Journal #7: Birds of a Feather

My buddy has become my best friend since we were high school students. The idiom “birds of feather flock together” totally can be used to describe the friendship of us. We have become buddy-buddy because we have several similar hobbies. Both of us enjoy playing pool and traveling. Also, we have experienced many unforgettable events during our high school life.

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Because of enjoying playing pool, we spent most of our spare time together to play pool. We learned from each other by exchanging views. Sometimes we also associated a team to challenge other teams. Therefore, we got an unspoken consensus through playing pool together.

We like to travel. The most unforgettable trip is that we traveled around our country by scooter when we were 17 years old. That was a one-week trip, and the trip tired and inspired us.

In short, my buddy and I are just like the idiom which describes people who are alike will be close friends. We probably would not be so close friends if we didn’t have the same hobbies.

Journal #6: Dr Dolittle

One of the most differences between human and animal is communication. People can organize things by communicating well to each other. In contrast, animals maybe can communicate to each other, but they obviously can not talk to each other. That is the reason how human can dominate the Earth.

Most people would become vegetarians if animals could talk. People would be freaked out and run away when an animal says “Are you going to eat me?” Also, animals might negotiate with people if they can talk. Fortunately, animals could not talk in the real world, so people would not be scared by speaking animals. Besides, people didn’t need to worry about negotiating with talkative animals.

Personally, I like most of animals, and I like to guess what they are thinking when I look at them. Also, I admired that the animal trainer can communicate and control animals well. But that is not talk though. However, I would rather guess their thinking than talk with them. I think if they could talk, that would be horrible to me.

Journal #5: "Summer Snow"

One of my most favorite songs is “Summer Snow” which was sung by a Norway singer, Sissel. The song is also a theme song of my favorite Japanese drama-“Summer Snow” in 2000. In Taiwan, many people love to watch Japanese drama except me. I didn’t care about Japanese drama at all. The reason why I began to watch the drama and why I like this drama as my favorite is the beautiful song.

One day, I occasionally heard the song from TV while I was turning channel through remote control. I was attracted by the beautiful song. It was also the beginning of the Japanese drama, so I was interested in and began to watch it. After the first episode, I could not miss any.
The lyrics of the song was wrote match up the plot of the drama. It is a love story. I just associated with my girlfriend, Ella, before I heard this song.

We used to argue each other in the beginning of our association. After I heard the song, I start to think what a true love is. Therefore, I always listen to the song while I argued with Ella. It will make me feel calm, and I will think about our argument deeply. Then we will be reconciled easily.

In my opinion, the song of the singer, Sissel, is the sound from the heaven. That may sounds exaggerating, but that’s how I love this song.

Journal #4: Weather

My favorite kind of weather is the rainy day. I feel calm and relaxed when it is raining. Perhaps I like the rainy day because it is usually hot and humid in summer in Taiwan. It is easy to get a bad temper in the condition. When it rains, my bad temper would be released immediately. I am used to have lots of rainy days in my country, especially in the typhoon season. Compared to my country, southern California doesn’t have much rainy day even in the rainy season.

It rarely rains in southern California during the summer. My first summer in southern California, I expected the next day would be a rainy day all the time. I am always disappointed because the rainy day never comes in the summer. Also, when I checked the weekly weather report on internet, I couldn’t believe it has the same temperature and condition everyday.

Although I like the rainy day, I don’t like it rains in winter neither in Taiwan nor in southern California. The low temperature already depresses people, so the rainy day causes more intense depression to people. On the other hand, the rainy day relax people during the summer.

Journal #3: Old Fears

Everyone has some fears that came from some reasons. You could overcome your fears by finding out the origin of the fears. For example, I had overcome my fear of dogs by discovering what I was scared of dogs.

I used to be very scared of dogs. When I was a five years old boy, I had been chased by an aggressive dog once in a while. The dog belonged to my neighbor, and they didn’t care if the dog would hurt children. In fact, the dog is a small dog in an adult’s view, but it is a huge dog in a five years old boy’s view. When it ran to me, what I only could do is run. Therefore, I just run away when a dog looks at me.

Until I grew up, I am still afraid of dogs, especially when a dog is barking at me. One of my friends knew that and told me that dogs are very smart and sly. They can detect if people were afraid of them. If they feel you are afraid them, they will bully you. After that, I tried to pretend that I was going to hurt the dog which was barking at me. Surprisingly, the dog freaked out and ran away. I realized what my friend told me was right.

I finally understand if I didn’t face my fear of dogs, I will always be scared of them. Also the truth is they try to scare people before they are scared by people.

Journal #2: How I get aruond here in America

My sister, who used to live in LA, told me that I will need a car in the USA especially in the south California before I came to the USA. I thought the USA is a developed country; the public transportation should be very convenient. Probably I won’t need a car in the USA. My sister told me that the California government focuses on building freeway, so the freeway network is well developed; but they don’t really care about the public transportation. “You will see what I am saying.” she said.
The first day I just arrived here, my sister’s friend went to the LAX to pick me up. I saw trains, buses, and taxis on the way to my home stay’s house. I still though that the transportation looks pretty good, and I could take the public transportation to any where. I told my sister’s friend I probably don’t need a car; I will use the public transportation living in the USA. Then she told me “Don’t be silly. Living in the south California without a car just is like you lose your legs.”
The third day after I arrived here, I already planed to get a CA driver’s license because I had decided to buy a car. The reason why finally I decided to buy a car is that I realized a car is really important here. I don’t like to walk an hour to the nearest supermarket, and I don’t like to spend one hour and take two buses within couple miles to school. I realized not only the public transportation isn’t convenient but also the land of the USA is too large. Finally, I got my small lovely hatchback car, so I and my wife became free in the USA.