Chinese New Year Dinner in Santa Monica

This is the 2nd Chinese New Year I had in the US.

Thanks to Nick's family, we enjoyed a traditional and delicious Chinese New Year dinner in Santa Monica!

It's very interesting for me to have such a great dinner in the US for Chinese New Year.

Since this is the last semester for me, this can also be the last Chinese New Year in the US.

Thank's Mama Hsu, we ate A LOT!

Just want to be grateful to all the great friends and people around me.

Even I am not in my hometown, I do feel warm and the atmosphere of the traditions!

Crazy (Fun) Week

The midterm week finally finished. Since I had only two classes in 1st module and only one of them had midterm exam, this week became crazily fun week for me!

During this week, I played golf 4 times, One time in regular course, three times in short course!

Also, I played poker at the night before midterm exam, and although I was so lucky that I won the most at that night!

After the midterm, we went to golf (I almost got a hole-in-one), 燒肉, and then Karaoke. "Tamaen" in Torrance was so dili. Singing with friends is still one of my favorite activities!

Other than these, finally, my car has run more than 30,000 miles, and I went to car service, Ontario Mills (while waiting for my car,) and Costa Mesa (Book-off & Mitsuwa).

Finally, I bought the driver that I have been wanted to buy, and a pair of golf shoes. Although I have no idea how much time I need to practice before I can use the driver well, I am motivated by the purchase and eager to play golf more!

We also went to go-cart racing. This is really fun and tiring! I still can't move my arm even two days after playing this. However, I do find I am not a competitive person in this game. Although I was the 1st place in the 2nd tier group, because I bumped other people during the race, I felt a bit guilty at the end...

Well, it's still a great experience though. I enjoyed racing with so many friends. I am glad I went there!

I renewed my Disneyland annual pass in this week, too.

It's a pity that we didn't go with Disneyland expert this time, but we found we learned something from her. Even though it's Friday night and the park is extremely crowded. We took several rides and had a nice dinner in the park without waiting too much. I was still scared while taking Splash Mountain, and still feeling good while taking Pirates of Caribbean.

Today, thanks for the invitation from A & H, we went to Little Tokyo restaurant together. Luckily and surprisingly, we met K's family there. Of course, with this group of people, the meal would be amazingly good. We had not only nigiri sushi but also a lobster sashimi+nabe. This meal is so good that I almost couldn't stop eating even I was so full...

With this happy ending, I finished the happy week. And from tomorrow, the 2nd module will start, and I will be crazily busy again with tons of homework to do. However, I am glad to have so colorful life here. Claremont is the best! Drucker School is the best! My friends are the best!

My second 4th of July in the US

Last 4th of July, thanks to I-Place in Claremont College, I attended the parade and watched the fireworks in Claremont. That was an amazing experience that I could see the real Independence day traditions in the States.

This year, thanks to Nick, several friends gathered in Santa Monica and had a wonderful BBQ party in Nick's house. I was really glad that Kazuma and Yoshi both could come and bring their families. Also, it made me happy that Edward and Julie joined us and we walked around the beach and shopping area. The weather was perfect. The food was home made (Nick-made) and really delicious(I love the chicken!) After not seeing all these friends for a while, it's a pleasure to play with everyone and having such a nice day together.

Thank you, Nick, for hosting the great party for us!

Happy Birthday to the United States!

Drucker School Golf Competition

Before my internship started, this is my last social event.

It's really fun to play golf with professor, EMBA student, alumni, and school director/dean, especially under the Spring weather of Southern California.

If you ever wonder whether this golf competition is worth to join, it is strongly recommended!

I was teamed up with MBA director, our OB professor, and an EMBA student. They are all very very nice partners(Drucker's culture!) The rule of this game is basically based on the team performance. We played only "the best ball" in each team each shot, so every team seemed to have really good score and people had little pressure on individual performance. It's a relaxing game, really.

Since I came to California, golf has really became enjoyable to me, and it's my pleasure to attend Drucker School's social event. It's so lucky to study here and to find out the fun of golf. Thanks to everyone who has played, talked, practiced golf with me!

日本語先生

This week, as usual, I had three sections of Japanese classes with my dear friends.

After the three lessons, in fact, my strongest feeling is guilty.

My poor memory and limited performance are really not enough to be a good student.

Please tell me I am too lazy. I will study harder because of your words.

Thank you very very much. All my dear friends...

Meeting old friend is always a pleasure.

Coming back from San Francisco, the pleasure of meeting Edward still makes me feel good.

It's been a year since we met in Philadelphia. Time goes fast and we are at an age without certainty. No one knows he will be in the US or in Taiwan at May, and no one knows I will be here or somewhere else in summer. We both are struggling for our future. Because of a career fair, I found a reason to go and meet him. It's a nice trip, we went Napa, Stanford, and Apple headquarter. Of course, we did try hard in the career fair, too. I am really glad I went on this trip. Although we grew up together, now there is few chance we can meet and understand each other more.

This time, we met in San Francisco. Last time, we met in Philadelphia. Where will I see this guy next time? I have started looking forward to it!

Welcome my brother in Claremont

Last week, Sean came to the beautiful city, Claremont, to visit me. He will stay here for a while and apply school as well as lean English here. It is not common that two brothers are staying together for a long time at this age, but I feel I am lucky. Since I regard the experience being here would actually develop and help Sean in certain way, it is my duty and pleasure to make it happen. 

There is one thing that I am happy about. Sean told me he is surprised that I got so many great friends who are eager to help me in many ways here. It's impressive to him, and, in fact, to me also, so I still want to say thank you to everyone who helps me and is being my friend. I love you all. Thank you!

Skiing & Super Bowl

Thanks to Paul, my first ski experience was so nice. He picked the Super Bowl day, knowing that no body will go skiing on that day, and we almost didn't need to wait for the lift. Although my balance was not so good and this was really the first time I put on the boots and skis, I enjoyed a lot and did not fall in the last time. 

One of the most amazing was that I can even ski without my gloves and it was totally not cold. To ski with such few clothes on was so special and memorable, not to mention this was my first time!

After skiing, I joined all the friends who were watching and betting on the Super Bowl game in Dan's house. This was also a nice party with exciting game which made me understand how interesting American football can be. That was a long day, but it's worth it!

I wish I can go skiing again soon!

ありがとう 私の日本語の先生たち

きょうから、毎週水曜日は、ぼくの日本語の勉強日です。

先生たちに感謝することが、たくさんあります。これからも、おねがいします。

ありかとうございます！

Long Trip

I just finished a long trip. To where? Back to my home, and my most familiar foreign country: Japan. Now, I am in beautiful Claremont, California again. This time, I felt totally different emotion from 8 months ago.

May, 2008, I was a stranger to Claremont. The traffic here was terrifying, the sun was amazingly shining, and the language and culture were so special and interesting. Jan, 2009, I am a returned student. The traffic here is more acceptable than Taiwan, the sun is so warm and charming, and the language and culture are not so fresh to me anymore. The biggest difference, surprisingly, is that I miss Asia much more than last time.

In Taiwan, many friends were so nice that they arranged to meet with me even they were busy. The period I stayed in Taiwan was very short and I was almost meeting friends every day. Finally, I could play games until sunrise with them again. Finally, I could sit in the noisy tea shop and chat with them. Finally, I could lay on the sofa in Scott's home and watch movie with them. Finally, I talked about all kinds of stupid words and gossip all night again. It is somehow meaningless, but I miss it a bit.

My family and I went to Japan again. This time, we had four people together, no one missed. I could finally take the photo for them again, for three of them. 

Japan is still such a nice place to go for vacation and hot spring. This time, finally I tried a new Onsen hotel, 藏群, which is in Otaru and has a bar with free drink(including  kinds of alcohol). We revisited Otaru and ordered sushi with my poor new learned Japanese. As a result, we had one of the most amazing experience of eating sushi in Japan.

Thanks for Michie, the Tokyo part of this trip was enjoyable as well as tiring. Kamakura(鎌倉) and Yokohama(橫濱) now have different images in my mind and these two places are really really beautiful. The dinner, Isakaya(居酒屋), and cafe we went with Sean's friend, Mariko, and Michie were all special. I am glad to have some different experience and places to go in Japan.

In this long trip, I did a lot I have wanted to do for a while, but there were also many things I could not do. I met some people but I also missed some people that I could not meet or talk with this time. There is always no perfect trip. That's why the trip is always beautiful in memory and perfect in planning.

My wish in the beginning of this year: my family can be healthy and happy, my brother can get admission from the school he wants, my friends can be successful and cheerful, and I can get an internship.

International Fellows Program Graduation Day

Since I started school in June, I have been learning English from four kind professors in IF program. I met many kind and intelligent Asian people, who are from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China. We learned together, drink together, poker together, and now celebrate the program graduation together.

Yesterday, 15 of us finally graduated from this language program. In the beginning of the summer, we were so afraid of talking in English, and were so new to here that everyone was busy settling everything. Now, we worked so well. Even in OB class, comparing with American students, our presentation skill, analysis ability, and participation were all beyond the average. Of course, we need to thank IF program for the progress and all the help they offered.

I really appreciated IF program and I believe it is really a helpful program for international students. Of course, without it, we can still survive, learn, and perform, but it's like a buffer for me. After almost two years empty(military + school application), I was very close-minded and even stupid. However, during the two months in summer, IF program was so intense and the instructors were so aggressively demanding hard-working from us. I was totally recovered in the summer and prepared for the fall semester.

In short, thank to every great member in IF program, including faculty, staff, Drucker staff, and of course, my favorite classmates. Because of you, I gained a ton of great memories and improvements. Thank you all and let's cheer to our future!

看到哲瑋姿伶結婚的照片了...

真希望自己在場

無法想像他們兩個結婚時我竟然不在場

那麼多的照片中我竟然沒有出現在任何一張...

看著照片中的老友們

感慨萬千... 想想高中 大學 當兵 哪一段大家沒有聚在一起?

現在 他們兩個結婚了 我人卻在千里之外 隔著電話 心中情緒激昂卻又無以言表

會不會我畢業前恰吉也結婚 乃倫也結婚 凱晏也結婚了?

拜託晚一點結 我不想再錯過好朋有的婚禮了呀!!

話說這兩人一路走到現在

說風風雨雨 說跌跌撞撞 也算是吧 感覺就是註定在一起 大家也不意外吧

這種牽絆 怎麼說呢... 真是不可思議

總之

再次祝福兩位 希望早日見到你們可以當面說恭喜!

The message.

Sometimes, I feel life is delivering some messages to me, and in order to let me really understand, it expresses its ideas by different people's words and attitude. 

In college, I realized the importance of open-minded from Chinese Medical class, Mathematical logic, and a very good American teacher, Steve Wallace. These classes and people did not tell me, "You should be more open-minded," but they inspired me through the power of open-minded attitude.

Yesterday, I talked with one friend and we discussed about my future career a lot. By his experience, the glory of getting into "marketing devision" may not be necessary a good thing. Since everyone has the pride of being a part of the most competitive devision, in his experience, working there reduced his life quality a lot. He suggested that if he got into some "top-ranking" MBA school, he may feel high pressure and can not really make good relationship with people because everyone thinks they are the best.

When I applied MBA schools, I did try to apply by ranking on major magazines. However, I really felt I was wrong. I somehow feel this is my fate to come to Drucker, although it does not even attend most of the rankings because of small size and short history. 

Since I was in Taiwan, one of my high school friends has strongly suggested me to choose Claremont because of the location and small size. At that time, I worried about the ranking and reputation of school, so I could not easily decide to come here. Now, I know she was right. 

I was told by one of our Taiwanese American classmate that in top ranking schools, only the top students got the benefits. That makes sense. Who will want to hire the worst performance student in any school? Also, the huge class size of traditional top ranking MBA school leads the atmosphere not intimate and not close. These are not the qualities I am looking for in my MBA.

There is one friend, who is also working on  her MBA, told me, "it take something to make my MBA's top ranking." when I suggested her to maintain healthy life style. To be honest, I felt I am lucky to be here because Drucker School matches my priority of life choices.

To know Japanese students is also helpful for me to understand myself. It's obvious that Japanese spend more effort and time on studying and working. I really admire and respect this attitude. However, when this leads to irregular or not enough sleeping time and little time for eating, I really can not agree.

In short, there are many choices in life. People choose what they think is right. However, there indeed is nothing right or wrong. Only one thing is for sure, different decisions lead to different results. I am grateful that I chose Drucker School and I hope everyone makes the choice that he(she) really desires!

This is the one of the messages I received recently...

Move to CGU Dorm

Finally, I moved to CGU dorm.

Since I first contacted with housing office before I got here, the information they provided has already been doubtful for me. Based on their suggestion, I did not try to register for the new dorm because of highly competitive application. However, last month I suddenly got the information that there is a one-bedroom apartment available in CGU dorm. I immediately decided to move.

The process of checking the availability is a bit troublesome, but staff in housing are in fact pretty nice people. Although the working efficiency has been always a complaint of the students, I do believe they tried their best to serve us.

Anyway, finally, I moved in.

It's great that some friends are just as near as a few steps away from my room. The short distance from school is a great benefit that I can walk or ride bike to school easily. The only problem of lacking of internet has been temporarily solved by my kind neighbor who let me use her internet for free.

I would like to thank everyone who helped me to move here.

Since the plenty of moving experience in military, I know that if there are enough people helping, the moving process can be very fast. However, usually it's very difficult to gather people. I am lucky. All the friends here are so kind and so helpful that even during the final projects weeks, Kazuma, Ryo, Hiroshi, April, Naoto, Tian, and Michie all were helping. I really really appreciate and want to say thank you again.

Now, I stay in A104 in CGU dorm. I will try to create more memories and happiness here. This is my comfortable nest in California!

給 哲瑋 姿伶: 新婚恭喜

恭喜了 兩位!

終於進入人生的另一里程碑 

兩個人攜手共度快樂與艱辛一輩子

需要多大的決心 現在的我是無法想像的

兩個好友能有這樣美好的結果

我由衷感到開心和祝福

抱歉無法前往當面祝賀

在這邊 祝福兩位 早生貴子囉!

下次見面不知道是何時了 到時候再好好聊聊吧!!

Utah trip - Arches National Park

Thank Ryo & Kazuma, I enjoyed  a great trip to Arches National Park during my first Thanksgiving holiday in the US.

We arrived at night after a long long driving. The lodge we stayed was so nice. I was surprised when I knew that we can even use free wireless internet in the room. The scenery was also amazing there! I felt we enjoyed the nature and luxury at the same time. 

After a fun discussion about the plan of the next day, I fell asleep because of tiring long driving. It's really tough to drive more than ten hours a day. However, the experience is totally worth it. Some of us went horse riding on the second day. Riding horse on the trial with amazing view is a fantastic experience. My horse was very stable and cute. I was glad it was not so eager to eat nor too lazy to move. This was my first time to ride a horse and cross a small string. We took some great photos and everyone was satisfied with the guides.

We took some time in Arches National Park. The trials are enjoyable and the weather was good. We were lucky because it's cloudy but not rainy. If the rain came one day earlier, we could not hike anymore. Anyway, the Arches are unbelievable and we hiked a bit so that we could enjoy more in the dinner. 

The dinner was in Moab brewery. People said it's good, and they didn't lie. After dinner, we came back lodge, chatted for a while, and played poker. Everyone was so tired that the next day no one could get up!

The rushing morning was also fun. We all were surprised that no one woke up before 10:30 a.m. and we almost could not check out on time. Obviously, we enjoyed a lot.

The driving was terribly long but also interesting. Especially when Kazuma's car suddenly showed up besides my car. We also ate two meals in Vegas and gambled a bit. This is a great trip with great partners.

Thank you all for traveling together!

Lucky Guy

This post is just about some recent feelings.

 

I am such a lucky guy. And I always know that.

The best thing that keeps happening to me is the great people & friends I meet.

My family is so supportive and understanding.

There are so much solid friendship from my elementary school classmates. 

My high school friends know me so well and our relationship are so deep and long.

Now, I am here. Again, so many kind, knowledgeable, and helpful friends are around me.

I learned how to enjoy golf. I received so many help for my job hunting.

There are so many great people trying to make me a better person.

How can I let them down.

Last night, I met my alumni mentor, who is trying to find me an internship more aggressively than I am. Is the luck from my name: "The one who get great people's help, guide, and support"?

The only thing I can do is to achieve my goal, to show them their help is worth it, to demonstrate I do learn from them, and to honestly present my heart to them.

I wish all my family and friends the best.

You are not wasting your time on me. I will not let you down.

久違了的中文網誌

好長一段時間沒用中文打網誌了

但是 有些東西 沒用中文打還是沒感覺

英文也沒有因為寫網誌而進步 

今天就暫時切換回中文模式吧

開學一個禮拜

課業壓力很明顯的愈來愈重了

但大學我也不是念假的 統計啦 會計啦 對我來說都不算太難吧

這個週末 去了LA Downtown 的 Little Tokyo

還有去找一間在日本很popular的店Book-Off

昨天去play golf & poker

今天卯起來趕作業之外 還參加了Taiwanese Student Association 的 Welcome party

每天都是這樣的好忙碌呀

英文說進步嘛 其實是不滿足的

單字的累積還是少的可憐 課業嘛 老師都很棒 

但是內容因為是剛開始吧 又都是我學過的東西

倒不至於太興奮 將來可以選課 或者上有關Drucker的東西

應該會比較讓人期待吧

老師和同學的水平都很高

不是說腦筋好就是水平高

怎麼說呢 聰明和好相處和有很多工作經驗和懂得人和很多其他東西都是很重要的

這裡的氣氛很好 非常肯定自己選對了學校

同樣是花一大筆錢 花兩年時間 

環境的重要性自然是不在話下 能進到這裡 是緣份也是好運吧

昨天 去打Golf 

感覺很好 一陣子沒打了

前兩洞的表現不是用"爛"就可以形容的

但之後愈來愈穩

打到七八九三洞 整個感覺都很穩很好

有種"我真的會打耶" 的那種感覺

真好呀 一直以來都那麼弱 終於有點進步了

或許這兩年內 我的golf skill真能有點突破呢!

暑假去了那麼多地方

也真的見識到了

美國真的好大呀

中國也是吧 我想 

還有好多地方沒見識過 沒體驗過

這輩子怎麼夠用呢 呵

好久沒和台灣的朋友們聯絡了

繁忙的事務加上時差 

已經和乃倫說了 希望大家可以找個時間

要是可以用skype和大家聊聊天 該有多好

來這裡已經超過三個多月

好多事情都有了變化

其實 只覺得自己再探索

在orientation裡面聽到Dean of Drucker School說了一句話

讓我對這學校和我自己充滿了信心

他說"我問了很多很多校友,Drucker School帶給他們什麼,每個人的回答幾乎都是一致的:

          Drucker School就像指南針一樣, 讓我們找到人生的新的方向"

儘管日子過得很繁忙

倒不是真的很辛苦的

玩得很兇 書也唸得很兇

思考的時間也不至於沒有

總是想"這樣做對嗎?" 或者 "該不該怎樣呢?" 之類的問題

對於金錢 對於 事業 對於 感情 對於 朋友

我這才發現 我還有個赤子之心呀 儘管25歲了

沒有一件事情是有定論的

日本同學老是告訴我

Future will change

是呀 就是這樣囉

考慮那麼多不如體驗多一點吧

這兩年的目標

體驗 感受 找到人生的compass

繼續加油吧!

Wonderful Summer Vacation - 2

My second trip in summer vacation is to San Francisco & Yosemite. This trip is totally different from Vegas one because the beauty of SF and Yosemite is so natural and healthy! 

We didn't get on the cable car. The reason is the cars are too crowded to get on and they didn't even stop for new passengers. However, these cable cars are really cute, so I must get on one of them next time!

Fisherman's Wharf is a famous place to go. Although, for me, it's not so special but there are many interesting performers on the street and the atmosphere is pretty good.

To park my car besides the steep street in SF is really a challenge. Of course, it's fun, too. I like this strange city with many many up & down hills.

The Golden Gate Bridge is very unclear when we visited since the weather was not good. Although we have heard that to see such a unclear Golden Gate in fog is not usual and we should feel lucky, we still hope we can see clearly. Maybe next time, ha!

Yosemite is a wonderful place to go camping. We stayed in tent and it really recalled my memory of boy-scout!  The air, rocks, lake and rivers in Yosemite are all very beautiful and quiet. 

This rainbow showed after we finally arrived the waterfall by tracking 2 hours. I found I need to train my body since I am getting old...

There are ten of our traveling partners. This trip became so terrific because of them. Especially the night before leaving, I really enjoyed drinking with them!  

This one is taken in Glacier Point. The background is very spectacular. We can see the track of the ancient glacier. It's an amazing place.

The trip to SF and Yosemite is so colorful that I really want to go these two places again. Also, I appreciate all the partners who travel together and help each other during these days. Thank you!

The Adventure to Universal Studio

During four days assignment-free holidays, on 7/12, two Y's couples, Tian, Michi, Xiao & Sun and I went to the Universal Studio! 

This is a good place to go, of course.  Although it's a little bit childish, the atmosphere is interesting.  We went to the House of Horror first.  It is so fun to see Y push A to keep moving forward.  He is a really role model of husband.  Ha!

The show "Water World" is great and very entertaining.  We went to see the 4-D animation of "Shrek", which is kind of childish.  However, I felt I become a boy again and I enjoyed the feeling.  The "Mummy" and "Jurassic " are really fantastic and also terrifying!  I look so scary in the photo!  These games also made me feel exciting, too.

Anyway, we saw a lot of movie scenes in Universal Studio and played plenty  games, too.  It is so lucky that the weather was not too hot that day.  I had planned to go further during these four days, but we did not go anywhere further than 50 miles eventually.  However, I still got rest in these vacation and had a lot of fun.  

I am refreshed now.  Come and challenge me, IF Module 2!