Saturday, October 24, 2009

「兩周一聚」之友: 第一屆國際茶會話題精髓 / Friends of 2weeks1gather: Highlights of the First International Tea-party

FRIENDS of 2WEEKS1GATHER
「兩周一聚」之友


HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL TEA-PARTY
第一屆國際茶會話題精髓

Present (in alphabetical order)
Haricot (Ottawa)
Horac (Vancouver)
Kempton (Calgary) – facilitator
Tsubasa (Seattle)

Introduction
The idea of a virtual get-together was first proposed by Kempton who took upon himself to arrange for the inauguration event on October 24, 2009. Four friends of 2week1gather were available for the on-line tea-party.

Highlights
All participants were connected promptly by Kempton using the Internet-based voice-Skype technology (the web-cam video option was deactivated).

Although there was no set agenda, the participants had no problems engaging in a 55-minute conversation in Cantonese that consisted of the following topics:

* A quick self-introduction: Personal info such as education etc was provided on a voluntary basis.

* Hobbies and interests: These include everything from Broadway shows; skiing; urban planning; to in-depth discussion of architectural designs in Hong Kong in references to masterpieces by Frank Gehry and Douglas Cardinal.

* Hong Kong: The participants touched on the blogging scene (age groups, language styles, and other characteristics); workplace culture (e.g. people throwing tantrums vs dealing with the issues at hand); and key values of a society (profits becoming both the means and the end, opportunities or lack thereof for talented people to innovate; brain drain; a place where we grew up; etc).

* Philosophy: Departing from HK, the participants brought the conversation back at the global level and started to discuss whether people's principles were non-negotiable, as opposed to behaviours. True to form, our philosopher friend responded to a "poke" from the facilitator and made his position. Alas, the discussion had to be cut short as some of us had to leave.

* Happy One-year Anniversary: The participants would like to raise their tea-cups and congratulate our readers, especially the organizers, on this special occasion of the one-year anniversary of 「兩周一聚」2weeks1gather.

"May you always, be a dreamer,
May your wildest dreams come fulfilled;
May old acquaintances be remembered;
And our cups of kindness filled !!! "


(Modified lyrics from the song "May You Always" )

Do you want to join us?
If you are interested to join us in our next "Friends of 2weeks1gather" virtual tea-party, please leave a comment in this blog entry to let us know. BTW, you must have written at least one 2weeks1gather article to join.

Prepared by:
Haricot with input from Horace, Kempton and Tsubasa - October 24, 2009


Related Links:
* 2weeks1gather:
http://2weeks1gather.wordpress.com/

References:
* Wikipedia:
Frank Gehry and Douglas Cardinal.
* YouTube: "May You Always" by the Lennon Sisters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opm1zuEHZUU
* YouTube: "May You Always" sung by the McGuire Sisters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPyyyaJSJjM



6 comments:

Kempton said...

Thanks Hari for drafting this highlights and your person touches of the YouTube songs. Lovely.

啤酒花™_J said...

I hijacked:
"May you always, be a dreamer,
May your wildest dreams come fulfilled;
May old acquaintances be remembered;
And our cups of kindness filled !!! "

(Modified lyrics from the song "May You Always" ) - and posted at FB cos I luv 'em, credit to Harriot! I hope u don't mind... :P

Anonymous said...

You are guys are really having fun. Don't think we could have something like that in Hong Kong...

Haricot 微豆 said...

Kempton: Thank you for making it happen. It was fun !!

Haricot 微豆 said...

啤酒花™_J: Oh, not at all, go right ahead !!!

BTW: Harrier + Haricot = Harriot

Is it a jumping bean?
Is he an idiot?
Ha I opine ...
What a riot !!! )

Haricot 微豆 said...

5pointsorless: I think the success had more to do with chemistry than place. What do you think the limitations will be if a similar event is to take place in HK?

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