My Personal Terrain

As far back as I can remember, no matter which country I’ve moved to, the neighborhood that I lived in have always been beautiful. I have enjoyed the river view from my apartment window in three different cities. In Taipei, there is a walking trail wrapped around the river. In the background, mountains, parks and pavilions were there for people to do all sorts of activities. It is a very nice neighborhood and it is located in a fairly private area. This park is not connected to the main road, so people usually won’t pay attention when they pass by. However, for people who are curious, they would follow the small path with large buildings on both sides and get to the lake park. The contrasted large space surprises most of them after they walk through this small path. I used to spend an hour walking around the lake every day at night. The nightly ambiance is very calm but simultaneously active. The flapping sound of the bat’s wings and the sigh of the breeze would pass by my ears. The wind created waves on the lake and cicadas were singing in the trees. All the significant elements worked harmoniously.

After I moved to Canada, I lived on a small island with a population of three thousand people. Salt Spring Island is a very artistic island. The house that I lived in has several wide windows; the view looks like a painting. This house is also located right beside the lake. People make use of this lake effectively. The water supply from the houses all came from this lake. Also, during the summer, people from this neighborhood would jump into the lake and swim, kayak and fish. It is a very relaxing area for people to develop their relationships with their family and friends. There are several thousand sheep and deer population on this island. So, people on this island drive slower because they are afraid to hit the wild animals on the road. Salts Spring Island is very well known place for a very large number of artists, sculptors, and musicians to gather. On the weekends, a craft market would take place downtown. Artists would bring out all of their best work and sell them at the market. There are artists who make poetry, paintings, jewelry, textiles and decorations. This is a very good opportunity for me to talk to a lot of artists and to pick up their techniques. I personally find it very interesting to live on this unique island.

Now im in Chicago, the Michigan River is not far from where I live. This time I am living in a crowded area. The loop has the largest business district and tall skyscrapers. Therefore, it is always busy and noisy during the day. Since I grew up in a suburb and countryside area before I moved to Chicago, I need some time to adapt to this new environment. When I walk on the street, I need to be very carful and pay attention to where im going, so I won’t bump in to people. Even though the loop is an urban area, im really glad that I can still see a lot of landscape gardening with trees, flowers, water and soil on the sidewalk. Once in a while, I would take the subway and go to different neighborhoods. It is very interesting to see how people in each area have their own style of buildings and their own style of living.

Living in many countries enables me to realize the different characteristic, culture and art between them.