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Chinese Valentine's Day

Chinese Valentine's Day

Qi Xi (七夕; Pinyin: qī xī; "The Night of Sevens"), sometimes called Chinese Valentine's Day or Magpie Festival, falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month on the Chinese calendar; thus its name. Young girls traditionally demonstrate their domestic arts, especially melon carving, on this day and make wishes for a good husband. It is also known by the following names:

• The Festival to Plead for Skills (乞巧節; qǐ qiǎo jié)
• The Seventh Sister's Birthday (七姐誕; qī jiě dàn)
• The Night of Skills (巧夕; qiǎo xī)
• In 2007, this festival falls on August 19.

The Story of Chinese Valentine's Day

Chinese Valentine's Day is on the 7th day of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar. A love story for this day is about the 7th daughter of Emperor of Heaven and an orphaned cowherd. The Emperor separated them. The 7th daughter was forced to move to the star Vega and the cowherd moved to the star Altair. They are allowed to meet only once a year on the day of 7th day of 7th lunar month.

The story began from the good-looking poor orphaned boy living with his elder brother and sister-in-law. After his parents past away, his brother inherited the house and the land. The boy owned an old ox. He needed to work on the farm's field with the ox everyday. So he was called a cowherd. His daily life was just like in a Cinderella story.

The 7th daughter of Emperor is good at handcrafting, especially weaving clothing. So she was called a Weaving Maid. The Emperor likes her skill to weave clouds and rainbows to beautify the world.

The ox was actually an immortal from the Heaven. He made mistakes in the Heaven and was punished as an ox in the Earth. One day, the ox suddenly said to the cowherd, "You are a nice person. If you want to get married, go to the brook and your wish will be come true." The cowherd went to the brook and saw all 7 pretty daughters of Emperor came down from Heaven and took a bath in there. Fascinated by the youngest and also the most beautiful one, he took away her fairy clothes secretly. The other six fairies went away after bath. The youngest couldn't fly back without her fairy clothes. Then the cowherd appeared and told her that he would not return her clothes unless she promised to be his wife. After a little hesitation and with a mixture of shyness and eagerness, she agreed to the request from this handsome man. So they married and had two children two years later.

One day, the old ox was dying and told the cowherd that he should keep his hide for emergency purpose.

The Emperor found the sky's not that beautiful as before without the 7th daughter weaving clouds and rainbows. He wanted his daughter's grandmother to find the missing daughter and to bring her back. . While the 7th princess was flying to the Heaven with her grandmother, the cowboy wore the ox hide, took his children in two bamboo baskets with his wife's old fairy clothes and chased after his wife in the sky. The grandmother made a milky way in the sky with her hairpin, which kept them separated. The 7th princess was moved to the star Vega (The swooping - Eagle) in the Lyra (Harp) constellation. And the cowherd with his two children stayed in the star Altair (Flying one) in the Aquila (Eagle) constellation. The star of Vega is also known as the Weaving Maid Star and the star of Altair is as the Cowherd Star in China.

Magpies were moved by their true love and many of them gathered and formed a bridge for the couple to meet in the evening of the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, which is the day the Emperor allowed them to meet once a year.

They said that it's hard to find a magpie on Chinese Valentine's Day in China, because all magpies fly to make the bridge for the Weaving Maid and Cowherd. The one thing to prove that is the feathers on the head of the magpies are much lesser after the Chinese Valentine's Day. If the night Chinese Valentine's Day rains, the rain are the tears of the Weaving Maid and Cowherd.

The Bourne Ultimatum

My first movie this summer - The Bourne Ultimatum was an excellent movie. I highly recommend it! ^o^

Certificate Ceremony

Congratulations Level 4B.

Final Essay

What are the advantages of studying English in America?

These days everyone is speaking English. English is the global language. More than a billion people are in the process of learning the English language. Everyone knows it is very important to study English, but why are there nearly 100,000 students coming to America to study English each year? There are a lot of benefits of studying English in America. First are the opportunities. There are full environment to provide more chance to practice. In addition is the correct English. You can learn English with native speaker. Furthermore, meet many international classmates. You can study together and encourage each others with classmates from other countries. These are all very helpful to studying and enjoying learning English.

First, life in America will give you a lot of chances to practice your English. All information is in English, and you have to read about America every day in the newspaper, watched Hollywood movies, listened to English songs and music videos. Only by living in America, you can truly become more fluent in English, because you have to speak English in daily life, such as when you go shopping. In the store, you can talk to the store employees about the product detail or what you need. When you go to a restaurant, you need to order your meal with the waiters. Also, when you are studying in America, you will have many opportunities to join planned and informal activities with other students. For example, students can go hiking, skiing, visiting museums, and traveling to new cities. This interaction with other students will enhance your language skills and increase your enjoyment.

Second, studying in American is the best way to learn correct English. You can study English with native speaking teachers. They are not only teaching you the grammar or composition, but also improve your pronunciation. While you are students in America, you can read many books in correct English, and then you will know more about the right way to speak or write it. Besides, when you have talk to native speaking friends, you can get feedback to make great progress in your conversation. For instance, I was talking with Mr. Ewing after class last week, and I felt kind of nervous at the beginning, but after few minutes I was surprising that I can talk faster then before, also made long sentence when I tried to describe my thinking. During our talking, Mr. Ewing corrected some of my spelling and changed some verbs from the present into the past tense directly. I got a lot of feedback from this conversation, and it is very beneficial for me.

Third, the students in America are incredibly varied. Wherever you choose to study in the United States, you will meet a lot of international students. So you can learn about many different accents of English with those classmates. They are all come from different countries to study English in America. You might have similar problem in learning the second language. While you study, you can share the experiences and learn from each other’s mistakes. Also, you will have some close relationships with classmates, the friendship between international students is very helpful, when you feel upset or confused, you can encourage each other, not only in your studies, but also in life.

In conclusion, there are many advantages of studying English in American. These include a lot of opportunities to practice often, you can study the correct English, and to know many international classmates to encourage and learn from each other. What are you waiting for? Studying English in America will not only can enrich your life experience, but also broaden your view of the world.

San Luis Obispo

Write about your plans for the rest of the summer.

This is my first summer vacation in The United States, I am going to take a vacation in San Luis Obispo County, located half way between Los Angeles and San Francisco, it is the heart of California's Central Coast where you can spend your day exploring of white sand beaches, enjoy through the unique stores and museums, and wine tasting or hiking or bicycling around the hills. Also, you can go to the one of California most popular attractions - Hearst Castle. But the most attractive thing for me is going to the wine country, San Luis Obispo County wine country is being the third largest wine region in California. There are some special wine tasting rooms for sampling award winning wines, this is a delightful destination for wine lovers. I believe I will have a great time there, and hope will not get drunk...:P

The Angel Game

I Love the song "Take Me Out To The Ball Game".

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

We are going to watch a My Big Fat Greek Wedding on Thursday. After we watch the movie, write a summary describing the main idea and some of the important details.

This movie is centered between a Greek-American woman and non-Greek American man, how they fall in love, and talk about what happened when they are going to get married under two different traditional culture.

It’s kind of weird to watch this movie when I am going to 30 years old, but I like this movie, wish everyone can find his/her own Mr. (Miss) Right.

Love

Today we talked about the three kinds of love (agape, phileo, eros). Write a paragraph explaining how these three kinds of love are different. What kind of relationship has which kind of love?

Agape, Phileo and Eros are three kind of love. Agape is a person complete giving all his or her love to another, like parents giving all of their love to their children. Phileo is the affection, emotion, from one person for another. Eros is to love between a husband and wife. It's more than sexual because it also includes embraces, longing, and caring.

My Dreams

What dreams do you have? These may be funny or silly. They may be serious or even impossible. Make a list of 10 things you would like to accomplish (see, do, eat, climb, run, have, etc.) before you die.

1. Travel around the world


2. Win Super Lottery once


3. Successful career (over 100 branches)


4. Marry a nice guy


5. Have 2 Children (one boy, one girl)


6. Watch live F1 race


7. Buy a island in Tahitii


8. Retire before 40 years old


9. Climb the Himalaya


10. Skydive
    

Matira Beach - Bora Bora

We are going to the beach this Friday. Wait until after our trip to write this journal. If you aren't going to the beach, choose another great place to visit and write about that.Choose one of these topic sentences and write a complete paragraph.
1) Corona Del Mar is a wonderful place for many reasons.
2) Corona Del Mar is not a great place for several reasons.

I think the most beautiful beach in the world is the Matira Beach on the southern of Bora Bora which is one of the islands of Tahiti. Bora Bora has earned a reputation as one of the most romantic destinations in the world. The Matira Beach is a perfect white sand beach and its give way to emerald waters where impossibly colored fish animate the coral gardens.

Global Warming

Do you think global warming is a serious threat to our environment? Write an academic paragraph with a good topic sentence and at least three supporting details.

I think global warming is a serious threat to our environment, especially after I saw the film "an inconvenient truth", I know more about what the global warming is. This is not news anymore. We are experiencing the changes right now, such as season changes and weather patterns.

In my opinion global warming is we abuse what resource cause. Can't blame others, we should protect the Earth thoroughly from now on. First, we can take public vehicle instead of driving car often, or whenever possible we can by walk, bike, use carpool. Second, we should reducing garbage, recycle paper, glass, metal and plastic. Third, we should plant various trees, to make more photosynthesis.

If everyone can exert oneself a responsibility, the Earth can be better. Protecting the Earth not only depend on a person's strength which needs everyone to make efforts. As long as we can do so, the Earth will not have so much pollution and the global warming will be gone.

What The World Eats

What's on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet".

• Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City
• Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25
• Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips

• Italy: The Manzo family of Sicily
• Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or $260.11
• Favorite foods: fish, pasta with ragu, hot dogs, frozen fish sticks

• Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp
• Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
• Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

• Kuwait: The Al Haggan family of Kuwait City
• Food expenditure for one week: 63.63 dinar or $221.45
• Family recipe: Chicken biryani with basmati rice

• United States: The Revis family of North Carolina
• Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
• Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

• Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca
• Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09
• Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken

• China: The Dong family of Beijing
• Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06
• Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce

• Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna
• Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27
• Family recipe: Pig's knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips

• Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo
• Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53
• Family recipe: Okra and mutton

• Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo
• Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
• Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage

• United States: The Caven family of California
• Food expenditure for one week: $159.18
• Favorite foods: beef stew, berry yogurt sundae, clam chowder, ice cream

• Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar
• Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
• Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

• Great Britain: The Bainton family of Cllingbourne Ducis
• Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15
• Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream

• Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village
• Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
• Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

• Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide
• Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
• Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

Who Do You Look Up To?

Who do you look up to? Write a paragraph about your hero. Be sure to included three supporting sentences explaining why this person is your hero. You should also include examples.

My mother is my hero, there is no one can be more important than her in my heart. Not only because of she gave a birth to me, but also there are a lot of reasons, such as she is a great single mother, always work hard for family, whatever happened, she is always be there for me. First, she is great single mother; I was born after my parents divorced, so I grow up in a family with single parents. When I was little, I didn’t know what difference between normal and single parents family, only thing I know is my mother who is the central of my life. She needs to be both mother and father to me and my brother. Second, she worked very hard to make money for us, to keep our life more comfortable. In my memories, she always overtime works in the midnight, sometime even work overnight. She did a lot for my family, to give us a better life quality. Third, she is the great support in my life, whatever happened; she is always being there for me.

Body Language

Body language plays a significant role in communication. Make a list (at least 10) of the different types of body language and explain what they mean. For example, a smile means that a person is happy.

1. Biting nails means insecurity or nervousness.
2. Touching, slightly rubbing nose means rejection, doubt or lying
3. Rubbing the eye means doubt or disbelief
4. The eyebrows get together means confuse.
5. Puff the lips means innocent.
6. Stroking chin means trying to make a decision.
7. Looking down, face turned away means disbelief.
8. Open eyes dramatically means surprise.
9. Hand to cheek means evaluation or thinking
10. Tapping or drumming fingers means impatience.

July 7, 2007 (7-7-7)

This Saturday is July 7, 2007 (7-7-7). Do you think this day is special? Will something lucky happen? Please write a story about a really lucky day. Make sure you exaggerate.

From my point of view, I think 777 is a very interesting day for the number itself, but not really about lucky or not. Since everyone is talking about this day, I started to believe it should be a lucky day. I also share this information and idea with my friends in Taiwan. They all think it is a pretty cool idea and thought. I hope something lucky could happen on that day, but it did not happen so far. To respect this day, I even bought $7 dollars California Super Lottery on that day.

A really lucky day? I think it will be the day I win the California Super Lottery... After I got all the money, I will buy a big house here, start to plan my trip around the world and buy what I most want. Especially, I can stop going to school and be worry about my investment and life style I want. I truly believe it will be a really really really lucky day from the bottom of my heart.

Happy 777 to everyone, cheers!!!

Independence Day

This Wednesday is the Fourth of July. Please read this article about Independence Day and then write some of your own thoughts and observations about this holiday.

This is my first time in the United States to enjoy the Fourth of July. I know it is a very important holiday here, however, surprisingly I rarely see any celebration event. I know that you can play firework in some cities, but that is about it. From the other hands, I feel totally relaxing holiday everywhere. Lots of people have BBQ in their home and have fun with their family. Also, I saw many people, just like me wearing blue & red on the street to enjoy their holiday.

Like myself, I woke up at 11 a.m. and had lunch at IN&OUT with friends. After that, we went to Costco and Nordstrom Rack for our "celebration shopping" for us and for the Fourth of July. We had a lot of fun and "harvest" from this 2 places. It was a very happy day to me. I think that was a very good way to celebrate my first Fourth of July.

Something Happened Recently

Write about something that happened to you recently.

These days I feel very tired, because I’m not used to be a student. Life is much different in LA, I need to get up early, and do homework most of weekday, I feel so tired then I was sick. Another reason why I feel tired recently is the driving problem. I live in Chino Hills; it’s kind of far from here, so it’s impossible to go to school by bus. I need to drive by myself to school everyday, but it's hard to get an appointment for DMV, I have to wait until next month for the driving test. Until now, I need to stay around school area and wait for my friend to pick me up around 8:30 pm in the most of day. I hope I can pass the driving test ASAP, and then I will have more time to study and do other interesting things.

Blockbuster

What is your favorite blockbuster? Why? What types of movies do you normally enjoy watching?

Definition of Blockbuster:a motion picture, novel, etc., esp. one lavishly produced, that has or is expected to have wide popular appeal or financial success.

My favorite blockbuster is "The Sound of Music", it's very classic musical movie and contains many popular songs. "Do-Re-Mi" is a song used by Maria to teach the notes of the major musical scale to children. The song became popular to this day. I learned this song in music class of elementary school, I think it's one of the first songs that children will learn about music.

I like to watching romantic comedies recently, such as "music and lyrics" by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. There are many funny old fashion pop songs and MTV in the movie. I love this movie, so I bought its DVD, if anyone in our class is interesting in this, just leave me a comment, I'd love to share with you.

Knott's Berry Farm

How was your experience at Knott's Berry Farm? Please explain what you enjoyed and what you disliked. If you didn't go, explain why you didn't go and then tell us what you did instead.

I didn't go to Knott's Berry Farm, because I have a lot of work to do last weekend. I am a full time student in ALP, but part time employee for my small family business in Taipei. So I stayed at home had a phone meeting with my brother, he is the director of our company.

Also, I agree with Brian, I think the Knott's Berry Farm is very suitable for kids and family, but the Magic Mountain is more exciting for university students to have fun. Wish I have chance to go there with classmates during this summer.

Tomb Stone

What do you want written on your tomb stone? and Why?

"A gorgeous woman who enjoyed every magic moment in her live -- Ankie Chen"

Since I was little, there were so many dramatic changes in my life. some of those were good, but some of those were bad. Maybe all of these are just Life, but I truly believe those are just some tasks that I have to face in my destiny. Therefore, when I look at those changes, I always keep a pure heart and mind. No matter how it goes, I love everything and everyone happened in my life. I treat those are what I mean "magic moment".

Hello ~

This is Ankie. (^o^)p""