How time flies! I have been happily married for 5 years!
Both of us are not into big celebrations or spectacular presents, so every year our anniversary is just an ordinary day we spend together, not unlike any other. Well, this year, since it's the 5th year, we figured maybe we should try to do something different, or go somewhere different. So last night, around 10:30pm, I suggested we drive to Ningbo via the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the longest sea crossing bridge in the world, 36 kilometres long. It turns out both of us have never been to Ningbo, and with the new bridge, it only takes around 2 hours to go there. Why not? It took us about 5 minutes to decide to get married 5 years ago, and now it seems nothing has changed, we are still as spontaneous as ever. So we packed an overnight bag and off we go. Both of us love to drive at night, because there are less people and less cars. Indeed, when we arrived at the bridge at exactly midnight, we had the bridge all to ourselves. Less than 5 cars passed during the entire 36km drive. It was dark, but the bridge was very well lighted, we couldn't see anything around us, but the cool sea air outside felt really good. By the time we arrived in Ningbo and checked into a hotel, it was nearly 2am.
This afternoon, at 2:28pm exactly, I stood up, along with the rest of China, paying respects to all those who lost their lives in the earthquake. As I looked outside the window, I saw all the pedestrians stopped walking and just stood there, all the cars parked on the side of the road and honked their horns. For a moment, it was as if time has stopped, and all we can hear is the sound of the continuously honking horn. Just the thought of 1.3 billion people all standing together at that one moment, feeling the same sorrow, sharing the same love for our fellow countrymen, was very inspiring, and aroused an explosion of previously suppressed emotions. I've never been more touched then I was in those 3 short minutes.
Today all the flags are flown at half mast, there are no shows on TV, no songs on the radio, no movies in the theaters, even homepages of all the websites became black and white. The entire country is in mourning.
Yesterday was Saturday. Normally I'd stay in bed tilll noon, but yesterday I got up real early and rushed to the Shanghai Worldfield Convention Hotel for an event I considered very worthwhile. It's the SIFE National Competition, and I was invited to be one of the judges.
SIFE stands for Students in Free Enterprise, one of the largest university based organizations in the world. SIFE is active in over 40 countries in the world, and their main objective is to organize university students to work together as a team, apply their classroom experiences to develop and implement educational outreach programs that teach individuals in their communities the principles of market economics, success skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and business ethics.
It's time to get into shape! Finally time to fulfill that new year resolution. I'm determined to lose the extra weight and become healthy again. No more excuses, no more laziness, Just Do It! My friend offered to buy me a pair of new Nike shoes, the ones you can design yourself online.