TJ Gong

Walking With Him Until I Am Not

Take Me Home Country Roads

Are you expectant desperately for a New Year countdown party you’re going to attend wherever it’ll take place? I think you are. Most of you were quite disappointed at the essay we read last week because like the essay writer you didn’t catch the excitement of countdown. It was a tedious and boring journey back home.

Yet to my amazement the song “Take me home country roads” kept ringing in my mind. Compared to “Countdown” the song writer was expectant for going home where he belonged.

How about your homecoming experience? Or did you have car trips with your parents? Share your “countdown” with us?

26 responses to “Take Me Home Country Roads”

  1. Gina Chen Avatar
    Gina Chen

    I remember when I was a little child, my parents sometimes had car trips with me but actually, I got carsickness very very very easily; as a result, I do not like to sit in the car for over 1hour so that I can not really understand the sweet feeling when I am in the car with others. But i know that car trip with family might be a very wonderful thing as long as every one enjoy it.

    Reply
  2. Miranda Avatar
    Miranda

    One time my parents and me were back from 宜蘭. At first I thought sitting in the car was very dull. So I started look out from the windows. Then I found I can see a beautiful and deep blue sea with waves. Since that trip I like to watch the sea. Every time I have a car trip, I will look out the windows, and view different sceneries, such as mountains, seas, fields, rivers and buildings. To enjoy the sights of sceneries is very enjoyable.

    Reply
  3. Belinda Liao Avatar
    Belinda Liao

    When i was a little child, my parents took my older brother and i to Mt. YangMing. i felt really scared at the moment, couse i was afraid of carsickness, so i refused to go with them at first. but my dad said i couldn’t stay at home alone, so i got into the car with placstic bags . when the car started running, my dad played some soft music. in fact, i really wanted to fall asleep as soon as i got in the car, but i couldn’t. that was really painful. i kept praying for being fine. at least, won’t spew! haha.then we arrived the destination safety. we had a really good time in the montain, flowers, birds, blue sky and fresh air. after few hours, dad said we have to go home, we got into the car, and drove to our home, i still kept praying for not spewing in the car. then i heard a voice from the copilot seat “stop the car!!! i’m going to spew~~~!!” lol that was my mum, she spewed. my brother and i saw the view, felt really disgusting. suddenly, my brother ran off the car! oh well, he started spewing!! that was crazy. so, in this trip, my dad and I were the two people who didn’t spew!! that was the first time my dad drove so fast.

    Reply
  4. Janice Tzeng Avatar
    Janice Tzeng

    My parents did not buy a car so we do not have a car trip. That means, we never have a trip together but I have lots of experiences about going home. Every time I want to go home, I have to book the tickets on the internet two weeks ago. I can not buy the tickets at the train station because I am afriad that I will have no seat, and going home is really a tiring thing, I must have seat to take a rest. It is also waste my time to go home because I always spend about six to seven hours going home. This summer, I stayed at home only for twp weeks. I miss my mom and my dad very much. I hope I can go home soon.

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  5. Ivy Huang Avatar
    Ivy Huang

    My family always went to other cities in Taiwan during summer or winter break. Before summer vacation ending, my parents took me and my younger sister to Chin-Gin Farm. The car trip took about three hours to the farm, but we still expected this trip. While we arrived the farm, my sister and I rent the bicycles to visit the whole area in Chin-Gin Farm. The river, pond, forest, fresh air, ducks and various plants around us. Both of us were excited about these things and interested in some plants. We had dinner together and talked a lot. I enjoyed the day and the happiest part was that the car trip gave us had more time to know each other.

    Reply
  6. Annie Wei Avatar
    Annie Wei

    When I was just a little girl, my parents had no time to taking us the car trip. But know, we sometimes to have a car trip to visit lots of places. I remembered that we went to visit 南庄 two months ago. It was the sunny day and we started the trip in the morning. Of course, we went home in the afternoon. There was lots of Minshuku near the road. And the mountain is very beautiful. A large bridge is near the road on the way home. Such a beautiful view, we can see not only the big mountain and also lots beautiful Minshukus on the way home. We all happy to enjoy the view of going home.

    Reply
  7. Sarah Gu Avatar
    Sarah Gu

    I am carsick, in fact, any transports I would dizzy. When I took trips with my family by cars, I should look outside make me feel comfortable. Sometimes I feel bored because I cannot talk. I will listen to the music.
    Before I am a college student, my parents usually take me and my younger sister to scene seeing to Kenting. We all love the views, mountain, ocean and sun. On the way, we go the road along mountains link to the sky. Another side ocean is blue like sky, sun is shone bright but prick. We discuss enthusiastically with all views and enjoy seeing. At the night, the night market is hustle and bustle full of venders and people. Delicious food and drink, various interesting goods, funny game, are also made the Kenting colorful. Star drop and twinkle in the dark sky.
    What a fantastic tropics scenes! I love car trips not only scenes but also with my family.

    Reply
  8. Fiona Huang Avatar
    Fiona Huang

    The unforgettable car trip I took was to I-Lan. The road was very flat and the view was awesome. We talked about the events happened every day. Laugh was always accompanied with us in that trip. The time we spent in I-Lan was unforgettable and funny. I remembered when I was a child; my parents took me to many places in Taiwan. We have been to the beach, riverside, in the mountain, farm and so on. Even though the roads were not always very flat, the weather was not so good and the time was not so perfect. I still like to go out with my parents. To stay with them is the best time in the world.

    Reply
  9. Mandy Cheng Avatar
    Mandy Cheng

    When I was a kid, my father took my family to Hualien. It was the first time for me to stay in the car for over two hours. At first, I enjoyed the views outside the window. But gradually, I found something wrong. It seemed that there were butterflies in my stomach. Besides, I felt light-headed and I knew I was going to vomit. On the way to Hualien, since my parents took care of me, they couldn’t appreciate the beautiful scenery. When we got there, everyone was too tired to go sightseeing. What we needed was took a bath and went to bed. For me, it was the worst trip I have ever had.

    Reply
  10. Vita Chiu Avatar
    Vita Chiu

    I like to trip with my family, so my father like to tke our family to trip at weekend. At first i have a lot of energe but usually at finally i will fall asleep….. I can remember clearly that a trip to 墾丁. I didn’t fall asleep but open my eyes whole trip. And i feel do exciting. When we arrive to 墾丁, i still feel so happy about every thing. i think that a good memory to me about that’s trip!

    Reply
  11. Nicole Chen Avatar
    Nicole Chen

    In my sophomore year of high school. I went with my parents to kaoshung to attend the athletic meet of my borther’s school. There is the only one thing that resembled to Franzen’s I think is sleeping. I slept almost all the entire tour (not only on the way to Kaoshung but also when I arrived and attending the game). For the comment of this journey…nothing special but sleeping well.

    Reply
  12. Ken Lin Avatar
    Ken Lin

    I remember the first car trip clearly. When I was 7 years old, my dad took my family to 溪頭, which is a very beautiful place. My dad is always busy on his work, so we get less chance to go somewhere with my family. I remember that day was a raining. So we can’t see the beautiful view clearly; however, we still glad that we can get together. Then we take a picture and the picture still on my table. To me, it’s a remarkable memory.

    Reply
  13. Vicky Liu Avatar
    Vicky Liu

    When I was little, my parents, my older brother, and I usually took a trip once a month. I enjoy the time we spend together. Of course, my dad is the driver, but he has no sense of direction. We get lost all the time, but we still can reach our destination in the end though. I remember one time we wanted to go to a mountain and was going to stay the hotel on the mountain. We were on the way to there, and it was 9p.m already. We got lost on the mountain which is very terrible. Owing to the long time of driving, I didn’t feel well and wanted to puke. I told my dad that if he couldn’t find the way to get there then just let me go home. He insisted that he will find the way, and wouldn’t give up. Finally, we got there. As I got off the car, I puked right away…. I just want to say that I really don’t like to sit in the car for more than 2 hours. : (

    Reply
  14. Emily(Lin) Avatar
    Emily(Lin)

    My journal is different from Franzen’s because there are two reasons. One of the reasons is we live in different countries; therefore, the route would not so far in Taiwan than in America. The other one is I have a younger sister and we always in the back seat together. Whenever we were bored, we would play with each other and even played with our parents; therefore, every time when we arrived at our destination, we would feel that how shot of our journal.

    Reply
  15. Patty Tsai Avatar
    Patty Tsai

    This summer vacation, I went to Ilan with my family by car, of course it was driven by my dear father who’s the only one can drive in my family. After finishing Ilan’s trip on the way home, all we saw was beautiful scenes. And the difference between the author is that I didn’t feel bored and tired when we were in the car. We chatted to each other and shared our happy memories. Although the views in Ilan are totally different from Minnesota, we still feel that the views in Ilan are one of the best views in Taiwan.

    Reply
  16. Annie Liu Avatar
    Annie Liu

    Actually, it is very seldom for our family to have a trip toghther. I remembered once year during the New Year vaction, we borrowed a car to Tainan 鹽山.The car is a jeep, my sisters and I sit in the backseat. I always in the middle seat, in fact that is very
    uncomfortable. But in the car we fills up laughing, so the little problems we can stand it. Due to the vaction, every where is full with people and have traffic jam, although like this, I still had great time in the car, for me the reason is our family is seldom everyone gather together, so whatever the destination, the point is we are being together!!

    Reply
  17. Ran Avatar
    Ran

    Because my family did not have a car, we never have a trip by car together. But actually, my friend and I often drive the car to other counties. I love to do that because try to find the right way and find the interesting place at a unfamilier county is a very interesting thing. through that experence can also let we full of a sense of achievement.

    Reply
  18. June Lin Avatar
    June Lin

    I think I am fortunate to have many nice memories with my family. One of these memories happened in last winnter vacation. Dad took mom, my elder sister and me to Kenting by car, we chatted about everything happily and saw beautiful scenery. When we passed through the beach or other nice tourist attraction on the road, we stopped and had some pictures there. Of course, we had a good timein Kenting. Everytime we went out, we not only had a good time in destinations but also in the car.

    Reply
  19. Sophia Wu Avatar
    Sophia Wu

    When I was a child, i was easily getting carsickness. However, i was an only child in my family, so my parents usually took me out. I remember when i was three years old, my parents took me to a farm , and i refused to get off the car. Because i felt uncomfortable. I wanted to stay in the car insistently. My father was really mad that time, because we spent almost half a day to the destination. This is the most unforgettable experience of me.

    Reply
  20. Amanda Chi Avatar
    Amanda Chi

    my last time family out together was about six or seven year when i was in elementary. that time 921 earthquate not yet happened, we went to HuaLian and have the trip. the whole trip was so a long roads that we just sitting in the car counting for the time no matter we went from home or back from HuaLian.
    Even the trip was so long but i cannot forgot the beauty of Taiwan in HuaLian. That’s so unforgettable.

    Reply
  21. Chelsea 蔣 Avatar
    Chelsea 蔣

    I was nine years old. My father, mother, sister, and I went to Los Angeles, Disneyland, sea world, and so on. My father rented a car so that we could go any places we wanted to go. It’s been for eleven years; however, I still remembered vividly. I remembered one thing that was my father drove that car along the desert. It was a long and hot way, but it was kind of interesting!!!

    Reply
  22. Mika Lin Avatar
    Mika Lin

    I went back to 台東, my hometown, with my mom on the Moon Festival. At night, we had BBQ. The meat we ate was hunted by my uncle and the vegetables were grown by my aunt. They both are delicious. After having dinner, we sat in front of yard. We chatted and recollected my deceased grandmother. I think we should treasure the time we spend with our families because no matter what happens to you, they are always there to support you. Don’t cherish this until we lose it. I think this is important. I hope I can take thorough care of them in limited time because they are the people I love. When I got to my hometown, I felt released and quiet. It just like sea was without ripples. I could feel the sence of stability.

    Reply
  23. Heidi Tuan Avatar
    Heidi Tuan

    It happened before the chinese new year, my parents took my younger brother and I to the Taichung. That year we planned to celebrate the new year at my grandmother’s house in Taichung. When we sat in the car on the high way to Taichung, my brother and I both felt excited at first. Than we felt bored because all the scene were the same, nothing special. As soon as we got to Taichung, my brother and I were attracted by the scene and the people there. In that time, my grandmother’s house was still bungalow.

    Reply
  24. Veronica Jiang Avatar
    Veronica Jiang

    I remembered that when I was in senior high, my whole family brought me to the east coast of Taiwan. It was amazing. We went to 野柳，and also went to the beaches to play in the sea. I really want to have a go again. It is such a wonderful memory!

    Reply
  25. Vicky Chang Avatar
    Vicky Chang

    I went to Hualien with my family last summer vacation.

    Because it was too far to drive there. My family decided to rent a tour bus.

    Not only brcause we didn’t want to drive such a long time there, but also

    because there were 18 people in our family. Renting a tour bus would be very

    convenient for us. I never take a trip like this so I flt very excited.

    Even though the car is joited on the way to Hualien, we sang with others

    happily. Even it took a long time to reach the destination. With my family’s

    accompaniments. The distance between Taipei and Hualien suddenly became

    so short.

    Being so busy now, I become more and more cherish the time with my

    family.In this trip, I visited the beautiful county and I also found my childhood

    memories. In my childhood, I went out or had dinner with my grandparents,

    uncles,aunts etc..every weekend, but after moving home, we don’t get

    together so often. I really enjoyed this trip.

    Reply
  26. Jill Avatar
    Jill

    I really enjoy the time my family and I went to 拉拉山 last chinese new year. We lived in a B&B, the air was fresh and clean. The view there was very magnificent. We really enjoy the vacation .

    Reply

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