The Quizzes Are Back!

Can you believe it? We got both of our math quiz and our English quiz back today! I was happy to get them back, and I can say that I am pretty satisfied with my math quiz. Those questions are just too easy! I got full mark on that one, no doubt. It's a good thing to start a new school year with a perfectly marked quiz. My English quiz wasn't as good as my math test, though, because I got one and a half mark off. I got half a mark off on the definition of "similes" and lost another mark on the word "metaphor". I didn't even know what metaphor meant so I just randomly wrote down something that I had in my mind, and it turned out to be------Wrong! Arrrrrgh! But that's okay, because I can still improve in the next quiz or test, because I am not going to let an imperfect quiz ruin my mood. I couldn't wait to get my science quiz back, and I think that I will get it tomorrow at our science class in the afternoon. I hope that I can get a satisfying mark!

Finally! The BIG PE Test!

I was right. We had our PE test today------running around the Langara Golf Course in less than 20 minutes. Good thing that I was well prepared and had many practices before the test. The bad thing is, I ate a little bit too much during lunch time and by the time we got down to the golf course, my stomach was feeling a bit "down". But that didn't have any minor effects on me. The whole class started running when our PE teacher set the timer. I was neither very fast or slow, so I pretty much stayed in the middle of the group. Around 1/4 of the route, some people were getting tired, so they kinda disappeared from behind me. Others who were fast kept on with their pace and were already ahead of me. My legs started to feel the pain when I was half way around the golf course, so I slowed down my pace. Some of my fellow classmates were stopping and walking, while the others ran past them. The sun was so bright that it gave me a sudden craving for cold drinks. I started sprinting when I was near the sand pit which is located at the north edge of the golf course, and I made a mistake. I started sprinting too early and my legs started to go crazy as I approached the finish line. When I finally crossed the finish line, I felt so good and relieved, and my timing wasn't bad------17minutes and 36 seconds! I can say that I am pretty satisfied with this score, but I hope that I can improve more next time.

Another Run!

Today I had another run around Langara Park just to make sure that I am ready for the PE test tomorrow. My legs felt really sore from my trip to White Rock (I walked on pebbles for 1 km along the shore, ouch), but I ran anyway. My target was to lower my timing from 20 minutes to 15 minutes, and I knew that I would have to run faster if I have to accomplish this goal. When I started out my run, my legs didn't feel sore. I went a little bit faster than usual, but my breath became heavy as I approached the tennis court. I was half way around the park and that was when I have reached my "limit". It's not my actual limit, but I could just feel the pain in my legs starting to build up and my sides starting to hurt. Oh boy, I just wanted to stop and walk for a few minutes, but a voice inside my head said, no. I knew that if I stop, I would feel much better, but it would be hard for me to start running again because my body just wouldn't be able to handle it. I kept on jogging, but soon after I have reached my "limit", I didn't feel tired anymore, so I knew that I have surpassed my "limit". My run ended with a timing of 16 minutes. It was close enough to my goal, and I think I am ready for the big PE test tomorrow.

Udon---Hmmmm

I have never tried Udon before, and I have heard that it is absolutely delicious, so today my mom bought me some frozen Udon to cook for dinner. She has no experience of cooking Udon, so she simply guesses how to cook it. I suggested her to put some mushrooms and Chinese cabbage in it, because these two are my favorite veggies to put in soups (the mushrooms are not veggies, though. They are fungus). As soon as the Udon was done,  I picked up my chopsticks and helped myself to some Udon, but it didn't taste as good as I thought it would be. The Udon noodle itself was tasteless, even though the soup was salty. I am not very sure if this is how they cook Udon in Japan (Well, I guess they probably don't cook it this way), and I am not sure if it will make a pleasant dish which we will enjoy very much. We still have four packages of frozen Udon in our fridge, so I guess my mom will experiment with them until she finds the right recipe.

I LOVE PAINTING!

Today I finally got a chance to paint my "unfinished" kitchen still lives. I am still in training stage, so I had to paint according to my model painting. This painting features a pot, a dish of fish, and some veggies and fruits. The background is salmon pink and the tablecloth is part sienna and part snow-white. Last time I only had the time to sketch out the structure of these object, but today I was able to edit them and put gouache paint on them. I started with the background, because they are usually the easiest to paint and they cover a lot of the painting, then I moved on to the pot. The pot was slightly crooked so it took me some time to readjust it.
The color of the pot was hard to mix, too, because I have to be able to make colours which will resemble the steely surface of the pot. The Chinese cabbage wasn't as hard as the pot, but I still had some trouble trying to paint the stems with colors which are good enough to separate them visually from the leaves. I worked on the painting for about four hours, and I was still not finished. I think I will be able to finish it next time and frame it. It sure was lovely to look at, and it makes me very proud of myself.

A Day in White Rock

The weather was really nice today so I took my mom to White Rock with me. Before we went, I researched online and found the most suitable bus route for us and packed fruits and sandwiches for lunch. We prepared an exact bottle of water just in case. First we took Canada Line to Bridgeport Station, then we switched to bus 351. The bus was nicely air-conditioned, so even though it was hot outside, we still felt cool inside the bus. After about 40 minutes we were in White Rock, so we got off the bus. This was my second time to White Rock, so I kinda remembered where the famous west beach is. There were many antique shops and thrift stores and nice little cafes along the street, and we also found this awesome art gallery that my mom took an interest on. It wasn't long until we have reached the beach. The tide was out so people were walking on tiny sand dunes and looking for shells. I spotted a six-legged purple starfish sunning itself on the beach (or probably it was just a dead one), and a red jellyfish trapped in a tide pool. While I was trying to build a rock statue, I discovered lots of tiny crabs under the rocks, and they went scattering around when I flipped their" roof" upside down. The tide came in about noon, and the sand dunes were totally swallowed up. I was so tired that when we finally hopped on the bus, I dosed off to sleep.

Bingo Bingo!

Can you believe it? I won bingo four times in the whole game! Today at our French class, we played Bingo after we have learned the numbers 1 to 100 in French, and I got bingo for four times. Boy, was I lucky today. The Bingo game was excellent, and it really gave us good practice for French listening. I had no problems understanding the word our teacher was pronouncing, because I have had lots of hearing practice when I was in elementary school. The first round and the second round I got one bingo each, but when we got to the third round, that was when things started to get interesting. I got two bingo in a row! Even my French teacher, Mrs. Chuaqui, was surprised that I got so many bingo in one game. Although there were no prizes at the end, I still had lots of fun and I quite enjoyed the game.

Cool Website

Social Studies is always very fun and today, Mr. Sale took us to the computer lab and introduced his website to us. It's a website where you can discuss current events with people and do cool trivia. Once I have logged on, I quickly clicked the student trivia session, and there were questions about history and things related to social studies. When a person answers a question correctly, he/she gets to ask a new question.
and the next person answers it, and so on. The food for thoughts is like a discussion. Mr. Sale posts a topic, and we discuss it and publish our opinions online. For the weekly Sale Trivia, we need to answer the question by sending a private message to Mr. Sale, so nobody will know what you wrote. I haven't checked out the current event discussion yet, but I think it will be fun just like the others. Later on we can go on the websites at any time at home, and I think this is an awesome website.

Autumn------Fun Season

Today is the first of fall and what fun things did you do? For me, I collected acorns on my way back from a friend's home. Their "hats" are all separated from the nuts, and their color is still greenish yellow. In a week they will turn brown, and that's when they look their best. I like to do crafts with them, like sticking a fake eye on it or make a wig for it. Today is also the traditional Chinese Moon Cake Festival, and there will be a full moon shining in the velvet-black sky tonight. We are going to enjoy moon cakes and tea while the people in China get to have a five- day break. Today is indeed a very special day with so many things happening at the same time, but it is very fun as well.

PE Test!

Well, what do you know! Today we had our 6-lap test around the oval. This is part of our fitness test and our goal is to do the whole course under 20 minutes. I ate a bit too much at lunch (Chow mien and pears), so that probably slowed me down a bit. At the end, I finished the course at 15 minutes and 40 second. I was pretty satisfied with my score, but I think I can improve more. A really funny thing happened during my run: My partner was suppose to tell me when I was at my last lap, but she kinda dosed off and forgot. That was the reason why I didn't sprint at the end. Aiya! We are going to have another 6-lap test in June, and I am pretty sure that I will do better and maybe shorten my time to 13 or 14 minutes.

Another Run!

Today I had another run around Langara Park before golfing with my dad. I asked my dad to set the timer for me, then I started off for my run. I thought it would be easier this time, since I had a complete run last time without even stopping, and sure enough, it was. I didn't pant as much as last time, and I finished the course in 20 minutes exact. This was a big progress for me, because last time it took me about 35 minutes to complete the run. I am very confident for the running test on Thursday, and I am pretty sure that I can do better by adjusting my timing, and with more practice, I will improve. Tomorrow I want to take another run and see if I can break my record. Well, perfect practice is the key to succeed.

Bee Movie

Today I watched this little show called "Bee Movie" on CTV. The story started out as a little bee called Benson who was forbidden to talk to humans was saved by a florist called Vanessa. Their relationship soon became very close and the little bee would go visit Vanessa almost everyday. One day when they went to the supermarket, Benson saw jars and bottles of honey, and he was shocked------ those were honey stolen from the bees! Benson sued the humans  for stealing honey from the bees, and ended up with a victorious trial. However, because the bees have all the honey back, they didn't need to work anymore, so there was no one to act as the pollinator. Almost all the flowers and plants in the world have withered, and it was up to Vanessa and Benson to save the last bit of green on earth. The whole movie was great. There were hilarious moments, like when Vanessa broke up with her crazy boyfriend, and also sad moments, like when Benson and Vanessa lost trust to each other. This is a movie you definitely have to add to your home movies collection.

My Trip to Granville Island

Today my mom and I went to Granville Island to spend the afternoon together. There are lots of cool artifacts and art products there, also with numerous galleries, so we decided to take a tour around the island. We took Canada Line to Olympic Village Station, hopped on the 084 bus and arrived at our destination after three stops. We went in almost every shops on the island, exploring new things as we walked. There was this awesome silk weaving workshop where all the silk products are hand- made. In the shop there was a container full of mulberry leaves and silkworm cocoons. It was odd that the cocoons were green instead of white, but they were still very beautiful. We also visited a canoe workshop, where I chatted with the old artist who owns the shop. There are still many workshops and stores for us to discover, and next time I visit this island, I will find out all the secrets.

Social Studies Class- Fun and Weird

Social Studies class is always very fun. At the beginning of the class, we would have some time to discuss current events. Today we went from whether we Canadians should have death penalty in our laws or not, to "100 ways to die", then to the Chinese economism. It was really weird how you start topic, and then relate it to other ideas. So when one of our classmates asked about how you put a prisoner to death in the United States, the whole class was getting excited at the idea of "death". Some talked about torturing, some talked about shooting, and even others related the topic to burning the prisoner alive. Gosh! Then we talked about how people treat death penalty prisoners in China by shooting them, and for some reason we started talking about Chairman Mao. It was fun discussing those events with the whole class though, because everybody was able to share their information with everybody else.

I Made It!

Whew! That was hard! After a long run around Langara Golf Course, I was impressed with myself. Today I was training with my dad for the big PE test coming up next week, which is going to be a full loop around the golf course in less than twenty minutes. I was very nervous at first, because I have never done a full loop around the golf course without stopping before. I was also very worried as well, because my stomach usually hurts whenever I was running for too long. We did some warm-ups, then started running. When I was half way around the course, my side started to hurt, and my legs felt like they were filled with lead. I wanted to stop and have a drink around the fountain, but my dad told me to keep going. Fatigue soon overcame me, but I was still able to hang on. Finally, I surpassed my limit and finished the run. It was challenging, and I am very proud of myself.

Artistique!

Art is always one of my favorite school subjects, and today, our whole Art class went outside for sketching. The weather was really nice with plenty of sunshine. Everybody settled down to draw down what they want to draw. I found a nice spot under the shade, then I looked around and decided that I should draw the girl not far from me. At first, I drew a rough shape of that girl, then I began to shape her features: the hair, the face and the clothes she was wearing. During that procedure she moved a lot, but I was able to remember what her position was in the first place. When I was done drawing her, I began to shade her surroundings. By the time the bell rang, I was pretty much finished with my picture. For someone who has never learned how to sketch before, I have done a good job, and I was very proud of my artwork.

Field Trips------ Hooray!

Boy, am I excited today! Our English teacher, Ms. Greskiw told us that we will be going to Granville Island for the Writer's Festival in October------ and guess what, we will get a chance to meet Kenneth Oppel! The cost of the trip, however, is 17 dollars, and our transportation fee will be 8 dollars. But I think it's all worth it.
Meanwhile, another field trip is going to happen in the same month: the Vancouver Playhouse! The whole English class will go and see a world famous play called The Fantasticks. This play is the longest running play in the world, and it has been played all over the world! These are the special events which will happen next month, and I cannot wait to enjoy the fun.

Science Fair Project Ideas--- ???

Last time our science teacher, Ms. Smedley, mentioned that we are going to have a science fair in the school, and we need to think about the topics that we are going to do for our projects. I am very excited, but a little bit nervous as well. I need a good topic to work on. I was thinking about doing something related to bogs, swamps, marshes and other kinds of wetland, but after doing some researches during the weekend, I knew that it was going to be tough to choose a suitable topic inside this area. So I wanted to do something related to our daily lives. There are lots of scientific facts in it, too! I hope I can find the topic I have been "dreaming" for!

Massive Blackouts

Finally! The power is back on! Today our whole building was suffering from massive blackouts, and boy, was it hard! During daytime, it didn't feel any different, but when the sun went down, our whole suite was in complete darkness. Without electricity, we couldn't cook, couldn't study, or do anything else. To be honest, I felt like I was back in the time when candles were the best light sources in the house. To ease our hunger, my dad had to run out and buy pizzas for us. By the time the pizzas got here, they were already as cold as... well, cold pizzas! We devoured our dinner in minutes, and drowsiness began to gather upon my brain. Since I couldn't do anything else, I decided to go to sleep. Well, what do you know! When I finally snuggled into my bed, the power was on again! The blackouts have ended!

Designing is NOT as easy as you think

Arrrrrgh! I am running out of ideas and time! Oh sorry, that's just me, frustrated over a pile of design drafts. Today I have to design and paint a picture for my friend as a gift, and my deadline is this Sunday. My topic is suppose to be flowers, and my mom suggested me to do it in a cartoon combined with vector art style. I have already designed several drafts, but they are just not good enough. It's always the positions of the flowers! Positions of objects are always very important in an artwork, because they affect the way the artwork looks. Right now I am just staring at a blank sheet of paper, waiting for a miracle to happen. Who knows? An idea might pop up any minute from now!

Easy Day for Friday

I am a lot familiar with the school now. I can find my classrooms without any help from the Ambassadors, and I am able to find them before the bell goes. My day started out with homeroom, followed by Math class and Applied Skills. Math class was really fun. Ms.Fowler divided the whole class into two groups, and we had a little competition using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The class ended with our team scoring the highest points. During Applied Skills we basically chatted throughout the whole class. I got a chance to know my friend's former classmate, and we spent our lunch time together. The entire afternoon was a little bit busier, and we have all been assigned works to take home. The first week of school was exciting, and I am ready for next week's challenges.

Search for the Right Place

Today had been a breeze. Things are a lot easier now in my new high school, but I am still having trouble finding my classrooms(especially those which are in the new wing). This afternoon I had someone help me to find my science classroom, and I was fortunate enough not to be late. Trust me, with so many doors and rooms on each floor, it was really confusing to find the right place. But so far, I haven't been late for a single class(Many thanks to the wonderful Ambassadors, who guided me to my classrooms). Tomorrow I am going to use some time at lunch to go explore the school, so I can become more familiar with my new surroundings. I wonder when the library is going to open?

First Day of High School------ No Need to Worry!

Today I, Mimi Meng, started my first day in high school. Many of you may have heard rumors about how mean the teachers can be in high school, right? Well, there's no need to worry. As long as you don't "bug" them too much or cause troubles, you will be absolutely FINE. In fact, many of the high school teachers are very humorous and they can often bring up good jokes. I met four teachers today, and they all have different "features". Mrs. Fowler, my math teacher, is one of my favorites. She is always filled with funny jokes, and I will bet that nobody is ever tired of her class. You see, high school is not always about challenges, it's about fun as well. For the next few days, I am going to check out the badminton team and other clubs, and have fun while I'm learning.