The Holy Pilgrimage Pt. II

Pt. I of my post on the visit to Old Trafford was a straight-up chronicle of events, and can be found here. This one is about my post-visit observations/reflections.

On the bench!!

1. Consumerism runs amok. After the match, approximately 34539 people squeezed their way into the Megastore. There was actually security personnel who had to perform crowd control, limiting the flow of people into the store. The crowd formed a massive, uncoordinated bloc that waitd outside the entrance, as the store was already bursting with people. They need a Ginomostore, not a Mega-one, methinks. The crowd situation made me wonder if it'd be as crazy if United had lost. Sure, tourists like me would probably still venture in, but I'd guess that regulars might not feel quite as inclined to entertain their kids' requests for that United scrabble set. We're more likely to splash out the cash when we're in a good mood obviously. This really highlights the importance of United maintaining their winning ways given their massive debt: It's not just Champions League earnings, but also merchandise sales, that will be affected.

Dawn of the Dead comes to life

2. The match itself will not be making it into the hall of classics anytime. Both teams played averagely, with many sloppy passes made. In fact, I was kinda shocked at how casual players looked when pinging those passes. Making it look easy, sure, but I still found it slightly disconcerting how unbothered they looked. Both sides had few clear-cut chances at goal, with most of the match being played in midfield and both teams struggled to string passes together.

3. C'est triste que I missed WR10 in action, but I am very thankful to have been able to catch United legends Giggsy and Scholesy in action. Scholes, in particular, was on form that day, and seeing him do his thing in the centre of the park, committing those "oops isn't it cute how he still doesn't know how to tackle" fouls was pure joy.

4. Poor Berbatov. He didn't do well that day, but he didn't fare that badly either. But, every time h got the ball, you could seriously feel the weight of the pressure/expectation the crowd was putting on him. Every time he messed up yet another good scoring opportunity, the collective groan from the stands got louder and ever more frustrated.

Giggsy about to score from the spot.

5. Speaking of disappointments, Michael Carrick was another who faced the crowd's wrath. Underperforming the entire season, Carrick exemplified the whole 'couldn't care less' attitude I described earlier. "Take your time, son", I remember a disgruntled fan in my vicinity shouting. And he would.... only to misplace his pass. Shape up, or ship out, Mister!

6. Nani - Ah, aren't we glad for his revelatory form in the second half of the season. In an uninspiring team performance, it was obvious that Nani was the spark of the squa, the one who proverbially 'made things happen'. Still no Ronaldo, but we'll all be expecting greater and better things to come from him this coming season.

7. Last note on the United squad -- Just want to pay tribute to Evra. Seriously, best left-back in the world (maybe not when playing for La France). ♥

8. Spurs note: Crouch does win those headers, doesn't he? And Gareth Bale was definitely the Nani equivalent for them.

Last chance you were able to hi-five that day! hah!

9. It's sad but I have to confirm that the away crowd is indeed more enthusiastic in their singing/cheering. I think that's the way it is everywhere though. And WC and I sadly were also part of the much maligned prawn sandwich crowd since I didn't know any of the songs and couldn't take part in the singing. *ashamed*

10. On to general thoughts: Attending a football match is nowadays a very wholesome event. Besides the alcohol ban, I was most impressed by how disabled-friendly the club is. There's a big section right at the corner between the East and South ends reserved for fans on wheelchairs, and there's a big MUFC Disabled Supporters' Club, which has its own publicity board inside the stadium. Also, they have a designated hangout area on their own termed the 'Ability Suite'. A big too obvious or cheesy to some perhaps, but I thought it to be a great message.

Also, that day coincided with the anniversary of the Disabled Supporters' Assocation, so that was a 3 on 3 match between some mentally handicapped Spurs and United kids during halftime. I smiled when I head someone near me say "Cone on lads, we're United, we wanna win everything." We lost 1-7 though. Oops.

It's 20LEGEND! O.G. Solskjaer, Reserves manager, leads the squad out to collect their trophy for finishing top of the Northern half of the Reserves League before the match.

11. And finally, another way match-attending is wholesome is how it is very much a family affair. All throughout the stands, there were numerous father-son attendees, including fathers with adorable, excitable children, dads with their teenage lads who might be too cool and slightly embarrassed to hang out with their parental units, and grey-haired men with their grown-up sons. I could easily imagine generations of fans attending United games - Dad brings son brings grandson and so the tradition passes on. Saturaday afternoons would be that special bonding time between father-son as they share the elation of a victory, or the despair of a loss. And eventually, such Saturdays would become amazing, shared memories. I can almost picture a Kodak commercial based on this. NGL, I felt a twinge of envy/sadness seeing these scenes of familial bonding, knowing I never had a decent dad with whom I had memories of joyful experiences. (Sorry, woe-is-me attitude henceforth ceases!)

That is why after the match, this thought came to my mind: maybe Manchester United is too big of an institution today. United is as grand and majestic as football stadiums come, but I couldn't help but envision this rosy, idealised picture of father/son attending their local club's match, where every one's voice mattered, since one's absence wouldn't simply be filled by the next football tourist. Seems like that'd be a more authentic experience, for a lack of a better description. The grandiosity and commercialism of MUFC, exemplified for example by the way the megastore is run like a well-oiled machine and by how skyrocketing season ticket prices are hurting middle/working-class football families, takes away the soul from the experience, this overthinking fan believes.

Farewell to thee, Old Trafford... I will be back!

The Holy Pilgrimage Pt. 1

Ok, so throughout my travels this past year, I've actually been pretty faithfully journaling each trip, but I've only posted summarized thoughts on them because I didn't think the world needed minute-by-minute accounts of my holidays. But, I decided to break the trend for this trip, because it's Manchester freakin' United! So there'll be 2 parts to this post: the first is a more straightforward chronicle of events and the second will be random thoughts along the lines of this or this. Please excuse the rambling!

only blue you'll see in this post!

Day 1:
So on the historic days of April 23/24, I finally made my long-awaited pilgrimage to the Holy Land, aka Old Trafford, Manchester. Thanks to the generosity of a friend, I manged to snag a pair of season ticket passes and invited fellow Man United fan Way Cherng along for a trip up north to catch United in their penultimate home game of the season against Tottenham Hotspurs.
We took a 0730 train on Friday and from Oxford, it was a 3 hour ride to Manchester Piccadilly station, the central train station there. When we arrived, we took the tram to the stop named Old Trafford which is of course where the stadium is near and also where our hotel was located. After checking in and getting a pub lunch at Wetherspoon's, we proceeded to OT for our stadium/museum tour.
The museum was great, especially the section on the Munich aircrash. I was aware of the history of the tragedy but being there, reading all the info and looking at the photos/old newspaper reports, I really felt kinda emotional. This incident was the football equivalent to the day the music died, definitely. It was amazing how Bobby Charlton bounced back to win the World and European Cup!

And as for the stadium, what can I say. Way better than the Santiago Bernabéu! We got to visit the players' dressing room, where there were tactics white boards and a TV. Just imagine Sir Alex giving one of his trademark hairdryer treatments there!

Treble season, baby!

Legend

After the stadium tour (which inevitably ends at the merchandise store), it was time to shop the vast United megastore, featuring all sorts of crap you can think up of, from Man United candy to rugs. *Sheer bliss* I got a jacket, and a 07/08 Champions' League DVD on the cheap.

MUFC candy? Doubt it's M&S quality though.

...and grass(!) lol.

Sir Alex in his youth! Amazing!

After departing OT, we took the tram back to Manchester city centre, and did a walking tour of it. We had dinner in Chinatown, and the waitress who served us in the restaurant turned out to be local! She was a Malaysian Chinese who had lived in Singapore for a long time, in Tampines even! We went back to the hotel after dinner to rest.

oh, we had time for a helicopter ride around the stadium too.

Day 2 (Match day!):
After an English breakfast at the hotel, it was time to head to the stadium for the game. WC and I each bought a Love United, Hate Glazers yellow and green Newton Heath scarf before heading in. Our seats were on the East end, pretty near to the action really. United attacked our end in the first half, but sadly, all three goals they scored occured in the second, so we only got to see the Ledley King goal up close. Also, Rooney had the audacity to miss the one match that I came to watch? The nerve! =(

Players warming up, doing that zig-zag body twisting thing I used to do during badminton training too!

Players having emerged from the tunnel.

Setting up for a FK. Can't remember if it was Nani or Gigg who took it.

United won the match 3-1 at the end, with Giggsy converting two penalties and Nani contributing an exquisite individual goal that kept our title challenge alive. You could feel the air of hope and positivity lingering after the match ended. It was not to be, as the events in May informed us, but I am so grateful the team won, putting the cream on top of the proverbial strawberries (thought this'd be a more apt metaphor for England, no?) (or the vinegar on top of fish and chips perhaps).
After the match, we walked back from OT to the city centre (the trams being crazily packed, of course), which took some 45 minutes, I'd say. We went to eat at the food court in the main mall there. Western food courts are not quite like those in Singapore, where you have stalls selling a vast array of hawker-type food. Here, food court stalls are more likely to consist of McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, and some sandwich shop. There was, however, a Chinese stall there so WC and I both had roast duck/char siew rice (yes, we both love our Chinese food). Not quite local standards, but mai4 hiam2, buay3 pai4.
Then, we headed to a coffee shop to hang out and read the matchday programme before taking the 1936 train back to Oxford, where Trinity term awaited.

yay! WC looks joyful, to say the least!

remember that, folks!

Journalin' Berlin

The Berlin Diaries (Isherwood inspired of course)

1. So on the day of the trip, I walk out of my apartment to head to catch my coach to airport. Walking past the neighbouring apartment, I see Hayleigh, who's actually traveling with me to Berlin. But because we booked our flights at different times, we're taking separate flights. She's flying Easyjet from Luton, whilst I'm doing Ryanair from Stansted. I have to wait for her at Berlin Schonefeld airport for about an hour. Meanwhile, our third travel mate, Caleb, is flying in from Paris and meeting us at the hostel at about 2350 that night. Such jet setters we are.

2. You know how restaurants do those really value-for-money set lunches to draw crowds in on quiet weekday afternoons? Well, the Germans of course do that as well, and they term them 'business lunches'. Sounds classier, I guess.

3. Berlin is quite a contrast from other major Western European cities. Unlike Paris or London with their gazillion year old quaint buildings and small, narrow roads, Berlin is half old buildings and half steel/glass minimalistic modernity. Not surprising considering the city was bombed into oblivion half a century ago.

At the Holocaust Memorial

4. Said steel and glass architecture, with their funky shapes, combine with the graffiti found all over to give Berlin a really edgy feel (I've been watching too much Project Runway I think.) The graffiti here is pretty darn cool, gotta say.

5. Oh, also unlike other European cities, there isn't a pigeon population the size of India + China. Sure, there's the odd one or two (or three or four) here and there, but it's not the kind of swarming over you like Singaporeans at a McDonald's circa the Hello Kitty craze that you find in Trafalgar Sq. or outside the Notre Dame.

6. There are tonnes of Vietnamese eateries all over Berlin. Was there a Vietnamese exodus to Germany that I missed out on? The pho I ate at this one restaurant was no where near as good as the one I had in Paris though.

7. Berliners are definitely not quite as fashion forward as Parisiens or Londoners even. The standard uniform seems to be: Hiking boots, jeans, simple top with a weatherproof jacket over it.

8. That said, there're plenty of individuals with outrageous and unique styles that I came across - like dudes with shocking blue or pink hair, as I had expected from what's been termed the new NYC.

9. The Berlin metro system is probably the most confusing one I've come across in Europe. There's the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn, the autobahn (ok not counted), the regular trains, a lack of clear signboards, ticket machines that do not like to accept notes - Efficient it may be, simple to understand it definitely isn't.

10. Had two people coming up to me asking for directions. What, I look German?

11. Gotta talk about my experience returning to the UK of course. The night before my flight, I merrily went over to the hostel lady and asked her how long it would take to get to the airport. She's all, "Haven't you heard? All flights to London are canceled." What!!?? Panic mode ensues. After having a strike derailed my flight back from Italy the previous trip, a freakin' volcano now?? For serious?

So I went on to Ryanair's site and the earlier flight available I could rebook was 4 days later (which still would have been canceled, as it turned out). I went to the train station the next morning to check out train options, but they were fully booked for the next 2 days and it would have cost a bomb anyway (Incidentally, the lady at the train ticketing counter was a majorly unhelpful, unsympathetic, um, person. Ugh.) Luckily, I had checked online the previous night that there were actually buses that ran from Berlin to London (Seriously, who knew?). So I headed to the bus station (on the confusing S-Bahn) located in West Berlin. There, I was told that the bus for that night (one each day) for full, but I could pay first and get on the waitlist and come and see what happens. So I did, and went back to the hostel.

Hours later, I'm checked out and I headed back to the bus station (having a room on hold till 8pm at the hostel in case I didn't manage to get on the bus). I found out I was 2nd on the waitlist. And 10 minutes before departure, we are told there's space! About 5 people on the list got to board. And so I boarded the bus and began the 19 hour ride to London.

The bus passed through Bremen, Hanover in Germany, then crossed Holland, where the customs check is this police van with a (-------> Follow Me) sign on its back that led the coach to a petrol station. Officers then boarded and checked our documents. How nice of them to do that! We didn't even have to disembark haha. From Holland, we went into Belgium and stopped at Brussels. The bus was Paris-bound, so the ones heading to London changed coaches.

From Brussels, the bus continued onto France, stopping at Lille, before arriving at Calais, where we crossed the English Channel using the Eurotunnel. That was the coolest shit. All vehicles basically drive into these long, narrow trains, one after another, and park inside. Then, with the vehicles stationary, the trains ferry us across the Channel and we emerge in Dover. English air at last! From Dover, it took another 2 hours to get to central London. Finally, after 19 hours, Victoria Coach Station! But the journey's not over!
I had to of course take another 2 hour coach journey to get back to Oxford. Good times. A friend had a three day bus ride from Croatia back to London though, so who am I to complain. So 93 euros (bus ticket price) and 21 hours later, I was back home, 1.5 days later than had been planned. My Easter travel adventures finally end, after Wales, Morocco, Italy and Berlin (sorta. still one final weekend in OLD TRAFFORD! Squee!).

Cute huskies make any blog post better.

Postscript on Italy

Dates: 31 March 2010 to 10 April 2010
Locales: Rome, Florence, Cinque Terre, Venice, Milan (unscheduled stop)
1. Like France, payment on Italian public transport systems, especially buses, relies on the integrity of passengers. You board the bus from any the front or rear and scan your card in front of the machines installed on the bus. The driver doesn't check. Guess which end we boarded on all the time.

2. Italy must be one of the top ten tourist destinations in the world, and probably higher on a per capita basis. Seriously, Rome, Florence, Pisa and Venice were swarmed with tourists.

3. For such a popular tourist destination, Italy's citizens are unexpectedly not as bilingual as I'd expected them to be, especially in comparison to locals in other top tourist sights like Paris and Barcelona. Of course it's up to foreigners to adapt to the local vernacular always, but it's just surprising for these tourist traps. *shrugs*

4. Where ever there is money to be made, the Chinese will be there. Similar to what I observed in Spain, the Chinese diaspora extends to Italy as well, with many Italian restaurants/bars in Venice actually run by Chinese immigrants. So it's not that they're there opening Chinese restaurants, it's that they're there opening restaurants that sell Spanish/Italian food. It's pretty cool to see the Chinese boss lady mingling and hanging with the locals at the bar, speaking in Italian.

5. The St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is the granddaddy of churches surely. Talk about OTT fabulosity. Stunning.

6. Speaking of stunning, Michelangelo's David definitely fits the description. It's much bigger than you'd expect, and is pretty awe-inspiring.

7. Something slightly negative now: Not to be sweeping and all, but our impression of the Romans was not really the most positive: There was the snobby waiter who told us snootily that the restaurant was fully booked when it was empty (maybe it was true, but it really looked unlikely. There was the impatient waitress who chided us just because some of us took a bit more time to decide our orders. And the winner: The Roman police. So when Melissa went to the police station to lodge a report for her lost passport, a policeman came out from a room, told her to wait 10 minutes, then went back in. Something important he needed to attend to first? Yeah, the football game which had another 10 min to run! Football's life and death, I suppose.

8. Italian food joints are apparently divided into 3 price/class tiers - the top is the ristaurante, the middle is the trattoria and the casual one is the osteria (which I initially thought was a place which sold oysters mainly - not a bad deduction I contend, given you have pizzerias, spaghetterias, gelaterias and even burgerias.).

9. Posted it on FB, but proud to announce that I had at least one gelato cone a day for 11 days. Mostly two scoops each time, but 3 a few times when I felt extra hungry. If you happen to visit Rome, go to this gelateria called Old Bridge, which you'll pass on your way to the Vatican Museum. Cheap, good, voluminous scoops, and friendly staff who can speak conversational Mandarin.

10. It wasn't just all ancient ruins and museums and churches in our itinerary. We spent 3 days in Cinque Terre, a UNESCO heritage site of gorgeous hilly cliffs, which we spent a large part of a day hiking across. Combine that with the number of stairs we climbed scaling towers in Pisa and Florence, and I swear I do more exercise during vacation then I do during term time.

11. Did the usual McD's in a foreign country visit. Nothing too exotic though, except a McItaly. Hamburgers are 50 cents apiece in Milan though.

12. People must think the group I traveled with was a bunch of gambling obsessed Asians. We were playing bridge any and everywhere that we were stationary for more than 10 seconds. Like waiting in line to board a plane. Asses plopped on carry-on suitcases, out come the cards. Still pretty bad at the whole card-counting malarkey though.

13. Venice is truly a unique sight to behold. No cars, and most of the buildings have been around for centuries, so what you'll see is essentially what people in the 1500s saw.

14. Unfortunately, my food experiences in Italy were a bit of a letdown. Perhaps it's because I'd set expectations too high, but none of the pastas/pizzas I had were of the host-of-a-food-programme-gushing-orgasmically-kind. It's probably also because we ate at cheap joints most of the time of budgetary reasons, but still, people do wax lyrical over plain ol' spaghetti bolognese. Perhaps good, cheap pasta is found only in Bologna (where we sadly only stopped at to change trains).

15. I have to give a shout out to Hilary (that's her anglicised name. It's Hilaria or something like that in Italian), our amazing guide to our Doge's Palace visit. Great narration of the story of Casanova's escape from the Venetian prison. At certain points, the tour group was like a bunch of kids sitting in a library listening spell-bounded to her spinning her tales. Tour guides should all be like her!

16. Those Emporio Armani ads featuring Megan Fox and Cristiano Ronaldo could be found everywhere. Makes sense what with the country being the home of Armani.

17. The original plan was to head back to London from Venice. However, upon getting to the airport, we learn that our flight had been canceled because of an airport staff strike (they had the cheek to be marching for support there! Grr.). Ervin paid 400 Euros to get a BA flight the same day because he had another flight to catch in London the next day, whilst the rest of us stayed another night in Venice, hauled ass to Milan the next day to catch a flight back from there. Only got to see the Milanese train station, and that was it.

18. 'Ciao' is used a lot indeed for greetings. Besides a plain 'ciao!', you can often go 'ciao ciao!" in quick succession. For additional emphasis, I suppose.

Gelato with stunning scenery is always a good way to end a post.

Random notes on Morocco

Back from 10 days in Le Maroq!

1. Morocco is really diverse climate-wise. I was expecting dry, dusty landscapes, but while Marrakesh matched my impression, Fez was actually really green, almost Cameron Highlands-like in its cool dampness.

2. Got to ride my first ever camel and donkey. The former is definitely a much smoother ride than the latter.

3. On the subject of camels, they poop. A lot. On our 1 hour ride into the desert, they pooped quite literally every 10 seconds on average. Mostly light pellets, with the occasional plop of a big dump.

3. Spent a night sleeping in the tent in the Sahara desert. Pretty much didn't shower or brushed teeth and just went straight to bed, with boots still on even.

4. Peed twice in the desert, then washed my hands with sand.

5. Saharan sand is incredibly fine.

6. Night time in the vast expanse of the desert was not as dark as I'd expected. With no other light source distracting, the moon actually provides enough light for one to walk around without feeling blind.

7. Asian tourists are rare commodities, especially in Tangier, where two girls accosted us on the street for photos.

8. Moroccans speak French more slowly than the French do, which was great for me as I could understand much more of it. I basically served as the interpreter for the group the whole time and got to practice my French a lot. Their French is not very good, I gotta say. Mine's pretty crappy and still I could detect numerous mispronunciations from various people.

9. Still not a big fan of couscous, which is a popular dish in Morocco. Their beans soup is pretty great though.

10. Due to budgetary reasons, had enough bread in 10 days to last me a lifetime (or at least the next month).

11. Worse olfactory experience of my life in visiting a tannery (leather-making joint). Makes you appreciate the price of leather, as you imagine that the workers have to endure that day in day out.

12. At said tannery, we were sorta threatened. We were promised a free tour, but as we left, were told we had to pay the 'guardian' (bad Arabic-English translation from the guide probably) of the tannery 50dh each. When we refused, he said he could not guarantee our safety afterward then. We settled at 20dh each eventually. "Student discount" for us.

13. Like in Turkey, as we walk in markets, shop owners, random people, touts all shout out "Japonais? Korean? Chinois?" to us. 98% of the time, their first guess is Japanese, reflecting Japan's status as the richest Asian country and hence the one with the most tourists of course. One guy said Singapore in his first try, which was pretty cool. Someone else said Taiwan. Independence-leaning Taiwanese would have been so happy.

14. Speaking of this nationality/ethnicity guesswork of the locals, many like instead to say "Jackie Chan?", then strike a gong-fu pose with requisite sound effect. A whole bunch of soccer-playing kids in Tangier showed off their full repertoire gong-fu moves with enthusiasm as we walked past them. We can anoint Mr. Chan as officially the most famous Asian face globally, methinks.

15. It seems Moroccans are fans of Bollywood. I noticed more of Bollywood titles than Western ones in the pirated DVD shops we came across.

16. Oxonian Singaporeans are all musically talented. Caleb and Elizabeth play the violin, Rachel can do guitar and drums, Junny can do guitar and just picked up the ukelele, which he brought along for the trip. The night in the Sahara, outside our tent, with candles lit, we jammed along with 3 German girls, who were in our same traveling van, to Coldplay, Howie Day, the Beatles as Junny played the ukelele. And for many of the songs, Elizabeth and Junny simply worked out the chords on the spot. I was impressed.

17. Moroccan cities ostensibly have colour schemes, as reflected in the buildings. Marrakesh is orange, Fez is green and Tangier is white.

18. While French carries the day in Marrakesh and Fez, in Tangiers, due to its proximity to Spain, more people speak Spanish and even English then French, it seemed.

19. Medinas (Old cities) are an assault to one's senses. From the donkeys, horses, motorcycles that stream by constantly, to the flies and bees, one is constantly overwhelmed.

20. Had my must-have McDonald's in a foreign country experience in Fez. It was a pretty atas looking setup, gotta say. I had one of the special burgers (outside of the usual McMacs, Fillet o' Fish etc, of which there were 3, that was called "Mythic Chicken". Actual burger wasn't quite as epic as it sounds. Twas basically a McChicken, but larger, and with cheese and tomato slices tossed in. They had awesome fries though.

华语 Cool

I've told some friends this, but for some reason, I've grown to appreciate Chinese, whether as a language or as a culture, so much more since I've been overseas for school. I mean, I was never one of the those 'too cool for Mandarin' type of 'banana' Chinese Singaporeans who sneered at those who were not fluent in English and spoke the 'Cheena' language (I saw so many in my course in poly). I speak Mandarin at home, come from a Chinese secondary school, listen to Mandopop, and twice participated in Chinese freakin' poetry recital competitions! But I was still very much Anglo-leaning, in that I craved and consumed mostly Western pop culture, spoke mostly English outside of home, and of course, wanted to head to a Western country for uni. I prided myself in being reasonably bilingual, but the relationship I had with Chinese was one more of utility.

My opinion changed when i headed to the U.S. Somehow, being submerged totally in English became really limiting, even slightly oppressive. And I found myself listening so much more to Chinese music. Stefanie Sun I already loved, but I think the musical love of my college life has to be Tanya Chua (More on her music in an upcoming post, soon, hopefully). I paid closer attention to the lyrics and really grew to appreciate the poetry of it. I youtubed Taiwanese variety shows to watch occasionally. I reveled in heading to Chinatown and getting to speak or try to speak Cantonese everywhere I went. I felt humbled whenever I'd attempt to speak Mandarin to Chinese internationals, but I was always keen to try (The best is this year, where I got to know this American student who's incredibly fluent in Mandarin, and participated in those international Mandarin debates for non-native speakers representing Yale. Wow, I was so humbled by his knowledge of Chinese idioms!)

Also, coming from a young country, I was amazed at the history of New York, just in its architecture for example. The gorgeous brownstones certainly have so much more character than our HDBs! Of course, America was the minor league when I got to Oxford. How utterly mind-blowing it was to see these grand colleges, all built when Singapore was, as we know so well from history textbooks, a mere fishing village! But my point is that seeing all this history in the U.S and especially here in the U.K., I found myself thinking about how as amazing as all of it was, China's got 5000 years worth of history! Beat that, suckers! hah. I don't know, I guess it just brought to me clarity on how deep Chinese history and culture is, and I find myself now wanting to visit China really badly.

This year, I've been reading so much about the Enlightenment in relation to my politics tutorials, and to read of all these thinkers and their universalised theories of good/right and sit in class hearing my tutor talk about them like they're the be all and end all of political theory... I don't know, it irked me slightly because I just felt all of it were developments in reaction to very culturally specific historical occurrences and thus cannot or should not claim to speak for all of men... (ugh, I swear, this made more sense going through my head during tutorial!) I guess my point is that it made me want to find out if Chinese philosophy provided any counter-points, especially since it developed in such different conditions compared to the Western Judeo-Christian world (I'm sure other non-Occidental cultures, like the Islamic world, have really different ideas too)!

Perhaps this new-found appreciation of all things Chinese occurred because something that becomes rare always becomes more valuable. Perhaps it was because once away from Singapore, one can break free from the negative socioeconomic connotations of the language (Ang mo pai4 vs'cheena piang' is essentially cosmopolitan vs heartlander recast in linguistic terms, no?). Perhaps it's because going to places where a lot of people are monolingual, one develops pride in being able to speak two languages. Perhaps it's because, in line with the previous statement, it feels shiok to be able to have fun with friends and shout vulgarities in Chinese in foreign countries without anyone else knowing what we're saying. Whatever it is, I'm glad because it has allowed me to appreciate the language and to want to explore the culture so much more.

I've tried taken concrete steps to do so. For the last summer vacation, I had quite a reading spree, if anyone who follows me on Twitter would notice (how I flatter myself!). I think I read something like 15 books in those four months. And I wanted to read some Chinese books actually. I remember Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma was constantly out on loan in the library, but the Chinese one was available, so I thought: Hey, why not! But I soon gave up =( It seems like 99% of the books in Chinese are printed the up-down, right-left way, which I found so difficult to get through! So, fail for me on that attempt. For now though, I'll just continue to listen to my Mandopop and marvel at the lyrical wonders of Xiao Han, and continue to hone my Cantonese skills at Chinese provision shops/restaurants. I promise though that this summer, I [i]will[/i] get through at least one book in Chinese! I just need to search harder for one that reads from left to right! The pilgrimage to ancestral lands will have to wait a bit though, as I'm not sure when I'll have the money to do so! Ah, I so regret not doing the Beijing Olympics...

Addendum: As much as I've waxed lyrical about the beauty of Chinese and all here, I'm not of Camp 'All Chinese S'poreans should be able to speak Mandarin, if not shame on you". It's cool if you don't, you just don't need to look down on people who do. I do recognise the fact that Mandarin is in no way inherent to Chinese S'poreans. Like all things on our island, the assertion of Mandarin as our 'native' mother tongue was very much engineered by our leaders to achieve their desired social/political goals.

The first entirely non-instant meal I cooked in Oxford

So I've been here in Oxford for close to three weeks now. The city is absolutely beautiful, the work load is ridiculously heavy, but this post isn't about either topic.

For the past two year in NY, I've not really cooked since I had a meal plan package that was provided for with my financial aid. But alas, here, no more free meals, which meant that either I could eat out daily (incidentally, prices here are not out of this world - they're expensive definitely, but no more than in NY, I think. But the difference is that American portions are gigantic, so you can either stuff yourself or tar-pau for the next day. Here, it's back to regular portions. :( ), or I could attempt to save money by cooking.

So I've been doing the whole cooking thing with regularity thus far, with a caveat. Everything I had cooked began with something instant - it was always instant noodles, instant Maggi porridge (which travelled the distance with me), or pasta with instant sauce. To be fair, I'd add lots of fresh veg to those so they were sorta healthy meals. But yesterday, I finally cooked a meal entirely from scratch! I cooked rice (without a rice cooker!), boiled bak choy (damn expensive. 1.83 pounds for TWO large stalks. lol) and fried some chicken breast (method: some olive oil, throw in different herbs shit like oregano, paprika, mixed herbs, ground black pepper, soy sauce, and just fry. lol).

Result:
Voila rice with chicken (I don't know what to describe the style/flavour, lol), bak choy with oyster sauce and fresh tomatoes.

Ok, so the rice was a bit soggy (again - without rice cooker!) and the chicken could be more tender (decided to err on the side of let's not get bird flu or some shit by undercooking it). But I'm proud of it! yay~

Oh, and I cooked extra rice and saved it for the next day where I made fried rice! Apparently, you have to use overnight rice cause it's drier or something. I fried it with tomatoes, sausages and egg. 'Twas edible, if I may say so!

Hopefully, there'll be future editions of Sterling's culinary adventures in Oxford! (Sneak preview: I did bring over chicken rice paste, nasi briyani paste from SG...)

Spring Break 2009

Ok, this is more than a little late (in part due to multiple issues with Blogger), but I figured I ought to blog about my spring break this year, for posterity's sake if anything.

I spent Spring break this year on a week-long trip to Washington, D.C and Philadelphia, the former of which I enjoyed very much because of the numerous free museums and government buildings/historical monuments that I visited, including

Unfortunately, to actually tour the White House, one has to sign up six months in advance apparently. And, for foreigners, we need to approval from our embassy as well. What a hassle. I'll wait for my invitation someday. :P

Fortunately, gaining access to Capitol Hill proved tedious, but not impossible, so we managed to visit the US Capitol, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Tatiana and I in front of the huge Capitol building (which houses the legislative branch of the US government).

Zoomed-in shot of the Capitol dome from inside the building.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office that we walked past! (Ms. Pelosi, stay strong on the healthcare public option!)

Statues of congressmen, such as this one, are placed in the touristy section of the building (the only parts we were allowed access to.)

Next up is the Library of Congress, which is linked via underpass to the Capitol. It houses the largest book collection in the world, including

The Gutenberg Bible

Tati and I inside the Library. We didn't actually step into the area where the books are held (though it is possible to).

Next up is the US Supreme Court. At this point, I just want to note that though these buildings are near each other, a lot of walking has to be done to get from one to another!

The Court looking like some Greek temple, its columns regal.

Obligatory posing inside the building. The Court was in recess at that point, so there wasn't a chance of us attending a hearing, but we learned from the tour that there is a basketball court above the court!

Ok, a change of scenery as we head to the outdoors...

for some street-style horse racing (or rather, it was a St. Paddie's Day parade)

C'est moi (unrotated) in front of the Washington Monument.

This is a view from up inside the Monument. What you see is the National Mall (I know right, not quite Ion Orchard), which is a huge-ass park with govt buildings/museums lined on either side and at the end, the Capitol.

Another view from inside the monument. If you caught President Obama's inauguration this year, then you might find this pic familiar. This is the reflecting pool leading up to the Lincoln Memorial where Obama was sworn in as president. I guess they only fill it up with water when there's an event? So yeah, not so picturesque like this.

Up close with the larger than life Lincoln at his memorial.

So, Lincoln aside, guess which are the other two great American presidents to be memorialised?

One is of course first president, George Washington.

The other is war president and New Deal founder Franklin Roosevelt, here pictured with his beloved, iconic pooch.

Leaving history aside, here're some non-monumental shots of D.C.

A cavernous D.C metro station.

A row of buildings right opposite the White House. Prime real estate. Most of downtown D.C. looks like this - historical-looking buildings that have obviously been spruced up, which makes everything look v. nice and pretty, but also makes it look artificial. You need some dirt/grime for authenticity, least that's how I feel.

D.C's Chinatown, which, unlike say Manhattan's that is located in an untrendy area, is situated right in the heart of downtown D.C.

Team Obama/Biden do their part to boost the sagging economy. I wonder if Bush/Cheney merch sold as well.

Like I said, museums were a big part of my travel itinerary. One that left a great impression was the Holocaust Museum, where of course I did not really take any pics. Then, there was the Museum of American History...

where we all got to be POTUS.

Diorama with history, I think.

V. cool vintage war propaganda posters.

Dumbo's an integral part of American history, yo.

Posing in front of the 'Berlin Wall'.

Next up, some cool-looking stuff from the Air & Space Museum.



Ok, I'm tired of uploading pics, so I shall end with a shot of us attempting to pose all *nonchalantly* in some Louvre-like structure outside the National Gallery.

Keep it mind that though it was 'spring', it was pretty darn cold!

Bill and George say goodbye!

Part II of this post will be the trip to Philly, but from past experience (last Spring Break, where I blogged a Pt. 1 about my visit to Boston, but was too lazy to blog about Montreal/Quebec), said post is unlikely to happen.