Exploring Boston

What will be produced when modern and classic mix with each other? This is the question that came into my mind when I first caught sight of Boston. 

It is a city where no car can be seen at 10 a.m. and letters can wait quietly in front of the door on the peaceful Sunday morning .

It is a city where cars will stop at any time allowing the pedestrian to go first.

It is a city that loves study in every corner and anytime.

It is a city that loads so much history and contains the very beginning of the  freedom of American's dream.

It is a city where ambitious youngsters long for and gather .

It is a city where Chinese people cook delicious food even in a not too big restaurant. Also,it was the first time I nearly screamed to tears when I tasted the Chinese food which I sometimes got bored with at home.


                                      

It is a city that backpackers from all around the world could talk ,laugh, eat and drink in one same crowed room.

The things that impressed me most was the Harvard Business School. 

When I finally found the Harvard Business School, I just felt that nothing really matters.

The green ivy covered the wall which created a green castle. The beautiful lawn in front of the white solemn building. the perky squirrel which didn't even fear the strangers.

The letters read "The case for the future", flying my thoughts to what a future do I want.

When the streaks of light cut through the clouds and fall down on the river, when streets get quieter, when people passing by with a book in hand ,

I suddenly got the feeling of fulfilling my spiritual realm. 
Boston just let me fall into deep-thought when leisurely strolling along the road.

My Home

Wading through the quiet  path along  with the  trees and flowers , birds singing , you can catch sight of a two-floor-cottage like that in the Snow White. Located in Haidian District in Beijing,not far from the Fragrant Hills Park, you can imagine how peaceful it is. 

When you stepped into my house,  the first thing that leaps to your eyes is my living room. The abstract paintings hanging on the wall, the jars  randomly painted by the mediterranean artists, the plangi brought from Yunnan province, the books hunted for in diversified markets and bookstores, the handmade carpet, the decorated lamps, just melt me as soon as I come back home. 

The reading corner is one of my favorite  spots in my house, where I can take notes of my moods everyday and secretly sit near the window and begin my diary. Breathing in green, fresh air created by my miniscape, I immerse myself in the rare fresh oxygen in Beijing.
I started playing piano at a very early age, and now the piano still accompanies me although my family moved several times. Keys begin, keys end. Eighty-eight keys is finite, however, the music that you can make is infinite. And I really enjoy such feeling when my fingers agily dance on the keys making out rosy scenery  from low to high pitches. When coming down from the high pitches, the sound drops just like pearls falling down onto the floor, scattered but glossy. The warm sunlight in the afternoon, the elegant and ancient note,  the highlighted tiny figure in memory, make a picturesque scenery . I just can't get rid of the feeling  I have when I sit down in front of my piano.




To make full use of the space, we built up the "Glass Castle" on the roof.  It's a place that allows me to be unrealistic and daydream. After it was built, you can no longer find me in any other rooms except for this one. On sunny days,  looking out from the room , showering under the sunbeams ,  my thoughts always get lost. While on rainy days, I always lie back in my armchair with blankets over my shoulders and my dog lies on the floor . I look up at the rain deftly taping the glass roof. Sometimes, I fall asleep along the chords made  by the rhythm of raindrop and the chiming of  thunder .  

Home, my spirit lodges, the fate of my soul.

The Road Trip--------Hammonasset Beach in the State park

Splendid sunshine in the beach , the  peaceful garden of Carrie's house , quiet woods showered in a sunbeam, all of the images just wove  into the picture of  my unforgettable memory in the Hammonasset Beach in the State park. 

                           
  As soon as I stepped onto the beach, I felt a different air from that in China. Everyone was just comfortable lying on the beach enjoying the sunshine. I've heard about the beaches in the USA  before . I  shouldn't be surprised. The clear blue sky just joined with the deep stretching  ocean in the very far distance. The sun beamed on the sea creating  a  shining light spots dancing with the wave. I could see seabirds  flying by with pleasant songs. And my mind just flew away with it. Under the peaceful surface, danger could happen anytime . It's a theory I should keep in my mind ,but not now. I just couldn't help  soaking my mind with the sea and having fun with the group of friends on the beach.                                          
 

After that ,we headed to the woods under  Carrie's guidance . I quickly shifted into hiking shoes , silently got off the bus and started   hiking  along the pathway as not  to scare the animals away. Compared with the sunshine in the beach, the woods made a shadow and it was really comfortable 
even without a  word.
                                        

  Carrie's house is really wonderful .I love her neat kitchen, her pretty-decorated living room , her small "reading corner". And the thing I want to mention most is the Garden which is perfectly matched to her house. The hammock hung between the trees swaying with gently blowing wind, the green leaves fell down from the ivy just like water smoothly splashing from the fall. Such images only appeared in dream and now it became reality.

                                          

  Maybe there is something called "Destiny" which connects people together .  How magic it was for people from different place meet with each other in such a small inch! 
                             

Just Go Out

I was just leaning against the bench outside WLH where I have classes everyday.
"The most familiar can sometimes be the most unfamiliar" This became my spot! And only now  I began to notice how wonderful the breeze smelled, full of the flavor of bright sunshine, wet dewdrop, and perfume of passerby.
I couldn't stop breathing it in, filing my lungs with the sweetest smell I'd ever known.
                              
I carelessly looked up, letting my head rest on the bench. The pure, sapphire-like sky, the swaying trees, the birds, the old building suddenly created a picturesque scene. The windswept trees forming a kind of tunnel, the sun piercing  though the upper layer of the mist  and the limited visibility  just at that time provided for a very special effect. It appeared quite unreal.

I was just thinking:
You have to look at the whole landscape.
A scenery is more than the sum of its  part.
The squirrel  by itself is just a squirrel.
The meadow  by itself  is just grass, flowers.
And the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light.
When you put them all together and it can be magic.

Seated Woman Drinking from a Cup————story of the art of the gallery

Assignment: Go to the Yale Art Gallery, find a work of art that speaks to you then tell its story.

It was time to go back to her dorm from work . After a "morning" call to her boyfriend in Beijing,she took off her formal coat and high heels, changing into flip-flops and casual wear to have a short break in the office.She leisurely sipped a cup of coffee,which had gradually become a habit for her. Actually, she really hated coffee before coming to Seattle.Rather,  she preferred tea just as what her boyfriend was having when she called. Still  immersing into the sweet conversation with her boyfriend, she began reviving the paradise of her love. They had  fallen in love 9 years ago when she was 19 .Her boyfriend had neither had a conflict with her nor had they ever parted from each other.

 They were always together except this time. She was assigned to work abroad as a representative for her company，Now she had been suffering the bitterness of parting from her boyfriend she hadn't imagined before. She couldn't fall asleep , tired from working , she missed him irresistibly. She couldn't share the happiness and her anxieties with him, she wanted to know everything that happened around him, sometimes she even wondered if the feeling between them was fading. Maybe she has changed , just as her habit of choosing drinks. The cup, the mood , the diversified  whole life. 

EAT, LOOK, AND THINK

"Frozen Yogurt!" When we finally got to the "go green" store, I really couldn't  help yelling out.

This was the first time I'd eaten frozen yogurt in the USA and the first time going out with my American friends. 

I  love FY at home. As for me, it's not only just because its the fantastic flavor but also the creative work .

"No leaves are exactly the same in the world". So as frozen yogurt.  Not like the yogurt sold in the supermarket which is totally the same, FYs will wear different clothes matched with various pretty hats when created by people. Even one person will make distinctive FY.

Later that day, under the guidance of Carrie, Joanna and I went to the 355 Prospect Street to watch stars. I dreamed to be an astronaut when I was a child. The mysterious universe seems eternal as showed from the video

'The Black Hole''. However, compared with the splendid and variegated solar system and ever expanding universe,  human  seem  too small to mention.  If we take the universe as a symphony, we are only  a note of  it. If we take it as a grand herd of the animals, we are only a calf.  However, it's really lucky as we are accompanied by our friends from all over the world. We share one dream which is to maximize our value by using the limited time. 

Just  like  magic, isn't it?

It's time

It was a rainy night, no sound could be heard but the rain and thunder, just as the day when my grandmother passed away. That year, I was six.


The next day, my mom would go to take part in my grandmother's  funeral procession. The whole day she gathered her energy. During  dinner, everybody was talking about tomorrow's arrangements.Out of nowhere ,she stood up and  said she need to go to sleep early .  I was just thinking  how great my mother was, holding back such feelings, until I carelessly caught sight of her.
Sprawled in front of the table , her face pale, with her hair carelessly falling back over her shoulders.  Observing carefully, I saw for the first time  that there was grey hair  in  her beautiful black hair. She tried to fall sleep early that night  , but she was just couldn't. She held a pencil on her right hand ,writing something on paper, looking up to the direction of my grandmother's room from time to time.

Suddenly,  I knew everything! She merely pretended  to look strong during the day to ease my family's anxiety about her. Actually, nothing on earth could pull my grandmother away from her mind and it was totally impossible for her to keep focus on the important stuff like making preparations  for tomorrow's funeral. Obviously, she was lost in deep sorrow . More accurately, her heart was gone with my grandmother.
My mother always said I need to act like a strong girl.It was during this experience the my mother's ideas of those words moved from my head to my heart. "Maybe it's time." I murmured to myself. My mother was strong on the surface,but it seemed like there was something soft buried just beneath .  I knew it was time for me  to step forward and  back her  up .