People start to learn when they were little. I still remember the first time traveling away from my hometown and I learned how beautiful the nature is. 
That was a summer in late 1980s. I was about 6 years old. My Mom took my brother and me to a province northern of my city. First, we got on a big boat. The boat had bedrooms, cafeteria and even a dancing room. The bedrooms were very big; the boat was kind like the hostel setting in the U.S. There were more than ten double beds in each bedroom, so all the people shared bedrooms. It was so crowed in the boat, but all people enjoyed it. Adults were dancing at night, and children were gathering together to have fun. The boat was driving in XiangJiang River all the way toward north. On my way I got to see the beautiful river, trees on the banks, and mountains on the far side. The water was like a blue diamond under the bright sunshine, the trees were pure green, and the sky was crystal blue. Actually, summer is really hot in the southern part of China, but I totally forgot the hot weather when I was standing on the deck of the boat because the wind was blowing my hair. What a relief! Everything is so wonderful. Seeing sun rising and sun set from the boat, I felt a peace inside in a way that I have never felt before. It's nice to get away from city life. I enjoyed the nature and my companies on the boat. The boat passed by Dong Tin Lake. I breathe in fresh air while watching fish swimming and listening to the splash sound they made. Fish men were fishing from their small boats. Water lilies were lying on water by the bank of the Lake. 
They were pink and white above their leaves. What a natural pretty looking! I hoped our boat could get closer to the fish boat, but it couldn't because our boat was too big. It would scare the fishes away, and fish men couldn't go home without fishes. After few days in the boat, finally we arrived in a city named Jiu Jiang, which is located at the root of Lu Shan Mountain. Then, we took bus; we arrived at a hotel in the mountain before dark. Traveling on the boat was very exciting, but also very tiresome. That night I went to bed as soon as I was done with my dinner. I woke up really early in the morning; and I couldn't believe the outside was still dark. My roommates, two young ladies, told me that it was always darker in the mountain than in the city, especially in the early morning. Then they said, "Let's hurry up. We want to see the sun rising. " So we dressed up and took some drink and snack. It was foggy in the morning; we had to climb few miles to a square in the middle of Lu Shan. We were like flying in the Heaven while we were climbing in the fog. Finally, we got there just in time. The beautiful sun came up from clouds, red as fire, blowing the fog away, and the blue sky joined with the sun. A wonderful new day started. There is lots of other place we wanted to go. Early morning in the mountain, we walked through the light clouds, smelled the woods, and listened to bird's singing. Everything was fresh and full of lives. Apparently I was learning the nature from what I saw, heard and felt. After I got back from this trip, I decided that I should explore the nature, and travel around the world. What a wonderful world out there!
Soon, I began my elementary school life. There was learning everyday but I found the material boring. There was only one thing interested me. Ever since first grade, my parents taught me how to write Chinese Calligraphy. At first, I did not like it because I would have no time to play. Besides no body else was using a brush to write, and only color available was just black and white. As the school went on, I realized that the Calligraphy is really important to me. I was a totally quiet child, but my Calligraphy spoke for myself. As a result, I had lots friends. I have really good handwriting since I learned Chinese Calligraphy at early age. My teachers always asked me to help them to write handouts. In my elementary, we did not have photocopy machine. Teachers wrote down handout material on a piece of waxed paper, and print it out by ink. I also helped teacher to do bulletin board. 
By that time, I wrote important message and teacher's essays on blackboards throughout campus by chalk as well as doing some posters, write and draw on colored papers by paint. All the students could see them throughout the school, so they knew me from my handwriting. Sometimes, I heard student's conversation; one said, " Do you know who did the blackboard? It is neat." Another said, " Li Jian from classroom 5 did it, she is great!" I was so pleased. More and more students came by me and said hi to me, as they knew me by blackboards and poster. It encouraged me a lot. Because I expected myself to be good at academic as I became popular at school. After all, I gained lots of respects from my classmates as well as teachers from my school. On the one hand, I became excellent student as I was doing well at my courses, on the other; teachers referred me to fulfill a position in students' association. My job was doing bulletin boards on campus, and organizing students. I finally realized that I was not just learning Chinese Calligraphy, but also learning to communicate with my classmates as well as my teachers. Elementary school is a small society; Calligraphy helped me to survive and taught me how to enjoy.
Successfully finished my middle school and high school, I started to explore the real world by studying board. As a sensory learner, I like to see the real thing. After I came to the U.S, I finally learned the real life in this country. When I was in China, my parents provided everything that I needed. I didn't need to worry about anything. In the U.S, I am taking care of myself. My parents were always with me from birth to high school. I live with my brother in the U.S. For the first time, we ever lived together just by ourselves. When my brother and I was in China, we lived away when we were in middle school and high school because he went a high school out of town, so we only met each other during summer and spring vacations. And we fought with each other a lot when we were little. In the U.S, we developed a great relationship. We have lived together for about two years. I learned to understand my brother. He likes to do things perfectly, but not me. Dishes need to be well cleaned, and carpet need to be well vacuumed. For instance, my brother couldn't standard if dirty dish stayed in the sink overnight. It is really stressful living in the U.S. For example, after I went school in the morning, I was so tired. I wanted to just fix some easy food to eat, and go to bed as soon as I finish my homework. I always forgot about the dirty dish, I thought I could just wash them the next morning. But, after my brother got home, he got so mad, and he pointed out "You shouldn't leave the dirty dishes in the sink." like I did something totally wrong. I don't like somebody telling me to do this or that. I like to do things whenever I feel free to do it. I told him "I will wash them tomorrow morning". He kept saying "Wash them now, you won't wash them tomorrow morning because I know you will not get up early, and you won't wake up until the last minute." We just kept arguing with each other. There was never an ending or finally he left our apartment. I always hated that, and I kept asking myself "Why would he always do that? 
I didn't do anything wrong." He finally came back, and I knew he would come back because he didn't have anywhere else to go. In the U.S, he is my only relative, and I am his only relative. I realize that we need to understand each other since we need to be together. There is nothing can break the relationship between my brother and I. I shouldn't let my brother walk out of our apartment. Besides, he was tired too after he came back from school. And, he was mad because he never liked to see dirty dishes. Anyway, as an elder sister and his only relative in the U.S, I shouldn't leave the dirty dishes in the sink. Also, we should try to keep each other happy and help each other to release stress. In addition, we both are homesick, our parents are not around us; our bodies and souls should to be united. After all, we realize that we should grow together and enjoy each other. On weekdays, we couldn't see each other often because my brother studies at North campus, and I study at Central campus even though we all go to school in the morning. Besides, he works in the evening, and I work in the afternoon. However, we all try to spend more time with each other on weekend. For example, we go to buy grocery together in China town, Albertson's and Safeway. We also get together to clean our apartment. He washes dishes, does vacuum, and I clean bathroom. Moreover we cook together. He cuts veggies and poultry. I cook rice while he is making stir-fry. At the end, he would ask me to taste the food; I respond "Too salty" or "Too sweet", etc. I also give him some suggestions like " If you put more soy sauce, it could taste better." In the air, we always smell Hunan food. What a joyful experience of real life through understanding each other!
In brief, I am learning a lot throughout my life as well as this quarter at SCCC. This quarter, I am taking Sociology and English class that is connected with Ways of Knowing. Although I have never took either Sociology or Humanity classes before, I really like these two. First, they taught me that I am just an individual in the society, and I need to learn every day in order to survive in the society. Everybody is different, and everybody has different perspective. Also, I learned that each one of structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and social-conflict analysis explains the world differently. Second, people are learning through seeing, hearing, and feeling, even children do. Construction woman from Woman's Ways of Knowing taught me that people should connect academic with the real world, construct our own knowledge, interact with other people, and understand other's feeling. According to all of what I have learned, I know there is never an end for learning. There are lots things I will need to know, experience, and feel as I grow up. For the rest of this quarter, I will learn by reading books, communicating with classmates, friends, and teachers. At the same time, I will try to understand other people's life. Constructing my own knowledge by exploring the world, I expect myself to be a constructive woman and be successful.
