Journal

The other day I attended Tina Kuo's TESOL class and she shared a story with us that really impressed me. The story is actually origin from a book of Jian Jhen (簡媜), The Twelve Present from the Teacher (老師的十二樣禮物). In order to welcome the new-comers, the teacher gives out twelve little presents.

The first one is a tooth pick so that students can pick up others' good words; the second is a rubber band, meaning that students should keep themselves flexible to finish tasks; the third one is a bandage to heal themselves when hurt and to heal others hurt feeling; pencil is to encourage students to write down their wishes everyday; eraser is to remind students that everyone makes mistakes and it's ok to make mistakes; bubble gum is to encourage students keep working hard to finish the job and to enjoy the happiness of hard work; cotton ball is to remind students that the classroom is full of tender speech and warm feeling; chocolate can makes students feel better when they feel upset; tissue reminds students to help dry others' tears; golden thread is for students to tie friendships together; coin is to remind students that s/he is valuable and special; life-saver candy is to remind students that when they need someone to talk to, s/he can come to the teacher.

I appreciate the teacher's thoughtfulness. Indeed, the presents with meanings definitely provide the timid freshmen a warmly welcome and at the same time build an ideal sample of what should they do and what kinds of supports they’ll receive when encounter difficulties. I think it’s a very meaningful story. Hence I want to share this with Doris Shih, Carrie the TA, and all the friends who visit this blog.

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Last night I dreamed. In the dream, I was an eight year old girl, sitting in the back of a taxi, looking out through the window. The view kept changing abruptly: sunrise, sunset, sunny day, rainy day, thundering day, mountains, fields, forests, coasts, deserts, rivers, snow fields, ice burgs, etc, as if I was flying through different time and space on earth within a short time. Before I got bored with the changing view, the driver dropped me off at a seaport. It was an abandoned seaport that there were only few fishermen sitting next to their boats, looking at the sea, waiting for nothing. I didn’t know what should I do or where should I go. Hence I simply wandered around. Suddenly, a group of boys and girls came to me, saying that I am the one they were looking for, and asked me to go with them. I went after them.

They led me to another port and pushed me onto their boat. It was a very small one, with tons of dead fish and other sea animals. The tiny boat bearing eight young boys and girls rushed through the ocean. I stood on the deck, feeling the sticky and stinky wind brushed through my face. When we reached our destination, I was very surprised. It was a small house built up with purple bricks, and my parents were standing right infront of the building, smiling and waving at me. However, I didn't feel intiminate to them, but rather like acquantance. I entered the house, went through all the rooms and found that there is no room for me. And then I woke up.

I think the dream somehow shows my recently feeling toward my family. I have been busy with school work, club issue and personal relationship recently that I haven't gone back home for almost a month. Last time when I went back home, I felt very seperated from my family. I didn't know how to join in their life. They seemed to developed a routine that didn't include me. I tried to find some interesting topic to talk about, but still felt awkward to stay with them.

Perhaps I should spend more time with my family.