Thursday, April 24, 2008

Happy life

So today is much nicer than yesterday. While yesterday all our deer teachers (including the ''GUI'' Sheffield ones) basically told us that we are a bunch of lazy bastards that are all going to fail. And after the 4th person says that you start feeling that it's not only failing uni they mean, but also failing life. I'm also angry that they open the running track at 4 pm so until then relieving any tension is basically impossible unless you're called Jin and you can jump from one building to another.

So while yesterday the whole freakin world was against me, and I cried myself to sleep... today is much much better. Our reading teacher decided to give us another chance, and I feel bad saying that I didn't like her. And even thought most people in our class only like to mind their own business, one person actually did stand up for me and it made me really happy :)

Then I received some nice consolation and I am having a happy life once again :)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

❤ China ❤ Olympics ❤ Go Beijing ❤

Today I changed my msn status to:

China Olympics Go Beijing

The reason: I want to show a little irony here... Do as all young Chinese are doing. Except for... it wouldn't make much sense if I wrote as some of them: ''May our motherland grow greater and stronger''. The Olympics in China certainly makes the Chinese proud and I think it awakes feelings of nationalism. Especially, when other countries are trying so hard to pick on China. Lately an American journalist called Chinese people something I cannot translate to English (but it's nothing good), and their products imported junk. The common people are the ones who react to this type of anti-Chinese comments. They become more committed to their government and their nation. They see the West as an enemy. Now, is this supposed to be any good?

Protesters will not put pressure on China – they will offend them and cause a defensive reaction. Most of those people who protest do not know how harmful what they're doing is. What do they want to achieve? Do they want to stop what's happening in Tibet, or show that they have freedom of speech? I think the westerners think that they are the one who know, the ones who are better, the ones who should teach China. But China is not by any means a country which will let 'the people who have no idea what they're protesting about' to teach them.

So if some people really want to go to a protest, exert pressure on the government or something like that, common, better try to engage in other topics. By protesting and trying to intimidate China, the effect will be the opposite, better follow the Chinese custom and keep quiet about things that you have no influence over. And if you want your viewpoint to be heard, study some history, and write a book.

.

After the week of rain, cold and rain the sun finally made it's way through the clouds of Nanjing City. Yesterday was a horrible day, but in the end something wonderful happened, which gives me power to keep going for one more week. I'm now only running on spare batteries, but in about a week I'm gonna load. My hope is up, and I'm waiting, anticipating and preparing...

.

Yes, I'm preparing for one thing, but then the exams are coming up.. like... tomorrow, so I need to go and prepare for them before I prepare for anything else.

They


She was wondering what they might be thinking about,
.
She tried to answer the question, but what could the right words be?
.
She tried to understand their feelings, but she could only understand her own heart.
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Then she thought for a second that it's best to ask, but they said it's too easy, she has to find the answer herself.
.
Maybe copying them would solve the mystery, but even if she appeared as one of them, she couln't become one of them.
.
Resigned, she was walking in the rain, bumping into them, she already knew who they were, so she didn't bother to rise her head.
.
She forgot about them for a while, and searched for other answers, when she found it.
.
They were black, white and blue... the letters. And inbetween the lines she saw that strangers think about ghosts, and ghosts think about strangers.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Ban in China

Oh My God,
I can't believe they banned my blog in China for the post about Tibet.
It's kind of funny actually...

Nanjing and the Olympics

The last couple of days have been pretty dull. Except for a walk on the purple mountain together with David, nothing interesting, stimulating and mind-absorbing has happened. I recovered from the cold I got on the Jiu Hua Shan, but the weather in Nanjing is still a good suicide incentive.

Hopefully, the life is going to become a little brighter after the exams (which we get no revision for at all). The lectures are also a wast of time according to the majority of my classmates. So once again, I'm waiting for better days, or at least warmer days.

What surprises me tho, is an article I read about China. Apparently they spent loads and loads to install anti-rain rockets, so that if rain clouds will be around for the opening ceremony, they will destroy them. It's funny tho, that around the world the people are following the Olympic torch and protesting, while China itself is proudly making sure that every single detail of the Olympics will be perfect.

If you want to read the article on weather and Olympics:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080411/sc_nm/olympics_weather_dc

Monday, April 7, 2008

Tibet and JiuHuaShan



Well, I made a mistake. People still talk about Tibet, maybe even more... what I really meant tho, is that I haven't seen many reportages from Tibet lately. Maybe it's because I am in China, and they do screw up the news... Or maybe there really are no direct coverages of what's happening there. Are people being killed? Has the resistance dropped? Anything? What's Dalai Lama saying? I've got no idea. Yet, I think that all the protests in London and Paris, are definitely NOT good signs...

And the Chinese act like real Chinese... they won't fix the problem because there is no problem...

Dah...

Well, so I went to so called JiuHuaShan (九华山)with Yan, Jin and a William. Arrived there after a long bus ride, slept at a house in the mountains. Then set out, walking 4 km up... narrow stairs, going up... Was totally amazing, sun was shining, the views were breathtaking. Then we had to walk back down... in rain... in heavy shoes... 4km down. That hurt. And then a long bus drive back.

That's it... Photos will say more than I can, and besides... I'm going to sleep now, because 'heavy showers' hit Nanjing... and that actually is sleepy weather.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Xue Xi Zhong Wen Again

Once again, I totally neglected my blog. I don't even remember the last time I wrote something.

No, actually, I do. I did write about my feelings about Tibet, but since I'm scared the Chinese government would buy me a ticket back home and ban me, like they banned Bjork, therefore I didn't post it. Now it's all quiet on the 'western' front. Neither Chinese media, nor Western media are reporting, speculating or even mentioning Tibet. So I will go with the flow, and write about more important things.

So, my day...

No just kiddin... I don't think anything extraordinary has happened to me. Tomorrow we are free, whole 3 days, I was supposed to spend in Suzhou, but unfortunately, I will not. Either you do everything yourself, or you wait for others until the hotels are all booked...

There are good things about life though, still. I have to wait a couple days for my tailor made dresses, and I'm dying of excitement. You cannot get 3 items of clothing, especially made for you, for about £15 anywhere in England. China is cheap. That's one bright side of life.

The other is that they just opened the running track, which is totally awesome! Indescribable.

There is also the nature here, which I plan to photograph soon. It's still pretty cold, and the sun doesn't always shine but there are pretty green, pink and white trees everywhere. Flowers are slowly appearing as well, and I think this should be enough to keep me out of the room.

Unfortunately, there is a thing that keeps me inside... It's the so- called TING XIE, or in other words homework... Which I should start paying more attention to, having mid-terms starting in 2 weeks...

And those are the news from China. Today – no photos. ( I temporarily lost it)

So now I must start trying harder, working better, and making my dreams come true.

I solemnly swear I will take photos once again; I'll keep in good shape, I'll read a lot of Chinese newspapers, and read a lot of good books (which I'm doing anyway) :P