Writtings on rocks I put some photos on the internet. Some of my foreign friends are curious to know what the meanings of the writings on the rocks are. The meanings of the writings on the rocks may be very different. Some of the writings are name of the rock, such as "石笑" which means that the rocks are smiling. If you look at them carefully, the rocks are in a shape of a smiling mouth. Another rock is named as "象鼻峰" because the shape of the rock looks like a trunk of an elephant. Some of the writings were written by famous people. Usually the writings have some meanings, such as "高山流水( high mountain and flowing water)" ,"眼中沧海(the ocean in one’s eyes)". Some of the writings were religious scriptures. One thing you should know is that writings in ancient Chinese should read from right to left instead of reading from left to right as in the English and modern Chinese. Especially, when the Chinese characters are written in column, you should read the right column to the left column, from up to down. Next when you visit temples and mountains in China, maybe you should pay attention to the word order of the writing on rocks. Otherwise, even though you know every Chinese character in the writings, you might not get the meanings of the writings.

A walk in the Garden Expro Garden in Xiamen It is in the National Day Holiday. We have seven days off work. After staying home sleeping, reading book and watching TV for two days, I decided to have a walk in the Garden Expro Garden in Xiamen. The garden is a very big garden near my home. The garden is built on a number of islands in the Bay of Xinglin connected by bridges. The main path in the garden is a straight path about 2 kilometers, which runs through three islands connected by two bridges. It will take one or two days for you to visit the whole garden. I have been there for many times since it opened in 2007. It was cool, windy and cloudy. But when I arrived at the gate of the garden, there were hundreds of tourists with their family members and friends. Entering into the garden, I took a side path leading to the Garden of Southern Yangtze River. I saw green trees and flowers along the path. The air is fresh. There is a small village built in the style of ancient southern Yangtze River, surround by a river. There are stone arch bridges across the river. I helped a family to take a picture of their family. They seemed very happy. Then I went into the Garden of Ethnic Culture. There are the Manfeilong Tower similar to the one in Yunnan Province and the Wind-rain Bridge similar to the one in Guizhou. I saw Dutch windmill and a small Sphinx in the International Garden. Finally, I walked through the Modern Garden back to the gate of the garden. I felt relaxed and refreshed after a long walk in the garden.

English learning It's really not easy to learn English, I practice English by myself all the time, writing, reading and listening, but the result is not as good as expected and sometimes I feel despired and bored. Especially, I am not confident in speaking English. Maybe I have done it in a wrong way. English is a language. It is a tool of communication.Without communicating with others, how can I speak it well?

The book I am reading. I am reading The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani.

First notebook entry: Introducing myself I live in Xiamen, a city located on the southeast coast of China. I am a teacher in a college. I like reading. I like the blue sea and blue sky.