Auslandspraktikum

For those who are pursuing their tertiary education in Germany, the word ''Auslandspraktikum''(APK) should serve as nothing more than a normal mundane jargon. Basically, it refers to an internship in a foreign country with germany being the reference point. This also means spending aroung 6 months acquaring practical training in industry whilst exploring a wholenew environment, gaining direct access to the wealth of other traditions & cultures, and being pleasantly prone to pleasant, albeit unexpected events for that span.

Thrilling and interesting as it may sound, the JPA scholars in germany are, for some unforseen reasons, not allowed to do so. Anyway, i'm not sure if the words ''not allowed'' are appropriate to describe the situation. Reason being that we are, in actuality, NOT prohibited from it, but if we were to insist on doing so, we would not be paid the allowance for that particular period whilst undergoing APK overseas. Frankly, that equates a huge amount of money. After all, imposing this ''temporary suspension of allowance'' is simply and undisputedly tantamout to disapproval. One needs not be a genius to realise that.

Queer but true, perhaps owing to my own stupidity, i struggle to comprehend the logic that lurks beneath this move. There are a lot of undisclosed sources saying all sorts of things about why we should not go for APK, for examples :

1) We might ''forget'' the german language, had we spent a few months outside the country.

2) We are assigned the task of squeezing every drop of the juice from the sponge of
Germany, and hence we should utilise every chance of an internship in Germany to the
uppermost.

3) We should not cross the ''preset-boundary'' as there are already ''ambassadors'' in other
countries to learn the existing technology there.

Now i would LOVE to hypnotize myself into believing that those sources are unreliable, coz these suggestions and the reasonings reflect the naiveness and shortsigntedness that come with them. If there's a fear of losing the complete command of the german language, why sent us to a country with a foreign language in the first place ?? I don't deny that the command of it might be affected a bit, but after all, 6 months is not that long. On the other hand, we actually have the chance to sharpen the razor of the command of another language that's being used in that foreign country. And to the 2nd and 3rd suggestion, it's even more far-fetched. Bear in mind that learning a technology is not like doing maths. While 1+1=2 is always true in maths, 50+50 might only be 75 or even 60 in the technology transfer thingy. And how bout the priceless experiences of an APK overseas ??

Anyway, the argument about whether one should go for the so-called Auslandspraktikum is NOT the same as whether one should be allowed to do so in the first place. Germany itself is not short of or to be precise, far from short of world-class titans with the likes of Porsche, Audi, Mercedez, BMW, VW, Bosch, Siemens and so on. Put that aside, meanwhile it's inevitable for one to ponder about whether APK is a boon or a bane. It's rather controversial, i suppose. I would just say:

-While one might struggle under a certain circumstance, the others might actually thrive on
it.

-While a situation might be of adverse effects to certain ppl, it might be a blessing in disguise to
other ppl.

The way i see it, after years of hype and wrangling about this seemingly complicated matter, it eventually boils down to 2 simple questions :

-Why settle for mediocre when things could easily be done in a much better way?

-Why impose so much control when this on the other hand could mean stifling one's teething
determination to step out of the comfort zone in transcending one's boundary?

龙虫之谈

古往今来
龙 乃神威之物
虫 却恰恰相反
但 我不以为然

能龙之虫
胸怀大志 但不形于色
身怀绝技 却隐于凡夫
只待 天赐翻天覆云之机
一举直冲云霄

能虫之龙
洞悉天地万变
临危应变
且能 因虫而龙
也能 因龙而虫

龙虫之别
不知而自居知之者
肤浅也
只能解其半而自以为是之者
迂腐也

-栩-

Laser Technology.....

just a short entry for this time .......
life's freakingly hectic nowadays...... partly thanks to myself..:p
well, at least for this couple of weeks.....
anyway, just done my 2nd of 4 presentations within 4 weeks few days ago ..... the topic this time was '' laser technology'' ...... Instead of confining myself to the conventional way of explaining what's laser all about, i've done it by ''deliberately'' straying to the otherwise unrelated topic of '' LIGHT SABER'' which is in actuality non-existent.....
a picture says a thousand words....so the 6 pics below say 6000 words bout it...:)

1) a light saber can be used to convince the assailants that NO means NO.....:p


2) it can be used to trim the hedge !!

3) to cut and toast the bread in one stroke .... hahaha


4) to cut thru the PVC pipe


5) to light a cigarette


6) or even to cook COFFEE !!!! :p


Honestly, i still cant believe that i've used those pics for my presentation.....hahahaha.....at least, for once, i've managed to struck a chord of humor with germans ...:)

神话

神话
顾名思义
能人之所不能 其一也
独特而不随世漂浮 其二也
凌风而屹立不倒 其三也

神话里
无风 则难有兴风作浪
无浪 则难有波涛颠簸
风与浪 两者缺一
焉能创出佳话?

然 人乃奥妙之物
局万物之尊者 人也
但愿你我不惧风浪
但愿你我 活在当下 活出自我
创出你我之神话

-栩-

The Journey of a Conquest

it was thursday and it's the day i was supposed to give a presentation in english about ''mechatronics overview'' ..... for the sake of telling , i'm the only one from ''Mechatronics Engineering'' and the only Non-German joining this ''technical english'' class as it's actually meant for those who are doin the course ''Automotive System Engineering''......if i were to explain y i'm doin this, i would have to trudge back to those early decisions at the beginning of this sem...so i'm not going to do that.....anyway, SINCE i'm the only one from M.E and SINCE the American lecturer wants us to do the presentations in an entertaining way rather than an informative one.....i thought...well...i could raise some controversies because i'm really not bad at it...hehehehhehe....:p

so i started off by saying something like.....

'' if u do not know very well bout Mechatronics..u ought to be worried now...b'coz over the next few minutes...i'm going to brief u guys about it which perhaps more importantly will either MAKE or BREAK ur love for A.S.E .....u guys might have made the biggest wrong choice in ur lives ...bla bla bla....''

and guess what.....haha....my presentation was a success and the American lecturer even singled it out for flattery and praises ...to me, it's indeed a much-needed pat on the back ...... and he even sent me an email which sounds like this :

''You began as well as any native speaker that I can imagine - a good, friendly and inviting introduction indeed! Your voice was brilliant and clear and your use of inflection was outstanding. Your volume was varied and you took natural breaks - which all combines to make your topic easier to follow and attractive. You were speaking quite quickly, but were nonetheless completely understandable (for me...). Your use of rhetoric/real questions was first rate. The vocabulary in use was high-quality and varied, yet not too high-level for most of the audience to have followed. Superior slides with animation and colors and cartoons - again quite on the level of a native-speaker professional talk.

Compared to all presentations that I have seen at the FH, you are certainly in the top 2%. Perhaps it helps having grown up in your country - the educational system there and the obvious stress on learning multiple languages has led to your much more natural sounding use of English - which sets you apart from most Germans that I hear. Your 'attitude' of brightness, a bit of showmanship and energy is absolutely not a typical German trait.''

after reading that, i suddenly felt that i have understood something but could not get wat's it exactly... a day later, i was on my way to a class when i met 2 chinese guys heading towards me.... from gut instinct, i could tell that they are from china...and i made the first move to talk to them.......after chatting for a few minutes....they told me that they were a bit surprised to find someone from malaysia in germany who could speak fluent chinese , but somehow sounds like a taiwanese.....hahahaha..:p

Thinking bout those events now retrospectively, i suddenly understand something which has been lurking around for quite a while already, albeit with a seemingly subtle sense of uncertainty.....
It seems like the main reason that's been holding me back from going all out to ''conquer'' the german language itself is me myself .......
well...u see....human mind is evasive...it likes to remain complacent with hazy notions about certain things rather than grasp the import of difficult concepts .... i dunno if it's true for u but it's definitely true for me at times ......had it not been those above-mentioned events, i wouldn't even think of penning my thoughts bout this matter down at this moment...

I guess it's clear to me that the fear of losing my command of other languages has subconciously held me back from progressing forward with the pace that i'm supposed to be moving with ...... i frown at the idea of letting something getting the better of me, but sometimes we have to let pride takes the second place to the facts of life ...... for those who are wondering, this points to the equation of life (created by me....:p) which states that there're equal gains and losses in everything that we do...

in this case (beim idealen Fall...:p), to really flourish in german language, one has to think the german way, write the german way and talk the german way......and the way i see it, it comes more or less at the expense of other languages that one has already had under one's belt ...... apparently, i'm not willing at all to give up any bit of my command of english and chinese (2 of which i deem to be most important of all) for the sake of german language...... dun get me wrong , a good command of an additional language will most probably give me the edge over the others when it matters....but i oso think that this could only be the case if i'm equally good in other languages as well........

and guess wat ????? the worst thing is ....... i'm having the feeling that my english and chinese are slipping away slowly from me....and yet my command of german doesn't grow in tandem with the rate of decline in those languages ...... anyway, i will not give up...far from it :)....i'm still trying as hard as i could to amalgamate those languages under one roof, though the journey seems tortuous....granted, i might end up nowhere and eventually get myself entangled btw those languages .......anyway, as someone who's struggling to strike a balance btw those languages, my stubborn innerself rather believe in this :

to love is to risk not being loved in return
to try is to risk failure
to hope is to risk disappointment
but risks must be taken
because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing at all