Year 2017 had flown by without knowing it. Looking back to the past year, it was a record of hard work and of little adventure; of vain attempts to achieve a better financial life, of the slow but gradual improvements in Learning.

 

All in all, Year 2017 was like a tram-car running on its line from terminus to terminus. It’s an average year, with tears and laughter, frustrations and hope, rejections and progresses side by side.

 

For the disappointing part, I’d rather not mention here. Because it’s the time to remember those happy memories.

 

So there are two key words for my Year 2017: Travel and Learn.

 

Year 2017 basically started with a journey to Dali, the same place where I spent my honey moon 15 years old, and ended in a journey to Qingchen Mountain, a place just 1-hour drive from Chengdu but I hadn’t visited for ages. In between, there were trips to Xiamen, Japan, Shangri-La. Each trip rewarded me with lots of precious memories.

 

There is in my soul some deep-rooted desire for travelling, which for most of time the circumstances of life have obscured, but sometimes it would grow so relentlessly that it would force me to break the daily routine, to go out and explore the world outside.

 

Each trip is an adventure for me. For an ordinary person like me, that’s almost the only way to try something that not so ordinary.

 

I plan a beach vacation at Krabi next month. The prices of hotel and airplane tickets roars up like crazy during Chinese New Year. However, how could I resist the temptation of sunshine, beach, and crystal-like sky when the winter is so gloomy here? In my imagination, I could almost feel the warm breeze of sunshine, hear the pulsating movement of waves.

 

I just wish in 2018, I could manage as many trips as possible. The world is just so big!

 

Another key word is Learn. At the beginning of the year, I finally finished all the courses at level 6 of Dongni English and got the refund successfully. ---in a way, I’d learned this program on fully scholarship. After that, I’ve learned English with EMF and Kevin’s Word bank. Besides English, I’ve also tried some online courses on Writing and Psychology.

 

In 2017, I picked up my old habit of English Reading. I read with Mintreading and Youshu. Books like Unlikely Pilgrimage; The Hunger Game Series, Flipped, Tuesday with Morris, Disney Series, The Moon and Sixpence gave me pure thrills of reading. Tuesday with Morris and The Moon and Sixpence are my favorites.

 

Learning programs and reading have soaked up most of my free times. My schedule was always hectic and tight. Even I’ve just made slow progress, I still feel self-satisfied and rewarded. In 2018, I might consider slowing down a little bit, and certainly would continue to learn and read.

 

The New Year is a time for resolutions. I know that some of them are doomed to fail, still here I decide to compile another formidable list for Year 2018. Here it is:

 

1.     Get my level 7 diploma in Dongni English.

2.     Continue my study with EMF--on a daily basis.

3.     Two writings (either in English or in Chinese) a week.

4.     Eat less and practice more.

5.     Two abroad trips.

6.     Continue English reading with Mintint Reading or Youshu (at least one).

 

Good Luck with Year 2018!