Seriously exciting day

I don't even know how to start writing this. I had a real crazy day packed with events of all sorts which I've never experienced before.

So the day started with lessons - I had a most interesting introduction to the life of Confucius (and when I say "interesting" I'm not being sarcastic), and then Calligraphy class! It feels surreal to pick up my brush to write again, but of course my Calligraphy is a horror to behold. Xiaoyun came to join me in the class so afterwards we went for lunch together.

>>Fastforward>>

I went to see a 天津泥人张彩塑exhibition at the Centennial Memorial Hall, expecting to be wowed, but was seriously disappointed by the quality of the sculptures displayed. They don't even have a single piece of the work of the original 泥人张 sculptor. Okay I shall stop talking about unhappy stuff.

>>Fastforward>>

After Xiaoyun and I parted ways, I changed my plans to go back to my room and went photo-taking around the school instead. Will upload the pictures sometime soon. PKU is really beautiful, and you can be in a modern zone (even newer than NUS' Prince George's Park) five minutes before, then wander into a "seventies" zone at the foreign students' dorm, then walk two centuries back into history at some other areas.

What happened around Weiming Lake (未名湖) was that I lost my way - kind of - and wandered onto this patch of isle in the middle of the lake. I was looking around the place and stopped to look at some strange words written on the floor with red wax. Then there was this old man who was sitting at a bench who stood up to talk to me and ask me if I am a student around here.

Alright, normally I would hurriedly answer his questions and run away, but today I just felt that he is safe to talk to and I just wandered into a conversation with him. The conversation lasted for more than two hours and we talked about many many things. It turned out that he's an old professor who was a PKU alumnus who stayed on to teach English at PKU after graduation. He's now 78 and retired, living at an off-campus apartment (the area owned by PKU). His daughter is married to an American and she's in the US now, so he stays with a post-graduate student. I don't know how to describe how amazing that encounter was, and the professor gave me his phone numbers for future contact. Do you know that he uses QQ (something like ICQ) and SKYPE? He chats with young intellectuals online, omg. And I told him that even my parents have no idea how to use the internet (and they are two decades younger than he is). I saw him back to his apartment and saw the young lady staying with him. He asked me to stay for a bit but I said I'll visit him another day, since it was getting dark. I will visit him again.

On my way back to Shaoyuan, I realized that I was supposed to meet Bryna and the rest of a Bible Study group for dinner - which I'm thankfully just in time for. The whole load of us went to this steamboat restaurant at Wudaokou 五道口 and had expensive food. Hurhur *feels empty wallet* There at the restaurant we met Xiaoyun and the other Law people from NUS - all of them I know(!!!) - XY had invited me to join them for dinner but I had agreed to Bryna's invitation first. What a great coincidence it was! I'd be at the same restaurant no matter whose invitation I accepted XD

A PRC girl Xiaojing who was supposed to join us for the dinner fainted (for no reason) in the bathroom, and her friend actually called one of us on our way to the restaurant. So after the dinner we went to visit her.

While we were there at Xiaojing's place, her friend, Yang Lin (also one of the BS group members) , realized that she lost her bag. So Yang Lin and one of the guys went out to look for her bag. They returned and discovered that someone took all the money in the wallet, one of her ATM cards and her passport. Yang Lin called to report the loss of the card and the other side told her that they are synchronizing all the banks or something, so she can only report loss at 2am! Horrors!! Her hometown is in Nanjing, so she could only get her passport replaced there! T___T There were loads of stuff that could only be settled tomorrow... yearghs...

After we came out of Xiaojing's place, we went to walk around the night market area at Wudaokou - the other girls were looking at pretty earrings and I was wandering aimlessly. We flagged down a cab back to Shaoyuan, only to realize later that the driver was drunk. He was saying all sorts of weird things and weird actions. Actually, I only thought that he was behaving strangely, but I didn't actually realize that he was drunk. I'm really too slow for safety's sake!

This is the close of the crazy night. I hope to sleep well...

勺园的这几位

警卫小哥是我们勺园二号楼的大厅警卫。这个外号是我为了写blog给他起的，因为他是那么的年轻，我甚至觉得他看起来像是个高中学警。

每天看着他站在大厅，每每有人走过就看一眼，大部分时间都站得笔直。但当我向他点点头，小小地微笑一下，他脸上竟然浮上了一种不算是惊讶也不是欣喜的表情，忙不迭地向我小小地点了点头，让我想起小学生在路上看见老师的紧张模样。我想，路过的人，可能大部分时间都把他当透明人。也许，他不习惯别人承认他的存在。

日间，在传达室轮班看着勺园三号楼的有两位老师（不是教师，但我们一般上称呼为老师）。短头发的那位刚开始时还会咧开嘴笑着回应我的微笑。不知什么时候开始，这样的回应剩下了瞟过半秒的眼神和爱理不理。我并不是觉得自己是什么要起立欢迎的大人物，我只是纳闷这样的转变，甚至觉得很难受，这几天都绕道从另一个楼梯口下去，不想面对那样冷漠的改变。

另外一位是长头发的老师，她的表情总是很淡然的。我刚开始向她打招呼时，她只是很酷地看着我。过了几天，我赶着去上课时冲下楼梯，她刚好在传达室外，还问我：“上课吗？”我说：是的，不过睡过了头，快迟到了。她笑了笑。“老师再见！”她也说了再见。昨天我叫了外卖，是她接待了外送员，打电话到我房间去。外送员是个很憨傻的小哥，不知道我是不是那个叫了外卖的人，愣了半天。长发老师很有耐心地帮助他向我确认，结账时有点小小的数字问题她也帮助我们理清了。“他还着急呢，叫我打了两次电话。小伙子老实。”老师笑着说，语气让我想起了和蔼的大婶。

短发老师和长发老师是每天轮班的。知道是短发老师轮班的时候，我总会下意识地绕到二号楼的楼梯口下去，不想看见她的冷漠。可是，看见警卫小哥那种很青涩的紧张表情，我又觉得不好意思。而且，我也害怕警卫小哥这样珍惜别人微笑的紧张表情，会逐渐变成短发老师的那种习惯了的“瞟一眼”。

也许大部分的人把值班的老师、警卫小哥都当成透明人，都不会像我一样尴尬了。然而，我想，我还是会选择微笑。

像她这样一个女孩

她叫名月，是个日本女孩，十九岁。她个儿很小，过肩长发蓬蓬松松的，脸蛋白白净净看不到一点瑕疵，更显得她的眼珠子乌黑深邃。

报到那天，她是自己一个人来的。她不会说汉语，还好报到处的老师会说日语。

因为学太极拳，对中文产生了兴趣，居然就跑到北京来学汉语。
你要问我，我可不会因为喜欢俄罗斯的膝盖舞就一个人跑去俄罗斯。

来了北京要两个星期了，她还不知道可以在哪里买手机，意味着她很可能连在这里的同乡都很难联系到。这个小小的女孩子，晚上回到有些远的住处去觉得害怕，要问了她才知道。连可以在哪里买手机，她都像是要鼓起很大的勇气才问得出口。约她出去买手机，她把头点得很快—原来真的没有人告诉她该怎么做。

小个儿的名月，你会惶恐吗？你白净无暇的小脸蛋很平静，但实际上很多时候，你听不懂别人在说什么。当你一字一顿地对我说：“学习汉语，对我来说，很难。”我的心不由得为你跳了一下。名月，你知道吗？你是一个很勇敢、很勇敢的女孩。你是如何地在一个陌生的土地上，听着你只听得懂一点点的陌生语言，接触着你不熟悉的人和事？也许你像我一样，会在寂寞无人的时候悄悄地流泪，但你还是比我勇敢很多。

你可以走得很远，你可以鹏程万里。

祝福你，名月。

十六岁的花季

十六岁的花季
席慕容

在陌生的城市里醒来
唇间仍留着你的名字
爱人我已离你千万里
我也知道
十六岁的花季只开一次
但我仍在意裙裾的洁白
在意那一切被赞美的
被宠爱与抚慰的情怀
在意那金色的梦幻的网
替我挡住异域的风霜
爱原来是一种酒
饮了就化作思念
而在陌生的城市里
我夜夜举杯
遥向着十六岁的那一年

虽然我早已不是十六岁，也没有过真正的爱人，但席慕容的诗句仍然不断地敲击着我的心。也许在陌生的城市里，我开始再次追寻我灵魂中的诗意。

冬日。未名湖畔

女孩，你为何下了课，不去吃饭，不回房间去，独自一人在寥寥数人的未名湖边散步？当年轻的你，望向未名湖面初化的冰，会想些什么呢？有太阳照耀的冬日午间，是很舒服的。你悠悠在湖边小路上漫步，在湖边长凳上坐下，感受脸上的冰凉，冬日照在头顶上的温暖。

女孩，湖面初现的湖水，什么时候映入了你的眼睛？湖面的冰，什么时候在你眼眶里融化了？

此时此刻，女孩，你在等待什么？

二十岁的他和四十岁的他

二十岁的他，让你觉得他是跃动着的红炉火。他是如此的光彩照人，如此地热烈。他的爱恨写在脸上，在他的谈吐中舞动着。他是如此地让人难以捉摸，闪烁着忽明忽暗。你永远不知道这一炉红火什么时刻会静止在暗红的火炭中，让你想取暖时只能得到一丝丝微弱的火星。你永远不知道这一炉红火什么时刻会忽地窜出火苗，焚烧你那脆弱而毫无防备的心。

四十岁的他，让你觉得他是瓦斯炉上纯青的焰。他静静地、悄悄地燃烧着。他的谈吐那么温文，他的笑那么亲切。然而你知道他的平静里蕴含着极大的热，你也知道幼小的你无法触及承受那样的热。你只能选择在一旁感受着他持续而稳定的温度，让他静静温暖你受创而冰凉的心。

和四十岁的他谈话是很舒服的。他已过而立之年、不惑之年，对于世上你难以理解难以接受的事儿，他已经学会从容面对。然而，他依然年轻的脸上，眼角边悄悄纹上的笑纹里，没有岁月的沧桑。当他叙述他那不可思议的年轻往事，你像个小孩一样笑着听他说，并惊艳地发现他的胸膛里跳动的还是一颗年轻的心。当他以淡定的包容听着你的过犯、你的幼稚，有淡淡地、说故事一般地讲述他自己的事儿，你并不会觉得自己萎缩地矮了一大截，只会觉得他的忍耐让他高大了许多许多。他静静的分享教导了你，你却不觉得他老气、说教，只会从他的耐心里，学会重新发现纯净自然的你自己。

和二十岁的他谈话，你觉得你的心一直在悸动。你期盼每一个和他相处的时刻，你期盼他说的每一句话。你觉得你是爱他的，但你现在又不确定你是否还爱着他。也 许就像电视剧里的一样，你爱他，只不过是一个习惯，一个像早上起来就要喝一杯水一样的习惯。你回味他带给你的甜蜜，现在只觉得是一种蜜糖般的甜腻。四十岁的他，像一杯甘然的红茶。你知道你需要的不是蜜糖，不只是红茶，而是掺了蜜糖的红茶，甘然中体会清甜。你觉得你曾经爱过二十岁的他，而且是不顾一切地去爱他。你现在决定忘记。你知道你不爱四十岁的他，你也知道你不能爱他。你决定珍惜。

二十岁的他，带给了你短暂的甜蜜，绵长的泪水。
四十岁的他，带给了你持久的沉思，细细的回味。

二十岁的他，让你拥有了曾经炽骨难忘的激情。他成了你绵长泪水的泉源。
四十岁的他，让你重新温暖了心。他成了你细细回味的，山崖上的一株香松。

女孩，你和二十岁的他没有现在，你和四十岁的他没有未来。女孩，在未名湖逐渐融化的冰面上，在北京即将过去的冬天里，让你的恐惧，你的忧虑，你的泪水随着融化的冰、随着逝去的冬天，让一切该过去的都过去吧。来临的春天，带着二十岁的他给了你的甜蜜微笑，带着四十岁的他给你的沉思，带着你自己独有的光和热，迎接属于你自己的现在，追求属于你自己的未来。

女孩，回去好好地睡吧。我们在春天的未名湖畔见。

忽冷忽热

Actually this is supposed to be a reply to Jieming's message on Shoutmix but it became too long, so I post it here instead:

Seriously, the temperature's been fluctuating like crazy. It can be -3 degrees one day and 11 degrees another, then on the following day it dips to 1 degrees again. It's mad, really. I have to check the weather reports online every now and then to prepare myself mentally (or not go out at all if I could). According to knowing people, these are signs that it's going to get warmer, so I should be glad about that.

Traumatized. Been popping lozenges and sore-throat medicine since yesterday. It doesn't help that the room is really dry and I wake up with parched throat all the time. If there's an illness which I hate completely, it's getting sore-throat. Flu with endless mucus, I can tolerate, or stop with medicine. Fever, I just sleep through it, with slight headaches here and there but still okay. Sore-throat - you pop medicine and the pain still takes at least two to three days to go away, and you are not sick enough to lie there and do nothing. It's an irritating ailment, really.

小事一桩

有点喉咙痛。

忽然想着，这样的小病痛以前在家里都不当一回事，动不动就去楼下看医生，心里总是想着：还要几天才能好呢？

现在啊，心里急得不得了：会不会变成发烧啊？外面天气这么冷，我上课时还得出去，后天好不了的话还有到晚上9点的课，走回来时气温应该是零下几度了吧？感冒会不会更严重啊？这里看医生很贵的，能不看还是不要看的好。等会儿到药房去买药吧。

原来没有人照顾是这么凄凉的一件事，一点点小问题就算了，如果发烧重病就可真是孤立无援了。

独立可真不好玩。

Notes from a class I enjoy

I think I'm intellectually masochistic or something. Both lectures for this class started with me feeling like I'm swimming in an inky sea of philosophical thesis statements, copying notes that I don't really understand, or don't understand at all.

Then the ink started to clear and I suddenly see a whole world of sense. There's a very strong sense of satisfaction in understanding the class - and the lecturer (Professor Cao Wenxuan) speaks so poetically, like he's giving a speech or a presentation of a beautiful essay. He has stories and beautiful parables.







Extra note: A girl stood up suddenly in class today and argued with Professor Cao regarding one of his points. Actually I pretty much agree with Professor Cao's point so I felt that she was being too impulsive about her arguments. Professor Cao had to tell her that it's not a discussion class and for her to sit down, but she was very agitated and rattled on before she eventually sat down (after repeated instructions from the professor).

About eye candies and such

There's an extraordinary number of good-looking people around here in Shaoyuan (foreign student dorm). I mean seriously. The really pretty Asian girls in class are usually Korean or Japanese. The Caucasian guys around here are *whistles* super eye candies, and I mean it in generic terms. Haha... I love peeking at good-looking people ^o^

More than "ni hao ma?"

Okay I wanna have kids. Because cooking for one person is just too wasteful. I'm the sort who likes home/self-cooked food.

Anyway, that was a random thought that had been following me since this morning. Haha. Things like this happen - some thought will pop into my head and I would think: How do I blog this? And that thought will follow me until I blog it. =)

This morning I talked to a Russian girl (from Moscow) who lives two doors away from me (I see her quite often at the washing facilities) - she's also from the Chinese faculty (!) and has a Chinese name (!!). We conversed purely in Mandarin. Later, my roomie Xiaoyun and I went to lunch together and as we were returning to the dorm, a gorgeous blond girl with an Afro-American looking guy asked us about the general direction to a canteen. She talked to us in Mandarin and XY told her that she could speak to us in English. She said, smiling, “我不一定是英国人。” (I may not be British.) This "OoOPs!" alarm went off in our heads and it turned out that she's French. We don't know if she was offended, since it felt natural for us to speak to Caucasians in English, but obviously Chinese is really the common language here.

The cultural diversity here is truly amazing, and like XY said, it felt really weird to be speaking to the Caucasians in Mandarin, but the fact is that a lot of them speak better Mandarin than most Singaporean Chinese. That's something for us to think about.

China BeiJing Pan Jia Yuan (PanJiaYuan) antique market

This video says most of what I saw.

潘家园旧货市场！

If you ever come to Beijing looking for old, "Chinese-y" things, Pan Jia Yuan weekend market is the place for you! Went there on both Saturday and Sunday, since it's so near to my Granduncle's place (which I stayed at for the weekend), with my Dad looking for various things and simply seeing it as it is. It is huge, it is old, it is much more organized than it was before (according to Dad).

If you want Mao's little red books, there are about 4 to 5 stalls (or more?) for that; If you want funny antique toys (the ones made of tin and runs on clockwork), there are half a dozen of those; If you want stones and trinkets of any sort - well, I didn't bother counting. They have so many old book stalls lined up on the border that I think it'll take me another weekend or two to look through properly.

I didn't bring a camera so I don't have pictures, but there are dozens of angmo sites online that raves about this market, so you can just Google "Pan Jia Yuan".

I haggled with a stall holder and bought 3 pretty Pashmina shawls for RMB70 (SGD13.79) - you can't even get one shawl for that price in Singapore! The most ridiculous thing about the haggling was that the first stall I approached wanted to charge me RMB100 for one shawl, which is obviously crazy. As my dad and I walked away, the stall holder was like, "How about 80?" As I walked further I could hear her say, "30!!!" LOL, now we know how far we can really haggle. What I heard from friends was to haggle from half the price offered, but now the case was obviously not so. It was a little painful to haggle so low (the stall holder was all, "I can't cover my losses like this!") , but my Grandaunt later assured me that I could have gotten the shawls at RMB10 per. This is scary.

疏离

也许因为在一个遥远的地方，远离了纷乱情感的源头，渐渐将这一切归于平淡。
也许过去没有，但现在可以了。认定可以放下过去，可以用客观冷静的态度看待过去的人和事。知道失去的已经失去，失去了也未必是失去，想要的也决定放弃。

也许我可以真正迎接一个新的开始。

欢迎来到2008年。

Homing instincts

It's really, really great to know Singaporeans here! Been having lunch and dinner with some of them and it felt good to have someone who speaks in your own accent and who can show you the ropes around the place. Just now Michelle came over to give me some chocolates she bought from New York - which made me feel very welcomed indeed~

Oh, and I have legal internet connection now! Haha.... It's definitely more safe and faster than the stolen wireless network and does not cause guilty consciences~ =p I still can't visit my own blog nor see sites like Wikipedia and WordPress, though. It's gotta be the country's censorship. Hais.

Anyway, I've also settled my Campus card and meal card, which means I am now free to go anywhere in the school! Yippee! All is left is the bus card, which works just like EZ-link card in Singapore XD

This weekend I'll be going back to my Granduncle's place, which means I'll miss the pot-luck session which is a Singaporean gathering! Also, some of the girls are going to 五道口服装市场, which is a huge shopping area with lots and lots of cheap clothes, according to what my roomie Xiaoyun told me~ T___T Next time, perhaps!

Settling into the classes - some of them are really thought-stimulating whereas in some I could not understand the lecturers' accents! T_T I should really fight for front-row seats next time~

Getting used to the cold, cold air around here - or maybe 'cause it's getting warmer over here =)

I'm doing pretty well over here now, hope everyone's fine back at home! Drop me a message any time!

NDP Re-lived!!

OKAY I JUST HAD THE MOST AMAZING TIME EVER.

First things first - Prayers were answered! Prayed very hard to get to know people whom I can talk to, and today Singaporeans just popped up all over the place, I mean, SERIOUSLY.

The whole load of about ten plus of us went to SET OFF FIREWORKS. We started off with the itsy-bitsy ones, then the huge NDP ones, which is like ZOMG AMAZING YOU HAVE A MINI-NDP HAPPENING RIGHT OVER YOUR HEAD!!

Hahahahaha I'm so mad with excitement now I think I can't sleep. XP

Time for some photos!!

It's about time you guys see my living conditions. Click the photos to enlarge!


This be the corridor leading up to my room. Scary? They don't turn the lights on until late evening, so it does get very dark.



This is the part of the room that I stay in. That is my roommate's half - now colonized and mine! I try to leave the bed alone, though, because she'd be coming back nearer to the exams. Doesn't look too bad right? It's quite comfortable and clean, which is enough for me. =)


The view out of my window. The pond (left of the picture) was frozen over when I came - I think the ice should be melting already. The other side of the window view has trees, trees and trees. I bet it'd be really pretty when all the leaves grow back.


I live in extremely close proximity to the various washing facilities, which is a bonus, actually. Okay, if you look at the toilet and wonder why there are male urinals in it - I have no explanation for that. I can only tell you that it really is the female toilet. (Maybe they convert it to a male toilet if that part of the level gets converted into the male living area.) You know, they actually write on the toilet doors using markers that we should throw all of the toilet paper into the bin - flushing too much toilet paper clogs the pipes. So you can imagine how pleasant it would be to smell other people's (and your own) stuffs each time you visit the toilet. For girls I think it's worse 'cause there's, erm, blood.


When we talk about "Wash Room" here, we are not talking lavatory or W.C. or Ladies. We are seriously talking about Wash Room. It's a place for you to, duh, wash your things. We wash our faces, brush teeth, wash clothes, utensils and everything and anything else that needs washing - here. It's not quite bad, actually, even if it looks so old.


This is where I get my life-saving hot water from everyday. The showers are just next to it.


This is a sign on the door. It's more like a Rubbish Room, actually. I can't even bear to hold it open long enough to snap a photo for you all to see. It's that bad. It's so bad that a lot of people don't even want to open it. They just dump their trash bags outside the door or around the Wash Room bins - which is why the Wash Room smells bad sometimes, especially if people threw biodegradable food stuffs without packing them in.


My food desk! Look at how much food I've stocked! Seriously, without the Campus Card (which I'll be getting today), I can't eat at most cafeterias in school! It's depressing, really. Notice how I've installed a humidifier (the "smoking" thing) - it makes the room more livable and so that I've less blood in my nose every morning I wake up.


Room temperature! Pretty comfortable, won't you say? Just like air-con. The round dial thing at the bottom is a humidity meter, the "green" zone from 45 to 75 is the optimal humidity range for people - it used to be below 20, before I installed the humidifier.


Books I brought along to read! The collection has expanded a little, due to recent purchases, and will continue to expand!


AN APPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY!!

I'm cold here and it's not just physical

For one thing, now I am truly close to fully understanding what foreign students feel in a place so far away from home. It is very lonely here. People don't speak to each other in the hostel unless they are room-mates. The most we do is to smile at each other - and that is good enough already, because not even salespeople in the school bother to smile at you. There's not much economic competition in the school, so obviously you've got to pay them whether you like their service or not. Step out of school and you get a whole different commercial world altogether. It's rather sad, really, that smiling is actually some sort of a commodity around here. I used to think Singapore is like that, you know, but now I realize that Singaporeans are actually sincere people.

Please be nice to the foreign students that you have around you. Talk to them if it doesn't bother you too much. Better so, befriend them. Because it's going to be the best thing ever that they will have away from home. Having someone to talk to - even someone who may not be all smiles and hospitality - is very comforting, and I don't have words to emphasize this enough.

Four words: Stick To Gas Stoves

Okay folks, I certainly hope that I've not destroyed my pot. I've only just begun my (hopefully) 5 months with it. The memory of it is almost too painful to recall. Let's just say that nobody told me that "Frying" mode on the electric stove is actually also "Turns Your Pot Too Hot Before You Can React" mode. My omelette is more like a "Black-Bottom-Side-Up" and I did not use soya sauce at all. Now I really understand why there's an entire row of pots sitting in the Wash Room. It's certainly not because their owners are lazy.

Know why I'm so #&$*#& about it? I PRIDE MYSELF ON MY OMELETTES back at home. To know that I've successfully created a Sucky-Side-Up is pure humiliation.

Well. At least the noodles weren't too bad.

--

The earlier part of my day was better. I met up with brother Dongfeng for a stroll around PKU and lunch. Okay, okay, I'm really excited about this, but he's way more interesting and well, interesting than I've imagined.

Actually when he called me yesterday after I sent him a message about my new hp number, I was a little shocked because (1) I hadn't expected him to call and (2) he sounded quite young. Then he offered to drive me to Jiaotong University to see his counselling room, which shocked me again because I'm not too sure about going out of school with a stranger. So I asked him if we could just meet in PKU for lunch since it's just our first meeting. We walked around PKU, where he introduced me to some of the important sites in the school lake area, had lunch and really good conversation.

Where do I start? He's 44 but has a youthful twinkle to his eyes that made me feel that he's more 20+ than 44? Or that he's one of the rare few people who echoes my thoughts very well and yet elevates my respect for his intellectuality to a totally new level? Or that he's really unconventional and yet committed to the Lord? Or that he has taught me through his sharing to reflect on the depth and width of my thinking? Or that he shared his funny testimony about how he wandered into a church one night after being accidentally drunk, and thereafter started 6 years of sitting in the church listening to sermons and Bible classes before coming to the Lord? He said that he was converted through liquor. XD

Okay I'm gushing hahaha =p But we parted ways this afternoon leaving me in spiritual revitalization and thoughts. He also offered to be my Quiet Time mentor - just how amazing is that? I almost can't wait to meet him again.

Things that he got me to think about - not that he asked me to think about it, but just things that came up in our conversations:

1. On Christians' standing in social issues like bribery and plagiarism, which can actually be grey areas.
   
2. Christian testimony - what can evangelism actually be?
3. The intellectual status quo of PKU - which is censored topic, really.
4. About how much more humble I should really be, in reflection to his attitude towards the same issues/situations that I faced.

Next time... next meeting... =D

Oh, and classes start tomorrow! I love how we (visiting students) can just go to any lecture that we want to and choose which modules that we want to do the examinations for, in a month's time~ There are no tutorials so we are really free to go anywhere. =D

How was your day?

Some interesting observations around the place:

1) We (foreign students) were in front of the dormitory building waiting for them to take us elsewhere. There was this cleaner who was waiting for the lot of us to clear out of the space - he's holding the broom and dustpan so I assumed that he was going to sweep the floor after we leave. Then he spat on the floor. Funny. I thought he was supposed to clean the place.

2) I was on my way back to the dorm after shopping at the supermart. There's this guy who cycled in my direction - he was wearing a face mask and I thought: how health conscious, maybe he couldn't stand the smoky Beijing air. Then he pulled down his face mask and put a cigarette to his mouth.

3) Sales people here talk really fast but do work really slow. They actually look grumpy if you buy too many things for them to pack.

Huddled in

I can't wait to have international internet! It's really cold outside there today so I don't feel like braving the cold to explore the campus yet - will wait until the weather's warmer or when I get used to the temperature. Will not do to fall sick now, right?

Have a lot of time alone today - might venture out to see some stores later or tomorrow (I discovered the Xinhua Bookshop in PKU).

I posted this using stolen Wireless!

Reached Beijing yesterday at around 3.30pm. My dad's friend Uncle Jia drove us to my Granduncle's place to stay overnight. Thank God that the weather was better than it was before - around 4 degree celsius, which is definitely better than the sub-zero temperatures the days before. Of course, it was still really cold!

First thing I learned at PKU (Peking University) was to live with cumbersome administration. My Dad and Uncle Jia brought me to PKU Shaoyuan, which is the foreign student dorm building, for entry administration. This was what happened:

We entered the building (Block 3) and there was a room immediately next to the entrance which had a sign that deals with student entry. Went in and showed my letter of admissions to the pretty young lady there and was told to go to Room 124. At Room 124, someone told me to go to Room 123 to settle tuition fees. I told her that we were told to come here. So I endured waiting in turn for about seven to eight foreign students to settle their admin. When it was nearly my turn, a lady asked to see my letter of admission, and told me that I should go to Room 109. At Room 109, I lined up for a few minutes before someone looked at my letter and told me I should be at Room 108 first.

So we finally got something done at Room 108 - settled some documents. Then - Room 123 again, to settle tuition fees, which were actually already settled via scholarship. But they just want the finance people to verify my scholarship and sign on the Registration Checklist. Then - Room 109 again, to verify somemore stuff regarding the legality of my residence in China. Then - we went across to Block 1 to get my room and room keys. My room is at Block 3 - we went back there again, this time with 30+ kg worth of luggage and hauled them up to the 4th floor. Sorry babes, no lifts. I don't know how much we owe Uncle Jia now for lugging that 22 kg case up 4 floors.

When Uncle Jia and my Dad stayed in my room to discuss the plans across the next few days, my room-mate Xiaoyun came. She's also from NUS. Told me that she is staying off-campus with her friends but is keeping the room as an "emergency/spare room". So guess what, I've got the whole room to myself! I wonder how many people had this happen to them. Haha.

I'm quite fine with the room, even though the furniture are quite old. The bedsheets are fresh and newly provided. I might not survive the shower facilities, though. >_< I've a feeling that the floor tiles have not been changed since the construction of the hostel - which is eh... 30 years ago? Or was it longer? It doesn't help that it is really cold. No wonder my Grandaunt told me that I should only shower once or twice per week.

After my Dad and Uncle Jia went off, I did some tinkling around with the laptop - we have free broadband connection in the room! However, I can only connect to the school site without a log-in id. Even after logging in, we can only access China sites. We've got to go to the Computer Center to register (and pay) for international sites access. So you would see this blog entry really late even though the date says 14th Feb. Yours truly is currently typing in Notepad! Makes me miss the anytime-anywhere wireless access in NUS campus and the really fast broadband at home =)

[EDIT] I caught this wireless network which accesses foreign sites! O_O Thing is, I can save in Blogger but I can't actually see my blog. I can access my Shoutmix from its homesite, though, so I'll still see your message if you leave me one. =) Tell me if this entry shows up so that I know that I can continue to steal the wireless network know that the wireless access worked. [/EDIT]

I did my first out-door venture alone in search of dinner! The student cafeterias require student cards (which I do not have yet) and the public restaurants are not open until tomorrow due to CNY holidays. So I went out of school to.... *drumrolls* ... KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN. Sounds silly right?! I come all the way to China to eat KFC. But their KFC is cheap, haha - a meal + extra red tea is RMB29, which is approximately SGD5~6 - you would probably have to buy a combination like that for SGD6~8 back in Sg. =)

Oh yah, since my roomie has very kindly surrendered her space to me, I use her study desk as my "Food Table". I will do my very best to stock up nice foods and maybe even breakfast things so I can prepare my own breakfast as I always do~~~

So you see, I'm making myself quite at home here. I would like to think of myself as being very adaptable, but the truth is that the lack of a roomie makes it easier, somehow ^^;; I don't have to ask questions like - "Eh... do you mind if I hang up my underthings in the room...?" or "Do you mind if I wake up at 6am, even though you sleep at 4am?" Also, I have my laptop and books - more of the laptop, actually. ^_^ I'm such an incorrigible urban potato.

I'm having something here you guys don't - CHEWING GUM!!!! *Guffaws unrepentantly* There's a supermarket pretty close to the hostel and it really has most stuff I need. =)

Other Suaku notes:

Do you know that they set off fireworks every night here? I think it starts from the first day of Chinese New Year and will last till 15th. To think watching fireworks two times in a year in Sg is like a luxury!

无怨的青春

无怨的青春
席慕容

在年青的时候 如果你爱上了一个人
请你一定要温柔地对待她
不管你们相爱的时间有多长或多短
若你们能始终温柔地相待
那麽 所有的时刻都将是一种无暇的美丽
若不得不分离 也要好好地说一声再见
也要在心里存著感谢
感谢她给了你一份记意
长大了之後 你才会知道
在蓦然回首的一刹那
没有怨恨的青春 才会了无遗憾
如山岗上那静静的晚月

To Pack:

A heart full of gratitude =)

快飞咯

就快离开新加坡了，第一次要离开家超过2个星期，到一个不算陌生、却也不是很熟悉的地方去。妈妈说，家里真是平静，不像我要离开5个月的感觉。5个月而已嘛，很快就回来了。以后可能要出国留学，那不是要更久吗？想念是会想念，想念可爱的包菜们，想念爸爸妈妈，想念亲爱的奶奶，想念新加坡满地都有的熟食中心，想念新加坡的安全感……

夜了，晚安。

Work in advance

Currently editing a collection of essays written by foreign students in 北京交通大学 (Beijing Jiaotong University), courtesy of brother Dongfeng (will explain in further detail who he is after I meet him in Beijing). Editing brings back so many memories of my relief teaching days. The students have little or no foundation in Chinese prior to studying in Beijing, so their language is very simple.

I can't help but marvel at how serious they are about reading and acquiring vocabulary. Even after learning Chinese for nearly twenty years of my life, there are still vocabulary that they used which I could not understand. And I checked up those vocabulary and realized that those are actual terms in existence, which means I have a long way to go in learning.