Double Ninth Festival 重阳节

Today is the traditional Chinese “Double Ninth Festival”, which has been celebrated since A.D 25. Nine is the Yang number according to the Chinese Yin-Yang philosophy; the ninth day of the ninth lunar month (or double nine) is certainly a special day in the year. It is customary to climb a high mountain, drink chrysanthemum wine, and wear the Zhuyu plant as celebration. (Both chrysanthemum and Zhuyu are very good Chinese medicine!) Today the holiday is a time for family reunion and also an opportunity to care for and appreciate the elderly.

This is an often-quoted poem about the holiday:

獨(dú)在(zài)異(yì)鄉(xiāng)為(wèi)異(yì)客(kè)，

每(měi)逢(féng)佳(jiā)節(jié)倍(bèi)思(sī)親(qīn)。

In English means :

As a lonely traveler in a foreign land,

Every holiday the homesickness amplifies.

Seems quite suitable for me, ha. But I don’t really feel homesick these days. Maybe I am too concerned with my future and dreams. There seems no need or time to look back or to feel homesick. There is a magic force driving me.What I'm doing is only not to make myself regret.

yesterday's jogging & National Day

Yesterday on the sport lesson, we had a 20 min running, without a break. I remember that after coming to Germany, I ran only once and was just five or six second, from the road into a shop because it suddenly rained. So, it was not a easy job yesterday. The only thing I'm proud of is that I'm faster than all the girls, ha! I was questioning myself while breathing like dog: what's the matter? China won 51 gold medals in the Olympics! And I was quite a good sportsman in my class in China. Maybe the medalists have done the sports for the whole country.

No, it should not be that only the professional athletes are doing huge amount of practice to prove the strength of the nation while the rest just lie in couch and watch the live broadcast. Sports are good and essential for the future of the country. What if one day we need an army to defend our freedom but no one was strong enough to run 20 minutes without a break? What if one day, the lack of sport makes men and women so weak that they can't give birth? Report says the pollution and lack of sports are seriously influencing the quality of sperm. This is suicidal to a country, no matter how big a population we are having now.

Today is Oct, 2nd, and it's a good day because yesterday was Chinese national day and tomorrow is German national day. Both sides are having a good time, away from any school. Happy Birthday to you both!

2008 is a big year for China. From the Olympics to the successful Shen Zhou 7 space mission with a space walk. We have fought with the horrible snow storm early in Feb, and the catastrophy of Wenchuan Earthquake in May. Our nation is trying to find his way back to be a responsible and health China, and I'm proud to be a part of him. At the same time, I know about the unbelievable scandle of tainted milk powder, and hear criticts on the lip-syncing on the Olympics Opening. It's a long long way to go, and it's full of opportunities as well as crisis.

Today the world has become very sensitive to China's growth. It's a good thing to hear voices from new perspectives, but it can also generates emnities and misunderstandings. Everyone should be especially careful to keep this precious peace, relatively. China must play his role, and how I'd love to play my part well and beautifully, as a global citizen, for the wellfare of all.

2008 is also a big year for the whole world. The drastic financial crisis, Russia's unpredictable move, ect. This requires us to really view the world as a whole and adopt the global citizenship, not the narrow nationalist one. Actually, we have no choice. We can't turn and go away because the world is too small. You will meet the problem at the next corner. That's why I'm applying for Macalester College in Minnisota, USA, despite its frezzingly cold weather. Mac has foresee this trend and has been doing a good job educating their students and providing them with a bonanza of opportunities. I hope to join them and give my performances and ideas, they will surely benifit from it.

Picking Nuts

Just now I went down to the garden with my host dad to pick nuts from the garden. There's a big tree (maybe seventy years old) in the garden and he generously give thousands of nuts every year to anyone passes by. I guess we harvest several hundreds of fresh nut today by just picking them up from the ground! It would be a great fun to have a Nuts-Picking Competition with our lovely neighbors. I have already think of the title: This World is Full of Nuts.

But this is not my main point. I feel a little bit "renewed" by this picking nuts experience. Think of this: the trees absorbing just water and nutritions from the earth, grow such beautiful and various fruits every year and award them to any who would like to bend down to pick the fruits up, free of charge. How magnificent nature is! Breathe joyfully in the fresh air, kneeling down on the grass, kneeling down to the nature. When receiving this gift from the nature, I feel grateful and almost religious. I naturally want to "Thanks Giving". I "caress" the tree a while to thank him and left the easy-to-pick nut on the ground so the cute little kids from downstairs can also have fun.

This is a very rewarding experience, and I'm lucky to spend one year here in Germany staying closer to mother nature. And at the same time, I have a stronger desire to do something so that in the future, there's also a fruit tree for each Chinese family in the garden, and all Chinese kids can enjoy the gift from the nature and love our earth. If we love nature, appreciate its beauty and be grateful to its generosity, we won't damage the environment, pollute the water and extort our earth like what we are doing now!

three sentences on U.S. Election

Frau Krieche, our dear headmaster of Spalatin, gave me an interesting task: say three sentences in German about the U.S. Election, in our English class. And here are my words:

Die Wahlen in der USA sind wie eine Feuerwerk. Beide verbrennen viel Geld und bringen Unterhaltung. Der einzige unterschied ist, dass das Feuerwerk niemanden verletzt, aber die Wahlen können den Rest der Welt schädigen.

And in English it means: the U.S. Election is like a firework show. They both burn a lot of money and bring entertainment. The only difference is that the firework show don't hurt anyone, but the U.S. Election will harm the rest of the world.