Music and I

My father is very talented in music.He can sing Bel canto beautifully and even has won several prizes because of his beautiful voice. I still remember one time after he sang at a Karaoke bar, some stranger presented a bouquet to him. Like some talented people in the story, he began to play different kinds of instruments at a very young age, of course, without anyone teaching him. Later, he even began to compose.I know my topic is "Music and I" but why I keep talking about my father? Because later, he became an outstanding surgeon whose works do nothing about music except when new year party is coming.Also, he married my mother who was extremely beautiful but cannot sing at all.So he became nervous about my talent in singing when I was only a baby. However, life always goes against one's wishes. After I learned to sing my first nursery rhymes, my father couldn't be more disappointed.I inherited my mothers' talent in singing, which means I have no talent in singing.I just couldn't sing at the right pitch no matter how many times my father sang the right one to me. I just couldn't.
When I was 7 years old, my mother decided to send me to learn to play the accordion. Actually, I was about to learn to play the violin but my father said "No, she cannot play the violin because she cannot reach the right pitch, just let her to play some kind of keyboard instrument."
However, I proved he was wrong later. My ears are  perfect compared to my mouth, they can easily sense the difference in pitch. Even more surprising is that I do have talent in playing the accordion, or in the music. I think my understanding of music is as good as my father's, or at least, can compare to his. I clearly remember there was one time I was sleeping, suddenly I felt some melody in my mind attracting me, dragging me out of my bed. Somehow, I was in the living room when I opened my eyes and saw my father was in a great shock.
" Do you know you have been sitting there with your eyes closed for a while? I didn't dare to wake you up because I thought you were sleepwalking. But you just sat down and it seems you were listening to the music. You were?"
 "I don't know, I don't know if I was awake or not. I just heard something. It's beautiful. I think is the one playing on the CD now, right?"
" Yes, it's 'An der schönen Blauen Donau'."
From then on, I was deeply fascinated by classical music and Johann Strauß became my favorite composer.I will never forget how I enjoyed when I was playing 'Frühlingsstimmen’. Every time I listened to a symphony I feel like there are pictures showing in my mind, or the composer is personally telling me his story. Music for me is like another space where I can get rid of any suffering and be the purest self.

Homesick

I feel I am the one who seldom feels homesick.
I still remember the first day I arrived my university--two of my roommates couldn't stop crying after their parents left. My father also came with me to my university in Beijing which is really far from my hometown. The last time I saw him before he went back home was in a hospital where I was doing my physical examination and he just came by and said goodbye to me. I didn't feel much then and afterwards so my roomates' upset was quite beyond my understanding. However,it's maybe just like my mom always says "You are just too shy or too disdainful to show your true feelings". Yes, I am a real coward when expressing my fragile feelings. Sometimes, I even cannot face up my true feelings by myself.
There do exist one occasion when I truly feel homesick or I can properly face my homesick.That is when I miss the food there, the food only exists in my hometown, the food I've got used to for 18 years, the food made by my parents.Food is an essential part that connects you to your hometown, it stimulates your homesickness.Food reminds you of how you felt when you ate it, with whom you ate it with, when and where you ate it, who made it for you...all of these burn your desire to come back, to recreate the scene in your memory. There is a saying: To capture a man's heart, capture his stomach. I think your hometown does the same thing.
Hometown is not a physical site,instead, it more exists in your mental world. Your hometown could not be beautiful, but it must be warm. There, you can find things that grew up with you, places that you are most familiar with, language or accent through which you can best express yourself, people who were in company with you when you were in your most naive period, families who will never leave you... these form your root which forms you.

Snow

I've never seen such a big snow in my life.Also, this is the longest time a snow ever exists in my life. I mean, the snow in my hometown usually only stayed for one day, or one and half at most;this time, the snow has already stayed for three days and I think, or I hope it will last for the whole winter.I know this sounds not fun at all or even boring for Finnish and other people from the north, but you will never know how children lives in the south have been longing for the snow.I dare to say every southern child has a dream full of snow--- roof is covered with snow as blanket, road is covered with snow as carpet, there is no green or yellow tree but white, you can feel the crunch when you step into the snow...of course, snowman and snowball fight cannot be missed.Although I am not a child any more, the dream is still alive. Finally, the dream has been realised in Finland. However, as a grown-up, compare to the noise we can make during the snowball fight, I am more fascinated by the quietness the snow brings to us. Jyvaskyla is already a pretty quiet city compared to Beijing, the snow even makes the city quieter. We always relate snow with purity. I assume the reason should not only be the color of the snow which makes all the surrounding in white, but also the silence comes with the snow. The silence is not simply related with my hearing,moreover, it calms me down.It gives me the space to think separately, to think all by myself.It gives me a pause to rest my heart.

Scattered Thoughts about St. Petersburge

Two things impressed me most about St. Petersburg was the architecture and women there.
The glamour of the architecture in St. Petersburg took my breath away.Almost every building in the central part of the city has been standing there for over hundreds years. The marks of the years on each building gives people infinite space to imagine--- what happened to it? who lived in it? who has the same feeling with me when passing it? Every building is like a book recording the history happened around and telling the story happened in.I was not a visitor, I was more like a reader, a devotional reader. Streets in the city are all extremely straight. The architectures along the streets even added more dignity to the streets.However, they never bores you with the dignity, they strike you with the elegance and overwhelming spectacular behind the dignity.They reminded me of, no, they are the embodiment of powerful king and queen in the days of the Czars.They convince people of the prosperity and tsarist Russia.The ordinary building in St. Petersburg are so striking, let alone those cathedrals and palaces. Sometimes, I felt they are too much for me. The luxury and splendor became the burden for me to digest. I felt they crossed the border thus being over even showing some kind of affectation.
Women in St. Petersburg are just like the architectures--- extraordinarily glamorous.I walked on the streets, I was busy resting my eyes on those architectures and taking a quick glance at those stunning legs. I seldom saw any woman in St. Petersburg wearing trousers even it's snowing, instead, they were extremely good at using stockings to show their beautiful legs which were well deserving a show.No matter how old they are, they are never stingy to give people a feast of their attractive legs which are extremely straight(like streets there) and long, without any excessive fat.Fine,I admit, I am kind of jealous.Oh, I almost forgot women there are fans of high heels. I think high heels like them too, they can bring the best feature of those high heels.
Splendid, unapproachable, and mysterious, for both the architecture and women in St. Petersburg.

Scattered Thoughts about Rauma

Actually, it has been a while since I returned from Rauma. Still, I cannot believe places like Rauma do exist in this world. 
Rauma is really a small town sits on the west coat of Finland. I remembered it was on Monday when we arrived there, so museums there were unfortunately not open. I felt pretty cold when I got off the bus. Later, I still felt cold when I was walking around the town but thanks to the coldness which stops me from being too excited and made me actively think during the walk.
The centre of Rauma is technically called Old Rauma which is known for the wooden architecture. More remarkably, the Old Rauma is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Rows of wooden houses neatly lie along the stone road which can easily creates a peaceful and romantic atmosphere. Rose is too glamorous, like a siren; daisy is too naive. Instead, the town feels like lily,pure and graceful, but still has its own story beautiful enough to capture you. House here are all made of wood, but they never bore you.Different shapes, different colors, and different settings of the houses tell different stories of every family. Some households like passionate colors, like red; others prefer cold colors,like dark blue.You can find people there like to decorate their house with extremely carefulness just by giving a glimpse of their windowsill veiled behind the curtain trimmed with romantic lace.
It's not crowded at all, like most cities in Finland. I feel like shops there are not run for business or for morning because some of them are just open for two or three hours in two or three days of one week. I guess running a shop for them is just a hobby, or just a way to color their life. Few people are on the street but you won't feel desolate because there is some kind of "humanity" hangs in the air. You can feel there are people, you are not by yourself, you are not lonely.
Outside the old town, there is a pretty modernized library. People spend time there no matter young or old. People's hearts stay in the old beautiful times, but their minds closely follow the newest knowledge.
How can people grow up at places like Rauma not be virtuous?