The Lunar New Year

Being one of my family’s most cherished holidays, I always look forward to the fun of the Lunar New Year. Looking out to my cherry blossom tree, I know when the Chinese New Year had arrived as the flowers are in full bloom. As it Chinese New Year starts, we always start out by cleaning up the house to bring in the good luck, followed by many other fun activities.

Chinese New Year also comes with many colorful and exciting celebrations, including festivals and family gatherings. Every year, we all gather at my grandpa’s house wearing the traditional ao dai as we receive red envelopes, talk and eat New Year foods. Other family traditions include going to the temples as we wish for another good year and good health for our loved ones.

Ever since I was little I would always look forward to the special performances such as dragon dancing. Unlike fairy tales where the dragons are portrayed ad scary or the villains of the story, dragons of the Chinese New Year are made to be colorful and to bring good fortune as they provide great entertainment. 

Summer Volunteering

Even though it’s only February, I can’t help but think about summer. Despite it beginning about 5 months until school ends, I long for that last school bell ring as I am set free to do whatever I want. Summer is the time when we students don’t have a care in the world as we play to our hearts content. No more essays, no more tests or projects. Summer is the time for us to have our adventures and vacations as we push the topic of school to the back of our heads.

Last summer, I got the privilege to volunteer at Mason Elementary School as a high school volunteer. Despite having to staple papers and hole punch booklets for most of the day, I can’t hope until summer comes so I can go back as a volunteer. Along with a friend and fellow volunteer, we both had a great time being assigned to a kindergarten classroom where we would help with papers, fun projects, reading, English and math. It was fun getting the chance to read their stories and telling them that eight plus 4 wasn't 11. It was quite amusing when they would come back from their recess time, arguing over petty things such as who would be at the end of the line, as they would even sometimes remind us of what we were sort of like when we were little. Working alongside a kindergarten class was fun and exhausting all at the same time, especially because they had so much energy.

The best part of my summer was the last week of volunteering, where all the kindergarten classes were holding an event called ‘water day’ in which they were able to have fun playing various water games. All of the high school volunteers were put in charge of a separate stations we would help them play the games.  And by the end of it, the playground was a mess! And of course, we were the ones cleaning it up! Calk was everywhere, and all they toys were all dirty. Regardless of it being a pain to clean up, I can’t help but laugh and smile as I remember that day.

I can’t wait until summer comes again as I get to go back to Mason as a volunteer.