testing times

Hey

Monday marks the first time we have a proper test; aarggh. It wil befor all the stuff we have studied so far. In preparation, tomorrow Iam going into the countryside with some tongxue (classmates) tostudy (hopefully); I'll report back on how much of the Great Wall wesee (its supposed to be underwater, where we are going!)

Not much news this week; things are going as usual. However I justwanted to post a quick update on Zimbabwe, since if you read thisarticlehttp://english.people.com.cn/200503/31/eng20050331_178858.html fromthe government's official paper, you get a very different view fromthe Western view of the elections.

There is a few comical lines, including a quote from the Namibianpresident that: "I think the situation there in Zimbabwe is movingnow towards a goal that the government of Zimbabwe has worked outfor the common benefit of all the people of Zimbabwe. There isreally no serious problem there, no problem there," despite the 80%uneployment, 400% inflation..hmmmm

Anyway, read the article to see how it is phrased; and how differenta perspective you would get if you were chinese reading thatcompared to a westerner reading what is in the western press. Maybeits the western press that is all lying? hmm, anyway, today 2British journalists were arrested; whilst the biggest reason to votefor Mugabe was nothing to do with jobs or food, but because 'Blairis a liar'. quite how Blair lying impacts upon starving africans,I'm not sure, but hey...

enjoy your weekend. Its supposed to hit the mid 80s in the middle ofnext week; although we had the first rain in Beijing for 4 monthstoday (a shame it only lasted an hour, and was very light)

Adam