Milliness

Milliness (noun) - a state of mind or actions which reflect Milly Me.
Eg. Bitching about the stars, the moon, the sun, the sky and everything underneath them; humour tinged with sarcasm, enjoying food while worried about getting fat at the same time, ridiculous random ideas, ....the works.

Thanks to dear 'ol Bal who coined this word. Miss you and the Krazy Korner!! :(

Stupid is as Stupid gets

Grrrr!! This is frustrating. I am trying to start on my assignments but they are harder than I thought. Don't ask me what they are or expect me to explain the modules. They are definitely not my favourites and I take no joy in all these technical 'investigating language' gibberish (yes, it seems like that to me now, unfortunately).

Frustration aside, it is quite demoralising because I can't seem to get going and I'm stuck. For a person who has no peace until she makes headway, this is as bad as it gets. I wake up in the middle of the night thinking about it, not about what I want in the assignments but rather, cracking my brains as to HOW to even do it. The last time I felt this way was probably in JC when I had to solve some ridiculous calculus questions.

By the way, the clocks go back an hour this week onwards so it's long, gloomy nights and more windy and wet days. Bleah.

Autumn sunshine

The last couple of weeks have been rather hectic. However, I don't mind the stress because it keeps me going and it forces me out of the lazy mode (just because I'm no longer pushed like the way I was at work). For the record, I have 3 assignments that are due within the next couple of months. The first being an unassessed one of 1,500 words. This one requires an outline to be done by the end of October and the actual piece by the third week of November. Why bother since it's unassessed? This is to allow my tutor(s) to help me see if I am getting my ideas right and whether I am writing 'academically' (not blogspot.com style :p). The other 2 are the scary ones - 3,000 words each and both are due 2 January 2008. Hurrah!! In anycase, I am enjoying the process so I hope that I get something out of it.

I discovered that the Chinese supermarket sold miso paste. So I happily bought that, some bonito fish flakes and voila, I get miso soup! I also experimented the miso with rice vinegar and olive oil to make salad dressing. It certainly is no way near Sushi Tei's but it's way better than nothing.

Miso soup...my way

OK, bitch fest time. Please scroll down to the pictures if you don't want details.

One of my Chinese flatmates is doing a postgrad course in Translation. When she first moved in, we had all these 'welcome' chats.

Me: Which course are you studying?
Fm: I'm going to the computer room.
Me: Excuse me?
Fm: Huh?
Me: I asked what are you studying in university?
Fm: I will go to the computer room.
Me: (Puzzled at her lack of understanding and slightly berating self for asking a stupid question and for speaking English) I mean, what course are here in university for? As in what will you study for the next one year in university? (gesticulation, book action...)
Fm: I will do course in translation.
Me: (trying hard not to faint)

I know, it's mean but when I told that to my Mum, she laughed. She said, "Alamak! Imagine her sitting next to the Prime Minister to do translation." >> I didn't say that, my Mum did!

Anyway, the highlight of this post is about the trip I just returned from. I was at the Lake District over the weekend on a trip that was organised for the postgrad students in the School of Education. In short, it was a brilliant weekend. The weather was perfect - no rain, clear skies and sunshine, albeit the cold. Seriously, what can you ask for in a region that rains quite a lot. The company was great too. It was an international platter of characters from the Far East, to the Middle East, the Mediterranean, to Iceland and Latin America.

My biggest achievement for the weekend, along with 25 others, was to scale up Cat Bells, a mountain with a modest height of 1,481 feet (450m). It wasn't too difficult an ascent considering that there were proper tracks for climbers except that when it got to the top, it was a vertical climb that required anyone to go on fours to get to the top. You would see people stopping along the way to catch their breaths and enjoy the view. It got better as we climbed higher. I was perspiring even though it was cold. Despite that, lunch consisted of an orange and half a bag of crisps because the ham sandwich (which I had half of) wasn't exactly something nice and warm I was looking forward too after the climb. In anycase, the night before, I had decadent strawberry cheesecake with cream.

I'm sorry that you weren't able to be there but enjoy the pictures, nonetheless.

Derwent Water

Still looking a little uninspired and sleepy

The ascent

View from (nearly at) the top

Yataa!! I was there!

One other thing I forgot to mention. The skies that night was clear. So clear that all the stars in their constellation were visible. I saw the Seven Sisters, the Plough, Venus and a few shooting stars!!!

So here I am, back at my desk, trying my best to tell you what happened.

Spot the difference

I was out with my coursemate and flatmate who are from Macedonia and France respectively. We took a train to the nearby town of Knaresborough. It was a lovely, lovely place. Everything was so quaint - the tea shops, market square, etc. There wasn't a TopShop, River Island or any high street shop there - just little independent shops selling their ware, which was a fresh change from all the high street chain stores. To top it off, the weather wasn't bad at all. It's nice and quiet there, the walk along the River Nidd was fantastic and there was a great view from the ruins of Knaresborough Castle.

Nothing is impossible

View of the River Nidd and the famous Victorian viaduct from the top, where the ruins of Knaresborough Castle stand

Knaresborough isn't like Leeds where the profile of people is concerned. In Leeds, you see many different people from different racial and ethnic background but in Knaresborough, I hardly saw anyone who wasn't English, save for the few of us and the odd 1 or 2 tourists. It is typical of non-student towns or a town for that matter, where the English context is concerned. L, my flatmate and I discussed the difference between people groups. She mentioned that Europe is so diverse that while they are one continent, they are all different - a French is different from an Italian, an English is different from a German, etc. There are times where she cannot understand nor tolerate other Europeans.

Sounds familiar? I was thinking about the situation back in the flat as well. L also commented about how different I am as compared to the other 2 flatmates from China. While we are the same racially, we are poles, worlds, planets and galaxies apart where speech, mentality and behaviour are concerned. L just cannot understand why these Chinese never mix with others out of their own country nor step out of the flat. She finds it weird that they lock themselves in their own rooms, they lock their rooms when they step into the bathroom/shower and the kitchen BUT never check to see if the main door to the flat is locked or shut properly! (Hur, maybe that's the reason why they lock their rooms all the time..haha!)

I am not saying that I am superior to them but I think that there are some things, some behaviour or mentality that have to be re-looked. It is sad that these 2 girls won't know others from elsewhere because they, and the rest of their Chinese friends, only hang out amongst themselves. Oh yes, another random rant - they can't cook. They told me that they don't cook at home as their mums cook for them. Am I supposed to be surprised? So some other Chinese friend comes to the flat and cooks for them and they cook the same dish on their own for the next few days until that friend comes by again and cooks for them.

I don't know what else to say and I don't know if you spot any differences but I sure see and feel the differences. And a little laugh here: my Korean coursemates thought that I was Korean when they first saw me. What's the difference?