That is interesting, the Neptune Festival by Victoria

When I turned 15, I was sent for the whole summer to my grandmother’s place, a small village on the shore of the Black Sea.

“It’ll be so much fun,” my cousin said, meeting me at the railway station. “We are planning Neptune Festival this year,” she added with pride.

“Wow!” I replied, without any idea what she was talking about.

On the way, I collected some of the information about the mysterious festival, and took her word to let me participate in its organization. That was the beginning of my summer ritual. “If July 12th is officially booked for the Neptune festival, July 11th will be the day of its preparation,” I thought.

I woke up excited. All day I asked everyone if I could help. The day was gone, but nobody asked. I went to sleep, angry at my cousin for not keeping her promises.

But, at midnight, she knocked at my window and said, “Let’s go!” It turned out that the festival had to be a surprise for visitors to the village.

In the silence of the night, people, mostly young, were decorating their house's facades with colourful hardboard figures of underwater inhabitants. I was responsible for hanging multicoloured lanterns on trees beside the houses. We did mostly the main road, which the visitors were using to get to the beach. Exhausted, we went to sleep at daybreak.

The next day, we admired the picture we’d created. Water-nymphs were sitting on fences with a cold dangerous, but alluring, smile. Friendly-looking dolphins were diving into the rose’s bushes as if they were sea waves. A plastic octopus conquered my heart with its bright pink head and a big TOOTHY smile. Exotic types of fish, organized in schools on fences, were directing visitors to the beach. Tourists were giggling and taking pictures beside figures. Little shops were offering various costumes: necklaces with seashells, cloth-seaweeds, mermaid wigs with diadems, and crab-claw mittens. Laughter was heard from every corner of the village.

Following people to the beach, I awaited the peak of the festival. On the beach, people were awaited by many locals dressed up as pirates. Pirates, without warning, were dumping people into the sea. People were screaming and laughing, trying to escape. Villagers had a surprise for those who managed to escape. The rest of the participants were waiting beyond the beach with baskets filled with water.


After two to three hours of dipping people into the water, the Neptune Tsar came from the sea. A man, with a long green beard, wore seaweed rugs brought on shore by a catamaran. He waved in a friendly way to everyone after he landed. His maids had baskets full of “sea gifts.” They gave every soaked person a gift: seashells, polished rocks, fresh crawfish, pictures of the village, and lots of useless but cute stuff.

Nobody wanted to leave the beach. Until late at night, people were dancing and laughing on the coast. I couldn’t stay late because of my age, but I promised myself that, when I grew up, I’d stay and have fun along with everybody at the most amazing summer ritual I’ve ever experienced.

That is interesting, the Neptune Festival by by Victoria

When I turned 15, I was sent for the whole summer to my grandmother’s place, a small village on the shore of the Black Sea.

“It’ll be so much fun,” my cousin said, meeting me at the railway station. “We are planning Neptune Festival this year,” she added with pride.

“Wow!” I replied, without any idea what she was talking about.

On the way, I collected some of the information about the mysterious festival, and took her word to let me participate in its organization. That was the beginning of my summer ritual. “If July 12th is officially booked for the Neptune festival, July 11th will be the day of its preparation,” I thought.

I woke up excited. All day I asked everyone if I could help. The day was gone, but nobody asked. I went to sleep, angry at my cousin for not keeping her promises.

But, at midnight, she knocked at my window and said, “Let’s go!” It turned out that the festival had to be a surprise for visitors to the village.

In the silence of the night, people, mostly young, were decorating their house's facades with colourful hardboard figures of underwater inhabitants. I was responsible for hanging multicoloured lanterns on trees beside the houses. We did mostly the main road, which the visitors were using to get to the beach. Exhausted, we went to sleep at daybreak.

The next day, we admired the picture we’d created. Water-nymphs were sitting on fences with a cold dangerous, but alluring, smile. Friendly-looking dolphins were diving into the rose’s bushes as if they were sea waves. A plastic octopus conquered my heart with its bright pink head and a big TOOTHY smile. Exotic types of fish, organized in schools on fences, were directing visitors to the beach. Tourists were giggling and taking pictures beside figures. Little shops were offering various costumes: necklaces with seashells, cloth-seaweeds, mermaid wigs with diadems, and crab-claw mittens. Laughter was heard from every corner of the village.

Following people to the beach, I awaited the peak of the festival. On the beach, people were awaited by many locals dressed up as pirates. Pirates, without warning, were dumping people into the sea. People were screaming and laughing, trying to escape. Villagers had a surprise for those who managed to escape. The rest of the participants were waiting beyond the beach with baskets filled with water.


After two to three hours of dipping people into the water, the Neptune Tsar came from the sea. A man, with a long green beard, wore seaweed rugs brought on shore by a catamaran. He waved in a friendly way to everyone after he landed. His maids had baskets full of “sea gifts.” They gave every soaked person a gift: seashells, polished rocks, fresh crawfish, pictures of the village, and lots of useless but cute stuff.

Nobody wanted to leave the beach. Until late at night, people were dancing and laughing on the coast. I couldn’t stay late because of my age, but I promised myself that, when I grew up, I’d stay and have fun along with everybody at the most amazing summer ritual I’ve ever experienced.

A Family Celebrates the Vietnamese New Year

Read how one Vietnamese family celebrates New Year's in a uniquely Vietnamese way—preparing and eating traditional foods, observing special traditions, watching fireworks and a dragon dance, and sharing good times with family members.
 
Spring is coming, the period of time to which I always aspire. It means that the New Year is also coming soon. That's the first day of lunar calendar, around the end of January and the beginning of February in Solar calendar. 

Regardless of age, society class, or living conditions, every Vietnamese family celebrates the New Year in the same traditional way. It's considered to be the most important and wonderful holiday in my country, since that is the time for people to leave their haplessness in the back and get their fortune for the New Year. 

Similar to other houses, my family has always bustled in preparing and greeting for the New Year.
That was the preceding day of the New Year, and it was also the busiest day in my house. My mother went to the supermarket early in the morning and came back with a bunch of food. From then, the clatter of dishes and pans and the sizzle of food that has been fried were far resounding incessantly until late evening. 

At any place of the house, you could even hear the noisy boil on the stove or the scrunching of my mother's spoon scratched on the pan. You could also smell the burn of coconut jam, which was being made by my sister.

"Why do you always burn it?" I shouted.
"That's the way I like," she said and laughed at me.

I loved her jam so much, but she was always burning it until the white coconut jam became the yellow jam. It was terrible! At noon, the puff of smoke and the mixed scent from various kinds of food started spreading over my house. 

After that, certainly, there were my father's footsteps clattering on the floor. He left his half-painted walls in the living room to go into the kitchen and grumble to my Mom. "Your smoke is disturbing me." 

In fact, he just wanted to look around the kitchen room with many kinds of food on the table. Then he smiled contentedly when seeing my mother cooking next to the tiny crackles of burnt firewood in the stove and the bright red fire, which were blazing up the kitchen. 

At the end of the day, when everything was done, my house became brilliant with the colorful balloons, ribbons, and flowers. However, you shouldn't sit next to the walls in the living room because the layer of new paint was still sticky and would adhere on your clothes. Moreover, the smell of paint was very strong at the end of this day.

At 12:00 a.m. the next day, which was called the New Year Eve, everybody was almost ready to celebrate the New Year. My father would appear first in the living room, look around the room the last time, and arrange the glasses and cups on the table, although they were organized perfectly.
Traditional food was quickly laid on the altar in order to be observed as an ancestor cult by my parents. Right after the white trails of smoke from incense spreading out the air in mild smell, we knew that the New Year had started.

"Yeah! Let's go!" my two brothers exclaimed and ran out into the front yard immediately with lighters in their hands. The yard was soon dazzling with the fire flecks of the firecrackers. The crackers boomed and banged for a while. My sister and I had to close up our ears by hand in order to be away from the strong cracker sound. My brothers used to guffaw and laugh at us. My father passionately looked at the flecks and laughed heartily.

My mother reappeared timely at the door, smiled with all of us and mildly knitted her eyebrow soon after that because of that sound.

Once the sound and fire stopped, we continued walking out of the house to see and hear the burnt firecrackers from the neighbors around us. In the dark sky, you would see the flakes of fire everywhere, so it looked like you were traveling close to the star planets.

Soon after that, the red-yellow dragon appeared at the corner of the street with the cheerful sound of the drum to be ready for a dragon dancing. We entirely believed that this activity could pick up the luckiness for a whole year. The dragon started dancing vigorously in the spirited sound of drum and crackers.

At the end of the dragon dance, which lasted almost an hour and attracted an extreme huge crowd around it, we came back home, wished a Happy New Year to each other, and took a rest to be ready for the morning.

The first day of New Year began at 8:00 a.m. with traditional activities. My Dad woke up early and was usually the first member in the hall. Impatiently waiting for the rising sun, I just could sleep with one eye and get up early, too. From the upstairs, while dressing, I could hear the voices of people downstairs It increased, increased with the loud voice of my fifth uncle and his family, and then sixth uncle's family finally became noisy.

"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year!"

Everybody was greeting together and made a chaos tic sound that was not able to be distinguished. When I came to the hall, I saw a jubilant view of people and food, the color of new clothes, the brightness in the eyes, and happy faces. 

The table was attractive with the yellow of Vietnamese New Year traditional flowers, the red of watermelon, the green and yellow of rice cake, the colorful pickled bean sprouts and many kinds of jam. You also could smell combinations of delicious food of pork, fish, and eggs. All of these traditional foods were our first meal in New Year. 

The sound became nosier while children were getting in line to receive lucky money from adults. However, after a few minutes, the line was broken and became a beehive of people. Children were running around the hall, shouting, and laughing with their money in hand. At the dinner table, the roar of laughter from the men, the chortle from the ladies, the cheering sound, and the music from CD player were so animated. The party was continued all day at any time. 

Next, the gambling was started at noon and dragged on until night. That's the time when people are looking forward to the luck and happiness for whole year. This sound only decreased gradually around 9:00 p.m. since guests were leaving randomly. 

Finally, the house was empty and became quiet again, but the dishes and cups were found thrown in different places, on the table, on the chairs, even on the floor. "Are they our present tonight?" my sister and I wondered happily.

The silent night ended the first New Year day. After two days of joining in many activities, everybody was exhausted and quickly fell asleep with beautiful dreams of crackers, money, food, and drink. Sometimes there were some slight cracker sounds far away, the rare horn on the street, or mild music from somewhere. The main days of preparing and celebrating New Year by my family had been complete.

Written by Uyen Thanh from Vietnam

Red Cross December Blood Drive

The Red Cross would like to thank its regular donors for all their contributions. Without your help, we could not continue with our good work. Every pint of blood that you donate allows us to help people in need. Your blood saves lives. Our next blood drive will be held on December 22^nd, from g a.m. to 7 p.m. It will be held at the Red Cross Hall on Lion Street. We are staying open later than usual so that working people can drop by after work. If you have donated before, please bring your registration card to save time. First time donors are also more than welcome. Please encourage your friends and family members to come along, too. Giving up less than one hour of their time could give many more years of life to another person.

the importance of stretching before and after exercise

It is important to stretch both before and after exercising. Many fitness experts say that stretching after you exercise is actually more important than before. However, many people do not bother stretching after their workout. They say that they are too tired, or they just forget. Stretching has many benefits. For example, it helps you avoid painful cramps in your muscles. If you don't stretch, you could have tight and sore muscles the next day. It helps to improve your flexibility. If you stretch after every workout, it will be easy to touch your toes. You might be surprised to know how many people        can not reach their toes. Finally, it is also a good way to relax and wind down after strenuous exercise. So be sure to include ten minutes of stretching as part of the start and end of your exercise routine.

Medical letter

Mr. Albert Di Beni,  

333 Spring Road Penshurst Kent 

Dear Mr. Di Beni,

The Penshurst Medical Practice invites you to make an appointment for a medical examination. After the age of forty, we recommend that you have a full physical every year. Our records show that you recently have celebrated your fiftieth birthday. However, it is over seven years since your last appointment with our clinic. If you contact the Penshurst Medical Practice before September I5^,h, you will be able to take advantage of a free check up. In this medical, we will check blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugar. For a small extra charge, it is possible to have a more detailed examination. If you are interested in this offer, please call the Medical Practice at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,

Penshurst Medical Practice

modal verbs

1. I must go to the post office this morning.

2. I don't think it will rain. However, if it does rain, turn off the machine.

3. Ken should have studied harder; he failed the test again.

4. The black leather jacket can not be Harley's.

5. I would like to see his daughter right now.

6. I'm broke. Would you lend me some money?

7. I'd rather go shopping tomorrow.

8. Losing interest in her business, Kimberly has retired recently.

9. Madeline must be very tired; she is lying on the sofa.

10. Here's the application form you should fill out.

11. You had better not tell a lie.

12. When he was young, he would sit under this tree.

13. Before she died, the old man used to take a walk with his wife daily.

14. My sister hopes that you will accept her invitation.

15. What did he tell her to do this morning?