豬年好玩!

收到老闆在豬年的第一封電郵，以新年新數為題...

人 = 吃飯 + 睡覺 + 上班 + 玩 --- (1)
豬 = 吃飯 + 睡覺 --- (2)
把(2)代入(1)
=> 人 = 豬 + 上班 + 玩
兩邊各減去"玩"
=> 人 - 玩 = 豬 + 上班
結論：不懂玩的人 = 會上班的豬

祝各位

豬年好玩!

Sweet Surprise!

喜氣洋洋

The coming Sunday is the Chinese New Year. My family just had the "tuen nin" dinner a few hours ago. It is an important custom of the Chinese culture that families gather for a big dinner at the end of each year. You can think of it as Chinese version of Thanksgiving.

I was virtually there through iChat. They shared a "poon choi" (picture). Yummy! I also saw their flowers: some traditional spring flowers (Chinese version of Narcissus, very fragrant) and two rose bouquets. They were heading to the festival market after the dinner.

Rose bouquets? Yes! Because the Valentine's day is just past!

And also: ELAINE IS ENGAGED!!! They proposed to each other on Valentine's Day :D It was their agreement earlier when they started dating; both of them need to propose to the other. So both of them secretly bought a ring. Hang also proposed with a bunch of black roses. How exciting! My home is filled with love!

I know you probably are bored by the thousands of pictures of a similar view (from my window). It is partly because i discovered that it is extremely easy to export pictures from iPhotos to Google photos. Then, just copy and paste the links to photos/albums onto the blog. It is the fastest way to show mom, sisters, and friends my situation right here.

Be patient to a poor girl who has been trapped in her apartment for days. Will try to shoot some different soon!

白色情人節

雪終於停了

雪下了超過二十四小時，周遭白朦朦一片。朋友說她到外面玩了一趟，積雪高過膝蓋。真羨慕她下雪的時候有男朋友相伴，天氣再惡劣依然浪漫。

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

在香港的時候，如果想吃蛋糕，便立刻跑到樓下的麵包店。紙包蛋糕、合桃蛋糕、蛋韃... 應有盡有。在這邊想吃蛋糕怎麼辦？碰巧是大雪天當然沒法子開車到店去買。但即使買來的也不定合口味。於是要吃蛋糕便得動手做。今日做了一個coffee cake，味道還可以。這個Coffee cake是「懶惰」蛋糕，只要將所有材料混合拌勻便可放進焗爐。過程不需用打蛋器，也不需要特別技巧，因此也不怎麼有趣。很想下次做海綿蛋糕。^_^

The School is Closed Today!

In fact, the town is closed today...

Jimmy said it only happened once during his 7 years in Minneasota. I experience it in my second winter in Illinois.

I did not know that all classes were cancelled when i got up. Actually i just told myself that i wouldn't go to school today no matter the classes are cancelled or not. It was just too scary outside. It is snow storm: heavy snow plus very strong wind. If you see my online album (click on the picture), you'll know that it was already bad last night.

Pleased to have an extra day off... but it seems like I am going to use it for nothing...

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Just saw someone driving outside. Where do they want to go??

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
To my friends in Champaign-Urbana: Hang in there and enjoy!

一點反思

在朋友的網誌上讀到這篇文章。雖然言論有點兒極端，但值得深思。

北大教授與小學老師

　這年頭，很多人都在哭窮。

　 北大新聞學院兼職副教授周憶平（即著名的電視清談節目主持人阿憶），在博客上公布自己的工資單，他的月總工資為4786元。這份收入遠遠高於其他大學中同 級別教師的收入，北大畢竟是「最高學府」。即便在北大內部，這份收入也算比較豐厚，阿憶自己便說，有些「開源」能力較弱的系科裏的正教授也拿不到這樣的工 資。

　但是，阿憶有一個迥然不同的參照系。在素有「黃金行業」之稱的電視界過慣了紙醉金迷生活，他對這點收入根本不屑一顧。據阿憶說，他在電視台任職，月收入至少可以達到8萬元以上，他購買的豪宅亦價值數百萬，開的是豪華的別克車。北大的這點工資，哪夠維持如此水準的生活呢？

　阿憶的哭窮得到了許多北大教授們的共鳴。就在「北大教授哭窮」成為網民和媒體爭議的話題的時候，我卻看到了另外一則關於一位小學教師的新聞。

　劉念友，重慶市開縣北斗村小學教師。開縣是全國聞名的貧困縣，而北斗村更是人均年收入不足1000元的貧困村。劉念友的年收入還不及阿憶的月收入。北大教授和小學教師，身分不同，地位不同。精英與大泷之間，大概就該有這樣的差異。

　 在一對兒女眼中，劉念友是一個狠心的爸爸。兩個孩子先後考上大學，父親都沒有給他們準備好學費。於是，只好由姐姐外出打工來供養弟弟上學。但在劉念友教書 的班上，在他的學生們眼中，劉老師卻是一位「很有錢」的老師。劉老師經常幫那些家裏十分貧窮、繳納不起學費的孩子交學費，甚至連很多孩子的生活費以及生病 了買藥的錢，都是劉老師支付的。以他那微薄的工資，根本不可能承擔這一筆又一筆的費用。這些錢，是從哪裏來的呢？

　 久而久之，學校裏的同事和家人們發現，劉念友在周末和寒暑假經常「人間蒸發」，沒有人知道他上哪裏去了。一次偶然的機會，劉念友的「秘密」才暴露出來—— 每逢這些日子，他便跑到附近的小煤窯裏當礦工。與劉念友一起下井挖煤的農民們都很困惑：「既然他是老師，是文化人，有固定的收入，為什揦還要來受這份苦， 掙這點用命換來的錢呢？」然而，正是靠覑這筆冒覑生命危險掙來的錢，劉念友才做到了沒有讓一個學生輟學。

　 劉念友沒有哭窮，他一邊在暗無天日、危險重重的井下挖煤，一邊在課堂上告訴學生說，知識能夠改變命運；阿憶教授卻在哭窮，因為他傲慢地認為自己是這個社會 的精英分子，精英分子不該只有這麼少的工資，儘管北大副教授的職務只是一份兼職，他在電視台的那些肥缺並沒有統統辭去，他花費在教書育人上的時間和精力都 十分有限。

　北大早已不是魯迅所稱讚的那個「常與黑暗勢力抗戰」的北大了。北大是自私自利者的天堂。一群自私的老師，將一群全國最聰明的學生，教育成了最自私的精英。北大不斷伸手向社會「要」，卻從來沒有想過如何反饋社會。

　決定中國未來的命運的，不是像周憶平這樣學識淵博、食有魚出有車的高級知識分子，而是像劉念友這樣默默無聞、肩起黑暗閘門的普通公民。

　[文·余杰 獨立作家，現居北京，著有《天安門之子》等]

﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣﹣
（註：如果不太認識內地礦工的情況，可參考明報週刊文章《血煤中國礦工實錄》，並留意觀看圖片。）

I see *real* snow today!

(To my dear friends in Hong Kong and California!)

Look at this picture taken yesterday:















Sunny and bright, right? Just looked like a warm summer day. But you are deceived (so did i)! It was -11F outside. With wind chill it felt like -20F (almost -26C). We were joking that it'd be better to hide in a fridge.

But today...

A crazy snowing day!

It was snowing like crazy! Walking on the snow when it's snowing is a fun experience. The snow came all over my face and body. Imagine walking in a heavy rain (like red raining signal in HK) but the rain drops are ice drops.

Also, walking become a bit tiring because every step immerses your foot into the snow. It takes some extra effort to lift your foot again. So i ended up hopping (jumping lightly) instead of walking, i.e., lifting the foot before it steps too deeply into the snow. It was fun too!

(click the 2nd picture to see more pictures! Remember to use the slideshow function.)

Mom

I chatted with mom this morning. It started with just some casual talk: having a new office, meeting a new friend from Australia etc. But somehow mom mentioned the information age we are living now. She said there are so much to learn and to explore but she has physical constraints. Her health apparenlty deterioate since she had a stroke episode 10 years ago. She cannot learn all she wants to learn, see all she wants to see, do all she wants to do.

And she commented that for the past several decades she was not paying attention to the future; she was not thinking much until she realized she has arrived at where she is now. She said she is mentally preparing for the next stage of her life, realizing that it could be the last.

By the time i graduate, mom will be almost 60. Yes, she will have passed most of her years. I want to be near her and travel with her. I remember her most lovely smile-during her first time on a flight-last January when we were heading to Beijing. She had that smile also when she was on the great wall and the forbidden city. She got to see what she has been dreaming of since she was young. I wish i can do more for her.