First Chinese soup in US

It has been nearly two months since I first came here. Although it's not a very long time, I can strongly feel the deep discrepancy between eastern and western culture in every aspects of our lives. I think the first and most important thing for Asian students to adapted to here is the food. People here make their food very easy and do not take a lot of time and energy to make it. So I can't eat many familiar types of food; especially some delicious soup here. I really missed this type of food around one month after I arrived in the US. I told my host mother that I missed the soup with all the ingredients and the method we use in China. To my surprise, after I told her about the Chinese soup she tried to collect all the ingredients and cook it according to what I had said. I was not expecting this, but she prepared for nearly three weeks, and tried to collect all the essential ingredients which could be only found in the Korean market and cut them into special shapes. Last Friday, when I came back home and entered the kitchen, I was so astonishing to see such a big pot of Chop Pork Soup. Although it was not perfectly the same as soup in China, I felt really happy to see it here. It recalled my beautiful memory of home, sitting at the table, chatting with my parents and watching TV. I appreciate that my host family would do so much for me. Therefore, when I drink the Chop Pork Soup again, the warm memory is not only restricted to my family in China, but now also my considerate host parents ^-^

by Wei

Mount Rainier

This is my second time that I went to Mount Rainier National Park. I recalled that last time I went there in May. There was thick snow left on the ground and it felt cold. You couldn’t see the path up to the peak. Everywhere was covered by white snow. It looked like the mountain was hiding under the quilt of snow.

However, when I arrive at Mount Rainier the second time I saw that things had changed.
The snow had already melted by sunlight and warm breath. There were wild flowers and grass on every hillside. The spring water ran from gaps in the rocks to the foot of the mountain. The forest appeared extremely jade-green and dense.

My friends and I followed the little path as we walked to the direction of the summit. As we hiked the weather started to change. It stated to get cloudy and began to drizzle, but just a few minutes later it became sunny again. You can see a lot of animals on the mountain such as hair, aquarelles, deer, and different kinds of birds and even bear. When I look at an area of bush there was a little deer that jumped across the path in the front of us. That was surprising and exiting to see and made the trip more interesting. When we were near the top of one little hill, some hikers told us they watched a bear when they got to the top, but the bear had run into the forest when we arrived at the top.

When we went to the top of the hill everybody was tired. Most likely because we don’t frequently do hiking. I stood at the top of the hill and looked at the stream reflecting sunlight like a silver chain twisting thought the mountain and in the distance lakes looked like mirrors in the forest. All the things we looked upon were beautiful sights.

ziyi ma

Hall's soccer game

This semester, I joined a very exciting activity - Hall’s soccer game. Soccer is one of my favorite sports; I often played if before I came here. The games are held from September through October. We were the runner-up of the game. I remember the last game’s score was 9-5. It was very fun. Actually, I didn’t know there was this kind of game until I saw some students playing a game on Foss field. I went to ask my RA to sign up for the game. On our team, I’m the only international student. The other players are American, and it’s a very good opportunity to practice my English speaking. It’s also one of the reasons why I want to join this activity. I think it’s a good way to practice my English speaking. When I’m playing my favorite hobby with the native speakers, I don’t feel shy about saying anything. Even if I have grammar mistakes or wrong pronunciations, I just enjoy speaking English as I enjoy playing the sport. I learned some English after every game, such as when people make a mistake during the game, they usually say “my bad” or “my fault”. Sometimes one person wants to switch to another, they usually say “I’m coming for……….”, and when someone does a really good job, they like to say “nice run” “nice pass”. It's also important for me to be involved in PLU campus life. After I completed the game, I have knew more American students than I knew last semester. They’re friendly. Every time when we see each other we say “Hi” “what’s up” “how’s it going”. So, in the future, I will keep attending other activities, clubs or organizations to be involved in campus life, and speak with native speakers to improve my English.

written by Xiaodong




Xiaodong, Huang

My PLU life

FOSS Hall

Pic 1

Pic 1

I have been at PLU about 2 semesters. All in all I enjoy my life at PLU. Actually I am not a full time student at PLU. I am studying with the Study Group transition program now. I remember when I was in Phrase 1, I only had one class and my teacher was Mary. She is a real good and kind teacher. We went to a SOUP KITCHEN and the SEATTLE GREEN FESTIVAL to be volunteers. That was so fun for me and I enjoyed that time. Now I'm a phrase 2 student. I have one PLU class and there is no doubt that this semester is more busy and difficult than last semester. However, I feel so substantial and I think I will learn more in this semester.

I live on campus and Foss Hall is where I live. This hall lets me feel so happy, because the people in Foss are so nice and also Foss is always full of life. This is why I chose Foss to live in.

Pic 1 is the way I go to the UC (university center) every day. This picture gives me a special feeling. I imagine that when I am 70 years old I will look at this picture and be happy.

Pic 2 is a picture of PLU's sky...I really like this picture because it looks so beautiful. Maybe this is one of the reasons why I like PLU.

written by Cailiu