I travel a lot in my work, and what I dislike about my job is eating alone. It always makes me feel lonely to see others laughing and talking. So, room service for several nights was a better choice for me.

    After having room service three nights at a hotel in Houston, however, I needed to get out of my room. Although the restaurant opened at 6:30, I arrived at 6:25. The waiter at the front desk made a comment(评论) about my “being there really early”. I explained my dislike of eating alone in restaurants. He then seated me at a lovely table and asked me whether I would mind if he sat down with me for a while.

    I was glad! He sat and talked with me about his career goals and the difficulty of being at work on nights, weekends and holidays. He said he hadn't enough time to be with his family. After 15 minutes, he saw some customers at the front desk and excused himself. I noticed that before he went to the front desk, he stopped in the kitchen for a moment.

    Then another waiter came out of the kitchen and had a wonderful chat with me. Before I left that night, some other waiters, even the cook, had come out of the kitchen and sat with me!

    When I asked for my bill about one hour later, all the people who had sat down with me came over in a big group to my table, and presented me with a red rose. And I cried! What had begun as a lonely night ended as a beautiful experience.

                                                                           Exhibitions in the British Museum

    Hokusai: beyond the Great Wave

    Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is widely regarded as one of Japan's most famous and influential artists. He produced works of astonishing quality right up until his death at the age of 90. This new exhibition will lead you on an artistic journey through the last 30 years of Hokusai's life — a time when he produced some of his most memorable masterpieces.

    25 July — 13 August 2018

    Room 35

    Adults￡12, Members/under-16s free

    Places of the mind: British watercolour landscapes 1850-1950

    Drawn from the British Museum's rich collection, this is the first exhibition devoted to landscape drawings and watercolours by British artists in the Victorian and modern eras — two halves of very different centuries.

    23 July — 27 August 2018

    Room 90

    Free, just drop in

    Scythians: warriors of ancient Siberia

    This major exhibition explores the story of the Scythians — nomadic tribes and masters of mounted warfare, who flourished between 900 and 200 BC. Their encounters with the Greeks, Assyrians and Persians were written into history but for centuries all trace of their culture was lost — buried beneath the ice.

    14 September 2018 — 14 November 2018

    Room 30

    Adults￡16.50, Members/under-16s free

    Politics and paradise: Indian popular prints from the Moscatelli Gift

    This display is part of the Museum's contribution to the India-UK Year of Culture 2017. It looks at the popular print culture of India from the 1880s until the 1950s.

    19 July — 3 September 2018

    Room 90a

    Free, just drop in.

    Travelling to China is like travelling to another world. Its many famous beautiful places will make you lose yourself in them. However, it is usually not enough for a traveller only to visit these nice places. If you have time to see the local people, talk with them and even have dinner with a local family, it would be a wonderful experience, to know more about the local people's life style at home in China.

    New Hope Travel Agency will arrange (安排) a family visit to Xi'an, an ancient historic city in China. We especially have chosen typical local families to host this activity in which you can see the true living style of Chinese people. Most of the hosts retired (退休) at home, so they are happy to see visitors from different countries to come to their homes.

    Not only can we arrange to visit the local family but we can arrange to taste the true home cooked dishes. Our tour guide will ask you for advice about the food you want to eat. Just enjoy the locally cooked dishes. It'll be quite a different and exciting experience.

    Our agency also provides a good opportunity for you to learn to cook Chinese food. We have a general cooking class in the local family. If you'd like to learn to cook one or two Chinese dishes, please go to our Chinese Food Cooking Class to choose your favorite dishes.

    Don't wait. Welcome to China.

    In this Pennsylvania city, Pittsburgh is shrinking but getting wealthier. Since 2000, its population has declined by 95,000 while its income per capita (人均) has shot up 24 percent. The trend is taking hold in many other cities, like Buffalo in New York, Providence in Rhode Island and New Orleans.

    Some of these areas have created more high-paying jobs in energy, health care or education. Others have managed to reshape their manufacturing (制造业) for a new economy. Higher-paying jobs have a greater effect because they create demand for additional services. “The story in Pittsburgh is very positive, and other areas are looking at it as an example of the transformation that might be possible,” said Guhan Venkatu, who wrote an economic history of the area called “Rust and Renewal” for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

    Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh have helped bring tech jobs and innovation (革新) to the area by sponsoring tech centers that help graduates start companies without moving to Silicon Valley or San Francisco. This has helped keep Pittsburgh's educated young population growing even as the entire population in the city has dropped.

    Pittsburgh has more STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) jobs than other shrinking cities, about 80,000 or 7% of all jobs. STEM jobs add productivity and income growth to the area. Manufacturers of high-tech medical equipment in the Pittsburgh area also have doubled employment in the last 10 years.

    However, some experts question whether growing income per capita can really make up for a declining population. According to Patrick Adler, a researcher at the University of Toronto, population loss does matter if it means lower-skilled workers have fled because of a lack of opportunity. What's more, high-paying jobs in education and health care can disappear if the population declines too greatly. So it'd be wise to find ways to increase the population.

    Pure Yoga is devoted to serving the yoga community in Asia and beyond, offering a wide variety of classes such as Hatha Yoga, Hot Yoga, Yin Yoga and Vinyasa Yoga, etc. Our yoga classes are offered and taught by nearly 200 professional yoga teachers. Private Yoga is also available for learners of all levels. Pure Yoga constantly invites world-known teachers to lead guest teacher workshops.

    Class Bookings

    Class bookings can be made 2 days in advance of the class. It is important that you book your class in advance since some classes are more heavily attended than others.

    We also limit our class sizes so that they are not overcrowded. If the class you wish to take is full, we will place you on the wait list and inform you of an opening as soon as possible. To create the best experience for yourself and others, please follow these guidelines：

    No talking

    The yoga studio is a silent room. Please do not talk while in the studio and studio corridors.

    No eating

    Do not eat in the studio.

    No shoes

    Remove your shoes before entering the practice rooms. Keep your shoes in your locker. Shoe lockers are also available for rental.

No mobile phones

    Turn your mobile phones off or to "vibrate"(震动)mode. Do not take phones into the practice rooms.

    Personal Belongings

    Daily lockers are not for overnight use. Locks from any daily lockers that are kept overnight will be cut.

    Candace Payne's life changed forever in May 2017 when she posted a video of herself laughing crazily and wearing a mask. The video spread widely and "Mask Mom "became a household name.

    During the two years since that, Candace has published several books, starred in a TLC. web series and went on tour with Mandisa. She made appearances on late night talk shows, met J. J. Abrams and was able to fulfill a dream of taking her family to Disney World. It was a busy but joyful time.

    Her latest book is Consider It Joy. "I feel like people need a tool in their hands to actually get the joy they are fighting for, "Candace says, "The book can help you keep track of how much space and time you are devoting to things that aren't worth it in comparison to the joy that I know I could have."

    Getting joy is something that has always been important to Candace. "What the opportunity offered me was not a forced open door," Candace says, "Many people are trying desperately to push things open when they have to be obedient(顺从的) to the little things."

    Trusting herself has required being confident in saying no. She uses a simple tool to evaluate whether an opportunity is right to her. Candace says, "I have a balance beam (平衡木)where I'm asked to walk every single day as a mom, a wife, a speaker and an author. There are so many things I need to balance at a time. I have to realize what belongs there and what doesn't. The most important factor is joy."

    That's the heart behind the book Consider It Joy. "I really wanted to give people more than just advice about joy, Candace says, "I wanted to give them the ability to actually own it in their everyday life."