YOGAYUGA

I do feel proud as a Chinese for what China did for the Olympic ceremony. One World One Dream is really a dream of Chinese in 100 years. Today is the day to show national power of China. 21st century is in China.

The whole ceremony is about history, culture and the civilisation process of China. All these ideas were shown in visual form focusing on the theme of Chinese philosophy - The Sky is in round shape and The earth is in square. It was the biggest Olympic ceremony in the history with 15,000 performers. It was also the most expensive on record. China had been preparing it up to seven years. The whole performance was absolutely amazing. It’s such a spectacular show of the century. China does make a great improvement and a big step forward towards the world being opened and welcomed. Yao Ming was holding the national flag in front of the whole Chinese team with a little kid accompanied him. The kid was the survivor of Sichuen earthquake who saved lives of his mates during the tragedy. He is only few years old. A little kid can be allowed to walk with the person who carried the national flag in the ceremony that shows the significance of Chinese attitude towards the new age. It means China is willing to accept the new thought with open minded.

Former gymnast, Li Ning was lifted with the torch to light the Olympic Flame in the last part of ceremony. It was brilliant. He was running against the wall of Bird Nest in the air. I was so touched and moved by seeing this scene. It was such a heartfelt feeling. I believe many of Chinese would feel the same as the way I did. It’s the scene of showing future of China towards the brightness and the glory. This scene was directed by a Hong Kong movie director.

The whole performance was organised and directed by Zhang Yimou. He is a great director of many international movies. You certainly feel like watching his films while you are watching the open ceremony. The ceremony was full of his typical movie elements such as elegance costumes, colourful lighting, artistic ornaments and Chinese philosophy. The major idea of the whole ceremony is to make Beijing unforgettable, and to express the new of China, not the backward.

I watched the live broadcast “China welcomes world leaders” in the morning. When Bush walked close to Hu Jintao for handshaking, he naturally put his left arm around shoulders of Hu Jintao acting very FRIENDLY but the rest of Presidents didn’t. He posted for photo section immediately in front of all the cameras. All the cameras kept flashing. All the camera men were just waiting for this photo I persume. I was waiting for it too. It’s so typical of Bush by acting friendly in many ways he can.

One more interesting news about Olympic! Chinese of Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong are always looking for special days of getting married or having child born. It’s no exception for Beijing Olympic. Wedding and having babies born on 888!

For those who want to watch the open ceremony earlier, then you may go to CCTV. I mean for those who don’t live in Asia. Due to the time difference, some of you probably need to see it in the next day if your country doesn’t do live broadcast. CCTV did live broadcast for the open ceremony on internet. I think they will do live broadcast for all the events in the rest of days.

Haha…What an interesting article I found on Yahoo - 7 Ways Your E-mail can get you fired

Be honest! Who doesn’t? Don’t be kidding!

I won’t say everyone does, but I am sure most of us do. What about you check your personal mail with your own BlackBerry at work? I guess it’s not all that bad, and completely affect your work performance if you do it with some limits. For those, who check up personal mail all the time at work, then I am not surprise you will get fired. However, this article sounds like your boss is looking for chances of firing you.

BTW, regardless how many times you ever access to personal mail account such as yahoo or hotmail that the records can definitely be tracked in the central system of a company. My boss of my previous company did such set up in the central system, then he could find out who was chating on messenger, and how many times we accessed to our personal mail accounts. Nasty, isn’t it? Boss….mate!!!…:p

Just saw it…….I wonder who had such idea originally?? It’s kind of funny and creative though is cruel….lol It’s actually about human right, something to think of.

The Origins of the Beijing Olympic logo

It’s typhoon today. Kit Kit usually likes visiting the balcony once a day, but she just can’t do it today. She likes sitting by the balcony, watching, eating and smelling our plants….

It’s absolutely proud of being a Chinese. Chinese people have been waiting for long of this world event being held in our capital, Beijing. Beijing Olympic is approaching in three days on Aug 8, 2008. 888 is the lucky number of Chinese, is the meaning of bringing all of us a good fortune.

I have just watched a programme about count down Beijing Olympic on CNN. The journalist recently has been Beijing for viewing the overall preparation works of open ceremony. There are issues foreigners do still pay concern during their upcoming Olympic visits.

1) Pollution problem

2) The heat

3) The hygiene

4) The language problem

5) The transportation

The sky still looks dull in Beijing due to the polluted air especially under such exotic weather. Weather of Beijing is up to 34C during summer, which is equivalent to 93F. Overall, the general hygiene of public bathrooms has been properly improved in the past year, but there are still public places that need to be paid attention. People of Beijing have been encouraged and supported by the local government to learn English in order to enhance the international image of Beijing. The journalist of CNN asked several people simple questions on the street of Beijing in English, but still found problems of communication. It’s hard to learn proper English in short term for those who have never been learning much of English but I believe the local people have already paid enough efforts for the participation of English learning. Some local Chinese families do provide the Olympic Homestay with lower accommodation cost for travellers who visit the Olympic games during August. (Somehow, the number of Homestay guests doesn’t turn out that many as expected 6 months ago before the Olympic week due to the problem of visa issuance caused by the new policy.) Those families need to learn English for about a year before the Olympic starts. They are awarded with a certificate by showing their competence of English course, and the achievement of meeting standard service requirement of hosting foreign visitors. At least, simple English such as coke, orange juice, pasta, food and towel are words that needed to be remembered. The journalist of CNN also took a trip to the underground, and found difficult to read the instruction signs in English. Translation (Chinese - English) problem is always a major issue in Mainland China. You can always find funny sign written in non sensible English around public areas included hotels and restaurants.

By the way, I always wonder what about English problem of Japan. I don’t mean to be judgmental, but certainly Japanese hardly speak a single word of English in Japan included those living in an international city as Tokyo. Foreigners don’t find difficult to hang around in Japan I presume, however, I need to admit that Japanese do have good sense of instruction guiding Japanese non-speakers. If you happened to appear in Beijing Olympic game, don’t forget to bring two things with you.

1) The handy paper/electric fan that against the heat

2) The English - Chinese dictionary, definitely does help!

Hope that there is no more such news happening within this week. It’s sad to have 16 killed in the border of Xinjiang. Hope that the long term internal tension between Chinese government and people in Xinjiang/Tibet will be solved without violence sooner or later.

I can’t wait to see the open ceremony!!

New idea, new design for this summer……Something for changes!!!

Sparkling Summer!

They are on Etsy!

Women’s Works

These are absolutely pieces of feminist work. They all are from Chinese female artists. All I found is they all bring up ideas of what women concern in today’s society towards issues of imbalance of attention from public and value traditionally accorded to male artists.

Remember I ever posted a “Paper Lion” on May 3rd this year? In fact, this lion is now in the exhibition of Women’s Works. This is my major reason to visit this exhibition. It’s very special. I saw the following lion on the street before the exhibition started.

They capture the scene of an old lady pushing the paper lion around area of Sheung Wan. It was the day I saw it I guess. It reflects how those old ladies of H.K. do their daily works. Many old ladies of here do pick up unused paper from the streets and sell them for money. They have those paper placed on the trolley, and bring them to the location where they can sell. It’s upsetting actually. We have old people who handle jobs that they shouldn’t do. If the following lady wasn’t with a paper lion, but with the unused paper, I doubt she would attract attention from people on the street. This is the theme of bringing attention from general public towards poor work condition of old ladies/people in H.K.

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I am sure some of you may ever heard about Fair Trade, which is organised by Crossroads Foundation. Crossroads Foundation is a Hong Kong based, non-profit organisation serving global need.

Too often, those who toll to produce goods make little money from them. It’s bad news that middle men and retailers routinely take much of the profit, leaving little for the producers. It is worse news that, regularly, they buy at a price which forces producers to sell goods below cost. Both can leave producers trapped in a cycle of growing debt. Both can see them plagued with poor working conditions, health problems, lack of education and damage to the environment.

Fair Trade is a growing trend that actively fights these problems and, to us, Fair Trade principles seem fair enough! They include:

Fair price, Fair share, Fair chance, Fair work, Fair growth, Fair deal, Fair care and Fair mind

Crossroads has goods from the third world countries sold in their Global Handicrafts Village, where is located in Tuen Mun. The goods on sale come from people who struggle, in their different countries, to emerge from economic hardship and challenge. An important aspect about trading fairly is that all items be purchased at a just price for those who have produced them. That is Fair Trade commitment to all their suppliers even when it means they cannot place a profit. It’s the way to help the people in poverty, and to help them to grow.

I took a mini trip of the whole Crossroads village under the guidance of their volunteer that I found the foundation is very unique and organised. Apart from the Global Handicrafts Village, the Foundation also collects donation from the local. They collect everything, brand new or second hand items. The related charity organisations of those third world countries will inform the Foundation what they need from time to time, then the Foundation will send all the items to those in need by ship once they have enough funding donated by individual or local big companies such as HSBC. All the empty containers are available in their village for shipping purpose and collection of goods.

The Global Handicrafts Village - all the handicraft items they sell for helping those in poverty under principals of fair trade deal.

Their Silk Road Cafe, where you can have snack and coffee. All the money you paid is for donation. It’s such inspiring atmosphere. I love it!

The empty containers are for the collection of goods, and ready to ship anytime. The goods I bought in their Handicraft village. They are Fair Trade coffee from Colombia, a necklace from Serbia, a wrist band from Mainland China. Every item has its own paper tag on it for the explanation of where those goods are from, and how they had been produced.

Here is the tag info for the necklace - Bread of Life cards and handicraft items are made by people who are trying to rebuild their lives in the struggling, post-war nation of Serbia. Many find it difficult to get work, even if they are highly skilled and experienced. Proceeds from these products contribute to the work of Bread of Life, and to the craftspeople and their families. Thank you for helping us to support them through your purchase! www.breadoflife.org.yu

How sweet! Isn’t it?

Overall, my day was good as I feel very fulfilled and inspired with what I experienced today. I am very much moved by the motivation of volunteers in Crossroads Foundation, therefore I can’t help myself to sign up to become their volunteer. I definitely will join them from time to time as long as they need volunteers for assistance and my time is available.

It’s hard to imagine that a non profit organisation can be so inspiring. They inspire you to think, to help and to learn how to live to the fullest.

I was up so early this morning, and out for sun bath. I feel I didn’t do much but actually did quite a lot. Today is so hot, but I feel good about it. I prefer hot and sunny day rather than rainy day with nonstop thundering and flashing. I really hate heavy rain pouring down from the sky. Raining is ok, but not too much like what we had been through in the past two months.

Anyway, today is sunny and extremely hot. I had Thai food for lunch regardless how hot the weather is and Vietnamese food for dinner. I had cold bamboo drink for afternoon tea and whiskey coke for night drink. I did indeed have a fulfilled day with relaxing activities. I managed to take some photos of the day I had been through.

I really want to go to Thailand again, and have some exotic Tom Yum Kung soup. The followings are also good. They are from a yummy Thai restaurant of Kowloon City where you can find the real Thai food in H.K.

Since I had been to Vietnam, I started to love beef noodle soup. It’s sea plant lotus drink. It looks weird, but taste sweet. I haven’t seen it in Vietnam though.

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Beijing toilet revolution becomes a hot topic since Olympic is approaching.

Chinese toilet can be unpleasant I totally agreed. Personally, I had very bad toilet experience once in up north China. Those toilets are located along the motorways from south to north. I found no lights, no doors but with thousands of mosquito flying around the whole toilet. It was horrible indeed.

Western media always reports that Chinese loves squat toilet, but it’s not so true. Squat toilets are common in Mainland China, but not very common in Taiwan, and also not common at all in Hong Kong. Usually, you will find eight out of ten are squat toilets in bathrooms of Mainland, and two out of ten are squat toilets in bathrooms of Taiwan. You will find none of squat toilets in bathrooms of Hong Kong.

Beijing hotel toilets are usually Western style (sit-down toilets) but can be a little shabby – not unhygienic, just aged. Most Chinese toilets have puny plumbing which can’t cope with toilet paper. There’ll be a basket by the side of the toilet, throw paper in there. This is the same situation as those toilets in Taiwan. You can always see a basket by the side of the toilet in Taiwan as they also have the same plumbing problem. Once I threw paper inside the toilet which was in the bathroom of my apartment in Taipei, I almost created a “toilet flooding” tragedy in my apartment. It was scary. So if any of you would pay visit of toilets either in Taiwan or Mainland, China, please remember not to throw any paper inside their toilets otherwise you will be in big big trouble. If you did it in public toilets, certainly you will get blamed by the toilet cleaning people.

Mainland public squat toilets often consist of little more than a hole in the ground. Privacy is almost unheard of, partitions usually consist of nothing more than a two foot wall if that, cubicle doors are an unheard of luxury. You may find several squat toilets in the same section of a bathroom without being separated by any wall at all. It means several people can use the toilets altogether by squatting next to eachother.

Hope you don’t find this post disturbing, but what I said here is totally true. However, all the public toilets of Beijing have been completed refurbished before Olympic starts. They are ready to meet the tourists and visitors of Beijing Olympic in August, but DON’T forget to bring your own toilet paper along. Toilet paper is not available at all.

Of course, I don’t like to squat!!! lol