A Visit to Yale Dining Hall

On 17th of July, after coming out of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, we came to the front of a big stone table on which there carved a quotation which I like very much. It goes like this, " In Memory of THE MEN of YALE who, true to Her Traditions, gave THEIR LIVES that FREEDOM might not perish from the Earth."  Behind the stone table, there was a high and magnificent building in front of which there were about ten big and high stone columns. Can you guess what the building is used for? With a lot of curiosities, Lucia, Sunny and I went into it. To our great surprise, we found it is a magnificent dining hall. From one the ceiling of the dining hall, there suspend down about ten magnificent glass pendent lamps, which evenly suspend down from both sides of the high ceilings of the dining hall. And in the dining hall, there are five long lines of dining-tables and eight leather chairs are put around each table. we figured out that the big dining hall can offer about 800 seats for people to eat in it at the same time. Now you can imagine how big and amazing it is!

The inside of the Yale dining hall is so magnificent and impressive, right?

How I wish I could also have the honor and chance to eat in such an amazing dining hall!

A Visit to Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

On 17th July, after having afternoon class, Clara,Sunny and I decided to go to the spectacularly looking library which is opposite to the WLH building. I found it is a new library whose outside wall are all made of very big and square marbles. Approaching the gate of the library, we found on the glass gate some printed words by which we knew the library was called Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. After going into the library, I was amazed by what I saw. Those marbles which constitute the four walls of the library looked like transparent glass, and the afternoon sun shone into the library which made the marble walls look like golden transparent glass walls. What's more, though there are only two stories in the library, the ceiling of the second floor is about 20 meters high. And in the middle of the second floor, there surrounded a lot of high and large bookshelves which contain a lot of rare books and famous people's manuscripts. These rare books and manuscripts look like very old and some of which are covered by dirt. But I know they are rare and very precious. Along the marble-walls of the library, there are a circle of window display cabinets in which there exhibit some very famous and invaluable books and letters and manuscripts, of which the most famous is the first edition of Bible which is written in German and very big. I was shocked when I saw the Bible, because I can never imagine a book can be made so large and after so many year, it can still be kept so intact. The spectacular library really broadened my vision.  

Look at the golden marble-walls of the library! How beautiful they are! Amazing, right? And in the middle of the library were those shelve after shelve of rare books and manuscripts.

In the following picture there is the first edition of Bible kept in one of the window display cases in the right corner of the library. It was written in German. The Bible is tremendously large, right? It is the largest book I have ever seen.

In the following picture there is an artistically delicate and invaluable book, in which a lot of all kinds of birds were drawn by a famous artist whose name I cannot remember. So the huge book is called Birds of America.

A Visit to the Yale Gym

On July 15th, Sunny and I decided to go to the gym after class. The Yale gym is said to be the second largest gym in the world. Altogether, there are 9 floors in it. We first came to the lobby where there was a nice conservator who showed us two pamphlets. According to the pamphlets, the highest floor is where offices of those coaches and the administrators of the gym locate. So Sunny and I decided to go visiting the gym from the 8th floor. We took the elevator to the 8th floor where Gymnastics Studio should have been located. But it is a pity the studio is still under construction. So we came to the 7th floor where Fencing Salon should have been situated, but which is also under construction. Thus, we came down to the 6th floor a little bit disappointedly. Thus, we had to walk down to the 6th  floor. This time we saw a man lying on one mattress which was put on the wooden floor. From the girl who was about to go in we knew this is an exercise room where people do yoga or things like that. Later on, we came to the 5th floor, where some young men and young women were dancing beautiful in the Dance Studio. we also saw several courts on this floor, but no people played tennis there. Next, we came to the 4th floor where we saw a lot of young people coming in and out. We later found out that this floor is where Brady Squash Center and Fitness Center were located. No wonder some of them were running on the running machine,  some were practicing weightlifting, and others were practicing squash. Sunny and I even ran on the running machine for a short while. On the 3rd floor, we saw a Practice Pool where some people were swimming happily. Kiphuth Trophy room and Golf Center were on the 2nd floor where we saw a lot of pictures of those winners and their teams and also a lot of trophies being exhibited in the windows. After about 40 minutes visit, we finally came to the first floor, the lobby again. From the above observation, we can see the gym is really a fitness enthusiast's dream and an exercise fanatic's paradise.

The Brady Squash Center is on the 4th floor, and some young people are practicing squash. Honestly speaking, it is the first time for me to see such sports.

Sunny and I came to the Fitness Center where a lot of people were doing various kinds of sports. I couldn't help joining them and running slowly and carefully on the running machine.

My First Trip to Yale Gallery of Art

At 13:30 on July 9th, we arrived at Yale's Gallery of Art as Carrie told us we had a very important thing to do there. After we went in and sat on the couch in the big hall, Carrie divided us into four groups, two of which are in charge of designing a reading and listening class, and the rest two are in charge of designing a reading and writing class. Richy, Rich, Christina and I was in a group, and we are in charge of designing of reading and writing class. We were told to ask imaginary students to write a good essay about the artistic exhibits by our delicately designed questions and guidance. And the task should be finished within 40 minutes. By 14:30, we were supposed to report our designed class to Carrie on the fourth floor of the Gallery. We four came to the second floor, and we found there were many Buhhdas of different time and from different countries exhibited in the windows. So we decided to design a writing class in which students are supposed to write an essay entitled "Buddhism in the World". And we divide our imaginary students into five groups,and each group can choose a subtitle, such as Buddhism in Africa to write about. They will be required to present Buddhism around the world by employing various media channels to illustrate their ideas about Buddhism. But there should not be overlapping between groups. Thus, they have to negotiate and communicate mutually. Their essays should  include the following key words, such as early history, modern history, origin, architecture, buildings, temples,typical Buddhism figures, Buddhist scriptures, effect on the lives of local people or clashes between Buddhism and local religions, etc. The more key words the better, the more the grades are higher. After we finish designing our writing and reading class, we came to the fourth floor,on which our colleagues were reporting their design to Carrie respectively. We were the last group, but Carrie had no time to listen to our report, for she had something urgent to do. After that, I had time to enjoy the numerous beautiful exhibits which include pictures, statues, antiques and audio and visual documents. What was most amazing is that the following day, I heard that there seemed a picture drawn by Van Gogh in the Gallery. I decide to enjoy that the next time. 

The statues in one corner of the hall of the Gallery of Art.

The Buddhas exhibited on the second floor of the Gallery which offered us the inspiration to ask students to write about Buddhism in the World were gorgeous.

In the Yale Planetarium

On July 8th, we were told by Carrie that the Yale Planetarium was open that night. Because that day was Tuesday, and the planetarium was open every Tuesday night. The planetarium is beside Science Hill, which fortunately is quite near the house we rented. So the Richys, Susan, Sunny and I we five walked there after we had our supper. After about 12 minutes' walk, we got to the planetarium where there were a lot of people waiting. We were told there was two shows every Tuesday night. The first is at 7:30, and the second is at 8:45. We waited for the second show. At 8:40, we were led into a big hall with a huge dome. Some of the audience sat on the chair, while some of them sat or even lied on the carpet. At 8:45, a beautiful young lady came in, and she opened the projector in the hall. Very soon millions of stars and the 12 constellations appeared on the dome. The young lady began those 12 constellations one by one. As she spoke very fast, and there were many jargons involved in her illustration, I only understood 30% of what she said. After that, she showed us a 3D film which lasted only 30 minutes and whose main idea was about black hole. All the slides and film were amazing. The numerous stars and the 12 constellations in the universe seemed to be in very near us and since it's a 3D film, we seemed to appear in the film,floating down as the black hole swirled in the film, flying as those stars moving fast and getting burned as the big sun shone brightly. It was a great visual shock to us! we really enjoyed it. After the film, we walked out to the observatory, on which there placed 3 telescopes. One of the telescopes, we were told, was even made in 1876, almost 140 years ago. We queued up to wait for our turns to observe the Saturn and the moon. With the help of the telescopes, we could see clearly the shining ring around the Saturn and the circular hills on the moon, which are quite similar to the pictures we saw on science magazines or TV. Tonight, we've really broaden our horizon and learned a lot.

Look! How marvelous those stars are! How I dreamed of flying to those stars and picked one down from the sky!

This is one scene in the 3D film. How beautiful the sky is!

That is the telescope made in 1876, through which we can observe the Saturn very clearly even today.

My First Experience as a Farmer

On the morning of 11th of July, the Richys, Sunny and I went to the nearby Yale farm to do voluntary work. The farm is only about 15 minutes' walk from the house we rented. After we arrived at the farm, we saw about 8 people working on the farm. Some of them were weeding in the field. Some of them were pulling out the lettuces, carrots and beets. Others were washing vegetables, or spinning them, weighing them and putting them in plastic bags. Richy and Sunny are strong and tough, so they were assigned to work in the sun pulling out vegetables while Richy's wife, Young and I, the frailer ones were assigned to work in a big plastic tent which provides us a shade, to wash, spin, weight and put them into plastic bags . This is the first time for me to do such farm work on a farm. So I am very excited. Young, another Mexican girl and I we three worked as a group like three workers on an assembly line. The Mexican girl removed the yellow leaves of the lettuce. Young washed it and I weighed it (each plastic bag holds three pounds of vegetables) and put it into plastic bags which were latter put into a big refrigerator on the farm. I later found that the washed and sorted vegetables would be sold to markets. We worked on the farm for almost three hours. At 12:30, we were offered to take some not so good beets and carrots and lettuces back home as a reward for our three hours' voluntary work on the farm. Not having the bread and salads lunch which we actually deserved, we left the farm with a little disappointment. Anyway, today I spent an unforgettable day as a farmer in the first time in my life. 

I was pulling out vegetables out from the soil. But unfortunately to say, I couldn't do such kind of work for no more than 10 minutes because it was so hot in the sun.

Interestingly, I found several hens on one corner of the farm. I fed them with vegetables. Aha! They were all running to me.

                          I've reached on the Yale farm.

I was weighing vegetables and putting them into plastic bags. Can you guess what is the red barrel on the steel table right next to me? Yes, that's a spinner. Vegetables are put into the barrel to be spinned or dried out of the needless water. In the barrel there is a hollowing out plastic basket, and there is a cover which has a rotatable handle.

I was removing those yellow leaves and dirt on the beets.

Our Trip to Connecticut Coast

On the afternoon of 12th July, Yale University organized all the Chinese summer session teachers to the Connecticut coast. At 14:00 o'clock, the school bus started from the university gym. After about 45 minutes drive, we finally arrived at the coast.Though it was very hot under the sun, we were very excited after we got off the bus. We were stunned by the gorgeous scenery. We walked to the coast, talking excitedly and taking pictures here and there. On the way the the boat, we saw clean and blue sky with cotton-like clouds and flying seagulls. we saw clean and mirror-like light-blue sea with little waves patting on the coast. We also saw people,young and old, men and women lying or sitting on the sand,playing balls or running merrily on the sand. And we saw various styles of yachts and sailing boats berthing along the coast or sailing on the sea. After about 10 minutes'walk, we aboard the boat that was waiting for us. Then it took us to the sea around the islands. The captain was a gentleman-like old man who spoke very good English. He introduced the geographic characteristics, the history of the 23 islands and he even told us some romantic stories relating to some of the islands in detailed and sometimes humorous languages, which made us burst out to laugh from time to time. After almost an hour's boat trip on the sea, we got ashore. Of course, we wouldn't let go such a good chance of taking photos ashore. We made all kinds of postures and took a lot pictures for each other. Though unwilling to part from so beautiful a place, we got on the school bus which started off at 16:00. On the bus, still bathed in the excitement, we talked and laughed. After an hour's drive, we finally arrived at the university gym. What a wonderful afternoon we had.

Various yachts and sailing boats berthing along the coast.

Look at the beautiful islands, the beautiful sea, the blue sky and the white cotton-like clouds! Amazing! Right?

That is just one of the beautiful 28 islands on which only 23 are inhabited. Look at those gorgeous big stones. The old captain told us they have tens of thousands of years.

I am totally immersed in the beautiful scenery. A beautiful woman intoxicated by the beautiful scenery.

The beautiful lady sitting next to me is my respected Yale University teacher---Siggy. What a pity! We looked at different directions when we took the picture. Can you guess why? Because there were several photographers taking pictures for us at that time. We don't know at whom we should smile.