the sun set

The outward appearance of the first western style building in Taiwan is mainly kept as it was used to, except that the first floor has been transformed to exhibition halls and the second to a restaurant. By savoring the delicious cuisine and the beautiful view of the harbor with our eyes, we made up for the pity of not having a chance to enjoy our meal there.

Fortunately, our dinner at the hotel was really nice. The sun was setting outside on the beach, and I snapped some photos before it went down below the sea level. It was the first time I ever watch a setting sun on the beach so vividly, and it surprised me of how quick the sun sank the moment it hit the sea level, too quick for me to snap the last photo of it.

So we had a fantastic evening, and our cousin stayed with us for the night.

Oh I forgot to mention the last photo, a building right next to the sea, which I believed to be a small part of the campus. Just imagine taking classes in a classroom which has an ocean view! The class must be popular!:)

school ends, holiday begins!

Finally, my first year in college was over and the final task for me to finish before I could say goodbye to Chiayi was to pack up all my stuff and move them from my dorm to my new apartment, which I'm going to stay for the rest of my college life. The dormitories in our school aren't enough for all the students, which means we need to draw for our beds, so in case of ending up having nowhere to stay when school starts, most students choose to find a new residence outside the school. When new semester begins, I'll be staying in my new apartment with three other girls from my school. The task was as tough as I thought because I hate packing, not to mention having to pack up all the junk I pilled up for a year. Thank gooddness my mom and my brother were there to help, and by cab we shifted five boxes in total to the apartment.
After we left Chiayi, we went straight to Kaohsiung and began our three-day tour. The tourists were my uncle and my cousin, who picked us up at the train station and drove us around the city before taking us to the hotel we were staying,which was right behind the sea-ajoining Sun Yat-Sen University. The view was fantastic and I wondered why I never thought of studying at this university. Not feeling like getting roasted on the beach yet, we headed for the Takao British Consulate nearby. I admit history is my worst subject and I knew nothing about this building, but I found an English website that tells great history details of it, http://uk.khhuk.org.tw, so check it out if you're interested. Takao is the former name of Kaohsiung, which in Chinese can also mean "hit the dog". Of course it has nothing to do with the origin of the name, but I bet that many foreigners may find the name intimidating.

A Trip to Arbortum

The water clock. The left part means hour and the right means minute, so it reads ten fifty, about the time I was ready to leave. It was more beautiful at night, with the tubes and the liquid glowing in neon blue.

Someone told me recently that he went to the arbortum right in front of the Science Meuseum which are both only a short distance from my house and he found it really nice, so I decided to check it out the second time during my vacation at home. The first time I went in there was the time it first opened (8 years ago?), and since I don't have a big craze for plants, I never really get on my nerves to go in there, not to mention a visit costs twenty dollars. Anyway, I guessed I'd chosen the wrong time because when I got there, the entrance was crowded with a huge group of tourists and my aspiration of going in was once lessened, but still, while waiting for the crowd to enter I took a short walk outside the arbortum and then went in with my ticket. Inside was air-conditioned, hot, which I should have expected beforehand. There weren't many changes for I could recalled, except for the tiny colorful frogs they exhibited. Well I must say, the arbortum would be quite a quick and short visit for those that are not a big fan of plants, but still it is a good place to check out now and then.

View Outside Our Dorm

A great view I accidentally found outside our dorm's window this evening. Our dorm is located near a lake (I will try to post a pic of it recently), and every evening there are always families or couples sitting on the bank, admiring the beautiful sunset. Us girls once rode our scooters around the lake in the evening and the view was astonishing! The water reflected the clouds were pink and gold at the same time, taking my breath away while I was trying to concentrate on the winding road.

Best Birthday ever!

My birthday presents from my friends! Two illustration books of kittens and cats (I love them!), one glittering purse, one doggy cell phone strap, and two pairs of earrings.

Since my birthday was on a holiday which most of my friends weren't at school, they decided to hold a birthday party for me two days later at a small hot pot restaurant. To my amazement, about half of my classmates whom I never expect to show up were there also! Maybe they were just having dinner at the same restaurant (haha), but even so I was very glad to have you all celebrating my birthday. Thank you all!!^^

Happy Birthday to me~

so, today is my 20th birthday!! There wasn't any big celebration, but I did get a lot of phone calls and messages from my friends, even from those I haven't seen for quite a while. I quessed this is the magic of birthday, bringing friends back together. Thank you all! I love you!

new changes

I hadn't gone home for quite a while from school, and when I finally did, there were a lot of changes for me to get uesd to. First of all was that my mom got a new car after the car accident, which was not big enough to send anyone to hospital but was enough to put the eight-year-old Ford to rest. So that was the first news I got when I stepped into the doorway, then I found a new guest sleeping carelessly on our shoe cabinate. It was the son of our old guest, a black stray cat who came for dinner everyday for the past three years, and since the other dinner guest (the orange cat) passed away about a month ago, my mom decided it was ok to feed this new comer. There my cat sat at his favorite spot, watching what was going on at the outside world, and he will be enjoying watching our new guest for some time.

Maroon 5 is the BEST band ever!

I'm in love with this band called "Maroon 5" again recently. It was about four years ago when I first fell in love with their single "She will be loved" from album Songs About Jane, and now they finally have their new album released, It Won't Be Soon Before Long. The vocalist Adam Levine has this magical voice that the songs may not be catchy at the first moment you hear them, but they become more addictive as you play them more often. The best part I love about Maroon 5 is that they sound even greater on live, not so many cool stage effect but excellent music and lyrics fill the air. Can't wait to have their new album!

recently

original photo.

Street in Prague, charcoal, 2007.5.10. My newest drawing recently, based on the photo I took in Prague last summer.
My friend just bought a new digital camera last week, and she decided to try its cool function on my drawing.

water color, 2006
water color, 2006
pastel, 2006

more art works

" The Sunset"(water color,2002), my first award winning painting in junior high, which encouraged me to join more art competition afterward, though I didn't have much luck like this one (sad).

I forgot the exact year I painted this one, probably in junior high also.
My very first abstract painting, combining two photos into one. Don't ask me what the painting is trying to express. I don't know, no better than any other abstract painting. But it's fun painting them, I can tell you this. Since the word "abstract" means difficult to understand, you don't need to make it interpretable. You can paint it however you like, regardless of the shape, the proportion, just consider the colors.
Portrait (water color, 2006).

few art works of mine

my dog Charlie (water color)
on the Charles Bridge (pencil & black pen)
doll (pencil)

library4