Amazing Similarity

      How time flies! Our six-month summer session program is drawing to the end: we have come to the middle of the fifth week.

Since we were free this afternoon, Summer and I went shopping ̶ we need buy a suitcase to contain what we bought in America.

We took a bus to Macy’s. On our way there, we saw several teen-age boys sitting in the front of the bus. When a disabled black man walked onto the bus with the help of two canes and passed by the boys, none stood up to offer a seat to him.

This reminded me of what I saw buses in my home country China: some young people didn't give their seats to the old either. What a similar phenomenon in China and America! The difference is that in China the bus is generally crowded and the old did not get a seat in the end, while in America, there are usually vacant seats and the disabled finally got a seat. And we know it is viewed in China as a virtue for young people to give their seats to the old, but we don’t know whether it is a virtue or even acceptable for young people to offer their seats to the disabled.   

On our way back to Yale University, we happened to see the notice on the inside wall of the front bus, which says: “Please make these priority seats available for senior citizens and persons with disabilities who wish to use them.”

What an amazing similarity again between China and America! For in a bus in China, there is also a similar notice on the inside wall of the font bus. What is different is that not only the old and the disabled but also the weak, the sick and the pregnant are given priority to have a seat in a bus.

        It seems that whether in China or in America or perhaps in any other country, people advocate similar virtues.

Unity is Power

     After class this afternoon we Central South University teachers had a meeting.

First, we discussed and reached an agreement on working in pairs scanning all the good books our instructors generously lent us to read, for in this way we can do it much faster.

Our monitor is very kind and helpful, he patiently taught us how to download and use the scanner.

Then, after another short discussion, we decided to have a meeting after class each remaining afternoon to share with each other what we have learned from class observation during the past month, for we observed different teachers, or different classes of the same teachers and we don’t want to miss any useful teaching technique.

The meeting lasted about one hour and a half. Everybody took an active part in the free talk. And everybody listened attentively and took notes. At the end of the today’s meeting, we all felt very happy and satisfied because we found the sharing very rewarding.

Once again, it is proved that unity is power.

A Shopping Trip to Clinton Crossing Outlet Mall

        Thanks to the efforts of Morse College Activities organizers, this afternoon we took a free trip to Clinton Crossing Outlet Mall.

Free buses left from PWG at 1:00, 3:00, and 5:00 pm, and they returned from the mall at 2:30, 4:00, and 7:00 pm. 

Most students took the 1:00 bus to the Mall and returned by the 7:00 bus. We are all crazy shoppers!

The organizers are very responsible and consderate. On the way to the Mall, they got us to write down our names and cell phone numbers on a piece of paper. And before the bus left the Mall as scheduled, they had us sign our names to make sure nobody was left behind.

Unexpectedly, not everybody was punctual. About 7:10 pm, one of the two activitity organizers, a black girl, asked us to pass on the sheets of paper on which we wrote down our names and phone numbers and sign our names. Several minutes later, the other organizer, a white boy, thanked us for our patient waiting and told us that three students were not back yet, and we had to wait for them. He also told us that we needn’t worry about supper, for Pizza was already made for us. Tired and hungry, we all cheered at the news.

At about 5:25 pm, I saw through the window two students hurrying to the bus behind us. And then I saw the boy organizer ran to the Mall. We waited and waited, getting very uncomfortable, for it was hot in the bus without air conditioner. About 15 minutes later, the boy organizer ran back alone. Getting onto our bus, he told us that it was really difficult to find out whether the missing student was in the Mall or back on Yale campus. Then he told the bus driver that we could go back to the school.

It turned out that the boy organizer had been searchinng for the supposedly missing student all over the Mall who actually had already returned to the university!

Soon we arrived in the school. We were served not only Pizza but also salad. And it was the organizers who had it prepared for us.

        We were all satisfied and grateful to the Morse activities organizers!

It's OK to be Takei

     This afternoon, I watched a special screening of the film To Be Takei.

Takei is a Hollywood icon and political activist. From the film, I learned that he is a gay, and he has been fighting for equal rights for gays since 2005.

“It’s OK to be Takei” is a line from the film, which implies that it’s OK to be a gay. This reminds me of the heated debate we had in Tuesday class. In that class, when talking of a girl student who told her classmates that she was a gay, some said that to be a gay was immoral. They argued that to be a gay brought shame, burden and humiliation to the family; therefore, it was immoral to be a gay.

       I am on the other side of the debate, i.e., I disagree that to be a gay is immoral. A gay might make his/her family feel ashamed or humiliated because gays are in the minority. But it does not follow that to be a gay is immoral. Research findings show that homosexuality is mostly inborn. As Takai said in the film, to be a gay is an orientation, not a lifestyle. Hence, it is unfair for us to say that to be a gay is immoral.

Takei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu

Takei at the 2013 Florida SuperCon.

Two Puzzles

     On Wednesday afternoon, Summer and I went to shop in Christmas Tree Shops. Both on the way to and back from the shops, something surprising occurred.

We took a bus with the letter “O” on the front of it. We had intended to buy two all-day tickets but failed to get them. Guess why? The reason is that we had a five- and a one-dollar bills, which is the fair for two all-day tickets, but the ticket-issuing machine admits only one-dollar bills or coins. In the end, we had to change our mind and bought two one-way tickets which cost us three dollars.

I was really puzzled and surprised at this. As the world’s most powerful country, America has the most advanced technology. Why don’t American people improve the ticket-issuing machines on buses so that passengers can use it more conveniently?  

Both Summer and I bought some clothes, and ridiculously, none of them was made in America, most of them were made in China, and one in Vietnam.

After finishing shopping, we took another bus with the letter “O” on the front of it. Getting on the bus, I saw a vacant double seat which was turned upside down. Finding that I was intending to set and sit on it, the black man sitting in front of the vacant double seat told me that it was not sittable. But immdiately a white woman who sat on the left side of it argued that I could sit on it. Both the black man and the white woman were sitting on a double seat, the difference is that next to the black man sat another person, while next to the white woman there was room for another person.

        Not knowing who was telling the truth, I chose to stand beside the vcant double seat. However, Summer insisited that we sit down, so I went further inside the bus and sat down next to another black man after asking for permission, and Summer next to the white woman. I had thought that the white woman told us that we could sit on the vacant double seat simply because she was unwilling to share a seat with one of us, but I was soon proved to be wrong, for she agreed and took away her bag immediately when Summer asked her for permission. So it puzzled me why the black man and the white woman gave us totally opposite information about the vacant double seat.

After Locking Myself Out

     At about 7:30 this evening, I locked myself out, which I had thought would never happen to me. Fortunately, one of my colleagues had done this before and I have learned about how to get help.

        I went down stairs and called the police. After I introduced myself and gave a brief account of what happened, the policeman who answered my call handed the phone to another policeman, and I repeated my words. The second policeman said on the phone that they would send someone over to me. Feeling ashamed, I apologized to him again and again. About ten minutes later, a policeman arrived. I thought he came to help me, so I immediately approached him and greeted him. But after I told him which building I live in, he went to the adjacent building saying he would soon come back to me, for someone else also needed his help and he /she called the police earlier than I did. He apologized to me, and I replied it was OK.

         Very soon, about 5 minutes later, the policeman returned. He is a very polite and friendly man. Again he said sorry for keeping me waiting. He opened the door of my apartment room, and asked me to fill in a form. And kindly he told me to write down only the important information. When it was done, again I apologized to him for the trouble. He replied smiling that it was his responsibility. At last, we happily said good-bye to each other and he left. 

         I love the policemen's high work efficiency, and I truly appreciate their help. 

The Music on the Green Concert

    This evening, Julia, Summer and I together attended both The Yale Summer Festival, which was held on the courtyard of Trumbull College from 3:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. , and the The Music on the Green Concert, which was held on the historic New Haven Green from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m..  

    As we set off for The Yale Summer Festival after finishing our supper around 7:00 p.m. and arrived at the courtyard of Trumbull College ten minutes later, we saw only the ending part of the Festival: a band playing music, scores of young students enjoying listening, watching, talking, eating, drinking and taking photos of the band, and a group of staff members serving foods and drinks. We took some photos while listening to the music, and tasted some food, which was delicious. And when the Festival came to an end as scheduled, we left for The Music on the Green Concert.

   

    The concert was extremely popular. There was a sea of audience. The spacious green-land was crowded with people, some simply sitting on the grass, some sitting on a folding chair, some standing singing and dancing to the music, and a few lying on the grass. The music and singing were loud, and the people were excited and delighted, whistling and shouting and applauding whenever a song was finished. Looking around, we found that besides students from Yale University, the audience consisted mainly of couples, including old and young, and families, including very young kids. Some of the couples danced and kissed each other, and some families embraced each other. It seemed that the couples and families were deep in love and happy together. Among the big crowd were also policemen, and around the huge Green, I saw one ambulance and a long line of portable toilets. The organizers of the concert are really considerate! According to me, the concert offers a good opportunity for couples and families to stay together, to feel and express their love for each other by listening to music, singing and dancing. It may follow that the more such concerts are held, the lower the divorce rate in America.

A Visit to Mark Twain's House

    Thanks to Meg, Carrie and Siggy’s joint efforts, this afternoon we took a trip to visit Mark Twain's house.

We set off in a bus at about 12:40 p.m.. To our surprise, the bus we took today was a very different one from what we took previously when we went out for a field trip ̶ it was a new one! What is more surprising, the driver told us that it was a luxurious one! And we immediately found that it was indeed a new luxurious bus! For it smelled of new, the cover of seats was made of leather, and the board of wood. However, I disliked the smell and was a little worried that it might make me sick. But it turned out that the smell was soon gone as a result of the running of the air conditioner. Compared with those made at home, air conditioners made in America seem to be of much better quality.

        After a 40-minute bus ride, we arrived in Mark Twain’s house. It is an old luxurious one, which has 27 rooms. We followed the tour guide to each room and listened to him telling us what he knows about the house, including the use of each room, the source of decorations, the history of furniture, Mark Twain’s daily life, etc. What interested me most is a photo of Mark Twain’s two daughters on the wall, which is very uniquely devised. Actually，at first none of us tourists recognized it as a photo; instead, what we all saw was a picture of a skull, and we wondered why such a picture was placed on the wall. The photo is entitled “Life and Death”. When the tour guide called our attention to the interesting photo, we looked closely and found it was a photo of two girls. But at first glance and in a little distance, it is a skull. No wonder it was named “Life and Death”. In our country, such a photo is believed to be a negative sign, which signifies that the two girls in the photo may die unnaturally. As we know, Mark Twain’s two daughters, Susy and Jean, both died in their twenties. We Chinese people may think that it is caused by the effect of the photo.

Carrie’s House

      This afternoon, we went on a 3-hour trip to three places: a beach, a forest, and Carrie’s house, and what impressed me most is Carrie’s house.  

       Carrie possesses a very old and spacious two-storeyed house. Carrie told us that it has a history of 150 years. On the first floor are a large kitchen, a bathroom, a guest bedroom, and a very spacious living room. The main bedrooms are on the second floor. The floor is wooden. The rooms are very tidy, clean and very comfortable.

Outside the house, there is a shed, and two big courtyards, on which grow green grass, various kinds of vegetables, and several huge trees as old as the house. The environment is really beautiful!

Guess how much the house costs Carrie? Only about $140, 000 (RMB900,000)！

What a cheap house it is compared to mine in China!

       My husband and I bought a new 3-bedroom apartment last year.Though it is newly built, it is unfurnished, and neither is it as spacious as Carrie’s. And it has no courtyards or shed or big old trees. But it costs my husband and me more than RMB950,000!

Sleepless Nights in Yale

    It has been more than half a month since my colleagues and I came here in Yale University for the summer session program, and during this period, I have never had a good night's sleep. 

    I live on the third floor in Morse Residential College. I cannot sleep well here at night for two reasons: loud noise and hot weather. The loud noise is made by the air conditioners. I have the habit of keeping the windows open when I sleep at night at home, but here in Yale, I have to close the windows because it is so noisy outside that I cannot fall asleep if I open them. The second reason is hot weather. There is no conditioner installed in our apartment rooms. If I close the window, the temperature inside gets higher and the air becomes smelly. Some of my roommates bought an electric fan to keep the room cooler, but physically I am not fit for using electrical fans. My solution to the problem is sleeping on the desk for the first half of the night, and on the bed for the second half. Consequently, I cannot have a good sleep at night. 

    I don't know whether other people living here have got the same problem as I do, but I believe that the loud noise might not be good to students' health. Nothing is perfect in the world, so it is with Yale University. One of the world's top university as she is, Yale university certainly has got her problem.     

    

            

A Visit to Yale University's Center of British Art

    At about 12:30 this afternoon, immediately after lunch, Summer and I left Morse Residential College dining hall for Yale University's Center of British Art. 

    The Center mainly exhibits British oil paintings of portraits and landscapes produced before 1850. The paintings are so amazingly fine and vivid that they are like photos! It is really beyond me how the painters managed to create those! Apart from the painters' marvelous techniques, I guess the quality of paints also contributes much to the making of those great works of art.   

 

Why I Deleted Six of My Previously Published Posts

    I deleted just now six posts that I published on my blog in the past two weeks. Why? I am going to tell you the reasons as follows.  

    Before I came here to Yale University for a summer session seminar, I had never written a blog, and I knew little about it.

    Owing to Carrie's help, who is one of our summer session seminar instructors, I learned to create a blog of my own on the second day I arrived in Yale, namely, on July 1. I am very happy that I have started my blog, and I am extremely grateful to Carrie for teaching me the skill.

    Nevertheless, since I am not experienced in using a blog, I made a mistake--I published some posts which are about the class observations I did in the past two weeks.I did this because I misunderstood Carrie and thought we were required to do so as an assignment. This morning I learned that my friend Summer has never published any class observation on her blog, which made me reflect whether what I did is wrong. I suddenly recalled that the other day Summer accidentally opened some strangers' blogs, which means that others, not only my instructors and my colleagues whom I have added to my friends list, are able to read my posts! Immediately I realized that I should not have published those of my posts about my class observations in which I mentioned the names of the specific teachers and even made short comments on their classes.

    Hence, I deleted those six of my previously published posts.             

Thimble Islands Cruise

    This afternoon, we had a cultural outing cruising Thimble Islands. Everybody had a great time.

    There are many islands in the bay. While cruising the islands, we felt like being in a beautiful picture: Surrounding our boat is vast clean water, above our heads is blue sky with white clouds, nearby on islands are green trees and colorful houses. What is more important, while we were sightseeing, we could at same time enjoy listening to our humorous tour guide introducing to us the history of the islands and houses on them. Furthermore, we all took at least one picture with both of our two beloved instructors Carrie and Siggy!

    Thanks to Eli, thanks to Director Meg, and thanks to Carrie and Siggy, without whose plan and efforts, we couldn't have had the unforgettable trip!

Shopping in Clinton Outlets

    On July 5th, my colleagues and I went to Clinton outlets shopping.

    We took a 10 a.m. train to Westbrook first, and then changed to another train and got to Clinton.   The train ride altogether cost us each 6 dollars.
 

    Since none of the people whom we asked could tell us where we could take the Nine Town Transit bus, we walked to the outlets, which took us about 30 minutes. When we arrived at the outlets, to be more exact, Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets, it was over 12 o'clock

    There are many stores in the Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets, and all the commodities are famous brands. What's more important, they were all on sale, 20% to 70% off. My colleagues were excited and all bought something, some bought clothes, some shoes, some handbags, some watches, etc. But I bought nothing. I simply enjoyed the trip and experience.

    At around 6 p.m., we came back to Yale by train.

 

On American Independence Day

    Today is July 4th, the American Independence Day and National Day, so we needn't attend classes, instead, we took part in some celebrating activities. At nine this morning, Yufang Xia and I watched a documentary film named The History of the Fourth of July, which is about the history of the United States of America. After that, at eleven on the morning, we got on a school bus together with other summer session students and went camping beside a beautiful lake. Unfortunately, a few minutes after we arrived at the destination, during which we only took some photos, it started to rain hard. Consequently, we simply had lunch, chatted for a while, and then got on the same school bus and came back to Yale.

My First Impression of America

For the first time in my life, I came to America on June 23. My colleagues and I have so far toured four of American cities: Boston, Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C. What impressed me most is the environment in the country.

 

 

Compared with my motherland China, America has a much more comfortable and beautiful environment. First, there are lawns, green trees and clean rivers everywhere, and the sky is blue and clear wth white clouds. Wherever you go, you feel like you were in a beautiful picture. Furthermore, the roads and streets are very clean, and the air is fresh, which smells of green grass and fresh flowers, making you feel extremely comfortable.  

Highly industrialized as she is, why does America have such a beautiful and comfortable environment? According to me, there are mainly two reasons as follows:

       

       

       America has a reltively much smaller population in comparison with China. As we know, a smaller population means less food and energy consumed and thus less garbage produced. Since America has a large territory, a smaller population also means more land for lawns and trees. Second, America possesses the world’s most advanced technology, which enables the people in this country effectively cope with various sorts of pollutants and manufacture vehicles and appliances which are more eco-friendly.