Archive for April, 2008

Earthquake

April 30, 2008 at 9:13 pm · Filed under Work & Social Issues

I rang Mom tonight asking if she felt anything about the earthquake that had happened last night at about 10:41pm in Haidian. Mom said she noticed nothing. Apparently it wan’t strong enough to be perceptible.

However, it somehow reminded me in year 1990, in the morning right before Asian Games’ Opening in the same afternoon, that we had an earthquake happened in Beijing as well. At that moment I was in the school attending a mathematics class, where our teacher was spitting her things from her mouth on the first 3 rows of the class as she was so excited explaining something. When the earthquake came, I was half sitting on my chair in a posture of nearly slipping off the chair. Then suddenly, I totally lost the control on my bottom and slided down towards the floor. At the same time, I heard other people yelling (not quite loud, but loud enough to feel people’s shock and panic) in the class.

It lasted only no more than 3 seconds. After that, everybody realised it was earthquake, then there was a discussion from people about getting out of the building ASAP. Then I had experienced the funniest thing I could ever have found on our boring math teacher. She said “please do not panic, everybody. Listen to me”, she said,” you can’t escape from a big earthquake anyway, neither can you die in a small one”. Of course she said it in Chinese (da zhen pao bu liao, xiao zhen si bu liao), which was much funnier than my English translation here. People in the class all laughed. If it wasn’t what she said the other day, I probably would never remember her. Since then I started to really respect her and try to like her.

Anyway, Mom also mentioned about the real big earthquake happened in 1976 when I was little. It was a magnitude 7.6 thing and a tragedy for all Northern Chinese people in that year. Mom said my dad and she wrapped me in a blanket and managed to get whole family leaving after the shake. Our neighbour, Mr and Mrs Wang amused my mom as Mr Wang ran away first himself, leaving Mrs Wang and kids behind. My mom heard Mrs Wang yelling at Mr Wang complaining his awful behaviour being a very bad father, husband and a man. It wasn’t the first time I heard this story, but every time I heard it I can’t help laughing. No wonder Mr Wang and Mrs Wang separated many years ago at the last :-)

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Is this real?

April 29, 2008 at 10:32 pm · Filed under Daily Living

I still couldn’t believe it! After so much discussion around our China holiday in the past several months, from having planned to go, then cancelled, then hesitated to decided, till now…it’s been finalised, at the last. We are goanna go back…Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

My husband’s club will do a dragon boating race tour in 3 Southern Chinese cities, including Zhanjiang, Guangzhou and Guilin. Then we will be heading home. I can’t help imaging how I would have fun spending time with my family, seeing old friends, enjoying endless gourmet Chinese cuisine and digging up great bargains when shopping around….

Goodness me! I have so many things that I need to prepare before taking off. Where is my suitcase? What things should I bring with me? What can I bring back? And what can we do in China? I need a plan, a good plan. We need to book flights travelling within China…We need to see doctor before we go….and we need to prepare enough medication.

I have to start it now, immediately. My husband would once again prove his theory about me being a travel phobia, but I don’t care, I have to start it now :-)

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This is IT!!

April 26, 2008 at 4:56 pm · Filed under Craft & Art

It took me two months to finish this green cotton pullover. I just can’t believe it as I wasn’t sure once if I could ever be able to finish it one day. Actually I was so sick of knitting it when I was doing the second sleeve that I almost had given it up. Well, I was getting easy while knitting the cowl collar.

I did have a lot of fun with Adjourn pattern and it wasn’t hard at all, except occasionally it gave me crossed eyes. But mistakes were easily managed to limit to the minimum level as you can check it up immediately when it comes up. Shaping was fairly easy, almost a mindless knitting. Also this is the first time I used circular needle to knit. It feels a bit funny but generally no drama at all.

The garment turned out shorter (both on sleeves and the length of the top) than that I had expected, but considering it is a summer or warm weather knitwear, cropped length isn’t a big issue. The rib pattern, being stretchy enough, allows the garment expand greatly and to be put on easily. This cotton yarn is extremely soft and comfortable, good for something that needs to be droppy, but wouldn’t be suitable for some knitting patterns that need a certain thickness or shape.

I only used up half yarn (two balls with 125g/per ball), so theoreticlly speaking, I could knit another similar garment with the rest of yarn (about 900 meters), but I very much doubted it if I would do it this year…I was so sick of it :-)

For this pullover, I suppose it pretty much has only one or two weeks that I could wear it before I put it away. Here is getting cold. The winter is not very far away.

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24 April 2008: Torch Relay at Canberra

April 24, 2008 at 4:05 pm · Filed under Out & About

After today’s torch relay at Canberra, I have too many things that I want to say, but I guess people must have heard so many stories that had happened in there and I doubted if my input would ever seem more worthwhile of my readers’ time, effort or interest.

Canberra was extremely beautiful in its morning mist over the lake. You can see the black swans swimming through the fog, which almost made me forget the frostbites that I felt “being growing on my feet”. It was 7 o’clock when all the balloons were off the ground in the sky and the Captain Cook’s fountain spraying the water up high. It was all our national flags gathered in the starting place and handsome policemen were still bathing in the morning light.

I was deeply touched by what I have seen and heard. And that proud feelings of being a Chinese has never been so strong and the passion, that we might have had long time ago when we were young, or that we are losing slowly with the time passing by, hit everyone in their hearts at that particular place and the time. You felt that you were one of them, a small red dot in the ocean of the endless redness, and to love and fight for what you believe can never be something small or underestimated.

Sometimes I wondered how much courage does it take for us to at least do once?

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Version 2

April 21, 2008 at 9:20 pm · Filed under Food & Cusine

This time I am adding on. Version 2 is a luxury version of Version 1. The ingredients includes Condensed milk, full cream milk, polenta powder, sticky rice powder, plain flour, pinch of baking soda, vegetable oil.

I can’t tell you exactly the amount for each ingredient that had been used in this recipe,but I can certainly give you a few tips:

  • Don’t tip in too much condensed milk, otherwise it would get too sweet. I reckon 1/4 can would be enough;
  • You have to add your milk in a slow pace while stiring the mixture. It could be possible you don’t need to add milk at all as condensed milk makes your mixture quite moist and helps to form the dough. Too much liquid milk would make shaping extremely impossible;
  • The purpose to add in plain flour and sticky rice powder is to adjust the mixture’s level of softness.

Version 2 was a success on the aspect of taste, but a failure on shaping. Strangely they all turned out looking like rock cakes, popped open in the middle and the holes had gone missing underneath. They looked more like cookies than Wo Tou 窝头.

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Old Pain

April 20, 2008 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Health & Fitness

I did shopping, then scubbed the kitchen floor, vaccumed the carpet, wiped the dust on the furniture, did washing……I have gone mad.

Then I felt my old pain around my right butt coming back. It made me frozen for a moment while in a particular posture.

It took me a while to admit that the pain from 4 or 5 years ago could still have its impact on me. I suppose it will never end?

Well, what can you do? The life is pretty much about spending your second half of your life to pay for what you’ve done in the first half of your life. So, just bring it on…..

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