Tibet

These days Tibet has drawn the world's attention. At the Easter, I went to Canterbury, a historical town which is well known for its great Cathedral, the mother church of the Anglican churches, and the archbishop of Canterbury who crowns the British monarch. At such a place, ten thousands kilometers from Tibet, an anonymous person made a prayer: wish a peaceful Tibet.

Today in my emailbox, one friend appealed to the awareness of untruthful reports of Tibet revolt from western medias.

Want to know how faked their reports are?
Go to http://www.anti-cnn.com/

BBC websites unblocked in China

Finally, Chinese can read BBC news at home!

Remember the time when I was at uni. and wanted to hear BBC English, I had to go out on the early mornings, stood out in the open playground, and tuned my Toshiba walkman well, then I could listen to those noncontinuous news report.

Now it will not be like this anymore, only for those English readers, though.

Turbulent politics

Today when I talked with my Mom, she asked me how about China embassy in London now, because she learned from the news that Tibet revolt already spread worldwide and many embassies abroad were attacked. I am surprised that she knows the situation as clear as what I got from BBC.

These days, BBC are filled with news from far east. Tibet violence, the suspicion on Dalai Lama's involvement, now came Taiwan's election. Mom said something which is very serious with this election. Anyway, I am confused, because Taiwan politics always appeared to be a messy situation to me. I just hope the next leader will do good.

The subprime credit crisis, from down there

Since last July, the subprime credit crisis has been like a tornado, wiping out all the growth made during the big bull time, and shaking the world finance down to its foundations. It has not stopped yet. Seems what it brought about to the world is not only homeless Americans, derelict houses and the disappearance of at least two big players (UK Northern Rock, USA Bear Stearns) in the market, but also such wide and long term effect that several drops of rain fell in my reclusive student life.

Rain drop 1: someone earned the life in dollars and planned to buy a dream house with Euros this year ( because the house is in Europe). Now the dollar is so weak and the euro is so strong, his dollar reserve shrunk overnight and he has to put off the plan to ( who knows when?).

Rain drop 2: a newly wed couple just moved in a posh flat. While the freshness of a new life has not faded away yet, the landlord wanted to sell the flat because the housing market is taking the turn from the peak and if now is not the sell time, when would it be?

Rain drop 3: someone was selling softwares to banks. The bull market passed and the banks have to be less generous than before, so not their customers any more and no sales. To maintain a luxury life, he has to find another job to bring quick bucks in.

引他山之玉

世行高级副行长和首席经济学家，林毅夫说，不会利用职务之便给中国更多的贷款，中国目前需要的并不是资金，需要更多的是知识。“前两天听到温总理引用萧伯纳的一句名言，如果我有一个苹果，你有一个苹果，我们交换以后，我们都只有一个苹果，如果我有一个知识，你有一个知识，交换了之后，我们都有了两个知识。”

What is my life like?

Always want to share what my PhD life here is like with friends but have been busy ( a good excuse for being lazy) so that could not do it until I found someone with similar experience in an American uni. wrote it down. I cited them as a shortcut to fulfill my years' big goal.

Chinese section is cited and English comments are corrections to be more like my real daily life.)

我习惯于早上六点多起床，早餐通常是牛奶、鸡蛋加面包，简单而有营养。然后背着书包，带上头一天做的饭菜去赶公交。
(Ok, I didnot get up that early but I went to bed late.)

　　日子久了，你会发现公交车上都是熟悉的面孔，有穿着校服的高中生、西装革履的小职员……还有就是来自五湖四海的留学生。也许是不忍心打破清晨的宁静，大家都专注于自己的事情，或是埋头翻着小说，或是戴着耳机欣赏音乐，或是像我一样凝望着窗外的风光，尽管这一切对我而言已经很熟悉了。

　　学校没有校门，更没有围墙。博士生通常都有自己的办公桌，我和其他二十几位博士生合用一间大办公室，平时除了上课，这里就是主要的活动场所。办公室里有简易厨房和休息区，中午时分，大家喜欢围坐在一起吃午饭，用口音各异的英语讲述自己生活中的趣事，偶尔也聊一聊课程和研究。办公室经常是不熄灯的，因为经常有人在里面学习，有人习惯于白天，有人则喜欢通宵达旦。我倒是没有通宵加班的习惯，但忙起来的时候会从早到晚都待在办公室，早上来学校的时候天还蒙蒙亮，深夜回家的时候已经明月当空了，不时体会一下“与星星相伴”的生活也颇有情趣。
( An extremely International atmosphere. Culture difference could matter that much sometimes. When I donot need to do experiments, I preferring working in my room.)

　　对于习惯了国内教学模式的学生而言，这里的课程确实给人以新鲜感。课堂秩序比较随意，很少有教师会考核出勤情况，学生在课堂上尽可以做自己想做的事情，听音乐、抱着笔记本上网，只是不要影响到别人听课。美国大学的教学很注重实用性和框架性，从本科生到博士生的课程皆是如此，教师不会把所有细节都面面俱到，但一定会告诉你哪些是值得思考和研究的问题，哪些工具可以用来研究问题，以及去哪里寻找这些工具。这种做法的好处在于拓宽我们的思路，缺点是对于学习不主动的学生而言可能什么都学不到。( No courses here, but close to my Master life)

　　学习和科研之余的主要活动就是体育锻炼，学校里设施齐备，健身房、游泳池、各种球类一应俱全。有时候我也会约上几个朋友去旁边的生态公园跑步。美国人注重运动，很多人都有严格的锻炼计划。( My swimming has been greatly improved to 1 km level in non-leisure pools. Gym, jogging, rock climbing, hiking...... )

　　还有一项课余活动也颇为调节心情——做菜。刚到国外的中国学生聚在一起的时候，经常讨论的话题就是如何做菜，从蛋炒饭到煎饼果子，从鱼香茄子到糖醋排骨，再复杂一点的就是北京烤鸭或是水煮鱼。在海外学习工作过一段时间的人，厨艺通常都不差，至少糊弄自己完全没问题 ( From the beginning when I bought dark soy source for daily cooking, to recently I just home made Peking style roast duck, I am at the edge of a so-called chef.)

Interested in my research? A brief: The area is requirements engineering, and the topic is requirements negotiation. Something to do with resolving stakeholders' conflicts when a system is developed.