Stream Tracking!!

I went to stream tracking last weekend, and suddenly found out a beautiful campus in Taipei County: Jian-An Elementary School . This school is very special, and it has rich, abundant ecological resources in the unique environment. The school teachers first introduced us the resources they have around the school, and how have them strived to maintain it, along with how have them strived to teach the kids to cherish, to get along harmonious with the Nature.

I learned quite a lot from the teachers. They not only showed us how to find the larva of Japanese Beetle, how to recognize the larva of butterfly, how to tell the differences between the butterfly and the moth(and their larva as well), what are the names and the characters of all the fragrant plants, but also instilled us the correct attitude toward the Nature.

One more special thing was, during the lunch break, they played a song sung by the children in the school, called: "We've found out A River." The river, for sure, is the one around the school, which is used as the Nature classroom, and cherished as an important, indivisible part of not only the school but also the neighberhood. All kids graduated from the school need to complete the stream tracking task, as well as another challenge to hang down from a bridge. WOW! Sounds soooo challenging!! I can easily imagine how great their memory about the school would be! Thus, I can easily understand the reason why they can compose such a gentle song with lots of love, and sing it wholeheartedly.... The first time when I heard it, I cannot stop wondering, how great would that be if my 5,6 grade classmates and I would have so great experience together..... We must cried even harder when we "are forced to" leave the school....

Although my scout friends and I enjoyed the morning, we cannot help expecting the stream tracking part much harder. We've known that due to our company: groups of 6 grade kids, we didn't have chance to challenge those exiting part of the river, yet to taste a little bit should still be good. And the truth was: the stream didn't let us down. It's so cool to step in it, with the safe vest and special shoes. Personally I love the magic shoes- how could they make us so comfortable in water without feeling disgusting when soaked all over? And it did help to facilitate our walking in the stream between the stones.

On a certain point, we joined the kids to flow down with the stream. We thought that the flow was not really strong enough to really carry us, the adults, down, and we had to do a little swim to go on. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed the feeling to wonder with the river. What's more, I guess you've known that it was impossible that we went down to the river and had no water fight at all. Are you kidding? hahaha~ Freely as you could imagine, we took great advantage of this time to let Mr. Ouyang realize "how we all love him in an open way." Believe or not, "Splash!" was the most common sound on our stream tracking trip, whether there was someone splashed, aimed at by a group of people or there was someone being pushed into the stream in a sudden, we had great fun!!

Besides those, of course, we sometimes stopped and enjoyed the natural beauty quietly. As for myself, one more thing that moved me quite much was to get together with these lovely friends in such great atmosphere again. I've not seen Johnny and Vincent for almost a year I guess, especially in such great occasion. Time and reality have separated us apart: to work or to study; to live in Taipei or to live in Taichung. We had good momories together, and we shared certain interest together. So meeting one another was like "Yesterday Oncemore!" I can't help loving this fantastic day!

Later that night, we went to appreciate the fireflies around the school, along with other nocturnal insects or animals. Our day ended short after that journey. It was not easy to forget the tiny shining lights here and there in the woods; it was NEVER easy to forget the lights on our faces when we met that date. Deeply I wish, our friendship will be as strong as the circle we formed in the stream: complete, tight, and harmonious- forever. Hey guys! You know what? I miss you so much :)