My hometown (IELST speaking)

My hometown locates in the angle of Shandong peninsula. It is a typical coastal little town facing to the Pacific Ocean. I was born there in 1986.

The village

I was born in a little village and spent all my childhood there until moved to the little town for my English study in the year 1996 when I was in grade two in primary school.  The village loaded many sweet memories of my childhood. I lived in a bungalow built by red tile and cyan brick with traditional Chinese style. I and my grandfather shared one room (my grandmother passed away in my early age, so there left little about her in my memory ), my father and my mother shared one room and my older sister lived in the left one. Front of my house, there is a yard surrounded by a wall. Along the wall, my grandfather grew kinds of flowers like Chinese rose, carnation, peony and chrysanthemum. Therefore you have a good view spot in my home. Especially in summer there is a colorful flower-world before your room. Passing the yard and walking out the front door, there are two gardens laying besides the road.  They are our vegetable gardens. My mother guided them. The left one grew some strawberry. Along the strawberry, some cucumbers were planted. The other one was filled with variety kinds of vegetables like chives, potato, scallionand garlic. At the end of the road, there was a willow. I did not know how old it is and ever since I could remember, it was here. In summer, I like to hold a bow and sit in the shallow to have lunch or broke some willow branches to curve a cap wearing in the head.

There was a dog in the yard. He (I assume) even did not get a name in his life but he is still my best friends. As you may know folks living in village tended to bring up a dog for preventing thieves. The dog we owned was smart and loyal. He was very kind to to my family and never picky about the food and when I gave him a pork chop without my mother's attention, he was even very happy and licked my hands. All my families loved him very much even when he was too old to protect us. After he passed away, my father refused one butcher and buried him in our front garden.

At the end of the road, there is a lake. Lots of my wonderful dream loaded there. It was there my father taught me how to fishing and it was here I caught a carp which was so big that I could not hold in both arms. It was here I hung out with my counterparts all day playing the clay to mould a gun, a plane and a tanker etc.  It was here that out little friends played on the ice-surface of the lake in the winter.

In terms of that experience of fishing, it was a clear autumn morning. All my family were busy preparing for my grandfather's birthday the next day.  I was alone and decided to go fishing to kill time. My father had taught my how to make a fishing rod, therefore it did not take long to make one. After digging some earthworms, I went to the bank of the lake and started fishing. Maybe it was because in the early morning, fish were hungry and  began to look for food, soon after I dropped the hooks in the water, I felt the fishing rod was dragged slightly. At first I did not pay attention, but before I can get back from reality, there was a huge force drag,  which almost pushed me into the lake. "Here you are!" I was excited but afraid. To avoid the big one broke the rod, I just hold the top of the rod and kept balance, gradually the force form the line decreased and I carefully drew the fish out and hold in my both arms running to my home to told my father. He was so excited and promised to make a good dish for me.

Out of the village, there is a river flowing pass the west of our village. We spent lots of leisure time there. There are lush weeds on both sizes of the river especially in summer, so I and my partners were likely to catch grasshoppers and lined them together, then sought for a safe place to light up a fire and scorched the grasshoppers, or dug the mussel in the mud of the river bottom and fed the duck. The amazing thing happened in the night, after you ignited a stack of woods, variety sorts of insects would fly or leap into the fire. For us, it definitely a big feast.

 (to be continued..)