Free heart

Shen Xiaoxiao pointed the phone screen at her face, shook her hair left and right with a smile, and said to the girl in the video: "Of course. Look, my hair-is it pretty?"

The Chinese girl curled her lips and said disdainfully: "It's very beautiful, I like it very much. I guess, this time, I'm looking for the gay hair of Downey again?"

"Hmm. What's the matter with you? If you don't want to talk, I'm going to swim in the free indoor pool."

"Swim in the indoor pool? You're in New York? I think so."

"Yes, I am indeed in New York."

"Are you here for Topless Day? Come on, why don't you tell me about such an important event?"

Xiao Xiao said with a slight smile: "I have posted this news on the Twitter homepage, didn't you see it?"

The Chinese girl said: "I saw it. But you didn't tell me the only one."

"Happy things should be shared with more friends. If you also want to participate, I don't mind."

"Camilla, are you inviting me?"

"Well, maybe."

"Okay. I'll buy you a drink if you can guess where I am."

"I'll buy you a drink, too, if you can find me. Well, that's it."

Zhou Lin, who was sitting opposite, saw that she hung up the phone before she finished speaking, and looked at her curiously, "Is it your friend in the United States?"

Xiao Xiao was noncommittal, but replied flatly: "Hmm."

"What are you two talking about? You speak so fast, and you talk in English, I can't quite understand what you are talking about at all."

"Nothing. She was one of my alumni at Columbia who went home after she got her degree."

"Oh, so she's also a master's student in economics?"

"No, she's studying Art History-Visual Arts, BA."

"Oh, I'm an art student. But just now, I saw that you hung up the phone without finishing your sentence. Is there any conflict between you two?" Zhou Lin asked thoughtfully.

"No, nothing happened between me and her. Well, I just don't want her to disturb my vacation." Xiaoxiao said after taking a sip of mineral water.

Zhou Lin was a little puzzled by the content and attitude of the two people's communication.When he was about to try to ask further, Xiaoxiao politely refused with the excuse of going swimming.After thinking about it, she said to Xiao Xiaoxiao, "Hey, I'm going to go to the SPA that I made an appointment for, don't you want to go with me?"

Xiao Xiao said, "I want to go swimming. You can go to the SPA first, and I will come to you after swimming." Afterwards, the two separated temporarily to find their favorite activities.

The Chinese girl who made a video call with Xiaoxiao before is named Luo Siyu, and her English name is Alison Luo. She comes from an ordinary family in Pingtung County, Taiwan.Four years ago, when she came to New York and was about to enter Columbia University, she and Shen Xiaoxiao met unexpectedly in the language center of Columbia University.

Although Luo Siyu met the school's admission requirements in other respects, her English language skills were somewhat unsatisfactory.In order to integrate into the cultural and academic atmosphere of American universities as soon as possible, she chose a language training program jointly offered by Columbia University and a third-party language school with high fees to further strengthen her foreign language ability.

As for Shen Xiaoxiao, who appeared in the language training institution, he served as a language tutor for English and Spanish as a student at Columbia University.Being able to work as a tutor shows that her language skills are very strong, but another point cannot be ignored, that is, she got this unpaid social work in the name of being enthusiastic about volunteer activities for many years.

The English word "volunteer" (volunteer or volunteer) is derived from the Latin "voluntas", which means will, human will or free will.In Webster's Encyclopedia, the first definition of the word volunteer is: "a person who volunteers for a service or cause"; the second definition is: "a person who volunteers and renders service without compensation. "

Today's volunteer spirit has been deeply rooted in the values ​​of Americans. Americans take pride in being a volunteer, and the willingness to contribute for free has become a unique cultural content of American society.Regardless of age, gender, race, rich or poor, working or not, as long as they have time, they will help needy people, communities or institutions for free.

This may be because the unique history and culture of the United States make volunteer activities unique in Western countries.This has also gradually given the whole society an unwritten encouragement: those who have volunteered for a long time and have outstanding performance will be valued or given priority in terms of further education and employment.Under the influence of this kind of good social atmosphere, people are willing to do good and do good, and it has continued to this day.

In the United States, there are two main types of volunteer activities, one is to give love to the needy, and the other is to work for the environment without pay.Among these two types of volunteer activities, Shen Xiaoxiao prefers the first one.

She felt that doing so would make her life in the United States happier and more fulfilling.Between reading, playing music, and playing adventurous outdoor games, volunteering has become another joy in her spare time.No matter what, she can make herself feel that she can integrate into the society and communicate with people all the time.

The deeper reason for this is that she left her hometown, her relatives and family since she was a child, and went to live in a strange country.She can understand the painstaking efforts of her parents, and also understands the bitterness and pain behind this kind of life.Therefore, in order to avoid missing her relatives and family in China all the time, she can only arrange her daily time fully and keep herself busy at any time.

It is precisely because of her volunteer experience from grade 7 to grade 12 that she successfully passed the interview application of Columbia University.This seems to have fulfilled the old saying in China: "If you plant flowers with intention, they will not bloom, but without intention, you will plant willows and willows will make shade." Although the motivation for volunteering at first was not pure, but during this period, she got an important message that she wanted to enter a famous American university. : If you don’t do volunteer work, you won’t be respected by the society; if you don’t do volunteer work, you won’t be able to apply for a good university, and it’s even more difficult to get into a prestigious school.

Habit is second nature.Even after entering the busy university where her hard work is most needed, she still volunteers for 1 or 2 hours every two to three days.In this way, she easily got an unpaid job as a language tutor.

As a tuition student, Luo Siyu didn't know the real reason why Shen Xiaoxiao became a tutor.All she knew was that this Chinese girl who was not a few years older than herself seemed to give people a feeling that she was afraid to approach her.That's right, this feeling comes from the tattoo on Xiaoxiao's body.