VISION

This article follows the previous one: Kenya (1).

[Special]

The scenery in Kenya is quite typical of Africa – remoteness.  I have always enjoyed the remoteness, owing to consistent dwelling in crowded city, Taipei.  Perhaps due to my first visit to Africa, the scenery of bare trees, yellow sands and loads of animals shocked me.  I remember that on the way to Amboseli, I was asleep due to the travel sick and bumpy roads, but got awoken by a sudden cross of a zebra from one bush to the other.  That is the surprise – the scene you did not expect suddenly comes to you.  However, there is not only flat sandy field that Kenya has.  Actually the highland of Kenya is the economic backbone of this country.  When the van drove into the highland, I thought that I was not in Kenya – flat roads, farms and hard-working farmers.  Well I am not saying that Kenyans are not hardworking, but in Nairobi, I believe, most of Asians would be stunned by so many people wandering around doing nothing, quite different from the calm scene in the highland.  The tour guide aka the driver said he is from the highland, and the trouble in Nairobi 2007 did not spread into the hightland.  Yes, the highland can be depicted as Shangrila in Kenya.  The other point worth mentioning about the highland is the flat roads.  In Kenya, what I could not get used to the whole journey was the endless bumpy roads.  Construction in Africa claims to be slow and inefficient.  Once the road is broken, perhaps it takes years to repair – even if the situation worsens.  For example, when there is just a hole on the road, it is easy for cars to pass the other flat side.  Whereas, what if there are holes one by one like the infamous route from Lake Nakuru to Masai Mara? 

In the beginning I felt it was quite fun to drive along the bumpy roads and imagined myself sitting at the massage bath tub, but it just took two days that I felt completely tired of the pain on my ass standing so many bumps.  I remember one day at the Lake Nakuru, before our departure to Massai Mara, one guy at the hotel asked me: “did you have a great breakfast?” I said: “well sort of, but I dare not take too much, since I will be on the way to Maasai Mara soon.”  He then said: “Yeah exactly.  Quite bumpy.” 

I traveled to Kenya from the 13^th of September through the 22^nd of September, and below is a brief record of what I experienced in Kenya.

[Travelling method]

This time I did not travel alone, which is quite different from what I used to do with respect to traveling.  The reason of joining a tour is because of safety and convenience, and till now I do not regret it.  Certainly traveling with a tour would not be able to largely expose one to locals, yet this way successfully prevented some harassment from someone who sought for money as well as inconvenience due to lack of public transport.  There were quite a few times where some locals tried to dig their hands into the van’s window marketing their goods, and no matter how many times I said no, they kept pursuing.  In the end I could not but asking the driver’s help in shouting them in Swahili (local dialect of Kenya).  It always worked.

不好意思我做菜時沒有一直拍照的習慣，因此我的食譜都沒圖沒真相。只能靠口碑啦（羞）。

上週六晚上我信手做了蒜頭蛤蠣雞肉湯，原本以為是平淡無奇的料理竟然食客們一直稱讚，真令我意外了。分享如下。

材料：

我最近很喜歡自己打精力湯呵。而且發現自己打的其實比外面賣的更有料更好喝，不用加一滴糖就很順口。因此提供自己的心得分享如下。

材料：

蘋果汁 200ml（這是最重要的，因為蘋果汁可以蓋過所有生蔬菜的怪味道）

我考高業並非因為工作所需，純粹是個人興趣，想說考起來將來若用得到的話就不用臨時再辛苦準備。當時在辦公室唸書被同事阿甘看到，他飄過來說：「ㄟChristina，阿你不是念會計的，準備這個好像會有點辛苦喔？」

我就說：「黑啊，阿就硬著頭皮準備了。」昨天考出來的結果是
合格（平均70分以上就合格啦）
證券法規及實務73.5

在網誌上說自己做菜也有一陣子時間了，但都沒有分享自己的食譜，為了免於被遭人笑說紙上談兵，將來會在這裡分享一些自己很簡單的食譜，其實我平常也只是做一些家常菜，我平常做些什麼有心得就會波上來。

我今天作的是瓜仔燉肉及燙秋葵，從整理到完成不到20分鐘，由於我常常和男友和他的室友Jamie一同開伙，Jamie在喊肚子餓我才開始做飯常常馬上就好，因此常常得到我「做飯做得很快」的稱讚，所以我的食譜都會是很簡單、很快完成，適合肚子很餓的人。

瓜仔燉肉

暫時離開10734的編號。

正在香港機場喝著難喝的咖啡打網誌，爽度...沒有不用填PMS高，但是還OK啦。這家咖啡店（Pacific Coffee Company)從我五年前出國轉機就一直喝到現在，也許你覺得怪，難喝我幹嘛光顧，且更神奇的難喝的咖啡廳怎麼不會倒。我想可能是因為他的音樂真的不錯，等待飛機來這消磨時間，稍微可以彌補他咖啡難喝的缺點。為什麼一陣子沒有寫網誌呢？反正我就是那種一天捕魚三天曬網的猴子蘋果，平常自己胡思亂想的時間與安靜的時刻相較於振筆疾書的時刻實在多過於太多，而且工作時又要寫一大堆文字，於是乎回到自己的空間與時間就想說：唉不想寫網誌了不想寫了（反正就是一個鬧脾氣）。

那為什麼現在又要寫啊？因為我這個人就是很隨著自己的心情去寫文字的人咩，現在覺得有東西值得留下來，所以就開始寫了。

在談中文的「很大」之前，我想分享今天我看到的一段話：

Be wary of the analyst who has been correct on the market over the years. He is coming ever-closer to being terribly wrong. Keep an eye on the smart analyst who has been wrong over the years. He is about to make a great call. There are no geniuses on Wall Street, “only geniuses for a while.” ─ Richard Russell

因為這段話，讓我進一步研究了Richard Russell所寫過的Dow theory letter文章，其淺白且平穩的文字，有燒過手指(get fingers burnt)的投資者應該是如人飲水，冷暖自知啊。

I haven't written English in this space for a while.

Scotland, is a place where I have missed a lot, and the place which I am very well aware that I would not dwell for the rest of my life. That is some place where I would drink with local people, smile at the open space breathing in the fresh air being amazed at how the Kingdom was built, but then I will leave a long sigh and step away at peace.

No a lot of job opportunities there, and the other side of that is incredible scenary and cheaper McDonald's compared with England. One morning I stepped out the backpackers and walked along the seashore, watched the sunrise, and took a deep breath. I sat on the big rock, with a cold bread in my hand and a newly bought lipstick. I stared at the view in front of me thinking of nothing. The only thing that came to me was that "this view is going to support me for the next year of work."

我一直覺得自己是那種有很多興趣但是都發展不出可以去參加比賽得獎的程度，於是就在閒暇時間東摸摸西摸摸有時將荒廢已久的興趣（彈鋼琴、寫書法）撿拾一下，這個就叫做kill time skill吧。

下廚歷史是從我第一次出國留學開始（荷蘭交換）。當時沒帶任何食譜（倒是同行的台灣同學都帶了），單憑從小到大吃媽媽的菜的味道當作記憶下佐料、配顏色。雖說不到大師級美味，但求溫飽總是夠了。一開始義大利麵蕃茄醬便宜又好作，一直吃義大利麵，但最後一點也不想碰了。
記得受不了外國食物的酸沙拉與冷麵條，總是與大陸同學一同相約到市中心的中國超市買一些豆乾、花椒、醬油與較有亞洲口感的米，這可辛苦了，從市中心一路提到了宿舍。經歷了異鄉做飯過程的辛苦，回台灣忍不住下兩手麻婆豆腐與青椒炒雞肉孝敬父母（哪有只作菜給男朋友吃不給父母吃的道理），母親讚不絕口，父親冷冷地說：「去騙外國人是吧！」但嘴角忍不住泛出一抹微笑。

one of the best performances I have ever seen from RW.

Six suspects就是我上篇在誠品所買的小說，是Slumdog Millionaire(原書名Q&A)作者Vikas Swarup第二本小說，透過六個嫌疑犯的介紹講述六個故事，彼此皆有關連。這種獨立故事互相關連的電影或小說一直是我很有興趣的類型，例如時時刻刻、靈魂的重量等。可能是因為注重敘述邏輯性的關係，我會不斷地尋找獨立故事中互相串連的部分，因此也增添了這本小說的有趣性及可看性，因此雖然這本小說份量算是中等類型，大概幾天時間就不停地翻完。

故事一開頭是講述Victim: Vicky Rai惡名昭彰的生平，以及其死亡地點和六位成為嫌疑犯的原因。而後Chapter 1是Suspects, 介紹六個嫌疑犯的背景。

剪髮是這一週的衝動。

衝動呢，就是腦袋中不斷不斷地想，然後不斷地想要付諸實現，想要實現到「就是今天我一定要作，如果沒有作我要抓狂」的那種衝勁。

於是昨天約莫六點半下班，我立即衝到世貿大樓前面搭客運到我剪髮的地點 - 基隆。

Wretch的網誌全站分類不是非常地User frendly. 這篇只是隨便寫寫，但竟然沒有一個「隨便」的分類讓我歸入。

昨日甚是幸運，六點多即離開辦公室，無約會無排程，即信步走到誠品信義店閒晃。一樓駐足在家具或裝飾店甚久，看到價格總是大驚抓著尾巴落跑。

二樓找尋我要的外文小說，因為pageone沒有入貨因此碰碰運氣，結果常常以為的「讀者服務櫃臺」，竟然是BenQ, 與其他電器用品的銷售櫃臺，此種情形發生五、六次，甚感氣餒。結果發現讀者服務櫃臺竟然一個樓層只有一個，且是查詢書目與會員卡卡友服務同一個櫃臺。似乎會員服務項目的提供相較查詢書目還要多（前後我等了2、3個，只有我要查詢書籍）。服務小姐態度甚親切，但因為要服務的會員太多，查詢得書籍所在位置後向遠方柱子一指請我自己找尋。未果，又回到讀者服務櫃臺，小姐終於尋得片刻空閒陪同我找尋。原來資料庫中書籍所在位置有點錯誤，因此費了一番功夫找尋總算在另一頭找到。甚至感謝那位小姐的耐心幫忙。但是仍有「誠品原來賣電器、家具、皮件的櫃臺比讀者服務櫃臺要多許多」的無奈。但Pageone竟然沒有引進該熱門的外文書，以致至誠品找該書，也讓我對Pageone的滿意度又打了點折。

這本書一樣是在PageOne買的，作者與KiteRunner同，Khaled Hosseini。

我一直懷疑Khaled在KiteRunner中影射部分的自己為當中的男主角。Khaled目前也定居在美國北加州（但不知道是不是與Kiterunner中男主角同也住在舊金山就是了)，職業也是寫書，當初也是在俄羅斯入侵阿富汗時逃難到美國申請難民居留，但他的這兩本書中充滿了對阿富汗難民濃濃的關心情懷。