a-l-i-n-e.com

We all got our thesis results.
I got a 优 (you) which means excellent. Everyone in my class passed the thesis. For the 24 people in my class, the results are as follows:
Excellent : 5 people
Good : 7 people
Medium :10 people
Pass : 2

The teacher was saying that compared to the students who graduated last year or the year before, we all did quite well. I think she said that because unlike the previous 2 batches of students, this time we all passed the thesis.
Thesis final result= Thesis writing 60% + Thesis defense 30%+ 10% for something else (I’ll check this on Monday. )

I didn’t expect to get such a good result. I was quite worried because I got asked 6 questions during the thesis defense. Usually, they ask only 2 or 3 questions. Well,according to my main teacher, maybe the other teachers were interested in my thesis.
I didn’t worry about my exams results but I was very worried about the thesis. Well at least now it’s all over and I know that I’m really going to graduate. The graduation ceremony will be on the 17th.

I’ve finally transferred photos from my phone to my computer. The quality of the photos taken with my phone isn’t good but I’ve stopped carrying my camera with me all the time now,especially ever since I keep having the memory card error problem. I don’t always have time to open up my camera and reset the internal battery.

I had my business Chinese final exam today. I’ve really enjoyed the classes this semester. One thing I’ll never forget about this class is ’synchronized swimming’.
During one of our oral business Chinese classes, we somehow started talking about the upcoming Olympic games. The teacher is pretty cool. She doesnt’ stick to the syllabus all the time. Sometimes we talk about the news,festivals and other topics before we start class. On that particular day,she asked a representative of each country to talk about the disciplines in which his/her country will be participating. One of my Japanese classmates,Fubu wanted to say synchronized swimming but he didn’t know the Chinese term for it. Therefore, he made a drawing on the board,showing two people upside down in the water and with their legs in the air. We understood the drawing at once and burst out laughing but it took the teacher a while to understand it.

(photos taken with my Samsung E908)

The Chinese term for synchronized swimming is 花样游泳(hua yang you yong). The Chinese characters were written on the complete right of the board so they aren’t really visible in this photo.

A closer look at the drawing.
Look at the legs. Or rather, look at the ‘toes’.

I love that drawing. It really made my day.

It has been more than a month since my last entry. So what’s new? hmmm.

I finished my thesis weeks ago, ate a lot of junk food & pastries, had 2 exams the other day and I just had my thesis defense yesterday.
I was very nervous but somehow managed to stay calm and ‘appear’ confident while I introduced my thesis and answered the questions that I got.
I think I did fine. I’ll know what grade I got for the thesis defense in a couple of days. *crossed fingers* I can now finally stop being so stressed.

Everyone was so happy after the thesis defense ended. We still have our final exams in a few days but the hardest part (writing the thesis and the thesis defense) is over. Some of us even had a mini-celebration yesterday right after lunch. Some guys bought bottles of beer and we drank a bit. I took photos using Keisuke’s phone. I’ll upload them once he sends them to me.
Other classmates came and upon seeing us with the beer bottles, they also bought some beer and joined us. I left for a while and joined them again afterwards but I didn’t have any more beer. When Asif came, he treated me to coffee.
It has been a while since so many of us sat down and talked so much. I’m going to miss them a lot.

It is getting warmer and warmer. We can finally say goodbye to winter and enjoy spring (which came a bit late.. )

This will be my second and last entry about Shanghai winter 2008.
Note: More than 20 pics in this entry

It snowed for a few more days after my last update about snowing in Shanghai. In fact, we had about a week of snow here. Shanghai didn’t look the same. The first few days were great! I was in a wonderful mood each time I went out and saw everthing covered with snow but after 4 consecutive days like that, it started to get annoying and I kept wishing that it would stop snowing.

In fact, there was so much snow that I was able to make a snowman. My first ever snowman! Well I didn’t make it by myself. Desmond and I walked in front of the soccer field that day at around noon and saw this:

Snow-covered soccer field

Some people were already making snowmen. It looked fun! We decided to make one too but first, we hurried to the dorms and knocked on our friends’ doors to ask them to join us. Some of them were still sleeping so it was only at around 3 p.m that we started on our snowman. By then, the snow on the ground was already melting.

Working on our snowman
We used an empty plastic cup for the nose, orange peel for the mouth, leaves for the hair and the eyes,a branch,etc.

Desmond working on the snowman’s hand to add the V sign simply because euh.. we are in Shanghai. To those who are not familiar with it, I’ll just say that anyone who has been to China and who has Korean or Japanese friends do that V sign at least once when taking pics.

Laughing at our snowman.
The head looked so strange.

Two Chinese guys came while we were busy making the snowman and started taking pics of our chef-d’oeuvre (*cough*) and us. It felt so weird having strangers openly taking pics of us like that. The 2 guys stayed until we left the soccer field after we got tired from the snow fight and all. Desmond left his number and email address with the guys, asking them nicely if they could send us some of the pics that they took of us and one of them really sent us the pics.

Group pic with the snowman. See the v sign?
One of the Chinese guys took this pic for us.

~The soccer pose~
Free kick! Usha shoots!
Guys: We need to protect our private parts. Karina: I want to join too!
Check out the snowman goal-keeper and the tracks made by the snow ball that we rolled around to make the body of the snowman
Read the rest of this entry »