As you can see, whatever I might do, I will be treated to a scolding by one of my dear teachers. On the surface all the teachers act like ladies and gentlemen, but behind the scenes there is a silent tug of war going on between them.

“Don’t drink cold water!” “Don’t eat too fast!” “Don’t kick off the quilt!” “Don’t, Don’t, Don’t …” It seems that Mother will never run short of the negative word “Don’t”.

Lu was an outgoing girl when she was younger. With a sunny character, she could bring joy to everyone around. In contrast, she is very quiet now. It occurs to me that Lu is not the Lu any more.

In my class a boy can sit between two girls, and a girl between two boys. We can’t figure out why on earth the class director should have such seating arrangements in place. In most Chinese teachers’ eyes, a boy seated between two girls or a girl between two boys normally cannot get good grades, because his or her attention is often on the two classmates of the opposite sex.

“To be your father,” Dad often says, “I have to be a chef, a doctor, a nurse and many other things. Had I known it, I would have studied medicine when I was younger.”

In my eyes, Mother is a superwoman. I admire her for her self-discipline.

To be honest, calling Gran was the last thing I would do. Reluctantly I picked up the phone and slowly dialled her number. Meanwhile I racked my brains, trying to come up with a topic I could share with Gran. Nothing came up to my mind, though. What could I possibly talk about with an old lady who is 55 years older than me?

To be honest, calling Gran was the last thing I would do. Reluctantly I picked up the phone and slowly dialled her number. Meanwhile I racked my brains, trying to come up with a topic I could share with Gran. Nothing came up to my mind, though. What could I possibly talk about with an old lady who is 55 years older than me?

Thanks to Black, I not only got my phone back but also became kind of a celebrity in our new school. More and more schoolmates got to know me through Black. Therefore, I made lots of new friends. Loneliness became a thing of the past. The credit, of course, belonged to my pet dog Black.

Last term I got injured in the leg in a soccer game. As a result, I was disabled for several weeks. Wearing a cumbersome plaster cast on the leg, I found life all of a sudden had become different. The hardest time was when it snowed twice, one storm right after the other.