My Family's Lovely Pet - Yaya

    Yaya is a little shepherd. Her name is quite special; there is a story of it. When our family go out to have lunch or dinner in a restaurant and she can't come with us, she will make a strange sound as a duck quacks. YA~ YA~ That's why her name comes.

    She was once a stray dog and my sister and I took her home; this thing happened when I was in the third year of elementary school. She is really cute. I don't think her original keeper abandoned it on purpose. Maybe, she got lost so if the keeper had come to take her back, I would have cried seriously. Fortunately, we became her new keeper.

    Now, I'm a university student and Yaya has lived with us for more than 11 years. She is old like a grandmother but sometimes she is still very energetic. Her health is not always in a good condition. She needed a surgery to take out the stone in her bladder not long before. Because I study in Taipei and my home is in Pingtung, I didn't go to the hospital with her so I was quite worried when she was uncomfortable and having an operation. When my mom told me that she was back to home and she recovered steadily, I finally released.

    I don't live at home and I seldom go back so I have little time to see her and I miss her a lot. I believe whenever I go home, she will show her love and energy to me.

Playing Basketball

    I was not a player on the basketball team in elementary school or in high schools. That means I had never been trained as a basketball player, but playing basketball is my interest although I'm not good at it.
    When I was a freshman, I attended the basketball team of English Department. I'm sophomore now and still one of the players. In my first year, I once thought about quitting the team. There were two reasons; one was that my mom didn't want me to play it as I might get hurt; another was that I really thought I wasn't fit to be a basketball player. Then why did I choose not to give up? There were also two reasons. One was that my Japanese friend who was a good player in the basketball team told me that the experience of staying in the team and playing basketball during the four years in university will be the memory I treasure. Another reason was that I do feel I have improved a lot when I see those freshmen and think about my poor skills of playing basketball in my first year.
    I admire some seniors who can play basketball very well in my team. I want to follow their steps and become a good player. I know it seems like mission impossible to me but practice makes perfect, right?

Life in Seattle

    I'm thankful that my parents allowed me to go to the United States with the Department Chair, Jonathan Klassen, and the students of English Department. I had a wonderful language travel this August. We spent four days in San Francisco and three weeks in Seattle.

    I was homesick on the first day in San Francisco and afraid of speaking English because I was in a different country and I wasn't familiar with American custom, but after that day, I talked in English a lot haha. I guess it's not difficult for me to get used to.

    The photo is my class in University of Washington. I love my teacher, Patty, very much. She is so energetic and earnest that I had a great time during class. The girl on the left of me in the picture is called Yumiko. She is my best Japanese friend that I met in Seattle. Our personalities are similar so we get along with each other very well.

    Great time always passes fast, doesn't it? I hated to say goodbye to my teacher, classmates and friends. I said farewell to Yumiko and cried a lot that night when I needed to leave the dorm for the airport. The picture shows the pair of rings and that represents our firm friendship.




    I'm sure that my English improved through this language travel. I didn't learned much from classes but from the street. It's the environment that pushes you to speak English. The next summer, if I have a chance to go abroad again, I will do it without hesitation.