Kesmit3's Blog

Our professor asked us to compose a short essay describing our experience here in Beijing, which could be selected for a school wide competition! The following is the essay that I wrote, which was selected for the competition: 我很高兴我可以得到奖学金来北京学习汉语。我一到北京就认识了很多很好的人，有的是中国人，有的是从世界各国来的。我们互相学习，互相帮助。 在北京，我最喜欢的练习时间是打车的时候跟司机师傅聊天儿。他们常常问我：“你是哪国人？”现在我问他们：“你是中国人吗？”他们喜欢这个问题，每次听到都哈哈大笑！我喜欢他们笑，因为从他们的笑声里我可以听到他们的内心。这让我不再觉得我是一个外国人。 在北京两个多月，我去了很多地方：长城、天安门、故宫、孔庙、天坛、北海、奥运公园……可是我最好的经历是跟我的美国大学院长和两位中国教授一起去人民大会堂参加宴会。人民大会堂很大、很漂亮。我的美国朋友都喜欢我在那儿照的相片。我最喜欢的照片是跟我的院长在中国画“江山如此多娇”前边照的。不但因为那幅画儿非常漂亮，还因为我的院长是我的良师益友。吃饭的时候我的院长对全桌人说：“你们知道吗，我已经来过这儿五次了。”两位教授中的一位说：“按汉语的习惯你应该说，这是我第一百零一次来这儿了！”我的院长很高兴，因为他学会了用汉语表达他的幽默。我也很高兴，因为我体会到了两种文化不一样的幽默方式。 我在北京遇到了很多让我难忘的人，也经历了很多有意思的事，可是我觉得还有很多东西应该学习和体验，还有很多东西需要我用心去思考和感受。因为中国太大了，要想了解中国，得花很长时间。我的一位中国好朋友的爱人告诉我，我应该去一些小镇看看。我觉得他说得很对，我也对旅行很有兴趣。有很多地方是我想去的：宜昌，哈尔滨，三峡大坝，西安，杭州，青岛，曲阜……我不知道我能不能完全理解我看见的中国文化，可是我要试一试。 I start by describing my enthusiasm for being awarded a scholarship to study Chine...

During the holiday my cousin and I visited Xi'an to check out the famous Terracotta Warriors. Our Tour-guide, Helen showed us around: The Army is housed in three separate buildings, the oldest one likens to an old military hanger and houses the most impressive display of the army. There is even a warrior triage section in the back where they are being painstakingly cleaned and pieced back together. The Farmer that found them was there, but he wouldn't let his picture be taken...something about being old and it would steal his Spirit. No Kidding. The second building is a bit newer and houses a smaller number of warriors, which are shattered...yet, it gives a good idea of how the warriors were placed in their final resting spot via ramp. There's one more spot, but FIRST! There's a shop where you too can buy a Terracotta warrior with authentic dirt from the same ground that surrounded their 2k year resting place. My cousin purchased two miniatures. Then off to the th...

Today my cousin and I visited The Temple of Heaven located a bit south of Tian'anmen on line 5 of the subway (tiantandongmen). My favorite spot was the Circular Mound Altar, which is most significant this time of year! This is a photo of my cousin Elliott looking regal as he poses. The Circular Altar has three layered terraces with white marble. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368 A.D. - 1911 A.D.), the emperors would offer sacrifice to Heaven on the day of the Winter Solstice every year. This ceremony was to thank Heaven and hope everything would be good in the future. Another important building in Temple of Heaven is Imperial Vault of Heaven. If you look at it from far away, you will find that the Vault is like a blue umbrella with gold head. The structure of it is like that of Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, but smaller in size. The structure was made of bricks and timber. The Vault was used to place memorial tablets of Gods. White marble railings surround the vault. The ...

This entire video was shot with an iPhone 3GS, converted to .mov files and edited in FCP. I accompanied my BLCU classmate, Nils, to a local school for migrant children. Many of the children who live in Beijing don't have access to "proper" schools and attend schools like the one in this video, which rely on assistance from volunteers. Video project for @therefore's Digital Video class.

Today I accompanied my friend, Carolyn, and a group from Tsinghua to meet with Germany's Ambassador to China: Michael Friedrich Wilhelm Schaefer. We were greeted by Conrad, a friendly young German, and given a short tour and Q&A session. He reminded us that November was the 20th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall being taken down and said they had many events in celebration of the reunification of Germany. He then took us to the Ambassador's residence where we meet with the Ambassador for two hours of Q&A. I was impressed by the hospitality and relaxed Question and Answer format - it was a truly unique experience. It was the first time I had the opportunity to hear a German Euro-Centric perspective. So often here in China things are polarized between US and China, but the Ambassador framed the perspective of the EU as an entity that, collectively, surpasses the US in it's economic significance. He was openly able to evaluate the challenges the EU faces while clearl...

I must start this post by saying that it is simply not fair to compare Hong Kong and Beijing. Having said that, please indulge me and let me share a few superficial observations about Hong Kong: Hong Kong is 21 degrees warmer than Beijing (Celsius) People in HK were smiling...and for no apparent reason. (radiant faces) Everyone I met in HK spoke basic English. (No surprise) Old men dye their hair. (not so good on the root upkeep, however) People in HK WAIT until people get off the subway before entering. In HK got a handout for a good cause - to recycle old clothes. In HK kids were running around, playing and being...kids. No one spits massive phlegm on the streets of Hong Kong. Men wear different kinds of belts in HK. (difficult to explain) People aren't just SHOPPING in GUCCI, they are BUYING GUCCI. and can someone tell me: WTF IS an "Administrative" district anyways? And yes, Beijinger's still go to Hong Kong to shop! Though, I must admit that Hong Kong felt a bit ...

Clip edited together on my iPhone with ReelDirector for iPhone...nothing fancy, just 60 seconds from the Peking Opera. Hope to get even more editing in later versions of ReelDirector.

This video was shot in July while studying in Beijing. My classmate, Stephan and I took a wrong turn down a Beijing alley while walking home from school. We almost walked through someone's house to find our way out, but eventually made it. I am going to be posting a few videos from my time in China to figure out the easiest ways to upload photos and video to the blog. Wish me luck!

I've been in China for almost 3 weeks studying Chinese in Beijing. The experience has been wonderful. This is a photograph that I took last weekend at the Great Wall: The air quality in Beijing is not as bad as what I expected. It was blue skies for the first few days here, but when the rain came through the air seemed thicker and a haze of fog made it seem a bit dreary. Since the riots in N/W China Facebook and other popular tools for social networking have been blocked. There are ways around it, but for those accustomed to open-access it is an equally powerful cultural lesson. I will comment on this later as I have time to reflect on my experience. I wake up every morning and watch CCTV 9. At 0730 they have a program called: Dialogue, which I find very interesting... More to come. On to classes, now.

This video is a tribute to the life-long contributions of Patricia A. Porter to the Dallas art and business community. Her contribution to the Dallas arts community is immeasurable and this video contains interviews with friends, family and colleagues that help give an idea of Pat's unique presence and contributions. The video was made by two UT Dallas graduate students, Kim Smith and Joe Chuang, at the request of NTBCA's Ray Jordan and Christie Gard to be shown at the 2009 Obelisk Awards Banquet. San Santiago of American Airlines, Narrator. Thanks to everyone who contributed and Thank you so much, Pat - for all of your contributions!

This is one of five pieces that Jonathan performed during the annual UT Dallas guitar competition. Guitarists traveled from all over to train with David Russell and compete.