Visit to London & Cambridge

WG's sister and brother-in-law were in UK last weekend. We met them in London, together we made a day trip to Cambridge, then back to Cardiff.

The London Eye

London Eye 是在千禧年建成的，故也称Millennium Wheel, 在当时是世界最高的摩天轮(135 metres）。摩天轮位于泰晤士河畔。如果把照片倒过看，河畔的路灯好像一串项链，London Eye就像一颗坠子。

以下这道甜品叫Pavlova，像不像融化了的雪人。Pavlova 名字取自一个著名的俄罗斯芭蕾舞蹈员。Pavlova is a meringue dessert made from whipped egg whites and caster sugar.

星期六我们开车到剑桥。这天的天气特好，阳光普照，游客很多。我们就在这家座落在康河河畔的酒馆，一面享用午餐，一面欣赏河面风光。

河面有许多游客在撑船。

以下是剑桥著名的“数学桥”，官方名称是“木桥”。

The Mathematical Bridge is the popular name of a wooden bridge across the River Cam, between two parts of Queens' College, Cambridge. Its official name is merely the Wooden Bridge.

There are several myths surrounding the construction of the bridge. One of myths is that the bridge was designed and built by students. It was so perfect that the planks were laid one on top of the other and held together by their weight and the angles by which they were put together. The professors were so intrigued and in awe of its architecture that they took it apart to see how it was built. Their downfall was that they could not piece it back together again and therefore the bridge is now held together by nuts, bolts and screws.

剑桥大学有31所学院。

这是座落于市中心的Emmanuel College，成立于1584年。

虽然它就坐落于喧闹的大路旁，路上汽车巴士来来往往，

但是一进到里面却是一个完全不同的世界。墙内是一片静谧的世界。

Front court and the Chapel

这是图书馆。因为天气好，许多人在草地上享受温暖的阳光。

学生宿舍

看来这里不只是读书的好地方......

King's College。

原来这就是木兰花(Magnolia)，开得好大好漂亮!

星期天我们开车回卡迪夫。

这是衔接英格兰和威尔斯的大桥，过桥费5英镑。

春天的Llandaff Park绿意盎然。

点心便当

这是文光的点心便当，里面有三文治、水果、消化饼干、还有Museli bar或巧克力。因为这里东西贵，自己带比较经济，而且大学的办公楼过了下午的时间就买不到东西吃了，不像新加坡那么便宜又方便。

这个便当布袋是在新加坡的Daiso买的，很可爱吧。:D

镜花水月

云门舞集实在太棒了！原来“水月”是取自镜花水月，表示世间事物多是虚幻，有如镜花水月般。舞蹈员的动作之优美不在话下，音乐舞台灯光设计和舞蹈配合得天衣无缝。Nathasha和Yanhui 谢谢我的推荐，让她们有机会观赏这么棒的舞蹈表演。Yanhui还说12英镑的门票太便宜了。

这就是表演的场地，非常壮观的剧院。

Donald Gordon Theatre in Wales Millennium Centre.

这是“水月”的舞台设计。后面一部分的舞蹈，背景出现一大片镜子，加上舞台都布满了水，舞蹈员的动作反映在水面，也同时照映在镜子里，舞蹈员的动作从多个视角呈现在观众面前。

表演结束后，艺术总监和观众交流。

Yanhui, Natasha and me at the show.

Cloud Gate is in Cardiff!

云门舞集：水月

22 & 23 April ’08

Tickets: 8pm £5, £12, £16, £22

Post-show talk 22 April 8.40pm 30 mins

The Dance Consortium presents Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan:

Moon Water

An extraordinary piece of theatrical dance, Moon Water’s power is contained in not only its dancers, but the stage on which they perform: over the duration of the performance, the stage is slowly flooded until the dancers are moving through water itself, their costumes soaked, and yet never missing a step, never letting their focus and concentration slip as they perform their astonishing, controlled and seamless dance. (Source: http://www.wmc.org.uk/index.cfm?alias=cloudgate)

I have been wanting to watch Cloud Gate's performance everytime when I went Taipei. However, I never got the chance to catch their show. When I got to know from Gloud Gate's website that they are going for a tour in Europe and UK, I quickly checked and was very excited to find out that they are coming to Cardiff to performance at the WMC (Wales Millennium Centre). I immediately asked Woon to book tickets to ensure that I will not miss the show.

So, tonight me, Woon and his colleague from Russia Natasha, and Yanhui from China are going for the show at the WMC.

Wales Millennium Centre

Cardiff East Chapter Assembly

Yesterday, 20 April, was Cardiff East Chapter Assembly. The mtg attended by about 50 people. It was held at the Star Centre, Star Centre is a community centre. When we have a big mtg (yes, 50 people is considered a big mtg here), we have to rent a room at the community centre.

The mtg was a great success and everyone enjoyed it. Agenda includes Buddhist study, experiences, entertainment and children's presentation.

The Buddhist lecture was on "Reply to the Lay Nun, Mother of Ueno". This is a letter wrote by Daishonin to encourage the mother of Nanjo Tokimitse, who has lost her youngest son.

I took this pictue during tea break after the lecture.


In the second part of the mtg, 7 children put up a performance based on the children's book "Cody Chants". There were no practise or rehearsal at all before this day. Children who came with their parents just joined on the very day. While the adults are have mtg, Women Division leaders Liz with her husband Larry shared the story with the children. After that with the help of another 2 more youth leaders, the children made the props and rehearse the presentation. All the adults really enjoyed the presentation by the children, it is simple but very nice.

After that, me, Woon, Liz and Suzanne put up an entertainment item. We recited a Sensei poem "A Beacon Light". and the lesson from geese. Suzanne sang a song entitled "Summer Time". Wow! She really has a beautiful voice. I didn't take picture on our performance as I was on stage.

I am also very impressed by these beautiful decoration done by the members.

Lotus Sutra on snows? Yes, why not?!

(The lotus flower was painted by the daugther of a Women Division member)

Flux

Buddhism holds that everything is

in a constant state of flux.

Thus the question is

whether we accept change passively

and are swept away by it

or whether we take the lead

and create positive changes on our own initiative.

充实

心呈现停滞的人生，没有充实可言。例如勤行也是，做完后有一种充实的感觉，但是，偷懒不做的时候，也许一时感到轻松，后来就觉得浑身不自在。

~ 池田大作

Student Div Mtg @ Taplow Court

Today Woon drove a few Student Div members from Cardiff to Taplow Court (in England) for SGI-UK national student activity. Taplow is about 2 hours drive from Cardiff. Those who have visited Taplow before would agree with me that Taplow Court is the most magnificent and scenic SGI centre in the world.

This is Pippa, the student leader for young women.

New Century Hall, another building at Taplow.

Side view of New Century Hall

这是我第一次看到穿衣服的马。

它们可不是为了爱美才穿衣服，而是为了御寒。

We have Gosho study by SGI-UK Vice General Director Mr.Kazuo, followed by Q&A session. After that we break into small group for dialogue. Mr.Kazuo quoted from a Gosho, one should "become the master of one’s mind rather than let one’s mind master oneself."(为心之师， 勿以心为师）This profound passage may sound a bit confusing, but Mr.Kazuo said he would like to put it in another way for our easy understanding, one should "become the master of one's stupid mind rather than let one's stupid mind master oneself." (This is so true isn't it?!)
One of the member asked about how to juggle with study and buddhist activities. Mr.Kazuo said, it is like a sandwich, study is like bread and chanting is like ham. Only study without chanting is like having bread all the time, so it is no good; only chanting is like only having ham all the time, so the best is to have a good mixture like sandwich - sandwich, ham, sandwich; the formula is study, chanting, study. His guidance is so simple and clear.
After the mtg at abt 3:30pm, we walked around Taplow court and took some pictures. We left Taplow around 5pm and reach home around 7pm.
All in all, it was a beautiful and meaningful day!

穷学生懒人食谱

Picture downloaded from http://blog.xuite.net/iq943/recipe

某日在网上发现“穷学生懒人食谱”的网站，这个网站有好多简单的食谱。顾名思义，“穷学生”就是要节省金钱，“懒人”就是要节省时间，这对我太有用了。我好高兴，马上链接到我的部落格好介绍一栏。

食谱请到网站：http://blog.xuite.net/iq943/recipe/14750265/track

以上就是我今天跟着穷学生懒人食谱煮的焗飯(bake rice)， 省钱和懒人指数都很高哦。因为第一做嘛，没什么经验，放在烘炉里30分钟后，觉得表面烤得不够，所以再放回烘炉里烤久一点，过后却觉得有点烤过头了，吃的时候觉得表面有点硬，但是还可以啦，味道也不错。食谱上没有说，但我还是先把鸡肉用酱油和米酒调味一下，再加入一些我喜欢吃的杂豆(就是有青豆，胡萝卜和玉米参杂在一起的mix vege）。还有我怕胖，乳酪不敢放得太多。相信下次我一定会做得更好。

A1 Curry Chicken

All along, I thought it is not easy to cook curry chicken. Before I came to UK, I went for food shopping for things that I wanted to bring here, then I saw this A1 curry chicken paste. It appeared really easy to cook, so I bought two packets of them.

See, this is what I have cooked for dinner tonight .

It was so easy to cook and I just have to follow simple steps printed on the packet. Aslo, I replaced coconut milk with Carnation milk, so it's healthy curry, but most importantly, it tastes really yummy!

天鹅海 Swansea

Today we went to visit SGI-UK WD Area leader Kyoko in Swansea. This is the first time we drove towards the west side of Wales. It took us only slightly more than an hour to reach her place. We were blessed with fine weather. After reaching her place, we went to have lunch at the pub nearby.

Kyoko lives in a station house, an old house built in 1840! She has a big garden and she said that we must come back in the summer again. This is so that we can see all the flowers blooming in the garden and we can have BBQ there.

Living room in the house.

Before we left, Kyoko recommended us to take a different route back to Cardiff. We took her advice and never regreted it. We drove through Black Mountain where we saw beautiful scenery. Following are just some of the pictures taken along our way home:

Look, all the sheep were looking at me... they probably thought, "What on earth is this woman doing here?"

Handsome man and beautiful car :P