2012 Apr.9 - Pacificamerican.org
Transcription
2012 Apr.9 - Pacificamerican.org
Issue 3. April 9, 2012 Senior Prom 2012- “Moonlit Garden” On March 30, the class of 2012 entered the Ambassador Hotel, excited and ready for their last high school prom. The seniors reflected on their freshman, sophomore, and junior years of watching the upperclassmen walk through the balloon arch, imagining the day when it would be their turn. MC’s Austin Luor and Brandon Lu opened the night with hilarious one-liners to an attentive audience, announcing the names of the seniors and their dates as they walked through the balloon arch, with each couple performing their well-practiced walk-in. After many pictures and rounds of applause, the microphone was handed to Mr. Michael McCool for his excitingly thought-provoking speech to the class of 2012 about life and suffering. Teachers were then welcomed to serve themselves at the buffet line, followed by seniors, and then the rest of the students. As everyone enjoyed the food and went for seconds, the ballroom was filled with chatter and occasional peals of laughter. Soon, Jar of Hearts by Christina Perri started playing and students gathered on the dance floor for the first slow dance of the night. As the night progressed, it was noted that there were more people on the dance floor during slow songs instead of the upbeat ones. Many people chose to participate by sitting down instead of dancing, much to the disappointment of the few that struggled to bring others to the dance floor. However, everyone appeared to have a good time. The music was brought to an abrupt stop when Prom King, Queen, Prince, and Princess of this year were announced: Eileen Wong courtesy of Ricky Feng Ian Lu and Pamela Chang as Prom King and Queen, and Maxwell Chen and Vivien Li as Prom Prince and Princess. During intermission, people flocked outside of the ballroom to take a break, complain about their shoes, and pose for pictures. After fifteen minutes, the music started again and people gradually re-entered the ballroom. In efforts to gather more people onto the dance floor, Ms. Pamela Chu and Carol Jiao Guan joined in with sophisticated dance moves. The night was ended with “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, an upbeat albeit strange choice for a last song for the class of 2012. Overall, the night filled with good vibes and good looking people was a success. Some left the “Moonlit Garden” with sore feet and others left with full stomachs, but all were satisfied with the night’s events. Hopefully the class of 2012 will never forget their last highschool dance at PAS. T h e S e c o n d A n n u a l PA S P o e t r y C o n t e s t The Second Annual PAS Poetry Contest was held on March 15, 2012, on a Thursday afternoon. As classes ended, students filed into the cafeteria during the supposed club time and took their places in the well-organized cafeteria. During this time, Ben and Jeremy Huang, Sean Juang, and Victor Wang performed classical music. Parents arrived one by one to hear their children present their poems. Mr. McCool, the faculty chairman of the poetry contest committee for 2 consecutive years, started out the event with an inspiring and humorous speech. The event began immediately after the speech, starting out with the elementary school poem presentations, followed by the junior high poems and the high school poems. After all the poems were presented, there was a small intermission accompanied again with classical music. During the time, our judges, Ms. Elaine Liu, Mr. James Tang, and Mrs. Jones, courtesy of PAS came to their final decisions. The Wanyi Chou final judging grouped the contestants into 3 groups of winners. The first group consists of the grade-level winners, from grade 6 to grade 12. The second group was the overall junior high winners, and the third group was the overall high school winners. Finally, there is another category of winners decided by the student audience themselves. For the grade level winners, Darren Chang won 1st place for grade 6 with his poem “There Once Was…” Grade 7 winner was Eve Peng, with her poem “She Loves Me”. Dominic Liu, Elvis Sun, Catrina Chen, Austin Luor, and Ben Lee are the winners for grades 8 to 12, with their poems “Ode to Textbooks”, “In Love”, “Thursday Night in February”, “I Hear Subjects Singing”, and “Sonnet”, respectively. The overall junior high winner is Eve Peng, with her poem “She Loves Me”. The 2 runners up are Dylan Williamson with his poem “Spring in the Wind” and Dominic Liu with his poem “Ode to Textbook”. The overall high school winner is Catrina Chen and her poem “Thursday Night in February”, and the 3 runners up are Austin Luor’s “I Hear Subjects Singing” and Ben Lee’s “Sonnet”. The student audience’s choices are as follows: 1st place is Amber Luo’s poem “Ballad of History Class”; 2nd place is Austin Luor’s poem “I Hear Subjects Singing”; and finally, 3rd place is Janet Lin’s “Ode to My Little Sister”. Please congratulate the winners of the poetry contest, all students who spent time and effort and wrote poems, the parent who participated in the event, the judges, and last but not least, the teachers who spent all their efforts setting up this extravagant event, especially Mr. McCool, Ms. Lucy Hsu, and Mr. James Joubert. The 3rd Annual PAS Poetry Contest is to be anticipated! Page 2 NEWS G r a d u a t i o n Tr i p - B a l i C l u b M e d courtesy of Pacific American School Science Fair Vivien Li On Thursday afternoon, usually when you walk down any hall that is within the 20-meter circumference zone to the cafeteria, you’d smell a sweet taste of freshly baked desserts. Undoubtedly that delightful scent comes from our popular baking club, and perhaps you might then wonder what they’re making today… chocolate chip cookies or Oreo brownies? Either one would make you drool anyway. But what exactly is the recipe that provides such palatable treats? 1 cup from sugar and butter, plus 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips? Only the correct proportion of ingredients would result perfect desserts; same thing as balancing a chemical equation. Science is everywhere, as I just proved to you from the paragraph above. Even easy daily life baking embodies a lot of scientific aspects. As our school has emphasized over and over again, science fair is the good chance for us to do experiment something outside our textbooks and testify our hypotheses. This is the time when students get to do whatever they want and come up with some spectacular (good or bad) results. Who knows if one could discover some kind of anti-bacteria or come up with a psychological analysis on our tendency to procrastinate? *Cough* Even though many of us started off late on the project, this year’s science fair was still impressive. Just by looking at the overall elementary and middle school posters, we must acknowledge that this was a good kick off for SF. As for the high school sections, we see even more variety, along with creativity. As we can see, any little detail or problem we encounter can be a fascinating topic for us to explore. Integrated as part of us, science stems from our daily lives long since centuries ago; science explains, helps, and guides us to improvement and development. So next time, if you’re on the urge of complaining why you need to learn about chemistry, tell yourself that chemistry is like taking a baking lesson. All these concepts are applicable and actually tightly related to our lives. Through this annual event, we all see the amazing work from everyone; our projects reveal our creativity, dedication, and fulfillment. courtesy of Ricky Feng Daniel Shieh As soon as we stepped out of the airport, Indonesia welcomed us with its intense heat. That’s kind of how our grad trip started, with everyone sweaty and yearning for AC. Everyone quickly rushed onto the air conditioned bus, and set out towards the super awesome Club Med. As we put our bags down in our rooms, everyone went their separate ways. Some people jumped into the ocean, some people held mini-parties in their rooms, and some people started taking millions of pictures for Facebook. Everyone soon discovered the incredible bars situated beside the beach. The bar offers tons of different kind of drinks: cocktails, mocktails, milkshakes, juice, and alcohols. Unfortunately, underage students cannot order those alcohols (so we relied on our 18year-old friends). Club Med also offered an incredible amount of activities available for us. On the second day, our whole senior class went rafting together. We had to take the van for two hours to get there, but the car ride was pretty fun. I got on the same van as Tim Chen, who spent most of the car trip trying not to pee his pants. When we arrived, the rafting place must’ve seemed like a heaven to him. A heaven full of toilets. The rafting was pretty intense. We rafted in a dangerous river full of giant, pointy rocks and even small alligators. Occasionally, we would even see naked little Indonesian boys bathing at the side, and we would wave and smile at them. Every once in a while, we would come across other rafts, and we would start intense water fights until our supervisors make us stop. Aside from rafting, there were also events like kayaking, snorkeling, beach volleyball, parasailing, and jet skiing. Parasailing was one of the coolest events we tried. Basically, you get fastened to a parachute with straps around your crotch, and a speedboat drags you across the sea. As soon as the speedboat starts, the wind carries the parachute high up into the air, and you fly across the sky for about 5 minutes. Everyone eagerly tried parasailing, except Danny. Danny was falsely tricked by a fellow classmate into believing that the crotch straps will deprive men of their reproductive functions, so he stubbornly refused to go. Thankfully, with a bit of peer pressure and a lot of Pamela pressure, Danny tried parasailing and returned from the sky with an undamaged crotch. After everyone had their turns, Danny drew a big, heartwarming “PAS 2012” on the beach, and everyone took a picture together. On the fourth day, Ms. Pamela took us to a nearby market, and taught us the secrets of bargaining. We were able to get things really cheap, but we made some of the shopkeepers angry. Everyone bought things like local Indonesian artworks, clothes, sunglasses, bracelets, blow darts, and weird instruments, but Howard bought a wooden penis. The last night was the most memorable. Many people didn’t sleep, because they wanted to see the sunrise. The shore was deserted when we ventured there at 4 am. The sand was cool, the wind was calm, and the sky was pink and purple. Everyone buried their feet in the sand, and sat down facing the shimmering horizon. We quietly waited for the first ray of light to emerge, as the morning chill brushed against our cheeks. The playful pink gradually faded into a scarlet orange, turned bright yellow, then slowly settled into a clear blue. As the sun burst through the billowing clouds, our trip to Bali came to a fantastic end. What were the most unforgettable memories we had? Let’s see: Tim swimming so far off the coast until we can only see his tiny head in the distance; Howard getting thrown into the pool and drowning his iPhone; Danny and Vincent going crazy with alcohol; Tim using his abs as a bargaining tool; someone passing out; drawing on people’s faces when they’re asleep; everyone getting fake tattoos; cocktails; hearing gossip from Sherry and Pamela; Danny’s infected toe; and the unlimited supply of food and drinks. As we landed in the roaring airport, a grave thought pervaded my mind. The next time we stride under the glimmering lights in Taoyuan airport will be the time we courtesy of Judy Yen part our ways. Page 3 SPORTS Who is Jeremy Lin? A month ago only the most diehard basketball fans had ever heard of Jeremy Lin. Today it would be tough to find someone in Taiwan who doesn’t know his name. But who actually is Jeremy Lin? Taiwan has a lot of American influences for obvious reasons. The island also has professional baseball and basketball leagues but fan interest is very low because Taiwan has produced only a few mediocre American professional athletes. Enter Jeremy Lin. He may be born in the U.S. but many kids in Taiwan are looking for someone of Asian descent who can be competitive in the NBA to admire. In fact, since Jeremy Lin rolled off a string of impressive games with the struggling New York Knicks, almost all of Asia has started to claim Jeremy Lin as their own in some way or another. We all know the situation between China and Taiwan. In trying to answer this question, we must go down that road. I know. Seriously, do we have to talk about this? Yes, follow me. This is not the first time China has laid claim on a Taiwanese star. In 2010 it was reported that a Chinese company tried to pay $25 million to Taiwanese female golfer Yani Tseng, to change her citizenship from Taiwan to China. China and Taiwan fighting over notable figures that have made a name internationally extends a lot farther than just sports. It often happens with professors and scientists as well. To better help us understand who Jeremy Lin is, I went around PAS to look for some clues on just what the different perceptions of him might be on campus. I Mr. Kurt Wahlgren tried to extend the sample to students and teachers who were born in Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the U.S. Q: Who is Jeremy Lin? Sean Yu: “Jeremy Lin’s an American despite having a Chinese nationality. He was never raised in Taiwan and only visited the island a couple times.” Wanyi Chou: “He’s a very inspirational player who motivates people to work toward their goal.” Jack Nagayama: “For me, Jeremy Lin is like the only Asian basketball player who plays in the NBA and is doing well. Even though he is ABC, and I am Japanese, I feel like he is the best Asian player in the NBA and I am proud of him because it shows that Asians can play with white and black players.” Jenny Yoon: “Since I’ve lived in Taiwan for more than ten years, I feel a connection and another reason is that I like basketball, too.” Ms. Lucy Hsu: “I think Jeremy Lin is a good role model for Asians and AsianAmericans because he shows them that playing sports is an option--as opposed to just studying really hard to get into Harvard (oh wait . . .). Very few people get into the NBA, but participating in sports at a high school level or just in general develops not only people's health, but qualities such as teamwork and perseverance.” I will give myself the last word. Hey, I’m writing the article right? Does it matter really that China and Taiwan are claiming Jeremy Lin? Not really. Jeremy Lin has stayed away from that question and focused just on basketball. I would find it kind of odd if I became famous and my two main ancestral homes (Finland and Sweden) were fighting over me. Jeremy Lin means something different to everyone. If a kid in Chongqing is inspired by Jeremy Lin and wants to claim him as Chinese, that’s fine. The main part is that he has someone to look up to that he can identify with on a certain level. When someone looks into a prism they get a personalized view from their perspective. The prism in this case is Jeremy Lin. The fact that he is in the NBA shows just how far globalization has reached. The world community is shrinking and Jeremy Lin shows us that you really can do anything if you put in the hard work. OK, now go do your homework kids….or go to the 6th floor and play basketball. Hsinchu County Tennis Tournament The PAS tennis team entered the HCT 2012 tournament in mid March after 5 months of training off season. Freshmen Eddy Tsao has been drawn to face a tough opponent in the first round. It was a very accomplished performance for the 14 year old when he reached the second round and defended his third place title. However, he did not seek opportunities in his second round. Eddy struggled to find rhythm on the court. James Chiu faced the tournament’s number one player and confessed: “It was ashamed that I couldn’t take chances when he (opponent) tried to keep the balls on the court, I was definitely disappointed because I thought I was ready for tough challenges this year.” James lost in his first round in this year’s tournament and is waiting to seek revenge on the next. With the stroke of luck, Yu brothers both blazed into the quarter finals of this year’s HCT tournament reaching their personal best in their respective tennis careers. Alex Yu cruised through his second round with a sense of ease. Nevertheless, both players failed to reach the semifinals of HCT cup however displayed their obstinate mentality while playing their quarterfinals match. Andy Yu revealed: “I struggled to find my own pace as my opponent took advantage and return the balls as hard as he could.” Justice Lu and Benson Hsu both struggled in their first round performance however demonstrated some progressive rallies on the court. Austin Luor also battled through his first round when he thrashed his opponent 7-5 while struggling to find his own rhythm at the beginning. The second round was a different story for Luor. Austin started impressively Austin Luor leading 3-2 at the beginning however did not successfully seal the match with a devastating finish. Refusing to be denied, Austin lost the match 6-7 in a deciding tie-break. James Lai succumbed into defeat in his first round in the HCT tournament and was unable to convert the tedious rallies into match points. Lai believes that he will return to the Men’s tennis stronger mentally and physically. Sensational Callie Kim stormed through her first round as she swiped past her opponent 6-0 leaving no mercy. The sophomore demonstrated the perfect tennis skills and sees off the opponent early in the tournament. Callie however lost to the tournament’s top seed in the following round and reported that her opponent had a persuasive backhand that let her confidence down. Despite the disappointment, Callie established herself in the race into the championships. Winning third place with Callie Kim, sophomore Amanda Lin also cruised through her quarterfinal match in the tournament. Amanda’s consistency brought delight to her own win as she sailed through the first round 6-0. Lin displayed a wide array of forehand winners on the second round however did not convert them into match points. Senior Tiffany Lin was drawn to face the top seeded player in the HCT 2012 tournament. Tiffany refused to give up on rallies and returned the ball as meticulous as possible. Tiffany’s measured strokes stunned her opponent while she was behind the baseline. Even though it was not enough to challenge her top seeded opponent, Tiffany Lin displayed a wonderful sportsmanship on the court and continue to thrive in her tennis career. Page 4 PROFILES The Musical Club Willy Lee courtesy of Ricky Feng Before you all enjoy our final production “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, let me first introduce to you about this amazing play. “The Wizard of Oz” is the name of the greatest Wizard who lives in the Emerald City. The author uses this as a title of the play, as the result of the entire scenes revolves around the journey of a brave farm girl Dorothy Gale (Angelika Lin), who tries to find the wonderful Wizard of Oz in order get home. The author Frank Baum was renowned for this amazing production “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. During his career, he has skillfully written plenty of children books and had multitudinous endeavors to bring his works on stages and screens. As a matter of fact, his productions had predicted some of our contemporary technologies such as wireless telephone, television and laptop computers. As we will see, the play demonstrates how Dorothy overcomes each difficulty with Scarecrow (Jenny Tien), Tin man (Godwin The Interact Club The PAS Interact Club, led by President Gordan Chen, currently has 27 passionate and enthusiastic members. The Interact goal is to develop leadership skills and personal integrity, demonstrate helpfulness and respect for others, understand the value of individual responsibility and hard work, and advance international understanding and goodwill. The club fund raise for the Eden Charity organization, Genesis Social Welfare Foundation, Taiwan Blood Services Foundation, and Radio UNI 96.7 Charity Concert. On March 4, the Interact Club participated at the Hsinchu Community Service Center (愛家跳掃市場) flea market, where each member brought several items from home that were no longer used and sold them to the community. The most flamboyant item that received the most attention was a pair of Gucci shoes donated by senior Sunny Chuang. Another item was the Abercrombie model bag, which was sold for 20 NT. "It was definitely a feeling a satisfaction when you screamed on top of your lungs and sold your own items in the flea market" says Irene Yu junior Austin Luor. The PAS Interact booth was one of the most popular, and perhaps the loudest. The event was a great success with a total earn of approximately 7000 NT, the highest donation among all the other booths. When asked why he loves Interact Club, Gordan says “one thing i like most about Interact is that it gives me an opportunity to participate in fun, meaningful service projects while developing leadership skills, meeting new friends, and fostering fellowship.” Gordan is a responsible and passionate leader who devotes much of his time to the club and makes the Interact Club such an enjoyable club for everyone. The next Interact event will take place on April 14. The Interact Club will be performing two songs “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Circus” at the Zhubei Stadium. Members practiced the dance diligently every Wednesday afternoon and are confident for a blast performance that day. Finally, the Interact Club welcomes new students to join next year! It will definitely be another great year full of fun and rewarding activities. Irene Yu Irene Yu Chang) and Lion (Angel Wu) in order to get their desires from The Wizard of Oz (Danny Yu). The theme of the play epitomized each character’s different desires from the Wizard. Ironically, they already possessed those aspects of themselves. They just need to look deeper in their minds and defend on what they believe in. Most of the actors in this play did not have acting experiences before. Nevertheless, we work very hard with our director and stage manager in order to prove our performance will be better than last year’s. We also appreciate that some of stage art’s students are willing to participate in our club and cooperate to make a great performance. Our director Graeme Anning says “Musical Club is not only a rehearsal, it's a fusing of the arts. We bring what we have practiced in orchestra, rehearsed in ccting, and built in stage art and create new art greater than the sum of its parts.” By participating in this club, we became more courageous in expressing ourselves than we were before. Irene Yu Page 5 ELEMENTARY Seasons Haiku Emma Kao Summer It is very hot! I wear shorts and skirts Playing all day, too! Spring It is warm and cool Spring comes with perfect weather Babies come outside Fall There is wind and rain The leaves fall down to the ground Trees waiting for change Winter Wind, cold, rain and snow Cold is a feeling in me Weather makes me sick Taiwan’s Three Cities Taiwan has a lot of interesting cities. Today, we’ll be talking about 3 cities in Taiwan. They are called Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Hsinchu. Taipei is the biggest city in Taiwan. Taipei has a lot of delicious food. Taipei’s most famous food is beef noodle and a kind of snack made from pineapple. Taipei has the second tallest building in the world. The reason people named it Taipei 101 is because it is built in Taipei and has 101 floors. Inside Taipei 101, there is an elevator. It is super cool! Inside the elevator is very dark and there are little lights. You can go to the highest floor with that elevator easily. Taipei’s Xingyi place is the busiest place in Taipei. The houses there are very expensive. Taipei 101, Eslite bookstore, and the Hyatt hotel is there, too. The reason the houses are very expensive is because there are hotels, bookstores, and the world’s second tallest building. Taipei is a busy place. A fun and a nice place for super stars to live. Kaohsiung is the second biggest city in Taiwan. Kaohsiung is a nice place. Summer’s afternoon, you can ride bikes in the city. You can go to Giant Bicycle to rent bikes or you can see bikes that you can also rent on the street. You can ride around the harbor. It’s the most comfortable place you can ride. Kaohsiung’s papaya milk is very famous. It is Three Heroes An-an Hsiao Do you know any heroes? There are many great people that have influenced our lives. Three heroes that I know are Rosa Parks, Jimmy Carter, and Delores Huerta. Rosa Parks wanted to change laws that were unfair. She worked for justice. Some places in the 1950s, African Americans had to sit in the back of public buses. She thought this was unfair. One day she refused to sit in the back of the bus. The driver called the the police and they arrested Rosa Parks. This started a boycott and one year l a t e r, t h e l a w w a s changed. Rosa Parks is a good citizen!! Jimmy Cater was once President of the United States. In 2002 Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Carter also volunteers for Habitat for Humanity. Now he works for peace in countries around the world. Carter builds homes for people can not pay for him. Today Jimmy Carter is still a volunteer and still helps the world. Delores Huerta decided to help the kids. She decided to help their parents. As a teacher, Huerta saw her students come to school hungry and poorly dressed. Huerta started classes to teach workers. She taught workers to earn money. Today delores Huerta is 80, but she still helps people in the world. In conclusion, there three heroes have helped us to change the world. I think they are very important because they remind us to help others. They were great people. You can be great too! Yvonne Kuo delicious. The most famous papaya milk store is called “Milk King.” Kaohsiung’s Wong Tongs are also very famous. The best Wong Tongs in Kaohsiung are at a restaurant called “Wenzhou Wong Tongs.” Kaohsiung has a lot of delicious food. People would love to visit Kaohsiung. Hsinchu is a small city. Hsinchu’s “Cheng Huang” temple is very famous. Cheng Huang Temple is very famous for fried oyster cake. Hsinchu’s rice noodles are also very famous. Cheng Huang Temple also is very famous for rice noodles. The rice noodles there are very yummy. Hsinchu’s Science Park is also a notable place. The science park has a lot of businesses, including TSMC, UMC, AUO, and MTK. Hsinchu is a nice place to live in. This is where my family lives! These three cities are awesome! If you don’t go visit, you will regret it! Hurry! Go! What are you waiting for? Page 6 FEATURES 0 2 / 2 2/15 NAIMUN Kara Hu 28 / 2 0 2/2 GEMU Alyson Tseng For a week, ten of us from PAS were given the opportunity to attend an international MUN conference in Washington, D.C., called NAIMUN. The conference lasted 4 days at the Hilton Hotel of Washington, D.C., with sessions lasting about 2 or more hours at a time. I was paired up with Hantine Hsu, and we represented Tajikistan in the World Health Organization. I believe NAIMUN was different from other MUN conferences in that its committees are more special. There were committees such as the British House of Commons, an Ad-Hoc Summit of NGOs, the League of Arab States, and even a committee especially based on the death of Kim Jong-Il. There were a total of about 150 people in the WHO committee, with a total of about 75 countries. We discussed the issue of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Immediately we were approached by several different countries to support their resolution. Throughout the next few days of conference, I was really surprised by the standard of everyone else in the conference. Obviously, there were people who slept and chatted at the back of the conference room; but at the same time, there were people who were very serious and professional. Some people had a certain type of charisma that made them sound like future politicians. I was also impressed by how carefully people thought about the issue. The resolutions all had everything covered; there was no part of it that could be criticized as ‘vague’. Moreover, people had approached the issues creatively, coming up with ideas such as the TB-Bus, and several different ways they could support less-advantaged countries. I really admired the amount of leadership many delegates have shown throughout the conference. I have heard from other people that the other committees were a bit crazier. In comparison, our committee was serious and not really as interesting. Some of the other committees had midnight ‘emergency meetings’, where they were woken up at 12 a.m. in their hotels rooms to attend a 2-hour meeting. There were also other committees who had ‘spies’ slip into their meeting. There was a lot of action going on. NAIMUN also provided entertainment for the delegates. There was a Ice Cream Social and a Hilltop Madness performance, and also a delegate dance, which I heard some pretty crazy stories about. They also provided a tour around Georgetown, which was the university that hosted this conference. We also went around Washington, D.C. and toured several of its famous monuments. We went to the Arlington National Cemetery, the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the back of the White House, where we saw a protest against violence in Congo. We also toured the University of Georgetown, which, to be honest, did not have a very pretty campus. Other than the serious conference and touring around Washington, we also had a great time enjoying the food and shopping of the USA. We got to eat at several restaurants, such as Chipotle, Cosi, and Shake Shack. On the last day we went shopping at a mall, and by the end, the number of shopping bags from Abercrombie and Fitch and Hollister was quite an eye opener. All in all, this experience was memorable and valuable. It taught me a lot about being a delegate at MUN. bathroom: internet hotspot? yup MUN-S /11 3 8 / 3 BEI Unfortunately (for most people), our trip was delayed for one and a half days and finally on Thursday, March 8, fourteen diligent delegates departed for the Nineteenth Annual BEIMUN Conference. The flight to Beijing was nearly 3 hours and delegates enjoyed much of the inflight entertainment system before they put their heads into the conference at Beijing. Some movies included “Happy New Year”, “The Descendants” and “Jack and Jill”, which I later discovered that it won 11 Worst Golden Raspberry Awards of the year. As we arrived in Beijing, the temperature was a lot colder than what we expected. Nevertheless the static in Beijing pinched in our fingers and we always had to be extra cautious when we opened doors. The first night ended with dinner at a restaurant near the hotel and delegates ordered “Soy sauce fried rice”, which no one ended up eating. After breakfast on the first morning, students spent the first day of the conference lobbying and making opening speeches. Victor Wang, representing Bahamas in ECOSOC, main-submitted this year. Other delegates also committed themselves to intensive debates since they had been preparing rigorously before the conference. Delegates in the General Assembly, however, complained about the rare chance that they were chosen since GAs have over a hundred people. Page 7 FEATURES Oh, Italy! Land of espressos, pasta, old architecture, and slow paced days. What can beat Model United Nations in Italy? I, along with seven other senior students, Ms Pamela, and Mr. Walhgren, embarked on this trip near the end of February. After a flight over the snow capped Alps, we arrived at Genoa, a city in the North-west of Italy and chock full of old architecture and history. It has the bragging rights of being Christopher Columbus’s birthplace! The first thing I noticed upon arrival was the fact that there was not a single modern building in sight. Whether it is a working office or a church, it is concealed beneath a façade of intricate stone and granite carvings. In fact, the whole street looked like it hasn’t been touched for at least 100 years. Italian people really don’t like change, as evidenced by the dozen’s of “no tav” signs spray painted across the buildings, meaning that they oppose building a high speed rail. The Genoa city flag is a red cross, and could be seen marked on telephone poles or flown over a building. Only until coming to Genoa did I realize just how fiercely loyal Italians are to their “city-states”. Instead of a big hotel or school that held the entire conference, each GeMUN committee was held at a different UN (spectacularly designed) building. Since it was all centered around the Piazza de Ferrari, after a few days, we became quite familiar with the nearby fountain and local streets. As a representative for Switzerland for Special Conference on Youth, I was lucky enough to have my committee room in the Palazzo Ducale, or Doge’s Palace. The entire room was painted gold, and looked slightly rusted with age. Stone carved portraits and paintings of heroic war scenes adorned the walls and ceilings. When I went up to make a speech, I stood on the round marble platform. The room itself was the ancient seat of the government of the oligarghic republic! The fellow students I met during the trip were extraordinarily diverse too, coming from countries like France or as far away as Turkey. Apart from their brilliant accents, I found that all of them can usually speak at least two or three languages. A girl I met who was from Milan learned Italian, English, French, and she is taking Chinese classes outside of school! ANITY MUN Irene Yu Austin Luor Finally, the much anticipated 秀水市場 (Silk market) trip arrived on the third night of our trip. Ms. Pamela first demonstrated the “real way” to bargain, which is to say “OMG! so expensive” then start walking away. The price will go from 120 to 60 to 30 and finally, to 15. We then applied that skill to bargain for more fake Ray Bans, lasers, “I <3 Beijing” shirts, wooden glasses...etc. Brandon, Patrick, and Benson had a delightful experience as they bargained with a lady to buy lasers. The lady, who seems to be a little abnormal, asked Brandon to put his hand on a zapper, in return she would lower the price. “I zapped my hand three times and the laser pointer did not get any cheaper,” says Brandon. Overall, our shopping journey was a success. Last day at Beijing arrived rapidly as delegates enjoyed their time at the Chinese capital city. Delegates spent their last few moments in the Hutong as they engaged themselves into the traditional Chinese culture. Delegates changed their professional attire into fancy tourist outfits as they eagerly explored through the alleys of Beijing. Overall, Delegates from PAS not only experienced the traditional culture of China but also gained a lot of inspiration from the debates. Hopefully, they can learn more from international trips as their MUN career progressed. Overall, PAS performed well during the conference. The people in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Bill Hsiao and Danny Shue, won their court case, and Howard Tai won an award for “best clause” in his Environment Commission. After 5 days in Genoa, we headed to Milan, an hour and a half away, for a change of scene. Milan was architecturally beautiful too, but compared to Genoa, the people seemed a little more chilly and the price of things a lot more expensive. We took a tour bus and visited the must sees, including the Duomo (Milan’s famous cathedral), the Piazza (the Cathedral square), Sforza Castle, and La Scala (the opera house). One of my favorite sites to see was Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Seeing the enormity of the painting up close and feeling it’s awe inspiring presence, I finally understood why it was so famous. During the afternoon free time, the girls jetted off to Lake Como, a beautiful glacial lake in a small town just off the border of Switzerland. All in all, Model United Nations in Italy was an experience in itself. After being spoiled for days with ravioli, gelatos, thin crust pizzas, and whipped cream covered espresso coffees, I have developed a rather critical taste in the so called Italian food Taiwan sells. I also learned that knowing how the words grazie and ciao can take you far and make store owners very happy. Bye-bye Italy, see you whenever! Page 8 ENTERTAINMENT Rick’s Classic American Burgers Bill Hsiao Rick's Classic American Hamburgers – the long-coveted restaurant that a select crowd of students have been waiting for to open since summer of last year – opened just last month on March 6. Located on a busy corner of Guangfu Road, a ten minute walk from the corridors of PAS, the restaurant bestows a gentle commanding presence upon the block, swaggering a newly erected colossal sign that is hard to miss especially with a gigantic yellow arrow demarcating it. For those that aren't too keen with their sense of relative location, the address is #736 Guangfu Rd. Section 2, Hsinchu City. For those that are confident in their sense of relative location, it's a block down from the CPC gas station, across the street from where Mr. Wahlgren and Rack Chen lives, right below my room. Ascending beyond the big glass-paned entrance is the interior of the restaurant itself. A bizarrely modest and comforting environment sets the backdrop with a decorous overtone of music that further adds to the ambiance of the restaurant – you have entered Rick's Classic American Burgers. With the ex-office lady Michelle Hsiao greeting you with her loud smile and informal manners as you approach the counter, the restaurant radiates a friendliness that can be boldly said as unrivaled in this country. The restaurant is a family-styled restaurant with a fast-food flavor (lacking all the unhealthy additives of course) and a tinge of California's In-N-Out Burger reminiscence (but better of course) that serves, as obvious as the name may have been, burgers of quality. These burgers are burgers of quality because of the fact that each piece of ingredient had been hand-picked, prepped, and served under the watchful eye of the Chef himself. The Chef, founder of the restaurant, who you may have lovingly known as Mr. Rick, is Rick Garcia. Standing at 6' 1'', with hulking biceps and and massive hands, hailing from an extremely colorful background and career path, Mr. Rick at first sight might have only seemed like a guy who cooks up average courtesy of Sherry Lee burgers. WRONG. The burgers he masterfully creates are pieces of culinary art. Delicious juices oozes out of every perfectly flipped patty, whether it be beef, turkey, or vegetarian, with a variety of different possible mouthwatering additions such as chili and bacon. To top off the perfect burger is a side of tasty fries and a classic fountain drink. There you have the perfect burger meal - only at Ricks Classic American Burgers. Hippo milk is pink According to U.S. laws, a beer commercial can never show a person actually drinking beer THE NEWSPAPER TEAM Editors-in-Chief: Alyson Tseng Irene Yu Staff Writers: Bill Hsiao Vivien Li Wan-yi Chou Eileen Wong Layout: Irene Yu Contributors: Austin Luor Mr. Wahlgren Daniel Shieh Willy Lee Kara Hu Emma Kao Yvonne Kuo An-an Hsiao A duck's quack doesn't echo, and no one knows why If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floa<ng to the top and sinking to the bo>om A blue house is made of blue bricks. A yellow house is made of yellow bricks. A red house is made of red bricks. An orange house is made of orange bricks. What would a green house be made of? A: glass FUN FACTS FUN POLLS AND ANSWERS FROM YOUR CLASSMATES! What movie could you watch over and over and still love? • The Parent Trap (11) • Gladiator (5) • The A Team (4) • Three Idiots (3) Who has better fries? • McDonalds (18) • No Fries unhealthy! (4) • 3Q (6) • Mos Burger (2) What do you do when the lecture is really boring? • Pretend you’re listening (19) • Draw Something (7) • Sleep (9) • Throw things at the person in front of you (3) • Write notes to your friend (0) • Draw in your textbooks (5)