Tech faux pas...

For some unknown reasons, I had a strange vibe last night that today was going to be a weird day. Now I believe in my intuition even more than before.

We were going out for a farewell lunch for a former-classmate-present-colleague. It took a few trys to start the car as usual as it has been happening for a couple tmonths. We found a great parking spot in downtown but my car's engine kept running even AFTER I pulled out the car key! This was the 2nd time it behaved like this and I thought my solution last time was to drive a little bit more and the problem would go away... it didn't work this time. Then came the burning smell, and the smoke as we checked the engine. I couldn't even shut the window or lock the car because they are all electronic. Good thing this is downtown Monterey so I wasn't concerned about the safety of the car at all. We just kept going for lunch while I tried to call the insurance company to have the car towed. Then my cell phone didn't work. It would stay connect for about 30 seconds and then shut down. I tried my best to stay cool in front of everybody so as not to ruin their lunch. Well, to make the long story short I was able to get the car towed right after we finished lunch but I was forced to take a half-day leave but fortunately it is our class break so it's not a big deal. I am still waiting for the car dealer's call and I don't know when I'll get my car back at this moment. And my cell phone is totally fine after the fiasco that I guess it just can't handle stress. My lesson learned is a backup plan is ALWAYS needed whenever technology is involved that you never know when it would fail you. I moaned in pain every time I have to pay my insurance bill but I was so thankful for it today. And thanks to Xinyi for her cell phone while mine just wouldn't cooperate.

Wow, I'm so long-winded.

Ok, change of topic. I'm such a slow reader that often the movie of the book would have already come out before I'm even half way through reading it. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Da Vinci Code... now even for a non-fiction 1421. I learned about this book when I was invited to attend the Speech Day of my high school. I found it strange as the speaker was so enthused about the book and I checked it out briefly from our school library. The theory proposed by Gavin Mensies was Zheng He, the Chinese navigator reached America about a century before Columbus did. He suggested Zheng even circumnavigated the whole world. Now I found this PBS produced documentary in our school library that I could know what he talked about in one seating without reading hundreds of pages from the book. It's quite fascinating to see the journey but strangely the poor Mensies was ripped apart by the interviewer and scholars because of lack of "scolarly evidence" to support his view. Well, who knows? Weren't Galileo, Newton, and many more of the great minds mocked in the first hand?

Relaxing...

With the students gone for a week for classbreak, I am expecting a very relaxing work week. I watched Hairspray over the weekend without much expectation as I've seen the show on Broadway and I found the movie trailer a little awkward and John Travolta just looked ridiculous. Boy, was I in for a nice surprise! I LOVED the movie! It's even better than the live show probably because it totally clarified what is going on in the story for me and all the cast acted and sang superbly. The theater wasn't even half full because it is almost the final week of the show but the audience was laughing, cheering, and even clapping in the end! I have never experienced anything like this in a movie theater. I just could not help having a big smile throughout the whole time.

They are soldiers...

Just watched another awesome movie...I always like this kind of movie storytelling about survival in the extreme circumstances. As I watched this one, I kept thinking about my students. Sometimes we take it for granted that there are thousands of people risking their lives to protect ours and fight for cause they deem worth dying for. And this mentality of sacrificing for higher cause is something where HK or even China lacks. People there nowadays confuse patriotism with being submissive to the government or political powers. It's just sad. Going back to the movie, I totally admire Christian Bale and Steve Zahn's performances. Very convincing. And there's an oddly interesting quote toward the end by Dieter (Bale): When something is empty, fill it. When something is full, empty it. When you have an itch, scratch it. Hmmmmm...

Talking about the military. I had my close encounter of what they go through last week. There was a gas leak somewhere else on campus and I was in the middle of teaching. All of a sudden there was a guy screaming with maddening voice and my first thought was there could be a student upset by his failing of his test (half of the class did not pass because of its difficulty). Then it turned out a cop banged on our door for evacuation and all my students jumped to their feet and put their caps on. I had a second of panic moment and did not quite know what to do. Everyone ran to the door and one student just asked me to follow suit. I guess I must have looked stupid at the time. I sense that they are so well trained that they are highly alert whenever they hear anything like an order or command and it is just an automatic reflex for them to jump into action.

On a totally different note, even though I am not an avid dancer at all but I'm hooked with the show "So You Think You Can Dance" because this is the only reality show that the contestants do have real talents. I got tickets to the finale but I can't go because of work! Grrrrrrrgh!


And I can't wait to see Survivor China! I'm such a geek!

Shows

Watched a few more interesting shows lately.

The Constant GardenerReally liked it. Reminds me of Blood Diamond. I find both the African continent and its people gorgeous and beautiful. It's my lifetime goal to go visit and do humanitarian work there.

Evan AlmighyPredictable but funny. Steve Carell is my current favorite comedian. He is not as wild and over-the-top as Jim Carrey and Robin Williams. I was surprised by a couple lines from the movies that struck me:
~Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?
~Change the world through the ARK: Acts of Random Kindness!

The Office (UK & US)Thanks to Netflix that I am able to watch both the UK and the US version of the Office with just a couple clicks. I just saw Season 1 of the US version and barely started with the UK version. At this point I prefer the American version as I can relate to it more and understand the humor and jokes better. Steve's character creates such discomfort that makes you cringe but laugh out loud at the same time. The characters' occasionally looking into the camera is the funniest part to me. It's a wonder to see "The Office" phenomenon spread to France and Germany as well with their own takes on the mockumentary of the office culture.

幸福... Happiness...

Came across this cute little story that I used in my class as the vocab fits perfectly with what we just taught. As soon as the students understood they let out a "sigh of sympathy" --- oh...

小猪问妈妈幸福在哪里，妈妈说幸福就在自己的尾巴上。于是小猪开始用嘴咬它的小尾巴，却总也咬不到，它沮丧的告诉妈妈自己抓不住幸福，妈妈笑笑说：傻孩子，只要你一直往前走，幸福就会一直跟着你的……

Little piggy asked his mom where happiness is, and mom said happiness is right there on his tail. Therefore piggy began to bite his little tail but with no success. He desperately told mom he could not catch happiness. Mom said with a smile, "You silly, as long as you keep walking forward, happiness will always follow you..."

Learning...

Lately have been reading and learning a lot more from areas I am not familiar with but find very interesting once I started getting into those. Things like US politics, immigration issues, environmental issues, modern Chinese history, world economy, and even Middle East conflicts. I always hear about the dispute between Israel and Palestine but find it very puzzling and I'm clueless about what actually is going on. Little did I know it has a lot to do with the cultural and historical clashes between the Arabs and the Jews. Anyways I've been reading all these partially for work (course material and OPI practice with the advanced students), the rest is just leisure reading, especially from free magazines like Businessweek, the Economist, Forbes, etc. that I got from my unused air mileages.

Talking about the students again, once in a while I would have totally blanked out class periods because of various reasons. One happened the 2nd day of this 2nd semester last Thursday. The students just barely learned the long list of vocabulary but apparently haven't digested them all. And I was not aware of what the previous teacher has done and I just taught at usual pace and it was a disastrous class. One slower student just gave up and the atmosphere just went downhill from that point. Everything that could go wrong did. Problems with the computer, stumbling on reading in pinyin to the students, students losing concentration because of the difficulty in the materials, failing of group work, etc. It truly was a test of everyone's patience.

One more extremely interesting but strange and almost kind of creepy incident was at the immersion activity a couple weeks ago. A higher rank student from the other class was introduced to me because he used to live in Hong Kong and his parents are natives form there. We found out he's just one year older than I am and we lived in the same community back in HK and attended the same kindergarten!!! We may have rubbed shoulders there. Crazy.

On learning a new lingo...

My new computer has been having issues but I'm glad at this point they are all resolved. First the DVD drive stopped working, then the CD drive, and last night the browser would not open if I begin with my blog site... I guess this is the flop side to technology. No more surprise please!

Today our class officially finished the first semester with the last final test. The oral interviews were dragging long but I could not help listening in awe to these Americans who have only learned Mandarin for 5 months. They definitely speak better than many Hong Kong Chinese! And I love them to death as they are so fun to teach but they take learning seriously at the same time.

Many people ask the secret to mastering a foreign language, through this experience of teaching with encouraging results from both "low acheivers" and "high achievers" my conclusion for effective language learning without too much of the theories from the academia includes the following factors:
~courage to take risks: mistakes are your best teachers!
~determination to work hard: you need to put in your effort to lay a foundation of knowledge to be built on.
~good rapport: working with fellow learners and teachers as friends definitely help ease the nerve and you can always swap ideas and tricks to do better.
~multiple resources: references, internet, software, media, and even background knowledge and experience just make things easier that one can relate to or associate with.
~open mindedness: just be aware of the many different ways of expressing thoughts and ideas with different languages.
~passion to learn: the more opportunity one finds to use the language, only the better will one get.
~sense to culture: I realize when I learn a new language, it opens a door to a whole new world to me. One good illustration is that I used to detest and frown on anything written in simplified Chinese. But once I get used to it, there are million more books that I can enjoy, and look where it has brought me... landing at this wonderful job. :)

Update

Another couple weeks. Or even another year has passed. Birthday does not mean as much for me now but I still managed to take a trip to Vegas, West Grand Canyon in Arizona, and San Diego last weekend. These are the places I always enjoy or long to go. Quite an experience. We drove a total of about 1600 miles in 4 days but it was very enjoyable. Stayed at Planet Hollywood in Vegas the first day and I had my free birthday seafood buffet at Todai. The seafood platter I created was way better than a birthday cake!Then we were headed to my much anticipated West Grand Canyon and experienced the Skywalk.It was smaller than we expected but the view was spectacular and it did feel scary when I took the first step onto the middle of the glass floor with 4000 feet deep of Grand Canyon clear below. I wish they had built a complete glass platform instead of a U-shape walkway with only a tiny path of trasparent glass. We chose to stay at the cabin there in the ranch for the night. It was shockingly barren and primitive when we arrived at the "cowboy town" but it turned out to be a nice, peaceful, and quiet stay in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle we are always in. We even befriended a local native Hualapai tribe member that he taught us how to toss horseshoes, throw axes, and even play with guns. He also told us a little bit about his background and the area. My friend said the horsewagon ride was even more fun than Skywalk. I would not mind doing this kind of living in the wild more often.Horse wagon ride towards Grand CanyonPlaying with a gun!Being a silly and stupid cowboy...Sunrise looking out from our cabin.We also drove pass the Hoover Dam en route to Grand Canyon.
San Diego is rather cool and hip with its rich and diverse culture.Historic building in Balboa Park
Our last event for the trip was the Wild Animal Park. I love animals. Especially those from Africa! How can this be possible?! I did see both zebras and giraffes at the zoo which is waaaayyyy coooool.

Getting hi-teched...

I found technology more and more amazing each day. The DVD drive has been having problems on my new laptop and I've been working on that for the past week with technicians from Dell over the last week. You know these days much of the IT service is outsourced to India from the US and so what happened was a bunch of tech guys remotely accessed my computer from India (cuz I could tell from their names). It's so crazy watching some invisible guy working on my computer through the internet. Their conclusion after a whole week of investigating on my system is that I need a new drive that they will send me a new one. I'm glad I get the problem fixed without taking the computer anywhere or even leaving my desk at all.

I'm also addicted to YouTube these days that I found so many lost gems and hidden treasures like my favorite cartoons from childhood, tv shows from around the world, and lots of hilarious stuff. If you download the latest version of Real Player you can even save them onto your own computer! Here are some of my new founds:

I think I saw this quite a while ago but it still looks better than many shows you pay to watch now!

I was so glad I was referred to this that I never got to read the books even though I have them. It is even more interesting to see and hear first hand with Patten what was actually going on the few years before the handover.

When I first listened to this girl sing, I didn't quite like it, but as I saw her on different episodes I was mesmerized by her grace and poise. She's just a heaven-sent angel.

I think I saw this documentary in the theater when I was very little. Sky is the limit of what humans can do.

I saw this dog on another tv show and I guess there are times people can learn from dogs...

Last but not least this is my favorite cartoon of all time! So funny, random, and hip at the time. It's like the asian version of the Simpsons. I used to rush home after school to watch it to get good laughs.

Ok, enough idly sitting and watching stuff. I'd better go out do something more active to shed off my extra few pounds...

My latest slide show!

Wonders

I like today's date. 7 has always been my favorite number.

I've been quite occupied by what I considered as errants but something can't live without: figuring out the new computer, fixing the internet connection (I do have internet withdrawal syndromes), fixing my car, someone's birthday, and some important legal paper work (no, I'm not suing or being sued by someone). Amidst all this madness I was able to experience and enjoy some of the natural or man-made wonders in the area.

We had our first class outing about a week ago and the weather was perfect. After the "Chinese" lunch at a restaurant we headed to the beach for a few games. Had a great time. It's incredible to see these soldiers playing Chinese kid games!
Last weekend I finally made it to the well known Hearst Castle. The media magnate millionaire William Hearst made his dream of building a European style castle dwelling come true by working with the bold female architect Julie Morgan. (I finished reading a children book of her biography at the giftshop!) Owning over 250,000 acres of land, he constructed a castle spanning over 100 acres with 165 rooms and two humongous swimming pools. I would die to swim in those!

Then we checked out the Point Lobos Reservation on July 4th and the view is so stunningly beautiful and it was surprisingly calm and quiet except for the sound of the waves and the occasional noise from the wild seals.That is the remains of a whale the fisherman caught years ago!

Time to upgrade!

To my surprise my new laptop arrived almost a full week ealier than I expected! I am typing at this very moment on it and I am so thrilled! I was excited to experiment with Windows Vista. It is pretty nice with rather cool graphics and it does run like Macs. Good thing I have experience with Macs at BYU, especially while working at the ELC. There are still million things to explore on how to make it work more efficiently and smoothly for me.
At the same time, after more than four years with my old Dell Laptop, I'm laying it to rest. It's funny that it seems to realize what I was going to do that for the past couple days it "behaved" quite nicely that I was able to do what I needed to with it. I guess no more 30-minute machine booting and a full day of turning computer on and off just to get windows running properly from now on. I actually probably will miss the experience with this "little guy" which both gave me so many headaches and helped me with my achievements, most notably my MA thesis and provided me with endless hours of entertainment, i.e. all sorts of fun downloads, ha!
My last piece of news is that the big project I was involved with lately has finally come to an end. I did NOT get the job. I was one of the (up to five, I don't know how many) finalists being considered to be a guide for mandarin.about.com, I'm happy to have got this far though (I sound like an American Idol!) and honestly I did not put my fullest effort in it because I knew I would probably have trouble working for them due to my current circumstances. It was a nice learning experience nevertheless and I learned more about what I am capable of doing now and in the future. Thanks Nate for the opportunity!

Shocking and sad...

I'm still quite shocked and sad to find out the passing and loss of a friend. Even though I would not claim to be anything near as a close friend, all I can say is this guy is a nice and almost innocent man through our brief acquaintance on our church mission in Hong Kong. He actually works pretty close to where I am at in California and I was planning to get in touch with him and meet up. Well, I guess it is too late and I wish him and his family well and peace.

Life is too short! Don't procrastinate!

Word game

I watched Babel over the weekend and I loved it. I think it deserves the Oscar for Best Picture way more than the Departed or even Crash. It does resemble Crash but I enjoyed the international cultural crash and conflicts caused by communication breakdown in this one a lot more. Babel is more believable than the melodrama and sensationalism in Crash. I love the Mexican baby sitter's acting.

I'm 1/5 into reading the over 1000 pages of a report on the "June 4th Incident". Our teaching materials also touch on the crazy events in modern Chinese history such as the Cultural Revolution, Great Leap Forward, and the educated youth going into the countryside. I'm glad to be a linguist which helps me realize the power of words and language. Some people can use it to kill people physically or mentally or spiritually. I found these couple sayings particularly interesting from the book:

“文革”十年是無政府主義，改革是無主義政府；
"Cultural Revolution" was ideology without government, (Chinese) reformation is government without ideology;
“文革”十年是十年動亂，改革十年是十年亂動。
"Cultural Revolution" was ten years of turmoil, (Chinese) reformation is ten years of random movements.
~民運學生 Students in the pro-democratic movement

一個革命政黨，就怕聼不到人民的聲音，最可怕的是鴉雀無聲。
A revolutionary political party is afraid of not being able to hear people's voice. What is the scariest is dead silence.
~鄧小平 Deng Xiaoping.

Did Deng put his words into action? Maybe he did (in the opposite way: having people study his "sacred" words like Mao's instead of listening to people's voice). I just hope people either in China or anywhere in the world now enjoying the benefits from the vibrant Chinese economy would think about if there is something more important than wealth and the so-called "social stability". Is the sacrifice of truth worth it?

Ok, I'm stepping down from my soapbox now.

Backup!

I am so relieved after messing up three, yes THREE! of my portable storage devices (two flash drives and my PaiPod!) that I somehow managed to retrieve or rediscover my precious pictures. I think I have more than one too many lessons learned the hard way: NEVER UNPLUGGED YOUR DRIVES WHEN THEY ARE NOT READY!!!

These are some of my favorite pictures over the years that I was able to salvage:
I love this picture that my family is trapped in this rather scary looking ride in hindsight!

One of the countless birthday pictures we took when we were little. I was soooo tiny!

With Patrick, Victor, and another HKYA (can't remember his name). I was in the Hong Kong Young Ambassadors (I guess I am destined to be a YA no matter where I go!) program before heading to Utah as an exchange student. Does Victor look like a pop star? He is Kelly Chan's brother! And I guess he is still (struggling to be) a pop singer in HK...

Here is the infamous picture... guys wearing sequins! It is the Encore Showchoir of the Salt Lake Institute. My leg was literally shaking as we'd been in that pose for half an hour or so. Those poor girls in the back kept falling and screaming while we were taking the picture!

The Salt Lake Institute Concert Choir (SLICC)

Singing at the Salt Lake Tabernacle. See who those people at the bottom are? One of them is President Hinckley!

This was my favorite baptism on my mission. It was one of those miracle baptisms in a short time out of nowhere. I GQed the man on the street and he was a communist member who turned down our invitation but he brought his wife to church and she was baptized in a week that she was so happy with her newly found religion. Too bad the magnificent chapel is no longer a church anymore (see my post on the Sun Yat-Sen Museum).

Macau the wonderland!


The crazy mission choir. I almost died doing it.

Graduating from the Chinese U of HK with my college buddies.

Swinging with Emily at a dancesport competition at the Y. We went pretty far and almost reached the semi-final but we got eliminated because we went to the dance floor late as I was busy talking with a friend that we missed the announcement! It was fun though and look at how our outfit matched!

Closing ceremony of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games. I think everyone should at least experience the Olympics once in their lifetime!

Singing for the Beijing Olympic Committee members' visit to Salt Lake City with Benji and Becca. The Chinese girl in the front represents Beijing and the Child of Light on the right performed at the ceremonies for the Salt Lake Games in 2002.

This is real! It's Stephen Chow to my left as I interpreted for him when he was promoting his Kung Fu Hustle at the Sundance Film Festival. I got to hang out with him for two days and he really is a funny guy but in a more subtle manner. On the right is the PR lady Alison and on the far left is a new director from Beijing Lu Chuan who was the first Mainland Chinese director ever winning the Golden Horse in Taiwan. I interpreted for him as well and he is an extremely nice gentleman. It was such a lifetime eye-opening experience.

Becoming Californian?

You Are 60% California

You're fairly Californian. Unless you're really from California, you should be stoked!

How California Are You?

You've spotted a celebrity at your local Starbucks.
The quickest part of your commute is pulling out of your driveway.
You can't remember if pot is legal or not.
Half the women you know have had some "work done"
The only way you'll afford a house is by winning the lotto.
You're a raw foodist, fruitarian, or vegan.
You can't remember the last time you saw someone smoke indoors.
Your four food groups are Mexican, Thai, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
You know a baby with two mommies... or two daddies.
It's been years since you've seen snow.
You have a psychotherapist... and so does your dog.
You "just know" a lot of Spanish words.
If there's a sprinkling of rain, you complain to everyone about the bad weather. You've partied in Tijuana.
When driving, stop signs are totally optional.
If something is more than two blocks away, there's no way you're walking there.
The Terminator is your governor.
Your favorite tv show has been interrupted by a police chase.
You'd never step foot in McDonalds. In N Out is where you go.
You know you can never been too rich or too thin.
You can't imagine a place colder than San Francisco.
If a small earthquake wakes you up at night, there's a good chance you'll roll over and go back to sleep.
You go to the beach, but you don't go in the water.
You know someone with headshots.
Your condo costs more than you'll make in ten years.

You Should Learn Spanish

For you, learning a language is about career advancement and communication. Knowing Spanish will bring you tons of possiblities for jobs and travel. Bárbaro!

What Language Should You Learn?

Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP)

Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense. Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving.

How Rare Is Your Personality?

You Are 60% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?