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Earthquake in Sichuan
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May. 13th, 2008 @ 08:41 am
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Dear friends, thanks for thinking of my families in Chengdu. Everyone in my families are fine. I've been trying to reach them by phone since yesterday afternoon but couldn't get through. However, the text message on cell phone still works. So last night I received a text message from my brother telling me that everyone back home is fine. Of course, everyone was shocked by such strong earthquake. Luckily no building collapsed in my hometown as far as I know, at least in the city. The center is in Wenchuan, which is not far from Chengdu. I passed through that area a few weeks ago on my way to Jiuzhaigou.
My families haven't gone back to their home yet, worried about any aftershocks. Hopefully I'll be able to talk to them soon. Thanks everyone for your emails.
Update: I finally was able to talk to my brother and my mom last night. They are still staying outdoors and sleeping in the car. Luckily, water, gas, electricity are all fine, so they can cook meals. Only one building was severely damaged in our town and everyone was evacuated. My parents and my nephew were at home (5th floor) when it happened. My dad was on the balcony. The building swing so hard that he had hard time to stand even holding onto the handrail. They immediately left the apartment and haven't gone back since then. It is raining in Chengdu now and they may go back home soon. |
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天堂之美
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May. 6th, 2008 @ 10:30 am
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Just came back from a trip to China. For the second time, I went to Jiu Zhai Gou. I didn't expect the scenery to be great since it's dry season and Jiu zhai is famous for its water. But I was so lucky to see Jiu Zhai in snow. Just this view is worth the trip.
First shot in Jiu Zhai
I'll write more about the trip but here are more pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chengdu_spicygirl/sets/72157604908328341/ |
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Yang Ming Mountain Blossom Festival
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Mar. 27th, 2008 @ 10:23 pm
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We went to Zhu Zi Hu (Bamboo Lake) at Yang Ming Mountain today. It's the 3rd day of the 海芋 festival. I couldn't find the English name for this kind of flowers, but the Chinese name literaly means "ocean taro". The leaves do resemble those of regular taro, so I guess they belong to the same botanic family.
Local farms charges an entrance fee of NT$100 per person. Once in the farm, you could choose to redeem the NT$100 coupon for drinks, snacks or you can pick 10 flowers from the fields. Pretty good value. I was really surprised to see so many people on a Thursday afternoon.
All flowers in the fields are white/ivory color, however, you can find purple, pink, red and other colors of flowers sold in the street. Be careful, those are actually sprayed with vegetable dye. But some tourists like them. I personally prefer the original.
The weather was perfect too. However, only one mini-bus runs between Beitou MRT station to the Bamboo Lake (S 9) every 40 minutes and is really crowded. At the bus station, taxi would try to rip you off. they would refuse to take any group less than four people because they charge by headcount, so about NT$600 per trip. The festival will run until May. It's fun!
 Current Mood:  cheerful |
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A relaxing day
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Mar. 21st, 2008 @ 08:20 pm
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Our friend Tim and his families came to Taiwan for their spring break. I went to Dan Shui with them today. For the first time, I took the ferry to the other side of Dan Shui River - Bali (八里)。The river bank looked so different from its crowded weekend scene.
I hadn't ridden bicycle for over 15 years but gotten really interested in it since I rid it in Jinmen a few weeks ago. Today we rid along the Danshui river all the way to Guandu bridge. The weather was perfect with nice breeze.
In the afternoon, we went to Beitou for hot spring. It was perfect for our sore legs. We had the whole place to ourselves until a group of tourists from Hong Kong got in and ruined our peaceful moment.
It's truly a relaxing day. I need to take advantage of my free time now to go out more.
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下岗了！
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Mar. 15th, 2008 @ 01:18 pm
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Life in the past couple of months have been good. My parents are here, so I didn't have to do any house chores. And we have delicious food ready everyday at the end of the day after work.
The weather has been very bad for almost two months. As soon as the sun started to come out, we traveled to Jinmen金门。. I enjoyed the trip to island so much that I have planned another island getaway already.
Yesterday marked the end of my one year employment contract and now I'm officially back to unemployed housewife status. Last night my colleagues from the same group and several partners from the tax department invited me to a farewell dinner at 1010 New Hunan Cuisine. It was actually a lot of fun. One year of work here was a good experience. Although the work inevitably was associated with some stress and pressure, I truly think that people in Taiwan are generally very easy to work with. They are very friendly. My staff were so supportive that it made my life a lot easier.
It's sad to think that our two years adventure in Taiwan will come to an end soon. In the next two months, we'll start to prepare for the move. I hope we'll come back sometime in the future. |
| » Good or bad? |
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Good vs. bad, big vs. small. Everything in our lives is relative. Here are two examples.
Example 1
We found out that our next post will be Laos a few weeks ago. We broke the news to our families and some friends. Here are responses from my friends in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan: “Laos? Sigh.” “Why don’t they send you to a nicer place?” “Why Laos? I guess it’s better than Iraq.”
Here are responses from other FS families, friends from U.S. or other western countries: “Wow, congratulations!” “Wonderful! It’ll be an amazing experience.” “Great! Laos is one of the places to visit on my list.”
Example 2
My company is having a Chinese New Year Party for our division, and there will be a Karoake contest. The prize will be NT$5,000 for the first, NT$4,000 for the second and NT$3,000 for the 3rd.
My colleagues: “Our company is so cheap!” “Other big companies are spending millions of dollars to invite super stars to perform at their parties. And we have to self-entertain.”
PR and other American friends: “NT$5,000. That’s pretty good.” “Your company is so good.”
I guess it’s all about perspectives.
Jan. 11th, 2008 @ 09:51 am
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| » Van Diemen's Land |
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I'm back from our R&R trip to Australia a week ago. It was a lot of fun but now I'm paying for it. The work has piled up so much that I had to go through over 400 emails on my first day back. Finally, this weekend I got some sleep and was able to download my pictures. I have put up some of them online but will have to add more detail notes later.
We spent almost 10 days driving around Tasmania. It's a beautiful island with friendly people. The only drawback - EXPENSIVE, especially at a time like this when dollar is soooooo weak. I'm sure you'll hear more when PR comes back. Yes, he's still there, not Tasmania but driving in the outback Australia. He probably just finished his sunset tour at the big ROCK at this moment. I had to come back early to work, so we can pay the credit card bill from the trip :).
I'm having technical difficulties to insert pictures in my entry in livejournal as I always do, so you can look at the pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chengdu_spicygirl/sets/72157603286847258/
Nov. 25th, 2007 @ 06:24 pm
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| » Food search in Taipei |
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We have been searching for authentic Sichuan food ever since I moved to Taiwan last year and have been very disappointed about those we tried. one of the partner in our office always asks me how spicy can I eat exactly. I told him that there is no good Sichuan restaurant in Taiwan. He is so proud that Taiwan has everything that he could not accept that. So everytime he saw ads or articles in newspaper about Sichuan restaurants, he would bring them to the office and gave them to me. Unfortunately, none of the pictures he previous showed to me resembles anything similar to authentic Sichuan food.
Two days ago he bought me a China Times Weekend magazine, which introduced three Sichuan restaurants. Again, dishes from two of the restaurants don't look like Sichuan food at all. But the other one really caught my eyes. I know if they can really make the dishes like they appeared on the magazine, it got to be good. According to the article, the chef married a Taiwanese and just moved to Taiwan two years ago. So I couldn't wait until weekend, and immediately called up my gangs. Everybody was up for it. So tonight, after work, seven of us went to try it. Now I have a good news for those who like Sichuan food. This is definitely the most authentic Sichuan food I've had in Taiwan so far. The chef Mr. Chen is from Yi Bin, Sichuan 宜賓. In case you don't know where Yi Bin is, it's where the famous liquor (Wu Liang Ye) is produced. It's called 天府家常菜， 臺北縣永和市仁愛路五號 （捷運頂溪站）（02）8660-0190. It's open 11:30am-2pm for lunch and 5:30pm-8:30pm for dinner, closed on Monday.
The chef does tone down the flavor for locals but if you tell them that you want authentic Sichuan food when you order you food. They can do it. The chili and peppercorn are definitely from Sichuan, soooooo good.
We ordered seven dishes and one soup.夫妻肺片，口水雞，豆腐鰱魚，魚香茄子，辣子雞丁，水煮牛肉，蒜苗臘肉，酸菜粉絲湯。Every dish was good. I took some pictures with my friend's cell phone. I'll post them later if they come out well. If not, I'll took some next time. I'm taking PR there for sure. It's reasonably priced. We had a few bottle of beers too. It came out about NT$300 per person. If I have to use one word to describe the feeling after the meal - 爽！！！
Oct. 24th, 2007 @ 08:57 pm
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| » Sun Moon Lake |
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I told you before that two things about Taiwan that every mainlander knows: Sun Moon Lake and A Li Mountain. A few weeks ago, I made it to the first one: Sun Moon Lake. Our division had the annual manager meeting there on a Friday(it's a perk for working hard for a year). Luckily, I was recently transferred to this division because my boss was, due to some internal organization changes. So, I got to go and stayed at THE LALU, the best hotel in the area.
Considering the US$500/night, the check in process was a little bit disappointing. 3pm was the check in time, so the spouses had to wait for over two hours before getting in the room while we had our meeting. Nevertheless, the hotel room was huge and the view was magnificent. It has a living room, bedroom and a huge balcony with a day bed.
The Chinese name of the hotel is "Han Bi Building". It started as a luxurious residence built by a Japanese in 1916. Later, because of the project of the hydraulic power generation in the Sun Moon Lake, Han-Bi Building had to be rebuilt on another place. Afterwards, Chiang Kaishek chose it as his temporary villa and spent a lot of time there.
I guess PR really liked the hotel because he spent the entire time in the room while I went out on a tour around the lake to see the Ci En Pagoda and Xuan Zhuang Temple.
A shot from the balcony before I began my day trip around the lake.
Although many people told me that Sun Moon Lake is really nothing compared to all the big lakes in Mainland China, I have to say that I really liked it. It's a very beautiful place.
More pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/chengdu_spicygirl/sets/72157602293605826/
Oct. 7th, 2007 @ 02:45 pm
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| » Change - your vote? |
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I finally did it, try something different. I had my hair cut today to the shortest in over 15 years.
I forgot to take a picture before I cut it, so here's one of the picture of me in long hair.
Here's me after the hair cut.
What's your vote?
Sep. 11th, 2007 @ 05:18 pm
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| » I'm back |
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It's almost three months that I haven't written anything. Excuses:
#1. At the end of the day, I'm too tired to sit in front of a computer after staring at another one at work for a whole day.
#2. The work is busy, when I have some free time, I'd rather sleep.
#3. My parents were here for two months that I'd rather watch TV with them at night. On the weekends, we traveled a lot.
#4. PR and I travel, eat out or have other fun together and he writes about them, which left me little to write about. And he is a better writer any way.
#5. I'm just too lazy.
But now I should start to write again. In fact, most of my travel for the past year were done in the past two months. We literally took my parents somewhere every weekend, Gaoxiong, Tainan, Hualian... I also had a chance to go on a company trip to Kending, where the best beach in Taiwan is (according to some people, not sure if it's true). One of the typical thing that companies in Taiwan do for their employees is annual trip. After the crazy tax seasons ended at the end of May, we headed to Kending for a overnight trip.
We took the high speed rail to Gaoxiong, where the tour bus picked us up. It was the first time for many of my colleagues to take the train (2nd time for me), so they were very excited.
I have to say, even though food is absolutely important in Chinese culture, people in Taiwan take it to a different level. In all the trips I've taken with locals, the itinerary was carefully planned so that we won't miss any famous local food on the way, sometimes even with a little bit detour. This time, we had Tuna meal on the way to Kending and Pork feet meal on the way back. Everyone was raving about it. The Pork feet restaurant even offer gift package to go. I wasn't impressed with either meal. For the first time, I tried a slice of raw Tuna. It probably will be my last piece too. Don't get me wrong. It was not bad but I really don't like to eat any raw meat/fish.
After about 10 courses of Tuna cooked in different way, I made a comment to my boss that I thought the sesame noodles was the best (the simplest food that you can get in the night market). It's definitely not the smartest comment. He probably thought that the company's big expenses on the meal was wasted.
Another vegetable dish called 山蘇, which I have never seen before was good too.
 Result from the trip - Most of the pictures in my camera were for food.http://www.flickr.com/photos/chengdu_spicygirl/page2/
But the hotel we stayed in was wonderful. The Chateau Beach Resort, best hotel in Kending, with great private beach.
When we got there in the afternoon, it was very cloudy. Lying on the chair by the beach, I could see the thunderstorm moving in from the Ocean. But it was such a relaxing afternoon, with very few people around. I loved it. 
The sun only came out for one hour before we checked out the next morning. We grabbed the chance to take some more pictures.
By the time we got on the bus, the rain was pouring down. The hotel is a little pricey. Our room with one big bed and two small beds cost around US$350. I'm sure we got some group discount with over 80 people but I had to share room with three other colleagues. Nevertheless, I had a great time. I hope I can go back there sometime.
View from our balcony
Aug. 5th, 2007 @ 06:05 pm
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| » Almost a decade |
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Nine years, almost a decade, when I put it this way, it sounds like such a long time. Actually it really doesn't feel that long. Last Wednesday was our 9th wedding anniversary. PR agrees. He told me that it felt more like three years. Maybe because we didn't properly celebrate for the past five years.
The day didn't start very well because I didn't sleep very well the night before. By the time I got off from work around 6pm, I was not in a very good mood. But when I got home, I found this
surprise gift from PR
It immediately changed my mood. Then PR poured me a glass of red wine that I brought back for him from France. After that, I started to feel a little bit spinning in the head. But I was VERY happy. Then we went to this Italian restaurant that he has been raving about. Very good food although PR thought we got sort of second class citizen treatment. See here (http://www.princeroy.org/?p=488#more-488) But it didn't bother us at all. It just gave us something to laugh at.
This is definitely best anniversary in recent years for us.
Looks like we'll still be here on our 10th anniversary. Will have to start to plan it now...
May. 13th, 2007 @ 11:47 am
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| » San Xia, Taipei County |
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May 1 was international labour day, so I got a day off from work. My company organized a day trip to San Xia (literally means three gorges), which is about 45 minutes away from Taipei. I didn't see three gorges. The small town has a temple with history back to the 17th century and an "Old street". In 1916, a Japanese local official decided to promote business in this street and started to invite people who were driven away by the Japanese to come back. Nowdays the street is a popular weekend destination for people from Taipei. First floor of the houses on both side of the street are mostly stores, selling tea, snack food, Chinese traditional clothes, crafts, etc. We had a tour guide who grew up in the street. He told us the street meant a lot to him because when he was a little kid, his family was quite poor, the vendors in the street pretty much raised him. He used to go to the stores to get rice, oil and the store owner would write everything down in a little notebook. His mom would pay for them whenever she had enough money.
The Temple
祖師廟， 臺北縣三峽鎮
Kid checking out old lock in "old street"
老街
After a brief visit of the town, we headed to our next destination "Jean's Garden" to see lighting bugs. It's about a half hour bus ride and located in the hills. Although our tour guide told us we could see lighting bugs in many areas in San Xia, this garden is a good choice. It has a nice ground, with a creek running through it.
You can get curry rice or pasta for dinner although the portion got greatly reduced when there were too many visitors. We got there around 6 and was still too early for the lighting bugs but it was really nice to just sit and watch the flowers in the distance or walk around in the garden. I wish they serve teas. It's the season for the Tung tree blossom.
By 7pm, the lighting bugs began to come out. I've never seen so many of them, amazing. There were at least four different kinds that night, some with green light, the other with orange light. It's an interesting place but I would recommend going on a weekday because it tends to get crowded and kids could be loud and scare the bugs away. It was fun.
May. 6th, 2007 @ 04:01 pm
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| » What kind of people work for State Department |
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It's tomb sweeping day on Thursday, so we are having a four day weekend. It's very nice although we'll have to work next Saturday to make up one work day for this Friday. AIT was not closed on Friday, so I decided to go in to run some errands.
I hop in a taxi, the driver is quite talkative. When he found out that I was going to AIT, he began to tell me that he is very familiar with AIT. Apparently, he stays near our apartment building every morning at 6:30am, so he always took AIT people in our building to work. I looked at his license displayed in the car. His last name is Xiao. I was reminded of one morning when I took a taxi to work, the driver said to me "It's not very easy to catch a taxi here in the morning. Have you ever taken Mr. Xiao's taxi? He's alway here waiting in the morning." So it must be him.
Mr. Xiao claims that he knows pretty much everyone who works at AIT in our building. I don't know how he developed his theory about what kind of people join State Department. But he's convinced that most people who join State Dept. are 农家子弟 (nong jia zi di - sons of the soil) (in his words). Very few people are from city. In the first few years at State Dept., the salary is not very high, so these "nong jia zi di" are very frugal. After being with the State Dept. for over 10 years, people will have lots of money. This apparently has direct impact on Mr. Xiao's business. According to him, the previous batch of people assigned to here were mostly over 40s, so has more money and took his taxi everyday to work. But this year, a lot more new officers got assigned here, so his business is not as good.
I didn't want to put him in an awkward situation by pointing out that his whole theory is wrong. I just said "Maybe people just drive now instead of taking taxi." But he said "No, they walk." "One time someone took my taxi to AIT. He told me that he walks most of the time because that way he can get some exercise. They don't know I know their situations." I thought it's so funny and it's another example of how people develop some kind of perception about something with no logic whatsoever, but are convinced that it's the truth.
On a totally unrelated note, I watched a short report on CNN about people's opinion on homosexuals in China. During the report, they repeatedly showed some images they filmed in the street, where boys and girls playing with each other, walking hand in hand or arm in arm. I wonder if the person who put the report together has any idea that these kind of things he or she sees in the street has absolutely nothing to do with homosexuals. It's just different habit compared to what you see in western culture. When I grew up in China, everytime my close girlfriend and I hangout, either shopping or doing something else, we often walked arm in arm.
It's not such a big deal that regular people might not understand this but for CNN, if they would make something a topic of their report, I would assume they would put someone at least understand more about Chinese culture on the job. I just want to tell them that what they were showing to the world has nothing to do with what they were saying.
Apr. 7th, 2007 @ 02:37 pm
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| » New Bed |
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Consider how much time we spent in our life sleeping, bed should definitely the most important piece of furniture at home. One benefit in foreign service is the free furnished housing (for most posts).
However, I had always thought the mattress provided is not very comfortable to sleep on, too soft for me. Part of the reason might be that I grew up sleeping on hardwood platform bed with a few layers of cotton quilt, which is much harder than any mattress I had slept on. But recently I developed another explanations. The problem is not that the mattress itself is too soft. It's the lack of support underneath it. The only support it gets off the ground is a square metal frame with a cross in the center. So everytime one of us toss and turns, the whole bed will shake. We finally ordered a bed. It came today. Unfortunately, there is some marks on one side of the frame, so they 'll have to change it later. For now, the bed is not completely assembled (no screws in yet). When it is, I will be able to flip the top part of the platform up. There are lots of storage room underneath.
It's very practical design. Other than the storage room at the bottom, the headboard part also provides lots of small compartments. The part with glass is actually movable and could be pushed in. The two little lights have three bands that we could adjust by simply touching one button. Anyway, it's very nice, although it's not one of those fancy solid wood bed. I really like it so far. I hope it's comfortable too.
Apr. 6th, 2007 @ 03:10 pm
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| » Trip to China |
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PR and I went to China for a two-week trip right after Chinese New Year. He has written about it on his blog. I started working the day after we came back, so haven't had any time to upload all the pictures until today. After staring at a computer during the day at work, I haven't had much motivation to sit in front of another one to update my blog either.
It was a fantastic trip. We saw some of our old friends in Beijing although there are still many others whom I didn't have time to contact. After a few days in Beijing, we went back to Chengdu. Everyone in my family was very happy to see PR. It was his second time back since we got married almost 9 years ago. So my parents often jokes that he disappeared since he got me. The day we arrived happened to be our nephew's one year birthday. Many of our relatives were there. When we got home from airport, everybody was having tea in the park. The weather was considered good in Chengdu since you could see a little bit sunshine. In a day like that, especially on the weekend, people would normally hang out in the teahouse, playing cards, majiang or simply chatting.
Even the babies joined the scene:
Two of my nephews (one year and two years old) playing with the majiang)
Since it's really hard to get everyone together, my mom wouldn't miss the chance to have a family picture taken
My brother, sister-in-law, mom, dad and nephew, me and PR
My brother's son apparently likes his uncle PR very much
Who are you?
In the following few days, we went to Qingcheng Mountain, Leshan and some other places. I'll write more later if I have more time, meanwhile, you can follow the link on the left to my pictures taken during the trip. As all the vacations, it always feels too short. Hopefully we could get back again soon.
Mar. 25th, 2007 @ 02:09 pm
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| » Another day |
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It's my birthday today. Nothing special, I'm just older AGAIN! PR is still fighting the cold. We spent most of the day at home. It's cloudy most of the day and rained a little bit. I went to get two tickets for a concert which will be held in April. I noticed more grey hairs and wrinkles. Sigh! What can you do?
Feb. 20th, 2007 @ 07:34 pm
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| » Happy Year of Pig! |
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It's Chinese New Year eve tomorrow. I miss all my families and all the good food in Chengdu. Save some for me, please! I wish everyone a happy new year!
Feb. 16th, 2007 @ 02:26 pm
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| » Past few weeks |
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A couple of weeks ago, PR and I went to Dan Shui, the end of red line on MRT. The habour is very nice. A little bit crowded, with many couples huddling together by the river. We walked until it was dark and had dinner at a nice restaurant with outdoor seatings.
The sunset at Dan Shui
less than 10 minutes later, it turned into this
Valentine's Day went by with no excitement. We both didn't feel well. PR caught a bad cold and rested at home. I went to dry cleaner and saw the florist next door with booming business. All sorts of roses, some with very strange colour. I wish I had my camera with me. They were pricey. A dozen with some pretty wrapping cost anywhere between US$100-150. Several young guys were ordering flowers to be delivered somewhere. They were all shocked by the price for a second but ordered anyway. I guess that's the price you had to pay when you are trying to win someone's heart. And the vendors just grab the chance to rip you off. I bet they wish everyday is Valentine's Day.
I guess I have a little romantic sentiment left even though I'm old. I still wanted the day to be a little different from every other day. So I picked up two roses and lily on the way home to cheer PR up. Later at night, I thought of one of my favourite song when I was a teenager. "The most romantic thing" - by Zhao, Yong Hua (Cyndi Chaw). Unfortunately, I lost the tape over the years but thank to internet, here it is(http://www.7mp3.com/song/9849.htm) It has very pretty rhyme in Chinese.
last two lines of the lyric (sorry about the poor translation):
The most romantic thing I could think of is to grow old together with you.
Collect every bit of happiness along the way, save them for our chat later in the rocking chair.
The most romantic thing I could think of is to grow old together with you.
Untill we are too old to go anywhere, you still cherish me as the treasure in your hand.
最浪漫的事 赵咏华
背靠着背坐在地毯上,听听音乐聊聊愿望.
你希望我越来越温柔,我希望你放我在心上.
你说想送我个浪漫的梦想,谢谢我带你找到天堂.
哪怕用一辈子才能完成,只要我讲你就记住不忘.
我能想到最浪漫的事,就是和你一起慢慢变老,一路上收藏点点滴滴的欢笑,留到以后坐着摇椅慢慢聊.
我能想到最浪漫的事,就是和你一起慢慢变老,直到我们老的哪儿也去不了,你还依然把我当成手心里的宝.
Feb. 16th, 2007 @ 08:44 am
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| » My Vipassana Experience |
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My 10-day Vipassana meditation retreat ended last Thursday. It was quite an experience. As PR had warned me, it was not easy. I told him that the most difficult part probably would be the 10-day noble silence. It turned out that this didn’t bother me at all. I guess living with someone as quiet as PR has prepared me very well for that.
As for the theory and techniques of this meditation method, I think PR has written it very well here. (http://www.princeroy.org/?p=364) Since all the courses around the world are conducted through video/audio tapes, it’s the same thing we were taught. What varies is the personal experience.
For me, I found the most challenging part is “sitting for an hour without moving.” I usually had much higher tolerance for discomfort such as leg/back pain from sitting too long. The thing drove me crazy is the itching sensation. I broke the rule quite a few times for that. According to the teaching, when we react to our unpleasant sensations instead of simply observing them, it only multiplies the production of samkhara. The lesson I learned from experience is that once I started to react to the itching sensation at one spot of the body, I would feel it more and more often throughout the body. If I simply observe it, the strong sensation gradually became weaker and eventually passed away and I felt less strong and solid sensation once my mind became focus and calm.
To practice Vipassana, one must have foundation of sila (conduct), samadhi (concentration) and pañña (wisdom). The challenge to me was the concentration part. My mind kept wandering away while I was trying to observe my respiration or sensations. Although it did get better as the days gone by, I still had hard time to concentrate for a long time. Without Samadhi, one could not develop wisdom. So I still have a very long way to go. I believe PR is much better in this aspect.
Most of the theory brought up during the course was not strange to me since I’m relatively familiar with the basic ideas of Buddhism but I found two points of the teaching were valuable to me.
1) It’s the physical or mental sensation that we have craving or aversion for, not the person or object itself. When we get what we want, the sensation eventually passes away. Because of our attachment to the sensation, we feel unsatisfied with what we have and start to create the sensation by wanting more. So the liberation comes if we can cut the chain of attachment formation by training our mind to observe sensations, pleasant or unpleasant, objectively without reacting to them. I have heard and read about how people can live happier without attachment and with equanimous mind but always wondered how we can achieve that. I felt that someone just pointed me to the right starting point. Many other meditation methods I have heard of involve imagination of something such as a glass ball, a Buddha image, etc. Personally, I feel the observation of my own sensations a more effective way to train my mind.
(An unrelated point: I recently read the book "emotional intelligence" by Daniel Coleman, it mentioned something called emotional hi-jacking. When people feel extremely sad, angry, etc. it's like being dragged into a emotional wirpool deeper and deeper and couldn't get out. Practicing Vipassana might be helpful to avoid that.)
2) Subtle, pleasant sensation is not the goal of meditation. I have heard many people who meditate talk about the subtle, pleasant sensation they experience during the course of meditation. They usually tend to get really excited when talking about it. There’s no doubt that you can only have these kind of sensation when you reach certain stage of meditation. However, it’s important to realize that like all other sensation, this subtle and pleasant sensation is also impermanent. If one develops craving or attachment to this sensation, it defeats the whole purpose of the meditation. Meditation is only a method to train our mind. For most of us who live in this mundane world, it’s an art of living we should learn. When we live with an equanimous mind, we would be happier and could bring happiness, peace and harmony to people around us.
We had about 60 people in this class. 2/3 was women. On the last day, we started to talk to each other and I found out that many of them (probably around half) are old students, who were there for the 3rd, 4th time. I asked one of the old students what she gained from the practice and why she kept coming back. She told me that she learned something new everytime she attended the course and she felt that she’s been living a happier life since practicing Vipassana. The students age from 20s to 60s. They are business people, journalist, housewife, Buddhist Bhikuni, etc. All the staff working in the facility is volunteers who took the course before. They cooked some really good vegetarian meals for us. Surprisingly, for the entire 10-day, I never missed spicy food.
Everyone I talked to seemed to have very positive feedback about the course. That’s why I was really surprised to read some very negative opinion of people who attended course in the US. I guess it’s partly due to the level of acceptance of the asian teaching style. In addition, most of the people here are brought up with the influence of Buddhism. Although Mr. Goenka claims that Vipassana is a universal method for everyone regardless of their religions, I still believe it is easier for people with understanding of Buddhism to accept it. I also have doubt about his stories that people were completely transformed after one 10-day course.
It was a very challenging experience but I truly believe it’s worth trying if you are interested in meditation or learning more about yourself.
This 3-floor building housed about 40 women.
We didn’t have real bed, more like Japanese tatami. It was painful to sleep on for the first couple of nights, then you get used to it. Here I am, sitting on the “bed” on the last day.
The only exercise we got is walking during breaks. This is the female walking area. The big rock was my favorite spot. I enjoyed leaning on it and watching the clouds.
Jan. 31st, 2007 @ 01:18 pm
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