le 19 decembre 2007
住在ISH的好處之一，就是可以三不五時拿到免費的公關票，所以棒球賽季可以去看Washington Nationals輸球（我每次去他們每次都輸，好慘），偶爾可以拿到票去Kennedy藝術表演中心聽音樂會。星期一看到有票可以去聽華府合唱團的聖誕表演，想到去年這時候人不在米國，前年忙到一個半死，始終沒有機會去，今年我好死不死聖誕節要在這裡過，因此我二話不說就拿了票，哈哈。在櫃檯值班的時候順便拉了Chungyong去聽Kennedy Center的聖誕音樂會。

音樂會七點開始，大夥先走了，我跟Chungyong則殿後。不過這樣也好，因為我不想搭地鐵去Foggy Bottom（我學校那裡）再轉交通車，轉車轉兩次真的很浪費時間，還不如信步走去。沿著New Hampshire走，Chungyong帶我繞去他親戚家的小超市，因為他肚子餓，所以想說順便去拿東西吃。去親戚家就是為了拿三明治跟飲料，我們兩個超級不好意思的，不過還是拿到了看起來很好吃的三明治跟好喝的飲料。

在我們匆匆入座之後，音樂會就開始了。開場的曲目是列隊行進邊走邊唱的聖歌（Processional of the Father’s Love Begotten），這種形式是傳統教會彌撒開場都會用的，很莊嚴很有力量，我的心跳瞬間沉靜下來。

前兩天聽到收音機傳來的一首歌，有一段好像是講到歌手每每聽到聖誕歌曲都會很想哭，主持人也提到這件事，我覺得很有感覺。我去的教會一直都是現代化的contemporary church，在法國的時候牧師拿起吉他就開始跟樂團一起演奏，在DC也是，在Chinatown的教會居然是在電影院裡面，大螢幕上有PowerPoint讓我們看歌詞一起唱，還有鼓手還有電子琴的小樂團帶領大家唱歌，大家一起唱歌很有參與感。這陣子很喜歡一首歌，叫做O Come O Come Emmanuel，曲調十分優美，歌詞原本是拉丁文的，教會唱的是英文版的，這首歌唱的時候我哭了，也不知道在感傷什麼，哈哈，也許是因為Emmauel吧，這是Manu的名字，而且沒有記錯的話Emmanuel的意思是God among us，「主在眾人之間架帳」。

『來吧！來吧！艾曼紐』O Come O Come Emmanuel部分歌詞如下：
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

音樂會場，合唱團與樂團演奏了巴哈後開始表演芬蘭的傳統聖誕歌曲，演奏了很多芬蘭自己獨特的聖誕曲目，芬蘭文真的很神奇，是Moomin跟聖誕老公公的語言呢，組曲的最後是一首很安祥的歌曲，就像是低喃，就像是祈禱，令人很感動。聽指揮說，每年都會選一個代表國家來當音樂會的主角，今年剛好是芬蘭，芬蘭大使也在場，文化代表上來教我們唱芬蘭文版本的平安夜，平安夜用芬蘭文唱起來就變得很可愛。

突然想到我的芬蘭室友Pauliina，他是我第一個芬蘭朋友，那時候一起住在三號房，有時候不想唸書兩個人就東扯西扯，不過他不太跟ISH裡面的人互動，甚至不太一起吃飯，他很有國際觀可是不適合住在我們這種需要一直與人互動的大家庭，真是可惜了。Pauliina暑假的時候去了尼泊爾做服務，現在不知道回去芬蘭了沒有，希望他一切順利。

芬蘭組曲後，樂團表演了些傳統聖誕曲子，觀眾在某些部分被邀請一起唱，我很喜歡這樣的感覺，不過ISH的朋友卻不以為然，有些人說感覺很不專業。我覺得專業做什麼呢，這本來就是聖誕節音樂會，一起同樂更能增添聖誕節的氣氛，聖誕節就應該是認真地慶祝真正值得慶祝的東西啊，不是只有到處血拼而已。

其他人都搭地鐵去了，我跟Chungyong先啃完三明治跟好喝的茶，儲備體力後才又慢慢走路回家，我們討論著未來的道路、怎麼選擇工作還有一些雜事，三十分鐘的路程很快就結束。跟來時路一樣，寒風刮著臉，但是心是暖烘烘的，真期待聖誕節的到來呢！

le 5 decembre 2007

今天早上是被冷醒的，清晨的氣溫不到零下二度，被窩很溫暖可是冷空氣漸漸從窗沿蔓延到床頭，想賴床的我看到時鐘指向九點半，今天是星期三不用上班，可是也不能常常這樣睡過頭錯過早餐吧，暗暗氣憤自己又錯過早餐，氣噗噗地下床。

跺跺跺，赤裸腳步踩在沒地毯的地上，突然寒氣襲來，轉身去把窗簾拉開，突然間，心情好乾淨，寧靜的雪就這樣下著。今年第一場雪無聲無息地把各種物體蓋住。那一瞬間，好像我所有的煩躁跟不安也都被覆蓋住了，有種晴朗乾爽的感覺。白雪真的很神奇！

昨天收到Jason的明信片，很高興，常常在想他旅途上會不會想起我，想他在路上吃了什麼，有時候只是單純地想他，有時候卻反覆質問自己這段感情。這幾天他要去南方玩，有點不知道怎麼辦，有些情緒隱隱約約卻說不出來，心情就是一抹淺淺的灰藍，就像今天的雪空。

撐起傘，雪下得頗大，我在雪中傾聽大雪喧嘩地對話。原來下雪不是寧靜的，從窗內看的時候覺得很安靜，其實不然。很喜歡下雪天，感覺就是很開心，不過路人就看起來沒有這麼高興了，如果在雪下呆久，全身都會溼透的，所以沒有拿傘的人快步行走。好幾個路人投給我不諒解的眼神，因為我不僅僅看起來愉悅，還一邊走一邊拍照，大概太刺眼了。

走去18跟M Street的郵局，把我寫了好久的明信片寄給Jason。希望他在德國收到明信片，會知道有人在想他，也許他會覺得窩心喔。呵呵。也許這兩天心情不安的原因就在於八月份回來後都沒有去旅行，為了省錢沒有去很多地方玩，沒有辦法到其他城市寄東西給Jason還有我家人，就連我今天寄的明信片都是去年在德國買的小豬明信片。對一個喜好移動的人來說，這樣的侷限算是一種折磨吧。

想去紐約，不過又覺得老是去紐約，好沒有創意。本來想下次去聯合國再買新的行事曆，不過在Borders看書的時候，看到了一本很有設計感的行事曆，想說人要求新求變，換個行事曆也許心情也會有所轉變，所以就把一本法國藍綠紡織品設計的行事曆帶回家了。

不知道Jason的行事曆長怎麼樣，心裡盤算買給他一本2008的，慶祝他開始使用行事曆來規劃自己的工作。這樣算是成長吧，很為他高興，也有點惶恐，面對他的所有轉變我總是有點期待跟不安，有點害怕他會變成我不認識的人，但是另一方面我想我是相當高興的，這幾年一路走來可以一起成長，機會難得。Jason，我很想你喔，希望在不萊梅的你一切順利，工作愉快。

星期三就人在雪景中的櫃檯工作畫下句點，我在電視間跟Patricia看Heidi Klum 主持的Project Runway，時針劃過十二點，安靜地呼嚕呼嚕，把心裡跑來跑去的小煩惱趕走，睡啦睡啦。

決定了！下禮拜要辦亞洲人同樂會！

*Project Progress*
Last Thursday I attended a speech by David Kang, a renowned scholar on Korea, at Georgetown University. He talked about the East Asia history and its importance in the international relations in general. In East Asia, there was only one major war between China, Korea and Japan. That was the Imjin war in 1592. He asserts the reasons why these powers could coexist peacefully are that China was status quo hegemony and that Japan and other nations did not wish to challenge the order. In fact, the stability of the Chinese tribute system made the countries better off so no nation wanted to change the order of their world.

Last Friday I attended the whole day conference on contemporary conflicts and conflict management. The event was organized by SAIS conflict management program to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The panelists talked about North Korea, Sudan, environment, Iran, Israel and Palestine. About North Korea, the experts made an observation about the disarmament. He said that the US is using its last leverage against North Korea for its nuclear disarmament now because the US offered to remove North Korea from the list of terrorist countries. Once the US gives what North Korea really wants, what can the US do to make North Korea to go into the further negotiations?

I am organizing an Asian social hour on Thursday December 13, 2007. Both Ambassador and I think it would be a good idea. I sent out the electronic invitations to the previous dialogue participants and also some people who show interest in IMTD on Monday. Now I am waiting for people’s reply.

*News on Northeast Asia*
China published a document about Nanjing Massacre on Tuesday. The eight-volume document was released to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the massacre; it lists the names, ages, occupations and addresses of the victims. According to a Chinese news agency, this document includes the most complete list of victims slaughtered by the Japanese soldiers in Nanjing in WWII. However, Japan and China have disputed over the figures of the victims while China insisted on 300,000 people died in Nanjing. Japan also refuses to apologize and this sours the Sino-Japanese relationship. (Source: See BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7126455.stm.)

Two Koreas continue the talks on joint industrial and ship-building projects after the military officials’ meeting last week. According to a South Korean official, items on the agenda for this set of talks include further development of the joint Kaesong industrial zone, a joint ship-building facility in the North and cooperation on infrastructure projects. (Source: BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7126178.stm)

我的實習最近相當平靜，我個人的企劃都接近尾聲了，不過我想在學期末做個小型的聚會，想要邀請參加過我規劃的論壇的學生跟工作人來，應該是一個好主意！

大使老闆不在，他去參加他孫子的婚禮，所以還需要跟大使討論，我想我老闆應該會喜歡這個企劃才是，他最喜歡networking啦！

*Project Progress*
Pre-Thanksgiving week was peaceful. I sent out some thank you emails to the participants who came to the dialogue. Erica helped me to update the website. She sent to the web masters about the update. However, I have not seen the update yet. The website is really out-of-date and Asian Dialogues section really needs to be updated.

This week, I will continue to organize another dialogue. I am now asking around whether people want to come in December. Since it was Thanksgiving and the end of semester, people will be busy so I am not sure about the dialogue.

At the same time, I am thinking about doing a networking event for all the previous dialoguers. A happy hour style chat in IMTD or my place will be great. Hailey said that she did the same thing at the end of semester.

*News on Northeast Asia*
French President Nicolas Sarkozy went to China for a three-day visit. During his visit, a huge contract was signed between China and thirty European companies including Airbus and Areva, the French nuclear company. During his visit, Sarkozy also mentioned that Beijing is keeping the yuan undervalued to lift exports and urged Beijing to appreciate the currency. He also urged Beijing to abide by international standards and cut down the greenhouse gas emission. (Source: International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/11/26/business/trade.php and BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7114665.stm.)