The Most Important Holiday in Taiwan

Chinese New Year is an important holiday for Taiwanese.  It falls on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar.  It’s time for family to get together.  There are plenty of special traditional activities during the Chinese New Year, such as Lion Dance, Dragon Dance, and setting off firecrackers. 

Long time ago, people believed there was a “year beast”, which always came out on the Chinese New Year’s Eve and ate people.  The beast was afraid of the red color and loud noise.  To solve the problem, people decided to paste some Chinese couplets onto both sides of the door, set off firecrackers and play drums loudly to keep the beast away.

Many people also go to temples and pray for a year of peace.  And on the Chinese New Year’s Eve, people will have a big dinner together, and then grownups will give children some “lucky money” in red envelops.  On that night, each child will put the red envelope under their pillow and stay up past midnight.  This is called "shou shui", keeping the age for their parents.  It is said that the longer children stay up, the longer their parents will live.

*Traditional Custom 1. Cleaning the house 2. Giving red envelopes 3. Wearing new clothes and hats 4. Playing with firecrackers

5. Saying "Gongshi! Gongshi!" (Congratulations!)

Taiwanese Typical Foods

In Taiwan, there is a variety of typical foods, which you can only see them in Taiwan.  But in my opinion, sweet potatoes and

steamed rice balls can best represent Taiwanese culture, the economic development process and the spirit of Taiwanese.

In the early time of Taiwan, people were poor.  Most of them can only eat sweet potatoes for meals.  But they never complained about it.  They just kept working hard for a brighter tomorrow.  Finally, as you can see, the Taiwanese become rich.  They sell steamed rice balls with expensive stuffing inside, such as scallops(干貝), abalone(鮑魚), etc.  This shows that because of the effort of our ancestors, we can live a better life.

These Taiwanese typical foods are not only because they are delicious but also because they tell our history.           

A Lovely Summer Vacation

  This summer vacation, Ivy and I went to the ''Chocolate Exhibit'' and ''Climate Change Exhibition'' in National Science and Technology Museum.
  To me, the Chocolate Exhibit was pretty cool.  All the exhibits were make of chocolate and dyed with pigments.  Such as a tiger, shoes, an LV purse, terracotta army(兵馬俑), 85 skyscraper and of course, Taipei 101.  there were even an iphone , a laptop and ''Qingming Riverside Painting''(清明上河圖).  We also saw a truffle chocolate which was a bit smaller than a basaball, and it cost NT$3000.  EXPENSIVE!!!  And there were also lots of informations about chocolate.  The last part of the exhibit was a show of making chocolate flowers. The lady who made them were pretty amazing.  She can make a flower exactly in only ONE SECOND.  At first , Ivy and I decided to grab all the chocolate after the show, but we were not sure if the chocolate was eatable.  Plus, we had no patience to stand and wait for the show to be over.  So we gave up.  Also, I suggest you not to buy chocolate and candies there, they were quite expensive.  Then we move on to  the ''Climate Change Exhibition''.  You had to break through all the barriers.  Each barrier had questions for you, and were all about protecting our mother earth.  Everytime you broke a barrier, the man would give you a sticker.  After sticking five stickers on the card, you could go on a ride on a car that drove on the rail in the mid air.  I thought it would be fantastic.  But unfortunately,we saw children's evil side, that was they loved to cut lines.  In this case, we can only broke two barriers.  What a pity!!! 
  Although I didn't get on the car, but I still learned a lot from these two exhibitions!!! 

A Trip to Zhou-Zai Wetland

It was a lovely sunny day after the freezing winter.  After lunch, I put all the stuff away from my school bag, except the things I needed.  Then, Ivy, Peter and I went to the hall for yummy desserts.  I was so excited, but when I got on the bus, I felt it was far away from school.  It took about thirty minutes to get to Lotus Pond and Zhou-Zai Wetland.

  When we got off the bus, I looked around.  “Green” came in sight.  And the air was different from that in the city.  It was clean and fresh.  But I felt uncomfortable with the insects.  The wetland volunteer led us into the main area of the wetland.  He said the wetland was artificial.  It was made for the pheasants, the leaf-walkers.  But now, it is the home of all kinds of plants and animals.  Inside the main area, a variety of plants greeted me.  It was like walking in the Eden!  I felt the feeling of freshness there.  I had never been to places with full of plants after I grew up.  I had been there when I was little, but the memory was vague.  I learned a lot from the trip, and I would be able to live if I lost in the mountain.  I would know which plant is eatable and which plant is poisonous. 

  After an afternoon of walking, I was hungry and tired.  My shoulders were sore because of my school bag.  I could barely raised my spirit.  The most terrible thing was that the driver didn’t know where we where.  So we stood on the sidewalk waiting for the bus for about “FIFTY MINUTES”!  Can’t you believe it?  FIFTY MINUTES!!!  But at least, we went back to school safely.  Well, Teacher Debbie never forgets to give us homework.  We have to write down our personal response about this trip.  But it was really an unforgettable trip!

A Nightmare

Then I saw a strange creature with an enormous purple face and a tiny blue body.  The babysitter told me that the creature was my daughter.  My face turned green and white, with no expression.  The creature suddenly jumped to my badysitter, and said ” Give me your liver.  I love eating livers! ” Then she passed out.  I ran over to her and shook her hard, but she didn’t wake up.  The most horrible thing was that the creature jumped up to my head and started to sing a song which would made me fall asleep.  I couldn’t kill her because it was still my daughter.  I yelled at it with a harsh voice.  Then I felt somebody whispering ” Mom, why are you murmuring? And I have to tell you that you are late for work" .  But I’m glad it was only a dream.

A Trip To Janfusun Fancy World

She is my classmate, Ivy.  She likes to eat snacks.  We were sitting at the table next to ’’G5’’ at the amusement park.  She had just finished a bag of french fries and a hot dog.  Then, she was enjoying chocolate ice cream with a vanilla square in the middle of it, although it was really freezing that day.  She complained about the rude clerk of the shop.  She was unhappy. But at least she got her ice cream.  She became patient again.      

Self Introduction

I am Betty.  I am a Virgo.  I like to play the piano, the flute, watch movies and read adventure novels.  I also like to listen to music, especially the classical music and the foreign pop music.  I am faithful, confident, humorous and a bit sensitive.  My favorite dessert is ice-cream.  I hope I can have intelligent and brilliant friends.

My Best Friend

    The influence of a friend to a person is very important.  As far as I am concerned, having a good and indeed friend is very practical.

    Since I graduate from elementary school, I’ve never forgot my best friend, April.  She is tall and thin.  She has long hair with a tamed face.  She is brilliant and hardworking.  And also she is very creative.  She likes art.  She never misses any drawing competition.  She always makes me laugh because of her wittiness.  She doesn’t like to do her math homework, although she is clever.  Once we argued with each other because we are both stubborn.  We insist our own opinions and seldom adopted each other’s advice.  On the last day of the school, I was moved by a card with a lovely sticker from her.  And we made a word that we would meet each other in Taiwan University.

    Last month, she rang me and said”Happy Birthday”.  I almost forgot about my birthday.  And no one remembered it, except her.  It was really touching.  From that day on, I realize that she is the friend that I want.

    I hope we can be friends forever and never forget each other.  Hope we will be at the same university, Taiwan University eventually.  We are just like sisters.  She is my best friend and a good sister of my life.