Houhai Lake

It's spring already, how time really flies. I have been trying to settle down in Beijing for 6 months, yet I still doesn't feel like "I am home" yet. I have to say I am having so many mixed emotions living in China, can't really say that I like living here, but I can't really claim I don't like living here. The city itself amazed me in so many ways and it's really a challenge for me to learn how to speak Chinese. The people..now that is difficult to be explained, difficult to be understood, I am not saying I haven't meet good people here, it's just that I find it so difficult to deal and live together with the local people, amid the language barrier, they are uniqely complicated and yet you can't help feeling you really want to conquer them, to make friends with them, to understand them, to live in harmony with them. But hey, the first 6 months they say is the most difficult time, I hope it pass me soon. I know it's complicated to explain, how tough life is here, but in the same time it's a wonderful experiences. I read a book a little while ago, that might describe my feeling about China ;

"The gnarled pine. That is China. Horticulturalist from around the world have come to study it. Yet no one has ever been able to explain why it grows like a corkscrew, just as no one can adequately explain China. But like that tree, there it is, old, resilient and oddly magnificent. Within that tree are the elements in nature that have inspires Chinese artist for centuries : gesture over geometry, subtlety over symmetry, constant flow over static form..." - Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan-

I miss the lake in Darmstadt, when we visited the Houhai Lake last month. It's a tottaly different environment of course. People can go ice skating on the Houhai or even they swim in it eventhough the water still icy cold. But still I love the view...and the red boat house.

Houhai lake

the red boat house

Not so far from the lake, there is a temple where people go and pray. The temple is beautiful and represent the true nature of Chinese people, like what I've read in the book by Amy Tan ;

"..and the temples, walk in and touch them. That is China. Don't merely stare at those murals and statue. Fly up to the crossbeams, get down on your hands and knees, and press your head to the floor tiles. Hide behind that pillar and come eye to eye with its flecks of paint. Imagine that you are an interior decorator who is a thousand years in age. Start with a bit of Tibetan Budhism, add a smidgen of Indian Budhism, a dab of Han Budhism, plus a dash each of Animism and Taoism.

Guanghua Temple.
 Initially built during Yuan Dynasty, it has five buildings in one compound. The temple was a wellknown Budhist temple in Beijing. It was transformed into the library in 1908 and then restored to the temple now.

do u see the red shoves ? i like that everything is in one red color theme..

even the benches foot are in sync in red...

"A hodgepodge, you say ? No. What is in those temples is an amagalm that is pure Chinese, a lovely shabby elegance, a glorious messy motley that makes China infinitely intriguing " - Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan-

Now..I've gotta get some sleep now..hope I will find some more time to make another posts about our journey in China. Another intriguing experiences that will yet drag us closer to a clear description about China and how we feel about living here. Until then, have a nice long weekend and Happy Easter to you !!