Japanese enterprise culture [7]

Last Sunday I read a book "艾蜜莉的日本求生記". It's author, Amelie Nothomb, is a Belgian female writer who was born in Japan and lived there in her childhood. She believed that she must have been a Japanese and her dream was to work for a Japan enterprise. She was so excited that her dream finally came true in Tokyo.

Nevertheless, the first day she came to the company she found that everything was beyond her expectation. In Japan, the status of woman is very low not to mention the fact that Amelie is a "foreign woman". Japanese women are supposed to obey men. Besides, the boss are usually men. Women have little chances to be promoted.

Therefore, in her workplace Amelie had no friends. The only female was her boss. She was afraid that Amelie might be promoted so she always picked on Amelie. She tried to humiliate Amelie by hook or crook. Amelie thought she was employed as an interpreter but her boss didn't give her any work to do. Finally, she was sent to serve the tea to guests, but she got into trouble because she could speak Japanese so well! The clients was not comfortable for there was a foreigner who could understand them. After that, Amelie was forbidden to speak and understand Japanese.

Amelie thought everything was ridiculous but she didn't escape. Her last work in that company was cleaning the restroom. She always worked optimistically. When her contract expired, she quited the job and went back to Belgium. Now she is a writer and awarded.

Through this book, we can see Japanese culture of enterprise, so ridiculous but also so aspiring. Still, I appreciate that I am not a Japanese girl. I may love Japanese culture very much. I mean their food, their scenery, their concept of environmental protection and so on. But I don't want to be a Japanese. As a woman, life in Japan is so hard. Men and women are still not equivalent seriously even today.

summary of "Cynicism and Mistrust Tied to Early Death" [6]

There are two type of men identified by cardiologists. "Type A" people are under stress and work too hard. Conversely, "Type B" men are relaxed. According to the cardiologists, Type A people were twice as likely to suffer heart disease as Type B men. However, a psychiatrist named Dr. Redford B. Williams has found that people who are angry and cynical are five times as likely to die under the age of 50 as people who are calm and trusting. Williams said that of all the aspects that make up Type A pattern, only those related to hostility and anger really lead to heart problems. Hostile and nonhostile people seem to have different nervous system. When hostile people become upset or get annoyed, they have larger rises in blood pressure than nonhostile people. This gives rise to damage of the heart and blood vessels. Therefore, Williams stated, "There is no evidence that the Type A personality is likely to die young. But there is lots of evidence that people who are hostile and angry do."

pop dance [5]

Tomorrow is the POP DANCE club performance. This semester I drop out dancing for I want to make better use of my leisure time not just spending on dancing. I thought I wouldn't regret. Though I love hip hop, some factors make me to leave the club. First of all, we have a performance annually; therefore we have to practice a lot in case that we fall behind the schedule. We have to spend much time to dance and every time when I go back to dormitory it's almost midnight. After I take a shower or do something it will be very late. My mom is a little bit angry about that. Secondly, everyone knows that dancing costs a lot. No matter you go to a personal studio to learn dancing or buy dancing dress, they all need money. I don't want to bring about more pressure to my parents simply because I want to dance.

However, with the performance coming, I see my friends all practicing hard. Honestly, I am regretful for giving up. Especially when I know from newspaper and TV that Jolin Tsai working so hard to make her dance skill better, I admire her willpower and her attitude toward everything. I think that maybe when I can earn money by myself I will dance again. Here is the video about Jolin's song "dancer" (舞孃), but it's not Jolin herself. It's a professional dancing teacher in a pair of fancy trousers.

my struggle for whitening [4]

When I was a student before 3rd grade in elementary school, my skin was quite white. However, things changed a lot when I started learning swimming and playing volleyball.

Every morning and every break time, my classmates and I would rush to occupy the volleyball court. In our school, every student was crazy about it. Even though the sun was so much we didn't care. Besides, in every summer vacation, my mom sent me to learn swimming and the pool was outside. I had to swim under the sunshine. When I was that little and young, I didn't know how to protect my skin. My mom didn't tell me as well for she never applied any cosmetic or facial care products to her face.

I have regretted for it so much since I was in junior high school. I learned that in Taiwan, as the saying goes, "fair-skin girl is more pretty". Most boys in Taiwan like fair-skin girls, which is exactly opposite to westerners. They like dark-skin more. They think it looks more healthy so when we're watching western movies we can see that on beach so many girls love to sunbathe. Unfortunately, I am an Asian and a Taiwanese. You can see so many many many many whitening products or surgery on TV commercial or in a newspaper, magazines and so on. I mean, everywhere! And those models, actress and singers are also very white. They send us average people a message that girls must be white. They have great influence on this society. Even I don't want to care about it that is "mission impossible". Therefore, I have begun rescued my skin from the torment of the sun for many years.

First of all, appling sunscreen to my skin, as the saying goes again,"Prevention is better than cure." In summer, I need at least one bottle of sunscreen in two weeks. Forthermore, I will rub different brand of sunscreen on my skin at one time. I think that in this way it will protect me more. And when I am outside exposed to the sun, I never forget my umbrella. Secondly, I have spent lots of money on whitening products since 11th grade. They are terribly expensive. Besides, It also takes a lot of time for me to take good care of my skin. I have to follow every step when maintaining so that those products could, maybe, have effects on my face.

I have worked really hard on whitening for a long time, but in fact, I can only see little effect. It's true that I did really become whiter than before. For me, it is obviously not good enough. I am always envy of my friends' fair skin. I always think that when fair-skin girls dress up they are more eye-catching. Even some kind of clothes are more suitable for them.

I will never give up. Maybe in the future I will try the whitening surgery when I earn money by myself. It is the fastest way. As a Taiwanese girl I want to say, "God! It is really hard to be a fair-skin girl." Although a proverb goes again and again, "there is no ugly woman, only lazy woman", I think it should be corrected as "there is neither ugly woman nor lazy woman, only rich woman!"

Two Shocking News [3]

These days Taiwan has many bad news, some of them are really shocking. Take the little poor baby for example. She was thrown into the pot with boiled water in it simply because her father was fighting over something with his girlfriend and then he was infuriated. The tragedy happened in this incredible way. The baby was 90% burnt and she cried out loud. Reading this news made me feel that impulse is really a terrible thing. It can make people lose their control and do regretful actions.

As to another incredible news was that an entertainer called 大炳 was caught taking drugs on the spot. Moreover, this was not the first time that he got caught. In Feb. 2007, he had been caught in a motel for one time. Now the scandal was happened again on the same scene. In 2007, he said he took the drugs merely because he wanted to lose weight. He also promised that he would never do it again and begged for forgiveness from the public. After that scandal, he did some efforts indeed to save his reputation. He also took part in the international activity about rejecting drugs. But now it seems really ironical. Even his family wants to leave him.

Nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes, but you have to learn a lesson from your mistakes. In my opinion, a person is a real loser if he/she made the same mistakes. No one will forgive him/her.

A song that I really need at this moment [2]

I tried to embed the video, but the HTML was not accepted. Therefore I put the address here.

http://mymedia.yam.com/m/2481054

This band is called McFly and this is my favorite song, "I'll be OK". Everytime when I am really upset and down I will listen to this song repeatedly. It could always cheer me up when I was a 12th grade student. Even now I am still listening.

These days, or maybe this semester, everything has changed. Everything that I liked I loved has changed a lot. I thought I could handle them well. At least in last semester I did. But now, I have lost a lot that I thought was all in my grasp. The story is too long and it is also not appropriate to talk about it here. I just want to yell and cry and let go every terrible thing.

I tried to talk to my friends, but things just cannot be OK if I don't open my mind. Things are so complicated that even I want to solve them is impossible. I know I have to overcome them by myself. No one could help me, so I listen to this song to make me feel OK and try to find some encouragement from it. I hope I'll be OK soon.

Lyrics

When everything is going wrong
And things are just a little strange
It's been so long now
You've forgotten how to smile.
And overhead the skies are clear
But it still seems to rain on you,
And your only friends all have
Better things to do.

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way
Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK

Now things are only getting worse
And you need someone to take the blame
When your lover's gone
There's no-one to share the pain
Your sleeping with the TV on
And your lying in an empty bed
All the alcohol in the world
Could never help me to forget

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way,
Just try a little harder
Try your best to make it
Through the day,
Oh just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK

You're not alone (you're not alone)
You're not alone (you're not alone)
You're not alone

Just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
Won't you tell yourself, I.....

[Chorus:]
When your down and lost
And you need a helping hand
When your down and lost
Along the way,
Try a little harder
Try your best to make it
Through the day

Oh, just tell yourself
I, I'll be OK
I, I'll be OK
I, I'll be OK

A creative architecture in Yilan [revised]

Huang sheng-yuan, an architect has lived in Yilan for eleven years. He has designed many architectures whose style are very different from the local buildings. In 2007, he constructed a building with abnormal shape which is now used as a government institution. He tried to bring an image of "mountain" into this building and create a sense of movement through twisted pillars and large floors. He also made use of different materials in this building so that it showed various features properly itself. What's interesting of it is that he directly made the stair handrail out of the steel bars. Though this truly achieved the specially effect he wanted, it also brought some problems to maintain. As the past works he designed, this building doesn't have walls around it. Mr. Huang made it friendly blend with surroundings. Walking into the building you will not feel bored because there are many interesting and creative designs in it.

Although this building has brought about controversy between local residents, it is still a special creation. Sometimes a designer being too modern will cause some criticism, but people's opinions and thoughts will change as time goes by. Maybe after decades this kind of modern buildings will be in fashion.

Rigoberta Menchu

Rigoberta Menchu is a Guatemalan Indian who became the spokesperson of the native people. She was born in 1959, in a small Guatemalan village of Chimel located in the northern highlands. In 1992, Rigoberta Menchu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, because she led a campaign for social justice brought international attention to this conflict between indigenous Indians and the military government of Guatemala. Her family members were tortured and killed by the authorities because they were forcing the landowneres to give the land back to the natives. She also wrote an autobiograohy, ''I..Rigoberta Menchu''(1984), telling the world not only her own story, but also about the lives of her fellow Indians.

Facing the Giants [1]

Recently I saw a movie in Listening and Speaking class. It was "Facing the Giants". I was touched and I had some thoughts to share.

It's a story about a football coach, Grant Taylor, who has led the team for six years but they never had a winning season. Therefore, some parents force the principal to fire Taylor and promote Brady, one of Taylor's assistant coach, to be the head coach. Taylor is very upset but his problems just come one after another. First, his car often breaks down and he has no alternatives but to endure it for he cannot afford to buy a new car. Besides, his house is always full of stinky smell and the stove cannot be used. Worst of all, Taylor and his wife, Brooke, have been trying to have a baby for four years but they just cannot succeed. Taylor goes to see a doctor and the result makes him more frustrated. It is his problem that they cannot have a baby. With so much endless "giants" to face, Taylor turns to God, praying for help and instruction. Then he changes his attitude toward everything. He also delivers his new attitude to his students and friends who are also encountered with "giants". This new attitude is about to believe in God and do your best to honor God. God will give you the results. In the end, the team becomes the state champion and every thing just go smoothly.

There was a scene really touched and encouraged. Brock, the team leader, is a passive person. He doesn't have determination to win games. One afternoon coach Taylor is training them as usual. He asks Brock to crawl over the field for 50 feet with a 160 pounds teammate on his back and his knees cannot touch the ground. Besides, Brock has to cover his eyes with a piece of cloth. At first nobody believes that he can do it, nor does himself. However, every time when he wants to give up, coach Taylor will yell at his ear encouraging him. Though he feels that his arms are burning, he doesn't give up until the couch says stop. Finally, Brock crawl over the whole field and it is totally 100 feet! Every player is shocked and inspired. So do I. Usually before we do something, we may not be confident of ourselves. Surely we won't succeed. That's what exactly the movie wants to tell us, "Believe in yourself and there's nothing impossible."

oh ya

I want a pencil !

Stop raining!!!