happy new year!

today i had my last exams for this week. and what a week it's been, or couple of weeks i should say. i haven't gone to bed earlier than say 2 in the morning for days now. i'm so exhausted i think i'm gonna puke. but hey, it's new year's eve! of course we've celebrated christmas last week, even though we were all burried under piles and piles of books (chinese exam time is exactly in western holiday time). yesterday was my birthday, i am now one-and-twenty years of age, but i had to study so... nothing much happened, but i did go for some vietnamese food with tong, so that was nice. tomorrow i'm having my b-day party :)

tonight were going for korean food (again hehe) and then were of to houhai to spend our evening in a local bar there.

i would like to wish everybody at home a 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

and all the happiness, health and good fortune you can get!

first song of the day: 'stop this train' by john mayer

winter

winter has finally come. the dry fallen leaves are crisp under my feet. cold air makes my cheeks blush. the cold wind cuts through me like hundreds of knives. and it isn't even really cold yet. the coldest weather we've had untill now was about minus four degrees, but the wind made it feel as at least minus ten. (what's it going to feel like when it really is minus ten and the wind blows?) it's gonna be some winter...

last weekend some friends and me went to a hiphop concert in yugongyishan. we came there way too early and had to wait for about two hours before it actually began. but it was absolutely worth the wait. i am not exacty what you could call a hiphop fan, i only went because my friends wanted to go. i had expected some rappers who would play a tape and rap along with that, but the music was much more instrumental than my expectations. there was a live band, and the music had a more reggaeish sound to it. it was really nice. but i can't say i have been converted, i don't play hiphop in my room yet, and i don't think i will in any near future :p

i myself have joined some kind of band today. which is to say, we are still in the beginning stages, i don't really know if we're going to be a real band yet. my friend weiti (dutch chinese) met this chinese guy, and told my he writes pretty good songs, asked me if i would like to try and sing with them. so that's what i did today. some of the songs were a bit burt bacharach, other songs were more bossa nova. it was jolly good fun, and we're to meet next week again. i hope it works out, i've always wanted to be part of a band...

oh and i bought nice and warm, wine red puma shoes to match the cold weather :)

first song of the day: 'dance with me' by nouvelle vague

pictures

pu'er tea and blueberry cheesecake

so here i am. back in my room. my parents left beijing about a week ago. strange to think they're on the other end of the world again. they were just here. 

we did loads of fun stuff. we had a silk suit made for my dad at wangfujing, one of the most famous streets of beijing. in the end about half the orchestra had gone there to have their suits, coats, blazers and pants tailored. we went to see the great wall, which was great indeed. the weather was a little foggy and we were rather late, so there was absolutely nobody there. what a view! much better than the crowded with tourists piece of wall i had been to a few years ago. i went shopping with my mum. i had never seen her shop till she dropped like she did last week. many presents on the plane home. we went to buy tea on several occasions (my dad = tea addict). we went to the expensive tea shop "ten fu's tea" on wangfujing, where we could try out different kinds of tea poured in tiny cups by giggling chinese girls. we went to a tiny shop across the hotel where the orchestra stayed, where a woman told us all about wulong and pu'er tea (the best kinds of tea for the winter). we went to the summer palace, nice but very touristy. and we ate many many delicious things, from peking duck to wonton soup. 

i also went out a few times with some members and two other daughters of the orchestra. new friends, new fun. i took my friends and roommate to the concerts, showed my parents my dormitory and tong's place, and took them to our favorite restaurants. all in all: a busy week. it was great fun :)

and now they've all gone home. i'm left in beijing with a few pieces of cheese and a box of liquorice. i'm going to school again (skipped all my classes last week), making homework again, eating blueberry cheesecake at the bridge cafe again...

all is normal again.

or is it?

first song today: "drive my car" by the beatles

parents

today my parents came to beijing. it's weird to see them here. the good kind of weird of course, but still... my dad's here with the orchestra of the 18th century, they have two shows in beijing this week, and my mum just came along. tomorrow i'm going to the rehearsals (i love rehearsals) and after that we're going to go see the great wall with the entire orchestra: fun! me happy :)

first song of the day: 'winning a battle, losing the war' by kings of convenience

chinese wind and australian waves

i finished reading my book today ('the wind-up bird chronicle' by haruki murakami). it was great, maybe the best murakami i've read untill now. it took me about two months reading it, spending every few spare minutes in my room reading a bit. now i have finally finished, i'm sort of at loss, i feel kind of empty now the story has ended. don't you ever have that? you get so caught up in a story that when it ends it sorta takes you by surprise. in your head it all seems so real you think it will go on forever, just like any real story in the real world. i don't know, maybe it's just me and my somewhat excentric imagination..

this week was like any other week. it was rather cold the first few days, but it's fairly warm again now. we've been having a lot of wind, i can hear it howling in the streets when i'm lying in bed at night. friday was halloween, and my friend kian's birthday. so we celebrated, we bought him some books about design, ate korean food, drank cocktails, and after that a few of us went out to a club. i didn't feel so well though, so i went home early (i'm such a geek, i know).

my aunt from australia is in beijing this week, so this morning i showed her my school and dormitory. we went for a bit of shopping, and i finally succeeded in buying a winter coat (yay!). after that we had lunch. it was nice :)

tomorrow i have a small oral exam, so i'm turning on the nerdy mode again..

first song of the day: 'scream' by deserts (張懸）

more weeks spent

my apologies for not having written anything for such a long time. i just haven't been able to find the time nor the inspiration to do so. 

tuesday i had my first exam at blcu. it wasn't a real important one though, just a diagnostic exam. it was for the subject 'classical chinese', and we had to translate classical chinese texts into modern chinese. i think it went alright. different from our classical chinese classes in holland though, the teacher tells us exactly how every text is supposed to be translated, leaving no room whatsoever for own interpretations. which is a shame i think, but also makes it much easier to study for exams. 

on thursday i met with a chinese girl i had never seen before, i know her cousin, so that's where the connection came from. she brought her best friend. we went for some hot chocolat and coffee, and chatted. it's nice having a real conversation with some real chinese people other than my teachers. even though i live in china now, most of my friends aren't chinese. owing to the fact that all my fellow students are, of course, foreigners just like me, and the conversations i have outside school usually don't include more than small talk and negotiation of prices. 

yesterday me and some friends went to a meeting where the dutch prime minister would hold a speech. we couldn't find the place, and ended up arriving over an hour late. it's strange how beijing taxi drivers don't seem even remotely eager to take passengers. they tell you with a straight face the place you want to go is really nearby, when it's actually an hours walk away.

and so i continue to float down the river of life, leaving no more than a few ripples on my way. and that's fine..

oh i forgot. first song of the day: 'change' by kt tunstall