what you need:
chicken (free range is the best)
leek: chopped
garlic: crushed
ginger: sliced
chili pepper
mushroom: sliced (optional)
peanut (optional)
sunflower oil (optional if you fry the chicken's fat to make oil)
salt
cooking wine (or red wine, beer, etc.)
soybean sauce
*there are many kinds of soybean sauces produced in China, Japan, Korea, etc. the Chinese soybean sauces also have many different kinds according to the color and flavor. Normally I use two, the light soybean sauce, which is of bright color, and the strong soybean sauce, which is of dark color. it depends how many soybean sauces you like to use in the chicken or what kind of sauces. just find the ones you like.
How to make the chicken:
1, chop the chicken to pieces and put them in a bowl, add a little cooking wine, crushed garlic, sliced ginger. leave them for about 30 minutes.
2, heat a pan (or wok) til it's really hot. add a little oil (or fry the chicken fat to make oil). when the oil is hot, fry the peanuts til they turn golden and you can smell the aroma. put in the leeks, stir for a while. put in the chili peppers, and fry them altogether til the leeks become soft and golden.
* the temperature of the oil should not be too high, otherwhise the peanuts and leeks would be over-fried.
3, put in the chicken with the garlic and ginger. stir. but you can leave the leeks at the bottom.
4, when the chicken turn from pink to white, put in the mushrooms, and add the light soybean sauce. stir a little bit. boil it for about 5 minutes, then add the strong soybean sauce. stir.
5, turn the oven to middle level heat. leave the pan (or wok) with a lid on for about 10 minutes til the chicken turn brown, which means the soybean sauces have entered the meat. taste the sauce with a spoon, see if it's alright. add a little salt if you find it bland.
6, let the chicken simmer for another 10 minutes. turn off the oven. leave it there til it's set.
* normally you don't need to add water, because the leeks provide juice. that's why when the chicken is done, the leeks are gone.
2010年5月31日星期一
2010年5月29日星期六
2010年5月25日星期二
Damien Rice谈创作
2010年5月2日晚,哥伦比亚首都波哥大下着大雨。雨点像豆子噼里啪啦地打在遮雨棚上和雨伞上。
遮雨棚下是狭小的舞台，上面站着Damien Rice。雨夜下，歌迷们打着伞驻足听歌。Damien Rice拨拉了几下琴弦，伴着巨大的雨点声说：
有一天我坐在家里，窗外下着雨。爱尔兰是个经常下雨的国家。我看着窗外的雨，突然觉得很不爽。没有来由，就是不爽。我打电话给了一个朋友，她住在城市的另一头。“你现在在干嘛呢？”我问她。她说：“没干嘛。你怎么样呢？”我说：“唉，我心里不爽死了。”她说：“哦，那你过来吧。”
于是我坐上了公交，来到了她的家。我们做了些吃的，然后聊天，最后就到了睡觉的点。“你今晚可以睡我的床。”她说。
就在那一刹那，我整个人快活了起来。心情顷刻间由阴转晴，哇哦。我和她做了很多年的朋友，但也只是朋友。她这么一说，我就感觉有了。
但是她接着说了一句：“我妹妹今晚不在，我可以睡她的床。”
“哦，这样啊。那也好。”我整个人又立马不爽起来。
她坐在我的床头，说，“我这儿有扇大窗户，你可以看星星。”因为爱尔兰白天下雨，但一到晚上就放晴了，天空既干净又漂亮。她接着对我说：“你需要跟自己相处一会儿，想想现在的事情，好好把思路捋捋。”
我说：“好吧。好吧。”
她离开屋子后，我就跟自己处了一会儿。我很快又快活了起来，那股快活劲大概有那么两三分钟。然后我蹑手蹑脚地走到她家的卫生间，洗干净后，我又回到了床上。坐在床上，我又开始不爽起来。于是我决定按她说的，抬头看窗外的星星。我记不得我看到了什么，好像当时天空有奇怪的景象……我当时是不是喝酒来着，记不清了。但第二天从屋子里出来，我就写下了这首歌。
Amie:
遮雨棚下是狭小的舞台，上面站着Damien Rice。雨夜下，歌迷们打着伞驻足听歌。Damien Rice拨拉了几下琴弦，伴着巨大的雨点声说：
有一天我坐在家里，窗外下着雨。爱尔兰是个经常下雨的国家。我看着窗外的雨，突然觉得很不爽。没有来由，就是不爽。我打电话给了一个朋友，她住在城市的另一头。“你现在在干嘛呢？”我问她。她说：“没干嘛。你怎么样呢？”我说：“唉，我心里不爽死了。”她说：“哦，那你过来吧。”
于是我坐上了公交，来到了她的家。我们做了些吃的，然后聊天，最后就到了睡觉的点。“你今晚可以睡我的床。”她说。
就在那一刹那，我整个人快活了起来。心情顷刻间由阴转晴，哇哦。我和她做了很多年的朋友，但也只是朋友。她这么一说，我就感觉有了。
但是她接着说了一句：“我妹妹今晚不在，我可以睡她的床。”
“哦，这样啊。那也好。”我整个人又立马不爽起来。
她坐在我的床头，说，“我这儿有扇大窗户，你可以看星星。”因为爱尔兰白天下雨，但一到晚上就放晴了，天空既干净又漂亮。她接着对我说：“你需要跟自己相处一会儿，想想现在的事情，好好把思路捋捋。”
我说：“好吧。好吧。”
她离开屋子后，我就跟自己处了一会儿。我很快又快活了起来，那股快活劲大概有那么两三分钟。然后我蹑手蹑脚地走到她家的卫生间，洗干净后，我又回到了床上。坐在床上，我又开始不爽起来。于是我决定按她说的，抬头看窗外的星星。我记不得我看到了什么，好像当时天空有奇怪的景象……我当时是不是喝酒来着，记不清了。但第二天从屋子里出来，我就写下了这首歌。
Amie:
2010年5月23日星期日
Eckart Loewe and Chai Jing's Interview
Eckart Loewe (Chinese name: 卢安克), the German guy who has been a volunteer teacher in Guangxi Province for 13 years, closed his blog.
He posted a notice on his blog explaining why he shut it down:
which is also what I want to say.
Many people speculated that Eckart did so under the pressure from the local government, who didn't want the issue of the "parentless village kids" to be exposed. Especially after the national TV station CCTV made a programme about him, Eckart has gained much more attention from the society than before. The CCTV journalist Chai Jing (柴静) interviewed Eckart in that programme. She later wrote an article on her blog about what she has experienced with Eckart and his students.
Impossible to improve
by Chai Jing, translated by me
One
I sat with Eckart Loewe on the grass. Seven or eight kids were rolling in his chest, beating about with each other.
Instinctively I grabbed one kid's hands and said, Don't do that.
Why not?
Because I don't like it. I nearly said it, but I held it back. I tried to make them understand that Eckart would feel uncomfortable and pain.
No, he won't. They giggled. The kid who was beaten by the others laughed, too.
Eckart sat among them. He said nothing but smiled at me who knew not how to handle them.
Later I asked Eckart, I wanted to stop them. I just couldn't help it. I even wanted to correct them, which was my first reaction. But you didn't do that, why?
I know what has happened to them. I know they are different individuals. I can understand their behaviour.
Is understanding enough?
If you talk to them when you understand, it makes a difference. If you talk to them with dislike, you feel the other way.
I was speechless.
Two
I interviewed the brother and sister.
The younger brother was chopping the firewood with all his strength. The crew team thought it was a touching scene for camera. After a while, the fire faded, not enough light for the camera. We stopped filming, and asked the boy to add more wood. After another while, I asked him to take me to his vegetable pitch. He refused.
Why not? I was surprised.
You go youself. He said without looking at me.
I was full of perplexity for all night.
The next day, Eckart said to me, When you said you were cold while the fire was burning, he took it seriously. He was determined to chop that piece of wood to warm you up. Later he found out that you said so with an intention-- you wanted a good shot for the interview, a shot with him doing something, a shot with fire light-- an intention full of that kind of things. When he found that out, he felt that you didn't entrust yourself 100 percent to him. So he was reluctant to accept you. And when you asked him to take you to the vegetable field, he refused.
Hearing this, I even didn't have time to feel ashamed. I just felt something hard in my head was bombed into pieces.
You had a good intention, but it was empty. Eckart said.
Empty?
Empty, impossible to do. If you do something with an intention, or on purpose, it is of no use. You can't achieve anything, because it is fake.
Do you mean in that way I can't influence people? I murmured unconsciously.
It is strange because I had never looked at it this way. You want to influence people, but end up in vain. Because people will feel that you do it in order to influence them, they will not take it.
Three
By the fire, the kid whispered something to Eckart.
You must be discussing how to test me. I thought to myself.
Eckart smiled and said to the boy, No, the urban people won't like it.
I indistinctly heard "ask her to play mud with us".
The boy turned to me and asked, Do you like mud?
"Of course." I thought I liked it. In my own impression, I even liked to roll in the muddy field when it was raining.
It was around 6 o'clock when the interview was over. The sky was completely dark, and it was cold in the mountain.
Eckart stopped all of a sudden. He asked me mildly, We are going now. Are you coming with us?
Now? I was stunned.
I had not expected that the first thing flashing through my mind was "I have only one pair of jeans with me".
This thought killed everything.
By no means did I have the gust to say, Yes I'm going with you. That would be pretentious. If I had forced myself to play in the mud and jumped happily like a sparrow... That would only have been an ugly scene.
Four
What happened at that time?
I can't recall.
What did you think at that moment?
I don't know how to put it.
He looked at me in peace. For many a time in our interview he replied with those two sentences.
In the beginning, I looked at him with a buzzing voice almost shrieking in my head "this interview is a total failure. It's going to fail very soon." Once before me, my colleague almost interviewed him with a death threat, still he couldn't cut it into a programme, because the normal media practice didn't work on him at all. It's not that he wanted to be at odds with us, he only answers those genuine questions-- questions derived from unknown and communication, not from what you have read in his book, the editing plan you have made, the expectation you have for his possible answers, for your leader's nodding or for audience's tears.
I gave up.
I sat there with no expectation. The question sheet had been rustled into a ball in my hand. The journalistic experience I had gained in the past years was crumbling.
Then I found myself talking to Eckart about my story at primary school. I memorized the eye-sight chart then because I was near-sighted at that time. It just happened. I told the story without knowing how it came about. How strange! I had never expected myself to say it. I had even forgotten that story. But now, I said it, and told a long story. I had set a rule for myself: never have personal feelings when conducting an interview-- it's a NO ZONE for me. But I don't know why, the NO ZONE that was drawn with a black exclamation mark collapsed to pieces in a shriek.
When I watched the programme, I noticed I was looking down into the ground while telling that story. I was so shy, just like when I was eight.
Five
Then I came to realize, when he said he couldn't recall, he COULD NOT recall.
"Thinking used to take place in my mind. I thought of it, but I couldn't do it. Now I don't think anymore. I feel, and I've achieved what I wanted to do but never did. This is because thoughts become part of my life, become action."
If you read his blog, you can see the process of this transformation clearly.
He has written a book called Work with Children's Nature, in which he recorded his researches and experience. It is of a few 100,000 words, but he can't recall what he has written. He doesn't think there is another method he can adopt. He says he thinks no more, and writes no more, but feel. When I was reading that book, I was worried that he would become nihilistic. That worry was like a nail deeply embedded in my mind. It wasn't removed until I finished the interview.
What do you expect the kids to be?
If you teach with imagination, you imagine the students to be like this or that, and you always compare them with you imagination. This is the biggest problem in education. I can't establish a connection with them that way, because that imagination stands like a wall between me and my students. I don't want that imagination.
I know a very good teacher, even he said, I want my students to be creative, imaginative, etc. He has a standard for his students. Don't you have?
Then if the students can't meet that standard, will you give up on them? Will you blame them?
Maybe I'll be disappointed.
I have thought of many approaches before, but I gave them up all finally. They simply didn't work. The only thing that works is a teacher's state of mind, which is affected by the imagination that student should be like this or that. If a teacher is obsessed with that imagination, he won't be able to adjust himself to the students' state of mind, or to look at them the way they are. If a teacher opens his mind without any imagination, his reaction will be natural to the students' reaction. Students like that reaction, and they easily take it.
That's why Eckart said he had nothing to write about. He used to write massively to criticize standardized education and squarely designed schools. He strongly opposed the concept in education that "kills people's hearts". He struggled against the problems in the real world. Now he says he has given up the idea that he wanted to change it. I was taken by surprise when hearing it.
He said, If I had an intention of changing the education in China, I couldn't do what I'm doing. Fortunately I have no such an intention. I don't want to change it. I have no pressure.
I was stunned for a while, then I continued to ask, If it's not for change, what are we working for?
Change will surely happen. Change happens by itself. But that's not my goal, not my duty. It's not a burden upon my shoulders.
Not your goal? To change?
It's too heavy a burden, and impossible to achieve. He said. However, when you don't expect of it, change will happen.
Someone has described for me the feeling of listening to Eckart's talk-- it's like Zen, mysterious and inexplicable. But underneath his words is a strict system built on logic, one thing deduced from another.
You used to be in a status of being anxious for a change. Why did you give it up? Why don't you want a change now?
Try slowly to understand the way it is. When I came to understand it, I accept things as they are.
Are you angry at the current situation?
No.
You know that there is a danger. When we totally understand how things are in reality, many people quit. This is the confusion I have.
Probably that's because you still want to change. When you are out of ways, bumping into a barrier, you give up. I can't change things, well, I don't need to. Things change themselves.
Then what should we do?
Do our own business and do it well.
Six
Do you want love? I asked Eckart.
He was 41 years old. The teaching in the village in Guangxi had turned him from a young chap to a grown-up. He had no family, no house, no children. He wore a pair of nickers with no socks because he couldn't find a pair of socks that fit his feet.
I don't know what love is. I have never experienced it.
My heart clinched. That was my first reaction.
Then he continued, But I saw it on television, and I felt it odd.
Odd?
Those love stories on television, I don't know what kind of emotions make them happen. How should I put it? To have that person belong to you? I can't imagine that kind of feeling.
He once said that one of the reasons he could stay in China was that his parents never thought he belonged to them.
I said, But even in these kids around you, I can see that they are instinctively fond of you and drawn to you. It's a human nature, isn't it?
They belong to me, but it's different from love, in which someone belongs to the other. In the former, you can let it go; in the latter, you can't let it go.
Let go of what? I didn't quite follow him.
When the students leave, they can easily let it go, nothing to be dependent upon. But the love I saw on television, you can't let it go. You feel painful when the other leaves.
You don't want that dependence and occupation?
No.
Seven
In the comments on the programme after it was broadcast, there is one thing shared by all-- what Eckart gives us is not some kind of touching that makes us want to cry. He stuns you and makes you sit in the middle of night, thinking "what kind of life do I have now?"
Today, when we were having lunch in Jingjiang, Jiangsu Province, we brought him up at th table. A guy sitting next to me was very moved, but he added, We can't let there be too many Eckarts.
Why not?
He seemed to be lost. Then he murmured, It will cause too much trouble... He subverts our way of thinking.
It's a strange expression, but I totally understand it. What he meant is, the more you get to know Eckart, the more disturbed you are by him. He makes you question many common senses and values that have been framed firmly in your head.
I asked Eckart, You make people ask questions. People have a set of rules, which they accept but probably have never thought about. Now you make them question whether these rules are right or wrong. But normally to question is a dangerous thing to do.
Danger is your fear of freedom. Freedom is a status in which you can't stand still.
How can I be strong enough not to fear?
I think if you only have material, then you fear. If you have something more important than material, then you fear no more.
He gave a definition in the programme, Freedom is when there is no obstacle in you mind.
Eight
Among the kids I interviewed, there was one the naughtiest.
Whenever I was talking to the other students, he would jump in and ask "What? What? What are you talking about?"
When I wanted to talk to him, he was gone already, or he was pressing someone underneath and beating him about. He was so anxious and swinging forth and back when I was about to interview him.
Only when resting in Eckart's arms, he was quiet, and he could stay that way for over 10 minutes, like a little bear. He could even stay calm and not strike back when someone else provoked him.
Civilization is to stop and think about what you are doing. Eckart said. But I never saw him reason with the kids in such a way.
Words, more often than not, are fake. He said. Only the things you have experienced are real. He filmed drama series with the kids. He let the students play a role. The role is about a kid who finally understands that "a strong man is not based on what he conquers, but on what he suffers".
He accompanied the kids when they grew up. Now they are about to leave the school. These little kids, everyone of them wrote a sentence to compose a song, "I stand lonely, outside this cold window...", "a tough man doesn't fear losing face..." They messily played the piano and came up with a rhythm. Then Eckart noted it down. Creation is from a mess. He said.
The naughtiest kid suddenly said, Do you want to listen to mine?
The lyric he uttered shocked me. I grabbed his arm, Say it again.
None of us is perfect. It's impossible to improve, But for you, I'm willing to do.
Whom did you write this for? I asked.
For him. He pointed at Eckart.
He posted a notice on his blog explaining why he shut it down:
I'm not a Chinese citizen. I care for something a foreigner probably shouldn't have cared about, which makes the local Chinese feel uncomfortable. I shouldn't have let myself take care of those kids left in village by their parents, so that your pride wouldn't have been hurt. But if I quit, my students would feel sad. There is only one way to solve this problem-- do not let the others know, so nobody would feel uncomfortable for what I am doing.
The society has paid more attention to me than I could bear. I can't take the responsibility, consequences or pressure from the social response. For that reason, I dare not let more people know about me. Therefore, I decided to close my blog. I hope you can understand.* This is what I read from other people's articles about Eckart:
According to the authorities' requirement, I must declare hereby that I'm not authorized to teach as a volunteer, and I don't have a teaching certificate granted by the government.
For ten years in China, he taught without being paid. He translated books on education and donated the money to charitable groups. He never asked for high payment but asked the publishing house to sell his books cheap so that more people could afford to buy. His monthly expense is no more than 15 dollars.
He was fined because he didn't have a teaching certificate. He tried to apply for Chinese nationality but was rejected.What would Ai Weiwei say if he knew this?
which is also what I want to say.
Many people speculated that Eckart did so under the pressure from the local government, who didn't want the issue of the "parentless village kids" to be exposed. Especially after the national TV station CCTV made a programme about him, Eckart has gained much more attention from the society than before. The CCTV journalist Chai Jing (柴静) interviewed Eckart in that programme. She later wrote an article on her blog about what she has experienced with Eckart and his students.
Impossible to improve
by Chai Jing, translated by me
One
I sat with Eckart Loewe on the grass. Seven or eight kids were rolling in his chest, beating about with each other.
Instinctively I grabbed one kid's hands and said, Don't do that.
Why not?
Because I don't like it. I nearly said it, but I held it back. I tried to make them understand that Eckart would feel uncomfortable and pain.
No, he won't. They giggled. The kid who was beaten by the others laughed, too.
Eckart sat among them. He said nothing but smiled at me who knew not how to handle them.
Later I asked Eckart, I wanted to stop them. I just couldn't help it. I even wanted to correct them, which was my first reaction. But you didn't do that, why?
I know what has happened to them. I know they are different individuals. I can understand their behaviour.
Is understanding enough?
If you talk to them when you understand, it makes a difference. If you talk to them with dislike, you feel the other way.
I was speechless.
Two
I interviewed the brother and sister.
The younger brother was chopping the firewood with all his strength. The crew team thought it was a touching scene for camera. After a while, the fire faded, not enough light for the camera. We stopped filming, and asked the boy to add more wood. After another while, I asked him to take me to his vegetable pitch. He refused.
Why not? I was surprised.
You go youself. He said without looking at me.
I was full of perplexity for all night.
The next day, Eckart said to me, When you said you were cold while the fire was burning, he took it seriously. He was determined to chop that piece of wood to warm you up. Later he found out that you said so with an intention-- you wanted a good shot for the interview, a shot with him doing something, a shot with fire light-- an intention full of that kind of things. When he found that out, he felt that you didn't entrust yourself 100 percent to him. So he was reluctant to accept you. And when you asked him to take you to the vegetable field, he refused.
Hearing this, I even didn't have time to feel ashamed. I just felt something hard in my head was bombed into pieces.
You had a good intention, but it was empty. Eckart said.
Empty?
Empty, impossible to do. If you do something with an intention, or on purpose, it is of no use. You can't achieve anything, because it is fake.
Do you mean in that way I can't influence people? I murmured unconsciously.
It is strange because I had never looked at it this way. You want to influence people, but end up in vain. Because people will feel that you do it in order to influence them, they will not take it.
Three
By the fire, the kid whispered something to Eckart.
You must be discussing how to test me. I thought to myself.
Eckart smiled and said to the boy, No, the urban people won't like it.
I indistinctly heard "ask her to play mud with us".
The boy turned to me and asked, Do you like mud?
"Of course." I thought I liked it. In my own impression, I even liked to roll in the muddy field when it was raining.
It was around 6 o'clock when the interview was over. The sky was completely dark, and it was cold in the mountain.
Eckart stopped all of a sudden. He asked me mildly, We are going now. Are you coming with us?
Now? I was stunned.
I had not expected that the first thing flashing through my mind was "I have only one pair of jeans with me".
This thought killed everything.
By no means did I have the gust to say, Yes I'm going with you. That would be pretentious. If I had forced myself to play in the mud and jumped happily like a sparrow... That would only have been an ugly scene.
Four
What happened at that time?
I can't recall.
What did you think at that moment?
I don't know how to put it.
He looked at me in peace. For many a time in our interview he replied with those two sentences.
In the beginning, I looked at him with a buzzing voice almost shrieking in my head "this interview is a total failure. It's going to fail very soon." Once before me, my colleague almost interviewed him with a death threat, still he couldn't cut it into a programme, because the normal media practice didn't work on him at all. It's not that he wanted to be at odds with us, he only answers those genuine questions-- questions derived from unknown and communication, not from what you have read in his book, the editing plan you have made, the expectation you have for his possible answers, for your leader's nodding or for audience's tears.
I gave up.
I sat there with no expectation. The question sheet had been rustled into a ball in my hand. The journalistic experience I had gained in the past years was crumbling.
Then I found myself talking to Eckart about my story at primary school. I memorized the eye-sight chart then because I was near-sighted at that time. It just happened. I told the story without knowing how it came about. How strange! I had never expected myself to say it. I had even forgotten that story. But now, I said it, and told a long story. I had set a rule for myself: never have personal feelings when conducting an interview-- it's a NO ZONE for me. But I don't know why, the NO ZONE that was drawn with a black exclamation mark collapsed to pieces in a shriek.
When I watched the programme, I noticed I was looking down into the ground while telling that story. I was so shy, just like when I was eight.
Five
Then I came to realize, when he said he couldn't recall, he COULD NOT recall.
"Thinking used to take place in my mind. I thought of it, but I couldn't do it. Now I don't think anymore. I feel, and I've achieved what I wanted to do but never did. This is because thoughts become part of my life, become action."
If you read his blog, you can see the process of this transformation clearly.
He has written a book called Work with Children's Nature, in which he recorded his researches and experience. It is of a few 100,000 words, but he can't recall what he has written. He doesn't think there is another method he can adopt. He says he thinks no more, and writes no more, but feel. When I was reading that book, I was worried that he would become nihilistic. That worry was like a nail deeply embedded in my mind. It wasn't removed until I finished the interview.
What do you expect the kids to be?
If you teach with imagination, you imagine the students to be like this or that, and you always compare them with you imagination. This is the biggest problem in education. I can't establish a connection with them that way, because that imagination stands like a wall between me and my students. I don't want that imagination.
I know a very good teacher, even he said, I want my students to be creative, imaginative, etc. He has a standard for his students. Don't you have?
Then if the students can't meet that standard, will you give up on them? Will you blame them?
Maybe I'll be disappointed.
I have thought of many approaches before, but I gave them up all finally. They simply didn't work. The only thing that works is a teacher's state of mind, which is affected by the imagination that student should be like this or that. If a teacher is obsessed with that imagination, he won't be able to adjust himself to the students' state of mind, or to look at them the way they are. If a teacher opens his mind without any imagination, his reaction will be natural to the students' reaction. Students like that reaction, and they easily take it.
That's why Eckart said he had nothing to write about. He used to write massively to criticize standardized education and squarely designed schools. He strongly opposed the concept in education that "kills people's hearts". He struggled against the problems in the real world. Now he says he has given up the idea that he wanted to change it. I was taken by surprise when hearing it.
He said, If I had an intention of changing the education in China, I couldn't do what I'm doing. Fortunately I have no such an intention. I don't want to change it. I have no pressure.
I was stunned for a while, then I continued to ask, If it's not for change, what are we working for?
Change will surely happen. Change happens by itself. But that's not my goal, not my duty. It's not a burden upon my shoulders.
Not your goal? To change?
It's too heavy a burden, and impossible to achieve. He said. However, when you don't expect of it, change will happen.
Someone has described for me the feeling of listening to Eckart's talk-- it's like Zen, mysterious and inexplicable. But underneath his words is a strict system built on logic, one thing deduced from another.
You used to be in a status of being anxious for a change. Why did you give it up? Why don't you want a change now?
Try slowly to understand the way it is. When I came to understand it, I accept things as they are.
Are you angry at the current situation?
No.
You know that there is a danger. When we totally understand how things are in reality, many people quit. This is the confusion I have.
Probably that's because you still want to change. When you are out of ways, bumping into a barrier, you give up. I can't change things, well, I don't need to. Things change themselves.
Then what should we do?
Do our own business and do it well.
Six
Do you want love? I asked Eckart.
He was 41 years old. The teaching in the village in Guangxi had turned him from a young chap to a grown-up. He had no family, no house, no children. He wore a pair of nickers with no socks because he couldn't find a pair of socks that fit his feet.
I don't know what love is. I have never experienced it.
My heart clinched. That was my first reaction.
Then he continued, But I saw it on television, and I felt it odd.
Odd?
Those love stories on television, I don't know what kind of emotions make them happen. How should I put it? To have that person belong to you? I can't imagine that kind of feeling.
He once said that one of the reasons he could stay in China was that his parents never thought he belonged to them.
I said, But even in these kids around you, I can see that they are instinctively fond of you and drawn to you. It's a human nature, isn't it?
They belong to me, but it's different from love, in which someone belongs to the other. In the former, you can let it go; in the latter, you can't let it go.
Let go of what? I didn't quite follow him.
When the students leave, they can easily let it go, nothing to be dependent upon. But the love I saw on television, you can't let it go. You feel painful when the other leaves.
You don't want that dependence and occupation?
No.
Seven
In the comments on the programme after it was broadcast, there is one thing shared by all-- what Eckart gives us is not some kind of touching that makes us want to cry. He stuns you and makes you sit in the middle of night, thinking "what kind of life do I have now?"
Today, when we were having lunch in Jingjiang, Jiangsu Province, we brought him up at th table. A guy sitting next to me was very moved, but he added, We can't let there be too many Eckarts.
Why not?
He seemed to be lost. Then he murmured, It will cause too much trouble... He subverts our way of thinking.
It's a strange expression, but I totally understand it. What he meant is, the more you get to know Eckart, the more disturbed you are by him. He makes you question many common senses and values that have been framed firmly in your head.
I asked Eckart, You make people ask questions. People have a set of rules, which they accept but probably have never thought about. Now you make them question whether these rules are right or wrong. But normally to question is a dangerous thing to do.
Danger is your fear of freedom. Freedom is a status in which you can't stand still.
How can I be strong enough not to fear?
I think if you only have material, then you fear. If you have something more important than material, then you fear no more.
He gave a definition in the programme, Freedom is when there is no obstacle in you mind.
Eight
Among the kids I interviewed, there was one the naughtiest.
Whenever I was talking to the other students, he would jump in and ask "What? What? What are you talking about?"
When I wanted to talk to him, he was gone already, or he was pressing someone underneath and beating him about. He was so anxious and swinging forth and back when I was about to interview him.
Only when resting in Eckart's arms, he was quiet, and he could stay that way for over 10 minutes, like a little bear. He could even stay calm and not strike back when someone else provoked him.
Civilization is to stop and think about what you are doing. Eckart said. But I never saw him reason with the kids in such a way.
Words, more often than not, are fake. He said. Only the things you have experienced are real. He filmed drama series with the kids. He let the students play a role. The role is about a kid who finally understands that "a strong man is not based on what he conquers, but on what he suffers".
He accompanied the kids when they grew up. Now they are about to leave the school. These little kids, everyone of them wrote a sentence to compose a song, "I stand lonely, outside this cold window...", "a tough man doesn't fear losing face..." They messily played the piano and came up with a rhythm. Then Eckart noted it down. Creation is from a mess. He said.
The naughtiest kid suddenly said, Do you want to listen to mine?
The lyric he uttered shocked me. I grabbed his arm, Say it again.
None of us is perfect. It's impossible to improve, But for you, I'm willing to do.
Whom did you write this for? I asked.
For him. He pointed at Eckart.
microphone condom
Host: You're listening to the music of Jeff Buckley performing live here on the Music Faucet (?). Just Jeff and his guitar. Well, and his...
Jeff: microphone condom.
主持人后面说什么，我就不明白了。估计他当时是被Jeff突然袭来的幽默打乱了思路。
这是Jeff Buckley翻唱的一首黑人布鲁斯please send me someone to love。他是那么喜欢爵士和布鲁斯，那么深爱着nina simone。
Jeff: microphone condom.
主持人后面说什么，我就不明白了。估计他当时是被Jeff突然袭来的幽默打乱了思路。
这是Jeff Buckley翻唱的一首黑人布鲁斯please send me someone to love。他是那么喜欢爵士和布鲁斯，那么深爱着nina simone。
you are so beautiful
现在Cardiff市中心卖唱的又多了一个黑人。
他岁数不小了。束捆的黑色辫子里混入了白色，拉扎的胡子也有些花白。吉他上的弦从琴把里钻出，就像他拉扎的胡子。他翘着二郎腿坐在皇后大街的长凳上，旁若无人的唱着sting的那首every breath you take。所谓的雷鬼（reggae）应该是他唱的吧，那种节奏……就像白人去唱布鲁斯，无论怎么唱也没有黑人的味道。唱完，他自己乐自己笑，自言自语几句，换一首接着唱。
昨天去菜市场，停自行车的栏杆旁坐着一个女的，火红的短发，鲜辣的唇膏，泛光的墨镜，银环穿过鼻子，她抵着碎花长裙坐在石阶上抽着烟，隔着铁栅栏，背后是庄重的教堂。我锁上车。老黑人背着吉他、拖着行李箱走了过来。
“Oh, beautiful! You are so beautiful!”他慢腾腾地从那个女人身前走过，侧过头对着她说，“You are so beautiful. You are so beautiful.”边说边自己笑。
那个女人讪笑了几下，从嘴里吐出几个烟圈。等老黑人走远了，她又讪笑了几声，吐出几个幽蓝的烟圈。她站起身，掐掉香烟，走了。
他岁数不小了。束捆的黑色辫子里混入了白色，拉扎的胡子也有些花白。吉他上的弦从琴把里钻出，就像他拉扎的胡子。他翘着二郎腿坐在皇后大街的长凳上，旁若无人的唱着sting的那首every breath you take。所谓的雷鬼（reggae）应该是他唱的吧，那种节奏……就像白人去唱布鲁斯，无论怎么唱也没有黑人的味道。唱完，他自己乐自己笑，自言自语几句，换一首接着唱。
昨天去菜市场，停自行车的栏杆旁坐着一个女的，火红的短发，鲜辣的唇膏，泛光的墨镜，银环穿过鼻子，她抵着碎花长裙坐在石阶上抽着烟，隔着铁栅栏，背后是庄重的教堂。我锁上车。老黑人背着吉他、拖着行李箱走了过来。
“Oh, beautiful! You are so beautiful!”他慢腾腾地从那个女人身前走过，侧过头对着她说，“You are so beautiful. You are so beautiful.”边说边自己笑。
那个女人讪笑了几下，从嘴里吐出几个烟圈。等老黑人走远了，她又讪笑了几声，吐出几个幽蓝的烟圈。她站起身，掐掉香烟，走了。
2010年5月20日星期四
Kamal Meattle讲到的三种植物
TED 2009/02 Kamal Meattle on how to grow fresh air
Kamal是印度德里的一名研究员，几年前他被医生告知自己的肺功能衰退，不能再呼吸城市里的不洁空气。于是他在自己的居室里栽种了以下三种植物，收效奇佳，随后他还把这些能再生清新空气的植物推广到了大型写字楼。
客厅：黄椰子，别名散尾葵(Areca Palm)，转CO2为O2；
卧室：虎尾兰(Mother-in-law's tongue)，转CO2为O2；
*看了百度的资料，虎尾兰在10摄氏度以下会停止生长，低温下根部会腐烂。看来长江流域不是它生长的地方了。
还有一种被他称为“植物专家”的植株：黄金葛，别名绿萝(Money plant)，能去除甲醛等化学物质。
Kamal是印度德里的一名研究员，几年前他被医生告知自己的肺功能衰退，不能再呼吸城市里的不洁空气。于是他在自己的居室里栽种了以下三种植物，收效奇佳，随后他还把这些能再生清新空气的植物推广到了大型写字楼。
客厅：黄椰子，别名散尾葵(Areca Palm)，转CO2为O2；
卧室：虎尾兰(Mother-in-law's tongue)，转CO2为O2；
*看了百度的资料，虎尾兰在10摄氏度以下会停止生长，低温下根部会腐烂。看来长江流域不是它生长的地方了。
还有一种被他称为“植物专家”的植株：黄金葛，别名绿萝(Money plant)，能去除甲醛等化学物质。
James Brabazon
5月13号有一个One World Media开的“工作室”，主题是在发展中国家（主要是像缅甸、朝鲜、阿富汗、印度、中国大陆、刚果、南非这样的高危国家）拍摄纪录片需要注意的问题。主讲人叫James Brabazon，专职摄像。看上去很年轻，一身登山衣、牛仔裤和登山鞋，末了讲完了，桌子底下掏出一个登山包甩到肩上——这，就是扛摄像机的。底下坐着的，除了我都是女生，烫着头发、涂着指甲油、穿着亮晶晶皮鞋的女生。
本来这个“工作室”为期两天，我只去听了头天的下午。那几天实在太累了，早上醒来，双眼包含着眼屎，一看时间，已经12点了。
关于在高危国家拍摄片子需要注意的问题，一言以蔽之，就是安全第一，胆大心细，多问当地人。当然之前要过的程序也必不可少，比如尽量申请记者签证，比如买保险，比如做好risk assessment，比如参加培训，掌握急救、劫持等各种突发事件的知识。
“如果你申请的是旅游签证，一旦在拍摄地遭到盘问，就会很麻烦。记者签证可以少却这样的麻烦，但是不好申，那些国家本来就不想外国记者入境，往往一两个月才能签下来，光各种表格就让你填得痛不欲生。
“像急救的基本技能，你一个小时就能掌握。我现在碰到断胳膊断腿的知道怎么包扎、用药，也不过是一个下午的训练课就学会的。
“如果你被劫持为人质，劫匪问你有没有买保险，你就说不知道。如果你说没买，他们立马会把你杀掉；如果你说买了，他们会不断提高赎金，直到双方僵住，僵个一年两年都有可能。”
讲到签release form（相当于拍摄前与对方签署的合同，以征得被拍摄人的同意），James说除了这一纸表格之外，他通常会在录制采访时要求被拍摄人在镜头前再次表明身份、并讲明自己是同意拍摄的。这样做的目的也无非是怕有些人事后抵赖，说release form上的字是伪造的或是在受逼迫的情况下签的。
讲到拍摄时要注意匿名（ananymity）和身份（identity）的区别，James说如果对方要求匿名，就要保护他/她的身份不致泄漏。一个人的身边（identity）包括长相、衣着、手饰、口音等。他用的一个例子是他在埃及的拍摄经历。在埃及，apostasy（wiki给出的对应的中文是“叛道”，其实意思就是从一种宗教改信另一种宗教）——从伊斯兰教改信基督教是有生命危险的，虽然埃及的法律说公民有宗教信仰自由，但片中反应的情况是，改信基督，男的直接被杀，女的先奸后杀。片子里采访了一个“叛道”基督教埃及妇女，镜头多数是她的背影，并没有暴露整个面部，但还是有一些上衣和手的特写，还能听到她说话的声音。更奇怪的是她的身旁还坐着一个姑娘。
“那个姑娘是她的女儿，拍摄时她一定要求女儿坐在身边。我一再跟她说这样做有风险，她一再坚持让她女儿出现在镜头里，为的是证明她所说的真实。从那些衣服、手的镜头还有她的声音，邻居或是熟人是不难认出她来的。但是埃及的人口有七千多万，要找到这么一个人无异于大海捞针。”
讲到如何隐藏被拍摄人的身份，底下有人说面部马赛克处理。“但是马赛克是后期加上去的，原始的磁带里人物长什么模样一清二楚，万一你拍摄的磁带在海关被扣下上缴，里面的主人公就完了。所以可以用虚焦，或是不要拍摄面部。”
James讲的几个故事：
1，缅甸：
“我有一个同事在那里拍有关政治犯的纪录片，要拍一所监狱的外景。他在当地的一个线人帮他租了辆车。他们坐在车里，扮作游客开到监狱墙外，小心翼翼拿出摄像机，结果发现没带磁带。于是原路返回，取了磁带，重新来到监狱外面——拍摄一切顺利。正要从前方开走的时候，被警察拦了下来。原来这条路是单向道，之前返回的时候逆向行驶，被监控摄像拍了下来。警察发现了车里的摄像机，问他们是干嘛的。我同事说是游客，随便拍着玩儿的。警察说，这里是监狱，有什么好拍的。喝斥完，警察让他们走了。可是没想到那个警察把车牌号抄了下来，更糟糕的是，我那个同事租车的时候，填的都是线人的真实信息。后来那个线人逃到了国外，被迫流亡，留在国内的妻子和女儿，这一辈子都见不到了。”
2，阿富汗
“有时候你开车，突然发现路边有人朝你招手，旁边躺着一个人，需要帮助。通常情况下，我会停下车，去救那个人。但如果这是在阿富汗，千万不要停车，往前开就是。那一次各国的记者都在喀布尔集合，由联合国的车队把我们带到另一个地方。经过山口的时候，路边有人朝车队招手示意，那人的身旁躺着一个人，奄奄一息。前面的车子都没有理睬，径直开走了。最后一辆车里坐着几个意大利记者，说不能见死不救，执意要求司机停车。他们打开车门，走到那两个人跟前，突然地上躺着的那人站了起来，掏出枪把他们劫持了。再后来，那几个意大利记者被撕票了。”
3，南非
James给我放了一部他拍摄的纪录片的片段。片子讲的是南非的Venda地区，有些巫医（sangoma）拿活人的器官给人看病。他们把人杀死，卸下一条胳膊或是大腿，当作药材。是不是很像District 9的一个场景？女记者问巫医：你杀人吗？答，是的。女记者瞪大了眼睛，结结巴巴，半响没说出一句整句：你杀人啊。你为了你的职业杀人啊。答，是的。女记者终于冷静了下来：如果给人看病，要你把亲生的骨肉杀了，你也会这么做吗？答，是的。
“当地的一个线人给我们找到了这样一个巫医。我和记者天蒙蒙亮就到了他家。屋子里很暗，门口处是唯一的光源。巫医和记者面朝面坐着。为了把那狗日的拍得狰狞一点，我让他坐在了背光面，取仰角。我就扛着相机在他俩之间蹦达。那狗日的凳子下躺着一个口袋，袋里放着一条人腿。我只给了他几个面部的局部特写，并没有把他整张脸拍下来，这么做是为了保护线人。拍摄完，我们就跟当地的警察报了案，后来那狗日的就被抓了。有时候你的镜头看似是保护当事人的身份，其实是为了保护线人。”
4，印度
拍纪录片给采访人钱，会影响你的信誉（credibility）。但有时你却不得不给。有一次在加尔各答拍摄，我们要采访一个开自行车店的当地人。他倒是愿意拍摄，但需要一笔报酬。怎么办？别忘了他是卖自行车的。我们可以向他买辆自行车，但到时候把车子带回国就是件麻烦事了。因为故事的需要，我们要他带我们到另一个地方。他说，成，但必须得带上我的舅舅，那个地方乱，我一个人不敢去。于是我们决定借这个机会，给他舅舅一笔钱——交通、导游费什么的，舅舅回头匀出一部分给外甥，算是变相地给了他报酬。其实还有一个方法，以耽误他开店做生意为由，给他一笔经济补偿。但是要注意，钱的数目要符合当地的工资水平，还有记得让对方开收据。这笔钱在拍片预算的时候就要考虑在内。
5，孟加拉
在孟加拉有些地方，你一停下车，就会不知道从哪儿冒出一个小孩，出现在你车窗前。你看不见他的双臂，他隔着车窗叽里咕噜跟你说话。你以为又是一个来乞讨的残疾孩子，于是你摇下车窗，想问问他的情况。你正要张嘴说话，他不知从哪儿掏出两只手，把满手的粪便扔向了你——他自己的粪便，你的眼睛、鼻子、嘴巴里都是屎。趁你睁不开眼、被恶心折磨地死去活来时候，又不知从哪儿冒出一个小孩，把你车子里的东西偷了个精光。
6，如果google“james brabazon”这个名字，有个链接会把你带到他的网站：James Brabazon 1932-2007。“那人是我的表/堂哥（cousin），狗日的，跟我一个名字。他死那天，我大半夜被一连串密集的电话弄醒，电话那头有人问‘你还活着吗？’我他妈当然活着啊，要不怎么接你电话啊。整整一个星期，全是问我‘有没有死’的电话和短信。”
* 不知道fixer这个词翻译成“线人”是不是妥当。James讲到拍摄地那些有各种渠道、能为他们找到受访者的当地人，用的就是fixer这个词。
本来这个“工作室”为期两天，我只去听了头天的下午。那几天实在太累了，早上醒来，双眼包含着眼屎，一看时间，已经12点了。
关于在高危国家拍摄片子需要注意的问题，一言以蔽之，就是安全第一，胆大心细，多问当地人。当然之前要过的程序也必不可少，比如尽量申请记者签证，比如买保险，比如做好risk assessment，比如参加培训，掌握急救、劫持等各种突发事件的知识。
“如果你申请的是旅游签证，一旦在拍摄地遭到盘问，就会很麻烦。记者签证可以少却这样的麻烦，但是不好申，那些国家本来就不想外国记者入境，往往一两个月才能签下来，光各种表格就让你填得痛不欲生。
“像急救的基本技能，你一个小时就能掌握。我现在碰到断胳膊断腿的知道怎么包扎、用药，也不过是一个下午的训练课就学会的。
“如果你被劫持为人质，劫匪问你有没有买保险，你就说不知道。如果你说没买，他们立马会把你杀掉；如果你说买了，他们会不断提高赎金，直到双方僵住，僵个一年两年都有可能。”
讲到签release form（相当于拍摄前与对方签署的合同，以征得被拍摄人的同意），James说除了这一纸表格之外，他通常会在录制采访时要求被拍摄人在镜头前再次表明身份、并讲明自己是同意拍摄的。这样做的目的也无非是怕有些人事后抵赖，说release form上的字是伪造的或是在受逼迫的情况下签的。
讲到拍摄时要注意匿名（ananymity）和身份（identity）的区别，James说如果对方要求匿名，就要保护他/她的身份不致泄漏。一个人的身边（identity）包括长相、衣着、手饰、口音等。他用的一个例子是他在埃及的拍摄经历。在埃及，apostasy（wiki给出的对应的中文是“叛道”，其实意思就是从一种宗教改信另一种宗教）——从伊斯兰教改信基督教是有生命危险的，虽然埃及的法律说公民有宗教信仰自由，但片中反应的情况是，改信基督，男的直接被杀，女的先奸后杀。片子里采访了一个“叛道”基督教埃及妇女，镜头多数是她的背影，并没有暴露整个面部，但还是有一些上衣和手的特写，还能听到她说话的声音。更奇怪的是她的身旁还坐着一个姑娘。
“那个姑娘是她的女儿，拍摄时她一定要求女儿坐在身边。我一再跟她说这样做有风险，她一再坚持让她女儿出现在镜头里，为的是证明她所说的真实。从那些衣服、手的镜头还有她的声音，邻居或是熟人是不难认出她来的。但是埃及的人口有七千多万，要找到这么一个人无异于大海捞针。”
讲到如何隐藏被拍摄人的身份，底下有人说面部马赛克处理。“但是马赛克是后期加上去的，原始的磁带里人物长什么模样一清二楚，万一你拍摄的磁带在海关被扣下上缴，里面的主人公就完了。所以可以用虚焦，或是不要拍摄面部。”
James讲的几个故事：
1，缅甸：
“我有一个同事在那里拍有关政治犯的纪录片，要拍一所监狱的外景。他在当地的一个线人帮他租了辆车。他们坐在车里，扮作游客开到监狱墙外，小心翼翼拿出摄像机，结果发现没带磁带。于是原路返回，取了磁带，重新来到监狱外面——拍摄一切顺利。正要从前方开走的时候，被警察拦了下来。原来这条路是单向道，之前返回的时候逆向行驶，被监控摄像拍了下来。警察发现了车里的摄像机，问他们是干嘛的。我同事说是游客，随便拍着玩儿的。警察说，这里是监狱，有什么好拍的。喝斥完，警察让他们走了。可是没想到那个警察把车牌号抄了下来，更糟糕的是，我那个同事租车的时候，填的都是线人的真实信息。后来那个线人逃到了国外，被迫流亡，留在国内的妻子和女儿，这一辈子都见不到了。”
2，阿富汗
“有时候你开车，突然发现路边有人朝你招手，旁边躺着一个人，需要帮助。通常情况下，我会停下车，去救那个人。但如果这是在阿富汗，千万不要停车，往前开就是。那一次各国的记者都在喀布尔集合，由联合国的车队把我们带到另一个地方。经过山口的时候，路边有人朝车队招手示意，那人的身旁躺着一个人，奄奄一息。前面的车子都没有理睬，径直开走了。最后一辆车里坐着几个意大利记者，说不能见死不救，执意要求司机停车。他们打开车门，走到那两个人跟前，突然地上躺着的那人站了起来，掏出枪把他们劫持了。再后来，那几个意大利记者被撕票了。”
3，南非
James给我放了一部他拍摄的纪录片的片段。片子讲的是南非的Venda地区，有些巫医（sangoma）拿活人的器官给人看病。他们把人杀死，卸下一条胳膊或是大腿，当作药材。是不是很像District 9的一个场景？女记者问巫医：你杀人吗？答，是的。女记者瞪大了眼睛，结结巴巴，半响没说出一句整句：你杀人啊。你为了你的职业杀人啊。答，是的。女记者终于冷静了下来：如果给人看病，要你把亲生的骨肉杀了，你也会这么做吗？答，是的。
“当地的一个线人给我们找到了这样一个巫医。我和记者天蒙蒙亮就到了他家。屋子里很暗，门口处是唯一的光源。巫医和记者面朝面坐着。为了把那狗日的拍得狰狞一点，我让他坐在了背光面，取仰角。我就扛着相机在他俩之间蹦达。那狗日的凳子下躺着一个口袋，袋里放着一条人腿。我只给了他几个面部的局部特写，并没有把他整张脸拍下来，这么做是为了保护线人。拍摄完，我们就跟当地的警察报了案，后来那狗日的就被抓了。有时候你的镜头看似是保护当事人的身份，其实是为了保护线人。”
4，印度
拍纪录片给采访人钱，会影响你的信誉（credibility）。但有时你却不得不给。有一次在加尔各答拍摄，我们要采访一个开自行车店的当地人。他倒是愿意拍摄，但需要一笔报酬。怎么办？别忘了他是卖自行车的。我们可以向他买辆自行车，但到时候把车子带回国就是件麻烦事了。因为故事的需要，我们要他带我们到另一个地方。他说，成，但必须得带上我的舅舅，那个地方乱，我一个人不敢去。于是我们决定借这个机会，给他舅舅一笔钱——交通、导游费什么的，舅舅回头匀出一部分给外甥，算是变相地给了他报酬。其实还有一个方法，以耽误他开店做生意为由，给他一笔经济补偿。但是要注意，钱的数目要符合当地的工资水平，还有记得让对方开收据。这笔钱在拍片预算的时候就要考虑在内。
5，孟加拉
在孟加拉有些地方，你一停下车，就会不知道从哪儿冒出一个小孩，出现在你车窗前。你看不见他的双臂，他隔着车窗叽里咕噜跟你说话。你以为又是一个来乞讨的残疾孩子，于是你摇下车窗，想问问他的情况。你正要张嘴说话，他不知从哪儿掏出两只手，把满手的粪便扔向了你——他自己的粪便，你的眼睛、鼻子、嘴巴里都是屎。趁你睁不开眼、被恶心折磨地死去活来时候，又不知从哪儿冒出一个小孩，把你车子里的东西偷了个精光。
6，如果google“james brabazon”这个名字，有个链接会把你带到他的网站：James Brabazon 1932-2007。“那人是我的表/堂哥（cousin），狗日的，跟我一个名字。他死那天，我大半夜被一连串密集的电话弄醒，电话那头有人问‘你还活着吗？’我他妈当然活着啊，要不怎么接你电话啊。整整一个星期，全是问我‘有没有死’的电话和短信。”
* 不知道fixer这个词翻译成“线人”是不是妥当。James讲到拍摄地那些有各种渠道、能为他们找到受访者的当地人，用的就是fixer这个词。
2010年5月19日星期三
芬兰二事
Mia和Ville都是芬兰来的，在Cardiff念研究生。
在芬兰上学，是不用自己掏腰包的。那么来英国念书呢？
半年11,000英镑的学费补贴，此外还有每个月500英镑左右的生活补贴，这些都是芬兰的国家财政出的。
所以Mia可以天天去泡吧不醉不归，去超市看到1镑1根黄瓜脱口而出“好便宜”，每顿饭可以吃red meat（牛羊肉），房间里的香水瓶从桌这头摆到了桌那头。
据ville说，芬兰的本科生比例占人口的60%。
在芬兰，学生从中学或是大学毕业，都会去蒸桑拿，有点类似于国内毕业了拍集体照。对了，他们是集体桑拿，男女光着屁股一起蒸。
你们已经是社会主义了啊。我说。
不，芬兰其实是最资本主义的国家。现在穷人和富人的差距在拉大，我们远没到社会主义。ville说。
在芬兰上学，是不用自己掏腰包的。那么来英国念书呢？
半年11,000英镑的学费补贴，此外还有每个月500英镑左右的生活补贴，这些都是芬兰的国家财政出的。
所以Mia可以天天去泡吧不醉不归，去超市看到1镑1根黄瓜脱口而出“好便宜”，每顿饭可以吃red meat（牛羊肉），房间里的香水瓶从桌这头摆到了桌那头。
据ville说，芬兰的本科生比例占人口的60%。
在芬兰，学生从中学或是大学毕业，都会去蒸桑拿，有点类似于国内毕业了拍集体照。对了，他们是集体桑拿，男女光着屁股一起蒸。
你们已经是社会主义了啊。我说。
不，芬兰其实是最资本主义的国家。现在穷人和富人的差距在拉大，我们远没到社会主义。ville说。
2010年5月6日星期四
What a Crack!
It is 2 o'clock in the morning. Mia and Mark are just back from the pubs.
I know this because I am burning midnight oil-- working on my assignment about insurgency. Actually, after reading all the books, articles and documents, what I have learned about good counterinsurgency strategy is-- it all can be summed up in one sentence-- let the invading or occupying armies love the local people, mingle with them and protect them, then you can rule the insurgents out of the region. Well, I think it's too late and my mind is going into disarray. But before it stops functioning, let me go back to Mia and Mark.
I ran into them in the kitchen. Mia was making popcorn, and Mark was penut-buttering toast.
"All you OK?" I asked.
"I'm more than OK." Mark said. His face was bright and his voice was loud. Acohol accelerates the blood flow.
Mia's face was bright red. The dress on one of her shoulders was sliding down. I could see the strap of her black bra. Her jeans were falling below her waist.
"Mia, I can see more of your bottom." I said.
"You mean my ass crack?" She turned around, one hand holding a big bowl of popcorn, one hand going behind her back to pull up her pants.
"Well, yes, sort of."
"Haha..." Mark laughed.
"Oh, no." Mia moaned, "I wish you hadn't see it."
I giggled. "I think the word 'ass crack' is funny, because for me, that crack is more of a ass cleavage."
"No. It's a crack." Mia reiterated.
"You know what," Mark said, "When I was in high school, our psych teacher had a poster which said 'don't get hooked up on crack'. On the poster there was a plumber bending over and we could see his ass crack."
"Don't get hooked up on crack? On ass crack?" I asked.
"Oh, no. Crack also means drug."
Mark's explaination instantly reminded me of the stroy told by an Irish guy. His name is Marcombe. In Irish, crack also means fun. Once Marcombe went to a pub where he was drinking and cracking jokes-- ok, crack can also be used as a verb in the phrase "crack a joke"-- with his friends. Marcombe said "What a crack!" The next thing, he was taken out by the bouncer, who interrogated him and searched him because he thought Marcombe was trying to sell drugs in the pub. Marcombe explained to the English bouncer that when an Irish person said "what a crack" it simply meant "how funny it is".
"Even I know that." Mark said. "What a crack. Oh, those Irish people."
I know this because I am burning midnight oil-- working on my assignment about insurgency. Actually, after reading all the books, articles and documents, what I have learned about good counterinsurgency strategy is-- it all can be summed up in one sentence-- let the invading or occupying armies love the local people, mingle with them and protect them, then you can rule the insurgents out of the region. Well, I think it's too late and my mind is going into disarray. But before it stops functioning, let me go back to Mia and Mark.
I ran into them in the kitchen. Mia was making popcorn, and Mark was penut-buttering toast.
"All you OK?" I asked.
"I'm more than OK." Mark said. His face was bright and his voice was loud. Acohol accelerates the blood flow.
Mia's face was bright red. The dress on one of her shoulders was sliding down. I could see the strap of her black bra. Her jeans were falling below her waist.
"Mia, I can see more of your bottom." I said.
"You mean my ass crack?" She turned around, one hand holding a big bowl of popcorn, one hand going behind her back to pull up her pants.
"Well, yes, sort of."
"Haha..." Mark laughed.
"Oh, no." Mia moaned, "I wish you hadn't see it."
I giggled. "I think the word 'ass crack' is funny, because for me, that crack is more of a ass cleavage."
"No. It's a crack." Mia reiterated.
"You know what," Mark said, "When I was in high school, our psych teacher had a poster which said 'don't get hooked up on crack'. On the poster there was a plumber bending over and we could see his ass crack."
"Don't get hooked up on crack? On ass crack?" I asked.
"Oh, no. Crack also means drug."
Mark's explaination instantly reminded me of the stroy told by an Irish guy. His name is Marcombe. In Irish, crack also means fun. Once Marcombe went to a pub where he was drinking and cracking jokes-- ok, crack can also be used as a verb in the phrase "crack a joke"-- with his friends. Marcombe said "What a crack!" The next thing, he was taken out by the bouncer, who interrogated him and searched him because he thought Marcombe was trying to sell drugs in the pub. Marcombe explained to the English bouncer that when an Irish person said "what a crack" it simply meant "how funny it is".
"Even I know that." Mark said. "What a crack. Oh, those Irish people."
2010年5月3日星期一
巫饴·蛊饴
Mark有个家传食谱，全美只此一家。我想起来小时候看《故事会》时记得的一句歇后语：蝎子拉的巴巴——独份（毒粪）。
刚来学校不久，Mark给我们做了一道甜点，可可粉活的面，上面淋了一层甜奶霜，妙不可言，舌头像是中了巫蛊术，满口甜蜜仿佛走进了桃花之境，欲罢不能。美食能让人有幸福感，我终于信了。糕点的名字叫ooey gooey，我给它个中文名，就叫巫饴·蛊饴。
我当时问Mark怎么做的。他说祖传秘方，不传外。
后来我把我在Cardiff研制的leek chicken的烹饪法传授了给他，以他教我做巫饴·蛊饴为条件。有生以来，我第一次做了一笔由我占了便宜的不平等交易。或许Mark真是觉得那鸡太好吃了，可其实味道全来自于生抽和老抽。
把家传秘方告诉我之前，Mark正色说: don't tell the recipe to anybody else. otherwise my mother would hunt you down and make you miserable. it belongs to the Hostetlers.
今天把配料买齐，终于在Mark的指导下把这巫饴·蛊饴做出来了。
Mia尝了，大叫比Mark做的好吃。原来是我的面饼压得不够实，表面的甜奶霜渗了进去，又在中间形成了一道夹层。happy accident。
可是我总觉得差了点什么。第一次吃巫饴·蛊饴时口中的充盈感和心中的幸福感至今记忆犹新，或许就是“第一次”的缘故吧。
*在烤箱里烤的时候，糕点周围贴着托盘的一圈更容易膨胀隆起。如果面饼压得水平，烤出来的糕点会形成中间凹、四周凸的形状，结果外围那一圈没有甜奶霜覆盖，容易焦硬。所以压面饼的时候要把四周压得略低于中间。
刚来学校不久，Mark给我们做了一道甜点，可可粉活的面，上面淋了一层甜奶霜，妙不可言，舌头像是中了巫蛊术，满口甜蜜仿佛走进了桃花之境，欲罢不能。美食能让人有幸福感，我终于信了。糕点的名字叫ooey gooey，我给它个中文名，就叫巫饴·蛊饴。
我当时问Mark怎么做的。他说祖传秘方，不传外。
后来我把我在Cardiff研制的leek chicken的烹饪法传授了给他，以他教我做巫饴·蛊饴为条件。有生以来，我第一次做了一笔由我占了便宜的不平等交易。或许Mark真是觉得那鸡太好吃了，可其实味道全来自于生抽和老抽。
把家传秘方告诉我之前，Mark正色说: don't tell the recipe to anybody else. otherwise my mother would hunt you down and make you miserable. it belongs to the Hostetlers.
今天把配料买齐，终于在Mark的指导下把这巫饴·蛊饴做出来了。
Mia尝了，大叫比Mark做的好吃。原来是我的面饼压得不够实，表面的甜奶霜渗了进去，又在中间形成了一道夹层。happy accident。
可是我总觉得差了点什么。第一次吃巫饴·蛊饴时口中的充盈感和心中的幸福感至今记忆犹新，或许就是“第一次”的缘故吧。
*在烤箱里烤的时候，糕点周围贴着托盘的一圈更容易膨胀隆起。如果面饼压得水平，烤出来的糕点会形成中间凹、四周凸的形状，结果外围那一圈没有甜奶霜覆盖，容易焦硬。所以压面饼的时候要把四周压得略低于中间。
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