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)