The Horse and His Boy, Book 3 in the Chronicles of Narnia

Okay, I just finished reading The Horse and His Boy (HHB) this morning. Bree is so delightfully annoying. He is so full of himself it's absurd! At the same time that I want to smack some sense into him, I also feel like I want to pat him on the back and tell him it's okay to feel inadequate. Most everyone is inadequate and very very few of us are great. Bree just has to get adjusted to the different surroundings and the different animals.

And contrary to my prediction about Bree and Hwin, they don't end up marrying one another. I find it truly hiliarious that Lewis would actually wrap up their story and explain what happened to these horses later on, and point out that they don't end up marrying one another, although they remain good friends. Isn't that just so hilarious? I think so.

I was keeping track of all the topics that I can write essays about. I know there must already be a lot of essays written about these topics, but instead of just passively reading other people's essays, I'd like to write some of my own. Before I do so, however, I'd have to do some more research and take notes. I'll use my blog as my notebook.

Topics:
1. Narrative Style - Lewis tells the story like he's a grandfather telling stories to his grandchildren. At some points in the story, it mentions that the story of HHB was actually recounted to the current narrator by characters like Bree and Shasta/Cor. I find the idea of a horse telling stories so hilarious. I'll be using this word a lot whenever I have to refer to Bree. Another thing I thought was worthy to note was the metafictional quality of the narration, such as when Bree debunks myths about horses that were taught to children through fantasy stories. This story itself is a fantasy story.

2. Background to Lewis' knowledge and love of animals - At some points in the story, I get the sense that Lewis would have been a great advocate of animals, especially horses.

3. Feminism as an emerging force in characterization - Hwin and Aravis are both very strong female characters in this book. Perhaps once I've read all 7 books, I will have a more complete picture of the female characters in the series. Perhaps only then will I be able to assess accurately Lewis' treatment of the Feminist topic in his stories.

4. Aravis and Shasta/Cor's characterization

5. Hwin and Bree's characterization

6. Race, the Other, and the Alienization of Persians, Arabs and Anglo-Saxons - This goes back to my very first thought about this book where I asked the question, "Does anyone find the basis of the story racist?" I suppose I should tweak that question so that it reads: What are some instances in the story that portray the Persian and Arabian cultures as the Other? What impact do they have on generating or perpetuating the alienization of Muslim and Christian peoples and cultures? How do they achieve that effect, if there is one? I do not dare to forget that Lewis comes from an educated British background, of which there inevitably would have to be certain facets that colour his view of the people of other nations and ethnic groups, not to mention the different religious beliefs. This colouring is a product of the upbringing and the time period in which Lewis lived. For this reason, I would not dare to call Lewis racist, but at the same time, I cannot read HHB and not see an underlying current of racial tension, subtle as it may be. This is something that I am very eager to explore in the near future.

7. Aslan as God
Some say that Aslan is more comparable to Christ, but the way he was portrayed in HHB, he appears to have more similarities with God. There's a saying that goes, "God works in mysterious ways." This saying came to mind frequently while reading HHB, especially every time the children and horses were being chased by the lion.

Khalil Fong 方大同 - 春風吹

Taiwanese singer/songwriter. He's a big fan of Michael Jackson, and at the Chik Chak 903 Music Awards 2007, he performed alongside Ivana Wong and Hins Cheung. He even performed the moonwalk very nicely.

This is his new song, Spring Wind Blowing.

Semester 2 Has Begun!

Yesterday was the first day of 2nd semester. I'm currently teaching grade 10 English, and two sections of ESLE.

I was very apprehensive about the grade 10 English class, becuase I haven't had a large class above 28 students since last September. I was afraid that I wouldn't know how to conduct myself in front of such a large group. It turned out to be fine. The students seem very friendly and cooperative. There doesn't seem to be any behavioural problems, as yet. The tip I got from DR, who taught this course last semester, is that the students must be kept busy for every minute of the class. Otherwise, they will start slacking and chatting and go out of control.

My 2nd period class of 18 students was lovely. Just lovely. When I entered the class, I realized how relieved I was. I felt like I had come home. "This is where I belong." It was a very surprising reaction.

My last period of the day was after lunch, and it was with seven students. SEVEN!! There were supposed to be nine, but two of them didn't show up. It was so quiet and so dead. There was no energy. I think I'll have to come up with a lot more group activities for this class to get them to know one another first, and build some comeraderie.

At the end of the day, I was so wiped! All of us were telling each other how tired we were, it was kind of funny.

That's all for now.

Kashgar's Desert Willow 喀什葛爾胡楊

Song & lyrics by Dao Lang (click on title)
Arrangement by Mac Chew

From the beginning, I never considered where
in my heart you should be placed.
From the beginning, you called to my imaginations.
At that moment when I was about to give you a special place there,
You had forgotten me already,
I, in turn, had to look hard and deep into my memory
for every little bit of our love,
hoping that your heart would turn to me again.
You told me that " 'Till death do us part" means one's entire lifetime,
and you would not give it up for me.

I felt that I should find other ways to see you,
yet fear that we shall never be together.
I'm willing to wait until our next life,
when we'll hold each other in our arms,
and you'll renew your love for me.

I will silently pray that when Heaven remakes this world
to pay you special attention so that your appearance will not be altered,
Then no matter in however impoverished a village or however noisy a city,
I'll see you and recognize you immediately.

Let me wander through this earth for three thousand years,
and grow as old as the Kashgar desert willow.

I will search carefully for you for centuries onwards,
and find you in any reincarnated form.
I do not fear the gusting of the wind,
nor the thrashing of the rain,
nor the burning under the sun,
nor any harm this sandy desert may do me;
I'll lay down my heart and my love plainly for you to see.
I would that my body be eroded over the ages by the wind,
and hope that then, you'll feel my true love.

Our love stopped in this century,
from the moment we arrived to the moment we left.
What landscape has it transformed into?
Our love is hidden under the soil, which has made it suffer so,
and become such a lament.

Kashgar page on Wikipedia
Desert Willow (Huyang) on Wikipedia in Chinese only

Rice Paper: Restaurant Review

Last night, my friends and I went to the new Rice Paper restaurant located at Leslie and Finch, inside Leslie Square Plaza. It is a new restaurant that just opened up about a month ago. It serves Vietnamese/Thai cuisine.

We got there nearly at 8pm, and we had to wait another 40 mins. for a table. The restaurant has a lounge area near the entrance for this reason. The couches were very comfortable to sit in, and they were also arranged in a pattern that allowed patrons to sit facing one another and chat while we wait. I really liked this touch. The 40 minute wait did not feel like it because we felt comfortable and cozy. This was a very nice touch.

The restaurant's interiors look very modern and very clean. By clean, I mean the view of the dining room from where you're sitting. The glass strips that divide the various sections of the dining room makes it look much roomier than it already is, being a big space. The glass strips also create a lot of optical illusions because of the reflecting light and images. Strangely, this creates a sense of privacy.

Unfortunately, the most important thing to a restaurant is not the appearance and the atmosphere, but the quality of the food. And Rice Paper's food is truly not worth the price ($20/person). Here's why:
1. "Bo Koh" - Vietnamese tomato and beef stew. The beef was so chewy, it was impossible to eat. This tells me that the chef doesn't know how to cook this cut of beef properly. Secondly, the soup in the stew did not taste anything like the authentic "bo-koh," which is made using a particular blend of spices. Without these spices, it will only taste like spicy tomato soup. This is my favourite stew of all stews, and I, needless to say, was tremendously disappointed.

2. "Bei-rgoong" - Shrimp wrap. This is another one of my favourites of Vietnamese cuisine. My family makes this occasionally, and I like to do the wrapping. When eaten fresh, the rice wrapping is soft, yet chewy. This restaurant "bei-rgoong" was not soft at all. It was, again, VERY CHEWY. This tells me that they were not made fresh.

3. "Chicken with Red Curry". The sauce was very good, excellent for dipping. They did not go cheap on the spices for this dish. The chicken was moist and succulent. The only drawback to this dish was that they put chicken wings in it, instead of meatier parts of the chicken. For a stew, that's a disappointment for me personally, but those who love chicken wings will love this dish.
NOTE: This dish comes with 1 small French baguette. To order the rice, it costs $1 extra. For another piece of baguette, it'll cost $1.50 extra.

4. "Thai Glass Noodles." This was the spiciest dish of all. That wouldn't have been bad at all, if not for the fishy tasting shrimps and squids. That tells me that they used very low quality seafood to make it. The seafood must have been the low-grade frozen type. I don't like seafood because of the fishy taste, and seafood that isn't fresh has a very strong odour of that fishy taste. This was the worst dish of all and that's why more than half of it was left uneaten on the table.

5. "Roat Pig's Neck with fake 'Fish Sauce'". This was one of the best dishes, but too bad it was only an appetizer. Thin strips of roast pork sat on a bed of lettuce with a fake "fish sauce." The FISH SAUCE is another major flop. It can't even qualify as fish sauce, which is the most basic dipping sauce to Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. Like ketchup to western dishes, and soy sauce to Chinese dishes, the fish sauce must not be compromised.

6. The Drinks. Very tasty, but you can't go wrong with drinks.

For the service, it was quite good. The servers were all very cordial and accomodating.

Atmosphere and service: 4 stars out of 5.
Food: 2 star out of 5.

Nuyen's B-day

Last night, the Gang went out to celebrate Nuyen's birthday. First, we had dinner at Rex Saigon Buffet. I had lots of mango salad and curry chicken. At one point, "Cathy" was chatting with Nhan, and he responded with "Nuyen is good to have a girlfriend like you...but he's not worth it."

OUCH!!! Nhan just killed two birds with one stone, and the funniest thing is that he didn't even know it. I just sat there laughing my ass off as Clare tried to explain to Nhan what he just did. "You just dissed me by saying Cathy's a good gf, and then you dissed him by saying he's not worth it!" ROTFLMAO!!!

After dinner, we went to a driving range in Vaughan. On the way there, I rode in Nhan's car with Clare and Leung. We played the cd that I had just burned for them, full of TVB theme songs from the 80s. The three of us were on a high, and Nhan kept muttering "God help me...for the love of God..." and so on. Obviously, Nhan is not a fan of 80s kung fu movies from TVB, nor is he willing to fall in love with the music. Too bad!

The song that got us the most was

劍伴誰在（倚天屠龍記主題曲）
作詞：黃霑　作曲：黎小田　演唱：梁朝偉/梅艷芳

（女）倚天劍何在
（男）寶刀出鞘期待
（女）期待劍開
（男）問蒼茫大地上　劍伴誰在
　　　為你尋遍八方路　想你心開
（女）心已隨風中笑影　偷偷投夢內
　　　迎入你全部豪放姿采
（合）不知你不知我　誰武功厲害
　　　劍是龍　劍是虹　騰躍萬年萬代
　　　一招了　千招了　良將知良才
　　　以熱誠以熱愛　衷心喝采
（男）望江湖七洲四海　劍在人在
　　　仗劍行遍八方路　胸襟放開
（女）撫劍攜心中笑聲　輕輕投夢內
　　　尋覓你全部流放的愛
（合）以熱誠以熱愛　放盡異彩

Upon First Meeting Zhao Min

Top to bottom: Alyssia Chia, Gigi Lai, Kitty Lai

After reading the book , I realize that none of the actors who have played Zhao Min in the TV series match well with the book's descriptions. When we first meet Zhao Min, she is dressed up as a man, holding a fan with a handle that is made of white jade. "The hand that held the fan was so pale they matched (23, p.1075). Even in male dress, she looked very pretty. When she spoke, she did so delicately and did not try to conceal her true gender.

At the Green Willow Villa, Zhao Min wined and dined with Zhang Wuji and the rest of the Ming Sect desciples. After a while, her face developed a blush from the alcohol, and this actually made her look even prettier. She is still dressed up as a man to boot!
What makes her so mesmerizing is not just that she's pretty, but in her beauty there is an underlying current of the heroic and the noble.

I have seen 3 versions of HSDS, and I think that Gigi Lai looked best as Zhao Min, but Kitty Lai played the payed the role the best. Alyssia Chia, as pretty as she is, looked a bit too gentle, and acted the part with too much delicate childishness. Now, after reading the descriptions, I realize it's foolish to picture any actress as Zhao Min because she is described in such a way that she could never appear in the flesh.

I wish Jin Yong had spent equally as much paper on describing Zhang Wuji's appearance.

Funniest Scene So Far

Ch. 22, pp. 1032-1033

"宋青書心中大駭，偶一回頭，突然和周芷若的目光相接，只見她滿臉關懷之色，不禁心中又酸又怒，知道她關懷的絕非自己，當下深深吸了一口氣，左手揮掌猛擊張無忌右頰，右手出指疾點他左肩 ‘缺盆穴’，這一招叫作 ‘花開並蒂’，名稱好聽，招數卻十分厲害，雙手遞招之後，跟著右掌擊他左頰，左手食指點他右肩後 ‘缺盆穴’。這兩招 ‘花開並蒂’ 並成一招，連續四式，便如暴風驟雨般使出，勢道之猛，手法之快，當真非同小可。眾人見了這等聲勢，齊聲驚呼，不約而同的跨上了一步。"

The above is a description of a set of Wudang kungfu called "Blossom and the Receptacle". It is made up of four manouvres that are executed in rapid succession. First, you use your right hand to press on an acupressure point in your opponent's left shoulder area, and then you hit the left side of his forehead. You repeat this with your left hand and strike the right side of your opponent's shoulder and forehead. It is executed with such speed that your opponent will be immediately immobilized by your pressing on those two specific acupressure points. Then, he is also disoriented because of being struck on the forehead twice.

When Zhang Wuji was heavily injured by Zhou Zhiruo's sword, he couldn't even stand up straight to fight his opponent, Song Qingshu (son of Song Yuenqiao). Song thought that this would be his best and probably only chance to humiliate Zhang Wuji in front of Zhou Zhiruo. So he attacked Zhang Wuji with the "Blossom and the Receptacle." Little did Song know that Zhang Wuji had already mastered seven levels of Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi. Zhang Wuji used this to "return" whatever Song wanted to use on him back onto Song himself. When Song wanted to press on Zhang Wuji's acupressure point, Zhang pushed his hand back and Song ended up pressing on his own acupressure point. When Song wanted to strike Zhang Wuji on the forehead, Zhang pushed that back, too, and Song ended up hitting his own forehead. Because these four manouvres are executed with such speed, Song Qingshu ended up immobilising himself completely, became disoriented , and fell over backwards "with a bang."

"只聽得拍拍兩下清脆的響聲，宋青書左手一掌打上了自己左頰，右手食指點中了自己左肩 ‘缺盆穴’，跟著右手一掌打上了自己右頰，左手食指點中自己右肩 ‘缺盆穴’。他這招‘花開並蒂’四式齊發，卻給張無忌已 ‘乾坤大挪移’ 功夫挪移到了他自己身上。倘若他出招稍慢，那麼點中了自己左肩 ‘缺盆穴’ 後，此後兩式便即無力使出，生他四式連環，迅捷無倫，左肩 ‘缺盆穴’ 雖被點中，手臂尚未麻木，直到使全了 ‘花開並蒂’ 的下半套之後，這才手足酸軟，砰到一聲仰天摔倒，掙紮了幾下，再也站不起來了。"

ROTFLMAO!!!

In the 1986 TVB version, the martial arts choreography looked so cool when Tony Leung acted this out. I didn't know that the novel description would actually be so hilarious.

Notes Ch. 21, pp. 974

When Zhang Wuji battles Kongxing, one of Shaolin's three "divine" monks, there are hints as to the difference between kungfu that is jiang 剛 versus kungfu that is yinrou 陰柔. Jiang kungfu is more agressive and uses clear methods of attack. Yin kungfu is more sly, and attacks by first drawing your opponent into a trap.

"三十六式得招數，一瞥之下，似乎其中破綻百出，施招者手忙腳亂，竭力招架，其實這兩招似守實攻，大巧若拙，每一處破綻中都隱伏著厲害無比的陷阱。龍爪手本來走的是剛猛的路子，但到了最后兩式時，剛猛中暗藏陰柔，已到了返璞歸真，爐火純青的境界。"

In wuxia novels, the kungfu used by females is usually of the yinrou nature, while men use the jiangyang kungfu. My guess is that females rely on a more sly strategy when they fight because they don't have the physical strength nor the muscular stature of the males. Of course, this attitude is very sexist, and wuxia novels by Jin Yong do display this prejudice.

Notes: Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi

Ch. 20. Zhang Wuji and Xiao Zhao are in the secret chambers of the Ming Cult Castle. It is here that Zhang Wuji finds the sheep skin with the instructions of Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi written on it.

Qian Kun means heaven and earth. Da means big. Nuo Yi means to move around. I interpret this name to mean "move heaven and earth." A wugong that teaches one's neigong (inner energy) to become so powerful as to be able to move heaven and earth, that must be some incredibly powerful stuff.

In actuality, it is a neigong that releases all of the inhibitors inside a person's body. The novel description uses the example of a man who is trying to save someone in a building that has caught on fire. Normally, one man's strength is very limited, but when he is in a critical and dangerous situation, he can exert an abnormally large amount of strength. Such a man could lift a fallen wooden beam to save his brethren. In western medicine, this might be described as simple adrenaline. When you're in a dangerous or critical situation, you will be able to achieve things that you would not normally. One real life example of this is Olympic athletes. When it's the gold medal race/competition/match, some athletes are able to shine and deliver their very best, far surpassing their own personal best results to beat the rest of the competitors to win the gold medal.

Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi simply allows a person to use and exert all of the inner strength in one's body. Everyone has this inner strength, but nobody can control it. Only during moments of dire urgency will people accidently discover how powerful we are. QKDNY allows one to control one's inner strength, so that one can be as powerful as a giant at any moment.

Notes: Jiu Yang Shen Gong

Chapter 19, p. 897-898. Here, it's revealed how Zhang Wuji was able to completely master the Divine Powers of the Nine Suns. When he was tied up in the Baggy Monk's magical bag, he tried using his power of the Nine Suns to break out of it. While he was doing this, the magical bag became a pot, and the power of the Nine Suns was building up, almost like steam. Inside this cloth "sauna", Zhang Wuji's power of the Nine Suns grew more and more potent. Like steam to raw flower to make a bun, all of the pressure points on his body were "opened," so that he was able to master the powers of the Nine Suns even sooner, and with greater potency. The result is that Zhang Wuji is now the most powerful of all the heroes of wulin.

p. 901-02. In the book, Xiao Zhao (brightness) first appears to be a very ugly girl. This is because of a birth defect, which is feigned. In the 1994 TVB version of this story, Kong Hay-man acts this part like the novel describes. In the 1986 TVB version, Siu May-kay doesn't.

--EDIT--
Chapter 21, 960-63. The 1994 version portrays the batthle with Zhang Wuji and Song Weixia at Bright Shining Peak fairly faithfully to the novel. Song Weixia is one of the elders of the Hong Dong school for martial arts. He had been practicing the school's highest and most powerful set of wugong called the Fists of Seven Wounds, and he slowly began to injure his own physical health. He had been feeling some pain, but because he was afraid of facing these injuries, and at the same time he didn't want to lag behind his brethren in mastering this set of fist-combat arts, he ignored the pains and continued.

When he meets Zhang Wuji at Bright Shining Peak, Zhang Wuji tries to educate Song Weixia, but Song is too proud to consider the advice of a man more than half his age. Moreover, he attacks Zhang Wuji to show off how powerful the Fists of Seven Wounds are. Zhang Wuji, however, was able to absorb the force of the fists, neutralize it and surprisingly, returns the force of the attack to Song Weixia in the form of jinqi 九陽真氣, pure energy of the Nine Suns.

Song Weixia then realizes that Zhang Wuji was sincere in his advice, so he praises and graciously thanks Zhang Wuji for returning Song's hostility with kindness.

In the 1986 version, this is scene is omitted. One reason I could think of is because the scene is not crucial to the main conflict of this battle at Bright Shining Peak. I believe it was written more to reveal the forgiving nature of Zhang Wuji.

Mie Jue Vs. Xie Xun

Reading chapter 18, I realized that there is a parallel between these two characters. Mie Jue is a nun, and the master of O-Mei. Xie Xun is a blind old man whose wugong is very powerful. Earlier on, the story of Xie Xun and a Shaolin monk is told. This Shaolin Monk is the teacher of Xie Xun's mortal enemy. He tells Xie Xun to strike him thirteen times, and if he lives, Xie Xun must give up his vengeful quest. If he dies after the thirteen strikes, then Xie Xun's enemy will appear and they will have to resolve all enmity between them.

After Xie Xun strikes the elderly monk 13 times, the monk cannot withstand the force of the attacks anymore and dies. At that moment, he also realizes that he had been tricked. Even as he lay dying, his pupil did not appear. Instead, Xie Xun was so moved by this monk's act of love and forgiveness that he realizes how wrong his past actions were. It is in Xie Xun's arms that the elderly monk breathes his last breath. From that day onwards, Xie Xun promised never to kill another innocent person to force his mortal enemy out of hiding.

About twenty-five years later, Zhang Wuji meets Mie Jue on the way to Bright-Shining Peak. There, Mie Jue and her desciples capture a group of followers of the "evil" Ming Sect. She commands them to abandon their evil past and become good people. They refuse, and she allows her desciples to cut off each person's right arm. After that, if they still refuse to turn against their "evil" Ming Sect, then they will have to suffer the loss of their left arms.

Zhang Wuji begs Mie Jue to stop this torturous mutilation of these warriors, and agrees to accept three strikes from Mie Jue. If he survives, then Mie Jue must release the Ming Sect followers. At the end, Zhang Wuji survives and prevails, yet Mie Jue only grudgingly releases the prisoners. She doesn't even realize that what she and her desciples did was cruel and inhumane. She arrogantly refuses to admit any wrong-doing on her part.

This is one of the prevailing themes of many wuxia stories: followers of an organization that is accepted as "noble and good" in the eyes of wulin may not actually live what they preach. Ironically, followers of "evil and corrupt" organizations may act more chivalrous and more gallantly.

Yin Liting's Sword

One of the things I love about reading HSDS are the descriptions of the Seven Wudang Heroes. Each of them have their own strengths and weaknesses. Of the seven, the fifth brother, Zhang Cuisan, is the most famous and the favourite of Master Zhang Sanfeng. The sixth brother, Yin Liting, also has an important part to play in the story.

He was in love with one of O-Mei's desciples, Ji Xiaofu. Unfortunately, his love for her was unrequited. In chapter 18, Zhang Wuji has grown to an adult, and in one scene, he meets his sixth uncle again. Yin is fighting a daoist monk, and here is the description of how skillful Yin is with his sword.

"Suddenly, the green flash of a long sword flew out from Yin Liting's hand, piercing through the wind like lightning through air towards the daoist monk. When the daoist monk realized what was coming and wanted to dodge aside, the long sword pierced right through his heart, then through his body completely; and still onwards it flew. The injured monk kept running, however, and after a few yards, he finally fell to the ground. Three more yards beyond him, the flying sword began to descend, and in another flash of green it struck the earth in an upright position and lodged itself there; an ordinary sword, but ever so divinely powerful."

Being an ordinary sword, but from Yin Liting's hand, it is divinely powerful. This is how Jin Yong shows the reader just how skillful skillful Yin is with his sword.

Description of the O'Mei Priestess, Mie Jue

Mie Jue: to exterminate

"Approaching, she appeared to be about forty-five years of age and quite attractive, too, if not for two long eyebrows that slanted downwards, thus making her appear odd and strange, a bit like the theatrical ghosts you see on stage who died by hanging."
-p. 583, Chapter 13.

---------------------------------------------

Update on Ji Xiaofu's Rape

When Mie Jue finally found Ji Xiaofu in Butterfly Valley, Ji finally had a chance to explain what exactly happened to her. Apparently, she was stalked and harrassed by Yang Xiao for several weeks before he finally kidnapped her. She was forced to stay with him for several months. When his enemies came looking for him, that's when she was able to escape. After that, she found out that she was pregnant, and so she decided to have the baby.

When Ji asked Mie Jue if Yang Xiao and O'Mei had any previous encounters, Mie Jue explained that it was Yang who drove another O'Mei disciple to death. Upon hearing this, Ji actually felt proud of Yang, that he was able to accomplish this.

Following this conversation, Mie Jue still wants Ji to be her successor at O'Mei, but before she transfers power to Ji, Mie Jue wants Ji to do one more thing to prove her loyalty to O'Mei. That is, kill the evil Yang Xiao. Ji, surprisingly, refuses. Because of her disobedience, Mie Jue kills Ji as punishment.

Rape in Jin Yong Novels

"Child, I did not intend to betray your Uncle Yin's love; at the time, there was nothing I could do, but...but then, I don't feel any regret." She (Ji Xiaofu) looked at Zhang Wuji's face and saw only a naive innocence. She thought, 'this boy's heart is like a sheet of white paper. Such matters about the love between men and women should better be kept out of his knowledge. Besides, all these details have nothing to do with our current troubles."
-p. 551, The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre Saga
Original Chinese text can be read here.

Currently, there is a discussion at a prominent discussion forum for wuxia novels here.

The main scope of the discussion is centred on the observation that Jin Yong likes to write about rape, or sexual violence against women. Some prominent examples of this include Ji Xiaofu's supposed "rape" by Yang Xiao in The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre Saga, as well as Xiao Longnu's rape by Yun Ziping in The Return of the Condor Heroes.

I personally have not read RCH, so I don't know how Jin described Xiao Longnu's rape, but I have read Ji Xiaofu's account, and in this case it is most ambiguous! I think the question with regard to Ji Xiaofu's rape shouldn't be whether or not it happened. The question is WHAT does she not regret? Her daughter, the result of the supposed "rape" is named "no regrets." Yang Buhui: Yang is her father's surname, and her first name is Buhui.

When she says that she doesn't regret it, does that mean that she consented? Or, does it mean she doesn't regret having her daughter and raising this daughter? Or, does it mean that she doesn't regret breaking away from O'Mei and her family? By breaking away from her social and filial obligations, she escaped having to be married to Yin Liting, which would have resulted in another rape because Jin makes it clear in the novel that Ji Xiaofu never loved Yin Liting, that their marriage was arranged without her input. Perhaps what she doesn't regret is being able to escape such a fate, and live her own life away from the politics, hipocrisy and bigotry of the many Wulin organizations and sects.

I am interested in finding out if she had any opportunity to elope with Yang Xiao, which is the logical thing to do if she loved him and consented to have sex with him. This way, they could raise their daughter together. But, the other side of the question is, what kind of man is Yang Xiao? Was he a playboy? Was he being unfaithful to Ji Xiaofu? This is how some films have portrayed him, making Ji Xiaofu appear weak and gullible. I'm waiting to find out one way or the other.

This issue of rape in Jin Yong's novels is a contentious issue for further examination on how the struggle between women and power are portrayed in wuxia literature.

1 More Week to Go

It's been three weeks since my parents left Toronto for Europe for a month-long trip. So far, I've managed pretty well on my own. I miss them though.

One thing I noticed is that it takes me very long to go through the food that I've bought. I've decided that this week, I will only buy fresh foods, and maybe some Vietnamese meats. I'd rather work hard and cook fresh meals rather than buy pre-packaged ones.

At school, everything is going well. I'm only bothered by the allergies, which can't be helped. It's ragweed season, not to mention all that chalk I have to inhale all day long in the classroom.

So far so good. =)

Foie Gras now banned in Chicago

I saw on the news today that this delicacy is now banned from production and sale in Chicago, IL. The City Council was the one who passed this law. Their reason is that the process of making foie gras is inhumane to the geese and ducks.

Animal rights activists are thrilled. Many in the public are not.

When I went to Quebec 3 weeks ago, my friends and I visited a duck farm that produces and sells foie gras. We were given a private tour and the owner spent nearly 30 minutes explaing the history of this French delicacy, and how it is made. It was an eye-opening experience. And one that made me resolve never to eat it again in the future. I agree with the animal rights activists and the Chicago City Council that the process by which foie gras is made is inhumane. It is downright cruel.

Do I agree with the ban on the production and sale of this food on the basis that its production methods are inhumane? NO. If this were so, then shouldn't the KFC chicken be banned as well?

I think this is where personal preference comes in. If Joe Schmoe thinks that foie gras tastes good enough that he can ignore the suffering that the ducks and geese are subjected to, let Mr. Schmoe enjoy his food. Who am I to tell Mr. Schmoe how he should act on his conscience? To each his own, I say!

Unlike some psychos who torture and kill pets for pleasure, foie gras is a food that tastes delicious. To make it is a labour-intensive process. It was refined by the French and has become a part of French culture.

Trying to Understand the Roadblocks to Providing Generic Antiretroviral Drugs

I just read this article on the CBC website (click title above) to try and understand the complex issues surrounding the push to export cheap generic antiretroviral drugs to poor African countries that are in dire need of them.

This is how I understand it. The roadblocks include:
a) a clause in the law that the Cdn. gov't passed that says Canada can only export a drug to a country if the country makes a request. African countries are reluctant to do this becuase they are afraid of offending the major pharmaceutical companies, the ones who are on the front line inventing and testing for new and better drugs. That's an understandable concern.

b) In order for any Cdn. drug company to export generic antiretroviral drugs, they must first get licensing permission from the major pharmaceutical company that invented that drug, and who owns the patents for that drug. To do this means that the Cdn. drug company must negotiate with the major drug company. This is easier said than done, and it takes a lot of time and resources. Apotex is reluctanct to devote itself to this process, and that is understandable. It is merely a company that manufactures drugs. It's not a politician.

c) Doctors Without Borders is pursuing these negotiations with fervor, but unfortunately the clause in the Cdn. law says that it must be a country that makes the request for the drugs, not an NGO (non-governmental organization). The article says: "The initial WTO ground rules, which Canada followed, included: Brand-name patent holders must first be invited to negotiate voluntary licensing agreements with generic manufacturers before they could be compelled to hand over their patents for humanitarian use. If there was to be compulsory licensing, this had to be on a one-shot contract with an identifiable country as purchaser (royalties were to be based on a specific country's ability to pay, among other criteria). As a result, the deal couldn't be made through an NGO."

So, in essence, Canada wrote a legislation based on the guidelines set by the WTO, and that very law includes a lot of brickwalls that prevents Cdns. from accomplishing what the law originally set out to accomplish. What a shame!

Pics from Quebec

Saint James Resto-Bistro - Review

1110, rue Saint-Jean
Québec, QC G1R 4H8
Canada
1 800 463-6283
(418) 692-1030, poste 7002

Our first night in old Quebec City, we went looking for a restaurant. Many of them were full and had patrons waiting in line at the front door. We entered a few and asked for a table for 5, and they all told us it would be a 20-30 minute wait. One said it would be an hour long wait; of course we by-passed this one. Finally, we came to the Saint-James Resto-Bistro, located underneath the Hotel Manoir Victoria. The menu looked different from what the 5 of us were accustomed to, so we were very interested.

J. asked for a table and he was told we were 5th in line after 4 other parties (small and medium sized). We figured that would be about 20-40 minutes, just like all the other restaurants. So we decided to stay and wait. Thirty minutes later, we were still waiting, except that by this point, not only were the four parties ahead of us seated, but 2 other parties behind us were also seated and served. Granted, they were only parties of 2.

The maitre d' came out a few times, and this time found someone in line behind us whom she recognized. They were a group of 6 and they went inside no problem. We had to wait another 15 minutes and watch another part of four move ahead of us to a table inside. When there was no one else waiting behind us, that's when they gave us a table. To our horror, we were not seated at a table for five. We got a booth table and a bar stool was added at the end. This meant that T. had to sit in the aisle.

We sat there for 10 minutes before the waiter came to ask if we wanted any drinks. When he came back later to take our orders, he asked us: "How are you doing with the menu? Do you have any questions? Shall I give you a few more minutes?" He asked all three questions without pausing in between to give us a chance to reply. This made me wonder, DID HE REALLY WANT TO SERVE US AT ALL? 'Cause it sure as hell didn't sound like it.

The food was very good. This was some of the best pasta I've ever had. I couldn't finish it all, as much as I wanted to. The iced tea was so sour, I wonder if they made it that way on purpose just to spite us for reasons I do not know.

This has to rank as one of the worst restaurant experiences I've ever had. Next time a similar occurrence arises, I will bitch and insist we go elsewhere. Why should I let someone treat me like that?

I give this restaurant ** out of five for the food. But, I'm compelled to take away these ** because of the horrible way we were treated.

Home Sweet Home

Returned from Quebec last night after an 11 hour drive stuck in traffic a lot of the time. Still very tired.

Got this in the mail from Grace: http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp Try it, it's fun.

Updates and Comments

Emma
I've started reading Jane Austen's classic. I really disliked Emma at the beginning. I thought she was selfish and snobby. Now, after reading the first volume, I find her a compassionate person who has a very good understanding of human nature and nurture.

Fidel Castro & Cuba
Anyone who knows me knows what I think about communist governments. However, anyone who knows me also knows what I think of American Imperialism. Yesterday, I read an article on CNN that contained quotes by George W. Bush Jr. Basically, he said that it's now time for the Cuban people to be liberated. It's time to bring democracy to Cuba.

What a foolish mindset. Who is Bush to decide that the Cuban people need liberation in the first place?

Sympathy and Condolences

I can only offer my sympathy and condolences to the victims, their families and friends of the train-bomb attack in Mumbai.

I feel a gut-wrenching sadness when I think about how many lives have been irreparably maimed because of this horrendous act. To me, nothing is worse than a vicious attack on innocent civilians. It is, of course, easier for the cowards who committed this treacherous crime to kill helpless people than to work hard and honourably for whatever it is they want to accomplish.

But, the Lord saw all of this, I'm sure. I also believe that the Lord will give strength and comfort to those who ask for it. The citizens of Mumbai must remember that it is in their moments of direst hardship that God is carrying them. As for the perpetrators of this attack, I hope that they will realize what sins they've committed and ask the Lord for forgiveness.

May all of them see Christ's face, hear Christ's voice, and feel Christ's love.

Summer School and John Denver

ESL Part 2 started two days ago. There is a lot of work to do in the week ahead. I have basically 1 week to do all the work. 3 Major assignments!

In other news, I just downloaded three songs by John Denver. "Perhaps Love," "For You" and "Annie's Song." They are lovely songs.

Last Day of School

Today was my last day at school. I think I'll be returning some time in early July to pick up something that I will have inevitably forgotten. But, it was officially my last day.

After a year of teaching, what can I say? I enjoy it very much. I constantly feel inspired to create a new lesson, or use a new resource. If I had in my hands a calendar for the next school year, I'd be planning the units right now. Yes, I need help.

On the other hand, I'm glad that I can now read for fun. Eventhough I do have summer school to attend for the month of July, being a student is not half as stressful as being a teacher. If I feel tired or I'm jus not in the mood, I'll tune out the class and not pay attention. I'll day dream and mindlessly copy down notes from the board. Or, I'll be passive and simply listen to discussions. As a student, I don't have to perform in front of 20+ ppl for 7 hours a day.

Right now, I am tired. I don't have the energy to celebrate. I'm just going to go and read. =)

To all teachers, have a fun and relaxing summer!

Jim's Truth

"...by the power of the written word, to make you see."

There was nothing within sight to compare him with, as though he had been one of those exceptional men who can be only measured by the greatness of their fame; and his fame, remember, was the greatest thing around for many a day's journey. You would have to paddle, pole, or track a long weary way through the jungle before you passed beyond the reach of its voice. Its voice was not the trumpeting of the disreputable goddess we all know- not blatant- not brazen. It took its tone from the stillness and gloom of the land without a past, where his word was the one truth of every passing day. It shared something of the nature of that silence through which it accompanied you into unexplored depths, heard continuously by your side, penetrating, far-reaching- tinged with wonder and mystery on the lips of whispering men.

How could I not swoon in front of these words?

Jerusalem Restaurant

Jerusalem Restaurant
125 Ravel Rd, North York (416) 490-7888

On Tuesday, my teacher colleagues from the ESL department had dinner at the Jerusalem Restaurant to celebrate the retirement and the wedding of two of our colleagues. The place looks very nice, very suitable for a banquet.

We started with a bottle of white wine from Australia. It was very nice. M. and D. are wine experts, and they chose just the right one. With wine served, we moved to the salad bar. The salad was very fresh, and the dressing was at just the right level of tartness. The selection was so various that every one of us found something to praise.

There was pita bread with hummus, tahini and baba ganouj dips. I thought they were a bit weak in flavour. M. tried the lamb and found it very delicious. F. and D. both tried a cheese roll that they originally thought contained spinach. Needless to say, it was very filling. I was half full after the salad, pita, and fish, they served shwarma chicken. Since no one else at the table was able to have it, I ended up eating half of it. Oink-oink!

The service was pleasant, and the atmosphere was quiet. I can't really critique the food because I didn't get to try very much of it. A lot of the warm dishes are still unknown to me. I would like to go back there and try some more.

I will hold off on giving any stars at this point.

Basic Human Rights of the Accused

In today's Toronto Star, there was an article that published some of the testimony made public by a lawyer of one of the accused members of a terrorist cell. They were arrested on Saturday, June 3rd. What he's telling the public is very disturbing.

Firstly, the plans that his client had of bombing certain buildings in Toronto (CBC building), and beheading the Canadian PM, Harper, are chilling. The thought that 13 tons of amonium nitrate being used to create bombs, to amass 13 times the impact of the Oklahoma Bombings here in my hometown is nothing short of terrifying. It is only beginning to sink in for me.

Having said all that, I also learned from this article that the accused are not being treated justly as per their basic human rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I strongly believe that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. And so far, it seems like all of the accused are guilty, but are they all guilty to the same degree? Some of the accused are adolescents, which leads me to question how much involvement they had in this plot. From masterminds, to trainers, to trainees; their roles are different and the severity of their actions should also be different.

I don't know if the law makes that distinction, but I strongly believe that if we are to prosecute the accused, we should do it right. Even if they all turn out to be equally guilty in the end, the process by which we establish that conclusion is just as important as the end result.

Without a just process, how can we continue to have faith in the integrity of the system?

Updates

This weekend, I went to Ogden P.S. for the 151st Anniversary with CL, EL and TT. We didn't see any of our former teachers, but we did get to look at some old photo albums. We found very funny and adorable pics of EL and TT. I found a laminated photo of girls playing the recorder, dressed in Chinese folk dance costumes. I wrote a caption in English and Chinese. It was very cool to see that it was still preserved till now.

That same day, I bought the entire set of novels, The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, by Jin Yong. I've started reading, and I'm still on the first chapter, when Guo Xiang goes to the Shaolin Temple to find news about Yang Guo (Condor Hero). I'm enjoying it immensely. Reading it brings back so many memories of my childhood. My friends and I had so much fun playing kung fu heroes during recess.

Yesterday, my cousin from Taiwan arrived. She's here to study English. I wish her luck and lots of success.

Last week, the teachers at my school took the ESL students to Niagara Falls. We had a blast! It was so much fun, and we hardly had to do any work. The students were so well-behaved, we teachers were mightily impressed. I would like to take the ESL students on another trip next year, maybe to Wonderland.

Recently, having become nostalgic about my kung fu childhood days, I started looking through the internet for resources and discussion forums. I found this one: WuxiaMania , which is an all-English forum. The people here are very knowledgeable, and have read a lot of the famous wuxia novels in the original Chinese. Here is another one: Snowtalk This is a Chinese website based in Taiwan.

The Moon according to Marlowe

"after we had watched the moon float away above the chasm between the hills like an ascending spirit out of a grave; its sheen descended, cold and pale, like the ghost of dead sunlight. There is something haunting in the light of the moon; it has all the dispassionateness of a disembodied soul, and something of its inconceivable mystery. It is to our sunshine, which -- say what you like -- is all we have to live by, what the echo is to the sound: misleading and confusing whether the note be mocking or sad. It robs all forms of matter -- which, after all, is our domain -- of their substance, and gives a sinister reality to shadows alone. And the shadows were very real around us, but Jim by my side looked very stalwart, as though nothing -- not even the occult power of moonlight -- could rob him of his reality in my eyes."
-Chapter 24

Celebrating Linguistic Diversity 2006

After two days of attending a conference, plus an evening of Parent-Teacher's Night, I'm wiped out. Having said that, I went to the Bay on Yonge and Bloor after the conference and went shopping for sandals. They had scratch and save, and I bought 2 pairs of sandals. YAY!

The conference. Today, I heard a presentation by Kathy Escamillo, a professor from Colorado. She talked about the psychological and emotional trauma that an immigrant child has to endure, taking on adult roles and taking care of parents who can't communicate in everyday English.

Her presentation was very good, and she told many moving stories. Unfortunately, this was solely focussed on young children, so it didn't apply to my situation at all. My students have no problems maintaining their first language identity. In fact, it's harder to get them to embrace the Canadian culture and language.

Of the two workshops I attended, I found the History/Geography workshop led by 3 teachers from the York Region D.S.B. very helpful. They showed us many useful strategies on how to teach content-heavy subjects such as History and Geography to ESL students, some of whom have only a basic grasp of the language.

Today was much more useful than yesterday's.

Restaurant Review: Rex Saigon *

On Saturday, I went to the buffet restaurant on Brimley and Sheppard called Rex Saigon. It serves Thai, Vietnamese and Canadian foods. From the first few minutes of arriving at the restaurant, I already knew I would not like the experience.

In front of the lounge area by the entrance is the bar where waitresses go to pick up drinks for the customers. That is also where more than 8 parties of customers have to stand and wait for their table. My friend, T., had made a reservation for 7pm. We waited nearly an hour for our table. That is simply ridiculous!

While we stood next to the buffet waiting for our tables, we observed what foods choices there were. The most popular ones were the lobster and crab stations. People, young and old, men and women, held emply plates in their hands, standing next to the empty lobster and crab stations, waiting to pounce on the next delivery from the kitchen by the servers. When she started approaching, one eager customer said, "there it comes, there it comes!" When the food was poured from a big bowl into the dish, everyone stabbed their tongs into the lobster pile. Their plates were piled high, and in less than 1 minute, it was all gone.

The only things I liked were the oyster in garlic sauce and the mango salad. They were both very fresh, very delicious. The green curry with vegetables was too greasy. That's about all that I tried, cause that's all that interested me. Everything else reminded me too much of a fast food counter.

Overall, I give this buffet * out of 5. I would not go there again if I can help it.

The Evolving Church Conference, 2006

Yesterday, I attended the conference organized by Epiphaniea Inc. This was my first time attending a Christian conference, so I really didn't know what to expect. It was held at the Tyndale University College and Seminary. Also in attendance were Muzpuppet, ChiquitaWonder and some other friends from ETCBC.

I got there at 8:20am and I had to join a long line up for registration. It went quite slow. I did not get my turn until about 9 o'clock. I have never waited that long for registration before at other conferences. Finally, I got my name tag, and there was this guy directing people up another set of stairs because the passage in front of us was congested with a 2nd group of ppl trying to register. So, I went up the other stairs, only to find out that I had to go back down to get my booklet and water. That was a big miscue for the guy who directed us up the 2nd flight of stairs.

When I went to get water, I bumped into CW. Later on, I sat in the chapel for the morning worship. After that, Peter Seay was the first speaker. He was very funny, very entertaining. Then it was the workshop, and mine was held in the cafe. It was noisy there because the kitchen people were cooking and banging their pans. The speaker, Donald Miller, was quite good. We just sat there and listened to him talk. He told many amusing stories, so that wasn't too bad.

Then came lunch and we had cold cut and tuna wraps. I also had some very good veggie sticks. The drinks, though, were TERRIBLE! I had never tasted such awful juice before in my life! Yuck, yuck, yuck! After lunch, was had the afternoon worship and then we listened to the second speaker, Donald Miller. He gave a pretty good talk, but again, it was all him. I was falling asleep, partly cause I had just ate a lunch.

After that was the afternoon workshop and we listened to B. Walsh, I was positively bored to death. This gentleman thought it would be a good idea to read to us for what felt like 20 mins. He read to us!!! And it was not even an interesting story, but a dissertation/essay of some boring sort. There was some interaction, like questions from the audience at the beginning, but he didn't address those questions in his lecture. I felt bad for those folks who asked those questions, but never really got any feedback from him for them. That was such poor preparation. Why did he ask questions of the audience if he was going to completely ignore them for the next 30 mins?

At the end of the day, the last speaker was Brian McLaren. He was a fantastic lecturer. He discussed some pretty complex ideas that I had never heard of, but I was able to follow what he was saying, and I even got his point. I won't repeat it here cause I would mess it up due to my ignorance on the matters he discussed. Trust me, he was great! After this lecture, we had cookies and then we left.

Overall, I would say that the conference was not organized that well because the registration took way too long. The lunch was good, very healthy. The choice of speakers was fine, I suppose. But, I think some of the speakers should have engaged the audience better. Don't call it a workshop unless you expect people to be engaged in some kind of practical exercise. Over all, it wasn't great. I learned a little bit, but if the entire day were full of workshops with McLaren, I think I would have learned a lot more.

ChiquitaWonder's B-day Party

Yesterday, we celebrated Chiquita Wonder's birthday at my family's home. Aunt N. and L. were here as well. Mom made a Vietnamese rice noodle soup called "ho-diew." It has pork, shrimps and pork liver in it. It was so yummy I brought some to work today for lunch.

Aunt N. and L. got a durian cake as a present, and it was sumptuous!

We had lots of fun.

Curling is so much fun!

Last night, I went curling for the first time. My friends took me to the Avonlea Curling Club, located at Lawrence and Hwy 404. There were 8 of us, and it cost about 11 dollars per person. Every cent was worth it because curling is such an exciting team sport to play.

I have been a long-time viewer of Olympic curling, but I had never tried it before. Watching it on TV, I honestly couldn't tell what was so physical about the game. I thought it was the mental toughness that made it such a formidable sport. Last night, I was enlightened. And enlightenment did not come without a bit of pain and embarrassment.

At first, the hardest thing was not throwing the rock. It was staying on my feet...or, foot. When I pushed off, I fell 80% of the time. After I finally managed to stay on my feet somewhat, the next thing to master was how hard or how lightly to throw the stone. Several times, I was able to come within the circle, but because I was the first one to throw, my stones always got knocked out. Some of my opponents have impeccable aim! Other times, I had very good aim but I threw the stone too hard and it went past the target. Clare was the skip and she was great! At one point, we were down by 3 points, and by the time she was in line to throw, we had 3 stones in the target area. She was able to knock out our opponent's stone and win us those 3 points. In the end, however, my team lost by 1 point.

I really can't wait till the next time we go curling. I love it!

Lord Jim, after 21 chapters

This is a novel that I started reading about 4 years ago. I had to put it down after a while because reading it was too taxing on the mind. It's also very hard to read on the subway while I'm holing on to dear life with one hand on the steel bar, and a 2.5lb book on the other.

Recently, I became ill with a very nasty cold, and Lord Jim was brought back to my consciousness. This may have been the only blessing that came out of this nasty cold - mind, it has lasted 2 weeks.

As I was reading it, I was reminded of why I love Conrad's writing so much. It's so poetically written, with so many delicious layers as those of a Napoleon pastry cake. One of my favourite chapters - not moments or scenes - is of Jim standing in front of the glass doors of Marlowe's hotel room. Beyond the glass doors is a veranda, and beyond that the oncoming dusk. At this moment, Jim is contemplating his failures, and what might become of him from now on. The sense of guilt, foolishness and helplessness was so grand that even the purplish sky was bloating in response to the pressures.

Dusk fell; I lit a candle with the greatest economy of movement and as much prudence as though it were an illegal proceeding. There is no doubt that he had a very hard time of it [...] He was rooted to the spot, but convulsive shudders ran down his back; his shoulders would heave as it seemed. The massive shadows, cast all one way from the straight flame of the candle, seemed possessed of gloomy consciousness; the immobility of the furniture had to my furtive eye and air of attention. I was becoming fanciful in the midst of my industrious scribbling. [...] Those who have kept vigil by a sick-bed have heard such faint sounds in the stillness of the night watches, sounds wrung from a racked boy, from a weary soul. He pushed the glass door with such force that all the panes rang: he stepped out, and I held my breath, straining my ears without knowing what else I expected to hear. [...] A feeble burst of many voices mingled with the tinkle of silver and glass floated up from the dining-room below; through the open door the outer edge of the light from my candle fell on his back faintly; beyond all was black; he stood on the brink of a vast obscruity, like a lonely figure by the shore of a sombre and hopeless ocean.

One of my favourite reading moments. I read as if my mind were suspended in the black sky, watching this man's turmoil roar silently into the night. Jim has become a friend to me. I celebrate his successes, and I salvage his moments of folly with imaginative hope for an imagined "imaginative" man.

It's March Break!!!

YAY!!!

Last December, I started to feel like I was going to come down with the flu, or at least a cold. Usually, when the stress is lifted I get sick. I thought I would get sick over the Christmas holidays, but fortunately I didn't. In January, the "almost cold/flu" symptoms persisted, and I was waiting and waiting for it to strike hard. Last week, it did.

Last Wednesday, I felt very sick. I had a slight fever, and my throat was very sore. I decided to take Thursday off. That was good forethought because that night, I crashed. It turned out that I had to take Friday off as well.

This week, I had to go back to work, but my body had not fully recovered yet. All week, I've been waiting for this day to arrive, for this hour, 4:30, when I could leave work. Turns out, I didn't have last period to teach, so I left at 2:45! :D I got home by 4pm and took a nap. Boy, it feels good.

This March Break, I'm going to rest up and recover for the rest of term 1. Whee!!!

Caricature of the Prophet Mohammed

When I read about the fires that were set upon the Danish and Norwiegen embassies in Damascus, I had to find the caricature that has caused such an uproar, one that can be felt all the way over here in Toronto's Muslim supermarkets like an aftershock.

After reading the article (see title's link), I have to say that I sympathize with the Muslims. I am offended by the portrayal of the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist, and I'm not even Muslim! Why do I find it offensive? Simple. It perpetuates the misperception that all Muslims are secretly violent terrorists. It implies that all believers of Islam are dangerous and are out to destroy everyone else. In a city where there are so many kind-hearted and peaceable Muslims, I am offended by the implications behind this caricature.

The image does not induce laughter. Instead, it makes me feel angry that the efforts to help foster a more realistic image of Muslims are hit with a wall of ignorance and subversive racism. Using artistic and print media to infuse hate towards one religious group abuses everyone's right to the freedom of speech and expression.

Finale of Twin of Brothers

Forget about the actual ending, it sucked. What I want to talk about is the love triangle between Yu-zhi-->Kau-jung<--So-ning. Half-way through the series, Kau-jung had to come to grips with the fact that there are two wonderful girls who are in love with him. He is in love with them also, but which one does he love the most? Which one would he choose to marry?

Near the end, he wants to find out for sure. He sets up these two dates. First, he takes So-ning out for a walk, and then they watch fireworks together. These are fireworks that Kau-jung arranged especially for this date.

Next, he takes Yu-zhi on a walk, and they sit down in the middle of a field and watch the stars.

Which girl do you think he loves the most? Think symbolically.

Conflict Mediation Services of Downsview

This is an organization that aims to help "people in families, workplaces, schools and neighbourhoods understand and resolve conflict. CMS-D is committed to restorative justice and the peaceful resolution of conflict in order to reduce violence and crime, and build healthy and safe communities."

For my friend's birthday present this year, I made a donation on her behalf to the CMS-D. I chose this not-for-profit organization to benefit from L.'s honorary donation because they have a program called Restorative Justice Initiatives. It brings the "victims" and the "offenders" together to foster an environment where healing is the emphasis, where everyone is treated with dignity. I believe that it should be under this environment that those who caused pain and suffering obtain forgiveness, as well as to gain a sense of hope for positive change. In turn, this could reduce the feelings of resentment and rage in the "victims" and their families, ultimately allowing them to heal from their emotional wounds. These initiatives are conducted in collaboration with the Crown Attorney, lest anyone should think that it allows "offenders" to get way with an offence.

I recommend this page that cites a case study, which will illustrate the positive and long-lasting impact of CMS-D's work. http://www.cmsd.org/justice/caseStudy.html

Review: Twin of Brothers

Okay, please disregard the nonsensical English title for this Hong Kong historical-kung fu drama series. The story is actually very well written.

Characterization - The two main protagonists, Kau-jung and Zhi-ling are similar in some ways, but very different in other ways. They both care a lot about justice and friendship. Zhi-ling is more philosophical, more temperate. Kau-jung is a lot more ambitious and action-driven. One believes that he must not sacrifice his moral code unless the means does not result in causing others pain. The other believes that the ends justifies the means, even if an innocent has to get hurt. This plays out later in the story, and Kau-jung's lack of moral judgement continues to haunt him to the end of the story.

Theme - I like stories where the main characters have to make important decisions about how to face a problem and resolve a conflict. The main theme of this story is about a person's choices in life, not their upbringing or pedigree. For example, Wan-wan is a girl who was brought up by an evil witch. She was brought up to hate men, and to treat people disrespectfully. After she fell in love with Zhi-ling, a man who taught her about what is right and how to act on what is right, Wan-wan did learn from his lessons and turned good. She even sacrificed her own life in order to compel Fei-hun to show Zhi-ling how much she loves him, even if that means Wan-wan will lose Zhi-ling to Fei-hun.

Plot - The story is very exciting. It talks about war, which is usually a very boring topic for kung-fu dramas. This movie is able to make the historical aspects of the story important, relevant and meaningful to all the kung-fu you see being used. There is a struggle between good and evil, but how can the good be sustained if the government is corrupt? How can there be peace if there are wars constantly being fought? How does one fight wars and win? Not using kung-fu. The most powerful kung-fu characters are Kau-jung and Zhi-ling. But, unlike other kung-fu stories, these two are not allowed to use their powerful kung-fu because it is so devastating. They have to rely on their experience with strategy and leadership to achieve power, and bring peace to the land.

It has been a very long time since I've seen such a good kung-fu story.

Where to start?

I'll begin with a message of sympathy to the families of the 12 miners who died in Virginia, U.S.A. The emotional roller-coaster that the families have been put through is shameful. Although they may never get to the bottom of the false rumour incident, hopefully this will be a lesson to other organizations in a similar situation. The anguish and suffering is multiplied so much more when miscommunication of this type happens. My heart goes out to those families. I hope that these families will be able to turn to their spiritual brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers for support.

May God bless them.


Second item - totally unrelated. For the past 2 weeks, I've been having a sore shoulder, whose pain has been increasing over the holidays. I've been doing the shoulder rolling exercises, as well as the raised arm exercises. None of it worked. Mum said I am not doing the exercises enough. I didn't believe her. Last night, I slept on the other end of the bed, where the springs are firmer. This morning, I woke up and there is no more soreness. I mean it. None. Amazing! I'll have to have it turned over tonight before I go to bed.


Third item - Two nights ago, a visitor to my house told us that on his way over, he saw all these police cruisers at the major intersection nearest my house. Traffic was a big problem. He said that there were shootings. My family was horrified. Already? Only the 2nd day of the new year and there's a 2nd gun violence incident? We glued our ears to the radio, and our eyes to the T.V. to see if there was any news. It's been 2 days, and there has been no reports on what happened.

I asked my dad, who went grocery shopping at the time of the incident, and he said he took a detour to avoid the traffic jam. I asked him if he saw the yellow CAUTION tape? He said no. I'm suspecting it was not a shooting. Rather, it may have been something else that happened at one of the condominiums located at the corner of that intersection.

I doubt the police would cover up a shooting incident.

Happy New Year!

I want to wish everyone a happy new year. Have a safe and joyous one.

Trails Youth Initiatives

Becuase of the recent violence that occured in Toronto, there has been a lot of discussion about how some of this city's youth came to be carriers of handguns? How could they be involved in a conflict that requires a gun to resolve it? How did their sense of community and their respect for others disintegrate to the point where they would open fire on each other, and on innocent passersby? How could they not feel a care for the families and lives that they destroy?

My initial reaction to these events was anger and indignation. I was also very resentful of the fact that the society I live in is held responsible for the actions of these handful of youths. Now that I've calmed down, I was able to look through CharityVillage.com to search for non-profit organizations around Toronto that make it their mission to help youths in underpriviledged communities. Here is one.

Trails Youth Initiatives
Established in 1992 by Peter Dalglish and Jim Hayhurst Sr., this is a wilderness camp program for inner city youths who are vulnerable to become a part of, or victims of "substance abuse, discrimination, sexuality, violence and hopelessness." It is unique because it is a four-year program. The individuals who enroll in this program have to stick with it, and at the end, they also have a chance to "graduate" from it. This program is so successful that it is now recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Education as a legitimate private school.

What struck me about this program is that it is long-term. It is not a band-aid solution like so many of the ones that politicians like to trumpet as if they were their own incredible inventions. Approaching these individuals at a young age, and sticking it out with them for four years requires a lot of commitment from both the organizers, and the participants. From commitment comes a bond, and from a bond, love, and from love anything can happen.

Donations to Trails Youth Initiatives can be made HERE.

Thanks for reading.

Mrs. Thompson's Lesson

I got this in an email from a good friend of mine, Miss Fung.

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson
would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners.. he is a joy to be around.."

His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle."

His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."

Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class."

By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume . But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on he r wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to."

After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her teacher's pets.."

A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.

Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.

Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.

Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.

The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.

They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference."

Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference I didn't know how to teach until I met you."

(For those of you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.)

Boxing Day Part II

The other day, I started an entry about Boxing Day shopping, but it turned out to be about the shootings.

Today, I want to talk about Jane Creba, and Boxing Day shopping in general.

On Boxing Day, I went to Vaughan Mills Shopping Centre with my best friend, C. We arrived at 11:30, and I thought, "we're so late! Look at how congested it is! We'll never find a parking spot."

After driving around for 10 mins, I had to go to the washroom, so C. dropped me off and when I got to the washroom, the line-up went outside the washroom and into the corridor that connects it to the foodcourt. Insane!

So, we started shopping and fortuantely, we didn't encounter any rude shoppers. Everyone was very courteous, not trying to bud in line and stuff. I thought, this is cool. This isn't too bad. It's crowded, but everyone is getting along.

Later that evening, we went to dinner with some friends, including C.'s boyfriend. He mentioned to us that there was a shooting downtown at the Eaton Centre. So much for my sense of security.

Jane Creba was the 15 year old who was shot in the head, the victim of a volley of indiscriminate bullets fired across Yonge Street by a group of teenagers fighting over what I am sure was completely meaningless. Everything else becomes meaningless when teens start taking up guns and shoot repeatedly into a crowd.

All summer long, all autumn long, everytime I heard of the shootings, I'd listen for the location where these crimes took place. They were almost always in the J/F area of Toronto north. "This doesn't happen everywhere," I thought. Well, now it's starting to happen in places I would least expect. In broad daylight, no less.

I have faith in the Toronto Police that they will catch these criminals soon. When that happens, I don't want to hear friends and family members of those criminals to tell the media how these were nice boys, who they love their sister very much, how they can't believe these boys did something like this.

I would tell them, stop being in denial. Your son did not turn into a gangbanger overnight. There were so many signs that he was dealing drugs, doing drugs, committing all sorts of felonies, and you turned a blind eye to it. Now, someone's daughter is dead. Someone's sister is dead. One Jane Creba is worth 10X more than all of these losers combined.

If they want to claim innocence in all of this, try doing it in front of the victims of the shootings, in front of Jane Creba's family. I dare them to say their sons are good boys in front of all these grieving victims.

Boxing Day Shopping and Shooting

What the hell is going on in Toronto?

How could shoppers on Boxing Day get shot in broad daylight? Or, how could those perpetrators be brazen enough to commit murder on Yonge Street, where there is 3X the volume of pedestrians than normal, and expect to get away with it? What in the world possessed them to do this?

How the hell did they get guns anyway? And what the hell are their parents teaching them? Have their parents taught them anything at all? I'm not one to blame others for one person's mistakes, but hearing about all these crimes that have happened in Toronto this year, I'm really fed up.

These losers grow up in Toronto, with a great chance at getting a good education, with good food and a place to live. Why do they still allow themselves to turn into criminals and murderers? How could entering a life of crime and murder get them ahead to a better life?

Some might argue in their defense that these criminals have grown up in impoverished neighborhoods, without a lot of social or familial support, with being discriminated against becuase of their race, gender, language and whatnot. Well, you know what I would like to say to these people? Many immigrants since the 1960s have arrived in Canada in just a state. They live in impoverished homes. They have to cope with terrible language barriers that prevent them from getting stable employment. They don't have the language skills to go and seek social assistance from the government or the community centres. And do these immigrant children grow up to be criminals and murderers? NO. They grow up to be business people, doctors, dentists, teachers, lawyers, and so on.

The path to leading a good life depends on each step a person takes, not all the obstacles that one has to face. We all have to live through some type of shit or another. Some of us have the decency to make the right decisions, and others don't. For those who don't, don't blame it on lack of social programs or racial discrimination. Take responsibility and stop blaming it on "society."

CHUMCity Christmas Wish

This year, instead of buying each other gifts, I suggested to my best friends to buy toys to donate to the CHUMCity Christmas Wish. They agreed, and last night, we got together for our Christmas dinner at a Brazilian-Chinese restaurant.

After dinner, we "opened" up our gifts and showed them off. Clare got a pair Minnie Mouse and a Micky Mouse stuffed toys, plus a Snoopy stationary set. J. got an Incredibles toy, and something else which I cannot remember at the moment. E. got some build-your-own car sets. Cat got rubrix cube. Thai bought a huge playdoh set. I got some painting crafts, wood building models and a Moose from Sears. There are a lot more items that I am not able to recall right now, but I'm sure that collectively, we spent over $145 on toys.

We then took them over to the CHUMCity to drop them off. After that, we went and had dessert at Richtree. It was a very good night. I felt very blessed to have the financial means to do something like this, and I am even more blessed to have a group of friends who are so supportive and enthusiastic.

I thank God for all these blessings. I hope that God will help all of us to continue to give generously, to open our hearts and minds to those in need, to continue doing this good work with zeal and never tire of it. Praise the Lord.

Cuisine of India - Restaurant Review

Tonight, I had dinner with my dept. colleagues at the restaurant, Cuisine of India.

We had some rice pelau, some nan bread, and I ordered the ghati ghost (lamb stew). It was so tasty. I love pelau rice becuase it's so fragrant. Nan bread is so soft. Lamb stew...need I say more?

F. ordered a curried fish, which I forgot to try (darn it!). M. ordered the chicken tikka, which was very nice with the shredded cabbage. R. ordered the salmon, which was an aromatic bbq style, but I don't like salmon, so...

The service was mediochre. Normally, they serve you water first thing, and our waiter did not do that. He served the wine orders first. Now, normally, I would not be so picky about this, but the appetizer bread he gave us was so spicy hot! I couldn't believe it when he came with the wine first, and then we had to wait longer for the water.

What I don't like about this restaurant is that you have to pay extra for the nan bread and rice. Usually, other places I've been to serve you rice or nan to go with your main dish. Seriously, who would eat spicy lamb stew alone, or spicy curry fish alone? Honestly!

The dessert was lovely, as we shared an ice cream with pistacios. It's a spicy kind of hard ice cream. The misala chai tea was so creamy and delicious. I've never had tea that I have been able to call delicious, but this chai tea was just that. And, F. tells me that this wasn't even the best misala chai she's ever had. Whoa!!

All in all, it was a great dinner because of the company I shared it with, and because of the conversations we had. I haven't had such a harmonious, and at the same time exciting, dinner in a long time.

Restaurant: 3.5/5 stars

Good Week

This past week can be characterized as being quite good.

On Monday, my ESLD class went to the library for a workshop that introduced them to Lebanon. We started the workshop with a keynote speaker, one of our V.P.s. She told us about her experience of escaping Vietnam after the war as a boat-refugee with her family. It was one of the most gripping stories I have ever heard. The amount of details in the story made it so real and vivid for me. Afterwards, I told my class, it takes a certain quality of courage to be able to open oneself up and reveal such memories from one's past. Personally, I don't know if I would ever have been able to talk about something so personal to a group of high school students.

After opening with a bang, the students had to go and watch a video, which they found to be a bore. Other students had to create a flag for Freedom. They were all reluctant at first, but once they got going, the teacher's couldn't get them to stop. Some of the flags turned out to look really good!

Then we had some Lebanese snacks, like pitas with hummus, some ginger candies, and some mint tea. The food, surprisingly, was not welcomed with as much zeal as we thought.

After this workshop, the students were introduced to the novel, The Road to Chlifa. It is a novel by a Montreal writer that won the Governor's General Award in 1993. It tells the story of a Lebanese boy who escaped from the civil war, and his journey to freedom.

I am looking forward to this last week before Christmas. It should be an easy week.

Cheers!

Review: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe film

This winter, I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the first movie from the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Finally, I got to see it on Saturday. It was such an awesom experience!

What I loved about the movie was the set up. It shows how dangerous it was for the children to be living in London during the bombings. It was necessary for them to move away, into the countryside, to avoid being killed. From the very beginning, the characters and their personalities came through. The eldest, Peter, is practical-minded, responsible and authoritative. He has to be this way because he is the eldest. Susan, is gentle and understanding. Lucy is young, impressionable and eager. Edmund, the third child, is a bit reckless, although he means well.

Throughout the movie, what captivated me was the acting by the children actors. Their facial expressions were lively, but not overwrought. I don't recall a single moment when any one of them over-acted.

Story-writing-wise, I was impressed with how some changes were made from book to film, and the changes appeared seamlessly done. One of the major action scenes took place on a river, for example, and Peter was given an opportunity to show his cleverness and daring: two very important qualities in a warrior. This is what surprised me because in the book, Peter is quite flat. He's the oldest boy, and therefore he is responsible for getting them out of trouble. The film shows Peter as a credible leader becuase of his intelligence, not because of his gender or the order in which he was born.

As for weaknesses, I felt that the scene of Aslan on the Stone Table falls short of bringing across the monstrosity of the incident, the significance of his actions, and the anguish of his suffering. Don't get me wrong, I'm not asking for more graphic violence. What I did expect was for the scene to make the viewer feel the pain and the injustice of his sacrifice. I did not get that.

Overall, I give the film 4/5 stars.

Body Worlds Review

Today, my friends and I went to the Ontario Science Centre to view the Body Worlds exhibit. Cost of admission after 5pm was $20 for adults.

E. bought us our tickets at 5:20, and we had to line up for over half an hour before we actually got to enter the exhibit area. The first displays were all in glass cases. We saw muscles and bones, and neither of these bothered me. When we got to the display on the brain, that's when I started to feel nauseous. I don't know why that happened, and I did not expect it.

What I really wanted to see were the models of figure skaters, a cancerous lung, a tumor...and I think that's it. I got to see all of this, and more.

The figure skaters looked just as graceful as they would be in living flesh. The cancerous lung looked much like I anticipated it would look: black. What really struck me was the lung of a coal miner, which was covered in black and it was really BLACK! Tumors were hard to discern because I don't know how to differentiate between membrane tissue and tumorous tissue.

I think this exhibit was worth the $20, but the Science Centre should limit the number of visitors they allow into the area at one time. We had to wait a lot because there were several human traffic jams. That is just unnecessary. Limit the number of people passing through at one time, and then you won't have congestion. By the end of the 1 hr walk-through, my friends and I were all tired because we had to stand so long.

The thing that leaves the deepest impression on me is likely the fetus exhibit. The fetuses were all taken from aborted pregnancies. I always thought that in an abortion, the fetus died because of tissue being broken down, which flows out of the uterus in the form of blood. I didn't know that the body of the fetus would still be whole and intact. This was the most striking part of it.

New Teacher

Today, we finally met the new teacher for our department. Ms. R. is very young, very friendly, and is a new teacher, just like me.

She is really smart because she is doing a masters degree in American History of the Slavery period. Juggling school and first year of teaching is a very daunting thought.

My colleague, F., is very happy that we finally have another teacher to help teach the lower level students in the Family Studies course. Over-sized classes and small classrooms make it very hard for the teacher to teach, as well as the students to learn.

I hope the students will come to like their new teacher, and I hope that Ms. R. will find her new teaching job as pleasurable as I find mine, if not more! :D

Congrats to Ms. R.

Birthdays This Week

Over the past 3 days, I've celebrated 3 birthdays.

Today, my family celebrated my dad's birthday. He's now 65, and he's retiring. YAY!

Mum made us wonton noodle soup, crab steamed with scallions, and oyster pancakes. It was so yummy! Auntie Nellie ordered a durian cake for us. It was most delicious!

I bought dad an outdoor waterproof vest. Clint and Tammy got him a 3-month subscription to the World Daily newspaper. Aunt Le and Nellie got him a very nice Italian shirt, with matching tie, tie clip and a set of...cuff button things.

On Friday night, I went out with Eddie, Clare, Thai and Jack to celebrate E. and C.'s birthdays. We had dinner at China King Buffet on Yonge and Major Mack. The food was alright, but too much MSG. Afterwards, went to play minigolf. It was so much fun! My team lost, though. At one hole, it took me 7 swings because I kept hitting the ball too hard and it kept going past the hole. Ugh!!! That was hilarious! On my 2nd last hole, I got the ball in on the first attempt, but that was a total fluke, LOL.

I got Eddie the same waterproof vest as I did for my dad, and I got Clare a necklace by Jones New York, and a pair of earrings by Guess. They both seemed to like their gifts. =)

Pioneer Village Trip a Success

The trip to Pioneer Village was a pleasant one. Most students were very well-behaved.

When we got there, the students were divided up into 3 groups of 20. My tour guide was Alexandra. She took us to the tinsmith's shop. There, I learned about how they made lanterns with an extremely inticate pattern of stars and flowers. These patterns are make from holes that are punched through the tin, to let the light through. This was called a barn lantern, for the windy and rainy nights when a farmer has to go into the barn to tend to the animals, and no matter how hard the wind blows on the lantern, the holes will not permit the flame to be blown out. It was so fascinating! And beautiful, of course!

That was my fave part of the trip, learning about this amazing lantern.

Another Week Gone By

Boy does time fly! I still remember the week just before school started, when I was trying to get the last minute wedding decorations done for Zemuppet and Chiquita. I had just been hired to teach ESL, and I was dazzled and frazzled. I was so nervous. I wasn't sure if I could do it...I mean, really teach, every day!

Now, it's been over 6 weeks, and I'm no longer nervous. In fact, I stopped being nervous several weeks ago. I don't know when I got used to it.

This week was a mixture of ups and downs. Ups include the successful poetry lessons I've done with my ESLEO class. Downs include some troublesome students.

On Monday, I'm taking the students to Black Creek Pioneer Village. Fortunately, we'll be on a school bus, and not riding the TTC. During rush hour, with 72 adolescents riding the TTC is very frightening thought. Wish me luck!

Fatigue

The only thing that is keeping me awake right now is looking forward to watching the 9pm Chinese crime-comedy, "The Catch the Uncatcheble."

Food, Food, and More Food

On Sunday, my family celebrated the Sept. 9th festival, "Chung-yeung." For this celebration, we went into Missassauga to visit the tombstones of my paternal grandparents. We laid down a pot of mums and chrysanthemums in front of the tombstones. After that, we paid our respects to them, and then we went home. At home, we had a dinner after venerating our grandparents and ancestors.

On Monday, I was planning on finishing up the marking and doing some grammar homework. At 2:30 pm, my best friend called me up.

Best Friend: C---? I'm coming to pick you up in 2 hours, okay?
C---: For dinner?
BF: Yes. You are coming to the dinner, right?
C---: I guess.
BF: J-- told you about the dinner, right? He said he told you about it.
C---: No, what dinner?
BF: The Thanksgiving dinner!
C---: OH!!!! Yes, I remember now!

So, I did end up having some turkey on Thanksgiving Day, thanks to J--. I also have to be thankful that I have a very caring family. Since I started my new job, I've found very little time to do house chores. My mum has been helping me out a great deal. Dad is driving to work more often so that he can give me a ride, which means I don't have to wait for the bus. I am extremely fortunate. In addition, I have to be thankful for having such a great 1st Teaching Job. The teachers in my dept. are so helpful, so considerate, and so generous with their time and expertise. I am truly very fortunate. I thank the Lord for surrounding me with these wonderful individuals, giving me the support I need right now.

Tonight, after work, I went out with the WTFF Club. That's not the "what the flying f---" club. That's the "we'll teach for food" club. We went to I Cook
Buffet for hotpot. It was a lot of fun cause the conversation was so hilarious and entertaining. Thanks to TT for organizing it, and MA for inviting me to join this club.

That ends this entry, and now you know why I gave it the title, "Food, Food and more Food." :P

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish everyone a happy long weekend. Eat lots, and work out later! :D

My family isn't going to have a turkey thanksgiving this weekend. Muzpuppet and Chiquita are out of town, and we're also celebrating Chung-yeung festival today. If we have a turkey dinner tomorrow, then it's way, way, way too much fowl in two days.

Instead, we're going to have lasagna tomorrow, with a salad. The only thing I wish I could have is pumpkin pie. I love the Farmer's Market ones they sell at Loblaws.

This afternoon, both my family and Uncle Frank's family are going into Mississauga to visit the tombstones of my paternal grandparents. After that, they're coming over for dinner. Mum has made coconut curry chicken, salty roast chicken and soya sauce roast chicken. See? I said we were having a lot of fowl this weekend.

Okay, gotta go get ready.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Zzzzzzzz

I'm really tired. I'm really sleepy.

And, it's only 8pm.

-.-

Hello, Long Time No Read

Now that I'm working full time, I find that I have very little time to read for pleasure. There is one place where I visit frequently for short and heart-warming stories. The place is the "Lost and Found" column at The Toronto Star. I believe it is only viewable online, and if you're interested, here is the link: Requires Login/Registration to view

I usually read it once a week, and I will find about 5-8 stories there. The first two stories I read will make me tear up. The 2nd and 3rd stories will start to choke me up. The 4th story onwards surely make me cry. Any more than that, and I'll be sitting at my computer, sobbing. That's the type of person I am. Good things in the world move me greatly.

And now, for something totally unrelated.

WEAR YOUR SEATBELT.

It doesn't take a lot of work to pull that strap over your chest and buckle it securely in place. And, if you think it feels uncomfortable, imagine how you'd be feeling in a hospital bed, with a head concussion, broken collarbone, broken ribs, arms, legs, and so on. You think that feels good? O_o

Today, one of my ESL classes had to work on a newspaper article search activity. Midway through, a student came up to me, and was crying. I asked the student what was wrong? That's when I was told that the one of the victims of the car crash on the morning of Sept. 27 was a close friend of my student. I was not prepared for this.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of those 3 victims. May their mistake teach those around them a valuable lesson.

Lots to say...

First of all, my condolences go out to the citizens of New Orleans, to all the families who are now homeless, and the children who may now be orphaned. I pray that God will grant you the strength and the courage to help those around you, and that those around you will offer you their help as well.

For those who are committing heinous acts of selfishness and cowardice, I believe God will punish them in due course, even if the judicial system cannot manage it at the moment.

Secondly, I have been increasingly busy with helping Muzpuppet and Chiquita Wonder with their wedding. Also, I will be starting a new teaching job next week, so I've been busy planning what to do for lessons.

That is really all that I feel like saying at the moment. I hope that in the coming days, the generosity and the kindness that the people of New Orleans and elsewhere show to the victims of Katrina will strengthen their hope and their resolve.

God bless them.