Global Voices
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Global Voices V OLUME 2 I SSUE 1 Intramural Soccer at Washington College By Kanai Dai INSIDE At Washington College, there are Fall Break in Bogotá, 3 some sports clubs and Colombia many students join Review of Bitter Homes 4 them. In intramural and Gardens sports, Washington Attending a BIGBANG 5 college students can Concert play the sports. There My Trip to the Museum 6 are intramural admin- of Natural History istrators, who handle Xi’an Famous Foods in 7 the logistics of paper- New York City work, scheduling, and Professor Interview: Dr. 8 facilitation of events. Katherine Wagner Students have to create intramural sports, different sports are My Second Visit to the 9 their teams and hand in it to the intra- National Zoo played each season. mural coordinator. Each team selects Student Interview: Palo- 9 the captains, who have to manage sea- When I came to Washington Col- ma Matto sonal meetings and tell the details to lege, it was difficult for me to make friends because my English skill was not Movie Review: Pitch 10 all students of the team. In addition, in Perfect 2 (Continued on page 2) My Piano Life 11 Celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival By Yuan Xiangyu The Mid-Autumn Festival is cele- ryone the most. This story brated on September 25th of the Chi- is about how Chang Er nese lunar calendar every year, and it tried to escape from the is also known as “Harvest Festival” or murderer of her husband. “Moon Festival.” which is one of the In desperation, she took a most well known Chinese Festivals. pill, which was said to The Mid-Autumn Festival is my fa- have the ability to prolong vorite one among all the festivals. the life of the person who My recent memories about the Mid- took it. However, surpris- Autumn Festival celebration were very ingly, one member of the glorious for me. I still remember that I audience members knew celebrated with a lot of people that more about this story than were really interested in Chinese cul- everybody. He was just tures. We shared many legends about quietly listening to every- the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. one, but when it came to his The story of Chang Er fascinates eve- (Continued on page 2) P AGE 2 V OLUME 2 I SSUE 1 Global Voices, the newsletter for international students at Washington College, is published twice per semester by the students of ELL 101 Eng- Soccer (Cont’d) lish for Academic Purposes I. (Continued from page 1) Editor John Hepler good. Fortunately, I got the email about intramural soc- Assistant Editor cer. I like soccer very much, so I decided to join the Mi Sheng event. In the soccer game, the coach tested the skill or the experience that we can play. The field is half size Designers compared to the real one and we play with 6 vs. 6, so Fu Guanqi Shen Chixuan we do not have to run in a wide space. In addition, we Reporters have to have a minimum 2 women players. It was very Abdulmajeed Alghamdi Chen Qin interesting for me. I thought it showed the real mean- Guo, JunFeng Kanai Dai Li BinXin Li Linze ing of intramural sports that every student can enjoy Lin SenYuan Yu MengPing playing soccer because the team does not seek the Yuan Xiangyu Zhu Xiao player only by analyzing the strength but also the en- joyment of the soccer game. The game was always on Interviewers Shen Jiayi Zhang Yifei Tuesday and Thursday nights, so we could play with- out having to worry about our class schedule. After the whole season, which 10 teams played against each oth- strong as the American team. Also, I was so surprised that we er, the top 4 teams could go to the semifinal of the could play at the stadium where the official soccer club plays. tournament. In intramural soccer, we won 7 games and lost 2 Our team mostly consisted of international stu- games. As a result, we were top of the league and went to the dents. When I played in a game, we would communi- tournament. In the semifinal of the tournament, we lost. How- cate with each other to make our play better. We ever, by joining the intramural soccer, many students remem- played against other 9 teams and, although some team bered my name, even the people in the other team. It helped went for victory, I saw the other teams enjoyed the me make a lot of local friends. Intramural sports will be held process of playing soccer. I had great fun to play in in other sports during the rest of semester and next semester. I such a team. I was so surprised that even women play- think it should enhance our life and everyone should join the ers had fun because I cannot see any woman playing event!! soccer in Japan, although Japanese women team is as Festival (Cont’d) (Continued from page 1) eign friends. Actually, both kinds got high praise. Coincidentally, the lunar eclipse was happened at night, turn he talked a lot, and he was not Chinese. Finally I the moon light was distinctive red glow, it has been called figured it out, he was the only one who was teaching “Blood Moon,” which is kind of astronomical phenomenon Chinese in our College. He said he was an internation- that is unlikely to occur again before 2033 and the last time al student in China and studied in Nanjing University was in 1982. It may not mean the same thing to people of dif- for four years, so he knows Chinese cultures very well. ferent place. In south of China, the lunar eclipse usually Another interesting thing is I even found moon means disaster, but in the north, it means bumper harvest. I cakes in a local supermarket for the Mid-Autumn Fes- was really glad to witness the lunar eclipse with my foreign tival. I was so happy that I got moon cakes, and be- friends and discussed meaning of the lunar eclipse in the dif- cause eating moon cakes is a must during the Mid- ferent cultures. Autumn Festival, we have variety of types of moon The Mid-Autumn Festival is a time for family reunion. cakes. The most popular one in China is made with red Traditionally, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, every rela- bean paste inside, and tasting sweet and sticky. I tives gets together to enjoy a big feast prepared with lots of bought two kinds of moon cakes to share with my for- (Continued on page 12) G LOBAL V OICES P AGE 3 Fall Break in Bogotá, Colombia By Abdulmajeed Alghamdi Travelling is always a great opportunity to see the Nature in Bogota is amazing. The whole city is sur- world and to expand the boundaries of your perceptions rounded by rock forests that are inhabited by different of life and of what surrounds you. Travelling is one of species like jaguars, monkeys, opossum and crocodiles the best ways to ex- and turtles in the rivers. I perience what you really enjoyed visiting the have never tried be- botanical garden José Cel- fore, to look at the estino Mutis, La Quinta de usual things from a Bolivar and the Colpatria different angle. That observation point as those is why I was so lucky points give a wonderful to have a five-day trip chance to learn more about to Bogota, Colombia. the beautiful nature of Bo- gota. I was invited to visit Bogota with my The historical part second family; I was of the city, La Candelaria, very happy about this is a must see for art lovers fact as living with as it’s a center of cultural people you know is life. I visited the Botero always much better Museum with the than choosing to great collection of stay at a featureless masterpieces and the hotel. I live with Gold Museum, where people who can you can find lots of show me the city things made of gold. I from inside and tell visited also the Co- me the facts that lombian National Mu- only those who live seum, which is the in Bogota know. It oldest in Latin Ameri- is information you ca. It offers a wide will never read it in range of art objects any guidebook. and works represent- ing different periods As I exited the of the country’s histo- airport, I breathed ry. I was lucky to at- the warm air filled tend the concert of the with a mixture of National Symphony things this city pos- Orchestra of Colombia sesses. Bogota is a at Bogota Philharmon- place where incon- ic and it was amazing. gruous things are mixed. Here are old quarters built in colonial style, ultramodern skyscrapers and half-ruined I will always remember Bogota as it is a wonderful slums. It makes this city a place where you can see and place and five days were definitely not enough to learn find everything from poor people and dirty streets to lux- all its hidden treasures. Still, I was able to make an im- ury shops and elite housing. pression about this city and I will surely visit it once again if I have a chance. I like everything about Bogo- During my five-day trip to Bogota I have noticed how ta: its unique spirit, its hearty people, its architecture active this city is. It’s not a surprise as it is one of the and modern facilities.