Our whole department went for a retreat at the Seeon Monastery this Monday to Tuesday (26th and 27th November). A main purpose of the retreat is for the students and junior post-doctoral staff like me to give a presentation on our projects and keep our departmental head in touch of our progress. Giving a presentation itself was no job too difficult, but the biggest challenge by far was to pack my 3 projects and the introduction into just 15 minutes. On the other hand, it was probably no easy task for the departmental head, who had to sit through more than 30 talks and absorb them all!
本週一至週二（11月26至27日），實驗室全體前往Seeon修道院「避靜」（Retreat），凡是學生或像我這些年資淺的博士後研究員，都得準備為時15分鐘演講，好讓老總掌握各人工作的最新進展。演講本身不是難事，但要把引言及三個研究項目濃縮至15分鐘，倒是最考功夫之處。做老總的也不易，要一連聽取三十來篇匯報兼且吸收，委實需要些特異功能才行。
本週一至週二（11月26至27日），實驗室全體前往Seeon修道院「避靜」（Retreat），凡是學生或像我這些年資淺的博士後研究員，都得準備為時15分鐘演講，好讓老總掌握各人工作的最新進展。演講本身不是難事，但要把引言及三個研究項目濃縮至15分鐘，倒是最考功夫之處。做老總的也不易，要一連聽取三十來篇匯報兼且吸收，委實需要些特異功能才行。
Even though we were at a retreat, we managed to engage ourselves in a couple of battles! On Monday evening, we did battle at the bowling lane - well, it wasn't exactly bowling, but rather a German variation of skittles called kegel. Compared to bowling, the ball is smaller and there are 9 pins instead of 10. The 9 pins are arranged in the shape of a rhombus (in a 1-2-3-2-1 pattern) and spaced apart roughly by the diameter of the ball. It was really a tall order to hit a strike; in fact, we only managed two for the whole night with 15 or so people playing 10 rounds each!
避靜之中，也有激戰連場！先是星期一晚的「保齡球」大戰，此遊戲與最普及的保齡球有所不同，是德國傳統玩法，一則球的直徑較小，二則祇有九個瓶，呈菱形形排列（1-2-3-2-1），而且每瓶相距跟球的直徑相若，所以要打出全中絕對不易——全晚十多人，每人打了十回合，才打出兩個全中！
The next day, a few of us went for a walk after lunch. Two days of snowfall provided the perfect ammunition for another kind of warfare - snowball fights! From the starting point of our walk, the war spread to the bridge that crossed the lake next to the monastery, and further to the hill on the other side of the bridge. A few people took advantage of the church on top of the hill and positioned themselves there for sniper attacks, behind the walls surrounding the church! The battle was brief but exhilarating for all involved. There was enough snow everywhere that allowed anyone to kick start a new snow fight any time and anywhere, and we didn't have to worry about collateral damage from stray snowballs as we were so far away from everyone else.
翌日午飯後，跟同事散步，下了兩天雪後，到處積雪都不少，正好來一場雪球大戰！戰場由出發點，蔓延至修道院毗鄰的湖中那道橋，再伸延到橋後的小山，湊巧山上有座教堂，好些人便躲到環繞教堂的圍牆後，居高臨下狙擊！雪戰為時雖短，但大家都玩得盡興，一來積雪夠多，「彈藥」取之不盡，而且隨時隨地開戰都可，二來在郊外不用像市區般多顧忌，擔心誤中他人。
Snow has been falling intermittently during the two days of retreat since Monday morning and covered the world with a fresh layer of white. The hills and roofs turned a totally new colour, while the trees got some much needed lively decorations with the snow. It was just a lovely setting so typical of winter. As I was sitting on the bus en route to the retreat, I could imagine how someone who hasn't seen snow before would be so impressed by the scenery as he or she was weaving along the same winding roads in the snow.
從避靜那天早上起，間歇地下了幾場雪，前往修道院途中，從車廂舉目顧盼，四周已成白色世界，山坡、屋脊披了白新衣，光禿禿的樹，鋪了一層雪後，也不再那樣死氣沈沈，郊外的雪景很是迷人，我也幻想自己是第一次看到雪景的遊子，在郊野的道路盤桓，陶醉在雪國一片中。
避靜之中，也有激戰連場！先是星期一晚的「保齡球」大戰，此遊戲與最普及的保齡球有所不同，是德國傳統玩法，一則球的直徑較小，二則祇有九個瓶，呈菱形形排列（1-2-3-2-1），而且每瓶相距跟球的直徑相若，所以要打出全中絕對不易——全晚十多人，每人打了十回合，才打出兩個全中！
The next day, a few of us went for a walk after lunch. Two days of snowfall provided the perfect ammunition for another kind of warfare - snowball fights! From the starting point of our walk, the war spread to the bridge that crossed the lake next to the monastery, and further to the hill on the other side of the bridge. A few people took advantage of the church on top of the hill and positioned themselves there for sniper attacks, behind the walls surrounding the church! The battle was brief but exhilarating for all involved. There was enough snow everywhere that allowed anyone to kick start a new snow fight any time and anywhere, and we didn't have to worry about collateral damage from stray snowballs as we were so far away from everyone else.
翌日午飯後，跟同事散步，下了兩天雪後，到處積雪都不少，正好來一場雪球大戰！戰場由出發點，蔓延至修道院毗鄰的湖中那道橋，再伸延到橋後的小山，湊巧山上有座教堂，好些人便躲到環繞教堂的圍牆後，居高臨下狙擊！雪戰為時雖短，但大家都玩得盡興，一來積雪夠多，「彈藥」取之不盡，而且隨時隨地開戰都可，二來在郊外不用像市區般多顧忌，擔心誤中他人。
Snow has been falling intermittently during the two days of retreat since Monday morning and covered the world with a fresh layer of white. The hills and roofs turned a totally new colour, while the trees got some much needed lively decorations with the snow. It was just a lovely setting so typical of winter. As I was sitting on the bus en route to the retreat, I could imagine how someone who hasn't seen snow before would be so impressed by the scenery as he or she was weaving along the same winding roads in the snow.
從避靜那天早上起，間歇地下了幾場雪，前往修道院途中，從車廂舉目顧盼，四周已成白色世界，山坡、屋脊披了白新衣，光禿禿的樹，鋪了一層雪後，也不再那樣死氣沈沈，郊外的雪景很是迷人，我也幻想自己是第一次看到雪景的遊子，在郊野的道路盤桓，陶醉在雪國一片中。
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Irene, now you can see why I write in English as well - for international readers 'loyal' or new!