DOU

Afec-X 2009–Chapter Orr

星期天, 十二月 20th, 2009

Orr is a girl from Thailand. Her name is Jitwadee Khoonwongsa, a little bit long and complicated for us, so she let us call her Orr for short. We are in the same age, so we share many things in common, like the same style of earrings.

I guess the greatest characteristic of Orr is that she likes drinking beer very much and she drinks beer everyday. At first I was a little bit  shocked about her habit, but cold beer is a really good choice in hot Xishuangbanna.  However, I’m still not good at drinking beer, but Orr is really good at it. And due to the beer thing, she gave the nick name “Baby dog” to Navendu cause he refused beer.

Orr is a good looking girl, but actually she is like a guy, strong and boyish, which we could tell it from her favorate beer. She has a watch, a boyish watch, which shoulc be described as cool rather than cute. And she looks good in the field suit too.  She has been observing birds in the field for a long time. It’s not easy for a girl to undertake this work. I think I should learn from her.

Orr has good taste in dressing. Every girl in Afec-X made a suit of Dai dress, and all my friends believe her suit is the best. They even described my suit as ” the tast of country girl”, but her suit as ” elegant” …. Well, that’s true….

And Orr is naughty too. She is good at taking photos and she does take a lot of wonderful pics, such as Sleeping Navendu, Carla in a nap and Eating Zhang Minggang….  She could catch the wonderful moment and shoot the pics. What could I say, such a naughty girl who brings a lot fun to us. Let’s review these moments and enjoy!

Orr likes stealing mangos very much too. She always asked Navendu to help her climb up mango trees at night and get green mangos, singing “mango, mango!” and “Navendu, Navendu!”

Everytime I catch her on MSN, she is at work, such as still papers for reading or works to do. I know she is really good at her study, but hope she could manage all these things better, and look into the bright side of work, people and life.

Tags: Afec-X, mango, Orr
Posted in Afec-X, Uncategorized, personal | 1 Comment »

Afec-X 2009–Chapter Liu Shengjie

星期天, 十二月 13th, 2009

Hi, guys, today we are going to talk about Liu Shengjie, the boy who always asked about “Money!”. Hohoh.

the harmonious back view of Orr and Liu

Liu Shengjie is a boy from Hebei Province, China. He is always sunny, but sometimes quiet, especially in lecture time. Well, I think the most primary character of Liu is that he likes offering help, but first giving you a complain. For instance, I asked him for accompanying me to catch spiders, he said “oh, it’s too hard”. But actually, I knew he would offer help after all these complains. And the truth is, he went to the rubber with me that night and we went through a heavy rain. Thanks, Liu.

Liu is a really nice guy, and we all like making fun with him. At the beginning, we made jokes between him and Jer Pin. Then we made fun of him with Orr. I don’t know why we could always have materials for us to make fun too. Maybe that’s just another evidence to prove him a nice guy—helping us to be happy. Oh, sorry, Liu….

once be a photo of Week

The last days of Afec-X, he had to go back home cause his mother was sick. The last time I saw him, he seemed really upset and worried. That’s because he is a good son. Luckily his mother got better. Hope your mother will be healthy and live long.

Liu, hope we will meet again, cause the goodbye we said was too rushed. And hope your mother and all your family will be healthy.

Tags: Afec-X, Liu
Posted in Afec-X, personal | 2 Comments »

Afec-X–Chapter Carla Monoy

星期天, 十二月 6th, 2009

Carla is a girl who is a little bit older than me –but the same age with HuaXia, and comes from Philippines. After she got her balcony degree of biology, she worded for a year then decided to study further on masters’ degree.

I remember her self-introduction clearly even so many days have been past, cause it is a really brilliant self-introduction. She said she wants to get a degree on ecology and conversation, which could combine her favorate thing-travel-with work together. And she served for a NGO once, traveled to many places. Besides this, she loves children and could get along with them well. I still can remember her photo of balcony degree she showed to us on the self-introduction, with the long hair and beautiful smile, Carla looks so gentle and elegant.

Carla in a powerful gesture

Carla is a very hard working student. Afec-X gave us many works, such as reading materials and writing the proposals. Carla didn’t bring a laptop with her, so she had to go to library for the public computers. Though it is so inconvenient, she finished reading all the papers Chuck gave us and worked out a great proposal. And she sat in the very front of every lecture, taking notes carefully and asking questions. So she got the Prize as “Most Hard Working” Award!

Carla at field, with her bright smile

Carla’s oral English is extremly wonderful, which I think is the best among all our girls. She uses the word “powerful” to describe my high-heels. And asked us “Am I looked rich now?” with the glisten braclet.  Because she is the first Philippines I came acorss, I could not tell whether it is because of a Philippnie or because of herself. Besides oral English, she writes blog in English fluently. When I read her post ” On the Way Home”, telling us her experience about rushing to airport and getting the chance of sitting in the first class, I can’t help but laugh. What a brilliant story teller!

And Carla is good at playing with children, also, she enjoys playing with children. The four babies at Afec-X are very cute, and all of us like them very much. But Carla is the only guy could get their favorate impression. I like them too, but I don’t know how to get along with children, so although I wanted to play with them eagerly, I didn’t know what to say, what to do. But Carla is really good at this, she understands what they want, what they like, and they all like to play with her too! How amazing!

Carla with the baby

We once talked about going abroad for Ph.D, and she hadn’t yet decided. Well, in my opinion, Carla, you have passion and the will, you should go outside for further study! Good Luck!

Tags: Afec-X, Carla, Philippines
Posted in Afec-X, personal | 1 Comment »

Afec-x2009–Chapter FAN Huan

星期天, 十二月 6th, 2009

FAN Huan, whose English name is Heather, is this week’s person.

I knew Heather before this course, because Heather and I joined the same broadcasting organization, we broadcasted news every Thursday night. Of course, it is not professional, but we enjoyed it very much. And we choose a same course, Forest Ecology, which makes us become good friends. She is the special person I should thank to, cause she is the one who gave the news of this course. If there is no Heather, I cannot be in XTBG, knowing so many fantastic people. So, thanks, Heather.

all colleagues in front of radio station, can you recognize Heather and I?

Heather is a girl who has magic to make everyone likes her. She is humorous, remembering all the funny plots in Friends and using them at hand. The last night at XTBG, we talked about the age issue, then Heather said once Joey in Friends wearing big clothes and saying “Hey, Buddy!” to act as a teenager. Well, her act was very funny and exactly the same with Joey!!

Heather in her college shirt-by Orr

With many years practice of violin, Heather is great in music. She plays violin great, and sings great, with great passion. She has a sensitive feeling about art and aesthetic, which also shows out in her dress style. I like her personal dress style very much.

Heather is also sensitive in academy. She is interested in many disciplines, especially the plant taxonomy. When we were in Beijing, she once explained the differeces about beach blossom and plum blossom to me, but, unfortunately,  I couldn’t fully understand the sepal, or the pistil. hohoh, hope Heather would do even greater in her study.

Tags: Afec-X, Heather, Violin
Posted in Afec-X, personal | No Comments »

Afec-X2009–Chapter Mo Xiaoxue

星期天, 十二月 6th, 2009

Mo Xiaoxue is a doctoral candidate in XTBG. She comes from the famous “Beauty City”, Chongqing, and she herself is very beautiful, a pair of big eyes on the a pretty face and with a plait on one side.

the right one is Mo, can you see her bardien plait?--By Orr

The most staring character of Mo is that she is good at taking photos. She has two appareil photo reflexs and countless scenes, and she knows every aspect of parameters about cameras. However, the most important part is that Mo has a creative thought and sensitive feeling about beauty. She could find a unique angel of normal view and present it as an amazing photo. The photo which most impressing me is the one that her hand carries several moons. I think this idea is brilliant. And two weeks ago, cause there was a meeting held in my institute, we needed one photo to make a background panel.  So Mo is the first and only person I asked help for and she has not let down. She gave me one great landscape photo, even the size is perfect for the background panel.

created by Mo

Although Mo doesn’t like reading papers, she is smart, and can always  find the creative point to do further study.  One of her own projects is to study the coffin material of a minority ethnic group, which is a unique plant  species. This idea is very innovated and full of  cultural ambience. I hope I can have that kind of innovation.

Mo is now in Beijing, I am going to visit her and Cici and Deli. Hope Mo will enjoy her romantic relationship with that nice guy. 

———————————-latest report————————————————

yesterday I went to visit Mo and Deli, we had some red wine at the balcony and Mo took a portrait of me, which I like very much.

the sunlight is gentle at 4pm in the winter of Beijing--By Mo

Tags: Afec-X, Chongqing, Mo, photo
Posted in Afec-X, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Afec-X 2009–Chapter Bhakta Karki

星期天, 十二月 6th, 2009

Long time no see, then this time I decide to write something about my great partner Bhakta.

bhakta with our measurement tool

Bhakta, as he wrote in his own blog, is a young mountain forester; and his ultimate goal is to be a pure Natural Resource Manager. Bhakta comes from the foot of Himalaya, and served a NGO to do some experiments on the majestical mountains. He got his masters’ degree at Austria, and I guess he now is in Canada, to continue his study on Ph.D. He has passion and does really great on his major. He devoted himself for the ecology thing.

Bhakta is a fashionable gentleman; he has the “hip-hop” spirit and life style. He walks like a hip-hopper, he talks as singing hip-hop, especially the Bhakta Brand “hey, Gentleman”! After a while, all people in spider group used to begin a conversation with “Hey, Gentleman!” no matter it is girl or boy.

his brand gesture-hip hop gentleman

Bhakta is really good at searching literary. He knows well how to use the Internet, and how to find the perfect keywords. On our first independent project, he found several very useful papers for Mo and me. Besides the searching ability, he could organize the information we found from Internet, and write a good essay in few hours. As he said on his blog, he found Afec-X information on Google, and applied after the DEADLINE! Then after getting the accepted letter, he got the grand from WWF, to support the fly ticket! What a lucky dog! But he deserves this, cause he is such a hard-working young guy and good at information searching.

great partners--exactly same gesture

I have to say sorry to Bhakta. Because of my persistent on the close range photogrammetry project, he had to suffer unfair arrogant and temper from me. But he never complained. A great partner!

Hope you enjoy your new life at Canada, Bhakta Gentleman!

Tags: Afec-X, Bhakta, Nepal
Posted in Afec-X, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Afec-X 2009–Chapter Nayana

星期天, 十二月 6th, 2009

Hey, Naya, buddy!

The first time I met Nayana was the day before the opening of Afec-X, Heather took Nayana and Navendu to find something as dinner. Only through comparison you can have feeling of somebody or something. At that time, Nayana was with Navendu, cause I didn’t like Navendu at that time, I thought Nayana was much cuter and nicer than that unfriendly Indian guy. And at the first several meals, Nayana would give a “wow, great” praise for every plate of food and used his big camera to take photos, which likes a kid very much. This is the first impression of Nayana.

Then on his self-introduction, Nayana showed his big crush on butterflies. He once had a perfect job, but he prefers nature more than computer screen, so he quitted that job and do the butterfly major. Everytime we went to field, Nayana would focus on finding butterflies. The most amazing thing is that butterflies like Nayana too. I remember two times butterflies stayed on his body rather than us and we all felt surprised about it. I guess that’s because butterflies can feel the love from Nayana.

full hearted Nayana-taking shoot of butterfly

After I joined the spider group, I needed to go to forests to catch spiders at night. So I asked Nayana for help, giving me a accompany. But he told me that he would just give me accompany and would never show me the clue of spiders. And once I found a spider but failed to catch it, Nayana would thank God; if I caught one spider, Nayana would say “oh, bless”. He believes in Buddha, eats little meat and wears a yellow line on his wrist which was prayed at a temple.

too tired to walk

Nayana likes taking photo and knows well of photo equipments, he expressed great passion on Mo Xiaoxue’s cameras. Because of the interests of taking photos, Nayana has a sensitive feeling of beauty and emotion. I guess that’s the reason he could find a beautiful girl and has a happy life at so early an age.

I often met him on Gtalk, and usually it’s even before 6:00 at their local time, so Nayana is a very hardworking guy, and good at his work. So, Good luck, Naya~

Tags: Afec-X, camera, Nayana
Posted in Afec-X, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Afec-X2009 –Chapter YI Zhuangfang

星期五, 十月 2nd, 2009

This week’s topic person is Nana.

pink peacock

It is no exaggeration to say that YI Zhuangfang is a legend. She is a typical Dai girl, having both beauty and smart, and good at dancing. As a girl origined from Xishuangbanna, after graduated from Sun Yat-Sen University, she choose to go back to her hometown, and wish to make her hometown better. The spirit should be highly praised and learned by other Chinese students. Now she is the first Dai lady who is a Ph.D student, officially. And her supervisor is a foreigner, Chuck Cannon, amazing ha.

Her home is not far from the tropical botanic garden, it is a small but nice place. Although not young anymore, her mother is still beautiful and hospitable, who is good at cooking. I like the eggplant and fish BBQ very much, and, the bamboo shoot and chicken in sticky rice too. Their house is a typical bamboo tower-people live in the second floor and some furnitures being put in the ground floor. Her mother is a  lady who knows how to enjoy life, she puts photos of all the family around their house, including the pic when Nana graduated from university, the pic they attained a performance, etc. Comparing to my own home, you can hardly find a single photo around every corner, but the white wall…

I guess the characteristics Nana’s mother has influenced Nana a lot, which makes her a generous and helpful lady. On the last day we all the candidates voted for a person who is most helpful, Nana undoutly got the prize. As a student in XTBG and also a local person, she considered herself as half hostess and tried her best to guarantee our one month living in Xishuangbanna comfortable. Thanks, Miss Nana, you deserves this honor. There is one scenario I always arise  in my mind, which is that day we spider group went out for field work. She asked me to stay there and went into the intensive forest herselves, saying that : younger sister is born to be took care, which makes me always feel heat when recall this conversation. What’s more, I forgot my coat and umbrella in Navendu’s bag, then Nana mailed them to me, with some presents together. Thanks so much!!

I already told you  that Nana is the Dai Lady with the highest school record, but her goal is not just this title. Nana’s major in university is Physical Geography (the same with me, hoh), and now she is focusing on the rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna, which has sharply destroyed local physical environment. Her ph.d dissertation will build a model, helping control the sprawl of rubber plantations. She wants to make use of her attained knowledge to help her hometown and local people. It is not a easy job. We once talked about this, and she gave us  one example. once she called to her mother asked what was she doing, her mother answered as ” I’m burning the forest and plan to plant rubber”. Jeremy asked ” Then how did you response?”, Nana said:” What could I say? I just kept silence.” Rubber is the best income for local citizens, but, worst for local environment. We all understand it’s hard, but Keep going, Nana. We believe in you.

Nana is a beautiful girl as I mentioned before, and she likes high-heels very much. She climbed up the Great Wall with a horrible high heels, omg…… And the day we spent in XTBG, it was rarely for her to not wear a high heel. However, she looks gorgeous in high heels.

Nana is good at dancing. She made a performance at the last night in XTBG, as a pink peacock. But since Jeremy told us that spiders  dance for mating, and only male spiders dance, we always make fun of Nana. But to be honest, I love her dancing very much.

And this girl is a proper candidate for being a wife, cause she is good at cooking too. the Pineapple Rice she cooked for us is stunning. Yummy >_< I wish I could make them too. So, boys, do sth now!

Hope we can meet again, Nana!

———————————————————————————————————————-

Happy Birthday to China~

Tags: Afec-X, dai
Posted in Afec-X, personal | No Comments »

Afec-X 2009- Chapter Yen Dinh

星期天, 九月 20th, 2009

So, the person of this week is our super cute Yen.

Yen with flowers, Yen in field

Yen Dinh is a girl from Viet nam. She is a small but beautiful girl, with big and bright eyes. Our very first contact occured at the first lecture we had in Kunming. She sat there lonely, typing in her Lenovo laptop. It should not happen, a such beautiful girl sitting alone. So, Hua Xia couraged me to talk with her. But the funniest and embarassing thing is that I said “what’s your name” in Chinese cause I  thought Yen was a Chinese girl. As you can imagine, her response is “Sorry, I don’t understand Chinese”…. However, as she had no roommate and waitress in that hotel could not speak English,  Hua Xia and I  were the first people who have conversation with her in China. She even asked me to give a Chinese name to her. Since her given name Yen is the same meaning with swallow, and the similar sound Dinh with Chinese character 丁，so I advised “丁雁” as her Chinese name. I feel lucky about this honor.

Yen is a very clever girl. Although her English is not very good, Yen is capable of making people understand her easily; and vice verse. Her body language is plentiful, not only helps her explain her ideas, but also make people laugh happily. And brave too, she once steped up to the front of lecture room to explain her question. Moreover, I guess Yen has ability of reading heart. We once talked about love, marriage, the relationships we fall into-always the same topic between girls, it’s hard for me to explain my feelings even in Chines, but she could get through what I was thinking about.

Yen is also an interesting person, who is full of jokes. When we went out for spider hunting, everyone was exhausted, Yen told several jokes at the break which gave us energy back. Which was even more funny than the jokes themselves is the request Yen asked for before she told stories :” Teacher (that is Jeremy), you must promise that you will forget the story I will talk about. I hope you will still think me as  a good student.” After Jeremy gave his promise, Yen told her funny stories. I guess until now, Jeremy still remember these jokes clearly. And Yen always makes fun of Jer Pin. One joke she said about Jer Pin is that Jer Pin is too skinny to be a skeleton teaching facility, which is so vivid and fancy that I will laugh even now when i think about it.

you could only see half of Yen's face, but she is still the lightspot.

Last but not least, Yen is very considerable. When my first independent project faced up a bottleneck, she advised us to ask Jeremy for help; when other people discussed how to do lab work, she was cutting labels behind. Because she is older than me, she asked me to call her “Chi”, elder sister in Vietnamese, and she calls me as “Em”. And although i am much heavier than her, she still insisted to take me by bike. And we bought the same blue dress with a peacock on it.The last day in Kunming, she gave me one bracelet with my name on as a gift. I like it very much.

Yen, if the PCA you mentioned is same with what I know, then I guess you could read this below as a refernce. I’m trying to explain it with a  simple and clearly example. As we all know, there are many factors impacting on the the development of soil: temperature, rainoff, elevation, rocks, runoff, wind, organic matters, human activities. Then there is a relation between these factors and soil type. But there are too many factors here, our purpose is to use as few indicators as possible to explain the soil type. So, what we can do is to find two to three comprehensive indictors, which contains larger than 90% information of these eight factors, to explain the relaion.  So, the result we get might look like factor 1 which contains 30% information from temperature, 20% from runoff, 50%from rocks; and factor 2 covers 10% from temperature …..In a word, what PCA could do is dimensionality reduction. Hope I’ve expalined it clearly and right.

Anyway, Many wishes to this lovely lady, hope you everything a success and the most important is that keep laughing, keep optimistical. Hope I can attend your wedding >_<

Yours,

DOU em

Tags: Afec-X, vietnam, Yen Dinh
Posted in Afec-X, Uncategorized, personal | 1 Comment »