Who broke the ecosystem somewhere in Carbondale?

Every world has a little world inside. A city had infinite existences, all living together; sometimes they go unnoticed, sometimes not. Now I live in a house west of Carbondale. When I arrived there, the first night, I was in the backyard and I could hear already, the different sounds of birds before they begin a deep sleep. I was surprised by a tiny light in the dark that it was dancing around me; the lighting bugs, they told me. From the next morning until now, I have come to know every animal that lives there, in the backyard. But now something has happened...... Everything began when a little fountain stopped working, because of the movements of a family of a raccoon that lived under the deck. Also, the birds drank the water from there, and they eat over the chipmunks' house, my friend Chip. Around them, squirrels, rabbits, and finally a big black cat. Whose cat is that? Every morning I have put crackers in front of Chip's door, a little hole under the deck. IT is very funny because he ate the cracker with two hands, he looked good, he was strong. I think the cracker was good for him. Or not? The other day I saw the cat again. The last time I had noticed fewer birds in the feeders; "they need the water from the fountain but now it is broken", I thought. I didn't want to see the reality. I saw the cat's eyes, hungry, spying and I could see him, also looking in front of my friends' house. Two days ago I put out a cracker for Chip again, like every morning. I thought that if he always had the food in his door, he would never go away. Two days later the food is still there. The birds have disappeared and I haven't seen Chip again. Where is he? I know the answer; I'm sad. The cat would have eaten the birds before, if they had been there, if the fountain had been working, if I hadn't put the cracker for my friend. -Victoria Iglesias

International Church

Have you ever been to International church in Carbondale before? I went to there with Korean friends, American friends and Sayaka. Since we can meet many international students and listen to many songs, which are sung in different languages, I'm not a Christian, but I could enjoy it very much. When I went to the church, it was a special day. Many people wore traditional clothes. I didn't have Japanese traditional clothes, but Sayak wore Japanese traditional clothes, which is called "Yukata". She was very cute. At the church, I talked with Malaysian, Chinese, Kenyan, and Indian students. AT some of them were their country's traditional clothes, it was really impressive for me. I learned greetings like "Hello" or "Thank you" or "Good bye" from them. Before coming to the USA, I had thought that I couldn't come to church because I'm not a Christian. However, I realized that church is one of the places to communicate with many people. Although I had never been interested in Christianity before, I like church and I want to make many friends at church, so I want to learn about Christianity. -Miyuki Yamasaki

I got Lost!

I go to school by bicycle every morning. It's so very hard for me to go up two long hills, but I don't think I can go by foot every day. IT takes about half an hour from house to school walking, so I decided to get a new bicycle. Anyway, one day after school, I got lost on my way from school to home, because it was the first time for me to ride a bicycle in Ashland. Besides I have no sense of direction. Believe it or not, I went the opposite direction, even though the direction to my home is very easy from school. I was so embarrassed,. but I tried to find the right way. Unfortunately, I went to a downward slope, so it was hard to go up hill again. While I was going up hill, I saw a sign of the hospital. Finally, I got it. IT was so terrible. Now I enjoy riding the bicycle every afternoon, but not in the morning. -Yuko

Untitled

I have been in the United States for about five months. Now I am living in Andrews Hall by myself, but I was living in Kilhefner Hall about two months in March and April. At that time, I had an American roommate. His name was John. He was a big muscular man, so he was a member of the Ashland College football team. When I was his roommate, he was kind and friendly to me. However, I couldn't call him a serious man even as a compliment. Frankly speaking, he had something strange in his personality. On Friday night, I came back to our room at eleven o'clock. In our room, my roommate was dancing with one of his girlfriends in a sweet atmosphere. He was very surprised to see me because I was not scheduled to come back that night. He seemed to invite her to his room. After that, I was staying in other American friends' room for three hours. The clock pointed to two o'clock in the morning. I wanted to go to bed, so I came back to our room. When I arrived in front of the door, I didn't feel the presence of some person in the room. Then, I opened the door to enter our room, but I couldn't. Why? Because there were two, a man's and a woman's, silhouettes on his bed in the dark. -Tetsuya Miyahara

Halloween Party

When I came to Ashland, I lived in Kem Hall on the seventh floor. At that time, I made many friends on the seventh floor. My friends were very friendly. In a Halloween party, we changed clothes, then we visited houses and played trick or treat. When I visited houses, I changed into a gangster. I wore a black coat, and black hat, and sunglasses. MY friends also wore funny clothes. For example, one person changed into a parrot, another person changed into a policeman, another changed into a ghost, another changed into a pumpkin, and something like that. Then, we visited several houses, at night. We shouted, "trick or treat!" At that time, I acted like a gangster. I hit the children with a gun. "Bring me to candy!" My friends acted too. On the other hand, the children also changed clothes, and many houses changed. They were dark, and it looked like ghosts haunted the houses. We each had a lot of fun acting, and we got a lot of candy. Finally, we came back to the dormitory. Then we had a Halloween party all night. We drank a lot and danced on the seventh floor. Also we took a lot of pictures. I had a wonderful time because I had a nice experience with American friends playing trick or treat. I'll never forget this experience of my American life. -Michiyo

Meet with Thai Students

It was at the beginning of March that I came here. First, I stayed in Amstutz Hall, on the second floor. I didn't expect that many Japanese would be here, so when I saw Japanese students in the dormitory at first, I was very surprised. At that time, there were some Thai students on the same floor. When I saw them the first time, I thought they were also Japanese. They looked like Japanese, and at the same time, we can say we look like Thais. One of them also said, "You look Thai! Your skin is a little bit dark!" When I heard that, I was shocked because they said my skin was dark. I had thought that my skin was not dark. After they said so, I also said, "You look Japanese!!" Well, well... Can you distinguish between Japanese and Thai? Suppose you meet each other in the U.S.A. Maybe, if we met each other in Japan or Thailand, we could distinguish between foreigners and natives. In the U.S.A., there are many international students. It is hard to know where they are from at a glance. EVen though we are Oriental, it's difficult to distinguish between people who are from Thailand or China and so on. I guess Americans cannot distinguish between Japanese and Thai. I've never been to Thailand or any other Asian country except Hong Kong. I had never known about Thais until I met them. I think I'm lucky to have an opportunity to talk with another country's people. I can know about their country and people, then I feel like traveling to many countries. -Yuki Sato

Last March, my roommate and I went to the music concert in my roommate's car.  We left Ashland at 6:30 PM.  Then, the weather was very good.  I felt spring was coming.  I was looking forward to seeing that concert because it was my first time to see a concert in the U.S.  The concert was by a popular rock group who was Bon Jovi.  We enjoyed it.  After the concert finished, we went out of the stadium.  Then, I was surprised at the weather because it was snowing.  We couldn't find our car because of snow.  IT took about 30 minutes to find our car.  Our clothes were wet and very cold.  My roommate tried to open the door but he couldn't open it.  The door lock didn't work because of the cold weather.  He tried to open it several times but the door lock still didn't work.  After 30 minutes, the door was opened.  We had stayed in the cold weather for about one hour even though we had a car.  Next, my roommate tried to move his car.  However, he couldn't control his car because his car was a sports car, which had too much power to drive on the snow.  He moved very carefully.  He couldn't speed up.  Finally, it took 2 hours to drive about 30 miles and when we went back to our room, the time was midnight.

   -Toshiki Ikeda

Japanese Girl

One day while I was walking on a road I heard a shout.  It was from a car.  He said, "Japanese girl!"  I wondered why he knew I was Japanese.   The car came up behind me.  He didn't see my face.  He judged that I was Japanese by seeing only my back style.  Some Americans have long black hair, but he knew that I was a Japanese.  I thought about Japanese.  I thought I was very short, so he thought I was Japanese.  But American children are as short as me.  Suddenly I became aware of my style.  My legs' length is about 1/3 of my whole body.  American people's legs' length is about 1/2 of their whole body.  Usually Americans are fatter than Japanese, but their legs are thinner than Japanese.  I knew why he said to me, "Japanese girl."  But why didn't he think I was Chinese or any other Oriental people?  Japan is a very small island.  There are more Chinese than Japanese in America.   I think Japan is the most famous country among Oriental countries, but it's not only in a good way.  Many countries' people don't like Japanese.  I hope Japan will become famous in a good way.

   -Kayo Nagamine

My Misjudgement

When I came here at first, I had stayed in Amstutz for about one month.  Then I needed an American roommate ardently because I thought practice was the best way to improve my English.  But most people who stayed in Amstutz were Japanese and no American students stayed there, so I couldn't get an American roommate there.  I was determined to move to another dormitory where American students stayed.  I asked a responsible person on my floor to look for an American roommate for me.  I thought he would look for a roommate quickly.  But then he was very busy because he studied for a test, moreover as most American students had already had then, I couldn't get a roommate easily.  After I had waited for about two weeks, he found a roommate at last.  I planned on talking to my American roommate every day.  But my plan collapsed completely.  My American roommate had a girlfriend in this college, so he always went to her dormitory.  I had little time to talk to him.  The double room with an American was like a single room because he hardly stayed in his room.

   -Tetsuyuki

Companion

I have stayed with an American lady, Suzy Rader, and one dog named Crithy for three months.  Two weeks ago, we got two kittens from one of Suzy's friends.  They were only six weeks old and so cute.  I gave the name "Mieko" to one kitten because she mewed, "Mie, mie", and Stephanie, who is a niece of Suzy, gave the name "Dotty" to the other kitten because she has a dot on her chin.  We enjoyed playing with the kittens and Crithy enjoyed it also.  Crithy licked the kittens like their mother.  The kittens were interested in everything which they saw.  They got near something interesting and touched or struck it.
   It happened last Sunday.  Suzy ran over Dotty with her car when she was taking her car out of the garage in order to go to church.  There is a bed of the kittens in the garage.
   I was sleeping at that time, so I didn't know what happened to Suzy and the kitten until she told me about that accident.  When I heard about that terrible accident, I couldn't say anything at first because of surprise.  We knew it was dangerous for kittens to get near the car.  Once I hit Dotty almost when I was taking Suzy's car from the garage because Dotty was interested in the car and she ran under the car, but she was OK at that time.
   I was very sad about Dotty and moreover, I was anxious for Suzy because she did it by herself.  She likes Dotty very much and took care very well as a friend.  As I thought Suzy was discouraged, I was really very anxious for her.  After we buried Dotty in the garden, I tried to console Suzy.  But I couldn't, I failed in that.  I regretted my poor English.  I tried to say that it might be me to run over Dotty because sometimes I took the car from the garage and once I hit her almost.  However, she misunderstood what I said.  She thought i said Dotty died because of what I had done before.  And she explained to me how she ran over Dotty.  And also she said it's still good it was Dotty.  I couldn't believe what she said.  She was more sad than me, but she was anxious for my feeling.  I'm very sorry I couldn't console her.  I thought I was not her companion yet.  She called her friend up and she was cheered up.  I really regretted my poor English.  I hope she thinks I'm a companion of her some day because I like her very much.

   -Hiro Goto

It was November '88 when the event happened.  My friend called Hiroshi and I intended to get to Niagara Falls.  We started to leave for there at about five o'clock.  However while we were driving, after about three hours, we noticed that we had gotten lost on the way, so we were going to go back to a place we could recognize on the map.  We looked for a suitable place where we could do a U-turn and we decided to do a U-turn in someone's garden, because it was difficult to find a place for a U-turn.
   When my friend was about to do the U-turn, our car began to slip on the grass.  Our car never held still.  We tried to make the car move for over one hour.  It was getting darker.  The air was cold.  We wanted to set out for Niagara Falls as soon as possible.
   Then the house owner came to us.  He was very angry with us.  He said, "How will you make up for this?"  I'm going to call the police!"  My friend became very nervous because he must have thought that the policeman would take us to the police station . He was about to drop tears.  I had a hard time stopping a laugh.  Finally the policemen only ordered us to pay fines.  After that, we started to get to Niagara Falls.  It was about 11 o'clock when we reached there.

   -Kiyo

Wedding Ceremony

Summer 1988

One day, I went to a wedding ceremony with my American host family in Ashland.  The wedding couple was my host family's friends.  It was the first time I had worn a suit since I had come here.  It was my first experience to go to an American wedding.  After the wedding ceremony had finished, I went to the wedding reception.  This wedding reception really impressed me.  The wedding couple gave the reception in a house which was near a small lake.  The reception was simple and all the food was self-service.  I was so surprised that it was different from Japanese wedding receptions.  It was the first time I ever saw a bride eating a hamburger.  After we had finished eating, we had some games and dancing.  The wedding couple did not care when their wedding dress and suit got dirty.  I felt that this is America.  At an American wedding, we can relax and enjoy it.  At a Japanese wedding ceremony, we will get tired and bored.
   -Yukiko

David Jones

When I was in my middle school days, I was studying so hard.  Every day we couldn't go home until 10:00 P.M.
   One day, when we went to home a friend of mine was run over by a motorcycle at the crosswalk in front of school's gate.  Unfortunately my friend couldn't see it because the motorcycle was very fast and its head-light was turned off.  The motorcycle was overturned and simultaneously he was knocked down.  At that time we had no time to spend because the enterance examination was coming up.  So my friend cried because of pain and worried about the examination at a ambulance.  His situation was very serious but he insisted that he study  continuously.  Fortunately he could apply for the examination at the hospital, and he succeeded in the examination.
   After the accident, traffic signal light was built at the crosswalk.

The Narrow Road

8/12/1987

Early one morning an old woman was walking from her village to the town.  She was carrying a big sack of cabbages on her head.  She was taking them to the market, where she hoped to sell them to the people from the town.
   The road which she was on was a very narrow one over a mountain.  There was a cliff on one side and a wall of rock on the other.  There was very little traffic at that early hour, but she was walking very carefully on the side of the road, because she didn't want to have an accident and lose her cabbages which she had grown herself.
   But as the old woman was climbing a steep hill, she suddenly heard a loud bell and a bicycle came around the corner, and passed her, going very fast down the hill.  The old woman had to jump to one side so quickly that the sack of cabbages nearly fell into the ditch.
   She looked up, and saw that a young girl from the town, wearing green trousers and a red blouse, was riding the bicycle.  She was riding without even looking around to see whether the old woman was all right.
   The old woman began to shout, "Come back, Come back, Little lady!  You dropped something!"  The girl heard the old woman's shouts and stopped her bicycle so suddenly that she nearly fell off.  Then she turned and began to push the bicycle back up the hill.  She had ridden on quite a long way past the old woman, and the slope was steep, so she was quite hot and tired when at least she reached her again.
   "What is it?"  she asked "What did I drop?"
   "Little lady"  the old woman answered,
"You dropped your manners."

The Ghost

I will tell you a story about something that happened to my friends and me, thirteen months a go.  This is something that I don't wish to happen to any of you, because it was the worst experience of my life.
   It was August 6th, the day of independence of Bolivia.  The day was sunny and all the streets were crowded with people watching the national parade.  I went with some classmates to see the parade, but we never expected to see what we saw.  About ten months before that day, we knew that our math professor in the intermediate school had died.  We were sure about that, because we had sent some flowers to his family the day he died.  We were standing still on the sidewalk watching some pretty high school girls and laughing about some of them hwo used to have a very hard time knowing that ten eyes were looking at them at the same time.  Suddenly we saw the teacher who was dead.  We couldn't believe it, and all of us were afraid; we didn't know what to do or what to say, so we started to run behind him.  While we were running one of my friends asked in a very low tone of voice:
"Could it be a ghost?"  Some started to laugh and others saved their words.  One of us said that we could be wrong, and that we were looking at someone who looked like the teacher.  Finally we reached him, so we started to walk behind him.  When we were face to face, we said, "Hi!" and he said very angrily: "Who are you?", so my friend explained to him that we thought he was our teacher.  The man laughed and said, "Oh! you are talking about my twin brother, you didn't know that he died a bout ten months ago?"  That moment we had to make things easier, so we told him that we didn't know and that we were sorry about that.

Graveyard

The night of the nightfall has arisen from the death of the night.  With the chilly touch of the nightwind and with the soulless sense of the darkness of the night, you can hardly imagine one can do what one likes in the mysterious side, the immortal side of death.
   Yes, you can always hear the voices from the ground of death every now and then at night.  Often, its echo can easily still your movement.  Yes, it never happens to the heartbeat of  yours, not until the last moment of your life.
   To you, the graveyard is not the place that you like to be in when the midnight clock strikes.  To me, it was a place where the spirits of others and me reunioned.  It was always a creative view when the time was right for our transparent bodies to never  stop balleting with the nightwind.  Also, it was the only time that we were free from the daysleep.  Nevertheless, the spirits moved in an undetermined way, in the path of up and down and in various entertaining ways either vertically or horizontally.  Like the stage of a play, it was never much different than any kind in the other world.
   At the time of daybreak, it was another play of life for me; it was also an end for the activities of the night.   Night by night, and second by second, life was just another particle of mother nature when I was a member of the death then.  As for the present period, day by day and minute by minute, it never did change in any way.

No Title

I have been studying since I was 7 years old; sometimes, I really feel bored of studying.  Every time I want to quit studying and join the workers' ranks, however, my brother's advice always appears in my mind.
   My eldest brother has always regretted that he decided to quit his study when he was in the 4th grade, no matter how my parents tried to make him understand the importance of education to his future.  He always writes to me and tells me to be more concerned about my study.  He said if he hadn't decided to quit studying, he would have experienced the real life of an American instead of just reading what I write back to him.  In his letters, he always reminded me that he was only twenty five, but he had to work instead of studying.
   His embarrassing moment also appears in my mind when I feel tired of studying.  One afternoon, he received a letter from the manager of his company.  When he opened the letter, he couldn't catch any word in it, because it was written in the Malay language instead of in Chinese.  He took the letter and went to ask the manager's secretary to explain to him what it said.  The secretary said, "What?  You can't understand our national language?"  It made him feel very embarrassed at that moment.  After that event, he decided to take night classes to improve his language skills.  After he had experienced learning the Malay language, he felt that maybe it was too late for him to learn, because his mind didn't function very well after not studying for about 15 years.
   Whenever I see a bunch of homework on my table, it always makes me think of giving up studying; however, my brother's experience in lacking education always encourages me to continue, even though it makes me tired.

Most Embarrassing Moment

Early last month there were great sales at the Mall on winter coats.  My friend and I went shopping for a winter coat before our scholarships arrived; we wanted to be careful to choose something cheap, yet beautiful.  My friend had earlier browsed through several shops, and ended up at J.C. Penney's and Braun's.
   She brought me to Braun's first, and pulled out two coats which had been separated out earlier.  After we had tried them both, we went to Penney's.  I could not decide which coat to choose.  As we were browsing around Penney's, I saw three mannequins and said, "Hey this one would look good on me!"  But as I tried to touch the coat, the mannequin turned and said, "Do you mind?  It is my coat."  On realizing that the mannequin was a real lady, we quickly walked out of the store and back to Braun's.
   Looking at the first coat back at Braun's, I grabbed it without any second thoughts and paid the cashier.  The cashier said, "Can't keep your hands off of that coat, can you!"  Smiling at her, I wondered if only she had known the truth.

Amnesia

Tom is a nervous and forgetful husband.  One day, coming back from his office, he recalled that his wife wanted him to send her letter on his way to work that morning.  After examining his suitcase, he found no letter in it.  Thus, he complacently told his wife, "Honey, I have sent your letter off.  I am not forgetful, like I used to be."
   "Sorry, my darling, the letter is still on the desk.  I forgot to give it to you this morning."  his wife said.

Philosophy

The incessant endeavor of listening and speaking do me good.
We usually teach the importance of clothes to children by doing without it on a certain day.
It make not too relaxed today for tomorrow and not to be faithful today.
Nobody cannot break out IBM's castle.
War gives death of earth to us.
Finally, Dust as each other makes a mountain as all of persons, there is a Korean saying.
Liberty is the basement of freedom.
Money cannot buy love, nor poorness.
My ritual is Buddha.

Paul Simon

I went downtown last weekend.  It's very cold.  The large neon-sign was brighten on the top of the building.  It was to advertise for samsung watch.  The advertising was changed immediately and continued.  IT was very interesting to me.  But people seemed not to watch the advertising on the top of the building, because it's too cold to make a slow walk.  But in my case, I had an appointment with my friend at 8:00.  It was just 6 o'clock.  And so I had better spend 2 hours.
   I walked down the street which was very cloudy.  When I saw some clothing store where there were beautiful mannequins in the window.  I stopped and looked at the mannequins.  There were really beautiful and seemed to be real women.  After 10 minutes, I found they're real women.  I watched they went out the window for a short break time.
   Even though I walked long distance, I should wait one and a half hours to meet my friend.  I could not wait any more.  And so, I changed my mind to get a dinner along.  I tried to find some Korean food restaurants.  But I couldn't find a good place.  There were only instant restaurants or western restaurants.  Finally I could find a Korean restaurant though it looked like not a good place.  I couldn't choose to go or not.

My Misunderstood Pain

One day, I had an ache on the right side of the abdomen.  It was like a prickling.  At that time, I walked like a lame since my muscle was pulled.  When I tried to lift up my right leg, I couldn't lift it up.  Besides, since I have chronic appendicitis, I thought the reason for the ache was my chronic appendicitis problem.  From that morning, I was in pain and my pain continued until that night.  I was very scared and I called my friend to ask for her help.  She also was surprised and called a taxi to go to the emergency room for the hospital.  I spent around three hours in that hospital, and I had a blood test. After my blood test, I found that the reason for the pain was a muscle problem.  Since I just had found out that a swimming pool had been near to my apartment, I had gone swimming three times during that weekday.  It was my first time to go swimming in the U.S.A.  If that pain had been real appendicitis, I would have had to have surgery and my parents would be worried about my appendicitis, so after I realized that that pain was a muscle problem I felt very comfortable, and my friend and I laughed.

Matthew's Life

   Many years ago a very rich family had a son called Matthew.
   All his life Matthew never felt a love for school or his job, but in his mind he had great goals, one of them was to be a doctor.
   His parents always made him to go to school.  When he studied at the university he always dreamed that he was the best student of all of them.  Then he started to obtain bad grades and he got really confused about everything that was happening.  He could never obtain all he desired, nor could he understand the situation.  Then he began to have serious problems with the society, and now Matthew is in jail.
   This story teaches you that the higher you go, the harder the fall is, if you don't make any effort to be better.

The Little Girl and the Wolf

A long time ago, an old hunter had a daughter named Mary, who was clever, brave and beautiful.  She was a good hunter, as good as her father.
   One sunny afternoon, her father told her to bring a basket of fruit to her grandmother, who lived on the other side of the dark forest.  Unfortunately, a big and bad wolf was waiting in the dark forest for her appearance.
    The stupid wolf stopped in front of the little girl, and asked where she was going.  AFter the wolf found out where her grandmother's house was, the wolf disappeared into the woods and ran quickly to Mary's grandmother's house.
    When Mary arrived at her grandmother's house, she felt that there was something strange and dangerous there.  She quietly and carefully opened the door.  She saw that there was somebody in bed with a night cap and nightgown on.  She approached nearer to the bed and she discovered that it wasn't her grandmother, but the stupid wolf.  She quickly took out the gun from the basket and shot the wolf dead.
   Although it is an entertaining story, it tells us that it is not as easy to fool a little girl as it used to be.

It's Good Luck and Bad Luck

It's good luck in Japan if:
Your cat has a kitten which is male and red, white, and black
You throw a fish back into the sea.
You eat a big fish.
You find a 5-yen coin on the road.
You have a good dream on the first day of the year.
Meet a white cat.
You see a snake in your dream.
You see a spider in the morning.
You see a stray bullet.
Your nail becomes white.
A tea stalk floats erect in your tea

It's bad luck in Japan if:
You kick something around a temple
Chopsticks break
You see a spider at night
You step on the threshold
You kill a white snake
You rest your elbows on the table
You break a needle or a hairbrush
You whistle at night
You break a rice cup
You cut your nails at night
A cat passes your crotch

It's good luck in Taiwan or China if:
you eat a red egg on your birthday
A baby smiles at your
You're fat
You knock on glass
You throw sugar over your shoulder

It's bad luck in Taiwan or China if:
You put rice on the ground
You open a bottle of wine n the morning
You see moss
You eat an egg on the New Year
You cut your finger while cooking
You walk on the left

It's bad luck in Bangladesh if:
You have a pain in your leg before working
You hear a dog cry near your house at night

Yuzuru

A long time ago, there was a man whose name was Ajohyo.  He was a single; however, he was about 30 years old.  He (had) cultivated farm products.
   One day while he walked on a mountain path, he found a crane that was hurt. (At that time), Ajohyo treated her wound, then, she could fly up again.
   A couple days later, a beautiful woman visited Ajohyo and she asked him to marry her.  He was surprised and glad.  (Since then) they started living together.  Her name was Thu.  She had a skill to weave beautiful clothes and those price were very high.  Before she weave the cltoh, she told Ajohyo, "Don't peep in my room!  Don't!"  At first, Ajohyo agreed her word.  But, after Thu finish to weave clothes, she always got thin. Ajohyo wondered why she was so looked thin therefore she only to weave clothes.
   One day, Ajohyo decided to weep in her room and did that.  And then, he was very surprised because he saw a crain!  He couldn't believe his eyes!!  He saw again, but there was only a crane.  He was at a loss.  Then, Thu came out of her room and told him, "You saw my real figure… Why… I told you do not peep in my room but you…" You know.  Thu was not a woman but a crane.  She told him, "I cannot stay here so long as you know I'm a crane..  Good-bye Ajohyo… Take care of yourself…"  Thu was treated by Ajohyo.  She wanted to repay on obligation.  As soon as Thu went out from the house, she flew up to the sky.  He shouted, "Thu! Thu!!  Returned to my house… Please.. Thu.."

The End
   -Yuki Sato

Who is Luckier?

A thousand years ago, a temple was located on the top of an unkown mountain.  The inhabitants of the nearest village rarely visited this temple.  Therefore, the goddess of the temple was very dull.
   One night, a kid with a la rge lump on the right side of his neck slept in the temple.  Nobody was willing to make contact with him.  The inhabitants regarded him as a monster because of his ugly appearance.  When the goddess saw the kid lying on the floor, she noticed the large ' ball ' of the kid.  She took away the 'ball' and played with the 'ball'.  It was funny.  Then she went away with the ball.
   After a while, the kid woke up.  He discovered his lump had disappeared.  Immediately, he knelt down quickly and told everybody the goddess had cured his lump.
   Another girl also with a lump on her neck heard this.  She went to the temple and lied down.  After the goddess retruned to the temple, she put the large 'ball' back into the girl's neck.
   When the sun was rising, the girl woke up.  She found her self having one additional lump which was much bigger than the one she originally had.  Her heart was broken and she cried.  Then she went away with two lumps.

The Moon and the Light

The light shining out from the big, round Moon was bright, so that the Moon was proud of herself.  She shined on a narrow lane on the dark nights.  Every passer-by praised her when they looked upward and saw the beautiful yellow Moon.
    There was a small street-light and said,
You are so stupid to shine.  Your weak light is no use at all under my light!"
   Suddenly, a strong wind blew a dark cloud towards the Moon.  And, unfortunately it stayed in front of the Moon.  Her beautiful face was covered.
   At this time she heard the voice from a man who passed by the road.  He said, "What a dark night it is!  How would it be without this street light?"
   Then the light said to the Moon, "Now you know that everyone has their own value, and nobody can shine forever!

Korean Proverbs

A needle thief will become a cow thief.
A baby dog is not afraid of a tiger.
An unskilled man always blames his tools.
A good word can pay a large debt.
If you gather a lot of dust, you'll have a mountain.
Even if the salt is on the counter, it must be in the food to do some good.
Even if you have a long beard, you cannot live without eating.
If a dog lives in a school for three years, it will be able to read one character.
Don't be choosy about where you eat, only be choosy about where you sleep.

Lun San-Bo and Chu Zing-Tae

Spring 1993
Fairy Tales

   This is a very famous story in our country.  A long time ago, there was a very poor student.  He went to the big city to study with an attendant who took care of the poor student and took his luggage.  The girl whose name was Chu Zing-Tae.  She went to study too.  For safety, the girl wore a boy's dress.  San-Bo didn't know "she" was a girl.  When they met together, they had a good time.  One day, San-Bo wanted Zing-Tae to sleep with him.  Zing-Tae said no, and he told Zing-Tae that it was OK.  They were good friends, so Zing-Tae said "yes" very reluctantly.  Whenever they studied, ate or went anywhere, they were always together.
     One day, Zing-Tae's parents wrote in a letter to her that her mother was sick and wanted her to come back as soon as possible.  Before she went home, she hinted to San-Bo that she was a girl, bt San-Bo never figured it out.  Zing-Tae was a girl for a long time.  Their teacher's wife had known that Zing-Tae liked San-Bo, so she told San-Bo the truth.  When Zing-Tae came back to her house, San-Bo sent something to her eighteen times.  They loved each other very much.  But when she had gone home, her parents had wanted her to marry another guy.  When San-Bo heard this news he vomited blood and became very sick.  After many days he died.  When Zing-Tae found out she committed suicide at his grave.  They couldn't become a couple when they were alive, but after they died they became a couple of butterflies.

-Stella,   Taiwan

A Stupid Grandfather Who Moved a Mountain

  Once upon a time, there was a man who was very old.  He was named stupid grandfather.  Why did people call him this name?  There is a story about him.
   That was a small village.  The villagers lived a simple life.  They could not contact another village easily, because a big mountain was in front of the village.  The villagers had to take a detour to go to another village.  That took a long time, and was very inconvenient.
   One day, there was an old man who wanted to gather the villagers to move the mountain, but they thought he was crazy.  It was impossible to do the task, but he said, "Never say die."
   He took his tool and started working.  The procedure was slow, but he kept doing it every day.  The villagers laughed at him, and called him "stupid granfather."
   After 10 years, he finished the task.  He moved the mountain.  The villagers would not call him stupid again, since he moved the mountain.  This story tells us that nothing is difficult if you work hard.

         -Henry, Taiwan