Happy Birthday

Dear Tim,

First of all, I want to say happy birthday, although it is already late a several days. There has been a long time since I haven't written to you. We are preparing for our GAST now, and you can easily see that our class is stressed, though maybe not all of us noticed that.

I had a great time writing to you and receiving your replies. When I looked back at all the letters I wrote, I saw the improvement I made and reviewed all the good time I went through with my class. It's always fun to read about the past because I get to travel back to the wonderful times. Thanks to you, I now have stored happy memories that would last forever.

Letter 23: The End

Tim,

It is sad to inform that this may be the last letter for this semester, and probably for the rest of our high school years. We all had a great time reading about the fun things happening around you, and it is always a big surprise when we find ourselves in your news letters. Hmmm... But I know you're still ready and is waiting for our news about our performance.

Well... These weeks were tiring but it was worth the whole thing.

Since we had only weeks before the performance, most of us (especially the actors) stayed after school practicing the play until nine every day. Then, we had the last four days, when we get to really step on the stage and we spent the whole night for a  rehearsal like a real performance. It was not until the last day that all the lightning and sound effects were put together. Before that, we didn't even have the microphones or the spotlight, and we kept on making mistakes on the sound effects. But, we made it to the end and finally had the perfect performance.

From the left to right is William, Patrick, me, Jay(throwing a Barbie and Ken), and Angela.

But this was not enough for us. Having just a one-day-performance is too short.We really wish we can have another performance as 320, when we already finished our test to college. I believe that everyone had a good time preparing and also enjoyed the whole show ourselves. Absolutely, this will be the most meaningful memory of my high school years. It is really lucky to meet all these classmates and get to make our own history together.

Allison

Letter 22: Doggos

Tim,

Here are the questions.

1. What did Liam do to be put on “house arrest”?
Liam was put on “house arrest” because he nipped on the “bug lady”, and the nip made her injured.

2. What could happen to a dog if it’s a “serious” bite?
If a dog commits a “serious” bite, he could be taken away or even killed.

3. Why was Liam excused from a more serious punishment?
Liam was excused from a more serious punishment because the “bug lady” entered the yard without permission and Liam had no biting history.

The dogs seem to really be able to protect their owner! People in Taiwan keep smaller dogs because we don't have enough room for yards. The smaller dogs aren't so protective, but they also bark crazily when other people or other dogs past by. I don't think we have laws for dog bites though we have a law for owners that they have to clean up the poop of their dogs.

There are a lot of stray dogs that live in our school. They lay on field and under the shades of buildings in the daytime. And when the night comes, the dogs form into groups and dash through the dark places in school. The dogs don't attack us, so they weren't taken away. But I accidentally stepped on their poop once, which made it a terrible and stinky experience.

Allison

Letter 21: All That Dress Making

Tim,

First, here are the study questions.

1. Why did many American women during this time use old flour sacks to make clothing for their families?
Many American women would make clothing for the families from old flour sacks because the fabric are the best alternative of other fabric, since they come with the flour and you don't have to buy new fabric.

2. How did the flour and animal feed companies try to take advantage of this practice?
The flour and animal feed companies tried to take advantage of this practice by marketing the flour bag. They may include patterns or instructions on the bag.

3. What were some of the reasons for the decline in popularity of the “flour sack” dresses?
The reasons are that homemade dresses are not as fashionable as the ones at the stores and that schools are no longer giving required classes.

If I were the mother though, I believe I could do better than the plain dresses. I've got the talent from my grandmother, whom had a large business making homemade gowns when she was a young. Even though there wasn't even a brand or a shop name, her name had already brought too many customers. There was even once when a foreigner came for a wedding dress.

It was said that my grandma can make any dress upon her memories of window shopping. I'd like to be born that time, so that I could seize the best chance of creating a popular brand of my own. It was not long after my mom was born that Taiwanese became rich. Well...for now, I just wish that someday we could have a sewing class, and I could make some money by finishing other's homeork.

Allison

Letter 20: Air Pollution

Tim,

The air pollution in Taiwan is getting worse these days. We can easily see mist every day out the window or on the streets which makes  mountains disappear. Air pollution can lead to diseases such as lung cancer, COPD, and even heart diseases. In fact, over 5000 people die of diseases directly related to poor air quality every year in Taiwan.

People in Taiwan use to blame on the transborder air pollution from China. But the truth is, over 63% of the pollution comes from our domestic transportation and industrial waste. It turns out that our environmental laws are not strict enough. But because of some political reasons, people deny that the pollution comes from ourselves.

Allison

Letter 19: Getting Closer to Our Performance

Tim,

You've asked about Doris and I in one of the comments. Yes, we are still friends. Why did you come up with this question?

Time flies, and we're already starting the practicing of the play. We did an audition on Friday, and we will get to know the results either today or tomorrow. I am really excited about being able to perform on stage. We have drama class every week, and it's really fun watching all our classmates act. Speaking of acting, I think Doris is pretty good at it. She can easily make people understand what she is acting.

Aside from acting on stage, I have other jobs, such as making props and also teaching my classmates how to put on makeup. I wish I can do good teaching them. Since I have never wore makeup to school, it would be strange for me to teach them. Well, I'll try may best!

Allison

Letter 18: My Five-Day Vacation

Tim,

You probably already knew that we had a five-day vacation because of the Ching Ming Festival and the Children's Day. Most of the families go tomb sweeping on Ching Ming Festival, but there's already years since the last time our family went tomb sweeping. I guess our family is not that traditional.

Instead of tomb sweeping, my dad took the three of us to Ishigaki, an island only a 30-minute-flight away. We went snorkeling and enjoyed the clean beach there. The weather wasn't good enough for other outdoor activities after the third day though, so we played indoor games like table tennis, squash, and mahjong.

The sand is really clean and beautiful!

Blue blue sea!

We are playing mahjong in the bar!

I also painted a shisa, a cultural artifact and decoration in Okinawa. It's a lion like dog, which are often in pairs, with one's mouth opened and the other closed. The opened-mouth shisa is seen as male, and the other is seen as female. The shisa are so cute! 

My cute shisa!

Allison

Letter 17: Response to the Letter of the 228 Incident

Tim,

The situation for Taiwan and China now results from the past history. Yes, of course, we could say,"If China didn't insist on the return of Taiwan" or "If the the Chinese Nationalists didn't come to Taiwan". But to the generations of us, who were born after all these, what we could do is just imagine how it could be if all of these have never happened. Even though China "could have" gave up Taiwan earlier then, it is IMPOSSIBLE for them to make this decision now. And we all know that not every country stand by our side, and that none of them who do wants to be on the opposite side of China. So, what's the point of discussing whether Taiwan "was" a part of China for now? When there's a gun or there's money, no one care about the truth.

Allison

Letter 16: Hi There Again

Tim,

It has been three weeks since the first day of school, and we’ve started preparing for the yearly presentation on May 30th, which is only a little more than two months away. If you remember, we wanted to include singing in our play last semester. And now, a part of our class is already working on the songs. And I am no exception. We stay after school three days a week and gather upon with our partners listening to soundtracks and singing along.

Our teacher, Summer, has shown us a video of a previous EHP class who did a full musical of Mulan for their yearly presentation. It didn’t turn out well though, many people missed the keys and the tempo, and it was obvious to tell. I wish we don’t find ourselves ridiculous on stage.

Here’s a sound clip of Hugo practicing Sixteen Going on Seventeen.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15Tusn3Ce16cVbRvS9IHktjbI4VE-NKl1/view?usp=sharing

Now, let me introduce something I really like to eat.

This is “walnut and date cake”. We Chinese people consider it more of a kind of candy than cake. I’ve liked it’s sweetness since I was a kid. You can find it in Chinese supermarkets in the US if you want to try.

It’s simply mashed dates with crushed walnuts. But if you watch closely, there is a piece of transparent paper on the cake to prevent it from sticking on the pack. The paper is made of glutinous rice, so it is edible. The rice paper melts in your mouth, and I think it makes the whole “eating progress” both fun and tasty.

The cake comes in different shapes and sizes, but most of them are long and thick. Well, I like all of them!!

picture from http://www.joycemiaka.com/2015/04/blog-post_11.html

picture from http://enter3166.pixnet.net/blog/post/23721084-%E5%8D%97%E6%A3%97%E6%A0%B8%E6%A1%83%E7%B3%95-

Allison

Letter 15: My Winter Vacation

Tim,

I spent all my time traveling with my family abroad during the winter vacation. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to celebrate the Chinese New Year, but we enjoyed our trip.

My dad works in São Paulo, Brazil. We visit him every year, and go around Europe by the way. In fact, we have our connecting flight in Amsterdam.

When we were in Brazil, my dad still went to work as usual, so the rest of us stayed in the hotel for most of the time. Well… I can’t speak Portuguese, and neither does my mom, my sister, or most of the Brazilians. If we bump into robbers, we won’t even understand whether he wants money or something else. My dad takes us out on weekends to museums and “blocos de carnival”, which is “carnival of the blocks” in English and it’s actually a pre-carnival. Blocos are far from interesting to people who don’t dance, just like us. The people there follow a parade playing loud music and they just dance with beer for hours. 

↑my sister and I at the bloco

I like the museums there a lot. They are mostly free, and they include from art works to science museums. We even watched a movie with the Virtual Reality technology about the history of dinosaurs! I was really surprised that the whole thing was free.

↑ the VR theatre

Let me tell you about the Europe part next time.

Allison

Letter 14: New Year Wishes and Resolutions

Tim,

It's the beginning of a year, and that means it's a new start! But this also reminds me of the college entrance exam, which is only a year away. I have to start making study plans and get back into study mode. Though I don't need to pay too much effort to reach an acceptable result, I still fail because I just don't like to study.

So, this year, I wish I could focus on my studying. But I think I will still want to draw, make crafts, design clothes ...or stick to my cellphone. Whether I can make it through is the matter of time and the insistence of changing. I have to take action instead of just make promises.

Still, here's a cat I drew.

Allison