Just Because We Are from BHJS

To mark the 500th visit to our blog by the 145th first time visitor, I am posting the speech of Mr. Sen at the AGM of the BHJS Canadian Alumni Association in Februry 2006. I am sure you will find it inspirational.

各位校友：

恭祝大家新春康樂，萬事如意。

我是冼大鵬老師，由一九六二年起，任教銀禧中學，至一九八八年退休，共二十六年。在這段日子非常愉快，正如孟子所說：「得天下英才而教育之，一樂也。」你們都是英才，離開母校四十多年，平步青雲，得到最高的學位，最好的事業，為銀禧爭光，可喜可賀。

古人說：「人生有三大喜事，其中一項是他鄉遇故知。」你們異地重敘有組織，有聯繫，精誠團結，難能可貴。

歷代國際邦交，都是互利雙贏，國與國之間，講求雙方利益，大家都見到。但我們同學之間，絕不能有這種思想，文學家冰心母愛曾說：「不為什麼，只因你是我的女兒。」我希望大家有這樣偉大精祌，校友共處，都是不為什麼，皆因我們是銀禧同學。

最後感謝何潔美主席給我一個機會和大家談談，祝大家有更美滿的生活。

Looking Back at the Eighties

回眸八○年代 /邱立本

看完世界杯的比賽，天已經亮了。喝太多濃濃的茶，竟然無睡意，拿起了剛買的《八十年代訪談錄》，看查建英怎樣和那些八○年代的文化人物對話，重溫中國現代史一個關鍵的年代，發現比世界杯的比賽更扣人心弦。

這些文化人物包括了阿城、北島、陳丹青、陳平原、崔健、甘陽、李陀、栗憲庭、林旭東、劉索拉、田壯壯等。他們回顧自己生命旅程中的一個重要驛站。在八○年代，他們揮別了以前的悲歡離合，走上了新的人生軌跡。

這也是生命的轉軌。當生產力和生產關係巨變，時代的氛圍也激烈變化，每個人都在發現新的風景，也發現了新的自己。

新的自己其實也包括了一些過去被隱藏的自己。一些被政治力鎮壓的文化符號，又重新復活。個人的、傳統的文化活力，渡過了漫長的冬眠，慢慢甦醒，重新看這個世界，那些激動人心的作品，像阿城的《棋王》，崔健的《一無所有》，都是八○年代的旗幟，召喚一個完全不一樣的文化中國。

這也是一個重新自我啟蒙的年代。四九年以來的文化秩序已經無聲地瓦解，馬、列、毛的話語系統，已經無法詮釋和駕馭新時代的躁動。八○年代是現代史轉彎的時刻，也為今日新世紀的人文情懷作出重要的鋪墊。

Sweet Get Together

We are delighted to receive the following write-up from Fiona Wong dated 26 June Monday about a warm alumni gathering in Calgary. We welcome the sharing with us any mini-reunions leading up to the BHJS 1967 grand reunion next year.

I am in favour of setting up a BHJS 1967 graduates alumni which reminds us that we walked into each other's life as a teenager, for many of us like me somehow got lost over three decades, but re-connected through our efforts and the wonderful invention of the internet. I treasure the pure friendship developed in school and have the will to continue to keep in touch as long as I live.

When I first joined in the e-mail orrespondence, I wrote about my settling well in retirement life in Calgary for 4 years. Then a few days later, Pauline Wong (F5B) who happened to have lived in Calgary for 30 odd years contacted me and visited me at my home. Then Joshua Wu (F2A, F5C) was found and wrote to us all. He thought he was the only one in Calgary. He moved to Calgary from Ottawa about 9 years ago because he got a new job here. To his surprise, he is not the sole BHJS 67 graduate here.

I am a retired solicitor. Pauline wants to tune down a bit and is selling her Kumon business (a sort of "po chap ser" which provides drilling on Maths after school) but is still a school librarian. Joshua is an electrical engineer doing some high tech stuff along with some retired military personnel. His hair is natural black without artificial colour treatment. I envy him. He has not changed much, just more muscular.

I am happy to tell you all that last night we had a wonderful reunion at Joshua's house. Pauline and her husband Fred were there but my husband was in Hong Kong and missed our gathering. Joshua's wife Christina prepared a delicious Chinese meal. Pauline brought along a healthy home baked carrot cake with less sugar and less butter which was tasty and fluffy. I am not creative in making desert. I cheated a little bit and made almond soup from frozen concentrate I bought and boiled some frozen sweet round dumplings ("tong yuen") which I also bought from Chinese supermarket.

Although it was the first time for Joshua's wife and Pauline's husband Fred and me met each other, we chatted as though we have known each other since our school days. During our conversation, it was disclosed that Fred knows some of Joshua's colleagues because they go to the same church. It was also disclosed that Christina and I also have mutual friends. Another unbelievable fact is that Pauline and her husband met my cousin and his wife in an Anglican church when they were in Vancouver some 30 years ago and they are still good friends. It is a small, small world. The five hours we spent in Joshua's house passed very very quickly. We really had to leave shortly before midnight because Joshua and his wife had to catch an early flight to Seattle today.

Pauline will try to set up a gatherng in Edmonton in mid August when we take a three and a half hour drive about 400 odd kilometersup north to meet 3 more 67 graduates who live there.

Joshua and Christina, thank you for your hospitality and delicious food. Pauline, thank you for the delicious 100% home made cake. Joshua and Pauline, you both have wonderful and friendly spouses who fit into our 1967 alumni.

I attach photos we took in front of and in the back yard of Joshua's house. Christina in red dress, Joshua next to her, Fred in blue pants and Pauline next to him, and then me in a brown shirt. Will anybody plan to visit Calgary? Calgary is getting more world attention because of the boom in the oil and gas industry and the Oscar Award winning film Brokeback Mountain which was filmed in and around Calgary with beautiful scenery.

Conspicuous Absence 2

Yes, I am curious too and I dug around a bit in the Wiki and the FIFA's own site. Here is my little finding:

FIFA is split into six confederations (UEFA, AFC, CONMEBOL, OFC, CAF and CONCACAF) which oversee the game in the different continents and regions of the world.

For the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the FIFA Executive Committee decided to allocate the following number of slots to the confederatons:

* UEFA (Europe - 52 members): 14
* AFC (Asia - 46 members): 4.5, competes for the 5th slot against CONCACAF
* CONMEBOL (S. America - 10 members): 4.5, competes for the 5th slot with OFC
* OFC (Oceania - 11 members): 0.5
* CAF (Africa - 53 members): 5
* CONCACAF (N, Central America, Caribbean - 40 members): 3.5

The FIFA Executive Committee consists of:
President - Switzerland
Sr. VP - Argentina
VP's - Scotland, Sweden, Cameroon, Korea Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Spain
Members - Belgium, Costa Rica, Brazil, Qatar, Turkey, USA, Thailand, Paraguay, Botswana, Mali, Russia, Germany, France, Tonga, Japan, Tunisia.

The Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup forms groups and/or sub-groups for the preliminary competition by seeding and drawing lots whilst taking sports, geographic and economic factors into consideration, as far as possible.

The Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup is appointed by the FIFA Executive Committee.

Conspicuous Absence

In response to Yu Lai King's comment at the post of A Taste of Globalization, I am posting an article from Yau Lop Poon on the hot topic of the World Cup.

情何以堪 /邱立本

世界杯足球賽開鑼了，但一個巨大的問號卻在十幾億全球華人面前出現：為什麼華人在世界杯缺席？

這不僅是中國大陸足球的問題，也牽涉到全球華人，因為香港、台灣、東南亞及北美等華人聚居的地方，也沒有任何一個華人球員可以馳騁在世界杯的足球場上。

當中國大陸的姚明可以NBA籃球場上揚威，台灣的王建民可以在美國棒球大聯盟露臉，唯獨在足球場上，卻沒有任何華人的蹤影，為什麼？

中國球迷的數量，傲視世界，是全球最大的球迷群體，但他們在世界杯的狂歡中，卻難掩內心的痛苦，因為他們沒有一個華人球員可以捧場，可以為他吶喊、歡呼。中國球迷要把他們的忠誠度轉移到給歐美列強，為英國人、德國人、巴西人，甚至非洲人們歡呼。

中國人，你為什麼在世界杯缺席？全球華人，你為什麼在世界杯缺席？

沒有人能夠回答這個問題，也許是因為中國大陸足球太腐敗了，太多的黑哨、假球、球霸，足球變得一片烏煙瘴氣，足球失去了公信力，失去了競爭力，也失去了前進的動力。

但昔日曾經顯赫一時的香港足球，也一蹶不振，老球迷卻不會忘記，在五十年代，香港足球隊曾經代表中華民國，在亞洲足壇縱橫，贏得了不少和掌聲。

俱往矣，在通宵看世界杯之後，全球華人唯一的慰藉，是拿出周星馳的《少林足球》DVD，重看一次，让那些天馬行空的想像力，來撫平今日中國人在足球世界的心靈傷口。

Happy Birthday Ms Ng

If you are looking for someone to exemplify what Bob Buford put forward in Half Time, you don't have to look far. Our beloved Ms Ng is a shining example.

From a teacher, adminstrator and educator, she is now a counsellor, missionary and evangelist. She travels extensively in the New York/New Jersey area as well as in China especially in the Pearl River Delta (where her hometown is) to run programs, start new churches and help others. Her usual day consists of 12-14 working hours.

We are fortunate to be able to celebrate her 73rd birthday with her at a dinner in the China Land Restaurant in Mongkok. She was most inspirational. Some of the secrets she shared with us in keeping herself agile in body and mind are drinking lots of water, fasting and prayers, taking an egg daily, swimming often and eating a good variety of fruits and grains.

She insisted that we leave her our contacts and names of our spouse and children so that she can remember us and our families in her prayers.

To classmates who were not able to come to the 23 June dinner, the good news is that Ms Ng will be joining our 40th Anniversary Reunion in August 2007, so you'll be able to meet with her then.

(The photos shown in this post are by the courtesy of Cheng Yat Hei)

A Taste of Globalization

The posting of this article from Yau Lop Poon marks the browsing of our Blog by the 100th first-time visitor.

從口腔開始 /邱立本

香港的茶餐廳已經變成國際傳奇。那些讓海外香港人夢縈魂牽的絲襪奶茶、波蘿油已經變成一種香港的簽名。來自日本、台灣的遊客，都會蜂擁而來，品嘗這些道地的香港口味。

但這些傳奇也在急劇改變，變得更為豐富，那天無意中去中環的翠華茶餐廳，發現它的菜式變得多元化，並且發展一些混血式的食品，像「瑞士雞翼撈丁」，就是用西式的滷汁釀製雞翅膀，再配以日本「出前一丁」的乾麵，別有風味，又價廉物美。

這兒也有很多港式的咖哩食品，匯聚馬來咖哩、日本咖哩和印度咖哩的特點，自成一格，那天吃了一客咖哩牛腩飯，再配一杯冰凍的檸檬可樂，口感極佳，是最佳的配搭。

這也許是香港文化的特色，總喜歡匯聚不同文化，共冶一爐。西方人看到香港茶餐廳的「鴛鴦」──咖啡和奶茶融合在一起，覺得匪夷所思，甚至不敢一試，但香港人會驕傲地、也帶點不屑地一口一口喝下去，然後對那些目瞪口呆的老外說，這就是最早的全球化。

一切的融合，就從口腔開始。

For the Spicy Tongues

咖哩魚蛋 /邱立本

朋友在美國久居後回港，說他最懷念香港的食品，是街頭的咖哩魚蛋。

這其實是八十年代才流行的香港小吃。但到了今天，街頭的小食攤子，總少不了咖哩魚蛋。咖哩的香辣味與魚蛋的鮮味結合，飄蕩在夜色中，成為旺角、尖沙咀、觀塘和西環街頭不可或缺的氣味。一串六粒魚蛋，港幣五塊，有些攤子魚蛋比較大，一串六粒六塊，也就是一粒一塊錢，仍然是價廉物美。

香港話的「魚蛋」，其實就是魚丸，強調用新鮮的魚肉「打」好，要有一種「彈牙」的感覺，一咬下去清脆中有種韌性，爽滑可口，充份滿足了食客的口感。

這也是異樣的口腔快感。咖哩魚蛋的號召力，就是以異國風情的咖哩，配以本土特色的魚蛋，洋溢粵語所說的「惹味」，不少香港人站在街頭，讓那一顆又一顆的魚蛋在口腔內滾動，又香又辣又燙又彈牙，無論是在寒風刺骨的冬夜，還是熱浪滾滾的盛暑，咖哩魚蛋都是絕對的「醒神」，可以讓香港黑夜的街頭不再寂寞，讓那些孤獨的舌頭與刺激的味道糾纏，讓港人的集體口腔獲得了滿足。

Beijing on the Move

Greetings from Beijing!

The Great Firewall allows me to post to, but not to read, our blog from here.

Beijing has changed quite a bit. I don’t mean from my first visit in 1971, but just from a few years ago.

• You have to resort to the Grand Hyatt’s Made In China instead of the traditional Quanjude for the best Peking duck.
• You can sip Starbucks coffee almost from anywhere instead of just from the more popular malls.
• You don’t have to cover your nose going to a public toilet. Indeed most of the public toilets, including those in the hutongs, are pretty decent.
• You can see movies like the Da Vinci Code (at least for two weeks)
• You can enjoy some nicely restored heritage sites, like the Yonghe Gong (which I just visited today with an interesting narration from the audio guide)
• You have to allow much more time to get around as most of the roads are clogged by the ever-increasing number of private cars.
• You can be practiced upon by the taxi drivers for their mandatory English required by the Olympic games in 2008.
• You can see a lot more pensioners. I was drafting this post outside a school for the aged in Guozijian Road with its octogenarian orchestra ceaselessly practicing some Peking opera tunes.

But Beijing is always a great city to visit with its thousand year history of successes and failures, rights and wrongs, culture and anti-culture. You will never fail to find changes here in spite of its seeming perpetuality.

Photos by courtesy of Robin Kwong

A Drinking Memory in Summer

夏天的汽水 /邱立本

那天和一個老同學聊天，談到小時候的吃喝，他說當時最喜歡的飲料是屈臣氏的「哥喇」。

我聽了這商品的名字，不禁心頭一震。因為這也是我童年時常喝的汽水，每瓶兩毛錢。「哥喇」是什麼意思，我一直猜不透，直到最近姊姊提點我，說這可能就是「Cola」的另一種音譯。

我不知道這是否正確，但「哥喇」在五、六十年代的香港是比可口可樂更受歡迎的汽水，因為它更普羅，比賣三毛錢一瓶的可口可樂便宜一毛錢。

到了炎夏季節，晚上父親就會叫我到樓下的「士多店」訂些冰凍汽水來喝。這是「前冰箱年代」，大部分家庭都沒有冰箱，仲夏之夜，一家人最佳的享受就是每人喝一瓶或半瓶汽水。我穿了一條短褲，光著上身，就從四樓一溜煙奔下去，在樓下的「公記士多」的小商店，訂了十一瓶汽水。那位士多老闆用一個分成一格又一格的木盤子，裝著十一瓶汽水上來，然後用開瓶器一一打開。

這十一瓶汽水，往往全部都是「哥喇」，祖母一邊喝一邊會說：「哥喇」最有氣了！她說喝了一半，就會肚子都有氣，可以解炎夏的暑氣。快半個世紀後，遙想昔日的汽水與氣，竟如一縷輕煙，早已雲深不知處了.

Getting Connected

A main reason for starting this Blog is to locate and reconnect our 1962-67 BHJS classmates and teachers ahead of our grand 40th anniversary reunion in 2007. As of today, we have successfully reconnected a group of about 60 with email contacts established and quite a few mini-reunions already taken place in Toronto, New York, Calgary, Sydney and Hong Kong.

To enable our classmates and teachers not yet connected to locate us, this Blog is now searchable by Google as a top page under BHJS 1967 and is linked to the BHJS Canada Alumni webpage thanks to Mr. H S Wong and the EXCO members in Canada. Suggestions as to how we can get more 1962-67 alumni reconnected are most welcome.

If you were in one of the 1962-67 classes and not yet in our email list, please leave us a contact as a comment to this post or email me so that you may be connected to the rest of the group.

Viva Nostalgia

Another article from Yau Lop Poon.

龍鳳‧瓊華 /邱立本

偶爾走路經過彌敦道，在車水馬龍，人聲鼎沸中，就會想起這條馬路的前世今生。它是九龍半島的動脈，但也是我童年時的感情動脈，而流動在這動脈中的血液，就是那些在童稚歲月回憶中揮之不去的茶樓。

在小學時期，父母親最喜歡帶我們幾個小孩逛彌敦道，而最後都會落腳在一家讓我飽口腹之慾的地方。

最常去的當然是茶樓。就在麗斯戲院附近的龍鳳茶樓和瓊華茶樓，都是父親的最愛。龍鳳茶樓比較傳統，頗有古老的風味，瓊華茶樓則比較現代，重視包裝，每年的端午節、中秋節，茶樓外都豎起巨大的海報看板，洋溢節日的氣氛。這兩家茶樓比肩而立，就在隔壁彼此打對台，規模也差不多一樣，都是整棟樓宇，茶客可以蜿蜒上樓梯，一層又一層，在週日最繁忙的時候，人聲茶香、點心的香味，融合成為一種讓人興奮的氛圍，我們幾個小孩，就會在這兒分享蝦餃、叉燒包、燒賣、豬腸粉、蘿蔔糕……

但就在這種氛圍中，我也和父親在分享邊喝茶邊讀報的習慣。我們讀《華僑日報》徐復觀寫的專欄，看《香港時報》體育版筆名「酸梅湯」的體育記者寫南華隊與巴士隊的「南巴大戰」，在《工商日報》上，我讀到了海明威吞槍自殺的新聞……，但幾十年後，這些茶樓和報紙都已隨風而逝，只成為我在彌敦道上的追憶。

Captive of an Aroma

Yau Lop Poon, our premier writer, has agreed to let us post his articles in our team blog for us all to enjoy and to share his inspiration of life. Your response and comments to his articles are most welcome.

被嗅覺俘虜 /邱立本

咖啡是氣氛的製造者，泡一壺咖啡，滿室生香，立刻可以改變一個空間的感覺，創造一種特別之氛圍，讓嗅覺先行，嗅出刺激的、警覺的、勤奮的但也可以是鬆弛的感覺。

我的一位老友，從來不喝咖啡，說怕上火，但他被咖啡的嗅覺俘虜了。每天早上起來，他就煮一壺咖啡，然後讓味道瀰漫，他就不斷在呼吸這種讓他可以感覺不一樣的氣味，他說，咖啡是用來聞的，而不是用來喝的，就好像煙斗一樣，聞煙斗的香味，比抽煙斗更享受。

這是嗅覺至上主義者，但也嗅出了咖啡的神秘主義。它比香水便宜，比臭豆腐高貴和方便。尤其好的咖啡，香味直襲鼻腔、胸腔、盪氣迴腸，未喝先迷倒。在早上起來迷迷糊糊的狀態，在下午開完長長的會議之後，在晚上挑燈夜戰的時刻，咖啡的香味是最好的救贖，可以救起那些沉睡的靈魂，可以刺激那些軟弱的肉體，可以開啟靈感的窗子。黑色的液體，散發著讓人摸不透的內容，無論是加上了糖、牛奶，或其他千奇百怪的配料，咖啡是生命中永遠的氣氛奇兵，可以在生活的戰場中扭轉形勢，因為一切的形勢，都從奇妙的嗅覺開始。

A suggestion

For those who think it may be a good idea to display your Chinese names, the ones we used at school, there is a way to do it.

At the Dashboard, click the "Edit Profile" link. At the "Display Name" entry under the "Identity" section, enter your Chinese name. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the big "Save Profile" button.

My PC has the English operating system and I don't have any Chinese software in my machine. I copied and pasted my Chinese name from the form magazine distributed by Tang Hing Lin (鄧慶年).

Ms. or Mr. Computer...?

I promised Martin Kwong that I'll read up on blogging before I mess up this blog. However, I came across this story during my research and I think it is worthwhile sharing. So here it is...

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine.

"House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa."

"Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz."

A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?"

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun.

Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:

1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ("el computador"), because:

1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

More Links

I have included the BHJS, BHJS Alumni and the BHJS Canada Alumni links to this blog. To encourage you to make this blog your homepage when you connect to the internet, I am planning to include some more useful links. My suggestion is to have the Mingpao and Yazhou Zhoukan links. Any other suggestions?

A Space for All

Dear All
If you have not yet been included as a contributor, please use comments to this post to share with us any news or thoughts you may have.

May Ho's comments

Hi Martin and MKY:
I am a new user under Blog. I have no idea how it works.
I have created my Blog account, now what?

Welcome

Welcome to the Bishop Hall Jubilee School (BHJS) class of 1962 to 1967 team blog. In 2007, we will be celebrating our 40th graduation anniversary. It is not the graduation that counts, but the reconnection of us all, with some not having seen each other for four decades. From the teenage dreams germinated at BHJS we have pursued our own legends in family, career and commitments. The 40th anniversary is an opportune time for us to come together from different parts of the world to reminisce our good old days, share our life experiences, and rekindle our longstanding friendship for years to come.

Initial plans for the August 2007 reunion are for a Yangtze river cruise, a Hong Kong program, and a land trip, most likely to Vietnam. More details to come.

This team blog welcomes posts and comments of greetings, gatherings, thoughts and articles from teachers and classmates; and comments from all BHJS friends. The administrators reserve the editorial rights.