Quick Points About Life

• 2008 Kellogg Marketing Conference
• I enjoyed it a lot! All topics were interesting and provided insightful ideas about some up-to-date concept and about some practice the corporations are doing right now
• I had all electronic notes. Put them online later when I have time?
  
• Luckily, I knew one new friend, XiaoNan from China and met Jasper from China for a second time~ Thank you Jasper to remember me and come say hello~ Really appreciate your kindness and tolerance :)
• Pedro in China!
• Goodness! I finally got some news from him! He's now in a business trip in China but will be back to Rio, Brazil later in February. "Come visit me in Rio! Come! Come!" We "talked" via Skype so happily, and our concerns for each other brought so much warmth.
• "I miss you~ I love you~" I know, I know! I know......
  
• Peacock Dancing
• For the Chinese New Year Celebration, I've learnt how to do a traditional peacock dance for some time and will be on stage FEBRUARY THIRD. The dance was complicated, but it was truly graceful and dedicated. I enjoyed a lot!
• Yes Yes Yes, I'll dress up for the dance. Please come and check if you're interested! To see me dancing won't happen again too soon~
  
• Database group ROCKS!
• To work on project with some smart people was really a pleasant thing. I love it! Matt and Ateeq are creative and smart, Yoonjung is good at doing analysis, Nishant made comments really to the point, and the best of all, our thoughts all worked together to make improvement but not to create conflict!
• Matt, I fell in love with your big place with great view! I guess that's where we all will go for the next, and the next, and the next next next projects~
  

Mom! I'm so thankful for

having some interesting great friends~

including
a girl from US, Serena;
a girl from Morocco, Myriam;
several girls from China, Annabel, Annie, Kefu;
a boy from India, Nishant;
a girl from Singapore, Rachelle;
a girl from Korea, YoonJung;
a girl from Taiwan, Andrea, etc....

Mommy, I'm really thankful for having this bunch of wonderful friends~ :)

The Day

The Day is approaching,
Seems no one has ever noticed,

I want to cry out loud,
But who would listen to me?
Who cares....

GO GO BULLS!

Can you recognize this place?

寄件者 080119-Chicag...

How about this?

寄件者 080119-Chicag...

Or this?

寄件者 080119-Chicag...

Welcome to the game of CHICAGO BULLS!

Thanks to Thomas(FR), several of us went to the game of Chicago Bulls vs. Detroit Pistons yesterday- when the temperature shows -20 C......

Well, we are brave people! We are!
Brave people list: Thomas(FR), Myriam(Morocco), Annabel(CN), Charline(TW), Felix(FR) & Bi(Thai)
and I.

寄件者 080119-Chicag...

We took Metra downtown and took Nr.20 bus to go to United Center for the game. Upon arrival, we were all terribly brave enough that we still decided to see Michael Jordon's statue outside the building. The result of staying outside for too long was- we all were freezing and could barely feel our fingers(yes, we wore gloves!) and cheeks. Anyways, after we entered the Center, our lives were all saved.

The game itself was exciting, although the Bulls were never as great as before. We involved ourselves to cheer with the audiences shouting "Defense! Defense!" "Let's Go Bulls!" and tried to distract Pistons from shooting their balls into the basket. Participation made our game soooooo interesting, even Myriam cried out loud some time!

What also worth mentioning was the shows during the breaks. For instance- CHECK THIS. Not only the game, but also the shows were worth watching! Other shows that impressed me included Swing Seniors(Bulls senior supporters went on stage to dance and show their support), Show of Benny the Bull, and several games sponsored by some companies. We never got bored, you see. No one got bored during the time!

As for the result? Bulls Wins- 97:86, it was 3 points away from our reward- a free Big Mac :(
Never mind, we'll be back sometime later!

好久不見，鵬

是怎麼樣的巧合，又把你帶回了我夢裡。

只因為前兩天忽然被你加入了好友，又被你編輯補充的how do we know each other內容感動到，很奇妙又很直接的，你很快的又在夢境裡面與我重逢。

夢裡的我不知怎麼的借住到你家去了，還有一幫其他認識的、不認識的朋友。夢裡在被窩裡睡個午覺起來，看到你這個被鳩佔鵲巢的大大隻主人捲在沙發上熟睡，我滿腦子都是問號，卻又忍不住的欣賞著你這個大孩子睡著的模樣.....

真的，雖然我們認識已經那麼的久，早就已經不是兩個孩子了，在我眼中你卻永遠是我認識時候的那個愛跳遠、愛打籃球、會在公車站等我一起走去上學、晚上講電話講到電話線燒掉還是捨不得跟我說掰掰、被老師說應該是全班最聰明可是總不夠認真的大男生。

當我說我暑假要回國去把親朋好友通通都抓出來抱一抱的時候，我是很認真的喔！
你的承諾也要兌現！打勾勾～

Happy Friday at Sunny's!

It's truly an exciting night! One of our classmate, Sunny, invited all classmates to go to her house and enjoy dinner together. 43 of us replied YES to the invitation, so...... IT'S SO CROWDED THERE!

Everywhere is like this==>

寄件者 080118-Party ...

All food were great, some Korean food + some Indian food prepared by Srividya and Simran. Best of all, Lakshmi prepared wonderful drink for us!!!!! It is fruity, pink, pretty, and it tastes good! Everyone enjoys a lot in this shining "warm(friendship)" night.

寄件者 080118-Party ...

The reason I enjoyed this kind of events was that I could talk with other classmates in a deep, relaxing way. We could cast away our study, projects, worries about the program and fully focus on knowing one another. I love to find out that Simran(India) wholeheartedly love to dance; Won-Juu(KR) speaks Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese; Lauren(KR) shared with me the major holidays in Korea and how they count their ages; Amy(US) has a big 3-floor house and stays with her parents, but unfortunately it's almost 1 hour drive away from school; Michelle(US) didn't travel abroad a lot, but would like to go for a Dubai journey when possible!

I forgot to take a photo of the magnificent night view from Sunny's window, but I thought when there were so many lovely people together, what was around us became less important~

Cheers! IMCers!

寄件者 080118-Party ...

Student Life Report

• Academic Part:
  Four courses this quarter (Jan. 7- Mar. 15)
  

• Database Marketing & Analysis- TOUGHHHHH
  Tons of group assignment either in class or take-home and intensive training on using SPSS and Excel to analyze data.
  
  Five people group projects throughout the quarter till the final one.
  Group member: Yoonjung(KR), Ateeq(Pakistan), Nishant(India), Matt(US), and I.
  

• Media Economics & Technology- Interesting
  Tons of readings, but since it centers the very up-to-date issues and helped to understand the new media economy, I expected it a lot~
  
  One group project including presentation (theme unknown) and one take home final.
  Group member: Ann(Thai-US), Kara(US) and I.
  

• Marketing Finance- TOUGHHHHH
  Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flows....
  Owner's Equity, Stock, Net Earning....
  Yeah I know, I'm not a number people~ I'll suffer a lot for this....
  Must become good friend with Excel
  
  Midterm and one huge company analysis group project for final.
  Group members of four will be assigned by professor according to midterm scores.
  

• Stakeholder and Customer Relationship Management
  Another interesting/useful subject for me when I'm so far more interested in branding & PR kind of thing.
  
  One group project- new media practice on "Viral Marketing."
  Group member: Myriam(Morocco), Annabel(CN), Annie(CN), Nishant(India) and I
• Career Related Part:
• Have-to-go OPT workshop
• Find out "WHAT I WANT TO DO!!!!"
  
• Residency application, including resume revision, cover letter and interview preparation
  
• Extracurricular Part:
• InNUvation webmaster, ROCSA webmaster
• Full-time IMC Student Advisory Council member meeting three times per quarter
• Academic events, e.g.
• "Hallyu- the Korean Wave" speech
• 2008 Kellogg Marketing Conference, Jan. 26
• Other social events from time to time, e.g.
• Visited Museum of Contemporary Art downtown Chicago
  
• ROCSA Ski trip
  
• Chicago Bulls game, Jan. 19
  
• "Mom, Close the Door" show, Feb. 1
• MASA New Year's talent show, Feb. 3
• Emotional Part:
• Well, be more independent....
• H relations H relations H relations H relations
• Relationship with God!

I only have 24 hours a day?!

Ski Weekend in Wisconsin

@ Alpine Valley Resort, approximately 2 hours drive from Evanston.

寄件者 080112-Ski Tr...

Highlights for this time:
1. So comfortable for skiing now. Blue route? Piece of cake.
I went to take the beginners class in the morning, and soon found out that it's a waste of time for me :P
Left the class, tried some slopes on my own to warm up, and..... fight! I'll never know if I never try!

2. A black diamond route(the most difficult route) by accident
After some more trials in the afternoon, I got a little bit bored about the same route and followed the map attempting to try something fresh. I found one next to two black diamond routes, and took the chairlift up for the challenge. I first bent one of my ski pole and broke it short after I got on the lift, and carelessly hung myself still on the lift when I was supposed to get down while reaching the top (yeah, a staff shut down the system for me and held me down the lift XD). Story continued that Jim, my companion, found out for sure that- there were only black diamond routes!

And I got only one and a half pole with me.......... XD

The result? I survived. (I'm still a complete Wendy)
I amazingly made it by stopping several times on the way to observe the following direction. I was impressed that I conquered my inner fear!

Special thanks also go to Jim!

3. Great fun meeting new friends- Chia-Lin, Jim, and Malcolm!

• Chia-Lin studied in IGP, Northwestern University Chicago campus and came one day earlier to Evanston staying overnight in my dorm.

• Jim, a second year Kellogg MBA student, a Thai-Taiwanese, happened to know one of my NTUMUN friend well. Further, his girlfriend is Joey's current classmate in Harvard MBA!

• Malcolm studied for his MBA PhD in Wisconsin joined our ski trip by chance.

We four fought/skied until 5:30 p.m. together, including having silly fun of taking the same chairlift and getting down all at the same time without falling, appreciating the sunset on the top of the hill, as well as enjoying a football game on TV together.

None of us have met one another before.
We did, however, cherished the glamorous moments we had in Alpine Valley Resort.

Stories will continue. They will.....

Someone Has Ketchup in Their Blood

= someone works for fast food restaurants/corporations (e.g. for McDonald's)

Funny!

Amazing Thursday Night- Hallyu Speech

Thanks to Kerry's information, I went to a speech talking about "Hallyu- the Korean Wave" introducing the power of Korean dramas/movies and its impact to other Asian as well as East European and American countries. The discussion panel invited four speakers to talk about their understanding and observation about Hallyu- two of them are Korean scholars, while the other two are (maybe) American scholars. The first American scholar introduced the history of Hallyu phenomenas in a really dry way, reading his notes line by line, but the other two Korean scholars used powerpoint file and some clips to demonstrate their idea. However, the one I love most is the last female speaker. She apparently was familiar with Japanese culture and society, and her insightful observations about Hallyu from Japanese side provided abundant interesting ideas. Not to mention, she also was great at using visual materials to attract everyone's attention. Audiences were all fully entertained by her slides and vivid descriptions!

Yet, the speech itself was not the only thing which made the night amazing.
One of the key reason that drove me there was to meet Kerry again. He's been so nice to me. So kind as he was, he offered a ride back to Evanston after the speech for me, and we thus got the chance to share our discoveries about Hallyu and to update our lives. Also in the car were his wife, Kayoko and the other elder Japanese lady. I guess you might know what I would say next- exactly, in the cabin, 80% of the time, the dominant language was JAPANESE rather than English :P

This Thursday night was thus sur-real, agree?

Here I Come Again, My SUPER BUSY Life

oh well......
The load of things/readings has started killing me

XD

Hello Evanston Again!

Welcome back home!

Although I don't really want to admit that Evanston is "home," it indeed felt good to come back to my place finally~ Especially I knew well that soon I'd meet Serena and had a dinner with her, as well as met Myriam and told her everything happening in my journey!

And everything after I arrived went just as expected, "nice and warm~" Pleasant talk with Serena, Myriam and Annie, efficient laundry and clean-up, and great night sleep. I even got Mom's love package carried and passed by helpful Briana at the night!

What's more, I got a Saturday dinner appointment after I phoned O'Neils at O'Hare Airport.

"I'm back!"
"Oh, we must meet you before your school starts again!"

What a homey feeling is this?

The dinner at O'Neils was fantastic, and I heard many interesting stories from them and their neighbors. Pat and Joan prepared red wine, wonderful lamp, baked potatoes and spinach salad for us, and the brownie was awesome, too! Greg, Carol, Judy and Katherine were camping lovers, and their life/travel stories were impressive. According to Joan, this family went for at least one domestic plus one overseas tour once a year. For the domestic one, they prefer driving than flying, and camping than staying in the hotel. Judy went study in Norway for one year and could speak Norwegian now; she has been also an athletic girl who enjoyed hiking, canoing, ice climbing and skiing. Katherine talked a lot about her experiences working in summer camps, and was planning to involve in one again the coming summer. Greg, the dad, was the one pioneered the family to go out exploring the world. He and Carol talked about their going to Belize, carrying all donated items to help improving the education circumstances there while doing some missionary job. They also mentioned their plan to go to Turkey and so on.

All these brought me back to the very issue that bothered me throughout this break again-

• what kind of person am I,
• what is my preference,
• what kind of lifestyle am I pursuing,
• what is my belief and value?

The answer became clearer and clearer, indeed.

Thank you Lord again to put everything together in your magic way. And,

Hey, I am back

I Miss My Brazil Trip! But...

看到這個消息真是無敵唏噓，回想之前申請巴西簽證時就已經是複雜麻煩不已，還要準備很奇怪的3吋大頭照（沒看過吧？那也是我唯一看過的一次）而且簽證那張紙還不是貼在護照上的，離境前就通通被收回了（所以除非保有影本，不然根本無從證明我到過巴西．）結果現在......

要感恩的事情真的太多了！

-----------------------------------
外交封鎖
台護照南美寸步難行
中時電子報╱郭篤為／巴拿馬三日電 2008-01-04 03:48

台灣駐委內瑞拉代表處存續進入決定性關鍵時刻，另一個南美大國巴西無預警的停止向台灣旅客發放觀光簽證，台灣在南美洲極為有限的民間交流受到進一步的衝擊。各國封殺藉口不一，對台灣以民間推動變相的實質承認卻產生立即效應，台灣護照在南美洲寸步難行。

一九七五年與中華民國斷交的巴西，十七年前同意台灣在首都巴西利亞設立代表處並加設駐里約熱內盧與聖保羅兩個領事館級單位，同時以「台北經貿文化辦事處」正名。這個拉丁美洲台僑人數最多的國家，多年來一直在不承認中華民國的前提下，向前往觀光和參觀全球知名嘉年華會的台灣旅客發放「無國籍旅遊」證明，甚至同意南美「台獨聯盟」主席周叔夜出任大使銜的代表職務。

巴西關門 影響我赴巴拉圭

上月底巴西無預警的全面取消對台灣旅客的觀光許可，與去年以來兩岸間外交攻防有著直接的關係。

巴西的不友善舉措，突顯出中國在拉丁美洲的邦交國正全面檢討與台灣維持多年的半官方關係，尤其是台灣藉非官方辦事處向鄰近國家推動實質外交活動。

巴西對台灣關上大門後，台灣旅客前往南美洲唯一邦交國巴拉圭的途徑，僅剩繞道智利轉機一途，對巴拉圭與台灣間極為有限的商務與民間聯繫，產生直接的影響。

去年台灣經由委內瑞拉打入鄰國蘇里南，並向鄰近的東加勒比海高調推動建交後，中國終於在失去聖露西亞後出手。先是封殺陳水扁總統訪問中美洲後回程經由墨西哥的領空，隨後委內瑞拉單方宣布中止給予中華民國國民落地加簽優惠，並通知台灣駐卡拉卡斯的各單位代表簽證在去年十二月到期後不再續延，變相關閉台灣代表單位。

該決定經各方努力後有所鬆動，最近持用外交護照的台灣辦事處人員以個案辦理進出委內瑞拉，至於是否關閉辦事處仍在未定之天。

南美另一個台灣積極爭取的玻利維亞，原本一度破紀錄的淪落到由主事代館，最近雖已接受台灣派出的正式代表，但其駐外使館仍拒絕對台灣護照簽發入境簽證，過境玻利維亞前往巴拉圭的路徑也從而中斷。

大陸客大量湧入 比下台灣

至於對台灣極度不友善的大國阿根廷，多年來與台灣的互動早已幾乎停擺，南美洲對台灣的實質承認空前嚴峻。

近數年來中國陸續開放南美與加勒比海邦交國作為國民旅遊指定國家，中國觀光客大量湧入，把台灣比了下去。最明顯的就是阿根廷、巴西、智利、秘魯，以及最新的例子哥斯大黎加。台灣與拉丁美洲國家經貿交流比重正逐年下滑，台灣護照的通行度也因此幾乎跌停板。

@Homey Washington DC, Happy New Year 2008!

因緣際會之下，我回來了，親愛的ＤＣ。

很快速的跟Wanjung聯絡過後安排好了住宿，再火速訂好了紐約Chinatown出發前往DC Chinatown的Bus，2007年12月30日傍晚六時許，我拖著大行李抵達了再熟悉也不過的DC，唉呀這股回家的感覺！

這幾天一切的安排都很簡單，如同前一次我到Wanjung家時一樣，居家、隨興、自然、溫暖。31日晚上Shiuanju還有Wanjung的男朋友Matthew一同過來吃健康營養的火鍋，然後我們到附近的一家保齡球館用特惠方案打球三個小時，從2007年12月31日打到2008年1月1日（平攤花費後每人25元，包含借球鞋的費用、一個大Pizza、一桶爆米花、四人份可樂）

打球的歡樂、好朋友的聚首=無價。

2008年的第一天，我於是也在DC歡樂的醒來。Wanjung開車帶我和Shiuanju一起沿著28號公路欣賞Maryland的田野風光前行，連人帶車搭了White's Ferry橫越Potomac River波多馬克河後到Leesburg Outlet去逛逛。我用$29.99的低價買了個好看、簡單又實用的手提包（通過兩大美女鑑定喔！），她們則各自覓得兩雙又好看又好穿的靴子，然後我們再一起乘著夜色回家，與Wanjung弟Richard再度共享了火鍋後結束這幸福美滿的一天....

明天下午我則會與一批在語言學校認識的朋友們碰面，這件事整個讓我好期待啊！

喔～Homey Washington DC～