About my late parents

想起我已過世的父母时，我突然觉得对自己的父母却如此陌生…我並不是很了解他们。父親是一位勤力、老實、有责任感，对孩子很嚴束，不苟言笑。记憶中我们单独最長的一段时间是他帶我去做第一張身份証，办完后，可能是因为我十二岁生日，所以回家前他帶我去点心茶樓吃東西，那时候我感覺很特别，不知道是不是高興感动？當时去点心茶樓吃東西是很稀罕的！父親是很捨得買東西给家人，如他就曾買一整籃的小榴槤。但是我们没有很多的交談，住在一起情感却不親近。母親没有受过教育，她很節儉、好动的。可惜她疑心重常令父親不与她交談，陷入冷戰，家里就没有温馨的感覺。（如果父母知道这是一种对家人無形的殺伤力，我想他们一定设法解决問題而不希望冷戰吧！但在旧时的社会体制没有人教你怎样做父母，如何解压！）虽然我们不是如童话故事中有一个幸福快樂的家，但父母至少是让一家人都温飽，踏实的生话，我还是很感谢父母恩。其實我也得承認，他们在世时我並没做好女儿的角色…

惟願及祈祷我父母往生淨土。

When I recall my late parents, I feel like I wasn’t very close to them…I didn’t understand them much. My father was a hardworking, responsible, honest man, but too serious and never chatted much with his kids. In my memory, the longest time alone with my father was when he brought me to apply for my identity card when I was 12 years old. On the way back home, perhaps it was also my birthday, he bought me ‘dim sum’ in a restaurant. It was rare as a kid at that time to have a meal in a restaurant; I had a special feeling but wasn’t sure the feeling was happy? My father was generous buying food for us sometimes, like when he had bought a whole basket of durians (a kind of fruits). However, we didn’t talk much, even in our home, so our relationship was not so close. My mother was never educated in school, but she was an active, economical person. She was too suspicious of her husband and they didn’t talk to each other for quite a long time, so I didn’t feel our family was harmonious. (If parents knew that their ‘silent war’ was a kind of invisible hurting to the whole family, I think they might have tried harder to solve things. And I think at that time in their community, nobody taught you how to parent or how to solve stress!) Even though our family was not like a children’s story of a very happy family, I am really grateful and appreciate that my parents gave us enough food, clothes and a stable home. In fact, I admitted I was not a good daughter to them while they were still alive…

I pray that my late parents are at peace in heaven.

Snow reflecting sunlight

在马来西亞看到下雨出太陽虽然不是常有，但也不觉得稀奇。

对了，上星期的一天，这里天氣陰冷的，然后就飄下雪花了。雪下了整个小时后，太陽光從雲层透射出來，第一次看到下雪出太陽的景色！雪花泛光… 不到几分鈡雪停了。

Occasionally, we could see sunshine while it was raining in Malaysia; however, it was not so strange.

Huh, a day last week, the weather here was cool and grey, then it started snow. It was snowing more than an hour, and then sunshine showed out through clouds. It was the first time I saw sunshine while it was snowing! Snow reflecting sunlight… but it stopped snowing after a few minutes.

Sweet potato rice porridge

你吃過番薯粥嗎？

想起小时候，母親早上都是煮稀飯（粥）。不知道是不是窮的原因，还是为了简便，有时候我们一家人就是吃白粥配咸鸭蛋或罐頭腌菜。她偶爾也煮番薯粥… 母親还有一道更简便的煮餐法，就是鸡蛋粥，做法很容易…热滾滾煮熟后的粥加入鸡蛋和醬油，搅均后让蛋热熟，撒一些胡椒粉，就是一餐了。记憶中大概我五、六岁的时候吧，我很喜欢鸡蛋粥，也会要求母親煮给我… 这已經是很遙遠的事了！

我吃着我煮的番薯粥配咸鸭蛋和肉鬆… 回味一段往事！

Have you had sweet potato rice porridge before?

I remember when we were kids, my mom cooked rice porridge (congee) every morning. I didn’t know whether it was because we were poor or she wanted to cook something easy and simple; sometimes our meal was plain rice porridge with salted egg or canned vegetables. She cooked sweet potato rice porridge occasionally…. My mom had another simpler dish we called egg rice porridge. It was easy…cook the rice porridge until boiling then put in an egg and soy sauce, stir until it’s all mixed and let the egg cook well. Before serving put in a few pinches of white pepper. It was a meal. I think that was when I was five or six years old. I like egg rice porridge and sometimes asked for it from my mom…. This was a very long time ago!

I cooked sweet potato rice porridge with salted egg and bak hu (pork floss)… recalling a short past memory!

Roots

有时候‘思念’ 痴缠着… 我茫然的对Steve说，“我们可不可以住美国半年马来西亞半年…”

我们到TLing夫婦的淨心中心靜坐班，我们一共有六人，靜坐后是討論的时间，有人從靜坐談到一点自己的生活。TLing说虽然她廿多歲时從台湾来美国已住了25年多，但有时还是会有…这里不是她的‘家’的感覺，在外有一點压力感，所以会自然較傾向與华人社交圈子，回到家都盡量與孩子讲华语，给自己回一些舒服的根生习慣。她的一段话同理到我的感受，对我做调适住在这里的現时期… 我很难形容心里隱藏的无形的压力感… 我想她住了这么多年，还是没擺脫生長自己的国家环境的情怀，这种内在的感受也只有同样身在異国的人才会明白的！

写到此，这也让我想起已过世的父母，（约在二戰期间）他们都是很年輕就從中国去马来西亞，從一無所有到能夠养活一家人，他们也会有缅怀‘家鄉’ 的时侯吧！

根留在何處？

(Photo taken in Penang)

Sometimes, I miss Penang… I felt ignorant and said to Steve, “May we stay in the US half year and Malaysia half year…”

We went to meditation class at TLing’s Pure Mind Center; six of us attended. We had a discussion after meditation and someone talked about a little bit of their own issues. TLing said even though she came here from Taiwan quite a long time ago, over 25 years ago when she was in her 20’s, sometimes she still feels that…here is not like ‘home’. She feels a little pressure with westerners; she enjoys being in a group more if they are Asians, and she speaks Chinese with her kids at home. So it seems like an original habit will be most comfortable. Her words kind of reflected my feeling. As I adjust to living here…I can’t describe the sense of my invisible pressure inside…. Seems she still hasn’t lost the relationship with her former home country, even though she has already lived here a long time. I think only those who came from another country might understand this kind of feeling in their heart!

While writing about this, I recalled my late parents, who came to Malaysia from China when they were young (I think it was during World War II). Starting from nothing, until they had a family, perhaps sometimes they might have been thinking of ‘hometown’ too!

Where do the roots stay?

Lily and daffodil

这一朵百合爭先开放…第一名。很香！

我驚見我们家后院生長了这叢可爱的花，我不知道她的名字，Steve说这种花一年才开一次。

我后来看到市场售賣此盆栽，才知道原来她的名字叫…水仙。以前听说过水仙花，但不知道水仙長得怎样的。真是百闻不如一見。

This one competed…this lily bloom wins first prize for opening, and it is fragrant!

I was surprised to see a few bunches of flowers blooming in the backyard. They are lovely, but I didn’t know their name. Steve said they only bloom once a year, in Spring. I saw a store selling this potted plant and only then I knew their name…daffodil. Before that, I had heard of the flower called 水仙 (daffodil) but I didn’t know what they were. It is better to see and know than to just hear about it.

Advice

Hi SinE,

（我翻譯自英文）‘希望你那儿的生活很好…

以下是我同事的故事…’

她受中文教育 英文不是很流利

他受英文教育 听不懂中文

然而他们相遇 相爱了

她觉得语言不是问题

她说可以乘机学好英语。。

今天 她有点受不了了

她的感觉无法清楚的向他表达

她的分享 他似乎不是很了解

他说这也许是件好事 可以减少争吵

听起来似乎也不是没有道理。。

然而她看来还是有点无奈。。。

我也不晓得该如何安慰 该劝她继续加油 ？ 还是趁早放弃 ？

不该由我来说吧。。。

（我翻譯自英文）‘听她诉说之后… 我想起你…

她是一个感觉型的人…有时候很难用英语表达她的感觉..

与你分享…不知你对此有何看法..*o*

LT敬上’

Hi LT,

谢谢你分享朋友的疑问。以我的作風，如要了解她本身的疑问多一些的话，我还是希望与当事人联接。不過没关系，我願意把我的經歷分享﹕

我是马来西亞华人 講英语一块一块的

他是美国洋人 听不懂华语及方言

然而我们被介绍认识 相爱了

我之前觉得担心语言是问題 鸡同鸭讲

介绍人对我说 做回自已 开放心怀。。

去年 我们结婚了了

我常与他分享 真的说不清楚 就用中文写

他如想要了解 会去纲上尋找翻譯

这是一种对彼此的誠意

我未结婚前

有结婚了的朋友幽我的默 若吵架时要怎么骂话。。

好像在一起就是要爭吵的？。。。

我认为应正面的 嘗试去了解！ 接纳！

请记得並希望一起互勉之。。。

(我未认识Steve前，我没常用英语与人交谈，可以想像當时与印度女同事用英语交谈是一块一块的，欲描述一件事是很困难的。在我的腦海里從没想过我会接触不懂中文或华语的伴侶，當我被介绍认识一位即不会讲华语更不用说会任何方言的美国人Steve时，虽然我们开始是用英文email，我还可以慢慢想，写出让对方明白的英文。但到了Steve告诉我要来見我时，我才感觉那种担心（我曾提到关於这点的，在此 – http://lktansinee.blogspot.com/2007/06/steve-said.html）﹕我们的沟通会有问題嗎？会不会出現鸡同鸭讲？我不敢直接与介绍人龚鉥，讲出我这些担心，我email 她﹕“…我们從email 彼此认识了一些，Steve希望来槟城見我。在我们見面前，你可否告诉我你所知道的他，比如人格及其它。若我多知道他一些，这样我会较有安全感…” 龚鉥回复我﹕“（我翻译自英文）他是一位很好的人，心靈隨和。他喜欢東方文化，曾去过日本公幹也认识日本文化。他向我学习中国画很久了，他画得很好。他是一位工程師。我知道的就是这些。做回你自己及开放心怀，不用紧張，与他有个美好的相處。”

做回你自己及开放心怀，确实是很重要的！

我都尽量与Steve分享，真的说不清楚，我就用中文写给Steve我要说的意思，他如想要了解，他会想办法，如去尋找纲上翻譯，这是一种对彼此的誠意。

还没在一起生活就想負面的 – ‘可以減少爭吵’ ？之前我还未结婚时，也有结婚了的朋友幽我的默 - “若吵架时要怎么骂话？” 好像在一起就是要爭吵的？

正面的应是嘗试去了解、接纳！请记得並希望一起互勉之。)

心憶敬上

Hi SinE,

Hope you are doing fine there...

Below is a story about my colleague...

(I translated into English) ‘She is Chinese educated and not fluent in English. He is English educated and doesn’t understand Chinese. However, they met and fell in love. She thought language is not a problem and said it is a chance to learn more English… Today, she can’t stand it anymore because she can’t express clear enough her feelings, and he looked like he did not understand her sharing too. He said this might be good; perhaps it can reduce their arguments. Sounds like it is not untrue, but she looked a little bit helpless.

I don’t know how to comfort her, or give her advice to carry on? Or better to get out early?’

After listening to her... I thought of you..

She is a feeler ....sometimes it is hard for her to express her feelings in English.

Sharing this with you ... see if you have any say about this...*o*

Regards, LT

Hi LT,

Thanks for sharing some of your friend’s doubts. I wish to contact her so I can understand more about her doubts. However, it is okay. I would like to share my experience:

Before I met Steve, I had less conversation in English. You can imagine my English conversations with my Indian colleagues; My English was piecemeal and it felt difficult to express myself. I never thought that I would meet a partner who doesn’t understand Chinese. I was introduced to an American, Steve, who can’t speak Chinese, nor Chinese dialects. Even though we started by email and I could take time to write in English so that Steve could understand what I was talking about, I felt worried (this link talked a little bit about the worry - http://lktansinee.blogspot.com/2007/06/steve-said.html) when he wished to come to meet me: Would we have communication problems? Would he understand what I was saying? (Can a chicken talk with a duck?!) I didn’t tell my worries directly to Gong Shu, who introduced us, but emailed her: “…we have learned a bit about each other from emails and Steve wishes to come Penang to meet me. Before we meet, can you tell me, as much as you know about him, i.e. personality and etc. If I know more then I may feel a bit more comfortable …” Gong Shu replied: “He is a very nice person, easy going and spiritual. He likes Oriental culture. He has been to Japan on business and knows Japanese culture. He studied painting with me for a long time and is very good at it. He is an engineer. That's all I know. Just be yourself and be open. Have a good time with him, don't be nervous.”

It is really important to be yourself and be open!

I always try to share things with Steve. If it really isn’t clear enough, I write in Chinese so if Steve wants to understand, he can find a translation online. This is sincerity to each other.

They haven’t been living together yet, but already have negative thoughts – ‘it can reduce their arguments’? My married friends were joking before I got married - “how will you argue?” They sound like a couple must fight?

The positive way should be to try to understand and accept! I wish this as a reminder and encouragement for each other.

Regards, sinE

Chocolate & Computer day

復活節当然少不了巧克力，这是市场推售的兔子巧克力… Steve爱吃巧克力如命，他不想錯过買它的机会！我咬了它的上半双耳朵，Steve咬了下半双耳朵，他在来一个大口，兔子的头不見了…
我们说了多次家里要多设一个電腦，终于在这天買了筆記本電腦。電腦已經是我们每天必須碰触的物品！

At Easter, you cannot avoid having chocolate; Easter Bunny chocolate is one type in the stores…. Steve loves chocolate very much and didn’t miss the chance to buy one when he saw it! I bit off the top half of its ears; Steve bit off the rest of the ears, and with one more bite from his big mouth, the bunny’s head was gone…

We have been discussing getting another computer at home, and finally we bought a laptop on Easter. The computer is something that we touch almost everyday!
23.3.08

Starting anew

唉 这些日子

鳥儿都不敢靠近我了

不要遺棄我

我这枯廋的身躯还承受得住

寒冬真的很难熬啊...

只要给我一絲絲的暖意

我就会有继读生存的希望

重新开始

再一次 我要让生命增添色彩

当鳥儿又回到我身边

那时候

你嗅到的是 我的坚持 骄傲

四季的国家，树都有另一番風情... 看着枯枝开始萌芽了，我才知道这是自然界的春天氣息。Steve说是时候开始种蔬菜果类的时節了。

适逢復活節，市场推售鬱金香、百合花等，我们買了一盆百合，特地选择含苞待放的花蕾，让我们来見证这八朵花开放的姿态吧！

Err these days

Birds don’t come close to me at all

Don’t give up on me

I still stand up though my thin body is withered

Hard to endure is the cold winter…

I want the warmth, even just a little

Starting anew

Once again I want my life to be colorful

If birds come back to me

That moment

You would smell my perseverance and pride

The trees have their different expressions in the four seasons… When I saw the dried branches starting to bud, only then I knew that Spring had arrived. Steve said it is time starting planting vegetables and fruits.

The stores are selling tulips, lilies, etc. during Easter. We selected a potted lily with eight buds that are getting ready to bloom, so we can witness their expression of Spring!

Three-pure-meat

I am not vegetarian and I like seafood, but I eat ‘three-pure-meat’ (a Buddhist term). What is three-pure-meat?

Three years ago, on one of my business trips to China for my ex-company, our agents treated us to meals in seafood restaurants. I remember they wanted me to select what kinds of food I like…there they are particular about live seafood because it means it is fresh. After I looked around, I said I didn’t want live seafood! They were curious and looked at me. I simply explained I eat three-pure-meat to them, which means: I did not see the killing, did not hear the killing, and do not suspect that it was killed specifically for me. I didn’t want to eat meat that was killed because of me.

True or false

今天读到一篇马来西亞某报特派记者到台北访问‘去年发表“Negarakuku”而引发大风暴，目前尚在台湾深造的黄明志’（黄明志指出，他也是看了报纸才知道原来自己已经“道歉”了）。從这我才知道原来有些媒体报导出来的新闻，如‘改编国歌创作风波黄明志道歉’ ，是某前执政人自编自导自演的一场剧！

啊…我开始怀疑我不是在看马来西亞新闻，而是在看小说了！

現今很多資讯会在考你的明智，如一些转拔的文字图片也难分辨是真是假的！

Today, I read an article in the Malaysian press about an interview with Wee Meng Chee (Chinese-Malaysian) who is an undergraduate student in Taiwan and directed the critical song ‘I Love My Country Negarakuku’, after which he was criticized by people last year (In the interview Wee said that after he read the news he discovered ‘he had apologized’ but actually he hadn’t.) From that, I just knew that some of the news from the media was edited, directed and performed by those former politicians! Example in this case: ‘Wee issued a public apology to the government’.

Ah…I started becoming confused and I couldn’t tell if I was reading Malaysian news or reading a novel!

Nowadays, some information will try to test your wisdom, like some forwarded email or pictures that we don’t know whether they are true or false!

Fried pork floss wonton

我觉得这里的华人餐廳的‘雲吞’ （不知是来自那一国家），無論是湯煮或炸雲吞，口味真的比不上槟城的雲吞好吃！Steve比較不喜欢湯煮后軟軟的雲吞皮，而能接受炸雲吞，这次我们就做炸雲吞吧！

嗯…雲吞餡料完了但还有幾片的皮，我想了想，啊…不然就用肉鬆來做餡料。这有点像是肉鬆薄皮卷，不过，我们做的…就叫它做炸肉鬆雲吞。

I don’t think the ‘wonton’ with soup or fried wontons in Chinese restaurants here (don’t know which countries the recipes are from), taste so good compared with Penang! Steve doesn’t much like the soft wonton skin after they are cooked in soup, but he likes fried wontons. So, we made fried wontons at home!

Hmm…the filling was all used up, but we still had some wonton wrappers left over, so I thought - how can we use them all? Ah…‘bak hu’ (pork floss) can be their filling. This is similar to pork floss roll (using spring roll wrapper); however, I called it – fried pork floss wontons, made by us.

Hanging and working hard

Someone rang our door bell. When Steve opened it, a guy informed him that they had come to cut tree branches in our backyard. I was curious and asked Steve what happened… Oh, they are from electric company and need to cut any tree branches that might affect or damage the wires. After I knew that, I was more curious about how they were working…the trees are quite tall! It looked like they didn’t have a ladder or staircase. I went to take the camera and said to Steve, “Can I go out to take pictures of them?” Steve said some people don’t like having pictures taken while they work. So, I was sneaky and took some pictures through the kitchen window…. They were climbing up to the branches, swiftly moving from one branch to another. They are not filming a movie; they are working hard!

Another day, I saw someone working on the wires and he was also hanging and working hard on the top of the pole.

Along the roadside, the staff in-charge of cutting tree branches can use a staircase from a truck to reach the branches and work…

Ice cream hot coffee

我吃了几口Starbucks 的Latte ice cream（咖啡冰淇淋），觉得它太甜，刚好我煮了咖啡，腦海想着…冰淇淋加上熱咖啡会是怎样的呢？我即把它们加在一起…不用放糖及奶精了，嗯！很不錯。是不是想知道那是什么味道？请自己做來试一试吧！
以后如你在某间咖啡厅喝到冰淇淋熱咖啡飲料，那他们一定是抄自我的發明配方！;-p

I ate a little bit of Starbucks’ Latte ice cream, and I thought it was too sweet. I had just made some coffee and had a thought… how would it taste if I put the ice cream and hot coffee together? So, I made it up… it doesn’t need any sugar or cream. Hmm, not bad! Do you wonder how it tastes? Please make some yourself and try it!

In the future, if you get a cup of ice cream hot coffee in a coffee house, they probably copied my invention! ;-p

Couldn't take away

马来西亞大选激动過后的两、三天內，從新聞读到两位不同身份人物的死訊，一位是“白小保校”工委会主席熊玉生先生，另一位是前任巴生港口州议员“豪宅” 议员查卡利亚（Zakaria Md Deros）。

熊玉生死了，‘五百人泣送熊玉生最后一程灵车驶入白小原校完成遗志’ ，‘他抗争长达8年的白沙罗华文小学（白小）重开原校。’ 他受到表揚喻为‘有的人死了，他还活着。’

查卡利亚死了，也不知道他是被人喻为什么，不过在生之前违例兴建豪宅而备受争议。但肯定的，我知道他没能把一分钱帶去，抱括他的豪宅！

Within a few days after the excitement of the election in Malaysia, I read news about two different kinds of people who died. One is Mr. Xiong, the ‘SOS Damansara’ Action Committee Chairman (Damansara is the name of a public Chinese primary school). The other is former Klang (a city in Malaysia) municipal councilor, Zakaria Md Deros, who owned a ‘virtual "istana" (palace)’.

When Xiong died, ‘five hundred people attended Xiong’s funeral and the hearse entered into the original Chinese primary school to finish his unfulfilled dream’. He had been fighting to reopen the original SJKC Damansara school for the past 8 years. He is also praised as ‘he is still alive, even after he has died’.

Before Zakaria died, ‘Zakaria Deros of 'istana infamy', he had a run-in with the law for not submitting building plans for his mansion, which was described as a virtual istana (palace) by his critics.’ I don’t know what people thought about him, however, I think he definitely couldn’t take away a cent, including his mansion, with him!

Perhaps

佛友 TLing 策划在她的淨心中心主辦八堂给九至十四歲青少年及家長的親子教育課程，TLing 交给我一本法鼓山教育部的中文書＜大智慧過生活第一册＞，要我翻譯其中一課為英文。

我已作了翻譯也想把这篇文章作者黄俊偉（取材自聯合報＜現代人的大夢＞專欄），以及＜與你談心＞的分享。

A Buddhist friend, TLing plans to organize an eight session “life skills” class for 9 to 14 year olds with their parents in their Pure Mind Center. TLing passed me a Chinese book from Dharma Drum Mountain. She wanted me to help translate one of the chapters from the book into English.

I translated it and thought to share an article and the message from there with you:

‘Perhaps This Is the Last Time’ written by 黄俊偉

“We can’t avoid feeling bothered or getting mad when interacting with others sometimes: mom wants me drive her to go shopping; my elder brother wants to borrow my car; my younger brother calls and wants me to pay his book fees again; student’s parents come and talk about the problems raising their kids; a co-worker calls and complains about personal issues; the dog smells bad and needs a bath……. Sometimes, I feel bothered by life’s little things; ordinary, routine things, even the need to move and open my mouth to eat. It seems everyday has a bunch of matters that I cannot finish!

Then, one day, I went to the hospital and visited a friend who was careless and got poisoned by breathing in carbon monoxide. Previously, my friend was a genius, full of energy and very active; but now he is covered by a diaper, because he cannot use his arms and legs. His nose had a tube to his stomach and there was an open hole at his throat to put another tube.

When it was mealtime, I heard a nurse say, “Time to eat.” Then the nurse used a huge injection tube to inject the food paste into my friend’s feeding tube. It was fast and only took one or two minutes. After that the nurse said, “Okay, done!” - - My friend looked at me, helpless.

At a meal, the day before his accident, I got my food and sat down with him. I remembered he was complaining while he was eating. If he knew that this would be the last meal which he could chew food in his mouth and taste delicious food - - I think he probably would have had a nice, delicious meal that day.

As I left the hospital, I thought about my life and told myself: I should feel happy driving mom to go shopping; letting my elder brother use my car; paying book fees for my younger brother; listening to student’s parents; washing the car; bathing the dog……. All these little things in life that bother me…maybe they won’t be ‘routine’ again. Perhaps this is the last time in my life.”

‘The Message:

We always hope tomorrow will be better, wishing for a great tomorrow. In fact, to be here now is the best. If we focus on our expectations for tomorrow and we don’t put effort into this moment, then tomorrow will not be pleasant. On the other hand, if we always think about the past and feel pleased or regretful about past issues, then it’s also meaningless. So, are we supposed to have a grateful heart for whatever we have? Live usefully in the present moment and you won’t have regrets in your life!’

‘Only this moment is real, because the past has passed and the future has not come yet.’

How to...

也許我对大姐给的口述去她北每家的指示没能记得很清楚，看到什么要轉左到了那什么的要轉右…我在檳城时去了三次她的家，三次都没順利找到，在她家附近的路兜轉然后須打電话求救！
Steve每次是上Google 地圖查找如何去他要去的地址，他在查一位佛光山寺老佛友给的家住址，這位每人都稱呼她 ‘阿嬷’，邀请佛友们去她家。Steve憑纲上地圖很順利的我们來到她家，從外看第一感觉是，屋子很大… 坐在中间師父旁的就是阿嬷，穿黃衣者是她兒子也是屋主。

我们告别出來看到其它附近的大屋子，每间设計不同而有些像城堡，这种豪華大屋应該是百萬美金以上，Steve猜測对我说。我们很想问怎樣可以像阿嬷的兒子般致富？

Perhaps I was not clear when my sister told me the way to go to her house (in Butterworth, Penang): if see xx…then turn left and go straight; if see yy…then turn right… I have been to her house three times when I was in Penang but every time I didn’t get to her house easily. I drove around the roads there and finally I needed to call for help!

Steve is always searching addresses from Google maps that show how to get to a place. He was searching an address to the house of a Buddhist elder friend’s from Fo Guang Shan temple for a house visiting invited by her. Everyone in the temple calls this elder ‘Ah Ma’ (grand-mom). Steve easily found her house after he got information from the online map. We arrived and our first impression is her house is huge just looking at the outside… The one sitting beside the venerable in the centre wearing the red dress is Ah Ma and the one with the yellow shirt is her son, the house owner.

After visiting, we drove around and saw huge houses. We saw they all have different designs and a few were like castles. Steve guessed that these luxurious houses probably cost more than a million dollars. We were curious and thought about asking how we can become rich too?

Today's historic event in Malaysia

我虽然身不在檳城，但還是很緊張選舉的结果… 真的很难以想像行動党这么標青，橫掃檳城7国席及19州席，即所有檳城行動党侯選人都獲勝！反对党總在檳城佔了2/3（11/13国席及29/40州席），行動党將是五年執政檳城的接棒人。
这种人民的力量可創造今日的马來西亞歷史，我更希望獲勝的代議士能履行他们对人民的承諾，让所有马來西亞人民都享有公平待遇、安居樂業、和平共處的生话！
星雲大師法語﹕
胸襟寬大，條條都是大路﹔心意清淨，處處都是淨土。

Even though I am not in Penang, I was anxious to know the election results… It was unexpected that DAP opposition party would do so well – they won 7 parliament seats and 19 state seats, which means all of the DAP opposition party candidates in Penang won! The opposition parties won a 2/3 majority (11/13 seats in parliament and 29/40 seats in Penang state), and the DAP will be the government in Penang for the next five years.

It was the strength of the Malaysian people that created today’s historic event. I hope those candidates who won will keep their promises and commitments to people. Let all Malaysians be treated fairly and live together peacefully!

“With an open mind, every road is wide. With a pure mind, everywhere is pure land.” By Master Hsing Yun.

Steamed buns with filling

这次的食物是…包子，包子的餡料可以是甜的，也可以是鹹的。我们常有做 kaya 和肉鬆，可以用來作餡料。我们冰櫥里的菲菜和碎肉已有多天了，就用來与蝦米炒作餡料吧！而做包皮是 Steve拿手的，他以前常做麵包烘焙之類…

哈哈！你看，我们有三种口味的包子。

This time the food is….bao zi (steamed buns with filling). Bao zi can be made with sweet or salty fillings. We often make kaya (coconut jam) and bak hu (pork floss), and they can both be used as fillings. We also had some chives and ground pork in the fridge for several days that I had to use up, so I fried them with dried shrimp to be another filling. Steve loves making dough and he often baked breads and pastries…

Haha! You see, now we’ve got bao zi with three different fillings!

Can't see it

星期天早晨通常是比較懶散，隨心所欲的不很早起身，但佛友的淨心中心已開始有靜坐班，是每星期天9am。‘懶散多睡’ 與 ‘精進靜坐’ 談論之后…
我们預早起床，準備去靜坐班，當我洗澡时驚觉到…我对着浴室外的 Steve 说，“我的手鍊不見在我手上啊！请帮我找找看掉在那兒了。” Steve 先到睡床、沙發然后家里各處走動的範圍找，我趕快洗完澡也找一遍…就是没找到，我喃喃自语，“一條鍊掉在家，应該很容易看到的。那是我誼媽给我们的结婚礼物，不能不見啊！” 想到前晚用吸塵機吸塵，會不會被吸進裝塵袋呢？折開吸塵機及塵袋，我们滿心期望着…翻完了，没有！Steve 给吸塵機裝上新袋，我再到處找一遍, 呀呼，“我找到了！” 它跟金黃色的大廳地毯接近顏色，之前在那兒找它时卻没注意到它的存在。
有时候你在找尋某個東西，它明明就在你眼前，但你卻看不到它…
我想起这句（不知道是誰寫／說），“因为我是魚，所以你看不到我的淚！” 另一版本是﹕魚说，“你看不到我的眼淚，因为我在水中。” 水说﹕“我能感覺到你的眼淚，因为你在我心中。”

Mostly our Sunday mornings are relaxed and we are too lazy to get up early. Last Sunday, a Buddhist friend’s center started meditation classes on Sundays at 9am. So, after having a “do we want to be ‘lazy & relax’ or ‘diligent & meditate’ ” discussion…

We woke up early to get ready to attend meditation class. When I was showering I was shocked… I called to Steve outside the bathroom, “My bracelet is not on my arm! Please help me find where I dropped it. ” He was searching the bed, sofa and other places where we normally go. I hurried and finished my shower and searched the places again…we didn’t find it. I muttered, “A bracelet should be easy to see if dropped somewhere at home. It was a wedding gift from my god-mother; I don’t want to lose it!” We remembered last night we vacuumed the floor. Was it vacuumed up? We were hoping while opening the vacuum… tearing open the bag, no! Steve put in a new bag, and I searched again and yahoo, “I found it!” It is a similar color to the gold color carpet in our living room where we had been searching before but didn’t see it.

Sometimes, a thing you are looking for is just in front of you, but you can’t see it…

It reminds me of a quote (I don’t know who wrote/said it and I translated it): “It is because I am a fish that you can’t see my tears.” Another version is: Fish said, “You can’t see my tears because I am in the water.” Water said: “I can feel your tears because you are in my heart.”

Lor Bak (pork meat roll)

昨天天氣報告说今天將會下六吋以上的雪，Steve就乾脆不去上班了。果然今早九点多直到下午四点多，不停下雪，很厚的雪…
我從廚房窗向外看…下雪的情景真的很漂亮！
Steve在我大姐家（檳城）吃了她做的 lor bak（鹵肉），贊说好吃。還好我二姐買豆皮（这里的商店似乎没有）给我帶回來，我们今天就做 lor bak 啦！

Yesterday, the weather forecast said we would have over 6 inches of snow today, so Steve didn’t want to go to work. It was true, the snowing started around 9am and continued until around 4pm and it was heavy…

I looked at the snow falling outside the kitchen window …the scene is beautiful!

When we had a meal at my sister’s house (Penang) and Steve ate lor bak (pork meat roll), he said the taste was very good. My sister bought some bean-curd sheets (wrapper, I didn’t see it in the Chinese grocery store here) and gave them to me to bring here. That’s good! We could make lor bak today!

Locked myself out

有一次我走出門外，把屋門一拉關上时，在外做了一件事后，轉動門把要開門时，才發現内門把是已按銷上的！啊…我可没帶銷匙在身上哦！这下可慘了…没人在家里開門给我進去，外边的天氣是 43F（ 7C），而我在家里时是穿著長袍没穿暖衣。心想唯有找電话打给 Steve，看看週圍的住家，向他们借電话去吧…后屋的住家关上窗布似乎没人在家，我走去右鄰按門玲卻没人反应… 正不知如何是好时，看到屋后的人家駕車進她的車房，高兴得趕快跑去蘺芭，一看她下車，就叫住她，跟她说明原因后，她把手提遞给我打了電话… 感謝她后（我很不好意思接受她邀请我進去她家等侯），我在通風的小室等 Steve 回來，邊等邊跺腳…

你有被反銷過的經驗嗎？这是很今人沮喪的事！跺腳是情緒的一种反应，我跺腳是因为很…冷啦！

Once, I went out and pulled the house’s door closed. After I did something and tried to turn the door handle, I found that it was locked from the inside! Ah…I didn’t bring the key with me! This is bad…nobody in the house to open the door for me and it was a cool 47F (7C) outside. I was wearing a robe but not a jacket. I looked for our neighbors as I needed to find a phone call to Steve… the house behind our back yard looked like nobody was home because their curtains were closed up. So I walked to another one and rang their doorbell but nobody responded… When I didn’t know what to do next, I saw a car coming back to the garage of the one behind ours. I was happy and ran to the fence, called to her once she got out from car. I told her what happened and she passed me her cell phone… After I thanked her (she invited me to wait in her house but I declined as I didn’t want to bother her), I was waiting for Steve on the patio. I was stomping while waiting…

Have you ever locked yourself outside somewhere? This was really frustrating! Stomping is a kind of emotional reaction. I was stomping because it was…cold!

Char Kway Teow (Fried rice noodles)

炒粿條是非常受歡迎的檳城小食之一，也是傳承来自潮州人的其中一項食物。
我準備了材料…啊！份量太多了吧，我一個人吃而己，看來三餐都要吃炒粿條了。嗯…似乎少了什么？不是蚶！雖然蚶是材料之一，这里找不到鮮蚶！還好我不喜歡吃蚶，没有更好（我也從不買活海鮮）。是辣椒啦！我忘了放蒜辣椒，要辣辣一点才好吃嘛！

‘Char kway teow’ (fried rice noodles) is a popular hawker food in Penang, and is also one kind of food of ‘Teochew’ people.

I prepared the ingredients… Ah! The portion is too much; I am the only one to eat them. Looks like my next two meals are ‘char kway teow’. Hmm… is something missing? It doesn’t have cockles! Even though cockle is one of the ingredients, but I can’t find fresh cockles in the stores here! However, it is better that it doesn’t have, as I don’t like cockles (I never buy live seafood). It is chili! I forgot to put in chili sauce! It is more delicious if it’s a little spicy!