Archive for October, 2008

Wishing upon a Star

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

I wish upon a star that friends are forever loyal and faithful to each other.

I often hear people say that friends can be very important and even just a bit less important than parents. It seems that I agree with this saying. But I don’t know whether it is because I am too vulnerable or what else, I sometimes would fj.12530 doubt its reasonableness. I myself regard friendship as nourishment that cannot be eliminated from life, so I like to make friends with persons who, I think, can be loyal and faithful to me. I would be always ready to help my friends and without sparing any effort I would help them accomplish something. Although there was some time when I could not be able to help, I would not regret because I had tried with all my strength, even though I would feel very sorry for that. Sometimes I really have the sympathy that human beings are indeed creatures full of contradictions. Maybe that is the right answer to the disease that haunts human beings—-Schizophrenia. I love my friends and learn to respect them. However, I found now and then I would be jealous. Whenever this happened, I would scold myself and could not help pondering whether I was a worthy and loyal friend to my friends. When I feel lonely, I turn to my friends, and they are my loyal listeners. Sometimes I fj12530 can receive a letter or a call from my friends, they complain to me about their sorrows and troubles. At that time, I would be sincerely listening and sympathize with them from my deep heart. And for sure, we always share happiness with each other. Maybe I can find an excuse for my jealousy. That is everyone wants to make a progress, so do I. I want to keep pace with my friends. Jealous as I am sometimes, I am honest and would not hurt my friends on any occasion. I have already entered into the society for one and a half year. For the first year, one of my workmates and I were quite close to each other. And gradually we became good friends. Now we are in different cities, but I miss her very much. I think I am loyal to her all the same. But she once cheated me. For a long time after that I was pondering whether she treated me as a good friend. Finally I successfully persuaded myself into believing that it was just a white lie. We can be friends just like before even though fj12530 now we are separated in two different cities. I would always think back over our conversations, our united effort of solving problems and the heartfelt suggestions we gave to each other. Both of us have left the place where we once worked together. Now the surrounding and the people around me are totally new. I do not know clearly whether I can find a friend like her, and whether we can cherish our friendship while the time flying away. I hope our friendship can survive everything. As a girl, I cannot deny my being sentimental sometimes. I think a lot when I am alone. If possible, I would wish upon a star that all my friends can be happy and healthy.

The society is filled up with rushing materials and rushing people. You can know someone only by a click of the key, and it is probable that he or she disappears just one second later. You may feel that the world is too unrealistic, not being able to distinguish between the reality and the illusion. No wonder that a professor would throw himself down the tall building a few days ago, with no more attachment to the world he was living in. Some people can find excitement and satisfaction in the world, though maybe with nearly unbearable pressure and unbelievable effort; while some cannot find a clue that can encourage them to go on, so they give up and choose to leave the world behind. People hurry to and fro to fight for their bright future, losing gradually their feelings and their gratitude for others. I would be very sad when I become suspicious of my friendship with one who, fj.12530 I once believe, could be my good friend. So here, in this article, I would like to ask people to cherish friendship.

Some people say that it is almost impossible for you to find a true friend when you are not a student any more and become a person in the realistic society. I hope it is not the case so that I would not be disappointed when I am facing one who, I think and I believe, can be my intimate friend.


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A Reversed Culture Shock

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Note – this journal is totally out of my personal observation and does not reflect the views of this web-site. If you feel upset for what I wrote in this journal, please reply with facts. No personal attacks, please. As I said thousands of times, I am a Chinese, and I have Chinese blood, regardless of where I stay!

The city that I stayed is well known for having rivers running across the city. It should be a beautiful Venice if people living along the river knew how to restrain themselves from dumping the rubbish into the river. Constantly, I saw through internet of this-and-that type of regulations and by-laws have been implemented to prevent rivers from the pollution. Well, the reality shows a quite different view. Black colored material floating with sickening smells catches people’s eyes once they go across the bridge or walk along the river. One day from my ritual morning exercise, I reported to my brother-in-law of what I just discovered. “I saw a very neat slogan today,” I told my brother-in-law. “It’s about the way to prevent people from polluting the river,” I said. This is how it said: “Whoever dumps on the river should be cursed to be terminated, three generations included!”

Again, this reminded me the time while I stayed in the city. We kept our rooms clean, the inside of course, not the outside.

Believe it or not, I was pretty scared when crossing the road. It seems that the traffic signals in the city where I stayed didn’t really mean anything. People crossed the road when the red light was on,ln.12530 and so did the drivers. I had to drag my dear wife and my brave boy whenever we went across the roads. “Do as the Romans do!” I told them. The real question is “What happens when the Romans don’t?” I have no answer to that question.

I don’t mean to say that there was ln12530 no privacy in China. But, what I experience in a notary public office made me wonder what privacy really meant to many people there. One day, I went into the office. Seeing people revealing their quite personal stories in front of many others made me uncomfortable… “Do as the Romans do” I told myself. So, I waited patiently and tried to avoid the sound coming from the person in front of the line. Then, I sensed that someone was peering through my shoulder and stared at the paper that I was holding. “Do as the Romans do” I murmured quietly. Moments later, my brother came and we discussed at the corner of the office with the documents open on the desk. Almost immediately, I saw a man was staring at the documents. His staring lasted (about 3 minutes) till I politely reminded him that it was a personal document and … My mouth dropped seeing him exploded at me, reminding me that it was a public place and he started just the desk not the document.

Shock One – Traffic Chaos

Shock Three – No Title

Shock Two – Sense of Privacy

It seems that my trip to China brought me second cultural shock. I visited China four times since I left the country five years ago. Excluding the last visit, the previous three were either business type ln.12530 or out of family emergency. So, I should I say that this last visit was a real visit. And it brought me a reversed cultural shock, which I tried to deny but failed.

My trip to China ended with an eleven-hour flight back to Vancouver. We flew first to Hong Kong and then connected our flight to Vancouver. I arrived into Vancouver on 29 March. So as you can see, it’s already been 4 days since I ended my trip. I told myself to release the journal that I kept on the road, but my other half brain told me to hold. Yes, something went wrong here. What I kept in my journal does not match what I expected that I would write.

This incident made me remember what I went through when I visit doctors while I was living in the city. Whoever visited doctors knew that doctors questioned their patients in front of all the other patients or listeners. Quite embarrassing sometimes, I should admit, when you have to involuntarily take the intimate information of someone else, which you really don’t want to.

Taking a taxi was another unique experience to me. I never realized it was so unique until I revisited the city. Here in the city that I lived, the drivers (not only the taxi drivers) were the “bravest” ln12530 and the most — drivers that I had ever seen. Almost none gave signals when making left and right turns. Miraculously, I didn’t see traffic accidents while I was there.


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China in My Eye

Sunday, October 5th, 2008

“What? You plan to study sn12530 in China? Are you kidding? Isn’t China an underdeveloped country?” These sentences appeared on the screen of the computer when I chatted via internet with my friends. I was enraged with their blindness. What right do they have in saying so, since they have not seen the fact themselves? Fact reveals to you everything. My only reply to them was that I was blessed for having come to China and that I don’t regret at all for my decision. In my eyes, China is a very big developing country; sn12530 technically designed buildings and suspension bridges are constructed in every corner of the streets; skyscrapers seem to split up the sky, symbolizing the trading centre of the city; vehicle of all sorts, including bicycles of all types, are seen dispersed over the traffic; people wearing sophisticated clothes are holding the mobile phones strolling to their offices. Anyway, all this is evidence that shows apparently to us one thing only. Those moving creatures are now moving to one target, that is modernization and development, which is now coloring this big country.

When I come to the sn.12530 topic of Chinese people, I don’t think there is requirement for me any more to mention to you in details what Chinese people really look like, for I am also a Chinese. I have known many Chinese here and made some of them my best friends. Once I was invited to stay at a friend’s house in her hometown, I was amazed by the friendliness of every relative and friend of hers. I was treated as if I were one of their families. Despite their simplicity, they take care of their guests in every detail. This arouses my admiration toward the hospitality of Chinese people and I can’t stop comparing this with the reserved and cold neighbourhood in my hometown. When I left , I found I missed the friendliness and warmth of those people.

Four years is not a long time, nor a short time for me to open my eyes and visualize what this dragon country looks like. It is two years since I came to China with a curiosity in my mind and desire in my soul to acknowledge whatever I could about this native country of mine. With a month more to go, it seems to me that every second during the stay at this Southern China is like the sands of time running out and revealing secret by secret of its people, its culture, its language and its tradition.

The first time I arrived at sn.12530 GuangZhou East Station directly from HK, I was struck by the restlessness and disorder of the people rushing in and out, carrying packs of luggage and scrambling for a taxi. Yet having observed about me, I felt an undefinable safety. everyone around me was just like myself, an ordinary Chinese; fear, doubt, and worry for my being a stranger here all at once vanished.Yes, I felt safe and secure with my surroundings; no more curious eyes staring at me like I was some kind of alien from other planet; no more abusive languages or mockery that used to be aimed at me whenever I was strolling along the streets. on this very earth of China, I found the safety which I could never find in other places.


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Saluting to Those Unsung Heroes

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

Last but not the least, from those series I also learned the grass-roots society. Inside myself, a heart is growing, a heart not only beats for myself but cares for others as well. I once volunteered to be an English teacher in a primary school for children of migrant workers. The volunteer work gave me a precious little chance of saying thanks to people like the children’s parents who construct highways and underground, build up modern skyscrapers and make our cities more and more beautiful. To help the children with their English is what I can do at present to show my gratitude to those unsung heroes. The world may not be fair to them, so privileged and blessed people like me are obliged to do whatever we can to help make their life better. Whatever I do for them, I know it can’t be compared with what they have done to improve the quality of life in our cities…

Next it comes to doctors. A doctor is one of the professions that everyone is so familiar with, right? Through the series, I’ve learned that there is a woman whose experience differs from others’. In her hospital, she often sees infants gd.12530 rejected by their parents at the door. Those poor infants as she said have got cerebral palsy. Despite the strong opposition of her family and friends, she determined to adopt any infant who is rejected by parents. In fact, the doctor herself isn’t rich enough. A lot of neighbors think of her to be mad. But there is a firm belief supporting this woman doctor along the way, and that is “All things in their being are good for something.” She shows special preference for those infants and teaches them to talk. With her love and care, those lucky infants are growing up healthily day by day. She hopes that they can contribute for the society in the future. gd12530 What a wonderful dream. Hopefully her dream could come true some day.

Let me first share with you the experiences of fire-fighters. As steel warriors born of flames, fire-fighters are brave, stiff and ready to sacrifice. In the video, I witnessed how fire-fighters proceeded with difficulty to put out the fire on some warehouses. Those warehouses were full of barrels containing benzene. As we all know, benzene belongs to toxic chemicals. To make things worse, there would gd.12530 be explosion at any time due to the pressure caused by the heat and high temperature. Thus, a life-and-death fight between the fire and fire-fighters occurred. They were divided into several brigades and jointly endeavored to fight against the fire for the sake of people as well as their property. During the course of the combat, a number of fire-fighters got infected because of the toxic chemicals. They felt dizzy and vomited. However, the obstacles didn’gd12530 t make those heroes retreat or give up. Finally, their constant efforts and strong will power helped them put out the fire thoroughly. Their spirit is quite moving and deserves our respect.

I watched a television series of unsung heroes the other day. They’re fire-fighters, doctors and migrant workers. Definitely their names are unknown but their stories have touched many hearts.


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Hope the World a Paradise

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

The world need more sc12530 ove…, as you know, the old and the young who are at the edge of the society really need people to pay attention to. Every time I see some beggars on my way to school, there was a gelling out of description coming out to my mind. Should I walk away from them? Should I just give them some money? Or…? I think if I give them some money, nothing will change and they will still be there. What they need is our society’s concern.

Recently, I have been reading a book called “The Red Badge of Courage”. There is one part which describes the war like this: “The thunder of the batteries was heard again. Here and there flags splashed bits of sc.12530 warm color over the dark lines of soldiers. Henry felt glad and excited. He listened to the noises that come from many directions. He realized then that the fighting was going on everywhere. As he looked around him, Henry felt a sudden flash of surprise at the pure blue sky and the sunlight glittering on the trees and fields. It surprised him to think that Nature was calmly going on with her business while men were doing their best to destroy each other.”

I am deeply moved by this sc.12530 scene. Why do people become enemies? As the newspaper said, “The fact that every individual seeks his own fulfillment leads to competition and mistrust, thus to war. Men are selfish by nature. All desire, power, riches, knowledge and honor lead to war.” I have the same idea with it. The war needs peace. The war only results in hate, fight, and just so much terrible things. I hope such things like what the USA have done to Iraq and Afghanistan will never happen again. There is little sc12530 ecourse in the world, but human beings are still wasting it without thinking it over. I am always imagining there will be an end to the world.


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Love with English

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

The impact that English has to our life is beyond words. It is one of the major courses to kids ever since they start their primary schools. In some areas, teachers even get toddlers fumbling with A.B.C in kindergartens. With Olympics being held in Beijing in 2008 and World Exposition in Shanghai 2010, English spree seems not going to die out very soon but will continue to grow.

Faith, action and patience are the key elements in pursing our hobby

As this hobby is quite different from sh12530 others, we should therefore, need to work out a plan to make the hobby more practical. To me, this hobby requires faith, action and patience. Let’s talk about faith first. I trust you all agree with me that confidence and faith on ourselves should be the first step when you start our journey. This is more like “love-taking”. If you don’t think you can fall in love with a boy or a girl, what’s the point to try it. After all, you are just wasting your time.

Well, don’t feel depressed. sh.12530 You are more than right to continue your “love” with English. How to do it? Well, easy! Just treat it as a hobby. If you look at the people around you, you will see almost all of them have hobbies. Some of them like sports, some like shopping, some enjoy playing majian… The list can go on and on. So, what’s wrong to treat it as your hobby? I know this sounds very bizarre to many people, but who cares.

To some people, it’s a sh.12530 big release, when seeing themselves graduate from the university and they don’t need to touch English anymore. Kiss you, bye-bye, someone exclaimed. While to some others, miserable is how they describe themselves. After years and years of study, some people, including me, still want continue their “love” with English. “I can’t just throw it away as I do with a textbook,” someone said here in this BBS. So, what to do then?

Once we decide what our hobby sh12530 is, it’s vital important that we need to take a good look at this particular “hobby”. As we all know, it consists of four major components – listening, speaking, reading and writing. It’s almost not practical to try to be perfect with all these four pillars. (Remember, I define it as a hobby, not a career.) So, ask yourself what you really want to pursue. If you are fond of translation, go for it. If you choose reading, well, why not?


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