Happy Valentine Day

Valentine's Day or Saint Valentine's Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14. In North America and Europe, it is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other by sending Valentine's cards, presenting presents. In my country, we just started to celebrate this day in recent years. For me, it not really an inportant day because i dont usually celebrate it since i lived very far from my boyfriend the last three years. I moved here last year but i spent my Valentine day back in Vietnam so probably i can say this is my first Valentine together with my boyfriend. How excited!

Lunar New Year

.As you all know that tomorrow noon is New Year's Eve in some asian coutries. I have not been back my country for 2 years. It means I have missed two New year celebrations. Severa cultures's new year are based on the Chinese Calendar such as Korea, China, Vietnam....Spring Festival is the most important Chinese festival that falls on Thursday this year, but wednesday evening, the Lunae New year's Eve, is the most cherished hour for family region. Everybody comes home, like they do for Thanks Giving in North America. As Vietnamese, we celebrate Chinese New year too. I remember when i was still in Vietnam few years ago, i had a lot of funs during this festival. We get two or three weeks off from school to prepare and celebate everything. Traditionally in Vietnam, each family usually buys speacial trees for the New Year which is called "TET" in Vietnamese. We beleive that those kinds of trees would bring good luck, richness for the new year because the flowers of those trees are bright yeallow and we call it "hoa mai". Beside that we have to cook traditional food for New Year like "Banh chung and Banh Tet".
Those kinds of cakes are Vietnamese food which is eaten just during the Lunar New Year. I cant never forget the moments that we spent to make these cakes. It took us 8 hours to wait till it was done. Our family members gather to prepare sticky rice, pork, mung beans and banana leaves. Because this kind of cakes needed to be watched until they are done, so the girls in my family such as me, my sister and my cousins were usualy responsible for that. We gather our friends and neighbours to talk during the cooking night. It is an unforgettable memory. The last thing is Lunar New year is the time that you get lucky money. Relatives and parents wil give you lucky money which brings you luck for the whole year. During this time of the year, i wish i were there, to be with my family and enjoy the holidays


Everyone with best wishes on the Chinese New Year

It is cold out there.

As you know, Calgary has a dry climate, but the temperature and climatic conditions can vary from day to day. The weather in Calgary varies quite dramatically and it has been very cold for a few days aready. I am lucky that i dont have to take the Ctrain to school everyday but its still cold for me. Living in Canada, we have to be aware of the weather all the time espeacially winter. I could not imagine that the weather hit -49 on Monday night. It was the coldest one i have ever seen. When i lived in Toronto, the coldest was just -20 and it was terrible. I had heard that calgary weather is awful but this is the first time that i can tell its true. Exposed skin can become frostbitten in as little as 30 seconds when a wind is a factor so i have to wear layer clothing everyday to school that i dont like. I have heard that you should stand up and move around to allow circulation to reach better reach all body parts. Dehydration can occur even when the temperature is below freezing. Hot chocolate is a great way to remain well hydrated. If you follow these things, i think you will make it through this cold weather. All the best.

Making new friends

I had a very good time in class today. I had chance to make more friends like Cady, Jennifer, Anna, Moza and Chenzhi. I was suprized because many people in this class think that i am chinese. In fact, i am not. We discussed about grammar today. It was a good exercise that each of us had to take turn to explain to the rest of the group about tenses. I found it very useful for my grammar because to be as a teacher, we could understand more about how to use the tenses and when we can use them appropriately. Hope you guys all enjoy it and nice to be friends with all of you.

What a Day!!!!

Today was not a good day for me. I go to school in the afternoon at usual and i did not feel really well so i could not really concentrate in class at all. Something was in my mind all day that i just wanted to go home and rest. My boyfriend picks me up afterschool everyday. He is in the fourth year of university now so it is good that we can go to school and go back home together. We did some grocery shopping on the way home. We went to Asian Market that located on 17 AVE SE and i live downtown so it usuually takes me 15 minutes to get home from there. So my boyfriend drove me home by Edmonton Trail today and he had to make a left turn on 7 Ave to get to my house at the very end of the street. At that time he didnt really see there was a Police officer standing right at the corner of the street. So his car was pulled over. Then the police came to us and asked for ID and driver lisence. He said that my boyfriend had just made an illegal turn that we didnt even know. He could make a turn but not during rush hour. We did many times before and didnt get catch. So the police gave us a Fine ticket for that "illegal turn" and it costs $180. I was so pissed at that time. My boyfriend and I said to each other that we will never go by that street again and if you drive, there is a lot of polices around downtown for example in front of my house, theres always polices who stand there and give people speeding ticket. So be CAREFUL.

Sister's Birthday

January 20, 2008
Yesterday was my little sister's birthday, she just turned 19. That day I took her out for lunch and had Pho (very tasty vietnamese noodle soup). After lunch we went over to a friend's house and continued the celebration. There was more food and we had chocolate cake, I would have preferred Taro cake more but I did not get to choose since it was not my birthday. After dinner we watched a couple of movies and went home around 11. It was a good day, I had fun.