A diary in English

[LearnEnglish2009]

Tomorrow evening,
I am going to attend somebody's birthday party.
I feel so bored.
I don't want to go at all,
because I don't know any of them,
even the birthday boy.

But I have to attend,
because the birthday boy has already invited me through my friend,
and he is an important person for us.

2009/8/3

--------------------------------------------------------------

My cellphone is very strange.
When it is in off mode,
its alarm clock still works.

Last night, I had switched the cellphone off,
but this morning, at eight o'clock,
the alarm clock rang.

I think this is a bug.

I bought it in Hongkong two years ago.
it is small, and it is reddish.
I like it very much.
It costs only xxx HongKong Dollar.
Actually, I forgot the price.
I only remember it's not expensive,
or I even can say it's cheap.

Maybe it's time to buy a new cellphone.

2009/8/4

--------------------------------------------------------------

Tonight, or last night, I attended a barbecue.
Tired but happy,
because I learned some knowledge.

For example,
we all know that Muslims don't eat pork,
but not all of us know that they don't eat non-halal-meat, either.

To make halal-meat, those animals such as cattle and sheep,
must be slaughtered and processed according to Islamic customs,
and the meat must be separately stored, transported and sold.

So, a Muslim, who attended our BBQ,
brought some halal-beef and halal-chicken for himself.

2009/8/6

--------------------------------------------------------------

Today,
I saw a lady, who has lived in America for ten years,
created a post in a forum.
She said she had seen a mistranslation on a road sign on a street in China:
"Place of Interest" was translated into "Beauty Spot".
She said she had ever written an article to point out this mistranslation,
but no one paid any heed to her.

I think she is wrong,
because I learned "Beauty Spot" in Book One of the New Concept.
I feel this is an amazing happening,
because she has been an American for years.

2009/8/8

--------------------------------------------------------------
(I'm a beginner of English. If my writing is wrong, please help me correct, thanks)

[LearnEnglish2009]

Yesterday was Saturday.
The weather was awful.
It was raining all day.

I didn't go out and have fun all the morning.
Instead, I slept until noon.
It is because I went to bed very late last night.
Or I should say I didn't go to bed until five o'clock in the morning.

At around two o'clock p.m., I got up,
and brushed my teeth and washed my face.
Then I had my breakfast,
and got a telephone call from my friend.

At four o'clock,
I took an umbrella and went shopping with my friends in the rain.

After we came back,
we cooked and ate our dinner.
Then vacuumed the floor,
and put the laundry into the washing machine to wash them.
Later we left our apartment to dispose of the rubbish.

When it comes to the rubbish,
I like Germany's garbage sorting system.
In Germany, garbage must be categorized into paper, glass, recycled, bio-stuff, etc..
Of course, every nation has its own garbage sorting system,
but not every one can implement its laws as strictly as Germany.

2009/8/9

--------------------------------------------------------------
(I'm a beginner of English. If my writing is wrong, please help me correct, thanks)

[LearnEnglish2009]

A few days ago,
I sent an email to a best friend of mine who is living in Los Angeles.
I told her I would have a chance to visit Tacoma, a city in the US,
but I'm not going to go,
because I can't afford the time during this period.
Then she replied to me.
She said she looked up Tacoma in google maps,
and found that Tacoma is near to Seattle,
not far from Los Angeles.
She said if I went to Tacoma,
I should also pay a visit to Vancouver.
she told me she likes Vancouver very much.

So I, an illiterate in geography,
got to know that Vancouver is close to the US.
And before that, I always thought Vancouver is very far from the US.
Then I searched the web,
and saw that Vancouver locates on the west coast of the North American continent.
It is just 25 miles from the closest boundary between the US and Canada.

2009/8/11

--------------------------------------------------------------
(I'm a beginner of English. If my writing is wrong, please help me correct, thanks)

[LearnEnglish2009]

A letter in reply:

I have just received your letter.

If your English were at a senior high school level,
mine would be at a kindergarten level,
because I was studying in a XXX class at high school,
and had never learned English seriously,
or even had never turned a single page of my English textbooks.
Later in college I was studying in a department of XXX,
where English is not a compulsory course.

Evidently I have been an English illiterate.
even though I have already learned English a bit lately,
I can't watch English movies and TV programs,
not to mention chatting with people in the Native American Chat room.

If we finally decide to go to XXX,
it will be several months later.

You are a nice "guide".

2009/8/13

--------------------------------------------------------------
(I'm a beginner of English. If my writing is wrong, please help me correct, thanks)

[LearnEnglish2009]

These are my diaries:
http://www.english-test.net/forum/ftopic43014.html#a_diary_in_english

I'm a beginner of English.
If my writing is wrong,
please help me correct,
thank you very much.

[LearnEnglish2009]

In these days, the people, who are in our forum,
are talking about learning English in English.
This idea reminds me of something in my memory.

Three years ago,
I had just arrived in Germany.
In those days I was studying language in the Goethe Institute,
where teachers did the same thing: teach German in German.
But for me, this was a very difficult way,
because I almost didn't know anything about German, nor about English.
In every test, I always got the lowest mark.

It was a hard winter.
The days were short and the nights were long.

At that time,
there were many Japanese in the Goethe Institute.
If you were walking in the building,
and if you were an Asian,
some Japanese would surely come and ask you:
"Are you a Japanese?"
"Where do you come from?"

There were many Saudi students, too.
Saudi Arabia is a rich nation.
I heared the country is paying a large amount of money,
to support their students to Germany for language courses and higher education every year.
Once in class,
when we were studying the comparative degree of German language,
I said to a Saudi girl:
"Your country is richer than Germany."
She answered quickly:
"Of course."

In addition,
there were three German boys working for the Goethe Institute,
and they all looked very smart and brilliant.
We often called them "little", "medium" and "big" behind their backs.
An English girl said:
"German boys are much more handsome than English ones!"

2009/8/14

--------------------------------------------------------------
(I'm a beginner of English. If my writing is wrong, please help me correct, thanks)

[LearnEnglish2009]

The Nirvana was a famous american rock band formed in the late 1980s,
and dissolved in the early 1990s.

Kurt Cobain was the lead singer of the Nirvana.
He was born in 1967 and died in 1994.
He died by his own hand.
They said his fame was so great that he couldn't manage it.
He finally found that the people didn't really understand his music,
and felt lonely and very sad.
Finally he committed suicide with a gun.
He was only 27 at his death.

I always think he looks like a German boy working at the Goethe Institute,
who is the "medium" boy I mentioned in my August 14th diary.
But the German boy is sunny,
and Kurt was low in spirit.

"Where Did You Sleep Last Night" is a song of Kurt Cobain,
a song that rend your heart:

He had such a sad voice in the song.
Although many people covered this song,
no one can touch him.

2009/8/17

[LearnEnglish2009]

Today I suddenly feel my life is meaningless.
I feel I'm a parasite, a nothing.
My life is just like a smoothly paved, straight, flat road to nowhere,
safe and comfortable, but dull and utterly pointless.
I can't find value of my survival.

What gives my life purpose, so that it is worth the effort?
This question makes me very bewildered and depressed.

A song about life:


2009/8/19