The hotest day this year

Several days ago, I told my aunt how comfortable here is in summer in Munich. I was talking with her on the phone. The fashion of my tone was even a little bit proud. Sure, I know that that was inappropriate. I told her that the highest temperature this summer, had only reached 28℃, while she was suffering from 34℃ by then.
Therefore, I have got the punishment.
The highest temperature today, is 31℃.

note from The Third Culture

The Third Culture is a book.
My tutor recommended it to all his students 2 months ago.
To me, my tutor is a real intellectual.
So the book must be a good one.
I tend to take notes from it, though the reason could be differed from time to time.

引言：
英语语系的大学与欧洲语系的大学间有着深刻的差异。在欧洲，教授就是在教授，他们有自己的讲台，好家伙！他讲，你记笔记，不要问问题；越难懂，就越难接近，也就越有威望。这就是你获取声望的方式，要晦涩难懂。（P7）
I do not agree with this remark. Nevertheless, it is good to know that there are people who think that way.

P.B．梅达沃（Medawar）说过，有些领域真的很难，难得你几乎不能用简单的语言交流你的工作；而有些领域本质上就很容易，容易得你如果不把描述它的语言毫无必要地变得更难一些就不能给人留下深刻印象。(P8)
A very precise statement. I like it. That's why I do not like to use difficult words.

普及工作者就是以人们能理解的方式解释问题的人。……而在科学界，你将受到如同某种秘密俱乐部里的背叛者般的待遇。（P12）
Trying to imagine the situation that those scientists have to bear.

人文世界里的人的有趣之处在于，他们总认为如果你不知道古典文学，你就没学问。而他们对科学一无所知就不算什么。但我却不明白为什么这就不算什么。（P12）
Exactly.

Three elements of Chinese tradition

I was trying to compose a poem for celebrating my father's 80th birthday. Without question, it has to be a poem in accordance to the traditional format.It is really not easy, I said to my husband.
My husband has got a basic idea about its 'pingze' system already. So, baring the difficulty in mind, I was officially introducing an other element of this format to him; the required parallel for the second and third pairs of the verses, in 'qilü'.
I want to make my father happy. It is a very important thing to me. I want my father to perceive my gratefulness for that he is there and staying healthy. I guess I am the only person in our family, who can satisfy his interest on poetry, although I have never been interested in poetry myself and my poems are definitely lousy.
My husband agreed me on this point and he suggested that my brother could probably make my father happy by playing an erhu piece. But what could my sister do?
I replied, yelling, probably. That would make my father feel homely enough.
hahahah~~~~~~~~~
Both of us laughed with a little bit inevitable bitterness.
After a short pause, my husband concluded the three important elements of Chinese tradition: classic poetry, erhu and yelling.

dreamt about my book

Unlike in real life, certain feelings in the dream could be shifting, following the debating between conscious and subconscious. When I touched the bookcover, I felt like if it was hardcover, but later, the concious made an adjustment and then, I was not sure about my feeling any more.
Another thread of plot that appeared in my dream, was packing luggage for the China trip.
Concerning the China trip, my husband said last night, 'I don't mind to fulfil our social duties. Nevertheless, don't forget that this is my annual leave.'
It gave me an alert.
Too often, I take his kindness as granted.

The official business registration day of Salamanderhuette

I have bought a water bottle with spray for watering flowers. It is made of normal non-transparent plastic. Dark blue. I tried it immediately after returned home from the shopping tour. The water came out from the spray as beautiful as misty fog. I smiled at it.
It reminded me of the picture-mounting course, that I had in Hong Kong long time ago. The lecturer told us the crucial importance of having a handy water bottle with spray. He named several shops in Guangzhou, where we could find it. He made me thought that it is really not easy to find a good one.
Probably all the masters are like that. Without difficulty in any way, to be a master is simply no importance at all.

funny, dreamt about writing report about Yang Liping last night

:-)
Sorethroat. But I do not admit that I am infected by my husband.
The problem is that the recording is forced to have a pause.
During the day, I received an email from my husband. In which, he offered go shopping after work for ensuring me my 'needed' curing sleep. Sweet.

Xiaogan

Dreamt about Xiaogan.
This is the very first time in my whole life until now, my dream was set in this place, conceptually.
In the dream, there were streams about the history of the Jingju opera house, as if that was the place, where my father had been 'criticized' publicly. Certainly, according to what I know, that is untrue. But the question is, how much do I know about my parents? The scenarios were shifting from one to another, seemingly according to different period of time. Somebody was giving speech there in a room at the second floor, and mentioning my father's name as a honorable person.
But which me was the me in the dream? Why did I go there? No any hint, although it is true that part of my personality was formed from my experience there.
I was somewhere in the edge of the town, talking with students of a short-term literature course. A boy asked me, isn't Xiaogan countryside? I replied, it is a town, a town in medium size. But what was the unnatual feeling, very much like embarrassed somewhere inside, when I said so? How could the boy raise such question, with such an inconsiderate manner, while he could see with his own eyes and the answer was there, so plain and tangible? Or, if this question was actually asked by the inner me? Among the students, there was a sensible girl, who showed me her poems, which were printed in little pamphlet and also, she showed me her jewellery case. Weird. She was aware of the fact that there are always some embarrassing points to any aged things and she was avoiding them carefully. She showed me her trust.
Am I a trustworthy person? At least I believe so.
Nevertheless, I don't like people drawing link between Xiaogan and my hometown. I never admit this link, and it is simply not. I was not born there and I didn't grow up there, although I did really spend several years there with at least 50% of unhappy memories. The fact that I don't want it to be my hometown, could be really due to its underdeveloped status. Yet it is not only concerning its economic outlook, but rather, its sick and suffocating ideological atmosphere.
From aspect of the size of the town, Ningxiang is so much smaller than Xiaogan, because it is only a county town. Nevertheless, I feel comfortable to say, Ningxiang is my hometown. There, is the very base, where my nostagia dwells. Therefore, there is an undeniable terror in me for the disappearance of this nostagia, if I would have to face its 'developed' face nowadays. At least, from those photos which I could find online, I feel already horrible enough. Painful.
Yes, Ningxiang can make me feel painful, but not Xiaogan.

My God! She is beautiful as a Queen!

Pity that this is the only video of her that I like.
I guess it is not easy for her to preserve her natural quality as what Yang Liping did. It would be a miserable thing, if she would be really ruined by the vanity world.

蓝花鼠尾草

When my husband returned from his company trip to Salzburg this Wednesday evening, his eye sockets looked so much deeper than usual. To my definition, that was an ill look. So, without surprise, he was having fever for the whole night that night.
We visited the doctor the following morning. He stayed in the office of the doctor for roughly 1 minute and came out with the prescription: special mouth-washing water, (which smells like hospital,) 姜汤，and Salbeitee(蓝花鼠尾草茶)。

Naivety

Yesterday evening, at the dinner table, the new book of Liao Yiwu, which was standing in front of us, led the family conversation focused on the topic, that of the most influential publishing house in Germany.
Following the free flow of the conversation, my husband recalled his experience, when he had his very first interview in one of those BIG publishing houses.
'I had been fooled there.' He said.
'They didn't ask me any question, while I was really too embarrassed to bring out any countable questions by myself.' he added.
Certainly, when he said 'fooling', he didn't really mean 'fooling', because he knew that it was actually some kind of psychological test, which the personnel field tend to practice nowadays, for revealing the reaction and initiality of their future co-workers. The problem by then, was only that the 18 years old boy was simply too young, too timid and too naive.

Today, after I had a phone conversation with my brother, from the current happenings which he told me, the word naivety jumped out into my head again.
Naivety is probably the most helpless thing among human intelligence, I think, which can cause embarrassing situation to oneself as well to others, disregarding the nature of intention. It could make people easily associate to inconsiderate character, while it has nothing to do with selfishness.
To a 18 years old boy, naivety is expected and therefore, acceptable. However, the naivety of a person, who has got more than half century to gather his/her human experience, is a totally different thing and therefore, not acceptable.
Nevertheless, what could we do, if we do not accept the unacceptable reality?
Helpless.

some notes from reading

中国人的道德良知的奇缺和审美能力的平庸，主要不是来自外族的阉割，而是国人的自阉。面对民族的落伍，我们有太多自恋式媚态(所谓的地大物博和五千年文化)、太多对异族的怨妇式喋喋不休，泼妇式叫骂和用现代技术包装的暴力美学，而太少内心的明亮和坦荡，故而太缺乏对自身阴毒的警醒自省和健康的悲剧性美感。

——刘晓波

Generally speaking, his way of writing does not coincide with my aesthetical desire, because there are too many quotations contained in his expression. Nevertheless, it doesn't mean that he couldn't say something right to the point.