Wow, I can't believe it's been three months since I got here. Although it doesn't seem that long, thinking back to when I was waiting in line to get my student card feels like another world. I dont' get lost anymore. I don't have to think about which stop to "alight" at when I'm going home. I don't wonder what's in everything I eat, and I don't even notice the funny smells that bothered me so much when I first got here. Time sure flies.
The last couple of weeks have been pretty mundane. I haven't really done much other than go to school, do my work, eat and sleep. But there is a common theme that underlies everything I do, that is, the presence of others. I cannot find anywhere where I am able to be compeletely alone. I walk to the bus stop surrounded by people. I wait for the bus surrounded by people. I hold my backpack close to my chest on the bus because it is so crowded. I walk to my class surrounded by people. And I head home all in a similar fashion. I live in a <800 sqare ft. apartment with 5 other people, and there are high rises in all directions when I look out the windows of that apartment. Whenever I eat, there is a fight for a table, whenever I take public transportation there is a battle for a seat. I even walked for half an hour around the loathed engineering faculty to find some random room to sit and listen to silence but I could not find anything. There aren't even benches inside, and if there are benches outside they are taken up by you guessed it, people!
Almost every Intervarsity retreat that I've been on has a retreat of silence. And I remember Emmaus my freshman year focused on silence and taking media (i.e. music, internet... etc) fasts. Well, I put on my headphones and turn on some music just to drain out all of the daily noise. It's funny, I put on music to get some silence. I'm really ready to find some alone time. Even now, I am typing on a computer in the library and there are people pacing like vultures ready to claim a seat once a computer opens up. I look out the window and all I see are buildings, people, buildings, and more people. I guess I'm not a city boy. I miss fields, woods, farms, and mountains. I miss just walking in sitting a place where I can't hear anything but nature.
Well, that's about it. I think that I'm going to do something fun this weekend. I'm ready to end this perfunctory streak of routine. I'm sure it will involve people, but at least it won't be studying or going to school. And maybe next week if I search hard enough I can find a place to have a retreat of silence... maybe.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Back in the Motherland
So yeah, it’s been a while. I guess almost two weeks ago now that I got back from Thailand. It was one of the coolest experiences that I have had. It kind of opened up my eyes to a few things about traveling. I guess before anyone goes anywhere, they see pictures of the places whether it’s on the internet or in postcards, or just general photos they have seen in their lifetime. The first thing I learned is that pictures are deceiving. Yeah yeah, we’ve all heard that before, but seriously, they are. But the most deceiving picture of all is the one our mind creates after compiling all the aforementioned images together. I had some sort of glorified image of Bangkok before I got there. I felt that I could toss a street vendor a penny and get a perfectly crafted Rolex watch back. Or if I walked into a perfectly organized mall, I could just see my size, shell out a baht or two and get a perfectly tailored polo shirt… not the case.
What I came to realize when I got there is that Bangkok is full of people just like you and me. They walk on the ground just like you and I do, and they live under the same blue sky (well, if pollution isn’t too bad) that you and I do. It’s not like you step off the plane and thematic music starts playing to make you realize you are in a new part of the world. When you walk out of the terminal, the clouds don’t part to reveal a beam of sunshine to guide you to the best places. No, it’s just a city. You’ve got to look at a map, and try to get where you are going all in a language that doesn’t use the same letters as English = zero chance of reading it.
Even though I enjoyed my trip thoroughly, it wasn’t like I had a catharsis ever day. It wasn’t as if I was blown away by something ever time I turned my head. I was able to see 800 year old ruins, walk the streets of one of the largest, busiest cities in the world, and then travel to exotic, tropical islands. But you know what? It was just the ocean like back home, trees like back home, food made of the same basic stuff as back home, and it all cost money just like back home. I’m really glad to have seen it and I would love to go back, but it’s not as glorified as commercials, travel guides, and the rest of the world make it out to be. And I realized that’s why my first couple weeks in Singapore were a bit rough. It wasn’t that much different then back home, but it was a new area that I wasn’t familiar with at all. It was like being a freshman all over again in a university that was the same as yours except all the buildings and pathways were in different places. Just kind of annoying until you learn them well enough to pay attention to the rest of the differences and enjoy them.
But yeah, that’s something that I’ve learned while being here. I’m enjoying my time here more than I did when I first got here. I feel that I am comfortable enough now with the basic set up of Singapore that I am able to enjoy all of its nooks and crannies that I hadn’t really been able to pay attention to before. Well, I am paying attention to my classes and they are pretty tough. But that’s another story. So overall I am doing pretty well. Still learning a lot. Mostly how to be alone and yet surrounded by people at the same time. I’ll try to write soon. Peace out.
What I came to realize when I got there is that Bangkok is full of people just like you and me. They walk on the ground just like you and I do, and they live under the same blue sky (well, if pollution isn’t too bad) that you and I do. It’s not like you step off the plane and thematic music starts playing to make you realize you are in a new part of the world. When you walk out of the terminal, the clouds don’t part to reveal a beam of sunshine to guide you to the best places. No, it’s just a city. You’ve got to look at a map, and try to get where you are going all in a language that doesn’t use the same letters as English = zero chance of reading it.
Even though I enjoyed my trip thoroughly, it wasn’t like I had a catharsis ever day. It wasn’t as if I was blown away by something ever time I turned my head. I was able to see 800 year old ruins, walk the streets of one of the largest, busiest cities in the world, and then travel to exotic, tropical islands. But you know what? It was just the ocean like back home, trees like back home, food made of the same basic stuff as back home, and it all cost money just like back home. I’m really glad to have seen it and I would love to go back, but it’s not as glorified as commercials, travel guides, and the rest of the world make it out to be. And I realized that’s why my first couple weeks in Singapore were a bit rough. It wasn’t that much different then back home, but it was a new area that I wasn’t familiar with at all. It was like being a freshman all over again in a university that was the same as yours except all the buildings and pathways were in different places. Just kind of annoying until you learn them well enough to pay attention to the rest of the differences and enjoy them.
But yeah, that’s something that I’ve learned while being here. I’m enjoying my time here more than I did when I first got here. I feel that I am comfortable enough now with the basic set up of Singapore that I am able to enjoy all of its nooks and crannies that I hadn’t really been able to pay attention to before. Well, I am paying attention to my classes and they are pretty tough. But that’s another story. So overall I am doing pretty well. Still learning a lot. Mostly how to be alone and yet surrounded by people at the same time. I’ll try to write soon. Peace out.
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