Ending Another Semester in China

I am currently grading the last of my freshmen speeches and with that another semester in China has come to a close. Three of my teammates began the journey back to the States last night and the rest of them will venture out sometime in the next day or so. It's a little weird watching them go while I'll be staying in China for the summer. I could go on with "it's hard to believe the semester is over already," but I won't. :) It's been interesting getting used to a new area of the country at a new school, but I can now proudly say that it's not new anymore. I'm home.

For their final exam, my sophomore writing students had to create a metaphor that talked about how they see themselves as a writer. There were some interesting ones, this one in particular. I am amazed by her ability to write like this in a language that is not her own.

As a writer I am like a camera. Everything is in the lens of the camera (just like my eyes). After looking around, I will decide what to shoot, that is, choose the material I would like to talk about. The next step is to press the shutter- using my pen to describe it.
As for the same object, shooting with a camera in different positions, you can have the distinct pictures due to angle. It is the same with me. As every coin has two sides, I can point to some characteristics, maybe its excellence or defects, to reveal the thing in my point of view.
When taking a photo, the scenery nearby is rather clear whereas the sight far away looks a little vague, that depends on the lens of the camera. This point also applies to me. Take a cursory glance to the minor things, just describe them roughly while to the primary ones, I’ll portray them in detail, showing every aspect of them.
Someone has said, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” But as a good writer, I am a high-performance camera. I am able to reveal certain people, certain events vividly and intelligibly, just like a colorful picture. (Helen)

And so it ends.