JOURNAL#20

Every culture has its unique characteristic and history background. Doubtlessly,there are also some special cultural custom and unacceptable behaviors from my country. one of the special custom will be the religion. In Taiwan, the most general religion is taoism which means peopel will go to temple to worship and peopel are not allowed to step on the doorsill. And the food that you bring to temple are also limited to some items such as you can't bring guava or some speacial food. Moreover, it also not polite to point the figure that the people worship and it may also bring bad luck if you do not respect the figure. Sometimes, it requires some wisdom to give a present. It is because some time the present's pronunciation has a hidden meaning and it may mean bad luck. For example, the couple won't send each other a umbrella as a gift and its because the unbrella in chinese pronunciation is sound like break up.

JOURNAL#19

The first idea that come into me when I think of my favorite activity during my leisure time is watching tv. For some people, they may think to watch tv is quite boring for them because they can't find the program they like or they think it is waste time to sit in front of tv for a whole day without doing anything. As for me, I like to watching tv not only because the tv program provide me with a lot of choices but also I can find some interesting and funny news. For those peoeple who like to travle they can obtain the information from the travel channel and able to know the great spot to visit and the good resort to stay without spending time searching for the place to go. I also like the food channel that provide some good shows to demonstrate how to serve a savory food even though I can't cook but I still like to watch this kind of show.ha Sometimes, I also watch some dramas and Grey's anatomy is my favorite one.

JOURNAL#18

The thing that I wan to do is to go shopping. I usually went shopping once a week while the time that I was in Taiwan. However, I am not often to do shopping since I have been here. The reason that I can think of probably is the distance. The environment here that is hard for me to adjust will be the distance whether you want to dine out or to do shopping even though you just want to buy some drink. You are not able to finish without driving. I have heard some good places for shopping such as Santa Monica , Pasadena or South coast plaza. But all of these locations require at least 20 minutes drive and it will cost more time if you hit the traffic. Sometimes, I really want to go out and visit some famous spots such as museum or shopping mall but I am lazy. Orz!! I will grasp the next vacation to visit some place after finishing this semester.

JOURNAL#17

This spring break I went to mammoth for sonwbording. This is my second time to play the snowboard but I still had hard time with it.HA~ We have eleven people in three cars and it was also a long way to drive to there. We left here around 5pm and the time we got there almost 11pm and it is also the first time to have this long distance trip since i came here. We plan to stay for two nights and to play snowboard for two days. Although I can handle the board well than the first time, I still fell a lot. I feel like my body was falling apart and it was really like a torture. But I like the speed of this activity and it is really exciting. My friend was kind of forcing me to try the difficult route and I was enjoy it even though it took me around one hour or more for the top to get down. This was a fun trip and the snow season is also almost over.

JOURNAL#16

The strategies that I can think of to keep the language proficiency is to watch TV. There are various tv programs that you can choose. In order to keep up with the familitarity of English, you can choose the topic that you like and you are interested in to watch. For example, if you are interested in some social news, you can watch the news channel and with the subtitle so that you can catch the vacabulary that you don't know. With the repeat words from the news, you may remember those words spontaneously. Furthermore, you also can watch the mtv to listen to music and able to know what's hot now. And you can also use the same way to improve the English by using the internet. You can find the news that you like or the website you are interested in. The reason that I think this strategy can work is because you can find the word which is used quite common in your daily life and you can remember those words more easily than the words in the text book.

JOURNAL#14 Cultural Identity

The things that make me different and unique is related to my cultural background. And my personilty and concept which is also totally influenced with the environment that I grew up. I think my mom plays an improtant role in my life. She is quite open when compare to other's parents and the way we stay with each other just like friends. Sometimes when I was in a difficulty and need some dircections or the guideness and she is always there for me. The most first impression that I gave to others usually is quite and even hard to get close. For me, I think it is just hard for me to start a conversation with stranger and furthermore I am a passive person . I am willing to meet new friends and so I will try to change myself but I know it takes time.

JOURNAL#13

I have been here for around 2 months and I am still trying to figure out the way of living here. We have met each other for more than seven years. Time flies , we are going to experience another stage of our life which is totally different from being a student and maybe it is more difficult.I hope you can do the thing you like to do and don't be overwhelmed by the reality. I miss the time that we stay and hang out together and the things we have been

through. I feel ease to stay with you guys and just like one of you had ever said the relationship between us is like the string and kite. Even though we are not usually to contact each other at all, we still attach to each other. I know it's hard to meet the person who is similar to yourself and I am glad to meet you guys. cheer up!!!