CHILLING in Harbin

Hello All,

Times are good! I just finished my first week of classes and I'm really excited by the positive start to my semester. The past week and past weekend was filled with "cool" activities, I visited the Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival! Even though it was really cold, it was worth seeing all of the beautiful ice sculptures. They even had an ice slide that my inner five year old thoroughly enjoyed snailing down (I say "snailing" down because there were also a lot of other inner five year old human beings on that slide and hence we couldn't zoom down :( hahaha)

This was a great way to kick off the spring semester and I'm glad I made it in time before the closing of the festival in late February. 

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Next up, I woke up to a lot of noise outside on the stairwell of my apartment. I went to investigate 

and found that our service maids (we call them 阿姨 (ayi)) were moving chairs out of our rooms and replacing them with "new" chairs. I asked why this was necessary since our chairs were fine, but she replied "it's just the way it is." I nodded and then volunteered to help out the 阿姨's move chairs from floor to floor because of several reasons. Number one, I just think it's the right thing to do, since some of the 阿姨's are a bit aged and I know I can be of use in helping them. Number two, it would increase the efficiency of the task getting done--more labor means the task would be done faster, which in turn would mean less disturbance for everyone in the apartment. Thus, with the goals of helping 阿姨's and for the common good I diligently worked and completed the task.

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Lastly, my friends and I crossed the Songhua River (松花江). The river was completely

frozen over (enough for cars to drive on it!) and so my friends and I enjoyed our journey

across the river. It's little adventures like this where I'm glad I live in a cold region which

offers cool opportunities like crossing a frozen river :)

Can you spot the trucks? Yep, the ice is that thick...

Casually taking a pic while standing on river

My fellow adventurers Jake and Hannah!

Thanks for reading this post everyone, hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you next week!

Best,

-Sam

Refreshed and Renewed...Let's "Finish the Fight"

Dear Family, Friends, and Followers,

My China journey continues as I head back to China tomorrow.
I'm excited to continue my immersion experience at Harbin Institute of Technology, eat
in the cafeterias, strike up conversations with fellow Chinese students and locals, and expand my Chinese language skills. I thank the Richard U. Light Fellowship for funding me thus far, and for funding me again this last term as I finish up my China journey in Harbin.

One trailer that I always watch over and over again is the Halo 3 Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z36WDj2PcU
I believe this trailer depicts my China journey in a nutshell.

0:00-0:17 symbolizes the time when I only dreamed of this opportunity. I wondered
if I would ever have the chance to go to China and "meet them" (Chinese locals and future friends).

0:18-0:30 symbolizes the hard times I initially had when I began to study Chinese at Yale.
(Note this part can also symbolize the initial culture shock I had when I arrived in China [i.e "Why is the air pollution so bad? Why don't I have hot water? Why?....etc.] but this was later in my journey.)

0:31-0:33 is when I saw the Gun, the opportunity. The weapon, that is the Light Fellowship, was beckoning me to apply for a full year abroad in China.

0:34-0:38 is when I equipped myself with the Gun and rose in confidence despite earlier setbacks.

0:40-0:45 represents the Shield of Positivity that I deploy whenever internal doubts or external discouragements and setbacks try to kill my spirit.

...And my favorite part (where I'm at now in my journey):

0:45-0:53.

That last part speaks volumes of the heroes that are inside all of us, waiting to be unveiled. For me, my inner Hero knows what my mission objectives are:

1. To immerse myself in Chinese culture
2. Be an uplifting role model to my Chinese friends and fellow program participants through my words and actions
3. Be bold in new experiences to grow myself personally and professionally
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I will work hard to fulfill these objectives. I will "Finish the Fight" (0:56)
 {and it's 2014...not 2007 Hahaha! :)}

Best regards,
-Samuel