red wine

My father’s friend gave us a bottle of red wine. We decided to drink it during dinner. I’ve heard that red wine has many benefits. Drinking a glass of red wine each evening is good for health. It contains some materials can reduce heart disease risk, benefit the skin and blood vessels. I think it’s quite weird. Isn’t drinking alcohol bad for the body? But, why drinking red wine is good for the body? I believe that the research did by the scientists and doctors was true, but I think if I drink the red wine regularly without doing any exercise, I won’t be healthy at all. Eating or drinking something good and doing exercise at the same time is the best way to maintain healthy.

Christmas Eve

Today was the Christmas Eve; I did not have any plan. I didn’t have a big meal or go out with my friends. I was writing the Christmas cards to my friends. Last week I didn’t have so much free time to do it. Anyway, we decided to exchange the cards tomorrow at the Starbucks. Today I also received some Christmas cards from my senior high school classmates. I appreciated that they still remembered to send cards to me. I think Christmas is not so popular in Taiwan, especially for the previous generation. It is west country’s holiday at all.

reading is good

Making it as a custom to do some reading is good, my teacher said. He also said, no matter what kinds of books you read such as novels, magazines, newspapers or even comic books, all are good to increase knowledge. For me, I will buy the title of book which I interest or buy the books written by the author I like. But now, I seldom to read books except the news from the Internet. There are still some books I didn’t read which I bought before. I should find some times to finish them or I would waste my money.

shampoo

I have changed a lot of brands of shampoo but I haven’t found the one which suits me the most. When there was a new product was on sale, I would but it for a try. Maybe it smelled good, had an attracting looks, or had a very special use. I would have a little dandruff in the winter which it was very cold and dry. So I would choose anti-dandruff shampoo in the freezing winter. However, now it wasn’t very cold, so I didn’t have this problem yet. Some people said changing the shampoo frequently was better for hair. I didn’t know whether it was true or not. Anyway, I would keep looking what shampoo suits me the most.

hot springs

I like to take a bath or soak in a hot spring. There’s nothing more wonderful than soaking in hot springs, especially during the winter. I think the hot spring is a great gift which given by the earth. For this thought, I appreciated that I was born in Taiwan. Although there are lots of earthquakes in Taiwan, there’s no hot spring if there’s no earthquake. Hot springs are good. I not only can relax myself but also my skin will become prettier and smoother. Other countries also have hot springs like Japan and Iceland. If I have a chance, I want to go there and enjoy soaking in hot springs.

strange dream

Today I waked up late. After turning my body over, I continued to sleep. And then, I had a strange dream. A giant gorilla wanted to catch my father, mother, and me. It happened around my house. I was very sacred that I might be caught and eaten by it. I ran quickly as possible as I could. My father and mother didn’t run the same direction like mine. However, the gorilla ran straight toward me. I struggled about 30 minutes but I finally was caught by the gorilla. While I was thinking I was going to be swallowed by it, it said it just wanted to scare us and it was a joke. I was so frightened that I couldn’t say any word. Then I woke up.

drinking milk

Drinking milk is good for our health. When I was a little girl, I drank milk everyday because I wanted to be taller. The result showed that it didn’t work. I didn’t become taller at all. Some of my friends laughed at me that the whole nutrition I got from the milk which only let my breast become bigger. Besides, if I drink milk without having breakfast in the morning, I usually get an upset stomach. After eating something, then I won’t have such an uncomfortable feeling. Although drinking milk won’t let me become taller, now I still love to drink it. I also like to add cereals into milk because it’s so delicious. I will keep drinking milk in the future.

picky about underwear

Last week Alice and I went to buy underwear. When I told her how I match my underwear with my clothes, I thought I was very picky about that. For example, if I wear black T-shirt, I will choose to wear black underwear. If I wear white T-shirt, the color of underwear I will choose is flesh-colored instead of white. Wearing white one; other people still can see what the color of underwear I wear. On the other hand, wearing flesh-colored one is in different situation. Sometimes, it’s painful for me to see a girl wearing white T-shirt but wearing black, blue or red underwear. I think it’s impolite. Anyway, I learned another skill to match the clothes and underwear. There’s a new type of bra, party bra. And then it’s okay to let others to see what bra I wear. They all have pretty designs and are a little bit like bikini. It’s much useful in the summer.

glasses

How many people in Taiwan wear glasses? I think the answer is lots of people. Many friends of mine also wear glasses. I wore glasses since I studied in junior high school. I thought that wearing glasses was interesting at the beginning. However, now, I hate to wear them. My eyesight was getting poorer year by year, so I needed to change my glasses after a period of time. Maybe that’s because I play the computer too long every day. Now sometimes when I see the blackboard; the words teacher wrote always are blurring. Therefore, I bought a new pair of glasses last Thursday. I wish I had never need to wear glasses. Or I needed to spend lots of money in my whole life for changing them. Another reason was that some people said that I looked prettier when I didn’t wear glasses.

Japanese food

I won a prize in class last semester. The prize is that Simon and Stanley will treat me Japanese food. I thought they might forget it but I thought it didn’t matter. However, last week they told me that we were going to have dinner. I was so happy, and they also invited my friend, Chezzie. Actually it was that Chezzie told me the answer, so I would have the chance to win the prize. We went to a Japanese restaurant yesterday. This was my first time that went to Japanese restaurant with friends. The prices there are expensive, so I usually go there with my family. We had a wonderful meal, and I liked tempura and sushi most. I hope we can go out together again.

magic medicine

There was a medicine invented recently. It can let human beings’ terrible memory disappear in their brain. This medicine is used especially for those who suffer from disasters or have horrible experiences. Now it was tested only in animals, so the doctors were not sure whether it would invite side effect in human body or not. I thought it was amazing. If it can be used in the future, that really was good news for those victims. For example, if I survived from an air crash, I might be scared to take the plane again. After using that medicine, then I wouldn’t afraid to take the plane anymore. It was a good thing.

Shin Kong Mitsukoshi

Chezzie, Alice, Squirrel and I went to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi last Friday because that day was the first day of their anniversary sale. Of course, there were a lot of people. There was also a little traffic jam outside. We went directly to the counters which we liked. Squirrel and I wanted to buy down overcoats for protecting us from the cold. Or we needed to wear lots of clothes to keep us warmer. I thought that floor was the most crowded one. Chezzie said, “If there are lots of people in that floor, it means the products are cheap. If there are less people in that floor, it means we can buy nothing because they are very expensive.” I thought Chezzie was right. However, we didn’t buy anything at the end, except me, bought a pair of jeans. We all felt exhausted just in few hours. We said we needed to find another day to go to there again. Besides, thinking what we really need to buy before going there.

memory

Now I forgot most of the vocabularies which I learned before because I seldom used them. I think my memory is worse than before, so sometimes I will think myself is more stupid than I was a high school student. Today I had a little test about my short-term memory. The first type of the test was that the teacher said several numbers which in different speeds in Chinese. The second type of the test was several numbers said in English and in different speeds. Moreover, those letters couldn’t become a word. The last one was that the teacher said several letters of the alphabet. I thought the numbers said in English this one was the most difficult to me. If I listened to several letters at the same time, my brain would turn off automatically. I need to train and improve the capacity of my short-term memory.

TOEIC

I haven’t attend the test like TOEIC for two years, so this time I was very nervous. For preparing TOEIC, I practiced lots of listening and reading exercises. Finally I took TOEIC test in my own school, STUT, last Sunday. Chezzie and I were in the same classroom, and she sit behind me. This made me feel more comfortable that there was someone who you knew in the same classroom. The test time went so soon because I focused on my test seriously. When the bell rang, I just finished my whole questions. After finishing the test, I asked my friends how they felt about this test. To my surprise, Chezzie didn’t finish the questions. Jean also didn’t finish them. Should I be happy that I finished my paper?

dealing with anxiety

It’s hardly surprising that a lot of people are feeling anxious these days. I also usually feel anxious during the exam time and when I am in a big trouble. The way I solved the problem were that I would take a deep breath or drank hot tea. An article, from TIME magazine said that this kind of level was manageable. However, I had trouble sleeping. Serious anxiety might cause lots of other problem; trouble sleeping was one of them. They classified this symptom in serious level which should see a professional. In my age, as a youth, shouldn’t I have a sound sleep? Sometimes, even though I am very tired and sleepy, I just can’t fall asleep right away. Maybe take me about 30 minutes to fall asleep I guess. I want to sleep soundly, so maybe I’d better see a doctor.

Chezzie's birthday

We didn’t celebrate Chezzie’s birthday together last Friday. I went to the concert, and Chezzie also went to Taipei. The others had something else to do, too. Therefore, except Chezzie, four of us went to pick the present this Tuesday. Of course she didn’t know what we were planning. After buying the present, we told her we were going to eat outside last night, a simple dinner. Before going out, we held the cake and present and stood in front of her door. We wanted to give her a surprise. She never thought we were going to celebrate her birthday today. And then we went to have a big meal. Also we took lots of pictures. No matter how busy we were, it still was important to get together with our family and friends.

concert

I went to Linkin Park’s concert with my friend, Julie, last Friday. After finishing the whole mid-term exams, I thought it was a good way to have fun and relax. I had liked this band for 5 years since I studied in the senior high school. When I want to refresh myself, I will listen to their songs. Some people might think their songs are too noisy, like Chezzie, she doesn’t like this kind of songs at all. However, I just love them. This concert was held in Taipei. I seldom go to Taipei, so Taipei is a very unfamiliar place for me. This also was my first time to go to the concert. The concert was awesome that night. I hope they could come to Taiwan soon again.

oral exam

Today was my oral mid-term exam. I was so nervous that I couldn’t sleep well last night. The topic is that to describe the last day before I leave Taiwan if I go abroad for 3 years and never come back during that time. Of course, I will say good-bye to my family and friends first. And also say good-bye to my pets, 3 little birds. Bring their pictures with me. Next, go to the supermarket to buy some daily stuff which is hardly to buy and use in foreign countries. Probably I won’t sleep all night. I’ll pack my luggage until making sure that I already brought everything I need. Bring a good camera with me is also very important, so that I can record everything that happened on my trip or study. Anyway, after finishing this exam, I felt relieved and went back to sleep again.

Christ Child

It is said that the winter of this year will be colder and wetter by Christ Child. It is okay for me that the weather is cold or freezing. All I need to do is that wearing more and more heavy clothes as possible as I can. The thing I most hardly bear is that raining all the time. I hate the rain. It is uncomfortable that all my clothes, shoes, or bags get wet. It also doesn’t smell good when it is raining. Anyway, having Christ Child is not a good phenomenon in the world. The main cause is human beings actually.

I love dolphins

I liked Japan and I liked dolphins, too. Japanese food always was one of my favorite foods, especially the sashimi. However, I couldn’t accept that the Japanese killed the dolphins for food which was their custom. There were about 14,000 dolphins were killed for food in Japan yearly. Dolphins were the protective animals, so it was guilty to kill the dolphins. The American actress, Hayden Panettiere, and other animal rights activists went to protect the dolphins from hunting. Fishermen not only shouted to them but also attacked them. I thought this slaughter was too horrible even though it was one of the Japanese customs.

changing hairstyle

Changing hair styles need bravery. I had my hair cut with my friend, Maggie, last Thursday. She also had a haircut. Her hair was as long as mine was, but she made a decision, that is, had a short hair. I haven’t seen her with a short hair since we graduated from junior high. This was a big change for her. She told me that I should have the same hair style like her. However, I was not sure that her style was suitable to me. The hair designer said it was not suitable to me because I had a baby face, it would make me more look like a senior high school student. Therefore, I just trimmed my hair that day. I was afraid to have a big change on my hair.

taking notes or not

My English listening class’ teacher taught us that we should take notes while we were listening to a lecture. It would be easier if we were asked to answer some questions in the tests. Taking notes became a habit to me when I was listening to a conversation or a lecture. It really helped me a lot. However, I am going to take Toeic next month, it is not allowed to take notes on the test paper. It is hard for me to answer several questions after listening to a conversation without taking any notes. I can’t exactly remember what it just said. Now I practiced to do some listening exercises what Toeic’s questions liked. Hope I can do a god job in the examination.

group presentation

Finishing my reading presentation, I breathed a sigh of relief. Jamie, Squirrel, Chezzie and I spend a lot of time preparing this report. To be the second group made me stressed because the first group did not do well last week. It meant that we had more responsibilities to do it well. Fortunately, the teacher said we did a good job, and the classmates enjoyed our presentation. We introduced two advertisements, one was about the kitchen, and the other one was about the size problem. I liked the second advertisement more. I had a lot of stuff in my room, but I did not have enough spaces to fit them. There was a lot of furniture in Ikea for me to choose. It would help me a lot.

meeting friends

I went to Kaohsiung to visit my friends last night. We didn’t meet each other for a long time. Andy, Ray and I arrived in Kaohsiung first, so we went to the department stores to have our dinner and go shopping. There were more people in Shin Kong Mitsukoshi than in Sogo. As Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has the anniversary sale right now. After eating and going shopping, we waited for the others’ coming. And then we went to the night market to eat and go shopping again. All of us were like pigs, because we continually ate and ate. After that, we went to a park to take a rest and chat. We stayed at that park until the sun rose. Next, we went to McDonald’s to eat breakfast. Finally, we took the bus back to our lovely homes. I was very happy to meet them and I expected the coming of our next meeting.

reading report

I slept in Squirrel’s room yesterday because Chezzie, Jamie, Squirrel and me needed to discuss our reading report. Both Chezzie and Squirrel needed to have part time jobs, so we had to discuss after they came back to the dorm. We decided to make a report about IKEA. After finishing our discussion, it was 01:00 already. I still used Squirrel’s computer to find some interesting IKEA’s commercials. Most of IKEA’s commercials were related to sexual plots. I felt shy when I was watching those videos. However, it was so funny and easy to let me understand what the commercials were talking about. I hope we can prepare a good report for the class in these days.

dream when we are young

One of my classmates in senior high school, John, is going to be a fire fighter at the end of the year. He graduated from Taiwan Police College this year. Riding a bicycle from Kaohsiung to Taipei is one of his dreams. After hearing this news, I thought he would fail halfway. Lots of his friends also thought he would fail. However, he said that if we did not do something crazy when we were young, we would be regretful when we were old. Although those dreams sounded stupid, it’s still worth trying. It took him 6 days to arrive Taipei. I appreciated this kind of person like him very much. Knowing what goals need to achieve and what to do in the future.

rich Hong Kong

I read news on yahoo. It said that there were more and more rich men in Hong Kong recent years. A rich man also became richer. I have traveled to Hong Kong several months ago. It’s a very developed city. The transportation was very convenient. I could go almost everywhere by taking MTR. Going shopping was also very convenient. Most of their buildings were connected, and the shopping malls were down the buildings. English was one of their official languages, with many people speaking fluent English. I thought this was one of the reasons that they did international business well. Their children had better abilities to compete with other countries’ children, too. Therefore, they could make more money easily.

10/17

I had lunch with Chezzie in her room yesterday. We watched The Bourne Ultimatum while we were eating lunch. It’s a very exciting movie. There’s no subtitle in the movie, so we needed to listen to what they were saying carefully. After finishing our lunch, we went to Shin Kong Mitsukoshi for shopping. We haven’t gone to this department store together for several months. I was so excited to go shopping. However, we didn’t buy anything in the end. All the products were so pretty, but too expensive to buy. I’d better started to save the money for the next anniversary sale.

To use the handkerchiefs?

I wondered why some people used handkerchiefs in their daily life? Wasn’t it more hygienic to use disposable tissues? I thought it’s very inconvenient to use handkerchiefs because I needed to wash them after using them everyday. I knew it’s a way to be polite. The teacher always told me when I was in elementary school. I surfed the Internet to find some benefits for using handkerchiefs. One of the benefits was that it wouldn’t be so wasteful to throw tissues after using every time. It’s a good way to protect the environment. Maybe it’s also good for me to buy a handkerchief. Therefore, I didn’t need to throw many tissues after I washed my hands.

Busy Friday

After school, I went home quickly. Why I have to go home so fast is that today we are going to celebrate my grandfather’s birthday. He’s already 78 years old. We celebrated at my uncle’s house. Most of my relatives came together to congratulate my grandfather. We had a wonderful meal and ate the cake. After that, my parents, uncles, aunts, and my grandparents started to sing karaoke. We, the children, started to chat and watch TV. We had a great time. When we went home, my father’s friend said that he wanted to come to visit him. Therefore, they had a long talk that night until the morning. My father just took a nap because my parents were very busy on Saturday. I hope that he can take a good rest.

Alice's birthday

Yesterday was Alice’s birthday. Jamie, Chezzie, and I decided to give her a surprise after she finished her dinner and came back to the dormitory. First, we hid ourselves in Squirrel’s room and all the cakes, presents and candles were well prepared. While Alice and Squirrel entered the room, we sang the Happy Birthday song to Alice together. After she made 3 wishes and blew the candles, we started to eat cakes and chips which provided by Chezzie. We also played poker and drank some beers for fun. Actually it’s not allowed to drink wine in the dormitory, but yesterday was Alice’s birthday. Therefore, I think it’s ok to drink a little beer for celebrating.

10/5

I was very angry this evening. The bus from Kaohsiung to Liugui delayed about one and half hour. I waited the bus in Qishan and also lined up about one hour. My left lag was uncomfortable, so I needed to use my right leg to support my whole body. I deeply believed that my right leg’s muscles became very strong by lining up. Many people were lining up in front of me, too. After one and half hour, the bus came finally. I got on the bus, but I could stand next to the door only. Everyone was squished on the big bus. The most unfortunate thing was that I stood from Qishan to Liugui for fifty-four minutes.

10/3

I did not have classes today so I went home last afternoon. My father and mother picked me up at the bus station and then we visited one of my father’s friends. My father’s friend’s younger brother died from a working accident last week. Therefore we visited her to comfort her and help her. Her brother and she usually came to our house with lots of candies when I was a little girl. Her brother was 40 years old and already got married. I don’t know who is going to take care of his wife and kids. Anyway, I will miss him very much.

10/1

I knew more basic concepts about what is language today. People’s first language, second language, and foreign language will change by everyone’s different backgrounds. For myself as example, my first language is Chinese and my second language is Taiwanese. English, of course, is my foreign language. I had learned little Japanese and Spanish before in the school. Both they are foreign language for me, too. The most important thing for me now is that learn English more and well. Actually, I like Japan very much; therefore, Japanese is the second foreign language I want to learn well. I think the more languages you can speak, the more weapons you can get.

9/28

Today Chad asked us how we celebrated our moon festival. Later we talked about what exotic food that we most wanted to try. I said that I wanted to eat jelly fish. I saw Japanese made it as sashimi on the television. Because I love sashimi very much, I really want to try it. The thing I most interest is how it tastes like.

9/27

It took a long time for me to walk to the classrooms from my room. I just could walk like a turtle. I got an idea from walking slowly though the school. Why all people around me go so fast? Do I also slow down a little bit sometimes to look around? I think the answer is seldom. Now people always say we need to slow down our tempo in life. How many people really do it? It’s just a thought I got today in the campus.

9/26

I had surgery on my left leg three days ago. It was a strange experience. When I lay on the operating table, I almost thought that I was the character in Nip/ Tuck. I felt nervous and uncomfortable. The doctor was very great so my surgery was very successful. I need to go back to the hospital next Thursday for checking my scar again.

9/21

For rescuing my face, I had a facial today. I’ve got a lot of pimples on my face after the summer vacation. The reason is that I had a part time job in this summer vacation, and my working time was 17:00 to 04:00. Therefore, I became not so healthy, so do my face. It was very painful during the process. However, no pain no gain. After the whole process, I got a smooth skin like a baby.

9/20

There was an activity held in the dormitory today. Our new president gave moon cakes to students who live in the dormitory. Some foreign students also attended the activity. Maybe our school wants to introduce some special customs for them as well. Chezzie, my ex-roommate, she got two moon cakes; therefore, she gave me one moon cake. She’s so sweet.

9/19

My landlord finally came to fix my bed last night. Then I had a sweet dream until today’s 9 o’clock. A sudden noise woke me up. That noise was from the house next to me. The house is rebuilt since I came here last week. The noise is one of my big problems for living here. I hope that the construction can be finished as soon as possible. What I want to say is that having a good sleeping quality is quite important, otherwise we cannot be healthy.

9/18

Today, I attended Applied English this course. The teacher introduced something about TOEIC. She wanted us to start preparing TOEIC right now. Let me think about what I want to do in the future. Actually I still do not know what I want to do in the future. My parents want me to attend the government’s tests to be an official. I’ll have fixed income and do not worry my life too much. Their suggestion I’ll keep in mind. Maybe that’s one good choice for me.

9/17

It’s a new beginning not only in my study but in my life. This semester, I start to live outside alone instead of living in the dormitory. I am a little afraid now because I always live in the dormitory with my friends or roommates. Now I have to do many things by myself. I know it’s a test and I need to work it on. I’ll try my best in the future.