Volunteer with Dream Corps in 2009

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. SUMMER 2009 CALL FOR APPLICATION Volunteer with Dream Corps International Learn, Inspire, Teach, and Serve in Rural China DREAM CORPS is an innovative Non-Profit Organization dedicated to bettering the learning environment for students in disadvantaged communities in rural and urban China. Program Dream Corps is recruiting 30 to 40 international volunteers to participate in its 2009 Summer Volunteer Program in rural villages and urban migrant communities of China. Volunteers will take part in activities that include • Building basic library infrastructures • Developing library management system • Reading programs • English teaching • Facilitating community initiatives and projects • Community understanding The program consists of 3 days of training in Beijing, 3 weeks of volunteer work on assigned volunteer sites, and 3 days of concluding camp in Beijing. Qualification This is an exciting opportunity for students, researchers, and young professionals interested in international development, rural education, and the non-profit sector in China. Our past volunteers were from 12 different countries and regions and were primarily undergraduate and graduate students. Language: ability to speak Chinese is not imperative, but is highly preferred. Expense While no fee is charged, volunteers shall cover all of their travel, board and lodging expenses during the program, including airfare for the traveling to China. Typical total expense per person during the program is around 250 US dollars. Volunteers from mainland China and team leaders are eligible for modest amount of financial assistance. Application Process STEP 1: Online Application a. Application form b. Personal Statement (see guideline below for details) c. Resume or CV Application deadline is March 02, 2009. Because we have a rolling application process and our volunteer positions fill up quickly, we strongly encourage you to apply as early as possible. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. There is no application fee. STEP 2: Interview Applications are typically reviewed within a week. Qualified applicants will be interviewed over the phone or in person. STEP 3: Notification of Decision Final decision will be sent to you no later than March 15. Personal Statement Guidelines Please keep your statement between 300-500 English words or 500-700 Chinese characters. As a general guideline, please cover the following: 1. Why do you want to volunteer with Dream Corps? 2. You previous social work or volunteer experience? Please include dates, locations, activities, and your roles. 3. Have you traveled or lived in rural China? For how long? If not, have you traveled or lived internationally? For how long? If so, please describe briefly (locations, dates and activities). 4. Have you had any teaching or tutoring experience? If so, please describe briefly (subjects, target audience and formats) 5. Do you hope to conduct a personal or academic research project during your possible stay in China with Dream Corps? If so, please describe briefly. 6.What do you believe are the values of books and reading to the lives of underprivileged children in China?    Important Dates Jan 25: Online application opens March 2: Online application officially closes March 15: All acceptances notified May 23: Team leader training May 24: Official program starts June 26: Program end Additional Information If you have any more questions regarding our program, please visit Dream Corps 2009 Summer Program FAQ at http://www.dreamcorps.org/2009FAQ.  If you have any questions regarding the application and volunteer selection process, please contact the Recruitment Committee at recruitment@dreamcorps.org You are receiving this email because you opted in at our website Unsubscribe <<Email Address>> from this list | Forward to a friend | Update your profile Our mailing address is: Dream Corps International 2905 Fallstaff Rd, Apt 14 Baltimore, MD 21209 Our telephone: (919) 641-2078 Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2008 Dream Corps International All rights reserved.

l'essentiel

 

I am caressing the idea of a kernel.

Un noyau.

A small pebble, the size of a black olive that one carries around in one's mouth, a little above the throat.

An immutable truth of existence epitomized by one cold hard object, smooth and self-contained like a small pocket knife.

 

I often look for people carrying the kernel.

Sometimes I go as far as forcing my fingers down their throat,

but most of the time, I find nothing else than yellow clots of mucus, or partially digested grapefruits.

 

Once two kernels meet, their collision would bring about the end of the world as we know it.

 

Friday Night Kitchen

我家烤箱在Montreal零下三十的夜里成了我最好的伙伴。这个星期好像烤了四次，算是破纪录了。更难得的是每次都不重样。
哈哈，不是我有创造力，是圣诞节买的A Baker's Tour终于派上用场了！

 

作者是个我从来没听说过的人，Nick Malgieri,也许他很有名吧？只是我孤陋寡闻？总之，Nick大厨挑选了世界各地八大类烘烤食物的代表作集成这本砖头书，面包饼干蛋糕派，发酵糕酥饼馅饼煎饼。。。每类十多二十种单品，合起来不下一百个吧。这本书和其他同类书比起来朴素许多，不是每一个receipe都配有food porn大彩图，大多数都只是标题，国家，原料单，然后就是一二三四五，步骤细细数。很贴心的一个细节就是每一个单子都还附有适当的储藏保存方法，密封还是通风，冷藏还是冷冻。

 

初选中它的时候，是喜欢这种在“厨房里环游地球”的感觉，而且我自从初中烤了第一个蛋糕以来，一直觉得Baking是一件磨炼性格的事，当然也很开心，最高兴的是做出来的东西可以吃。冒着热气，还烫手的新鲜面包被人瓜分光的时候，真是好有成就感哇！买这书还有一个很大的原因就是折扣，原来45刀的东西变成10刀，哇啊啊啊，一看到马上就抱起护在怀里，生怕被别人抢了。没办法，贪小便宜，这辈子是没法改了。

 

第一个实验是。。。嗒嗒。。叉烧包！
对，您没看错，我用西人的方子做我们中国特产。当时我妈听了就皱眉头了，一脸怀疑。我信心也不是很足，因为面团里Nick让放黄油了。。。还是五大勺。。。
初体验就是Corn starch千万别拿一般的芡粉代替，我家买的这种有一股奇怪的味道，差点就把我的叉烧酱给毁了。放了黄油的叉烧包外壳和一般的dinner rolls和相似，但是不能以传统的方式包。也就是说，千万别包成一褶一褶的包子！加了油的面一点粘性都没有了，只能把开口勉强撮起来，压在靠烤盘一面压实。其他方面，大概七分相似吧。如果其他异国receipe也有这种相似度，我觉得挺不容易的了。

 

二号和三号原料一模一样，只是分量和具体操作办法不同。
荷兰的Spicy Almond-Studded Squares 和葡萄牙的 Cinnamon Butter Cookies。
感想：
做squares的时候需要用食品处理机（就是粉碎机啦）把黄油和面粉均匀地搅拌在一起，这是人力相当难做到的（最后的粉看上去是直径三到五毫米的小球）。所以处理机的容量很重要，如果不能一次全部原料都放进，烤出来的成品就有油量分布不均匀的问题，有些地方棕黄，有些地方浅黄。洒在上面的Almond最好是已经削为薄片那种，大块一些不容易依附上去，要不然就得加点油或者水之类的binding agent?

 

做Cinnamon Butter Cookies好像玩橡皮泥！面团搓搓搓，搓出一个圆柱体，再分，再搓，再分，再搓，作出二十四个长条（别被我恶心到）。然后就把它们摆成各种奇怪的形状吧！传统风俗里这种饼干先做成一个圆（只有周长，无面积），然后再扭来扭去扭来扭去，摆出很多扭曲的姿势。下次可以考虑做字母系列，ABC很容易完成的。还可以拧麻花阿。哪里有卖如rock salt一般大颗粒的糖的呢？洒在上面会很好看，有点像甜的pretzel的样子了。

 

今天晚上烤的是瑞士Cramique葡萄早餐面包。
昨天我不畏寒冷地去IGA卖葡萄干的时候很纠结，是买golden 还是sultana还是thompson呢，它们有什么区别？
烤面包的时候丢进去了几个红薯，结果洗红薯时皮上沾染的水进了烤箱后气化，把面包外表原来干干扁扁的葡萄干撑了起来，变成一个个饱满的小气球。一打开烤箱们，随着热气溢出，它们又很快干瘪下去。真是很有意思。这么冷的天，酵母发的面团好难发起来啊，放了好久，底部也没有完全发好。切开后的面包底部的气泡明显比其余地方小许多。这是什么原因呢? Heat transfer??还是温度太高了，来不及膨胀先被固定了???

本日最后的建议，葡萄干不要再面揉好以后再放，尤其是有油的面，很难加进去了，要趁gluten还没有组成强大的interconnected networks的时候，即面团尚未成为一个光滑的球的时候，同学们记住了哦。

以后有空的话，一星期做一个receipe好了，两年就可以都做过来。

 

又，狂想狂想转行去印刷业。
又又，cinnamon stick 和磨碎的肉桂粉可以互相替代吗？

 

 

I want to believe

Insight

What begins in childhood as a sense that there is something wrong

ends in adulthood as a deep understanding of oneself and other people

 

Independence

What begins in childhood as a moving away from painful family scenes

ends in adulthood as a rational and reasoned separation from

(or dredefined relationship with) their family

 

Relationship

What begins in childhood as a search for connection to available, positive adults

ends in adulthood as the ability to consciously form gratifying attachments to others

 

Initiative

What begins in childhood as a way of exploring the world away from parents

ends in adulthood as the ability to become focused on goals and aims

and to accomplish them with energy and purpose

 

Creativity and hunor

What begins in childhood as playing, supposing,

and pretending that one is something valued or powerful

ends in adulthood as the ability to compose and make things out of nothing

or to mix the terrible with the ironic and absurd

and to laugh at what one has created

 

Morality

What begins in childhood as questions about why one is hurt

and judgments regarding the rights and wrongs of one's life

ends in adulthood as dedicated service to others or to an ideal

 

知北游/庄子

天地有大美而不言，四時有明法而不議，萬物有成理而不說。聖人者，原天地之美而達萬物之理。是故至人無為，大聖不作，觀於天地之謂也。今彼神明至精，與彼百化。物已死生方圓，莫知其根也。扁然而萬物自古以固存。六合為巨，未離其內﹔秋豪為小，待之成體﹔天下莫不沉浮，終身不顧﹔陰陽四時運行，各得其序﹔惛然若亡而存﹔油然不形而神﹔萬物畜而不知：此之謂本根，可以觀於天矣！

 

林语堂译：

(The operations of) Heaven and Earth proceed in the most admirable way, but they say nothing about them; the four seasons observe the clearest laws, but they do not discuss them ; all things have their complete and distinctive constitutions, but they say nothing about them.

The sages trace out the admirable operations of Heaven and Earth, and reach to and understand the distinctive constitutions of all things; and thus it is that the Perfect Man (is said to) do nothing and the Greatest Sage to originate nothing, such language showing that they look to Heaven and Earth as their model. Even they, with their spirit-like and most exquisite intelligence, as well as all the tribes that undergo their transformations, the dead and the living, the square and the round, do not understand their root and origin, but nevertheless they all from the oldest time by it preserve their being.

Vast as is the space included within the six cardinal points, it all (and all that it contains) lies within (this twofold root of Heaven and Earth); small as is an autumn hair, it is indebted to this for the completion of its form. All things beneath the sky, now rising, now descending, ever continue the same through this. The Yin and Yang, and the four seasons revolve and move by it, each in its proper order. Now it seems to be lost in obscurity, but it continues; now it seems to glide away, and have no form, but it is still spirit-like. All things are nourished by it, without their knowing it. This is what is called the Root and Origin; by it we may obtain a view of what we mean by Heaven.

- Chuang Tzu, Knowledge Rambling in the North

Tentative Schedule

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
8h30		Physical Chemistry	Introduction to Practium	Physical Chemistry
		Wong 1020	Wilson Hall 400	Wong 1020
9h
9h30
10h		Instrumental Analysis 2		Instrumental Analysis 2
		Maass 217		Maass 217
10h30	Heat & Mass Transfer		Heat & Mass Transfer		Heat & Mass Transfer
	Rphys 118		Rphys 118		Rphys 118
11h
11h30	China in Revolution	Separation Processes	China in Revolution	Separation Processes	China in Revolution
	Leacock 109	Engmd 276	Leacock 109	Engmd 276	Leacock 109
12h
12h30	Religions of East Asia		Heat & Mass Tutorial		Process Modelling Tut.
	Maass 112		Wong 1020		Wong 1020
13h			Religions of East Asia		Religions of East Asia
			Maass 112		Maass 112
13h30
14h	Lab Work		Lab Work
14h30		Global Places and People		Global Places and People
		Engmc 204		Engmc 204
15h
15h30
16h		Process Modelling		Process Modelling
		Wong 1020		Wong 1020
16h30
17h
17h30

新年旧事

今晚整理文档的时候看到莫斯科游记最后一天没有被采用的版本。
果然过去了的，就成为了亲切的回忆。让我们暂时回到2007吧。
*  *  *
2007.07.23
现在其实是23号，午夜已过，有莫斯科难得的黑漆漆天空。凌晨两点，依然醒着的人眼神朦胧，强打着精神，不愿入睡。
我也不想睡。明天的这个时候，我们就会坐在回程的飞机上。现在，我不想睡，我不能睡。
我，所有人，我们必须作一些有意义的事情，说一些有意义的话，让它们成为一些有意义的回忆，才算没有浪费这样一个具有重大意义的夜晚。
 现在，我们正围成圈地随意散坐在贯通三楼的走廊之中，有些人喝了酒，有些许醺意，有些人也喝了酒，却愈加清醒。
地板上凌乱地摆着一些半满杯盅，橙汁兑伏特加，可乐兑红酒，也有白水一杯。有人劝我再饮一杯，我接了过来，趁人不注意，浇在一旁花土中。不是不愿醉，只不过我想记得这里的每一件事，容不得酒精的干扰。
如此一个晚上下来，偷偷摸摸，心跳也有加速，脸也红，如有饮酒。
来到这里已经有十天，我也写了十天的流水帐，是时候该直面现实。
从小的时候起，（当然，那时候我还没有清楚地意识到这些），婚礼，开学，毕业，搬家。。。那些特殊场合总是会让我焦躁不安。看惯了书里生离死别或是海誓山盟的场面，现实中与其相映的场景在比较之下失去了很多力度，一味的平淡苍白，是拙劣的复制品，只能被快速的消化掉，没有任何回味的余地。
在我心中，艺术虽然源于生活，却凌驾于生活之上。终于有一天，厌倦了平凡世界的我决定让自己的生活充满戏剧性，也就是说像演戏一样生活，每一个细节都精心设计，每一天都是盛装彩排，每一个眼神，每一个手势都被赋予了特殊意义。
*  *  *
快进到2009。
离开莫斯科的前夕我意识到自己是要离开一个建立于日常生活之上的世界。
这样子的告别，我想我永远不可能习惯。也许有一天，我可以完完全全活在那样一个alternative universe里；不过更有可能的是，我会一直寻找短暂的出走机会，然后一次又一次地回归平凡。。。
*  *  *
三十一号晚上，我和一位阿姨聊天，她问了我一个有关归属感的问题。
我当时能想到的最好的analogy是这样的：天黑了，我一个人走在大街上。马路的两旁有很多栋房子，都没有窗帘，房间里有清晰的人影，像皮影戏。里面的人们或者热热闹闹，或者冷冷清清的活着。他们过他们的生活。而我只是走在大街上，看他们快乐地拥抱和诅咒，看他们过他们的生活。
阿姨听了又问：你觉得这种观察者的视点是和你的个人经历有关还是和先天的性格倾向有关？
我还真不知道，好像前青春期是被动地成为观察者，然后之后是惯性，再大一些是有意识地为这种”地球观光团“的生活态度辩护，一天把自己泡在其他观察者的论调里。
大概相当于是”后天的环境对自己造成的改变是如此的难以颠覆，误认为是先天的局限“这个样子。

今年我最大的愿望，就是可以从大街上进到一个房间里，开始我自己的生活。
谢谢所有一直在关注我的人，祝大家新年快乐。