A Bostonian Christmas

Went to Boston （波斯顿）recently to spend Christmas with some friends, and had a very enjoyable time. Boston, in the state of Massachusetts, is a place full of history; it was one of the first few places people settled during the 17th and 18th century when a certain country known as the United States of America was being established. Of course, it is now a very modern city and boasts a pretty good transport system.

Boston Common: the lungs of the city. Underneath the white snow lies a beautiful green lawn.

Views from the top: Boston just before sunset, and just after sunset.

Going nuts over the street signs!

An old-fashioned 7-eleven at Beacon Hill

Symmetry: Part of the glass structure of the JFK Library and Museum

Overlooking the New England coast

Video of swimming ducks at the harbour

Just across the Charles river stands the town of Cambridge, which of course has two of the world's most famous (and very hard to enter) universities, Harvard and MIT. It's a very surreal feeling, even just visiting the campuses. The atmosphere is just so different from the usual academic institution, as if one was going to school for the first time, and just starting to understand the concept of school. The buildings, the paths that link them, in fact just the environment at large. The buildings in Harvard were mostly closed for the holidays, but those at MIT were still open, so I had a chance to go in and walk through the corridors. It was some kind of mixed feeling, on one hand very intellectual, and the other rather inferior. For one, I know I will never get a place in either of these institutions. But I guess it was satisfying just to be able to visit them. With such conducive environments for academia, it's hard not to succeed here, I believe.

Scenes from Harvard University （哈佛大学）

Scenes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) 麻省理工学院

This trip has definitely been one of the highlights of my American journey thus far.....

Snow . White.

Last night, it started snowing quite heavily here, and it continued all the way till lunchtime today. Looking out of my apartment when I woke up this morning, a lovely sight greeted me. Unlike rain, snow is light and makes no noise when it lands, although it was pretty obvious that the wind was fairly strong --- at some point the snow flakes appeared to be travelling horizontally!

The accumulation of snow came up to be about 6 inches (according to the meteorological service). Well, what I know is that the road and the carpark totally disappeared! And there were little snowhills around.... nice.

Anyway, of course I could not miss the chance to utilise my trusty camera, so here are some pictures and a video.










The sun came out shortly after the snow stopped, and the mix of sunshine and snow somehow gives an apt definition of "clean and bright".

Healing

Woke up this morning, and realized that it has been 6 months. I still remember the day when I stood by the bed, looking at the person who has accompanied me for almost all of my life, wondering what else I still had to say to him… I was calm, perhaps numb. In a way, I was bracing myself for it to happen; it was just a matter of time. I forgot to even say goodbye when he drew his last breath. Then, did anyone else remember?

Of course, those few days after that were the worst, when everything started to sink in. It came to my realization that, no longer do I have the chance to buy him his favourite food, to sit with him at the dinner table, to watch TV together. Ever. I think back of the last time I bought him the jumbo Alaskan snow crab legs to eat. He was so weak, he had barely a spoonful. In the end, I ate the rest myself. And it tasted really bad. Put me off snow crab legs forever.

Perhaps the crab legs did not taste that bad. I just did not have the right company.

It is often said that time can heal an aching heart. I hope that this is true. My senses will prevail eventually, I guess. Maybe I just need a little more time...

"Sing us a song
A song to keep us warm
There's such a chill, such a chill."

Winter wonderland (prelude)

昨晚，这里又开始下雪，下得蛮多的，一直持续到今天。虽然外头的气温是0 度，但天气还不算太冷。当然，路面相当的湿滑，所以也没法“蹦蹦跳跳”，但其实下雪比下雨好些，由于这场雪没有下得那么大，雪花飘落在夹克上后，便迅速消失，不像雨水一样的弄湿衣服。

在雪中行走，别有一番滋味， 眼前的景色一片白茫茫， 即觉得幽静，又有些沧桑，但总的感觉还是挺不错的。

It snowed quite a bit last night, and the snow continued right till today. In fact, it has been snowing the entire day. Quite nice to walk in the snow, there is this unusual sense of calmness and serenity. The snow is not too heavy, but significant enough, such that the flakes will land gently on your jacket, before disappearing. The ground was quite slippery though, so there was no way one could run about, exciting as it may seem.

Still have not gotten over the novelty feeling yet, so captured some photos.

From last night, taken from my apartment window

Some pictures from today, taken at my corridor

I could not resist taking a video of the "snowing" scene as well....

Washington DC

The past few days comprised the Thanksgiving holidays here in the US, so I tookthe opportunity to travel to Washington DC, the capital of the country. I have been interested in the history of the United States since young and this was the perfect occasion to pay this federal city a visit. I was not disappointed.

I've lost count (almost) of the number of monuments, memorials, and museums that I've visited over the 3 days spent there. My emotions really went on a roller coaster ride, as the things that I used to read about in my American History elective back in university were revisited, but in a much more authentic form. It was just such a mixbag of emotions, as I looked at the various artifacts and read the stories that make up the American dream. I felt excited, awed, surprised, happy, sad, reflective, introspective, exhilarated, moody and impressed throughout the trip.

Took more than 200 photographs in all, kind of crazy I suppose, but more importantly, the memories and the stories behind the different monuments and memorials which I took in will be priceless.

Arrival

The National Gallery of Art. It was open during Thanksgiving day, and I really loved the exhibitions inside. Amazing exhibits, brilliant art pieces. I was especially pleased to see works by my favourite American artist, Jackson Pollock.

Number 1, 1950, (Lavender Mist) by Jackson Pollock

A rather intriguing sculpture by American artist Roy Lichtenstein at the Sculpture Garden just outside the Gallery. The structure is actually sunken in, but in the photograph it appears to pop up instead.

State Capitol Building. This is their equivalent of our "Parliament House", and is a familiar symbol of Washington.

The White House. No prizes for guessing who works inside.

One of my favourite places has to be the Lincoln Memorial, built in honour of President Abraham Lincoln, who of course, was the person who ended slavery in the US, back in the 19th century.

Washington Monument. Dedicated to George Washington, the first President of the USA.

In the 20th century, America was involved in a number of wars, and I took a walk to the various memorials that were built in memory of the soldiers who perished during these horrific events. The feelings of visiting these memorials were somewhat mixed. These memorials are really beautiful, but the thought of the terrible events of the past which resulted in the memorials being built really sends a sharp pain through one's heart. To think that so many lives were lost and families destroyed.... Yet today warfare continues....

Pictures taken at the World War II Memorial

Another place which I have always wanted to visit is actually the Arlington National Cemetery. This is the place where soldiers who died in the various wars, various high ranking military personnel and some politicians (eg. President JFK) are buried. So in this trip, I made it a point to go to this cemetery of utmost significance.

The grounds of the cemetery are sprawling, and the atmosphere solemn but not frightening. I had the chance to watch the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers (my main aim of visiting the cemetery), and this was truly a eye-opening experience. It is kind of morbid but the feeling of paying respects at the tomb, to people whom I've never met before, is really quite beyond description.




This has been a totally enriching and rewarding trip to the capital of the world's most powerful nation.