5.31
One-Day Trip
I’m going on a one-day trip to Suzhou City tomorrow.
My train departs at around 9:30 and the train station is not far from my apartment, so I’ll sleep in tomorrow morning and head out at roughly 8:20. Then I can have around 40 minutes to check in at the station — That will be enough time even if the station is busy.
The distance from Shanghai to Suzhou is approx 85 km, so I will reach Suzhou Station in 25 minutes.
My return ticket is set for 19:50, but I would probably need 45 minutes to get to the train station, which means I need to finish everything before 18:30.
Have a nice weekend!
* “Travel” isn’t very often used as a countable noun.
* English avoids repeating words too often.
5.30
Gardenia scent in my room
The fragrance of gardenias fills my room, sweet and rich.
I think this fresh natural scent is better than any bottle of perfume.
5.29
A New Video
I uploaded a new video this evening.
It’s of the hike I went on Saturday. The scenery was stunning. I hope you like it.
I have completed half of the captions and will finish the remaining ones tomorrow evening.
Feel free to let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
* “It’s about the hike” means it’s a video explaining the hike to people.
“It’s of the hike” focuses more on the hike itself.
5.28
Some Tasty Tomatoes
I bought some nice tomatoes last night. They were fresh and tasty. I hadn’t eaten such good tomatoes in a long time.
I used to buy fruits and vegetables on an online platform. It’s very convenient. You just need to click some buttons and the things you want will be delivered in front of your door in around thirty minutes.
Yesterday I stopped at a vegetable store on my way home. This kind of store is popular among old people who don’t like online shopping or want to choose their vegetables themselves.
There I bought the best tomatoes that I have had this year.
I decided to join the grandpas and grandmas’ vegetable team.
* You don’t actually use “I decide” that much. You would use it mainly if you’re talking about how you make decisions. For example “I decide on things very quickly.” When you’re actually talking about a decision that you are making or have made, you would use “I am deciding” if you are in the process of making a decision, or “I decided” if you have already made the decision.
5.27
A Pleasant Little Thing
I got home a few minutes ago and wanted to share a pleasant little thing with you.
There is a pot of gardenia on my windowsill. It has several buds right now.
I just found out that one of the buds is going to bloom.
Maybe I will see a flower blossom when I get up tomorrow morning.
I’m so happy！
5.26
Captions for the last video
I finally finished the captions for the last video.
It was not very hard, but I didn’t have enough time to do it.
If there are any mistakes, please feel free to let me know.
5.24
Foodie
I’m trying not to be a foodie every day.
As you may know, there are many great restaurants in Shanghai, and the delivery system is well-developed in this city, thus I can almost get any kind of cuisine in 30 minutes.
A few months ago I found myself spending too much time on enjoying food. It took me too much time to choose and eat. The main problem was that overeating would interfere with my daily exercise.
So I adjusted my eating habits: I ate as much as I liked at breakfast but only kept away from hunger at lunch and dinner. That’s how I found time to come here to write in English and to run at night.
But there are two or three days a week I can’t do that because I need to have dinner with my family and friends. I go back to being a foodie on those days.
5.23
Another hiking video
This is the video I took on Saturday while hiking.
I wanted to add some captions but didn’t have enough time.
I love those clouds so much that I can’t wait to share the video with you.
5.22
Reading
I’ve been rereading some old books recently, which I bought a few years ago.
It seems a little lazy because I already know these books, but it’s comforting for me to reread them.
Sometimes I find some new points I’ve missed before, and sometimes I just read one of the books before falling asleep.
There’s no pressure to have to learn something new.
- “to know about” is to be aware of. “to know” is to understand or be familiar with.
5.21
Which word is the correct translation for 宗教?
When we talk about 宗教 in Chinese, we talk about the belief in the existence of a god or gods and the activities connected with worshiping them.
I thought it had the same meaning as the word “religion”. But after the last three entries, I realized that maybe I was wrong, my friends here talked about 信仰, which I believed was “belief”.
I’m baffled right now.
This kind of situation has happened many times while learning English — I thought I talked about one thing, but it actually meant another.