義民廟放水燈 Ghost Feast - The Invitation Lanterns

因為CD都聽完了也懶得燒新的，最近開車上下班的時間我只好聽廣播。上週五我聽到義民廟有中普渡放水燈的活動，將於八月二十八禮拜六在新埔義民廟舉行。因為從來沒看過放水燈，我告訴爸爸禮拜六一起去湊熱鬧看看。

本來想放水燈這種活動，理所當然會在晚上舉行。星期六中午我先上網作功課：大多數網頁都沒有註名活動時間，除了一個攝影部落格....媽呀，是下午兩點開始耶！根本來不及呀！

匆匆忙忙地趕到了現場，停車場卻意外地冷清！？（當然也被老爸數落一翻）去義民廟的活動櫃台問了才知道原來開始時間是下午三點半，於是我們逛了逛設計怪異的後花園，廟大塚及複塚（他們才是這裡的主人阿），客家版的歌仔戲野台秀（怎麼沒有國語字幕），廟前的燈篙與其他佈置。

July in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar is the ghost month. While we hold feasts for the spirits of ancestors, we also set up feasts to feed the hungry homeless ghosts. It's a festival after all. Party for all, yo.

月カレンダーの七月は鬼の月であります。その一ヶ月間に祭りが多く行います。自宅で先祖にごちそうするのは道理で、七月の中旬に全部の鬼にも饗宴が申し上げます。

Here three tall bamboo sticks signal to the spirits "the party's here".
これは実家の近くにあるお寺。その三つの竹は「ここに饗宴がありますよ」という看板のような意味です。

Buddha sent the "blue faced ghost general" to police the even distribution of this feast. His job is to make sure all of the spirits attending the feast took only his designated portion, didn't fight or cut the queue and behaved like mannered spirits. How considerate.
この青い顔の神様はこの饗宴を円滑に行うことを見守るお方です。

This temple was made to honor a self defense force gathered to protect the villages during a rebellion against the governing authority during the Xin dynasty. This is the grave of those nameless heroes.
これは清朝の時起こった叛乱に朝廷を手伝った方のお墓地です。このお寺はこの人達のため建てたのです。

當然最後還是看到水燈了。

These water lanterns are invitations sent out to ghosts along the water informing them there is a feast ready for them to enjoy.
これは水燈です。水燈は水にいる鬼達を饗宴に誘うインビテーションのことです。

To be continued...

一週垃圾記錄 A week's trash list 一週間のごみリスト

I was curious how much visible trash I was creating in a typical week. So I recorded all the trash I noticed making. I define visible trash as something I throw into the trash can. So it does not include things such as the box used to carry a dozen of bread if I bought one only.

環境を守るため、自分の普段の一週間で捨てたごみを記録することをしてみようと思いました。このリストは自分で直接ごみ箱に捨てたごみだけ、私の行動のため作られた見えないごみを含めません。たとえば、コンビニでおむすびを買ったとしたら、そのおむすびの包装は見えるごみとし、おむすびを工場からコンビニまで運ぶ箱か袋を見えないごみとします。

環保小實驗，我決定記錄一下我一週所製造的垃圾。不過這裡面不包誇我不知情的垃圾，比如說餐廳採購食材時所用的紙箱等間接垃圾。

8/29 (Sunday)
breakfast - sandwich wrap (plastic), soy milk cup (paper), straw, straw plastic wrap and cover for soy milk (plastic)
lunch - bento box (paper), rubber band for bento box (rubber), fruit bag for lunch (plastic)
dinner - bento box (paper), rubber band for bento box (rubber), soup bowl (paper), soup bowl lid (plastic)
miscellaneous - parking fee receipt

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

* I brought my own chopsticks (and soup bowl for lunch) so thus eliminated that from the list

* The temple we had lunch at did sort all of the trash and presumably recycled everything

8/30 (Monday)

dinner - (noodles bought at a 7-11) container and lid (plastic), random plastic sheet inside the container, outer wrapping (plastic)

miscellaneous - receipt for dinner purchase (paper)

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

* I also brought my own chopsticks this day

8/31 (Tuesday)

breakfast - plastic wrap

afternoon tea - take out cup (plastic) and straw, plastic bag for our total of 10+ cups

miscellaneous - telephone bill, credit card bill (paper)

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

9/1 (Wednesday)

breakfast - plastic wrap

shopping - plastic wrap for six tissue packages x3

miscellaneous - receipt and coupons (paper)

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

9/2 (Thursday)

breakfast - plastic wrap

afternoon tea - take out cup (paper) and straw, plastic bag for our total of 9 cups

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

9/3 (Friday)

afternoon tea - take out cup (plastic) and straw, plastic bag for our total of 9 cups

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

9/4 (Saturday)

miscellaneous - parking fee note (paper)

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

9/5 (Sunday)

afternoon tea - take out cup (paper) and straw

miscellaneous - parking fee note (paper)

all day - tissue, napkin, toilet paper (paper)

I rarely skip meals (only once this week), so any meal not listed means I brought my own container or ate at home.

It looks like my trash creation depended greatly on what I did that day.

A full year into full-time working life 哇靠我居然已經正式工作一年了

Working life is very, very different from college life. There was this sudden change from "never have enough time" to "I leave work in the evening and have the whole night free with nothing to do but browse facebook".

I should be making meaningful utilization of this new free time!! One day I thought.

As I know well my innate human nature of endless laziness, (my T.A. (Teacher's Assistant) colleagues during summer school made a joke video of me transforming into the animal I resemble the most --- a sloth), I've decided that it's best to keep a blog to help me keep track of what I've done and help keep myself motivated. So here we are.

Below are some goals I would like to follow in this blog:
- Experience Taiwan's beauty (and learn how to introduce it to non-Chinese friends around the world)
- Discover how to improve the way we live so as to be more environmental but with minimal added inconvenience
- Practice my writing skills in difference languages
...and of course this list should change as I move along. But here is where I will start, and here come all the footprints I will leave.

終於，我要寫些中文的網誌了。雖然大多數的文章應該還是都會是英文的，我會盡量在重要部分也加上中文。這麼做的原因其實是因為又回台灣住了一年後，我打從心裡體會到台灣真的真的是個很美妙的地方。而我們的政府卻只埋頭於取悅大陸客，其實想要打觀光市場最需要宣傳的對象應該是(不會引起任何人反對的)歐美日韓等非華人地區的遊客群。(大陸人不需要什麼推銷就都會想來台灣的啦~)
這個網誌裡，我還會記錄一些日常生活的環保小實驗，祝我成功啦~

台湾に旅行した日本人はほとんど台北のツーアだけで終わりました。実は、台北以外も体験しないと真台湾が見られません。のこのブローグにはすこし台湾の美しさを現したいんです。長い間日本語で書くことをしなかったので、変な日本語がたくさん出ると思います。すいません～でも、直してくれた方に大サンクスの以外に台湾の秘密を教えま～すよ！^_-