Bizarre

I met one of my neighbors when he was walking his three dogs. At that time, all his three dogs were small and very adorable. Three months later, when I saw him again, he had two small ones and one big one. While I was wondering where the his third dog went, he told me the big one had grown from the size when I first met him. He also mentioned he was a Tibetan mastiff. I had no idea what Tibetan mastiff was. Only until a couple weeks later, one of my Chinese colleagues told me that Ma Junren, who was a coach for long distance running in 1990s, was breeding Tibetan mastiffs nowadays. And Tibetan mastiff is a very expansive dog in China. I got to know the level of expansiveness today. A piece of news on a young Chinese woman from Xi'an paid $600,000 for a Tibetan mastiff was in USA Today.

When I was browsing the online news, I was shocked to see one on how South Koreans think about height of a person.

The prevalence of extreme, bizarre news in the main stream media astonishes me. Furthermore, media report news as if they are advertising some Hollywood movies.

Thanksgiving weekend

It was on the way back from a Korean restaurant that my friend's girlfriend, who moved to the US in the middle school and became a US citizen recently, started the conversion why fewer Chinese were in the management positions in Microsoft than their Indian counterparts. Then the discussion extended to the overall social status of Chinese in the US. Chinese who have climbed up the social ladders in the states were admired and celebrated. When she further asked how to achieve fortune and fame in the states, I realized that she still thought the US was the most promising country in the future. I replied right now China is the biggest lender to the US. It might be more practical to know how to achieve fortune and fame in China.

The next day was Thanksgiving. I was invited to a friend's for dumplings. Her boyfriend who liked to create different ways of wrapping dumplings suggested that we could cook the dumplings like doing hotpot. I didn't like the idea. But my friend took her cooker for hotpot out. We cooked dumplings like hotpot.

It was black Friday. I went grocery shopping in the afternoon. My friend who drove me went shopping in the morning as well. She said the peak hour was 6-7am. She went at 8am. In the evening, we went to the Evangelical Chinese Church. It was my second time going there. After free dinner, a guest speaker did a missionary lecture. Frankly, I didn't like the speaker. He disliked everything unchristian. Even though my friend just officially claimed that she became a believer, I felt like she was ordained.

Yesterday, I had dim sum with some schoolmates in Chinatown. Before going home, we went to Uwajimaya. When I was at the book store, I browsed a very funny book titled "The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions". I couldn't help laughing out loud in the store.

This afternoon, I saw "Red Cliff". The story is widely known. It was not only made into part of a popular TV series in mainland China a few years ago, but also included in my high school Chinese text book. However, the movie was OK. I didn't remember much. In addition to the bloody battle scenes, I could only recall a couple things such as making bombs and playing soccer, and a few sentences such as 以我多年种田的经验 (based on my many years experience of farming).

A fun picture I created online

Wednesday Morning

On Monday, I finally submitted a paper with my second revision. One of the reviewers seemed to find something that s/he didn't find during the first round of review. On Tuesday, I started revising another report. I still had to prepare data for my dissertation analysis. I have been in the PhD program for a while. It is time for me to graduate. I should also look for jobs. I want to stay in the academia. Universities have gone under budget cut. Job postings are fewer compared with a few years ago. At a conference in October, I saw quite a few newly graduated PhDs looking for jobs.

I decided that I should get up early to work on the report on Wednesday. After my morning routine of a glass of warm water, I started eating breakfast. I picked up, Flight, one of the books that I have piled on the table. It was the 11th chapter. Zits was in one of the Indian battles. He got into the body of an old soldier who killed Indians. I finished half of a sandwich. The avocado was so creamy. I couldn't have enough of it. The battle scene was vividly described, bloody and brutal. I was glad that I was not eating meat or anything red in the morning. Maybe it was not a good idea to read such a scene in the morning. Then I read

...Without stopping, that white soldier reaches down and picks up Bow Boy. Cradles the child in one arm. And the while soldier keeps running...That white soldier, a small saint, is trying to save Bow Boy...In the midst of all this madness and murder, one soldier has refused to participate. He has chosen the opposite of revenge...

Tears started to fill my eyes. I almost expected to see the five year old boy being brutally murdered. How courageous the soldier is! Against the order to save lives! While I was crying, I couldn't help keep reading. I didn't want to finish it so fast, but I also wanted to know how the story developed.

When I managed to finish my breakfast, the clock showed it was 9:30. I had to catch my bus.

Montreal and Quebec City

I went to Montreal and Quebec City for a week towards the end of September. I wish my French is better. I did enjoy both cities.

Fictions

Most of books in English I read are non fiction. It's not that I don't like fictions. I enjoy Chinese Ku-fu fictions, Chinese romantic novels, Chinese history novels, etc. Well, I guess I like Chinese fiction. Fictions, like jokes and humors, demand culture, history, value, even religion understanding to be entertained. In addition, fictions bring something that people can relate to or fantasize with. As a Chinese born and raised in China, I can't relate many things in the US, even though I have been living in the US for almost eight years. Or it also might be everything in the US is (or encouraged to be) individualized that collective identities are understood or interpreted differently.

Crater Lake

Last weekend, I went to Crater Lake National Park with a friend of mine. The lake is very beautiful. The water is super clear and blue. Of course, I couldn't resist to swim in the lake.


Crater Lake


I'm at Crater Lake taking pictures


nearby the boat tour dock


The water, the lake



close look at the water where I swam

Fortune Telling

My parents told me that some fortune teller had foreseen that I would have high education when I was still a baby.

In college, I was stopped by a palm reader after I visited a temple. He said I would marry late.

A few years ago, I did palm reading to a person I didn't know. I told him that he would be a bachelor until when he reached 40. He told me later that he got married at 39.

I remember in a documentary about a woman looking for her biological parents in Cambodia. The woman did some fortune telling to see if she could find her parents during her trip. The fortune teller told her that she wouldn't find her parents, but she would find a husband. At the end, she indeed couldn't find her parents, and found a husband instead.

Fortune telling is very fascinating. Or I just choose those tend to be true to remember?

Olympic National Park

I went camping at the Olympic National Park two weekends ago with some friends.

Here are some pictures taken by my friends.

Urumqi

In the afternoon, I saw a friend of mine who lived in Urumqi to study Uyghur traditional medicine last year. She has been very upset since she heard the news of the riots. She lived at the street where the riot happened last Sunday. She taught classes at a university in Urumqi with both Han and Uyghur students. She has both Han and Uyghur friends in Urumqi.

On the other hand, I haven't been to the region. I don't have any Uyghur friends. Thanks to courses that I have taken at the school of international studies and the experience of living in the US and China, I understand things always have more than one perspectives. I'm standing in the middle of chaos.

Both of us agreed that it was very strange for the Chinese government to finger Rebiya Kadeer responsible for the riots in Urumqi. It is like the Chinese government wants to create a leader for the Uyghurs, like Dalai for the Tibetans? Or there are something needed to be covered up?

Lake Serene Revisit

One of my first blog entries is about Lake Serene hike in July 2005. I enjoyed the hike a lot. The only thing I didn't try that time was swimming in the lake. I finally did it today!

The weather was sunny and warm today. Even though half of the lake is still covered with flowing ice, there were a few people before me jumping into the lake. All of them came out of the water speechless. The person just right before me said even his teeth felt cold. I'm very glad that I finally swam in Lake Serene.

2009 Seattle Gay Pride Parade

Waiting for the parade.





Watching the parade.


People in the parade.

TV

Do you know that recently CNN reported that a study found that teens who watched more TV were more likely to be pregnant?

Really?

Do you watch TV?

I even don't have a TV at my apartment.

No wonder at 30 you're still single without a kid.

Kendo

For some reason, I think I can excel in Kendo. I'll start my first ever Kendo class next Wednesday!!

Yosemite

Six years ago, I went to Yosemite first time with one of my good friends, Sylvia. We bought train passes and took a ten-day trip to California in September. Yosemite was our second stop. It was beautiful.

Last weekend, another good friend of mine, Guilan, invited me to go to Yosemite again. I have to go of course. Not only because it is Yosemite, but also it is spring! There will be famous waterfalls I missed last time! We even hiked up to Half Dome!

清明

下午打电话给家里的时候才知道今天是清明节。这几天西雅图正是雨雪不断。联想起杜牧的一首诗。

清明时节雨纷纷，
路上行人欲断魂。
借问酒家何处有？
牧童遥指杏花村。

Movies

I love movies. I like watching other people's stories.

Last month, I saw "Slumdog Millionaire". When I got back home from the movie, I couldn't help searching the related information/comments/movie critics online. The scene the young Jamal holding the picture of Amitabh Bachchan and jumping into a pile of excrement to seek Amitabh Bachchan's autograph has stuck in my mind.

Three weeks ago, I saw "He's Just Not That Into You". After the movie, my girl friends and I couldn't stop talking about the movie.

About two weeks ago, I saw "Watchman". I didn't remember the movie very much, except a sentence by one of the characters.

When you left me, I left Earth.

Yesterday, I saw another movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". I was very touched.

Am I also looking for myself in the movies?

Lost and Found

It happened yesterday.

I was reaching out to my belt to get my house keys. I didn't feel my keys. I turned around and found that there was only a key holder hanging on my belt. My heart started to sink. I had a very quick flashback what I did. I just finished a class about one hour ago. I took the bus to school in the morning. I said to myself I must have lost my keys in the classroom or in the bus. Somehow I felt like the chance that I lost my keys in the classroom was bigger. I graped my lab keys and put on my coat, and left my department building to the classroom where I had a morning class. There was no keys in the classroom. Then, I went to the lost and found desk in the HUB. No keys were turned in the morning. My heart sunk.

On the way back to the Gould Hall, I played back in my head what I had done in the morning. I remembered when I closed the door behind me, I put my gloves in one of the pockets of my coat, the same side I hanged my house keys. My handbag was just sitting on the pocket. Was it possible I lost the keys on the way to the bus stop? The chance of recovering my keys was getting slimmer. I started to feel a bit of panic.

I was very glad that I called Susan. She suggested me to call my property manager first. She also gave me a few numbers of locksmiths. I didn't have the phone number of the property manager with me. I had to call the locksmiths. The first one asked for $100 to open my door. The second one asked for $80. The third one asked for $100 as well. Hearing such high cost of the locksmiths just made me feel bad that I lost my keys. I said to myself at least I found out I lost the keys early. It would be worse if I had found that out at night.

I decided that I should go back home first and then asked the locksmith who asked for $80 to come open the door for me. On the way home, I got a phone call from the third locksmith I called. He said he would offer me the lowest price. I told him that I would call him when I got back home.

When I got off the bus, I started to search around as I walked home. I couldn't find any keys. When I was crossing the street and got closer to my apartment, I started to get nervous. For a second, I wish I would find my keys by the door. Standing in front of my door, I was stunned. My keys were hanging on the door. One of the keys was still in the lock on my door!!!

30

I turned 30 a few weeks ago.

I still remember 4 years ago when I was chatting with my housemates about what I wanted to achieve before I turned 30, I said I wanted to have a publication, travel to some places in Europe, and getting a boyfriend. At that time, I thought the easiest thing was to get a boyfriend. The most difficult one was going to Europe. It turned out I went to Europe the next summer, I had a first journal article as a second author last year, but I am still single.

Confucius said: "At thirty, I established my stand." It seems like I am still establishing my stand.

Gaza, Palestine, and Israel

If I didn't have any friends from Palestine and Israel, I wouldn't have felt so much for the people who live in that region. Specially what has happened for the last three weeks there.

If my Palestinian friends hadn't told me the situations in Gaza and the West Bank, I wouldn't have any idea that Palestine dose not have their own currency. People who live in the West Bank have to use different kinds of foreign currency the region. I wouldn't have known that Gaza is like a concentration camp, etc. Even though my friends have filled me with information about the region, I still can't image the life in Gaza and the West Bank.

When I asked my friend who is from Israel the population of the state, I was very surprised to hear it only has about 7-8 million people. On the other hand, my friend was shocked to hear I said that it was just like two median size cities or one large city in China. Just Shanghai alone has more population than the whole state of Israel.

20 years, 50 years, 100 years and many years later, I hope I can still see Palestine stand in the region.