Wharton Cafe Chat in Shanghai

I am just back from Wharton's coffee chat in Shanghai, held by 4 first year Wharton's MBA students. It's a good chance to see what are the MBA like and how they think about their career development. Here are some conclusions I can make after the chat with the nice gals and guys from this top MBA school.

- 2 of them have finance background. One was GE's management trainee working in controlling; one was in the operation function of a state-owned mutual fund. The background of the other two, unfortunately, I have no idea.

- Mostly I've heard the information from Richard and Xinghua Zhou, 2 students sitting left to me. While the other one girl from Hawaii, a half ABC, seemed more american style and not so talkative. The last girl from Wharton was sitting so faraway that I didn't hear much from her. They are all very young in fact. I am getting too old to be an MBA!

- The questions we have asked include essay writing, career, school life, and recommendations. The only interesting answer to me is that Wharton, even other business schools, normally will postpone the deadline, including the application deadline and the toll deadline.

- The candidates having applied these years all have strong background. One from PWC, one from Eccenture, one finance analyst from a chemical manufacturer, just to name a few. Most of them have 4 years W/E.

- Talking with people is great, to learn the other's thought, the other's consideration.

Chinese Building Materials' Opportunity in Russian Market

Russia is our neighbor, but I really know little about this country, except for the super power in the cold war and now the emerging super energy power cross Europe and Asia. In my eyes, it should be difficult to do business in this country. The country had bad credit record. Many reported ethnic violence and some big terrorist attack in the last years. But these difficulties have created and are creating fortune opportunity for bravers and risk takers. And I think just like other BRIC countries, Russia is doing better and better for business.

I met one guy from Wenzhou who does trading business in Russia. He earned quite a lot several years ago, selling Wenzhou shoes in the country. He told me several of his ventures in Russia. I think many people imagine Russia a dangerous land. But I don't think so. The worst experience he told me are only the bribery and violence of the police. Anyway, he was still alive after he got much money from the country. And in St. Peterburg and Moscow, real estate market is really hot. The average price for apartment is already 3000-4000USD/sqm, the central area even higher, reaching 8000USD/sqm. In the last two years, the construction area for residential and commercial buildings has already past the summary of last 10 to 20 years! Russians are investing in their own land for a better life! They definitely need a stable and safe society, for life and for business. So I think even there is potential risk, the things are just changing to be better off.

Let's look into the building materials market. The booming of the real estate and the rise of living standard lead to more invest in building materials, both new and old housing. Shortage of some products even occur in some places. The Chinese goods with low price are really very competitive. Trading building materials is good chance. But we must keep close eyes on some trends:
- Russian customs. To many smuggle nowaday. The Russian government will make efforts and the market price of import goods will increase with a better customs.
- Restriction on foreign investment in retailing.
- Restriction on worker immigration.
- Credit risk

The Value of Assistant

Today, I looked for some executive assistant positions for a friend in Shanghai. The result looks interesting since from the requirement to the salary the jobs vary a lot. While some employers look for candidates with a college degree, paying less than 3000 rmb per month, the other look for people with 5 years or more experience or even with a MBA from oversea school, willing to pay more than 12000 rmb per month.

Just as in every market, the requirement for an assistant depends on the employer's expectation and affordability. In my opinion, American and European companies, esp. starting ups in China are more willing to invest on a highly eligible assistant position, and normally want to coach the person into a general management position. On the contrary, small foreign investor from HK or Taiwan tend to squeeze the budget and normally a candidate with college degree can meet be the fit.

So look out if you meet someone with an assistant title. In some case, an assistant is more expensive than an associate in the job market. And when you are looking for a job to ease your economic pressure, don't even overlook such positions just because of their name, assistant. Sometimes, there are really good deals after the 'Ace'.

SoundTex Was Beated By Some Local Nonwovens?

In our business center in Shanghai, people have long been complaining about the weak sound insulation between rooms. I even doubt that there is no sound insulation materials behind the walls and ceilings.

Last weekend, finally, the landlord decided to replace the sound insulation materials and I got the chance to see what's the secret behind the walls.

To my surprise, they took out from the ceiling many small dark grey fabrics with the logo SoundTex. I was told that they were going to replace SoundTex with some voluminous nonwovens, which look less decent and are probably from some Chinese local supplier.

I examined the removed SoundTex a little bit. They are thin like paper, coated. I am not sure the composition of it, but I just wonder whether this thin material can act as a sound barrier. On the contrary, the nonwovens the workers use are more like the EcoZero product from Politex, my company.

Today, when I sit in the office, I do find that I have more privacy. The neighbor's talk cannot easily be heard any more. Possibly, SoundTex was defeated by the voluminous nonwovens.

China National Waterproofing Association's Visit to Johns Manville and Vedag

Part I Johns Manville

From the end of July this year, the Chinese National Waterproofing Association (CNWA) has paid a 12-day visit to Johns Manville (Bobingen) and Vedag (Bamberg and Freising) in Germany.

The visit was invited by both JM and Vedag. The association has visited JM's research center for polyester nonwovens in Bobingen. According to JM, the market share of staple polyester shrinks at 10% each year. The turnover of spunbond polyester carrier for roofing is 600 million square meter, the staple polyester is 200 million, glass mat 500 million and glass cloth(玻璃布？) 120 million. The research center argued that spunbond polyester carrier has a better performance than the staple. Under the same density, the former one has some advantages eg. better strength, better elongation, stability and evenness. Even though staple can increase the density for 20% to compete with the spunbond in terms of strength, the staple one cannot reach an evenness like that of the spunbond. And the thinner spunbond can
make it easier to be impegnated and carry a thicker coating asphalt, which increase the durability of the roofing membrane.

Of course, one should take a grain of salt for these statements. Nevertheless, JM is marketing the spunbond product, especially those produced in Shanghai to the association and Chinese customers.

In Europe, JM said, the glass felt is mainly used for oxidized roofing and protective layer. 99% of SBS and APP membrane have polyester felt inside. Double layer waterproofing system is widely accepted in Europe, with a oxidized membrane as the basic layer and polyester roofing as a surface layer.

Laminated products made from fiberglass and polyester are more and more popular for high-end products. JM produces 180g laminated from glass grid and nonwovens, and 280g laminated from glass mat and polyester felt. The market for these laminated products for high-end roofing is 5 million square meter in Europe. However, this once widely used laminated felt is being dropped because of the shinkage problem.

JM also cited that an aluminium laminated product in the market.

Since the price of asphalt keep hiking, PVC, TPO, and EPDM membranes are eating up the market because of the relatively low unit price.

Besides, Manville also specified a aluminium laminated nonwovens in the market.

Part II Vedag

Vedag is an important roofing producer. Probably initiating the green roof, the company invited the CNWA to its headquarters in Bamberg. With production bases in Germany, Poland and Slovakia, Vedag has a annual turnover for roofing of 55 million square meters, selling worldwide. Among them, 24% are oxidized membrane, 34% SBS, 40% self-adhesive and APP, and 2% glass shingles.

Vedag thoroughly introduced the testing method of prEN13948, the root penetration test, to the Chinese delegation. Also, accompanied by Vedag, the delegation visited several projects of green roof.

Part III - BDA

The last stop of the delegation is BDA in Netherlands, which introduces the roofing market in Europe. According to them, 60% membrane in Germany is SBS, 90% membrane in Italy is APP, 80% membrane in France is SBS and in Netherlands, 70% are SBS and APP, the rest are single ply.

The underslating with breathability is required for asphalt roofing and slope roof.

Talking About Waterproofing in China With A Senior Civil Engineer

by Eric Chen

During the national holidays, I stayed home and met one senior engineer who has worked in the field of construction in Guangzhou for more than 20 years. Some information from him is helpful for a few glimspes of waterproofing industry in China, especially in Guangdong.

Is the Chinese waterproofing industry growing? Yes. But not healthily. With the hot investment in real estate and other infrastrutural projects, the demand for waterproofing materials from roofing membrane to geotextile is undoubtfully rising. But only in term of quantity but not revenue.

Why? For example, the price of roofing membrane in China has long been kept in a low level, coupled with the ever lower quality. In the market, you can easily find SBS membrane with a price of less than 20RMB (EUR 2) per square meter. Fierce competition makes them priced to sell. Manufacturers use cheap polyester felt, organic felt or glass felt as substrates to produce the products which probably cannot meet the national standard requirement. On the contrary, the ones meeting the standard are sold at price of more than 30 RMB per square meter. These qualified products are facing difficulty in the market because of the price. The waterproofing industry becomes totally price-oriented because the customers, i.e. the contractors, do not buy the expensive and qualified products but cheap and uneligible ones.

One may wonder whether the national standard works or not? The answer is only partly yes. Contractors use roofing membrane, but in most case they do not use qualified one. As the engineer told me, the civil engineers in fact will prefer a reinforced concrete layer working as a real waterproofing layer to a problematice membrane waterproofing layer. In practice, the membrane can hardly prevent leakage, he said. The buliding depends the concrete layer to resist water penetration. And the roof with concrete would prevent water penetration well even if there were not any roofing membrane on the top of it. They use roofing membrane only because the designer has identified the usage according to the national standard. In many projects people use the cheapest roofing membrane from the market and lay them on top of the real waterproofing concreate layer. His narration coincides the roofing manufactures' claim that they are difficult in operating products that meet the national standard.

With the increasing raw materials prices, especially those of alsphalt and polyester, the roofing membrane producers are facing tightening profit margin. And since most of the membrane producers in China are small and medium size companies, they are weak in negotiation power with the buy-side and in the mean time have to face fierce competition with the sell-side.

Statistics of 1H06 reveals that contrary to most sectors in building materials industry, waterproofing industry suffered from plunge in profit.

Nevertheless, the above described phenomenon does not necessarily mean that the waterproofing industry in China is dying. Forgetting about the standard and keeping the price as low as possible, one can sell. Who can accompany this? Those who illegitametly escape tax and use unqualified cheap substrates such as organic felt or cheap polyester felts. Most of the market players fall in this group. The rest are waterproofing materials for large and important national projects such as olympic projects. They should meet the standard and use qualified roofing felt. But the market amount is limited.

One may conclude that the lack of execution of regulations and codes lead to the wide spread of low quality products. Corruption is one reason, but engineering requirement is another important reason. If the contractors and the final customers, the residents do not urge the use of qualified and relatively higher price roofing membrane, the situation that unqualified products dominate the market will last.

China Building Materials Industry - From 2000 to 2005 Summary Report

Edited by Eric Chen

All the results in the articles are based on, and calculated from, data obtained in China Buidling Materials Newspaper.

Highlights:
Steady growth
From 2000 to 2005, average annual growth rate in building materials industry in China was 16.7%. During this period, the annual sales of cement increased steadily with an average rate of 12.6%, compared to 14.7% in the increase of sales for plate glass.

Regional imbalance
In the buidling materials industry, the average annual growth rates during 2000 and 2005 in the east, middle and west part of the country were 18.9%, 11.3% and 14.9% respectively. The coastal area still has a faster growth rate. However, the fixed-asset investments in middle and west part of China increased 51.3% and 49% respectively, compared to 36.6% in the coastal part.

Alterations in different sectors
Although those of cement, float glass and tiles are still prominent sectors in the building materials industry in China, new sectors such as those of cement products, engineering glass, fiberglass, construction ceramics, construction marble and waterproofing have expanded their shares in the industry.

Forms of enterprises
Until 2005, private enterprises had shared 34.3 percent of the total industry's sales increase, while state-owned or collective-owned corporation had shared 22.2 percent.

Fixed-asset investment
The fixed-asset investment in this industry was hot, with an annual growth rate of 48.3 percent. During the 5-year period, the total investment was 347.9 billion RMB, large part of which had been used for imported technology and facilities. For example, in 2005, output of new dry-process cement took 39.7 percent of the output of nationwide cement; output of float glass got 81.1 percent of all the flat glass production; output of direct-melt fiberglass took 57.5 percent of all the fiberglass production.

Rapidly-Growing Export
Export of building materials from China grew fast, maintaining the annual growth rate of 27.7%. In 2005, the number of destination countries was 213, compared to 180 in 2000. The trade amount with 22 countries, compared to 5 in 2000, exceeded 100 million US$.

Growing production efficiency
In 2005, among the building materials enterprises, producing 10.000 RMB goods consumed 6.67 tons standard coal equivalent energy, compared to 10.03 tons in 2000.
(to be continued)

An Unexpected Trap - About an Waterproofing Exhibition in Nanjing, China

by Eric Chen, sep. 19, 2006

Noticed that a waterproofing exhibition called Nanjing Waterproofing Exhibtion 2006 will be held in these days in Nanjing, I contacted an organizer for more detail information. The location of this organzer, which is in Wuxi instead of in Nanjing, looks a little bit weird. But anyway, a person of the company sent me a fax with a layout of the stands of all the exhibitors in this waterproofing exhibition.

Taking no doubt on this fax and the layout on it, I took the high speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing, spent more than two hours on the way, and arrived at the city quite on time. Without any difficulty, I hailed a taxi and got to the Nanjing Exhibition Center, in which the waterproofing exhibition should locate.

But actullay, all is a trap to me. The organizer cheated me with forged information. To my surprise, in the exhibition hall, I found no one of the companies listed on the fax the organizer provided. So I went up to the service desk and checked what hell the problem was. Frustrating again, the staffs of the exhibition center were absolutely not professional and accountable. Mading up my mind to kick the whole things out, I finally found the person who was willing to explain the operation of this exhibition to me. The chief organizer, Nanjing Exhibition Center, outsourced and subcontracted the marketing and sales to three exhibition services companies, one of them Wuxi. Some of these companies split the whole exhibition into several exhibitions for specialized industries, such as building materials industry, digital media industry, and machinery industry, making each of them sound like a whole and independent trade show with some important companies or organizations on the list.

Clearly, this kind of subcontracting undermines the reputation and liability of Nanjing Expo Center and even the city Nanjing. Visitors, some of which could be potential exhibitors in the future will definetely lose interest. The lack of control taken by the head organizer to its service providers does halm the whole business in the future.

Ironically, the person who tried to round up his explanation and story obviously know the problem and could address it to prevent such kind of loss. Unfortunetely, he didn't.

This is an vivid example about how the economy misses the chances to improve the productivity. At least, the Wuxi company benefits from this deal, whereas majority of the economy and society lose.

Admittedly, this exhibition is still something. You can still see visitors surrounding the products they have interest in and asking details and prices. However, without the qualified manage team, the trade show will quite certainly remain a local one and lose in the competition with those in Shanghai. Maybe you can see government touting its investment parks and incentives in front of their international counterpart, but without an efficient and prosperous local economy, most of the people will continue to be kept working and gain little.

Waterproofing Situation in Yunnan Province - China Waterproofing Highlights

Waterproofing Situation in Yunnan Province
Aug. 2006, Kunming
(compiled and composed by Eric J. Chen)

The Waterproofing Association of Yunnan (south-west province of China) carried out a general study, from January 2005 to July 2005, on the status of waterproofing in construction in the province. The survey covered seven major cities of Yunnan. The subjects of the investigation are the waterproofing projects finished from 2000 to 2004. Two main parts of the investigation lie in the quality of project and the materials used. Waterproofing quality of roofing system, basement, bathroom and kitchen, and external wall are main concerns during the investigation. In the first time, such a general and relatively entire look-into of the waterproofing projects in Yunnan was conducted.

Waterproofing quality of roofing system is improving in the province. Among the total 435 projects, the leakage rate, when calculated in area, is 0.85%, and is 15.4% when calculated in number of projects. The leakage rate of Kunming, the capital city, is still high with a rate of 14.7%, the report said. On the roofs, calculated in area, over 61% of the projects used roofing membrane, compared to 32% of those used coating and 7% powders or other materials.

In the aspect of basement waterproofing quality, some 35 projects were studied in the surveying, with a leakage rate of 22.9%. Among these projects, calculated in area, some 62% used roofing membrane, some 38% used coating materials, and the rest took no waterproofing measure.

Among bathroom and kitchen waterproofing projects, the leakage rate is 2.1%. Some 26% of the projects used roofing membrane and some 74% used coating materials. Concerning the tight space in bathroom and kitchen, the use of coating materials, most acrylic acid or polymer modified cementitious waterproofing coating, is more popular.

External wall waterproofing has not been introduced in most among those surveyed in the study. Most of the construction used ceramic tiles or other wall-covering bricks, leading to a considerable leakage situation in this rainy region. Among the few projects having waterproofing, coating materials were used, some imported.

The major part roofing membranes projects used is SBS roofing membrane and PVC roofing membrane

The report said that the quality of the waterproofing had been increased in the last 15 years. The leakage rate decreased from over 50% to about 15% or even 1% after remediation.

As a common phenomenon, lack of regulation effort of the market and the fierce competition among manufacturers lead to low price of the waterproofing materials, whereas the raw materials price keeps growing ranged from asphalt to resin. The market full of counterfeit goods and the contractors without sufficient skilled waterproofing workers are the other two pullbacks of the industry.

Firestone Holds Semilar in Beijing for its Roofing System - China Waterproofing Highlights

Firestone Holds Semilar in Beijing for its Roofing System
2006.8, Beijing
(compiled and translated by Eric J. Chen)

Philip Moors, Firestone's manager from its Asia contraction products division, held a semilar in Beijing in August, introducing Firestone's EPDM roofing system and padding system. Firestone's TPO roofing application, case stud in China and globe, waterproofing system and Firestone's technical service were also parts of the seminar. Obviously, this is part of the Firestone's marketing effort in China.

Life in Aachen

发信人: ailike (ailike), 信区: DIE 标 题: Re: Wuppertal游记
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Sun Dec 29 23:46:22 2002), 转信

呵呵，凄雨寂寂。这几天的天气颇能映衬你的心情吧。平安夜我们在教堂里面也很搞。整个弥撒是唱歌和主教讲耶稣穿插进行。正当bishop在教堂里面用德语叽里呱啦的说了一通，我听着不耐烦等下一首歌的时候，突然一直挤在我两边的两个jj面露笑容，向我伸出了友情之手。我半天才反应过来原来弥撒进入了互相祝福的环节，哈哈，怪不得我旁边的mm刚才突然间溜走了。最后，我还在bishop手里结果了一块圆圆的小“纸片”，一直以为是护身用的，直到第二天别人告诉我这就是小甜饼，才分特得一塌糊涂。反正在教堂里面站了一个多小时，用德语跟着别人唱圣歌滥竽充数还不是很难，只有他们不时说aaamen的时候我才会露馅...haliluya

发信人: RWTH (秋风清，秋月明，), 信区: DIE 标 题: Wuppertal游记
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Sun Dec 29 07:37:22 2002), 转信Wuppertal游记

By BXW

在家里呆了几天之后, 我终于踏上了以前拟定的北威州环游计划中的第一站－Wuppertal。早上7:00就起来了，吃早饭的时候居然在空荡荡的楼里看见了一个德国人，终于稍微回复平时的一丝热闹——虽然他好像是起夜。：）在Westbahnhof等顺路火车去Hauptbahnhof的时候，整个站台上只有我和另外三个中国人，看样子他们好像是两个mm与一个男生出去玩，心里稍微有点凄凉，不过马上就被自己的唯美感动了，凄凉比起满足应该更具审美价值吧！ 于是一下子平衡了，对那两个mm长的不错这个事实也可以忽略了。坐火车是比较无聊的，一堆人出去是这个样子，一个人出去还是这样子。不过，看看四周和路过的mm还算是有点消遣价值的，然后，只好打开借来的介绍北威州的画册，好歹是德语的，也作学习状吧，——我不知道路上看见的那些在火车上学习的mm们是不是也和我的想法一样，假如一样的话，她们的目的就达到了，至少，有一个来自遥远东方的大帅哥的目光就被她们吸引了很长时间。还没准备好，Wuppertal就到了。踏出火车站的时候，我的背包还没来得及背在背上，有点慌乱的被拎在手里。Wuppertal的最著名的Schwebenbahn就展现在我的面前，冲击我的视觉。虽然，我以前就听说过，在火车上也曾扫过几眼，但真的展现在眼前的感觉确实太棒了。这里解释一下，Schwebenbahn是类似地铁的一种，不过它的车轮是在车顶上，轨道也是在空中的，车体吊在空中。车是单轨道的，电动机就和巨大的轮子装在一起，一般一辆车只有三个轮子，也就有三个外面可以看出来的电动机。呵呵，根据齿轮箱的外形，几乎都可以猜出电动机到轮轴的传动细节。悬挂的结构自然非常粗实，让人有踏实感，不过我估计真正给人踏实感的是这个公司的事故历史，：）据说19世纪末的时候，Wuppertal想修市内轨道交通，但是这个城市的地质结构非常不适合于修地铁，同时地面的情况也不是很理想，于是呢，只好公开招标。有一个工程师（好像是美国的）异想天开，将地铁列车的轮子放到了车顶上，并且被论证为一个非常好的方案，于是就出现了这个世界罕见的空中铁路，也使Wuppertal成了一个颇有名气的城市。回到当时，我只看见巨大的支架，排成一排，漆成绿色，架着轨道通向远方，隐没在几栋高楼后面。支架都是由非常厚的钢板和巨大的铆钉连接起来的，钢板厚得我都不想用“板”这个词来称呼它，怕在大家的想像中与平时所见到的各种类型的板联系起来，影响了那种异常坚固的感觉。不知怎么的，我又联想到了重工业的力量。德国人的这种厚重，坚实的感觉，一下子又渗入了我的毛孔，或者说，以前被德国产品质量、工业和石头建筑的潜移默化的震撼，一下子被唤醒了。张承志以前就曾经特别比较过西方的古建筑与中国古建筑的区别，进而引申到东西方人性的细微差别，概言之——石头与木头的区别。目光的长远，对自己创作的自信，踏实的前进，就仿佛那把没有锋的玄铁重剑，悄没声息的就击碎了花巧，让投机者内心深处不由自惭。我理智上并不愿意这么简单的将很多东西归于人性，况且人性的真面目可能永远是个迷。但当是时，我的感觉确实是那样的！！跑到Information，随便拿了一些资料，我便跑到了最近的一个Schwebenbahn车站，准备体会坐车的感觉。车进站以后还是有点轻微摇晃，登车的时候都可以看到车厢和地面之间非常明显的相对移动。车开到转弯的时候，都可以明显感觉到车身被甩向一个方向。初步目测了一下，倾斜度大的时候估计有10°以上。窗外的景色很有意思。在城区里，可以看见街道上的车就在我的脚下（如果车底换成玻璃的就更刺激了，不过那就不是平民的代步工具了）；轨道有很长一段是建在一条小河上，看见下面的河水，感觉有点像小时候做梦中梦到的飞翔。有一只水鸟，贴着水面飞，几乎与我们同步，然后一个急停，翅膀扑闪中降落在河边，我和坐在我前面的大胡子德国中年人都会心的笑了，就仿佛看到一个体操运动员完成表演后的致意一般。然后的一段时间比较无聊，我在城市中心的地方逛了很久，看见了好些比较古老的教堂，不过都不是让人惊奇的那种，于是我坐在一个教堂前面广场边的椅子上，拿出城市的简介资料准备研读一番。由于德语不熟，另外被一堆街名一下子弄混了，我发了一会呆。朦胧中觉得好像有一个人站在我边上了，我没抬头，反正我是一个人到陌生城市，应该不会有人认识我吧。不过人影好像没有离开的意思，我只好抬头。一个慈祥的德国老太太关怀的用德语和我说了一通，我听的大概意思是好像问我有什么困难或需要什么帮助什么的，又问我德语说的如何？来德国多久了等等。我敷衍了几句。结果是，她给了我一本某个小教会的英语宣传资料，sigh，其实我在Aachen就已经收到过几本中文的同样资料了。我于是又逛啊逛，到了另一个小广场上，还有些雕塑。于是我又“沉思”了一会儿，等我从广场上出来到街道上时，路上走路经过的一位50岁左右的老太太在我面前停下了本来有点匆匆的脚步，我心里直叫苦，“莫非我看上去那么无助？每个富有爱心的人都经不住上帝的召唤来帮助我一把？” 我于是问了一个我临时想出来的问题，这位老太太热心的用德语慢慢的和我讲清楚了，走了几步之后，好像记起了什么东西似的，还向我打了个手势，是走过街地下通道的意思。就这样，我又回到了Schwebenbahn上，向着城外的一个城堡出发。周六的公共汽车总是迟到，我和一个害羞的德国小男孩在等车的地方都没有什么话可说了，尴尬的不知道该怎么办。我心里直叹气：看来学好德语应该还是很有用的。没想到更不爽的事情还在后面，——山下一座很平常的房子，稍微有个顶，也就像俺们乡里的初中教学楼那样高大而已，也不是古香古色，居然是Schlosse Luentenbeck，还在城市图上做了特大一个标记。我faint！回去的时候，我一个人在公共汽车站等了一个小时，中途又上演了被好心德国老头帮助的一幕，这次算是一个小忙。sigh，我简直都怀疑自己了，是不是平时自己觉得很酷酷的造型，都是那种让人油然而生同情的效果？呜呜。跑到Engels故居的时候，我终于有点兴奋了，一把就抓住路过的一个人，帮我拍照。仔细一看，这个德国同学三、四十岁，胡子满脸，手里的塑料袋里都是酒瓶，身上稍微有点酒气，有点像流浪汉。结果还好，那个同学小心的将塑料袋放到旁边地上，拍之前还很认真的问了几个照相机的问题和取景框的横竖问题。可惜的是，恩格斯同学的故居收费比马克思同学的故居贵一倍，对学生不打折，而且展品的丰富程度远逊于后者——很容易让人联想到恩格斯同学的工场主出身。在我和恩格斯的小雕像合影的时候，那位文质彬彬的德国大叔，也是将自己的帽子小心的放到旁边的地毯上，问了几个问题，还仔细的用我的相机的Zoom功能伸缩了几下镜头，才拍了照。搞的我都有点不好意思了。我甚至都要怀疑，这些德国人是不是串通好了演戏啊？还是在恩格斯的故居旁边受了感染？从恩格斯的故居出来，我就直接回火车站然后回亚琛了。当然又体会了一次空中铁路的滋味。回去的火车和来时一样无聊，能做的事情还是那么几样，只好收拾起心情，一丝不苟的装酷或看mm了。

大学写的一篇游记，没想到文笔还不错啊，哈哈

发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Sat Apr 28 18:46:01 2001)

静觅的月光洒在北京西北郊外星星点点的麦田上，一列满载着欢声与疲惫的列车发出嘹亮的汽笛声划破长空。我默默的望着不远处北京城灿烂的灯火。春天的北京就是这样，有时美得有点过分娇艳，有时又龌龊得有点恐怖。

山羊肉、白酒、饼干、面包、山水、草，好像依然在肚子里打转。小山羊临死前凄怨的叫声，篝火恣意煽情的舞动，山沟人的朴实爽朗豪放，烈日下愈加晶莹剔透的冰川，如此一幕幕依然在脑海中翻腾。

从来都是这样，不用讲太多道理，不用问太多缘由，跟着感觉走就没错。周六下午，天气很不错，一行“十三”人这个很玄的组合更为我们这次出行增添神秘色彩。连农家老大爷见到我们都为我们的清一色啧啧称奇。

清华园西站。本来属于清华的地盘如今聚集的尽是北航北大之流的外来人。修四环的大爷们似乎也对这个昔日腼腆的小站很不屑一顾，屁股一蹾就把路挖到小站旁边。

上车了。没想到这次住的地方就是去年去黑龙潭住的那条村子。这回活该也缺了点新鲜感，不过故地重游，跟老乡们拜个晚年，未尝不是一件惬意的事情。黄黄的脸，戴着两环夸张的红晕，就是当地人给我的印象，从小孩儿到小妈到大妈到大爷到老爷子，都长着如此可爱的面孔，让人有热烈拥抱亲吻上一把的冲动。

春天总能给人以好心境，铁路两旁的小山绿得很滋润，坐在窗边的高台上，沐浴爽朗的春风，我不禁想：如果我现在有好心情，我的心情一定会很好的。不知道是天黑了还是列车在穿越山洞，总之周围的景物在不知不觉中已然暗淡下去，我们的目的地：十堂路也就到了。

这个地方的名字上回我没记住，又可能是这里给我的感觉就是特别安静，平凡，与繁嚣相去太远，所以我压根儿认为这里不应该有名字，我只要闭上眼睛，想一想我想去到一处宁静的地方，然后睁开眼就到了，记名字简直多余。不过这一回因为要完成一篇游记的任务，姑且就费一费脑筋把她的名字记住吧。

又是北京的农家，又是那张大大的床，又是一帮顽皮的机七三的学生，又是那躺在清雅月色下的密云水库。熟悉，可爱，心中默默的说了一句“我爱你”。然后是搓麻将声，浓浓的男生的脚气，还有，还有嘟嘟声，不是火车的嘟嘟声，是我们肚子的嘟嘟声。是BBQ的时候了。

当地人除了旅游资源收入，便靠畜牧捕鱼为生。这里的山羊都有健壮的下肢，好吧，大家就烤一头山羊吧。我第一次看到羊死在我面前。幸好我一向冷血，动了小小恻隐之心也没有干扰我其后的食欲。宰羊啊，剥皮啊，切肉啊，穿肉串儿，折腾来折腾去都已经是晚上十一点了。篝火终于生起来了，其实没上一回爽，也就是几根木头搭着，老乡的狡猾造就我们的牢骚，不过不紧要，化郁闷为食欲，一向是我的专长。

大家都累了，我写到这里也累了。哎呀，今晚怎么搞的，好友上了网却不上站，上了站的又把呼叫器关了。

sigh。继续写吧。对了，昨天一位好朋友考G了，不过也考砸了，现在什么世道，就是不能有些令人振奋的日子过！

“故事怎么了？别岔话子啊。”

我知道。

然后大家回到屋子里，然后大家搓麻将的搓，睡觉的睡。此时公鸡哥哥已经在叫了。天好像亮得很早，我还成，精神不错，看来今天可以好好的游山玩水了。

车开进峡谷了，原来我们去的不是云蒙山，是云蒙峡。好长的一条峡谷，据说有五十公里长。

然后就是走路了，风景其实不怎么好看，这地头都有点玩烂了的感觉，没什么新鲜感了。不过其进越深其见越险，这里有很多半开发的山路，走得很艰难，但乐趣也正在于此。终于见到飞瀑了。壮观，冰瀑，有很多离奇的传说，石头掉进瀑布里会反弹出来。

我很累啊。先写到这吧，我歇够了再接着写。

机73

大学的时候，很多人都不知道自己为什么要学机械。其实很多人压根不喜欢学机械。

来自zixia欢迎您去机73的班级主页：未知的异次元空间 进入了大学，我便荣幸的成了清华大学机械系97级3班的一员。这是一个充满活力的集体，这是一个团结向上的集体，这是一个男女比例严重失调的集体 ... ... 呵呵，偶幸亏不是机8班的... ... 班级概况： 班级照片在: 学生总数：29人 男生：26人(28#) 357舍 彭剑锋（湖南张家界） 仝文权（山西运城） 刘金国（黑龙江双鸭山） 任宇鹏（北京） 李卓桓（内蒙赤峰） 姚为（河北承德） 356舍 罗先波（湖北) 尹雪松（北京密云） 樊吉吉（江西南昌） 于旭秦（福建） 瞿华（山东） 丁俊（江苏） 355舍 肖铮铮（贵州） 高屹然（北京） 林怡珀（浙江） 刘奇勇（江西） 陈亚飞（安徽） 陈亮（江苏淮阴） 354舍 王建强（北京） 朱家饶（湖北荆州） 陈俊杰（广州） 赵高敏（广西桂林） 秦岭（四川宜宾） 崔翔（河南信阳） 353舍 李志（宁夏） 宁海燕（青海） 女生：3人(6#) 344舍 李晓东（内蒙赤峰宁城） 廖震华（重庆） 潘健（辽宁鞍山） 国家一级足球运动员：一名（王建强） 国家二级游泳运动员：一名（任宇鹏） 国家运动员的不是：一名（本人*_^）