Today we took a tour to the harbour of Shanghai at the east-coast. We took the bus over a very long bridge (one of the longest in the world) and landed on a (almost) lonely island, being surrounded by fog and rain, only having ourselves. Although the weather was really bad, I especially enjoyed the melancholic, lonely atmosphere. So I suggest you just relax and imagine being at this place when looking at the pictures (that’s why most have numbers instead of titles).
Since some questions about Tae-Kwon-Do (chinese name 跆拳道) came up, I would like to give a short overview about this sport while also educating myself about it.
A good source of information I found today is www.barrel.net
“Taekwondo (also written as “tae kwon do”, “taekwon-do” or “t’aegwondo”) is a modern martial art from Korea that is characterised by its fast, high and spinning kicks.”
Since I have seen the weatherforecast for Germany and also heard Germans talking about freezing temperatures there, I would like to tease you with some pictures of the awaking nature in Shanghai, where spring slowly begins now. I think we have more than 20 degrees when the sun is shining 
This post is going to be a summary of what I would have written and posted, if I had more time.
Currently I have my professional courses and additionally take language courses. This means, that every Monday and Friday I get up at 6:00 to get the bus to the Xuhui campus in downtown for my Chinese courses. On Tuesday, maybe Wednesday (depends on my other courses) and Friday I also have Chinese courses in the afternoon which makes about 15-18 hours Chinese each week. In addition I meet friends (Bian Qian Wei a.k.a. David, Luo Qi, recently also Wang Yu Cheng who I met in the bus to Xuhui) to talk Chinese with them, ask them for help about my homework or professional vocabulary (I use for the Chinese lecture “Commercial Bank Management”).
Since two weeks I also help two Chinese students preparing for their DAF test, which is a test about German language skills, hopefully allowing them to study in Germany (TU Berlin). We just talk in German, correct their homework together or listen to music of Clueso (I showed them the song “Chicago” last time) Read the rest of this entry » »
I know I was so slow that by now this is the weekend before the last weekend. But nonetheless I had some pictures to show you
After playing football on Saturday, I met with David to go to IKEA. I bought a lamp to have more comfortable light in my room and some furniture for the bathroom to store things in, because everything there laid around on the floor before. David bought a clock that he wanted to customize at home. The IKEA store looked very similar to the ones I have seen in Germany, including a restaurant for eating Swedish dishes like Köttbullar (meatballs). Even most of the articles kept their Swedish names, beside Chinese
This is where we then got the articles we wanted to buy (also looks much like in Germany):
This post has nothing to do with China or my impressions here. I would like to present you two songs released in the context of the current presidential elections in the USA. It is more like a small interlude of my thoughts and the things that I encounter. Although I do not quite share the enthusiasm for the USA and its patriotism, I do like the emotional aspect of these two songs (and of the historical references I associate with these feelings, like speeches of Martin Luther King Jr.). Feel free to write down your own opinion about this in the comments!
Yes We Can
This song is performed by musicians Will.i.am (mainly known through the Black Eyed Peas), John Legend, Common, and others. This is a mixture of a simple guitar tune, speeches of the democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and many people with different voices, some singing, some speaking. All parts of Barack Obama are taken from his speech in South Carolina. Read the rest of this entry » »
The last weekend was quite eventful. On Friday I was invited to dinner, on Saturday I played football in the morning, went shopping to IKEA and sung in a Karaoke-Bar. On Sunday I gave private German lessons and played Badminton.
The dinner on Friday took place at home of friends of David. We cooked so many different dishes (I gave my best to help cooking 
) and were six persons altogether eating them. Read the rest of this entry » »
Here is the second part of our visit of Shanghai Museum… finally! I know, the speed of me publishing posts has not increased so far, but I am working on it. The reason for this will follow in one of the next posts, which will hopefully follow soon (how paradox)
The pottery and statues gallery (name invented by me)
Sorry for the break in between my posts. I will try to write shorter posts more frquently from now on
On Saturday David, Luo Qi and me were in the Shanghai Museum, which is one of the three biggest museums in China, beside the ones in Beijing and Taipei. The Shanghai Museum, located at People Square in Shanghai’s center, has about 12 galleries (own estimation) of different themes,e.g. the ones we visited, Archelology, Buddha-statues, Stamps, Pottery, Calligraphy, Painting. The pictures below are only the best ones I have taken. If you like to see more pictures from a particular gallery, just drop me a comment. Read the rest of this entry » »
February 29th, 2008. Bā Hào Lóu, Shanghai.
“The Chinese-Arabian cooperation between the great two-star-restaurant “Arabian Nights” and the star guest David was freshly disclosed this day by the concerning parties. The agreement was made upon a form of new advertisement in Chinese public. The famous David will use his fame to advertise “Arabian Nights” to help it achieve the third star, that it so hardly labours for. Captain Monaf was near to tears when he heard about the news.”
