Happy new year from my friend Cherry!

[Photo by Cherry]

2008 is finally over!

I'm sure all the bloggers are now writing their personal resume of 2008. Well, I won't. You can browse through my previous posts to see how it was in 08 for me. I never expected I would still be writing this blog now, becasue I started blogging 2006 and I lost my interest after few posts.. This time is different. I've changed. Sometimes I have something on my mind, I just love to bring it 'on digital paper'. Anyway, I know this blog is not very famous or has many followers. But hey, the title is 'nino talking to himself'. So I don't really care who reads it. Not even my friends read it or my girlfriend. Ok, because I keep it 'under the radar', I haven't really posted many links to my blog on other websites. But..., I prefer it that way. I think there's so many blogs that are yet to be discovered. I hope mine will be something like that, too. Especially if one day I have children of my own. Let's say my children become teenagers somewhere between 2020 and 2030 (I persume) and one day they browse through their father's blog and say: Wow, dad, you started to write this blog so long ago, in 2008? Wow… That's like… ancient.

Because I'm someone who loves to look to the future and imagine how will life be in 2020 or 2050. I even wonder if I'm going to make it to 2060s. Will I still have this blog? Will it remain online? Will we actually still have internet the way we know it now? I mean, when I was a teenager, there was no 'ringtones', 'text messages', 'digital cameras' or 'laptops'… The most advanced thing was the TV. So sometimes I wonder how will we, as grandparents, somewhere in the 2050s, explain to our children, that we grew up without all these gadgets? I guess they won't be able to imagine an 'analog life'. Beacause frankly, I can't imagine it myself anymore… Sometimes I look back in the year 1997, when some people got their first cell phones. I thought they were just trying to impress others, trying to appear as very important. We used to make fun of them… One year later, more than half of the people had their cell phones already. I was resistant until the late year 2001. I don't regret it… Because frankly, I didn't need it at that time. But who knows, if I really need it these days…

So, we can't know, what will be in 50 years, but I'm happy I was there at the beggining of the digital era. I will have many stories to tell my grandchildren... Hmmm... But if I think, I guess they may check Wikipedia instead :-)

Western guy living in a Chinese family

Let me share my experience

Let me share a unique experience with you. I happened to live in a Chinese family for three months and I wanna share my observations with you. This may be useful for those Westerners, who don't know a lot about Chinese culture and wants to know more. First, the facts:

How big is the family?

Ok, first I must say, I live in a quite big family for these modern times. It's a middle class family, consisting of parents, grandma, 1 grandchild and 5 daughters, of which the youngest is 17 and the oldest 25. Three daughters are already married and live on their own, but visit every day. So all together there is 8 daughters (between 17 and 30 years old). Two of which have already children, so sometimes there's 4 grandchildren at the house.

What did I notice?

A Chinese family of this size and consisting of so many women can be very noisy. But that's only at the first glance. Soon I realized that they are very friendly and hospitable towards me. Food is the central part of the family. For Chinese in general, the food is the most important thing. I saw them spend a lot of money on all kinds of food. They would even travel more than 100km just to go eat into a restaurant that has some unique and delicious food. Chinese are very genorous. They treat me so much, I stopped counting and I accepted it as normal. In my country, you always remember who treated you and you seek to treat him back. I can't keep up with my new friends here. They are too genorous. Even when I tried to treat them back, they refused by saying: When I'm in your country, you treat me. It's very unlikely that this will be the case. But I accept it and if really that was to happen, I would gladly return the hospitality at home.
Besides food, Chinese are very traditional. When it comes to family values and friendships, Chinese tend to have very good relations and they respect the elderly more than the Westerners. They also respect their ancestors by lighting sticks every day at the domestic temple and by praying every day and following all other traditional celabrations, of which the most important is Chinese New Year.
Chinese here (Johor, Malaysia) don't have many encounters with Westerners, probably because it's a small town and a rural area. That's why they are curious to see me. Most of them are not fluent in english. The few who are, have many questions. The first one is usually 'Where are you from?' followed by 'Have you eaten already'? As mentioned before, food is very important in the daily life of Chinese. That's why when they have 'small talk', usual question would be: Have you eaten already? ( 你吃了?)
If you consider all the facts, Chinese people can be seen as conservative, but in some cases very progressive and modern. Especially the young people copy the fashion styles of the West or Japan. Older people are naturally more conservative, but most of them allow the young people their way of life and they are non-judgmental. Somehow all generations can find a common ground and stick together as a family. Chinese don't like to talk about their family problems to outsiders. It stays in the family.

In conclusion.

I'm glad to see a culture as complex as Chinese from so close and learn so many new things about it and correct my perception or stereotypical thinking. I hope I will learn more and get to see many more aspects of Chinese culture in the weeks ahead. I especially look forward to Chinese new year 2009.

[My MALAYSIA page][All photos by MKL, 2008]

Singapore: City of my memories

So... I've been to Singapore, again. Only a 2 days 'adventure' this time. It was ok. What to say... Since I've been in Singapore twice before, what's more I can say I lived there for nearly 3 months, so I know this place in and out. I have to say, I felt a bit uptight, partly because I had to face my past, partly because I went there to return back to Malaysia and extend my stay.
Well, Singapore is a great city! If it's a great state, that's up for discussion. But as a city it's really unique. Always sunny weather, always clean, stuffed with delicious food, friendly people, it's very easy to get around... If you stay for a short period, Singapore will leave a great impression. If you stay longer, if you mix up with locals, you will see, it's not all so great. But tell me any country, where things are enirely great? So, Singapore is a great mixture of foods and races and modern and historic architecture. I recommend to anyone who is a passionate traveller to see Singapore at least once in your life.
I enjoyed my short stay in that vibrant city, even if I had my own issues, I think I will gladly come back to Singapore in the future.
Btw, it was again a pleasure to enjoy myself at Sentosa island. Much has changed, which made me a bit sad. I don't like that they are building so much, it will destroy the peaceful green island it used to be and transform in into a mass tourism destination. Let's just hope it won't turn out too bad.

[Photo by MKL, 2008]

Kuala Lumpur: City in motion

After 4 years, I've been again to Kuala Lumpur. To the ones who don't know KL, it's is the capital city of Malaysia, located in southeast Asia. It's one of the fastest growing cities in the area. It's a mix of a modern clean asian city and a messy old fashioned asian province town. The latter is slowly disappearing, especially in the city centre. Since 4 years ago, when I was last time in KL, so many new buildings rose from the ground: It's amazing! Around the famous Petronas twin towers, there's so many new highrise condos, I wonder who will live there and how will the higher densitiy affect the already highly congested traffic.
I hope to return there next year, because KL is always worth to visit. You see so many different people from all over the world. The cab is cheap, the food is delicious and affordable, shopping is great in this period before the New year and Chinese new year. I recomment to everybody who's in this part of the world: Visit Kuala Lumpur! You won't regret it. Photo: KL at night. Hint: December and January are very rainy, so don't forget your umbrella.

[My MALAYSIA page][My KUALA LUMPUR page][All photos by MKL, 2008]

We cannot change...

[Photo by MKL taken in Kukup, Malaysia, 2008]

Comparing two climates

Sometimes I really consider myself lucky. I saw some pictures coming from Slovenia around this time, showing the huge amounts of snow. Well, at the same time I was looking at that photos, I was in slippers and shorts, sipping beer in the tropical heat of over 30 degrees. What a difference, don't you think?

[My MALAYSIA page][Photos by MKL, 2008]

Village comparison: Slovenia and Malaysia

The countryside is same everywhere!

[Photos by MKL (2003-2008]

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

Singapore's little bad brother

I've been to Johor Bahru today (in Chinese New Mountain or 新山), or JB as the Malaysians like to say. One would never expect how big JB is. It's the second biggest Malaysian city, with it's suburbs, stretched around the border with Singapore, the JB metro area has a population of 1.8 million. Compare that with 4.5 million inhabitants of Singapore, and you'll see JB, his small brother, is getting fatter and fatter. Sure, you can't compare these two cities in some other aspects, such as prosperity, safety and importance in the world. While Singapore is known for being a very safe and clean world-known economic hub, full of interesting things to see, JB is just crowded, not very well-known, has not plenty sights to offer. In addition to that, it has one of the highest crime rates in Malaysia (so I've been told by my Malaysian friends). Ok, I felt pretty safe, although I heard so many scary stories how people got mugged or even stabbed. So be cautious when you're heading there. Some parts look quite nice, remind me of Singapore, especially the architecture of some high-rise buildings and the way they pave the streets. Many say JB is very good for shopping. So enjoy it, while being cautious. Despite what I said, JB is worth to visit. At least once.

See my photos of Johor Bahru:

This is a suburb of JB. The suburbs are huge and long.

Inside JB the traffic is congested.

Looks a bit like Singapore.

One of the main roads is paved.

Malaysian styled high-rise building, a mix of Muslim elements with post-modern touches.

One of the taller buildings in JB. I don't know the name.

Another high-rise nearby.

This is a shopping mall, where my da jie and I went to have a drink.

High-rise buildings again.

A closeup.

A church, probably a remain of the British colonialization.

[My MALAYSIA page][Info: Source][All photos by MKL, 2007]

Kluang, Malaysia

A small town in Johor

I've been to Kluang (Chinese 居銮) today, a small town in Malaysia. It really seemed small, but comparing to Slovenian towns, it would be considered a big town. It has 140.000 inhabitants, seems as if it had more than my native town of Maribor (110.000). But you walk around the place, it's really smaller than Maribor. So it made me think, how come it's so small in size, yet it has more inhabitants. The answer is simple: While in Slovenia we have a big house, yet only 2 or 3 people live in it, in Malaysia, houses are small and full of people, families can easily exceed 10 members (usually mum, dad, 3-5 children, grandma, maybe even some grand children). Then it's no wonder you don't see huge blocks, because there's no demand from the people. Sure, Kluang is less developed than Maribor and even less important. In fact, who ever heard of 'Kluang'? Only people in Malaysia and Singapore maybe. And some travellers who happened to travel around there.

Kluang is just a typical Malaysian small town: Crowded, dirty, but partly clean and neat, full of cars, hot, many shops, many shopping malls and with very friendly people. But you won't find anything special there, so if you go to Kluang, don't expect too much.

My photos of Kluang:

Taken in early morning from a top of a shopping mall garage.

Another view.

This is a new central shopping area.

Very colorful.

The lanes are wide here.

Typical Malaysian small town.

Hotel Anika.

The road out of town.

The old Kluang.

Interesting old house.

A backstreet, seen many of these in Malaysia.

A public park, not in the best condition.

Another road.

Another hotel.

Tropical rain in Kluang. It started pouring in the evening.

[My MALAYSIA page][All photos by MKL, 2008]

Malaysia - the land of sun

Finally! I returned to the place, where the sun plays the main role in every day life - Malaysia. It's like a kingdom Far Far Away, where the people are much different from the ones I left behind. These days I am walking around in slippers and short pants, while the ones I left behind, have to remove enormous amounts of snow, have to fight the freezing cold and merciless winter.

And I think to myself. Is that fair? While I'm enjoying a summer-like adventure, the people I left behind suffer the fickle winter? I feel bad for them, but I guess wheather I'm there or not, they still have to face the winter. They are used to it. They have a warm and cosy home where they can survive the agressive winter. I just wish them all the best. Sometimes I fight my own battle in The Land of Sun: It's not only paradise. The Sun burned my back, my skin is peeling of and the mosquitos are very dangerous as well. We all hope that in few months the world finds it's way back to normality.

[My MALAYSIA page][Photo by MKL, 2008]

Autumn 2008

It's getting colder here... Darker and wetter. Winter is at our doorstep. Yet... I won't see it :-) I will be leaving soon to some warmer place 10.000km away - to Malaysia. I'm excited. And yet, so not ready for the crazy heat and humidity. I will go from one extreme into another. Wow. Will post some photo soon to compare these extreme oppoistes. Good luck to me! ;-)

[Photo by MKL, 2008]

The world looks so much better now

Wow... was quite a ride... what to say... a huge relief after Barack Obama won. Seems like history was written and the whole world was excited about America. We haven't seen that for quite a long time. It really makes me happy. I was so long interested in this process. It was amazing to see all the highs and lows. But most of all, it was a great story. I'm sure one day somebody will shoot a movie on Barack Obama's incredible victory. I wish him best of luck and may he help the world to become a better place.

Victory for Barack Obama!

Finally!!! It happened beyond our wildest dreams! Barack Obama won the elections on 2008 and he will be the next president of the USA. I am so proud of the US people and I really don't know, if it's more of a Obama victory or a more of a victory of the American people.
I was awake all night, I watched CNN and some other programmes... It was just incredible, when we saw how he took Pennsylvania, Ohio... I almost thought this is it! But I was still sceptical... When i saw his lead in Florida, I was confident! He exceeded all expectations - it was a landslide victory. And his speach was breath taking. A moment we will always remember. America is truly a land of opportunity and equality, you just need to work hard, be honest and have ideas. He beat the establishment of his own party and the best candidate of his rival's party. I can't fully grasp what this win means. It has to sink in...
I also need to praise McCain for his marvellous concession speech. He showed his real face, that's the McCain we missed in these months. You can clearly see how relieved he was, how gracious and humble. I hope he will have a long life. He's a great American. Unfortunately, his campaign sucked, had too many lows, too little highs.

I'm also happy that there's no more Sarah Palin. She was really a disgrace for this year of change. This was McCain's biggest mistakes. People were more scared of Palin than Obama.
And now, I hope America can head into a new direction of working together with the rest of the world, solving global problems together, ending wars and restoring confidence in the West.

Good luck!

[Photo: Source]

My friend calls me fish

Why my friend Cherry said this?

我是一隻魚
喜歡游來游去
下個月我要游去馬來西亞
去當沙嗲魚.


She is so naughty, she's always teasing me. But I like it :)

November is here!

Wow... Time passes so fast this year. It's november already. Outside it's really getting colder. We had some nice sunny days in october. Sometimes I woke up and my eyes were so hurt by the strong sunlight. I even wore sunglasses at home. The cats are eating more and more, they want to stay inside to be kept in a warm and cosy place. This especially applies to Milan. He's limping on 1 leg. Krempača and Miša Piša are just going in and out, they're still active. We even had Gačnik yesterday coming down the hill, visiting 'his' original family. It's now 8 months since he left our house and moved to some other place. But lately he comes back a lot. But just for few hours.
Well, my mood is somewhat similar to the behavior of the cats. Sometimes I feel tired, so I'm resting like Milan. Then again, I feel like wanna be active, so I hop around like Miša Piša. And eventually I'm like Gačnik, moving out, leaving for a while and I guess there will be a time when I will be going back to my house and this special place I live in. But it's time to discover the world, once again. I want to face new challenges, accept the changes and hopefully learn a lot on my path of personal evolution. Striving for a better self and for a more peacefull existence. I look forward to november, I will report on the changes that will occur soon.

I still can't be sure that Obama will win

I am not sure what to think lately... The McCain pack is trying it's hardest to label Obama with all kind of nonsense. Republican smear tactics as usual. It seems that the American people are strongly leaning towards Obama. On the other hand, I saw on TV a guy said he knows many people have lied to the pollsters. And he was expecting a big surprise. We're talking about the Bradley effect. I can say it loud and clear now: If Obama is not elected, it's because of racism! It's no other possible reason to lose at this time. You have the economy crushed, you have a dumb Sarah Palin and an old confused John McCain, virtually with same policies as Bush. So, what can make Obama lose? Racism. Simple as that. This would be devastating for America and it's standing in the world. People are not enthusiastic about McCain, to say the least. And Sarah Palin terrifies the world. Please, Americans, elect a smart president! After you saw what a dumb one can do to the USA and the rest of the world. Please! I beg you all! Go and vote, don't be lazy on tuesday! This is my small contribution to this process. I just hope I'm proven wrong and Obama wins! Hope is the only thing we can have now. Hope.

Who will be the next president of USA?

Soon we will know...

[Photo: Source]

McCain is desperate and ugly!

The US presidential campaigns go toward it's end, yet McCain's new tactics are some sleazy personal attacks on Barack Obama. He was able to rally some angry mobs that are predominately racist and dumb (You can only see rural or small town white people, check this blogger from Ohio). When Obama had 250.000 people gather in Berlin, was as if America is reborn as the leader of the free world, allowing a person regardless of his race or background, to reach the highest office, with his intellect and great judgement. We were all drunk here in Europe. What we didn't see was small town Americans like in Ohio. People who call senator Obama terrorist, scumbag and other nasty things. It just made me sad. I really really hope that this kind of Americans are dying out. I hope it is a minority. Yet, I remain pessimistic. Barack is black and many people just can't vote for him. Which is extremely ignorant and dumb, but America is a divided country. Now we will see how many of these white Americans will be voting for McCain. We shall see.
And since Palin and McCain began these personal attacks, many rightwing blogs or online news jump on this train and stress how important it was with whom Barack was hanging out. I found a very good comment on that and I like to share it here.

Posted by: houran
Oct 10, 12:04 PM
Source: RealClearPolitics.com

What if things were switched around?.....think about it. Would the country's collective point of view be different? Ponder the following:

Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

2) What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the
stage, including a five month old infant and an unwed,
pregnant teenage daughter?

3) What if John McCain was a former president of the
Harvard Law Review and Barack Obama finished fifth from
the bottom of his graduating class?

4) What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was
a divorcee?

5) What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife
after a severe disfiguring car accident?

6) What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had
a long affair while he was still married?

7) What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became
addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally
through her charitable organization?

8) What if Cindy McCain had graduated from Princeton
and Harvard Law School?

9) What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money
from beer distribution?

10) What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?

11) What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?

12) What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?

13) What if Obama was the one who had military experience
that included discipline problems and a record of crashing
seven planes?

14) What if Obama was the one who was known to display
publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management
problem?

15) What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as they are? To not vote Obama because he's "too liberal" and his policies don't reflect your positions are fine. But if you're voting on someone's character, biography, and who you believe they essentially are, then what does this mean? This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Sad but true: McCalin will probably win.

After being energized by US politics this year, I'm very disappointed now. Barack and Hillary had a tough fight in the primaries. Now we know: It did not help the Democrats. It did not help Barack. It helped the Republicans. Barack was the star of this whole year's politics, the front runner, while McCain would be somewhere in the back, usually very unlikely a target for real scrutiny. He knows how to use his age and history in his advance, playing the POW card, which looks good in the eyes of Americans. Especially if you compare a young intelligent black person to an old grey (sometimes forgetful and grumpy) old white man. The stress is on white. Race matters in America.
But it's a real mystery for me that Americans prefer to elect a dumb leader. Why would they think Barack is an elitist? Just because he is intelligent? I guess half of the Americans can't understand what he's saying. You can't give the Americans complex answers, keep it simple like drill drill drill. It's pathetic! After McCain spread all these cheap lies about Barack, he hired a joke for his VP! Sarah Palin, an unknown governer from Alaska, who's a phoney religious extremist with no experience and no solutions, spreading even more lies per second than McCain. America will definitely change! If they elect McCain/Palin, I think everybody will pray for the safety of John McCain. If something happens to him, USA will have a dumber president than George Bush. Can you believe it? She has no clue about economy and foreign policy, no wonder she wouldn't give any interviews! She's afraid of being exposed as a bimbo she is. It's such a bullshit! I mean the american politics. How can people fall for this kind of gimmicks? I just hope something will shift in these 2 months in people's heads. Please, America. For once elect an intelligent president. Look beyond the skin color and age. Please!
But realistically speaking, it'll be very hard for Barack. I almost don't believe in his victory anymore. It's depressing... America, don't ever push up a man so high and then drop him down on the floor. I thought America was different... Now I seem to have lost the faith in America. I watched the Democratic convention and I got all excited, but then I saw the next week the Republicans smeared, lied and mocked the Democrats. And... it worked. I don't know what it is that people believe McCain is an agent of change now... He keeps stealing Baracks ideas and at the same time leaning into the far right. It works. Cuz he will sell his soul to the devil just to get elected. Whatever! Let him bring America and the whole world in danger just to get elected. I think the American Empire must lose it's power, it's grown too big and too influential on the whole world. An American election is like a world election. Just that only some 100 million people decide about the rest of us. And imagining a bimbo as the strongest person in this world it's beyond my wildest fears. I'm just speechless when I see all these things developing right before my eyes. And we thought Bush was bad. Duh....

Republicans smear smear smear!

Republicans have only one policy: SMEAR SMEAR SMEAR! That's how they wanna overtake Obama. Make the American people afraid of him. They can do whatever they want! Start wars, ruin the economy, create a greater division between rich and poor, oppose the right for free health care, give tax breaks for the rich and wealthy, go hand in hand with multinationals - they can do whatever they want! As long as there's a 'stupid white man' elected president, Americans will tolerate all this s**t! So my proposal is: Dissolve the Democratic party and let's have one-party-rule. What kind of democracy is America? On the federal level - none! At least some american states take the democracy seriously. But then again. One-party-rule like China and two-party-rule like USA - what is the difference?
This year, I had hope with Obama... Now I'm just hopeless. McDumb is slowly overtaking him in the polls, Republicans keep smearing. And to have a black man win the elections, he would need at least 30 points lead in the polls. A dead heat in the polls is like 20 points lead for McCain. Many whites will say to the pollsters that they will vote for Obama, but at election day, they will vote for McSame and then the pundits will say: Well, he didn't convince the white working class, he didn't give specific solutions, they didn't know him! WTF????? I'm from Slovenia, I got to know him last year, I pay attention to his road to nomination - I know him! You have internet, media (also unbiased) and he gave answers to all the problems Americans are facing. You have his website, Wikipedia, thousands of blogs - how can you not know what he stands for? i'm really starting to believe, what Bill Maher said: 'Americans are too dumb to be governed.' Meanwhile the Republicans smear smear and smear. It's pathetic!

[Photo source: Aol]

End of Beijing

The Olympics are over! Finally! And all the commotion surrounding this event is finally over, too. What-a-relief! This was really one of the most phoney Olympics in our life time. From the chinese and western perspective! And you can create breathtaking ceremonies and what not, but these games showed in what kind of world we are living in. From the perspective of sport, we had some exceptions like Phelps, Bolt, Steiner, who gave us some precious moments, goose bumps and made us forget the phony olympic comittee, the chinese delegates, who were showing a facade that's far from the reality. Behind it are people who suffer, who have no rights or prospect for the future. But that happens, as I said, if you give the games to a dictatorship. Well, after 1988 in Seoul, South Korea changed. But will China? I don't think so. The communist party is now much stronger. The propaganda is reinforced, the censorship is tighter. It's a big bullshit now. While the whole world is tearing up at the closing ceremony, in Beijing's hutongs people struggle to survive. But we knew that in 2001 and we know that in 2008. Well, I can't fight something that's impossible to fight. So all these injustices are for the Chinese to fight. Let them struggle for their own freedoms. China is great, huge, too complicated. What is China? You can't define it. You can't change it from outside. And these games won't change a thing. That's what we should know before. We made a big mistake. Only 1 thing is positive: At least the games gave 3 weeks to some simple chinese people to forget their life's struggles and hardships. 3 weeks of a 'perfect world', created by a perfect stage - the new buildings, the well enacted happiness and unity... But we all know, the cute little girl didn't really sing, the fireworks were't all real... it was phoney and fake, only the athletes were real! My greatest respect to them! We saw great sport events with real honesty, unity, effort and strife for the better. The athletes showed us, what is the true olympic spirit.

McCain at his best

[Source: HuffPost]

What an august 2008!

This part of the year really puts me down. Sure, I shouldn't follow the news or the Olympics... It only makes me more depressed. The fake child singer and the fake fireworks at the opening ceremony and Russia's attack on Georgia... crazy... An American has been killed on the streets of Beijing by a chinese man. What's going on in this sick world? Honesty is lost, security is gone, what appears to be true is fake! The more the world's population grows, the more individual life is expendable? Humans, persons are just numbers... becoming nameless casualties... These Olympic games are overshadowed by all this phony and horrible events that really makes me wonder how to escape all this crap. I guess by the time I figure that out, these games will be already over. And hopefully the war in Georga.

Beijing Olympic Games

Aren't you sick of those repeated criticisms of the Chinese government on issues such as freedom of speech, Tibet, free press and internet censorship? I mean, what were those, who gave the olympics to China, thinking? That in few years China will become a Western democracy? After China's troublesome history they didn't know that? You just can't make the largest culture on earth follow your way of thinking in few years. China's been known for changing slowly, what happened in recent 25 years is already 100 times faster than the years before 1980. Yea, I condemn surpression of their own people and minorities. It's far from a perfect country. This year is really the year of China, but until now, more in a negative sense. Many bad things happened while China was in the spotlight of the world this year. 8 is the Chinese lucky number and I read, that many Chinese people wonder if that's still the case. Recently I'm thinking: Get over with these games already! I was never a big fan of olympics, I prefer the football Eurocup or Worldcup instead, but anyway, because of so much commotion before the games, I think I won't be able to escape them. I haven't watched the games 4 yars ago. But now there's nothing more anticipated than these games. It's only 3 weeks, and then? What will China do? Nothing probably. They will continue the same politics with fast money and slow political changes. They will face big problems and they will have to deal with them. We can condemn them or not, we can't change China and its course. We can only observe how it progresses. We have to accept that not all cultures will develop freedoms like us. I guess the people of China have accepted the way it is, if they don't like it, I think only they can change it. Whatever we in the West will say, the Chinese media won't talk about it, the Chinese people won't know.
So why bother? Why try? We will only make things worse... Let's not politicize the games. It's about athletes competing, it's about them, their carreers, not about which political ideology is right or wrong.
I congratulate to all the excited Chinese people who are proud to host the olympic games at home. I'm happy for them and I'm sure they will be great friendly hosts. They are the ones who will bring changes to China in future, let's not behave like some almighty teachers who wanna lecture them what's right and what's wrong. Let them have their games. It's too late to bother now. Few months later everybody will focus on the new President of the United states of America! And China will be far far away.