'Ohni dich isch alles nur halb so schön'
That’s the last sentence I’ve learned there, from my last host. We saw this sentence written on the sidewalk when we walked back from Mc Gee’s bar, where Zurich couchsurfing meeting taken place.
IF you asked me what’s the beginning of my 23-year-old– I’ll say it’s those people who I’ve met there during my first trip to Switzerland. My hosts, friends of my hosts, and friends of friends of my hosts…we met each other, we are connected, and we all played a role in each other’s life story.
From 2008 on I’ve been to different cities and towns, including Asian and European areas. However, most of them cannot be called as “travel”, though, at least for me – I know the definition of “travel” different from person to person. It takes me quite some time to realize what the way of traveling I prefer is. At the very begging I had no idea, so the period of “trial and error” gave me some of the most unpleasant experiences: tight schedule, arguments with traveling mates, the calculating of sharing budget and so on. Instead of feeling relaxed, even more tiredness overwhelmed me after the travel (if you can call them as “travels”.) Anyway, I learned from them, and finally found my own way of traveling. Actually you’ll never know it before you try and find it by yourself, since all of us have different interests and our own interpretation on the term “travel”.
As for me…I prefer to stay in one place for as much time as I feel like. If the place impresses me in some ways, I stay longer. Flexible schedule is also necessary for me, cuz I like to walk randomly and get a little bit of familiar with the streets, lanes and buildings; in other words, I need enough time for a city. Meeting locals and get to know them a little bit will make the travel even better.
So observing these facts I found out that for me the best way to travel is to travel alone and with couch-surfing. That’s exactly what I did in my Swiss trip this time, and that’s wonderful. I cannot say there’re no troubles during this trip. Sometimes they're inevitable. But somehow for this time they didn't make the trip less perfect. They’re solved eventually, so probably they didn't form “real spots”, I guess.
I’ve never felt so enriched in the past travels till this time. In this Swiss trip, most of the time I explored the city alone, and after the evening I hung around with my host, visiting some local bars or cafes where my host knows people there. I got the balance – discovering the streets and buildings of the city in daytime, with complete control of my schedule because I’m alone, and then discovering people of the city after dark. I’ve got 6 hosts within these 9 days, and made some local friends; most of them are Swiss, but some of them come from Germany or States or Italy…; moved to Swiss with different reasons. Study. Work. Travel. I’ve got the chance to talk with them, to know stories between them and the city, and some of their thoughts toward life. I also share mine.
That’s one of the reasons why I travel. “Life is a consequence of different choices, and choices come from your own thoughts.” So you can say that “thought” plays a crucial role in our life. Then it’s quite important to keep thoughts “developing” as time goes by. At least for me it’s like that. Traveling is one of the best ways to keep my thoughts active: meeting so many different people in a rather short time, and my thoughts will be affected by stories they told me. Sometimes quite a huge change, sometimes just a little bit, more or less…and sometimes a combination taking place and I’ve got new thoughts in my brain. The best thing is that most of the people I met are not just passers in my life. With couchsurfing website I can still keep in touch with them and there’s still chance to meet again. I love it, and I’m impressed by how it works.
This is life, and this is travel. Now I’m in the train back to Germany; those traveling notes I made during the time in Swiss will turn into journals after some days. After writing them down, my trip to Switzerland will come to a real end. At least until the next time I visit this land again.
Apr 2, 2011
Feb 27, 2011
Mental Function
You drink coffee without sugar, but hate hot chocolate without sweet taste. It’s not a paradox; they’re just different drinks. To have the best taste of them, you need to drink them in different ways.
While making latte, if you use low-fat milk to make the foam, it’s easy to fail. If you cook the espresso with strong fire, then the aroma will just disappear. Profession says, “true espresso will produce a somewhat syrupy texture with a rich, strong flavor.” But who knows what that means? If you don’t try it, experience it by yourself, then you’ll never really get it. There’s no way to know it by heart without going through all these steps.
Sometimes you regret doing something before. But you never know that “this is wrong” when you’re making decisions. Plus, if there’s no wrong decision, then you never learn something from your life. No lessons. Feeling regret is painful, and sometimes even make you feel that there's no hope in the world anymore...but it's part of human nature, you’re designed to feel this way after making mistakes. You do wrong things, and then you feel regret, then you reflect yourself. No one can skip the process “regret” and jump to the level of “reflect”.
As a human, you have to accept it. We have no ability to rewrite our mental program. Or mental formula, function, I don’t know which word is more precise. Anyway, this very “function” is written by the Mighty God from the very beginning. We cannot change it, and there’s no need to change it.
While making latte, if you use low-fat milk to make the foam, it’s easy to fail. If you cook the espresso with strong fire, then the aroma will just disappear. Profession says, “true espresso will produce a somewhat syrupy texture with a rich, strong flavor.” But who knows what that means? If you don’t try it, experience it by yourself, then you’ll never really get it. There’s no way to know it by heart without going through all these steps.
Sometimes you regret doing something before. But you never know that “this is wrong” when you’re making decisions. Plus, if there’s no wrong decision, then you never learn something from your life. No lessons. Feeling regret is painful, and sometimes even make you feel that there's no hope in the world anymore...but it's part of human nature, you’re designed to feel this way after making mistakes. You do wrong things, and then you feel regret, then you reflect yourself. No one can skip the process “regret” and jump to the level of “reflect”.
As a human, you have to accept it. We have no ability to rewrite our mental program. Or mental formula, function, I don’t know which word is more precise. Anyway, this very “function” is written by the Mighty God from the very beginning. We cannot change it, and there’s no need to change it.
Feb 26, 2011
The mint
The mint plant in my room is growing very well.
I bought that near the Valentine’s day. At that time this mint still seemed fragile, standing on the shelf of supermarket, label saying “I’m BIO.” Yes, that’s how a “BIO thing” supposed to look like: weak, malnourished, all of its energy is being sucked out. Yet you can feel that they are HARMLESS. That’s the point of bio things, isn’t it? Anyway, this mint plant caught my eye and after half a minute I put it into my cart. Didn’t consider much, since I know that I need a plant to light up my room and mint is somewhat suitable and sometimes useful, for cooking. You may say that Parley could be more useful when it comes to cooking; but there’s no Parsley on the shelf. Everybody thought so: “hmm, Parsley could be more useful.” So there’s no Parsley anymore. Sold out already. However, the aroma of mint is more tempting for me -if we just talk about the scent.
Same reason for the herbal tea. For example, I have Kraeutertee. I bought that not just because of the package looks nice, to tell the truth; also because I like the aroma of mint. It goes against the lazy-factors inside my body, and eventually balances it, and then I feel peace inside myself.
Now the mint plant is prosperous with lots of light green leaves, and I haven’t taken even one of them, to cook or do something else. Just sometimes walk near and smell the aroma of it. Calm me down or so. This plant has only be here for two weeks but already saw lots of things happened to me, I’ll say.
I bought that near the Valentine’s day. At that time this mint still seemed fragile, standing on the shelf of supermarket, label saying “I’m BIO.” Yes, that’s how a “BIO thing” supposed to look like: weak, malnourished, all of its energy is being sucked out. Yet you can feel that they are HARMLESS. That’s the point of bio things, isn’t it? Anyway, this mint plant caught my eye and after half a minute I put it into my cart. Didn’t consider much, since I know that I need a plant to light up my room and mint is somewhat suitable and sometimes useful, for cooking. You may say that Parley could be more useful when it comes to cooking; but there’s no Parsley on the shelf. Everybody thought so: “hmm, Parsley could be more useful.” So there’s no Parsley anymore. Sold out already. However, the aroma of mint is more tempting for me -if we just talk about the scent.
Same reason for the herbal tea. For example, I have Kraeutertee. I bought that not just because of the package looks nice, to tell the truth; also because I like the aroma of mint. It goes against the lazy-factors inside my body, and eventually balances it, and then I feel peace inside myself.
Now the mint plant is prosperous with lots of light green leaves, and I haven’t taken even one of them, to cook or do something else. Just sometimes walk near and smell the aroma of it. Calm me down or so. This plant has only be here for two weeks but already saw lots of things happened to me, I’ll say.
Feb 24, 2011
My game theory
Being a financial analyst is what I’ll do in the near future. To many other people who just entered this market, it may be quite a huge challenge to get used to this cruel world which just recognizes your ability only. So they’re being very careful, delicate with decision-making, while feeling stressful being a new-bie in financial market.
To me it’s different. I’m not saying that I’m overconfident, thinking I’m able to deal with any cases that I encounter. No, things are not like that. Rather, I’m still a master student who hasn’t received her degree, and yet her financial analyst certificate. My ability is still far from enough being a good analyst. But I know what I’m gonna to do.
I’m going to play a game, which is created by the whole human society. This is a game that composed of real things. Will be extremely dangerous, risky and hilarious. But this is a very tempting game, cuz everything you feel, you get, you lost is real. Once I am a Chartered Financial Analyst, the game starts. There will be companies which need me. No experience, no money, but I’ve got degree and certificate. That’s enough for me to survive in this game for the first few years. The ticket to this game is my bachelor and master degree, and CFA keeps me from being kicked out from the game. I use the real money to play this game, trying to figure out how to make money from money in this company. What is the best financial project. What is the best opportunity to invest. I’ve got no pressure on me cuz I know what I’m doing is just a game. No harm to human soul, so not a big deal. As a Christian I know the only thing people should afraid of is the thing which will harm their soul. Therefore I just do my best to win the game, get the reward, and enter the next level of this game. If I failed, this is also good, cuz that means I’m learning new things I don’t know before, or I haven’t learned in school before- the worst thing that could happen is just being fired by the company. But still I can get another job with CFA very soon. (that’s why I think CFA is very important in this game… it saves your time.) And the best thing in this game is that you never get bored.
So, now I’m still preparing, learning all the rules of this game. Like learning rules for playing chess. And I can’t wait to start the game.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Nelson Mandela
To me it’s different. I’m not saying that I’m overconfident, thinking I’m able to deal with any cases that I encounter. No, things are not like that. Rather, I’m still a master student who hasn’t received her degree, and yet her financial analyst certificate. My ability is still far from enough being a good analyst. But I know what I’m gonna to do.
I’m going to play a game, which is created by the whole human society. This is a game that composed of real things. Will be extremely dangerous, risky and hilarious. But this is a very tempting game, cuz everything you feel, you get, you lost is real. Once I am a Chartered Financial Analyst, the game starts. There will be companies which need me. No experience, no money, but I’ve got degree and certificate. That’s enough for me to survive in this game for the first few years. The ticket to this game is my bachelor and master degree, and CFA keeps me from being kicked out from the game. I use the real money to play this game, trying to figure out how to make money from money in this company. What is the best financial project. What is the best opportunity to invest. I’ve got no pressure on me cuz I know what I’m doing is just a game. No harm to human soul, so not a big deal. As a Christian I know the only thing people should afraid of is the thing which will harm their soul. Therefore I just do my best to win the game, get the reward, and enter the next level of this game. If I failed, this is also good, cuz that means I’m learning new things I don’t know before, or I haven’t learned in school before- the worst thing that could happen is just being fired by the company. But still I can get another job with CFA very soon. (that’s why I think CFA is very important in this game… it saves your time.) And the best thing in this game is that you never get bored.
So, now I’m still preparing, learning all the rules of this game. Like learning rules for playing chess. And I can’t wait to start the game.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” – Nelson Mandela
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