还没有题目。。。

。。。所以就加点照片！

第一就是《太原飞雪之景》，其实这不是冬天拍了，可是二月末，春天之后。冬天一点雪都不下。可是这场下雪真值得那么长得等候：


第二个是《我与墙壁》，红色的是我从内蒙古呼和浩特拿回来的蒙文春联。中间有我亲手写的书法标语和一个‘拿破仑’的写真画。嗯，中间也有我。照片里我在穿着我中式长袍：


第三个是我早上起床从窗户看到的景物。可是，我认为最合适的名字就是《末日之后》因为其实这个景物太恐怖。象一个被核弹攻击以后的现场！于此真象末日一样：


太有意思，对不对？下周加更多照片儿。

为了亲爱的王涵博。

你现在是不是高兴？你看，这个博客消息全是为了你。是为了你与关于你。可能你是我的唯一的读者。其实，我打算改变这博客的名字，改成《涵博迷博客》。

可是，可能你回给我提意见。什么都不想写。我的生活实在没意思，所以没有写博客的灵感。哎呀，这辈子。

那好，我拿定主意，我要添照片。一字千金，一图千字。

所以，下面的照片是《朴安祖的悉尼的中国花园》，欢迎欣赏一下。


好吧。你是不是满意？

安祖亚恢复啦！Andrzejia Returns!

Notice: Henceforth this long overlooked blog will be entirely in Chinese. The reason for this is that I wish to both improve my Chinese writing skills, and simultaneously provide a better way to communicate with Chinese speaking friends. Although those friends and family who do not read Chinese won't understand the words, I still plan to include plenty of photos. Therefore those who can't understand the words can still appreciate this blog. To some extent.

通知：从此这个长时间忽视的博客就是全体用中文。原因是我要提高我的中文写作水平，可同时让给说汉语的朋友们更方便联系。虽然几个只会说英语的亲人朋友们当然看不懂，可是我还是打算包括很多照片，等等。所以看不懂的读者们还会欣赏这个博客。差不多。

词源学 - Etymology

Studying Chinese can be a rather infuriating process at times. So many characters, many with only a vague relationship to what they are supposed to mean. Not so with all characters however! Below are some of the interesting etymological things I have discovered.

To begin with, 尸 shi (first tone), means corpse. It looks, one imagines, vaguely like a corpse. One that is square shaped with a long tail. In any case, this is a corpse：


However, when you add the character for water, 水 shui (3 tone) underneath a corpse, you get, wonderfully logically, the character 尿 niao（4 tone), meaning to urinate, or urine! Perfectly logical!


If that didn't astound you, however, then there comes the next logical step: what happens when you put the character for rice, 米 mi (3 tone), underneath a corpse? You can see where this is going can't you? That's right, the resultant character is 屎 shi (3 tone), meaning of course: excrement, faeces, or dung.


If this didn't amaze you, then what about that other bodily expulsion that is neither urine nor excrement of some sort, but is, as we can say, somewhere in between. By this I mean 'breaking wind.' To create this, one simply adds the character for 'to compare or contrast,' 比 bi (3 tone), underneath a corpse. The resulting character becomes 屁 pi (4 tone) 'wind from one's bowels.' Logical and to the point.


That is the etymological study for today. Excitingly simple, and educational too!

Studystudystudy...

I've been rather studiously studying lately. But also going bowling. Yes. Qiqihar has its own ten-pin bowling facilities. Its more enjoyable to watch the antics of the bowling-pin resetting machine (or whatever its called) than to actually bowl though. A tad bit of repairs might be needed there...

Anyway. I'm not sure when the semester starts, but its studystudystudy till then. We'll see.

I'll put pictures of things and so on on later. Quite.

Sickness.

For the past two weeks or more I've been out with 'Ganmao' which is the Chinese word for flu/cold. Mine was at the nasty end of the ganmao spectrum with horrible sore throat and fever. Now all is fine and I can continue with the Study Offensive against the Chinese Language. Hurrah!

Travelling!

I am off!

Tomorrow I leave for Changchun, then Beijing, then most likely:
Qingdao, Weihai, Dalian, Dandong, Shenyang, back to Qiqihar.

Tchuss!

I should be back on the 26th or 27th.

Ta ta!

Qiqihar Hutongs

As one walks north-east through the university, one eventually reaches the outskirts of its trimmed and modern attributes. One finds that the hideous apartment blocks, which spray out garbage such as in the picture below, shrink to small crooked lanes and houses barely taller than myself. These are reminiscent of Beijing's much talked about 'Hutongs.' In fact I found Qiqihar's to be more pleasant than Beijing's. They did not have that claustrophobic and artificial feeling which Beijing's had. Perhaps because Qiqihar's are not a tourist attraction, and judging by the pace of 'development' they probably will not exist for much longer at all. Perhaps it is a shame, perhaps not.


Garbage coming from the garbage chute of an apartment block. No rubbish bins in sight, not even mushroom shaped ones.


As QiDa trails off into Hutongs, things start to look more interesting. This photo is the entrance to the compound of Hutongs behind QiDa.


Perhaps poorly constructed, and perhaps dirty, yet I like the look of this scene much more than the blandness of what is Qiqihar's modern architecture.


A sign on one of the Hutong house's gate, 'Xiaojie lou hutong' which I translate as 'The Miss's Building Hutong.'


More Hutongs.


The bottom of the roof is just above my eye level, so these are certainly not tall buildings. The vegetables hanging from the rooves are onions. Even in -10 degrees when this photo was taken, they hang them outside to preserve them, and eventually eat them. We know, because we asked a passerby, who seemed shocked at first to see foreigners amongst the hutongs.


The red flag of China flying over the hutongs.


A more traditionally structured building with tall roof.


A wooden-fenced pen for holding...goats perhaps?


One of the many central heating stations dotting the city, behind which one can glimpse the university's sports hall.


Typical Qiqihar apartments, these with a small garden in front. Winter makes them look more grim then they perhaps are...well...no...even in summer they are fairly grim.


A frozen water pit...or something. Tempting to label this simply "Qiqihar", but that would be too harsh.

Humility.

Occasionally, when a taxi driver says my Chinese is good, I feel a small swell of pride. However I need only to think of the above photo to feel more humble again. This is one, only one, page of a Chinese History Book on Modern History. Note my excellent use of the margins. At least this way it looks more colourful. Don't worry, its a photocopied page, so its not like I've defaced an actual book with my lack of vocabulary. There are 589 pages in the book....One day, one day...

Material History of Qiqihar #1: Rubbish Bins

Qiqihar's Rubbish Bin Culture has a rich and colourful history:


The earlier displayed Soccerball Type Rubbish Bin (Note: Photo taken in September, hence it is warm)


Standard Type One Mushroom Rubbish Bin. This comes in two colours, blue and red.


The more advanced, Standard Type Two Mushroom Rubbish Bin. This only comes in red. Note it's sleek design and curves. The Mushroom Types One and Two are the most plentiful.


A Mushroom Type One Rubbish Bin after it was ignited by some of the Russian students at the sushe (the dormitory). A tragedy.


The comparatively rare Puppy Dog Rubbish Bin. You apparently stick garbage into his brain cavity, via his ears.


The Brave New World of Rubbish Bins: the sleek, efficient, yet soulless New Model Rubbish Bin. Note you can both recycle and place waste in it...apparently, if you don't recycle, your rubbish is exploded back out towards you. At least this is what I can make of the red symbol on the bin.