有朋自遠方來

上星期有两批同學在加拿大聚首, 黃慧莉由卡加利悉先報導她們的聚會, 以下是她的電郵:
Those of us from Calgary took a one-day trip to meet the rest in Edmonton. Fiona was very kind to drive all of us (Joshua Wu and his wife Christiana, Fred and I) to meet Janette Tsang Kit Ying, Catherine Lam Chi Ying and her husband Milton there. Chow Choi Lin sent her regrets that she and her husband, Sun could not join us. However, we were able to include Wendy Yung Chi Hung (66 grad) and her husband Norman for lunch.

Catherine and Milton couldn’t join us till supper. They broke the rule by generously treating all of us to a delicious dinner. It didn’t take us long before we all chatted with one another like old friends. We had a wonderful time although we all wish we could have more time. The names for the people in the picture:

Picture 2: back (l to r) Fred, Christiana, Joshua, Milton, Pauline
Front (l to r) Fiona, Catherine, Janette
Picture 1: (l to r) Fiona, Christiana, Joshua, Norman, Wendy, Janette, Pauline, Fred

另外在多倫多則有十ニ位同學一起飲茶, 我簡記了一則: 一群老同學在八月十九日星期六中午飲茶, 歡迎鄺海疇伉儷到訪多倫多, 在眾人中有一位同學我是不認得的, 自中五畢業後已有三十九年未見過李麗珠了, 倘若在街上擦身而過是不會相認的, 以前在學校我們只是在F5A同過班, 而我居然連這也不記得, 過去的事真是選擇性地記得了. 是日出席的同學計有蔡恩瑩, 張國英, 劉玉卿, 崔德成, 劉紀榛, 黃惠瑜, 李麗珠, 葛港萍, 鄺海疇夫婦及我(何潔美), 徐新民在我早退時仍未出現, 不知他有否出席. 我們這群老同學談笑風生, 互相取笑, 想當年, 其中幾位更是由小學已是相識的了, 更是難得. 相片暫時欠奉, 因仍要等蔡小姐電寄過來.

Travelling Inspires

旅行的靈感 /邱立本

旅行就是不斷改變生活方式。離開熟悉的生活軌道，遇上每天難以預測的人與事, 喚發生命中特別的化學作用，一些平常完全沒想到的反應，竟然會從自己身體中釋放出來. 因而旅行文學的終極主題，就是旅人在發現新的風景之際，也在發現自己內心世界的新風景。

一場旅行歸來，行囊中裝載的不僅是刺激與新鮮感，也裝載著生命中全新的願景。

新的願景是由於新的視野。重訪美國，發現華人的力量正在迅速上升，開拓了一些過去想也沒想到的行業，像華人的交通業，顛覆了主流社會的操作模式和價格結構。從紐約到波士頓或費城，收費只要美金十塊左右，比傳統的灰狗長途客運便宜了太多。而在紐約市內，從法拉盛到唐人街，如果坐地鐵，轉車及等車，起碼要一小時，但坐華人公司所辦的專線小巴，刁鑽靈活，不到二十五分鐘就到達，收費只是兩塊。

這其實開拓新的視野。華人社會內部的競爭力，也改變了美國社會的競爭力。一些潛藏在華人社區內部的商機，變成了美國主流社會的商機。華人獨特的陸路交通網，不僅面對華人消費者，也吸引其他族裔。一些其他族裔，也競相效尤，客觀上提升了美國的競爭力。如果美國華人的創意可以改變美國社會，為什麼全球華人社會的創意不可以改變全球. 這是全球化現象中的最新願景，讓全球華人的資金、人才的自由流動，創造一個更 有競爭力、更人性化的全球格局。

加拿大校友會西宝角夏日逍遙遊

七月廾四日早上有太陽, 我們一行四十多人, 集合在Sibbald Point Provincial Park舉行野飱, 我們預訂了一個大涼亭, 大家忙了一頓, 分工合作, 有人生火透BBQ爐, 有人掛耀目的新banner, 又有人切蔬菜, 整頓好午飱的一切後. 趁有太陽, 先影了集体相, 然後請陳榮基同學作謝飯祈禱, 跟着就一起吃了一頓非常豐富的BBQ午飱. 我們更就地取材, 製了一份別開生面的禮物, 祝賀Vivian 同學的ニ十周年結婚紀念.
剛吃完午飱, 天公便不大合作, 竟然下起滂沱大雨, 更刮起大風, 我們要用枱布來擋雨呢, 可憐公园內其他遊人均变成了落湯雞呢, 後來更要借用我們的一角涼亭來避雨, 真是狼狽呢.
Winston於飯後領導我們玩「有口難言」, Adonza帶头示範, 謎底是「螳臂擋車」, 隊友居然毫不費力便猜中, 下一隊由陳榮基帶头示範, 謎厎是「日理萬机」, 當他的隊友試圖照着他的動作示範時, 我們都笑到捧着肚子, 因為這个隊友明顯地是不知謎底的, 只是依樣葫蘆照做而巳, 反而被另一隊猜到了答案.
雨下了許久才稍停, 因為天氣不适宜釣鱼，划艇, 踏單車或玩球類, 所以許多人都打道回府了, 約三時多便結束這个BBQ夏日逍遙遊.
這一天的活動, 盡顯我們銀禧的丰範, 一如冼大鵬老師訓曰, 我們「有計劃, 有組織, 精誠團結, 互愛互助, 在海外仍能保持联繫, 實屬難能可貴」, 願各銀禧校友共勉之.

銀禧中學加拿大校友会
本屆會長 何潔美

Malcolm & Tibetan Antelopes - Part 2

In this 2nd part of Malcolm Au’ story of his visit to the Arijin Mountains, Xinjiang from 19 June to 7 July 2006 in search of the Tibetan antelopes, he tells us how this once-in-a-lifetime trip has turned out to be a reflective journey of his own life. Part 1 can be found here.

On our way back from the Arijin Mountains, which is just north of the Kun Lun Mountains and Ke Ke Xi Li in Tibet, we ran into big snow storm late in the evening so we had to abandon our original plans to proceed further, and could only stay in a truck stop on the way. I don’t need to remind you that even the best of truck stops are a far cry from a Four Seasons Hotel – let’s not even mention the ones in the poorest part of China.

The stop is actually a long make-shift tent .There are two rows of single beds parked along each side of the tent with a dining table between the beds to provide the ultimate convenience in case someone would like to quickly doze off after a meal. They jokingly called each bed a standard room and I was fortunate enough to get a single room all by myself. The unfortunate ones had to double up on a bed. The cost per single bed is an affordable rmb 10 per night. There were around twenty people, mostly truck drivers, staying in the tent with us. If you were to add up the total number of days that all the people staying in the tent had to go without shower, the number could easily exceed a year. This resulted in a particular lingering aroma which is unique, not too pleasant and not easily forgettable. Noise pollution is another problem. I should have recorded the snoring in the middle of the night for inspiration in case I decide to become a musician later in life. To prevent my sleeping bag from being plagued by fleas or other undesirable small creatures, I did not open it and instead chose to sleep with my full gear on, including shoes and hat. In the middle of the night I was so cold that I could not resist covering myself with the blanket provided. I don't want to know when the blanket was last washed, but it did serve its purpose of keeping me warm. There was a tiny coal-burning stove in the tent that was on most of the night, and I am sure that during the night, I have taken in sufficient carbon monoxide to satisfy my life time quota. All and all, that was not an experience that one longs to savor and to repeat. My only regret was, since I was too indulged in myself getting some rest, I didn’t think of talking to some of the truck drivers to find out the many stories of their lives underneath those weather beaten faces and weary eyes.

I am proud of the fact that I survived. I slept very well that night. I was a lot happier about myself. I felt very blessed and loved. I have a happy family. I can enjoy many good things life has to offer and I can use my energy, network, knowledge and money to do the things I love. I am not looking for happiness, I am happy…… for the time being. I am also happy because I got my wish and took a picture with a day old Tibetan Antelope in my arms. I will be happy to show you.

For a full set of photos accompanying this article, please click here.