BISSKITOctober 2010 studywiz.biss.com.cnIssue number 10.6

THEME: MOON FESTIVAL

S N E A K P E A K S I N T O T H I S I S S U E . . .

“Yi was sent to bombard all but one sun. When this task was completed, as a reward, Yi received a pill, the elixir of life, and was advised: “make no haste to swallow this pill, but first prepare yourself with prayer and fasting for a year.” - Legend of the moon

The Amazing Editors-in-Chief:Vasudha Mukherjee& Zainab Samad

“The biggest claim that the landings were supposedly faked is that it would be infeasible to go the moon, with reasons ranging from radiation to solar flares.” - Moon Landing Conspiracy

INTRODUCING: The Wall of Shame we heard, we laughed, we printed!

“We Thailand-ers, including me and the very few at BISS, have our own moon festival too back in our home country. Chinese and Japanese people, don’t get so happy, you’re not the only one with moon festivals.” - Moon Festival in Thailand

“...does the moon only deserve respect from half the world? C’mon now, that would be such an unpleasant disgrace if the moon were to ever come across a thought like that.”-Jenne’s Column

- Student Interview: Alex Hong

- Moon Landing Conspiracy!!!

- Jenne’s column

- Legend of the Moon

- Moon Festival in Thailand

-- BISS Fashion Police

- Wall of shame!

- BISS Updates

!n "is issue ...

Don’t

stress on IB. End of the day, the tests don’t

make your life. Don’t be embarrassed to do

anything, as long as it do you good.

Interviewed by

Sally Kwon

STUDENT INTERVIEW

He is funny, he is talented, and he is... BACK! If you’ve seen Alex last

year and met him wondering in the corridor, you may wonder, “What

is he doing here?”. Well, I was curious too, so one sunny afternoon, I

met Alex.

“College” he said, when I asked him the reason why he came back. “It was either another year of high school

and go to Berkley, or some strange university I had never even heard of. I didn’t take music class last year and

Berkley wanted a student who had an experience with music. The reason why I came back to BISS is because

I knew most of the grade 11’s and I didn’t want to feel ostracized and lonely in some other school,” If you’ve

seen the movie, “17 Again” where the main character gets a chance to live his high school years again you will

notice that Alex’s situations are quite similar to those in the movie. He is on a time machine, re-living his

12th grade. “Well, this is my time machine but if there really is one, I’d like to go back to my year 8 to 10. I

was the kind of student who thought things could be done later and went around, doing things I wasn’t

suppose to. It was a complete waste of time.”

He recognizes his privilege to be able to do things again. Even though, he has to devote a lot of his time, as

he did in the past two years, he found that it was rather relaxed and less stressing because now he knows

what he has to do. Another privilege is time, since he doesn’t have to come to every single class he has free

periods. Of course, there are some following consequences. “So it’s either A, do really good and self study or

B, forget about it and play” During leisure, he likes to read books than playing games. What an ideal way to

spend your time! However, he warned “When people say reading helps you study, it is a total lie. I love

reading, but when it comes to reading books instead of test prep well... (laugh)”

Everybody knows that Alex is a talented musician, but where does it come from? effort? family? or did he sell

his soul to a devil? Well, it was in his blood. “It’s a family history, My grandma used to be a lead singer in her

choir, my father sings and so does my mom”. His aptitude on music was from his parents, but his sense of

humor came from his life. “I think that humor comes from taking things easy, I try not to stress over things”

Humor is a part of his life, but is music too? when I asked him for a rap on the spot, he froze. “I am being

interviewed...... Um......” That was all he could think of.

After graduation, he plans to go straight to college. No break, no time to spare. “It’s going to be a big

adventure.. It’s going to be different, but I look forward for it” Let’s have our fingers crossed for Alex, wishing

good luck on his year 13.

MOON

LANDING

TRUTH?

OR

CONSPIRACY?

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The rabbit sacrificed himself to the three fairy sages who transformed themselves into pitiful

old men begging for food. Once upon a time these three men went on asking for something

to eat.

You might now be thinking how this is relevant to the legend of the Mid-Autumn Festival now popularly known

as the Moon Festival. Well…

As the legend goes, dated back to 2170 B.C. The earth once had 10 suns revolving about the earth taking turns

every 10 days. One day all the 10 suns came together making the earth’s surface very hot, threatening the lives of

the people and also being the cause of many droughts. The emperor of China was very unhappy by this fiasco and

remembered a famous archer, Hoy Yi.

Before being told more about the story you should know that Yi was married to Chang-E. She was a very beautiful

yet inquisitive woman who had been an attendant of the queen mother of the west up in the heaves where

Immortals lived, before her marriage. The Jade Emperor was furious when she heard that a very precious porcelain

jar was broken by a young, beautiful women – Chang-E. As punishment, the Emperor ousted Chang-E to the earth

where she had to live with ordinary human beings.

So anyway, Yi was sent to bombard all but one sun. When this task was completed, as a reward, Yi received a pill,

the elixir of life, and was advised: “make no haste to swallow this pill, but first prepare yourself with prayer and

fasting for a year” by the wise emperor. That being said, Yi took the Wiseman’s word and prepared himself. He hid

the beaming pill filled with sweet fragrance under his pillow. Little did he know his beloved wife would notice the

beam one day and out of curiosity would swallow the pill herself while her husband being summoned at the palace

again. After swallowing the pill, Chang-E found herself floating in the room. When Yi came back home to discover

what had happened, he was in anger and went after Chang-E with his bow and arrow. In an attempt to save her life,

she opened the windows and found herself floating instead of being pulled to he ground by the force of the gravity.

Yi loved too much that he went after her and came back only when the force of the wind was too much to handle so

that he could not continue any further. But you should know, he did succeed to go halfway across heaven. But the

story doesn’t end just yet.

LEGEND OF THE MOON

One day, they came across a fox, a monkey and a rabbit. The rabbit didn’t have anything on

him to offer to the three men whereas the fox and the monkey both gave them some food

being kind and generous. The rabbit offered them his own flesh and jumped into the burning

hot fire. The sages were very touched by this gesture of the rabbit sacrificing himself. The

rabbit became the “Jade Rabbit” after he went on living in the Moon Palace granted by the

sages. The Rabbit- The Hare.

So now Chang-E is up on the moon, where the hare is already living up in the Moon Palace. You see now the

relevance of the short story at the beginning. Anyways, out of breath after that long chase by her husband she

coughed the pill out, it fell straight to the ground out of her mouth. She realized the foolishness of her act and

commanded the hare to take a pestle and mortar and pound another pill. All this just so that she could return to her

husband back on earth. And the rabbit is still grinding the pill with a pastel and a mortar on the moon. From there

itself she is know known as the “Lady on the moon.”

As for Yi, he built himself a palace in the sun as Yang (the sun and the male principle), Chang-O as Yin (the moon

and the female principle). Hence the Moon (yin) and the Sun (yang) Festival.

Chinese people closely relate this to romance and marriage. As both the moon and the sun, circular in shape, have an

important symbol in the Chinese tradition and folklore.

BUT there are not only these two living on the moon. Someone else named Wu Kang is also up on the moon. He has

his own little story though, I’m sure you would have the time to read it. So it goes..

Wu Kang was a lazy woodcutter, who, one day decided he wanted to be an immortal being. In order to pursue his

dream he went to the mountains where he found an immortal and continuously pestered him to teach him the key to

be immortal himself. The immortal first taught him how to cure sickness and about the importance of herbs. Wu

Kang being a restless soul went came back to him after a few days asking him to teach him something else,

something more useful. The immortal taught him chess, and as we all know chess is a game of patience that Wu

Kang unfortunately didn’t have. He went back where he was given book on immortality to study. This was the most

boring thing Wu Kang had found to be. He, once again, impatiently went back to the immortal and asked him if they

could go to new, exciting places as an adventure. Fierce by the behavior put up by Wu Kang, the immortal ousted

him to the Moon Palace where there would be a huge cassia tree which he would have to cut down before he had a

chance of returning back to earth. Eager to return back to earth, he spent his night and day chopping down the

magical tree that would magically restore itself despite of all the blows caused by him. As a result, Wu Kang is still

up there chopping down the tree, or at least trying to do so, but without any success.

The information given in this article has been taken from !"#$%%&&&'(!)*+,+(-./-01.2103+*'402%544*6+,781.'!/5

- Retold by Varsha Raghav

We Thailand-ers, including me and the very few in BISS, have our own moon

festival too back in our home country. Chinese and Japanese people, don’t get so

happy, you’re not the only one with moon festivals. Loy Krathong (LOI-KRA-

TONG) is our kind of moon viewing festival. Not only does the festival involve

water and candles, it also involves boats! Loy Krathong is when people set sail their

banana leaf floats, or aka krathong, into the rivers. The festival is held usually in

mid-November.

Every year, we would see about 3 different types of krathongs. (Aka Thai rafts) It was originally made

with banana leaves and the trunk from a banana tree, but then most people didn’t have the time to sit

around at home and fold banana leave petals to nail them on the banana trunk, so now they sell bread

krathongsand Styrofoam krathongs.They’re just krathongsmade with bread or Styrofoam, which isn’t

all that recommendable since Styrofoam kills. Bread is a lot better for both the habitants in the river

and the environment. If you make your own krathong, the raft would then be beautifully decorated

with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, incense sticks, and candles. Some people also put in

money…which is often later fished out by someone. (I see it happen every year…true story)

Thailand (Loy Kratong)

After all the sailing and the ‘ships ahoy’-ing is done, there is usually, or always, a celebration of

fireworks and fire crackers decorating the night sky and the cemented ground. It’s always a pretty

sight to behold, until some idiot ruins it by causing an accident and getting him or herself on the news

about a firework accident. (Fireworks: they’re beautiful, but they’re also able to melt your face or any

part of your body) But despite the few accidents that occur every now and then on Loy Krathong, it is

a popular festival that we Thailand-ers and foreigners from other countries love and cherish. It’s the

one of the few festivals that I look forward to every year.

P.S Oh, and sometimes, we have lanterns too. Pretty isn’t it?

By Pear Pattiya Chuwiruch

The

MOON

Diaries

JENNE’S COLUMN

#ou are my moonlight, my only moonlight, you make me happ- STOP RIGHT THERE!

$ounds odd doesn’t it? Why is it "at we spend day and night, night and day praising "e sun while %e moon is left & wilt and be forgo'en? Why is it "at humans looovvveee "at deadly ba( of )re *ore "an its calm, peace+l, soo"ing equivalent? You beg & di,er? Alright, o, "e &p of your sun

loving head, give me one song about "e moon. And no, don’t dare take "e song -om "e beginning of %e paragraph because it’s sounds absurd, and you know it.

! Some might say "at only "e wes.rn parts of "e world fail & give "e moon its jus/ce, and

0hould be spared of "e taunts and guilt. Sure, in China we’ve got "e lunar calendar, "e moon

1es/val, and "ose moon cakes. But "en again, does "e moon only deserve respect -om half "e 2orld? C’mon now, "at would be such an unpleasant disgrace if "e moon were & ever come across a

%ought like "at. Before it’s &o la., and "e moon realizes some"ing is up, a( you Nor"

3mericans, Sou" Americans, Europeans, A-icans.. and yes you &o polar bears, do some"ing!! Take o, "at sun-shaped lamp, and "row away "at ugly ye(ow ki.. Moon is "e new black. You can wear it & school; you can wear it & work, got a +neral & go &? 4e moon it is!! Paint your wa(s moon,

and start s&cking up on "ose moon cakes. Sun chips? YUCK! Sunkist? YUCK! You even have & peel %ose darn "ings. Any"ing you’( ever need, "e moon’s got it. Can’t do your ma" homework? Have 5o fear, for "e moon is always here! (Unlike "at stupid 6aming ba( of dea", "at’s always only

half here, checking & see we’re if we’re a( scorched, dry, and ready & feed & its li'le baby ‘suns.’)7HIS IS IT GUYS! THIS IS YOUR TIME TO, NOT SHINE, BUT SHIMMER AND

8LISTEN.

8IVE IT UP FOR THE MOO9

! SAY GO, YOU SAY MOO98O:OON!

8O:OON!

;eep chan/ng guys,Jenn<

If you simply open your eyes and bat those lovely lashes, you can see that the dirt and grass we live on is not in its best condition. If you tilt your head, you may come upon gray matter, and probably trip over some garbage! If you keep your head down, you will dodge the rubbish, but be pelted with dust and maybe hit by a truck. None of these events are pleasant, and frankly, neither is Earth. One might exclaim that the environment is in bad shape. Sure, the air on Earth and its surrounds are in bad shape, but what about the relative environment of a single individual? When people speak of the environment, they seem to only refer to the atmosphere, the trees and the little shrubs in their backyard. However, the environment is all the space and matter around you, from nature to your friends and even your favorite stuffed animals.

If you want to refer to the ecosystem and the amount of carbon dioxide in the air, please specify. When we mention the environment, our environment, not everybody will think of cow farts and hybrid cars. Not everybody is a “save-the-planet” freak, and maybe we are pouring our orange sodas on the sidewalks and eating imported baking soda because we feel like it. By the time Earth shows any major symptoms, all of us here would be long dead. Sure enough, somebody will think of a way to save it, or abandon it. Let’s just leave the mess to our robot great-grandchildren. They can fight the planet with their supersonic laser pointers, and if they want to, they can teleport to Neptune for environmental friendly fuels and maybe, just maybe bring us all back to life so we can see the destruction we've created. Then again, we could just pick up that bubble gum wrapper, and carry our popsicles in non plastic bags. Think about it, the choice is up to you, and frankly, I wouldn't like to see Neptune.

Greetings! This is Jenne! and you are glancing at the first article of Jenne's Column. Oh by the way, not saying you don't know how to, but it's pronounced 'Jen!nee'. My column is the newest addition to the big warm BISSKIT family. You're probably thinking What about T's column? Good question! because I have absolutely no idea. All I know is Jenne's will be better than T's. You'll see. It's just a little sisters' rivalry! ;!! Jenne

Jenne's Column

The so called environment...

Everyone dresses a little differently outside of school, so what better to do than to take a look at some of the zanier things our classmates wore on activity week?

Above:Min Gyu Sung embodying

the essence of “scene” style with

a retro touch added by the aviator

glasses. Truly, looking more

concert-ready than for a week in

the countryside of the Great Wall.

Above: Amy Wang

rocking a punk look

with white go-go boots

and an edgy t-shirt. Not

many of us could pull

this outfit!

Left: Toby Chan

wearing his pink silk

pajamas with pride.

We applaud your

boldness. Looking

sharp!

Left: Jesse Demnar

managing to make casual

look cool by dressing in all

black sweats and

harlemesque pants. Also a

cool way of wearing a

backpack. Though this outfit!s

really chic, we!ve got to

wonder what Ms. Rankin

thought of the tank top!

Below and left: Mr. V and Jaffer

Mohammed both sporting a

common trend during activity

week. Supporting your favorite

team that has never been more

stylish. Go Yankees!

BISS Fashion Policeis back this year with better and more! :D

Hope this brought back some fond memories of activity week . Truly, a fun and funky trip this year.Signing off until the next issue-

The BISS Fashion Police

BISS Updates

Wall of Shame- Stupid Blurps

"The world changed and no one told me.!!"

"It snows in Beijing?!?!"

"It's impossible to turn me on..... I mean turn it off."

"I have a hard copy, but I need to print it."

“Taoism is like Buddhism except its different.”

“Isn’t space near the sun?!?!”

“Don’t trick the teacher. It might work.”

“Isn’t France next to Europe?”

“I need a website that disblocks sites.”

You know who you are ;)