Day Off

Wednesday is our day off.  I do not go to the office; my wife does not teach; and we usually do not make appointments with anyone.  

Today I started with a 10 kilometre run along the TSTE water front.  It is good weather for running - not too hot, and not too cold either.  After breaking my foot last September,  I have since recovered to the extent I can run without discomfort from the broken foot.  But I do not dare run too fast, and am always worry about the uneven pavement. I have a feeling I may not be able to run another full marathon.   

Then we go out for dim sum.  This is a restaurant which has only been open for a few months.  The food is genuinely improving and getting pretty good.  Today they surprise us with a new dish - steamed eel, which we quite like.  

After dim sum, I took a nap on the sofa in front of our big window.  I felt tired and fulfilled, my stomach full, safe and comfortable, and drifted off in no time at all.   When I woke up, I had to stretch my legs and feet for a while before I could get off the sofa. 

Then I practiced on the piano, which has been left lonely after all three of our girls moved out and away.  I am using some of the music books they left behind.  I have been learning for a year now and have learned only 5 very short, simple songs.  The songs sound right.  But I am not really sure whether I am playing the notes correctly, in the right way.   I do know that I enjoy the sound of the piano.  Starting with one hand, then two hands together in a simple combination, it feels good to be able to play a few simply songs.  I also enjoy learning to put emotion into the music, to communicate with it - even though I am only talking with myself. 

While playing the piano, I also made tea, with the tea set from our daughter A.  Very tasty tea.  

For dinner, my wife made a delicious plate with some of the dried seafood (mushrooms, fish maws, abalone, chicken and choi sum) we bought in Sai Ying Pun on Sunday.  Washed down with a beer.  Really satisfying!

After dinner, I return to my reading and writing.  I am learning the difference between the left side and the right side of our brain, and how they change the way we interact with the world - and change history. Fascinating stuff, and highly relevant to everything that we do, and think! 

Is this what retirement is like?  I can do it one day a week.  But I am sure I would enjoy it if everyday is like this.  

The Joy of Learning

Came to campus early this morning.  Picked up a coffee and a book and sat in front of a bunch of trees, with birds chirping all around. 

The book is “NOISE - A Flaw in Human Judgment”, by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein.  The chapter I am reading this morning is on how much do we actually understand an issue.  I found it very relevant to the research that we are conducting - understanding service-learning.  What works and what doesn’t?  And why?  

In our research, what we often found is correlation.  For example, there is a good correlation between a good learning experience and desired learning outcomes for the students. 

We may state this in a formula:  causation -> correlation

But that does not necessarily mean that one cause the other: correlation X-> causation.  

On the other hand, causation should result in correlation: X correlation -> X causation.  

That is, if a good learning experience causes good learning outcomes, then we should be able to see a good correlation between the two.   On the contrary, if we cannot find correlation, that should imply that one does not cause the other.  So, finding correlation should at least mean that causation may the there. 

From a broader perspective, if we truly understand an issue, e.g., the critical success factors of service-learning, then we should be able to predict, with high degree of accuracy, how to put together a service-learning course/project to achieve the desired learning outcomes.  If not, then that means we still do not fully understand the issue yet.  In the terminology from the book, there is still a lot of “objective ignorance”.  In other words, there is much to learn.  

It is so exciting to know that I have learned something.  Even though there is still so much to learn.  

Fish Maw Lesson

My wife and I got a useful lesson on fish maw today, from the proprietors of a whole sale seafood store in Sai Ying Pun. 

First lesson: 花膠 and 魚肚 are basically the same thing.  It is, of course, dried air bladders from fishes.  Fishes is correct since the maw can come from a great variety of types of fish.  The cost of a piece of fish maw can vary greatly depending on which type of fish it comes from.  

They can come in the shape of a tube.  Generally the bigger and thicker ones are better. 

They can also be cut open and flattened.  It is said that generally only thicker ones can be cut open and still look good.  

All of these are quite expensive, costing many hundreds of Hong Kong dollars per catty.  

One of the best quality for money is this product from Uganda, perhaps from a fish that lives in Lake Victoria.  It is a huge body of water.  Very impressive when I flew over it on the way from Uganda to Rwanda.  The shape of this maw is not as neat and uniform as the more expensive ones, but the quality is actually quite good - according to the proprietor.  

But 沙爆魚肚 is something quite different.  It is fish maw stir-fried in sand.  It looks like  沙爆豬皮 (pig skin).  They are generally less expensive. 

Then there is the fish maw that is used in dim sum. This is probably the least expensive version.  Not whole pieces of fish maw.  But rather bits and pieces from unidentified, mixed types of fish.  It comes in big sacks, to be delivered to restaurants.    

This is perhaps the lowest grade of fish maw.  But the dim sum still tastes very good.  

All in all, a half day well spent in Sai Ying Pun. 

Cai Yuan Pei 蔡元培 Tomb Vandalised

On Tsing Ming festival, I went with my brother and some of our cousins to pay our respects at the tombs of our grandparents, at the Chinese Cemetery in Aberdeen.  After that, I went to pay my respects at Cai Yuan Pei’s tomb.

His tomb has a new look now.  The big tombstone, is now completely encased by clear plastic sheets.  This is, apparently, to protect it against further damage.  Not from the wind or rain, or other natural causes.  But from vandalism.  Vandalism may not even be the right word.  Because the damage was intentional, pre-meditated and targeted.  The stone is hard. Some tool must have been used, with great force.  

According to the media, someone chipped off parts of the tombstone in November 2019.  It was at the height of the violent confrontation between protestors and the Hong Kong government.  A person from Mainland China subsequently claimed responsibility.  He stated himself that he was angry at the protestors.  He was angry that some media associated a couple of the university presidents in Hong Kong with Cai.  The presidents involved did not actually say they support or even agree with the students.  But they were simply concerned with the students’ safety.  Some people in the media felt that stance had some similarity with Cai’s stance back in the days of the May 4 Movement, in 1919, a hundred years ago.  In those days, Cai, as president of Peking University, did not agree with the actions of the protesting students, but he tried to protect their safety.  

This is what I learned so far. 

Cai was, and continues to be, well-respected by many people across the political spectrum.  He had been a scholar, an educator, rather than a political figure.  He had been dead for 80 years (He died in 1940 in Hong Kong).  It is disturbing that someone would attack his tomb now.  The rationale behind the motivation, as stated by the apparent perpetuator himself, is equally disturbing.  What does such destruction achieve?   

There is just way too much violence, physical as well as verbal, mental, on physical things, institutions, and people.  Way too much faulty reasoning, disproportionate reaction, impulsiveness, lack of self-control. 

Let alone selfishness, bias, bigotry and damnable injustice.