The Last Night

This is the last time I will fall asleep in my own bed before going to China. It's a weird feeling: I'm sad to leave behind what I already know and love, like my family and friends, but I'm excited because there is such a bounty of opportunity ahead. This is a life changing event, a new chapter begins, and I can hardly wait to see what happens. 

I Hope That This Becomes the Title!!

6/11/13

六月十一号二零一三年

大家好！(Hi Everybody!)  I just figured out how to update my blog through email. Since I won't necessarily be able to access Blogger while in China I will have to update through email. This is just a test to make sure that this works before I'm in Xi'an. I'm hoping that this works because it will make sending pictures and experiences so much easier.

~Nicole (安霓可）

Here are some cute pictures of our Webkinz from my family's trip to Yellowstone: (Just to make sure pictures show up!!)

"Animal Pile Up"

"Caught White Handed" 

"Put the Marshmallow Down and Put Your Hands Up, Inuit!"

"My Icee-Pop!!!"

Preparing for the Future, Today.

                High schools across the country have begun to abolish the idea of teaching a broad curriculum based around the liberal arts in favor of specified vocational schooling and required internships in the area of the student’s interest. True, this kind of teaching would be invaluable for a specific career. However, I believe that a solid foundation built upon the liberal arts in a traditional high school with specialized training in college will better prepare me to be competitive in the global market: If I have several skills to offer, it makes me a more valuable asset and also shows that I am capable of acquiring new skills down the road if necessary.

                Don’t misunderstand me; I believe that specialized training for a career is necessary to perform it well. There are benefits to having specific training as well: having experience in your chosen field of study will increase your ability to perform immensely. You will be extremely well prepared for your job when you are hired in both understanding of what is required and confidence in your ability to do your job correctly.  I believe, though, that college gives students that specialized training and high school shouldn’t be.

It is important to understand the basics of any skill before one learns how to apply it to reality. Even if a student doesn’t plan on using a particular area, such as math, in their future career, it is still a very much needed skill for real life. People should just know how to perform certain tasks even if they don’t anticipate using those skills in real life. A journalist may never use calculus after math class, however if they ever encounter calculus, perhaps in an explanation of a topic they are writing about, a basic understanding of calculus is needed to be capable of thoroughly covering that writing topic. Everyone must file taxes, pay bills, and handle money. Understanding math is crucial to completing these basic responsibilities. A scientist or mathematician must know how to communicate well with others in oral and written form. They may not have chosen language arts as their focus of study, but it still taught them necessary skills they needed. It is beneficial for a performer to understand science to know how their body works, how different substances react, or the physics of any movement required in their performance. It is important for every citizen of any nation to know their nation’s history, how its government functions and what civic duties and guaranteed rights they have as citizens.

Specialized training can be highly beneficial, however throughout time the most highly educated people have been well rounded in many areas of study, especially the liberal arts. Many past people are famous for their highly educated contributions to society: Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln, and Eleanor Roosevelt. All of these people had well-rounded educations. Albert Einstein may not have been famous for his knowledge of history and writing, but he still was well educated in those fields. Da Vinci was an engineer and architect, but also an artist. Lincoln was not known for his math aptitude, however he taught himself not only writing and history, but advanced math and science of the era. Eleanor Roosevelt was well educated and helped her husband run the country while he was weakened by polio. She conducted many duties that only men had previously had and performed above expectations.

Some people may be better taught in an environment permeated by exclusively their area of interest, however if they do not know the basics of all fields, they are limited in what they can do. It is all good and well to be able to perform one task exceptionally well. But if exclusive focus on one area requires all other areas to be stunted in development, the person will become a one-trick monkey and if that trick becomes old and isn’t valued anymore, then there is no use for the monkey anymore. The same goes for skills; If the skill a person acquires is no longer useful and it is the only skill they know, they will not progress very far until they back up and learn another one. The demand for skills in the global market is constantly changing and it is no longer reasonable to assume that the skill one is valued for will be valued down the road.  This is why I believe that knowing several skills with adequate knowledge is better than knowing one skill exceptionally well, and why a broad-range, liberal arts foundation with specialized training added is the best preparation for the competitive global market today.

               

Lesson 16 writing quiz practice :)

王朋和李有在同一个学校学习快半年了。王朋常常帮李有学中文，他们常常一起玩儿，每次都玩儿得很高兴。李有对王朋的印象很好。王朋也喜欢李有。他们成了好朋友。

这个周末学校演了一个中国电影。看电影的人很多。王朋费了很大力气才买到票。他请李有去看电影。李有说好极了。他问王朋还有别人跟他们一起去电影吗？王朋说就他们俩。李有很高兴，说看电影以前她请王朋吃完饭。



王朋和李有在同一个学校学习快半年了。王朋常常帮李有学中文。他们常常一起玩儿，每次玩儿得很高兴。李有对王朋的印象很好。王朋也喜欢李有。他们成了好朋友。

这个周末学校演了一个中国电影。看电影的人很多。王朋费了大力气就买到票。他请李有去看电影。李有说好极了。他问王朋还有别人跟他们一起看电影嘛。王朋说就他们俩。李有很高兴，说电影以前她请王朋吃晚饭。

Under Pressure- Rhetorical Devices

• Symbolism- This is probably the rhetorical technique I use the most in this poem. Going through difficult times is often compared to many different processes, like forging a sword or running through enemy fire. I tried to use these as mini-themes in different stanzas. The first stanza (Chemistry) particularly is symbolic as one of my own personal academic struggles. The second stanza is what my family always tells me when I'm struggling, that the struggle will make me stronger. The third stanza is how it feels to be stuck between my family's and my school's push for excelence plus my own perfectionistic nature, and the physical and emotional toal it takes on me. I feel like I'm fired on from both camps, and any allies I have on the way end up taking flak as well. This burden weighs heavy and I can't always cope. (stanza 4) The pressure cannot be released until the escape has been found. (P.S: this was a very good stress reliever!!!)
• Anaphora- Anaphora is the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning on successive lines. In the middle of stanza 4 (lines 27-29) I intentionally kept the phrase structure the same at the beginnings to emphaisze the inability to cope with all three of the trials.
• Antithesis- Antithesis is balancing opposing parts of a sentence together. In lines 13 and 14, I balanced "blazing heat" with "chilling cold". In lines 33 and 34, I contrast an "icy grip" with a "warm beam of light"
• Personification- The Enemy and Destruction are abstract concepts that are given human-like characteristics. The Enemy "advances, approaches, waiting for the kill" and Destruction has an "icy grip".
• Imagery- I used vivid images of tempering metal to strengthen it in stanza 2 and the tactile feeling of an icy grip and a warm beam of light in stanza 5.
• Allusion- Allusion is the practice of indirectly referencing another written or linguistic work. Stanza 1 is an allusion to network solids in chemistry. Both diamond and graphite(pencil lead) are made up of only carbon atoms. The covalent bonds between carbon atoms in both graphite and diamond are not very strong on their own, but because they are arranged into network solids , they are much stronger. Since graphite has a simple cubic structure, it is easily rubbed off onto another surface and can snap cleanly. Diamond, with a complex, crystaline structure, is the strongest naturally occuring material on earth.
• Diction- I tried to make the voice seem stressed and "under pressure" (not too far of a stretch here!!!) I picked very vivid words because the narrator should be so far past just coping with what comes and desperate to find an escape. The narrator's escape at the end of the poem is intentionally left open, hence the shorter stanza. (I also felt guilty about going over the line limit!) I wanted to leave a little mystery about what the escape was, so that people listening could connect and think about what they think the escape is, whether it is death, or being saved by someone, or by the trials ending. 

Under Pressure

Under Pressure

 

The structure of the bonds-

the difference between

 indestructible diamond

 and fragile graphite.

Complex is strong,

and simple is not strong enough.

Only diamonds are formed

Under Pressure

 

One must be forged,

tempered,

cast into the fire;

Pounded and shaped;

Shocked into blazing heat,

and chilling cold,

and emerge stronger out from

Under Pressure.

 

Running the gauntlet,

taking fire from all sides.

Friends and foes alike.

The one who dares to help,

is struck down by the enemy.

And the burden of guilt

 is too much to bear

Under Pressure

 

As a weary heart grows faint:

the structures too weak to withstand,

the shocks too extreme to survive,

the burden too heavy to shoulder,

the Enemy advances, approaches,

waiting for the kill

A life is about to be extinguished

Under Pressure

 

As Destruction's icy grip tightens

a warm beam of light shatters the darkness

an escape from the misery

no longer

Under Pressure

 

 

第一篇文章：First Post

大家您好！我叫安霓可。我十七岁，十一年级。 我三年学中文。我收到一个奖学金从NSLI-Y. 这年暑假的时候， 我会去中国，西安省。在标题看看，这是我的第一篇文章。我希望写很多文章, 也我的中文越来越好。
Hi Everyone! My name's Nicole. I'm 17 and a junior in high school. I have studied Chinese for 3 years. I was awarded a scholarship from the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y). This summer break I'm going to Xian, China. As you can see from the title, this is my first post. Hopefully, though,  I will write many more and my Chinese will get better and better.

再见！
Goodbye for now!

P.S.- Shout out to Miriam Gochnauer, a fellow NSLI'er for coming up with this title and thanks for all the other great ideas!!!!!