平安到家

每次出远门，能一路平安到家，心里总是充满感激。

这次回家，23Dec早上乘coach从Cardiff出发到伦敦Heathrow机场，一路上雾气弥漫，能见度不到150米，车子在高速公路上放慢行驶。飞机也因为雾大，延迟一个小时半起飞。回到家后，才知道在离开机场的那天，伦敦Heathrow机场有一百多趟班机因为雾太大而被取消。很庆幸没有在寒冷的冬天被滞留在伦敦机场。

It was foggy the day we left Cardiff for London Heaththrow Airport. Our flight was delayed for one and a half hour. We felt so fortunate that our flight was not cancelled, as we later heard from the news that more than a hundred flights were cancelled due to bad weather in London.

不管你是谁，不管你去哪里，祝愿你每一次出门

一路平安，have a safe journey & take care!

有朋自远方来Cardiff

有谁会在寒冷的冬天，花钱乘3hrs的车，到一个陌生的地方，却只能匆匆逗留不到24小时？

说真的，虽然心里希望你能来，但不知道你会不会来。不来的客观和主观因素可以有很多：

因为太累了（你刚从意大利回到伦敦呢），
而且又这么远（来回6hrs，如果只是1 - 2 hrs，可能还可以考虑），
加上时间这么短了，只能匆匆来，匆匆去（因为第二天我们大家都得飞回新加坡），
再来车费又这么贵（英国的交通费是出了名的贵），
况且天气这么寒冷（谁喜欢在大冷天长途跋涉？），
这太麻烦了（还要再一次pack & unpack），
还有还有，Cardiff好像没有什么好玩的，去Cardiff不如Cambridge……

但是，嘻嘻，很高兴你还是来了......

照片中的美女就是从狮城来的好友秋敏（右）和她在伦敦念书的妹妹秋瑾。

一接到你们要来的消息，我就开始计划菜单了。在寒冷的冬天，吃是很重要的。而且这里外食又贵又不好吃，not value for money at all，所以还是自己煮比较好。为了节省时间，我前一晚就把午餐和晚餐的材料全准备好了。

22日早晨，天气不错，没下雨，还见得到些许阳光。到车站接你们回到家已经1pm多了，吃过午餐，3pm赶在天黑前到附近的公园Llandaff Park看看。"Cardiff is well blessed with beautiful parks and gardens."这是当地人自己说的。

冬天的Llandaff Park显得特别静谧。

Cardiff的主要河流River Taff 经流 Llandaff Park，这里有个小水坝，有时会看到逆流而上的三文鱼，像鲤鱼跳龙门那样跳上水坝，但总被无情的流水冲走。其实三文鱼不用这么辛苦，看到水坝中央有个突起像有盖水沟那样的东西吗？那是为了让三文鱼能游回河上游而盖的。这是从Wikipedia下载的：Salmon are anadromous: they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, then return to fresh water to reproduce.
过后，我们到位于Cardiff Bay的Millenium Centre。这是一个艺术中心，就像我们的榴莲壳一样，里面有剧场，咖啡厅，买纪念品和艺术品的商店。其外观设计也很特别，建筑物上特大的字不是霓虹灯，而是室内的灯光透过玻璃窗散发出来的，还可以节省能源呢。
Inscribed above the main entrance are two lines, written by Welsh poet Gwyneth Lewis. The Welsh 'creu gwir fel gwydr o ffwrnais awen' means 'creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration'. The English is 'In these stones, horizons sing'. All materials used, including slate and wood, come from Wales.

这颗树立在海中央的圣诞树不大，但在四周一片漆黑的海上，显得特别亮丽。

这家古色古香的餐馆就坐落在海边，不知道这里的东西味道如何？

我们三个女人都拍了同一张照片，觉得秋敏的拍得最好，所以选了这张给大家欣赏。

这张也不错，可爱的雪人 + 缤纷的圣诞树 + 帅哥, 哈哈! 情人眼里出西施嘛。

这是晚餐。我们还邀请了和我们住在同一个屋檐下的Tony和她的儿子Sam和我们共餐。

要知道今晚的晚餐好不好吃，看看客人脸上的笑容和桌子上的空盘子就知道喽，哈哈！

餐后甜品是自制的cheese cake。



嗯，有朋自远方来，Cardiff的冬天好像不觉得那么冷了......

Disc Mtg in Cardiff

Our district in Cardiff is called Cathay district.

Our Dec disc mtg was held on Tuesday, 18 Dec. The theme of the mtg was 'Buddhism perspective of achievement – Looking forward to the New Year Ahead'.

From Left Ryo, Junichi, Rob, Teo, all of them are students fr Cardiff Uni.

From Left: Teo, Liz, Suzanne, Tony

From Left: Suzanne, Tony, Woon, Jane

美丽的进口圣诞

Found this article abt Christmas in UK by Hwee Ling rather interesting.

圣诞佳节就在转角不远处。
脑子里立刻闪过雪堆、圣诞树、两颊通红的圣诞老人、唱诗班……热带岛国上的圣诞佳节总是定格以及沉迷在如此的画面中。

刚开始，对英国人的圣诞满心期待。以为这是他们最重大的节日。后来才发觉，乌节路的圣诞气氛比英国的圣诞还要浓！或许，英国人圣诞节的宗教意义不及欧洲人（英国人不承认自己是欧洲人），所以庆祝方式也就没那么传统。

1830年以前，英国人的圣诞节还未出现圣诞树、圣诞老人、圣诞礼物、圣诞丝袜、唱诗班……

多亏德国人把装饰圣诞树的传统引入英国本土，才能点缀英国人的圣诞。红彤彤的圣诞老人则归公于美国人。美国人把荷兰人身着绿色衣服的圣诞老人换上了红衫，以配合可口可乐的产品颜色。再通过宣传功力，把圣诞老人吹入了英国人的圣诞传统里。圣诞丝袜其实是荷兰人的点子，只是传到英国本土时，鞋子变成了丝袜而已。

火鸡大餐，英国朋友也说不出是怎么一回事。传统总会有来由的。说不出来由，恐怕“火鸡传统”又是个“无中生有”的传统。

至于白色圣诞，更不必提。因为十二月的英国不下雪。
岁末到德国过圣诞。各个城镇的圣诞市集里都能展出当地的特色。因此，各个城镇飘扬着独特的圣诞气氛。传统毕竟是结合人文和时间提炼而成的。反观英国的圣诞则相对类同化以及商业化。

还好英国人当年进口了许多漂亮的圣诞传统，要不今日的圣诞恐怕会更苍白。

转载自 Transitional Eternity

家常便饭

自己在外，准备一日三餐，餐后还要一番清洗，是挺耗时的。所以都想尽办法用简单的材料，用最短时间。早餐最简单，咖啡、茶、烤面包，饼干或cereal（哎，我好想念新加坡的早餐）。午餐和晚餐，文光比较随便，他可以每天吃水煮马铃薯、胡萝卜、baked bean，加上从超市买的冰冻cooked meal, 烤鱼或chicken pie放在oven烤就可以了。现在由我来煮，就比较挑剔，每天有一餐必须是中餐，饭菜，或虾米豆芽包菜炒米粉，或mix vege干贝蛋炒饭、或肉碎干捞面，汤面（不是快熟面）、还有柯老师介绍的咸饭。如果是饭菜，菜有番茄或洋葱或mix vege炒蛋，芥蓝菜花炒鸡肉（my favourite)，baked bean炒洋葱肉碎，腌肉炒豆芽（我不吃腌肉，可是文光喜欢）。还有时吃咖哩和Naan，不过不是自己煮的（我没那么厉害，而且也没买到材料），是超市买ready made的，放在微波炉弄热。这咖哩有一股味道，是印度人喜欢用的香料的味道，和我们家里的咖哩完全不一样，不嫌还可以啦。

这是芥蓝菜花炒鸡肉，另一道是baked bean炒洋葱肉碎。

左面那道是mix vege炒蛋，烤鳕鱼，还有包菜干贝蛋花汤。

三杯鸡

这是我第一次煮三杯鸡哦，下伦敦之前，我还特地去Cardiff 的Chinese Supermarket 买了米酒，麻油和金兰酱油。嗯...... 成绩如何？看看右边的照片就知道了。


不是我老王卖瓜，这是我吃到最好吃的三杯鸡。应该要谢谢柯老师的食谱，简单容易，做起来一点也不费时费力。要不然，我也不敢在钰敏面前班门弄斧，钰敏可是烹饪高手，而且我第一次煮就在别人家请客。结果当然是吃个精光，没骗你，连汁也不剩哦。
Azad还说下一次来我家吃饭，一定要煮这一道菜。

有兴趣的朋友可以参考柯老师挂在他部落格的食谱
http://solidair23.blogspot.com/search/label/%E5%AE%B6%E5%B8%B8%E9%A3%9F%E8%B0%B1


柯老师说最好用金兰酱油，没想到我在Cardiff的Chinese Supermarket还买得到金兰酱油，更没想到的是价钱还比新加坡便宜呢。当然，这里我买不到九层塔。回到新加坡一定要再try煮一次。

Discussion Mtg@London

It was their monthly discussion mtg when me & Woon visited Yu Min & Azad in London last weekend. The mtg was held at their place on 14 Dec Sunday morning. 12 members attended the mtg including me and Woon. There were 2 guests and one of them attended the mtg for the first time.

The theme of the mtg was "How can use our weaknesses to strengthen our practice?". Everyone spoke including the guests. After about an hour, a Gosho was shared. That all for the mtg, simple but nice.

Yes, all our weaknesses and obstacles are actually opportunity for us to challenge and breakthrough, and to create victory for our life! And COURAGE is what we really need to achieve this.


Bernald (right end) is attending the SGI mtg for the first time.



Ju-er (on the left) is Bernard's wife.

3rd Visit to Cambridge

向往剑桥的美

是从《再别康桥》开始

认识剑桥的美

第一次是在89年的春天
还记得那时乘小船游康河

小钱包不知怎么的掉进河里
也许它像徐志摩一样

甘心做康河柔波里的一条水草

再访剑桥

是在92年的夏天
在那里认识了从台湾到剑桥的宜
后来和宜失去了联络
不知道宜现在在哪里

在做些什么

没想到相隔了15年

会在冬天三访剑桥

没想到
人的一生
有很多事情是想不到的

有人说

能到剑桥读书是修来的福气

不知道

秋天的剑桥

美得怎么样

希望有这个福气

明年秋天

再到剑桥

This is the new faculty buiding of Faculty of Education.

It was completed only 2 yrs ago.

It was 2 degree this day, so it was very cold walking outside the building.

This is the back entrance, you can vivadly see the snack back inside.

This is the side view, where you can see the library.

This is Trumpington House, an office next to faculty building.

Following are pictures taken @Homerton Collge, it is at the other side of new faculty building.

Last Friday, Woon & me drove 4 hrs from Cardiff to Cambridge. It was already 12 noon when we arrived. We had lunch at the snack bar of the Faculty of Educator and later meet up with the course coordinator. By the time I finished the meeting, it was almost 3pm. It was cloudy and getting dark. We did not tour around Cambridge, but drove to London, and we stayed at Bheng's place for 3 days 2 nights, before we return to Cardiff last night.

Planning for District Disc Mtg

A planning mtg for district discusion mtg was held at my place last Tuesday.

From left : Robert (YMD Dist), Swatis (YWD mbr), Ryo (YMD mbr)


From left : Tony(MD dist), Raba (YWD chpt), Robert (YMD dist), Lynette (YWD dist)

Here in UK, members are also involved in the planning mtg, just like the district leaders.

In a planning mtg, everyone discussed what is the theme they think is suitable for the coming discussion mtg. Beside that they decide together when is the good date for the next daimoku mtg, video on Sensei (it is held in district level here), next planning mtg and following month discussion mtg, and they also decide on the venue of these mtg. Since there is no kaikan here in Cardiff, we only use member's place for mtg. Before Wen Guang arrive to Cardiff, the district meeting will not held in the same place every month. The district have to discuss and confirm the meeting venue for the following month. Currently, most of the district mtg is now held in my place, but since Wen Guang and me is going back to Asia this month end, the district would have to find another place for mtg during our absence.

And we discussed about the agenda of the discussion mtg. Also, it was opened to all who would like to volunteer to be the moderator of the discussion mtg, who is going to lead gongyo etc...

Wonder why the members are also involved in the planning mtg? It is because the members are supposed to be part of district, therefore they are also responsibile for the growth of the district, and they should contribute in the planning of the discussion mtg, to be inspired and bring guests (new friends) to the discussion mtg. The rationale is : The planning is for everyone leaders and members of the district. The discussion mtg is for the guests. Inspiring? I think so. Although the district is pretty small, less than 20 mbrs, but I think if everyone has the sense of ownership to the growth of the district, it is truly inspiring, isn't it?

Our district disc mtg will be on 18 Dec. Will keep you posted abt the mtg later.

爱的天地(2)

SAMMIS said...

呵呵。。我很好奇林老师喜欢的这部爱的天地是部怎么样的电影。我虽然是和你同一个年代，我好像没听过耶。
December 11, 2007 11:44 AM

Sammis,

你听过《自己跌倒自己爬》这首歌吗？还有《圆圈圈》。对了， 还有我们在学会里常唱的《海鸥》，你一定听过吧。这些歌都是出自这部电影。女主角是翁倩玉，你知道她吧。现在的人可能会觉得这种故事很老土，可是，我每一次看还是很感动。时代改变了很多东西，但是有些东西是永远不会改变的：孩子需要爱的教育，人要有理想才活得有意义。有空的话我建议你找《天地一沙鸥》这本书来读。

秀玲


《爱的天地》故事简介：
少女秀亚即将从师范音乐专科毕业，准备填写毕业志愿。就在她生日的第二天，发现自己患了肠癌。这一消息对秀亚犹如晴天霹雳。师范老师介绍他们看一本书《天地一沙鸥》，看了这本书，经过一番思考，即使父母极力反对，她还是选择到荒僻小村的孤儿院任教，决定以有限的生命来从事爱的教育。在孤儿院里，秀亚尽心尽力，把原本冷冰冰、充满恐惧的孤儿院变得越来越温馨。她不断带给孩子们欢乐和温暖，直到生命的最后一刻。

What caused unhappiness?

Unhappiness is not caused by adverse circumstances;

it is caused by our own negativity.

~ Daisaku Ikeda

Photo by lxl @Lake District, UK

Our apartment in Cardiff

Dear Mum, sis & tong,

This is our apartment. It is smaller then our apartment in Taipei. There are two rooms but we rent out one room to a member. We have central heating here, so it is quite warm and comfortable in the apartment.

This is dinning table in the living room.

Butsudan is also in the living room.

Kitchen here is much bigger than the one in Taipei.