feels so good.

I quote from an article from Baseler Zeitung:

"Sie haben viele Besucher aus ihrem nördlichen Nachbarland sogar zu Fans der SBB gemacht und bei ihnen die Frage hinterlassen, warum so viel Durchdachtheit und Pünktlichkeit im deutschen Zugverkehr nicht möglich sein soll."

This was not written by a swiss, but rather an editor from the Spiegel magazine. heh. I think this quote speaks volumes without any further explaination. :)

sport

I've just ended with an interview on TV with a ex-cabinet minister, and some figure in driving developments in sport in the UN. well he spoke about the importance of sport, and how his experiences with sport being the non-political binding force between children, the platform to make mistakes without life changing consequences and the bond that transcends cultural and language borders.

well, with sore legs after running a stair run (i'm not exactly sure how to coin an english equivalent since it's not a vertical marathon but rather just a run with many many many stairs), i would support his stand. well if only sport at home didn't entail so many consequences and repercussions, if only one could just do sport purely for interest, fun and mixing with people, without the politics within a particular group etc... or maybe it's just the lazy bone acting up inside me..

impressions

just returned from breakfast, on a normal saturday morning, and chatted with the chinese contemporaries (that's what they call people with black hair and slightly yellow coloured skin here..). she was telling me about her bad experiences while working in the hostel, and how she was discriminated against by her boss as compared to another worker of african origin.

now, i'm not going to start preaching anything racially inclined here, neither am i planning to incite any form of violent sentiment that will result in some form of physical/mental/legal etc. conflict.

but, again, by that experience, the worker involved provided a negative message to the chinese girl, and this shaped a highly negative impression against himself, and also his community in general.

No matter how much we try to avoid such blunt generalisations, the impressions that we have on a particular group of people are usually based on the few contacts with the few 2, 3, 4 acquaintances, colleagues or friends that we have. This could be the very spark of the racist sentiments in many people! (at least this is how i postulate)

for everyone, i guess it's very important to take one step back and assess our sentiments, because again, it's not the community that shapes the person, but rather the person that forms the community. every individual has a different set of values, character and personality, and it is only fair that we mix with more individuals before placing clichés on the whole group.

yes. but this is again only my opinion on the short 10 min conversation that we had (of course in chinese - good opportunity to catch up on my lost linguistic abilities). for me, i've got more things at hand to settle - one of which is searching for accomodation, which has been quite erfolglos till today...

my first adventure in the kitchen

yes. i burnt the rendang. but again, it's quite tricky to deal with huge pots of cooking. now i really appreciate the efforts of the chefs dealing with hundreds of meals during each service.

on the other hand, the presentation was super. didn't quite get so much energy in doing one presentation before, and seriously, I enjoyed the whole presentation process. I guess such energy and drive will come with some topic that is pretty much close to your heart, and hopefully this energy will arrive during the exams.

time to work, again.

kerzerslauf

as the name suggests, it's a lauf in kerzers.

well. 15km does not sound that terrible, but today it was a clear sign that i need to do far more..

didn't expect so many hills.. but oh well, that's swiss.

i definitely must pay more attention to the route profile in the future. but for now, it's zurich, of course with jelly legs.

Demokratie: Wie definitert man die Demokratie

It is very much expected to be bombarded with endless viewpoints with a diverse cultural background in a particular group.

This was something that struck me during class yesterday. Discussion was about the general formation of a country/states, and the lecturer went on about the various forms of democracy, and some threats that are faced by them.

Then the one question that ignited the discussion:
How would you put a definition to democracy?

The lecturer's first response was: when the people have freedom to vote, enjoy equal legislature and rights etc.. Then the question: not all countries practice a highly liberal form of democracy like here, notwithstanding that many others are still having problems putting 3 meals on the table! So while the guy was giving examples from his home country and region, the lecturer was answering with words in the range of more.. less democractic.

In actual fact - is democracy really the ultimate utopia that we are aiming towards? Of course, we will all want to have some freedom to express our views, and have our interests met. However, which is more important - to satisfy our basic needs of lodging, food etc or to have my interest met with an empty stomach?

the world has been and will be all so unpredictable. this is purely natural. I do not know if I will lose my roof over my head, or if I will lose things that are dear to me.

indeed, i am sceptical if the human race will ever reach to such a state where everyone exercises their rights in a responsible manner in consideration of the other members in the society. even the definition of "responsible" is so subjective, and a debate on this would be endless! I am not trying to insinuate any radical ideology or otherwise, but the perspectives of some of the locals living in one of the world's most affluent societies and how they view the world really shows that in some way, their lifestyles have moulded their priorities and thoughts.

again, a problem between the process and the end result - which is more important?

or maybe i should try to put myself in their shoes?

华文-华语

amidst the exceptionally warm winter.. and while slacking at the same time ..haha.. I watched I not stupid..






yes.. I sort of began to realise say... my deficiency in my knowledge in chinese.. but with the company here, I will not foresee having any lack of practice.. :P.

I am so ever thankful of having a certain level of chinese proficiency... and I find that it really helps to define your identity, especially amongst a crowd of to-me-foreigners.

若身为华人的你不能通晓华文华语，不只是失去了中华5000年的文化，而且你有可能不知道自己失去的是什么。

Fribourg

It has since been a long time since i've added anything to this website..
been quite lazy the past month in Fribourg to type anything..

yes. Die Zwischenprüfungen sind vorbei! and my first result for deutsch - 5.9! erstaunlich.! now i'm sort of on a high now, since I've never seen such results ever.. oh well. but I guess such things are similar to a lottery game or the share market - never-ending fluctuation.

well. many ask me if I'm well acclimitised to the daily life here - the only thing that sucks is the fact that it's predominantly french here, and the german speaking commune is only a 2 hours jog away. but i'm enjoying my time as a french-idiot.. using my spartan knowledge to go about every thing. And one good thing is in any case, deutsch can still save me here.

There are also many similarities in the way things are done here and how they would be done at home. well. I would not be able to state real anecdotes here, but at least, that's how I feel. so in a way, i'm so far, yet so near.. :D

Been travelling quite frequently lately, e.g. weekly trips to Bern, saturday trips to various swiss-cities.. and took tonnes of photos. I must say i'd need to exercise some self-control soon, before this becomes a travelling trip instead.!