After almost two years living at Berkeley, I guess it’s safe to say that you never know what you should expect at Berkeley. The liberal air just makes many acquaintance more random than in other places.

After coming to Uncle Tom, I’ve had two times when a stranger approached to me asking if I spoke Chinese. The first time was a con man, at Ranch 99 parking lot, who tried to ask me for money to buy a flight ticket to see his daughter in Seattle. I was gullible enough to reach for my wallet but luckily my suspicion overcame the helping instinct. Funny thing is that I saw the same guy again a few weeks later at downtown Berkeley bus stop. I overheard the same con story next to me and turned around to recognize the guy was using the same line to an Asian-looking student. Luckily the student didn’t believe him either.

Today was the second time. An old man who looked like in his 60s came to me when I was studying with my housemate at a cafe. He asked me if I spoke Mandarin Chinese. I had no idea how he could identify me as a potential Chinese. So I responded yes and he said that he wanted to ask some questions about learning Chinese. He pulled a chair next to me and started asking me how to pronounce some words on his Chinese titled as The Power of High EQ.

And he shared a part of his story. His father was a heart surgeon from Hungary. His father did a surgery on a Chinese young guy and they became the friends to the Chinese family. He learnt how to speak Chinese. He had a head injury so he couldn’t work in the States. He lived on the insurance but went to China to teach for three years. He talked about some cities in China. His Chinese was good but understandable. I guess he never learnt how to read in Chinese. So he asked me about some complicated characters. He wrote down the pin-yin carefully with beautiful handwriting curves. He said that would help him look up in the dictionary. Frankly I was very on guard meanwhile curious when I talked to him.

He’s a polite person. When I needed to leave, he said that he might not recognize me because of his head injury. I said “that’s fine”. He tore down a piece of paper from his worn-out notebook, on which was his address and phone number. He said that I could call him, though I don’t think I will. It’s a thirty-minute conversation. This was a lonely, mentally-hurt old man who tried to learn a foreign language on his own at the cafe. You may pass him without any notice on the street. (So will I admittedly.) I wish him the best and hope good memories make his life happy.

This is my random acquaintance today. Is this because of Berkeley or because of me?

Good day!

I heard of La Cocina, a SF-based non-profit incubator kitchen, from my IBD client Prospera. For the IBD project, our team was tasked to help Prospera improve their business training workshops for the local micro-entrepreneurs, many of whom work in the food industry.

I’ve long wanted to volunteer at a La Cocina event and seen for myself how they incubate small food businesses in bay area. So today I went to volunteer at a Team Building Workshop sponsored by Booz Allen Hamilton.

This is my first time working in a professional kitchen. And I loved it! Though I’m not a regular cook at home, I felt motivated the moment I stepped into the spacious, well-lit kitchen. I helped set up some preparation tools and squeezed a bag of lemons for later use.

Today the chef at the workshop were from Chaac-Mool, a Yucatecan food provider. The couple, Luis and Maria Vazquez, owns a food truck which they sell food at various farm markets and local fairs. The recipes for today’s workshop included:

• Cochinita Pibil (Pork)
• Frijoles Pintos al sur de Mexico (Black beans)
• Jicama and Citrus Salad (Lettuce and citrus salad)
• Pan de Elotes a la Crema Francesa de Fruta de Nanche (Corn Cake)
• Pollo en Pibil (Chicken wrapped in banana leaves)
• Yucatecan Tamales (Chicken tamales)
• Hojaldrada Yucateca (Hojaldrada filled with sweet potato)

Making the food brought me back to the three weeks spent in Guadalajara this May. So learning how to make it was a lot of fun for me. The seemingly mysterious food suddenly became easy when the chef masterfully demonstrated the making step by step.

In addition to learning how to make Yucatecan food, I was amazed by all the professional equipment in the kitchen. During the break of switching cooking tables, I needed to wash a number of bowls and knives to get ready for the next round. The high-pressure “water gun” was really fun and effective to use. The steamy washing-and-rinsing machine next to the sink was magical to me. You just slide the tray in there and pull down the cover. Everything will be clean and sanitized in less than 60 seconds!

At the end, we had a gorgeous buffet. The chicken tamales, corn cake and sweet potato hojaldrada were my favorites. The extra food we made was packed and delivered to shelters for women and kids. This is the best way to spend a relaxing Saturday. Learning to cook, helping others, and eating a good meal.

I confess again for my absence from this blog for… how long… a whole semester. 2011 just passed by too fast. Spring semester started with HTC (Haas Tech Club) leadership responsibility and recruiting for internship. I spent a lovely summer at Seattle and was thrown into the even faster-paced full-time recruiting after returning to campus in September.

What happened in the fall of 2011? I took Dr. Moazaammi‘s class and learnt a ton under a lot of stress. (first time at business school) I met some new friends from Class of 2013 and handed over the HTC responsibility. I interviewed with all the firms I applied to and received a few offers. And recently I’ve decided to move to Seattle for Amazon after graduation. Here I come back Seattle!

I went back to China for the winter break, visiting family and friends. I’m glad that I spent my last winter holiday with family and saw old friends in Shanghai. I spent five weeks home and still wish I had longer holiday.

So. This is the last semester of my business school life. First thing I need to do is to pick up blogging and dutifully recording what happens in my life, which is the purpose of all the work. I seem to become nostalgic every day. I cherish every moment passing by in school and with friends. I’m taking many interesting classes while resuming the habit of reading. You see, when I have time, I come back to the old self. I learn to concentrate my mind and do one thing at a time. Stop multitasking. Stop obsessively checking emails and calendar. I enjoy standing in front of students and teaching my Friday sections. I enjoy again planning for travels and imagining the possible encounters on the road. I’m back, to collect traveler’s gifts.

It may sound exaggerated to say that I’m seeking inner peace but it’s kind of true unintentionally. I allocate more time to discover myself outside school work and am happy with where life takes me.

It’s raining outside today, on a Friday afternoon. So I couldn’t go out running. I’m writing the first entry in 2012, with internet radio streaming random pop music. Dear diary, I apologize for leaving you blank for the past six months but I’m back.