The project had coming to the end; it was supposed to finish up at this stage. We arranged a meeting with all the partners of the themed webpage and prepared to complete the project this Saturday and Sunday.

Spending two entire days, everything was almost done, just some small details to be checked up slowly. After it's done, we were all exhausted with sore bodies and heavy heads. But we were all exited to put down the burdens on our shoulders.

This is our final status report; the next is waiting for the results. Wish all the partners taking part in the themed webpage contest a smooth and successful future!

It was a bit cold outside, but we still went through chills to visit alderman Dragon Ou-Yang at his office.

Before uncle Ou-Yang becoming the alderman, he was the hottest actor in TV and big screen with passionate and outspoken character. Although we are only junior high school students, he still pay attention to our visit. During the interview, he told us guidance of living and dealing. After interview, we asked for his family photos with autograph. We learned a lot today.

This is our last interview. The next is to go on with full strength—get the web pages done.

The interview reports of teammates have been passed to us one after another. Besides parts of the reports that were handled by Jim and Jim's Father in support of us, the rest of them were dealt with by my father, the teachers, and me. We have started to work since the third day of the Chinese New Year. The procedure of work was that I was responsible for data processing and typing some supplementary content first, and then my father and the teachers were responsible for editing and polishing the articles.

Ordinarily I wished to have a sunny day every day to let me play basketball outside. Now on the contrary, I wish to have a rainy day and thus I can think no more of basketball playing. Look on the bright side, and I find I have learned many writing skills and reaped no little benefit though spending a lot of time.

The winter vacation finally comes. But as for the interviews for the project, there aren't any holidays. When I laid down the textbooks, threw away the notebooks, and was ready to enjoy the leisure after the exam, I had not choice but to face the music. I still had to sit down and start to write the interview report.

Due to the former experiences, the writing of interview report obviously became smoother, but it was still quite laborious, which took me four hours. Finishing writing, I felt particularly dizzy and hungry as if I had just recovered from a serious illness. However, my pains have gains. Finishing the interview report makes me relieved and ready to welcome the happy winter vacation.

Here I also wish everyone can receive plenty of red envelopes and will laugh happily when getting the school report cards.

From the opening of school till now, the project we have been working on is approaching the end. In order to make more people understand the content of our report, we decided to hold a reporting fair within the school. Ms. Din Zi-Wen planned the whole activity.

The activity started from Jan. 12 th to the end of the semester. We made use of three lunch breaks, during which we invited schoolmates to visit the fair and made some introduction and explanation. Some schoolmates felt interested; some didn't care about us.

On the whole, the effect of the activity was satisfying. We felt quite fulfilled.

Though the final exam is coming, I still want to finish the interview report of the drillmaster, Uncle Lu because I would like to receive the skiing training after the exam.

Today, as soon as I left school, I hurried to Father's office to write the report. Since I had kept some brief notes on the day we interviewed Uncle Lu, I finished the report in a short while. Then I went home with Father happily.

We made a survey of food on the market last month. We prepared a questionnaire, in which nearly thirty kinds of food were listed, including beef noodles, steamed stuffed buns, rice noodles, braised pork rice, oyster omelets, and so on. Our teacher, Mr. Yeh, helped us distribute the questionnaires to the schoolmates. The returned questionnaires were my responsibility.

Thanks to Andy's parents who had taught us how to do the job and Father's help, I filtered nearly four hundred questionnaires first, dividing them into valid ones and invalid ones. Then I classified them according to provinces and compiled statistics one by one. I keyed in the data and tried to present them in all kinds of graphs. I spent s little time collating the data every day. After nearly two weeks, I finally finished the job.

During the lunch breaks of these days, under the direction of Ms. Din Zi-Wen, we were busy preparing for the fair of project web page reporting. In addition, Jim's father was commissioned to find a company to print the photos. Andy's mother and Andy were responsible for the selection and collation of photos.

At noons on previous days, our principal job was to draw posters and to clean the signboard. Today, we pasted the photos onto the signboard and moved it to the site of the fair—the corridor before the library. We spent some time decorating the signboard and finally completed it. Though actually it looked inferior to the outside fair, it was not very different considering the students' abilities. Two good buddies. Thanks!

Here I would like to mention two names—Wu Tung-Lin and Luo Kuang-Ren—my schoolmates in Class 708. They volunteered to sacrifice their lunch breaks to help us.

Grandpa Lee Hung-En and Grandma Hsiao Lu, who lived on Zhong-shun Street were a couple decreed by providence to travel a long way to meet each other.

The neighbor of Grandpa Lee returned to mainland China to visit his family and relatives. Through introduction, he married a Chinese bride. The bride came to Taiwan and found the single Grandpa Lee was nice; therefore, she introduced Grandma Hsiou in the same village to Grandpa Lee. They hit it off perfectly and then got married. So far, they have been married for two years.

According to Aunt Chen Fu-Mei, who often comes here to take care of veterans, Grandpa Lee and Grandma Hsiou are deeply attached to each other. As long as Grandma Hsiou is free, she will keep company with Grandpa Lee. During the process of our interview, the interaction between Grandpa Lee and Grandma Hsiou confirmd this.

“We wish each other a long life so as to share the beauty of this graceful moonlight, even though miles apart.” Let's dedicate the last lines of Su Shi's famous poem to Grandpa Lee and Grandma Hsiou.

We went to the Zhong-shun Street in Mucha this afternoon because there was an “uncommon military dependents' villages.” The reason why we called it uncommon is it is not a real military dependents' village. Dozens of families live here. Small houses were built along a small hill. The hill was originally a mass grave where nobody lived.

In the early days, though the government built many military dependents' villages, they still could not accommodate six hundred thousand soldiers and their dependents. The numbers of the villages are certainly not enough. Therefore, some honor soldiers came to the grave where nobody dared to live to neighbor ghosts. At first, they only built some humble sheds to keep out wind and rain because most of the soldiers then thought that we could counterattack mainland China in three or five years at most. Contrary to their expectations, they have stayed here for nearly sixty years.

Uncle Peng Cheng-Shiung and Aunt Chen Fu-Mei in Taipei City Veterans Service Department introduced for us the local environment, the conditions of veterans, and the problems they are about to face—their houses will be dismantled and they will be forced to move. Finishing listening to their introduction, we felt very sorry and worried about those honor soldiers . We sincerely hoped the government could have proper arrangement, letting them enjoy the pleasures of old age until their death.

We made an appointment with Uncle Lu Chih-De on campus of National Taipei University of Technology this afternoon because Uncle Lu had worked here for some time.

Uncle Lu had a military family background. In the military dependents' villages at that time, there was a very high percentage of the boys enlisting themselves in military service. Besides the influences of their fathers and elder brothers and the urge of patriotism, economic conditions are also important reasons. (Attending military schools is free.) Uncle Lu was one of them.

Uncle Lu not only talked freely with us about the dribs and drabs of the thirty-one-year military life, but he also took out the photographs he took when he was a student in Military Academy and when he, as a company commander, joined the military drill. The young Uncle Lu in military uniform looked so handsome.

The talk with Uncle Lu was very cheerful. Unconsciously, three hours have passed but we still felt unsatisfied. After the interview, it's time for us to play basketball.

In order to experience the special flavor of northern food, led by the teachers, we made use of the lunch break to go to the kitchen that Jessie's mother prepared for us. What would we do? Make dumplings.

Making dumplings looked easy. But for those who were inexperienced, it was exceptionally hard to make beautiful dumplings. We either put too much stuffing or created twisted shapes, which looked like the landforms after the 921 earthquake. Finally, we could only comfort ourselves, “Cook them in the boiling water. We can no longer see the shape.” After the hard work for a period of time, we could at last eat the dumplings. Probably because we made them with our own hands, we found them much more delicious than those sold outside.

Because we still had classes this afternoon, we couldn't eat leisurely. Therefore, though we were not totally satisfied, we still had to go to class.

Today is Sunday. Though it was already evening, Priest Lei who had been busy for one day still happily accepted our interview.

Priest Lei is broad-minded and warm-hearted. His laughter hardly stopped during the whole interview. It certainly made the interview enveloped in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere. The formal tone that originally sounded like journalists' interviews was transformed into relaxed talks. Priest Lei shared with us many of his experiences in childhood. He also mentioned the ways one should behave and act, from which we benefited a lot. After the interview, we not only felt that the task was satisfactorily fulfilled, but we were particularly enriched in our souls.

During the lunch break today, our teacher, Ms. Din, called all the members together to hold a discussion about the art & design in the fair of web page reporting.

We brought the photos we took these months, relating information, and the conception of web page design to the discussion. After everyone finished their reports, Ms. Din explained the key points of visual design and the essentials of Human-Machine Interface (HMI) operation. She also aimed at the advantages and disadvantages of our initial designs to make a detailed analysis and tell us how to fully display the existing materials.

Though the class lasted only one hour, it was truly a splendid lesson in which we reaped rich harvests. Ms. Ding deserves to be called the number one Visual Art teacher in our school. Formidable!

We went to “Ma Lan's Society of Chinese Opera” this afternoon mainly to understand what kind of art Beijing opera is. Why can it attracted so many people, making them spellbound during the period from the 1910s to 1920s?

Prof. Ma Lan comes from Beijing . She once taught in the Academy of Chinese Traditional Opera in Beijing , specializing in playing jinghu (“ Beijing huqin”) and composition. She also studied abroad in France . We listened to several grandpas and grandmas singing Beijing opera. Though we couldn't understand, we still felt interested. Especially when they prolonged the sound of one word to such miraculous length, we were really awed. Without good breathing capacity, it couldn't be done.

With regard to Beijing opera, we finally got a little knowledge.

Tonight was a night we had been looking forward to because we were going to learn how to make Chinese knots. Through the introduction of our teacher in elementary school, Ms. Wu Shu-Ting, we would like to learn some craft from her teacher. (In Chinese martial art novels, she should be called our grandteacher.)

As we entered her house, we were attracted by the various Chinese knots hanging on the walls. There were all kinds of styles, every of which was gorgeous. Our grandteacher, Ms. Kuo Li-Mei taught us patiently. She not only dictated the steps but also illustrated her lesson with pictures. She even offered us individual teaching. Ms. Wu also assisted her. Therefore, we all learned with great interest.

As a Chinese saying goes, “Sharpen your spear before going into battle. It might not be bright but at least would shine.” Though there was only one night, under the direction of a great teacher who exhausted all she knew to instruct, we all learned something. Hence, before we left, every of us brought away a string of Chinese knots shaped like firecrackers. We need not worry about how to decorate our house this Chinese New Year.

We visited Li-Geng Guei-Fong, the alderman of Taipei City in the morning.

Though today is Saturday, Aunt Li-Gent still went to her office in the city council to deal with the service relating to the residents of Taipei City . Aunt Li-Geng talked freely of her growing background, education, how she became engaged in politics and her feeling. We all listened with great interest.

Before we left, Aunt Li-Geng even sent us handbags, key rings, and notepapers. Her kindness and hospitality impressed us deeply.

This morning, we started to work before the sun rose completely because we had an appointment with Aunt Chao Ru-Fen. Aunt Chao worked in a breakfast store. In addition to meeting the time of Aunt Chao, we also wanted to have the you-are-there feeling. Therefore, we got up early in the morning and went there on time. Originally we should huddle up in our warm bedquilts. But for the project, we did not shrink from toil and hardship. Such earnest attitudes (in comparison with the school study) were really moving!

Though the breakfast store are not large, it possesses all the necessary things. It offers more than twenty kinds of food. Making use of the break when there were not many guests in the early morning, we sat with Aunt Chao around the table and had a nice chat.

Of course, we also enjoyed a rich and delicious breakfast in the store. Full and satisfied, we went to school.

After visiting the officials in the Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government, we were on the rush to visit our next stop—the house of Grandma Chao Lee Shi-Mei—after dinner.

Grandma was born in Pintung. She has married Grandpa Chao for more than fifty years with six children. Now all of their children have gotten married and started their careers, so they are not short of money. But because they have been used to diligence since young and moreover they are in very good health, they are still doing the recycling jobs now. As a poem written in the Tang dynasty argues that “one might well envy lovers, but not an immortal,” this couple may even be envied by immortals.

During the interview, Grandma recollected the fifty-year life from encountering Grandpa Chao to marriage. We listened with great interest. In contrast with the present high divorce rate,

Because we just finished the sectional exam, we felt immediately quite relieved. But we did not idle. After lunch, we went directly to Taipei City Government because we would interview the officials in the Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government.

We had never met any governmental officials in our past life; therefore, we were very curious whether governmental officials were as serious as we had imagined. Until we met the warmhearted division chief, Luo Shih-Yu, and the friendly the sub-division chief, Lin Yu-Shiou, we did not know our preconceived ideas were totally wrong.

Uncle Luo and Aunt Lin explained to us how the Taipei City Government cooperated with the Ministry of National Defense, expounding the purpose, legal basis, process and results of rebuilding armed forced dependents' villages. We reaped no little benefit in this trip.

When we worked on the project, an interesting topic occurred to us. That our diet nowadays can be so diversified actually has a lot to do with the immigration of millions of mainlanders to Taiwan .

Such as my favorite steamed stuffed buns, Andy's favorite beef noodles, Angel's favorite boiled dumplings, Nancy's favorite sweet mashed bean crisp cake, and Jessie's favorite sliced noodles, etc., if there were no such immigration to Taiwan then, we could hardy have the luck to enjoy the food anytime.

Therefore, in the week before the second sectional exam, we immediately consulted the recipe books and the information collected by us to decide how to make use of the free time after the exam to inquire about the diet relating to armed forced dependents' villages. How much I expect the day to come! I will definitely eat my fill.

The exam is coming. Today we hurried to visit a few military dependents' Villages. At first, we arrived at Jyuan New Village on Hsinhai Road Sec. 3. Though it is an old village, it was rather neat and tidy, and the management is systematical. Because the whole community was closed within walls, it was inconvenient for us to enter to look around. We just visited the exterior, glanced round its reading room, and then went on to the next destination.

Then we arrived at the former site of Shi-Shi West Village on Guang Fu South Road . But now it was rebuilt as Zhongtuo Public Housing Community. We couldn't find out its original appearance at all. The rebuilding of Zhongtuo Public Housing Community finished in 1983. It comprises thirty-five buildings, possessing quite a large area.

Finally, we got to the Fulian New Village near the Jian Knag Road . But we only saw the stone pillar of its old gate. The rest of the village have been rebuilt into Yanshou Public Housing Community.

After rebuilding, most military dependents' villages have become public housing communities, which completely lose the nostalgia of old villages where every household hung small national flags at the doors.

When we worked on the project, we found an interesting phenomenon—some mainlanders still marry mainlanders even when they are in Taiwan ; some marry Holos; some marry Hakkas; some marry aborigines. There are even some marrying Manchus.

One day, I speculated on my ancestry for a while—my paternal grandparents are Holos, my maternal grandfather is Zhejiangese, and my maternal grandmother is Holo, so I should be a hybrid of 3/4 Holo and 1/4 Zhejiangese. We found different results on different members.

Therefore, we had a sudden whim to make a large-scale investigation on the ethnic integration of schoolmates. Since the end of the first sectional exam, we made use of some time after class to ask our schoolmates to fill out the questionnaires. After spending a couple of weeks on the survey, we got many fulfilled questionnaires and made acquaintance with so many people. However, we had a hard time these weeks.

Shi-Shi South Village is the first armed forced dependents' village in Taipei . It was offered to be inhabited by the dependents of the command's No. 44 Arsenal immigrated from Qingdao in mainland China to Taiwan in 1949. At first, the staff of the arsenal were housed in Shi-Shi Arsenal, yearning to return to their native place. They lived together; every family was only separated by curtains. Later due to vicissitudes with the elapse of time, the population continuously increased. Shi- Shi South Village , Shi-Shi East Village , Shi-Shi West Village were built one after another. These villages, where the arsenal staff and their dependents have lived for fifty years, eventually become their hometown.

In 2001, because of the powerful appeals of some members in the cultural circles, Xinyi Public Assembly Hall was established. Judged by the Department of Cultural Affairs, the buildings in Shi-Shi South Village have been officially recognized as historical buildings. Among them, four symmetrical buildings are designated to be preserved and arranged.

Here we saw the appliances, cultural relics, history, stories, and architecture. We couldn't help doubting if we could live in this environment.

Because last Sunday we visited five villages continuously, everyone was late home and exhausted. We had difficulties finishing the homework. Therefore, we decided to explore only one place in greater depth.

Making project web pages or anything is O.K. Going out to interview and visiting everywhere are fun. Campus investigation and making web pages are novel. Even holding a review meeting is O.K. for me. But only writing the interview report is least interesting, most tedious and annoying, making me feel miserable. To write the interview report of Grandma Chen was especially miserable because her local accent was so heavy, so difficult that I scarcely understood what she had said. I had to listen to the tapes several times to figure out.

Though I am filled with complaints, the job should be done or I will have a very hard time in the following days. I only hope that next time the accent of the interviewee whose report I am responsible for won't be too heavy again.

In the early morning, we gathered at the school gate and set out according to the journey plan we had decided after school this Friday. At first, we visited Lingyun New Residential Quarter on Academia Road Sec. 3. This area was rebuilt from an air forced dependents' village—Lingyun No. 5 Residential Quarter—in the early nineties.

After finishing visiting Lingyun New Residential Quarter, we took National Highway No.3 and got off the highway at the Mucha interchange to get to Jyungong No.1 Residential Quarter and the neighboring No.2. Jyungong No.1 Residential Quarter was rebuilt twenty years ago, so it is old and messy. But the construction of Jyungong No.2 Residential Quarter was finished in the early 2004; thus the environment is quiet and tastefully laid out, abundant in greenery, making us feel comfortable.

After dinner, we continued to visit Guangsheng Shincheng of Sanyi Township , Sizhi No. 11 Residential Quarter, and Longsheng New Residential Quarter. Both Sizhi No. 11 Residential Quarter and Longsheng New Residential Quarter are old armed forced dependents' villages. There are many low buildings and a few illegal ones. The lanes in the community are narrow. Some houses have been renovated and thus still intact and functional; others that have not yet been renovated look toppling. Some are even in dilapidation and should be incorporated in dangerous houses. The two villages are included in the rebuilding project. We hope they will be allotted new houses to live in as soon as possible.

After we finished visiting, it was already seven o'clock in the evening. Today we visited five military dependents' villages, including those that had not yet rebuilt. We had mixed feelings about the trip.

Our teacher, Mr. Yeh, made use of the lunch break to call all the members together to hold a discussion on the scheduled progress. In the discussion, we reviewed our progress. The ones who fell behind the schedule explained their reasons and everyone helped share the jobs. The one who didn't fall behind also explained the condition of their work. The most important thing was that the teacher stated the progress and schedule of the follow-up plans.

Though we ourselves thought we had spent a lot of time on the project, we seemed to still have a long way to go according to the teacher. Everybody goes!

It so happened that everybody was free today; thus we went to visit Grandpa Chen Ming-Shuan and Grandma Chen. Though it was a rainy day again, we still had a mood to enjoy ourselves.

This interview made us understand the hardship and difficulties of life. We also noticed the impoverishment in Grandpa Chen's house. Therefore, we reached a conclusion in unanimity—we will make more money to help the poor in the society when we grow up.

As soon as the sectional exam ended, our classmates strained at the leash to play sports or do shopping. But we were unable to idle because we had made an appointment with Grandpa Chang to make the interview today.

Both Grandpa and Grandma Chang were conversational. Grandma Chang was particularly humorous. She looked healthy and we totally could not perceive that she was already eighty-one years old. Grandma Chang heartily prepared snacks and fruit for us. We ate, listening to the stories. I felt that we had a delightful afternoon.

Today we went to Wo-Long Street to visit Grandpa and Grandma Lee. No sooner had we arrived than Grandpa welcomed us at the door. We listened to Grandpa Lee telling the stories of his military life, from enlisting himself in military service, fighting communists, to the retreat to Taiwan . Though we barely comprehend his local accent, we still enjoy ourselves to the full listening. Grandpa Lee even took out the things he made in the past. Among them we liked most the light bulb Grandpa Lee made with artillery shell. How special it is!

Tomorrow will be the National Day. Besides wishing our country a happy birthday, I also wish everybody is as happy as I every day.

Though this visit took us half a day and we were exhausted when we returned home, it was a nice sensible trip.

Today we went to the Institute of Statistical Science , Academia Sinica. The interviewee was Aunt Wu, whose father joined the Air Force after he had graduated from the National Central University in mainland China . He was also a member of the first troop that came to Taiwan to deal with the affairs of air force after Japan had surrendered in 1945.

Aunt Wu introduced herself first. She started from the background of her father (as a Chinese Mainlander), and then mentioned how he went to Taiwan on his own, how he met her mother (as a native Taiwanese), the difficulties of their romance, and the process of her growth. She described her feeling as a “second-generation mainlander” during her growing process, and particularly explained her viewpoints and the significance of ethnic integration and the influence on her family hereafter.

The most special part of today's interview was that we interviewed outdoors for the first time. We interviewed Aunt Wu and at the same time she took us to visit Academia Sinica, including the Activity Square , the works of Ju Ming, Ecological Pool, fountains, and many magnificent research centers. Finally we went to the gym. Andy ran a race with me for several laps. In the end we finished the interview though we were reluctant to part. What an unusual interview!

Today is the previous day of Moon Festival. Tomorrow will be the union day of every family. All of the members will certainly have one day off. However, in order to show our earnestness toward the project, we decide to keep working on the eve of Moon Festival. Let's work before play.

We went to National Taipei University of Technology to visit Uncle Ruei Syg-Peg today. He is the professor of the Institute of Organic and Polymeric Materials of NTUT (National Taipei University of Technology). He has ever been the Dean of Student Affairs and Department Chair. We really should thank Uncle Ruei for the interview because he need not work on the weekend. For the sake of our interview, we troubled him to go to school specially.

We were still a little nervous during the second interview. We could only hope that tomorrow will be better.

We were not quite practiced at the first interview. Once in a while we stammered and couldn't ask any questions. Thanks to the support and assistance of our parents, we finally passed the first trial. We hope we will make some progress next time.

Today we decided to hold a temporary meeting because a member thought of a new topic for our project—“The Nan-Pei-Huo (Dried Goods) of Dihua Street .” Though we had had a discussion last meeting, we still decided to hold a temporary meeting since there was new conception. Finishing dinner and homework, we arrived on time at the office of Jim's Dad at 8 p.m. .

Today's meeting seemed to be in vain, but at last we decided the topic of our project. Then we should do the interviews. Everyone was filled with expectation and excitement. We are ready to exhibit our skills.

Today is the first meeting of the members who participate in the project web page contest. Called by the teachers, all members arrived. Now we only have four members and expect to recruit one or two new members.

Though the school has just started, everyone has their activities. Life is still busy. It was difficult for us to make time for this meeting. To our delight, the discussion process is unusually smooth. We hope the “Time Explorer” team can have a good start and will have a nice ending. Go! Go!