Day 1

   After sitting on the plane for almost a day, we finally arrive at St. Petersburg through the flight from Taipei to Singapore to Moscow and to the final destination. Along the way to the hotel we’re living, which is called Hotel Derovaski, I’m impressed by the Russian’s architecture and the beautiful view. We’re pretty lucky because the weather today is really nice, about 3 or 4 Celsius, and the sky is clean with bright sun. Usually, the temperature would be below zero. There are several memorials, and each of which has their own amazing history. The first impression I have for Russians are that both men and women are super tall, and we’re like dwarfs to them; Russian women are really beautiful and attractive; also, Russians always sound pretty aggressive which is the result for being a communist country for such a long time; moreover, they’re pretty strict, which can be seen from the experience that when we’re shopping at the supermarket, we have to put our bags in lockers outside. While going through the x-ray checking, we have to take off our shoes and take out the computers from the bags! The hotel we’re living is probably the smallest one that I’ve ever lived, and the room is so tiny that when three people are in there, the suitcases won’t be able to open. From the outside, the hotel looks small, however, it’s long on the inside. There are lots of halls crossing together, which is like a maze. There are only a small portion of Russians speak English, which is so inconvenient for us and it’s so hard to communicate. The first day of our trip doesn’t start pretty smooth, so I hope that everything can go well for the rest of the nine days. Russia, the mysterious country, it makes me really want to explore more about it.

St. Patrick's Day

   Today is the fourth day of the spirit week, and it’s St. Patrick’s Day, so the theme color is definitely green. After lunch, most of the seniors are busy downstairs practicing Tango, which is our opening dance. I choose not to be in the Tango group because I don’t think I can do well, and it would be really embarrassing if I danced wrong. Although I’m not doing the dance, I still go and watch how the practice goes. There are only two weeks left before the prom, and I think it would quite be a tough job for them to learn and memorize the steps well. Also, most of the steps in Tango require the showing of force, and it would look funny if one showed too excess or too less. This is the difficult part of this dance. Again, the seniors have to do the dance in such squeeze time, just like last year’s Christmas Performance. However, I think they can do a good job because we already had this kind of experience before.

High School Stereotype

  Today is the third day of Spirit week, and its High School Stereotype day. The seniors are divided into three groups, which are basketball team players, emo, and characters from a movie called “Mean Girls.” Again, the seniors have the most spirit than other classes do. Whenever taking pictures, the seniors can always fill the stage, which looks pretty impressive. Although today should be full of spirit and energy, I fall asleep in afternoon’s classes. During the first period after lunch, I’m so tired that it takes me lots of effort for my eyes to open. While others are presenting their speech, I couldn’t stand the calling from the sleep, so I fall asleep. Falling asleep directly in front of the speaker is really an impolite thing, and I’m sorry for the presenters. But I truly try my best for staying awake, it’s just I fail.

Animal Day

        Today is the second day of the spirit week, and it’s called “Animal Day.” The seniors have a theme, which is One Hundred and One Dalmatians. So, most of the seniors dress up as dogs, but we’re mistaken as cows, and that’s pretty upsetting. I not only have the characteristics of the dog, but also have a tie because the basketball teams are having a game today. Again, we’re playing against the same school as last week, and the time is still late. But, today’s weather is extremely windy that the ball we shoot can be blown away from the basket from the strong wind. However, after we run for a while, our legs and fingers are warmed up. Everyone is excited, shouting out loud and jumping up high as soon as the game ends because we win! Both the boys and the girls win the two games. YEAH! HOORAY! Finally, after so many losses, the girls get their second taste of winning. I can tell that the two coaches are definitely happy, and the girls have to keep working because we need to win more games.

Class Color

        Today is the first day of the spirit week, which is class color day. I think the seniors participate the most because almost the whole class wears red. My eyes are sore throughout the whole day because I didn’t have a good sleep yesterday. Again, I slept on my chair rather than on my bed, so I can’t rest well. As for result, both my eyes and spine are uncomfortable. Originally, I decide to go back home and have a sleep right after practice. However, as I finish practicing basketball, I feel I’m not tired at all. So, I stay and finish the AP Calculus homework with other seniors. As I’m getting closer to finishing the worksheet, my mind is so happy that I shout out “YEAH!” as soon as I’m done. Exercising is really the best way to help you recover from tiredness.

Kaoshung Trip

     Today is the last day of the three days Kaoshung family trip. My mother, my brother, and I went to a town called Mei-Nung today and made our own umbrellas. Mei-Nung is famous for the paper umbrellas, and there are various kinds of drawings on each umbrella. After finish making the umbrellas, we went downstairs and shopped for a while. We bought one pretty umbrella, and my brother and I decided that we can take it to Canada. It must be really cool when seeing such traditional stuff in a foreign country. I also got to see many kinds of toys that I played when I was two or three years old, which I seldom see nowadays. This trip is really fun because I not only got to go to the amusement park, but also had a chance to learn how to make my unique umbrella. Moreover, Kaoshung’s weather is always sunny and people are passionate, which make me want to move and live there.

PD Day

  Today is PD day, which usually should be day-off for students, but I still go to school to take the AP Calculus AB practice exam. I didn’t really prepare for the exam, thus I think it’s pretty difficult. Moreover, I think that I wouldn’t get a good score on this exam even though I already tried my best. After around three and a half hour of torturing, I finally got back home. Originally, I planned to stay at school and do some homework. However, I think that I really needed to relax after the long test. As for result, me and my family went to the movie theater and watched “I am Number Four” at night. There are lots of fighting scenes that contain supernatural powers in the film, so I think it’s really cool. After watching the movie, I have only one thought, which is this film is just like the combination of both Superman and Transformers. The whole movie is pretty exciting, and I bet one would never fall asleep. I really recommend people to go watch this thrilling movie as soon as possible; it’s pretty good.

Depressed

  Today both boys and girls basketball team lose again; the score is 47 to 50 for the boys team, and 14 to 23 for the girls team. When we start the game, it’s already pretty dark, so some of our team members have visual problem. Today most of the team players aren’t in the best condition; we miss lots of balls by either passing or shooting. We once have gotten the score as close as 12 to 16, but we let the might be winning chance pass by. There must be lots of errors that we need to correct, or else we wouldn’t play worse than last time. Although I’m not on the court for a long time, I still make some mistakes during the game. Basketball is a group activity, so it’s important to have team members help you when you get stuck. We have to find a time to watch the video as soon as possible, since it’s the fastest way for us to learn.

Smoothless

   Recently, my basketball practices aren’t very smooth because I always get scold by Mr. Li. He said that I should use my brain to play, which means that when I see problems happening on the court, I should quickly think of ways of solve them at that instant. I’m not happy with my performance, and I feel pretty upset. Seeing all my teammates are having clear thoughts and always knowing what’s going on, I feel that I’m falling behind, and I have to catch on as soon as possible in order to stay on the court longer. But, I’m afraid things wouldn’t be so easy as I wise because I could only attend at most five more practices until the end of this season. There are so many activities around this time, so I would miss lots of practice time. I only hope that I could truly learn what Mr. Li has taught us and use it efficiently on the court.

Is this true?

     Today me and my family spent the whole afternoon did the most unbelievable thing, which was preparing for my prom dress. I haven’t worn any kind of dress since I was three years old, and it’s hard for me to imagine that I’m going to wear one in a month. Mom brought me to the wedding store and I tried many different kinds of dresses. Whenever I stood in front of the mirror, seeing myself dressed up like that, it felt so weird, so awkward, and so unfamiliar. The whole afternoon my business was just finding a dress that would fit me, and I finally got one. An exciting news was that I could wear sneakers rather than high heels on that day since the dress is long enough to cover up my shoes. I really don’t know how am I supposed to face everyone when wearing a dress; I wish time could fly faster that day so I will feel less embarrassed.

Almost Blind

     Today when I wake up, the first thing I feel is that my eyes are extremely sore, and I guess that’s because I only sleep for three hours and with lights all on. I could hardly stay awake during each class period, and I easily fall asleep within two minutes. In the afternoon, I stay after school for SPIMUN, and my energy has reached its limit. I couldn’t count how many times my eyes closed, how long I fell asleep, and how many materials I missed. I really do hope that I can stay awake, however, I try my best and I failed. My eyes are so sore that water soon come running down from them as I close my eyes. This uncomfortable feeling makes me think that I'm going to be blind if my eyes were open for one more second. Sleeping in class publicly and showing disrespect to teacher are the least things I want to do. I only have one homework for tomorrow, and I can finally go to bed early today.

Not my Day

   Today isn’t a smooth day for me. In the morning, I feel annoyed by the notion that I might have to wear dress on prom. I haven’t worn dress since three or four years old, and I know I would feel extremely uncomfortable. I really do hope that I can wear suit rather than dress, and I don’t know why this is forbidden since both suit and dress are formal clothing. The idea of wearing dress only lessens my will for going to the prom. In the afternoon during the basketball practice, I’m not able to shoot in points. There are lots of chances that I’m right beside the hoop where they are great shooting places, somehow I just couldn’t get the ball in. I’m surprised about this and feel depressed. How is it possible that I let so many chances to pass away? What am I doing? Mr. Li tells me that I have missed too many practices, which is the reason he didn’t put me as one of the first five players on the game because I’m too instable. I feel sorry for my teammates today that we should have earned more points if I focus more.

I'm Back!

     Today I’m finally able to go back to school, and I’m happy about it because that means I’m getting well. The first thing that my friends ask when they see me is am I feeling better, and I feel pretty warm when they do so. Also, it’s my first time to realize that how good it feels when being cared. I heard that two or three other people also have enterogratitis, and many others are sick. These days due to extreme climate change, lots of people get sick easily, so it’s important to protect oneself from exposing to any danger. Today is my last day for eating rice porridge, and I’m excited that I can get away from that tasteless thing tomorrow. I hope that my healthy condition can stay as long as possible because I’m really afraid that I’ll get enterogratitis thus eating rice porridge again.