Wondering the Wonderland

The Story of You, Part 2.


Jay K.

[My train ticket to Qingdao, which is my first destination of 21days trip]

Ep.13 Wondering the Wonderland

Today is August 16, 2008. The program just ended yesterday. Many people left and I am leaving in two days. Throughout the program, I met lots of people. Most of them are from California, different UC campuses. I started this essay talking about leaving people behind and how I will miss them. Now, I met new people and made new friends. Some of them left last night. To be honest, I am a bit sad, but not that sad. Why? I guess now I am used to saying goodbyes.

Lots of things happened over the last seven weeks. I made some close friends; sometimes I was happy because of them, and sometimes I was mad and sad because of them. I wish I was nicer to them. Anyway it is too late. They left, and I will remember them, and we will meet again.
I am excited for the upcoming fall semester. Actually, I’m excited to make new friends. This time, I want to make many local Chinese friends. I have to go out of my way to do that and it won’t be easy.

The program is over, now what? The fall semester starts on September 12th. I have more than three weeks of vacation. I am going on a trip for three weeks. I have my grand plan for this trip. I will visit 10 cities in 21 days. I’m visiting east coast cities including Qingdao, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, and southern cities including Hongkong, Macau, and Guangzhou. I am very very excited for this upcoming trip. Everyone’s saying visiting 10 cities in 21 days will be too tiring and rushed, but I think I can do it.

I don’t like travelling that much—I don’t like “moving” in general. But, travelling is always exciting for some reason. I remember almost every trip that I went in my life. Each trip has different meaning. If you go by yourself, it gives time to reflect yourself. If you go with someone, it usually gives unforgettable memory of that person. Getting away from daily life is always tempting and gives you a fresh restart.

I went on a trip to Yosemite and San Francisco four years ago (yes, ironically). It was right after I just came to U.S. So I couldn’t speak any English—I even couldn’t ask questions like “how much is it?” I even didn’t know how much each coin worth. Thinking about that trip just makes me laugh. I went to that trip because I had time until the school starts. I went with Korean tourists and a tour guide. I saw the Golden Gate Bridge and stuffs. Yosemite was pretty impressive. It was also the first time I tried In’n’Out—it was delicious. It was only 3 days trip, but it was very meaningful and memorable.

Today is August 21st, which means I am already on my trip. I am in Nanjing now, I will write more about my trip in the next episode. This world is so vast, in which almost 99% of the world is unfamiliar to us. Thus, everywhere is the wonderland and we are wonderers of this wonderland. If you think about it, our life is also one long trip that our future is the wonderland. What is really known and what is unknown? In the end, isn’t everything unknown? Even myself or my mind is unknown; it is another wonderland to be wondered.

I want to stop writing here. I don’t know when the next episode will be uploaded. It might be after I finish this 21days trip or possibly before that. I’m travelling right now, so it is hard to organize pictures and stuff, but I will try my best to record my journey and tell you guys the story of you.

This time I organized pictures from this summer, named "People of China"

[The guy who was rowing our boat]

[The waitress mopping in front of the restaurant in lake district]

[Today is pretty slow]


[old bicycle driver]

[taking a break on the high way]


[The buddhist monk who drinks Pepsi and listen to mp3 player]

[Chinese boxer who just won the match getting interviewed]

[The guy at the bicycle shop is fixing my bike]


[Waiting for us to come close to the harbor]

[The guy who was gratifying in art district 798]


[The local peasants who helped us on the Great Wall]

[He is tying the camels to the post]

"People of China" will be continued.

Paradox and Olympics

The Story of You, Part 2.

Jay K.

Ep.12 Paradox and Olympics

As you guys know, 2008 Beijing Olympics kicked off last Friday (08/08/08). Yes, it is getting crazy here. Chinese people waited for 7 years since IOC announced the host country of 2008 Olympics. Since then so many new stadiums were built, so many new roads were built, so many volunteers volunteered and so on. The Chinese government tried hard to clean the air in Beijing, and I think it is successful.

I watched the opening ceremony on TV like you guys. Some people went out to watch it on the streets. I didn’t want to do that, partly because I was lazy and partly because I feared the terrorist attack or something like that. Two bombing attacks happened in Xinjiang (the far western part of China). One American tourist got stabbed in Beijing. Fortunately, nothing happened on the night of the opening ceremony. Beijing is supposed to be the safest place in China. I believe that too, but still anything can happen nowadays.

[The Olympic Boxing Stadium (Worker's Gymnasium)]

The opening ceremony was grand and beautiful. It was fantastic and fabulous. No more adjectives are necessary to describe it. One World One Dream. Everyone was so happy and excited, it seemed like the world was really becoming one. However, at the same time, Russia was invading Georgia (the country located next to Turkey). Tibetan protesters were silently removed by the government. Watching the glorious torch lighting ceremony, we shouldn’t forget numerous protests and conflicts around the world that were caused by the torch relay.

I am not just criticizing China or any other country. I am criticizing us. I don’t like nationalism, because it can bring bloody outcomes. However, when I watch the Olympic games, I am busy cheering for Korea. I am also very nationalistic; I have to admit that. Olympics is the occasion that the world come together and become one, also it is the event that every country compete with each other. How paradoxical is it?

I went to the Olympic boxing game on Sunday. It was an awesome experience. Although I am not a boxing fan, just watching the Olympic game was fun. It was fun to watch people from all over the world: Americans, Irish, Russians, Swedish, and more.

[I didn't go to swimming game, but my friend did and he took my camera]

[He is a Korean swimmer, who won the first gold medal in swimming as a Korean]

[That Korean swimmer also won the silver medal in 200m and of course Michael Phelps got the gold medal]

[Michael Phelps]

[President Bush singing national anthem]

[Watercube]

[USA, China, and Korea]

[Olympic Archery Field]

At the moment, I am very excited. I just came back from the Olympic archery game. I watched the men’s team semifinal and final match. Korea won the gold medal! I was so happy to witness that. It was a close game against Italy. It wasn’t also easy to win against China in the semifinal. But, Korea did it. I know, I am being nationalistic, but hey, I am so happy. I sung Korean national anthem during the medal ceremony with many other Koreans. Over the last four years, I heard America’s national anthem so many times, but never sung it. I never had a chance to sing Korean national anthem in the States. No wonder I was so moved when I sung Korean national anthem.

[face painting]

[Korean crowd in the archery field]

Anyway, all day I am watching Olympic Games on TV. The whole city of Beijing is full of Olympic spirits. Everyone’s busy talking about who got the gold medal and who didn’t. I just want to remember that other things are still going on at this moment. I guess the world is still too large to become one. I hope one day we can.

[yes, I love my counry. I am nationalistic]

Next week is the last week of the summer program. I don’t think my Chinese got improved much during this summer language intensive program. Nonetheless, I learned a lot about China. I think now I am ready to study here for a year. I am actually looking forward for it.

I think that this post is too unorganized and paradoxical, but I guess we are paradoxical animals.

more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/iamadreamer/ as usual.

Sickness

The Story of You, Part 2.

Jay K.

Ep.11 Sickness

It’s been more than two weeks since I uploaded the last episode, “One World One Dream”. As you can tell from the title of this episode, I’ve been sick. I am somewhat still sick, but much better than before. I believe that it is almost inevitable that you get sick when your surrounding is completely changed: everything’s changed such as the food you eat, the air you breathe, the water you drink and so on. I got sick when I first went to the U.S. I don’t remember the exact time period, but I remember it was fatal. I was really sick.

This time too. I was really sick over the couple weeks. It was first flu that almost killed me, and I got an ear infection after. I even couldn’t go to sleep because of the pain from my left ear. The next morning, I ran to the hospital. Because I was too sick to bother with Chinese, I had to go to American hospital which was very expensive. I never had ear infection in my life, and having here in China.

[OC is mad]

The sickness does not only make your body weak, but also your mind. Especially, when you are sick abroad, that is surely the worst. It makes you miss home more than ever. It is the worst because you know that there is no one who will take care of you. You are on your own. No worries. I am certainly getting better. When I get over with this sickness I will never get sick again. Hopefully, yes.

The original title of this episode was “Orange Chicken”. I had to change it because I stopped writing that episode because I got sick. Now, I need to start it over again.

To make the long story short, I adopted a cat here, and had to give it away in the end. I named her Orange Chicken. She was so small, so white and so cute. She couldn’t hear anything because she was a deaf cat. I never had a pet in my life, so she was my first. Taking care of a kitty is harder than I thought. She was only two months old. She easily got scared of me. When she got scared, she ran into underneath of my roommate’s bed. She slept all day and woke me up at night. She liked to play on my keyboard and watch my laptop screen. I had to clean after her; otherwise she got mad and cried. So many memories of her! I don’t want to recall all because that just makes me sad.

[the market near my dorm, I often go here for icecream]

[The symbol of Beijing Normal University, the Bell]

I bought an electronic bike around the same time I got OC. As I wasn’t used to live with a kitty, I also wasn’t used to ride a new bike. I practiced a bit every night, and got better and better at it. By the time I got better at riding my new bike, OC wasn’t with me anymore. I wasn’t allowed to keep a pet in the apartment. I had to give her away.

I didn’t know anyone in Beijing who can take care of her. I was really stressed and upset. I wasn’t upset because I had to give her away. I was upset because I couldn’t manage my own business meaning that things were out of my control. I had to go back the pet store where I got her, and asked them to take her back. The pet store said that they didn’t have any room for her. I felt awful that moment. What should I do with her then?

But, luckily, one tall Chinese guy and his mom walked into the store at that precise moment. They liked her and were willing to take her. I don’t know how to express that feeling, but only can say thank God!

[the main library and office building of BNU, it is huge. It shows the typical grand style of Chinese modern architecture]

Now, she is gone. I still miss her. I only spent a week with her. It was shorter than I expected, But, hey you know “Hui Zhe Ding Li” (会者定离). Those who meet must part. That is even true for a cat. I just hope that she lives a better life with her new family. I really hope that.

After she was gone, I got sick. I don’t know whether she gave me the sickness. I think so. I don’t believe that she gave me the actual virus that made me sick. It is the sadness and emptiness made me sick. There were also other things made me sick. I am just sad that the feeling of the fatal sickness and the memory of OC will be linked together in my head. The memory of OC will fade away as the pain of my left ear slowly goes away.

This is it for this episode. I know it is a bit short considering that I didn’t write for a while. I don’t want to write every detail of my daily life here. That’s just boring. In the next episode, I will write about my trip to Inner-Mongolia.

[The newly built gym for US olympic athlets inside of BNU]

[My new bike! yay!]

[Grafiti art in 798]

[798 is the modern art district in China]