Feel for India!

This is one of those days that I hate to watch BBC but still keen to know what's going on.

India is a country that I have visited 3 times and spent altogether 7 weeks. I am absolutely fascinated by its rich culture and rich diversity. Though I read a lot and a lot about India, even wrote my graduation thesis about its economic development. Yet, I am afraid that I don't understand her enough when terrorist attacks stroke.

It is heart-broken for me to see that it is punished for its diversity and freedom. I really want to understand WHY?! Though I am sure that Indians stand up quickly from such incidents because they need to continue with life. I love their spirits and I really hope for peace to be with such an amazing country.

Does marriage matter?

I am trying to figure out if getting registered for marriage does matter or not. Based on what you decide that you want to get married instead of living together? What significant difference it really makes?

There was a conversation between me and 2 engaged guys (both getting married soon) today. It sounded like the most natural thing to do after some time of being together with a girl. But if I am sure that Aron is the person that I want to spend my life with, why do I have to marry him? What will be different on the first day after the "big day" - really curious about it! I should email Vero!

If two people consider marriage as a life long commitment, then taking the vow is certainly a big milestone for their relationship. I am wondering how those in an unmarried long-term relationship VS a marriage feel differently about their relationships and their beloved ones.

I guess this can be a good panel discussion topic for "world cafe" type of sessions by having different cultures presenting their views on marriage. I would love to host it!

Totally amazed by Orwell's brilliance

If Aron didn't insist, I wouldn't have bought "1984" which is an extremely brilliant book, even better than "animal farm". So what I love the most of its brilliance?

The way Orwell described the essence of democracy in that "secret book" composed by O'Brian diguised by "Brotherhood". The idea was that basically in every society there is a very small group of powerful elites. Democracy is the process of the mass "middle class" striving to enjoy the same level of rights and power as the elites.

So what if there isn't a big enough middle class? I believe they still want to enjoy the rights of the elites. But that wouldn't be a movement for democracy. So what happens when "the bottom of the pyramid" wants to have more rights? Is that called "terrorism" in today's world?

The 2nd brilliance was how the Big Brother party was maintaining its ruling position in the country: to convert and control its middle class to the level that they cannot be united to turn against the powerful elites. And the vulnerable poor is not even in the game.

So I cannot help thinking of my own country: it does make sense to grow our economy and grow more people into middle class; at the same time, I feel cold-hearted. The emerging middle class in China is not those will unite to earn more rights for themselves or the pool. They are enjoying being superior to the poor - the class they came from. They are not enlightened enough to understand their responsibilities. They are "educated" to be apathetic. And the growing economy is keeping them content of what they can have. Sounds a bit like a vicious cycle to me though I believe and strongly hope the landscape is going to improve with time.

1984 is simply a very insightful, forward looking and enlightening book. I just want to share my stimulated thoughts here. And hope to hear yours as well.

Sweden now feels like home =)

With the week-long national holiday, I went to Sweden between Sept 28th and Oct 5th. I met most of my closest friends and colleagues during my internship time. And visited Aron's parents again and spent some lovely time walking in the woods, chatting next to the fire and playing WII in front of the TV...

It was such a great visit for one BIG reason - I felt Sweden was home, especially Stockholm. I love everything about it: how clean and beautiful it is, cheap but great fashion, nice restaurants and yummy Swedish food, cultures and events, most importantly I have good friends there who I can connect with!

I spent my lunches and dinners meeting people. So great to catch up with all of them. It felt like I wasn't away for a year - so natural to reconnect, to update each other of our current being, to joke and laugh together!

I spent most of the time between lunches and dinners walking around the city. Summer just ended and winter hasn't come yet. Autumn is the season I didn't experience when I was living in Stockholm - very very beautiful with leaves turning into red and yellow, forming various shades of colors everywhere. And I definitely miss being in a city so clean, so pretty and so small that I feel excited to walk everywhere.

In between the walks, there were a lot of shopping activities. My favorite shopping area is still T-centralen then Kungstragarden then walking towards Ostermalm. I can find all the main stream brands there. However, there are 2 shops I really love and it was my first time there: NK (the premium department store under Bain's office in Stockholm) and Monki (a funky casual wear shop on Gotgatan). I still feel that I haven't shopped enough when I was there. LOL

I felt more relaxed being at Aron's parent's place. I love being with them because they are calm, relaxed and great conversationists. They are always very keen to know how everything is with me and my parents. Also they speak naturally and casually about how things are going with their lives, even their work, their friends and relatives. More and more, Aron and me started to share their passion - forests. (Both of them are forest experts who have studied and been working on this throughout their career.) We always had educational forest walks. =)

Such a strange and amazing feeling about Sweden even surprised myself. I guess I am a bit tired of China after being here for a year already. And I have got used to the life style of moving to different places every year. I am also keen to find out if Stockholm can really be the place that I want to settle down. I hope to be able to test that out in a not-too-far future.

An "outdated" update

I haven't blogged for quite some time - on one hand, I didn't have enough time to catch up with the pace of life, on the other hand, I wasn't diligent enough in reflecting and sharing my inspirations.

In general, I am doing better and better right now compared to months back. I started to feel motivated and capable at work. I started to enjoy hanging out with my colleagues which has been an issue for a while (I'll explain why later). Shenzhen (I am now on a case in Shenzhen for 6-7 months) is a quite boring city. However, work has been keeping me busy from noticing it. =)

Aron has recently moved back to Stockholm which was very sad for both of us. However, this relationship has been growing stonger as well as both of us growing with the relationship. So we are coping with the distance and time difference pretty well so far.

What lacks the most so far are AIESEC (or similar kind of) friends who I can meet up to have an interesting and inspiring discussion about life, love, family, sustainability, humanity, etc. Too often I felt like speaking to a wall when I raise some of the topics to my colleagues. I also felt a little bit embarrassed as if I was showing off my knowledge and exposure. I feel intellectually lonely sometimes.

Since life is not perfect, I am focusing on the positive sides and try to make the most out of it. I still read (though much less than before), meditate (also less frequently) and do sports (I can swim better and better now!). And on a Sunday like this (alone in the hotel in Shenzhen), I got more time to think and connect to friends who are far away.

Signing out...