Archive for May, 2007

Gold Rush Day

A few days ago, on May 17th, we had a “Gold Rush Day”, when we pretended to be prospectors, the people who were searching for a place to “strike it rich”. We used bags of “gold” with numbers on them showing how much they cost to trade.

We had many different stations, such as the General Store, where we buy toys and candy using our nuggets, the Doctor’s Office, when we pretend to have ailments and pay for medicine, and the saloon, where we played blackjack and bought chips and drinks. It was very amusing, and we had delicious beans (yes, beans) for lunch. I liked everything, but the fact that the Jacob’s Ladders were sold out, I wasn’t happy with that. In the end, we had a hoedown when we square danced. It was exciting, especially the time when Lola Montez (alias Mrs. B) fast-forwarded the CD and everybody started tripping and falling down.


Lola Montez (Mrs. Buckingham) on the “river” directing us to our next stations. The tents around the river were where the old gold miners used to live.


We’re in line, ready to eat lunch. Quite a crowd!

Oh yes, we all had fake pioneer names. Dawa was ‘’Hog-Eatin’ Johnson”, Kate was ‘’Clementine'’, and I was ‘’Piano Playing Butterfingers'’. I actually played the piano for the whole fourth grade in the end, when we were all singing ‘’Clementine'’ and ‘’Oh, Susanna'’. Everybody cheered me in the end.

Anyways, the gold rush days were fun. But that was not how real people folt in the gold rush. It was very tiring. A miner usually only mined $4-$6 a day, and eggs at that time was $3 each! Usually the entrepueneurs, or people who start their own company, really got rich. Levi Strauss created blue jeans out of tents and earned a fortune. Mr. Stanford owned a supply store and got so much money he created Stanford University. If you were there, what would you be, a prospector or entrepeneur?

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时光飞逝

A couple of days ago, my brother called me that my high school classmates were planning a reunion event during the 5.1 week-long holiday, then I just realized that it had been almost two decades since we graduated from Lishui Middle School. Time flies by quickly, oh it is 20 years ……

Looking back the path of my past 20 years? Bid farewell to friends, took the train to Beijing, 7 year study in Tsinghua Garden, then flew to Los Angeles, studying at UCLA and working for startups and large companies, and then arrived in the Bay Area.
And my those dear friends, what kind of trajectory are you flying by?

Still remember the days at Lishui Middle School:
the classical buildings, the central lawn area with mountain fountain……
crossing the board vegetable fields and woods to go swimming in Er-Jiang river…….
publishing class newspaper Xiao Zhu Ling……
running around sports field every morning before dawn with all boarding students……
visiting classmates in groups during the first summer break after back to Lishui from college……

Just like a dream, so many things can flash by, in one dream, by 20 years!

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