Only a learning process?

SG was talking with some friends. One was considering whether to continue his relationship with the present girlfriend or not. There seems to be another lady in the picture too.

One advice another friend gave was that there's no perfect match in this world. He spoke from his happy marriage that we shouldn't believe in "made in heaven" or "heavenly matched". Hence, we shuold change our mindset that marriage is a goal. Rather, it's all a process, of learning to accommodate and grow together. And marriage is also the coming together of two families.

SG believe in some truth in this talk. He thought it may not be a complete picture too. A good illustration is an author writing a book. An author must start with an ending in mind. Yes, the ending may change as the author writes & gets new ideas. Still, he has an ending and works towards it.

Therefore, marriage is both a learning process & a goal too.

Oh yes, another word for "love" is "commitement", esp in marriage.

New Job

SG had not blogged for a while. Why? Busy with new job.

Lots of things to do. Including updating teaching materials handed over from another colleague. SG discovered some stuff in syllabus are not taught. So have to add them in. Yet, he also has to grapple with the fact that many of the students just want to be spoon-feed and don't exercise self-initiative. Their main concerns are exam tips and getting good grades. Knowledge? Not very importnat. No wonder the country's manpower quality is getting poorer in this aspect.

Yet, is this attitude wrong? In a previous class of engineering graduates, SG discovered none did engineering. Most worked in sales, business, etc. None need their engineering know-how. So, just the paper to show will do in this case. Hence, good qualification is more important in the students' eyes right?
So, is it worthwhile then to put in effort to improve teaching materials when most don't want to learn so much and don't see the need to? If this is what the customer want, shouldn't the serivice provider just give them what they want?
Time to ask above what it really mean to be 'salt & light' here.....

An Inconvenient Truth

SG watched this not very popular movie last week. It was good. Al Gore really did quite a good research & presented the facts very well.

Check out http://www.climatecrisis.net

With more people reporting the effects of what happened when man tries to play God, there'll be more media coverage. Yes, education & awareness is a great start. But will it come too late??

When is late too late? Looking at people around us, we will see many ignorant/don't care about the problem. Until it hurts the pocket? What if even a deeper pocket won't help? What if $$ can't solve the problem of ice cap melting?

Too far away? Don't think so. Even simple things like switching off lights when getting out a room, using less plastic bags, re-cycle paper, print double-sided, etc, will go a long way.

We don't owe our children a living; we create or destroy one.

Japan Trip - Part 10

Today, we started off with an hour train ride to Otaru, a small harbour town.

We followed the Recommended Sightseeing Map.

























We found a nice cosy local shop selling biscuit and crackers. Bought quite a few for friends & colleagues to try.














Of course, how can we miss the canal!


















Redeveloped canal warehouses along the canal, consisting of mainly expensive restaurants.







We eat at a ramen store nearby. First time trying a black miso ramen. Nothing special though.











We next make our way to the music box museum, passing by some interesting spots along the way.






















The music box museum is pretty impressive. The top level is also very interesting, where we can make our own music box. Though SG is quite tempted to do it, Karen say he won't appreciate it for long =(


The Mickey Mouse statues opposite the music box museum, also selling music boxes.


View from the 2nd floor of the museum.







Next stop is the famous Ishiya Chocolate Factory!


The outside of the factory, which is more like a theme park.


A model of the factory.















The production line. Notice the nice paintings on the wall.



On 2nd floor, there's a place where you can make your own cookies or chocolates.






The clock tower show at 4pm!


Tea break with in-house cakes. Not great though.










SG's new friend.



Karen's new house.

Japan Trip - Part 9

This morning, we had a long bus ride from Hell Valley to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido.


Mountain range along the way.






After checking in, we decide to drop by the Ski Jump Resort. Note that the ski jump is different from skiing.














On the chair lift. It's more scary on the way down!














The view the athlete will get before he jumps.









A bird eye's view of Sapporo.











We experienced quite heavy snowfall when we were there. Karen was so thrilled!



Japan is the first country that Karen ever experienced snowfall. She will remember this for life.






After the ski jump, we went back to the city center for some shopping, visited a short street full of ramen stores (a bit disappointing), and then back to hotel. Look at the huge crabs at the department store!


Outside the well known lane of ramen stores, called Ramen Yokocho


Night scene at Susukino, main night lift in Sapporo.








Famous crabs in department store near JR station!