My friends and I

Religious

On April 28th, my friends and I went to Jiming Temple. Jiming Temple is one of the oldest temple in Nanjing. Jiming temple is a place where people come to make themselves more at peace and calm. The Jiming Temple changed in 1958 by a Daochang nun. During the "Cultural Revolution" period, the temple was severely damaged. In 1979, the monk helped to reconstruct the Jiming temple under the leadership of Master Cheng.
Jiming temple is located in the northeastern part of Nanjing City. At the back of Xuanwu lake the Jiming Temple faces Purple Mountain to the east. Behind the Jiming temple there remains a section of palace wall called Taicheng. While at the temple I took part in a prayer session which I thought was very nice. I also tried to talk with one of the nuns, but she just looked at me strangely. She was a little odd looking with a big scar on her neck from what looked like a knife or sword wound. I expected nuns to be a little different than her, but that was the first time I had ever tried talking with a Buddhist nun.

From November 8th to February 7th I went to ''Jufeng Billiard Hall'' to work. I got up at 8:00am and worked for four hours everyday. While working there, I realized that it is not so easy to make money. Although I didn't earn a penny, I learnt a lot about life. If I can't make money by myself, I won't spend a lot money buying things that I want because I now know how hard it is to make money. During my time there, my tasks were to wash the billiard balls, brush the tables and polish the pool cues.

On May 1st, I went to Xuanwu Lake. There were a variety of trees in an exhibition showing the lush colors of the trees and leaves. Many people grew different kinds of trees and on some of the trees, the branches were spiriling upwards. It looked like the trees were dancing on the flowerpots which was pretty cool. On another note, in one area beside the lake there was a three-dimensional painting on the ground. I think three-dimensional paintings are very cool. Look at the picture beside, it looks like the real thing. The boy is sitting on a peak over a river. This exhibition has really opened my eyes.

My volunteer experience

On March 9th we went to Beijing Dong Lu Primary School to teach some students. The student I taught is the girl in the photo (above right). She was a quiet and friendly girl and also very nice. I taught her how to play card games called Uno and Poker. As well, I tought her the different colors of cards along with the various suits spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. She was a very clever girl who learned very quickly so I was not surprised to learn that she is the leader of her class. We played a lot of games. They were a lot of fun and everyone was happy. I had an excellent and special experience. I wish I could be a volunteer at a primary school again soon.