Haonline's online jotter

Tulips

2011-02-18T19:43:00.001Z

Around August or September last year I bought a bag of tulip bulbs and planted them in the front garden. On Wednesday 16th February 2011 I realised that they have all sprouted! I quite like the shape of the leaves and can’t wait to see them fully grown!

Equality has become a ‘dirty word’, says Govt Minister

2010-11-20T21:47:00.000Z

Equality has become a ‘dirty word’, says Govt Minister

At least someone has finally spoken out!

2010-10-15T12:47:00.001+01:00

This is a reference used by Melanie Phillips in the article, The war for civilisation, dated 15/10/2010, on her own blog on the Spectator magazine.

‘Rupert Murdoch (the founder, Chairman and CEO of News Corp.) pointed out the anti-Israel, anti-Jewry frenzy now consuming the west.’

It is straight to the point of how the west and the Arab world has now been singing on the same hymn sheet and following the same determination to destroy Israel, THE ONLY DEMOCRATIC STATE IN THE MIDDLE EAST.

It just reminds me of the following verses. Deuteronomy 32:10 which refers to the sons of Israel ‘In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye.’

And in Zechariah 2 verses 7-9 referring to Jerusalem and Zion (Israel) “Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!” For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After he has honoured me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you – for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye- I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.

In Zechariah 12:3 God says ‘On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem and immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves’

And I think if the west keeps forgetting about their Christian past and being nasty/hostile towards Israel themselves, the outcome is going to be very dangerous.

The full speech is on this following website link.

The aim is to make Israel a Pariah by Rupert Murdoch

nice scones for Sunday afternoon

2010-09-05T19:46:00.002+01:00

I did some nice scones with fresh cream and jam this afternoon, and it was great!!!

Normally I drive to a very nice cafe in a town called Scorton on the Fylde to have cream tea (usually costs £4 with a big pot of coffee/tea). Then because I have been saving up recently so I thought I shall make those nice scones at home. 8 fruit scones cost £1, fresh cream is nothing and the homemade gooseberry jam cost £1.50 for a big jar from a neighbour. Nice and enjoyable Sunday afternoon time, priceless! So here they are.

The actual whipped cream looks nicer than this. It’s due to the lighting in the kitchen. I whipped the cream with a hand mixer for about 5 min. It’s interesting to see the watery cream slowly changes into such thick and foamy form. I seriously thought it’s not going to be that easy. But it turned out to be really nice and easy. And a lot of cream.. yummy.

Then cutting the scones into halves. When I did that, I was thinking it would probably be even cheaper to bake my own scones at home. At least I know what the ingredients I put into my scones.

The scones are lining up to be consumed. I use gooseberry jam. When I bought it, I thought it’s going to be sour but it isn’t. Normally gooseberries are quite sharp in taste (and I love it). It’s probably due to the sugar the neighbour put in during the process. It’s a big jar which can last a long year for sure, because I am not a big fan of sweet stuff, especially jam.

And this is the final nice product.

1940 house decor (link to a newspaper article)

2010-08-06T19:28:00.001+01:00

A house decorated in 1940 style!

I was reading the online version of the Daily Mail just now and found this article. It’s excellent! The man is after my own heart. Had I got the fortune, I would rather have my house decorated in exactly the same way like he did.

What I like about it is the hob in the kitchen and the airier on the wall. Also the old packaging of the grocery in the 1940s. They are far more beautiful than the packaging in modern years. I think I am into those nostalgic things.

EXCELLENT! WELL DONE BEN.

No mosque at Ground Zero

2010-07-25T16:25:00.001+01:00

I support this view. Some people just like to use their religion as a way to insult and invade other people just to enforce their way. They don’t want freedom but we do and we cherish that gift. Those pro-Islam politicians should be ashamed of what they are doing and possibly be kicked out of the parliaments in the free world.

Only Israel

2010-07-21T21:13:00.001+01:00

The title and the song says everything…. The world is under a big lie.

我是合格的急救員囉！

2010-07-10T01:29:00.001+01:00

話說幾個禮拜前在公司收到一封電子郵件，標題是公司在徵求一名志願男性急救員，因為目前公司只有兩位急救員而且她們都是女性，在可能的突發狀況時會有些不方便，因此，本著助人為快樂之本的初衷及每個月可以拿十五磅的額外薪資，我就申請了。本來以為會有其他人申請，結果只有我一個！

就這樣打打撞撞，七月六號到八號，我去了英國紅十字協會上急救員的課程。這個課程是專門給公司用的，因此只有三天，並且不包括其他一些比較專門的急救訓練，例如海上及空中急救等等。

我們這梯次總共有十一個人上課，第一天主要的是人工呼吸以及基本包紮，還有一些注意事項。上完一天課下來，我發現急救不是只要會人工呼吸壓壓心臟吹吹氣這樣，其實做這件事的目的是在讓傷者的血液循環能夠持續，而不是以前學到的讓延腦察覺到身體內的二氧化碳濃度過高！當我們做人工呼吸時，雙手壓胸是為了幫助傷者的心臟能夠持續輸送血液。吹氣是讓傷者血液中還能有含氧量。因為我們正常呼一口氣時，只用百分之五到六的氧氣，剩下的全呼出去了。重要的是，人工呼吸只有在傷者是無意識狀態時才做，因為這時候傷者全身肌肉鬆緩，很可能呼吸不順而造成缺氧腦死。

除了人工呼吸之外，包紮也是一門學問。從小到大我們都學如果有穿刺傷，要把穿刺物取出後再包紮。那其實是錯的。就連電影也傳輸錯誤訊息。當我們有穿刺傷時，是要把穿刺物請傷者加壓用兩個繃帶捲固定在傷口，然後包紮。因為包紮除了防止進一步的感染之外，還有就是把傷口加壓，因為這樣血小板才可以發揮功用。如果我們把穿刺物取出，有很大的機會讓傷者有進一步的傷害。而且在手掌或是手臂傷口的包紮時，一定要確定繃帶固定住紗布的四週，這樣才是完全包紮。

而訓練員除了交我們這兩項知識之外，還跟我們說，作為急救員還有一個重要的使命就是安撫傷者並且給予心理上的支持。在傷者沒有安定下來或是持續悲觀的情況下，發生第二次傷害的機會非常大。

老實說我本來以為第一天的課程就是大家自我介紹什麼的，結果第一天下來，受益良多！因為這些基本常識非常實用。我們平常自己處理傷口時都是拿個衛生紙或是紗布持續加壓，雖然這樣沒錯，但是紗布或是衛生紙會吸收血液，而把血小板的功用降低。最好的加壓是用傷者的手指！

flotilla incident

2010-06-01T17:58:00.001+01:00

Before the world starts to condemn Israel for the latest flotilla incident, I feel it’s totally biased. Although I do not think using machine guns against civilians is right, I feel Israeli soldiers have the rights to defend themselves against brutal ambush attacks.

If those navy soldiers were British, I believe it would be a different story. The world media never reports the fact that those so-called ‘peaceful activists’ started the brutal attack against those Israeli soldiers first. If Britain’s neighbour countries are all proclaiming ‘wiping out the Brits’ and shooting missiles on a daily basis, will the border control not to check every single incoming ships? I don’t think so.

Again this is like the British society, always focusing on the criminals’ human rights but never the victims’. How bizarre and stupid?!

Evidence of the flotilla incident

二樓窗台上的植物

2010-05-15T20:17:00.001+01:00

今天來跟大家介紹我在窗台上養的植物。這盆是叫做JADE PLANT。中文老實說我不知道是什麼。是我一個法國同事Stephane 給的。當初是因為他家裡太多這植物，又適逢我們有新辦公室，所以他拿了一盆到公司來擺設。結果短短幾個星期，我們被要求搬到二樓的共用辦公室，原本的辦公室被一個姊妹公司拿來當做展示空間。而這盆JADE PLANT 的老爸被另外一個同事訂走，而我只要求剪下一小段來養。才一年半載，現在長到這麼大。原本我還得用支撐架攙扶它，現在它的莖變的很結實，可以支撐它自己了。

這盆植物的好處是他跟仙人掌很像，因為都是厚肉植物。它的葉子很厚，可以儲藏很多水份，因此我不必每天細心照顧。超方便。

下面這一盆植物叫做TIGER PLANT，其實就是一種PALM。我跟這種植物有一個很奇妙的見面經驗。我第一次瞧見這植物是在一個中國學生的租屋處。他們有四個人租一個排屋，其中一個在西倫敦找到工作，而搬離開那邊。他留下一盆這植物。我第一次看見，而且非常喜歡。但因為沒有人可以幫那個去倫敦工作的同學做主，因此我沒有帶走。結果第二次看到時是在英國的廉價超市LIDL，但我沒有買。因為覺得我可能只是一時興起，不想造成不好後果。但是，我後來朝思暮想，老是在各大園藝賣場找相同的植物，有時是太大，有時是太貴，都沒有喜歡的。後來居然又在LIDL 看到了，而且一盆只要一點五磅，因為是剩下幾盆所以超市廉價拋售。想當然是要帶回家。

它現在剛從一個小花盆搬到這個中型花盆。我想它應該喜歡它的新家。因為它越來越漂亮！我超愛。

除了這兩盆我喜歡的植物外，我還有一盆PEACE LILY，是我一個好朋友BETH 送我的。去年六月我老媽來英國玩，BETH 就買了一盆送我。現在這植物的外貌不是很上相，因為去年八月回台灣參加婚禮時，它去另一個朋友家暫住，結果回來的時候葉子變的淡綠而且偏黃，非常不健康的樣子。我花了八、九個月細心照顧，現在他有深綠色的葉子，但是還需要一些時間療養。不過，它有一個雙胞胎葉子喔。本來我不想照這張相的，因為這葉子的狀態就是不健康的那類。

目前我還有在窗台上試著種辣椒，總共有四棵辣椒，大部分還在等待發芽。目前只有一個發芽，其他還在醞釀當中。這其他三棵是要給同事的。另外，還有我的牽牛花Nasturitum。目前剛剛發芽，我非常興奮。

這就是我在二樓窗台上目前養的植物。老實說最近迷上園藝，看到植物就心情大好。這會不會是步入中年的徵兆？

Trip to North Lincolnshire (12-14 March 10) part 2 - Epworth

2010-05-02T19:01:00.001+01:00

Why Epworth? The reason being 1) it’s close to Scunthorpe and 2) it’s where Methodism was started by the Wesley’s. Who was he? He was the son of Rev. Samuel Wesley and Susanna Wesley. Samuel was from a high social class being the church vicar. Although he was in such high social rank, he was not welcomed by the people in Epworth (no change there then, it’s even like this in most areas in Europe). Susanna was a traditional mother who took care of all their 7 children with all her heart (unlike some mothers nowadays). She would teach them in the kitchen, especially the girls, so they were taught properly. The house they lived in is called the Old Rectory. It’s a big house with lots of rooms inside. Shame I forgot to take lots of pictures of it.

This is St. Andrew’s church, in which Samuel was the vicar and his tomb is right next to the church entrance. It’s situated on a higher ground in Epworth so you can see the church from all over the town. There is a picture in the Old Rectory which is from Samuel’s study room and you could see this church. In fact, if one goes to that particular study room, you can really see the church, although since then, there has been some houses built in what’s used to be field. Amongst all those houses, I’ve found a quite interesting one. It’s an optician now. Not sure what it used to be but what attracted my attention is its semi-sphere shape. It’s not a big house because from the entrance to its right, you can see the back of the house.

Another character of the houses in Lincolnshire (or other parts of England but I am not sure about it) is that they are all built like a fortress, i.e. houses facing the road/street with an entrance to the back of the house and normally there will be a small square. I believe in the bygone time people will use the those square as a social area to interact with neighbours. However, in modern times, a square like that will be used for parking cars or even converted to a shops! I have attached a photo of an entrance to the small shopping area in Epworth town centre. I like the way those houses are designed and built. They are a good way to socialise with neighbours. It’s another design with common sense, unlike the way the modern houses are done. Neighbours are too distant from each other and it feels like no interactions among the people in the community. In this shopping area, there are florist, bakery and some craft shops. They look really good. If I lived in such places, I would feel I belong to a community. It will really give you a sense of community.

After the town centre, we walked to the other side of the town where most of the residential houses are. It is nice to walk in a town like that. Very peaceful and quiet, and it is unnecessary to worry about the cars because there aren’t so many. We stayed in Epworth for about the whole morning then carried on to Scunthorpe.

This is the picture of Wesley Memorial Church, and I believe it’s Methodist.

I like this town house. It’s now the town hall.

surprising singer-to-be from Taiwan

2010-04-08T22:48:00.001+01:00

I was amazed when I saw this article on Daily Mail… And he really sings like Whitney Houston…. Excellent!

lamenting my laptop

2010-04-02T10:02:00.005+01:00

My beloved HP laptop decided last night that it does not want to work for me anymore.......... Its short life shocked me last night. December 2004 to April 2010.

Fortunately its brain still works, although its body has died. So I still need to find out how to extract the wisdom out of it in the next few days. Then we can still work together.

My good laptop.... may you rest in peace.

Trip to North Lincolnshire (12-14 March 10) part 1 – the hotel

2010-03-25T17:57:00.002Z

Based on an act of impulse, I decided to go to North Lincolnshire for a visit and stay in a Best Western hotel using my Best Western loyalty points (lucky Simon he always gets the benefit from me). Why Lincolnshire? It’s because our friend The Millers is from Scunthorpe and we’d like to have a look at the eastern England. The trip took place between 12-14 March 2010 and the main destination was Epworth and Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, and the hotel we stayed was Hotel Mount Pleasant in Doncaster, East Yorkshire.

The hotel is Best Western premier series located in the suburb area of Doncaster, quite close to the border of Lincolnshire and 'Robin Hood Airport’. I arrived at the hotel around 7pm, directly from work on a Friday afternoon. I used M6 – M61 – M60 – M62 – M180 then the A roads to get to there. On the way to the hotel from Doncaster, I wondered if it really exists because it’s literally in the middle of nowhere. It took me around 10 minutes to get to the nearest estate in Doncaster by car.

However, all those drive was paid off by this secluded and nice old farm house style hotel. At the entrance is a nice garden with a fish pond and water pump. There are some really nice huge mansions near the hotel as well. Actually I believe the nearest estate to the hotel must be the high end of Doncaster because of the sizes and characters of each detached houses. The picture below is what the entrance garden looks like. The fish pond is behind the pine tree and there are some huge koi in it (although I wonder how they survived in the winter?). The hotel lobby is at the other side of the pine tree.

Next to the lobby on the right hand side is a nice posh sitting area with an open fire and a few nice brown coloured leather sofas, shame I only took the picture of the fire place. It really gives the hotel a warm welcome feeling when you step in. To the left of the lobby is the restaurant and some lounge halls for the guest. Each lounge hall has a fire place and some old furniture like those in the picture. They also have a bar and I really like one piece of furniture in there. It is like a regular sized double sofa (no cusions though) with nice wood carvings on it. Very beautiful. Actually because it’s a premier series hotel, all the furniture they use are very elegant and posh. Even the waitresses/waiters in the breakfast dining hall address each guests as ‘sir or madam’. I was flattered!!! Simon even commented that we had to drink our tea elegantly.

Apart from the posh hotel facilities, the room is beyond my words. The bathroom is so massive that you can hear echo when you are in it. The room itself is twice the size of the lounge at Simon’s house. I’ve uploaded a video clip to show the room.

So thanks to this hotel, we had a really relaxing weekend getaway in Yorkshire/Lincolnshire. I would recommend this hotel because it’s only 28000 points for bed & breakfast rate, FOR TWO PERSONS. What a bargain!

Vaughns Country Café

2010-03-08T22:23:00.003Z

On 13 Feb. 10 I found this nice countryside café near Darwen. It’s situated at Roddlesworth in the West Pennine Moors. The café owners are two tubby men and their wives. The foods are fairly priced and all served with big portions. The baked beans on toast I ordered was huge, loads of beans served on two thick slices of bread. On the picture here, I had finished half the portion and it was still quite a lot for me to finish.

What’s more interesting about this place is the bird-watch window. It’s single sided so the birds won’t be frightened when they enjoy the nuts and bird fats. Shame I forgot to take a photo of it.

For those who are interested in going, the postcode for your sat nav is BB3 0LR.

update on Mitsy

2010-03-08T22:10:00.002Z

Mitsy is a very happy dog now because she is aware that someone loves her. She is very friendly and likes to approach people now. Compared to the first time when I saw her, she is no longer timid and frightened.

However, she still loves to be stroked by people. She even uses her paw to scratch you when you have stopped. Cheeky ain’t it. If one holds her like a baby in the arm, she will just lay her head on the person’s chest. She is very adorable and is perfect for Pat because they both need companions.

Mitsy and myself.

A mystery tour on 23/01/2010 to central Wales

2010-01-23T18:29:00.002Z

Last weekend Simon’s mum Pat asked me if I would like to go on a mystery tour today and I agreed. At that time I thought it’s a bit weird because she asked me to drive instead of the other way around.

When we started to the tour this morning, it was really misty (actually it still is after the whole day). I had a funny thought that it looked like those misty scenes in a vampire movie. The picture on the right was taken in Chorley where Pat lives.

It turned up that the destination is a small town called Llanfair Caereinion near Welshpool in the county Powys. The purpose of the trip was to collect a Yorkshire Terrier called Mitsy because Simon’s mum likes a lap dog for company. If you find it’s difficult for you to pronounce the town’s name, it’s alright because it’s in a foreign language – Welsh. Most of the Welsh town’s names represent their geographical position or the famous thing in it. This town has no difference. According to the dog foster, Llan means a church, Fair is Mary, Caer is a person’s name and Einion means house. So it probably means the town was built up with a church of Mary and Caer’s house in the beginning. When we crossed the border between Wales and England, the weather was sunny with light overcast, really nice weather for a day out.

The lady who owns the house is called Liz who used to foster mistreated cats. Her house is a traditional house with wooden beams across the whole ceiling. Even the door is a tiny one like those during Victorian times. I enjoy the scenery and the house very much. Mitsy is the first dog she has fostered so far. Actually it’s Liz’s first time to foster a dog and she has generated a bond with Mitsy so intensely that she struggled for a week before making up her mind to let Pat to take Mitsy away. Their cat Bailey is of a breed called ragdoll, a very big and beautiful breed. Her fur is soft and long and she has a pair of watery blue eyes which are both the distict features of ragdoll cats. We were in Liz house for around an hour and he just walked around. He is beautiful but not very friendly I would say. :-p

Mitsy was owned by an elderly gentleman but unfortunately he passed away couple of months ago. Then she was sent to one of his relatives’ house but was mistreated there. The good thing about Mitsy’s former owner is that she was honest to phone the rescue centre and ask them to take Mitsy away. So Mitsy is a bit nervous and timid before she gets to know someone. I am proud to say that she likes to stay on my lap and let me stroke her.

I wish Pat and Mitsy will get along with each other well.

Baked salmon

2010-01-05T23:11:00.002Z

Due to the fact that I was pigging myself during Christmas and New Year with big meals, I have decided that I am going to have something light and healthy for this week. It was boiled rice with stir fried Chinese leaf with grilled bacon joint on last night’s menu. This evening I decided to have baked salmon.

It’s always quite easy to do this dish. All I used was lots of garlic, black pepper, sea salt, some scallops and drizzle with lemon juice and a little bit olive oil. Then I wrapped the salmon with kitchen foil and baked under 200°c for 20 minutes.

American Pie music video

2009-12-25T00:22:00.003Z

This is one of the songs by Madonna. I like the music but have never seen the music video. Thanks to Youtube I finally can see it, but it's a bit controversial.

Snowy start!!

2009-12-21T12:53:00.001Z

7.20am

8.10am

It was a snowy start this morning and also the shortest working day I have ever had so far. It was from 08.30am to 10.10am and the management decided to let us go otherwise it might be too difficult to get out of the office in the afternoon.

good job the sandwich man came before we all left, otherwise he will lose one day of wages.

Preston is frozen up

2009-12-19T22:52:00.001Z

The weather in Preston started to plunge down few days ago, and we had the first snow this year on Friday 17/12/2009.

This is what it looks like on the estate on Friday night.

This is the Preston dock and it is frozen today.

Breaking news: judge says Vogelenzangs not guilty

2009-12-09T20:27:00.002Z

Breaking news: judge says Vogelenzangs not guilty

Posted using ShareThis

what a relief

2009-12-09T20:26:00.003Z

I am a happy bunny now because the exam for the business law is finished. Although I am not sure if the marker will give me enough marks to pass (50 out of 100), it is not necessary for me to revise and practise the text and mock exams anymore!

Thanks for those who prayed for me.

a very cute kitty

2009-12-06T23:25:00.002Z

When I first saw this video clip online, I just liked it straight away. Last week when I was at work, it appears on the MSN because it has been a big hit in Germany now!!!

F4 exam on 8th December 09

2009-11-11T22:03:00.000Z

Today I received the exam docket for my F4 business law sitting on 8th December 09.. To be frank, I am a bit tired with the study every night. Sometimes I would like to have a break, like tonight, just browsing the internet and playing games.

My dear Sister and those who know me, please can you pray for God to lead me through this period and pass my exam? Thanks.

my sister's blog

2009-11-11T20:05:00.002Z

My sister likes to blog and plurk (I think).

She used to have a blog page hosted by MSN but after a while, she changed to another host which is called Pixnet. It looks like it's a host exclusively for bloggers in Taiwan as it's local there. Their webpage layout is more vivid than MSN or blogger as it's possible to change the background colour and use a picture as the background as well. It makes the whole page looks more personalised rather than standardized like it is in here.

I was attracted by the layout of her new blog page so I started to visit it whenever I go on internet. And my sister starts to take a lot of pictures as well which also makes her page look more attractive.

Below is the link to her page, but all in Chinese. http://ruemimi.pixnet.net/blog

It looks like I need to seriously consider changing my blog page host as well....

Nio Nio has passed away......... :-(

2009-10-22T18:00:00.005+01:00

According to my dearest Sister's text and blog, our female cat Nio Nio passed away around 3.30PM today.

She had a tumor on her face for a while. The vet diagnosed that the tumor was an aggresive one, ie cancer. Before Nio Nio died, her weight plunged to 2 kgs and she had water in her belly. I can't imagine her sufferings but I thank God who has ended her suffering.

In my mind she is still the most beautiful cat. Bye bye Nio Nio.

car insurance advert in the UK

2009-09-20T21:36:00.006+01:00

I like this advert very much because the tenor sings very well.
Enjoy!

The British Commercial Vehicles Museum

2009-08-31T23:05:00.005+01:00

On the last day of August each year it is always a special holiday called 'bank holiday' in the UK. Since I've got a day off, so I went to The British Commercial Vehicles Museum in Leyland, Lancashire today.

It is a heaven for me really. All kinds of old vehicles and lorries in the old finishing shop for Leyland Motors Ltd in, of course, Leyland. Leyland Motors Ltd was a very british company until around 20 years ago which they were required by another company. Not sure if it was DAF. But anyway, this company used to make a lot of buses and lorries for the UK.

Since I came to the UK in 2007, I have realised I am a person who likes all kinds of old things. The old buses, lorries, bus stands, product packagings and even the clothes/home decorations of the 70's. That is why this museum is a heaven for me because I could get most of the old stuff in there.

Below are some pictures of the buses and lorries I took using my mobile phone.

click to enlarge

The lorry on the left has a story. It only had one driver when it was in service and it has run over 1,000,000 miles and it still works. (can't find any modern vehicles which can manage that) The company dedicated the lorry to the driver when he retired. Then when the driver passed away, the company acquired it and put it under display.

click to enlarge

Royal Mail motorbike. It's nice aint it.

click to enlarge

Post Office Telephones. It was the company which is now called British Telecom. The postal and telecom services were provided by General Post Office in the past.

click to enlarge

nice yellow double decker bus and a green van.

click to enlarge

This is my favourite Leyland Tiger Cub coach. The condition of this coach is as brand-new.

All these vehicles are privately owned either by a company or a person and publicly displayed in the museum.

pictures taken by my mobile

2009-08-18T17:48:00.007+01:00

Before going back to Taiwan, I went to Southport and Lancaster for some weekend trips. Unfortunately I did not take any digital camera with me so I used my mobile to take pictures. The make and the model is SonyEricsson C902i.

To my surprise, the landscape pictures are quite good.

The Prince of Egypt

2009-07-24T21:52:00.004+01:00

I've been listening to the OST of this animation for a very long time and I like the songs very much. This evening I watched the video and all I can say is that the music blends with the movie plot very well. It was a wonderful time watching the animation and listen to the music/songs.

One thing I have found about the Hebrew songs is that they are all full of hope and cheerful spirit, although the Jews have been suffering from the forces of Satan for a long long time. I admit there are some sad Hebrew songs but most of the ones I have listened so far are quite cheerful. The Hebrew language itself is a beautiful one, when it's spoken or put in songs. I would think it's still another blessing to the Jews.

The animation is the story about the Book of Exodus, which is the history of the life of Moses. But the animation does not cover the full length of the life of Moses but only until he got the ten commandments from God. Without all the patriarchs of the Hebrews, we would not have the blessing from God. They are the root of our faith and we are just grafted branches. Both salvations and punishments come to the Jews first then the gentiles (Romans 1:16, 2:9-10).

It is always nice to listen or watch those stories again and again because this is the way our history can be passed on to our next generations.

May God bless Israel.

banana loaf

2009-06-06T22:17:00.005+01:00

I remember the first time I had a slice of banana loaf was during my high school year. It was made by Mama Li who is the mother of my sister's friend. Banana loaf was imprinted in my mind after that and everytime when I got the chance to visit Mama Li, she would bake one for my sister and I.

Today I did the first banana loaf myself. It is really not difficult and the whole preparation takes less than 20 minutes. The ingredients are quite straightforward as well. 3 ripen bananas, 200g of plain flour, 2.50 teaspoon of baking soda, 75g butter, around 150g castor sugar, 2 beaten eggs, some mixed nuts and half teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

First mash the banana with a fork. Before I started it, I thought it's not going to be true to mash banana with a fork. But it is really easy and you will be amazed how fast the banana gets mashed. Then properly mix the butter with beaten eggs before adding the mashed banana into the bowl for another mixing.

After that, get another bowl to mix the flour with baking soda, mixed nuts and cinnamon. Add this into the wet ingredients and mix them well together. Grease a loaf tin with butter or margarine and put some grease proof baking paper in the tin. Load the tin with the mixed dough and put it into a preheated oven (180°c gas oven/160°c fan-assisted oven) for an hour. Then the banana loaf is ready to be served.

Baking bread

2009-05-17T10:07:00.003+01:00

After studying the cook books I have for months, I have finally decided to bake a bread myself and it turns out to be a good start!

There are at least 5 different cook books on my shelf and I have been reading them to get cooking ideas for a long time. I have tried most of the cooking ways introduced in those books, such as baked pork chops, steaks, fish fillets etc. But there is only one thing which I am not confident to try, and that is baking a bread.

Yesterday I was so eager to try, so I used the flour and the dried yeast I bought couple of months ago (they should not exist now!! :p). I put all the ingredients: around 200g of flour, 3g of dried yeast, some chopped nuts and sesame. I kneaded them for a while and made it into a dough. Before I left it aside wrapped in clingfilm, I did not expect it would grow, but it turned out to be a good start because it did. After the whole night of growing, I also brushed it with beaten egg. Then it went straight into the oven under 200°C for 30 minutes.

Ta da......... This is the final product. It will be an encouragement for my future baking!

The diary of my chilli plant

2009-05-17T09:59:00.004+01:00

It is really amazing how fast the plant grows!!!!

Today is 17th May 2009, only 15 days after my last online diary for the growth of my chilli plant. The plant is 2 times higher and stronger. The stem is harder than it used to be and it even has some sprouts around it now.

I am well-pleased.

baby chilli

2009-05-02T22:38:00.005+01:00

Around a month ago I got some dried chilli seeds from one of the Chinese students from the Fellowship. We thought it wouldn't sprout but it did sprout around two weeks after I seeded it.

Now it's growing steadily and looks like I will be able to get some home-grown chillies in the near future.

It also reminds me of my grandparents bungalow in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. It has been torn down by the Ministry of Defense in Taiwan for the purpose of building modern residential highrises. My granddad used to grow chillies as well as some other fruits trees. He had two mango trees, one long-gan tree and some nice roses and flowers. Although he has passed away couple of years ago, his love for growing green plants has been passed to me. I am really looking forward to have some organic chillies.

Growing plants is a really enjoyable experience!!!!

Song sharing - Dayenu

2009-04-16T23:33:00.003+01:00

This is one of my favourite Passover songs. Dayenu means 'it would have been enough for us' which stands for God has provided all the things for the Jewish people, such as their Torah and took them out of Egypt where they were slaves.

It is an easy and nice song. Hope you enjoy it!

終於考完試啦！

2008-12-06T23:46:00.002Z

終於在五號星期五的中午考完了今年下半年的acca 兩門科目的考試。

星期三考的financial accounting 我覺得表現不是很理想，因為我太輕忽這門科目。目前也已經做好了明年六月重考一次的準備。而星期五考的management accounting 有些題目不太知道該怎麼解，雖然我知道題目要我做的東西是啥，但考試時就是很緊張，而一緊張腦袋裡就什麼都擠不出來。

目前可以有三個月的休息時間，因為考試結果明年二月才出爐。到時候再來煩惱要修哪一科！而這個月的節目也已經排的好好的了。十二號要去Lancaster 跟那邊大學的學生團契一個交流，我們將要演一齣有關基督的短劇，說明他為了我們而扛擔的一切屬世的罪行。我參予的部份是一個罪行，是要讓女主角陷入欠債的深淵﹝這根本就是衝著我的工作來的嘛！﹞這個節目結束了之後，十九號就是公司的聖誕餐會，這是像台灣的尾牙一樣。雖然朋友們都跟我說要小心，因為這一天很多人的本性都會因為過量的酒精而流露出來。不過我幾乎沒在喝酒的，所以我也會明哲保身。在之後呢，我將要請兩位在Preston 學生團契中的朋友到家裡吃個飯話話家常。這幾天得想想菜單！

這些節目都結束後，將有一個星期多的休假。從十九號一直到聖誕結束。所以對我來說，十二月將會過的很快。而這個月一過完，就是我最期待的回台日子啦。目前已經是在倒數計時的階段嚕！好期待。

Moses and Jesus

2008-11-26T22:54:00.003Z

I was reading Numbers 11 - 16 this evening and just realized that the role Moses was doing at the time when he lead the Israelites in the desert is exactly like what Jesus is doing for us in heaven at the moment.

Moses was acting as a mediator between God and the rebellious Israelites. The Israelites were complaining about food and craving for meat, even treated God with contempt because of their small faith in Him in defeating the giants in the Promised Land. Although God was furious, he still listened to Moses' appeal for those people so that they were not striken to death immediately. Also Miriam and Aaron were complaining about Moses' privilage to talk to God and God struck Miriam with leprosy but Moses appealed against it so she did not die.

We pray through Jesus' mighty name as he cleansed our sinful blood with his pure blood so that the Holy Spirit can dwell in us. He is also mediating with God for our sins in the world. We could be dead whenever we have sinned, but you and I are still alive every morning to see the glory of God. Isn't it telling us that our God is really a loving God who looks after us and always wants us to get rid of our sinful nature and turn to him?

Praise the Lord who has opened my eyes this evening again and let me see what he has been trying to tell me since I first started to read His words in the Bible. Amen.

I am too lazy to post here nowadays

2008-10-21T23:40:00.002+01:00

At the moment, there are too many things for me to do. The most important one is the exams for my ACCA in early December.

Last week I took a week off for studying and staying away from work. I did not stay at home all the time, although I would like to do so. So apart from studying for my exams, I visited some friends here, went to some nice villages in North Yorkshire and around Preston and I created some nice recipes.

The villages are called Ripen (Fountains Abbey), Scorton and Colne. The receipes are bacon and asparagus roll, Chinese leaf and ham roll.

But I am too lazy to post them here. Let's wait until December....

Counting down the time to go home

2008-09-27T12:42:00.003+01:00

I've finally got my ticket to fly home in January 2009.

Outbound: 09.01.2009 Manchester - Amsterdam - Taipei
Return: 22.01.2009 Taipei - Frankfurt - Manchester

Yes!

interview

2008-09-11T22:41:00.002+01:00

I went for an interview with an consultant from a national recruitment agency in Preston. I think the agent Mr. Gareth Jones is by far one of those professional consultants I have ever met. Although it was only a 30 minutes interview, it made me feel both Mr. Jones and I sing the same tune and we learned from each other quite much.

He is the first agent who will prepare for the interview. What do I mean by that? Well, it happened that he knows my ex-boss in Johnson's and he asked for her point of view on my work performance. So when we started the interview, I introduced my career life to him in a wide view. It was routine anyway. After that, he said to me my ex-boss likes me very much, and they would like to keep me there in the company. I am not sure if that is the case because of my lower pay than all my other colleagues. It is also my main reason to look for another job.

I also learned from him about what the current job market is like. When I first applied for job here, it was not very successful and I thought it must because of my lack of qualification in accounting. Mr. Jones informed me that experience is also important, especially for the roles I am applying for, such as accountant assistant. Qualifications play a big part when it comes to higher positions such as financial manager or positions like that.

What I feel after the interview is that the relationship in the western world is also as important as it is in the Far East. I remember when I studied in Manchester, we were discussing in a seminar about the special way people in the Far East conduct their business. It's through the relationship. After the interview, I feel it's the same everywhere. With a well-maintained relationship, people will reserve what they are going to comment on you, or they will give a good one.

這一生最美的祝福

2008-09-06T01:03:00.003+01:00

在無數的黑夜裡
我用星星畫出你
你的恩典如晨星讓我真實的見到你

在我的歌聲裡
我用音符讚美你
你的美好是我今生頌揚的

這一生最美的祝福
就是能認識主耶穌
這一生最美的祝福
就是能信靠主耶穌

走在高山深谷
祂會伴我同行
我知道這是最美的祝福

這首讚美詩歌的歌詞真的很美。我們慈愛的天父為了讓我們可以跟他更親近，將他自己當做獻祭品，用自己的寶血為我們洗清罪惡，這不就是最美的祝福？

very touching clip about a lion

2008-08-08T23:54:00.001+01:00

I think it needs no words..... the clip shows it all.

Honestly, does it not make you think about your friends?

Nice worship song in Cantonese

2008-07-27T09:43:00.004+01:00

I found this song from Youtube.com this morning whilst I was looking for ways to make Man-tou, the Chinese round bread (probably it's the best way to describe it).

This song is about God's grace to us. The lyrics is very nice as well. Unfotunately it's in Cantonese, but I think there are quite a lot of similar songs in all the languages in the world because God created us to worship him.

姐姐的生日卡片

2008-07-04T22:12:00.005+01:00

今天我剛從英格蘭南部回到我位於北部Preston 的住處。這一段旅程總共是大約三百七十五公里，像從基隆開到高雄，中間會經過大約三、四個大城市，像是伯明翰、曼徹斯特等等。英國的高速公路路面還不錯，但是這幾年英國車子增加了很多輛，所以每到這些大城市的時候，一定會大塞車。我今天是中午十二點從公司啟程，到了晚上七點快八點才到家，這本來應該是短短三個半小時的車程﹝因為我開車去南部時都是三個半小時加休息﹞居然今天要我兩倍的時間。原因無它，因為路上很多交通事故。

今天最扯的交通事故是在Cheshire，M6 高速公路上的第十九及二十號交流道。一台過高的卡車撞上了行人天橋，英國交警及公路交通單位把這一段高速公路封閉，這簡直就是給住在英國北部的人一個攔腰斬！可想而知，這週邊的A Roads﹝即台灣的省道﹞就像是陳昇唱的歌「我們的高速公路是最大的停車場」一樣。我又因為心急如焚想趕快回家休息，以致於相信行動導航的笨指示，繞了好大一圈才回到往英國北邊的另外一條高速公路M61。但好死不死，一對笨COUPLE 開了一台福斯高級轎車後掛一台好大的旅行托車，在這條高速公路離我家正中央附近發生事故。我又是停在高速公路上很久一段時間！

回到家後，我簡直就像壓力鍋一樣，隨時都會爆炸。

還好，我收到我姐寄來的生日卡片，我好......﹝拉長音﹞感動！真的好感動。卡片上是寫：「YOU CAN PICK YOUR NOSE, YOU CAN PICK YOUR BANJO, BUT YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR BROTHER」內頁是「WHICH IS WHY I AM GLAD I GOT YOU」這頓時讓我的怒氣全消，反而更讓我想念我的美麗老姐及爸媽。我覺得，一家人就是一家人，雖然有時大家有不高興，但是對對方的愛，還是不會斷的。姐姐的一張卡片，真的是全天下最好的安慰，最棒的解藥。因為，我知道無論我再怎麼生氣，心情再怎麼差，姐姐還是一樣愛我。像我們小時候拍的照片一樣。雖然姐姐因為生氣把我塗上顏色，但是她還是會保護我的。

Shaftesbury - southwestern England

2008-06-10T17:29:00.007+01:00

It has been a while since my last post in here. Just to let you know I am still alive, and it is simply because I've been busy doing the training and getting used to the new job in the Johnson Service Group PLC. Although I am employed by one of the business called Johnson Apparelmaster, it's another division which I am working in. It is called Stalbridge Linen Services.

Because of the employment in Stalbridge, I am now in its headquarters in Dorset for probably 5 to 6 weeks. The town where it's in is called Shaftesbury. It is located in the county Dorset, which is mainly a country side county. It's very green everywhere, totally different from Lancashire. Because it's a countryside county, there are not so many big cities here. The big ones are Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester.

Shaftesbury is not very big, but it has very nice view as it's located on a hill. One of the famous place of interest in this town is called Gold Hill.
Why is it special? Because it is next to the existing wall of the old abbey in this town. Basically the wall doesnt catch my eyes but the houses built along the hill. I like those old traditional houses in England. Basically they are built with narrow doors and small windows (well, not all of them). And they are beautifully designed. Why narrow doors and small windows? It's due to the weather and the way they used to heat up the house. The smaller and doors and windows are, the easier to heat up the place.

Apart from Gold Hill, there is an Abbey Museum in Shaftesbury as well. But it costs quite expensive to get in there so I didnt go in. When I am really bored in the hotel, I might go there for a visit sometime later as the weather here is so good that I always feel I am back to the warm place like Singapore again.

new bible study group on Friday

2008-05-03T20:41:00.003+01:00

I went to a bible study in a friend's place on Friday evening.

This house group is slightly different from the Chinese bible study group in town. The major difference is that the Chinese one is mainly to introduce christianity for the Chinese students in Preston. In other words, to evangelise the gospel to them. Therefore we don't touch the deep theology but going through the bible verses to let the non-believers have an idea about what this holy book is talking about.

The way the people in the new house group study the bible is different. We focus on the theology behind the Bible verses and discuss the importance of the role of the Jewish people in the gospel. And I've learned something new yesterday. I used to take the Old Testament as a way from God to let us know the obedience and faith to him, and the New Testament as an explaination on how we can get closer to God through his grace and his people, the Jews. The house group leader, John, played a DVD teaching session by Malcolm Heading. He said something which just challenged my thought: 'We are just feeble flesh, saved by grace - God, in spite of all our weaknesses, weill accomplish incredible things - Israel is an example to us (1 Cor. 10:11).'

That's absolutely true! God used his people, the Jews, to let us know that despite of his punishments to them by putting them into exile twice in the human history, he still gathered them back to the promised land. Isn't it marvellous and showing that He IS a living god to us. And all we have to give Him in return is our complete love and loyalty to him.

How I wish my parents and all my family, or even the world can get to know the God, YHWH, who is loyal to us and loves us ALWAYS.

virus or nuisance?

2008-04-29T16:24:00.003+01:00

I've noticed there are quite a few people using their account to reply my post, but actually spreading dodgy website links. So for those who are reading my blog, be aware of some comments to my posts, especially those 'please see here' ones.

They are either virus or those people just wanna be a nuisance. Don't click on those links please.

Recipe: Tuna and sweetcorn sandwich filling

2008-04-20T15:09:00.004+01:00

This cloudy Sunday afternoon I was up for a tuna sandwich, but I was not in the mood to go out and get the sandwich filling in the supermarkets. So I decided to make it myself. Here is the recipe for you to try out.

Ingredients:
2 cans of tuna chunk or flake (better tuna in sunflower oil).
2 hard-boiled eggs.
2 medium sized onions.
Sweetcorn (how much you want this ingredient depends on personal preference)
mayonnaise (how much you want this ingredient depends on personal preference)

First slice the two eggs, finely chop the onions and put these two ingredients together with sweetcorn in a big salad bowl.

Then drain the tuna cans and empty the contents in the salad bowl as well.

Squeeze the mayonnaise into the salad bowl and start to mix all of them together. You may find you need more mayonnaise to make the whole thing look better and creamy, but it depends on the way you like your filling.

Once the filling is properly mixed, then you can spread it on your bread and serve with salad or things you like.

Interview

2008-04-17T20:00:00.004+01:00

Throughout the whole week I have been having calls from various job agents for some suitable jobs. Tomorrow I am going to have an interview in one of the businesses in the famous company Johnson Services Plc. They specialize in professional dry cleaning chain and workwear leasing for British industries. The business I am going for the interview is Johnson ApparelMaster Ltd.

The position is accounts clerk, handling the credit control, maintaining of the cashbook, bank reconciliation and management reports.

They provide a good package as a reward for the position. One thing which attracts me is their full support for my accounting certificate as well as employee shares (I suppose it's the share for stock).

Hopefully the interview will go well and be successful.

Johnson Service PLC

Clarks

2008-04-12T20:22:00.007+01:00

I bought another pair of shoes from Clarks today. It will be the 4th pair I have bought from this particular brand.

I always call this new pair of shoes 'the scully wag's shoes' because most of the scully wags wandering on the streets with this kind of shoes on. Today I finally realised why they like this kind of shoes. It is because they are comfortable, so as those trainers and track suits they are in.

From now on, I am going to enjoy this comfort at work as well.

Been there, done that..........

2008-04-06T18:22:00.002+01:00

After a chaotic night, I've decided I will never set foot behind the counter of a takeaway in the future, unless I really have to.

Have you ever thought about wrapping the takeaway food nicely when you are expected to do it in a short time? The answer is 'with difficulties'. When I went to takeaways before Saturday, I always thought it's an easy job to wrap the food. But seeing is totally different from doing it. I've tried for couple of hours before I could wrap it better than my first try yesterday. I need to give the credit to uncle Thomas for that.

Then comes the ordering and delivering food. It is also difficult when you are doing the delivery in a totally strange place. I've been to Southport couple of times but everytime I went there was to the same place for bible teachings. Yesterday was a different issue. All I could do is relying on my satnav to guide me through the whole delivery area. My first delivery was to 6 Primrose Close with the postcode PR46TN. But thanks to my un-updated map, I was guided to a wrong place. So I come to a conclusion and suggestion for those who wanna do takeaway deliveries: Do it in a place where you are familiar with all the roads.

Apart from those choas on me, I quite enjoy the places I have been to last night. One particular area is called Meadoway. Can't remember if it's spelt with two w's or one. But it's a nice and posh area, and the guy who called for delivery gave me 1.80 pounds tips. I was quite happy about it.

Like my friend Richard, who runs a Chinese Takeaway in Hereford, said to me: it is an easy money if you could cope with doing the same things all the time. I am afraid it's not my cup of tea and since I have been there, done that, I will never do it again unless I have to.

Weekend part-time job in a Chinese Takeaway

2008-03-30T17:51:00.003+01:00

Got a weekend part-time job opportunity in a Chinese Takeaway owned by a friend in the Christian fellowship.

It's not finalised yet because my friend just asked me to help her as she is in short of manpower in her shop. So next Saturday I am going to assist her in the running of her shop. I am quite excited but also worried about this experience. I have never had chance to stay behind a counter in a Takeaway shop in the UK. This must be interesting.

But on the other hand, it might also be a bit dangerous as it is impossible to predict what kind of customers I will face when I am at work.

For those who are interested in this, wait for my follow-up post next weekend.

Take That

2008-03-29T22:52:00.002Z

I like their latest single: rule the world. It's also the main title song for the movie 'Stardust'.

Here is a video link from Youtube by Polydor.

ENJOY.

An Email from one of my classmates in the uni

2008-03-18T23:13:00.003Z

Got an email this morning from Shiao-Jin, who is one of my classmates in the university, reminding people to vote for the Taiwanese president. Unfortunately I am far away from Taiwan so I will give it a miss this time.

But Shiao-Jin's email reminds me of the fact that since one of my ex-good friend in the university betrayed me, I have never made any contact with the others in that little group anymore. Surprisingly, she has married one of the guys in the little group for three years...

Sometimes I feel human beings are really animals with high dignity and pride. Like myself, I was betrayed by that bad guy in the little group, but I refused to contact the others just because that bad guy is also very popular amongst us and he was spreading rumors against me amongst all the people in the group. Anyway, that's a pain which I would like to fold it up and hide it in the deepest place in my heart. It is really important to know a person well before you decide to make friend with him or her. That's a golden rule.

Now I have replied Shiao-Jin's email and hopefully I will get a reply about her wedding pictures or blog site tomorrow.

工作？還是自我實現？

2008-03-09T12:04:00.002Z

自從農曆年前找到第一份工作後，到目前為止，我一直在思考這個問題。

公司裡蠻多人都已經在這公司很久了，固定員工中我聊過資歷最淺的目前是五年。其他動不動就八年十年的人一堆。

在歐洲社會，很強調社會福利。但是，這社會福利的另外一面，就是你要有工作，才可以對社會有貢獻，對你退休後或是不幸失業後的生活有保障。這就回到我的問題。大家每天去上班工作，是只為了拿那份薪水，還是對自己的能力肯定及自我實現呢？

在英國，越來越強調工作經驗及相關證照。我的同事DAVID，因為前一份工作的關係，再公司資助下拿到了AAT 的證照。AAT 全名是Association of Accounting Technician。但是都一直在做一樣的工作，無法在往上爬。像這樣的情況，每天上班是為了工作還是自我實現？

因為我的公司去年九月被美國的3M 併購，目前美國總部對每個人的工作及職位還沒有做出最後決定。也因此大家都人心惶惶，不曉得自己未來的位置還有沒有被保障。也是因為相同原因，公司無法在美國總部沒有做出決定前長期雇用我，而且也無法給我的工作內容做很好的安排。所以有的時候去上班，我還得絞盡腦汁想一想我「能夠」做什麼。這跟之前在新加坡的工作迥然不同，之前是得安排每天我「應該」怎麼完成我當天的工作，因為事情不少。

我目前只希望利用這個工作機會，讓我有在英國有規模的公司工作的經驗。但是，在公司政策尚未明朗前，我感覺有一些浪費時間。

那這樣，我算是為了自我實現還是單純為了工作而工作呢？

Car speaker DIY

2008-03-01T23:05:00.003Z

When I bought my car in December last year, I've always thought about fitting two more speakers in the rear of my car so that I could have a better sound when driving. I made up my mind by going to Halfords to get a pair of dual cone speaker (KENWOOD KFC-1051S) last Saturday.

After I bought it, I realised it's not that difficult to fit them into my car as there are pre-fitted wiring and 2 speaker holes at the roof above the passenger's seat at the back. The only difficulty was to find the correct plug to fit in the pre-fitted socket in the car.

Throughout the whole last week I have been searching on the internet for possible solutions. Unfortunately Suzuki Wagon R+ is not a very popular car so there aren't so many good solutions for the plug. This did not change until this afternoon when I went to Car Radio of Preston for solutions, since they are the professionals in car audio systems.

Surprisingly the solution was very cheap and easy. It costs me only a pound for 4 sets of plugs. (How come I did not think about getting new plugs before???!!) All I have to do is cut off the old pre-fitted plugs and fit those 4 new ones in. The whole process took me around half an hour only. And now there are four speakers in my little Wagon R+!!! Hurray.

The next step is to get a cheap car CD player so that I can play the music I like when commuting to work everyday.

Life update

2008-02-21T20:34:00.004Z

Wow, it has been nearly 3 weeks since I last update my blog....

There has been a lot of things happened in my life within these 3 weeks. I got a job offer in the UK in accounting field. Then I went home for the Chinese New Year, during which I had a lot of good foods with my family and friends.

Two places need to be mentioned for the nice foods: my home and one 'road-side noddle shop' in Taipei.

My home is definitely the only place in the world which provides me with the best food prepared by my mum. The noddle shop in Taipei that I mentioned is discovered by my sister. She used to work next to this shop so that is why she knows them. The location is somewhere at the intersection between Xin-Yi Road and Kuang-Fu South Road, and in the direction towards Keelung Road. Why is it so special? Their chilly sauce is good! Very Good. It's a mix of red chillies, soy bean sauce and sesame oil. Of course I dont know the exact ingredient but it's very similar to the way my mum and my sister does it. It goes very well with the braised pork, pig's ears and tofu. All my favourite foods!!!!

Well.... this life update is basically about the good memory with my family, and nothing else.

Just wanna say to my family that I still love you all. I am a bit tight with my time as I have to commute to work quite early nowadays. So in return I need to go to bed early. That's why I havn't called you that often yet. Please bear with me.

In-flight kosher meal

2008-02-07T18:03:00.000Z

The Chinese New Year for 2008 is on 7th Feb.

I flew from Manchester back home in Taiwan on the 6th Feb by Singapore Airlines. As usual, I ordered special kosher meal to support the Jewish businesses. I am glad that I do that all the time so I can contribute to the running of their business.

The flight I took was SQ327 from Manchester to Singapore, and SQ872 from Singapore to Taipei. During the flight I had 4 meals together; one breakfast, one snack and two lunches. The snack was a surprising experience for me because the idea just didn't come to me when I was on board. The flight attendants started to serve snack when we were passing Pakistan. At the beginning they passed me a sandwich, a chocolate bar and a McCoy's potato chips. Then came my kosher snack.

So altogether I actually had 5 portions of meals on board.

The food is prepared by Hermolis in Middlesex, UK. I am impressed with their food because it was very fresh and delicious. I had chicken breast with stuffings and new potatoes for my first meal on board, then Jewish bread (Mezono?) sandwiches with tuna and sweetcorn fillings. Before I arrived at Singapore Changi Airport, I had a breakfast of egg roll with mushrooms and potatoes. This meal impressed me the most. The mushrooms were so full of the nice sauce and it was delicious. I also wrote an email to Hermolis to express my appreciation. During the flight from Singapore to Taipei, I had a lunch with salmon and sliced potatoes and green beans. The salmon was so fresh that it was filled with the natural sweet taste of salmon.

Although I am not a person who likes to compare things, this time I really wanna go for Hermolis. I used to travel by either China Airlines or Emirates when I was working in Singapore. Emirates only provides halal food on board so it's not for comparison. China Airlines uses a company from Belgium for their special kosher meals. For sure Hermolis is better than that one, though I alway enjoy having kosher meal when I fly.

Hermolis Kosher Foods Specialist

First day at work

2008-02-05T21:29:00.002Z

Yes, I've got a job in the UK now. I am working as a German-speaking accountant assistant, focusing mainly on accounts payable and the accounts issues for Switzerland. My boss is also very nice and friendly. And I believe once I am fully aware of the operation, he is going to let me do my job without paying extra attention to me.

The employer is specialized in hearing, face and eye and work protection. It started 30 years ago in Indianapolis in the US, but it has been acquired by 3M last September. So until the acquisition is finalised, I will not be offered a permanent position. I am quite happy because it is exactly like what I did in Singapore. I also used to take charge of the full expenses for Australia, Korea and Singapore. Therefore, I am confident that I can handle this job pretty well.

I work mainly on SAP accounts module. It's not that difficult as I thought it should be. But a lot of fields need more attention when working with the system. Each company has different way of filling the fields in the system, so I am still struggling with it.

Althought the job itself is quite ok, the traffic to work in the morning and the evening is awful. Heavy traffic everywhere, especially on M60. I didn't know there are so many cars driving into Greater Manchester everyday. I believe sooner or later the city council of Manchester will introduce congestion charge like what it is in London.

Day of celebration

2008-01-22T17:01:00.000Z

It is a day of celebration for me because I've finished the first round of reading my Bible. The second round will be the traditional Chinese version.

Thank you Lord for leading me through the whole Bible.

prices and human responsibility for the animals

2008-01-18T09:18:00.001Z

I watched a programme on Channel 4 last night about the fact in British poultry industry. The programme host is the famous chef Jamie Oliver. The whole idea of this programme is to let people know that how the poultry products in this country is produced. Jamie mentioned that 95% of the chicken we consumed come from very cruel environment which is very narrow and overcrowded for the birds. In addition to that, around 50 ~ 60% of all the eggs available in the market are produced by caged hens.

To be honest, I didn't realise the way those chicken are treated is so bad that it made me feel awful to be a consumer. Basically the poultry farmers just put all the chicken together in a cage or in a small barn, in which it's nearly impossible to have sunlight and the lighting in those places is from the light bulbs. Sometimes I really feel the world treats money in a sick way. We'd rather pay 5 or 6 pence less for an egg but we won't feel the pain of those hens, or a pound less to let the chicken suffer from falling feather and problems with their body due to the fattening processes.

The average life of a chicken is around 39 days after they are hatched from the eggs. Within this time span, the farmers have to fatten the chicks in the fastest way so most of those chicken farmed in the 'standard procedure' are suffering from obesity and injuried legs and hips. This causes another problem with the infection in their legs by their excrement.

Those cheap chicken are used mostly in take aways and frozen food chain stores. You might also have them in the hotdogs or sausages in cans.

Pictures of how chicken is produced in the 'standard procedure'

Pictures of free range chicken

After watching the programme, I really feel sorry for the poultry products I supported in the past because I thought there is no difference in the way those chicken are treated. Probably I was too naive to think that the only difference is the size of the eggs and chicken, but I forgot the size of the eggs are so small is because of the environment those hens are in. If a human being is caged and asked to do his job in that environment, I believe the quality of the work from that person will be very very bad. It's basically the reason why those ill-treated chicken which most of the big supermarket chains claim to be 'every little helps' or 'always low prices'. If you are not happy about the way you are treated, how can you produce better quality products?

There was a short follow-up video clip after the programme, Jamie bought over 150 chicken which were suffering from the 'standard procedure' and he put them in his garden so that they can range freely to lay eggs and produce better meat for him. I think that's the way we should treat all the animals we consume. They sacrifice their life so that we can live, but too many people just take them for granted. They are all going to die, but as a human being, I think we have to let them feel good and be taken good care of. Those invited audiences, around 60, in Jamie's programme last night commented that the meat from those well-treated chicken taste far better and more succulent than those farmed in the 'standard procedure'.

I have decided to support those poultry products produced in the better and more humane way, i.e free range eggs or chicken breasts from free range chicken. I hope you will do so too.

Jamie Oliver's video message from Channel 4

Jamie Oliver's message about how to buy chicken and eggs

Hokkien fried shrimp noodle

2008-01-08T15:59:00.000Z

Since I left Singapore at the end of September 2007, I have been missing some delicious dishes such as hokkien fried shrimp noodle, mee soto, asam laksa and nasi briyani... loads..

Today I did a revised version of the famous hokkien fried shrimp noodle.

Basically I used the vegetable stir fry pack and egg noodle from Asda and they were quite cheap, around 1.30 pounds altogether.

Before I add the stir fry vegetables, I shallow fried some roughly chopped onion and chilli. When the vegetables are nearly cooked, I put in the egg noodle and two teaspoons of samba (my favourite Malay style chilli sauce). Before serving, I put in some pre-cooked shrimps from Asda and cooked for another minute or two (yeah I know..... it would be better if I used the raw ones).

It's nice to have egg noodle again in the UK, where most people have spaghetti or pasta.

Potato chips

2008-01-07T23:27:00.000Z

I have never been a big fan of potato chips in my life, but after I tried this brand yesterday, I have to admit that it has changed my thought a bit.

It is called KETTLE CHIPS, sold at 1.38 pounds at Booths. Booths is famous for selling locally produced products in the UK. Like most of other products sold in there, this KETTLE CHIP is very aromatic when I opened it. Most of the chips come with very thick cut and well-seasoned.

KETTLE CHIPS, one of the good potato crisps in the UK.

Nature

2007-12-20T11:41:00.000Z

The nature is beautiful....
But it can be lethal sometimes. There were more than 15 Chinese cockle pickers drowned in Morecambe bay, further to where those boats are, in February 2004.

Fire place

2007-12-17T21:56:00.001Z

One of the things I like in English culture is the fire place in the lounge.

You can get various kinds of fire place nowadays. It can be electrical, gas or the traditional wood-burning ones. Among all those different ones, my personal preference is the traditional wood-burning fire place.

It is more and more difficult to find one in the modern English society for the following reasons:
1. Limitations on smoke exhaust. Normally it might be easier to find those traditional fire place in the countryside, where people live not that close to each other.
2. Where to get the wood from? People are getting busy with the modern way of earning money, such as going to work in the city centre, stock-trading or whatever modern business you can think of. Who else would like to go to the forest in a winter when it's freezing cold outside?
3. Price. The more traditional a thing is, the more expensive it will be. It is suitable for nearly everything sold in the shops nowadays.

I find the traditional wood-burning fire place is very attractive. It is not the shape which attracts me, but the feeling. It reminds me of the movie 'Ladies in Lavender'. The movie is set in Cornwall, Southwest of England, in the beginning of WWII. Those traditional furnitures reminds me of the way people used to behave, and the interpersonal relationship.

Unlike the modern society, everyone is no longer that close to each other. Even though people live close to each other, it seems they are actually live couple of miles away. It also makes me feel that everyone is very precautious about each other.

Got my first car in life!!!!

2007-12-09T17:42:00.000Z

Saturday the 8th of December 2007 was a memorable day in my life!

It was the day I got my first car... It's a Suzuki Wagon R+, X registered car in the UK, and costs me 1995 pounds and, most surprisingly, 900 pounds for the car insurance.

It's a nice car, good head and leg room, and runs ok. The only dissatisfaction is the audio system and the air conditioning. It comes with only 2 speakers on the top of the dash board. No air conditioning is fitted so when it was pouring down like yesterday, the cabin steamed up tremendously.

BUT a good news is that Pat and Steward might give me a nice presents soon - a car CD audio.. Hopefully the audio entertainment in my car will improve after that!!! :-)

I am absolutely happy and nervous now... It's like having a new baby and you dont know how to do a good parents. I dont know how to maintain and have the car serviced properly. Seems like I've still got loads of things to learn about cars.

Hope God will lead me through it!

Kazakhstan and Xing Jiang

2007-09-23T11:35:00.000+01:00

Finally I've decided to put another post in my blog... It has been too long since I last updated it.

Today is a nice warm Sunday in Singapore. I was reading another Taiwanese guy's online blog just now. He studied in the UK earlier and started his job in London around one and half years ago.

I found a new thread in his blog about this 'Biking from Beijing to Paris', BTP.

This is the link of Haofeng's thread

In the official weblink from Haofeng's blog, it provides the diary from the participants and the nice pictures in Central Asia countries and on their way to Paris.

This is the official website of BTP

Among all the pitures, I personally prefer those taken in Xing Jiang and Kazakhstan. I feel these two places are quite interesting in terms of the people and culture there. Xing Jiang is one of the provinces in China which has a muslim population. And from the pictures, it shows the lifestyle there is a mixture of Chinese and Islamic culture. Furthermore, it seems they still keep the way they earn their living since the ancient Chinese history: trading with the central Asian countries like Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. One of the bikers even mentioned about the 'Ma Nai Tze: Horse milk' which is still one of the favourite drinks there. The first time I read about this drink is in the history books about Yuan Dynasty, which was built by Genghis Khan in the 15th Century in China.

Kazakhstan and Xing Jiang are two places I'd like to visit before I die. The former is the biggest inland country in the world, and the latter is the biggest province in China. One thing in common is that they both have desserts and huge grass plains for nomadic life style. Probably this is also the reason why they rely on their herds so much, getting whatever they need from them, such as horse milk, mutton and wool.

Since travelling abroad in 2002, I have started to try Halal foods, such as Kebab, Nasi Padang, Nasi Briyani and Murtabak. But I feel if I go to places like those central Asian countries, the tastes will be totally different. Based on the pictures shown on the BTP website, it just reassures me that I definitely have to go there and take a look.

Kazakhstan and Xing Jiang, I will be there!

Book of Luke and Kosher Meal

2007-02-16T13:09:00.000Z

I nearly finished the whole book during my flight home this afternoon.

I can't believe, I just kept on reading and reading not feeling bored at all. And it was a nice experience this afternoon, because I took the luxury economy class from China Airlines, and the seat is so comfortable. When I was reading Luke 22 and 23, I sobbed again. I can't help but feel pity for human beings, even myself. How could we reject the Messiah and treat him in that way. All in all, I still enjoy reading the Bible very much. I hope by finish the most important four books in the New Testament, I can understand God a bit more.

Besides the reading experience, I tried Kosher Meal the first time in my life.

The meal is prepared by 'Stogel Kosher Airline Catering' from Belgium. I thought it would be prepared by an Israeli company. But it's not important, because the meal was prepared by God's chosen people. I was told Kosher Meal is slightly plain and tasteless. However, I find it matches my taste quite well. I like foods to be plain and not that greasy like normal Chinese foods.

Around one and half hours after taking off, the flight attendant approched me with the meal on her hand. At that time I thought 'oh, time for meal already, wow, time really flies when people does what they enjoy doing'. But I was wrong, she came to me to ask me to check the meal and ask how would I like it to be served. I have to say I felt a bit embarrased because I dont really know how should I have Kosher Meal. Then I asked her if she could serve them at once. (The main dish is seperated from the side dishes, but both portions were carefully sealed.)

One hour later after that, they heated up the main dish and served me the first Kosher Meal in my life. I felt so happy because everything is white and written in Hebrew with English. But there was one sentence which drew my attention immediately 'NOT FOR PASSOVER'. You know why? Because of the leavened bread. The main dish is 'turkey schnitzel with potatoes'. Nice nice nice.... I am looking forward to the second Kosher Meal on my flight back to Singapore.

'Thank you Lord for granting me another safe day and journey home. Also the nice food you prepared for me and the precious life of the turkey which sacrificed itself to feed me, AMEN'

God's mercy and grace

2006-11-14T15:19:00.000Z

Tuesday is the meeting day of the christian fellowship. From last week, the four-week teaching of the theme 'To understand the root of our faith - Jewishness' has begun. After attending two times, I already feel the grace and mercy of God. He's really so grateful and merciful on us.

We discussed the olive tree and it's meaning in the Bible book of Romans chapter 9 to 11 last week. Today the subject was the covenant between God and Abraham. The pastor told us how a covenant was done in the ancient time, then he continued with the covenant between God and Abraham.

The pastor mentioned there are basically two kinds of covenant, Bilateral and Unilateral. The covenant between God and Abraham falls into the latter group. From Genesis 15:17-21, we can understand how deep that God loves us. He is God Almighty but he chose to walk through the covenant offerings to show that he is determined to keep his covenant between us, even though Abraham as human fell asleep when he should walk through the dead. God knew that our sinnful human will do this but He still lower Himself to show us His mind. I just cant find any other words to show how shameful I feel when I read that and how deep God loves us.

Genesis 15:18 'On that day THE LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, "To your descentdants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates' He is the Almighty and He lower Himself to make the covenant between us. Is there any other reason for us to disobey Him anymore? I think we have no reasons and no rights to do so, not to mention playing God by being arrogant and ungrateful to Him or His people.

Thank you LORD for your kindness and merciness on our humans and I pray that you can open the eyes of the arrogants so that they can know you and get your blessings through our father Abraham. Amen.

Church Service

2006-11-11T15:51:00.000Z

Three weeks ago, I found a torah based service in Singapore through the internet. It's amazing that Singapore as a nation surrounded by Islamic countries, but they still have so many fellowship following the authentic way of church services.

I've been attending the service twice already. Apart from the charismatic way of prayers, I quite enjoy the feeling and atmosphere. They rarely sing those hymns, but more of those worshipping songs in the 70's and 80's. All those songs are like the songs in the movie Sister Act by Whoopi Goldberg. It really makes me feel relaxed and want to swing my body with the guitar (what a pity that they don't have a pianist in the fellowship otherwise it will be definitely better).

Normally after the songs comes the teaching (as usual). The teaching in this fellowship follows the Torah. Every week there is a reading list in the Bible, mainly the Old Testament, then the pastor will explain it in the details at this section of the service. I quite enjoy his teaching, even though I am not very sure if he follows the real teachings. Still need to consult my other friends to make sure what I heard is correct. One of the things which confuses me is that nearly all of the people in the fellowship use a strange way to 'talk to God' when saying their prayers. It's like murmuring in a strange language, it goes like 'abba bah la bah la bah la'. This I don't agree with them because I am sure it's not a good way of saying their prayers.

Among all the people, there are couple of Muslim converts. I was surprised to hear that because normally it's a fatal decision for Muslims to denounce their faith. Most of the true believers in the middle east countries were martyered for converting to what they truly believe. However, one thing that I can make sure is that those Muslim converts in the fellowship are really passionate about their belief. Heard from one of the Sister that one of the Muslim converts can actually open a library for all the books on the chosen people and Israel. That's really amazing.

So all in all, I really thank God that he opened our eyes and gave us wisdom to hear the truth and make the right choice in our life. It's also His mighty grace that we can hold the fellowship regularly and peacefully. Amen.

sad news......

2006-10-25T16:48:00.000+01:00

Just came back from the trip to Manchester yesterday, then got couple of calls from my parents and Sister saying that Granddad's condition keeps getting worse.

They asked me to fly back immediately because he would like to see me again.

It was a very very hard request for me. I just came back from my trip to the UK, then it's the month end for making payments to our supplier as well as the salary for each employee. Everything's becoming so urgent to me. I dont like this, but that's life.....

In the afternoon, got a call from Dad, he passed the phone to Granddad and I said to him that I cant make it this time to go back and see him due to the tight schedule at work and the expensive ticket.

Around half past six in the evening, got another call from Sister saying that Granddad has paased away. Suddenly I just felt, did I go too far this time? However, travelling back to Taiwan is not as easy as travelling to Malaysia. I am sorry Granddad, I didnt get the chance to see you before you passed away.

I just pray to God, hoping He could take care of my Granddad in His holy reign in heaven. Hoping Granddad's pain in his body will be relieved. But the happiest thing is that Granddad can finally get rid of the evil things in the world and back to the puriest place next to God.

Give me a break you idiots colleagues!

2006-09-20T15:53:00.000+01:00

You dont wanna work hard doesnt mean other people cant. How selfish you are!

I hate those nosey people in my office because they always being nosey about other people's business while their work is like chaos. I believe this is one of the 'colourful culture' in Asia. Haha, to me it's just pure crap! It's so deceiving, we cant even have a life of our own because there are always other irrelevant people 'watching over' us!

Sigh.... I think they need more things to do. Poor them.

Kaya Bread and a cup of Coffee 'OH'

2006-09-13T15:04:00.000+01:00

'Kaya Bread and a cup of Coffee OH' is one of the foods that represent Singapore like the famous Chilly Crab. Kaya is a light greenish bread spread made from coconut milk. Personally I havnt tried it yet because of the high cholesterol it has. Kaya Bread and a cup of Coffee OH is one of those very traditional breakfast sets in Singapore and Singaporeans in their 40s or 50s like it a lot. I would say it's just like the full breakfast in the UK.

However, when this kind of food is placed on a table during dinner time, then it might let the other people have a totally different thinking.

During dinner time today, I was with a colleague in a so-called 'Kapitiam' (Coffee shop: not Café but a place with lots of food stalls, normally run by the stall which serves drinks) near my place. While my colleague was ordering her food, I was sitting on the chair like a dog guarding its territory. The table is located right in front of the drink stall in that coffee shop. All in a sudden, a skinny man in his 60s sat down without asking me if the other seat is taken. I was annoyed by his behaviour. But this feeling was replaced by another feeling very soon. I was thinking, can he sleep well at night? Because coffee OH is the so-called black coffee and normally coffee OH from those 'Kapitiam' is quite strong.

After our meal, my colleague told me that Singaporeans consider a scenario like the old man who sat with us is very sad. It means a man without his family and money. Even though I dont like the logic behind it, I feel it's also partly correct. Who would like to have a meal like that for dinner, that is meant to be a reunion time with the family?

I feel blessed that God still provides me with foods and friends to go out for dinner every day. Amen.

You raise me up by Josh Groban

2006-09-10T10:43:00.001+01:00

it's a very beautiful song.. I like when he sings 'I am strong when I am on your shoulders'.... It's beautiful.... Absolutely beautiful.

Music Video:YOU RAISE ME UP (by Josh Groban)

Music Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Live abroad

2006-09-09T07:25:00.000+01:00

There's a friend who's currently in the US for work. He changes his MSN ID nearly everyday to give his friends a brief idea about what his life is like in a totally different and strange environment. Different and strange in terms of culture, race, everyday life and way of living.

Today his ID has been changed to 'egg fried rice'. I believe he has finally tried to feed himself because he is kind of guy who can't take the so-called 'western food - everything that's cooked in the western way other than shallow fried like we do in Taiwan'.

When I saw this, it just reminded me of what my life was like when I first went to the UK in 2002. At that time, it was the first time in my life that I lived in a country on the other side of the world. I admit it wasnt as bad as what my friend has been through because I enjoy western food quite a lot. For me Chinese cooking is indeed cooked in a more varied way than Western food and it tastes good. But I am not the kind of person who sticks to a certain way of life or diet throughout their life.

As for the diet, in the first couple of months in Manchester, it was really a struggle for me. How to finish my homework and feed myself at the same time was always the first thing I needed to sort out when I was back in my little room in the student accommodation. But I thank God who let me have the chance to get stronger and more independent from my parents by living far away from them. Nowadays, it's no longer a problem for me to settle down the dispute between my stomach and brain.

However, in the beginning of my new life in the UK in 2002, there were many culture shocks, especially on the way people handle things. In Asia, everybody acts like 'there's no tomorrow' so that they must 'finish everything in one day', otherwise it wont be done tomorrow. In the UK, it's totally different. After struggling with the way of life there for months, I got used to it and totally adapted myself into it. The reason is simple, because I am a human being, not an ant or a worker bee, that is born to work all its life.

Three weeks ago, I again went back home to Taiwan to visit my grandparents. I got the chance to talk to my sister who has been living with my parents all the time. We discussed about why the life in Europe is so boring because one of her German friend has a very routine life. Routine in terms of the things he has to do everyday. I just said to her, "Your brother is also living in the same routine way just like your friend right up to the present.

For those who don't have the luxury of living a life free of responsibility, I think their way of thinking will be different from those who have the opportunity to live responsiblity-free. Once you have got your own home/family, then all the daily priorities will be changed. Life will become routine because there will be things waiting for you at home, no more 'mum and dad' to take care of them for you. I can understand how difficult it is for all the successful parents to earn a living and support their family.

online auction websites

2006-09-05T13:45:00.000+01:00

I think online auction websites are really good ways to sell on those things for which I no longer have any use.

It's been ten years now since I first logged onto the internet. At first, I only knew two things on the web: BBS and WWW. During those early days I even spent time working out how to create a homepage of my own using html. Nowadays, I can create my own sites just by registering to a website like Blogger. It's so easy! Technology is really moving incredibly fast.

However, of all the websites, I think that online auction websites are really very useful. Try to imagine, if you stick a poster at the bus stop, probably it will just get damp then the paper and ink will be useless. On the auction websites, it wont disappear and anyone who needs the stuff you are trying to sell will see it just by clicking that 'search' button. How convenient it is!

When I first came to Singapore, I had 7 mobile phones. One year on and I've only got 3 left. I sold most of them online by using 'Yahoo! Auctions' and the second hand phone shops on the high streets of Singapore. It's just so easy, thanks to the technology.

Have you Yahoo! yet?

Sophie Scholl - The Last Days

2006-08-16T15:56:00.000+01:00

Went to the movies to watch 'Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage [The Last Days]' this evening. I thank God for the opportunity to watch this movie with the other students from my German course.

The film starts by showing how Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans, two Evangelical Christians - probable members of the 'Confessing Church' in Germany which opposed the evils of Nazism throughout the Third Reich - prepare leaflets to tell the German people the truth about the Nazi regime. The date was February 18th, 1943. The place - München [Munich].

Both of them belong to an underground group called 'Der Weiße Rose' [The White Rose], which was a Christian group focusing on telling people the truth about what the 'Dritte Reich [Third Reich]' was doing during WWII - a genocidal massacre in Europe based on racial hatred and political indoctrination.

As the title of the movie suggests, it's not a happy movie. But it's an extremely good one because it educates the audience on the basis of Biblical teachings, since both Sophie and Hans Scholl were Evangelical Christians.

The official website for this movie can be found here http://www.sophiescholl-derfilm.de/

As I watched the film, there is a scene towards the end where Sophie tells her brother and Christoph: 'Die Sonne scheint noch [The sun [a play on the word 'sun' that also refers to the Son (i.e. Jesus Christ)] still shines]'. I just couldn't help but burst into tears. It's such a compliment to God's work on Earth and she was so brave as to regard her stand for the truth as being more important, even than her own life. It's really an absolutely excellent film. If everyone believes in the truth like she did, then the world would be a paradise and there would be no more hatred and murder.

one golden verse

2006-08-11T16:55:00.000+01:00

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

I shall remember it and warn myself about it whenever I do things.

An excellent book that I am reading at the moment...

2006-08-07T16:18:00.000+01:00

The book 'The Land Of Many Names' (ISBN: 1-86024-287-1) was given to me by my best friend, 'Simonline', in order for me to get a better understanding of the Middle East conflict and also God's ongoing involvement in it.

In the beginning, I was so stubborn as to insist on my own reading schedule: The Holy Bible (Old Testament), Mr. Francis Schaeffer's book 'A Christian View of Philosophy and Culture' as well as a Chinese history book about the Silk Road, that I bought back in April during my last trip back home to Taiwan.

Now I've almost finished Mr. Maltz's brilliant work, during the reading of which I realised God's intention that I accept Simon's idea to read this book first. Normally I rigidly adhere to my own reading schedule but on this occasion I decided (after much 'encouragement') to deviate from my schedule and read Mr. Maltz book first. I am so glad that I did. It has improved my understanding of the situation (and what I now believe to be God's ongoing involvement with it) tremendously.

It's a book which gives the reader an overview of the history of how, since Abraham, the Israelites, as the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have been treated in the 'promised land'. The reason why I like it very much is because, through his book, Mr. Maltz provides me with many answers for which I have been searching since I, with child-like wonder, first started to really appreciate God's magnificent work on Earth.

Rather than adding even more heat to an already extremely hot potato Mr. Maltz has sought to inform people from a Biblical perspective rather than proselytize people to a political cause. Whilst seeking to be consistent with the revealed truth of the Bible, Mr. Maltz refrains from the usual political 'propaganda' and hostile invectives that have become so common on both sides of this extremely contentious issue.

I was so impressed with the book that I even sent an email to Mr. Maltz today to thank him for his superb efforts and the blessing of God in enabling Mr. Maltz to convert 'The Land of Many Names' from a dream into the published reality. To be honest, I even have the desire to see the book translated into Mandarin Chinese so that my fellow Chinese/Taiwanese people, who are also looking for the answer to the meaning of life, can have a door through which they too can discover the truth of the Judeo-Christian faith for themselves.

I must also thank God, for without His patience towards me, I would never have been able to get to know Him at the age of 27 through my now best friend 'Simonline'. I can now see that this was God's plan for my life all along, and, as a former 'lost sheep', I am quite happy to come to know the Good Shepherd and follow him. Just like Isaiah 54:10 says: ' "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed'' says the Lord, who has compassion on you.' Indeed, his unfailing love for me will not be shaken as He is the living God who alone is Love (1Jn.4:8,16).

War in the middle east

2006-07-24T14:31:00.000+01:00

It has been a long long time since my last post.. Sometimes I really have to admit that I am a plonker because I forget my account name.

For some time now, the one thing I dont wanna see during my lifetime has happened. The war between Israel and other Islamic countries. Again, as predicted in the Bible, Israel has been treated as a bad guy.

Sigh..... Why cant they just live in their promised land peacefully? God has chosen them and promised them the land 'flowing with milk and honey'. Why is there such a hatred from those surrounding countries that they forever have to try and exterminate Israel?

Lots of people just focus on those biased reports from the media... to me I think it's not good because not only do those citizens in southern Lebanon need to evacuate, people in Haifa and those northern Israeli towns also need to evacuate. They are also human beings. And all this was started just because Hezbollah kidnapped the two soldiers........ it's not even Israel's fault.

May God bring peace to Israel (Ps.122:1-9) and the surrounding nations (Gen.17:18-22).
Shalom.

Back in Taiwan

2006-04-23T12:29:00.000+01:00

On 21.04.2006 I flew back to Taiwan for a 5 day stay until 25.04.2006. The main purpose was to apply for my new Taiwanese ID card and close some of my bank accounts there.

However, to me, my home country is kind of changed. There are more and more motorbikes in the metropolitan Taipei city, and all the TV programms are getting worse in terms of subject matter. They are totally unsuitable for teenagers and kids because it's all about those gossip things.

So, I still prefer those educational channels like National Geographic and Discovery, because I can at least get something from spending time in front of the TV, also from watching the movie channels.

Because I feel this way about my home culture, some of my friends say I've changed. It seems to them that it's not a change for the better (i.e becoming more pro-Taiwanese). Does it mean the mindset of Taiwanese people is still very conservative concerning all those foreign things?

Asian cultures, especially pan-chinese cultures, focus on the community rather than the individual. To me, even though I was brought up in this way, I still think it's unfair. Every human being is special, why can't we be allowed our own thoughts without being given a dirty look for being 'different' from the others'?

I hope tomorrow will be a better and happier day for me.

Why is there so much hatred against another race in the world?

2006-04-17T15:02:00.000+01:00

I felt very sad when I saw there are some people in the world who keep saying they would wipe out another country from the map, or things like 'that country is on the way to its destruction'.

Why is there such hatred against another race on the surface of the earth? God's work on the earth is worthy of being worshipped as well as cherished. Sit down and take another view of the world. Dont you find the world is so beautiful that we are so lucky to be in it?

God created us in his own image. That means, we are supposed to love each other, not to hate each other like those people who want to wipe out the other race so badly.

Shalom.....

Meine Blog!

2006-04-16T04:34:00.000+01:00

Endlich habe ich meine Blog erstellt. Warum?

Seit ich im Deutschland war, fast drei Jahre vor, würde ich meine Tagsbuch an Internet speichern. Und, im Mai 2005 bin ich noch mal nach andere Land umzogen. Deshalb gibt es noch eine Pause.

Wo bin ich? Jetzt im Singapur.

Warum auf Deutsch schreiben? Naja, es ist sehr einfach, weil meine Lehrer mir gesagt, es wäre besser, wenn Sie mehr auf Deutsch schreiben können.

hmmm, dann übe mich in meinem Deutsch.