philosophie.

winter wonderland

I do realize that this is about a month and half into the program here at Banff, and I wrote nothing during this period. That is not to say that nothing interesting was going on – in fact, there were too many things. I had such an amazing time playing with some of the most inspiring musicians.

There are only two weeks left until I return to “reality”, it is unthinkable how I would feel the moment I see no more mountains surrounding me.

Two days ago I went on a road trip with a good friend to Lake Louise. It had just snowed, the sun was peeking through the clouds as we arrived, it was absolutely dreamlike.

We could not help but to dive into the fluffy snow. It was complete abandonment.

2 kleine Stücke

两个小片段。
摄于西藏拉萨的哲蚌寺。

2 kleine Stücke.
taken in the Drepung Monestary in Tibet.

I.

 

II.

New York, the many faces

An American friend, Mindy, who works in Minnesota came to visit New York just this past weekend for her high school union. I hadn’t seen her in about ten years. She is one of my FIRST foreign friends – we met in Beijing while I was ten years old, and she was working for China Radio International at the time. If I were to talk about how we met, I’d have to sit here for another hour. But we met, even though she is of the age of my parents, she has such a flamboyant and larger than life personality that I felt – though slightly intimidated because I spoke practically no English back in Beijing at that young age, but also closer to her because I felt she was one of us, the children.

Ten years has past, I am now living in New York and able to communicate freely in English, meeting her again feels not only like meeting an old friend, but also gaining a new one. The loud, happy laughters and exaggerated emotional outbursts are still there, but I am realizing that she has so many stories to tell and so much intellectual insights to offer. Time sculpts us into such interesting pieces.

Mindy was born in Washington Heights, and she loves that area dearly. Today I went there, discovering it for the first time in my life, this peaceful beauty on the Manhattan island.

去年此时

纽约又要步入秋季了。再暖和的天气在落叶里也会失去那悠闲地的一面。

一年前我应CCICAN的邀请在加拿大的几个城市演出，去年的这个时候我正好在温哥华。温哥华这个城市我去过两次，每次都是在特别忙的时候去，到了以后总感觉是像在度假。虽然她是一个多雨的城市，每次我去总会放晴。在我的印象里温哥华特别特别的美丽，贴近于大自然。

住在一个朋友家。记的由于行程，我24小时都没有好好能睡上一觉。从纽约弥漫的腻人湿气里飞到温哥华，好好地睡上一觉，第二天自然醒来，推开卧室的落地门，外面就是安安静静地蓝天绿树，大大的太阳，安宁的一切。我很想念那种感觉 – 实在是太难得了。

抽空我们还到海边坐了坐。

还有我久违的长发。不知道什么时候还会留这么长了。

Banff again

My friend asked me: what’s the sound of a watermelon falling off the stairs? Answer: Banff, Banff, Banff, Guelph. Banff and Guelph are both towns in Canada – this being the joke.

So, the other day I went hiking at Lake Louise with my really good friend TIff who after not seeing her for more than a year, happens to be in Banff (probably one of the most beautiful towns in the Canadian Rockies) at the same time as I am. Isn’t it crazy? Five hours of hiking, 12k of uphills and downhilss, bitten to death by mosquitoes (the mosquitoe here are gigantic and stupid). I had such a great time. Though, I am leaving in three days. Tomorrow I will make another trip downtown to take some portraits. Then, time to leave for Toronto!