951028-9 Tian Shui Temple is filled with Thai decorations.


Tian Shui Temple is filled with Thai decorations.

Wow! Was this a holiday resort hotel? How come I had this illusion? I could have been in Thailand for all I knew. It was relaxing. But Of course not, it was Tian Shui Temple. Some Thai styles featured in its building structure. Whether it was Bu Er Men (an entrance to the temple), Fojao Conglin（a Buddhist monastery）or the temple itself, all of them were all full of strong foreign influences. It has a most peculiar feature. Take a look carefully.

There had been a stone lion before, but now there was a magnificent Thai elephant. Here was a round and slippery Thai styles’ arch. Tian Shui Temple was just like a small Thailand. However, this monastery was the paradise of the black flies! Originally, I was full of blood. After going home, I might stop by the hospital for some blood transfusion. What an evil black fly!

by Wei- Ling,Chen

951028-10 Ate extremely delicious Dong Dong taro balls for lunch.

Because the schedule in the morning was very rush, my stomach was rumbling at noon. It reminded me that I needed to feed my stomach.

Bravo! Finally I could feed my stomach. Some people wanted to eat noodles and some people wanted to eat rice, so we decided to divide into two parts. One was for eating noodles and the other was for eating rice. I decided on


Delicous Dong Dong Taro Balls.

eating turkey rice and then Dong Dong taro balls. Wow! The easy chewable taro balls with the taste of taros and red beans are really a man’s best food. People would like to eat them again and again. After lunch, I felt the trip was worthwhile.

by Yi-Ling,Ko

951028-11 Dyeing with plants was interesting.


Dyeing with plants was interesting.

When I came into Tian Ran Garden（a dye shop）, I saw the rape flowers were in full bloom and several trees stood there. Each kind of plant had its own color scheme. For example, the heartwood of Haematoxylon Campechianum, a tree, could make the most difficult dye—black! When I was observing the tree, I found a little red crystal ball sticking to it. The presenter told us Klacca sucked and digested the tree’s juice; they oozed their saliva and

congealed it on the branch. This little ball can produce the beautiful mauve color dye. On the other hand, Klacca can also be a pest problem for many kinds of fruits. Therefore, the Klacca’s problems could not be ignored!

Suddenly I saw clusters of the Taiwanese Cherry（Prunus Campanulata）beside the Haematoxylon Campechianum. Don’t look down at these delicate flowers. Their dye colors produce a bright pink-orange. One kind of tree was called The Common Gercinia（Its formal name is Garcinia Suubelliptica）. Its round and fat leaves produce a bright yellow dye. Our ancestors were so great! They found the dying properties of plants and different colors. I admired them so much.

by Wei- Ling,Chen

951028-12  Rubbed Strobilanthes cusia.

After we came to the Tian Ran Garden（a dye shop）, the presenter started to introduce us to all kinds of plants that can be used for dying clothes. While the presenter was introducing the Strobilanthes cusia（a flower）, she suddenly asked us, “Who wants to do an experiment?” Yi-jie Huang, Wei-ling Chen, other unfamiliar and I people raised our hands quickly to be a volunteer. The presenter readily picked some Strobilanthes cusia for us and asked us to rub it again and again with our hands. When we opened our hands,


Strobilanthes cusia（a flower）became blue after oxygenization.

we found our hands became green and later turned into blue as oxygenized with the air.

The presenter told us the color on our hands could not be washed off for two days later. We felt cheated. But we had a lot of fun experiencing the natural change of color when rubbing the Strobilanthes cusia

by Shu-Yuan,Chang

951028-13  I saw the wild pig.


The wild pig was looking for food.

When we entered the park, some found something was moving in the bush. In the beginning, I thought it was a dog. After Shu-yuan’s mom’s explanation, I figured out that was a wild pig. The wild pig ws looking for food along the road, even among the trash left by the passers. It bit at it and took a sniff. It was so cute.During the explanation of Macaques, I was also told that on day Uncle Guo took a walk with a wild pig and a dog in the park

. The wild pig was lost and only the dog came back to the park. Uncle Guo was very angry at the dog, so he kept the dog outside and would only let it come in until it found the wild pig. Unexpectedly the wild pig ran back after a few days. The wild can also be very smart.

by Tiffany Liao

951028-14 We interviewed Uncle Guo.

When we came to Uncle Guo’s Wild Macaques’ Park, we certainly couldn’t forget to interview Uncle Guo. We finally got Uncle Guo’s spare time. Hence, all of us gathered and interviewed him. We asked many questions. For example, “ When is the adult age of the Macaque?” “ Is the monkey’s reproduction rate high?” “ How many babies does a monkey produce in a year?” and so on. Time passed. We learned a lot that day. One classmate in charge of the recording helped us record the main pointsso the information was complete.


Uncle Guo was explaining macaques seriously.

 We understood macaques better. We knew more about their life style and some current situations regarding them. We especially thanked Uncle Guo. Thanked him for helping us to understand so many things about macaques so that we could write a well informed web page.

by Sih-En,Chen

951028-15 I saw the king of the monkeys.


It was the king of the monkeys.

Today we went to Uncle Guo’s Wild Macaques’ Park. While we were happily watching the monkeys play, we unexpected found that the king of the monkeys was in mating session. We also saw a very restricted a mating session, it made us laugh out aloud. But we found that we were the only ones laughing in the whole park because the adults didn’t think it was a big deal. They paid more attention to listening, so we felt we lost face. But this was the first time for me to see it. Anyway, I seem to have  learned one more lesson.

by Sih-En,Chen

951028-16 Recording was a tiring job.

Today I was on behalf of our team to recorded the presenters’ words, so I had to follow him everywhere. No matter how hot it was, I was always with him. I was so tired. Sometimes I only recorded noisy sounds or chats. What the mistake I made! But most of the recording were all right, so I t was a good accomplishment for me. Hopefully I could record the whole important parts next for the complete progress report.。

by Sih-En,Chen


We were following the presenter.

951028-17 No voice in the recording.

I was recording the presenter’s voice with Sih-En. Originally I was very confident for the recording, but the foruth and fifth sections of the recording were nothing but our chatting on the computer. Hence, I thought writing progress report was more relaxing. It was surprising we wrote slowere for our mistake. But we indeed turned on the recording, who on earth made fun of us?

by Yi-Chieh,Haung

951028-18 Glistening yellow orchids in Dakeng.

Orchids

Bright yellow orchids petals and its fragrance filled the senses and attracts many flower growers to plant it. The well-known reputation of “ dancing girls” also draws the attention of the Japanese. There are four million stems of orchids in Dakeng, most of which will be exported to Japan! Orchids are actually a money-spinner for flower growers! Its profits also improve their life. Orchids are not only an important local product in Dakeng but also the main source of the economy for flower growers.

by Wei- Ling,Chen

951030 The remarks of “eco-industry tour”

I felt this activity was fun because we went to many places—Jhengjyue temple, tianshui temple, Guangxi Suspension Bridge, Orchid garden, Tianran Garden and Uncle Guo’s Wild Macaque’s Park. I was impressed by them, especially Uncle Guo’s Wild Macaque’s Park. The little monkeys were so cute in their mom’s arms. The powerful posture of the king of the monkeys was so cute as well! In a work, Macaque Park was really an unforgettable place.

By Tzu-Hsing Huang

951101 Listened to the recording.

I felt vexed when we had to listen to the recording. Because we had to pay attention to the recording and typed the words we heard. It was a tiring and boring job. Sometimes I felt confused with the Taiwanese that we didn’t understand or some important missing parts. I was angry at these stuffs. In order to keep on the work, I had to finish listening the recording. After listening it, I improved my Taiwanese and knew the importance of attention to complete my task.

By Ya-wen Lin

951103 Had too much rest.

After waking up, I suddenly found that I forgot to go to the computer lab on Friday. This week was ESL’s English monthly test, so I had taken a leave for four days (from Monday to Friday) to prepare it. But I forgot I had to go to school on Friday. I was so muddle-headed!

by Shu-Yuan,Chang

951106  Teacher, I wanted to sign up Dakeng’s acitivy.

A few days ago, I heard teacher said that Taichung City Government held three thematic activities about Dakeng—Read Dakeng, Research Dakeng and Hold a fest in Dakeng, to expore the beauty of Dakeng, learn to pick tangerines and eat special cuisine of Dakeng. Returning home, I asked my mom if I could go. She promised me without hesitation. The next day, I was told to my computer teacher happily that I wanted to sign up Dakeng’s activity. But she told me the arragner said there was no vacancy. It was a pity!

by Wei- Ling,Chen

951107 There was no vacancy for the first group. Sign up earlier next time.

Originally I would attend the second group for the activities of Dakeng Carnival and Research Dakeng on Sunday of November 26th. I had to go to cram school, so I couldn’t attend. I begged my mom to go, but she said, “You already took a leave last week for your uncle’s wedding, so you couldn’t take a leave again.”But finally she promised to let me attend the activity on Saturday of November 11th. But the arranger said there was no vacancy for the first group. It was a pity.

by Shu-Yuan,Chang

951108 Oops! I forgot to record the research hours on the progress report.

Finally I kept up the work. But unfortunately I forgot to record the research hours. It was really an awful condition for me! I could only ask for the teacher’s help. I must be careful next time to do things well.

by Yi-Ling,Ko

951109 Learned to trim the pictures with Photo Impact.

When I saw my teacher trimming the picture, I asked her to teach me for fun. My teacher started to teach me how to trim the picture. The first step was to find out the relevant picture with the progress report and then pasted the picture in the Photo Impact to adjust the brightness of the picture.

The ways to adjust the picture is setting the range of picture to 320*240 first, enlarging the frame to “20”, and then writing a title for it. Finally set the picture with the best format and save it. The content of the picture has to be under 50kb. Finally I know how to trim the pictures with Phomot Imapct software. Bravo!

by Shu-Yuan,Chang

951110 I drew Dakeng’s specialty—tangerines.

 Today my teacher asked us to start drawing the illustration for our web page. Because my drawing was good, I drew Daekng’s specialty—tangerines voluntarily. The next day, I started going on my mission. My teacher reminded me to draw a cute tangerine. That is, to personalize it. I thought it was cute, so I drew a ball for its body, and drew hands, feet, and bright eyes to complete my drawing.

By Yi-Chieh Huang

951113  I couldn’t ride a bike.

It was very pity that I couldn’t attend the activity of “Read Dakeng,” so my teacher asked me to attend another activity—“Research Dakeng”. That is, the attending members had to go to the destination by bike. But unfortunately I couldn’t ride a bike. My teacher was surprised at that! Therefore, I still couldn’t attend Dakeng’s activity, but I’ll try to learn to ride a bike afterwards.

by Wei- Ling,Chen

951114 We wrote Uncle Guo’s interview on the web page.

We attended Dakeng’s eco-tourism on October 28th. There were many activities, and one of them was visiting Uncle Guo’s Macaque Park. We rushed to find a good seat to see the monkeys. All of us started chatting and discussed about little monkeys were cute. After for a while, I recorded the voice while the other members were interviewing Uncle Guo. I was in charged to write the page of interview Uncle Guo, so I attentively recorded the voice and wrote the whole process of the interview. I was impressed by the Macaques. Next time, if you want to go to Macaque Park, I would be a little presenter. In addition, I could also introduce Formosan Macaque.

by Sih-En,Chen

951115  I could draw a cute parrot as an item symbol.

“ Who has to write the web page of “ trash-picking in Dakeng”?” asked the teacher in the beginning of the class. “ Teacher, me.” I raised my hand and answered. “ Whdy didn’t show your item symbol on the web page?” asked the teacher. “ Well, I would draw it right away.” I thought it over. I saw everybody looked extremely worried, so I drew a cute parrot to make fun of them.  I took it to the teacher. She thought it was nice, so I finally completed my task.

By Tzu-sing Huang


These were the parrots I drew.  
They were cute, weren't they?

951116  I learnt to make a form on Namo’s web page.

We mainly made our homepage by Namo(software). It was very importanct to organize the contents before uploading them on our web page. The points of the web page is easily to understand what we wanted to do for our homepage and to show a good layout of the homepage. Therefore, we needed to make a table, so my teacher taught me how to make a form and plan for our homepage. She let me understand how to make a homepage.

By Tzu-Hsing Huang

951117 Drew a map of Dakeng.


I drew the map of Dakeng by myself.

Today our teacher assigned us a task. Our teacher asked me to draw a map of Dakeng. It was an important task. Our teacher hoped me to draw the picture by myself. I encountered many difficulties. For example, the word was not clear on the map or one word was unable to write by graphic software, so my teacher typed the word by Cang Jie. It was troublesome. But I still learned a lot of knowledge about graphics. It was a good job and has a lot fun.

By Tiffany Liao

951120 What? Teacher, I stll had to write the progress report.

Great! I had finished all of my tasks. I finished my web page and the progress reports. What should I do next? “Teacher, should I do anything?” I asked and kept quietly. “What elso can I help?” I asked again. My teacher looked at me with a weird face and said,”Eh, did I hear wrong? Tzu-Hsing wanted to do something more?” “Please, give me more.” I begged the teacher. After that, my teacher assigned me to write four progress reports. It let me feel a little upset for what I said.

By Tzu-Hsing Huang

951121 What was your nickname?

 Today, our teacher asked us our nicknames. Some people started to feel bashful. Some people started chatting. And I started to investigate others’ nicknames. Everyone’s nickname suddenly showed up one after another such as “Yellow Dog” or “Mosquito” and so on. We were laughing at the nicknames each other. The laughing was full around the classroom, and we kenw each other more!

By Tiffany Liao

951122  Learned to remove the selections of typing words.  

Today while I was typing a draft of Leader Gu’s interview questions, I found there were many selections of typing words. After typing one passage, I had to press Ctrl and Shift for the selection of typing words. It was so troublesome, so my teacher taught me to remove the selections of typing words. I finally could type the words freely and type faster. After finishing the draft, I was waiting for the time of the interview. Hopefully we could get a lot of useful information from the interview to make our website more informative.

By Sih-En Chen

951125 Dakeng Carnival—Had a feast in Dakeng.

This evening we attended Dakeng Carnival—a thousand people’s banquets in a recital. Everyone was looking forward to it. We ordered one banquet and were ready the specialties from 12 restaurants in Dakeng. Everyone was hurried to have a taste for each course and we almost finished each dish. We forgot to take a picture, so we had to go to the other banquet to take a picture. It was very funny. We needed to vote for the most delicious dish after eating. I voted for the “Diet Boiled Tender Chicken” and “ Steamed Toothfish with Bamboo


The best taste of Dakeng--The Bamboo Rice Cake

Shoots Sauce.” They were really tasty. The result was that “The Bamboo Rice Cake” was the best taste of Dakeng. There were still other delicious desserts—“Dong Dong Taro Balls” and the organic tangerines of Dakeng. We all had much fun on the banquet.

By Hui-Chen Tsai

951127  We went to Walking Trail No.6


Let's look at the map of Walking Trail No.6.

I got up hastily and ran to Walking Trail No.6 very fast. Everyone was greeting me with a sinister smile.

I passed by Taichung The Sun Hot Spring & Resort. It was very beautiful. Walking forward, there were many tangerine trees with fruitful tangerines. I really wanted to take a bite at that time. I couldn’t help stopping my step for looking the beautiful view of

Taichung City and found I was like a drop in the ocean at the same time.

Passing by the peddlers, the owners greeted us kindly. Suddenly we heard some people reading the Buddhist Scripture and some people laughing at the far. It was because we almost arrived at Guangyin pavilion. Except Guanyin-Buddha, there were many peddlers selling foods there such as stir-fried noodles or congee. As an old saying goes, “ The early bird gets the warm.” Therefore, we could eat breakfast for getting up early!

Today we had a plentiful harvest. We could not do exercise but satisfy our stomach. Everyone is welcome to come here!

By Pei-Shan Cheng

951128 The remarks of attending Dakeng Carnival activity—“Research Dakeng.

As the original meeting time with Teacher Yang, we arrived at JingBuKu at 9:30. The arranger said that they had to limit some people to visit Cactus Garden for there were too many activities today. Thank goodness that everyone could follow the direction and waited for the presenter’s guidance.Before starting the trip, the presenter led us to do the warm up activity and understand the functions of the bikes.


 We had much fun picking tangerines.

After, we started off happily.The first stop was Yi Mei Garden. At first we rode bikes without requiring strenuous effort, but we encountered a steep slope after passing Dakeng Circle. On the way we greeted with the driviers facing us and encouraged each other. It was a long slope, so we found the behind people were missing. It let me understand the importance of doing exercise.After eating lunch in the Yi Mei Garden, we went picking tangerines in the tangerine garden. We suddenly felt being cheered up while seeing so fruitful tangerines. Everyone wanted to pick it by himself. After picking tangerines, we had afternoon tea in the Sip Tea coffee shop. After that, we went to Jyungong Elementary School, an Erthquake Pak. The arranger provided a presenter, who was a teacher of Jyungong Elementary School. She let me understand more about the origin of the earthquake and the disasters by the 921 earthquake. I indeed learnt a lot from this acitity today.

By Pei Shan Cheng

951129  Made a draft for the interview questions to the Marketing Team of Dakeng.

Tomorrow we would interview Dakeng Marketing Team Leader Gu. We were going to ask him the following questions.
1. Why should Uncle Gu have the marketing team? What is the main job in the marketing team? Is the marketing team everywhere in Taiwan?
2.How many fruit marketing teams are there in Dakeng?Are the marketing teams categorized by the kind or the area?
3. How many kinds of citrus are there in Dakeng? Which one has the best quality?  What kind of the citrus can bring better economic profits?
4. How many tons of Dakeng’s citrus are there in a year?  What percent is Dakeng’s tangerine of the others in Taiwan approximately?
5. How long does it take to plant Dakeng’s tangerines?
6. How do the farmers deal with the tangerines after harvesting?
7. Where are the tangerines for sale mostly?
Are they sold to Taiwan herself or abroad?
8. What is the working ratio of people to machines?
9. Are there any other places known for tangerines in Taiwan?
Our teacher hoped us to afford several kinds questions. Hopefully we could get more information about Dakeng’s industry and selling condition.

By Ya Wen Lin

951130-1 We saw a special shot--the cicada was shedding its shell.


 The cicada was shedding its shell

While everyone was looking at the ill orange, Yi Chieh Huang was suddenly said,” Look!” We surrounded him and saw a special shot—the cicada was shedding its shell. We shared this discovery with our teacher. Hence, she explained why the cicada needed to shed its shell and took a picture of it. We found something wrong when we saw the teacher taking the picture actively. Just as we thought, we had to record it in our progress report. But I felt it was fun. I took a science class and was impressed.

byTiffany Liao

951130-2 Dakeng abounded in ecology.

After having the eco-industrial tour, we interviewed Leader Gu. We found Dakeng abounded in ecology after attedning these two tours.

We understood Dakeng more by interviewing Leader Gu. He was just like a walking dictionary. He introuduced many kinds of fruits for us such as peach, pomelos, alocasia odora, mangoes, bananas, bamboo shoots, etc. If Leader Gu’s didn’t introduce these plants to us, we wouldn’t pay attention to them. For example, he introduced the mango tree to us, so I could understand what the mango tree was. It was really a special trip for me.

By Tzu-Hsing Huang


The bananas, peach tree, mangos, cummingcordiaes
(Sebastan Plum Cordia )

951130-3 The ecological catastrophe of cuscutae


The most destructive plant--cuscutae

After getting off the bus, Leader Gu introduced several kinds of plants to us. One of the plants impressed by me was the most destructive plant—cuscutae.

Cuscutae survives by attaching the trees and plants. It will suck the nutrition from the plants on the tree and finally cover the whole plant to keep the plant from photosynthesizing. This plant can’t remove easily.

In addition, their seeds will spread away by wind and occur the ecological catastrophe. It let me feel it is like a vampire. It won’t stop until it reaches its goal.

By Wei Ling Chen

951130-4 Bamboo would die after producing bamboo shoots.

After interviewing Leader Gu, I understood the ecology of bamboo more and understood bamboos could produce bamboo shoots. At the bottom of the bamboo shoot are small slices of the leaves. That means it is the time to produce bamboo shoots but it is almost the end of its life. The joints of the bamboo are the place to produce bamboo shoots. Each maternal bamboo must be left for producing more than twenty bamboo shoots from its both sides.I couldn’t image that I could understand so


The new born bamboos  

difficult knowledge. We wouldn’t never know the knowledge until we interviewed Leader Gu. Bamboo shoots were not only delicious but also full of knowledge.

By Yi-Ling Ke

 

951130-5 Why were the bamboo shoots covered by the black cloth?


The bamboo shoots were covered by the black cloth

 When entering the bamboo garden, all of us were confused why the bamboo shoots were covered by the black cloth. Hence, we asked Leader Gu. He said, “ Bamboo shoots growth by heat, and the black cloth can absorb the heat. More importantly, covering black cloth on bamboos can prevent the water in bamboo shoots from evaporating and yielding grass. Therefore, black cloth is very important for the growth of bamboo shoots. “ After listening Leader Gu’s answer, we figure

out that covering black cloth on bamboo shoots is not to prevent stealing but to afford good environment for the growth of bamboo shoot and let people eat more delicious bamboo shoots.

By Sih En Chen

951130-6  What is the bitter flower used for?

The bitter flower can be drunk or viewed by people. We saw the latter one today. Leader Gu said that the bitter seed is related to the woman--after bearing a baby, the woman needs it to nourish the body in the postpartum rest and recuperation. The bitter seed could be fried and turn into the bitter seed oil. It is an excellent nourish food. The advantages (function) of the bitter oil:The bitter oil is full of protein, vitamin A and E. Its nourishment is superior  to yogurt and soy bean oil.


 Can you guess what it is?

It is as good as olive oil. It is full of unsaturated fats, so it can decrease the cholesterol and prevent the cardiovascular diseases. We were really surprised at its function.

By Ya Wen Lin

951130-7  The flycatcher


The flycatcher of drosophilas

  While visiting the orange garden, Leader Gu reminded there was a board hanging o the tree and asked us to guess what it was. All of us could figure it out, so Leader Gu introduced us it was a “flycatcher.” Because the drosophila especially liked yellow and carophyllene, so the fruit farmers applied it on the paper first, pesticides later and finally completed the flycatcher. If you are annoyed by the drosophila, then the flycatcher is the best way to keep away from it.

By Ya Chu Hu

951130-8 The back garden was planted by Leader Gu’s mother.

While we came into Leader Gu’s home. He showed us his back garden enthusiastically. In his introduction, we found this beautiful garden was cared by his mother. The most popular plant during the SARS—banlangen(Clerodendrum cyrtophyllum Turcz), ginger lily, little coffee bean, osmanthus and so on. These vivid flowers were attributed to Leader Gu’s mother’s attentive care. How lucky they were!

By Wei-Ling Chen


 Hibiscus radiatus(Alyogyne huegelii).
  Ginger lily

951130-9 The disease of the orange


The ill oranges

On the way we saw many oranges but there were many black spots on them. We asked Leader Gu what happened to the oranges. Leader Gu told us the oranges got the disease, Heising disease. We were all confused with it. Leader Gu explained that it was blight on the fruit. The oranges with the blight needed to throw away. It was a pity! But we still thanked the fruit farmers. Because they worked hard, we could eat delicious oranges.

By Shu Yuan Chang

951130-10 Mikania micrantha

Do you know there is a killer to threat Taiwanese ecology?

Mikania micrantha comes from the central south America.The Mikania micrantha looks white when it is blooming, but it is the bane of agricultural products. It will suck the nutrition from the plants on the tree and finally cover the whole plant to keep the plant from photosynthesizing.Mikania micrantha is also difficult to get rid of.


 Mikania micrantha was destroying the forest.

Even though it is not troublesome as Cuscutae to take away, its seed will spread by wind. It is difficult to clean Mikania micrantha at one time. In the fruit garden, special people likely clean it thorooughly, but it is impossible to do it in the field. Thank Leader Gu for introducing Mikania micrantha to let us learn more about it.

By Ya Chu Hu