First Time Being a Piano Tutor

So today it was my fiiiiirst time being a piano tutor! I had to tutor this 6-year-old girl for two hours today, and I am going again tomorrow. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and a really exciting experience. I mean, I've helped my 12-year-old cousin with his piano, but I've never really tutored someone who is not from the family. So I had the kid play the piano pieces, then I would tell her to play the right-hand part first, then the left hand, then combine together-----something I do for my piano practices. She wasn't really familiar with the method. I think before I came she probably learned a piece with both hands at the same time, but splitting the parts up will definitely make the whole thing easier. Being a 6-year-old, the little girl got kinda sleepy/bored after a while, and I had to encourage her to keep on going...took a lot of effort, but I can understand, because I've had the same experience many times in my childhood-----getting sleepy during a piano practice. I was really nice, but I had my rules----when she didn't want to play a piece anymore because she was getting kinda bored from repeating the piece (but she still couldn't get the piece right), I didn't let her skip. Instead I told her to keep going and get the piece right. So that was new...ANYWAYZ, IT WAS REALLY AWESOME BEING ABLE TO HELP SOMEONE WITH THEIR PIANO.

Snake

So today I went to my friend's house and she got her king snake back from another friend of hers (I guess her other friend was baby-sitting the snake for like several years) Anyway she asked me if I wanted to hold it. I was like "nah it's okay but I would like to touch it". I've never touched a live snake before, so she took the snake (named Adrienne) out of the aquarium and held it. I touched the snake. It felt really smooth, despite its many scales. I felt her tummy too, and it was soft and kinda squishy. Anyway the snake was trying to move on its own so we put it back into the aquarium. Hhehehhehe. It was fun playing with the snake.

I Wanted To Make A Tin Can House

So today I bought another can of golden mushroom soup. One purpose is to eat the soup. Well another purpose is to make a tiny house out of the empty can. I don't know where that idea came from. It just popped up.

So the can will be the body of the house.

What should I use for a roof? I am thinking of something plastic.

I am also thinking about cutting out a door or a small window from the can. Don't know if my scissors are that strong though... Might as well give it a try, but I can only do that when I've finished the soup. Today is a bit late. Maybe tomorrow before lunch. Yummm golden mushroom soupppp.

The tin can house can be a bird house! Yep.

How I Make My Plate o' Spaghetti

I just made a nice big plate of spaghetti for my family. Here's the recipe...

-some green onion pieces
-oil
-spaghetti
-water
-spaghetti sauce (whatever flavor)
-chicken sausages
-salt n' pepper

Sooooooo, first you boil the spaghetti in water for like 10 minutes. Don't get it all soft and mushy...but not to hard either. Then get a pan and put in the oil. Throw in the green onion pieces and it will smell so awesome. Then put in the spaghetti and make it like chow-mien. Put in A LOT OF SPAGHETTI SAUCE (I usually use up to half a bottle, one of those biggggg ones for one plate), then salt and then finally cut up the chicken sausages and throw it in, and FRY THE SPAGHETTI but still keep it saucy. Then pepper. Then nom nom time.

That's the way I cook my spaghetti :^)

Stuff in France

So when we went to France in July we visited the Palace of Versailles. About a quarter of it was still under maintenance so we went as far as we could inside the palace. Here's a few shots inside the palace:

And we also went to the Notre Dame: I also got souvenir coin from the cathedral.

Here is one of the photos we took while in the Louvre Museum: TOO MANY ART WORKS! O.O

And this is the Eiffel Tower!!

YAWWWWW BACK

I AM BACK IN VANCOUVER AFTER ABOUT UH, 11 OR SO HOURS OF MISERY ON THE PLANE. Now I can finally organize some pictures from my Europe trip and write about them. But now me snooza. Geez, I wasn't very used to my house when I came back...My mind was still on my uuncle's house in Frankfurt...

Flying Back to Vancouver

Well this afternoon I am flying back to Vancouver. Oh geez I am so gonna miss my grandparents, my uncle's family and this village in Frankfurt. But I also miss my dad and my home in Vancouver, and I have school too...

Waking up at 3:00am

I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night (or morning, before dawn that is), but this morning I did. At 3:00am. WHY? Because I was soooo thirsty. I've never been so thirsty in my entire sleepy life. So I woke up at 3:00am, then tip-toed downstairs to get a glass of water. Cold water. Ahhhhhh it was sooo refreshing. Then I tip-toed upstairs and went to sleep. I had a mouthful of water with me because I was scared that I might be thirsty again and then have to go downstairs to get a drink. But I swallowed that mouthful o' water eventually and that was it. Nothing big. It sure was a little bit freaky considering most parts of the house were hidden in the darkness.

ARRRRGHHHH U BUGS R SO ANNOYING

Today we had several bees and flies in the house and it was sooo annoying. We had to cover our food and stuff cuz these little pest kept on hovering above them. ARGGHGHGHG. Finally my aunt got this electric bug zapper and zapped some bugs. There were white butterflies outside dancing their ways around my grandma's vegetable patch. I WAS SO PREPARED TO KILL DRIVE THEM AWAY CUZ THEY LAY EGGS ON THE PLANTS and them hatch into greenish worms. Argghghghhgh

I DROWNED IN MAH DREAM

Yesterday night I had this really frightening dream of me drowning in greenish sea/lake water. Yep. I can't really swim properly and that's why I am scared of water. But at the same time I am always curious around deep water...water water water. I remember when I was like nine I was still learning how to swim but I couldn't swim properly so one day I jumped in this pool but I didn't know it was like 2 something meters and I ALMOST DROWNED.

My Bitter Melon Plant

I checked on the shelf I built for my bitter melon plant this morning and found out that the plant has already used its "tentacles" and hung onto the shelf. It's so cute. I built the shelf out of long twigs I found under the shrubs near the fence and I just tie the things together and stuck them in holes in the ground. The bitter melon plant has already bloomed two flowers, and I could see tiny forms of the bitter melon under the flowers. Yum yum. Unfortunately I won't be able to see the fruit ripe because I am going back to Vancouver this Saturday. Sigh...I will miss you my bitter melon plant. Oh yeah, and I've named it Basket. BASKET O' BITTER MELONNNNNEN

I Feel Sad

Yes that's right. I feel kinda sad about the fact that I am leaving Frankfurt on Saturday. I will miss my grandparents dearly. Time seems to have gone by so fast...the memory of my mom and I arriving in Frankfurt is still fresh in my mind.

Oh well, it's almost the end of the summer break anyway. I heard that school is reopening on September 6th. Sigh...I will be able to see my friends in Synergy once again, but I will miss my bestest friend Asma who will be attending in a high school in Richmond in grade 9.

This is probably unrevelant with my mood right now, but I built a climbing shelf for my grandma's melon plant.

Again, Reaction + Thoughts After Reading Fang-Yu's Blog

Just read Fang-Yu's blog about childhood, and oh my it was a waayyyyy different childhood from my own. I didn't grow up in Canada. I grew up in Hainan, China (the island at the bottom of the Chinese territory map) and stayed there for 11 years. According to my parents, I was brought to my grandparents' house when I was only 4 months old and stayed there 'til the age of 3, then back to my own house, thennnn back to their house at the age of 5, and stayed there 'til 11. Strangely, I don't remember me having A LOT OF toys (eh, two pokemon balls, a box of animal figurines, a bunny stuffy->omg I actually made clothes for it using cloth and yarn) but I did and still do have a lot of teddy bears (One was even bigger than me). Unfortunately I WAS FORBIDDEN TO PLAY WITH THEM (how cruel!) Cuz my mom was scared that I might get asthma from all the dust hidden in the teddy's fur. Well enough about that. My childhood was more about bugs and nature.

I wasn't scared of bugs. Not even centipedes. I used to have a daddy-long-leg by my bed (it made a web there and I used to feed it <with freshly-caught ants>daily at 12:pm). Caught tadpoles (not bugs!) with friends. SO MUCH WIN.

Oh ya and wild edibles. My grandma has this small garden full of herbs and one orange tree. I actually know some wild edibles. There was this purple berry herb. You can eat the berries and use the leaves to make yummy soup. Oh and starfruit trees. Me and my bud used to eat its flowers (pinkish, with starfruit scent) Hahaha not really, but it was fun chewing them. I had coconuts daily cuz they were so yummy. I ATE A LOT AND STILL DO. And barbecues! Except they weren't "real" barbecues. Me and my friends just used the bricks and stones we found and built a tiny oven in an open space with only dirt and we used to roast peanuts, sweet potatoes, sausages and dried squids. LAWL. SO YUMMY.

Me and my friends used to sneak into this huge orchard. It's not a private orchard so anyone could go in. (mom: DON'T GO INTO THE ORCHARD THERE MIGHT BE PEDOS IN THERE) but we went anyway and didn't see a single pedo.

The orchard had a lot of stuff. Lemon shrub, mint herbs, vegetables, flowers and others. We used to get lemons and mint from there. Hahhahahah. I didn't dare to go in there by myself but my best friend was with me so it gave me the courage to do so.

I loved to, uh, how do you say this------tinker? Yeah, I used to collect metal rings, wood pieces from nearby construction sites, nails and stuff and tried to make them into something. Didn't always worked but worth the try. And I also drew on walls. My mom was sooooooo mad so she made me stop. Heheheh. I also drew on furnitures.

Hheheheheh. This is all over the place. My childhood was incredible. Many people think that kids in China just study all day and have piano and stuff and no free time. That may be partly true. I don't know about other kids but I've had my fun in my childhood. My schedule was packed with school work and extracurricular stuff, but I still had space for funs and adventures.

Shrunken Wild Strawberry

So I went to the wild strawberry patch again yesterday and found this big ripe one (of course it's A LOT smaller than the ones we have in grocery store, but it's one of the biggest ones in the patch!!!). Sweet cheeses that smelled sooooo good. Unfortunately,my MOM was with me and she wouldn't let me eat it. Her excuse: if you consume that dangerous fruit you might get sick and we are in a foreign country and I don't want you to gamble with your own life Blah blah bleh... And so I was really sad. I put the strawberry on the counter and today when I checked on it had shrunken. Not a lot, but its size has definitely been reduced. Man I wish I was able to eat it. But...

Wow

Just read Fang-Yu's blog. She talked about her piano exam and stuff, which made me think about my upcoming piano exam in...eh, next January? I know I WAS supposed to take it this month, but the schedule changed because of my trip. It made me think about my life with piano, and I just realized that I have this special bond with piano, it's like when you have been doing something for a longgggg time, you can't live without it! (I've been playing piano since the age of 4, got interrupted during 11-13 <parents wanted me to focuse on learning English>, and now I am back!!!!) I mean, I may not go for piano for my future job, but I do want it to be still part of my life. Sigh~~~

August...Y U NO EXCITING EVENTS?!

I guess this is how they equal things out. An epic July followed by a pretty...well, peaceful August. I like this kind of life.

I guess when I go back to Vancouver, I would be a couch potato and be so lazy and stuff and just snooze all day.

But my mom would let me do that would she?  >:^D Moms are evil.

Mooooooooooo~~~~~

Oh COME ON! I HAVE TO STOP WRITING BLOGS LIKE THIS! NEXT TIME, LESS PARAGRAPHS AND MORE JAMMING! MOAR!

New Knitting Tips

My grandma taught me how to do a nice edge for my scarf. I am knitting a green scarf right now, and it looks waaaaayyyy better than the red one I knitted with zig-zaged ugly edges. My mom is taking it apart right now :'( I spent so much time making it! But now I have to do it again! But let's look on the bright side: at least this time I can make the red scarf's edges neater!

Yep that's right, I am STILL knitting during the summer!

Franz Schubert

So today I did some background research on Franz Schubert cuz I am playing his Impromptu in E Flat Major. If I want to play his music well first I have to learn about him, the composer, right? Well, I read about his childhood, adulthood, death, composing styles and stuff. I know this is kinda, well, out of the topic, but did you know Schubert was nicknamed "Little Mushroom" by his friends? And he did not own a piano (because he was too poor) so he had to borrow his friend's. One day he suddenly had the urge to play the piano, but when he got to his friend's house, another person (not his friend) was already playing it. So he left quietly, and as his friend observed, he sobbed in his bed like a little child. I feel so sorry for him. I mean he was SUCH a brilliant artist, but he was so poor and died at the age of 31. Oh geez. But his pieces are absolutely wonderful.

Minecraft

I played Minecraft for the first time ever in my entire life last night.

I was being such an idiot at it.

All I could do was to hammer blocks into pieces.

And I got myself stuck in a deeeep tunnel I dug...

That tunnel was so deep.

I just kept on breaking all the blocks

UNTIL I COULD BREAK NO MORE.

Then I planted flowers and mushrooms

And accidentally broke them too.

I need to learn how to play minecraft. -.-

Huha Muwahahah

I love my life these days. Waking up at 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning, watching tv then doing some theory/ear training/piano stuff, then nomm nomm time, then nap time. It's just sooooo relaxing! But when I go back to school everything's gonna be soooo different because there are gonna be tonnes of work waiting for me to finish. I know a lot of my friends are taking the piano exam in August. I WAS gonna take it in August, but I am in Frankfurt right now so I can't, and so the time was changed to next January I believe. Oh well. More time to practice and prepare!

My friend Asma wrote me emails and she told me that it's super hot and sunny in Richmond. I think the weather is probably the same in Vancouver as well. It rains a lot in Frankfurt these days, but the rain just came and went quickly.

Yesterday I spent some time renovating my blog site. I changed the blog's title and the wallpaper as well. I like my new Tuzki flower wallpaper. It's so bright and it makes me feel so warm.

Slug Day

It rained SO HARD this afternoon. Oh geez the clouds just gathered together and cried. Well the rain didn't last very long. I took a walk with my grandparents after a delicious curry potato dinner. I wanted to pick more wild strawberries. You know that a lot of worms and slugs come out after the rain right? Well they are not exactly my grandma's favorite animals. My wild strawberry spot is on this mud hill and wild shrubs grow crazy over there. So I saw a lot of slugs. They didn't look so attractive to me. We have yellow banana slugs in Vancouver which look so cute right? Well here I can only find brownish or blackish poo-like slugs (ewwwwww). Some of them were curled up on dandelion stems nomming the leaves and stuff. Hhahahaha. I only picked three wild strawberries and I didn't even eat them because I was kinda scared that the slugs might've licked them already. Or so my grandma said.

ME THINKA

I've been thinking: it's August already, and one month later we are back in school. I really really wanna stay with my grandparents, but I have to go back to Canada. Oh geez. I am gonna miss them so much when I leave Frankfurt.

Talking about August, I think it's kinda "cold" if you know what I mean. I can't hang out with my friends. I know this may sound ridiculous and funny, but I am actually a little bit nervous for my new year. I do this every year before a new school year. It's not really a good habit I know.

Okieeeeeeee, enough about that. Sighhhhh

I don't see Carina going on google chat very often. She does reply my emails pretty quick though, but I have not been very successful at finding her going on google chat at the right time. CARINEH I MISS U. Cynthia goes on daily, and sometimes she even stayed pretty late. CYNTHIAAAAAAA UR NOCTURNAL! Hhehehehehe. :)

I miss my friends.

Wild Strawberries

OMG I can't believe I found some wild strawberries on the way back home from the store. Geez. I still have them (I picked three and ate one). They smell REALLY delicious, but their size is just petit. These berries are really really small. It's kinda hard to compare them to the strawberries we have in supermarkets. Oh trust me, although these berries smell good, they don't taste that wonderful, rather smushy. I spotted these berries because of their vibrant color and their leaves (three leaves joined together to form a big leaf). I really do think they are real strawberries because they look exactly the same as store-bought strawberries except a couple times smaller.

Flowers, WILD FLOWERS ME SNIFFA

Today I picked sooooo many wild flowers with my grandma!!! Oh geez they look so beautiful in that tin can. ME SNIFFA. Purple Pink Yellow Orange White Blue Green. So pretty. I had to rearrange them because I still have some flowers from two days ago so I got rid of all the rotten ones and replaced them with fresh flowers. Oh geez. They are gonna last for at least two or three days. I am so happy. :3

ME SNIFFA FLOWERS. Germany is so beautiful, so fully packed with colorful wild flowers.