Volunteers training class

I went to a training class for volunteers to earthquake areas today. I got a lot from it. The first lecturer is Zhe Liu, a researcher from Beijing psychological institute. He was in the most severe earthquake area after the tragedy. He experienced a lot and had a lot to share with us. There were two things that impressed me most in his lecture. First, he talked about the concept of death. He believes that facing death can make one more mature. Also, we should have a more optimistic way of facing death. In traditional Chinese culture, we are afraid of death and even don’t talk about it with the next generation. It becomes more and more mysterious and terrifying. It’s true that death is hard for everyone to accept at first but it’s better to face it than to be scared away. In volunteer work, people encountered cases that the survival kids form the earthquake area constantly asked them about death. The best way is to tell them the truth—how and why people died and how we are connected with each other. Second, he talked a little bit about how to apply psychology to real volunteering cases. It’s amazing that he combined psychology and traditional Chinese medical thoughts together. The four main ways in traditional Chinese therapy are look, smell, ask and feel (usually by wrist). He applied the four ways to know a person’s psychological situation. It’s very inspiring.

After the lunch break, we welcomed the second lecturer Enci Lin from Taiwan Lide counseling office. As a survivor from 9.21 Taiwan earthquake, she clearly remembered her mental shocks until now. It took her a long time to get over it and she stressed one point very much—the power to recover is not only from the outside help but also from the person himself/herself. She did several workshops and talked about how we should face crisis. It’s interesting that in Chinese ‘crisis’ is made up of two characters. One is ‘danger’ and the other is ‘opportunity’. It’s a great case of our philosophy of seeing everything has two sides. There are always opportunities after danger and we should try our best to seize the opportunity to exert positive influence. She held a discussion about volunteers’ mental situation. It’s very important too that volunteers will make sure that they are in good health and mental condition. Her style is very active and made the whole classroom very dynamic.

I got a bonus (because I don’t know that he will come beforehand) that the organization invited a clinical psychologist from Beijing University to have some discussions with us. We talked about a case of a patient. I participated in the discussion and learnt a lot from him. I felt that it really needs a lot of study and accumulation to be a qualified clinical psychologist. It’s a very respectful profession.

Two more exciting things—I got to know two very nice people during the class. One is a school administrator in a school in the earthquake area. He is very kind and invited me to volunteer in his school in the future. The other is a girl from an international NGO. We also had a nice talk and I got to know a lot of things that I don’t know before from her. It’s really exciting.

Movie

A short clip from ‘Paris Je T’aime’, a movie that I watched yesterday kept repeating in my mind. It’s about a postwoman who travelled alone in Paris. As a stranger to Paris, she felt her own vitality when travelling alone. It reminds me of the feeling of travelling alone and living alone. I was talking to one of my best friends today. We talked a lot about culture shock and how environment can change people. She wants to study abroad after graduating from her university because by then she can’t be easily influenced by another culture. Comparing to me, she has a very low cultural tolerance. I started to think about this topic when I studied in US this past year. My first year in US changed me a lot. The people and lifestyle made me question myself a lot. What’s the lifestyle I really want? How has American culture influenced me? I couldn’t give a full answer. I changed, in a way that I wanted to. I grew up, but started to face more questions about the reality. I became more optimistic because I realized there’s no meaning comparing myself to anyone else. The only thing I can do is try to do the best that I can and be happy.

Olympics

I stayed at home and watched every match that I could watch. Chinese team was great! Both man and women gymnastic teams were amazing! They showed us a wonderful performance yesterday and the day before yesterday. Also, the weight lifting team was wonderful too. They almost got every gold metal as they planned before. I was surprised when I saw some video clips that someone took when they were training. Those athletes practiced days and nights for more than 4 years to get the honor for their country and themselves. I’m very proud of them. Go Chinese team!

New blog!

I created this new English blog after talking to my friends Abbie and Sable last night. So the first post is to thank them for suggesting this brilliant idea and for being great friends