2010年5月31日 星期一

Journal-Dance with Cloud Gate 2

Although I look quite healthy in appearance, I am disabled when it comes to dancing. However, it was our honor to have “Cloud Gate 2” long stay in our school, and it was almost a once-in-a-life-time chance to be in the course. I was really lucky to be one of them, despite the fact that I didn’t make this choice by myself. The course was different to others in our school that it only took two weeks, 14 days to get 2 credits. But it was not an easy task at all.

At the beginning I felt extremely ill at ease to move my body in front of so many people or to react with boys. But after two days of training, I gradually open my mind to emerge myself in the music. I went up when the music got high, and I went down when the music went soft. I felt myself connected to the people I met and the environment I was in. In the end of the first week, we had a performance in our class. Although I was simply a “wall” of the floating room, I am proud of being so. I must be the must emotional wall of all time! In the second week, we have to choreograph and to create our own performance. At first, we couldn’t think of anything, and we almost begin fighting. But after long negotiation and the matter of adrenalin, we had a bog shot in our final performance.

I learned a lot after taking this course; I not only liberate my body but also learned the way and also the art of communicate. Preparing a show is like having a baby – it hurts, but it worth.

2010年5月23日 星期日

Journal-A person I would like to meet in the past

Have you ever seen the image of a Chinese heroine riding on the horse, yelling and killing Xiongnu like a real man? Or do you remember the song” Who is that girl I see? Staring straight back at me? When will my reflection show who I am inside?” Mulan was a young woman who disguised herself as a man to take her elderly father’s place of in the army, and I really feel like meeting her if I could travel back in time. I am a member of our basketball team, therefore I sometimes feel like I battle with others on the horse, too. Mulan, to some degree, is my reflection.

The hardships before Mulan turned herself from an ordinary woman into a heroine must include a lot of sacrifice: freedom, fighting brothers, youth…But the final choice she made was to give up the military promotion and went back home to show her filial piety. Most important of all, she is a rare case about a “woman” being mentioned in any ducument. It occours to me of the unfairness between genders. In the past, either in Chinese or Western culture, women had no position comparing with men. Even in nowadays, there are still many stereotypes in our society. Let me tell you a story: once upon a time, a pair of father and son had a serious car accident, and the father unfortunately died. The only thing the father asked before he passed away was to save his only son. So the hospital engaged the most authoritative doctor to operate, but the doctor shouted out loud:“ Oh, I can’t do this! He’s my son!” upon seeing the patiant. What’s wrong with this story? Weird, isn’t it? One may wondered, wasn’t the father already died? Why did he showed up as a doctor? The doctor is a female! See? We often fall into stereotypes unconciously. And the other true story is about an Arabian woman who was raped, but unexpectedly, she was the one to be blamed by the public and was whipped because of it.
I am here because of the speech freedom I got and the gradual raise of feminism in the society. It’s also my honor today, standing here and delivering my speech while it would be an impossible mission in ancient China.

Mulan would be an inspiring figure I would like to meet in the past. She stood out to prove that we girls are not weak; we are as capable as men. She was a pioneer, who represented the strength and courage of women. If I could travel back in time to meet Mulan, I would tell her about how women’s position have been improved now. Although playing basketball may be considered as a masculine activity, I knew I am good at it, and no one can oppress me. Just like Mulan’s story, as long as I am capable of doing something, there’s no way for me to give it up or have my head down. And I bet she would not mind if I invited her to play one on one if she knew how to play basketball! I think it would be the time my reflection shows who I am inside after I meet Mulan.

2010年5月15日 星期六

Journal-Fireflies at Ruili!

This Friday, my best friend and her boyfriend, my boyfriend and I went to Ruili, a place that is famous for fireflies. We googled the hotel on the Internet and we were all looking forward to our “double date”. We were really lucky that the host of the hotel -Ben was rather hospitable; he picked us up at Chayi city and then drove us to his place. Although it saved us 180 each person, he really drove tooooooo fast. I felt extremely dizzy and had a serious carsickness. However, after arriving the destination, I recovered because of the beautiful scenery of tea garden and his wooden house. We met another two girls from Hung Kong and we soon became friends through a short talk. We decided to go fireflies seeing and mountain climbing together. After having a short break and eating the dinner, we set out to see the fireflies at 7.

It was an amazing and unforgettable experience ever in my life! I cannot believe in my own eyes with the glittering lights. At times, I wondered the lights I saw weren’t fireflies but decorations for Christmas. The fireflies even stopped on my hands! We also saw fluorescence mushrooms from time to time. The ecological environment there was stunning natural, even snakes appeared, too! (I was freaking out because of that!)

On the second day, we woke up early and had a nutritious breakfast before we went mountain climbing. I was exhausted after climbing the mountain because there were 1000 or so stairs in total! However, the scenery worth taking a tiring walk. It was a pity that I threw up in the end of the trip- the mountain road was awful. Nevertheless, it was still a great trip which not only better or relationships but also widen my horizon.

2010年5月11日 星期二

Journal-Big triumph!Top 10 in ICRT speech contest

This Sunday, we 5 girls went up to Taipei for a speech contest held by ICRT and Gram English. It was not my first time having this kind of competition, but we are the only one from a thousand miles away.

Before the contest, we practiced in front of our classmates, receiving their comments and revised our drafts again and again. Finally, we presented ourselves on the stage and happily got in the top ten. It is wroth mentioning that this time I am myself one the stage. I had a lot of experiences of participating in speech contests, but I simply deliver the speech, not saying something from my heart. Or I would stand there making affected gestures. However, I took a risk this time, a risk for being who I really am. I change my style to a more natural and conversational way. Luckily, it is exactly what the judges’ want. It was like a gambling game and I made a right bet. Thanks God I got the third prize! But it is not the end. There would be round two at the coming Sunday, and I should be careful and work even harder to keep my place. Congratulations to Chung Cheng girls, we 4/5 girls are in the top ten, and we are going to “fight” again!

Put the serious part aside, we went shopping on Saturday to let out my stress. I got several “loots” such as a pair of shoes, jeans, some clothes and so on. Although I felt a little guilty, but it truly was a great sense of satisfaction. (LOL)

It was a great experience to challenge ourselvers, but the final contest is at the coner, we have to work hard together first!

2010年5月2日 星期日

Journal-We are the Champion

After FLLD cup @ NTU, it is Kaoshiung’s show time! This time, the basketball game was held in my hometown, Kaoshiung, surely I have to show my hospitality of Kaoshinug people and a hostess. I offered almost everything asking for no reward, I know it is happy to help others, and I am really proud of being Kaoshiung people!

However, we had 3 games in the first day, and unfortunately, I caught a cold and was during a period. I worried about it a lot, but I pay no attention to it during the game. The only thing I saw in the game is my teammates and the basket. In the first game, we took the opponents over by 32 points, 11 in the second game, and 20 more points in the third. It was a big victory ever to all of us. As the saying goes, “well begun is half done”, I took them to the night market as a celebration, and we all went home exhausted. On the second day, we beat our opponents by 53:18. What’s next? Championship! We got the fifth trophies in the first year in CCU! Then we went to Qijin to eat seafood and ice, but it is totally in a rush. It is a pity that we can’t step on the sand and feel the passion of Kaoshiung.

This champion is meaningful to us because first of all, there are two seniors just joined us-it might be the last game for them in their university life; second, we just changed a new coach; third, we never continuously won that many games. We all love the feeling of striving together and wining together. Although the practice before the game was harsh, the progress was tiring, the result is wonderful! Everything just paid off, not to mention the encouragement given by our friends in Chaiyi and family in different cities. There’s always something except victory we can get through the games, such as a better relationship with teammates and experience toward either victory or failure, and I think these are definitely more important than wining games.