大概3个星期前我们去了肯尼亚最负盛名的Masai Mara国家森林公园，图片终于整理出来。文字部分嘛还有待编辑。英文版的我写了一半，可以看wingatsafari.blogspot.com 中文稍后啊

所以全世界的游客就如苍蝇一样蜂拥而至.但着只是说明了这个又名翡冷翠(我觉得这个名字和我的风格有点不对头,弃用了)的地方是如此之迷人.

 

我手上的TimeOut Florence上说世界教科文组织说地球上60%的重要艺术珍品在意大利,而佛罗伦萨就占了其中一半.哇,那我是看到了30%了吗?天啊.星期六下午我们在Uffizi逛的时候,我是第一次那么认真地看完了整一部名画介绍书,看到Botticelli的<春>和<维纳斯的诞生>时,我们呆在那个房中好一段时间,除了因为有舒服的皮凳,冰凉的大理石地板外,实在是被眼前的作品镇住了.Uffizi里怎能有那么多珍藏呢?我心里又惊喜又妒忌.看了四个多小时出来,没有审美疲劳,只有疲软的双腿和整天抬头看天花板壁画的颈椎痛.哦,还有肚子投诉,所以我们去吃了佛罗伦萨又一骄傲-冰淇淋.他们声称这还是这里的发明创造呢.两天来,我们穿街过巷地去找书里提到的雪糕店,就因为我坚决相信书中的话:"来到佛罗伦萨最惨痛的事情莫过于吃到难吃的冰淇淋".

 

后来我们还走了不少地方,上了市场,坐公车去了米开朗基罗广场远眺佛市风光.晚上因为我的坚持,大家四处找寻书中所说的吃当地特色又不贵的小餐馆-结果原来我没有注意看注明的开张时间,人家是中午才营业的嘛.饭后我们又是夜游,竟然碰上当地人穿上旧时服饰敲锣打鼓地大肆绕旧城游行,好高兴.不过整晚的高潮是我和淑华同学在共和广场上坐旋转木马,回味儿时之快乐.我们依依不舍地回去旅馆,结果又是夜谈祖国前景,可怜的晨同学也许不愿插我们俩的话,被我们的喋喋不休吵得不能入眠不止还最后摊上了关灯的份儿.他基本上是一个很善良的人,所以被我们欺负.

 

第二天是周日,我们不知道原来大教堂不开门,结果只能去教堂博物馆,不过遇上了一个极其自豪的佛罗伦萨人做免费英语导游,我们听到和了解了很多细节,真不错.之后下午我们去比萨 - "欢迎来到意大利" - 我居然4年在欧洲第一次遇上小偷!一个比我个子还小的女的装扮成游客,一手捧一张大大的地图,另一手在地图下拉开我背包的链子.不过我马上感觉到了,包一调到前头来,链子已经被拉开但还来不及拿走任何东西,算我走运喔!我觉察出来的时候还大喝了一声"HALLO"(以责问语气啦),那个女的居然不走开,居然还在装无辜.我看我又没丢什么东西,又一时反应不来要说些什么东西好,就只有继续往前走,她和同伴就朝来的方向轻松撤退,我估计是另寻目标.

 

其实比萨很漂亮,比萨不止有斜塔.我们从火车站一路走到广场,穿越旧城的小路简直是空城一样,来到斜塔所在的广场上时却仿佛有人施法,刹那间天降千万游客,果然是叫"奇迹广场". 我们登了斜塔,有人数限制也要等,但还是值得上的.我们原来以为上塔的路会很长很艰难,还互相鼓劲,其实塔并不高,10分钟不到就上到啦.我们偷笑了一番.回来的路上看到了南非小朋友音乐团的演出,很精彩,同场上演另一出小偷记,这次主角是淑华同学,我让她来补诉好了.

 

这个周末我主要是来看淑华同学的,另外还看到了晨同学.意大利是出我意料地美丽,佛罗伦萨让我留恋往返.是什么原因我到现在才第一次到意大利来呢?真是想不明白.

 

 

其实好早之前就开始暖身准备,但因为一直都总有这事请那细节没有确定,所以我留到今天才说.留到今天才说的后果是,我已不知道从何说起.

那好,就从结果说起吧.

我"勇敢"地炒掉了老板扔掉了这个相对铁的德国制造饭碗,下个月开始去肯尼亚呆6个月,算是志愿者的工作,在首都内罗毕的一个NGO(非政府组织)做短期顾问,简要来说呢就是要用我的商业机构工作经验来帮助发展中国家NGO的发展创收能力(呵,好多"发展").Achim也是同样的工作比我早去一个月现在已上班.这个机会是通过VSO(volunteer service oversea http://www.vso.org.uk/)找到的. 知道AIESEC的朋友就比较容易理解,大概近似成人pro版的AIESEC,只招有工作经验的人,是个全球的组织,50年历史在60个国家都有分支.有兴趣可以去看看哦.pro版的好处在于签证工作证保险住宿来回机票每月津贴出发前培训当地培训等等该组织全包,感觉也比较安心一点.我80%定了是7月31号飞内罗毕,主要是现在肯尼亚动物世界旅游旺季,机票比较困难.其实我并不是雄心壮志要去拯救世界,大家不用滋滋做声.只是之前两年工作的机会两次到肯尼亚,很喜欢这个国家和他们的Swahili语,而我和achim都想去非洲一段时间尝试新的东西,所谓一拍即合,更是找到VSO这样的组织,整个事情变得更有意义.欢迎大家到肯尼亚作客,我还不知道地头环境,不能保证包食包住,但好客之心是珍珠都无甘真.

那我明年一月底就会回来,到现时为止的打算是会签一个新的工作,是我现在所任职总公司旗下的In-house consulting,基本与其他management consulting无二,客户是我们集团遍布全球220国家的各公司,不过因为签的是欧洲的分支,去美国或者亚洲的项目还要用力争取才可能有机会.那就是说未来两年我的基地大概还会在德国波恩,好处是不用离弃我们可爱的公寓和当地的朋友,弊处是其实我很想去伦敦.再看机会吧.

好了,消息宣布完毕.大家可以开始发问:D,或者鼓掌:D:D

 

我复活节前一个星期,我们去了德国与奥地利边境的Kleinwalsertal滑雪.这是我的雪地第一次,去年年底就让嚷嚷着要学滑雪.我这个人没有什么真正在行的,但喜欢东摸摸西碰碰,学新玩意.去之前一个月开始到处筹备装备,妈妈寄来的滑雪衣裤证明质量过关,加上邮费开支也比在欧洲买便宜很多.两个星期前我开始无比紧张,到处问其他人滑雪到底是怎么一回事,如果我摔倒的话主要是怎样摔身体哪部分会比较痛等等各式怪异问题.

 

上周日我们终于成行,快到目的地时周围还不是白茫茫的一片,只是远处的山脉隐约有雪的踪影,我开始担心雪会不会不够.achim就在一旁开解我:没关系啦,上了高山上肯定就有雪,1500米以上包有.只是你初学的地方可能是峡谷,雪或许不够厚,那就是摔得痛点而已...之如此类的话吓得我一愣一愣.

 

周一早上我被早早地踢起了床,强行送到滑雪学校 - 开课了.我们的教练是退休老头子,人很善良就是说话有点不清楚,加上我那个紧张的心情,他说的德语我居然一句也没听进去,还很丧气地问"我听不懂啊,你会说英文吗?" - 结果他也摇摇头摊摊手.这下好了,别人已经在练习第一个下坡,我还在挣扎着往坡上走.汗出得全身湿透,加上当天雨夹雪的天气,我是从里边湿到外头.终于教练把我连掺带扶地拔上山头,我还未站稳就冲了下来,吓得我自然反应 - 坐下来就是最方便的缓速办法 - 但穿着雪具那样屁股着地可不是一般的痛,整个腿都曲折了.一天4小时下来,我未学到什么东西,却已信心大减.

 

第二天更悲惨的事情发生了,平生第一次被踢出校!我的老头子教练语重心长地跟我说"虽然你报的是5天的课程,但我看你实在是跟不上其他同学,明天我们要去更难的雪道,你会更害怕的.我劝你还是把课程退掉,改请私人教练吧."我听了实在是打击,无奈我也知道他说的实话.回到酒店灰溜溜的我把事实真相向achim一一尽述,他良心发现(或者是大发慈悲),居然答应明天做我的私人教练带我上雪道.

 

之后我的进步可是突飞猛进啊(起点低的话发展速度自然也快一点,哈哈).到了临走前一天,有人在升降机旁跟我打招呼 - 是当时滑雪学校的同学(只有两天缘分) - 哈哈,看嘛,我们现在不都还是在同一滑道上吗?!我得意忘形,就又去挑战了另外两条其他雪道,也都成功征服.

 

所以话世上无难事,主要是看你够不够胆和能不能坚持下去.我开始时怕得大哭,滑了下来就忘记了之前的痛楚,还得意地大笑,真是转得快.我很喜欢这种活跃的度假形式,以后还要多滑雪!

浑浑噩噩地熬过三天jetleg加胃痛的上班日子之后,今天晚上终于有时间整理上两周在佛山和马来西亚的照片,先上一期吃的,吊吊胃口,引引口水,哈哈.

记得99年5月26日,曼联临完场3分钟打垮以为冠军奖杯已手到擒来的拜仁,我一直奉为经典,吹捧曼联的神奇,耻笑拜仁的轻敌.就如同车路士,马德里一样,我视拜仁为曼联欧洲赛场上的敌人(劲敌啦),是永远要蔑视的那种.

 

但从上赛季开始我也看拜仁的比赛,是追看的那种,因为拜仁有最好的德国国家队球员.自从Poldi加盟拜仁以来,我总借口说"我是捧poldi和lahm才看的拜仁"来应付Achim狡猾的微笑. 这个赛季更不要得,新买的都是厉害得不了,包揽世界杯前三的主力球员,特别是法国的Ribery,好技术够硬朗居然还跑不死,我惊为天人!虽然toni打败了德国队,但他真的是当今世界顶级前锋,挡不了拦不住,嚣张得还有点可爱.加上有我一直最爱的poldi,schweiny,lahm,klose,如日高升的新力军jansen,还未有出场的jen,甚至ze roberto,von bommel,lucio,lell等等都打地越来越好.我喜欢看这个豪华阵容,打得无比自信,流畅而控制全场.教我如何不喜欢?

 

但从地理上来说,我们都是支持FC 1 Koeln(科隆,正在打乙级),那在德国就意味着你是憎恨拜仁的.我地方主义不是很强烈,但捧拜仁是要被讥笑的,我只能说我喜欢看拜仁比赛,但不能说我喜欢拜仁.

 

achim最爱问题之一是:如果曼联再战拜仁,我站在那边?

 

我别一白眼,你当我傻啦,当然是曼联!这可是不可替代的.

又从肯尼亚归来了.这次比去年多呆了2天,和去年一样的项目.上年是紧张激动得不能入睡的新手,项目是当时唯一的宝贝.今年和同一个dhl肯尼亚的同事见面,他一针见血地问我:"为什么没有了去年的激情".我一惊,以为自己掩饰得很好,想不到别人一眼看破.一年前开始接手其他几个不同的项目,事忙多了也没有以前专注,而且象这样我一脚踢的项目,没有激情,细节就会成为恼人的琐碎.比起一年前我有更多确定的打算,知道今年该是最后一次负责这个项目,没有热情但还算珍惜.

 

在首都内罗毕住往年一样的酒店,附近景色依旧,天黑后就绝对不能单独走到大街上.大象孤儿院的"小朋友们"依旧可爱,去年看到的明星"shimba"今年还在而且更加顽皮(大象孤儿一般长到2-3岁后才会被送回大自然).之后去看长颈鹿保护中心,我从来没有看过那么温柔的眼神,她们的眼睫毛长长地垂下,给水汪汪的黑色眼睛添上神秘.她们会很可爱地伸出扁长的灰色舌头让你去喂,嘴角似乎永远挂着甜笑(大象小朋友的嘴型也是带着笑意的,但长颈鹿的更为动人).大家走的时候都依依不舍,两步一回头,世界上怎么会有那么温柔的表情!?

 

最后两天在东南边的海边,去年参观的乡村医院现在接上了internet,还有了雪柜来冷藏防疫针和其他敏感药物,外墙也雪白干净,和去年的破旧景象有天渊之别.我们很自豪,因为这些改变都是我们公司的直接贡献.

 

奉上少量照片以说明

 

一个人在伊斯坦布尔，入夜之后可以做什么呢？带上了好多书准备好好看，但室外灯光灰暗而室内又酷热难熬，好在还可以看满地的猫猫，也算有点乐子。伊斯坦布尔有惊人数量的猫，狗倒是很少见。其中不少是流浪猫，但保持干净整洁和独立自我。

 

在游客集中的广场草坪我看到了两只猫，都是杂色，我试图呼唤他们过来，可能是以为有东西吃了，两只本和平相处的猫居然大打出手，在我和其他游客前表演猫双扑，旁人坏坏地举起相机，其他游客纷纷效仿，我生气地走开了。

 

头一天晚上吃饭的餐馆外边也有两只猫，根据他们的毛色和个子，一只叫小黑，另一只大灰（我起的名字，不好意思创意不足）。小黑永远跟在大灰身后，大概保持个两猫身距离。大灰游走在不同的桌子之间乞求晚餐，小黑也精警地跟在后头。有时小黑比较无聊就会跳上大概一个猫身高的花盘上，帐着身处高势伸出小手去挑逗大灰，非常之顽皮。我看他们两个打打闹闹开心了2个小时。

 

最喜欢的是一只高豆的肥猫，他有一个土耳其名字，不是流浪猫，是我住的旅社店主人所有，经常出没在旅社附近，人人都知道他，肆无忌惮的样子很是可爱。尤其他一身波斯金毛，我们都叫他“加菲”。大家可以看照片，真的和加菲很相象，尤其是那个“我比你聪明多了”的可恶样子。有一天晚上我买了烤玉米，搬了个小凳子在旅社门外乘凉，刚把玉米掏出来，他就不知道从哪里一个飞身扑出，我吓了一大跳！这只肥猫贪吃但又挑食，嗅了嗅我的玉米，就不屑地在旁边趴下了，等着看我还有没有其他荤吃。附近同期出没地还有一只白毛，他的左前蹄总是离地，保持攻击状态，但看见我却却每每想靠近，但又不让我的手碰到他。加菲即很少理，如果我按摩得他舒服，他就大模大样地享受，有时还是伸出手假装攻击你地逗着玩。这大概就是家猫和流浪猫的区别了。

 

在这里4天看了无数的猫，我问当地人为什么养那么多猫，而且只养猫而不养狗，他们耸耸肩，说“猫体型小比较容易养”，我觉得这是敷衍我的话，一来大多数猫并非家猫，没有什么容不容易养的问题，二来谁说猫吃得比狗少？！在我看来，只是猫比较独立，不介意流浪，也不需要人宠爱，有足够吃的就行了，这样的个性在伊斯坦布尔旅客区比较吃得开。哦，还有，因为这里鱼多！

前天深夜回到家,从伊斯坦布尔的炎夏回到已入秋的波恩,先奉上些许片段

 仿佛相册中还是25岁生日在美国西岸的照片,转眼之间就已经26了,容易得很,让我想起地铁里那个钟,很老旧的那种,60秒过后就突然一个大踏步向前走一格,毫不迟疑也让人毫无准备.因为没有秒针的缘故,你根本不晓得,到底是刚过了6点5分,还是快要6点6分了.我的生日本常是炎热的夏日,来欧洲三年却每每已是秋意融融,使我几乎忘记了现在还是8月.

 

说起地铁,我很喜欢我家旁边的地铁站,从地下出来有一个走得慢慢的升降扶梯,将我带进地上的光明,每次都让我心情愉快.

 哈７上周三晚上看完，心里一个大洞．接着来要看点什么补补看．

以下转载"TIME" 杂志．

我认为评价得蛮公道，分析得很真实，最后几段反而有点牵强，没有什么淋漓之感，可能作者本身也不是很确定．

China's Me Generation

Six friends out on a friday evening, the seafood plentiful, the conversation flowing. Maria Zhang — big hoop earrings, tight velvet jacket and a good deal of meticulously applied makeup — starts to describe an island that everyone is talking about off the east coast of Thailand. It has great diving, she says, and lots of Chinese there so you don't have to worry about language. Her friend Vicky Yang is hunched over a borrowed laptop, downloading an e-mail from a pesky client on her cell phone. An actuary at a consulting firm, Vicky needs to close a project tonight. While she phones a colleague, the dinner-table conversation moves on to snowboarding ("I must have fallen a hundred times") to the relative merits of various iPods ("Shuffle is no good") and the sudden onrush of credit cards in China. Silence Chen, an account executive with advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather in Beijing, tells the group he recently received six different cards in the mail. "Each one has a credit limit of 10,000," he says, laughing. "So suddenly I'm 60,000 yuan richer!" The talk turns to China's online shopping business, before that is interrupted by the arrival of razor clams, chili squid and deep-fried grouper.

The one subject that doesn't come up — and almost never does when this tight-knit group of friends gets together — is politics. That sets them apart from previous generations of Chinese élites, whose lives were defined by the epic events that shaped China's past half-century: the Cultural Revolution, the opening to the West, the student protests in Tiananmen Square and their subsequent suppression. The conversation at Gang Ji Restaurant suggests today's twentysomethings are tuning all that out. "There's nothing we can do about politics," says Chen. "So there's no point in talking about it or getting involved."

There are roughly 300 million adults in China under age 30, a demographic cohort that serves as a bridge between the closed, xenophobic China of the Mao years and the globalized economic powerhouse that it is becoming. Young Chinese are the drivers and chief beneficiaries of the country's current boom: according to a recent survey by Credit Suisse First Boston, the incomes of 20- to 29-year-olds grew 34% in the past three years, by far the biggest of any age group. And because of their self-interested, apolitical pragmatism, they could turn out to be the salvation of the ruling Communist Party — so long as it keeps delivering the economic goods. Survey young, urban Chinese today, and you will find them drinking Starbucks, wearing Nikes and blogging obsessively. But you will detect little interest in demanding voting rights, let alone overthrowing the country's communist rulers. "On their wish list," says Hong Huang, a publisher of several lifestyle magazines, "a Nintendo Wii comes way ahead of democracy."

The rise of China's Me generation has implications for the foreign policies of other nations. Sinologists in the West have long predicted that economic growth would eventually bring democracy to China. As James Mann points out in his new book, The China Fantasy, the idea that China will evolve into a democracy as its middle class grows continues to underlie the U.S.'s China policy, providing the central rationale for maintaining close ties with what is, after all, an unapologetically authoritarian regime. But China's Me generation could shatter such long-held assumptions. As the chief beneficiaries of China's economic success, young professionals have more and more tied up in preserving the status quo. The last thing they want is a populist politician winning over the country's hundreds of millions of have-nots on a rural-reform, stick-it-to-the-cities agenda.

All of which means democracy isn't likely to come to China anytime soon. And that poses challenges for Western policymakers as they try to engage China without condoning the Communist Party's record of political repression and its failures to improve the lives of the country's rural poor. China watchers say the Me generation's reluctance to agitate for reform is driven in part by a reluctance to tarnish China's moment in the sun. "They are proud of what China has accomplished, and very positive about the government," says P.T. Black, who conducts extensive marketing research for a Shanghai-based company called Jigsaw International. The political passivity of China's new élite makes sense while the good times roll. The question is what will happen to the Me generation — and to China — when they end.

For anyone who visited the workers' paradise when it was still the land of Mao suits and communes, trying to reconcile that China to the one that young élites live in today is disorienting. When I first visited China in 1981, I went to the People's Park in Shanghai with two traveling companions. Our obligatory Foreign Ministry "guide" ushered us through a special gate reserved for "foreign friends." A knot of young Chinese had gathered outside. As we passed, a few made loud comments about the unfairness of having parts of the People's Park reserved only for foreigners. One of my companions, a Mandarin speaker, agreed volubly in Chinese. Immediately a group of young Chinese men and women surrounded us and peppered us with questions that mixed naiveté and aspiration: Are there still slaves in America? Where did you learn to speak Chinese? Do all American families really have three cars? Can you help me go to America?

That discussion took place 25 years ago, the span usually allotted to a single generation. The naive, wary Chinese I met that day could be the parents of the group gathered for the seafood feast in Beijing. But there is almost nothing about the appearance, attitudes, life experience, education or dreams for the future that those young people in the Shanghai People's Park share with the likes of Vicky and her friends.

The most obvious change is demographic. Because of China's one-child policy, instituted in 1978, this is the first generation in the world's history in which a majority are single children, a group whose solipsistic tendencies have been further encouraged by a growing obsession with consumerism, the Internet and video games. At the same time, today's young Chinese are better educated and more worldly than their predecessors. Whereas the so-called Lost Generation that grew up in the Cultural Revolution often struggled to finish high school, today around a quarter of Chinese in their 20s have attended college. The country's opening to the West has allowed many more of its citizens to satisfy their curiosity about the world: some 37 million will travel overseas in 2007. In the next decade, there will be more Chinese tourists traveling the globe than the combined total of those originating in the U.S. and Europe. Rather than fueling restlessness among the Me generation, however, the ease of travel seems to provide more evidence that the benefits of globalization can be had without radical change.

There's another reason for the lack of political ferment: it's exhausting. Like anyone else, members of the Me generation are shaped by their experiences and those of their families. When their parents talk about the Great Leap Forward (a disastrous Mao campaign in the late 1950s that left 20 million to 30 million dead of starvation) and the subsequent chaos of the Cultural Revolution, they mostly tell horror stories that would put anyone off politics forever. That chapter in Chinese history, which officially ended with Mao's death in 1976, is ancient history to today's young élites. They have known little but peace and an ever increasing economic boom. "We have so much bigger a desire for everything than [our parents]," says Maria Zhang, 27. "And the more we eat, the more we taste and see, the more we want."

One event that the Me generation does remember is the crackdown on student activists in Tiananmen Square in 1989. But to young Chinese like Maria and Vicky, the Tiananmen protests are less a source of inspiration than an admonishment. Were popular uprisings like Tiananmen allowed to continue, Vicky believes, they would have provoked a counterreaction by conservative forces and led to a return to fortress China: no more iPods, overseas shopping trips or snowboarding weekends. "I think that the students meant well," says Vicky, who was 11 at the time and has only vague memories of what happened. But the crackdown that ended the demonstrations "certainly was needed."

Vicky embodies the shift in the priorities of young Chinese. She's a purposeful, 29-year-old actuary who rarely smiles but loves nothing better than a party. She and her friends meet so regularly for dinner and at bars that she says she never eats at home anymore. As the pictures on her blog attest, they also throw regular theme parties to mark holidays like Halloween and Christmas, and last year took a holiday to Egypt.

Encouraged by her new boyfriend Wang Ning, a keen snowboarder, Vicky decided earlier this year to take up the sport as well. To prime for it, she went to a mall in south Beijing that specializes in pricey, imported skiing gear. She chose a gleaming new snowboard made by the Colorado company Never Summer, emblazoned with colorful, psychedelic paintings of butterflies. Along with gloves, goggles and other paraphernalia, the new gear set her back about $700. When asked about the wisdom of spending a small fortune on equipment for a sport she may never take to, she says, "I believe you have to be fully prepared and equipped before you decide to start a new hobby." Besides, she adds, "even if I don't like skiing, think how nice [the gear] will look in the hallway of my apartment. Guests won't know that I don't use it." Vicky smiles to signal she's joking. But she's dead serious when she explains, over coffee at Starbucks, her lack of interest in politics. "It's because our life is pretty good. I care about my rights when it comes to the quality of a waitress in a restaurant or a product I buy. When it comes to democracy and all that, well ..." She shrugs expressively and takes a sip of her latte. "That doesn't play a role in my life."

People like Vicky and her friends represent the leading edge, the trailblazers for a huge mass of young, eagerly aspirant consumers. All over China, young professionals like these banter about blogging, travel and work-life balance. ("Work hard, play harder," says Vicky several times, repeating it in case she isn't heard.) If they can't afford to blow $700 on skiing gear, they want to be able to soon.

And so for China's leaders, placating the Me generation is seen as critical to ensuring the Communist Party's survival. By 2015, the number of Chinese adults under 30 is expected to swell 61%, to 500 million, equivalent to the entire population of the European Union. From issues of grave consequence to trivialities, the government has made clear that it will do whatever it takes to keep the swelling middle class happy. In Beijing, for example, newly prosperous residents are snapping up automobiles at a rate of 1,000 a day. The number of vehicles on the capital's sclerotic roads has doubled in the past five years, to 3 million. (By comparison, there are about 2 million vehicles registered in all of New York City.) But despite a grim pollution problem (Beijing air quality is among the world's worst) that could embarrass China during next summer's Olympic Games, the central government has made no move to curb vehicle purchases through regulation or taxes. And that, in turn, has made it harder for governments in the developed world to make progress in getting Beijing to do more to fight climate change.

That's just one example of the long-term impact of the government's focus on the Me generation. In an article in the official mouthpiece People's Daily published in February, Premier Wen Jiabao stressed that economic growth should take precedence over democratic reforms for the foreseeable future, a period that he appeared to indicate could stretch to 100 years. And yet for all its machinery of control, the party is vulnerable. Senior cadres from Wen on down have acknowledged in public that growing unrest in the provinces, as farmers clash with police over expropriated land or official corruption, could threaten the party's grip on power.

As a result, China's rulers face a dilemma: the very policies that cater to the urban middle class come at the expense of the rural poor. So far the government is erring on the side of the rich. In March the government pledged to address problems plaguing the country's peasants, such as access to medical treatment and schooling, health insurance and the disparity between urban and rural incomes. And yet a relatively small portion of the budget was set aside to address the concerns of the peasantry, with the bulk of spending still concentrated on stoking the booming economy.

Even more telling was the passage of what was widely viewed as one of the most important pieces of legislation to be put forward in several decades of reform: the revised law on property ownership. Pushed through despite objections from old-line conservatives, the law for the first time gave equal weight to both state- and private-ownership rights. But a look at the fine print shows that the law only protects things dear to the rising middle class: real estate, cars, stock-market assets. Farmers, on the other hand, will still be unable to purchase their land and instead will be forced to lease plots from the government.

If left unchanged, such policies could exacerbate China's rich-poor divide and create conditions for tumultuous social upheaval. The test for China — as the Me generation grows bigger, richer and more powerful — will be whether it begins to push for the social and political reforms that are necessary to ensure China's long-term prosperity and stability. How likely is that? Though they're not exactly clamoring for free elections, members of the new middle class have shown a willingness to stand up to authority when their interests are threatened. Last October police in Beijing attempted to enforce rules limiting each household to a single, registered animal no taller than 14 in. (35 cm). The drive sparked a rare public demonstration by hundreds of well-heeled Chinese, mostly young dog owners. Within a month, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, President Hu Jintao had intervened, ordering the Beijing authorities to back off. It was the first time most Beijingers could remember a public protest drawing a direct intervention by China's top leader.

It was hardly Tiananmen, but a small triumph for free expression nonetheless. And if the West hopes to see China become democratic as well as prosperous, it will have to find ways to encourage modest breakthroughs like these, rather than expect sweeping change. At the Gang Ji Restaurant, where the dishes have been cleared and fresh fruit and more tea brought in, the mood is reflective. "We are lucky compared to our parents," says Maria Zhang, who works as a membership manager in one of the capital's most exclusive clubs. "My parents had nothing themselves. They lived for me." Wang Ning, the snowboarder who runs his own successful advertising company, agrees. "We are more self-centered. We live for ourselves, and that's good. We need to have the strength to contribute to the economy. That's our power. The power to contribute. That's how our generation is going to help the country." China's future will be defined by whether they realize that democracy can help China, too.

没有粽子吃,还要工作工作工作!!! 呜呜

最近工作和游乐都很忙,难得周日在家,晚上冰箱空空连摊个鸡蛋饼都不够,好在还有4个小番茄,那就做意面吧.平时一般做饭原则,我做亚洲杂乱式的,achim专职欧式,煮意粉更是他强项,非常之好吃害我每次都要再添(主要是他做的时候奶油之类非健康油脂类东东放得多,味道自然要香,道理跟饭店一般用猪油而非植物油同出一撤).我发昏,居然说:我也要做出好吃的意粉,今晚就让我下厨吧.当然并非第一次,但我认真地查了一下在丹麦淘到的烹饪宝典,决定做番茄辣椒酱汁(2个鲜小辣椒,一个四川干辣椒,比平时做菜多一点的橄榄油,4个番茄切碎,3瓣蒜头切小块,手撕的几片九层塔叶),这个要用慢火熬10到15分钟吧就会蛮稠的.另起一个大锅滚烫热水煮意面,细长条的spagetti,8分钟刚好el dente(捞一条出来试,应该是感觉还小小未有熟透)就马上滤水.上碟,淋上酱汁.都几辣,我很喜欢,achim更夸奖说味道同意大利的大妈做的有得比.我顿时飘飘然(现在还自我感觉良好),这可是最高评价呀,比如北京炸酱面当然是家里的最好吃,又比如说饺子的话是我妈包的最好.代价是:去完辣椒籽我的双手十指足足火烧般地辣了两天,痛苦啊!不知道有什么其他办法呢?

 

下厨的兴致一下子膨胀,昨天晚上再试身手,创新地做了几乎无油平底锅煎春卷,重点是除了春卷皮外,一切都是我自己动手做的.折腾了一个晚上,首先是不知道怎样准备冰冻了的春卷皮(结果只能扔掉用不了3分一),再是实验不同的包春卷方法,5个不同形状煎出来,还请来achim这个专业consultant逐个评价,午夜时分终于包出了有模有样的春卷两大盒,放进冰箱里,今天晚上踢完球回来就消灭了一盘,呵呵.

 

在国外就有这个兴致哦,要是在国内,肯定都到外面吃咯,又好吃又方便也不贵,我才不会呆呆地困在厨房3个钟头就为做个不专业的春卷,还不如去禅城饮夜茶!

 

柏林,第四次踏足,第一次独自来到柏林.

 

第一次来柏林是前年的二月,那时achim的姐姐一家还住在柏林,我们睡在客厅,小朋友们早上醒来发现客厅中有黑头发大怪物,吓到跑回爸爸妈妈房里.我一句德语都不会,5岁的marelina一边和我玩一边不停嘴地说,我干瞪着眼着急,却无记可司.二月的柏林阴暗潮湿,微雨一直在飞.我们逛了很多地方,印象最深的是Orianienburgstr - 在东柏林,现在有不同的宗教贮足,脏脏的雪堆积于一犹太人遇难的坟墓之上;还有achim念大学的地方,出了那么多的Nobel Prize得主,爱因斯坦也在,感觉象看一部传奇...灰色的柏林,好象被历史压弯了腰的老人.

 

同年的七月我本来是定了要来柏林考GMAT的,后来放弃了无考但机票已经买了,就当来看achim大学的朋友好了.周六下午我们坐在博物馆岛河对岸,人工的沙滩,大人小孩都玩得不亦乐乎.周日早上在他朋友家对面的公园逛,好热的夏天,我第一次见识德国出名的天体主义者,一开始有点难以接受和理解...有点奇怪突兀的柏林.

 

去年9月又到了柏林,这次是公干,只有一个小时在飞离这个城市之前,我们一堆人决定去吃雪糕,在Friedrichstr. S-Bahn Station附近,拿着雪糕沿着Spree河一路开怀地享受柏林的晚夏.

 

不知从什么时候开始我就喜欢上这个城市,不知道什么催化剂或转化点.就那样我决定五一假期一个人来柏林.毕竟在德国已经一年半多了,虽然德语还是半吊子,但我已经可以完全一个人处理很多沟通上的事情,反正不行的话总可以已英语搭救的.所以我一点都没有紧张,反而是无比的期待.前三次竟然一个博物馆都没有看,这次独自成行正是参观博物馆的最佳时机.第一天去看德国历史博物馆我就整整看了4个小时多还只是看了三分之一,下午2点半我肚子饿得敲起摇滚乐了,只好出门觅食,安慰自己可以下次再来.第二天早上是五一劳动节,柏林例牌的游行示威,我一大早(也就是9点多)去坐双层的公交车居然让我占到头位,一路开过柏林众多著名的建筑,回程路上终于看到示威者,竟然是摩托车的队伍,一点都不工人阶级本色嘛.好玩的是看到起码三只烤全猪,更多人是出来享受初夏的艳阳.最后一天在我住的那一区闲逛,整个就是一个柏林设计师的集散地,虽然柏林失业率居高不下,但有创意的人还是在这里活得潇洒.柏林,年轻人的随意和活力,但又有丢不掉的历史担子 - 我真的很喜欢这里,觉得是一个我想生活的城市.不过暂时还没有这样的机会,先有空就来探望吧.

 

没有什么照片,所以写了文字.