A Heartwarming Event

A HEARTWARMING EVENT

It was the 16th of December. The anticipation of the impending holidays was already in the air. The scene was set…and it was time to welcome the SUIS Qingpu community to the hot chocolate event.

The hot chocolate event was a big success, with swarms of people flooding the tables like a tsunami as they paddled towards the table right after the bell had rung. They were like fighters, roaring, running to us. Their hands, like branches in the wind, waving rapidly back and forth; their voices, like morning birds chirping loudly, only wanting to have a sip of that legendary drink. Their craving for hot chocolate was so strong that cups ran out in the blink of an eye, the water having seemed to evaporate into the air, gone in minutes, before we even realized.

People loved the sweetness of the hot boiling chocolate. It was not too sweet or greasy, and it was not bitter either. It had a sinful and rich taste, and as the smell of the chocolate wafted into your nose, you could already taste it and feel its warmth. When the moment came to taste the first mouthful, it warmed the heart like sunshine shining on your back. Let’s not forgot the marshmallows decorating the surface of the hot chocolate, like ribbons adorning a lovingly prepared present; also, the way the marshmallows melted in your mouth like clouds floating in the stunning sky, balanced by the texture of the ones that had refused to melt. It was an oasis of relaxation for the students and staff.

But for us, things were a little different – we had to race against time. Powder! Water! Stir! Marshmallows! Things happened and ended at a ferocious speed. Swoosh! Then, it was all finished. It was a tiring but satisfying and enjoyable experience as I saw the joy on everyone’s faces, their big bright smiles filling my heart with a different kind of sweetness.

“Guess the weight of the bottle! The winner will get the whole jar of M&M’s!”said Ms. Shanley, the teacher who organized this activity. This activity was part of a goodwill events day aimed at raising money for disadvantaged children.

As a volunteer for the activity, I saw both students and staff members walk toward the desks we were sitting behind. The students lifted the bulky glass jar full of delicious candy from the table and tried to figure out the mass, while staff members wrote their guesses down directly without trying to use a formula!

“How boring just to listen and write. . .” I thought, as I put my hand in the pockets of my down jacket, trying to protect them from the cold December air.

Tony, a classmate from Grade 9, woke me up by the way he was guessing. He borrowed my ruler and began to measure the radius of the bottom of the bottle. The staff heard his murmurings intermittently: “Suppose the density is… then we can say that the mass…”

“Shut up Tony, don’t do that!” Ryan shouted, showing his impatience as he sat beside me to record other student’s guesses.

“Doing physics is OK”, remarked Ms. Shanley. “I want to see if this method works.”

So, she invited our dear physics teacher Mr. Sharrock to calculate weight using the laws of physics. He finally arrived, showing up with a large wooden ruler. He explained that he could find the weight using the lever principle, sitting down to calculate the correct weight using scientific formulae. Mr. Sharrock wrote the process down step by step, as if he wanted to teach me how to do it. But I was just in awe, struggling to follow his calculations.

Fortunately, every volunteer who helped run the activity also got a chance to guess the weight of the jar full of M&M candies.

When it was my turn to guess, I was not even in view of the jar. The only thing I could do was listen to the numbers going through my mind at that moment. Time stood still for a moment. The number 2.8 kept repeating over and over again inside my head. I just went with my instincts and wrote this number down on the sheet of paper.

That afternoon, when all the entries were in, Ms. Shanley’s eyes widened when she saw my guess. “Tina, your guess was the closest!” I gasped in surprise. I had won!I guess human instinct is on par with the laws of physics after all.