HOMECOMING WEEKEND !!(CLICK)

On the green!

Another two weeks of roller coaster ride

English Writing

We finally finish the whole book. It was a great training to raise questions about the Author's message in his complicated novel that deals with self, immortality, love, being and power. As we are approaching towards writing a paper, I am nervous but as well excited about the whole 'taking-to-the-next-step' . Karen is known for her tough teaching style but I know that she will always be there for us whenever we need her. Right now the class just needs to be less 'showing off' and really learn how to work together, listen and breath together. My teacher assistant, Elma acknowledged some of my ideas in class and that I have to trust my intuition more. 

Political Anthropology

As difficult as the readings go, it is undoubtedly an interesting course. Women, politics, equality and religion have always play a huge roles in our daily lives. Being the only international student in the class, my professor really appreciate my input from my part of the world and continue to encourage me regardless of my insecurity of my argument. Well known for my procrastination, I ought to 'reserve' more time to reflect on the class discussion ( which are posted online). Jump in dive in....

Spanish

It is totally nonsense to think that I am better because I have taken Spanish before. All language takes time to learn. I realized that it is important for me to stay on the ground and always revise the lesson that I am suppose to prepare before classes. Spanish is always evolving and there are more than 20 countries using it, therefore the vocabulary I am learning now is quite different than before. Welcome to the american version of Spanish. I forgotten to hand in my homework last week. Ooops!

UWC friends

When you are train to think 'internationally', you tend to see things clearer. We ask for more, we wish to see souls instead of one's surface self. I am glad I met more interesting UWC graduates whom some are my classmates. We spent some qualify time together. Unforgettable lunch and dinner conversation, cheers for the Big Green ( Dartmouth soccer team) in a soccer match and dancing together in the lounge...

I am glad my pals are still remembering me. Jose, Tekber, Tenzing, Liu xu have made my day by just being on the other side of the phone. Hope Jose can really make it to Dartmouth during Thanksgiving, then I will be more content. 

new friends- football match

There are social activities like Korean Association , Taiwanese A, Asian A and even Jewish Group where there invite people for free food. As 12s (freshmen), we are lucky enough to have less obligations and could shop around the associations and meet new people. I have made some common friends and friends of friends by just attending those events. We had really cozy bowling night out last Friday in Hanover follow by Korean food buffet where I met more Asians with the same eyes and hair colors. Yeah, I am extending my diversity network.  

social night outs- lone pine, apple zaple, Mate

The latinos always have this social get-together where  you sit around in a circle and drink mate ( their type of tea) from the same cup and same 'metal' straw. Nice to just chill out and play card games, at the meantime listen to a Poem Competition in the Lone Pine ( a bar in the college). The fact that I am in a non-drinking night out is already a bless for me, you really need to dig and think and schedule for this things to happen, therefore it tends to be taken for granted to just go to fraternities and expect drinking party. 

floor-mates

We had mini golf tournament out of I am  as our 'goal' in our hallway and got a warning! 

World Percussion

I am having regular rehearsals on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Hafiz is an extremely talented drummer who is leading the African drumming ensembles. I am really looking forward to our performance in November which incorporate with R&B numbers and songs.

I am currently lying on the middle of the green field and enjoy the last few sunny days before the winter comes. I have to come out more often and exercise!!

Schedule Dartmouth

Hey peeps,

If I am not writing too much, its because I am too busy running around the campus , trying to catch up on what is happening in the new place they call Home and getting familiar with how things work in this part of the world.

The time difference is really driving me crazy, most of my effort to call somebody drown in 'salty water' . Even friends in the states, I am not able to catch them up .

I returned my room every night almost midnight or later because of the series of events ranging from floor meeting to night social events. Many A Capella groups and Dance troupes showed their talents and invited the freshmen for audition. Still considering it...

I bought my first Dartmouth hoody sweater and welcome myself to the friendly campus and class of 2012. The seniors are so fun to watch and always create and answer more questions to fill us up. They convinced us that the faculty too are really interested in teaching, if not they won't be here at Dartmouth. Here they provide maximum opportunities for undergraduate to participate in research, study abroad program and working side by side by professors with studies that interest us and not necessary our major.

My new Mac is fantastic but I couldn't install the most important 'voipstunt' that i have been using forever to connect with friends and family. Hopefully when things are settling down I can sort out alternative ways to call.

Anyways, enough of rambling, tomorrow will be convocation, class picture of 1097 freshmen and breakfast with my floor mates.

Hope these few information can fill you guys up about my two weeks here in Dartmouth!

President Bush In Mercy Centre! (click)

President

A space between myself and the world

I am two months different than before.
I just turned into an adult, waiting to be irresponsible in the college.
I took up a job, that has change my whole life and my perspective about the corporate world.
I hooked up with the past with lots of gatherings and also preparing for the 'bright' unclear future.
I am finding the space between myself and the world...

Having most of my time occupied in the day, working in a hectic environment with the most interesting summer job, I realized I have not been facing myself for a while now. Not to mention that I have left this blog -the medium for me to look into my soul and reflecting my feelings and thoughts untouched, I was also driven into a new pace that I am still not used to.

Funny for me to announce that I have found my key to freedom, where freedom could superficially means getting home late and drinking unconsciously. Many told me that I might be used in the states for buying drinks since I am now in the legal age. Getting into clubs is no longer a trouble. In fact, I am writing this entry just after a night out.

Knowing lots of things about the other parts of the world doesn't mean that I am living my life meaningfully right now. KL is not really a happening scene , or at least My life here doesn't allow me to explore much. I am not finding it out. It amazed me how little i know about my own city when my UWC friends, Cheryl, Mariam , Turid, Maciej and Game came down for a visit. I was busy finding the right train stations and the right restaurant to them. The hippiest chinese restaurant in town to bars on top of the hotel. Perhaps no one would disagree with me when I say missing UWC is more about the conversation than anything else. The conversation which we can all engaged in with understanding and also able to speak our thoughts without fearing much 'taboos'. We are all fighting our own culture taboos in one way or another.

Thanks to luck, my boss allows me to be who I want to be. Our conversations in the office always made my day and life is never dull again. We discuss about various issues from economics to politics and to the future aspect of my career. Being a long time observer of my kind(Chinese), there are always real life example to be brought and lessons learned from trying to choose the right husband. haha. Our culture really does have some ridiculous measures when it comes to career and relationship. Will I ever be influenced or completely got out of it?

The job itself, being involved in a recruitment project for an international company, has been challenging than ever. Two months ago I will never guessed that I could know so much about the oil and gas industry, to such extend that I can communicate with professionals from all over the world where we could discuss about their technical skills and their working experience. I am amazed by how things worked out. Personal Relationship really does influence the outcome of events. One call from a family friend helped tie my relationship with the company and thus the project. If I stay long enough, who knows what other opportunity would come right in front of me ?

Then it was the hooking up. Frankly, I would prefer to be hooked up with new people for new stories. Although it is nice to reminiscing with the past and the clumsy me of year 200x, somehow I am craving to know the inner thoughts of these good old friends. From hill top gathering to fancy karaoke sessions and Mamaks, will there ever be a gathering to discuss about our new interest and new life after separated our paths 4 years ago? I wonder playing in the orchestra means anything to me anymore. Glad that even losing some really important friends in my life, I am able to stand up for the rest. I have to love myself more. Not by creating an image that everybody else expects but to be happy with who I am right now. Every experience helped me evolve and I love the new me even more each day.

I have always enjoy teaching. I came across one orphanage in my city after HDF and I found so much similarities in the children here in my own place and in the Bangkok slums. They are equally smart and tacky and always find ways to seek for love. I have the ability to hang out with the little ones not only in Thai, but also my own language! I am even better teaching drawing in Mandarin. Their stories are equally heart breaking and they made me miss Thailand even more. How much love could I be giving out and how am I going to distribute my love to the a new bunch of people? Is that a simple division or is it more complicated than an advanced math questions?

I really hope that even though I am in a middle of a deadline at work and hectic lifestyle with ongoing events, I will find my space, a space only for myself, before reaching out to a whole new world in a month time.