The other day, I met up with a Yale student who participated in one of the programs I used to manage. I asked him what he was doing in the past few months as an exchange student at PKU, besides going to class. He told me he had been volunteering at a migrant school 2.5 hours away from Beida every week. He would take the subway for 2.5 hours to the school on the outskirts of Beijing, teach English to fourth, fifth and sixth graders for three hours and then travel 2.5 hours back to Beida for his Chinese class. The volunteer work basically makes up an eight-hour work day.

He puts me to shame. I've been saying I want to volunteer in the public health field since I moved back in November. Six months later, I haven't even got started. And there's the American student, who didn't even speak mandarin when he first got here in February. And right away, he hit the ground running.

One Chinese woman once told me that when she's made enough money, she'll start volunteering. Her income level is upper middle-class. There are many people like her, who feel that they haven't done enough to even take care of themselves. And there are others, who, like me, use the lack of spare time as an excuse. But the thing is, none of the people who are making these excuses (including me) are having a difficult life. In fact, we are living comfortably. Yet we can't find the time to spare for people in need or for a cause we believe in.

I believe the Chinese people, who are traditionally known for their hospitality, politeness and generosity, need to form the habit of volunteering. Not everybody need to do what the college student has been doing and give up a whole day every week to volunteer. If you could spare a couple of hours every other week, or even just a couple of hours every month, your time could be helpful to somebody or some project. Who can say we can't even spare two hours every month? That's one dinner with some friends.

在美国很多人搬到一个新城市后都会找在该社区作志愿者的机会。 有些人通过教会，有些人通过一些自己信任的组织。大家会找一些自己喜欢或擅长的事做，比如喜欢户外活动的会去进行一些公园、野外小径的清理、维护，喜欢历史的人会去当地的艺术馆、博物馆做解说，喜欢小孩的人会帮忙组织一些课余活动给低收入家庭的小孩，等等。人们既做了对社会和他人有用的事，同时也是在做自己感兴趣的事。

＊ Haven't written much lately, as life has been crap.

Well actually, not completely true, but there hasn't been a lot going on in my life. I also feel like I'm entering a different stage of my relocation now -- the stage where I really miss my friends in the U.S., the stage when I want to flee. (I guess the other stages include dealing with the bad air, trying to get used to the way people do things here, trying to navigate through the health care system, etc. etc.)

A series things that happened also seem to make this the lowest moment since I moved back. Among them, I've been hit again and again with some sort of cold or flu, which has become inconvenient, annoying and somewhat frightening. "Is there something seriously wrong with me?" I ask myself. "My last checkup was OK."

＊ There has been a few good things, among them my Spanish class. It's been going on for about a month now, and I love, love, love it. I don't know what it is, but being in a language class is just very refreshing, exciting and stimulating. It really helps me relax. For now I can say only a few sentences, but I really hope to keep working on this in the years to come.

* Went back to my hometown Harbin for my 10-year college reunion. That was actually a lot of fun, too. Saw some friends I haven't seen for 10 years, and even though everyone followed a different path and has a different life now, a lot of the personalities and friendship remain unchanged. This trip totally exceeded my expectations.

* Summer is here. Everybody's getting out their light-colored outfits. Everybody's wearing something pretty. Somehow I'm just lazy about it. Come to think about it, I'm still slowly warming up to this place.

All right. That's all the mumbling I'm going to do for now. I'd be bored reading this myself. ... Promised to post new photos, but still don't have any good scenery shots.

I saw a live acrobatic show for the first time in my life tonight. It's not something I would normally seek to do, as I more or less associate it with the circus and always feel that the moves are achieved through great physical pain. But tonight I went with a friend from the U.S. and a couple of his friends, just trying to be a good host (he was one of the participants at one of the programs I managed during my nonprofit time, and came to Beijing for a semester. We've been trying to meet up for a few months, but being the negligent friend I am, we didn't get the chance until tonight.).

I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed the show a lot. There was nothing in the show that I haven't seen on TV: 10 people on one moving bike, people jumping through hoops of various heights, people stacked on each other, people catching high flying objects with their heads, some degrees of contortion, etc. etc. But the show becomes much more enjoyable when you are surrounded by people who are really into it. You clap together, wow together, and worry about whether the eight plates the girl is spinning might fall off or the third person being sprung into the air will be able to get steady footing on the second person's head.

I was amazed what the members of the troop was able to do. And this may sound lame and weird (because I've been so critical of China on this blog), but sitting there, among all the people who appreciated the show (half the audience was people from other countries and most of the rest were in Chinese tour groups), I felt proud as a Chinese.

最近喜欢上了许巍的歌，买了一盘CD,就有收集他所有CD的欲望。So far， 最喜欢的是漫步和礼物。其他的也都不错

漫步
很多事来不及思考
就这样自然发生了
在丰富多彩的路上
注定经历风雨
让它自然而地来吧
让它悄然地去吧
就这样微笑地看着自己
漫步在这人生里
yeah 当往事悄然而走远
只留下清澈的心
yeah 让我们相互温暖
漫步在这阳光里

羡慕这首歌的洒脱，向往简单的生活。