星期五晚上 我的朋友lisa 和 sarah 在我的家睡覺. 我們一起寫我們的podcast, 但是我們不可我們以寫因為太說了. 我們不要寫和說podcast, 所以 我們去下stairs 吃飯和聊天. 我和Lisa 都半夜二點鐘才睡覺. 昨天我們去park 玩兒. 我們去十點鐘, 才回家 七點鐘. 我回家以後 看Relient K CDs! 我真高興因為我真喜歡 他們的音樂. 我昨天晚上和今天聽音樂. 我不要做功課, 所以我 聽音樂和做功課. 因為我聽一點兒 音樂, 我 很有一點兒高興. 我要看書, 可是我不可以因為我要寫我的blog post. 我要我的朋友 Jennifer. 她 十月回Belmont, 可是我現在要見她 =( 我 現在要說一起她.

這個周末 我的朋友來我的家學中文. 我們吃中國 飯吃得好. 我們說 第七課 dialogue 第二. 我的媽媽 幫助我們練習生詞. 她教我們 生. 我們學 "什麼意思" 意思" what does it mean". 我媽媽是真好 玩老師. 我半夜半睡覺. 今天我去karate 考試. 我考得不錯, 因為我知道都 forms. 昨天我寫我的筆有在china. 我不知道身麼要, 所以我 寫我的名, 什麼我喜歡做, 我年級. 我也 寫幾個問題. 因為我昨天晚上很晚才睡覺, 我現在要睡覺.

你好! 星期六 我 跟我的朋友 一起去 ice skating. 我覺得 ice skating 很有意思, 可以skating 得很 難. 我的朋友不可以skate. 他 常常 fell 了. 今天我去一個 block party. 我 見 我的英文老師! 我不知道他的家在across the street! 我很高興 因為 上個星期我 星期一 不去學校. 我去學校四個, 可是 我考試 五個考試. 我練習 網球 因為我星期二有網球game. 星期四 學校有小天. 我和我的朋友去圖書館聊天.

gen1 and 我跟 你 去看電影.
shuo1hua4 to talk 他說話說得很快
shang4ge xing1qi1 last week 你上個星期還是這個星期 考試?
de adverb 他唱歌唱 得很好.
bang1 zhu4 to help 謝謝 你 幫助我寫漢字.
fu4 xi2 review 我今天晚上複習 說中文因為 明天 我有中文 考試.
zi4 character 你幫我學 寫 漢字 ?
xie3 to write 我不喜歡 寫 生詞, 可是 我練習寫因為 考試明天.
man4 slow 我的英文老師說我的寫很慢.
jiao1 jiao 我媽媽教我 跳舞 跳的 很快!
zen3me how 你知道 怎麼 打球 嗎?
jiu4 earlier than expected 因為我不喜歡 小李 的家, 我五點鐘就出.
xue2 to learn 他去學校 因為他要 學 寫.
bi3 writing utensil 你給我一個筆寫中文字.
nan2 difficult 他覺得 唱歌 很難.
kuai4 quickly 老師教 說得很快! 我不懂.
nali3 where 我們練習 說 中文 裏
di4 number 老師考試. "第一題!"
yu4xi2 preview 他明天有中文課. 不要預習, 可是他預習因為老師教很快.
yu3fa3 grammar 他懂中文語法, 可是他覺得說中文很難.
rong2yi4 easy 你覺得中文字很難還是容易.
duo1 many 他有大家. 有 多弟弟 和妹妹, 可是沒有姊姊.
dong3 understand 我的老師教 我 寫漢字, 可是我不懂
sheng1ci2 new words 我今天練習生詞 因為我 下個星期 有考試.
han4zi4 chinese character 我不喜歡寫漢字. 我覺得 寫漢字沒有意思.
you3 yi4dianr3 to have a little bit 你要喝 什麼? 我有可樂, 水, 和 有一點 咖啡.

bu2 xie4 welcome 謝謝你叫我說英文. 不謝

Camping!

我的最好的朋友來我的家。 她的家在Reno.昨天我和我的朋友去 camping.我的媽媽也去。因為我的生日星期五了， 所以我們去。我和我的朋友請我媽媽帶我們去。我媽媽不要去， 可是因為我們請她， 所以她 去。我們用中文請她。我們三點鐘出去家。我們八點鐘才到campground. 昨天晚上我的狗吃一個skunk.醜死。了上個星期我去學校學習。 我不喜歡學校， 但是我需要.

Chinese Valentine's Day
Qi xi jie
nu er jie
magpie festival

Origin - either the han or the jing dynasty

Story: A cowherd is a good man and a hard worker. One day, because he is such a good man, the cowherd's magical ox tells him to go to the river and there he will find his true love. He does this and he sees 7 girls bathing in the river. He steals their clothes and runs away. The sisters cannot return to heaven without their clothes, so they send the youngest girl to retrieve them. He says that he will only give them back if she marries him, so she agrees. Because f their marriage, the girl laid off her weaving, so the Jade emperor got angry and banished them to opposite sides of the milky way galaxy (some say grandma draws a line with her hairpin). The only day the two lovers are allowed to be together is on the 7th day of the 7th month of the chinese lunar calender, hence to festival of lovers. In some stories magpies build a bridge over the Milky Way on this one day of the year.

Traditions:

• Married, dating, or single people go to the temple to pray for love or good marriage

• people decorate ox's horns because of the ox in the story
• girls throw ropes of 5 different colors for the magpies to build the bridge.
• Women wash their hair with special substances
• children wash faces with overnight water for a special sheen
• women put needle into bowl of water. if it floats, they are good at embroidery
• throw 1/2 of some makeup over the roof as a tribute to the weaving maiden. Other half is divided between women to make them beautiful
• shrines made from fresh fruit, flowers, and paper

Taboos:

• Don't go out at night- ghost month

Ghost Festival


15th day of 7th month of lunar calendar.

origin- Buddhist Ullambana festival. Also roots in Daoism

Story- Maudmagayana, or Mu lian, finds out that his mother is in hell because she was greedy with the money he left her. He is determined to save her soul, but can't end her perpetual hunger because the food turns into charcoal when he gives it to her (her neck is too skinny for the food to pass through it). He gets her reincarnated as a dog by preforming a ritual of chanting and dumping food onto clean ground. Once she is a dog, still unsatisfied, he gathers 1000 monks to pray for her salvationa nd she is reincarnated into a human. ( some say 10 monks of the order. Another says 12 for the signs of the zodiac.)

• day when gates of heaven, hell, and earth align
• ghosts visit loved ones
• prayers for the redemption of lost souls
• food and drinks served outside to keep ghosts out of house
• door panel keeps ghosts from entering (they can't bend their knees)
• burn paper money and items to pacify ghosts
• lanterns guide them back to the underworld
• smoke from burning incense leads ghosts up to heaven
• performances- first row left open for the ghosts
• most shops closed

Taboos

• don't start a business, get married, or any other important event
• no swimming- the hgosts will drag you under
• any child born during the month will have their birth date changed upon registration

Other Countries

• Cambodia- Picham Ben 10th month- offerings to ghosts and monks
• Mexico- El dia de los muertios- alters at cemeteries- souls come back to visit