Go to a Christmas party

I have been dreaming of going to an authentic Christmas party. As you may well know, many people don't celebrate Christmas here in China. However, I have been hearing how fantastic a Christmas party is and how foreigners enjoy it and consequently I'm really down for it. Specifically, I want to join in singing Christmas carols, and make Christmas cards and prepare presents for my friends. Although I have learned that Santa Claus does not exist, I would like to place a Christmas stocking by my head before going to bed. I can say for sure that I will get good presents from someone in my family. Also, I wouldn't forget to decorate the Christmas tree, as I have been looking forward to hanging light bulbs, bells, and balls on our Christmas tree.

In a few months, although Christmas will be near at hand, I don't know whether I could have an opportunity to be invited to a real Christmas party.

Cooking a meal

An old friend of mine came to visit me a couple of days ago. We hadn't seen each other for many years. Fearing that eating at a restaurant might be seen as too boring for greetings after a long separation, I decided on eating at home and cooking a meal by ourselves. In fact, my friend was quite better at cooking than I was, so I was left to make a dessert. I was up for making a cheesecake. After getting some ingredients from the nearest supermarket, I combined flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl with a pastry blender. Then I mixed sugar and egg yolks until they got smooth. Shortly after that, I put the butter into the flour mixture, and kneaded it into a ball.

A few hours later, after quite hard and complicated work, I finally managed to put all the messy stuff into the oven. When it got cool, I topped it with assorted fruits.

In my mind, the final cake was a bit less of an art, obvs, although it was kind of ugly looking. Surprisingly, my friend said it was lit and perhaps the best cheesecake she had ever had. I felt over the moon when I heard her encouragement and compliments.

Imaginary friend

If I were to talk about something unrealistic or counterintuitive, I would say…

I would like to have a friend who likes being dressed up. I hope he/she is a quite breath-taking dresser, although he/she might be fairly sumptuous in many ways and only wear designer clothes. As far as I know, if someone has been studying and working in the world of fashion, it’s no doubt that he/she could be the cat's meow. I hope my friend would suggest me how to dress formally on special occasions like wedding ceremonies, business parties, and suchlike. Perhaps without his/her suggestion, I would probably have got dressed as a giant cucumber for a farewell party, and it could be really cringe. He/she might be such a kindly and approachable person for his/her age. When I have no idea how to dress in good style, I could always count on him/her for sound advice. It would be the humble and modest personality he/she has for me.

But the one person doesn’t exist, it’s nothing more than a fantasy.

An old friend

Yesterday, I bumped into an old friend of mine. Our meeting was quite an accident. I met him on my way to the library when he was accompanied by his girlfriend. We hadn't kept in touch since high school, meaning that it had been such a few years since we last met and that I wasn't able to recall his name, although he looked just the same. But it was a nice surprise. He took the initiative and said hello to me as I might look similar to him. Next, I had a happy talk with him for several hours. What a small world!

How can we participate in voluntary work?

There are different kinds of voluntary works that we can do in our daily lives. One of the best approaches we can take is to take care of the lonely and old people in nursing homes. Specifically, we can help to clean rooms and wash clothes there. It is also a good idea to sing and tell funny stories to them to give them pleasure. Another approach is to help children in the orphanage study. Many orphans around the world are longing for affection, and in desperate need of being educated as well. Moreover, as a member of a society, everyone can collect some of donations for the handicapped or donate money to charities if she/he doesn’t have enough time.

Do volunteer work

despite the negatives mentioned above, I believe that students' getting involved in volunteering is a positive development for various reasons.

Firstly, helping people in need gives them a deep satisfaction, which allows them to develop a sense of responsibility, and at the same time to feel more prepared and motivated to become a thoughtful and reliable individual in the future. Secondly, volunteering can be fulfilling, which means something to them and would probably bring back good memories in the rest of their lives. Finally, students are able to learn many lessons through volunteering and also develop a variety of essential skills, including communication skills, teamwork skills, time management skills and so on. On the whole, there are many people who need others' help, and I personally hope more and more people will join in voluntary work.

Let's recycle

From a personal perspective, there are a lot of things we can do to help make the earth green and the world a better place. To start, I think recycling is necessary to our environment. It is said that recycling one aluminium can can save enough energy to run a TV for three hours. In my case, even though it is a lot of trouble to separate trash, I still cooperate by recycling. For example, I collect the old newspaper for recycling. Besides, we can use more reusable items instead of disposable ones. But it's not just that, if we have to use disposable products, it's better to use products that are made from recycled materials.