2002 - Alice Song Weekly 宋 旻 潔 週 記

Issue:611 Date: 05/09/2002

(13) 生活與學習
Life and Learn

The neighborhood of the Noblots is very nice in many ways. I enjoyed our evening walk along the newly-cut grass with the early summer smell of the pear trees covered with heavy green leaves. The tall columns make the modern houses very elegant, and their little dog - Lucy, would always wander around to sniff the sleeping babies and say hello to the kids. But whenever I pass the front yards of neighbors, we can always see one, two, even a group of dogs put their faces on the window barking at us. It is really an interesting moment when we see a tall shepherd dog and a petite dog doing the same thing there!

Mrs. Noblot is a designer, and she helped decorating many of her neighbors houses. She works for a weight watcher too. So she has many friends in her neighborhood, some walking partners, and she really enjoys their friendships.

Getting an Eagle Scout is one of the dreams of many boys. Sometimes they will begin their camp when they are only seven or eight years old, and only two percent of boys in the camps can get an Eagle Scout at the end. Andrew's good friend Dave finally reached the goal after six years of practice, so we went to the church attending his confirmation ceremony. Many churches in STL carry a lot of social functions. They are actually the center of community life.

This ceremony took place in a grade school affiliated with the church. Every table was decorated by balloons with the color of red, white and blue - the colors of the US flag. Many boys were wearing Boy Scout uniforms, and the ones who have obtained Eagle Scout before wore various badges of aviation, citizenship, cooking, canoeing, archery, etc. on their uniforms. The host asked all Eagle Scouts to stand on the stage, some already had white hair, nevertheless they really look great. But Andrew did not wear his, because he received it very early when he was thirteen, so his uniform would no longer fit!

The two boys receiving their Eagle Scout badges lit the candles of white, red and blue ones. Then the host asked them to give a special badge to their mothers. The air seemed to be still when Dave and his father put it on the table solemnly. Dave's mother died of cancer several years ago, and many of their old friends were so sad to see all these. "I almost burst into tears! But Dave was standing there bravely, so I had to hold it back. "Mrs. Noblot said afterwards. We met many of Mrs. Noblot's old friends.

The good relationship in community life was very impressive. Though automobile society has come, the care and love are still growing strongly on this part of the world.

Before coming to St. Louis, I thought that student life would be pretty relaxed. Actually SLUH has so many quizzes and tests and it really surprised me. But many students are not stressed out and many of them would cram in the evening before exams. I think this has a lot to do with the ways of entering college. For many Chinese students Terminal Exam is the main channel to be admitted to universities, but in America people apply for colleges, so they do not have to face a stressful situation.

Many SLUH students are really surprised at my hard work. Students wish each other to have a good day at three o'clock in the afternoon. Life seems starting after school. After the school afternoon announcement, they will go to work, practice sports, date girlfriends, whatever they like, definitely studying is not a major choice among all these.