My family — My childhood

Before I was a primary school student, I lived in a large family. There was my grandfather, my grandmother, my father, my mother, my aunt and me. I had a wonderful life during my childhood. Because in China, most similar aged children like me (born after 1980), their home was only father, mother and one child, that meant the child was a bit lonely.
My grandfather loved me the best. He was a supervisor who worked for the government. When he worked in the office, he was strict with everything, but out of work, he was kind with every person. Also, he was a good ping-pong player. He liked telling stories to me, most of the plots I have never forgotten. He often had many parties to join in, and he liked to take me with him if it was possible. It was not a bad idea for me to go around and gain experience, and also I could eat much delicious food.
My grandmother did accounting work in a shop near my home. A lot of goods were sold in her workplace. It was extremely convenient for my family to eat the freshest fruit and vegetables. She was a sprinter when she was at school, and she kept taking exercise every evening after dinner. Also she played sports with me. She retired when I was four years old and a half, she did much more housework. Every day she took me to preschool and saw me back.
My father wore glasses. Every morning he read newspapers and every night before he went to bed he read books. The book near his pillow changed fast, like history books, biographies, novels etc. Father had been called “A Quiet Man” for the reason of he liked reading. He was an engineer. The higher degree he had the more money he earned. So he worked hard and often took the exam to gain the higher level. In my memory father often went on business trips and when he came back, all the family members would get a gift from him.
The beautiful person in my family was my mother. She had a great temperament, and a good figure. She sang well. When she coaxed me to sleep, she sang children’s song to me. And when she played with her friends, they all liked to hear of her songs. Mother did office work and she was always busy. But once she had spare time, she cooked for me and also took me on outings. The fish tasted especially well by my mother’s cooking and all my family liked it very much. Pink was my mother’s favorite colors. She liked buying the pink skirts for me and dressing me like a princess.
The most essential person in the family was me. When I was happy, everybody laughed and when I was unhappy, everybody became more nervous. I liked balloons very much when I was young. Every times I was taken to the park, I asked for a hydrogen balloon. But as soon as I got it in hands after my mother paid for it, I let it fly. Then I watched it rising higher and higher, until I could not see it. Mother could not understand what I was doing. But that was my dream when I was a little girl. I believed one day I could fly just like a balloon. I liked milk very much, but it was hard for me to get sleep. So mother gave a bottle of milk every night before I slept. That became a habit for me till now. And it was good for health, lots of articles advise people to drink milk before bed.
Every public holiday, each of my family members had a rest. Sometimes, my grandfather took us on a short trip and sometimes we got together to make dumplings. My uncle and aunt took their family to join us too. Every person shared interesting things, and also complained of hard work or workmates. Other numbers gave ideas and suggested better solutions to the problem. The same as the dumplings, every member made different shapes which gave a lot of fun to the eating. I liked my family very much. I liked the family culture of China. Family means warmth and strength. I was very lucky that my father was the first child of my grandfather and grandmother, because in old China, parents only lived with the oldest male child.

About me

My name is Wang Dong Yang. I am from China. “Wang” is my family name and “Dong Yang” is my given name. In Chinese, my first name “Dong” means “winter” and my second name “Yang” means “sun”. So my E-mail address is wintersun83@live.cn. Before I was working in AIA Beijing China, colleagues called English names each other. That was because AIA is a subsidiary of AIG (American International Group). So my English name “Dora” came from. It’s pronunciation just similar with my given name in Chinese.
On the end of this month I’ll have been Sydney for exactly three months. It is quite a fast time. I joined AMEP class in order to improve my English. I enjoyed myself during the two months study. And also I met a lot of friends there. For me, I like being a student. Studying makes me feel very full. So when the holiday comes, I felt a little lose.
Australia is rich in natural resources. I like its blue sky, fresh air and Fertile Beach. But it is hard for me to stay at home during the night (between 5:00pm to 9:00pm). Before I came here, I like having dinner with my friends in the restaurant after work then going shopping. But Sydney has no “night-life”, shopping centre closed after 5:30pm. So what a pity!