Study...
Second year final exams are rolling around. It's hard to concentrate when the summer is more or less here (it's 17 and cloudy today, but tomorrow is supposed to be 30C with sun). Although I've written one exam, I've got two more left before I start work for the summer.
One thing that keeps going through my mind is "You must convince yourself, study study day day up". There's a famous Mao saying in Chinese that goes 好好学习天天向上 (hao3hao3 xue2xi tian1tian1 xiang4shang4), which means "good good study, day day up", or study more and more every day. It's something that my students in China often quoted. And now I'm trying to tell myself that to keep studying through exams.
(Image courtesy of artwork.com.cn, which has a lot of old Communist posters)

Law 2.0...
I came across an interesting article from The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia this week entitled "Lawyers to serve notices on Facebook". Basically, a Canberra judge ruled that legal court documents could be served to defendants on their Facebook page when it was reasonable to believe that the pages belonged to the defendants. The defendants could not be contacted in a normal manner, and their "Facebook profiles showed the defendants' dates of birth, email addresses and friend lists and the co-defendants were friends with one another." With this information, the judge allowed legal notices to be served upon the defendants as an alternate method through their Facebook pages.
It will be interesting to see if this is appealed, and if it will be used in other jurisdictions as well.
Previously, in Australia, text message and email have also been used to serve legal notices.

Happy New Year! 新年快乐！

Winter Treats...
There are, from time to time, things that I miss about China. One of them is the winter treats that are found everywhere, called "tang2 hu2lu2" (糖葫芦).
These are little crab apple type things, that are usually stuffed with some sort of bean paste (red, green, or black), then covered with melted sugar. They're crunchy and chewy, sweet and a bit bitter. Plus they cost only a yuan or two ($0.15 to $0.30) for a whole stick of them.

Thanks to "A Modern Lei Feng" for the photo, since I can't seem to find my China photos at the moment.

Busy Stress...
It's been a busy and stressful few weeks, with everything going on at school and work. Exams are almost done, and it'll be nice to have a break over the Christmas holidays.

Try the Great Chinese FireWall at Home Now!
I found this on the China Law Blog and Sinosplice. There's a new Firefox add-on that allows users to experience what it's like to surf the web in China. I haven't tried it myself, having lived in China a year and experienced the frustration first hand.
Apparently the web situation is better now (apart from spying on Skype users, etc.) and it's possible to access parts of Wikipedia and more blogs from within China than it was a few years ago.
From the add-on description:

The Firefox add-on China Channel offers internet users outside of China the ability to surf the web as if they were inside mainland China. Take an unforgetable virtual trip to China and experience the technical expertise of the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (supported by western companies). It's open source, free and easy.

"Religious Freedom"...
China likes to tell people that they promote religious freedom within their country. For example, it was thought that putting Bibles into Beijing hotel rooms during the Olympics would help promote the idea that China is tolerant of religion (China Daily: Hotels told to stock Bibles for Olympic visitors).
It's currently the month of Ramadan, when Muslims around the world fast as an expression of their faith and religion. Except in China, where Uyghur Muslims in government buildings are being offered free lunches during the month of Ramadan, restaurants are being forced to stay open, Uyghur government officials forced to sign "letters of responsibility" to not fast or pray, and special groups to "educate" Muslims against fasting have been set up.

Back to Uni...
It's hard to believe that I'm back in classes again after a truly great summer travelling around. And the profs decided not to waste any time getting back into the swing of things, so I'm already in the thick of the readings, research, and job searching process. Lots to keep me busy.

Devon (England)...
After Sweden, I headed to Devon the Southwest of England (of Devon cream tea and clotted cream fame). It's a really beautiful part of England, with lots of green fields, and huge hedges that grow so tall you can't see anything while driving the one lane roads in the countryside. Got to spend a bit of time too seeing some other villages, and the seaside resort town of Dawlish before heading to London to visit another friend from China and fly back to Canada.
I was there visiting my friend Kim who taught in the same city as me in China. So, of course, one of the things we had to do was make 'jiaozi' (Chinese dumplings) with pork and green onion. Surprisingly, or not, they actually turned out really well and tasted like the ones we had in China!

Sweden...
I spent two weeks in Sweden after being in Scotland. I've been once before, years ago, but this time I was in the country to visit a friend for his 30th. Arriving in Stockholm, the weather was much better than in Scotland. Sun! I spent a few days there before heading west.
Sweden is a really beautiful country, full of red and white barns, lakes, and lots of coffee. Swedes consume one of the highest rates of coffee in the world; clearly this is a country that I like. There's even a verb in Swedish 'fika', which means something like "to chat with friends over coffee and pastries".
I spent a few days on the west coast of Sweden too, visiting a beautiful island as well as Gothenburg and Liseberg (a large amusement parks).

Free Press...
Due to the Olympic Games, China has promised that reporters would have free access to the internet. They've promised this for several years, and made the promise again only a few days before the Olympics start.
Never mind though, they still block internet access for reporters to scary sites like Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, dissidents, human rights, and pro-T1bet@n groups. Part of this is explained in that the officials are just following Chinese law forbidding access to such sites.
Reuters video (in English)
Read the full story (in French)
And also here (in French)