每每喝了Chipotle的冰茶，許多的感覺就紛紛地湧出。咖啡因的魔力。我想想，還是覺得自己十分幸運。在成長的過程中，都是歡笑與快樂的回憶。國中的時候的蘇諭亭，還是怎麼想都覺得是個特別可愛的朋友難得一見。傳染給我大大的開朗跟溫暖。高中的時候，就算是壓力不小的高二高三生涯，我每天坐在班上，不知怎地就有吳怡萱跟江欣盈層出不窮地逗我開心(也許我也某種程度地逗了他們開心)，但總而言之，就是很受到這種朋友的照顧。我總是能認識非常特別的人呢! 當然我的每一個朋友都是特別的，並不是沒有提到你們就是我不看重。>"< 你們各種的好我都銘記在心。只是特別地提起曾經總是讓我笑的好開懷的好朋友。
今天跟Lukas吃的中飯，他是奧地利來的滑雪男兒。他說歐洲人一般不喜歡換地方，但他想要到國外求學。我總是覺得離鄉背景來到國外探險的同學比我認識的美國人更了不起一些(my bias)，要離開熟悉的家人朋友環境食物，努力掙扎與成長，換取想要的經驗。
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
蘇大亭來訪
前天去了DC(感謝Eleen嚕我到Penn Station)。為的是啥呢？哈我的麻吉蘇諭亭小姐來到DC幫鈞亭搬家打包，佔著如此地利之便的我，可以搭乘一小時的火車一解思念之苦，好開心。到了曾有一面之緣的Pentagon City站，咻咻地就看到好久不見的姐妹花溜！我們飛也似的前往Old Town的Austin Grill 吃了漢堡，看了小海港。Old Town十分有風味，跟George Town一樣古老，卻又是個活著的有機體，真實而確切地生長著。我們說了很多話，很久沒有跟可愛的咩狗蘇講話了。晚上又大享口福的，給蘇姐姐請了新鮮的現煮龍蝦螃蟹，還有邱于倩（不確定字有沒寫對）與邱弟弟。正在打包中的家，大家打了地舖，層層疊疊卻也好舒適哦！我開始看九把刀＂等一個人咖啡＂。
隔天吃了IHOP，因為電視上廣告的Coffee Cake Pancake很吸引人，我們誤解了被藍莓醬染色的荷包蛋，硬是怪罪廚房。（誰叫那個果醬把蛋白都染綠了）我很喜歡藍莓檸檬醬鬆餅 :) 接著在Old Navy買了便宜的五圓T-shirt，蘇姐接就嚕我們到Union Station去了！打道回Baltimore！
給蘇大腳過目了我小閣樓般溫馨的房間，還有兩位氣質室友。我們決心出門晃晃，要去Hampton。順便尋覓Irene好想要的一種叫做Lady fingers的餅乾。先在Homewood校區逛了一圈，我知道我們學校很袖珍，可是我覺得她妝扮的也很貴族有點像個小哈佛。接著溜進實驗室show了一下跑心臟模擬的直擊（我希望我可以更酷一點）然後前往Hampton的路途無比遙遠，比我想像的。秋天的馬路與清新的空氣，不繁榮的街景，讓我聯想到鄉下，跟阿公阿媽一起的傍晚健行。先寫到這裡，希望可以補上照片。
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
秋天
秋天來，葉子紅了。在Levering前面的幾株矮樹，零零散散的葉子還懸在枝枒，彷彿懸著一絲信念。那顏色因為葉片薄，紅的特別澄澈近乎透明。路過的時候忍不住跟Xiao說: 好美!
這個秋天的學期，我彷彿上了廚藝班一樣挖空了心思在煮菜。彷彿真的招呼著一家老小似的!昨天的菜色是加了蘋果汁與蒜泥的薑汁豬排，大蝦海鮮煲(自己說是海鮮煲，哈)，還有一道採買錯誤的苦青菜，其味甚苦，想必十分健康。Bryce的爸媽上週來訪，為我們採買了極為豐盛的肉類海鮮，把冰箱塞爆了，我們有一隻魚皮銀銀亮亮的大鮭魚，Irene與Bryce很辛苦的刮著魚麟，魚鱗片在洗手台上飛舞，然後還要辛苦的把大鮭魚切成魚排，以供大家使用。
其實我不喜歡做菜，要是一個人，我連廚房也都兩個禮拜才進一次，絲毫不將排列組合各種醬料食材，融為口中佳餚為樂。不過為朋友做菜比較不同，總是多點用心。 最喜歡自己的菜是拌著青江菜的上海菜飯加蒸蛋，還有瓜仔肉與滷肉(不是滷肉飯是大塊的)，都不是特別難。但是最喜歡的菜還是不好意思常常做，所以我努力研發新菜單! 哈!
家裡的桌上常常出現神奇的食物，銀耳梨子湯，銀耳木瓜湯，Irene做的港式煲湯真的很鮮甜，連我避之唯恐不及的木瓜，在燉煮了之後竟然也很順口(我想是木瓜味消失了)。
好喜歡Irene的湯(其實什麼都做的很好吃)，Pauline的番茄牛肉還有炒青菜，Bryce的...拿手菜應該是雞肉(還有義大利麵，噗)，振新作的紅燒魚，Clifford的各種點心，Andy(拿手菜有待開發，不過進步良多) ^-^
這個秋天的學期，我彷彿上了廚藝班一樣挖空了心思在煮菜。彷彿真的招呼著一家老小似的!昨天的菜色是加了蘋果汁與蒜泥的薑汁豬排，大蝦海鮮煲(自己說是海鮮煲，哈)，還有一道採買錯誤的苦青菜，其味甚苦，想必十分健康。Bryce的爸媽上週來訪，為我們採買了極為豐盛的肉類海鮮，把冰箱塞爆了，我們有一隻魚皮銀銀亮亮的大鮭魚，Irene與Bryce很辛苦的刮著魚麟，魚鱗片在洗手台上飛舞，然後還要辛苦的把大鮭魚切成魚排，以供大家使用。
其實我不喜歡做菜，要是一個人，我連廚房也都兩個禮拜才進一次，絲毫不將排列組合各種醬料食材，融為口中佳餚為樂。不過為朋友做菜比較不同，總是多點用心。 最喜歡自己的菜是拌著青江菜的上海菜飯加蒸蛋，還有瓜仔肉與滷肉(不是滷肉飯是大塊的)，都不是特別難。但是最喜歡的菜還是不好意思常常做，所以我努力研發新菜單! 哈!
家裡的桌上常常出現神奇的食物，銀耳梨子湯，銀耳木瓜湯，Irene做的港式煲湯真的很鮮甜，連我避之唯恐不及的木瓜，在燉煮了之後竟然也很順口(我想是木瓜味消失了)。
好喜歡Irene的湯(其實什麼都做的很好吃)，Pauline的番茄牛肉還有炒青菜，Bryce的...拿手菜應該是雞肉(還有義大利麵，噗)，振新作的紅燒魚，Clifford的各種點心，Andy(拿手菜有待開發，不過進步良多) ^-^
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Dinner in DC
Uncle Jay visited in DC yesterday. Thus, I invited several of my friends to have dinner together with him. :) I decided to go to Georgetown for this romantic Friday night event. The restaurant I picked was Miss Saigon which had authentic Vietnamese dishes with good prices. (Too bad we did not drill a hole in Uncle Jay's wallet, as Aunt Shichin told me to :p)
Here's the issue we discussed during the dinner: (cited from New York Times Magazine)
A new and growing movement of researchers and advocates has begun to argue that the longstanding and sharp conceptual divide b/w school and not-school is out of date. It ignores overwhelming evidence of the impact of family and community environment s on children's achievement. At the most basic level it ignores the fact that poor children, on average, arrive in kindergarten far behind their middle-class peers. There is evidence that schools can do lot or erase that divide but the reality is that most schools do not. If we truly want to counter the effects of poverty on the achievement of children, these advocates argue, we need to start a whole lot earlier and do a whole lot more.
This is closely related to "Summer Loss", one of the issue that Irene's adviser, whom Uncle Jay admires a lot, had researched on. During the summer vacation, Children from middle-class (or upper) family gained a lot of knowledge and different trainings from all the summer camps and classes while the poor just stay at home watching TV; Thus when the school starts again, the performance of the poor children is lower. This effect actually accumulates as time follows. Specific interventions in the children's lives might diminish the gap - as long as they begin early (the earliest the better) .
Major thanks to Bryce, Irene, Lu for accompanying me to DC/ Georgetown. My uncle is indeed a cool and fun guy to talk to right? Georgetown at night was so pretty. How nice it was to stroll along the street while watching all the glimmering shop window displaying and showing off. :)
Here's the issue we discussed during the dinner: (cited from New York Times Magazine)
A new and growing movement of researchers and advocates has begun to argue that the longstanding and sharp conceptual divide b/w school and not-school is out of date. It ignores overwhelming evidence of the impact of family and community environment s on children's achievement. At the most basic level it ignores the fact that poor children, on average, arrive in kindergarten far behind their middle-class peers. There is evidence that schools can do lot or erase that divide but the reality is that most schools do not. If we truly want to counter the effects of poverty on the achievement of children, these advocates argue, we need to start a whole lot earlier and do a whole lot more.
This is closely related to "Summer Loss", one of the issue that Irene's adviser, whom Uncle Jay admires a lot, had researched on. During the summer vacation, Children from middle-class (or upper) family gained a lot of knowledge and different trainings from all the summer camps and classes while the poor just stay at home watching TV; Thus when the school starts again, the performance of the poor children is lower. This effect actually accumulates as time follows. Specific interventions in the children's lives might diminish the gap - as long as they begin early (the earliest the better) .
Major thanks to Bryce, Irene, Lu for accompanying me to DC/ Georgetown. My uncle is indeed a cool and fun guy to talk to right? Georgetown at night was so pretty. How nice it was to stroll along the street while watching all the glimmering shop window displaying and showing off. :)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
AI2V workshop (2)
Wearing in business casual for a straight four day is indeed a breakthrough for me. Thus, group picture again:
What else did we do? We had quite an experience staying in this really ancient, old-style "Memorial" hotel. Here is the word which everybody uses to describe it: creepy. We found one really scary thing in Vanessa and Lu's room each day: a naked pony doll under the bed, a children drawing in the drawer, (Believe me, you will NOT want to see it), and another toy which I don't know how to describe. Besides this , there was also flickering light, (both in the room and the bathroom), blood on the curtains (and shower curtains), a old piano at the lobby which looked like it would brought you back to centuries ago if you play it. Also, the coffee shop next to the hotel is called "Uncommon Ground". True. Everything is very uncommon, and ... haunted. Back in 1920s it was a 5 star. The decoration itself was very flowerish, and colorful: bedsheet, wallpaper. There were even two armors on first floor. Thus, all in all, Vanessa and Lu ended up pulling the Bible out and touch it before touching any thing in their room. :-(
We also played Mafia, at the last night of our stay there. Harry made up some scary stories of people who got killed by Mafia. I was strangled by the curtain. (Vanessa was sucked into her laptop... we should all get one red envelope for compensation following Chinese tradition) Mafia is always very triggering and interesting. I did doctor and Mafia once this time which was completely new to me, despite the fact that TJ, who was supposed to be my mafia teammate, accidentally admitted that he was the MAFIA and got killed immediately. :D It was also Girish's first Mafia game. (He had done quite well, surprisingly.) We celebrated his birthday earlier that night at a decent Thai restaurant near by as the grant paid for it.
Nimra learned A LOT OF Chinese during our trip. She is now able to say "你的中文好爛" to other Chinese-learning beginners. She also recognized all the Chinese numbers through our Ma Jong playing (previously in MS/PhD retreat). We planned our graduation trip next June at our flight from Indianapolis to Atlanta. (US-tokyo-上海-杭州-西安-HK-Taipei-US) We are going to intentionally not submitting our thesis to the department, take our time traveling and graduate in August. :p How does that sound? Also We had talked about the spring break CA trip.
What else did we do? We had quite an experience staying in this really ancient, old-style "Memorial" hotel. Here is the word which everybody uses to describe it: creepy. We found one really scary thing in Vanessa and Lu's room each day: a naked pony doll under the bed, a children drawing in the drawer, (Believe me, you will NOT want to see it), and another toy which I don't know how to describe. Besides this , there was also flickering light, (both in the room and the bathroom), blood on the curtains (and shower curtains), a old piano at the lobby which looked like it would brought you back to centuries ago if you play it. Also, the coffee shop next to the hotel is called "Uncommon Ground". True. Everything is very uncommon, and ... haunted. Back in 1920s it was a 5 star. The decoration itself was very flowerish, and colorful: bedsheet, wallpaper. There were even two armors on first floor. Thus, all in all, Vanessa and Lu ended up pulling the Bible out and touch it before touching any thing in their room. :-(
We also played Mafia, at the last night of our stay there. Harry made up some scary stories of people who got killed by Mafia. I was strangled by the curtain. (Vanessa was sucked into her laptop... we should all get one red envelope for compensation following Chinese tradition) Mafia is always very triggering and interesting. I did doctor and Mafia once this time which was completely new to me, despite the fact that TJ, who was supposed to be my mafia teammate, accidentally admitted that he was the MAFIA and got killed immediately. :D It was also Girish's first Mafia game. (He had done quite well, surprisingly.) We celebrated his birthday earlier that night at a decent Thai restaurant near by as the grant paid for it.
Nimra learned A LOT OF Chinese during our trip. She is now able to say "你的中文好爛" to other Chinese-learning beginners. She also recognized all the Chinese numbers through our Ma Jong playing (previously in MS/PhD retreat). We planned our graduation trip next June at our flight from Indianapolis to Atlanta. (US-tokyo-上海-杭州-西安-HK-Taipei-US) We are going to intentionally not submitting our thesis to the department, take our time traveling and graduate in August. :p How does that sound? Also We had talked about the spring break CA trip.
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