When I walked into the house after school, I found my dad at home.

    "What are you doing home already?" I asked casually.

    "Andrew, I was laid off today," he answered quietly.

    I was sure he was joking. "No, you weren't. Why are you really home?"

    Then I noticed his expression and realized he was telling the truth. My father has always been a hard worker and prided himself on his career. My father's unemployment created many changes in our lives. He was home all day, which meant my bed had to be made, my room cleaned up, and my homework done right after school. I would come home every day to find him at the computer searching for jobs. I began to notice how down he seemed, and how losing his job had affected his self-esteem, though he tried to be optimistic. He asked my brother and me to spend less money. I gave up my allowance, which even though it wasn't much, felt like the right thing to do. I also found a part-time job.

    After several difficult months of searching, my dad decided to go in a totally different direction. He explained that he never wanted to be laid off again, so he was going to start his own business. Day by day, I watched him build it, and I admired how much time and energy he devoted to it.

    One evening I asked if he needed help. "Only if it doesn't interfere（打扰，妨碍） with school," he said, which sounded like a yes.

    I showed up at his office the next afternoon, and most afternoons after that for two months. I always knew he was a hard worker, but watching him in action really influenced me. Although this was one of the worst experiences for our family, it taught me a lot about dealing with adversity. Now I know that through creative problem-solving, I can always find Plans, ask for help, and take risks.

    If you want to be a volunteer, you have to answer the following typical questions. Do you want to work with people, animals or machines? Do you want to work indoors or outdoors, directly serve people in need or serve people behind the scenes? Every year, thousands of people in the west offer volunteer service. Volunteering greatly strengthens the community because it helps the old, the young, the weak, the sick, and the disabled and the injured to solve problems.

    Volunteers usually help in many different ways. They may give people advice, offer friendship to the young, drive the elderly to church (if up to the driving age), advise kids against drugs, work as assistants in schools or nursing homes, raise funds, plant trees, help out in local libraries and do many other things. Volunteering can be a few hours a week or a few hours a month. Anybody who wants to serve people in need can become a volunteer.

    In fact, the art of volunteering is a process of both giving and receiving. Volunteering allows volunteers to meet new people, make new friends and mix with people from all walks of life. Volunteering is an excellent way to experiment and try out new techniques and skills, discover your individual talents and explore career choice. Being a volunteer will take you on a wonderful journey and help you learn more than what you can get from books.

    One of the most famous buildings in the United States is Carnegie Hall, the home of classical and popular music concerts in New York. Carnegie Hall is known not just for its beauty and history, but also for its amazing sound. Carnegie Hall is named after Andrew Carnegie, who paid for its construction. Construction of Carnegie Hall began in 1890 and the official opening night was on May 5th, 1891.

    The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1924 when it was sold to Robert E Simon. The building became very old and in 1960, the new owner made plans to destroy it and build an office block. Isaac Stem led a group of people who fought to save Carnegie Hall and finally, the city of New York bought it for $5 million. It was then fixed up between 1983 and 1995.

    Advertisements and stories in newspapers about how Carnegie Hall needed help to recover its history led people to send in old concert programmes and information from all over the world. Over 12,000 concert programmes were received and with these it was possible to make a proper record of Carnegie Hall's concert history.

    Carnegie Hall is actually made up of several different halls, but the Main Hall, now called the Isaac Stem Auditorium, is the most famous. The hall itself can hold an audience of 2,804 in five levels of seating.

    Because the best and most famous musicians of all time have played at Carnegie Hall, it is the dream of most musicians who want to be great to play there. This has led to a very old joke which is now part of Carnegie Hall's history. Question: “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?” Answer: “Practice, practice, practice.”

    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.

    Three men traveling on a train began a conversation about the world's greatest wonders.

    "In my opinion, "the first man said, "the Egyptian pyramids are the world's greatest wonder. Although they were built thousands of years ago, they are still standing. And remember: the people who built them had only simple tools. They did not have the kind of machinery that builders and engineers have today."

    "I agree that the pyramids in Egypt are wonderful," the second man said, "but I do not think they are the greatest wonder. I believe computers are more wonderful than the pyramids. They have taken people to the moon and brought them back safely. In seconds, they carry out mathematical calculations that would take a person a hundred years to do."

    He turned to the third man and asked, "What do you think is the greatest wonder in the world?"

    The third man thought for a long time, and then he said, "Well, I agree that the pyramids are wonderful, and I agree that computers are wonderful, too. However, in my opinion, the most wonderful thing in the world is this thermos."

    And he took a thermos out of his bag and held it up.

    The other two men were very surprised. "A thermos?" they exclaimed. "But that's a simple thing."

    "Oh, no, it's not," the third man said. "In the winter you put in a hot drink and it stays hot. In the summer you put in a cold drink and it stays cold. How does the thermos know whether it's winter or summer?"

Kajal moved to the United States in February 2017. Having previously volunteered for two years as an assistant yoga teacher in her home country, Kajal was enthusiastic about volunteering and began looking for volunteer opportunities that match her interests on VolunteerMatch. "I enjoy volunteering and it's a way to make an impact in my new community," says Kajal.

Kajal was drawn to a volunteer opportunity with the Meridian International Center to review applications on behalf of the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI). Kajal had previous experience, and the position also afforded her the opportunity to work remotely. After connecting with the opportunity on VolunteerMatch and successfully completing the application process, Kajal got to work. Her role involved reviewing applications from potential candidates for a four-week fellowship in the U.S. She was responsible for describing the business ideas presented by these candidates, assessing the social impact of their businesses, and determining the strength of candidates to carry out their plans.

With almost 4,000 applicants in 2017, Meridian International Center considers volunteers like Kajal to be integral (必要的) members of the team. With help from volunteers, 250 candidates have now been selected to take part in the program and will travel to the U.S. this fall.

Kajal says that this volunteer opportunity super-charged her existing skills, while helping her build new ones such as time management, business analysis, decision-making, planning, and presenting.

She is now looking for her next volunteer opportunity and reflects positively on her experience with Meridian International Center, "A new country brings in a lot of new experiences and volunteering helped me to settle into a new environment," adds Kajal. "By helping others, I felt needed in society. Not only did it improve my self-esteem (自尊), other people benefited too. Volunteering is a great opportunity to improve yourself, others, and the whole society".