Today just a brief word of warning for those who may be searching the internet for information on the China Railway internet service provider (Tie tong 铁通) – steer clear! Their speeds are absolutely abysmal. I often get service comparable to that of dial up ISPs in the US.
Any other service (though there are very few available currently) would be better. Sadly, Chinese society being stuck in a cultural time warp/prison means that you can’t get people to do anything without whining at them for a few hours first. Is this the fault of the CCP or just the traditional “5000 year” culture? I may never know – but I have not been able to get my internet serviced switched to a different provider - though I have tried (and - to be fair - given up). Last month when the one year contract expired, my landlord didn’t even bother to ask me – he just renewed the contract and sent me a bill.
Anyhow – beware of China Railway internet, unless you enjoy hours of sitting in front of your computer watching discs spin and hour glasses invert themselves.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Struggling to stay online
In recent days its been hard to get throught to my usual list of websites, including this blog. The Chinese government is blocking so many of them. However, with a little help from a friend, I managed to get a proxy program that allows me to do most of what I want, aside from uploading videos to Youtube (something that apparently can't be done with proxies).
Things are going well for me here. I am just about to start preparing for final exams this weekend and after that I am just one review weekend away from a week-long vacation. I am planning to head up to Changbaishan - a mountain with a large crater lake near its summit that is situated right on the Chinese North Korean border and which supplies water to the Tumen and Yalu rivers.
Overall, I have been surprised how much I enjoy teaching. This may be due to the fact that most of the time there is little or no pressure from the manager of the school and during the regular school year I have quite a bit of free time. In general, the kids are great; cute, friendly and smart.
One of the things I have enjoyed about living in this city is the chance it affords me to wonder in the country side. Sometimes this means getting stopped by the army and having my passport checked (they are just doing there job) since I am often right on the border. They also don't let me take pictures of many of the interesting things I see in North Korea. As in the States, there is a very strange fear of cameras here. Of course I could easily view the city of Pyongyang itself, just by opening Goolge Earth and I am sure governments have much better satellite photos of this border than my rinky dink D700 could ever provide. But never the less, as is often the case (here and in the States, though more so here), idiocy prevails!
Last night's view of the Perseid meteor shower was fun. Dandong has relatively clear skies so it was easy to see the occasional shooting star. I managed to capture on shooting star with my camera. Not much to look at but it was so hard to do that I was thrilled that I got something this good.
Here are some relatively new vids that I made a long time ago and just posted to vimeo in the last few weeks.
Best wishes all!
Things are going well for me here. I am just about to start preparing for final exams this weekend and after that I am just one review weekend away from a week-long vacation. I am planning to head up to Changbaishan - a mountain with a large crater lake near its summit that is situated right on the Chinese North Korean border and which supplies water to the Tumen and Yalu rivers.
Overall, I have been surprised how much I enjoy teaching. This may be due to the fact that most of the time there is little or no pressure from the manager of the school and during the regular school year I have quite a bit of free time. In general, the kids are great; cute, friendly and smart.
One of the things I have enjoyed about living in this city is the chance it affords me to wonder in the country side. Sometimes this means getting stopped by the army and having my passport checked (they are just doing there job) since I am often right on the border. They also don't let me take pictures of many of the interesting things I see in North Korea. As in the States, there is a very strange fear of cameras here. Of course I could easily view the city of Pyongyang itself, just by opening Goolge Earth and I am sure governments have much better satellite photos of this border than my rinky dink D700 could ever provide. But never the less, as is often the case (here and in the States, though more so here), idiocy prevails!
Last night's view of the Perseid meteor shower was fun. Dandong has relatively clear skies so it was easy to see the occasional shooting star. I managed to capture on shooting star with my camera. Not much to look at but it was so hard to do that I was thrilled that I got something this good.
Here are some relatively new vids that I made a long time ago and just posted to vimeo in the last few weeks.
Best wishes all!
A Springtime Ride Through the Countryside Near the NK Border from Peter Waldvogel on Vimeo.
Beijing Again from Peter Waldvogel on Vimeo.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
OK, the election's over...
...but can you believe the insanity!!!???
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8021550.stm
Is it still this bad in the States? I can't believe the BBC would stoop to this.
After clicking on this link and reading its content, It's hard not to have at least a slight desire to shoot some leftists... it's really very hard. This is like something out of 1960's China or Lenin's Russia.
I think its time that we erect some massive statues of Mr. Obama's rump - and place them strategically outside the glorious pinnacles of western journalism - this way the writers, editors, et al. can kiss his arse all day long - even on their lunch breaks.
I used to be proud of western journalism. It was something that made living in Western Europe and the States desirable. However, If things keep going in this direction, before long the People's Daily will be a more reliable news source than NY Times.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8021550.stm
Is it still this bad in the States? I can't believe the BBC would stoop to this.
After clicking on this link and reading its content, It's hard not to have at least a slight desire to shoot some leftists... it's really very hard. This is like something out of 1960's China or Lenin's Russia.
I think its time that we erect some massive statues of Mr. Obama's rump - and place them strategically outside the glorious pinnacles of western journalism - this way the writers, editors, et al. can kiss his arse all day long - even on their lunch breaks.
I used to be proud of western journalism. It was something that made living in Western Europe and the States desirable. However, If things keep going in this direction, before long the People's Daily will be a more reliable news source than NY Times.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, March 27, 2009
Quality Control, Self Respect, Social Mobility and Other Useless Things
I am often asked what I think of China and I rarely answer this question with any specificity since I suspect most people just want an answer that will make them feel good about themselves and/or their country.
The conversations go something like this:
Me: 你好(Johannah, please translate) Please, take me to...
Taxi Driver: Ooh, your Chinese is great (it clearly isn't great, by the way).
Me: No, no, no - I can only speak simple Chinese.
Taxi Driver: What country are you from?
Me: I am an Alien.
Taxi Driver: Oh, you are very humorous.
Me: You don't believe me? Ok, I am a gypsy (stole this one from a Swiss friend 10 years ago - sadly only a few Chinese seem to get the implications of the term Ji(1)bu(3)sai(4)ren(2) )
Taxi Driver: Oh, you are very humorous.
Me: OK, I am American from NY
Taxi Driver: Oh, America is a great country... (1) it's the most-developed, richest country in the world. It's number 1 (2) it's the most powerful (militarily) country in the world. It's number 1 (3) Oh, I have a cousin in Lula-lula, Washington, do you know him (ok, they don't ask me if I know him - just kidding), it's number 1
Me: It's OK.
Taxi Driver: What do you think of China?
Me: It has it's good points and bad points, like any country...
At times drivers will push me harder to criticize their country, sometimes they will start criticizing it themselves and still others will list for me what they see as the strengths of this particular municipality.
Those who criticize China, are the most interesting. This is a relatively new phenomenon. 10 years ago, Chinese people were far less likely to criticize their local or national government in front of foreigners, now it seems that they feel free to do so - the resulting conversations often surprise me.
One taxi driver told me that in America people can own guns and they don't kill each other (very interesting - since many Chinese still have the idea that America is country of terrifying gang violence and arbitrary murder). "Americans are Christians" he said "and their religion keeps them from killing each other." (I didn't mention the fact that Christianity doesn't stop Americans from aborting a few thousand children a day) The same driver told me that if guns were legal in China, Chinese people would just start killing all their bosses - I believe his implication was the government.
In another conversation, a taxi driver went on to tell me that Chinese people behave like they have no education (or culture). They don't know how to act - a fact that he felt was demonstrated by the way they walk into traffic with no regard for their own safety or that of others.
I have had several of these unsolicited conversations over the past few months with taxi drivers and others. This is one way in which China has noticeably changed. People are not only free to praise their country but they feel more comfortable criticizing it in a way that would have led to their imprisonment and perhaps worse just a few decades ago.
That is not to say that there isn't a great deal of blind nationalism here. There is and if a Chinese citizen causes his country to lose face in a very public way - it is likely that he or she will suffer for it.
Another change that I have found fascinating is the way Chinese people have adopted foriegn foods. In the past, and still in the states, many Chinese people (especially the older generation) are bound by culinary arrogance. In their minds Chinese food is the best there is. Why waste your time trying anything else?
However, in China today things have changed. Foreign food (even if its only KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut) is no longer an exotic curiosity, it’s become a normal part of the Chinese diet, not just reserved for the young but accepted by every age group. It fascinates me that KFC isn't really considered a foreign anymore - in much the same way that pasta is not really considered Italian by Americans. How many of us have grown up eating spaghetti and meat sauce and never thought of it as foreign?
Clothing styles have also shift in a more "western" direction - though with Japan and Korea providing much of the cultural influence, It seems unfair to call it "western."
These changes aside, there are three general criticisms of China that I constantly find myself coming back to.
For one thing, almost everything here is produced with very little regard for quality control. The newest buildings are aging rapidly. Brand new street lights are rusting away. Cars that look new sound like they have two broken axels. This can be overwhelming at times.
I live on the 22nd floor of a 23 story apartment building. The view across the Yalu is lovely and the space is decent - but there are some really annoying problems that reflect this lack of attention to quality. For one thing - the windows will never be washed (unless I risk my life hanging out one of them) - but more importantly - several of them are broken and are constantly filled with moisture. These windows are just a few years old. For this reason, the walls under my windows are covered with mold.
Chinese bathrooms are generally designed without bathtubs or shower stalls (probably to keep the costs of construction low). This means every time you bathe your entire bathroom serves as a shower.
In my apartment, the drain which is supposed to allow the water that floods the room to flow out, is always clogged and cannot be unclogged for more than a day or two (as far as I have been able to manage). Add to this the fact that the drain was not placed in the lowest part of the bathroom floor so even if works - it's impossible not to end up with a big puddle in the corner of the room which takes days and days to dry and makes the apartment extremely humid, probably feeding the mold.
So you get the picture - sloppy, lazy construction - with no regard for quality.
Now imagine a society where nearly everything operates this way and you will get some idea of what a large part of China is like. Things are chaotic, dirty, and often dysfunctional.
This brings me to the second point - Self respect.
Chinese, like any other ethnic group, are capable of producing high quality goods. Take a look at the newest Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens. For those who are interested in photography, this is one of the highest quality, low-cost lenses in the current Nikon line. Its design may be the most basic, but producing this lens with internal AFS, various lens coatings, etc. requires great precision and a very high level quality control. My copy is stunningly sharp and I am convinced it would perform well with some of the highest resolution MF sensors. This lens is now manufactured in China demonstrating the Chinese ability to produce high quality goods under the right conditions.
The number of high and low-tech products produced in China is constantly growing, even in these tough economic times and quality is ever improving. However, the Chinese people see very few of these high quality goods. They are mostly for export.
This leads to a strange situation in which Chinese-made products that are made for foreign markets are very highly respected, while those sold locally are almost always low quality. This can be seen in many different sectors of the economy - with the result that Chinese companies, by and large, only provide high quality goods and services to foreigners and the very rich.
It’s just simple economics. Foreign markets (in the developed world) are not interested in low quality goods, so in order to make money abroad, standards of quality must be improved. However, in other cases, like the drain in my bathroom - there is an apathy regarding quality of production. Chinese often use the term 差不多就好meaning close is good enough. In my opinion, this demonstrates a clear lack of self respect. Chinese people know to produce quality goods for reasonable prices, but the Chinese consumer doesn't demand quality.
There are of course many criticisms that one might raise against any culture but one of the most glaring faults of contemporary Chinese society is the culture of bribery.
This particular form of corruption is absolutely everywhere. It is so prevalent that it is difficult to convince many Chinese people that there is anything at all wrong with receiving or giving bribes. The wide spread nature of the problem means that social or class mobility is severely limited in China as compared with many other nations.
A consideration of how this phenomenon plays itself out in the education clearly illustrates the problem.
First of all, there is the issue of access to schools - from kindergarten through college. Students from wealthy families go to the best schools - and just to be clear, these are public schools that are supposed to accept students based on residence or merit (or so one would expect in the West).
On one level, this is to be expected. Rich parents can afford to provide the best of tutoring and private schooling to their children and the results reflect this. However, a significant percentage (getting figures on this would be next to impossible) of students bribe there way into school.
Even middle or lower class families will spend tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of RMB throughout a child's academic career to insure acceptance into decent schools and passing (or higher) grades in classes where students are struggling. Those who can afford to give the biggest bribes get the most attention from the best teachers who give the best grades, in many cases, regardless of whether they are deserved. Teaching in China can be a very profitable occupation! Teachers also "force" students to go to tutoring sessions in their homes in order to further supplement their incomes.
It has gotten so bad that identity theft (i.e., completing stealing a persons identity and living as that person) has been reported.
From the BBC:
There has been outrage in China over reports that a police official helped his daughter get into university by stealing another student's identity. The official, Wang Zhengrong, stole the name and ID number of his daughter's classmate, state media reports. The classmate had scored much higher grades in China's national college entrance exam. While Mr Wang's child took her university place, the other girl had to spend a year re-taking the exam. The classmate, Luo Caixia, eventually gained a place at another university. Miss Luo only learned what had happened when she tried to open a bank account and was told there were problems with her personal information.
(For the rest of the article see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8036431.stm)
It is hard to imagine how China will ever be the great power it longs to be without addressing this extremely self-destructive aspect of it’s culture.
The conversations go something like this:
Me: 你好(Johannah, please translate) Please, take me to...
Taxi Driver: Ooh, your Chinese is great (it clearly isn't great, by the way).
Me: No, no, no - I can only speak simple Chinese.
Taxi Driver: What country are you from?
Me: I am an Alien.
Taxi Driver: Oh, you are very humorous.
Me: You don't believe me? Ok, I am a gypsy (stole this one from a Swiss friend 10 years ago - sadly only a few Chinese seem to get the implications of the term Ji(1)bu(3)sai(4)ren(2) )
Taxi Driver: Oh, you are very humorous.
Me: OK, I am American from NY
Taxi Driver: Oh, America is a great country... (1) it's the most-developed, richest country in the world. It's number 1 (2) it's the most powerful (militarily) country in the world. It's number 1 (3) Oh, I have a cousin in Lula-lula, Washington, do you know him (ok, they don't ask me if I know him - just kidding), it's number 1
Me: It's OK.
Taxi Driver: What do you think of China?
Me: It has it's good points and bad points, like any country...
At times drivers will push me harder to criticize their country, sometimes they will start criticizing it themselves and still others will list for me what they see as the strengths of this particular municipality.
Those who criticize China, are the most interesting. This is a relatively new phenomenon. 10 years ago, Chinese people were far less likely to criticize their local or national government in front of foreigners, now it seems that they feel free to do so - the resulting conversations often surprise me.
One taxi driver told me that in America people can own guns and they don't kill each other (very interesting - since many Chinese still have the idea that America is country of terrifying gang violence and arbitrary murder). "Americans are Christians" he said "and their religion keeps them from killing each other." (I didn't mention the fact that Christianity doesn't stop Americans from aborting a few thousand children a day) The same driver told me that if guns were legal in China, Chinese people would just start killing all their bosses - I believe his implication was the government.
In another conversation, a taxi driver went on to tell me that Chinese people behave like they have no education (or culture). They don't know how to act - a fact that he felt was demonstrated by the way they walk into traffic with no regard for their own safety or that of others.
I have had several of these unsolicited conversations over the past few months with taxi drivers and others. This is one way in which China has noticeably changed. People are not only free to praise their country but they feel more comfortable criticizing it in a way that would have led to their imprisonment and perhaps worse just a few decades ago.
That is not to say that there isn't a great deal of blind nationalism here. There is and if a Chinese citizen causes his country to lose face in a very public way - it is likely that he or she will suffer for it.
Another change that I have found fascinating is the way Chinese people have adopted foriegn foods. In the past, and still in the states, many Chinese people (especially the older generation) are bound by culinary arrogance. In their minds Chinese food is the best there is. Why waste your time trying anything else?
However, in China today things have changed. Foreign food (even if its only KFC, McDonald's and Pizza Hut) is no longer an exotic curiosity, it’s become a normal part of the Chinese diet, not just reserved for the young but accepted by every age group. It fascinates me that KFC isn't really considered a foreign anymore - in much the same way that pasta is not really considered Italian by Americans. How many of us have grown up eating spaghetti and meat sauce and never thought of it as foreign?
Clothing styles have also shift in a more "western" direction - though with Japan and Korea providing much of the cultural influence, It seems unfair to call it "western."
These changes aside, there are three general criticisms of China that I constantly find myself coming back to.
For one thing, almost everything here is produced with very little regard for quality control. The newest buildings are aging rapidly. Brand new street lights are rusting away. Cars that look new sound like they have two broken axels. This can be overwhelming at times.
I live on the 22nd floor of a 23 story apartment building. The view across the Yalu is lovely and the space is decent - but there are some really annoying problems that reflect this lack of attention to quality. For one thing - the windows will never be washed (unless I risk my life hanging out one of them) - but more importantly - several of them are broken and are constantly filled with moisture. These windows are just a few years old. For this reason, the walls under my windows are covered with mold.
Chinese bathrooms are generally designed without bathtubs or shower stalls (probably to keep the costs of construction low). This means every time you bathe your entire bathroom serves as a shower.
In my apartment, the drain which is supposed to allow the water that floods the room to flow out, is always clogged and cannot be unclogged for more than a day or two (as far as I have been able to manage). Add to this the fact that the drain was not placed in the lowest part of the bathroom floor so even if works - it's impossible not to end up with a big puddle in the corner of the room which takes days and days to dry and makes the apartment extremely humid, probably feeding the mold.
So you get the picture - sloppy, lazy construction - with no regard for quality.
Now imagine a society where nearly everything operates this way and you will get some idea of what a large part of China is like. Things are chaotic, dirty, and often dysfunctional.
This brings me to the second point - Self respect.
Chinese, like any other ethnic group, are capable of producing high quality goods. Take a look at the newest Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens. For those who are interested in photography, this is one of the highest quality, low-cost lenses in the current Nikon line. Its design may be the most basic, but producing this lens with internal AFS, various lens coatings, etc. requires great precision and a very high level quality control. My copy is stunningly sharp and I am convinced it would perform well with some of the highest resolution MF sensors. This lens is now manufactured in China demonstrating the Chinese ability to produce high quality goods under the right conditions.
The number of high and low-tech products produced in China is constantly growing, even in these tough economic times and quality is ever improving. However, the Chinese people see very few of these high quality goods. They are mostly for export.
This leads to a strange situation in which Chinese-made products that are made for foreign markets are very highly respected, while those sold locally are almost always low quality. This can be seen in many different sectors of the economy - with the result that Chinese companies, by and large, only provide high quality goods and services to foreigners and the very rich.
It’s just simple economics. Foreign markets (in the developed world) are not interested in low quality goods, so in order to make money abroad, standards of quality must be improved. However, in other cases, like the drain in my bathroom - there is an apathy regarding quality of production. Chinese often use the term 差不多就好meaning close is good enough. In my opinion, this demonstrates a clear lack of self respect. Chinese people know to produce quality goods for reasonable prices, but the Chinese consumer doesn't demand quality.
There are of course many criticisms that one might raise against any culture but one of the most glaring faults of contemporary Chinese society is the culture of bribery.
This particular form of corruption is absolutely everywhere. It is so prevalent that it is difficult to convince many Chinese people that there is anything at all wrong with receiving or giving bribes. The wide spread nature of the problem means that social or class mobility is severely limited in China as compared with many other nations.
A consideration of how this phenomenon plays itself out in the education clearly illustrates the problem.
First of all, there is the issue of access to schools - from kindergarten through college. Students from wealthy families go to the best schools - and just to be clear, these are public schools that are supposed to accept students based on residence or merit (or so one would expect in the West).
On one level, this is to be expected. Rich parents can afford to provide the best of tutoring and private schooling to their children and the results reflect this. However, a significant percentage (getting figures on this would be next to impossible) of students bribe there way into school.
Even middle or lower class families will spend tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of RMB throughout a child's academic career to insure acceptance into decent schools and passing (or higher) grades in classes where students are struggling. Those who can afford to give the biggest bribes get the most attention from the best teachers who give the best grades, in many cases, regardless of whether they are deserved. Teaching in China can be a very profitable occupation! Teachers also "force" students to go to tutoring sessions in their homes in order to further supplement their incomes.
It has gotten so bad that identity theft (i.e., completing stealing a persons identity and living as that person) has been reported.
From the BBC:
There has been outrage in China over reports that a police official helped his daughter get into university by stealing another student's identity. The official, Wang Zhengrong, stole the name and ID number of his daughter's classmate, state media reports. The classmate had scored much higher grades in China's national college entrance exam. While Mr Wang's child took her university place, the other girl had to spend a year re-taking the exam. The classmate, Luo Caixia, eventually gained a place at another university. Miss Luo only learned what had happened when she tried to open a bank account and was told there were problems with her personal information.
(For the rest of the article see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8036431.stm)
It is hard to imagine how China will ever be the great power it longs to be without addressing this extremely self-destructive aspect of it’s culture.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Youtube blocked again... and more.
Overall, the net seems to function quite well in China, aside from the stark lack of information on contraversial topics. The fact that I am able to access blogspot, with its immense diversity of content, is a bit of a surprise to me.
Things are progressing nicely thus far. I have been enjoying teaching English at Aston and also having a great time getting more familiar with this little city of Dandong. It has its glaring faults, as well as its charms.
I had the chance to spend about 2 hours driving around the outskirts of the city a few days ago and found that in east (as I predicted from studying google earth) the countryside is quite pleasant. To the north, on the other hand, it's a depressing combination of utter disregard for sanitation, poverty and pollution. I hope to take further excursions as I have more days off and the weather improves. There are some pretty massive mountains not too far from here as well as an area where the Yalu opens up and looks more like a lake than a river.
Speaking of the Yalu, the picture attached with this post is a shot from my bedroom window across the river into the DPRK. I've heard all kinds of rumors about what goes on over there - from the execution of those who attempt to cross the border - to the fact that the average North Korean doesn't every get to experience being full. I'm not really sure what to believe at this point. I do hope that I will get the chance to take a tour or at least get a little closer on one of the tourist boats that pass quite close to the southern bank.
So much has been happening and there really is much to tell. For today, I will stop here. I send my best regards to all those back in the States. As spring rolls (NPI) on around, I hope you are all happy and healthy and enjoying life.
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Online Once Again
After about 2 weeks off line (strangely it seems like an eternity) I am back on line as of this morning. Here is a quick edit of a shot I made in Beijing about 10 days ago. (I still can't process raw images - but this one is OK as a jpeg.)
I am getting settled in and I am pretty confident that once I get over the chest pains and sore throats and first few weeks of teaching, this should be a great experience.
I will be posting to Flickr soon. Best wishes to all!
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Safely Arrived in Beijing
I made it. The flight was painful and I really hope I can find some way to avoid it in the future.
I will be staying in a youth hostel for a few days - getting over jet lag and hopefully checking out some of the sites. I have been hoping to see the olympic stadiums and also just get reaquainted with Beijing. I have seen many changes, in terms of the city's infra-structure.
The arrival experience was pretty amazing - I have never been through a more impressive airport. It's huge - but well organized and fast - at least it was for me.
I don't yet a have a computer - so my contact with the outside world will be somewhat limited... more to come.
I will be staying in a youth hostel for a few days - getting over jet lag and hopefully checking out some of the sites. I have been hoping to see the olympic stadiums and also just get reaquainted with Beijing. I have seen many changes, in terms of the city's infra-structure.
The arrival experience was pretty amazing - I have never been through a more impressive airport. It's huge - but well organized and fast - at least it was for me.
I don't yet a have a computer - so my contact with the outside world will be somewhat limited... more to come.
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Gran Torino
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEXF7U5TYV8&feature=channel_page
So tenderly your story is
Nothing more than what you see
Or what you've done or will become
Standing strong do you belong
In your skin; just wondering
Gentle now the tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engine hums and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
Realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead on my own Oh! How I've known
The battle scars and worn out beds
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
These streets are old they shine
With the things I've known
And breaks through the trees
Their sparkling
Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind
So tenderly your story is
Nothing more than what you see
Or what you've done or will become
Standing strong do you belong
In your skin; just wondering
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
A heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
May I be so bold and stay
I need someone to hold
That shudders my skin
Their sparkling
Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind
So realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead on my own, oh how I’ve known
The battle scars and worn out beds
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and better dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
So tenderly your story is
Nothing more than what you see
Or what you've done or will become
Standing strong do you belong
In your skin; just wondering
Gentle now the tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engine hums and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
Realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead on my own Oh! How I've known
The battle scars and worn out beds
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
These streets are old they shine
With the things I've known
And breaks through the trees
Their sparkling
Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind
So tenderly your story is
Nothing more than what you see
Or what you've done or will become
Standing strong do you belong
In your skin; just wondering
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and bitter dreams grow
A heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
May I be so bold and stay
I need someone to hold
That shudders my skin
Their sparkling
Your world is nothing more than all the tiny things you've left behind
So realign all the stars above my head
Warning signs travel far
I drink instead on my own, oh how I’ve known
The battle scars and worn out beds
Gentle now a tender breeze blows
Whispers through my Gran Torino
Whistling another tired song
Engines hum and better dreams grow
Heart locked in a Gran Torino
It beats a lonely rhythm all night long
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