This is a small plastic transparent packaging bag, which is a 6 cm square, with a cute cartoon image of a yellow jelly bean. Let me name it Yellow Bean. Mr. Bean opens his mouth wide, showing eight teeth, as if he is going to swallow something. Obviously Mr. Bean has been used by his owner for several times. The adhesive strip on his back is almost non-sticky and is covered with dust and dirt. Two small pieces of transparent tape are both on the upper and lower sides of Mr. Bean, with still some white powder left on them, which seems to indicate that he was once fixed on the wall for decoration. His mouth is the best home for candy, chocolate, cookies, earrings or ornaments. Mr. Bean, or plastic bag, is an old friend to humans. There is a long story about his family.

In 1933, a chemical factory in England accidentally develops the most commonly used plastic – polyethylene, and it was the first time this compound had been synthesised into an industrially material. 32 years later, an engineer Sten Gustav Thulin designed the one-piece shopping bag and it was patented by the Swedish company Celloplast. The plastic bag quickly replaced cloth and paper bags in Europe. In 1979, plastic bags, which have successfully occupied 80% of the bag market, have been used across the world and especially in the United States. Companies that produce plastic bags have begun widely marketing their products, exaggerating the advantages of plastic bags over paper bags. From 1982, more and more stores switched to plastic bags, following the two major supermarket, Safeway and Kroger, and within just 10 years, plastic bags almost completely replaced paper bags and dominated the world of shopping bags. However, in 1997, Charles Moore, a navigator and researcher, discovered the Pacific Garbage Patch – Ocean circulation will accumulate a large amount of plastic garbage, which seriously threatens the survival of marine life. For example, plastic bags have killed large numbers of sea turtles who eat them by mistake. Therefore, since 2000, more and more countries have introduced “Plastic Bans”, implemented strict regulations on the use of plastic bags, and charged high taxes to protect the environment. Today, plastic bags have become a global environmental issue. On the one hand, humans have yet to find synthetics or any other materials to totally replace plastic. The advantages of plastic are obvious, such as being thin, stretchable, light-transmitting, water- and oil-proof, low-cost and durable. People cannot live without plastic and plastic bags. On the other hand, plastic bags cannot be degraded naturally and will cause serious pollution after being discarded. The protection of animals and the ecological environment is urgent to human beings.

“Wait! This is not my fault!” Mr. Bean suddenly talks to me.

“I’m born to be your best friend! I can help you to keep food clean.”

I am shocked, but he continues talking.

“But humans don’t want to be my friend forever, they use me only once or twice, then I’m abandoned. What can I do? No one is perfect! All my wish is just living a long life.”

That is true. We enjoy the convenience plastic bags bring us, but seldom consider their fate after being used.

“Hey, are you listening?”

“Yes, yes… I’m sorry for not thinking of your feelings before.”

“Well, it’s not late. Thank you for picking me out of so many stuffs. Thank you for choosing me out of my buddies. Maybe I’m the least valuable of them all. A gust of wind can blow me away…”

“No! You are so worthy! Even though you are the lightest and cheapest one among your buddies, you can do so many things they can’t. You are not afraid of dirt, water, and oil, you are so convenient to carry. You can protect all my little treasures like a soldier. And you are so cute that I knew I liked you the first time I saw you. Would you like to keep my ring in your big mouth?”

“No problem! But if one day you don’t need me anymore, remember to send me back to my brothers and sisters! I don’t want to be left in the nature and stay alone for hundreds of years…”

Mr. Bean eats my ring and runs into my bag. “Nice ring, but tastes bad.” He adds.

I am so glad to meet Mr. Bean. Even seemingly weak one has tremendous power to change the world. Just like our habit of reusing and recycling plastic bags. People and plastic are not in a hostile relationship. What we need to do is help each other. After getting help from plastic, it is our duty to help them return to their place of birth and realise their own value. Thank you to the plastic bags for their nearly a century of service to mankind. They are not demons, just misplaced. They are not trash; they are misplaced treasures. How to rationally use plastics and protect the environment is an issue of human. I know there will be one day, technology can help plastic bags coexist harmoniously with the environment.

On 11 November 2023, I was on holiday in Barcelona with my friend Yolanda. We had a great time at Barcelona Beach from 2pm to 4pm, and I made an observation for about an hour. It was a very warm sunny day, the temperature is more than 20 degrees, with no clouds in the sky, and the air smelled of salty sea water mixed with sunshine. The tide, like the breath of a man, rose and fell, rhythmically lapping the beach. One can hear the shrill cries of the seagulls and the fluttering of their wings. There were about 100 people present, comprising all age groups: children, young people, middle-aged and elderly, wearing T-shirts, shorts, skirts and dresses. Young people were the majority, followed by children. Most of them were tourists, speaking totally different languages of different countries. Others were locals, including vendors hawking drinks and beach mats.

Different groups of people each occupied a small area. So many young people sunbathing on mats, with their couples or friends. Some of them were using Tiktok to record their day, some were chatting, and some were helping their companions apply sunscreen. If they forget to bring a mat, they had to rent it from the vendors at a really high price. Beside me was a family, a mother with two children and two dogs. The mother leaned back leisurely on her bag, enjoying the view of the sea and occasionally shouting at her children to keep them from running into the waves. Her son and daughter were initially competing in digging in the sand, and when they got tired of playing this, they ran out into the tide and splashed each other, shouting happily to show their mum what they were doing. The mother took out her mobile phone from time to time to take pictures of her lovely children. Meanwhile, their big dogs certainly did not stay still, but ran freely along the shoreline, chasing seagulls and pigeons. When the owner called out their names, these two dogs even pretended not to hear them and continued to play and ran further away until they got tired of playing. Many tourists observed these two dogs and videotaped them, including me, of course.

As time passed, the beach became more and more crowded with tourists and locals. Drinks vendors brought in cocktails every five minutes, selling them to everyone who passed by. They sang unique songs for sale and tried to get everyone’s attention. There were even IT engineers who brought their computers to work, sipping cocktails while their fingers flew up and down, tapping out code. Elderly local couples also came for a walk along the beach, holding their hands tightly. They sometimes suddenly argued out loud, but most of the time they looked at each other with loving eyes and leaned on each other. When they got tired, they just sat on the stone fence on the beach to have a rest. Within just one hour, from the children to the old couples, I saw a snapshot of an ordinary person’s whole life — Life is very long, however, it can be highly summarised and glimpsed in the same space and time.

I try to analysis the reasons of their behaviours. For parents, the beach is a free outdoor spot and one of the best places to take their kids out on weekends to play and be close to nature. The beach is full of sunshine, which is good for the health of the kids. With endless sand, children can play freely for an entire afternoon and parents can relax themselves without spending extra energy to take care of them. The children are free to shout, run around and create their own sand buildings from their imagination, with bare feet and minimal clothing. After a week of daily education or work, it will be so nice to take such a breath and relax. Not only can family members enhance their relationship, but for couples and friends, the beach is also a great place to go on a date. Nature often makes people feel romantic. The link between man and nature is marvelous. Enjoying the sunrise and sunset with the one they love, feeling the sea breeze blowing, the stress in life will be swept away easily. The only thing left is freedom, love and the happiness of being born as a human being. For businessmen, weekends are the great time to make money, especially in places with lots of tourists. They are willing to sacrifice their time enjoying the nature to maximize their profits, for example, making drinks for thirsty people, renting out swimming gear, umbrellas, sunglasses and beach mats, selling souvenirs, and so on. I seem to have become an outsider in this observation. As a student who studies anthropology, I observed others and analysed their motives. But as a tourist, I took a lot of photos and made unforgettable memories at the beach. In fact, I also became part of the observations in the lives of other people.

In 2023, there are already more than 85 million people with disabilities in China. This means that for every dozen people, there is one person with a disability. That’s a very impressive ratio.

In most cities, public places are already equipped with barrier-free facilities, such as metro stations, railway stations and airports. However, despite the abundance of barrier-free facilities, it is still rare to see people with disabilities in real life. Due to the lack of attention paid to them in people’s daily lives, blind alleys are often blocked by obstacles, and this makes them even more afraid to go out. In some ways, people with disabilities are almost not in the same world as we are– even though physical illness is close at hand for everyone. China still needs to strengthen the protection of vulnerable groups, improve relevant policies and actively include them in compulsory education.

In the town I live in, I rarely see anyone in a wheelchair out on their own. In contrast, on my first day in Bremen, I saw no fewer than five mobility scooters, with users ranging from the young to the middle-aged and the elderly. They hardly needed any help getting on and off buses and trams, going to the supermarket, going to the post office and the bank to do their personal business, and even driving through the streets at great speed. At the university, I was even able to find ramps on different floors dedicated to wheelchairs that lead straight to the bathroom. These utilities are truly used in everyday life and with great frequency. The label disability is no longer a reason for people with disabilities to be stuck in their homes.

Living in two countries, the level of convenience in daily travelling is completely different. Although China’s economy is developing at a rapid pace, humanistic care still has a long way to go. It’s not just about developing the infrastructure, but also about changing attitudes and practical application. Many people are devastated after suffering a physical blow because family, friends and society, still hold more or less prejudice against them. In most cases, family members think they need to avoid the danger of travelling, friends think they can no longer travel in company, and society does not give them good psychological counselling and living accommodations. It is very worthwhile to learn how to build more service centres for the disabled to help them solve their psychological, living and employment problems.

Human beings are animals with dignity, and this dignity deserves the respect of the entire human society. When people are no longer confined by physical defects, the value of society becomes more prominent.

 

First Blog:)

Actually I’ve been living in Bremen, or more exactly, in an unfamiliar environment for 50 days. This period is not a long time, but must be one of the greatest change in my life. I wrote nearly fifty emails and finally signed a contract for a suitable apartment within three days; I registered with the BSC and got my own tax ID number; I applied for a german bank card and finally got an IBAN; I went to IKEA to buy pans and bowls… Of course I also made a lot of mistakes, like I often took buses in the opposite direction, bought tickets repeatedly, could not figure out the bus or S-Bahn station, and got disconnected from the Internet because I took out my Chinese phone card, which was really annoying.

Life has never been so hard, but it has also never been so warm. I got help from a lot of warm-hearted people. When I arrived at Bremen Airport, I did not know that it costed one euro coin for using the luggage trolley. Fortunately, a lady offered to give me the coin so that I could move my three heavy luggages to the airport gate. The taxi driver helped me to carry the luggages to my Airbnb apartment. The landlady told me how to rent an apartment quickly and recommended Schwarzbrett Bremen to me– in fact I rented my apartment from it. Furthermore, she allowed to to keep my luggages in her private room when I had to move to another Airbnb room and even drove her car, sending me and all my luggages to the final apartment, helped me to carry all the things to the third floor, without charging me for fee. This kind lady also invited me to her garden afternoon tea. My neighbour agreed to share his WiFi with me when I did not have any Internet– I can not sign a WiFi contract because I do not have an ID card yet. I encountered so much kind people, and I don’t know how to express my gratitude to them.

I also try my best to help others. I helped a visually impaired old man find the correct bus door, helped my neighbour move the heavy trash bin, and helped a lost student at university to find her classroom (I don’t even know how I became a helper when I have a poor sense of direction haha)… I believe that kindness and love are conserved, and how much you give will be what you gain.

I gradually adapted to university life, from the orientation week, to course selection, to attending Seminar for the first time, and so on. I met so many friends from different countries and spoke different languages. Luckily all my teachers and friends accepted my poor German. By the way, I made a correct decision, choosing English as my second major, it really saves my life– Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof. I know, everything is difficult at the very beginning. I have just reached the foot of a big mountain. Climbing up step by step, one day I will be able to see the beautiful sunrise at the mountain top.

Of course, life in Bremen is not perfect. When it comes to the things that disappoint me, they are mainly the cumbersome civil affairs, the always difficult task of receiving a delivery (Thank God I haven’t received my delivery for a month and a half), and the cold winter when I rarely see the sun. However, I like my current life very much. Although I sometimes feel tired, every day is fulfilling and meaningful.