“U”& “∩”

When I was in Turkey, I live in Muslims. I feel that Muslim lived a life of letter “U”, that the family and the religion were the highest, but the nationality is not that high. So they take their own family and all people of their religion of the most important part.

But in China, we lived “∩”life. We don’t have a unique religion for all Chinese, but all Chinese take nationality as a holy thing in their heart. That’s why the politics conflicts about territorial integrity usually attracted a lot of attention of the Chinese group.

While I am in UK now, I wonder if there is a certain letter for western people?

“If I have…”is a False Proposition

Yesterday, when we were going to the management department in Heslinton East, we planned to take a No.4 bus so that we did not have to wait so long. But after waiting for 15 minutes we put ourselves into a discussion. Whether or not should we walk to the Heslinton East at that moment? It would take us 20 minutes walking there which means we might be 5 minutes late. But waiting for the bus seemed to be a risk that we might be late for more than 5 minutes. Finally we decided to walk there.

Unfortunately , on our way there, there was a No.4 bus passing by, which made us regretted for not keeping waiting. However, in my point of view, there was nothing to be regretted. Nobody would be so lucky to have the Prophecy. If the decision is based on the current knowledge and rational reasoning, the decision would never be blamed. Even though the result is not we wanted, we should not regret for our decision.

Still, there is a famous song in China，named “afterwards”. The main meaning of that song is a girl regret giving up her ex-boyfriend who treated her so well. Sometimes, girls are bothered by the potential regret in the future when they are making a choice of their husbands. But, I think this is the same false proposition as the No.4 bus story. Why not just follow your hear? Nobody would ever know about the future.

“If I have…”is a False Proposition

Yesterday, when we were going to the management department in Heslinton East, we planned to take a No.4 bus so that we did not have to wait so long. But after waiting for 15 minutes we put ourselves into a discussion. Whether or not should we walk to the Heslinton East at that moment? It would take us 20 minutes walking there which means we might be 5 minutes late. But waiting for the bus seemed to be a risk that we might be late for more than 5 minutes. Finally we decided to walk there.

Unfortunately , on our way there, there was a No.4 bus passing by, which made us regretted for not keeping waiting. However, in my point of view, there was nothing to be regretted. Nobody would be so lucky to have the Prophecy. If the decision is based on the current knowledge and rational reasoning, the decision would never be blamed. Even though the result is not we wanted, we should not regret for our decision.

Still, there is a famous song in China，named “afterwards”. The main meaning of that song is a girl regret giving up her ex-boyfriend who treated her so well. Sometimes, girls are bothered by the potential regret in the future when they are making a choice of their husbands. But, I think this is the same false proposition as the No.4 bus story. Why not just follow your hear? Nobody would ever know about the future.

Is Data Believable???

In academic field, Data seems to be God that you can be easily persuaded by it. These days , when we are talking about some topics, some students raise data to be evidence. However, at the same time , I wonder is the data here really work? Is this data believable?

The day before, we talked about if gun could be available in some country. When referring to US gun law, Terrence referred to the data given by a gun supporter in US that the death rate of gun crime is lower than the one caused by traffic accident. So it means gun is not dangerous to the society. It’s interesting that people get quiet after this data. But I wonder is this data really mean something? I think, even though the death rate of gun crime is not as high as we thought, but it still adds danger to the society.

Today,  a group talked about global warming. They use a temperature record to show that the temperature in recent years keeps rising without any sign of falling back to an previous level. But Dawn raised a very wonderful question that where is data coming from ? I feel people sometimes have gone to extremes by following the truth. We take data as a tool for evidence, which make us feel rational. While, sometimes, we believe data so much that we never take pains to search for the origin and the accuracy. Then, data seems to be a cheater rather than a judge.

Differences in Education System

Yesterday, I went to the Economics Department where a head professor there talked with us about York and Education in UK.

The difference in Education system between UK and US really attracted me a lot. Though I know it can’t be all right for all aspects and subjects , but on the whole, it’s true in business field. He said that in UK, the education system narrowed down to a certain profession study while in US, it’s something quite broad. Take undergraduate study for example. The US universities usually have more than 2 years’ comprehensive courses which can be quite far from their profession study, like philosophy, history. That’s why the education span in US is longer than that in UK.

This also reminds me of my school, Zhejiang University. Our education system seems to follow the example of US system. We have 2 years to learn some basic and comprehensive courses before we start our profession study.

Why there could be such a difference. Dawn gave her opinion after our presentation that maybe job hunting in UK is so difficult today as 50% of the UK population have attended colleges. So the degree is not so powerful for job hunting unless you really learn something for your work. While, in US, maybe job hunting is not that difficult. And in China, things can be more complex. I think job hunting in China is as hard as that in UK. But we don’t have that high percentage of populations hold bachelor degree, so people may take degree as an important point no matter whether people with that degree have learned anything related to their work or not. However, this is just my guess.

My Lovely Host-families

I must say I am a lucky dog that I have so many warm host-families.

My first host-family was in US. When I went to US for an exchange program in high school, I lived in their beautiful forest house in Connecticut. They gave me a warm welcome at that time by taking me to all the interesting places around their hometown and held a welcome party for me with all their cousins and friends coming. Though I only spent one week with them, we really had an amazing time together.

My second host-family was in Izmit, Kocaeli, Turkey, where I had my internship last summer. I never had contact with Muslims before. But I really lived an unforgettable life in their family. I can’t forget the amazing night we spent in their cottage facing Marmara Sea. But for the big tree in front of our cottage, we could have a complete bird-view of the whole Marmara Sea. All of a sudden I saw Uncle Osman straggled to the tree and began to cut it!! They did all their best to let me live happily there. Just like Uncle Osman said, I am his daughter in China.

Then I will talk about my lovely new host-family in York. Anne is an energetic lady who is so considerate and open-minded. I felt her warm-heart the first moment I stepped in my room. It’s a lovely pink room with a soft warm bed and toys everywhere. Though pink is not my favourite colour, I still feel like it. Because I felt I am not a young lady but a young girl who is well looked after. She is also open-minded which could help us to understand each other very well. We all went to Turkey, so we shared our experiences and talked about our views towards Turkey. I feel she is so kind and she understand me so well. And I believe I will surely have another happy experience with my third host-family. 

Just a Guess

I went to the British Museum last Sunday.  There I saw many great pieces all around world, of different cultures. By comparing China’s crafts with the European crafts, I began to think about the reason for the apparent differences. I believe most people have noticed the difference that China’s crafts are abstract while the European ones are realistic.

I guess this difference probably comes from the figure differences between Chinese and Europeans. Chinese have flat face with straight hair, while Europeans have high noise, deep eyes and curly hair.  When ancient people draw pictures or create sculptures they prefer complex image. So the Chinese artists found it more interesting to focus on their imagines, while the European artists would be glad to follow the human beauties.

But this is just my guess.