Religious Service

On 14th December 2008, I went to Mochou Lu Church Nanjing with my friends Chris and Victor. We met at 2 o'clock in the afternoon at the gate of the church. We saw a lot of people there. Our planning teacher Ms. Bartell was also went there. On that day the Christian were celebrating the Christmas.

I was not a Christian, and in fact I did not believe it. But I would go abroad to study, and Christ was a kind of culture in the western countries. So I thought it was a good chance for me to learn more about the culture in different countries. That was the reason why I joined the event. Another reason was that I had not been to a church yet, and I even did not know there was a church in Nanjing maybe more.

When we went into the church, we saw a lot of people. The church was very beautiful. There was a nun on the stage reading something. And then the Christian followed her. But I totally did not understand. After reading the long prayer, the nun leaded us to sing song. However I had not heard the song. I could not sing, and I did not know what the song talked about.

To tell the truth, I felt boring. I did not know anything during the whole process. However I experienced the festival atmosphere. I was also happy to join the event.

Volunteer work in Jinling Library

On 30th April, Victor, Gerry, Tim and I went to Jinling Library to do the volunteer work. In the morning we met at Nanjing No.9 Middle School, and then we went to the library together. We found the curator and asked for some volunteer work. The curator said that he could not find any suitable work for us, because they did a lot of work that we could do before. So he asked us to read some books in the reading room and wait for him to find some work for us. About 20 minutes later the curator came back. Finally he found some work for us.

Then the curator took us to another reading room and introduced us to another librarian. After a short talking between the curator and the librarian, the curator left. The librarian showed us what we would do. That was organizing the books on the bookshelves. Though the books on the bookshelves seemed organized, the numbers of the books were messy. So our mission was to put the books on the bookshelves they should be on. You know that libraries often have many same books, that is good for different readers who want to read on book. But sometimes they could not put books in the right place. So another mission for us was to put the same books together and put them on the right bookshelves.

After telling us what to do and some details we should pay attention to, the librarian left. We started working. Everyone was responsible for on bookshelf. At first we thought that was an easy work. But when we did that, we changed our mind. Two minutes later, nobody found anything wrong with the number of the books. I was dazzled to many small numbers. Suddenly I found a wrong number, I was very happy. However another problem appearanced that was which bookshelf the book should be on. I walked around the reading room to find the right bookshelf. I took almost ten minutes to find it. Only on mistake made me very tired. I realized that was not a very easy work, and we must do it carefully, otherwise we would loss many mistakes. Gradually the other three friends had found wrong books. After us finding all the wrong numbers, we needed to put the same books together. That was not easy too.

We finished our own work in 3 hours. We were very tired. To do that work we did not only to use our mind, it was also a muscular labor. We often needed to stoop low to find the books and bring the books. So we were very tired. After a short break, we thought that was better to change with each other, and check. That was easier for another person to find the mistakes. Really we found many mistakes that others lost. Two hours later we all finished.



Sometimes the things you think they are easy, but they are not. So we can not look down on anything. Although we were very tired, we felt very happy when we saw the books were organized.

Fshion show

On 27th April, a big, wonderful, fantastic performance was held in GCA. That was our super Fashion Show. The models were all the students or teachers in GCA, and the clothes they wore were designed and made by us, students in GCA. Before the fashion show we were divided in different groups, and each group should design 6 clothes and make one design to the real clothes. We took a lot of time to prepare the fashion show.

I went to the fashion show with Lawrence and Gerry at 6 p.m. The show located in NFLS. At the beginning, we saw an exciting hip-hop from a very famous team in Nanjing. The dance and music made me felt very cool. After that 6 emcees came out and introduced something about that show. Two of the emcees were from our class 10 C, they were Grace and Alex. They looked very nice. Then the fashion show began.

The first model was Tim in our class. When we saw him appearences all the students from 10 C screamed. Then the models walked around one by one.Victor was the model in our group, and his clothes were designed by our group members. So we felt proud to see him on the stage. And his clothes looked very nice. Victor looked very handsome too. There were also many teachers played the roles of model. I thought Ms. Chu was the most sexy model, and Mr. Haris was very handsome. All the models on the show were very nice.

I liked the fashion show and enjoyed it very much.

Act in a performance

On December 31st 2008, GCA held an Art Festival. Our class 10 C had a performance on the show. We would play the drama Snow White. Our director was Abby. Also the play was written by Abby. I played the role of a titan. Our creative director Abby changed the seven dwarfs into seven titans. That must be interesting.

That was my first time to act in GCA. So I was a little bit nervous. In the drama Soda played the main character Snow White. That was very funny for her to play the role. When practiced before, we laughed many times. We did not say anything, because some students would dub. During the show, there was something funny happened. Kevin was the lead of the seven titans, but he jumped into the stage in a wrong time. When he realized he made a mistake, we all laughed, and the spectators laughed too. I remembered when we practiced, Kevin had made the same mistake. That was so funny. However there were little mistakes, there were also many things fantastic. Such as the people who dubbed were very good, they did a great job. Most actors and actresses played very well. We were all successful.

Although there was something wrong happened, it was also a successful drama. I thought my first show was very good. The process was very funny. We often laughed when we practiced. We had a lot of fun during the show. I love it.

Academic Showcase

English 10

Social Studies 10

Math 10

Art 10

P.E. 10

Planning 10

Science 10

Mandarin 10

Italian Food

On 8th March Gerry, Chris, Lawrence, Victor, Tim, Paul and me went to Bella Napoli Italian Restaurant. It was an Italian restaurant. It was on Xinjie Kou. We went there because Lawrence suggested us to have lunch there. We arrived there at about half past eleven.

When we were outside the restaurant, we thought it did not open. Because we saw it was dark inside the restaurant. But when we went in it, we found it was not very dark and the sunshine could though the windows. The sunshine was better than lights. We felt very comfortable to eat in sunshine. The environment was very good. It was quiet and the light music made us felt very good. Maybe the time was a bit early so there was not many people there.

I ordered spaghetti and salad. There was seafood in the spaghetti. It was delicious. I liked it. But it did not like noodles in China. It was a bit sour and sweet, the taste was special. And there was no soup with the spaghetti. That was cool. In China, noodles are often in soup and they are never sweet. But I also loved spaghetti. However the salad was different from the salad I have eaten, and I did not like it very much. But it was not very bad. The service was good there. The waiters were kind.

At about 12 o'clock, that was lunchtime. We saw some foreigners came into the restaurant and had meals. They were received by the manager, because she could speak English and the other waiters could not.

The food was good, but it was not cheap. I spent about 100 Yuan for two things. If you have enough money, I suggest you to go there. The environment, food, service are very good. If you are a foreigner do not worry about the language. You may have good time there.

Nanjing Museum

On 8th of March, my friends Lawrence, Gerry, Chris, Tim, Paul, Tim and me went to Nanjing Museum together. The reason why we visited Nanjing Museum was that Nanjing Museum did not like other exhibitions, it included many different kings of exhibitions. We could enjoy many kinds of exhibitions and different ways of art for going to one place, and it opened everyday. An other reason was that Nanjing Museum was free. That was good for us. Nanjing Museum was on East Zhongshan Road.

First we went to the Ancient Chinese Lacquer Exhibition. There were many lacquers there. Some of we even have not seen. However the introductions told us what the lacquers used for.This is Ruyi in Gold Lacquer, it was in Qing Dynasty, A.D. 1644-1911.It was on of my favourite lacquers. It was made of gold and the carving was perfect and careful. It was unbelievable. This was just one of the lacquers in the exhibition.

Then we went to the Ancient Chinese Jade Exhibition. Over there we learnt how to make jade. And also many beautiful jades there. Afterwards we were in the Cloud Brocade Hall.This was a robe with design of dragon among clouds. It was for the emperor. From the guide we knew it took 3 years to make this robe. That was miraculous.

We also saw Wuwei Shan Cultural Figures Sculpture Gallery. And there were many beautiful paints from The 8 Strange Persons Of Yangzhou in Ancient Chinese Painting Exhibition.

School Club/Organization

Before I came to GCA, I heard that there were many clubs in GCA. I think that is interesting. I had joined some clubs in my middle school, but they were not very good. They did not have many activities; some almost never had any activities. I could not develop or improve myself from the clubs. Now there are many clubs in GCA and they include many kinds of areas. Such as piano club, volunteer club, basketball club, cooking club, etc. I joined basketball club, volunteer club and TV series club.

Basketball club was the first club that had activities. Many people joined basketball club, so Mr. Saxby wanted to choose the players in GCA basketball team. He asked us to come to the playground to train for basketball on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday every week. If we could not come at least twice a week, we would be kicked out. Before I came to train, I was very excited. But when I came, I felt not very good. In fact the training was not about basketball any more. It was just running around the playground for many laps. I had not run such a long way before. Mr. Saxby told us if we want to play basketball well, we must train for this. I wanted to be a member of GCA basketball team. I came to train three times a week. About one month later, Mr. Saxby let us train for basketball. And he started to choose players by letting us play basketball matches. I went to play the first day. But something happened make me could not went to play. You know the training was after school, and I would go home very late then I did not have too much time to finish my homework. (My study was not good) So I gave up. I felt regret. I think I can study well now, Then I will have more free time to play basketball. I will be back next time.

TV series was a good club. I had activities on Tuesday every week. We could watch TV series or movies in the club. I remember we had seen a very funny movie KUNGFU PANDA. In the movie the main character the panda was very funny and lovely. He loved kungfu. At last he defeated Tailang. In this I saw many things about Chinese culture. It was good for people in other countries to know more about China. Volunteer club often had activities on Sunday. I had class on Sunday at half of last term. So I did not join the activities too much. But I was also very happy to join the activities. We went to the school for the blind to play with children there. Even they could not see anything but they lived happily.

I love the clubs in GCA. I can make many new friends there. I can learn more skills that I have not known before. I can improve myself. I have good time in the clubs.

Volunteer/Work Experience

This term we have to perform at least 10 hours of community service or paid employment. Before I came to GCA I almost never did any work like community service or paid employment. I think it is a new thing to me. But I think it will be a very interesting thing. And helping others without getting money or any awards is a happy thing. I like that even I did not have many chances to do that. Now the chances are coming. I can be a volunteer. I am happy to be a volunteer.

Maybe two months ago, our English teacher Ms. Mitschrich asked us to come to school to help her and Ms. Hadley at ten o'clock on Saturday if we were free. She also told us we must help for free. But I do not care that. So I went to school on that Saturday. I thought maybe many students would go and be a volunteer. But truth was not the same as what I thought. Happily most of the students were in our class 10-C. Students in 10-C are always helpful.

At ten o'clock, Ms. Mitschrich and Ms. Hadley appeared at school gate. Then the students and teachers went to the art room together. Over there Ms. Hadley and Ms. Mitschrich told us what to do and explained how to do. That day our task was to draw the walls. When I heard it, I thought it must be an easy task. Then Ms. Hadley explained how to do it and taught us how to do it well. She showed us many photos about different walls on her computer. We saw the walls were not very easy to draw. Then we went to the GCA building to start our work. But not all the students went there. Some stayed in the art room to make a big pig. I went to the GCA building with most of the students.

We took some wood blocks out of the GCA building. Our first task was not to draw. We had to paint the wood blocks white, and then made them dry. This job was not easy. We spent more than two hours finishing two thirds of the mission. So we went to school next Saturday. We finished the work that last Saturday did not finish. Then we started our main task, drawing the walls. Ms. Hadley showed us how to do at first. We needed four colors, brown, gray, black and green. And Ms. Hadley told more detail about how to mix the paint. Afterwards we worked in groups. We divided the work by ourselves. Time flew very quickly. We hadn't finished half of the work until one o'clock. So we had to meet at school the third Saturday. We finished at last on the fourth Saturday. Everyone was very happy even someone's cloth was dirty. When I got home my dad found my black trousers had some white on it.

I learn a lot from this volunteer experience. Helping others for free is a happy thing. The more people the more power. Many people can finish a work in very short time. I will not forget this experience.

Physical Activity

Holiday is a wonderful time. We can relax. We can sleep for a long time, watch TV all day or play computer games without having meals. Just stay at home. However I think that is not very good for our health. So I think doing sports is good for our health. It is better than staying at home all day. This holiday I did sports instead of watching TV, playing computer games.

I like playing basketball. It is a good sport. When I was young, my father taught me how to play basketball. My father can play basketball very well. When he was young he was a member of his high school's basketball team. When I was in Grade 7, I became a member of my middle school's basketball team. I love basketball. It is a part of my life.

This winter I also played basketball. I often played with my father and his high school's teammates. They played well. My dad told their team was the No.3 in Nanjing. I like playing with them. Playing with them is different from playing with classmates. I can improve myself by playing basketball with them. I can learn a lot of things by playing with them. They often use tactics, I can learn more about it. Basketball takes five. They had much experience in playing basketball. I am very young. Sometimes I can not deal with the ball very well. But they are experienced, they are seldom in a flurry. Although I am a child, I am younger than them, I am not very weak. Also they can not look down on me. I can block, three-point shot, rebound, assist etc.

This winter I also played basketball with my friends. We did not use much tactics. We had a lot of fun in playing basketball. Sometimes we played and chat with each other at the same time. I often make many new friends by playing basketball. Sometimes we can create some new actions while we playing basketball. Some look very cool. My friends and I had a match this holiday. The friends who played with me were my teammates in my middle school's basketball team. They played very well. We were divided by two teams. Each team had five people. We played forty minutes. At last, my team won the match. Everyone was very tired, but we were very happy. Although the other team lost, they were happy too. Now we are in different schools, we do not have many chances to play basketball with each other. Basketball makes us to be brothers.

I play basketball not just for fun. It also can make me healthier. Winter does not like summer, it is cold. So I do not want to move. I often become fatter during winter holiday. This holiday I do not want to be fatter. Playing basketball is a good way to reduce weight. I also learn what team spirit is by playing basketball, because it takes five. I love basketball, I love sport.

American Food

On Dec 28th, our group (Alex, Abby, Kevin, Gerry, Maria, Evelyn, Lawrence, Penny and me Oliver) had a big dinner with 2 Grade 12 students Peggy and Laura in an American Food restaurant LUCKY STAR. We chose this restaurant because of the MAP MAGANIZE. We saw the photos, price, food on it. We thought that was a good restaurant. It is in Xin Jiekou. We arrived there at six o'clock. Then we would have the dinner.

It was an American style restaurant. It was different from the . In China tables are often circles or square. And the table wares were different. There was a fork, common restaurants in China. First thing I had noticed was the table. It was very long but not broada knife and two dishes on the table. In China we usually use chopsticks. Different countries have different cultural and habits.




There were a lot of food for you to order. They all looked very delicious. They were different from the food that I usually eat in China. I usually eat rice and a fried dish. But the there did not like this. At last I ordered a steak, a bowl of soup, two pieces of bread and a bowl of salad. The food looked nice. The salad was good, I liked it. The soup was so so. The bread was delicious. I liked it best. I did not like the steak very much. It was very peppery. It was not totally ripe. After eating. When I was on my way home, I felt uncomfortable. Maybe that did not fit me.




Although the food I did not very like the service was good. The waiters were kind and polite. They were better in some Chinese restaurant. The environment was beautiful. It was not very noisy. The light music sounded beautiful. There were some foreigners eating there. If you like eating American Food. I will recommend you. Its environment is quite good. Though I did not like the food very much it was a chance for me to learn different countries' cultural.

Exhibition

On Dec 4th, Our class went to Nanjing University to visit an exhibition. Most of the artworks were made by the famous artist Wu Weishan. They were almost sculptures. Wu Weishan, a very famous sculptor. He is one of the best artists in China. He has won many awards. Such as:

1995 Award of the Third "Xu Beihong Scholarship for Scientific Research and Creation".

2000 The Honorary Title of "Y.K. Pao Dinstinguished Artist". Of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. 2003 "pangolin Prize" of the Royal Society of British Sculptor. etc.

He is also a member of FRBS. He is the only member in Asian.

When we arrived, we saw a lot of sculptures near the exhibition hall. They looked very beautiful. I remember there was a very tall sculpture. That was a famous artist. Everyone would know him. He is Xu Beihong. There was a big cow in front of the exhibition hall. Of cause that was a sculpture. When we were waiting for the teachers and students, we took many photos there. Before going into the exhibition hall, we were attracted by the artworks. I thought we would have a fantastic experience.

Few minutes later we went into the exhibition hall with a guide who was a student of Wu Weishan. When we went into the exhibition hall, we saw many sculptures. Many people said "WOW". Because they had not seen such many nice sculptures. Me too. I was surprise. The guide told us a lot of information of each artwork. We listened carefully. Also we took notes.

The artwork called Lao-tzu I found most interesting. The artwork was special. The middle is empty. I had not seen a person sculpture with empty bingy.That was air. But Wu Weishan did that with his idea. Lao-tzu was a famous thinker in China. He had many good thoughts. Air is the biggest thing. It can contain everything. When Wu Weishan made this artwork, his hands moved with the clay. His heart also moved, he had no other things to think. That was a beautiful frame of mind. It was also an idea that Lao-tzu supported. Also I agreed, I think it can cultivate one's morality. We only saw the reducer. The real one is 18 metres high. I think Lao-tzu is a high statue in Wu Weishan's heart.

During the visit the famous artist Wu Weishan came. Then everyone went where Wu Weishan appeared. At that time, Wu Weishan just like a super star. Everyone wanted his signature. Luckily I got it. It looked cool. Many people around Wu Weishan, and they wanted make photos with him. I also wanted. I tried to be closer to him. Unluckily I failed. Too many people there. However Wu Weishan stayed there for a short time. Some minutes later he said he had classes, then went away. Someone had not got his signature desponded.

God times go by quickly. It was time to go back. I did not want to leave. From this experience I learnt a lot about art, sculpture also and Wu Weishan. I start loving art.