Eh...

花开
我想家，但没有家。
我想走，但从哪走。
没有根，花何以开？

我等
在剑与墙的中间我等。
不能后退也不能前进。
时间能救我而释放呢？

IUP!!

中国的防火墙又坏了吗？好久我的博客是打不开的，但是现在看似一点儿问题都没有。好像这个blogspot是一直能打开的。我身经百战，我输给中国的网盾。现在才是到了，它让我打开才能打开。

你看到我最新的英文文章吗？上周五晚上我跟我的姐夫一起坐了火车到北京。他想去北京为了旅游。不过，我想去是为了陪他。那天我们去北京是我姐夫第一次在中国坐火车。恰好我跟他在一起因为那天的火车只有"无座” 票。如果他第一次在中国一个没座位坐过火车的话，那就不行。他很可能立即去到别的，比较好的国家旅游。不管怎样我决定了陪他到北京。我们两个人站立了十二个小时才到了北京。好在他带了一台折叠自行车，我们在火车上的时候，他的自行车就是我们的位置。

那么，我不瞒你们说，我陪了他去北京并不是因为我是一个好心肠的人，我也有我自己的议程。我跟他去北京是因为我有面试。陪我的姐夫到北京，顺便在北京作面试不是一举两得的事吗？你不要回答，当然是的。

到了北京之后，我们都很困，alex（我的姐夫）马上的和他"沙发冲浪运动“的网友联系了。他的网友英文叫elly，我在她那里住了两天。。。现在我不知道alex还是住在她那里。。。Elly不仅是一个非常好的主人，而且是十分热情。我很快把她当作朋友了。

虽然这次我在北京连一个名胜古迹的地方我都没去，但是比上次更有意思的。这只是因为我不是一个人旅游，而是跟朋友一起玩儿，一起聊天儿。我也认识了几个朋友，尤其最好的就是我的主人。他们都比我大一些。他们由于比我大，都能够帮助我了解一下对他们看来世上最大生活的问题。希望我能记住他们给我的一些建议。

我的面试呢？结果怎么样？我通过了，我差点儿没通过了，可是无论任何下个学期我会参加IUP在清华大学学汉语项目。我作面试的时候我有一点儿失望。这不是因为我没通过，是因为我对我自己的汉语水平失望。我期待下学期的剧烈学习气氛，不下苦功夫学好中文，怎么行？只要学习中文一直到头晕了才好：）

北京的污染~~~很深很深的吸入一口吧

88

Back once more

Yes, my blog was once again shut down from me, but i'm back now for the moment and figured i should make another post.

My life here has not been so bad these days. I have given up all hope of gaining anything out of my classes, but that doesn't mean that i still can't learn Chinese here. I just figure i can relax for now, chill with my Korean classmates and prepare for my next semester.

~~~~~flashback....flashback.....flashback~~~~~~

My sister's boyfriend came to visit me here about a week ago, sometimes we don't get along, but this time....this time it was a BLAST. He chilled with me here a few days, the best moments where when he got himself drunk and a entertained a crew of Korean girls that came over to eat, and then we took a night train to Beijing. 12 Hours of standing on a train to Beijing later, we arrived tried as f*ck and still pondering where we would stay. Alex is a big fan of the couchsurfing system and we had already made a few contacts. We were at the time however, in disagreement over who to stay with...the "i go f*ckin' nuts on the weekends" dude, or a seemingly normal chinese girl.

Long story short, we made the right decision, we stayed with the chinese girl, and for my first couchsurfing experience it was great, and i got a new friend out of it. Our host, elly, was very chill and guided us in our wanderings and eatings through Beijing. Although i must say one of the highlights of this trip to Beijing was the bicycle trip Alex and i took around Beijing (check out my killer bike) and getting lost in the process. Yes, we messed up simple english directions which should hae led us the Houhai (后海). We never made it, luckily, we did make it back to elly's apartment.

Anyway the real reason i went to Beijing wasn't to escort Alex, he's a big boy and can find his own way. I went because i had an interview with the IUP Chinese language program at Qinghua U. This is arguable the best language program for teaching foreigners Chinese. In my sleep deprived state, i with my mediocre Chinese skills skidded through the interview and was accepted to study in the spring. The last words out of my interviewers' mouth went something like "我们现在的学生并没有你的汉语水平那么低，但是我觉得你可以来这儿上学" Now, for two days i thought that was insulting, but now i think it has made me uber motivated. I have now interpreted his words to mean that after 4 months of study at IUP, my chinese will improve to a level incomparable to the present (i hope/pray/dream). In fact, this is why i no longer care about my remaining weeks of study here, i will continue as usually, because i know come January 8th, i will be swamped with soo much chinese (just like the summer) that my head may very well implode...that makes me smile

As usually, i am not fixing any english grammar mistakes, please ignore them. Enjoy for now.


This man is way too happy about his hemorrhoids

i slipped off a jug

enough said. If you understand what this means, please cry with me.

王维的诗歌

“独在异乡为异客”

上面的一句话就是《九月九日忆山东兄弟》的第一句话。刚才我的室友来我的房间给我介绍一下这首唐代诗歌的意义，正好今天是农历九月九日。更巧合的是，这句话有点儿代表我的心情。所谓的”独在异乡为异客“那个人其实就是我。那个孤独住在国外的外地人就是我。

那么，说的孤独的感觉有什么原因？住在中国学汉语基本上是我的一个目的，一个理想。为什么我不满足呢？好像梦想不到的事。
一来，据说，不管是什么事，你都需要下苦功夫才得到成功，我当然相信。世上没有一个没下苦功夫练习功夫的
英雄。。。我所有崇拜的英雄都是练习功夫的，都是人间的高手 ：）在吉大学汉语我们都不必努力学习，只要努力准备考HSK. 对我韩国、日本和俄罗斯同学们来说，考上HSK是他们唯一的目的。我的根本不是，我在这儿的目的是，学好汉语。学好中文是为了什么呢？是为了考上HSK, 或者为了找好的工作，还是为了追中国的女孩儿？应该是为了交流，为了开阔你的眼界吧。很遗憾的是这只是我的看法，因此上课的时候我简直很无聊。再说老师们教的方法也是为了”帮助“我们准备考那个HSK.我受不了，在这个情况下，上课的时候，怎么学好中文？没有什么办法我是无法控制这个情况。最近我就感到了这个无聊的感觉，无聊如懒猫，无聊如懒猪。有的是有无聊是最恐怕的事情，绝对会带来一种孤独，一种寂寞的感觉。

二来，我很想家。我已经很久没在家了，我算六个月差不多。半年没见家人了，半年也没见朋友了。 一个人在“异乡”不得不感到孤独。我在中国的朋友不少，但是朋友是朋友，一个中国朋友不能代替一个美国朋友，朋友绝不能代替家人。关于这一些因素，明摆着我感到了这种又闷有孤独的感觉吗？

好的，我写到这儿吧。 不要写太多，我也不要把这博客变成一种诉苦诉冤的博客。再说，我已经写得太乱了，呵呵一个外国人七乱八糟的文章。如果能看得懂的话，那么你的中文肯定很棒啊。

哦，差点儿忘了，今天有一件事情一定会让我心性快乐，可以参加一个十分有乐趣的活动。今天我会出去攀岩！！呵呵不要发奋学习，那么我就会发奋攀岩啦！

我走了。。。给你看看一些秋天在长春特色“风景，"一个玉米场和我的万圣节装饰

The sweet potato menace

I'm sure you think the title is abit odd. How is the sweet potato a mennace? What wrong can it do? Is it some sort of intruisive plant species? Well, no. It's simple that i ave found myself eating about two a day. They are so warm, and the weather is so called. But i seem to continutally gorge myself on sweet potatos. Case in point, tonight i had lunch...and then a sweet potato. And guess, what. After dinner i had another one, this time it was nearly a 1 pounder. When will the sweet potato stop calling to me, begging me to eat it even when i'm not hungry? At least i suppose it's a better snack than other things, got my fiber, a bunch-o vities. Maybe if i cut it down to one a day i wouldn't feel like such an oinker.

Now on to a completely topic. Over the past weekend i went to visit the Puppet Emperor's Palace (伪皇宫）。This is the Palace Emperor Puyu (溥仪) occupied during the Japanese occupation of Northeast China during the 30's and 40's. I won't get into much of the history, both because i'll probably get it wrong, and becasue i think you all should come to China and see the place for yourself. Oh, how convenient, while you at it you can visit me too!

Moving on, i actually thought this place was more visually pleasing than the Forbidden City. Almost everything appears to be in a more original condition. You can actually get a feel for that time period in China history while you're there. It simple has not been fixed up to a point which would take away from the original feel and atmosphere.


In addition, which makes the palace visit even better, there is a pretty descent exibit onsite detailing the events of the Japanese Invasion of the North East. I have never been to a Holocaust Museum, but i believe this to be the Chinese version of a Holocaust Museum. Even upon entering you are struck with awe, not only by the rather solemn atmosphere, but also by the fact the it seems to be the only place in China with proper english translations. You realize this as soon as you walk in as there two giant characters with read "勿忘“ and it is translated (as far as i know)perfectly into 6 different languages. This is the only place in China that i have seen this sort of effeciency of translation. The rest of the transaltions are just as good, far better than those in the palace, and even the forbidden city. Although i will say the translations toned down the original message quite a bit.

This was the other interesting point about the museum, it really let you know how the Chinese felt about the Japanese at the time (i'm reserving all comments about the present situation/feelings for quite conversation over coffee). They do hold a little bit back in English, but the Chinese (from what i can understand of it) really does a good job of illustratring the sentiments of the period. I do wonder what the Japanese translation says...ｈｍｍｍ？？

eh, so to sum it up...i got to quit eating all those damn deviously delish, mind, body and soul warming sweet potatos, Changchun has a pretty cool palace you should see, and fianlly if you come to china you trip just won't be as fulfilling if you don't visit the Japanese Occupation Museum.

狗不狗？

我从末没说出来我第一天在长春得第一顿饭。我需要写中文因为我不想让我妈妈知道这件事。

我喜欢一个人吃饭，跟我一起吃的人不管是不是好朋友，我还是喜欢一个吃饭。吃反的时候，我跟那一些吃的菜有一个特别好的关系。世上没有人，也没有鬼，能改变这个关系。甚至连一个细腰长腿的美女，也不能改变我跟菜关系。

 

 

我第一天在长春我也是一个人出去吃饭。那天我找到了一个很小的饭馆儿，决定了我想在那里吃饭。一般来说，饭馆儿越小，菜越好吃。难怪我决定了吃那个饭馆儿的菜。外面，没有什特点，窗户里连一个菜单也没有。我想不到他们的特色菜是什么菜. 你猜猜看吧。对，就是狗肉! 我喜欢狗，我喜欢养狗。狗是人类的宠物，是人类的朋友。当然狗并没有猫的好，但是在我看来，基本上狗不是一种菜！我是爱吃的人，我不怕吃东西，越奇怪越好。什么东西都愿意吃。 不过，我不愿意吃朋友，狗也是朋友，我本来就不想吃。怎么会知道，在那个饭馆儿里三个老人不仅会劝酒，而且会劝狗，狗肉，狗爪。那个时候，我真的无路可走，我不是一个无礼的人，我绝不能不喝了几口酒，吃了一些狗肉。虽然我很后悔，但现在我怎么办呢？我现在可以说“我吃过狗肉，” 很遗憾的是我原来不想吃得让我说出来这个句子。

 

 

hmm...现在没有什么有趣的写下来。噢，写完了。。。88



星期五的运动结果
跑步：18：37
马步：4：08 x2
pullup: 3 x 3
dead arm: 15妙
situps: 普拉提;20分钟
dips：10 x2

“苦修、素食、禁欲。。。要做到这三件事，就得付出多么痛苦的代价”

nothing special...only memories

So it's about time for another - terribly grammatically incorrect - update...although this one may be even less interesting than most. At least at the end I'll post my latest workout results for y'all to laugh at (that should keep you reading through the end...)

Anyway, this week was quite boring. I went to class late everyday. Even if i left on time i still couldn't bring myself to walk in that door on time. It's just too boring. All i do these days in class is read my own book. I have realized that all the classes here are not truly intended to teach chinese, rather they are intended to prepare the Korean and Japanese kids for taking the HSK (the chinese equivalent of the TOEFL). Therefore, reading my book in class is far more interesting, and hopefully will prove to be far more beneficial to my studies.

Outside of class life is not too bad these days, just too relaxing and so i must find things to keep me busy...including cooking alot more, just taking random walks, running and working out in the cold, and of course．．．dare i say, shopping. Yes, unlike in the states i have found shopping here quite fun (except for shoes...see the next post), only because you get to bargain (argue) with people over the price.．．it's damn good speaking practice too! I actually went out and bought 2 sweaters and 2 lightweight jackets yesterday...i spent more time bargaining over the prices than i did looking at clothes.

Let me give a brief explanation to help you realize the bargaining situation and time scheme...minute 1: They give you a pretty high price which isn't entirely unreasonable, but you know it's high; min. 1.5: they see the look on your face and immediately discount the price 20-50%. minute 2-4: you pretend to ponder the quality of the item and start asking questions about where it's from and it's authenticity (even though by this second minute you know your gonna buy the damn thing anyway). minute 4-7: chat a little more and "become a good friend" and get the price down another 5% or so. Minute 7-15: you argue over the last few yuan...yesterday this eight minute period was spent arguing over 2yuan on a korean jacket that's made in china damn it! (I got the price 2yuan lower). minute 16-18 you chat a bit more get you items packaged to your liking take a name card and move on to you next targeted purchasing location. Yes this is just a rough breakdown...give or take a few minutes here and there :)

And finally went out with my classmates to an indian restaurant for lunch today, only to realize that i had a flood of memories come back and smack me in the back of the head...brining a tear to my eye which of course never fell. Indian food just may be my favorite food in the world...i have never actually had it in India of course, but it was my default food when i was sick of fast food in Singapore, and when i just wanted something different in Hong Kong. I remembered all of the nice Indian folks in Singapore's "little india"; who always hit me with that exta-spicy somethin' at my request, and all the scary looking Indian, Bangali, and Pakastani folks i met at Hong Kong's Changking Mansions （重庆大夏）...who turned out to some of the greatest people that i met travelling. I remembered how much fun (and sickness) i had while i was travelling over the summer...and blah blah blah... And so i leave you...with not a single picture (i may add one later at my discrestion)

Enjoy!


This weeks workout results (from wednesday)
Run: 16.04 min. (in my new shoes) (3 songs on the mp3)
squat jumps 5 sets of 10
pushups 7 sets of ten (various types) starting the finger tips and knuckles again
dead arm hang 12 secs (weak!)
chin ups: 2 sets of 3 (barely)
pull ups: 3 sets of 3
dips：２ sets of 10
sit ups: 20 minutes of (hardcore exercises from my sister's pilates routine)
horse:4:08 for wednesday....but just because i'm proud (骄傲必败。。。我知道，我知道）
12:08!

Made in China?

Let me begin with saying, why the hell did my landlady have to give me such a shotty ass key.

I was heading out to go for a run about 45minutes ago, but while i was locking my door my made in china key snapped!!! I had to go get a lock smith...professional thief to open my door! And he charged me a riduculos price...50RMB to break open a door. In the states you can grab a random dude off the street to help you break into a house for free damn it!! What's more is that i called my landlady and she was like, i'll give you a call in the morning to see about getting you a key. I kind of want to just change the lock on her. Not only did i have to waste money getting my door unlocked, but now i'm trapped in my damn house!

Anyway, other than that my day was quite uneventful. I went by some kitten food and veggies to cook for the rest of the week. I also took a bunch of random pictures around Changchun Now, because i can't go running i am going to just sit in a horse stance until i fall down (30sec.), and do pushups until my arms give out (10...maybe)haha.


Which brings me to a new random point. I have become lazy since i left the states, i just don't have the same motivation to work out. I freaked myself last week when i realized i could barely complete three pullups. Since then i have been working out everyday, just your basic calistenics. But to make sure that i stay on top of this, i am making my plans/goals public...no better motivation than fearing people laughing at you. So looking at the chart below, i invite you to laugh, and continue laughing until i get my ass back into an acceptable physical condtion.

On a final note. My last post was not in english. I was inspired by my friend Grant's wife Cherry, who is from China but has an incredible english blog. So every so often i will try my hand at some gramatically incorrent and confusing chinese blogs.

Enough already on to the staggeringly pitiful results of todays (indoor...remember no key) workout

Run: 0 min.
Horse: 4 min. 8 sec. (but not a good one) 伟钧，你记得我们在UF第一个学期吗？我们再竞争吧！"天上的红太阳高高的满天光" 我没想到那首歌有那么长啊！发现了我不会控制我的退，就摇撼不已，好凄惨的啊！
push ups: 5 sets of 10
squat jumps: 5 sets of 10 (the people below me were not happy)
sit ups: 7 sets of 20 (various types)
jumping jacks: 10 sets of 20
“成功是百分之一的灵感加百分之九十九的汗水” 自强不息！