Happy 牛 Year

Thank you very much for your tireless support. Have an ox-traordinary year ahead!!!

海角七号情信 第二封

第三天。
該怎麼克制自己不去想你
你是南方艷陽下成長的學生
我是從飄雪的北方渡洋過海的老師
我們是這麼的不同
為何卻會如此的相愛
我懷念艷陽…我懷念熱風…
我猶有記憶你被紅蟻惹毛的樣子
我知道我不該嘲笑你
但你踩著紅蟻的樣子真美
像踩著一種奇幻的舞步
憤怒、強烈又帶著輕挑的嬉笑…
友子，我就是那時愛上你的…

三日目。
どうして君のことを思わないでいられよう。
君は南国の眩しい太陽の下で育った学生。
僕は雪の舞う北から海を渡ってきた教師。
僕らはこんなにも違うのに、何故こうも惹かれあうのか？
あの眩しい太陽が懐かしい。
暑い風が懐かしい。
まだ覚えているよ。
君が赤蟻に腹を立てる様子。
笑っちゃいけないって分かってた。
でも、赤蟻を踏む様子がとても綺麗で、
不思議なステップを踏みながら、踊っているようで、
怒った身振り、激しく軽やかな笑い声。
友子。
その時、僕は恋に落ちたんだ。

Will I Survive???

Back to my arithmatic root this semester

Phew! I survived my first week day of college (at least the first 3 days) teaching my first love--mathematics. I am kinda excited to teach the new math course of calculus and vectors but deep down, I really miss the creative elements and flexibility in business courses. I am trying to strike a balance between the two courses but we'll see.

Since I am going to use mainly my right cerebrum this semester, when you hear me speaking in sentences that don't spell words, you have to forgive me... LOL!

The million dollar question is... would I be able to survive a semester of teaching and communicating mainly in languages from planets Descarte, Pythagoras and Euler?

Gloria Gaynor's tune plays in my head. Go figure!

Thank you!

It's that time of the year that I am getting wiser (ok, ok and older) but I insist to remain as eternally 18 in soul :P

This year, I received the most birthday wishes on Facebook , via MSN and even from work even though my birthday fell on the very first day of work. Unlike the in previous years, a few ex-students have decided to throw me a birthday party.

Thanks to Alexis and Nickie, I had a really great birthday dinner at a hot and peppery steamboat restaurant highly recommended by Alexis. They also managed to invite other ex-students like Daphne and Cindy as well as the good-looking Jason of whom I met for the first time (he's such sweetheart and girls, he's still single and available).

As a spicy food lover, I have been wanting to try this Chinese style hot and peppery steamboat for a long long time and finally, I have made my pilgrimage to this oh-so-popular steamboat restaurant.

The restaurant has three types of soup--clear, Thai tomyam and Chinese style hot and peppery and the food served is buffet style, but boy, I must they have a wide variety. Everything was so so so good.

And then, towards the end of the dinner, the girls surprised me with a birthday cake which I kinda figured something was fishy in the middle of the dinner. But the gesture was extremely sweet. Who could resist ultra-moist chocolate mousse cake that ends the dinner with a sweet note?

Thank you, girls and everybody else who remembered my birthday. I am very thankful and truly blessed that you are part of my life.

Alexis, my ex-student and the co-organizer of the dinner party!!!
Nickie, another ex-student and co-organizer of the dinner party!!! Good-looking Jason, he's been so thoughtful throughout the dinner.

Ipoh Leng loi, Daphne and her "ngoi yan", Cindy. The latter is still single, boys!!!


Thanks for the great dinner!!! I had a blast catching up with you :D
Hot and peppery soup and clear soup.
Wide selection of greens...meat, poultry and seafood

海角七号情信 第一封

1945年12月25日。
友子，太陽已經完全沒入了海面
我真的已經完全看不見台灣島了
你還站在那裡等我嗎？
友子
請原諒我這個懦弱的男人
從來不敢承認我們兩人的相愛
我甚至已經忘記
我是如何迷上那個不照規定理髮
而惹得我大發雷霆的女孩了
友子
你固執不講理、愛玩愛流行
我卻如此受不住的迷戀你
只是好不容易你畢業了
我們卻戰敗了
我是戰敗國的子民
貴族的驕傲瞬間墮落為犯人的枷
我只是個窮教師
為何要揹負一個民族的罪
時代的宿命是時代的罪過
我只是個窮教師
我愛你，卻必須放棄你

1945年12月25日。
友子、太陽がすっかり海に沈んだ。これで、本当に台湾島が見えなくなってしまった。
君はまだあそこに立っているのかい？

友子、
許しておくれ、この臆病な僕を。
二人のことを決して認めなかった僕を。
どんなふうに、君に惹かれるんだったっけ。
君は髪型の規則も破るし、よく僕を怒らせる子だったね。

友子。
君は意地張りで、新しい物好きで、でも、どうしょうもないぐらい君に恋をしてしまった。
だけど、君がやっと卒業した時、僕たちは、戦争に敗れた。
僕は敗戦国の国民だ。
貴族のように傲慢だった僕たちは、一瞬にして、罪人のくび枷を科せられた。
貧しい一教師の僕が、どうして民族の罪を背負えよう？
時代の宿命は時代の罪。
そして、僕は貧しい教師に過ぎない。
君を愛していても、諦めなければならなかった。

海角七号 Cape No. 7

真爱真的能跨越时空吗？

这名字有点儿像航海故事的台湾的本土电影，<海角七号>轰动了电影界。因为超爱看非主流电影，从去年我就久仰这一部戏，而且非常期盼它在大马的放映。

今天，我拉着只喜欢看动作片的老公一起到电影院去看这电影(你可想象他有多么的无奈)。虽然我们迟到，却没有阻挡我对海角“浪潮”的热爱。

正如许多对这电影评语，<海角七号>的确非常台客，并且拥有浓厚的台湾乡土气息，这也是我喜欢非主流电影的因素。但是，最吸引我(还有其他女性)的地方，莫过于那未曾寄出的情书。作者细腻的描述其内心世界的挣扎，相信任何在感情路上有过波折的人，都能够深深感受到作者的心境。

在此，我会把这七封情信一一的“寄”给你们，一星期一封，刊登在这部落格里。因为这些情信是在世界大战之后一名日本籍老师写给他深爱的台湾籍女生，所以有中日文对照。

希望所有的情人都能像片中男女主角一样终成眷属。

This Taiwanese movie entitled “Cape No. 7” that has taken the movie industry by storm. As a non-mainstream movie junkie, I have been anticipating this movie since last year and was looking forward to its screening in Malaysia.

Today, I dragged my hardcore action pack movie lover hubby to the cinema to watch this movie (you can imagine his helplessness). Though we were late for the movie, it did not impede my love for this movie.

As commented by movie critics, “Cape No. 7” is extremely Taiwanese and packed with rich culture of the locales, this is perhaps the reason I love non-mainstream movies. However, the thing that attracts me (and other female viewers) the most is none other than the seven love letters that were yet been mailed. They were so beautifully written that anybody who had been though ups and downs in relationships would be able to relate to the writer’s feelings.

Hence, I will be “mailing” all these love letters to you, one letter a week, on this blog. Since they were written by a Japanese teacher to his beloved Taiwanese girl after World War II, the letters are in both Mandarin and Japanese translations.

I wish all you love birds out there have sweet and happy endings like the leading characters in the movie.