8.20
The great young generation
I watched a video last night, which was about an interview with Quan Hongchan and Chen Yuxi. They won the Olympic gold in the women’s 10m platform synchro event at Paris 2024 diving together, and gold and silver medals separately in the individual 10m platform event.
Some of their words touched my heart.
Quan said that there was something beyond the gold medal, which to her, was to perform her perfect self.
Chen said that she was lucky to have such a powerful competitor who inspired her to reach a level she had never thought of before.
How great these young kids are!
They focus more on themselves, not on the outside.
When I was a kid, my parents always talked about the strengths of other kids and my weaknesses, which made me often doubt myself even though I had always been a straight-A student.
This kind of method seemed very popular in China at that time. So people cared a lot about others’ opinions.
Look at the younger generation! I need to learn from them.
8.19
About Video Compilation
I just finished the video about yesterday’s ride. You can watch it here. If there were any mistakes in the captions, please let me know. Thanks in advance!
I found a problem when I edited this video: I don’t know how to make footage from my iPhone and my action camera has consistent colours.
I’ll try to solve this problem this weekend.
8.18
Clouds by the Huangpu River
I went to cycle along the Huangpu River this morning.
It was around 6:30 AM when I got to the river bank, then I rode a shared bike up north.
The sun had come out, but the light was still tender. I stopped to take many pictures and videos along the way. The white clouds under the blue sky were magnificent.
The weather got a bit hot after an hour, so I turned around and rode back. The light got better on the way back. I took more pictures and the clouds were still beautiful.
I made a short compilation with these pictures and videos.
Maybe I will add some captions to it tomorrow. But not today, I’m too tired right now.
8.14
“A Walk in the Park”
I learned the phrase “a walk in the park” while having lunch, which refers to something very easy to do.
It’s really interesting because we almost have the same saying in Chinese, 闲庭信步. Its literal translation is “walking in a yard confidently and leisurely”. Normally, we use it to describe someone full of confidence when facing a challenge.
But if my friend hadn’t taught me, I wouldn’t have connected the two phrases.
In the same way, I found another pair of phrases: ” a piece of cake ” and “小菜一碟” have the same meaning.
It’s joyful to come across these little things while learning a second language.
8.12
It’s finally a little cooler today.
There was a rainstorm in the afternoon, so it wasn’t as hot as yesterday when I jogged along the river near my apartment. But still, I was sweating when I got home.
I’m a little tired now, so I’m going to shower and then go to bed.
Why didn’t I shower immediately when I came back? Because I was told when I was a kid that I should wait at least 30 minutes before showering if I was sweating.
It’s a weird piece of advice from my great-grandma.
But the weirder thing is that if I don’t wait and go shower while sweating, I will not feel well.
I miss my great-grandma and her many weird and useful pieces of advice.
8.11
Another Fantastic YouTube Channel
I just watched a video on YouTube. It was about a girl traveling by motorbike to Lasha, the capital of Tibet. I saw many familiar streets and buildings in the video because I had been there several years ago.
I’ve followed this YouTuber for two years since she recorded her way back to China from Switzerland. She traveled through Turkey, Georgia, Nepal, Malaysia, and other countries before finally reaching her home in China. Sometimes, you can see many little details in her videos because she has unique perspectives as a human geographer.
If you want to know more about China, I highly recommend her videos since January 2023. She doesn’t talk about big stories but only the daily details about normal people and normal things. However, her videos aren’t boring. It might be because of her curiosity and beautiful pictures.
Best of all, she speaks English in those videos, so you can follow her stories easily.
Oh, I forgot to tell you the name of the channel. It’s @littlechineseeverywhere.