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Saturday, February 16, 2008

Random musings I jot out from time to time


Independent and Transcendent.
Free from space and time,
above and beyond mere mortal minds.
Infinite and self-sufficient.
The only non-contingent.
Genderless and ONE.
Brighter than the sun.
The past is behind us
The future has begun...

Communication
Exchanges of information
Various intonations and infinite manifestations
of a single source.
An all-powerful force which lacks nothing.
It itself is NO-thing. It simply IS.

Beyond categories of being and non-being
Seeing without seeing
The mind's eye
Becomes aware
Embracing the face of truth
Erasing the place of non-truth
All things unite
Darkness turns to light

A process of transmutation
An act of contemplation
An indescribable sensation
Breaks the limits of imagination
A myriad of manifestation
The arrival of the Ultimate Destination
Begins within

Proportion and Symmetry
A Cosmic Symphony
A flower blooms from a universal egg
A bee builds its hive
A spider weaves its web
Intrinsic Design exists behind the veil of illusion
Beyond all confusion exists a logical conclusion
Remove that veil and perceive reality with clarity and sincerity.

A world of sounds and stimuli
Confronts all sentinent beings
Consciousness expands forward
Towards unification
A Universal population

Egos fade away.....

Patterns of recognition
Filtered through the senses
Physical limitations
Exceed no expectation
Interpreted by mind, no longer blind
Transitioning into the sublime
Entering eternity from the realm of time
Reason has found its rhyme
I like to play with words
and conjugate verbs
You say "Be"
I say "Being"
You say "See"
I say "Seeing"
X. Y and Z
are the elements of 3 dimensionality

Thursday, February 14, 2008

More language practice (work in progress)

1.) 我出生在美国
Wo chu sheng zai Mei guo
I was born in America.
2.) Tengo un caracter muy fuerte.
I have a strong personality.
3.) 洗手间在那里?
Xishoujian zai nali?
Where is the bathroom?
4.) Juan es aburrido (characteristic).
John is boring.
5.) Juan esta aburrido (condition).
John is bored.
6.) Lo hará por su amigo.
He will do it for his friend.
7.) Lo hice por Ud.
I did it for you. (for your sake)
Ni hao. 你好。Wo xing Fike,jiao Brandon. 我姓Fike,叫Brandon。Wo shi yi ge Meiguo ren,dan shi wo zhu zai Zhong guo.我是一个美国人,但是我住在中国。Wo 28 sui le.我28岁了。Wo hen gao,(bald [guangtou]). Wo mei you (hair…[tou fa]) 我很高,光头。我没有头发。Wo de zui xi huan (colors) shi (green) he (blue).[Wo zui xi huan de(colors[yan se/se cai]) shi (green[lv se]) he (blue[lan se]).] 我最喜欢的 颜色/色彩 是绿色和蓝色。Wo de ai hao shi (traveling[lv you/lv xing]), kan shu, kan dian ying he xue xi Zhongwen.我的爱好是旅游/旅行,看书,看电影和学习中文。Wo ye xi huan (listening to[ting]) ying yue.我也喜欢听音乐。Wo xue xi Zhongwen zai Zhong guo yinwei hen duo Zhong guo ren zai (there[na li]).Maybe you can say the sentense like this better:Wo zai Zhong guo xue xi Zhongwen,yinwei hen duo Zhong guo ren zai na li.I don't know if it's the meaning you wanna express?then the chinese is:我在中国学习中文,因为很多中国人在那里。Wo you (2 brothers[liang ge xiong di]) he (1 sister[yi ge jie mei]).我有两个兄弟和一个姐妹。ge ge哥哥=elder brother,di di弟弟=yonger brother;jie jie姐姐=elder sister,mei mei妹妹=younger sisterWo xiang Zhong guo ren hen you hao.我想中国人很友好。but better saying like this:Wo jue de/ren wei Zhong guo ren hen you hao.我觉得/认为中国人很友好。Wo ye xiang Zhong guo hen you yi si (interesting).better saying like this:Wo ye jue de/ren wei zhong guo hen you yi si.我也觉得/认为中国很有意思。Wo bu hui kan hai shi xie hen duo han zi ke shi wo yao xue xie geng duo better like this:Wo bu hui kan he xie hen duo han zi,ke shi wo yao xue xie geng duo.is "xie" writing?“hai shi” is...?and?or?我不会看和写很多汉字,可是我要学习更多。(this year…zhe ge nian?)it's "jin nian" or "zhe yi nian"今年/这一年Wo bu xi huan (dogs[gou]) yinwei tamen hen (dirty[zang]) he[er qie] hen chao/noisy.我不喜欢狗,因为他们很脏而且很吵。

Friday, February 8, 2008

Nakhu, Thailand November 2007 Pics




Two pics of me in a small village near Nakhu, Thailand

taken in November 2007 around the time I first

arrived here.

Do you want to learn Mandarin Chinese?

If so, take a look at these two websites:

www.askbenny.cn

www.chinesepod.com

Both are excellent and the first one is 100% free.

Chinesepod.com lets you listen to podcasts for free but if you want to access any other areas you have to pay a membership. About $30 for one-month or $150 for six months which gives you access to pretty much everything you'll need.

I'm thinking about joining for a month and then just downloading as much stuff as possible during that month. Then just spend the next month or two (or three) trying to master that material and once I feel like I've got it down I'll sign up for another month.

Chinese is a difficult language to learn but I don't think it's as hard as most western people imagine it to be.

If Chinese people can learn English then Westerners can learn Chinese!

Pics taken in Khamsakaesaeng, Thailand 2007





The first pic is of the entrance to the school I taught at.
The second pic is of two students from Khamsakaesaeng.

Note that they are wearing yellow.

I'll explain why in a future post.

The third pic is of the Temple in Khamsakaesaeng.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Yesterday and Today

Today I went to the police station for this district. At least, I think it was for this district but maybe it's just for Nakoo. One of the police officers picked me up at school today and drove me there. He spoke some basic English and we conversed in English and Thai. It was one of those instances where he would speak in English and I would speak in Thai. I always like doing that....kind of like switching languages. It's fun.

Arrived at the station and just hung out with some of the Thai Police Officers. Chatted with some of them and then chatted with the Chief who speaks English pretty well. He asked me to come by the station once a week for an hour and teach the policemen some basic English. Today I just posed for photos with them. If I get a copy I'll try posting them up here. He said he is going to make a large poster out of one of the photos....that's kind of flattering.

I wonder if anyone told him that I'm going to China in March?

Yesterday was my 28th birthday! Seems so old! I can't believe it's been 10 years since I graduated from High School and almost 5 years since I graduated from University...wow.

The first time I went to China was in 2003. The second time was in 2005. And now, it's 2008 and I'm going back for my third year. Should be a year to remember! Now that I finally have a digital camera I can take some pics of Zhong Guo (China) and post them on-line. Eventually, I'd like to buy a better camera but the one I have for now should suffice until I have enough money for a really good camera.

Anyway, after school yesterday the Thai teachers from the English Department took me out for dinner. We had Korean BBQ. The kind where you cook your own food basically. It was cool I guess.

The day before Heidi and Daniel, two Australian teachers in a nearby village, came by with a birthday cake. We played some Nintendo Wii and Scrabble. Good times.

My contract with this school ends of Feb. 29th so I have 24 days left to go.

I want to exit Thailand on March 3rd and enter Vientiane, Laos because it's closer than Bangkok and doesn't seem so busy and crowded. It's also closer to China and there is a Chinese Embassy there so that's where I'll apply for my L-Visa. After I get my L-Visa I think I'll take a bus from Laos to Kunming, China and from there I'l probably just take a plane to Changsha.

I'm hoping to arrive in Changsha sometime between March 8th and March 10th.

I'm going to be working for a University again and I am really looking forward to it because working with junior high and high school kids in Thailand just feels like a waste of time and energy. Lots of kids don't even go to any of their classes and most of my classes are usually 15 minutes late......the King of Thailand made a decree that no student can fail any course in school so there doesn't seem to be a lot of incentive to show up on time or at all. I could post a long rant about the problems with the Thai Education system but I won't.

Chinese English Majors will be a lot easier to work with.....a LOT and I'll be able to get back into the swing of speaking Mandaring which is something I really want to focus on this year.

Well, that's all I have to blog about for today.

See you next time.

Brandon

Saturday, February 2, 2008

This is interesting....

Several deities that predate Christianity are believed by some to display very close similarities to Jesus; Osiris-Dionysus, Asclepius, Apollo, Helios, Hora, Mithras are among them.[24] Dionysos, who was also worshiped long before Jesus, has also many similar features to him:[25] For example, he was worshipped on December 25th (Rustic Dionysia) (Christmas), the day of the winter solstice in ancient Greek times, and his major holiday was in March called City Dionysia (Easter).[citation needed] Some sources even claims that Dionysus died on the cross.[26]
Dionysian religion and Christianity are significantly parallel; according to Martin Hengel, "Dionysus had been at home in Palestine for a long time", and Judaism was influenced by Dionysian traditions.[27]
The modern scholar Barry Powell thinks that Christian notions of eating and drinking the "flesh" and "blood" of Jesus were influenced by the cult of Dionysus. In another parallel Powell adduces, Dionysus was distinct among Greek gods as a deity commonly felt within individual followers. Another example of possible influence on Christianity, Dionysus' followers, as well as another god, Pan, are said to have had the most influence on the modern view of Satan as animal-like and horned.[28]
Wine was important to Dionysus, imagined as its creator; the creation of wine from water figures also in Jesus's Marriage at Cana. In the 19th century, Bultmann and others compared both themes and concluded that the Dionysian theophany was transferred to Jesus; Heinz Noetzel's Christus und Dionysos disagrees,[29] arguing Dionysus never actually did turn water into wine. Martin Hengel replied that opposing traditions would be anachronistic, and that since all Palestinians were familiar with the transformation of water to wine as a miracle, it was expected from the Messiah to perform it. The extreme positions of copying Dionysian traditions or only referring to the Old Testamony are both no longer taken, but that there was a Dionysian background especially, but not only when the Marriage of Cana was written.[30]
Peter Wick argues that the use of wine symbolism in the Gospel of John, including the story of the Marriage at Cana at which Jesus turns water into wine, is intended to show Jesus as superior to Dionysus.[31]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysus

Lopburi, Thailand


Just thought I'd post a pic I took in Lopburi, Thailand in late 2007.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Vientiane, Laos 2007
























These are just some pics I took in Vientiane, Laos in 2007. I've been there 4 or 5 times since arriving in Thailand back in June 2007 for Visa purposes. It's a pretty cool place and the scenery is awesome. It's definetly worth visiting at least once.






BAF

More Chinese Characters Practice

中国人想每老外很著名吗?
Zhong guo ren xiang mei laowai hen zhuming ma?
(Do Chinese people think that every foreigner is famous?)
我没有电话.
Wo mei you dian hua.
(I don't have a phone).
每天我很高兴.
Mei tian wo hen gao xing.
(I am very happy everday.)
我喜欢中文但是他很难!
Wo xi huan Zhongwen dan shi ta hen nan!
(I like Chinese but it's very difficult!)