laden with grief.  We had to leave from our childhood for a long time but when we turn our head back we may realize that friends from that time were still young so that is why their names are gone.

I have many friends but they just like the ocean sprays that disappear with time into the sea.

When I swim in the time sea, I get that feeling of eating plums, sweet and sour

This picture to the left records a happy time with my new friends from the Bejing Youth Voices Project.  There are five girls and one of the hands is mine,  one of the hands is from Linda.  We saw many pictures like that so we also wanted to have a try at it.

The next pictures on the left is of Kelen’s and Siqi’s shadow.  Can you guess which one is Kelen? And who is the other girl?  (Kelen is the girl on the left, the other girl is Si QI).

Here is a picture of Xiao Xiao and I. We have all been friends for six years. I like this picture very much.  It’s very lovely.
The girl who is white just likes the snow is my best friend BoBo.  Even though we haven’t seen each other in a long time, she is a tree in my heart, never moving.
At the time of the picture, we were 15 years old.  BoBo,  do you still remember that day? I fell asleep in our sports meeting and rested on you.

Friends, friends, no matter where you go, you still are my friends  .Our friendship will be like the ships sailing in the timeless sea.

Iris – Oh No Test Time!: Forming a Study Group

I still vividly remember in my third year in  high school when I missed a lot of classes in math. When the mid-exam was coming up I panicked because I practically knew nothing about the subject!  Fortunately, I had two friends who were willing to help me out.  They had already formed a “study group” and I joined their group.  We discussed academic problems together and shared class notes. I could ask them any question I had about the class.

Apart from academics, we always went to the school STUDY ROOM together. And when any team member was faced with difficulties or felt frustrated, other members would cheer him/her up.  After two hectic yet highly rewarding weeks, I passed the examination with good scores!

I think this phenomenon of forming “Study Groups” depends on different situations. In fact, some study groups do not play a vital role on developing study skills and knowledge because members cannot focus on their lecture. why? As when friends come together, they often chat with each other or share pics rather than study.  However, when we decided to form a study group, we have strong determination to do well in study part. So our parents did not worry about us

Steven – An Interview with My Best Friend on how to Chose a Friend

I interviewed classmate Zhang Weiyao about making girlfriends.  Please listen to the audio recording of the interview here.

Zhang——–Hello, My name is Zhang Weiyao. I don’t have any English name）

Steven——-OH,NO. I know you told me your English name was Superman. HAHA………

Steven ——–Do you have some hobbies?

Zhang——–Hobbies? I have been summed up. First, we are in the high school. So studying is the most important thing.  That is my most favorite hobby. Second hobby, basketball.  Basketball is my favorite sport game! And I also like music and making friends.

Steven ——–Can you tell me about making friends? I mean do you want to make a girlfriend or boyfriend?

Zhang ——–I would like to say no matter boy friends or girl friends, they all play an important part in your life.

Steven ——-The kind of friends who can cooperate with you should be the a good friend for you to be with. But if you want to share your feelings, your happiness or your sadness, a girlfriend should be a good choice. Right now I do not have girlfriend. I have no idea about that matter now.

Zhang ——-I see. It seems that you got really good opinions about friendship. Thanks.

(Chinese Version)

Steven ——-他虽然不承认，但我知道，他有一个英文名字叫superman.

Steven ——–那你有什么爱好吗？

z——–爱好，我曾经总结过，高中现在应该的事情，一是学习，这是第一大爱好，也是最重要的。第二是打篮球，第三是交友，第四是音乐。

Steven ———你能仔细说一下，交友是grilfriend or boyfriend? 还是普通的，特别要好的，一生中的永恒的那种朋友？

z———-包括boy and girl friends.我觉得朋友，不管是男的还是女的，都是你人生中的极其重要的成分。

Steven ———–我的意思是，你是准备交女朋友呢？还是交一些志同道合的，十分能谈得来的那种朋友？

z———–志同道合的朋友，对于我的事业发展应该的比较有好处的，但是如果让我的情感变得更加丰富，应该交女朋友，但到目前为止还没有谈过恋爱，所以，应该是志同道合的朋友吧！

Steven ———–哦，看来我们的张伟尧同学还是说得很深刻。

Email – Boys Just Make Noise: The First Love Letter that I Received

I still remember the first love letter I received from a boy when I was fifteen. It was during the afternoon and I heard an old friend called me out of my classroom and when I went out he said to me, ”here is a letter from my brother. It is for you and he likes you.”

I looked at him for a while, and looked at the letter in his hand, and said, “o, I don’t know him, so I won’t read his letter.“ And I immediately turned around but he pulled me and said, “you must read it! He is my brother, and my best friend, please?” And then he put the letter in my hand and walked away from me.

So I opened the letter and it read, ”Email, I have watched you for a long time. I want to be your boyfriend, please. Can you give me a chance? I will take care of you. Believe me. Yours XX”

Oh, what a stupid guy he is! I was annoyed when I read his letter, especially the part that said he ” wanted to take care of me.” But there are still some girls who want to get a kind of protection from boys. I think that’s the reason why this sentence is so popular. However I think it comes off as if couldn’t take care of myself! So after reading it I tore it up and went back to studying my lessons.

During the next class break, a strange boy stood at the door of my classroom. And he called my name. But I really didn’t want to talk to him. I didn’t go out.

After another break, I received another letter on my desk.
I open it. It read, “Email, I know the letter maybe troubled you, but I really like you. I hope to spend the boring time with you in this school…” I didn’t read the rest of the letter and I tore it up again.

After a while, my old friend came again and called me out.
I told that I had to go out but he said, “This is my brother, he want to make friends with you.“ And that boy just wants to say something!” I said “No, I don’t like your friend and I don’t like you now. You can go now, with your best friend, go! Get away from my classroom!“

And then I went back to my seat. Since that moment the boy didn’t trouble me anymore. I like to be alone. I know many students who have boyfriends or girlfriends from the same school. I think it really influence their study in a negative way. I will find a boyfriend in college, way in the future.

In China, often someone who likes you will write a letter to express their feelings. This is how it is usually done by students who like other students. There are also many other ways, such as making phone calls, asking a friend to tell him/her, and of course just saying it out really loudly also works (maybe this last method is a little crazy way).

I don’t know whether other teenagers feel the say way as me. The way I see it is that we all don’t know what love is but the ones who are talking about love are just talking. They have boy/girlfriends out of curiosity. They get together and they don’t talk about what it means to be in “love,” and they don’t even talk about marriage, the future or even their families. I think they just want to have a very intimate friendship.

Tell me about your first love letter – that is if you can remember it!