I can't wait to see my loved ones back home! Whee...I'm enjoying every bit of the exam period: frantic mugging, web-surfing while having dinner in between revision slots, tuning back my biological clock to 11pm-7am daily. At least I have 24 hours to myself (that's very rewarding compared to term time when activities are on-going all the time!). My life revolves around "sleep-eat-revise-sleep-eat-revise" all these while. I'm turning into a glutton! Finals officially end on the 14th Jan, 4pm. YAYs! I believe I'll enjoy another round of frantic packing for my flight home that night! =) Thinking of what modules to choose for the next semester...there's really not much of a choice as most classes that I've always anticipated since my freshman year are no longer available. (either the profs have retired or they've sought "greener pastures".)
This winter doesn't seem to be as uncomfortable as the previous years', surprisingly. No snow, longer hours of daylight, less chill. Darkness used to creep in at 4.30pm during winter and daylight at 8am. This year, however, the sky slowly dims at 5pm and lits up at 7.10am (to be exact). I vividly remembered there was a huge snow right after my exam last winter. A memorable sight to behold if we weren't busy cramming for exams. This is gonna be my 2nd last winter at PKU. Hoping that next year's would snow!
I was reading an article on NY Times titled "Ex-Prostitutes Say South Korea and U.S. Enabled Sex Trade Near Bases" , on how South Korean women were forced into the sex labor for American soldiers who protected South Korea from North Korea during the Korea war.
"But the women suggest that the government also viewed them as commodities to be used to shore up the country’s struggling economy in the decades after the Korean War. They say the government not only sponsored classes for them in basic English and etiquette — meant to help them sell themselves more effectively — but also sent bureaucrats to praise them for earning dollars when South Korea was desperate for foreign currency." "At least some South Korean leaders viewed prostitution as something of a necessity. In one exchange in 1960, two lawmakers urged the government to train a supply of prostitutes to meet what one called the “natural needs” of allied soldiers and prevent them from spending their dollars in Japan instead of South Korea. The deputy home minister at the time, Lee Sung-woo, replied that the government had made some improvements in the “supply of prostitutes” and the “recreational system” for American troops. "The more I think about my life, the more I think women like me were the biggest sacrifice for my country’s alliance with the Americans,” she said. "Looking back, I think my body was not mine, but the government’s and the U.S. military’s.”
It's so nasty to imagine that two governments would resort to such means, at the expense of the welfare of her (South Korea's) own people. Especially when you have officers telling their people that such enslavement "was not something bad for the country either.” It's like a vicious cycle when these prostitutes are forced into the sex trade, they contract STDs from it, they are forced to seek treatment, they get back into the sex trade again...
Quote of the day:
My General Psy Prof left us with this inspiring quote by an Indian spritual teacher and philosopher Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj:
"Love tells me I'm everything. Wisdom tells me I'm nothing. Between the two, my life flows."
InDuLgeD~|12:55 PM|
^yUnz^
21. 25th Feb 1987. pIscEs.
A clash between Idealism & Realism
Learning to appreciate simplicity in a complicated world.
In the mOod for chocs!
It's not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate. Chocolate is, let's face it, far more reliable than a man. ~Miranda Ingram
Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get!
"There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who love chocolate, and communists."
~Leslie Moak Murray in ‘Murray's Law’ comic strip
.:Currently:.
feeling: =) thinking of: holidays! watching: - wishing for: tHe dAy tO cHill wItH a gOod bOok learning: Table tennis! reading: The 8th Habit loves:
Kinder Bueno Chocs!
IKEA furniture
Kueh Bangkit
sNow!
西红柿炒蛋
酸梅汤
Pocky (Choc)
K-box what's left: movie recommendation: Cape No. 7 last DVD watched: Iron Man last updated: 13:00 9 Jan 2009 coming up next:
finalterm exams no. of days back to SG: 5 days no. of days back to BJ: - day Other involvements:
SICA(学生国际交流协会)
爱心社护老祖
手语分社表演组
NEAN 08 OC
FACES 08 OC
Dharma class
.:.wIsHeS.:.
tO tRaVeL aRoUnD tHe wOrLd
gEt a dRiViNg LicEnCe
dIvE unDer tHe sEas
.pLaCeS tO tOuR.
Tibet
Xinjiang
North Korea
Yunnan Province
Guilin
Europe
Hawaii
.pLaCeS tOuRed
San Francisco
South Korea
Harbin
Macau
Hong Kong
Inner Mongolia
Shanghai
Suzhou
Luoyang
Tsing Dao
Ji'nan
Tianjin
Beijing
Sichuan
Nanjing
Xi'an
Thailand
Taiwan
Indonesia
Malaysia
Japan
