new year resolution: practicer mon francais !!

this will take a lot of initiative and willpower since i dropped mihalek's french class. hopefully i will actually follow through and take lessons at alliance francais next semester. but for now...

| Marcella | catch my breath says: je ne sais pas si tu aimeras "i surrender"

| Marcella | catch my breath says: mais je l'ai entendu a "alors tu pense que tu peux danser canada"

stephhh>> says: MDR

stephhh>> says: j'aime ton translation

stephhh>> says: *ta translation

| Marcella | catch my breath says: merci

| Marcella | catch my breath says: oh as-tu trouve "permanent"?

stephhh>> says: mais c'est une "mouthful" pour dire

stephhh>> says: aiya, j'ai oublie

| Marcella | catch my breath says: trop des syllables mdr

| Marcella | catch my breath says: les francais ne disent pas "aiya"

| Marcella | catch my breath says: ce sont les chinois

it's a good start, n'est pas?

6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust ...over the course of 6 years

370,000 Chinese killed in the Nanking Massacre...over the course of 6 weeks

I remember the first thing I learned about World War II when I was a little kid was how Hitler was a horrible man who commanded his soldiers to kill Jews. Though this is a very simplistic view of the war, my 8-year-old self was introduced a significant horror of WWII. There is no doubt that the Jewish community and the rest of the world did a great job as to spreading the awareness of the horrors of the Holocaust. This was important because mankind needed to learn from its mistakes as to avoid them in the future. Furthermore, Germany also responded quite well, with a new government taking over after the war, they apologized for the war and paid for all the expenses. As a matter of fact, Germany is still compensating for what they have done, paying back surviving victims of the war to this day -- some 60 years later.

Now why is it so different for the genocides that happened in Asia? The Nanking Massacre remained to be one of the most horrifying genocides in WWII, with the Japanese army killing cruelly at lightning speed -- without the aid of gas chambers or other mass murder techniques. This was not so different from the Holocaust, the victims in Nanking being helpless civilians as well. Now why is it that the world seems to have forgotten about this part of history? Why are we, the Chinese, not spreading the word about the tragedies we faced, like our Jewish brothers and sisters had? Why are we not saying anything, despite the fact that the Prime Minister of Japan openly claimed that the comfort women*(see below) served the Japanese soldiers at their own will just last year? Why do we seem indifferent that Japan has not offered an apology, much less compensation, for what they had done to China in WWII?

This is not an attack on Japanese people or my own cooped up vengence against Japan. If anything, I believe that there is a lot we can learn from Japan. However, I just want to see the world exposed to this important part of history. It is important for a country to own up to their wrongdoings and to educate their young on their mistakes -- neither seen from Japan. It is important for us to know how inhumane humans can be and the sufferings war can cause. Afterall, we do not want anything like this to repeat in history again.

 * The numerous rapings by Japanese soldiers were recorded by foreign journalists, which gave Japan a bad reputation on the international level. Thus they came up with a more discrete system -- Comfort Women: the largest sexual slavery system the world has ever came to know. Comfort women were Korean and Chinese girls typically in their early teens that were kidnapped by Japanese soldiers. Their job was to travel with the army and to satisfy their sexual needs in "Comfort Houses". Every night, each girl was raped by 20-30 men. If a girl gets pregnant, she will either have to abort the baby or be killed. If a girl gets an STD, she will be killed. Finally, when Japan surrendered, most of these comfort women were killed because Japan must get rid of the evidence.

Describe yoru academic objectives and indicate how these are appropriate to your long-range goals.

wtf?

you have idea how many times i have started this blog and hit the cancel button in the end. i don't know, i'm just not very persistent to finish things nowadays. i do get work done though, but it's only cuz i use my adrenaline rushes to the max. this is a little late, but i must say that january has been a kickass month for me. i was feeling really, i don't know how to explain it...zen, i guess? you know, just a constant peace inside of me and a driving force to complete tasks. it's been such an amazing experience cuz i rarely felt tired, generally content with everything, etc. Things that would usually irritate me didn't even bother me at all. I flew through the month with complete ease. Productive, yet relaxed. It was almost like I was on drugs or something. You know, those ADD drugs that non-ADD people take to have a ton of energy? (hahaa think lynette from desperate housewives, season 1) however, i didn't need to take drugs or recharge with sleep to keep the energy going. It did stop and maybe that's why I find this month so hard to get through. without that "zen" in me, it's back to exhausted days, unnecessary stress and procrastination.

hmmm maybe this whole "zen" thing is a state of mind. maybe I was so preoccupied and determined to start 08 in the best way possible, it affected my whole outlook and my energy.

on the bright side, something good did come out of february. semi-formal. when I got there, it was almost like I was watching a movie, a scene in my life. I anticipated semi so much that it felt surreal when it actually happened. everything about it: stepping in snow w/ my heels when getting into tina's car, getting ready at sarah's, being one of the earliest people there, the awkward encounter by coatcheck, too much food, squished on the dance floor, PICTURES....definitely something i would never forget.

=)

2008

i can't believe that christmas break has already come and gone. seventeen days of celebrating was definitely eventful. Christmas and New Year's Eve was the best. We didn't really do anything super special, just the traditional overstuffing, church, and champagne. But the fact that all of my relatives (incl. those from australia) were crammed together in a tiny space to celebrate together made it memorable. i must say that christmas was very downplayed in hk. maybe it was the lack of lights, the lack of decorations, the lack of snow, and the lack of sales. yup, the lack of sales. the malls were half empty on boxing day. i'm not kidding.

this visit back to hk made me feel a lot like a tourist. i no longer feel like "going back" to hk, instead it's more like 'travelling to' hk. although i was born in hk and lived there for ten years, it hardly feels like home anymore. i felt a little out of place, i guess. i would be lying if i said i didn't enjoy the cosmopolitan atmosphere of hk, but i missed my boring snowy toronto suburbs as well.

hahaaa i'm gonna go have dinner now before my jetlag kicks in.