Recount 2008 on New Year's Eve/2008年终回顾

Still cannot believe it's already the last day of 2008. When it started, I bet not many people would have thought how terrible it could turn out. Well, it surprised the hell of everyone of us. But not all bad surprises, there are still some good ones: like the astonishingly wonderful opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympiad. And let's not forget this is the very first time for China to hold it with the whole world watching. Well done, China, well done. You not only nicely shocked the world, you kindly shocked us who grew up right out of your arms. Like the sports commentator said during the broadcasting of the opening ceremony, "wow, this is almost intimidating." Yes, you did it. We're very proud to be Chinese.

And what else? Oh, the "yes, we can" amazingly lovable Barack became the first African-American president of the USA. One thing for you people to keep in mind is, actually there are two of them, and one of them is he lives only blocks from where I used to live. My dad is probably boasting to his friends in China right now, that he passed Mr. President-elect's house many times when he and my mom went out for a stroll in the neighbourhood. Another one is he used to be a professor at my school. If you're well informed, you'd have guessed where I go to school by now. Several of my friends actually took Mr. Obama's class before and the word is he is also charming in classroom. Well, I doubt they really thought of that when they were taking the class or just think of it retrospectively. By retrospectively, I mean influenced by the result of the election and the status he has just achieved. No matter what, this is still quite exciting. Think about it, I'm not even American. But we non-Americans do feel for the American people. We're truly happy for you. Yes, we can.

Personally, we moved from the Windy city to the desert. Good move, good move. Driving several thousand miles across the country when the gas price was sky-high was not fun though. Have to admit this is the hottest place we've ever lived. Seriously, on the last day of 2008, I'm wearing a jersey dress. Just exagerated a bit. I also have a light sweater topping the dress. But this is just me. You should look at others: t-shirt with shorts, flip-flops, tank tops. People here are crazy. In their minds, there is probably only one season: summer. With that said, we're loving the sunshine, the open-all-year pool, and the outdoor basket ball and tennis playing in December. This reminds me the severely sprained ankle I had in 2008, unfortunate by-product of tennis playing. I had to walk with crutches for a month and I limpped on the flight back to Windy city, and throughout the 2008 AAR conference. I gained new respect for people with disability and decided to help them more from now on.

CG's got his very first job in the U.S. this year and he is enjoying it so far, and I'm happy for him. This, I'll leave for him to write. When my parents were still visiting, we had an American style road-trip to the east coast; showed them the world-famous Niagara Falls, Big Apple, Washington D.C. and Old Philly. After the moving, we explored the grand-canyon state a little bit around Sedona and Flagstaff and travelled quite several times to California, mostly visiting San Jose, where most of our friends are now dwelling. Had a nice day-trip to Monterey Bay and the secluded 17-mile Drive. Enjoyed another day-trip to Stanford and San Francisco. I just loved the Stanford campus. For Christmas, a spontaneously planned trip to LA can be concluded with one word: COLD. It was not the best beach time but we did get a view of what the Pacific Ocean was like in the wintery cold. Visited Manhattan Beach, Venice Beach, Santa Monica Pier and Malibu. Even with the face-scraping wind, freezing winter rain, they were all very beautiful. Definitely, We Will Be Back. (Thanks, Governor, letting us borrow your line.) The tour of Hollywood almost ended with us turning into ice-sculptures but except that it was quite an experience as tourists. Finally got to worship the mecca of Beverly Hills: Rodeo Drive, baby, Rodeo Drive. It was fun to be a tourist, especially on a double-deck bus. If you’re on it, it’s impossible not to treat yourself like a tourist. In Hollywood, how many people are not, really. Two other interesting holiday-tourist experiences to remember: had dinner at Fuzhou Fandian/Restaurant where Jakie Chan shot the film Rush Hour (the food was not so great though, kind of made both of us sick afterwards), and watched Marley & Me at the famous Chinese Theatre.

Too many things happened in 2008 and I chose the good ones to remember it by. It's not that I will forget the sad, heart-breaking ones. They all will be in my memory of this special year. Life will go on and let's expect a better 2009.