A few other phrases for small talk are 'shoot the breeze' and 'chew the fat.' I tend to make small talk when I'm spending time with someone. So sometimes I say "We hung out" and I mean "we made small talk." We're just shooting the breeze. We sat outside and chewed the fat for a bit. For some reason this one seems like something my grandfather would say. Anyway, I hope you enjoy shooting the breeze with people in English!

Today I went to the orthodontist again because Isabella had lost her orthodontic rubber bands the same day the doctor gave them to her! We went to the orthodontist the day before yesterday. The doctor examined the corrections of Isabella’s teeth and checked her braces. She diagnosed that the middle seam of Isabella’s upper teeth was not aligned with that of her lower teeth. So she gave Isabella a pack of elastic rubber bands, which looked like tiny rings. She instructed how to put them on the braces, so that they will work with the braces by adding an additional level of pressure that helps to move the teeth. I didn’t know why but I asked the doctor if I could buy an extra pack of bands. Yet, the doctor said one pack of bands were plenty to use until the next return visit. Then, we went home. Yesterday morning before going to school, I reminded Isabella to put on her rubber bands. She looked around and then said she couldn’t find them any more! I got dizzy and was about to explode right then and there. When and where did she lose it? How could she be so careless with her things? It had taken hours to go to the doctor, and now I needed to go there again to get another pack of bands? After searching for them all day and getting nothing, I had to accept the loss of the bands and return to the doctor's office.

Aug 11, 2021. Our favorite snacks in the school dining hall The two pictures below show my and Isabella's favorite evening snacks in the dining hall on campus: 1. boiled congee with pork and 2. rice noodle rolls with stewed beef. Should this first sentence be written in third person singular?i.e. the chef first puts, heats it for awhile, and adds the meat ? For No.1, you can order different meat with your congee, and then the cook will first put the prepared congee(It is cooked beforehand) into the pot, heat it for a while, and add the meat you ordered. He uses a big spoon with a long wooden handle to rapidly stir the congee and meet so they can be heated thoroughly. Next, right before he serves it to the clients, he garnishes chopped green onion or cilantro at the top of the congee. The dish is delicious, and easy to eat and digest. For No.2, the cook starts with warming up the pot for a few seconds, then adds some white onion to the pot, followed by adding rice noodle rolls to the onion. Then, the most exciting thing comes: the cook splashes（or-pours） a big spoonful of beef stew on the top, which adds a strong flavor to it. There are other evening snacks in the dining hall, and all of them are cheap, clean, and tasty.

Jul 30,2021. Pan-fried Matsutake Today I received a package of fresh Matsutake mushrooms from Shangri-La, which I ordered yesterday from a local I met in Yunnan via WeChat. It is said Matsutakes can't be farmed/domesticated/cultivated, and can only grow naturally in the wild forest in that area. They grow underground, so people take their dogs to find, dig out and harvest them. They feed their dog Matsutakes from a young age so they are able to locate Matsutakes. In the package I found a paper with several recipes on it. It seemed that pan-fried Matsutakes with butter was the simplest and most classic recipe, but I was out of butter, so I used canola oil instead. It turned out really good, apart from it being too oily. I liked the special scent(or- fragrance) of the dish.

I think a subject like that would be titled Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, or Personal Finance, depending on what the subject matter is~

Yes, they sound right. I think the context is clear, but why did you use "might" in "degrees might also have been sent"? Like I said, the sentences sound right, but if I was going to try to make them a bit more clear I'd change the second sentence to this: "The copies of the transcripts from my second master's degree and my bachelor's degrees were sent to you by my university either yesterday or today. " I'm making some assumptions here about what you really mean, though. Maybe the transcripts are from different universities? Something like "The copies of the transcripts from my second master's degree and my bachelor's degrees were sent yesterday and today, respectively." This would mean the masters degree transcript was sent today and the bachelors degree was sent today. Anyway, given the context I think what you wrote is clear. As a teacher I could pick at it to make it a bit more exact, but as a person I understand the message clearly. Good luck on whatever you are applying for! -Hank

"talk a blue streak." It means you talk continuously and for a long time.

Yes it looks like you are very successful synthesizing your knowledge of prepositions, articles, and phrases that also use the same prepositions in surprising ways 1. yes, "the" is for a specific thing, "at" is for a general location. I'm at the school, not the movie theater/grocery store/park. 2. "in" is for a specific part of a location. I'm in the school, not in the gym/garden/library/cafeteria. 3. yes, "at school" for people who are generally at that place, like students and teachers. "in the school" for people who are not generally at school, so we need to use "the" to show it is a specific place for them. 4. yes, it is about occupation here 5. yes, its about time here. I'm American, so I don't know about BE using "i'm in school" for that. But yes, BE uses prepositions in different and surprising ways. The most confusing example for me is when BE speakers say "at the weekend" where I would say "on the weekend." "at the weekend" sounds like a day is a place, which doesn't make sense. You can't stand in front of a Saturday, for example. But I can't sit on top of a Saturday either, so both ways of saying this are kind of silly if you think about it too hard. to add a few more things. You already covered at and in, but not on. You might also think about being ON the school. I don't know what you are doing on top of the school's roof, but I hope that you are having fun and being safe. There's also the song by Alice Cooper called "School's out." It is about school being over forever because the building has been destroyed. I'm "in" school, or school is "out." It is a fun turn of phrase I think. thank for your question, i had to brush up on my in/at/on explanations. that was helpful for me