Raining in Beijing

It feels like Seattle again -- rainy and cloudy!

Well, actually this is not a bad thing for Beijing, a city that has almost become a desert.

This morning I walked into the office and the umbrellas are left open on the floor like many flowers. Unlike most of people would feel depressed, my heart is light and joyful while I am walking around these umbrellas. After yesterday's tiring sunny day, I feel comfortable in a quiet slowed down rainy morning. :-)

Today, the weather has little impact on my mood. I had a great day yesterday with Robert, David and a few others from HK going around the city. Now I feel refreshed and am ready to face my borning project again. Earlier this year, we lost a battle with Redmond so our project is pushed to the edge. It lost its critical influence to the developers and essentially becomes very hard to use. I am staying on the job just because I like the team and am waiting for my earned promotion. After that I really don't know if I should stay on the same project. Well, that is rattling on something so unsure. I will get my attention back to the weather! :-)

Well, Beijing has changed a lot ever since the Olympic starts. Many factories are closed down so the air pollution could be stopped for a while. People are granted vacations so they could see the games and at the same reduce traffic jam. So Beijing is beautiful again. The street is broad again, with fewer cars. The air is clean and you could see the mountains, cloud, sun and blue sky again. I really feel alive again.

I actually got to see a few games onsite -- beach volleyball and hocky game. I enjoyed them greatly. I will post something on it with some nice pictures later. Here I will just post a picture of the hocky field now.

new apartment

We are looking for a new apartment lately because the house is changing its ownership. The owner called us and told us that we need to leave around August.
Now that troubles me big time because I have to face make the decision now that I've been pushed over many times. The current apartment simply does not work -- no hot water, leaking toilet, half functional stove, flashing light or no light, far from work... :-) But it was close to my mom and dad. We are at 17th floor and they are at 2nd floor.
Hard to believe one thing could weight over every other inconveniences for 2 months. It started getting running down only recently and we only don't have time to call the people to fix them up.

Blessed that we saw this apartment last night. It was 3 bed-room, great decorated with modern style, clean and comfortable. The shower would work great and it is behind a curtain! The kitchen actually has nice clean shelves and counter. And it is within the same community with my parent, the rent is only 1000 RMB more than current one.
Owner said that she will go shopping for furnitures with us and she will pay the bill. What eles could we ask for? Robert and I immediately decided that we should take it. Even David was excited and But Robert whispered to me still, "Should I look like I am not satisfied (so we could bargin)?" :-)

I am looking forward to it! I know Robert is too.

Mourn to the loss

Last month, Oma has passed away in her sleep. Robert has lost his loving mother. My heart feels the pain of whoever loves her and misses her. I will miss her for her loving caring heart and living and energetic manners. She loves everyone and wants to take care of them. I've never seen anyone else like her. She has taught her children well and blessed them by her own action the open and loving heart to others.
Here is the link to a complete life time story written by Ann -- One more angel in heaven and one more star in the sky. No one else could write it better than her.

A few trips in 2007

We've had a few trips later last year. One to QingDao and another one to the south west of China plus Vietnam. When I've got time, I will post some pictures.
Pure traveling doesn't seems to bring exitement as it used to be. The purpose of traveling seems to be more important. Few places gave me brand new experience, I feel like I am experiencing the same thing. Am I getting old? :-)
I think before we go out of our usual circle and travel, it is important to prepare for the trip and study a little more about the place and the people. That is possible to make the trip more effective. If the Lord is willing, I will be interested to see Xi'an, XiZang(Tibet).