Cheaper Strawberries

Today we bought from a supermarket some strawberries which were sold at HK$18.8/pound. The price of strawberries fluctuates much in Hong Kong. I remember the cheapest lot we bought recently was at $15/pound. After that, the price rose to $30 to $40 something. In the past, we considered strawberries a luxurious kind of fruit to eat, so we seldom bought them. Instead we ate strawberry-tasted ice-cream or Sugus.

The strawberries here came from Santa Maria on the pacific coast of California. The biggest one is 5 cm long, widest at 4cm and thickest 3 cm. The coats of these strawberries are red and shiny. It must be quite juicy inside.

Strawberries are quite cheap in Canada. Philip told me that similar amount of strawberries is sold at about 2 Canadian dollars (roughly HK$12). What about the prices of strawberries on the mainland of U.S.A.?

Current 1D class

In these two days, April 22nd and 23rd, I went back to CCSC to take over the lessons of those teachers who were away to attend seminars.
Today, I did a few things:
[1] I talk with Principal Yuen.
[2] I ate a tart and a cake given by my colleagues.
[3] I visited the new eco-pond at the small garden at the backyard of CCSC.
[4] I was given a label card-holder with the “logo” of the CCSC 40th Anniversary.
[5] I went into current 1D classroom to meet the students. Their English teacher, Miss A. Cheung (better say, Mrs. Wong) asked me to give them some work sheets on Comprehension and Phonetics.

What I learned from this class are:
(1) The students were well-trained. They knew what to do and worked swiftly.
(2) While they were working, they kept quiet.
(3) I admired their concentration.
(4) They knew how to use the dictionaries, paper-made or electronic.
(5) They wrote the meaning neatly in tables.
(6) They wore P. E. uniforms of 4 colours – red, blue, green and yellow. I marvelled at this “New” sight in the classroom. I could say that I had not seen this scene before. Towards the end of the first period, I could not help asking them if they would mind my taking photos of them. What I worried was that when I returned to the same classroom in the last period (9th lesson of the day), they would have changed back to their normal school uniforms. They said I was right. They were allowed to change into P. E. uniforms to attend lessons only when they would have a P. E. lesson in the second or third period.
(7) The new P. E. uniforms looked very colourful, modern and well-designed, much much better than those old T-shirts with just a narrow coloured- stripe at the middle each.

Let us look at these happy boys and girls of CCSC. Some of them raised their fingers showing their victory for being school members of CCSC.

Although I don’t know their names at the moment, it is not difficult to learn them from the name list of the class. I hope that these students of the next generation will grow healthily and learn happily in this prestigious school.

獨食的滋味

上月二十四日在名字富有英國皇室感覺的餐廳叫了一碟美味的炒貴刁。在貴刁被端上來的時候，我禮貌地問一問同枱的夫人和兒子是否試一試其味道，回應是：一個嫌辛辣，一個不喜歡吃河粉，於是乎是我個人享用了整碟。

這碟炒貴刁，微辣，但已經令我的額頭不斷冒汗，用餐巾去抺，一下子便把它弄致濕透了。其實貴刁真是好美味，有洋葱味、蝦味、火腿味、雞蛋味、葱味及牛肉味。顏色七彩有緻，想起名舫酒樓自稱那些七彩炒粉(只有四種)，已笑了起來。

這七彩是紅椒的紅、雞蛋的黃、牛肉的深啡、蝦肉的淺橙、火腿的粉紅、青椒的綠及河粉洋葱的奶白色。

獨食的滋味具佔有感，全碟吃下去有極大滿足感。這次付出的汗水是值得的，好味！

兩個不同的小丸子

今天找來兩位小丸子，一在日本，另一在加拿大。

左邊這位是日本電視小丸子(真人板)，又甜可愛，右邊的是阿比，更甚，甜到不得了。

電視小丸子年紀比阿比大很多，足足有十至十二歲，阿比只有三歲。兩者在相中都合攏了咀，阿比合著嘴唇比電視小丸子更緊。

大家笑起上來都有酒渦，阿比左面那渦比較明顯，反之電視小丸子則右面那渦比較凹入去。

相比之下，電視小丸子是雙眼皮的，而阿比則單眼皮。

奇聞 ─ 新發現

台灣的電視旅遊雜誌「世界正美麗」舊年拍攝其中一個節目中，主持人「鴨子」把觀眾帶到長洲參觀太平清醮、飄色和搶飽山，其間去找肉食，竟然找不到，原因是當日全長洲只賣素食。奇怪的是島上著名的麥當奴快餐店推出了McVeggie-Burger (脆香素菇飽)給居民和遊客享用。











這個香菇素飽套餐賣27港元，單賣要15港元，你們試過未呢？

My Aces on TV

I often see two familiar faces of my past students, Kwok Wing Kam (郭詠琴) and Li Tung (李彤), during news bulletins on HKTVB and ATV respectively. Li Tung often go to Beijing to report the important events there. She often speaks to the Chinese High officials, and even with the Chinese Premier(s). They are very experienced reporters and has been working in the above two TV companies for many years.

I can still remember the lessons with them in the classrooms. Wing Kam has a sister, Wing Ka (詠嘉), who is also a reporter in HKTVB, but I regret I have not taught the latter.

Towards Sunset at Antarctica

It was Golden Time for the passengers on board a cruiser on the sea to look at such beautiful sunset view of the mountains of Antarctica . The ice on the mountain slopes looked very smooth gold when the light of the setting sun shone on it. My sister-in-law told me that the night at the Antarctica lasted only two hours at time of January. If one was used to sleep in the dark hours, he/she could only sleep for a short while.

The ripples on the sea made the ice-cold water look as if a cloth of silk wrinkled itself up. What an extraordinary sight at Antarctica!

As the sunlight dimmed, the colour at the mountain tops turned pink and night would fall soon. The cruiser should find a sheltered but safe bay to anchor and pass the night. It would be nice for the passengers to drill into their warm bed to take some sleep in complete darkness.

End of Anniversary Nite

To mark the end of the Anniversary Nite, all the guests of honour – school supervisor, school managers, principals and special guests went up to the stage to take a group photo with the School Choir and Red Cross Team.

This kind of photos is often seen at the end of a Chinese Opera (粵劇) or a Classic Chinese Palace Film (粵語宮闈片). The actors and actresses come together to thank the audience (謝幕) for their coming. I guessed it was so for the guests, hosts, students and teacher (Music) on the stage that very night.

小花也自豪

匆匆而過的行人因為趕緊時間，每每忽略了路旁一些不顯眼的小花的存在。如今我和前者們不同的地方是：我每天朝早不需要趕著返校去做教務工作，時間變得是自己的，自由自在，可以慢慢環顧四方，找找新景象，新事物，最好來一個新發現。

就在兩天前給我發現了屋苑其中一花圃上長出幾朵可愛清新的小花，花瓣五片，顏色是漸變的粉紅。近花托內裏部分是淺綠色的，在這空間藏有五柱奶白色的雄蕊待蜜蜂去闖。我覺得它們吸引，自然把它們影像留下在我相機裏面。它們叫甚麼名字不太重要，只要有人欣賞，好應該自豪一番！

思德書室

早前往上水一遊，穿過北區公園，路過粉嶺北圍，轉往南圍，當接近新運路時，見到左面有金字頂古老平房一間。左邊見「思德堂」，平房上方牌匾寫著「思德書室」，門口拱門則寫上「粉嶺學校」四字。我覺得把這書室的影像留下都不錯吧！


為了多些了解這書室的歷史，於是又找維基百科幫一幫忙：

思德書室位於香港新界北區粉嶺南圍，是新界五大家族粉嶺彭氏三所祖祠之一。思德書室由1936年開始用作粉嶺學校的校址，書室外面仍保留「粉嶺學校」的牌坊，更獲得政府津貼。於1957年遷往毗鄰的新校址，易名為粉嶺公立學校。

思德書室是一所兩進式家祠兼學塾，創建年代已不可考，曾於道光及光緒年間兩次重修，除祭祀祖先外，也供族內子弟研習進修之用。書院規模不大，只有幾個課室，以前只讓彭姓村民入讀，外姓者一律被拒。上一輩的村民都在書院讀書，採用中國傳統教材教學，粉嶺公立學校落成後便搬遷過去，而原來的思德書室則闢作教師宿舍。後來政府改例，禁止任何人在學校範圍留宿，思德書室不再擔當學校的宿舍。現時書室已沒有教育的功能，只供族人作祭祀及舉行宴會之用。

What’s its name?

At Landmark North (上水廣場), I discovered a strange yellow figure of somewhat like a naughty boy. He had a broad face from a big head, a frog-mouth from which showed the red tongue. The nostrils were as small as two dots. The eyebrows were equally small like two tiny braces. The eyes were just two slits for inserting coins. It might be that this boy had dyed his hair,so the latter appeared to be light brown.

His arms were very thin indeed. The right hand was carrying three beautiful shopping bags while the left hand holding a horn. What was that horn for? I never knew! The green stuff looked like his shorts.

This must be a new cartoon figure which appeared recently on Hong Kong TV or somewhere in the world. At first I did not know its name, but looking up a large board, I found it.

Who created it must have got the "idea" from a pad of wheat flour one day at a bakery.

What is his name? Guess and select one of the following:
A. Ah Do (阿杜) B. Ah Re (阿呢) C. Ah Me (阿面) D. Ah Fa (阿花) E. Ah So (阿蘇)

Performances of our Chinese Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra, School Choir and Red Cross Team

On CCSC Anniversary Nite , our Chinese Orchestra played two pieces of music, 美麗的壯錦 and 崖上的波兒(a song from a Japanese Anime film), conducted by Mr. Leung Yan Chiu. Our Symphony Orchestra played only one song called Variations on a Shaker Melody, conducted by a young lady, Miss Anita Tam.

The last programme of the Nite was performed by our School Choir who sang the school song, conducted by our new Music teacher, Miss Fu, a graduate of our school. The choir was joined by the Red Cross Team who expressed the idea of the song by their sign language.

Cheer Power

Cheer Power was one of the Highlights of the CCSC 40th Anniversary Nite. It was originally a competition during the Annual Sports Days at the Sports Ground, but it became a programme of the Nite. Obviously the performers were the cheering teams of the four houses of the school, namely, Blue House, Red House, Yellow House and Green House.

Gymnastics, cheering slogans and shaking colourful balls were the main elements of the performance of each house. I liked the last part of the mass performance when all the cheering teams show their “Power” and “Friendship” together.

Queenstown

Houses were built at different levels on the slopes of the low hills in Queentown. This is a similar case in Central and Western District on Hong Kong Island. Some houses in this NZ town were too simple to mention, four walls with two slanting roof-top pieces. Bigger and more complicated houses, usually two to three storeys, are built higher up the slope edged by a long line of tall trees. The trees here serve to protect the ridges of the hill.

Shops are opened on the both sides of the main roads which run up and down over undulating land. The high mountains in the distance form a natural barrier protecting this town from extreme weathers.

A Cardinal in Texas

Today, when I was on my way to have breakfast in a fast food restaurant, I saw a black bird with a gelled-look head (pointed to the sky). By the time, I took out my camera out of its protective leather bag, rather say plastic one and got the lens ready, the bird had already jumped from a flower bed onto the road. As I was going to press the shutter button, it was gone. I believe taking a photo of a bird is more difficult than of a child because a child cannot fly away.

This morning, Daisy Mak sent me some photos from Texas. Two of her photos were of a beautiful red bird.

Let us see what my dear classmate told me about the lovely bird:

"The bird is a male red cardinal (a common bird in S. Texas). It is now Spring, the mating season. He thought that he saw a competitor in the window. While I was watching, he had been bumping his head on the window several times, trying to attack the competitor. Silly bird!"

When Daisy says that the bird is silly, it is simply because the latter has not learned anything about Physics from school.

天氣預告動畫

最近藍綠紅電視台天氣預告除出現了新面孔(孫淑禎)之外，還有卡通動畫給觀眾意會，非常簡單易明，相信男女老少都歡迎它們！ 今次介紹這組的卡通連環圖有一個特色，就是預告翌日天氣將變成有時天陰，間中有陽光。

從動畫中細看卡通港島有幾幢著名的大廈，究竟你們知多少呢？

Papaya Trees at three different places

The first time I saw a papaya tree was on Lamma Island on October 30th, 2008.

The canopy of this tree looked like a broken umbrella because the leaves grew in a spiral manner but leaving some openings for sunlight to go to the rest of the tree. In usual case, you will certainly get wet when you stand underneath it when raining.

The papayas looked light green and hard before they ripened. They had a completely different texture from that of its tree trunk. The former were smooth and the latter was rugged. The larger papayas grew lower down while the smaller and young ones above them.














The second time I saw papaya trees was at Fanling on April 10th, 2009. This time the papayas were as big as small footballs. The cluster of papayas can fill a full basket for market sale. The big ones were round like balls. One never knows that they were papayas. They will perhaps recognize them as pomelos.














The third time I saw them, the most recent one, was today, April 14th, 2009, at Shatin. The papaya trees were short and young. Papayas could not be seen at that moment but the white flowers impressed me most.

It is nice to meet tall and short, young and old trees of papayas at 3 different places, namely, Lamma, Fanling and Shatin. I love indeed the white flowers of papayas.