This blog is moving

As you might have already noticed, in the last time it got quiet here....

One of the main reasons for that is that I have been working on a new and hopefully better blog!  There are some features that I am missing here on blogspot and I find it quite hard to interact with my readers, since it's not possible to comment without a google account. That's why I decided to move my blog to wordpress and I hope that it will make things more comfortable and easy for you!


From now on I will be posting on my new blog : 

http://gegenwind.me/


I am currently moving all my articles that I have published so far to this blog, so I already want to apologize that at the beginning there will be also some articles you might have already read.

I hope all of you are going to join me on my new blog too :)

Maria

semester beginning and life update

It's been almost two months that you've heard anything from me, but the last weeks just passed by in a blink of an eye and there were a lot of things that kept me really busy. Besides I had some problems with my internet connection what made it really difficult to upload content.
What have I been doing? Where have I been?
Well, let's start from the beginning: Due to the winter holidays in january and the fact that i felt like the only person left on the campus here, I decided that  I gotta get away...see something new, challenge myself and just make the best out of the time that I have here. Here in China I fell in love with cycling, so I thought it would be a nice and cheap way to travel by bike. I wanted to go to Kunming - the so called spring city - and do  most of the way by bike. Before leaving Guangzhou many people told me I was crazy and to be honest there were several times during my journey when I thought so too. But I made it and it was one of the best experiences in my life so far. I didn't take a lot of pictures, because I didn't have my camera with me due to it's weight and because I really needed a break from everything. I didn't want to think about how to show the amazing landscape to others or from how many different angles I should take pictures to make sure that the photo really represents what i was seeing, I wanted to enjoy every single moment of this journey, don't think about anything, just let go and make memories for myself.

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Then in february I went back to Germany and spent two wonderful weeks with my friends and familiy. It's always nice to know that no matter how long you don't see each other you never lose that connection that you and your close friends have. What made me even happier, was that two of the most important persons in my life made the effort to come and visit me in Munich. I really enjoyed my holidays in Germany and was very grateful for all the big bowls of fresh salad and the possibilty to have hot showers in the morning :)

Now I am back in Guangzhou and the summer semester has already started. Compared to last semester things are quite different now: In the last weeks a lot of students left China cause they were missing their old lives in their home countries and didn't feel like staying here anymore. The number of international students shrank to less than 20 now and in my class I am the only western person. I am attending the advanced chinese classes and really  I don't compare myself to others and I know where I am standing, but sitting next to all those guys who already know most of the characters because they speak korean or japanese or who have chinese origins is kind of challenging. Nevertheless I am giving my best and I think I can improve my chinese a lot if I pull through.
Although it's a lot more quiet here now and almost no european students are left, I don't regret my decision to stay also for the summer semester. Spending a year abroad is a chance that you don't get every now and then so you should try to make the most out of this experience and a bit of smog, contaminated food or slow internet is definitely not gonna make me feel like going home and missing that chance.

Love letter to words and language

Photo + Artwork by Maria Hochleitner

 Why knowing why can be more important than knowing what

I love languages. And I love words. For most of you this is not a very surprising or shocking coming-out now, I mean I am learning 5 different languages, I am studying Sinology, I am living in China to improve my Chinese and I am constantly talking about my wish to learn Arabic…It’s just a logical conclusion that I love languages! But things are not always as they appear at first glance…

At school I always favored English over maths and I enjoy going to language classes. Sometimes. I mean just because I am good at learning languages and maybe don’t have to put as much effort into it as other people, doesn’t automatically mean that I love it. But that’s what people always thought and when I failed the qualifying examination for studying politics, most of them told me that it’s better for me to study linguistics anyway. I never regret my decision to study Sinology and Orientalism, but I have to admit that sometimes I was asking myself if I would have ended up learning all these languages without people telling each other “Maria loves languages”. I can tell you learning languages is hard work and requires a lot of discipline and continuity. Hours and hours of trying to memorize words and phrases and understand grammatical structures…and for what? For a little bit of small talk in China or Turkey?  

I didn’t know what it was but something still kept me going, something inside me was telling me that I need to speak those languages. 

While reading a book last week the scales fell from my eyes. 

Of course I love languages! But not just for the sake of being able to communicate with a lot of people from different countries (which is an amazing side effect)…

I love languages because understanding a language gives me the opportunity to understand other people’s thoughts and ideas. It enables me to feel all the emotions that a person put into his words. Of course anything can be translated, but we can only translate words, not meaning and that’s what in my eyes makes every translation a poor translation. No matter how much effort we put into a translation, in order to fully understand a person’s thoughts, you have to think in his language. By reading or hearing only translations we can maybe understand each other but we cannot feel each other. 

Speaking a language, that’s not only putting together words to form sentences, that’s knowing how to combine words correctly in order to make the ones listening to you, feel exactly the way that you feel or felt. That’s turning emotions into words and being able to express that you are happy in 999.999 different ways. It’s like discovering a whole new world which is only accessible for those who stop trying to translate but start to understand. Words are powerful and they can either feel like a knife held against your throat or a warm hug. 

I have always been one of those persons, who primarily pay attention to the lyrics whenever they are listening to a song. I guess words are playing a major role in my life and I don’t see them only as a tool to communicate with others. It's not only about the content, it's also about the form. I like books that are telling a nice story and I LOVE books that are written in a way that is touching my heart and making me want to absorb every single word. There are very few things in this world making me feel more satisfied than reading a perfect sentence, a perfect combination of some of the most beautiful words a language has to offer, with the perfect meaning behind it. I adore some of those perfect sentences so much that I want to read them again and again. I want to retain them, those perfect combinations of perfect words and keep them wherever I go. And yes it’s true: same words, different language, different feeling.

10 things I miss here in 广州

 1. Hot water 24/7

2. Radiators

3. Dates (the fruit)

4. Huge, fresh salads

5. Climbing gym

6. Drinking tap water

7. Cool, fresh air in the mornings

8. Empty buses and metros

9. Cozy atmosphere in the library at university

10. Being undercover

* 11. Mimmi

No I don't hate China and no I don't think living in Germany is so much better than living here. I love China and overall I am enjoying my life out here pretty much, but of course there also some things that i miss about Germany.


Stay tuned for "10 things about China that I will miss back in Germany"

Hong Kong Impressions (2)

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

The day when being allowed to enter China was the greatest gift I could have possibly got...

It was predictable that it's gonna happen: According to chinese law foreigners have to have their passports with them anywhere and anytime, so with carrying it around all day chances are very high that one day you accidently leave it somewhere or lose it. And yes you are right, of course that happened to me.

Some weeks ago Mimmi and me were trying to imagine what our reactions would be like, if we discovered that we had lost our passport. we both agreed that we would be totally upset and probably burst into tears. That my actual reaction was totally different is still surprising me.

It all happened on the day when after spending some days in Hong Kong my parents went back to Germany. Coming from Hong Kong I got off the train in Guangzhou, holding my passport in my hands, ready to pass the security check to enter China again. I followed the crowd of people and started to climb the stairs, but having reached the top, I suddenly realized that that my passport was not in my hands anymore. The first thing that came into my mind was: I have to go back to the train and check if i have left it there, before the doors are closing. So I got onto the train again and after having explained to the staff what had happened, more than 10 people were helping me to find my passport. I was pretty sure that when I got off the train the passport was in my hands, so it was not a suprise we didn't find it.

Of course I don't lose my passport like other people in a cafe or a metro station in China, so that you have time to at least think about the next steps and find out where the next german embassy is... No of course I have to lose my passport in nomansland, havingleft Hong Kong already,but not having entered China yet. So there I was, standing in a place that doesn'tbelong to any country, with my small backpack, no documents, no money and no idea what to do next.
At this point it would have been normal to start panicing, but somehow I managed to remain totally calm and relaxed. I decided to wait until all the people have passed the security check and then ask one of the police men what to do. I have no idea what I was doing or thinking in the following 30 minutes,I just remember that feeling full of joy and gratitude I had when seeing a police man waving with my passport in his hand.
10 minutes later i was back in China, with my passport and my wallet, waiting for the metro and asking myself wether I had been dreaming or all this actually had happened to me...
"All things come to those who wait", how true...

Hong Kong Impressions (1)

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Je suis...

 What we really have to fear

If in the Middle East there would be a newspaper existing publishing sartire, critisizing christians, would we be able to laugh about it !? Actually I am not sure about that. Maybe we would, or maybe the new headlines in our newspapers would say: "Islamist terror has its eye on christians in europe! "

This article is supposed to show my point of view regarding on how we should deal with the tragedy that 12 people were killed for working for a magazine picturing criticism and provocation on political and cultural topics.
We all know that it's going to happen. That this incident is leading to a debate on priciples about freedome of speech, about political correctness and about the vexed subject Islamophobia.

Freedome of speech is an important part of modern society and absolutely essential for building up a political system that people can trust in and identify with, but we should never forget that with freedome comes responsibility. Responsibilty for not making other people feel offended by what we say, responsibility for knowing how far we can go and where to stop. Criticism should be voiced freely. But here the question arises wether we are always able to define that small line that is seperating criticism from offense.
It is good to be critical. I am critical. Also critical of too much criticism.

Of course what happened in Paris on Wednesday is absolutely unexcusable and unbearable no matter what the trigger was, I just want to make clear that this should not be a reason for us to be afraid of Islam and moslem people! The massacre in France has nothing to do with Islam, but with terrorism. We should open our eyes and see that this religious totalitarianism is about to destroy all the progress that we have made so far in trying to bridge the gaps that keep us from accepting and understanding each other.
We all should know that there is a big difference between Islam and Islamist Terror and that by building up this hate and refusal against Islam as a religion we are victimizing innocent people. Extremists like those responsible for the massacre in Paris are abusing Islam and the name of god to justify their immane actions. Hiding behind the name of god they feel strong and untouchable. Regarding this we should find a way to make them feel less strong, we should, instead of judging people for their believe, help to protect those who are themselves fleeing from Islamistic Terror in their countries (Hello Pegida, yes I am talking about you !) and realize that in order to fight against terrorism we all have to unite.
Its not Islam that is threatening us, but  individual persons using religion as a weapon. By being afraid of Islam we are providing them with power, we allow them to control our thoughts and opinions. Control a nations' thoughts just by using two simple words: allahu akbar.

While doing some research for this article I stumbled upon a very interesting article, published by the huffington post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mehdi-hasan/charlie-hebdo-free-speech_b_6462584.html 
It is analyzing the social and political consequences of the massacre in paris from a in my opinion very downtotheearth point of view, far away from all that "je suis charlie hype"

All I want for Christmas is you !?

Silent time of the year or clever marketing strategy?

Christmas - A time for families to get together, sing christmas songs and devoutly watch snowflakes falling to the earth.
or
Christmas - A time of hectic and stressed out people rushing through the shops at the weekends to buy some last minute presents as they fear to show up at a christmas party without having presents for each and every friend and their friend's friends.

Is Chirstmas really centred around goodwill and meaning or is it all about presents, discounts and getting each other up on serving the most spectacular christmas dinner? Although we would of course never admit, for most of us the holiday season is a discount season that allows us to go crazy on consumerism without having a bad conscience, because "it is Christmas" and we don't buy it for ourselves, we buy it to show our beloved ones how much we care about them. Yes sure. We can spend money on things we normally would never buy because "it is Christmas", and we eat tons of unhealthy food, but who cares "it is Christmas".
Don't get me wrong I don't want to accuse anyone or be the kill-joy, if you enjoy eating something special on Christmas eve that you wouldnt eat every day and if you enjoy your hot chocolate and your christmas cookies while exchanging gifts in a nice family atmosphere, go for it, that's totally fine! But does it always have to be more and more? Why can't we appreciate the simple things anymore? People always emphasize that the most important thing about Christmas is spending time with friends and family and enjoy the peaceful time, but often reality is different and we are blinded by bright advertisements and the handsome guy on TV telling us that without personalized house slippers for everyone we shouldn't even think about showing up at any christmas event.

Of course i also enjoy  receiving a present from someone who really cares about me and has thought about what to give to me to make happy, but when did this gift giving obligation  come up that seems to be totally normal these days and makes us feel embarassed if we don't have a gift for someone we meet randomly on the street and don't even know that well!? I appreciate a gift that comes from the heart, but I don't need gifts or greetings coming from people that I barely know or from those who just feel obligated to do so. ( and: Hey friends, hey family if you didn't find anything suitable for me this year, thats ok I still love you ;) )
Thats not what it is all about, I don't want the holidays to bring my friends and family out in a cold sweat because it is already october and they still don't have an idea what to buy for me. Instead of falling into a frenzied panic for the perfect gift we should concentrate on what really matters to us ans remember that showing love to someone doesn't necessarily have to be accompanied by the latest smartphone. It should be love that is all around us and not advertisements over advertisements encouraging us to buy stuff that we don't need.

Longji Rice Terraces

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

The Longji Rice Terraces are located in Guangxi about 100 km from Guilin. They are reaching an altitude of up to 300–1,110 meters, and the gradients of some rice terraces reach 50°. In june water is pumped up the paddy fields to water the young rice plants and increase fertility.
Longji means 'Dragon Backed Mountain'and it has got it's name because the summit of the mountain range looks like the backbone of a dragon.The Terraces were started to build in the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) and then completed in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) by the people of the Zhuang and Yao minority that still live in the area today. Living in their typical old chinese houses mostly built from timber the people from the Yao minority are trying to keep their own culture including food, handcrafts, singing, dancing and traditional clothes. houses.Yao women are famous for having the longest hair in the world. They cut their hair only once in their life: when they turn 16 and start to cover their hair with a black scarf what symbolizes that they are not married. They are not allowed to show their hair to anyone until they are married. Only the husband is allowed to uncover their hair for the first time. Once they are married they start to wrap their hair in a bun on top of their head that resembles a rolled up snake. The "dragon hairstyle" is worn by married women that have children. These rules make it very easy to tell the family status of a woman at first sight and also the "dating culture" of the Yao seems to be a lot easier than what we are used to: If a girl feels attracted by a man she pinches his butt and if the man feels attracted by the girl he will try to touch her shoe with his. 

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

 

 

 

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

All good things come to an end

End of the semester in Guangzhou

It seems like yesterday that i opened the door and saw my roommate Mimmi for the first time, walking down the hallway with her pink suitcase. In less than one week I will see her walking down the hallway again, but in opposite direction. The semester has almost come to its end and most of my classmates going back to their home countries soon. Since I am staying here also for the next semester I don't have to say Goodbye to Guangzhou, but to a lot of amazing people and new friends. The last four months were full of new experiences, friendship, travelling and happiness. I dont want to get too much into detail here, and instead of trying to put in words what the last semester was like, I will just take you with me so that you can see by yourselves: I hope this video, that was edited by my friend Chris, will give you an impression of our student life here in China.

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

 Immer wieder verlieren wir Menschen uns auf der Suche nach unserem Selbst, nach dem was uns wirklich ausmacht. Doch wie kann man etwas finden was man doch von Anfang an in sich trägt!? Wahrscheinlich ist es unser Drang alles verstehen und greifen zu wollen, der uns rastlos macht und auf eine endlose Reise schickt, womöglich sogar immer weiter weg von uns selbst.

In unserer Angst uns nicht erklären und unsere Persönlichkeit nicht fein säuberlichst gegliedert und ausformuliert in Form eines Aufsatzes vorlegen zu können, geben wir uns damit zufrieden, kleine Fische aus dem See zu angeln, anstatt einzutauchen und selbst darin zu schwimmen.

Still und heimlich kennt unser Herz längst jedes Geheimnis das in unserer Seele ruht, doch unsere Ohren dürsten nach der Melodie unseres Herzens.

Wir wollen das in Worten wissen, was wir doch längst in Gedanken kennen, legen uns seblst in Ketten, bei dem Versuch unserem Selbst Ausdruck zu verleihen.
Unser Selbst in sich ist das Einzige was wirklich frei ist, es lässt sich nicht mit Worten einfangen.

 Unsere Gedanken sind ein Meer, grenzenlos und unermesslich.

Unsere Angst darin zu ertrinken, treibt uns immer mehr in eine Welt in der wir lachen, aber nicht aus vollem Herzen und weinen, aber nicht all unsere Tränen.

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Sorry to all of my english speaking followers, but this post is dedicated to the Germans only, cause if I translate this kind of poetical text into english it won't be the same anymore. Hope you like the photos though! It is the roof of a traditional chinese temple.The small animals on the roof are not only ornaments, but symbolize that the house is protected against evil spririts. The first figure in line is usually a god riding a phoenix (or rooster). It is said that this god is immortal and has the ability to perceive evil spirits.

“物以稀为贵. (Wu yi xi wei gui.)”– Objects that are rare are precious

 Being a foreigner in China

If you ever plan going to China there is something you need to know: You will get a lot of attention! People will stare at you and talk about you standing right beside you and they won't stop even if you catch them out. The only time that most Chinese have the chance to see a white face or a non-Chinese face is probably on TV or in the movies. Being able to see someone like that, up close and personal, is a pretty big deal for most of them. Toddlers are sometimes pointing at foreigners and yell, “外国人 (Foreigner)!” If you reply to the ashamed moms' "oh sorry, sorry..." with a friendly "没关系(no worries)" they will have an even more surprised face expression than their kids had before. Even if you know only a tiny little bit of chinese you will have a lot of advantages in daily life: you don't have to pay for your drinks in bars, people will not only explain the way to you but give you company to make sure you find the right way and you can easily change from being the last one in row to being the very first one without others complaining about that kind of rude behaviour.

Unfortunately there are also some disadvantages of being white and big eyed here: It can be hard to find friends, at least "true" friends. Europe is trendy, Europe is beautiful and of course everyone in Europe is rich. For some chinese students having a foreign friend is like having a fancy new Gucci bag. Even though it doesn't go with the rest of your outfit you want the world to know that you have it. And to make sure that as many people as possible recognize your new "western accessory" you take photos and share it with headlines like "had an amazing time <3 <3" on Wechat. That this "amazing time" in fact was nothing more than a 5 five minute small talk on the street is irrelevant. If you are looking for a real friendship based on trust, respect and common interests rather than being just a figurehead on someone elses social networks, you have to be both patient and critical. No matter how good it might feel at the beginning on the long run it will make you feel uncomfortable to be put on a pedestal just because of your origins.

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Maybe we have to see China's obsession with Western beauty standards and Western culture as a relict from the past when after years of being dominated by foreign powers they felt they needed to emulate the West in order to modernize. But shouldn't a country whose economy is the second largest in the world, be confident enough to show their face to all the others out there!? It seems like especially China's youth would give anything to be a part of "the western world" which is considered the land of milk and honey. What most people here don't understand is that Europe is not the centre of the universe and just because our beer may taste a little bit better and our eyes are a bit bigger doesn't mean that we are first class people. Instead of trying to imitate the western way of life, chinese people should start to be proud of who they are and what they have achieved so far. It makes me kind of sad that many young people in China are ashamed of being rooted in a cultural background that is so fascinating and unrivalled like almost nowhere else in the world.

Guangzhou night fever

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Even Confucius loved food

 What to eat (1)
Food is an important part of the chinese culture and once you are in China you will be confronted with it everywhere you go. Having dinner here in China is not only about filling your stomach because you are hungry, it is about spending time with your friends and familiy, sharing delicious food and enjoying to talk about what is happening in your daily life. Nomatter how busy you are, sharing at least one meal a day with the ones you love is very important to chinese people. That eating plays a major role in their lives, is not a trend that came up recently, it indeed seems to be as old as chinese culture itself: according to Lun yu (Confucian Analects), when the duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about military tactics, Confucius replied, "I have indeed heard about matters pertaining to tsu (meat stand) and tou (meat platter), but I have not learned military matters."

Since I am living in Guangzhou a Dim Sum Restaurant of course was one of the first places to go. Dim Sum, literally "touch your heart", is a Cantonese term for small bite-sized portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Due to the the small portion sizes you may try a variety of different dishes. Some of these may include rice rolls, lotus leaf rice, turnip cakes, buns, dumplings,  etc. Eating dim sum at a restaurant is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea" (yum cha, 飲茶), as tea is typically served with it.

Due to my "uncommon" eating habits a lot of  people are asking me how i can survive here in China, since most of the dishes offered at the restaurants contain either meat, fish or seafood. Well, being a vegan in China indeed is not always easy and sometimes people here don't even know what vegan means. If you say you don't want meat they will still try to offer you chicken.  It sometimes takes a lot of time and explanations to make people understand what you are looking for, but nevertheless it is worth it.  And since rice, noodles and vegetables are staples of the chinese cuisine there actually are tons of different options for vegans too, you just have to find them. And if you really can't find a place offering any vegan dishes you can just order any dish on the menu that contains vegetables and rice/noodles and ask the waiter to serve it without the meat. Here are some examples of what I am usually eating:

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Getting to know each other

My first 2 Months in China

Time flies by, I have already been in China for more than two months, but I didn't feel like writing an update on my life here so far, because it is almost impossible to find the right words to express what I am experiencing here.
If i was told to describe my daily life here by using only one word it would probably be: adventurous.
Every day here is an adventure, full of new challenges i have to face: how can I manage to learn 50 new chinese characters a day? Where can I buy stuff and how to get there? How to tell the house keeper that the keys are broken? Where to get on the bus when there is no actual busstation ? Will I be able to read the menu tonight? ...
During the week a normal day starts with going to class and after that having lunch together with all the international students. Its very easy for me to remember which classes I will have the next day because it is always the same: language ! At the end of the Semester I will have exams in 6 different subjects: oral chinese, intensive reading, writing, listening, business chinese and cantonese. Although some of the classes are really intense I still enjoy going to uni every day. But not only university keeps my life busy: there are a lot of events on the campus and since we are more than 20 international students living in the same dormitory there is always someone who comes up with an idea for an exciting activity. And if it is really the case that I am only sitting in my room, my crazy but lovely roommate Mimmi would always come up with something to entertain me and make me laugh the whole evening. She really makes my life more colorful and shows me how to just let go and not take life to seriously. Sometimes we also play badminton or rent a tandem bike to cycle around the island in the evenings.
At the weekends I try my best to discover as many different places in Guangzhou as possible: Art district, parks, pearl river, shopping malls, street markets, tea market, etc. Sometimes it is even enough to just take the bus to the city centre and get off at any station to discover a whole new world.
I love to have a walk in one of the parks or along the pearl river at night and watch people dancing, singing or playing games. People here are so warm and welcoming they are happy about anyone who wants to join. Even if they don't know each other they are enjoying their time together the feeling to be part of big community. I feel that people here like to socialize a lot more than people in northern Europe. When people here go out for dinner, the food is actually a minor matter, it is all about talking and laughing and spending time together. Getting to know that chinese way of life and peoples' habits and thoughts are the reason why my stay here is so exciting and interesting and why I can't get enough of China.

Yangshuo 阳朔 (2)

 

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

 China is not only about smog, crowded shopping malls and traffic jams, there are a lot of amazing spots far away from the stress in the busy cities, that are waiting to be discovered. I had an amazing time in Yangshuo doing a lot of sports and enjoying the silence in the mountains. I met interesting people from all over the world who shared their experiences and stories with me.

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photoby Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Yangshuo 阳朔 (1)

Beautiful scenery in Guangxi province

In the time of the national holidays (1st to 7th october) I traveled to Yangshuo. Surrounded by karst peaks and boredered on one side by the Li river, Yangshuo is located in the northeast of Guangxi, nearby Guilin. The beautiful scenery in Yangshuo is overwhelming and can be discovered in many ways: you can go for a bike tour in the country side, face new adventures while climbing in one of the most famous climbing areas in China, go hiking in the mountains nearby, or just have a relaxed bamboo boat trip on the river. It is also possible to visit one of the traditional villages near yangshuo and discover a way of live that has nothing to do with tourist attractions, souvenirs and fancy restaurants. The town of yangshuo is very crowded (especially in the holiday week) and the traffic can drive you crazy, but if you are willing to leave the main roads sometimes and maybe get a little bit dirty you have the chance to discover the true beauty of Yangshuo and it's very special flair. 

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

Photo by Maria Hochleitner

chan(g/c)e

There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist or to accept the responsability for changing them.
Complaining doesn´t bring us any further.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the persons and now is the time. We are the ones we are waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Never believe that the world won't change because of a few caring people. 

If there is something you would wish to change, try to change it! Even if you are risking that things are going in the wrong direction, it is worth the try. Nothing is worse than being stuck somewhere.

All directions are leading!

 

Photoby Maria Hochleitner

 

Home Sweet Home

I know you have all been requesting this for so long! Here they finally are: Photos of my room!

  I decided to live in one of the student apartments here on the campus, since it is very cheap (900 RMB a motnh) and also a lot more convenient than living in the city centre and taking the bus to university every morning. There are several markets, shops and restaurants on the campus and the classrooms are only a five minute walk away from the dormitry buildings. 

My room is on the 3rd floor next to my room mate Mimmi's, who I share the bathroom with. Although it is very small I feel really comoforable in it and I have everything that I need (even aircondition!!). After only two days I already felt like coming home, every time I returned to my room at night. As you can see there is a big tree right in front of my window, what sometimes makes me forget that I am now living in a 13 Million inhabitant city.