1 . How do we take part in dinner party in foreign countries ? Have you ever experienced it ? I hated dinner parties. But I decided to give them another shot because I'm in London. And my friend Mallery invited me. And because dinner parties in London are very different from those back in New York. There, "I'm having a dinner party" means: " I'm booking a table for 12 at a restaurant you can't afford and we'll be sharing the cheque evenly, no matter what you eat." Worse, in Manhattan, there is always someone who leaves before the bill arrives. They'll throw down cash, half of what they owe, and then people like me, who don't drink, end up paying even more. But if I try to use the same trick, the hostess will shout: "Where are you going?" And it's not like I can say I have somewhere to go: everyone knows I have nowhere to go.

But in London, dinner parties are in people's homes. Not only that, the guests are an interesting mix. The last time I went to one, the guests were from France, India, Denmark and Nigeria; it was like a gathering at the United Nations. In New York, the mix is less striking. It's like a gathering at Bloomingdale's a well-known department store.

For New Yorkers, talking about other parts of the world means Brooklyn and Queens in New York. But at Mallery's, when I said that I had been to Myanmar recently, people knew where it was. In New York, people would think it was a usual new club.

3 . Do you know the proverb “no pain, no gain”? It gives the impression that we ought to be suffering while we study. It seems that the only way to know if we’ re putting in enough work is how much hardship we bear. We are totally taken up with study, shutting ourselves away for a big exam. Is that necessarily true?

When we haven’t taken the time to come up with another idea, we just shut ourselves in a room with a book. It’s no surprise that we find revision boring and difficult. Just as children learn from playing, we can learn from doing, or at least from study techniques that interest us, rather than make us switch off. Shutting ourselves away can make us learn to hate studying, leading to a situation where, instead of being able to concentrate on our work, we are troubled by how unfair it is that we must study. This can be part of a vicious cycle (恶性循环) that traps us into ineffective revision, or poor progress fueling further annoyance.

Thankfully, working in the company of other people really helps fight against that. We just need to learn how to deal with distractions(使人分心的事). It’s not necessary to avoid all company, just lazy company. They constantly try to keep others in conversation, while studying in the same room with someone who is ironing or working out is perfectly possible. Of course, it’s also a good idea to avoid the company of people involved in activities where you would rather be playing than studying. Working while sitting next to someone playing video games is most likely to end with a new high score of games rather than productive revision.

If being around others means working in a noisy environment, a pair of headphones and some background music can block out noises. They also act as a psychological barrier, so that people think twice before interrupting you. Besides, we should know friends and family can lessen feelings of isolation. And connecting with other people makes us happy, so it’s important not to give that up and to make sure that we take the time to socialize.

4 . IVHQ(International Volunteer Headquarters), one of the world’s most trusted volunteer abroad organizations, offers volunteer programs in more than 50 destinations. Here are some of them.

Marine Conservation Program

Volunteers of this program work in Queensland, Australia. You will join conservation efforts like collecting sea rubbish.

Requirements: Volunteers need to be 18 years or over. Able to swim. Speak fluent English. Present a police check. Have travel insurance. Complete our free pre-departure training.

Fees: 1 week $1,010; 2 weeks $2,020; 3 weeks $2,980

Shriners Hospitals for Children Program

Volunteers in Shriners Hospitals for Children in Honolulu, Hawaii need to pick up patients, deliver supplies and tutor patients.

Requirements: Volunteers must be at least 16 years old. Available to volunteer two hours per week for at least five months. Agree to a police check and a drug test. We offer free training upon your arrival.

Fees: No fees are needed.

Youth Support Program

Volunteers are placed in community centers of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA to provide tutoring and positive activities for the youth. You can also help organizations by beautifying spaces, re-organizing classrooms and preparing materials.

Requirements: Volunteers need to be 18 years or over. Have travel insurance and provide a police check. The training fee is included in the program fee.

Fees: 1 week $520; 2 weeks $825; 3 weeks $1,125

Pre-School English Program

Volunteers working in Cusco, Peru will teach English in pre-schools with younger children of 4 to 5 years old.

Requirements: 18 years and over. No previous teaching experience is required, but a basic understanding of Spanish is. Emergency contact, police check and resume(简历) are required. Training will be conducted online for free.

Fees: 1 week, $320; 2 weeks $550; 3 weeks $735

8 . If you recently closed on a new house, you probably started house hunting in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, hosting a housewarming in 2021 is probably going to be harder to pull off. To help, we’ve cooked up a few ideas of how to hold a pandemic-era housewarming party.

The basics: Safe

Anything that you do during the pandemic should follow some simple rules.     1    

That last one makes a housewarming party almost impossible. Please keep these safety measures in mind as you read on.

IDEA 1: Use the Zoom (云视频会议软件) call.

If we suggested having a housewarming party via Zoom one and a half years ago, our editors would have thought we were crazy.     2     Zoom is old-hat at this point, but we still sort of like Zoom calls. They gave us a chance to stay close with people we couldn’t see in person.     3    

This idea starts by creating a room-to-room video tour of your home, showing your new place and highlighting why you’re so excited to be living there.

IDEA 2: Take it outside.

    4     But now is not the time to have a large gathering indoors. Just do it outside. If you have a yard, set up separate stations for barbecuing and for friends to keep at a safe distance. You could even have a local restaurant to cater it with takeout.

Lastly:     5    

When the health risks are over, plan to hold a proper get-together, remembering that you were creative enough to find a way to celebrate the purchase of your new home during a global pandemic.

9 . In an effort to fight the “throw-away culture” and promote reuse and repair, the city of Berlin has taken the unique step of opening its own secondhand department store.

This isn’t your grandma’s thrift shop (旧货商店). It resells perfectly good items that would otherwise be thrown away. A pun on the German words for “department store” and “conserving house”, B-Wa(h)renhaus sells a wide variety of products. Far from simply selling old items, the electronic goods have been fixed by expert technicians and come with a year’s guarantee. And, to reach more secondhand shoppers, the store was set up right in the middle of the famous Karstadt department store.

With the success of its initial six-month trial run, the city plans to open four more similar operations in other parts of Berlin. By 2030, it hopes to have at least one location in each of Berlin’s 12 districts. Since 2008, city policies and educational campaigns have reduced average annual household waste by about 25 pounds per resident. It also recycles about 49% of its mineral construction waste. Currently, the city estimates that 8% of abandoned electronic goods and 6% of huge items thrown away can actually be reused. The goal is to expand the market for these items beyond the usual bargain hunters and eco-conscious consumers.

“Three years ago, we started collecting all kinds of used goods,” city spokesperson Dorothee Winden said. “There are lots of things that are well-preserved and functioning but aren’t being used anymore. The goal is to give these things a new life with somebody who can use them.” The store also includes an education center to encourage more sustainable lifestyles — and also gave an award to a project that recycles school uniforms, so that parents don’t have to buy new ones every year.

Kobe Bryant, 37, in April 14, 2016 played the final game of his 20-year career, ends an era with five championships, 18 All-Star game appearance. He showed an amazing 60 points in the Lakers victory over the Utah Jazz, that was unbelievable. The crazy crowd had great expectations of the final score, cheering and shouting every time when Bryant scored during her 42 minutes.

After a game, he was given a microphone, saying he couldn’t believe how fast 20 years has gone by and that it was absolute crazy. He thought the most important part was the whole team stayed together all the time through the ups and downs.