Turandot

Nothing much to report today. New J1s were orientated to Guitar. Had a cool chat with Thong over lunch in RI. Realise that Thong and Chern are quite the duo for philosophical insights on life with almost polar opposite slants. RJC really makes its largeness felt wherever you go with soaring galleries and roofs. I thought Monday would cause a moratorium on all female relations, but that proved not only impossible but unnecessary. Thanks for listening.

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Been reviewing VJC's anthology submissions, and I have to say that some of the stuff really is brilliant. It's the first time that I've read a youth poem that makes the effort to make extra-textual references, and it is used to commendable effect. A short tribute, inspired while eathing a mandarin orange while watching BBC News weather. Isn't it intriguing how the entire continent of North America can fit into the space on my 13-inch TV?

Turandot
2 Feb '04

Not a flower that lasts forever
I give you a mandarin orange

Take it;
Its scent clings to your fingers
Its pimpled skin ruptures at your pressure
It lays itself naked to your consumption

Most of it is saccharine softness
The flesh parts, a circumromance
Its fragments speak mutely to you
It loves you; it loves you not

It is only the rind that we are interested in
The perfume of whole treefuls of skin
Under a rising sun that no one else will see
Sympathy is a trespass
On this orchard we usurped
On this wobbling colour of memory

You would throw away what we
Have learned to treasure
Your incomprehension makes what we
Have worth condescencion
Worth jealousy

We are secure as you look
Elsewhere; into our mutual innocent gift -

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I shall take this opportunity to publish an entry in my journal from Texprog. Well, it's not really a journal...the sketchbook that I bought just turned out to accept words more readily than images. And we shall have a reunion soon in TJ. It's so cool how these things all work out! =)

Note that all Chinese words are translated to hanyupinyin and underlined. This entry is written in the Starbucks cafe on Tianmu street, which is kind of a neighbourhood commercial centre that was really close to where Young lived. Young and Noodles were allegedly studying, and they brought us, their buddies, along.

22 Nov '04
'a bean roasted sings a song of flavour' - on the wall of the Tian1mu3 Starbucks

Sitting in this oasis of the West in the middle of Tian1mu3, sipping a mocha woth Young and another exchange pair, allegedly accompanying the Taiwanese as they study for their common tests, but really talking about the differences between Taiwanese and Singaporean classes. Some things just don't change, the present surroundings notwithstanding...

The first day in Yang Ming was intriguing. Heh, me and Ying Shan were in the same class for the morning. We had three periods, San1 min2 zhu3 yi4 (equivalent to SS), math and history. All the lessons had uncanny echoes with Singapore lessons; the first one talked about colonialism (from the perspective of the locals), the second one talked about matrix determinants, as close as I could make it out, and the last one talked about Napoleon and the Vienna Convention. Hehheh, it's great to find myself upon familiar ground here =)

Their school is quite cozy...it's an old compound, throbbing with life. It has the same flavour and attraction as the old RJ. They have recycling and a lessons set aside for sleeping after lunch. The students were super inquisitive about Singapore. heh, I never thought that my ability to speak, but inability to read or write guo2 yu3 would be such a talking point =) They were quite surprised with the notion that our classes have Indians and Malays in them, and that Singapore girls don't make up for school, like the Taiwanese do. And when we started speaking English, it was like a circus freak show =)

Hehheh, but I do find their inquisitiveness very warm-hearted. It feels good to entertain people who are really interested in Singapore. It's in curcumstances like these when what makes it worth it to be Singaporean is brought out. And their raucousness and enthusiasm...yes, some things are familiar enough to generate an undeniable feeling of belonging.

So that was our first day in a Taiwan school. If we could just chat with Young's class all day, that would just rule =) After that, we played basketball for a bit, and the Taiwanese overran the Singaporeans (in a school with 13 half-courts, it's kind of inevitable, I guess), and two people got injured...two of the hosts. And after that, we had an Italian dinner (50Pizza) and took the bus back, and here we are.

Oh yar...yesterday. We went all the way to the end of one of their metro lines, to a seaside (rivermouth) settlement called Dan4shui3. It has a brilliant riverside boardwalk, with buskers and roadside artists liberally scattered among the crowd of families and foodstalls lining the streets. There's this old street (Lao3 Jie1) that was full of exotic never-before-seen foods...we tried a wasabe-spiced fishball, tie3 dan4 (kind of like century egg, but tastes like tea egg), fried durian (!!) and, of course, chou4 dou4 fu. Heh, that's something I'll only try once. The thing about that is that it really does not stink, until you take a bite. Then the paste they smother the tofu in exudes a foul taste in your mouth, and you've got to get it off the back of your teeth and breathe through your nose to prevent the smell from triggering your gag reflex =)

Then we took an exhilarating boat ride to Yu2 Ren2 Ma3 Tou2, on the way getting blasted by the wind and the surf, and I took some excellent shots of the sunset. We stoned for a bit at the pier, taking more photos. Heh...was telling YS that I felt poetic. But there was nothing at hand to express my lyricism...but I think the photos should say enough! It was most idyllic to be blown by a frigid wind, sitting among friends on a foreign pier watching a stunning sunset.

Hmm...more similar points I've come across here...their metro is actually called MRT, and their trains are exactly like ours, except that they have blue, not red, stripes, and the carriages are wider. They also use touch cards, called Easycards. Our street reminds me of Hong Kong. An avenue near school is reminiscent of Foch in Lyon. And the rays of the setting sun piercing the clouds at Danshui echo that lost sundown on that hill in Cublize...

pondered by phoenican @ 2.2.05