British people

Taking another break from studying for the last and most boring paper on human resource. The lecturer is a genial old man who always rambles on about Morrison's, a company he used to work for. But he and the Finite Element Analysis lecturer (the best-looking one we had with equally good-looking children we saw in the photos on his desk) are cool in that they cycle around campus. He was funny too when we wanted to take photo with him in the last tutorial, he said, "Should have combed my hair and more marks for those in the photo!"

I like the British humour and the friendliness of the older people. The older people will smile and make cheery comments when meeting you, like a scholarly-looking guy saying, "Good jog!" to a panting and wheezing me. Once when Xianhong and I were walking to town centre when an old man wobbling precariously on a bicycle on the road shouted, "Hello there!" to us and an old woman trembling in the car behind him. The most amusing has to be this old couple in front of me in the queue in the market. The lady chattered non-stop while the guy munched on toffees before putting one in her mouth and said, "That'd keep you quiet."

The younger Britishers are not as friendly but just as funny. Like Lydia's lab mates who poked fun at their lecturer, saying the angle of his moustaches indicate his mood. Besides having droopy moustaches and thick spectacles, this lecturer is hard of hearing and there are hilarious moments when there are altercations between him (who cannot hear their answers) and students (who are shouting answers). Once a student answered a question not directed at him and told the lecturer, "I thought you were asking me from the reflection in your glasses."

The younger set love drinking. At the party to celebrate Mei's birthday on the actual day, one crazy dude who claimed the best feeling in the world is being drunk said, "Why do drugs when there's this!" pointing to the bottle of beer in his hand.

The morning after that party, I watched a rugby match between France and New Zealand on a plasma screen. It was really funny to see huge man-mountains crashing into each other and scrabbling for the ball. One guy from the French team had a beard and looked like a towering Gimli the dwarf from Lord of the Rings. The best player had to be Rokofoko from All Blacks, the New Zealand team, who danced past the French side twice to score. The New Zealand All Blacks is one cool team, they do the Maori's war cry, the Haka, before each match.

These enormas guys are tremendously fast and they really are enormas. I often see the rugby team in Loughborough swaggering down the road in front of the library (the boots make them look like that). These strapping lads are more than two of me, probably three, and getting rammed by them has got to be like a car banging into you!

Ok, back to boring books =(

EXAMS... june 4-7 and 13

We've been travelling and playing and have built up sufficient guilt to mug 24/7 in the week leading to the exams, it is just like in NUS... yikes! It is especially torturing when the sunny weather outside makes one wants to play and picnic outdoors =(

The exams are mostly at 1600 - 1800 which is horrible because the waiting and mugging on that day drains me out. I prefer morning papers because then it is over and done with quickly and I can go on to the next paper. After exams, I heat up pizza and eat before hitting the books again. Exam hall etiquette here is a new experience, silence is mandatory unlike in NUS where everyone erupts into furious comparisons of results once the papers are collected. People can bring in food though, it is hilarious to see one guy gulping down Red Bull during the paper.

Oh well, four papers done and one more to go. I think I would pass although not brilliantly, sob. There was one paper that was so bad that an impaired performance thing has come up. It is held when too many students complained. This module was taught by a few lecturers, one is the humorous and excellent Henk Versteeg, our SEP coordinator and everyone banked on his portion to pass, the other is someone who was absent often and covered the subject so poorly that an online discussion went something like this:

"... can't seem to find this in the notes... ..."
"... think this is what you're looking for and the notes are rubbish, you're better off with the textbook..."

so there is going to be a kind of collection of signatures next week to justify all the complaints and action is to be taken which is rather cool.

Anyway, I have taken a breather by watching a wonderful Korean show called "Innocent Steps", about a girl from China who replaced her dancer sister as partner to a top Korean dancer making a comeback.

It has both funny and touching moments, and I like this kind of shows as I believe in telling great truths with humour. I thought the guy one ugly dude at the beginning but fell in love with him later on... haha. I liked the girl right from the start, so cute and pretty!

Reflections

I have been jogging in the morning around campus and it is a time to ponder and reflect for me. Being an earlybird, I jog alone on weekend mornings and admire the trees and shrubs and flowers. Sometimes, they give interesting insights.

Like this fence showing the lovely white flowers

I think it is shows that underneath the fence everyone built up around themselves is a beautiful soul. I thought of this because I have been quick to judge people recently for their flaws and not taken time to look for their inner beauty. Maybe, under all that annoying acts is a good friend who will never be one if I keep writing him or her off.

Then there are these wayside flowers that nobody notices, not eye-catching but possess a wistful charm on closer inspection

The cars whizzed by everyday and are blind to the beauty that surrounds them. It is just like people in this fast-paced technology-driven age, working hard without knowing exactly for what. Reminds me of the story of a young man rushing for work and being blocked by an elderly couple. They kept stopping to smell the roses and finally told the young man they took a lifetime to learn that.

Of course not every jog is full of deep thoughts, but they are always full of sights that make me smile. Ducks blocking my way while quacking to each other and squirrels scampering about for nuts. First time seeing roses growing and not in bouquets is really wondrous and I enjoy walking under trees that give showers of petals when the wind blows.

These everyday simple beauties make me think about how much there is to enjoy in life. I haven't been quite my cheery self and I think have turned rather irritable and gloomy. These morning jogs really brightened up my days. Below is a little bit of what I have taken such pleasures in, they are not stunning as there is insufficient light from the morning sun and more importantly, they are just flat 2D images, seeing them thus is different from seeing them surround you.

http://picasaweb.google.com/guai.ah.lian/Spring