15. The last blog of this semester

Today, Dr. Miller let us wrote a blog in class. This entry of blog will be the last one of this semester. However, I think this one is not the last entry of blog. I'll continue to write something about my life here by this blog. This blog is a good tool to let people know each other and conmunicate together. In today's world, everything developed by fast, the people became lazy when the techknowlege developed by fast.

The people could solve something by the tools. For example, we could solve the problem of mathmatics by the computer; we could get information from TV or Internet; we could buy what we need by the cards. Everything became easy, but we really need conversation. That is why I think I want to keep my blog.

I have learned something this semester and I will learn more next semester. Thank my friends. Thank my classmates. Thank Dr. Miller and Miss Furby. I hope you'll have a good Christmas Day.

14. Impression

This is my last blog this semester. Time goes by fast. This semester will be over and the next semester is coming soon. I really enjoyed every day life in Mississippi. The people here are very nice and friendly, the campus is beautiful and clean; the air of here is fresh. I was attracted deeper from everything of Mississippi. My friend Blake told me that although all of the towns of Mississippi were small, but he really enjoy his life here and he thought that I also would be enjoy here just like him. Eventually, I understand what his words now since I’ve been to almost every small town of Mississippi now. Thanks your, Blake!

The Christmas Day is coming. I hope you’ll have fun in this holiday later. To me, this holiday came from the western cultures. However, it was not strange for me. My friends and I got together once a year on Christmas Eve in China. Our holiday of Christmas just one day likes here as well. We had dinner together and chatting with each others. After that, some people went to church and listened to the bell at 0 o’clock and waiting for the new year coming. By the way, I have Christmas Day earlier every year due to the reason of time different. Ha-ha.

I miss my family because the Chinese New Year is in February of every year is coming as well. I know that my families also miss me as I am the only child in my family. There was an adage of China that is on festive occasions more than ever one thinks of one's dear.

13. Thanksgiving Day

This week belongs to Thanksgiving Day. I know that every family of America was busy to prepare everything for this important holiday. I believe that all of you have eaten turkey already with your family. Is it taste good? Ha-ha. Well, I knew a little bit about Thanksgiving Day when I was in China. We have Thanksgiving Day as well, but not like here. We don’t celebrate it as family reunion but we would do something to people who we think is deserve to get acknowledgement. Sometimes I went back to my former school to visit my former teachers. Additional, I would try to help my family to do some housework that day. Thanksgiving Day was not an official holiday in China, so we are not free from work that day

Some of my American friends told that they got some valuable gifts from their Chinese friends after them offering them just a small help. In our traditional culture, if someone gave you a few you should return a ton. In my opinion, we actually need an official holiday like Thanksgiving Day.

The world would be peaceful and good if we could do everything with a thankful heart. If we were eating, we should think about of those hard working farmers; if we feel happy, we should think about the ones who bring this happiness to us; if we were breathing, we also should think about the air produced by tree--That will be the real meaning of Thanksgiving Day. I want to say thanks to everybody here whom helped me and will help me. Have a good Thanksgiving!

12. A different week

This week I went to New York to take care of my cousin due to her problem of health. She is my only relative in United State. So I almost lost classes of one week. I am sorry, Dr. Miller. She just has appendicitis, but serious.

I feel a little bit unaccustomed that anything was not good. The weather was so cold than Mississippi. I have to wear my sweater and down jacket. Even so, I also feel that putting many needles into my face when windy. The report told me that tomorrow would be snowy. I really like snow but not cold. This is I can not eat my cake and have it too. I began to miss the weather of Mississippi State.

The people here were a little indifferent. There were so many people on every street. I am the one of them but I feel that there was only me on the street. It let me recalled a movie that name is I am legend.

11. Cook

This weekend I enjoyed a catfish meal that my roommate fished in the reservoir. This one was a real big size catfish that I’ve ever seen. It was almost one meter long and 40 pounds. What a big buster it is! We discussed how to cook it and who could cook it. The result was that we cut the fish first and then cooked the fish individually. That sounds a good idea, right? By the way, I really like eating fish and then have the fish soup.

We began to divide it and cooked it; he cooked it in a traditional way of the north of China: First, putting some oil into a big frying pan, and then, putting the fish in it and taking it off after a few minutes. Second, putting vinegar, soy source, sugar, salt, chopped garlic together in a bowl and mix them. Then pouring this source on to the fish and boiling this. However, I cooked this fish from a traditional way of south of China, that was also an easy way to cook it. I put fish, water, ginger, and bean sprout, prickly ash which is a seed of a Chinese southern plant, Chinese red pepper and vegetables together into a big stew pan and boiling it.

Different people from different part of China have different way to cook fish. We cooked it from different ways but both of ours have good taste.

10. Confidence

In the recent past, we experienced so many things that were changing. America is changing, and the world is also changing. We have to face the biggest trouble that is economic crisis. This is the biggest problem that needs to solve for American people and also the biggest problem for World. So I considered that all our people of the world need to cooperate and solve this trouble together at this special time. We should not distinguish the people by nationality or race. We need to work together if we want to solve this problem as soon as possible.

However, difficulty for a country is like difficulty for a person. Every country would encounter some difficulties just like every one of us would meet hard times in our life. The only thing we can do now is facing the problems and work hard to deal with it together.

At the same time, Barack Obama won the election as a son of the immigration. This is evidence that the America has enough inclusiveness, which means that this country has the acquisition that people would like to have the entire smart ones came from the world and try to work together. And this presidential election told us that everything is possible. People could get good reputation and recognition if they tried very hard to demonstrate to the public that they have the confidence to conquer all the difficulties. This is the best motivation that let me know that conference is the best thing to do everything.

9. the difference education between America and China

I think every country has different evaluation systems of education. I just intend to compare the differences between America and China. In America, every student has more changes to get their scores from their courses. The final grades will be derived from quizzes, papers, tests and final exams. This is a so good way to let students know how about their behavior in a whole semester and how the tendency of study process. It also means that if someone gets a good score from one test, it would not decide that he or she may get a good grade at the end. Conversely, it would not decide that he or she may get a bad grade if this student loses the test.

In China, most college and university just have one final exam. Therefore, if you pass the final exam, you will get a good grade, but if not, you will be failed in this course. The final exam is an only way to evaluate our behavior in most college in China. Many students play in the most time of the academic semester but only study before the final exam. Though some of them could pass the exam and even get a good grade, but this is a result of short-term memory of the knowledge.
Slipping through time, the Chinese students get a good faculty of memory and the American students get an ability of solve problem. Certainly, this is just a side of difference in an evaluation system of education. We also have other means to judge. So I believe that the people are influenced deeply by their different education system. If a country wants to be stronger, the most important thing is that how to solve problem of education.

8. A trouble

This weekend is Homecoming; I really want to have a rest for this activity with my friends. But I have a hard test of Anatomy and Physiology class next week. Although I have taken courses of Microbiology and Chemistry at my Chinese College, to remember all the professional words is a big trouble to me. Anyway, I have to spend a lot of time to remember them than American students do. Normally, I have to translate the whole chapter first before to find out which part of the chapter I need to remember and study.

I know this is a huge challenge for me. I am easy to be confused that the English names of cells, muscles, skeletons and so on. But I ignored this problem before the first test of this course. Obviously, I got a bad grade. I spend a long time to think about this trouble. And then I asked my classmates and professor about how to study on it better, and all of them advised that I need to read whole chapter again and again until I could remember the whole details of these chapters. Well, I got a bigger and harder challenge.

I told myself that I need to study very hard in the rest of this semester. I have already no time to do other things like travelling, playing, or dining together. I told myself keep going and never give up. The future will be bright and all those futures are based on that I have to work hard from now on.

7. A good restaurant

Last week was short because of the fall break. So I did not have so much work to do than before. This weekend, I spent some time to have a dinner at C’Paw’s house which is the name of a restaurant in Brandon. I drove half an hour to there from Mississippi College. The restaurant actually was a beautiful private house with tidy street and trimmed lawn. I really like that kind of house and I am so fascinated by the sight, it attracted me to come in to have a look.

When I opened the door, I saw an artificial stable on my left. The waiter told me that it was the birthplace of Jesus. This decoration let me easily knowing that the host of C-Paw’s is a strong Christian, and he wants to spread God’s love and will to all the customers. Then I follow the waiter go to upstairs and sit in a small table next to other customers in a big room with two big windows. It was quite obvious that here was a bedroom before. The waiter gave me the menu of the restaurant; I found that the price of dinner was a little bit expensive for me. But in China we have an old saying: Take things as they come. And I believe that good service deserve to good price!

I took a dish called fried fish, because the menu showed me that Jesus was used to it before. I believe His choice. Actually they sure are! I like this taste of fish. Thanks God. I also like the environment of the restaurant: quiet, clean and elegance. Especially the host arranged this restaurant so carefully. Even through there are many Bibles and Cross in the restroom. I love the food and the environment there I hope I can come back soon.

6. A trip to Little Rock for fall break

I feel a little bit tired recently since the first section of my first semester are so stressful. However, the expecting fall break came, which was great for me to relax and prepare for the coming study in the rest of this semester. I tried to think about how to make this fall break differently, but all the things I came out to my mind are such as study during the whole fall break, going to gym and playing basketball with my friends or keeping going to search some wildlives, but I think the third way may be a little crazy.
I decided to do traveling as my final result. Then I spent a long time to choose my destination of trip and it must be somewhere I like---which means there must be a natural place. Arkansas State would be a good choice to travel for its natural and peaceful places. And this is why American people call it " the natural state". I was impressed by the scenery outside the window. There were cotton plantings everywhere when I drove cross the famous Delta area and some fairgrounds just like Jackson's when I got into the Little Rock downtown.
The most unexpected thing happened when I got to Little Rock. I lost my wallet after I took some pictures with Presidential Center. I cannot remembered when and where I lost it. Then I tried to ask policemen there but all of them have no idea. At that point I decided to give up, an old lady brought me the wallet of mine.
I love to travel around the South since it has such a long history of Christianity. I am learning all these by traveling. I always believe that the more I travel, the more understanding of Christianity I will know. Mississippi College encourages me so much to discover how Christianity influence us both in study and our daily life.

5. A good service project

The most interesting activity for me has happened this weekend. I took a community service project that taking care of three children with other three partners in my group. I was very pleased with that I could have opportunity to join this activity. During the whole process, it allowed me know that Mississippi College has a close relationship with local community and children. This is consistent with the Mission statement of Mississippi College again that the university environment promotes the social of its students.

First of all, we guided the children around the fair of family weekend. They looked so happy and enjoyed the foods which provided by our college. I was so happy that all the children enjoyed our activity. Also, this activity made me knowing better and deeper of the mission statement of MC again. MC does try it best to meet the statement, and I am trying to follow it as well.
Next, we walked with the children to the stadium for the football game that MC versus LC, fortunately it was not LSU. I understood the basic rule of the football game after Dr. Miller told me a little bit about American football. The strong body and good physical appearance of those football players gave me a deep impression. Well, I do wish I could know the secret recipe that how to be a strong football player. The children enjoyed the game and during watching the game. I noticed their rapt eyes --- I believe that maybe some of them would be the best footballer in the future. Because I believe that children are the hopes for future and a working hard and good attitude could decide everything!

4. Continuing My Life in Mississippi College and Mississippi

This is the fourth week since I've been here at MC. As Dr. Miller wrote in his blog, both students and faculties are getting tired and starting to complaint about how busy, boring and struggling they are. I do feel tired as well, but I think this is a natural process that all of us have to get through. I got tons of homework from each courses to finish, and tests are coming on the way as well. Now, I noticed that study is not always as fun as the first three weeks, and in most cases, study is very tough to deal with.

I spent lots of time on finish reading Holmes' article and tried my best to figure out his conceptions and perspectives on Christian education according to Dr. Miller's requirment. Holmes' article made me understand deeper on how important to creat a freedom learning environment for students to approach every possible knowledge following by God's purpose.

However, last week, I went to Natchez city where the old Indian tribe lived but extinct now,

and it is always good to have some recreation time in order to recover from one week's study pressure and learning both American and Mississippi cultures. I love the small and clean streets in Natchez city, especially in the twilight time, I felt that the whole city was belonging to me. Mississippi river is always the best part of Mississippi, the running river let me know that we have to keep life going go, and no one can stop things happen---sometimes, things happen on the possitive way, but sometimes, they happen on the negative way. Well, the key is how you think and how you determine them.

Again, I took some picturs, and I am going to send it back to China, to all my Chinese friends and my parents. I hope they can come to here to visit me in the future and also, I would like to share my Mississippi life to them. I know next week will be very tough since I've got so many homework to do and tests to review. I am trying and hopefully I will work them out!

3. My hometown---Tianjin, China

This week was a very busy week. And I know there are more busy weeks coming on the way. In the last English Composition class, we shared the responses of discussing Idea of a Christian College with each other. Through reading this book, it lets me getting a deeper understanding of what Christian College is. I very much agree with the idea of academic freedom. It can inspire the intellectual development of the students of the Christian College. This is what we want, isn’t it?

As an international students at Mississippi College, I do feel the multicultural atmosphere spreading everywhere in every corner of the campus. Some people of my American friends want to know something about my hometown---Tianjin, China. Well, China is totally a different country from American. We have different cultures, foods, and nationalities, but, I am so fortunate to be here to share our oriental traditions to you all. Well, let me introduce my hometown to you.

Tianjin has already over 600 years old. And it is the hometown of Xiangsheng, also a kind os Chinese opera, sometimes translated as cross-talk, is a traditional Chinese comedic performance in the form of a dialogue. The language, rich in puns and allusions, is used in a rapid, bantering style. Xiangsheng is one of China's foremost performing arts. Also, Xiangsheng is a kind of Chinese opera. In the past, if one cross-talk player expected to make fame, he must first be appreciated and judged by Tianjin people.

The climate in Tianjin is not very pleasant. Although Tian jin is a seaside city, it is not that humid. And the four seasons here are sharply different from each other. Tianjin people are very kind-hearted, and they are always glad to help others. Family in Tianjin are typical modern Chinese family. We are nuclear family. In our family we have only parents and children, there are no grandparents or other relatives involved. In the past, we used to have extended families with four generations living together. The local snack of Tianjin is baozi (looks like dumpling), which is a type of steamed, filled bun or bread-like item in various Chinese cuisines. It can be filled with meat or vegetarian fillings; Mahua (fried dough twist) and chestnut which are a kind of sweet nuts. In most cases, tourists buy them as gifts to their friends or relatives.
Mahua ~~~Fried Lizi~~~ Baozi



With my dog Duoduo

By the way, my father likes baozi, my mother likes chestnut, duoduo (the name of my dog) likes all of them.

2. A day of Mississippi

Time goes by fast, the weekend comes again. Last week in English composition class, we talked about a book named The Idea of a Christian College. Through reading it, I got the ideas that what is a Christian College and why a Christian College. In my opinion, the Christian College is a college based on a Christian environment. It encourages students here to improve their skills, enriching their knowledge, pushing toward their goals, improving their religious understanding and deepening their faith. By this way, we could got incentive and positive encouragements to do our best in the future.

Today is Friday, I have some free time and I thought about that why not taking up some outdoor trip as a relaxation after this one week’s study? Therefore, I invited my friends to go out and tried to find some wild alligators since Clinton has so many natural forests, wild grass and rivers. I have some American friends used keeping talk to me that they met wild alligators in their backyard of the house before, so, today, I did hope that I could meet wild alligators as well. I was not crazy, actually, I intended to meet them not only because I like wild animals but also my major was Hydrobiology before when I was in China, and I have seen nearly all kinds of aquatic animals except the wild alligators. Also, human nature drives me to be curious about this most dangerous animal, and also, this “top chain monster”. What a pity of that!

We drove from MC to some rural areas in Clinton, and kept seeing lots of beautiful and peaceful countrysides. However, I didn’t see any real alligators. Maybe they did not like me or they were not hungry at all. But it' was lucky that I saw a lizard sitting in a green leaf. I was so surprised that the natural environment here protected so good, because in China, you can never see a wild lizard! And this would be a compensation. That is great! I always feel good at weekend especially this weekend. I learned something from nature that the lizard has to protect itself by foliage. So it evolved a long time to get the protective coloration. So am I. If I want to advance my knowledge or my skill, I must adapt to new environment first.

1. Nice to meet you

This is my first blog entry for English composition 101 class at Mississippi College. I have been here in Mississippi just a few days but I spent more than half year in New York city. Here, in Mississippi, everything is so different from New York city, no subways, no terrible traffics, no street basketball anymore, which I often go to play at weekend, and no huge skyscrapers as well. Everything here is peaceful and quite. This is a right place I want to stay and study.

Although I stayed in New York from this winter until I got to MC, I still know little American culture. I am freshman here at Mississippi College, and here is also a "freshman" to me. The style of building is different, the food is different, and the environment is different. All of them are fresh but friendly. I am expecting know MC better and deeper, and also, I hope I could share Chinese culture with everyone here at campus.

I know MC is a long history co-educational university, and there is no doubt that MC is a good place to study, not only for the high standard of education, but also for committing to excellence and innovation in teaching and learning. My goal in education is to get the good and professional ones and I trust MC will help me to achieve my goal. I believe I can learn the advanced knowledge from here, and they are creative. I visited several universities before, but everytime when I came back to MC campus, I always feel like coming back home. MC is unique, because here has so many interesting characters and professors; MC is beautilful because I love the the southern style red brick buildings; Also, sometimes, MC is "tough", because I know I will take the challenges which I never took before. Well, I am ready for the coming life at Mississippi College.

Last class, Professor Miller helped us to get our blogs setting up. So I started to use this blog just now. I hope that the blogs will help all of us to know each other better, and especially it may help you know me better.

Nice to meet you, everybody.