Woo hoo!!! I love it when Thursdays end!! 'cuz it means my seminars are over and it's SLACKKkkkkkk for... a short while before I start preparing for seminars again. Hm. I took 9 hours to prepare for two 1.5-hour seminars. Well I guess that's the bare minimum. But I enjoyed preparing for it anyway. And I love seminar discussions! Do get cold hands sometimes when I'm not too sure of what I'm trying to say but I loved the way the discussion went just now. We were talking about Ezra Pound's poem "Ts'ai Chi'h" (never HEARD of the Chinese poet) and it was an imitation of the Japanese haiku. The Brits loved the beauty of it, especially the girls... man, wait till they actually read a Japanese haiku! (in TK choir we did some of those in the song Sakura) I think Pound's poem is shades paler than the ones I came across in TK. Well that's because one Japanese/Chinese character can hold so much meaning... and a string of words can mean so much in such brevity. I think the Eng language is at a rather big disadvantage when it comes to that. But anyway, I was told to write a Chinese character on the board and explain what the strokes meant. Goodness, I didn't even learn that! But I wrote the word "li3" for "li3 mao4" (manners) and explained that one side represented divinity and the other side a sketch of someone kneeling, so the word meant service and particularly, service to God. Their faces were like "oooh......" and "aahhh....." Haha yeah you get what I mean. Intrigued by the faraway, unfamiliar 'orient'.
English so far has been very enjoyable. It gets more and more enjoyable as I acquaint myself with more and different kinds of genres. I think I experienced a 'shock' yesteryday from blasphemous poetry and poetry about homosexuality, lust, homosexual lust... (see that goes to show the syllabus has moved on from the comfortable Christianity-oriented poems) but I've learnt to be more open to these things I suppose. I should've expected them anyway, especially with modern and post-modern literature. Gives me a headache. But it's Literature. (?) :) Don't worry. I'm still holding onto God and the Word. So being open doesn't mean I'm straying... in fact I think those poems act as a foil to God's faithfulness and love (as opposed to the depravity and lewdness of Man sometimes) and so are strengthening me. I sure hope it stays this way... and I don't get disillusioned or disappointed or anything.
You know what? I'm quite surprised that I'm getting along with the Brits quite well. I think what the seniors have been saying about "being open" is very, very true. I've generally been quite outspoken and open even in Singapore (some say thick-skinned. haha), and though I had reservations initially in speaking up in front of my British peers God granted me the boldness to overcome that fear. Actually what reduced my fear was that knowledge that God made us all equal -- our faculties, intrinsic quality and position before him. So what if my social standing amongst the peers here may not be very high? We're all equal before God... and the fact that He allowed me to come to York shows just that. But anyway, I thank God for breaking down the barrier of communication. It was relatively easier for me to smooth into the crowd here because I just have to be my wacky self sometimes (they're all wacky here. and really funny). I'm going out with my house mates later on! :)
Chicken rice has GOT to be the greatest invention. Rather, chicken rice mix. it's so quick and convenient! Just mix it with the rice, and place the chicken on top of the rice to cook when the rice is 3/4 done. Voila! Chicken rice! Wonderful, wonderful invention... praise God. :D
I've got a housemate called Joe (Joseph) whose taste in music is WONDERFUL...ly close to mine. (haha I'm paying myself a compliment. Which I ought not to) It's like mellow and deeper rock, and the occasional jazz or melancholic-sounding folk... Eva Cassidy is wonderrrfullll. I hope to acquaint myself with more of his music.
Oh, by the way, Brits here introduce themselves to you by their short names and leave you to figure their full first names; whereas in Singapore we formally introduce ourselves by our full first name and then the other person can reduce it whatever he/she wants, depending on the depth of the relationship. For example, I usually introduce myself as En Qi in Singapore and it gets reduced to the affectionate Qi or En when familiarity is bred amongst friends. Over here, someone called Elizabeth will introduce herself as Beth, someone called Matthew will introduce himself as Matt, Andrew as Andy, and so on...
hm. what does this show?
