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The Spectacular Chinese Junk
Wow Macau Nov, '98
Group Leader's Name: Mrs. Thomas
Name(s) of Author(s): Charlie Wetzel
Date of Writing: November 4, 1998
Type of Writing: Description
On a recent trip to the Maritime Museum, I discovered a very
interesting exhibit about a very interesting ship. The ship was called a Chinese junk and
it was extremely intriguing.
Of all the ships in the world, the junk was the most advanced ship of
its time. It sported strong, bamboo reinforced sails, which could hold against any wind
that would tear apart other sails. The teak hull measured from 35 feet to more than 100
feet. A type of rudder was connected to a tiller and could steer the junk much easier than
before. The flat bottom of the sturdy hull allowed very good balance on rough seas and
calm lakes alike. With the junk’s amazingly advanced design, it would have been far
superior to any other ship designs of the time. Believe it or not, it was built at the
same time that the Native Americans were building canoes and the Egyptians were building
reed boats. They were so good that they are still being used today.
If a person today sails on a junk, he or she is probably a fisherman.
However in their heyday, they were very versatile, being used for war, trade, and
exploration. But though its uses have changed, the design of the junk remains relatively
unchanged.
In addition to being versatile sailing vessels, the junks had many
superstitions tied to them. It is believed that a pair of eyes painted on the bow of a
junk is good luck and can guide it safely through a rough storm. In Chinese folklore,
there was a girl named A-Ma who gained immortality and helped many people who were in
trouble. One day there was a terrible storm out at sea. A-Ma visited some of the
struggling sailors on board a junk and when the storm lifted, the sailors found they were
the only survivors of the storm. After landing their junk, they dedicated a temple to
A-Ma. This is only one of many stories that involve junks and sailors.
So despite their primitive look, the junks have always been very
prominent vessels. They were once considered very advanced. They even continue to be
useful today to the people of Hong Kong, Macau, and China. The junk is a very fascinating
ship.
A Vendor on the Streets of Largo do Senado
Wow Macau Nov, '98
Group Leader's Name: Mrs. Thomas
Name(s) of Author(s): Charlie Wetzel
Date of Writing:
November 3, 1998
Type of Writing:
Perspective
I am a vendor on the streets of the Largo do Senado
and I make a type of food called Pun Jeng Kei, which resembles western pancakes. Today I
was visited by about a dozen students from a school in Hong Kong called Hong Kong
International School. They loitered around my vending cart for a while, chatting and
taking notes, obviously interested in what I was doing. They seemed very excited and
finally their adult leader let them buy ten patacas worth of my Pun Jeng Kei. They paid in
Hong Kong dollars though. I was pleased to see that they liked my food and they said many
things about it in excited voices in a tongue that I couldn’t understand. I knew that
they had enjoyed it.
They soon disappeared into the streets of mustard
and light peach colored buildings, after attempting to interview me in Cantonese which I
do not speak. So as I have done for a long time, I sat in my metal vending cart, watching
the street sweepers going a bout their daily routine as they have always done. I stirred
my wooden coals a little more, and watched the fountain spewing its eternal rain of water.
I continued kneading the yellow dough of my treat and watching it harden in my flat hinged
pans. Largo do Senado is one of Macau’s most important and historic squares in Macau.
It is truly an experience living in Macau and selling these traditional treats.
A Day in the Life of a Coke Bottle
Group Leader: Mrs. Thomas
Author(s): Charlie Wetzel
Date: November 6, 1998
Type of Writing: Perspective
I am a coke
bottle at a Coca-Cola factory in Macau, and I lead a very interesting and strange life, if
you call it life. Of course today was no typical day, because today the factory was
visited by some students from far away Hong Kong. They came into the presentation room,
accompanied by some adult leaders. I was seated quietly in my icebox at the time. The
students quickly sat down, talking excitedly, and started to watch a rather optimistic
video that was full of Coca-Cola propaganda. They seemed to enjoy it, as it filled their
heads with ideas of Coca-Cola being `the international drink’ and how Coke has been
around for more than 100 years. Most of the information was true despite the fact that it
was highly exaggerated.
Then a delighted roar rose from the students as me and many other Coke
and Fanta bottles were lifted into the air. I cried out in horrible pain as the cap was
brutally twisted off of my top and thrown away, and a straw was jabbed into my head. I was
then passed to one of the enthusiastic students, who promptly slurped all of the liquid
out of me! Then one of the teachers started yelling at the wild kids as they started to
rush about and create total chaos. I was then thrust into a cardboard carton without the
slightest concern of breaking me, and the students promptly filed out of the presentation
room without a care in the world.
I know that I have to be recycled, and that is not pleasant. After all,
I’ll have to be melted and refilled and then be recycled again and again. Being a
Coke bottle at a Coca-Cola factory is not exactly fun. Of course people visiting a Coke
factory think differently. | 
