Sunny studies

Today it seems like the sun is shining straight into people's minds and hearts. After many days of cold, rain and mist, of hiding in our little wholes trying not to move too much, the world is again full of light and getting warmer.

And it seems to be affecting people. Even a car stopped for me today as I was aiting to cross the street. I was too confused to smile at the driver or thank him, as I kept looking for the reason why the car had stopped. Only when I was already on the other side of the street did I realise that it has actually just stopped for me!

And many smiles, 'byebyes' and 'hellos' -- said in the nice way.

The first of our spring term at the university is almost over, and we're getting used to our new classes. The level of the books we use has gone up a big leap, but it remains to be seens what that really will do for our classes, seeing that the level of the students has still stayed pretty much the same. But I guess we'll all just have to work that much harder for it.

We have some new courses, including Old Chinese and Chinese Culture, the first of which seems like a really interesting addition to the syllabus. It gives me a new chance for those "wow, I see it now!" -moments, as the ancient poems and stories where just a few characters say what in modern language would take at least double the words suddenly start making sense and you see the beauty of writing them just the way they did.

(The picture is from the mountain that I can see through the window at this very moment as I am writing this, taken last week.)