No more sleeping in class

    After the third period ended today, I was excited because I survived through the whole AP European History class. The class time is after lunch, so I would always fall asleep around 12:30. In my heart, I knew that it’s bad to sleep in class because I would miss what Mr. Jones were talking about thus couldn’t write down the notes, which resulted in low grades on test. In addition, Mr. Jones is really a nice teacher, whom I also prefer his teaching method. In the class, we could not only listen to many interesting stories, but also acquire lots of knowledge. By not letting myself being so irresponsible, I decided to bring computer to class for note-taking rather than writing them down by hand. Surprisingly, I stayed awake for the whole class, and I even asked questions. From now on, I decided that I would bring my computer to class every time, so I could actually learn stuffs.

Basketball Practice (2-2)

     Today only five people attended the basketball team practice because there were people having health conditions and people busy doing their college application, which the deadline is only one day apart. We didn’t practice any new strategies today since there were too less people, so we only reviewed the basic stuffs. For the first 10 minutes, we did lay up for both right and left sides. Then came the fun stuff: playing 2 on 2. Doing 2 on 2 allows us to practice more often on the most basic yet the most efficient way for scoring, which is pick-and-roll. Because there weren’t lots of people on the field, so players had to create as many chances as possible to go down to the shooting area and make points. By running through pick-and-roll for so many times, my memory for this old strategy flashed back again, and our team shot many hoops. Also, I learned that the team should use this tactic more often in real games because it was really useful.

TV Day

      Today I am so lazy that I couldn’t believe how did I become like this. When I woke up around noon, the first thing I did was watching TV. I told myself to go do homework right after lunch, but I was still sitting on the couch and playing with the remote. Time flies faster when people are doing entertaining stuffs, so it was night when I opened my eyes again. I fell asleep while watching TV, and when I woke up it was dinner time. Although I kept telling my brain and was trying hard to pull myself out of the strong desire of watching TV, I just couldn’t get off the couch. Again, I watched for several more hours. There seemed like a magic power coming out from the TV that attracted me deeply; I’m just a TV person. When I realized that I had to finish my assignments for tomorrow, it was already late at night. I don’t know whether I can go to bed tonight; I just hope that I can be able to turn in everything on time tomorrow.

Fun Basketball Game

    Today, I had a special basketball game against Angel, Bella, Vicki, and Caroline. My teammates were Esther, Enya, Julie, and me. At first the game was only between Angel, Bella, and me, but I decided to drag more people in because that would be more fun. After the discussion of the senior sports day booth, Angel and I were pumped up to go upstairs and settled the duel. This basketball game was different from the ones that I had before because both basketball team members and non-team members involved. As a member of the PAS Girls Basketball team, there was no reason for me to lose the game because that would be too embarrassing. Thus, I tried my best to play hard. For the first 5 minutes, the opposing team had already gotten two points ahead of us, and I started to worry that I couldn’t win. So, I played more seriously, and finally our team shot in three hoops after ten minutes. After 15 minutes of the short yet fun basketball game, the final result was 3:2. Although I didn’t shoot in many baskets, I’m still glad that our team won the game.

Indian Restaurant

     Today is the Professional Teacher Development day, so all students have a day off. At lunch, my mom brought me to a new restaurant that serves Indian food. The walls of the restaurant were painted with bright orange with green on the side, and they were playing Indian music. Indian food is famous for its curry, so we ordered curry-related food and tasted two different kinds of curry. One is spicier, and the other one is sweeter, which I prefer more. Also, we had baked pastry, which is another kind of Indian cuisine. Although this is my first time trying Indian food, I think it was pretty delicious. After the special lunch, we had a walk. Due to yesterday’s exciting games, my arms, my legs, even my butt were extremely sore that I had to move slowly so it would be less painful and tiring. Thus, I wasn’t able to walk for long distance, so we headed back home with only 10 minutes of walking.

Basketball Games v.s. Two Schools

Today, the girls basketball team leave at 8:10am and directly head to the place where the basketball game takes place, Chian-Hua Middle School. This is the first time that our team play two games in a row, and I’m afraid that we will be too exhausted to play the second game. The first team we play against is Chian-Hua, the middle school. At first, I thought we could win the game because our score is ahead of theirs. However, as Mr. Li switch the five bench players up to the court, the score gap between us and the other team starts to increase. As we’re watching aside, we’re really nervous. Thus, Mr. Li puts us up to the court again within 2 minutes. After the game is finished, our score is 16 to 26. We then go up to the second floor, watching other teams play, and have a break with the Subway snack while waiting for our second game.

The second team we play against is Peng-Sh, the high school. Although we should be worn out at this game, I don’t feel any weariness at all. I’m don’t know why I’m all hyper and energized, probably because I’m inspired by the high school team. The Peng-Sh team is better than the Chian-Hua team, but we are only 9 points behind after the game ends. The final score is 24 to 35. During the second game, I can feel that we are really performing what we’re practicing usually, no matter offense or defense. Everyone agrees that we play the second game better than the first one, and the reasons might be that we’re familiar with the court, we’re less nervous, and we’re finally doing strategies that we’ve been practicing all along.

Although we lose at both games, I’m still happy because I learn a lot and I know that our team is improving. Also, I’ve never stay on the court for such a long time, and I’m thrilled whenever playing games. Still, the whole team has to practice more on shooting, dribbling, getting familiar with tactics, to train physical strength, and the bench players have to be able to follow the flow of the game faster. I think we actually play pretty good games, and I hope we can at least win once and be proud of telling the school that we make it!

An Easy Day

    Today is an easy day for me because I don’t have any work to do at home and I finish most of my assignments in class. Tomorrow, the girls basketball team is going to play games for whole day. Thus, I can have all day off and just need to get a good rest today. Also, the basketball practice isn’t too tiring because the coach is afraid we might get injured and not be able to play tomorrow. Today, we just run through basic strategies we’ve learned before and shoot around. I think my shooting was in a really bad condition because I didn’t get into as many hoops as I wished. I guessed all I could do to make the situation better is to practice more. I really hope tomorrow I can shoot more accurately, to perform my used-to-be well shooting skill. So, I can help the team to gain more scores on such important games.

Take a Walk

   Today after dinner, I went out with my parents to the Central Park and had a walk. Every night, my parents would go outside and walk for at least 30 minutes. I usually won’t go with them because of heavy load of homework, but I changed my mind today. The reason I chose to walk was I ate too much for lunch and dinner. The meals were extremely delicious: there was chicken, seafood soup, noodle, tofu, and vegetable. I rarely have such various kinds of food, so I couldn’t control myself from eating too much. Thus, we went to the park and walked for 5 circles, until my back was full of sweat. In order to have a healthy life, it’s important to exercise often, especially after big meals.

Translate

     Today is the second and last day of Parent Teacher Conference, and I help some parents to translate. Not all parents can speak English, so seniors volunteer to help translating so that the parents could understand what teachers are talking about. Although these parents have limited English ability, they still try hard to talk to the teachers in English, and I’m touched by this. This action shows that the parents really love their children, and the parents just want to give them the best.  

I think translating is like a time testing my English and Chinese ability and whether I could totally comprehend the message and deliver it clearly. Despite this, it’s actually pretty fun because I can hear what teachers say about the student.     For the first time translating, I think I’m a little bit nervous. However, I get more used to it and start doing a better job. Some teachers even say that I did well and recommend me to do translating as future career, which I can earn lots of money.

The Longest and the most Tiring Test

   Today, I have the longest and the most tiring test in International Relations class. The test is mainly about the book that we are reading recently, Stones into Schools by Greg Mortenson. Even though I miss some chapters in the book, I can still answer all questions because most of them are opinion ones. Although there are 16 questions only, there are follow ups, and all of them are short answers. There is no single multiple choice question on the test, which I find hard to believe. Mr. Wahlgren allows us to use the book and to have the whole period to test, but I’m still not able to finish on time. I spend about 2.5 hours and finally finish the test, and Mr. Wahlgren even jokes about that he can publish a book just with my answer. My hands are extremely sore after writing for 3 pages long answers.

Second Basketball Dance Practice

  Today is the second time when I practice the basketball dance for the Christmas performance. The senior class prepares a show which needs everyone’s participation. Since this is my last year at PAS, I want to join events that could be long-lasting and memorable. Thus, I decided to do the basketball dance. Moreover, I could learn some dancing skill while the dance is about my favorite thing-basketball.

  Antony is the choreographer of the whole dance, and we learned some new moves today. The practice today isn’t as tiring as last time, and I think it’s because I’m more familiar with the fast beat of the song and we didn’t do so many moves like the first time practice. Until now, we only complete one-half of the song, but there are only few weeks away from the Christmas show. I hope I can be able to remember all the moves and give my best shot.

First lunchbox

    Today is unusual because today is the first time that my mom makes me a lunchbox and directly delivers it to me. Also, I never stay after school on Monday, but the situation changes today. Whenever I stay after school, I always go out to the Chin-Da night market to eat. The night market isn’t a big one, so there aren’t lots of food choices. Thus, my mom decided to make special dinner for me every day since I get used to the food in the night market and the food is unhealthy. After I finish the basketball practice, I directly go to downstairs and get my dinner. Today, my dinner is fried noodles with lettuce and slices of meat. Although I don’t have much of it, I still appreciate this meal because it is very delicious and full of mom’s love.