July Chirstmas

It is cold in Melbourne, and Prof Tan decided to have a July Christmas dinner in his house. He did some cooking, which was really fantastic. It is so hard to get good curry in Melbourne, and he cooks pretty well for that curry.

We talk, we chat and mingle around with the lab mates. I shall talk less and post more photo. I have to say that I really enjoyed the wine of Prof Tan's collection. 1988 and 1966..... so good......

Youth camp

Last week, 26/7 and 27/7, I had a relaxed weekend.... Kinda relax, but it is more tiring than relax. However, the relax part is mainly due to finally finish my full draft of my Literature review and so I enjoyed the weekend without thinking of any work.

I went to a youth camp, organized by my buddhist society (SGIA), and the purpose of this youth camp was to help the youth to understand the importance of be alive and to a happy life by contributing to other happiness. So I really had prayed hard to also encouraged people in the youth camp to know appreciate life and to really put the knowledge of buddhism in daily life especially when they face challenges. With even a word that is put in our daily life, we can really encourage a person to be stronger to stay alive.

So on Saturday morning, my housemate, Thomas, Yan Guang and me woke up about 6.30 am and went to the Central station as we are required to reach the buddhist centre by 8am. After a briefing session in the buddhist centre, we went up to the bus and the journey was about 1 hours. Since I have come to Melbourne, I had never travel to the country side, so this time it is really a good time for me to open my eyes and experience the country life style. The place that we are staying is really good, open space, large piece of grass and the cows are moving freely enjoying chewing the grass. Fresh air, I experience, really totally different from the city, and the country side feeling is alike the kampung area in Malaysia. I try my best to explain how I feel the country side and the kampung. So in kampung area of malaysia, usually the soil is red and dusty, full of oil palm or rubber tree. Due to hot and humid, and often rain, the road of the kampung is muddy. But for the country side that I went on last weekend, it was totally different, as the air is fresh, the soil is clean, and now is winter, the weather is so nice just to relax on the greenary. And I started to understand why those aussie they like to go to the country side just for their long weekends.

So the thing after we reach that camp side, we are assigned with room, and it is a tiny room, with two double deckers bed. I slept on the top, as my friend was quite worried that he will fall from the top deck, so I just sleep up deck. And then we started our camp activity by chanting for 1/2 hours. Strong and vibrant chanting really makes everyone in the camp full of life force, and I had chanted for everyone around me to be happy, healthy and harmony. Then the next thing we know, is lunch haha.... Like a hungry boy, I line up to get the pasta which the kitchen cooked. All the food provided during lunch was vegetarian, haha.. so it suits me. It was really really really good, I am not sure whether it was because my hunger, or just it was really tasty. My friends all say the pasta is tasty, so I am convinced that it is really nice, and had double portion.

It was followed by discussion about absolute freedom in this life time, and as usual, there are many youngster asked question how to gain absolute freedom in this life, and I contributed my thought and encouragement to them and I am happy for them, because by looking at their face, I can feel their joy after understanding that they have the strength to know how to gain happiness. And the next activity was experience sharing by 2 person how they have overcome their challenges form applying buddhism in their life.

Then after the discussion, we had a chanted for 1/2 hours and then followed by dinner on 7pm. In the dinner, they serve beef fillet and some assorted vege, but for me, I took the vegetable burger fillet and it was so nice.. haha.. I wish I could get a second helping, but limited stock only. After dinner, we had some entertainment, games and camp fire. At night it was so cold, colder than in the city. Luckily, I am not a very fashionable person, where I brought along my super-thick jacket and also super-thick quilt. Compared to my friend, they were freezing cold, while I just had a sound sleep whole night, feeling really happy and refreshed the second day. It was also a starry night.

Second day, I woke up by 7.30, and prepared for 8am breakfast. Breakfast, they served such a nice and big pancake and it is really good. Although the serving is not as much as I hope for, but it lasted me for the whole morning, and followed by some lecture and Q&A session with seniors members of the buddhist society. Afternoon lunch, they serve vegetarian lagsania with salad for everyone... and it was the most satisfying lunch for all the meals, because I could have the 'quantity' that I want, and it was a 2 serving with extra big portion haha....

The camp wrapped up by 3pm, with taking group photo, and we reached melbourne city by 5pm. It was a tiring day, but I feel energized because I find new direction to work on my life, and I learn a lot how to support people when they need. At night, I had another round of discussion with my roommate with another senior member.

Some photos:

Beijing Olympic is getting closer

Beijing Olympic is getting closer day by day. I remember last October I went to Beijing for a conference, they are still constructing the "Bird Nest" stadium.

I am quite touched by this song, 北京欢迎你, and I was told that there is another version done by the elderly from china, anticipating their olympic dreams. Read HERE. The production fee for this elderly version is amazingly cheap, only RMB 500.00 (equivalent about RM 250.00).

北京欢迎你

词：林夕
曲：小柯
制作：陈少琪 小柯 余秉翰

A1 迎接另一个晨曦 带来全新空气 陈天佳
气息改变情味不变 茶香飘满情谊 刘欢

A2 我家大门常打开 开放怀抱等你 那英
拥抱过就有了默契 你会爱上这里 孙燕姿

B1 不管远近都是客人请不用客气 孙悦
相约好了在一起 我们欢迎你 王力宏

A3 我家种着万年青 开放每段传奇 韩红
为传统的土壤播种 为你留下回忆 周华健

B2 陌生熟悉都是客人请不用拘礼 梁咏琪
第几次来没关系 有太多话题 羽泉

C1 北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地 成龙
流动中的魅力充满着朝气 任贤齐
北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸 蔡依林
在黄土地刷新成绩 孙楠
Solo
A4 我家大门常打开 开怀容纳天地 周笔畅
岁月绽放青春笑容 迎接这个日期 韦唯

B3 天大地大都是朋友请不用客气 黄晓明
画意诗情带笑意 只为等待你 韩庚

C2 北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你 汪峰
让我们都加油去超越自己 莫文蔚
北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起 谭晶
有勇气就会有奇迹 陈奕迅

C3 北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地 阎维文
流动中的魅力充满着朝气 戴玉强
北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸 王霞 李双松
在黄土地刷新成绩 廖昌永

C4 北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你 林依轮
让我们都加油去超越自己 张娜拉
北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起 林俊杰
有勇气就会有奇迹 阿杜
solo 京戏

A5 我家大门常打开 开放怀抱等你 容祖儿
拥抱过就有了默契 你会爱上这里 李宇春

B4 不管远近都是客人请不用客气 黄大炜
相约好了在一起 我们欢迎你 陈坤

C5 北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地 谢霆锋
流动中的魅力充满着朝气 韩磊
北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸 徐若瑄
在黄土地刷新成绩 费翔
solo
A6 我家大门常打开 开怀容纳天地 汤灿
岁月绽放青春笑容 迎接这个日期 林志玲 张梓琳

B5 天大地大都是朋友请不用客气 张靓颖
画意诗情带笑意 只为等待你 许茹芸 伍思凯

C6 北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你 杨坤 范玮琪
让我们都加油去超越自己 游鸿明 周晓欧
北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起 沙宝亮 满文军
有勇气就会有奇迹 金海心 何润东

C7 北京欢迎你 为你开天辟地 飞儿 庞龙
流动中的魅力充满着朝气 吴克群 齐峰
北京欢迎你 在太阳下分享呼吸 5566 胡彦斌
在黄土地刷新成绩 郑希怡 刀郎

C8 北京欢迎你 像音乐感动你 纪敏加 屠洪刚 吴彤
让我们都加油去超越自己 郭容 刘耕宏 腾格尔
北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起 金莎 苏醒 韦嘉
有勇气就会有奇迹 付丽珊 黄征 房祖明

C9 北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起 全体群唱
有勇气就会有奇迹 全体群唱
北京欢迎你 有梦想谁都了不起 全体群唱
有勇气就会有奇迹 全体群唱

Revealing my new house........

Have been a busy month, and I am aware that I didn't post many blog entry for the whole month. Basically I was busy with a few things on hand, 1) Moving to a new house, 2) Busy with experiments, 3) Busy with my literature review and 4) Busy with my Soka Gakkai activities.

Status report
1) New house - settling nicely with my very good housemate Thomas.
2) Experiments - it is a never ending process, progressing and promissing
3) Literature review - Yahoo!!! I finally finish my whole draft and my supervisor is reading it now
4) Soka Gakkai activities - So much to learn, and so happy to learn it. Basically we are learning how to respect each and every individual's buddha nature.

So this entry, I will mainly focus on my new house.

I know many of my friends and family in Malaysia have not seen my new house, and I shall talk more about it. On 20/7/2008, Thomas and I had invited some soka gakkai members to gather in our house as a house warming. It was a pot luck style gathering, so we bring our own food and just mingle around with friends.

In the morning, I went straight to Victoria market to buy some vegetables. I wanted to cook Hainan Chicken rice (without chicken) haha.. I was informed that Grace was cooking curry chicken, and so I just thought chicken rice (rice only) will be a good combination to go with the curry. And so I did cook oil the rice, and and mom, you will sure proud of me if you try the chicken rice haha...

And eventually, there are so many people coming to our place, and they brought so much food, more than even all of us can finish...



























And so, everyone had fun, and really encouraging each other while satisfying their own stomach with the superb food that everyone brought to our house.





















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































After all these people had a full stomach, they start to mingles with dogs as well haha... This pair of dogs belong to Johnson, I am not good in taking care of dogs... if you want someone to take care of your cells cultures, then yes, you found the right person for your job.












































































































































Haha, when you persist to read until the very end, I know what you are thinking now..... You must me thinking how my room looks like....