Blog for sheny3

Sunday morning I went to the church. Thank Brian for giving me information! I sent him a short message at late night, to my surprise, he replied immediately! I really like the Mass. When I listened to the minister I noticed that the stories he was telling us were modern. It reminded me of some historical period in china (for example, Tang Dynasty), Buddhism had use the same way to do missionary work. It is very interesting to think about the difference and common ground of the two religions. Actually I was very interested in religions. I’ve read the Wondrous Dharma Lotus flower Sutra, Vimalakirtinirdesa Sutra and Vajra Prajna Paramita Sutra and a hall for worshipping Buddha in my home. And I read the whole Bible in great interest in last year. It’s fabulous! I love the psalms, sometimes I feel they just speak out what I want to say.

“Taste and See” made me shed tears. To be more exact, what made me shed tears was the whole Mass. The atmosphere and the sentences from the Bible had aroused my religious feelings. At that moment I felt I truly am a fanatic once more. (=v=)

Actually my opinion is that every religion (if they can be called a true religion) comes from the desire to express the love to the ultimate truth. Even if you don’t believe there is something unspeakable, something supernatural in the universe, you can also understand the feeling of loving the truth.

east coast time 0:30

Poetry is what gets lost in translation.
——by Robert Frost

Just now I translated an ancient Chinese poem (for my paper). It was really difficult! (I had translated a contemporary Chinese poem into English before, which was longer than this one, but easier to translate.)
However, it’s still my proud work. Please comment if you read——Any suggestions? What do you think of it? And if there are any mistakes, don’t hesitate to point them out! (^_^)

Jiangchengzi (江城子)
by Su Shi (苏轼)

夜来幽梦忽还乡，
In a night dream, suddenly I was home.
小轩窗，正梳妆。
Saw you making up by the window of the little room.
相顾无言，
We looked at each other with no words,
惟有泪千行。
Only with thousands lines of tears.
料得年年肠断处，
I can foresee the place that will break my heart year after year,
明月夜，
Under the moon that is bright and clear,
短松冈。
On the hillock covered with pines there.

Yesterday two students from BFSU and I went to John’s home for Home Visit. John lived with his family in the suburb. His 15 years old brother was cute (Actually we thought he looked like a Taiwanese pop star whose name was Guo PinChao).And his 1ittle sister was only 13 months old! She was so cute that we all loved her very much. John’s mother said the baby was the super star in the family. I thought her big black eyes and loveliness would make her the super star everywhere. :)

During the dinner time, the baby kept looking at me and smiling to me. Her mother said she liked me. I felt so lucky!~~~(^o^) When we had fruits, the baby looked as if she wanted some too. So they let me fed her some watermelon. John said I could hold her. I’d never hold a baby before, and was so nervous about being offered such a great favor! At first I didn’t dare to touch her. John helped me to carry her in my arms. The feeling of holding a baby was so warm and fragrant. It was really a completely new and wonderful experience to me.

Everyone in John’s family could speak Vietnamese. I noticed that when they spoke to the baby, they used Vietnamese rather than English. The decoration of the house was totally Asian style, and had a family hall for worshipping Buddha on the second floor. They planted some Vietnamese vegetables and herbs (which we ate at the dinner) in the garden. It was my first time to try the tradition Vietnamese food. It was delicious.^_^

The Home Visit was great. I really had a good time in John’s home. Thank John and his family for their hospitality! And what impressed me most was——seeing how an Asian family tried to keep their traditions in America.

Mapo Toufu (spicy bean curd) & green vegetable soup

Scrambled egg with mushroom and sausage

Pasta (very delicious!!!)

Sunday night was horrible. I found my sunburn become more and more uncontrollable. Firstly it was on my legs, then spread to my back and breast. In a couple of hours, I looked like a cooked shrimp. It was terribly red and felt like burning fire roasting me. I sprayed cold water and put a frozen wet towel on my legs, but seemed no use. So I went out and bought a bottle of Aloe Vera. I felt pain when I apply it on my skin, and after two hours the condition was still awful.

My skin is extremely sensitive. I rely on Avene (a French brand sold in pharmacy)to get rid of allergy during the change seasons and to solve most problems of my skin. But in Richmond I’ve never seen Avene!!! What a mess!!! I had found it even in XingJiang (one of the most undeveloped provinces of China)! So I had never imagine that I couldn’t find Avene in America. But I looked for it each time I went out, and up to now I haven’t found it.

After the desperate night, we went to Williamsburg and a outlet (again I failed to find any Avene there). At the outlet I met my BFSU friend and asked her whether she knew anything about the clinic. She suggested me to ask Matt (her intern) who was just walking ahead. I told her I always felt nervous to speak to an intern. So she asked him for me. Matt was really nice and sweet. He said he or other interns could take me to the clinic next morning if I wished.

Next morning I got up early in order not to miss the lecture after seeing the doctor. I left a message to Matt on the payphone then went back to GRC (actually I shouldn’t leave it). A few minutes later, when I walked on the road at the middle of GRC, I saw Matt.
Here came my rescuer. He looked in a hurry——panting, not wearing his cap and sunglass, holding a bottle. He gave me the bottle and said sincerely to me that he had missed the call and hurry to GRC immediately, even had no time to take a shower. I really felt very sorry for having bothered him at such early morning. Then he drove me to the clinic. Although the insurance problem caused I couldn’t see the doctor, I really want to thank Matt a lot for doing all these for me!

Finally I had to miss my class and went to doctor with Julie. Thank Julie for helping me to see the doctor and giving me the medicine! And the breakfast as well——it was delicious. Although the doctor did nothing, I felt much better after that——maybe what I needed was just a psychological hint…(-_-b)

The atmosphere at VA Beach was really America.

We arrived at the hotel at dusk. Our room had an extremely good view of the beach and the sea. The sunset clouds were so beautiful that I couldn’t find words to describe them. I got up early at Sunday morning (actually I set the alarm clock every half-hour from 4-6) in order to watch the sunrise. It was extremely beautiful!!! Golden sea glittered under the rosy clouds of dawn. Sunlight shined upon the footprints of seafowl on sands. White waves beat against shore, sounded like some kind of song——maybe the song-of-sea. At the time, the beach was peaceful, graceful and romantic.

The feeling was totally different at daytime. Blue sky, white waves, golden sands, colorful umbrellas, bronze skin——absolutely holiday! The sunshine made me feel comfortable and relaxed. Accompany with the languid songs of Kuwata Keisuke (one of my favorite Japanese singers), I fell asleep on the beach unexpectedly. ——As a result, I was horribly burned(>o<)
Well, I had used some sunscreen, but after swimming I forgot to reapply…

The night of VA Beach was amazing! Thank BRIAN for guiding me! The magic show was extraordinary funny. ^o^ And the other performances as well.
Another interesting thing was that BRIAN had learned Chinese PingYing and read our names in Chinese in McDonald’s during the supper time. His pronunciation is unexpectedly perfect.^_^

The beach time was wonderful! I LOVE BEACH!!!