Tuesday, November 28, 2006

MY STORY AS A KID

When I was a little boy, I was very naughty. Even the neighbor called me a grasshopper. I went around the village and messed things up. I remember this one time, I went into the forest and saw a lot of clay pots. I didn't know what the clay pots contained. I was very curious, so I broke one and found a set of white bones. I thought it was dog bones. Later I found out it was human bones. People leave it in there for memories. I guess, back then in China, people were poor that they could not afford coffins. Therefore they replaced coffins with clay pots.

Anyhow, let me continue with my story. I was the kind of kid that was not afraid of anything, such as ghosts, tigers, or even dead human bones. Anyway, I broke the pot and left the bones on the ground and then I went straight home.

Later that night, I began to feel sick. I was hot for a moment and cold for a moment. Then I got a 103 degree fever. My parents gave me medicine and I fell asleep.

It was very scary around midnight. I had a dream of an old man telling me, "You broke my bones and you better return my bones." I suddenly woke up sweating all over. I told my mother and she said, "It was only a dream, baby." She comforted me back to sleep.

The next day came and it happened again. The old man's voice popped up in my head. He told me he was in the forest, cold and he had no where to go. He wanted me to return his bones. I was very scared and told my mother. She told me the same thing, “It was only a dream.”

I recall back then that I was sick for a whole month and had the same dreams. My parents realized that this situation was not getting better. Therefore, they started to ask the neighbors for advice. The neighbors told my parents that "your son has trashed a dead person's house and he better replace it with a new home for them."

My parents did not know what to do, but one of the neighbors told them that, in the village, there was a blind man who could have contact with dead people, such as ghosts. Our neighbors suggested to my parents that they should go see him. And we did. Right when we got in front of the blind man, he suddenly yelled out, "Yeah! Your son has broken a dead person's home and needs to replace it with a new home." The blind man was very nice and helped us.

First, we needed to find out the dead man’s name and where he lived. We went and looked for his family members and got some information. Secondly, we needed a new clay pot and I carved his name and birthday on it. Thirdly, I needed to apologize to the old man and hope that he would forgive me. Lastly, we needed to see if he accepted my apology.

I was lucky and everything went well. Ever since this incident, I learned my lesson and behaved myself. The one thing that I learned was that I will respect others and also dead people.

Now when I see funeral cars on the streets, I bow my head down and give them a farewell. However, because of this incident, I had a god-grandfather which is the blind man who helped me. He liked me and asked if I could be his god son. I guess it was faith that brought us together. Anyhow, my god-grandfather passed away three years ago and I went back to China and gave him honor.

This is a true story that happened to me. One benefit that I got from this experience was to be a good boy and not a naughty boy. You will pay for what you have done. Now that I am a father of two daughters, I always tell them to be good.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

A night

When I studied in high school, I lived in a dormitory. One night, my roommates and I went to sleep early. Suddenly, I woke up at midnight. I was in a cold sweat. I had had a bad dream. When I woke up, I heard water leaking. I felt a cold wind. I saw a shadow on the wall. I looked outside and it was very quite but I felt scared.

Suddenly, I heard a man walking very slowly outside the window. Suddenly, I saw a face through the window. He looked like he was searching for something.

Then, my body was shivering. I thought this was a ghost.. I wanted to look, listen and touch thing but I couldn’t because I was afraid. Then I shouted to my roommates. They were woke up. They angrily asked me “What is going on!”

I said, “I saw a ghost outside the window.”

They answered “There is nothing over there.”

Then I talked to them and they all got up and sat around me. We began talking about ghosts. Someone said “If a ghost came back again, what should we do?” Someone said calm down,“ Don’t be afraid! There are no ghosts in the world. Maybe it was a robber.”

Someone said “O~~~ it’s very horrorible. We can put our underpants on the window. The ghost will be afraid of them.”

I said, “That’s a good idea.”

Then we went to the bathroom and got some dirty underpants and put them on the window.

I felt a little better and we went to sleep again.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Beautyfull Life

I have a friend, his name is Bi. He is 23 years old.

When he was 13 years old, he was sick and his feet couldn't move. He was very sad. He felt ashamed. He didn't want to go out and meet anybody. Everyone understood about that, they tried to help Bi to improve his life. After one year, he could help his parenst to do housework . He moved by wheelchair so his arms were very strong. He could go everywhere and doeverything he wanted. Bi looked like a normal boy. He didn't need to help from another person or his parenst. Bi could play volleyball, bida, ping pong and badminton with his neighbors. He had a good memory so he gambled and he won. He didn’t earn too much money but he could buy something for himself so he didn't need to beg from his parents.

And now, everyday he does housework, plays sports, goes to the coffee shop and philanders with girls. His life is very happy. All his friends feel happy, too.

The Land Of Peach Bllossoms

Have you ever heard about the Land of Peach Blossoms - Shangri-La? The famous writer James Hilton of England published the famous book, Lost Horizons, in 1933. The place the book described is called Shangri-La, the land of Peach Blossoms. Many people have wondered if there Shangri La really existed.

80 years ago, Joseph Rock, a botanist from America introduced this place to the world. In an essay in National Geographic Magazine he wrote, "There is heaven in this world. There is an old land of heaven and earth.”

Let me talk about the story to you. Naxi is the last nation in China. A special tribe lives there. The name of the tribe is Moshuo. It is very special because it is a primitive matriarchal society. We call it the Women's Country.

Men and women do not get married but they can have many different mates. Maybe you are amazed.

“How about their children?” you may ask. Rest assured, if a woman has baby, she will bring up the baby until he/she is grown up. When they are about thirteen years old, their mother will tell them who their father is. The child and its father are can them become acquainted.

If you have chance to travel to the Land of Peach Blossoms and if you are a man maybe you will fall in love with a girl. You will only be able to visit her you at midnight, and you will have to sneak into her room through the window. You will need to be very careful so no one catches you.

Don't forget to bring three things. A piece of pork, a cap and a knife.


Do you want to know why? I'll tell you next time.

A Benefit for Storm Victims in My Country

A Benefit for Storm Victims in My Country

Yesterday my family went to San Jose to see a sing song show outside of the Lion market. This show was free, because they needed a to raise lot of money to help people who had lost everything in the big storm in Viet Nam.

At the beginning of this show, some guys went around with a box. One guy came to us and said, "Please put money into box to help people in your native country." My mom put in $10 and continued to listen to the singer. After that, suddenly, another guy came back to my mom and said the same thing. My mom smiled and put in another $10.

At last my mom said, "We should go into the restaurant to eat lunch. If we continue watching we will miss lunch."

My brother said, "But this singer looks beautiful. I want to keep watching a moment."

My dad said, "But I am hungry now. Let's go.”

My parents went into the restaurant, but my brother and I stayed and watched the show.

Later my brother and I went into the restaurant. My dad asked us, "How much did you lose."

We said "$20, but that was OK because we saw a beautiful singer and heard good a nice song."

An Unforgettable Experience

When I was a child I lived in Hong Kong with my family. We lived in a small village. My father was a farmer. Not too many people lived in our neighborhood. .

One night, we heard my dog bark outside. My father took a flash light and went out to look around. He passed a little park and near the outside gate of the park, he shone the light around. He saw a man lying down near the gate. The man looked very tired and his back was hurt.

My father thought he may have been a stowaway because, at that time, many illegal immagrants from China were coming to Hong Kong. They often hid on the train and, if they were discovered, they would jump down from the train while it was traveling fast. My house was near the railway so sometimes we would meet stowaways.

My father asked the man, "Are you a stowaway?"

The man said, "Yes." He told my father that he had come here to find his brother. He asked my father to not call the police. He gave my father the phone number to contact his brother.

My father gave him some food and arranged for him to stay in the storeroom outside our house. The next morning his brother came to pick him up.

I was very proud of my father.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Friday's Homework, November 17th

Please choose an interesting topic and write a paragraph (or three) about that topic.

Write it on lined paper. Be prepared to read your story in class on Monday.

I will show you how to post your story on this blog.

Have a great weekend!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

A Young Vietnamese Woman's Diary

Click here to read about this incredibly moving story about a young Vietnamese doctor's diary.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Homework, Wednesday November 15th

Leave me a message telling me what you would like our class to do on Wednesday, November 22nd.

Remember, November 22 is the day before Thanksgiving.

Explain why you think your idea is good.

Don't forget to introduce yourself and spell your name.

Your message should be between 1 and 2 minutes long.

Thanks!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Homework Wednesday, November 8

Call me and tell me five things that you are going to do on Friday. Remember, Friday is a school holiday. The school will not be open. You will be able to do what ever you want to do Friday afternoon!

Actually, Friday is not Veterans' Day. Saturday, November 11th, is officially Veterans' Day. Why do you think we are taking our holiday on Friday? Please tell me when you call.

Thanks,
Richard

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Hacking Democracy

Click here to view the HBO video about problems with computerized voting systems.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Homework for Thursday, November 2

Call and tell me what you are going to do this weekend. Please tell about at least five activites you are planning for the weekend. Use the "going to" pattern that we practiced in class today.

Your message should be at least one minute long. Don't forget to give your name.