Three Kings' Day When I was a child, I preferred Three Kings' Day over Christmas. The reason was simple: I received more presents that day than in Christmas, and almost all of them were toys. Some important preparations were necessary the day before. I cut some grass in the garden and put it on a plate, then placed it with a bowl of water next to the rug of the living room, alongside with my pair of shoes. My elder sister did that too, so half of the living room’s rug was for her presents and the other half for mine. The grass and water were for the camels, which had to travel a lot. The shoes had an identification purpose, this way the Kings knew whose presents had to leave in a particular house. The next morning after waking up, I immediately went to the living room in pajamas to look for the presents. The living room was full of them, and there were no traces of the water and grass. Actually, the presents had the name of the person who bought them -relatives and family friends- written on the wrappings. Sometimes I received some of the presents after that day, since the Kings had left them in other houses. I can’t remember when this custom finished in my life; probably that day the most innocent part of my childhood ended.

Coming Home Zhang Yimou’s film “Coming Home” tells the story of a man that after being confined for many years gets back to his family, but, painfully for him, is not recognized by his wife, who suffers from some kind of illness that diminished her memory capacity. The man is a teacher who during the Chinese Cultural Revolution was captured and confined to another province to be re-socialized. During his capture in a railway station, his wife received a blow from an official that caused her memory problems. The man wrote to his wife the day of the week and time he would arrive to the railway station and finally return to her after so many years. She goes there and waits for him at the exact time but fails to recognize his husband as he stands in front of her. He does not try to force her to recognize him and let her go. The rest of the film could be summarize as his attempts to being recognize by his wife, who every week at the marked day and time goes to the station to wait for his husband in vain. He takes the same train several times, but when he passes by her, she is not even closed to realize he is the man she so faithfully waits. At certain points, it seems she is about to recognize him, for example, the moment he plays a tune on the piano that moves her to hug him, but after a spell she rejects him, causing him even more pain. The story made me think about how fragile we human beings are, both physically and spiritually. A simple blow on the head can change the way you live and how you see the world, as it happened to the female protagonist. On the other hand, we depend on others to be what we are. We are not only defined by what we decide, think or do, we certainly need other people’s recognition, which we cannot control at all. Just imagine what would happen if tomorrow you were not to be recognized by a person close to you, as it happened to the male protagonist.

Zeit Verschwendung Es ist Sonntag. Es regnet als werde es niemals aufzuhören. Ich habe ziemlich spät aufgestanden und jetzt trinke tee, während ich das Regen ständig fallen sehe. Ich habe nicht viel zu tun; ehrlich gesagt, habe ich nichts zu tun, daher kann ich mich diese Zeitverschwendung leisten. Vielleicht sollte ich nicht sagen, dass ich die Zeit verschwende, sondern dass ich benutzte die Zeit um nichts zu tun oder um die Regen anzusehen. Wenn man nichts zu tun hat, kann man nicht die Zeit verschwenden. Nur wenn wir etwas zu tun haben und das tun wir nicht, dann wir verschwenden die Zeit. Stattdessen kann ich mich nicht von dieser Gefühle, dass ich die Zeit verschwende, freilassen.

The shape of life Once upon a time a sculptor was working bent over a piece of rock, when a child appeared in his workshop. The child asked him, “What are you looking for?” The sculptor answered, “Wait, and you’ll see.” The child came back a couple of days later and felt surprised when he found the perfect and beautiful figure of a horse instead of the rock. He then turned to the sculptor and asked, “How did you know there was a horse in it?” Some people believe that life is like that rock, and each of us the sculptor responsible for the shape it takes during its curse. In other words, we have our destiny in our own hands. Even though there is much truth in this way of thinking, I think things are a bit more complicated. For instance, not everyone is born with the necessary tools to turn life into a work of art, especially in a world full of inequities such as ours. Besides, many times, even though we possess the right tools, it is hard to figure out shape that life should take. Anyway, I still think it is a nice story and can help us to become more conscious that, no matter how hard the situation in our lives might be in a specific moment, we still are the only artist that can shape it. So, we should better take a chisel and a hammer, and start working diligently. Who knows what might happen.

COMING BACK FROM CHINA (PART 2) The odd sensations continued the next day. First, when having my first meal, I realized that I was supposed to use knives and forks, and cut the food. Of course, to everyone at the table it was the most natural thing, but not to me, I even felt some kind of dismay at the thought of not using chopsticks anymore. Later, I went out for a walk trying to get some air and see if there were any changes in the neighborhood. I immediately sensed that something was missing. It was very simple: there were no Chinese people on the streets; what is more, there were not many people at all by Chinese standards. There were no signs with Chinese characters or incomprehensible dialogues to decipher either. After getting into a shop I unconsciously expected to hear the words huan ying guang ling (欢迎光临), an expression which is usually translated as welcome. I turned to look at the shop assistant as if waiting him to say the missing words, but he naturally remained oblivious to my gaze. The list of this kind of odd sensations could go on, but these are enough to give a picture of the situation. Since the people around me have not had the experience of living in China, I cannot talk to them about it, they would simply not understand and I would simply not know how to explain it without giving the impression of being a bit mad. After all, I know that after some time this phase will end, at least I hope so, even though I do not know how long it will take. Now, twenty days have passed since my return back home. Today I can say that the jet lag has disappeared, but paradoxically enough, at home I am still trying to feel at home again.

COMING BACK FROM CHINA (PART 1) Much has been written about travelling to China. What to expect, how to behave, the different social rules, greetings, food, transportation, buying stuff, and many other topics have been covered by innumerable writings and videos. However, it seems harder to find a piece of writing about how to deal with a return home after being in China for a considerable amount of time. For westerners like me it is not only the jet lag effect that you have to deal with, many other things around or inside you need to be adjusted once more. After a long flight I got home so tired that I headed straightly to bed. There, I found the first sign that getting back to my previous life would not be so easy: I noticed that the mattress was extremely soft. The first times I slept in a bed in China I complained about the hardness of the mattress, but eventually I got used to it to the point that now I am wondering how it could have been possible to sleep in such soft mattresses all my life. (It continues in Part 2)

给父母的一封信 爸，妈: 你们好！ 好久没联系了，你们最近好吗？时间过得这么快。我简直不能相信我来到长春已经有五个月了，不能相信我从最后看你们过了很长时间。 来到中国以前，我认为我在这儿要什么都听不懂了。我在中国刚开始对中国人说话，就确认我是对的。我就感觉我在中国的生活不容易。虽然长春人说得比较清楚，但是我五个月以前什么都听不懂。第一星期，我在餐厅点什么菜，服务员给我别的。原来我总是说错了，所以中国人听得懂别的意思。坐出租车的时候，把地图给师傅看我要去哪儿。买别的东西不太难，我终于可以一边指东西一边说“这个”或者“那个”，可是我感觉我是比一个猴子一样。 很幸运，通过努力学习我的汉语有了进步。现在会说得比较流利，做日常任务几乎没有问题，还与些中国人交朋友，因此，我现在很高兴，会更享受这里的生活。因为要抓住这个机会在中国学习，所以我每天都很忙。除了上课以外，我还参加一些活动，如足球比赛，打羽毛球，帮助中国学生学西班牙语，参加电影俱乐部。这样，我认识很多有意思的人，也好好儿玩儿玩儿。可以说我终于习惯这儿的生活。 最近这里的天气很好，很舒服。希望你们那里的天气也好。我趁着这么好的天气，每天都在公园散步。中国公园里满是各种各样彩色的花。我已经知道，回国的时候，至少有两个东西我要想念，一个是中国菜，另一个是中国公园。 最后祝你们每天都开心！请代问奶奶好！ 敬祝 安康！

Changchun City Changchun has no West Lake, no Palace of Summer, no Bund, no White Goose Pagoda, nor has Li River. No fashion shows take place in it. It does not even appear in some recommended China Northeast’s routes in travel guides. In other words, it is not at all what could be called a glamorous city. But probably most of us live in cities that cannot be regarded as “glamorous”, which does not make us love these cities or enjoy our lives in them lesser than those who live in glamorous ones. Herbert Grönemeyer captures this feeling in his song “Bochum”, a German city in which I have not been, but seems to share with Changchun the same features. A city where the grey color of heavy industries prevails and most of the people wear plain clothes not caring that much about the way they look. In spite of this, you still can find beauty and small pleasures if you are sensitive enough and find yourself enough cozy to want to spend your life there. Among other things, the German singer and composer sings to his city that she is not a beauty, that she does not wear makeup, that she has a pulse out of steel, that she is not an international city, that she is too humble, that there the heart still counts. And much or less the same could be said about Changchun. Grönemeyer was raised in Bochum, so sings out his heart to this city. Even though I do not come from Changchun, still is the city where I spent the last eight months of my life, so I am able to say that deep in the Northeast of China “ist es besser, / viel besser, als man glaubt” (it is better, / much better as you would think).

作文：杭州之旅 我喜欢旅游，寒假的时候去过很多在中国里的地方，可给我印象最深的是杭州。尽管每个地方都有属于自己的特色和文化，但是杭州的特色是非常有魅力的。为什么呢？因为除了其他原因以外，杭州有西湖。 虽然是繁忙的比较大的都市，但是杭州也有很多休闲的好地方。比如喝茶，可以说是杭州的特色。当地的茶就是龙井茶。在杭州喝茶的意义就是一边喝茶，一边享受看看西湖风景区。在西湖周边散步以后，要么在山顶，要么在湖边，我很喜欢跟朋友一起一边喝龙井茶一边聊天儿。可能没有最轻松的方式花时间。 杭州还有两个特色，也给我留下了深刻的印象。一个是当地菜，另一个是丝绸。杭州有丰富好吃的特色菜，其中东坡肉是最有名的。我第一次吃东坡肉是难忘的经历，饭菜不仅是特别美味，还是特别好看。杭州丝绸历史悠久，从古至今，质量极好的，色彩华丽的。没有游客不要至少买一快这么珍贵布料。 最后想说的是，杭州人非常友好，如果你去杭州，你找到些新朋友。