sail away

It’s raining so badly for the following day in a row. So boring weather! Only from time to time there’s a short break… I met Windy today! Oh, I haven’t seen her for so long time! She told me she would help me to do the laundry. So nice! Wow, I am so grateful to her! How could I handle without her help?

Kevin called me today in the morning. We supposed to go to the cinema tonight with girls but… He had to go home (to Shaoxin) because his grandmother died… I’m so sorry. In moments like that I feel we’re hopeless. No-one can escape from the death. We need to accept it – like something normal, something inevitable. It’s a part of everybody’s lives. We are all sailors and death is the final harbour.

 

Sail away

It’s time to leave

Rainy days

Are yours to keep

Fade away

The night is calling my name

You will stay

I’ll sail away

birthday

On Friday I had 25th birthday. There was also my English corner in WEB on that day. I decided to cherish it together with my students, my friends. Together with Kevin (big help!!) I bought a cake… and we spent a pleasant time with everybody. I taught students how to sing "Happy birthday"! Haha, and they sang it quite correctly! That was so touching! It was so incredible moment of my life! I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. And those smiling faces, so warm and friendly!
For those who don’t remember it or were not in my class I’m writing it once again:

Sto lat
Sto lat
Niech żyje, żyje nam (2x)
Jeszcze raz
Jeszcze raz
Niech żyje, żyje nam
NIECH ŻYJE NAM!!

I got many gifts. More than last year, more since I was a child!

• pillow
  
• big mug for beer
  
• pendant
• picture in the frame
• music box
• book about Forbidden City in Beijing
• pen
• doggy-puppet
• cup for pens and pencils
• Chinese mask
• …

This year’s birthday was one of the best! It’s all because fantastic people around me. I’ll come back to China and enjoy the most pleasant moments in my lifetime. I’m sure it’s a right place for me. Anyway, nobody knows what future brings.
Calvin, Oliver, Jack, Kevin, Sally, Janice, Cherry, Tim, Ben, Bob, Chen Chen, Lily, Freda, Yo Yo, Mandy, Ricky, Victor, Ania, Sylwek, even my boss!!… and all others who wished me a happy day – big thanks and kisses. It was a wonderful time thanks to you all!

meds

"I was alone, falling free,
Trying my best not to forget
What happened to us,
What happened to me,
What happened as I let it slip

I was confused by the powers that be,
Forgetting names and places.
Passers by were looking at me
As if they could erase it

Baby did you forget to take your meds?"

[Placebo, Meds, Meds]

 

Hitlist #299

November 27th, 2006

1. 1 (5) Jay Chou (周杰伦), Huo Yuan Jia (霍元甲)
2. 5 (5) Placebo, Meds
3. 2 (4) Keane, Nothing In My Way
4. 6 (11) Snow Patrol, Chasing Cars
5. 3 (3) Nelly Furtado, All Good Things
6. 12 (3) Sigur Ros, Hoppipolla
7. 4 (12) Jay Chou (周杰伦), Qi Li Xiang (七里香)
8. 11 (2) U2 & Green Day, The Saints Are Coming
9. 9 (5) Depeche Mode, Martyr
10. 19 (2) Robbie Williams, Lovelight
11. 7 (7) Enigma, Hello & Welcome
12. 8 (5) My Chemical Romance, Welcome To The Black Parade
13. – (1) Snow Patrol, Set The Fire To The Third Bar
14. 15 (4) Muse, Knights Of Cydonia
15. 10 (12) The Killers, When You Were Young
16. – (1) Christina Aguilera, Hurt
17. 13 (9) INXS, God’s Top Ten
18. – (1) Justin Timberlake feat. T.I., My Love
19. 14 (7) Razorlight, America
20. – (1) Weird Al Yankovic, You’re Pitiful

25

In Poland it’s sad. There was a terrible accident in a coal mine in the south… It was a methane explosion which killed 23 miners. I watched news from Polish TV, everybody is so depressed and crying… Even my boss was different, didn’t joke as always. We have national mourning in the whole country until Saturday. It means that all entertainment events should be cancelled to worship the memory of those who died.
Southern Poland is the area which often suffers from disasters. In January (earlier this year) many people died because of the collapse of the shopping hall’s roof… My god, how much can people stand?
I’m 25 years old today. Yes, I have a birthday today. Let this day be good and calm.
Last night I already got wishes: from Kevin, Tim, Lily, Ricky… I was so touched. How beautiful friendship is! And today in the morning Ania called me from Ireland! Oooo… Remember Ania? I dated her before I came to China… and then she went to Ireland. Sweet girl. We will meet in December.
25 years have passed. A quarter of the century.

sleep

The best sleep is in the morning. Oh, I love it when I don’t have to get up early! Today I woke up at 10:30… I know it’s very late but the rain makes my sleep longer and better. Yes, still raining. Actually it’s nice because the world seems to be much calmer when everybody prefers to stay at home.
I had only one class today, in Web. Nice, nice. I was talking about my family, where we have specific dependence related to the children’s gender. My great-grandmother had five sons (no daughters), my grandfather has six daughters (no sons) and my mother has three sons (no daughters). So according to above I should have daughters, no sons. Haha, we’ll see in future!
The business I do for my Polish company goes quite smoothly. I’m glad to notice it because I can feel that my work is well received. I can feel that I’m useful and it is terrific feeling, isn’t it?

retro

I guess it’s a rainy season in Hangzhou. It’s been wet since last weekend! And last night, and today.. so cloudy and crying. For many people November is the saddest month of the year, the most depressing. December is much better because then there’s a Christmas time.

I had Western dinner yesterday. Oliver read in my last post that I don’t want to eat Chiese food, and he suggested to eat something else. Sweet Oliver! It was a nice time, we ate pizzas and fruit salad. Today I can eat Chinese food again – it seems that everybody needs a change from time to time. This is also a reason why people travel during holidays.. to change something, to refresh themselves, not to fall into a routine.

I’d like to present an autumn song. It’s "You’re Lost Little Girl" by The Doors. It’s from 1968, very old. I like old sounds. My soul is retro now.

*****

You’re lost little girl

You’re lost little girl

You’re lost…

Tell me who are you?

I think that you know what to do

Impossible? Yes, but it’s true

I think that you know what to do

I’m sure that you know what to do

[The Doors, You’re Lost Little Girl, Strange Days]

complaints

These days I’m not very happy. So this post will be a complaining one…
The weather makes me feel depressed;
I have no news from my company so I don’t know what I should do next;
I didn’t get my salary on time and no-one replies… what’s going on?!
I feel lonely in the evenings because everybody around is so busy;
I have no energy to learn Chinese;
it seems like I haven’t seen my family for too long time;
they haven’t been online for several days… and it makes me feel more lonely;
I miss Joyce (busy), Calvin (busy) and Lily (busy);
Chinese DVDs are so poor and I can’t watch anything smoothly, what makes me so mad!!
I don’t want to eat Chinese food.
*****
I’ll meet Oliver tonight.
I need to get rid of bad emotions, negative vibes, dark thoughts.

weekend

The weekend was very interesting. On Friday evening I had nice class about Leonardo da Vinci – funny, one student thought it is about "Titanic"-star (Di Caprio!), another one thought it is about football star Ronaldo (the pronunciation of "Leonardo" and "Ronaldo" is almost the same in Chinese). After class I met Ben and we had a dinner together. Ben is a receptionist in language training centre where I taught business English. I ate so much… but fish soup is something I will never refuse! I had a great talk with Ben, he’s a nice boy. Only the weather was bad. It was raining for the whole day.
Also Saturday was rainy. In the morning it seemed to be better (that’s why I went to teach to the library by bicycle)… but later it was worse with every hour.
I didn’t want to leave my bike in the library, so I decided to go back home despite of rain. Then Oliver called me and said he wanted to have some beers with me. OK! But I was so wet and cold… We spent evening in night-club. Nice place – where we could chat and watch beautiful dancing girls. I came back home very late… I would have stayed longer but on the next day I had to teach (Chen Chen!).
I also had English corner on Sunday. It was a special class for me because as I counted, I’ve taught for the 100th time! Wow, so many! I still enjoy it and always wait for more classes!
November 19th is Kevin’s birthday. Kevin is my student from Web, he always comes to listen to my classes. He invited me for birthday dinner together with his friends. I was so touched. And again… I ate so much… but fish soup is something I will never refuse! Haha! We drank some beers and wine; later we went to K-TV. K-TV is a place where you can sing karaoke, it is very popular entertainment in China. Well, I sang some songs , even Chinese ones!!! We finished at about midnight. Good thing that I didn’t have to get up early today.
Today I’m a little bit sad. Maybe it’s because I’m not very busy. Everybody around me is busy so I would also like it. I downloaded many old songs today. The Doors (I remember my fascination when I was 17-18 years old!), Led Zeppelin ("… been dazed and confused for so long time!!"), King Crimson and "sweet child in time…" (that’s Deep Purple, the only song by them I like). So beautiful and moving. Just for my lower mood. I want to sleep long and wake up when the world is better.

all good things

"Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end"

[Nelly Furtado, All Good Things, Loose]

Hitlist #298

November 20th, 2006

1. 1 (4) Jay Chou (周杰伦), Huo Yuan Jia (霍元甲)
2. 3 (3) Keane, Nothing In My Way
3. 4 (2) Nelly Furtado, All Good Things
4. 2 (11) Jay Chou (周杰伦), Qi Li Xiang (七里香)
5. 10 (4) Placebo, Meds
6. 6 (10) Snow Patrol, Chasing Cars
7. 5 (6) Enigma, Hello & Welcome
8. 12 (4) My Chemical Romance, Welcome To The Black Parade
9. 16 (4) Depeche Mode, Martyr
10. 7 (11) The Killers, When You Were Young
11. – (1) U2 & Green Day, The Saints Are Coming
12. 20 (2) Sigur Ros, Hoppipolla
13. 13 (8) INXS, God’s Top Ten
14. 14 (6) Razorlight, America
15. 17 (3) Muse, Knights Of Cydonia
16. 15 (10) Jason Mraz, Plane
17. 9 (6) Moby feat. Patti Labelle, One Of These Mornings
18. 8 (15) David Gray, Alibi
19. – (1) Robbie Williams, Lovelight
20. 11 (16) Muse, Starlight

da Vinci

I will have English corner about Leonardo da Vinci tonight. During my preparation I’ve become fascinated by him! It was a genius – I always knew it but now it seems to me that I knew too little. He represented what today we call the renaissance humanist ideal. He was interested in so many fields! Painting, drawing, architecture, anatomy, botany… He was an engineer of the future! Some of his projects were realised after 400 years!!
And what about "Mona Lisa" and "Lady with an Ermine"? Beautiful, mysterious, universal and timeless. Perfect! Can we meet people like da Vinci nowadays? Infinitely creative, always curious about the world, not afraid of taking risk, brave enough to ask questions and break stereotypes and myths. With bright future!
Tu be a human – that sounds proud!
I finished business English course. When I started to teach business (for the first time I was the only teacher for the whole course) I was full of doubts. What experience could I share with the students? Many of them work for years… some of them expected me to tell them how to do business. But I also don’t know it. Everybody should find a unique way to achieve success. I could provide some vocabulary and useful expressions. Now the course is over; I could handle it! This is my small victory.