Hi, Classmates

My name is Jazmine.

I will write a story for you this evening!

A Late Love

Here is a link to the love story we listened to in class today.

About Love

Valentine's Day is coming soon. It is an important day for every couple or lover who has fallen in love.

THE FIRST FORTUITOUS CHANCE
A girl named Gi Gi lived in a small apartment alone after she graduated from

college.

Every Sunday, she would go to the laundry to wash her clothes. One Sunday, she went to the laundry to wash her clothes.

Later, after she had returned home, she was arranging her clothes when she found a man’s sock. So Gi Gi returned to the laundry. When she arrived there, a young guy was standing in front of the dryer, and he said, “I washed my clothes just now, but I lost one sock!”

At this moment, he saw Gi Gi and she looked at him. They each held a scok in their right hand. They smiled at each other. This sweet love story began with a pair of socks.

Ten months later, before leaving to study abroad in Boston in the USA the young guy promised Gi Gi, “When I come back, the first time, I 'll marry you. You must wait for me until I come back!”

During that time, he contacted her by phone and e-mail every day. Of course, usually there were a lot of honeyed words emerging from the computer. These moments were sweet and happy. But for the pair of separated lovers, life was hard and difficult!

One day, the girl received this message. The boy wrote “The E-mail fee is very expensive, so I have decided come back!” That was exciting news. The girl waited for one day and then another day to pass. But after ten days, the girl received another message. This time, the boy wrote, “I don't want to come back, because she had a baby and I must marry her. I want to make my life with them!”

Gi Gi didn't believe that this was the truth. She sent e-mail to him unceasingly, but he didn’t respond.

When I learned about this story, I asked Gi Gi, “Maybe your lover married, but you are not the bride, so that is why you are witherd and sad until now?”

She shook her head and continued.

THE SECOND FORTUITOUS CHANCE
Every year, on her mother's birthday, Gi Gi would buy some flowers in memory of her mother because her mother had died 5 years ago. On that day, Gi Gi usually went to the graveyard. This year, she was surprised when she saw an old acquaintance in the graveyard. Gi Gi could hardly believe that her old boyfriend’s mother was in this place.

Gi Gi said, “Hi, aunt" to the old woman and asked, “How is your son and his child?”

The old woman looked puzzled. “Chirld? What did you say?" asked the woman.

Gi Gi said, “Nan, your son, told me that he had to marry a girl in Boston because the girl was pregnant.”

The old women shed tears and then told GiGi that Nan had said if he came back, he would have married you because you are the best love in his life!

“Didn't you know, he said he would come back very soon, but two weeks before he left America, my son received learned that he had cancer of the blood and soon after, he passed away,” said the old woman.

Gi Gi couldn't stop the tears and asked herself many times, “Why? Why?”

She followed the old women, and came to Nan's tomb. The two women stood in front of the tomb, and when Gi Gi saw Nan’s picture, she couldn't control her tears.

Before that she had had a lot of questions to ask him, but now, she just kept quiet and wordless for a long time.

Every one loves someone. On this special day, I hope that everyone will cheirsh what you already have.

Finally, blessing to everyone. Have a good future with your best love.

ESL Teacher in the Superbowl

Did you see the Superbowl ESL class commercial?

Check here or here.

Carlos Mencia, a popular comic, is the English teacher.

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is coming soon, and this year it falls in February. There are fifteen days to celebrate Chinese New Year. There are so many things to prepare and do for the New Year. Let me explain to you a few Chinese traditions on New Year.

First, we need to get new clothing; prepare lucky envelopes filled with money, plan the New Year's Eve Family Dinner, buy fire crackers to welcome the wealth god. There is a parade and street festival and, mainly, feasting.

There are many things we need to do before welcoming the New Year. First, cleaning the house two days before New Year is a way of saying that you sweep all unlucky or bad things out from your house. You should also clean all the bed sheets. We need to welcome the New Year with everything in the house clean and new because on New Year's Day, the Wealth God will come and visit every family hoping that he can leave some luck and wealth behind. Anyway, people say that there is a Wealth God (Choy Sun Yah), and well, it has been passed on for many generations and Chinese believe there is a Wealth God and he is watching.

Secondly, on New Year's Eve, all family members are expected to show up for dinner because it is a tradition. On that day, our parents will hand out red envelops to all the children. My mother will cook a big dinner with lots of food and especially chicken and fish because they represent that all children are well fed.

My mother will give me new clothes to wear and I will take a long bath. We need to take a long bath because we need to clean all of our unlucky things that have happened in the past yearand welcome the New Year with good fortune. On New Year's Day, we are not allowed to take a bath or wash our hair because we might wash away our luck and fortune.

There are many activities on New Year's Eve. There are dragon dances with music, street festivals with many different kinds of flowers and many different kinds of Chinese food. People dress in red clothes and basically everything is in red. Red, in Chinese, means lucky.

Dragon Dances and Fire Works are to welcome the New Year and Wealth God. The most exciting activity is gambling. People will gather around and play Mahjong, play cards or other games. People will gamble and stay up the whole night.

On New Year's Day, in some parts of China, people don't eat meat in the morning and afternoon.

In my family, we fast on New Year's Day until dinner. We eat lettuce, rice, peanuts and, most important, the vegetable call "Fat Choy." Fat Choy is something black and looks like hair but the meaning to this vegetable is "Rich". There is a saying that, the more you eat Fat Choy, the richer you will get. Anyhow, I don't believe it but it is a saying and has been passed on for many generations.

We are not allowed to sweep the floor or break anything because it is bad luck. There is also another saying that if you sweep the floor on New Year's Day, you might sweep away your fortune and luck.

Anyhow, on New Year's Day. our relatives will come to our house with presents and red envelops to hand out to children. And in return, we have to do the same. We will give them back some presents and red envelopes. It is a tradition that married people, parents, and elderly give out red envelopes to children and unmarried people. Before receiving the red envelope, you have to say nice things to them; such as “Kung Hay, Fat Choy”, wish them wealth and health throughout the year, or wish them a safe and happy New Year and anything that you can come up with that is good.

In conclusion, children can not wait for New Year to come because they are expecting to receive a lot of red envelopes. Chinese New Year is a big thing in China and people celebrate New Year all night long. Unfortunately for me, I am married and have children, therefore, I have to prepare red envelopes. “Kung Hay Fat Choy” is a very common term Chinese people say on Chinese New Year.

Fishing

What do I like to do in my spare time and what is my hobby?

I love to go fishing in my spare time and it is my one of favorite hobbies. I like to go fishing because it is quiet and so peaceful. In the past, I went fishing almost every weekend.

I go fishing with my friends and brothers in the river in Antioch. I enjoy the quietness, the peacefulness, and mainly, no children for at least three hours.

I don't have to hear something like "Dad, can you do this for me?” or “Dad, I need to play horse back riding and so on." You know how it is with children.

Four years ago, I had a friend from New York who came to visit me and he knew that I liked fishing, so he wanted to come along.

It was striped bass season and we were trolling for striped bass and suddenly, something heavy hooked on my fishing pole. It was very hard and heavy and I was unable to move it. I tried to reel it in but it was moving very fast and strong. It took me fifteen to twenty minutes to bring the fish up to the boat. Surprisingly, it was a sturgeon.

My friend and I took the sturgeon to a local restaurant for dinner. My friend from New York called his friend to the restaurant. He introduced him to me. He called the guy by the name of "Uncle".

Uncle likes fishing a lot and he said he never met anyone who had caught a sturgeon before. He then asked if I could take him fishing sometime and I said it is always good to have more fishing buddies. After that day, we went fishing a lot and caught many fish on our fishing trips in the Delta near Antioch.

As salmon season approached, uncle and I had a conversation about going fishing on the party boats. The following weekend, we both invited our friends to go Salmon fishing. We all met at my house that morning and I remembered having a very funny conversation with Uncle. I asked everyone to take a seasick pill to avoid sea sickness. Uncle loudly said, "Young man! When I was younger I used to live on a naval ship." He also said, "No need to worry for me, just worry for you." I got on the party boat at the Berkeley pier and when the boat passed under the Golden Gate bridge area I saw Uncle's face turning pale and I said, " Uncle, are you okay?" \

He said, "I think I got up a little too early and I should go sit inside the boat to take a rest."

We all wanted to laugh but we didn't want to embarrass him.

I still remember that moment when the boat got to Half Moon Bay. The party host called my name very loud and said, "Hey, Dave, your friend needs help." I turned toward him and I saw Uncle throwing up everywhere. From then on, we always laugh about that time and he tells all his friends that I always took care and helped him. He also tells his friends that I am a real friend and a person who uses his heart to help out others when in need.

We get along so well that even his family treats me like part of their family. I will always remember what Uncle told me, “a true friend is hard to find and when you do, do not take him for granted. You should cherish the friendship that you have bonded."

Until this day, I miss this friend a lot and in my heart there's always a space for him. I remember this friend and don't know when our family and his can have dinner again.

Live not so easy

I read this in the newspaper.

People found two boys in a shopping cart. They were crying so the people took them to the manager of the store. He turned on the loudspeaker and said ''There are two unhappy, crying children in our office. If you lost your children, you should came here to pick them up''

But after an hour, nobody went there, so the manager decided to call the police.

When the police came, they took two papers from the childrens’ pockets. Each paper had a name and birth date on it.

One day after, The police showed the childrens’ pictures on TV to try to find their parents. When the childrens’ relatives saw the pictures they hurried to the police station.

A policeman told them, ''The boys’ parents brought them to the supermarket, put them in the cart and then went away. The police saw that on the supermarket's cameras'. The police asked the boys' relatives what has going on.

The boys'grandfather said, ''My son was cook. My daughter-in law was a waitress, but their economic problems were very bad and they owed a lot of money. They had to sleep in a park ,They didn't have money when the second boy was born.

I felt very upset when I read this story. I thought this was very hard on those children. I shed tears when I read it . I thought life really is not so easy.

What do you think?

The accident

Last week, I read an interesting story from my country, Vietnam, on the Internet news and I want to tell you about that news.

Before evening on a highway there was an accident. Three cars hit each other, one car flipped onto the road and another car crashed on the sidewalk. One person died in this car, but the third car had an important problem because this car crashed onto the rain tracks and everyday at this time, a train came by there.

Two men saw this accident. They lived near there and they knew that the train would be passing soon.

One man ran back to warn the train that was coming. He built a big fire on the sidewalk to warn the train engineer.

The other man had a bicycle so he went fast along the train tracks. He had a flashlight in his hand because he was a worker. He turned the flashlight on and off. He hoped the train man would see him .

On the train, the engineer saw that there was a problem. He tried to put on the brakes but the train continued and stopped right in front the accident.

Everyone there saw this action and was very happy because the train didn't have an accident. The people said, "You are heroes from our city. We are support you!"

Homework for Monday, January 29

Please call and leave a message on my answering machine.

Begin by telling me your name. Please spell it and tell me where and when you study.

Next, tell about what you did on Sunday.

Your message should be between one and two minutes long.


For example a student named "John" would begin his message like this:

Hello, Teacher.

My name is John.
J O H N .

I study in the afternoon in Room 101 at Neighborhood Centers Adult School.

This Sunday morning I woke up at .....

Hi, Classmates

Hi, I just joined the Room101pm Blog.

I will write a story this weekend!

See you soon.

FUNNY

Hi! classmates. My name is Thuy Vu. Maybe next week, some friends and I will transfer to the Room 106 afternoon class. I really feel sad. When I feel sad, I often do something to make me better. That is why I will write some funny stories and I want to share them with my classmates.

1/ An old man got onto a bus. The bus was full and didn't have any empty seats. The old man had to stand. He stood next to a young man who was sitting. The old man looked at the young man, smiled and said with a tired voice; "I am sick and very old. When I was young, I often gave my seat to women, children and elderly people."

The young man answered with a calm voice; " Aha! Now, I know why you got sick "

And the old man became quiet.

2/ In the hotel, a bell boy who worked in the room service department heard the phone ring. He picked it up and heard someone’s voice say; "To te to to to to!"

The bell boy didn't understand what the man on the phone said, so he hung up the phone. A few minutes later the phone rang again. The bell boy picked it up again and heard the same voice, "to te to to to to!"

He got mad and hung it up.

One minute later, the phone rang again and the bell boy picked it up only to hear "to te to to to to!"again.

Angrily, he slammed down the phone harder than before.

A little later, a young man appeared in front of the service room. He was angry and said;"Bring two teas to room two two two!"

3/ A man was in his front yard mowing the grass when his attractive blonde female neighbor came out of the house and went straight to her mail box.

She opened it then slammed it shut and stormed back in the house. A little later she came out of her house again, went to the mail box and again opened it, slammed it shut again and angrily, back into the house she went.

As the man was getting ready to edge his lawn, she came out again, marched to the mail box, opened it and then slammed it closed harder than ever.

Puzzled by her actions, the man asked her, “Is something wrong?” to which she answered; “There certainly is! My stupid computer keeps saying; ‘You've got mail!’”

if you want see some funny pictures click here and here
If you want read more funny stories ask me.

I Got a Job

I’m a busboy. I found my job on January 10^th. Before I never had worked as a busboy, because I am a cook. I interviewed for this job with my boss. He is very nice.

He asked me, “Do you have experience?”

I was hesitant so I said “Not too much.”

He said, “Ok, I will call you tonight or tomorrow.”

Then I said, “Goodbye” to him and came home and waited for the call.

The next day, my boss called me, “Can you try to work today?”

I answered, “Sure!”

The first day I arrived there, my boss said, “You will have three day to try to work and learn. I will teach you to work. After three days, I will think about how you did.” So, after three days, I had already knew how to do this job. So my boss employed me. I got a job.

A Terrible Experience

I read this story in a magazine. I am going to tell it to you.

There was a girl. Her name was Annie. She had a terrible experience renting an apartment.

Annie lived in the suburbs. She got a new job working in the center of the city. She didn't want to spend a lot of time on the bus, so she rented an apartment near her working place and the rent was very low.

After Annie moved into the apartment, she always felt that her neighbors were watching her and gossiping about her. She felt very strange above this. One day, she asked the apartment doorkeeper to tell her the truth. The doorkeeper told Annie that before she moved into this apartment another couple had lived there. The couple was very happy all the time, until, one day, they quarreled. After that, no one saw the woman again. No one knew what happened to her. The neighbors once noticed the man painting his bedroom wall at the midnight. So, the neighbors thought the man had killed woman and her body was hidden inside the wall. The man soon disappeared, too.

AfterAnnie heard about that, she felt very scared. She went back to the apartment and checked around. Then, she sat on the bed and looked at the wall. She saw a faint watermark on the wall. The watermark looked like a person's shape and that shape was struggling to get out of the wall. Annie felt very scared. She covered her head and body with a bed sheet and, finally, she fell asleep.

At midnight, Annie had a frightening dream. She saw that couple quarreling. The man was very angry. He strangled the woman with a rope and hid her body inside the wall. Annie saw the woman was bleeding from her eyes and she was struggling to get out of the wall.

The woman yelled "Let me come out! Let me come out!"

Annie woke up with a startle and she was in a cold sweat. She could not stand it any longer. So, she took an awl to dig into the wall. She wanted to know the truth.

Finally, Annie dug a small hole in the wall and she saw an eye looking at her through the small hole. She felt great fear and her body shivered. She could not say anything.

Suddenly, it changed from an eye to a mouth and talked to her.

"Hey! Lady, If you want to meet me, you can knock on my door, but please don't dig through the wall of my apartment. Thank you!" said the person next door.

MY PROVINCE

I was born in Vietnam in Ninh Thuan Province. Ninh Thuan is the warmest part of Vietnam and receives the least rainfall. Everybody calls it is the desert of Vietnam.

It is very sunny. There is a lot of sand, wind, dry weeds and cactus. At first, I didn't love Ninh Thuan because it is poorness and the weather is hot.

But, after I lived in Ho Chi Minh City and I traveled to many places. I undertood that Ninh Thuan is a beautiful province and people are very friendly.

There are rivers, cold springs, hot spring, waterfalls, bay, ocean beaches and wonderful people in Ninh Thuan Province. I felt very comfortable when I lived here.

Ninh Thuan has two beaches with very clear and clean water. Ninh Chu Beach used to be reserved for the exclusive use of President Nguyen Van Thieu, chief of Ninh Thuan, and other officials of the former Government of South Vietnam. The weather is hot but there are cool breezes. I don't know why.

The beach is especially beautiful when there is a full moon. I often came there at night. My friends and I often danced, sang, drunk wine and ate seafood until midnight. Very wonderful!!!

Ca Na Beach is called "the sleeping Princess" because it still retains the wild. The rocky mountains protrude into the sea. The sea is on one side and on the other side is the mountain. You can climb up the mountain to see the beach and the clean turquoise blue water.

Another beautiful place in Ninh Thuan Province is called the Fairy Waterfall. It isn't beautiful because of water but it is beautiful because of the rocks and deep abyss. The water runs down the abyss rocks. I never have seen any pictures like it. It is not well known and very dangerous to come to. People say, "A volcano broke the rocks and made the abyss many thounsand years ago." Do you think it is true?


At Nam Cuong Dune the winds blow red and yellow sand, mixing them continously into beautiful, natural slopes and valleys. If you come here when the moon is full so you can enjoy all the beauty of Nam Cuong Dune


Another place I want to invite you to visit is Cham Tower. The Towers were built on a hill by the Cham people as a place to worship King Poklong Garai at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century.

The Champa people were defeated by the Viet people in 1471. They built the towers using bricks and the towers still stand until now. There are steps up the towers. If you climb them you view all of Ninh Thuan. You will also see the lagrest A rmy airport in Vietnam. If you see the sun rise in the morning or the sun set in the afternoon, it is very wonderful!!!

I know that in the world there are many beautiful places but for me, this is the best place. My family, my friends, my childhood, my memories are all there. And the view of Ninh Thuan is still wild.

Sunday's Homework, January 21, 2007

Call me and tell me what you did on Sunday.

Remember to spell your name and tell me what class you are taking (morning or afternoon) at Neighborhood Centers Adult School.

Please include details of what you did on Sunday. These should include the five "W"s.

Who
Where
When
What
Why

Please speak for at least 1 minute but not more than 2 minutes.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

Richard

Special love

I will tell a true story to you.

I have a good friend. Her name is Xiao Hui. She is an active girl. Her family is very poor, because, when she was 8 years old, her father died. Only her mother could work.

Xiao Hui wanted to stop going to school sh that she could help her mother to make money, but her mother said ''Don't stop your class. If you do that, your future will be bad. You won’t get a good job.''

So Xiao Hui studied very hard. She lead her classmates in everything. On all of the exams, she was number 1. Everbody believed that she would be a great person.

Unfortunately she couldn't complete school. Like a bolt from the blue, one day our teacher told us that Xiao Hui had cancer and she had only six months to live.

We felt very strange. She was very young, so every classmate worried about her. When Xiao Hui learned that she felt even worse. She shivered and cried more and more. She didn't want to live in this world.

However, she soon changed her mind and laughed. Do you know why she could laugh?

I told you that she felt a lot of pain at that time. There was a boy who helped her. When she went to hospital, He went there every time to give her hope and said, "Don't give up your life. We will stay together forever. Trust me. So, you must be strong and believe tomorrow will be better than today!"

Xiao Hui hugged and kissed her boyfriend, then, she ate everything and exercised. Her feelings changed. She relaxed and smiled every second. She believed that life was wonderful!

Finally, the doctor told her that she had gotten better and she didn't need to come to hospital any more. Her case is very special. Maybe her feelings and her new love changed her life.

Now, her boyfriend and Xiao Hui live together. They feel very happy. They celebrate and enjoy everyday. If I hadn’t seen it myself. I would think this only happen in films. Love is very great. It can change everything, can’t it?

This is a true story, believe it or not!

IN FRONT OF MY LIFE---BY PUYI

Last week, I read a book. The name of the book was In Front of My Life. The writer was by Pu Yi.

Maybe someone doesn’t know who Pu Yi is. Let me tell you . Pu Yi was the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China. The book who was an autobiography and was finished when he was in jail.

Pu Yi was born in 1906. When he was about 3 years old (1908), he ascended to the throne. When Pu Yi sat on the throne he received all the ministers congrarulations. Pu Yi cried and yelled loudly:"I don't want to stay here. I must go home !"

His father comforted him, "Ok, this will be finished soon!" When his father stopped talking, all the ministers laughed because in the old system of China, the word "FINISH" represented that all the things were over. In other words, the Kingdom of China would end.

About 3 years after, Pu Yi gave up his throne. But he continued be the emperor in the Forbidden City. When he was 17 years old(1922), he didn't choose his marriage partner. He had to marry two girls. One was named Wan Rong and the other one was called Wen Xiu.

Wan Rong was the last empress and Wen Xiu was a concubine. At that time, they one became an empress and the other one who became a concubine, thought that they were very fortunate. But who would know that the nightmare was beginning for them.
Two years later,(11-5-1924--4:00pm) Pu Yi and his wives were banished from the Forbidden City. At that moment, the 300 years Qing Dynasty concluded. The last feudal society of China was over.

Pui Yi and his wives came under Japanese control. Their marriage had a huge change. Wen Xiu couldn't endure the pressure, so she divorced Pu Yi. She was the fist women to divorce an emperor. Wan Rong smoked opium very much and she even committed adultery with another man. In this situation, Pu Yi coudn't prevent anything from happening and he couldn't make any choices.

In 1945, when Japan capitulated, Pu Yi was put under house arrest. He became a captive of the Soviet Union. After 5 years, he was send to Peoples Republic of China and put into jail. When he was in the jail, he didn't know how to dress himself or even brush his teeth.

In1959, he was released and became a normal citizen. When he was writing this book, he sighed about his fate and hated himself. But the history can’t change.

In 1962, he married a women named Li Shu Xian. This was his last marriage. It only lasted five years, because Pu Yi had a disease of cancer. When he was 61 years old, he left this world.

I sympathize with Pu Yi and I rejoice that I was born in this time. History can’t change, but we can change our fate.

I hope, I wish, and I believe!

Homework for Wednesday, January 17th

Please call me and suggest at least three names for my puppy.

You know what to do! Don't forget to spell your name and to remind me that you are a student in the afternoon class.

Use the present perfect continuous tense. Your message should be at least one minute long.

For example you might begin by saying:

Hello, Teacher, my name is __________. I will spell it for you ___ ___ ___ ___ ___.

I am a student in the Afternoon Class in Room 101 at Neighborhood Centers Adult School.

I have been thinking about names for your puppy.

Here are three suggestions.

First, you could call her _______.

My second suggestion is _________.

But the name I like the best is _________.


I hope these suggestions are helpful.

Before I hang up I would also like to say, ____________________

__________________________.

Bye! See you in class tomorrow.

Newest Member of the Family

She doesn't have a name yet.

Do you have any suggestions?

Homework, January 10, 2007

Watch the President's speech on Iraq at 6:00 pm this evening on national television.

Please call me and tell me what you think about his ideas.

Don't forget to spell your name and tell me that you are a student in the afternoon Room 101 class.

Thanks!