[Journal 7 :Summary] Nonverbal Behavior: Some Intricate and Diverse Dimensions in Intercultural Communication

John Smith took a vacation to Puerto Rico, he can communicate with the people there. But he had a bad experience about the misunderstanding of cultural difference, he is angry about the salesman who greeted him then later ignored him in the store after John Smith politely told him to help the people he was already serving. Actually there is a communication breakdown due to a misunderstanding and unawareness of the cultural nonverbal cues. Although John can speak Spanish when he visit Puerto Rico, he cannot "speak" the nonverbal laguage of Puerto Rico. He misunderstood the Puerto Rican culture's preception of time. John Smith met a polychronic concept of time in Puerto Rico, where the salesman tried to serve all customers at the same time, instead of a monochronic pattern in North America. According to this, John Smith would felt he had done his duty and was polite enough, but ended up being ignored by the salesman. The salesman's behavior reflects a polychronic concept of time where communication at several different levels happens at the same time. It's simply a different cultural structuring and meaning of time in communication.

[Journal 6] It's Hard to Say Good-bye.

As the end of this semester approches, my mind and heart turn to be much more anxious and depressed than before. It's not because of the bombing of final exams, it's because the leaving of seniors. I am a christian so that I attend the religious group and go to church every week. Accroding to this good relationship with the people who are also attend the religious gruop and church, we are just like a big family and we help each other when someone is in his/ her difficulties. Although I've only studied here for one year, the seniors are always set a model for us and also make me feel at ease. When I am down, they comfort me; When I am confused, they give me suggestion; When I am happy, they listen to my sharing. We held two farewell parties for them last week, and most of us cried in the parties. It's hard to imagine the life without them and the life we should depend on ourselves.

The seniors in Tsing-Hua are also my beloved one. We met them almost in the volleyball team. we've practiced and played competitions together, we went to Taipei and Pingtung together and we've tasted the flavor of sweat together as well.

Graduating seems to be a beginning for graduates, but it's about departing and seperating for undergraduates. It's always hard for me to say good-bye, I think I am a emotional person but also the one who pretend that nothing happens. I hope every senior can start their new journey smoothly and happily. Congratulation for graduation!

[Journal 5] Finals of Susan Boyle in Britains Got Talent

I believe that everyone has heard about the amazing woman whose beautiful voice surprised the whole British and others. Her name is Susan Boyle, a woman who is in her fifties comes from the countryside of Ireland. At the first competition, she was looked down by most of people and nobody believed that this farm woman can sing. But when she sang the famous song which is played in "Les Miserable"--- "I dreamt a dream" on the stage, then came out the loud applaus from all the audience. She sang so beatifully and can also touched people's hearts!
But things won't always go so smoothly. After the first competition in "Britains Got Talent", she has gotton lots of pressure. The pressure comes from the media, the pubic opinions and the people who don't accept her. Since bearing such big pressure for two mounths, Susan Boyle finally got sick.
The point that I admire Susan Boyle is not that she can sing beautifully, it's beacause she never gives up. Although she doesn't completely recover from the sickness now, she still insists to participate in the singing competition till the end. This vedio I paste here is the finals of "Britains Got Talent", and you can see Susan Boyle with a little bit tired appearance that even the heavy makeup couldn't hide it. After all, Susan Boyle didn't gain the champion of this competition, she got the second place. However, she is the champion and good model in my heart.

[Journal 4] photos record memories

I just have some chances to sort my photos of traveling recently, and I find out that everytime when I am looking at these photos, I can't help but taking long time to think back to the great memories which are showed on the photos.

I noticed that it also happens to everyone. Photos indeed seem to have some kind of magic power that can attract people's attention and recall the memories of people's minds as well. I went back home this dragon boat festival holidays, at one night I was sitting on the sofa after dinner and looking at the photos which were shot about fourty years ago. I saw my mom in diaper playing with her siblings and my youthful grandparents stood beside them. Then my mom began to tell me the story that happend to her childhood. I love listening to the stories that are told by my parents and grandparents with photos.

Although people's lives move on quickly, we can still store some unforgettable memories by taking pictures. Photos can record memories so that we won't forget the important events that happend in our lives.

Explore Your Creativities in LEGO

I believe that almost everyone had some experiences about playing LEGO in your childhood. For me, these small plastic building blocks attracted me very much and I was always enjoy building my own houses and cars for hours when I was a little kid. How could these small plastic bricks have such powerful magic? The reason is that you can always create new stuff by placing these building blocks in the different ways. Many people are even obsessed with playing LECO all over the world. The picture above my article is an example that you can make whatever ideal buildings you want.

LEGO was originated from a company which made wood toys. In 1932, after the first Financial Meltdown, the founder Ole Kirk Christiansen decided to save his bussiness. As the result, he turned the wood toys into wood building blocks and the begining model had came out. After World War Ⅱ, the technique of shaping plastic had progressed and Ole Kirk Christiansen's son reformed these wood bricks to platic bricks. Plastic can be more colorful and endure fire that made LEGO become popular in the world.

Playing LEGO can inspire people's creativities and imagination. There are a lot of exhibitions which held frequently to show the magnificent works of LEGO, and there's no ending of creativities of new bricks works. You can build anything and also make awsome works by yourself.

[Journal 3] Fong-Chu Cup

There was a competition this weekend named Fong-Chu Cup (瘋竹盃). Its main sponsor was the Mechanical Engineering Department of Chiao-Tung University. And this exciting sport competition inclued many kinds of ball competitions, such as volleyball, baseball, basketball, soccer and so on. This cup was held for the university in Hsinchu, and there were many universities and departments attending this competition.

Now I want to share with you about the competition of volleyball. We (FFL of Tsing-Hua)competed with two teams from Shinchu University of Education. After watching seniors playing against our rivals, I learned that happy atmosphere and momentum are the important key to win the games. When players were playing on the court, the shouting and cheering of the cheerteam near the court indeed had a good effect on rising players' morale. And being united could also ceated great sense of playing.

After two days' competition, we finally won the fourth place!! That is just the wondreful example of the saying: practicing makes perfect. We practiced playing volleyball twice a week and 3 or 4 hours for each time. Getting this good result is an encouragement to all of us that if we practiced hard, everything is possible!

[Journal 2] Making awosome things by yourself

There is a stall just outside the 水木 book store that selling many kinds of Teddy bears and rabbits this week. Lovely Teddy bears have attracted passerby' s eyes that almost everyone would stop and take a look of them. But the thing that different from other stalls is that you can make your own Teddy bears or rabbits by your hands, and it's cheaper than the finished products if you only buy the ingredients. I am interested in doing little hand-made things by myself, so that it's impossible for me to lose such a great opportunity. I bought a big rabbit and two small Teddy bears, then my friend and I were just sitting on the chairs near to the vendor and learn how to make bears from the vendor. At such a period of crazy mid-term, doing somethings different from English really makes me feel relax and joyful. When we were sitting there, we saw many people buy the ingredients and , the most surprising to me, they almost were male! When I saw this interesting thing I felt nothing but a little strange and confused. But my friend told me that she was moved by this phenomenon for the reason that they were supposed to make hand-made Teddy bears to his girlfriend. We also met a few classmates there and had a good afternoon. I wish this stall will come again soon, and I will miss the vendor because they were passion of teaching us to sew proficiently.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Devoted his life to helping people who were poor, disadvantaged, and racially oppressed in the United States.

He was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta and in 1948 graduated from Morehouse with a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1951. King then began doctoral studies in systematic theology at Boston University and got his Doctor of Philosophy .when he was nineteen, working as a field secretary for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in St. Augustine, Florida in 1964. One day he was caught by five men and a woman who accused him of being a “communist and a Yankee.” When he learned of the incident, Martin Luther King was motivated and identified with the populist tradition and assigned him to organize poor whites. The heroes he honored are Gandhi and Rustin. Inspired by Gandhi's success with non-violent activism, which affected King in a profound way, deepening his understanding of non-violent resistance and his commitment to America’s struggle for civil rights. African American civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, who had studied Gandhi's teachings, counseled King to dedicate himself to the principles of non-violence, served as King's main advisor and mentor throughout his early activism, and was the main organizer of the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin's open homosexuality, support of democratic socialism, and his former ties to the Communist Party USA caused many white and African-American leaders to demand King distance himself from Rustin.

King won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he said in his acceptance remark, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free". And then he continued to do his best to fight for the weakness and powerless people. At 33, he was pressing the case of civil rights with President John Kennedy. At 34, he galvanized the nation with his "I Have a Dream" speech. And at 39, he was assassinated, but he left a legacy of hope and inspiration that continues today.

[Journal 1] Mei-Chu Competition

It was the excitest competition that I have ever seen since coming to Tsing-Hua. Mei-Chu Competition is an annual great event between Chiao-Tung University and Tsing-Hua University. It took three days and almost every students would went to the match courses to see the players and cheer for their own shool. As a Tsing-Hua University freshman, how could I miss this! ! So I went to see basketball and volleyball competition with my friends. These games were excited but the 'fire-power cheer teams' were the interestest organization which made me so thrilled and heated. They yielded many slogans to encourage our players and also to boo the opposite rivals. I enjoyed shouting these slogans with them and also cheering when our players gained points.
Both of these two games which I've seen were very spectacular, and the cheerleaders and dancing clubs' performances especially heated the atmosphere to the highest that evey audiences clapped and shrieked for them. There were also two disguised animals walking on the grandstands which represent these two schools-- The panda for Tsing-Hua and the fox for Chiao-Tung.
At the end of the whole competition, Tsin-Hua University has won the award of this year after losing six years continiously. All the students of Tsing-Hua was delighted and crazy about this great news. For me, this is going to be an unforgettable memory in my university life, and this competition has also made me prouding of my university--Tsing-Hua.

I am Amy ~

hello I am Amy

good morning la :D