The Golden Week is just about to end and soon we will be back at school. It’s with both happiness and sadness. I look forward to seeing my friends and starting practice again, but it also means that I’m officially going through the placement test (分班考试) in less than half a year. From that time on I can choose some subjects I am good at and like. With school starting there are new club activities to try out and experience. For example, Lily is starting a new sport, Track. It’s similar to Cross Country, which I did before The Golden Week.

Being here for a month now, I can easily tell the differences between my junior and senior schools. The hardest or most different part for me was to have the same schedule every day here. Honestly, I prefer to have different classes every day, as I did in my junior school. However, I have fallen in love with the Friday football games. Football is one of my favorite sports now. Before I came, I knew nothing about it. Now I love it, especially to watch it with my junior schoolmates. In Golden Week, we have also been so lucky to go to two school football games.

Before I left school on the Golden Week, I had a test called Weekly Test. Mostly because I didn’t have too many hard classes, it went pretty smoothly. My favorite class is English, and also my hardest. Personally I really like English, where I could write essays (文章), challenge writing skills and improve English talking.

With the end of the Golden Week, I expect to get starting again, starting a new sport and see my friends and classmates.

With a pair of glasses and mild manner, Siew Te Wong could be described as a Malaysian Clark Kent (a fictional character in Superman). This wildlife biologist is a Superman of sorts — a tireless defender of the world’s smallest bear species: the sun bear.

“I often call the sun bear a forgotten species,” Wong said. “When I first started, 20 years ago, no one had ever studied sun bears. Most people did not know that they even existed,” As he studied the animal and realized the threats it faced from deforestation and illegal hunting, he knew the bears were in serious trouble. “The more I learn about them, the more I care. The more I care, the more I worry,” he said. “I have to help them.” Today, Wong’s nonprofit, the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Center, is the only sun bear sanctuary (保护区) in the world.

Sun bears are found in the rainforests of South Asia, and the small bears play a big role in keeping these woodlands healthy. Many plants and animals depend on them to spread seeds, create nesting sites and control the termite (白蚁) population. Healthy rainforests provide clean air and water to the entire world.

But the sun bear population has decreased by 30% during the last three decades. In 2007, the bear was officially classified as vulnerable (易危的) to extinction by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Currently, 44 sun bears live at Wong’s center. All of them were orphaned by illegal hunting or rescued from captivity (囚禁). The center has also become one of the leading tourist destinations in the area. “They can see how special the sun bear is and learn about how their survival is important to ours,” Wong said, “so they can take some action when they go back home.”

For Wong, this work is simply his responsibility. “Sun bears have become part of my family. When they’re endangered, I care for them. When they are in trouble, I speak for them,” he said. “I want to be the voice for the sun bear, to fight for the sun bear, to ensure the survival of the sun bear. But my goal is to save the entire forest ecosystem and that is so important to the survival of mankind. I want bears to live in the forest and not in captivity.”