According to the lunar calendar, today is the fifteenth day of the eighth month. Although I feel compelled to go outside to gaze and admire the view of the moon tonight, I am unable to do so. However, I did receive a slice of lotus seed paste mooncake from Auntie Cecelia earlier tonight.
It has always been a tradition in our family to drive over to my paternal grandmother's house on the eve of every August 15 to celebrate the occasion. At her house, there would be a table set in front of the large window in her kitchen. She uses the same table every year -- a square table covered in dark red vinyl with metal rods for its legs. I can never remember the other items that she sets on her table. I think this could be attributed to the fact that I don't pay much attention to those sort of details.
Besides setting up the other items amongst all things, there would be one or two pomeloes, three pairs of chopsticks, three tiny cups filled with rice wine, a plate of steamed taros, an urn, incense and a few boxes of mooncakes. The cups would be arranged horizontally in a row with a pair of chopsticks in between them. In addition, a small jug of rice wine would be placed on the side. After we have made the necessary rites that are a part of worshipping the moon (or perhaps the mythical moon goddess, Chang'e/Chang'O), we would take a taro from the plate, go out to the front of the stairs that descend to her backyard below and, if it happened to be a clear night, admire the fullness of the moon. We would then proceed to peel the skin off of the taro and throw it as far as we could. I am unclear about the origin and purpose of this custom, but it is a very fun thing to do.
I am unsure of the number of Chinese families who still perform these rituals and customs, but my family certainly does. My family is rather traditional in this respect, but it has more to do with retaining it more than anything else. I don't know any other Chinese people in North America whose parents or grandparents still perform these traditions. Perhaps my family is one of those few Chinese families in North America who still adhere quite strictly to these festivals and the rites, traditions and customs that come with them.
I see the necessity in preserving these traditions for subsequent generations. However, there are some traditions that I will definitely keep, i.e. the taro skin tossing activity, and some that I don't see the point in performing as in the case of the rituals. Nevertheless, as I grow older each day, I will always mark this festival by going to a quiet spot out somewhere on a beautiful, clear night and gaze admiringly at the moon in all its splendor and glory as I sit and consume a few slices of mooncake. Whether I gaze upon the moon from my own backyard, a park or a garden and no matter my age or the time I am living in, the Eternal Moon will always shine upon the world with its youthful glow as we grow more ancient with each passing day.
Hopefully, someday, I will be able to do this in the company of my future love and loved ones. =)
My stress level is increasing by the day as my workload gets heavier with each passing day. I have a Chinese (Mandarin) quiz tomorrow morning and I am currently taking a break from studying. There are two and a half pages of new vocabulary to memorize and I will need to go over the sentence structures later tonight. My English 388 (Folklore in Children's Literature) prof assigned our first essay topics this morning and truth to be told, I am actually looking forward to writing it. I have already chosen my topic on the list and I am sure I will have much fun researching and writing the essay because it requires you to summarize and critically assess at least three different interpretations of a well-known (European) fairy tale of your choice. Now how fun is that? =D! I'm still deciding between Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood. There is an extensive list of critical approaches and analyses done on Red Riding Hood and there is a plethora of material out there that deals with the tale so if I choose Red Riding Hood, I should have no problem with finding material to work with. There is quite a number of material on Cinderella as well, but it has not been as widely touched upon as Red Riding Hood. There isn't as much material on Beauty and Beast even though that is the fairy tale that I want to work on the most. It is a childhood favorite of mine and I have found two books that deal with it, but I hope to find more material that specifically focuses on the underlying themes, concepts and issues within the tale. If I could, I would love to do the Cowherd and the Weaving Maid, but perhaps I should do that for my second essay when we deal with mythology. Well, if there happens to be a topic that would make that a relevant myth to work with. =) It is a Chinese myth and it is also known in Korea and Japan so it would be interesting to do some work on that. I don't know. We'll see. I'm a hopeless romantic and I have always had a soft spot for romance. =)
When I went to pick up my scholarship today at the Student Awards Office in the SUB this morning, a line had already formed outside the entrance. To make the process faster, two of the clerks who were managing the line took our Onecards (Student ID) and matched them to our checks before they distributed them to us. In addition to receiving a $1000 check for the James Barrington Prize for Southeast Asian History (Yipee!), we were each given a blank thank you card and envelope with instructions telling us to express our thanks to our donors in our cards. Since I will be very busy for the rest of the week, I'll probably write it during the weekend. You know, this check will lessen my winter term tuition fees quite considerably. =)
Today was the first day of the recruitment of volunteers for the Study Buddy Program that is offered jointly by the Edmonton Public and Catholic Schools. I talked to the Southwest representative at the Southwest booth near the cafeteria in the Education Building today and signed up for a spot in Belgravia Elementary School. Since the sessions are supposed to take place during school hours, I thought it would be more convenient to tutor at Belgravia because it is only a few blocks away from the university. The school is also accessible by bus and I have passed it many times on my way to and from the university. Volunteers are only required to tutor at least one hour per week and I think it is something I can definitely make a committment to. I do have a busy schedule, but I think I can devote at least an hour each week to the school in between classes. I have a few hours in between all of my classes so it should not be a big deal. There will be several information sessions. However, we are only required to attend one. We have a choice between volunteering at an elementary school and a junior high school, but since I live quite far from the two junior high schools in my area, I decided to stick with the elementary school. We also have a choice between working with students individually or as a small group. I think this is something that I will enjoy very much because I have tutored school-aged children in the past and I am always warmed and overjoyed when I see them begin to make improvements or grasp the meaning of certain concepts. It is very inspiring to see and I hope to do the same at Belgravia. Besides, it's a nice and productive way of killing time in between classes, is it not? It's always great to make a difference in other people's lives, no? =D
The Lams went to the wedding of a relative on Saturday so I made dinner for myself that evening. There had been an unopened package of Glico Curry lying around on the island since I brought it back from Vancouver during the beginning of the year. It looked like no one was going to use it so I decided to have curry for dinner that night. I chopped some potatoes, some carrots and some onions. I then added some minced cloves and olive oil to a large pan, left the cloves to simmer for a few minutes before I added the rest of the of the vegetables and some fishballs. I stirfried for a few minutes before I added water and left it to simmer for 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes had passed, I opened the package of curry, added the square pieces of solid curry into the pan and repeatedly stirred the mixture until they melted into liquid. I turned the stove off and left it to sit for 10 minutes before I poured some of it onto my plate of steamed rice. It turned out to be a very delicious meal. And you know what? I love curry, especially curry with fishballs! I also made myself some Chinese vegetable and carrot soup to go with the curry.
On Sunday, I went to worship with the Lams. As usual, Linda, Lillian and I went to the English ministry while the elders went to the Chinese (Cantonese) ministry. After worship, Auntie Cecilia dropped us off at home before she went to dim sum (yum cha) with some relatives who flew in for the wedding. The girls and I all had homework to do so we couldn't go. Instead, we spent the afternoon cooped up in our rooms reading and working on our assignments. When it was approximately 6:00 pm or so, Auntie C. and Uncle P. came home to drive us over to their friend's house for dinner. Dinner consisted of various East Asian cuisine (sushi and Chinese food) and Vietnamese-style sweet and sour soup. For dessert, we had this sweet rice paste/pudding with a teaspoonful of condensed milk. I've had that type of dessert before, but I can't seem to recall the name of the dessert at the moment.
The couple who hosted the dinner party have recently moved into their home. Since the man's father (who is from Singapore) was there, I assumed he lives in the house with them. They do not have any children, but they do have a pet cat of which they love very much. His name is Oscar and he truly is a very cute and beautiful cat. His room is in the laundry room and he is very calm and friendly. While I was petting him, he started to encircle me and climb onto my lap where he just let himself enjoy the pleasure of being petted by a human being. Oscar was very shy at first as he is unused to seeing so many people all at once, but he gradually came out of his shell and just roamed around like he usually does. I think that if I ever have my own house one day, I'd like to have a pet dog and cat. Of course, I'll need to get them together as babies because it would be difficult to introduce them to each other as adults. =)
Besides having the wonderful opportunity of meeting Oscar the Cat, each of the guests were given a free stuffed animal at the dinner party. Apparently, the couple have a large collection of stuffed animals and they wanted to give them away as they have no use for them. They are all new and have never belonged to anyone. I don't know how they came to acquire so many stuffed animals. I think that either a friend or a family member manufactures those toys for various companies and they probably received these extras from that friend or family member. Nonetheless, after a few moments of deciding between the various adorable stuffed animals, I decided on a stuffed Mashimaro. Lillian decided on a tan teddy bear while Linda decided on a cute stuffed pig. Auntie Cecilia, on the otherhand, decided to take the stuffed Pooh bear for herself and chose a stuffed sheep for Uncle Pat. I'll probably have pictures of my recently acquired stuffed toys up on this site when I have the time to post them to this blog. =)
This is a relatively minor thing, but I would like to point out a mistake I made in my last entry. Berkeley discontinued the library program in 1994. The school is now known as the School of Information Management and Science. Again, I am not going to apply there because the program has nothing to do with library studies. =/
The weather this fall is much colder and less sunny than it was last year. The leaves have begun to change color signalling the first signs of autumn. Time seems to move much more quickly here than it did when I was in Vancouver and I wonder if that is attributed to the discrepancy between Mountain Time and Pacific Time.
Marbella ostelloI have been settling in quite nicely and I have grown quite used to life here. The one thing that I do not look forward to is another long and cold winter for the remainder of the time that I am here. It usually begins to snow in late October and the city will remain cloaked in white until May. I still miss Vancouver and life in the West coast and I wish nothing more but to return to the life and home I left behind. I miss the diversity, the moderate climate, the mountains and the ocean. I miss being able to have cheap, fresh fruits and vegetables available all year round. I miss having Asian products and foods available almost everywhere without having to shell out more money for it due to the lack of competition and the smaller numbers of Asians. I miss having the best, most cost-effective and varied types of Chinese food and sushi in North America.
Hopefully, I will get accepted into grad school at UBC. That way, I will be able to live at home and the cost of pursuing a masters degree will be considerably lower than if I were to go elsewhere. However, I won't be only applying to UBC. I want to stay in the West coast and increase my chances so I am also planning to apply to the University of Washington and San Jose State University for their MLIS (Master of Library and Information Science) programs. UBC, UW and SJSU are all ALA-accredited schools. In case you are wondering what ALA stands for, it is the abbreviated form for American Library Association. Unfortunately, there are no universities that have ALA-accredited library schools in Oregon. UBC and UW are the only universities that have ALA-accredited library schools in B.C and Washington, respectively. In California, there are two universities that have them -- SJSU and UCLA. Berkeley cancelled their program back in 1994 and changed it to (if I remember the name correctly) Management Information Science, which is strictly computer-oriented. Unfortunately, UCLA requires prospective MLIS students to take a course each in computer science and statistics. I do not meet that requirement so I will not be applying there. I would like to apply to UCLA though and if I had known then what I know now, I would've taken courses in introductory stats and comp. sci. during my first two years in university. The one thing I like about UBC's program is that you can pursue a joint masters degree in Library and Information Studies and Archival Studies (MLIS/MAS). In any case, I plan to work on my applications over Christmas holiday.
Why am I interested in this field, you say? I am interested in pursuing this field because I feel it is compatible with my personality. I believe it is something that is right for me and I think that I would be very happy with a career in this field. With the exception of family and friends, I have always been quiet, calm, reserved and quite introverted to those of whom I am not well acquainted with. I have always loved being in a library and I am somewhat of an avid reader. It seems like a comfortable, low-key and less stressful occupation and I believe I would find librarianship a more enjoyable career than I would accounting. Nevertheless, I will apply to the DAP program at UBC just in case things don't work out.
I feel relieved and fortunate that my workload isn't too heavy despite taking a full courseload and having my first class start at 8:00 am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. I have been keeping track of my readings and keeping a schedule so that I won't fall behind. When you take a full courseload and fall behind in your readings, it will be very rough on you for the rest of the term as you try to meet deadlines for assignments. I want to prevent myself from pulling all-nighters this year because I know what a strain it can be on my health and appearance.
I have applied for part-time employment at the U of A Libraries and at several eateries at the HUB Mall on campus. I submitted my resumes and applications last week and I haven't received any calls yet. Hopefully, I will get a job in the library because I want to add upon the experience that I had at the VPL Hastings branch this summer. It would be a good thing to have since I want to go to library school. If I can't get a job anywhere, I'll probably just volunteer.
I checked with the Student Awards Office and my history award/scholarship will not be available for pickup until next Monday. I am looking forward to that because it means I will pay $1000 less for tuition next term. =)
To end this off, I would just like to express my joy at HIST 494!
=DDD!!!
Why? Well, you know why! I have less papers to write during the term! So far, I only have 2 classes that have an essay-writing component to them. I don't mind writing essays, but when you have to do 2 essays each for 2 classes, it can be rough when you have an additional term paper for a seminar! Fourth-year papers are always at least 15 pages long and I have to write 4 papers in addition to reading mounds and mounds of lecture readings.
Prof. Dunch actually didn't assign a term paper for this class. Instead, the paper will be assigned as a take-home exam/essay that should be approximately 10-15 pages long. Aren't fourth-year seminars cool? I like the fact that there are no midterms and finals in seminars. The class size is always small (less than 20 people) and the prof knows you by name. Well, Prof. Jay knows I and most of her other students by name and I haven't taken a seminar with her yet, but that's a special case. I find that profs generally know who you are when the class sizes are smaller. I don't know about everyone else, but it always seems to be the case for me. (Okay. I went off on a tangent there). To bring the discussion back to HIST 494. There are a couple of graduate students in our seminar as the class is a crossover with a grad seminar with the same topic of interest. The only difference is that the grad students have to do more work. Participation and discussion are worth quite a bit and there is a presentation that we have to do on a set of readings of our choice. Undergraduate students can choose to do the presentation with a partner while graduate students have to present on their own. Luckily, Julie happens to be taking the seminar with me so we'll be working on the presentation together. She's also in CHINA 301 (Intermediate Chinese I) with me.
South Koreans Choosing to Learn Chinese
ERROR MSGI will make a brief comment about this later.
Three years ago today, I was awakened by my younger sister, Terry, who announced that two airplanes had flown into the World Trade Centre in New York before the two buildings collapsed. I don't remember if I was the one who turned on the TV, but I remember that it received quite a large amount of coverage in the media where they constantly replayed the image of the planes flying into the buildings. I remember watching the chaos and the helpless victims who had no choice but to jump out of the buildings. I remember feeling extreme sadness for those who were trapped inside unable to escape. I felt for the innocent victims inside the two airplanes. I felt for the families and friends who lost their loved ones that day. I also felt sad for and marvelled at the courage of the firefighters and other emergency crew who spent countless hours trying to help those in need. I was also struck with an eerie sense of familiarity with the scene of the planes flying into the two towers. This was due in large part because I remember there was a similar scene where the main characters in Final Fantasy VIII (1999) fly a jet into a building. However, as it is a video game, the jet remained intact and the humans were left unharmed. This was real life. The airplanes exploded upon impact and those who were on those few floors died instantly.
Most of all, I was shocked. I was shocked because this was something that happened out of the blue. It was something that was totally unexpected. My family and I had visited the World Trade Centre in August 1998 and I remember going past security and taking the elevator up to the top. I also remember feeling for the tourists who were in there that morning for they were simply there at the wrong place at the wrong time. Many Americans died in that building that day, but the death toll also includes those from other countries. It looked like something out of a movie, a computer game or a video game -- not real life. However, this did happen and it was an event that made the world a much darker place.
I returned to Edmonton two days ago so all of the entries I write from now on will have an hour added to the time that it was published.
What can I say about my first day? For one thing, the SUB was like a zoo! Both the U of A Bookstore and Subtitles (the used bookstore) were packed with students searching for and lining up to buy books! I know I should've bought my books early. However, some books aren't available until much later and my schedule was still tentative up to that point.
Anyone planning to take a Chinese language course must obtain permission from the department in order to add a class to their schedule. Chinese classes are usually closed to web registration and an interview with one of the two advisors is required before they enroll you in a course that is suitable for your level. The university granted me credit for the Chinese class I took at Berkeley last summer and I now have credit for China 201/202. Basically, Chinese 1X is equivalent to China 201/202 so I knew I had to take China 301 (Intermediate Chinese I). I still needed to have an interview with one of the advising professors because there might be some discrepancies between Chinese courses in Berkeley and the U of A. A small line had already formed when I went to the professor's office for the interview. When it was my turn to go in, the professor gave me a questionnaire and a add/delete form. He then asked me to fill those outside before I come back in. As there was a line, I had to line up all over again after I filled out the forms.
Noordwijk cheap hotelsWhen it was my turn to go in again, he spoke to me and asked me to answer in Mandarin as best as I could. He then gave me some Chinese textbooks and asked me to read a few sentences. Afterwards, he told me that based on my background, I will be enrolled in China 301. He also said he hoped that I will have fun with them and I'm sure I will because I had a very good impression of the class today.
My Chinese instructor is a Taiwanese lady called B. Chiu (I'll only indicate her last name). She taught in Taipei and in the States before she came to the U of A two years ago. Since today was the first day of class, she introduced the course and distributed outlines before we did some introductions. We were also required to write down our Chinese names on the board after our names were called because she will only call us by our Chinese names for the remainder of the course. As this is a third-year course, the class will mostly be taught in Mandarin, which I have little trouble in understanding because the class I took in Berkeley is an introductory course for Mandarin-speakers and I had no problem with it. I understand Mandarin at a basic level, but I can't speak it very well. I certainly cannot write Chinese very well either.
Most of the students in the class are second-generation Chinese-Canadians. There are also two Caucasian males, three Caucasian females and one Korean female. There was one Caucasian male who was able to speak Mandarin quite fluently. He conversed with the instructor in complete and correct sentences and his pronunciation was very good as well. In fact, he spoke Mandarin better than many of the other students in the class so I was quite impressed. The other Caucasian students understand and are able to speak Mandarin at a basic level. The Korean female is also able to speak and understand Mandarin at a basic and functional level. She lived in Beijing for about 1-2 years and I surmised that this could be factor in her acquisition of the language.
Aside from all this, my revised schedule for Fall 2004 looks like this:
English 388 (Folklore in Children's Literature) MWF 8:00 am - 8:50 am
History 295 (20th Century Warfare) MWF 1:00 pm - 1:50 pm
History 250 (American History to 1865) T Th 2:00 pm - 3:20 pm
History 494 (Comparative History: Asia and the Rise of the West) W 10:00 am - 12:50 pm
China 301 (Intermediate Chinese I) T Th 9:00 am - 10:50 am
Okay. Off to bed with me! I have to wake up at 6:00 tomorrow morning! Eep! I still need to buy my English books! =/!
I am still deciding whether to switch blogs again or not...
I had a restless night yesterday. I awoke with a heavy feeling in my heart at 4:00 am, but I could not go back to sleep. Feeling the need to release the emotions I had been feeling since I woke up, I decided to head downstairs approximately two hours later. I was about to turn on the computer and blog when I was stopped by my mother who was worried about my restlessness. She asked me what was wrong. Tears began to form in my eyes. As soon as she told me that I would feel much better if I cried, I released all of my defenses and surrendered to my tears. As I cried, I felt the heaviness leave me tear by tear. When I was finished, my mother and I talked about the problems that I had been experiencing recently with a long-distance relationship that had been going on for the past year.
Let me tell you. I never knew how understanding my mother actually is. It was a very good and comforting feeling because I finally felt like I could truly be honest with her about the confusing mound of feelings that I had been experiencing for a year. I didn't need to hide it from her anymore. My mother knew that I had feelings for him all along. I had been feeling very conflicted inside for the past year as I struggled to choose between doing what my heart told me to do and satisfying the wishes of my family. Unfortunately, this revelation came too late as our relationship had been damaged by a series of fights that have been initiated by fears and misunderstandings about each other. I discovered that I had always been allowed to make my own choices about this all along. That as long as I was happy, my parents would be happy even though they were initially opposed to it.
We have made up and sought to resolve things on our own. As of now, our discussion is left unfinished. Regardless of whether the discussion ends or not, I feel that things can never return to the way they were before. I believe that we have been slowly drifting apart this past month as we spent less and less time talking to each other. Fears and misunderstandings served to increase the negative feelings we had of each other.
Although I have a choice between working things out with him and moving on, I choose to move on. I wish it did not have to be so, but I feel that this is for the best. I wish not to reveal too much of my emotions in a public blog, but the feelings that I had for him prior to the fights have dissipated for the most part. I wish to devote a night to discuss things with him, but the feeling I received was that repairing our relationship was not as important and serious a priority to him as it is to me. As it stands, I feel like I can only be good friends with him now. I will always reminisce and reflect fondly on our special and wonderful past, but in doing so, one must also look forward. My heart is ready to fall in love again a second time. However, it will be a while yet before I am ready for love again. I am only 22. I still need to finish my education, take part in an active social life, pursue a career and indulge in my interests.
I feel free and it is a wonderful feeling indeed.