Pamela's Gift to Goldies - A Birthday Party of Triple Joy!

“Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of ‘you’ to the world.”













December is a glorious month. Whether it’s cold and frost, or sun and warmth, it’s a time to celebrate Christmas in Christianity, a time to enjoy the harvest what we accomplished, and a time to relax and think of others that are less lucky than us. To goldies it means more. Irene, Linda and Pamela were all born in this glorious month.

It’s definitely the best time of a year. People, especially in western countries, take a long vacation due to the two biggest holidays, Christmas and New Year. Here in Taiwan we don’t have holidays, yet the trees, streets and buildings decorated with lights, and dangling things that make the city amazingly breath-taking at night says a bright, peaceful, joyful and thankful festival is a universal wish.

Pamela took the initiatives to announce a very special and joy-doubled Christmas and Birthday party more than two months ago. She was throwing a whole-night-through party. We all were going to stay overnight together there. When she decided the date, everything was set and put in place. She reserved a beautiful and spacious wooden cottage in a resort area. Everyone was excited over the biggest up-coming gathering. All of us; Gina, Irene, Kate, Linda, Michelle, Pamela, Sherry and I; couldn’t wait for the day to come except Lydia who was busy in preparing her son’s wedding and receiving her relatives, couldn’t make it. We couldn’t hide our disappointment, but understood how busy she must have been.

Pamela wrote again when the day was approaching:

"Good Friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget". At the special season, I would like to thank you for your supports, caring and friendship and let's have great fun, gatherings, life experience sharing and many others in the coming new year. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and May peace, love and prosperity follow you always in New Year.

How touching! Here’s a rough picture of how she arranged the party .

Place: High up in the beautiful mountain, 陽明山菁山露營場遊憩區
A wooden cottage: spacious enough for ten people to get wild and sleep cozily overnight.
Time: Dec. 25th beginning in the afternoon
Food, drinks and party ornaments: Pamela plus everyone’s input
Car pool: to make sure we will all be there before dinner time.
Entertainment: chatting, photo shooting, singing, dancing, hot spring, etc. .. just being spontaneous.

It turned out that the three who were born in Dec. spent the most time to prepare more-that-we-could-gulp finger-licking food. Linda’s chicken hot pot was seasonal and sensational; Irene’s cold dishes, green onion pan cakes plus a big birthday cake exceeded the volume we can digest. The other food brought to the party was left aside; no enough room in our stomach to touch them. Nevertheless, I did my best to consume the best I could regardless of my limited stomach, never being able to
resist scrumptious food.

To make it short, we had an extremely wild, crazy yet perfectly under-control party. I didn’t know if the roof stayed intact since we made such a big noise. Was the cottage sound-proof enough? We couldn’t tell. Sherry explored her imagination to take numerous incredible group pictures for us including a few taking from outside the cottage. Pamela and Michelle brought their lap tops and speakers to play the songs and music we need. Gina and Kate showed again how Chinese opera has done with their posture. I contributed a little bit with the Christmas ornaments along with Pamela’s carnival props to make the party both Christmas and party like.

When it was deep in the night, our body clock struck against our will. We had to call it a day. Before we hit the sack, goldies tried the hot spring except Irene and me. We two are the ones who don’t find hot spring especially alluring.

By seven the next morning, we woke up and got washed for the breakfast. After taking some more photos at the restaurant, we had special guests of Pamela, a couple with two lovely young twins, coming from Belgium to join us for an hour. Another excitement for the party, teasing the twins and having short chat with the couple. Time flew so fast, it was about noon time. Before we packed things up, Linda surprised us by some more clam soup. When we left the cottage, our stomachs were filled with contentment, yet our heart yearned for more. It convinced all of us we can have more birthday parties like this in the coming years.

Thank you again, Pamela, for bring us the most joyous and warmest Christmas and a memory-filled night to conclude year 2009!

Trini
http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/PamelaLindaIreneSBirthdayInTheGloriousMonth#

A New Born Baby in Linda's Family

A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities. - Eda J. Le Shan

Sweet-hearted Linda invite goldies to her home to share the joy of her family. They just had a little cut baby joining the family. We can tell how significant it must be to her. She is the most capable housewife and understanding mother anyone can tell.

All the goldies were happy for her, yet not everyone could make it to the gathering. It's on Saturday, some goldies already had programs arranged. Only Pamela, Sherry and I made it to join Linda and her hustand.

To make sure I would not waste any time on the road, she thoughfully explained the route in every detail. I owed her a million thanks that it was the first I managed to her home smoothly without wasting a min. The trip was enjoyable, too, having Pamela sitting beside for me to catch up with her during her long absence from Taipei.

Linda is also a great cook, she prepared hot pot for us. She prepared a wide assortment of delicacies which are enough for ten people. With her husband at the table, we also had a wonderful chat. The baby and her mom were in the nursing center, we didn't have the chance of seeing them. But from Linda and her husband, and the photos they took, we knew they were just swell.

We knew how busy this couple were, and how precious the holiday was for them, we couldn't take too much time of theirs though we loved to linger for another moment after the feast.

Waving goodbye to Linda, we were also happy for her to fit herself in the role of both a wife and a mother so impeccably.

Trini
1206
http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/PamelaLindaIreneSBirthdayInTheGloriousMonth#

The Queen's Birthday

We are happy as we choose to be happy.

We had been expecting Lydia’s birthday party for more than a month. When there is a chance created for us to loosen up, we’d certainly embrace it. All of us arrived at the party around 7:00 pm.

Lydia, being the birthday star and the host, prepared a lot of fruit. When it was put on the table, we were lured to it and no other food could please our stomach like the fruit did. Nevertheless it was Michelle’s bread that filled up our stomach.

It was a casual party just for fun. The only disappointment was that Linda couldn’t come and Pamela was still in ShangHai. Eating, drinking, posing, singing, dancing and chatting were the
only things we did. We were all worry-free, we sang out loud and danced to the music.

When Lydia’s better half, Harry, entered the recreation room, the atmosphere reached its climax. Being a successful business man and T/M, Harry was warm and hospitable just the same. He helped take a lot of group photos for us.

It was almost midnight when we called it a day! Happy birthday to you, Lydia! And thank you for bringing us such a wonderful night.

Trini
1121
http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/taipeitmtrini/LydiaSBirthdayParty#

Getting old or growing up?

We know we're getting old when the only thing we want for our birthday is not to be reminded of it. - Author unknown

To me birthday was just like any other day, and I’ve never been eager to celebrate it. It was always my daughter who reminded me of the date. But when it comes to our friends’ birthday, I like to celebrate it for them giving my best wishes and bringing them happiness.

Today we goldies got together not only for the monthly reading but also for celebrating Kate’s birthday. Kate wanted to keep a low profile, still Lydia reminded everyone of us of the special day and volunteered to buy a birthday cake. So exciting that we had two aims in one gathering. Like always we changed the date several times before concluding it. Finally Kate, Lydia and Michelle cancelled their clogging class to make it happen and for more goldies to join. No other day was perfect as Kate and Lydia will go abroad for their long planned trip this weekend. We also changed restaurants several times. The one we finally walked in was decided on the spot.

Irene and Kate were already there when I stepped in. Good to see Kate was in a jolly mood. The first surprise came before I sat down. Irene bought everyone two scarves, one golden and one black, always so sweet. Next time, we shall all wear them as our dress code. Michelle, Lydia and Sherry arrived respectively.

We began with a light chat; Michelle’s trip to Hawaii, Michelle father’s health and Irene’s calendar plan. The air became hot when Lydia talked about her birthday party. We were so excited about the upcoming fun. Then Sherry dropped a bomb talking about her unusual encounter, and created an even hotter atmosphere. She is so good at becoming the center of attention.

After enough chat came camera moment. Posing, teasing and making a scene put a sensational period to our reading. Can’t wait for Lydia’s Birthday Party to come!


Trini
1026

A Long-waiting hike of 14.2 km of distance up to the Peak of Bamboo Mountain

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. ~John Muir


Embracing mountains and embracing nature is my cup of tea, and hiking with friends always excites me. Today over 150 people joined the hike! The biggest group I have ever joined.

The hike to the Radar Tower on Bamboo Mountain was first announced on Aug. 18th. I waited for the day to come for exact two months. My excitement is indescribable when it finally came. Eight months passed since my last hike. The Radar Tower belongs to the military, and normally it’s guarded and exclusive for the military. Today they made an exclusive exception for YMSNP volunteers and opened the gate for them to hike there to enjoy the breathtaking scenery and the awesome view around the mountain because it’s the 2nd highest peak of YMS. Thanks to Virginia and Sherry who are YMSNP volunteers, we Toastmasters got the privilege of joining them. .

When the day was around the corner, reminders from Virginia and Sherry kept rolling in:

1. Car pool arrangement.
2. Be punctual!
3. Be aware of the distance challenge, it’s 14.2 km!
4. Get necessary gear ready.
5. Weather warning, warm clothes and raincoat are a must.
6. No photos taking. It’s a military base!
Etc.

Wow! They are really nervous being responsible for the safety of 150 people. Everything went very well as planned. I arrived at the gathering place before the schedule. After Sherry joined me, we took a few photos to record the moment. Then we headed for the mountain in order to get a good parking place.

I did get an excellent parking place. Being the very early birds, we waited for others to come. An hour passed, the place was getteing more and more crowded, the atmosphere was getting warmer and warmer and we were getting more and more excited. Toastmasters belonged to group two. We set off first after all the members arrived.
I kept staying in the first few ones during the whole trip. My naughty and competitive genes were so compelling that I couldn’t help but act and walk fast. I wanted to prove to myself that 14.2 km is nothing. I was so inconsiderate of others, but just couldn’t resist the urge of enjoying the moment and have fun.
Gradually and unconsciously we first four left all others behind. When I told Moses proudly that we may be the first to arrive the tower, four hikers of another group passed through us. Giving our accomplishment up? Moses was kind enough to play along. We over-passed them and made it the first to the tower.

Then we waited for lunch for almost two hours! The military crew didn’t expect that we finished it so fast, either, and tried to help us kill the extra two hours. I was so impressed. We, kind of intruders that disturbed their routine, were received such a warm welcome.

After lunch and some more group photos, we hit the road. Moses strode even faster than he did in the morning. To prove I was not a lamb duck, I kept the same pace and left our group far behind. When we reached the destination, we could do nothing but wait. Sherry showed up one hour later after other hikers left one by one. Next time, I should consider to follow other’s pace. I am used to walk fast, but waiting is not fun.

In the end, must thank Virginia, Sherry and all YMSNP volunteers to make this hiking possible. The distance was perfect for me to enjoy a good exercise, the sky was clear, the air was clean, the mountains were alluring, the view was broad, and the people were warm and passionate. I am a mountain person, hope there will be more hikes for me to join. What a perfect Sunday!

Trini http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/ALongWaitingHikeOf142KmOfDistance#
Virginia http://picasaweb.google.com.tw/vlee1009/091018#
Yi Hsin http://www.flickr.com/photos/flying_hsin/sets/72157622493176115/
Sherry http://photo.xuite.net/ymsblog/3567971
Trini
1018

The Goldies' Bond - EQ

"Emotional Intelligence is essential to interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships at school, at home, and at work." - McCown et al

Six beauties gathered for Sept. reading, and five made the 1st 2nd round, light chatting, possible. Our Sept. gathering ended at midnight, a new tryout and another new record.

It’s been over a month since our last reading gathering. I was truly thankful to all my beauties for their sweet understanding to move our reading from the afternoon to the evening. My forgetful and careless mind caused the turmoil at the last min. Gina & Kate, the coordinators of this month’s reading, found a very artistic place Xue Xue Institute 學學文創志業 for us. Our reading took place on the 2nd floor Bite after Bite Restaurantㄧ口一口學食堂. We and some other few girls were the only customers there to enjoy the whole spacious, artistic place.

I was surprised to see the area was extremely quiet and empty. All the parking places along the street were unoccupied. My tiny vulnerable blue car was like the only orphan deserted there. The huge transparent glass wall and doors made me wonder, “Is the place for business or for tour?”

Later my lady friends told me the Institute is not business-oriented. I was happy to see Gina, Kate, Irene, Linda and Michelle were all there already sitting in a nice quiet corner. Actually the whole restaurant was quiet. The 2nd surprise was to see the beautiful scarves Linda brought for every one of us. They were from her talented daughter’s product line. After the warm-up chat, and light food, we proceeded with our reading.

Unanimously, all beauties tonight gave the article “Emotional Intelligence” by Sushma Subramanian, more afterthoughts. Apparently, we all agreed that EQ is a very important asset to everyone. To me EQ and IQ are reciprocal. A person with both always radiates charm and charisma toward people.

We took goldies into analysis to see who fits passive, passive aggressive, assertive or aggressive communicator, the four criteria of communicators mentioned in the article. I think none of us are passive ones taking the active interaction among us into consideration.

A few sentences or statements I like are:
- There’s a different way to be smart than what’s on an intelligence test. It’s not a new concept. It’s a new term. - Roberson.
- It becomes more of a dance between the audience and speaker, and it leads to a much more powerful talk. - Steve Mitten.
- Emotional Intelligence (EIQ) is a crucial element of public speaking.
- The four pillars of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management of behaviors, social awareness and relationship management. – Goleman.
- Intelligence can contribute to success just as much as – if not more than –intellectual aptitude.

We kind of skipped the article “Speaking for the Animals” and moved on to “Nelson Mandela”. Mandela; the son of a tribal chief, a rebel impatient with restrictions as a boy, imprisoned for 27 years, started his speaking tour in 1990 after being released from the jail, is an expert on Adapting a speech to an Audience without changing his message.

After the reading came the shooting moment. Michelle just bought a new fancy, shocking pink advanced camera. We were intrigued and excited to try this camera out and posed by turns for fun. Happiness is contagious, the camera also had its moment.

To go with Irene’s idea of a crazy night, five of us went for a 2nd round after the restaurant wass about to close at 9:00 pm. Linda had to go home to fulfill her wife, daughter-in-law and mother, 3-in-one's role. We tried to look for the pub Michelle recalled, and were disappointed to find it closed for good a month ago. What a nuisance just when five devoted homemakers geared up the spirit to enjoy life more. So we settled for a coffee Shop, Seattle Coffee, serving better coffee than Starbucks for more chat. Except coffee, we got a big plate of pancakes on the house. It excited us. We were so easy to get contented and excited! Time flew fast. After covering a few topics, it was midnight, time for the store to close and time for us to head home.

We set the date and place for our Oct. reading, then called it a day. Tomorrow we shall all get back to our routine lives. The break just makes our reading gathering worth waiting.

Trini
0927

Light Food and Light Talk Just Two of Us

It was a luck by chance, Pamela and I got together on Satuday afternoon to enjoy some gourmet food at 水舞饌, a place I didn't know until being recommended by Pamela.

After starving a whole day to have the health check, I needed a good meal to reward myself, and if possible a good company, too. Pamela was sweet to accompany me and suggested a good place to serve the purpose.

I enjoyed the atmosphere, the delicacies the restaurant served, and a pleasant chat with Pamela. She has been always a great company. What a Pity that I didn't bring my camera to record the moment.

Both Pamela and I said we must make it possible to have goldies' reading gathering here someday in the near future.

Trini
0830

A Voice Tested Aug. Reading

It was the first time I saw a shop without a shop sign especially when it’s inside a building.

Michelle chose the Mr. Brown Coffee on ChienKuo N. Rd. for our Sept. Reading. I studied The map she mailed us to know the location of the coffee shop. Yet after I made two circles, I still saw no sign of Mr. Brown Coffee. I called Michelle to make sure, then Pamela’s call asking me the direction reassured me the shop is there, so I parked my car and walked in the building. There it was, strong soothing coffee smell and rows of desks and chairs, just no shop sign.

Sherry and Marian were already there. How nice to see Marian who came to join us despite the fact that she had a T/Ms meeting later at 7:00 pm. Sherry was always the first that arrives to enjoy her favorite aroma of coffee and the quiet atmosphere of coffee shops. After Pamela walked in, Sherry led us outside to take some pictures as the fountains in front the building give the building a touch of uniqueness. The water was cool, and the spray of the fountain felt so good to our feet. We played with the water like little girls. It’s Sherry, too, who always comes up with some unexpected and creative ideas to make our reading more fun and indescribably exciting.

After we were about finishing the photo taking, Linda , Lydia, Kate and Gina arrived respectively. We moved to the back bigger desk that sits also in a far quiet corner. We took a while to have our food ordered finally, too long that Marian had to leave taking the meal with her. Hope next time, she can truly enjoy the benefit of sharing and discussion with us.

After enjoying our food and grabbing some bites from others, our reading began. There was still no sign of Michelle, apparently she was caught at work and couldn’t get out of her office. We began with the article “Effective Solutions for Team Conflict. Sherry shared with us her comments first followed by some others. Before we could proceed with the 2nd one, we had to stop as it was time to leave for the 2nd program of voice testing. Lydia, Kate and Sherry are working on a T/Ms choir, and invited some T/Ms to come for the voice testing. I didn’t realize before, but was happy to go along to see how it proceeded.

It was only a few min. walk to the testing room. I didn’t expect to see so many heavy weight T/Ms came to show their interest in singing in a choir. Jorge Yen, Jorie Wu, Eric Suen, Ron Chen, etc. Michelle made it to the voice test. How interesting to see so many experienced T/Ms try out their voice like school students in front of the teacher. I was not a choir person, and was surprised to see they are loved the idea. An hour passed in a blink of an eye after short discussion of details.

I couldn’t make any promise, need to see my situation and cultivate my interest. I must salute to Sherry for her passion and enthusiasm in making everything possible. A T/Ms Choir! What a passion! What a big responsibility! Only Sherry can make it happen.

In two months or three, everyone will see the magnificent T/Ms Choir performing before the audience with their voice from heaven.

Trini
0828

A Trip of Art, Culture and Religion from Rome to Milan

When it was impossible for my children to travel with me, how I wished any of my lady friends could join me for the Italy trip. Well, nobody could afford the vacation except me. So I accepted the fact that I had to travel alone again. This small disappointment didn’t diminish my spirit at all, in stead I looked positively at the bright side and believe I would learn how to adjust myself to the upcoming adventure. Helen Keller said, "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." I did always enjoy my life more when embracing adventures. It took me days to decide what to bring and finally had my luggage packed right before I left home for the Airport.

To save money I always take bus to the Airport. Unexpectedly when I arrived at the station,a taxi driver approached me eagerly to offer an extremely reasonable price to the Airport as he had to go to the Airport to pick up a customer with or without passengers riding along. At first I hesitated a while for safety sake. You know the result. I arrived at the Airport much earlier than I planned. Not bad, indeed.

When I found our guide, I saw all young people around her. Most of them even look like students. Well people tend to look young nowadays, I thought. Still felt a little bit awkward being the oldest one. I was much relieved later when seeing two more couples joining in. They were definitely about my age, or maybe older? Before boarding the plane, I even got the chance to use the Airport computer to write a long mail to my friend. I hadn’t talked to the tour members.
“What’s the hurry? The trip hasn’t started yet,” I said to myself. The fact is that I am shy and introvert deep down not like when I am with my lady friends at all. After we arrived in Rome and went to have our first meal, I knew it was time to get to know my tour members. I did alright I learned that we are thirty people in total including 8 couples; two brought their children with, two probably just got married, two old couples, two advanced their honeymoon according to our guide; two college students, two working girls, two bankers. They all came with their friends or family. What I didn’t expect was that there are ten teachers. It surprised me yet was quite understandable as summer vacation is the only available time for teachers to travel.

The whole trip in Italy was done by bus and on foot. We walked a lot and when we arrived at the hotel, we were quite exhausted, yet still looked pretty OK. Pretty healthy people we were. The three small children just graduated from the elementary school had huge crush on me. One even tailed me wherever I went for the last five days and practically became my camera boy. Very interesting! Everyone was nice and friendly to be with chatting and helping me take photos. Of course I also volunteered to help them take photos when seeing the need in return. The whole trip was sensational. No modern buildings in the places we went, so full of cultural, religious and artistic features. Now I realize how Italy can get by without much industry. Tourism is the most important industry they have. Tourists were all over the places we went even on week days. Hardly saw Italians except the shop keepers. Also according to our guide, most Italian went on vacation, too. Of course they went to other countries or some resorts.

I was amazed by the big number of churches, houses and buildings in unity and how well the cities were preserved with old stone houses
.
The whole trip was exciting. I had a very fulfilling nine days excluding the long tiring hours on the plane. Let me minute it following our itinerary. The places we visited were:

Rome: We spent two whole days to see all the churches and religious spots covered by the book "Angels and Demons" like St Peter's Church including the Sistine chapel, Vantican Museum, Piazza San Pietro, Piazza Navona, Sanda Maria della Vittoria, Maria del Popolo, Castello de Sant Angelo, Colosseum, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza Venezia, Spanish steps,聖三一教堂(Trinita dei Monti), etc. So many churches, sculptures, art works, monuments and relics. Vantican is the smallest country in the world with total area 0.44 Km2 only.

Siena in Toscana: After two exhausting days in Rome, we got to sleep in a little bit. It's almost noon time when we arrived. Spent one whole day strolling in the small city seeing churches, shops, Piazza del Campo and costumes of old time nobles. There was a special festival on that day and men in costumes were supposed to perform the fighting with each other. Pity that we had to leave by 5:30 pm, and had to miss it.

Florence: More sculptures and churches, the biggest Santa Maria del Fiore, also the famous Statue "David" are in the plaza and the museum. The genuine Statue David is in the Gallery of UFFIZI 烏菲茲美術管. I climbed all the way up to the top of the church and looked around all the churches in the city. More introduction of the structure of the churches, bridges and buildings was given. There is a street full of shops that sell jewelry in gold, platinum and K gold interesting but too expensive comparing with the jewelry in Taiwan. We also saw the house of the famous poet Dante Alighieri 但丁.

Pisa Tower: The tower is much smaller than I thought. And its shape is no longer natural and beautiful according to our guide. What a pity! Being disappointed that we couldn’t get up there, we took a lot of photos around the tower. Another special feature was that there were a lot of African venders there selling faked bags and handicrafts.

Venice: Took boat three times to see the islands and alleys of the famous and beautiful city of water. There are 150 channels and over 400 bridges. We also visited the crystal factory. Many show rooms exhibit beautiful chandelier, mirrors, tea sets, vases, and decorations that seem so delicate and exquisite, yet truly artistic. Some of our members spent quite some money there. Luckily I didn't lose my sense as this trip already robbed me up. This is the place we had truly scrumptious spaghetti, too. I like the city very much and wish I could spend a few more days there having a boat of my own to immerse myself in the cool, classic, exortic and slow-paced city.

Verona: the place of the famous tear jerky story "Romeo and Juliet" took place. We saw Romeo (we were told it is made believe) and Juliet’s home. The beautiful bronze statue of Juliet attracted every tourist to take picture with her. People were encouraged to touch its breast. Most men did, but not women.

Sirmione: See the beautiful lake Lago di Garda and the Scaligar Castle. I didn't go in because already spent a lot on the tickets during the 1st few days, just spent the whole time walking on the streets, the shore, and eating fruit and ice cream. Quite a small beautiful city and resort for Italians.

Milan: The last stop. After seeing so many churches and sculptures, became less crazy about going up to the top of the tower to save 9 Euro. With limited short time, I managed to take a good look of the church inside and work the streets around it. Most tour members aimed at shopping at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele 艾曼紐迴廊.

The Hotels we stayed in were quite nice, too, providing good breakfast. The only downside was the high exchange rate of Euro which makes everything so expensive. Just post cards, snacks and souvenirs cost me a fortune. Susan Heller said, ‘"When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money." How true it is!
How I wished I had more money to spend so that I could have had a complete worry-free trip in Italy.
Trini
http://picasaweb.google.web/taipeitmtrini/ATripOfArtCultureAndReligionFromRomeToMilan#

My Solo Trip

This is the first solo trip I made. It turned our surprisingly interesting! Simply put:

1. I shared a room with our guide who at out every night and came back late, yet seldom ate during meal time. The best advantage was that she was quick in using the bathroom and it was like exclusive for me.
2. I got lost for almost two hours which worried our group a lot and made our guides and two team members to look for me. I was a good experience though, I happened have the hotel card with me. Never, never forget to bring the tel. number of the hotel and the tour guides!
3. I became the target to make fun of due to the incident and had to drink beer with all the male members every meal to express my apology.
4. The two tem members who tried to search for me became my body guards and camera men. Some other team members kept teasing us as Three’s company. I tried not to look offended, still joked back at the key moment to clarify my stand and position.
5. The youngest lovely girl, seven years old only, liked to show off her English to me after being told that I’m an English teacher.
6. I spend a fortune again buying souvenirs and silk bed sets. Just couldn’t resist the temptation to get them for my children for their future weddings
7. The food and hotels were satisfactory, too. I gained two kg. During the whole trip.

Traveling alone can be fun, too. I am no longer afraid of going alone as long as I am with a tour. I got to know more people and learned to open myself up more to people.

Trini
http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/MySoloTrip#

Featuring the once-in-a-lifetime Home Gathering with a Slumber Party

In friendship's fragrant garden

There are flowers of every hue.

Each with its own fair beauty and its gift of joy for you.

- Friendship's Garden

We just had a home gathering not for reading, just for chatting and fun! It was a decision made on a spur of the moment. Thinking that I might not be able to see my goldies friends for a month and my home is all mine, I proposed this home gathering. After e-mailing back and forth and several phone calls the night before, seven goldies; Gina, Irene, Kate, Lydia, Pamela, Sherry plus a mutual friend from the China T/Ms Club Jo Shih; made it. It was truly not an easy job in such a short notice. Linda and Michelle had important appointments that can’t be cancelled.

To my surprise, the gathering turned out unexpectedly wild and crazy. The gathering was divided into four parts. Ladies came in three groups at a different time. Jo, Irene and Pamela took a morning train and arrived at 11:20pm. Kate and Gina came by car and arrived at 12:00 noon. Lydia and Sherry took afternoon train and arrived at 15:30 pm. Jo left 1st without meeting Sherry and Lydia. Gina, Kate and Pamela left before dinner for another dinner appointment and missed the venture at the night market. Except Gina, Kate and Pamela managed to come back after dinner for the slumber party. Lydia joint the venture at the night market yet couldn’t stay overnight and left alone by bus. Kate, Irene, Pamela & Sherry stayed overnight for the slumber party and half day outing on the 2nd day.
Irene and Sherry were the two who stayed from the beginning to the end. Unbelievably complicate! What mattered was that we all stove to stick to the gathering. Besides chatting, we had shooting time that triggered the wildest nature hidden and suppressed deep down in our heart, venture tour in the night market with sexy dresses on; slumber party with cocktails, more snacks and poker games; and half day outing at Lovers Lake in Keelung, etc. Finally eating Ice Shavings with a lot of flavorings on it in a snack bar drew the period of our two days gathering. Though we were all exhausted by the time we said goodbye to each other, It was the one-and-only gathering as there will definitely be no 2nd one like this.

The details are too exotic to describe. Let me put Irene, Kate and Pamela’s comments here under for more details.

Irene: We are duplicating happiness, stealing innocence from angels, and living to the fullest! We are the most energetic Golden Girls! Moses was wondering what we golden girls were doing and fooling around, here it is! My husband said to me before I left home on Saturday morning, "how could you not wear like a mother of 55 and grandma to be!? Jesus Christ!!!"
I am sure he will pass out if he sees the photos. Without Trini’s proposal and opening her big house "once in a lifetime" for us to visit, golden girls will not be able to write another colorful leaf in our lives.

I was very much impressed by Trini's enthusiasm & hospitality that made her stayed up until 4:00 am to do the cooking, and broke her antique porcelain clock during cleaning. She was so much depressed over the clock. Fortunately her broken heart was patched up and healed immediately with our happiness and friendship.

A good film needs an outstanding director. Sherry, the creative girl couldn't stop gearing our actions and motions one after another. Of course, we were wonderful actresses!

Eating, photographing, gossiping, recipe discussing, strolling at the market around the temple, playing cards, sightseeing, so many activities happened in less than 30 hours. Isn't it amazing, although exhausting! Let's open the photo album after 20 years...... Thanks girls, we are the best!

Kate: Girls, everything is perfect - company, food, drink, Sherry's crazy ideas, Trini's hospitality, Moses' offering of a ride back to Trini's place. Another wonderful memory. I am still recovering from the fatigue of staying late on Sat. Trini, thanks for giving me a big "KISS". It is a lovely picture.

Pamela: Trini, I am almost too full, too exciting, too happy to write. But I have to let you know how much we appreciate all the delicious meals you cooked, beautiful dress you let us try on and the cute "party accessories" you prepared. Everything you prepared was just fantastic. In addition, I can't thank you enough for bringing us together and providing us with the opportunities to take adventure doing something that we don't normally do.
Dear Sherry, Kate, Irene, Lydia, Gina, Thank you for giving me such a wonderful and exciting weekend. It was definitely the best ever. Don't forget we will have the next party in the end of November. Please leave the date open for me.

To conclude, it was an awesome gathering. Without goldie friends, our lives couldn’t have been so colorful, enjoyable and fulfilling.

Trini
0727

July reading seasoned with home-cook dishes

A reading gathering enriched with incentives of China Trip sharing sequence two and home-cook dishes was the general picture of our July gathering. William Ellery Channing said, “Every mind was made for growth, for knowledge; and its nature is sinned against when it is doomed to ignorance." I bless the enlightenment and delight every our gathering brings me.

After our June reading at Lydia’s place, we held another homely reading today at Sherry’s place. Sherry’s brother Jimmy is an excellent and hospitable cook. I tried his scrumptious dishes more than three years ago. Though we seven would bring a lot of trouble and inconvenience to him, simply couldn’t resist the warm invitation.














Pamela and I made our way there smoothly. As early arrivals, we got the extra moment to talk a little bit about “The Reader”. This is Sherry, never leaves a moment blank. We always use our gathering to swap books and DVDs, too. When I handed her the book “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” for “The Reader”, she reacted that instant asking us about our reflections on the novel. I saw the movie about two months ago, and couldn’t get the movie out of my head for many days due to its impact on me and disputable issues brought up by the story.

After we finished sharing on “The Reader”, I took the time to take out the Painting Albums published by Debby Ho, a talented T/Ms of my club. Debby is a remarkable and artistic girl, I must say. Her passion and talents in many fields make her fully occupied and cannot possibly join our activities. She kindly gives out her painting albums to goldies in addition to the club members to share her joy and affection with us. While we were browsing the painting albums, Michelle arrived. Then our topic switched to Debby’s paintings, which one we like most and why. Irene, Linda, Lydia had to come a little bit late due to their other engagements. When they finally arrived. the gathering reached its climax, the atmosphere became warmer and hilarious.

Linda took out the photo album of our China Trip she made for us to enjoy. How touching and Incredible it is for her to take her precious time to make such a special and meaningful Journal for all of us. It refreshed our sweet memory of the wonderful time we had there. Then the poetic and sentimental letter Gary and Jim wrote us and the photo CD Gary made were laid on the table. We simply felt so overwhelming meeting these two sincere, thoughful and romantic young men. Linda, Lydia and Sherry decided to pay them a visit in Kaohsiung while taking care of their business there tomorrow. Definitely if they have the chance to come to Taipei, we must show our hospitality and receive them warmly to express our thankfulness for being such joyful companies.

It came to Pamela and I that we needed to give a hand to Jimmy in the kitchen, simply couldn’t let him sweat all over there. Pamela learned how to make the Chinese Taco/spring rolls, I had a hand-on practice of the dish I used to make often when I still enjoyed cooking. Irene full of curiosity came in later to learned how to make Jimmy’s famous dish. Though we missed a part of the chatting with goldies, we were happy to be able to offer help.

When Sherry’s dear husband arrived and made everyone’s acquaintance, dinner started to serve. My appetite grew when seeing all the dishes and tried out every dish. My stomach popped out after the big meal I had. We couldn’t stop praising Jimmy’s cooking skills throughout the feast. Hope he didn’t get tired of hearing it. A lot of topics were raised at the dinner table. No room here to list all of them, just imagine roars of laughter one overlapped another, laughing tears in our eyes and the drumming noise we made on the table. What a joy, what a night!

Time flies fast especially when we are enjoying it. We better not overstayed our welcome if we wish to be invited again, and had to give tranquility back to Jimmy. After last group photos, we called it a day. On my way home, I kept pondering on the most enlightening phrase in the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”: “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards,” said by Soren Kierkegaard. Tonight was another sweet memory and intellectual delight. How exactly “Life can only be understood backwards” is!
http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/JulyReadingSeasonedWithHomeCookDishes

Trini
0711

A Day of Nature Art “YieLiu” and Modern Art

Trini

0708

Going on the Saisiyat Culture Hunt

Goldies had hiked a few times with YMS volunteers before because of Virginia’s coordination. Her enthusiasm in sharing good activities with us enriched our lives a lot. Yet, we have never gone in such a big group. We for the first time witnessed the strong manpower of YMS volunteers. We; Ten T/Ms in total including Seven goldies Amy, Kate, Irene, Lydia, Pamela, Sherry, I, Harry, Moses and Kate’s daughter Angela; plus YMS volunteers made a number of around 85 people for the Saisiyat Culture Hunt. The special feature of this outing attracted me immed. when seeing Virginia’s mail. Then after several mail more and more goldies signed up and brought in their spouses and daughter. It took two big buses to move such a big group from the early morning to the late evening.

Virginia couldn’t make it this time. In stead Sherry became in charge of bridging T/Ms and YMS volunteers. Through her, T/Ms was again effectively promoted to the big association, and we became the center of attention unexpectedly.

Must say this is indeed a very intellectual outing. I learned a great deal about Saisiyat tribe like:

- The pigmy ceremony
- The legend of XiangTien Lake
- Saisiyat dance
- Saisiyat’s handicrafts
- It’s location and living styles
- The museum
- Their agricultural product, etc.

When watching Saisiyat people dance, I wondered if it’s the bell bag on their back make Saisiyat people shorter than others. With all the well planned programs and two meals of different styles, entertainment program on the bus, a delightful hike and a lot more, We were all back to Taipei fully contented and expected the next outing to come!

Trini
0706

Closing the June Chapter - a Late Reading Gathering

Goldies June reading marked a perfect ending of June activities. Our reading gatherings would always be seasoned with amusing flavors or added in some side dishes. Sometimes side dishes would outplay the objectives of reading. So, it didn’t surprise us that this month’s reading gathering even covered more features:

First, Lydia invited all of us to read at her place and booked the recreational room so that we
could sing Karaoke to add variety to our reading.
Second, share the tour excitement with those who didn’t went on ShangHai and ChiangNan Tour.
Third, show off the chipaos and other trophies we brought back.
Fourth, read a Chinese poem.
Fifth, photo shot definitely.
Lastly, bring a dish or a kind of snacks for a potluck party.

With so many objectives, our reading was certainly made short again. This time for a change
I’d like to focus the minutes on our reading no matter how short it was or how other side dishes sounded crazier and more exciting.

We began with reading at around 5:30 pm after Sherry showed up with the poem 寒山寺Linda prepared for us. The reason Linda chose it for us must be because we saw a couple of 寒山寺’s during our trip in ChiangNang. Actually we could all recite it as it’s a familiar poem to everyone. Amy impressed us by demonstrating how Japanese sing it. .

Then we moved on to the magazine reading. PPT usage is the main topic for T/Ms magazine May issue. I found it less beneficial and practical to me as I have had some experience in applying PPT in my job field and T/Ms presentations. Nevertheless, I did learn a few ideas from the articles like:

Page 24 Sidestep the PowerPoint Trap by Ellen Finkeistein, CC
- Use a slide title that actually say something
- Use images, diagrams or graphs, the Tell ‘n’ Show method.
- Divide bullet points into individual slides.
Etc.
Page 22 PowerPoint Made Easy by Narges Nirumbala ACB
- Cut the fat or ‘de-clutter’ your slides. We should have only the most vital information on each slide.
Page 16 Do you Blog? By Lin Gresing-Pophal
This article pointed out all the problems I have in maintenancing this blog; write regularly,
remember that anyone can read it and be specific. Also, the best blogs are those that provide
valuable information and also ask readers to comment and provide their insights.”

Though we rushed quite a bit to finish the reading, our questions were answered, our doubts were clarified and our thirst for knowledge was quenched.

Trini
0703

Make It Happen - A Dream Come True

Make It Happen - A Dream Came True

Among goldies, Sherry is a real action taker. We can see the spirit “Make It Happen” in her.
It happened that she was the first one who saw the slogan “Make It Happen” on the wall when we just embarked on H.K. Airport and walking through the long and narrow corridor.

“Make It Happen” was the theme of Taiwan Council Harry Fang, DTM, set since he took the office, now District 67, in 1999. Harry is no one else but Lydia’s better half. The theme became a hot slogan later. He himself also spared no sweat to promote Taiwan Counsel into District 67.

So, without hesitation we asked our tour guide to take a quick photo for us before we walked out the gate into H.K. Airport. When some other tourists tried to follow suit to take photos, too, the door behind us closed fast and no way to open it. We were excited that we seized the chance in time and couldn’t help feel very proud of ourselves.

While we commented that we should tell this exciting coincidence to Harry, how successful this slogan is, we saw some more “Make it Happen” in different sizes throughout the Airport. Ha, everyone can have the chance to take pictures now! What a drag!

Well, my point is: Dreams bring us hope and help us grow, execute our dreams and “Make It Happen” just like we made goldies travel together come true!

Trini
0630

Promoting T/Ms While Traveling

Speak to be heard, write to be remembered. This is what we should learn to do. When planning our ShangHai trip, Sherry proposed to make visiting some T/Ms clubs in ShangHai and meet T/Ms there one of the special features of the trip. Her mind always works ahead of us. We certainly love the idea. Yet, when our final itinerary of the trip was out, it had been through a lot of changes. Visiting T/Ms clubs or T/Ms there had to be ruled out due to our limit time there.

Though we failed to build link for T/Ms on the two sides, T/Ms training program was still effectively promoted to all the tourists around us. Certainly Sherry did the most work, her enthusiasm and passion aroused interest and received positive feedback from every one. I must say T/Ms training program won’t have been so successfully applied throughout the world if it had not been for T/Ms like her. She even grasped every good chance to make speeches on the bus, not a minute wasted. Pity that I didn’t think of taking photos to record the moment.

Linda, Lydia and Pamela all did their share introducing T/Ms and explaining how T/Ms program works. Pamela actually took action earlier and joined a T/Ms Club in Shanghai. I in a way took the easiest job sitting beside enjoying what they did and echoed a little bit. They helped District 67 promote T/Ms in a way no one ever did and taught me a lesson – passion and enthusiasm are keys to success and essence of living. People who heard they talk would never forget them. They truly add colors to their lives.

Sherry, Linda, Lydia and Pamela, how thrilled I am to have you around!

Trini
0630

ShangHai and SuHang Sealed with Five Golden Flowers

I have no idea since when we were nicknamed "Five Golden Flowers”, neither can I tell if it meant good at the beginning. We were too happy, too excited to constrain ourselves from quacking, giggling, and teasing each other. We simply couldn’t care less about other’s impression on us. What I can be sure is that it definitely made we five golden ladies more attention-captured and in the end we did reverse others’ negative thoughts if there were any and left positive remarks. .

I wasn’t feeling quite comfortable with the nickname at first. I didn’t feel like becoming the center of focus. Yet, who wouldn’t feel flattered when being compared to flowers? We were five golden flowers that functioned as a flower of five petals. We, as the nickname implied, did almost everything together while taking our turns to mingling with other tour members; hopping up, jumping out, squeezing in, rushing out, dressing up, making funny faces with mustache on, creating interesting scene for good photo effect, etc. We made every moment delectable.

We five goldies are actually five different kinds of flowers. Each flower has its unique fragrance and special features; outgoing, bright-colored, poised, composed, reserved, elegant, introvert or extrovert. One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve. - Henry David Thoreau
I remember once I used a microscope to observe a tiny flower that is hard to tell its shape and form, I couldn’t believe my eyes when seeing how colorful, delicate and exquisite form it has through the lens. To me, every flower is a mystery, a book pending to read. And no matter what kind of flowers we are, it’s the essence of the flower that counts. Whether we can leave a significant impression on people relies on how well we live our lives.

Certainly we can never leave such an impression on people like the “Impressions of West Lake” we watched at XiHu Lake left on us; so intriguing, striking and inspiring. Yet, we can certainly strive our best to make it happen even just a slight bit. Again, It is not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts. - Adlai Stevenson
Trini
0630

Beginning with ShangHai 新天地

I was totally enchanted with the delicacy of ShangHai XinTianDi the moment I walked in the entrance. Must say it was a good arrangement of the travel agency to begin with our China tour by bringing us to ShangHai XinTianDi. It’s breathtaking and a truly classic place I must say. I love Taipei. Yet except Taipei 101, I haven’t seen other unique features or corners like ShangHai XinTianDi.

It blends the architecture and charm of old ShangHai with modern features. It’s a true realization of the east meeting the west. Tourists will be fascinated the moment they lay their eyes on it and intrigued by its glamour. The narrow lanes, stores and restaurants sophisticatedly decorated with stone and wood carved totems here and there on all walls around us, stone and brick paved paths, sculptures, fountains, etc. It’s certainly the very place for people to unwind and relax, but perhaps only tourists and rich people there?

We didn’t have the energy to come here the first night we arrived due to the distance and tiredness. Now it’s too early to savor all its beauty and free ourselves in its luxury.
All the shop doors were still closed, yet showing off their best pose to lure anticipation.
Next time definitely.

Next tour site is City God Temple城隍廟 near ShangHai Old streets. It’s Located next to the Yu Garden, known today as the Yu Garden Market, a large temple complex. Pity that a few of us had an appointment with a Chipao tailor and couldn’t have a good look of it. Just took
Two photos to trace my foot print.

Right after lunch we went on our tour to SuZhou and HangZhou and wouldn’t be back until the 5th night. I’d like to talk about our tours in ShangHai all together first before I move on to SuZhou and Chiang Nan.

On the 5th night after we came back to ShangHai we went to同仁堂 where provides the best Chinese Medicine to have foot massage and experience its true feature. We had dinner there afterwards before heading for The Shanghai circus World ,to see the ERA-the Intersection of Time (上海ERA時空之旅). It was a great Acrobat show combining traditional Chinese Acrobatic arts and technology, I can never imagine how all the stunts were trained possible. The whole troupe won a burst of applause.

The day’s program hadn’t finished, we still have one more , the Bund Tourist Tunnel 觀光隧道, to experience the technology combing light, sound, laser and visual effect. We got on the last train in time. No doubt ShangHai has done a lot to attract visitors from around the world. It was really getting late, and we all head for the hotel to rest.

The 6th day in ShangHai, we took the City Trolley tour, visited the 1st Church ever built there. It’s inside is not different from those big ones that I saw in Western countries.

Shanghai is worth visiting again for a long exclusive stay.

Trini

0707

Seeing ShangHai at Midnight

Tourists see the world, travelers experience it. To be travelers, they look deep and experience what people there do to get some insight. For our ShangHai and ChiangNan trip, we were simply tourists. We saw a lot of scenery spots within short six days, or five days to put it exactly. But we all gave our words that next time we go to ShangHai we will immerse ourselves and spend all the time there to experience its beauty, culture and modern features - no more hotels one after another, luggage on and off buses , tour guides and lured shopping,

Sherry had her wild plan in mind to venture in ShangHai for the whole 1st night there. I decided to pass it. Yet the unexpected delay of the flight made it impossible for Sherry to make such night venture as no more transportation available. The heavy rain in ShangHai made things complicate. We were caught at HK Airport, in the plane exactly, for two and half hours more. When the plane finally took off we were already exhausted. It’s sometime past 11:00 pm after we walked out the customs in ShangHai Airport. We were eager to look for Pamela. There she was! We five were together finally. After the very late dinner, Sherry was reluctant to sleep away the 1st night, and Pamela insisted on bringing us out to experience a little bit night life in ShangHai hopefully we could enjoy a midnight coffee in 經貿Center. So we five took a cab hanging out in PuDong for an hour.

We had a close look of 經茂大樓, the tallest building in ShangHai, 東方明珠, and some other famous buildings. The neon lights made great decoration to them and presented its magnificence at night. We witnessed the grandiosity and luxury of Tomson Riviera 湯臣一品. We strolled at the HuangPu bank a while looking at 上海灘. The lights were out when we stood there, could only feel the river breeze caress our face and hair. We headed back half satisfied lamenting that how nice it would have been if we could have been out just two hours earlier. The cab driver did an amazing job, too by taking up the role as a camera man. I could tell it must be his first time to do the service to tourists. I’m also sure his business will boost a little bit adding the photo-taking service into his business.

It was around 2:00 am after we got back hotel. After quick showers, we hit the sack. We had to get up early in the morning preparing for the first tour program.

http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/ABigGlamorousShangHaiChiangNanTripII#

http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/ABigGlamorousShangHaiChiangNanTripI#
Trini

0703

The First Goldies Trip Abroad

A Dream came true! A dream for goldies to travel abroad all together. After around two months communication and discussion back and forth on line and face to face, the 1st goldies trip to China finally took place. When the itinerary was final, It turned out to be a quite different one from what we originally planned.

The trip plan originated from Pamela’s invitation to all goldies to ShangHai. She has an
apartment there due to her work. She’d open her home to goldies and we were all supposed to stay there during the whole trip. The other important mission was to visit some T/Ms clubs there and meet T/Ms in ShangHai. Interestingly, we ended up joining a tour group and had no time to meet T/Ms there at all. But one mission we did fulfill as our originally planned was we had our Chipaos tailor-made. How? It’s an amusing and incredible story. I’ll put it in my next minutes.

To enjoy a good beginning, I left home earlier than i scheduled. I took it very easy for the first time not like my usual self at all always in a rush. I thought I would be the first one at the Airport, didn’t notice Linda and Lydia were standing in front of the counter. It took me a while to recognize them. Well, who could blame me, they stood there with their back facing me both wearing black and white. What a good start! We didn’t see Sherry. No need to worry, she has much more traveling experience than anyone of us.

After a few photos taken to enjoy the moment, Sherry showed up. After passing the customs, she went to explore on her own at the Airport. What an independent woman! Linda, Lydia and I took some more photos in the waiting area for fun. Thanks to the advanced technology, taking photos is just a click away. Sherry slid in showing us her on-fashion nail polish just put at a duty free store. Without wasting any time she made friend with a tour member immed. I couldn’t wait to see what’s next for the following five days.

The 1st Murphy’s Law happened totally out of blue when we made a transit in H.K. to ShangHai. Right after we boarded the plane in HK and just when I was excited that in two hours we will arrive ShangHai and see Pamela who would be waiting for us at the Airport. What a shock it was when it broadcased that we had to wait for two hours on the plane as there was a heavy rain at ShangHai Airport. Though Pamela might check the arrival time of the plane before going to the airport due to the bad weather, we made a call to her. What depressed us was our night program would be cancelled. There were a lot of unnecessary complaints made by other passengers on the plane. So the Murphy’s Law for the day is “What is likely to happen would definitely happen.

The Airline pulled out the food cart to feed us immed. As the meal was light, we were treated with ice cream later. It was a great relief that two hours later, the plane took off. Another thing I didn’t expect was the temperature check because of epidemic H1N1. The air attendants checked our temperature first, than after the plane landed, a medical team got on the plane completely protected in white robe, mask and hood. I guess it was once-a-life-time experience to us. Everyone got a laser check. What a weird feeling to me!

When we finally arrived and walked out the customs, it was already 11:00 pm. We saw Pamela. Yeah! We were in ShangHai, China. Real excitement just began!

There were so much to write about and I will continue in separate articles. But first
Before I forget, I better put our itinerary below first:

Day 1: Arrived ShangHai 上海 to experience its modern and old-time beauty.
Day 2: 1) See ShangHai’s XinTienDi (modern area) 新天地. It is a crowded busy area at night combining both old and new structure.
2) Garden of Lions in SuZhou蘇州~園林城市
3) Night tour at QuiLiSanTang in SuZhou 七里山塘 The river is seven km long and served both economical and military purposes.
Day 3: 1) HanShanSi (temple) in SuZhou. (Silk)
2) TaiHu Tour 太湖
Day 4: 1) WuXi SanKuo - Castle無錫~吳中勝景 三國城
2) Tea Pot Factory
3) XiHu, HangZhou Enjoy the dance show of Impression of West Lake
杭州~西湖印象西湖山水歌舞
Day 5: 1) XiHu, HangZhou Boat & lake tour
2) ShangHai - HuangPu River bank, Tunnel trip, Acrobat show etc.上海ERA時空之旅, 觀光隧道
Day 6: ShangHai, City Trolley tour, Church 徐家匯天主教堂

Accommodation/Hotels:
ShangHai: 博龍國際 & 唐朝 大酒店
SuZhou: 春申湖

HangZhou: 東方假日
WuXi華美達

Restaurants:
ShangHai: 天一閣風味,

同仁堂藥膳風味, 傣家村風味
SuZhou: 水鄉風味, 評彈宴
HangZhou: 紅泥風味、山外山風味
WuXi: 乾隆宴、太湖風味

To be continured

Trini

0629

The One of the Kind Demo Meeting of L.V. HsinDien T/Ms Club

Staying competitive edge by attending T/Ms meetings regularly!

When I first joined T/Ms club, there were only less than twenty T/Ms Clubs in Taipei, and they are all English T/Ms clubs. Now with more than sixty T/Ms in Taipei covering five languages, T/Ms has prospered in a fast pace which demonstrates its fast expansion and polularity today. It's an amazing achievement accomplished by many enthusiastic, devoted and dedicated T/Ms.

On Friday, June 5th, a demo meeting was give in Hsindien aiming at building an advanced T/Ms Club. This soon-to-be advanced T/Ms club will be named "L.V. HsinDien T/Ms Club. It was organized by Y.S. Liao, DTM, past Div. H Governor and incumbent District PR, with the help and support by Sherry, a member of goldies. Originally Sherry planned to build a new community club for HsinDien and invited Linda and me to support. Surprisingly, it gave way to this advanced T/Ms Club to build first. The original idea of having a community club open for public is still in process, just a while later.

I have been always impressed by Y.S.'s dedication and passion in helping build new clubs or support weak clubs. There are many special features of the club according to him to make it a unique T/M. To name a few:

1. All the members are experienced and capable T/Ms to make the club an advanced one.
2. Over 80% members are officers of District 67 i.e. club, area or divisions' officers.
3. Challenge, flexible arrangement of meeting roles and variety is the characteristics of the club meetings. Mirror speeches, knowing your assignment at the last minute by drawing lots, impromptus speeches, etc. are just a few.
4. Once a month meeting gives all the officers less pressure.
5. Developing leadership especially is one of the missions of the club.
6. Making the club and sponsor's name easy to remember, acronyms like L.V. & Y.S.L. were applied.
7. Integrity, dedication, service and respect are the spirit of the new club.
etc.

I was the first who entered the venue. Most of the participants gathered first at Starbucks nearby. Sherry invited a T/Ms friend Mr. Norton Moise, from New Zealand to give a short speech. It added one more feature to the demo meeting. Mr. Norton is a physicist, and a retired professor. He paints and plays bridge. What an incredibly respectable gentleman.

The demo meeting was completely different from regular demo meetings giving diversity and creating excitement. It was prolonged for at least half an hour. After taking some photos, it was almost ten.

Under Sherry's request, I drove Mr. Norton Moise back to his hotel. It was a pleasure and honor to me. We chatted in the car all the way to the hotel. I learned a lot about him though our conversation. You will see from my next article a rough picture of him.

This club is for sure to build. I also wish Sherry success in establishing a regular community T/Ms club soon.

Trini
0606

My Encounter with a Physicist T/M from New Zealand

There are many onces in a life time. I just had another one this week. Through Sherry, I had a wonderful encounter with a retired Physicist who happens to be a T/M, Mr. Norton Moise. He’s a friend of Sherry’s friend and came to Taipei from New Zealand for sightseeing. After a few e-mails back and forth between we three, I finally got the chance to meet this physicist T/M, and had a very special week.

He was thoughtful to send us a picture of him in advance so that we would know what he looks like. What surprised me most was when Sherry told me he’s eighty two years old. I thought he was at his 60s. On Thursday evening, I finally met him at the demo meeting of L.V. Hsien Tien TMC, an advanced T/Ms Club. After listening to his speech and talk, I found him very lighthearted and warm.

Sherry gave me another surprise by asking me to escort Norton back to hotel. Well, it was an easy and pleasant job getting the pleasure of chatting with him, just two of us. I didn’t know the exact location of his hotel and had to pay more attention on the direction I went. Still I managed to keep chatting all the way and hope that he felt our conversation enjoyable. I was impressed when hearing he say has never really retired despite the fact that he retired three times. He moved to New Zealand to teach in an University there after retiring from his teaching in the States. Then back to teach again after his second retirement there. From him I learned that to some people they would never get used to retirement. They keep rolling to keep their brain in good shape. His story is inspiring. The last surprise was when Sherry mentioned he had a heart pacing device on his chest. The only sign of his age is his slow pace in walk. With all his inconvenience, he travels, enjoys life and makes himself a pleasant company.

He’s truly a man of intelligence. He also paints, and is an amateur painter. He sent a painting to Sherry before he arrived. It was in all the pictures we took after the meeting. He played bridge as a hobby. His bridge partner is an entrepreneur and had chance to played bridge with the richest man in the world, Bill Gates. He shook hands will Einstein when he was 16 which was the inspiration for him to study physics and become a physicist. He certainly lives his life to the fullest.

Pity that I had class on Saturday and must let him play bridge alone at the Bridge Center with a partner that the center helped to arrange. Or it will be my greatest honor and joy to play bridge with him. I picked him up after the bridge game and accompanied him to the hotel waiting for Sherry to join us for dinner.

Sherry suggested we dined at the Ambassador Hotel. Three of us had much fun there chatting, taking photos and enjoying the cuisine the hotel served. Sherry was in a very high spirit throughout the dinner creating a cheerful atmosphere for Norton. I bet we must have drawn a lot of attention from the staff there. The whole restaurant seemed to be our playground. Good that there weren’t many customers yet then as we had quite an early dinner.

I hope my small car didn’t make him uncomfortable though he said it was perfectly fine. Norton is tall having two long legs. Whenever he got off the car, I could tell how his legs suffered bending them in the narrowed and limited space in front of his seat.

I won’t be able to see Norton again for his last few days stay in Taipei. Sincerely wish him a safe trip home and here thank him and Sherry for making my weekend delightful and enjoyable.

Trini
0606

Our Coming Tour to ShangHai, China

The biggest and most exciting event, Goldies' Tour to ShangHai, was finally finalized. Over past two months we talked about the tour back and forth numerous times through e-mail and at the gatherings. Now what we need to do is packing and waiting.

Totally five of us; Lydia, Linda, Sherry, Pamela and I, will go on the trip. Actually Pamela is currently staying in ShangHai and waiting for us there. Three weeks to go, and I am counting the day! This is the first time I visit China, so happy that I'll make my first trip with my goldies friends.

Sightseeing, food, meeting T/Ms in ShangHai and having ChiPaos tailor made are the major
programs in our mind now. If possible, we will perform our clogging there, too. The utmost concern is having fun.

Trini
0531

A Date with Taipei Hwa Kang Arts School 華岡藝校

Everything in the universe has rhythm. Everything dances.- Maya Angelou
Dance is one of the greatest joy in the world to me. When dancing to the music I just wish time never ends. Whether I have this talent of not, I don’t know, nor do I care. I simply love the feelings of excitement and contentment putting my whole body and soul into dance. Without music and dance, how colorless our lives can be! I feel depressed often times realizing that it become the most luxurious hobby to me as how on earth I can find the time I need to dance with so much obligation in me?

Lydia likes dance, too and has the talent. What I envy her most is that she has all her time to enjoy dancing. Thanks to Lydia, I spent tonight at 城市舞台 , Taipei Culture Center. It was also a date with 華崗藝校。 I used to think it’s easy for students to enter Taipei Hwa Kang Arts School. Most people have a certain kind of art talent. After seeing the performance of all the student dancers, my impression changed.

How much time they had invested and efforts they had made to bring the audience such a fabulous night? Their instructors/teachers must have gone through a hardship, too, to make it happen. I can’t remember their names, but believe Lydia can help provide us with the information. Throughout the performance, every detail was skillfully taken care of. The smooth flow and transition created a kind of tranquil in the audience.

The theme of the performance is “Four seasons”. The whole program was presented in eight segments in both Chinese and western styles and technique. The sentiments and thoughts were expressed through their bodies, choreography, costumes and stage effect. It was a remarkable achievement especially thinking that they are just students. It truly reflects the quote: In life as in the dance: Grace glides on blistered feet. - Alice Abrams


When the performance was completed and the curtain was down, they received a vigorous applause from the audience. Before leaving, Lydia, her high school classmate and I took some photos to document the night.

On my way home, I kept my head busy pondering how I can make more time to quench my thirst for dancing?

Trini
0530
http://picasaweb.google.com/taipeitmtrini/PerformTheFourSeasons