Under The Same Blue Sky

Hi Enrique,
Good to hear that you have “survived” the cold. I’m feeling better now except for an ulcer in the throat but of course that does not stop me from writing to you. Meanwhile, i’m very impressed that you have done so well for your writing homework, i am sure it is the result of your effort.

As a student, i never offend the teacher personally .In GP lessons during the 2 years in junior college (JC), when we have to discuss an open-ended topic, i will be very responsive. Just to let you know, in GP (General Paper) lessons, other than doing comprehension section with extremely long passage and difficult questions, we have to write essays with topics such as “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.Comment” and “Is war always undesireable?“. Of course it covers many other areas as well. Therefore during the lessons we will have to debate, sometimes i will speak out if i disagree with the teacher’s ideas, even if it means speaking against her.:-)) cannot help it when my mouth sets me running around. However i think this is the purpose of holding a debate…….which really helps in brainstorming.

Talking about teachers. My JC classmates often offend them because as a whole we are very distracted and always fool around in class. Once my Economics teacher actually stormed out of the class because of that. As an Economics Representative, i have to take up the responsibility of finding her (she deliberately hide away somewhere during the next lesson, as though she is having a strike), eventually i found her in the “student prohibited” corner of the library instead of the staff room. She refused to forgive us at first but i wrote a letter of apology on behalf of the class before things are back to normal again. I think it is weird that an Economics Representive had to cover duties including such “dirty job”. Sometimes i find her a little too petty but since we are the ones who made her angry, i guess we have no choice but to apologise. Seriously, i never like to be the front-person in dealing with such situations. Have you ever experienced cases like this?

I have heard of Thanksgiving Day but i am not too sure exactly when. Is it over? I always like to have great feast, that usually happen to me during the Chinese New Year eve. I hope you know what i am talking about. My mother cooked rather well sometimes i wished to pick up a few from her, so that i can whip up something nice next time but i am simply too lazy. I remember my secondary school time, we have to take up Home Economics for the first 2 years. The main project is to make a bag and the final practical exam is to cook something, and we will be graded on the spot. The teacher goes around and we just have to raise our hands to show that we are ready (there is a time limit though). For the first situation, the teacher look at it and grade it without tasting. For the second situation, the teacher taste it before grading. For mine, the teacher used the first situation on me. After a few minutes or so when i was about to clear up, she came back to me and taste my fried noodles. Then she told me that the display of the noodles together with some decorative food is beautiful and look so attractive that she cannot resist but to taste it. However after tasting it, she realized that it was far too saltish. There goes my grade……she actually lowered it. Fortunately, the theory exam helped me to pass better.

There are so many festivals here but i shall not talk on chinese festivals. I am sure you know them better than me, right? Let me begin with Deepavali. This is also known as the Festival of Lights which symbolises truimph of good over evil and light over darkness. It is celebrated by Hindus (most of the Indians here are Hindus) over a period of 5 days. Secondly, i will briefly introduce the next festival, which is Hari Raya Puasa. It marks the end of the fasting month and is only practised by muslims (most of the Malays here are muslim). Later comes Hari Raya whereby, feasting and visiting lasted for the next few days. Although i do not celebrate these festivals, i still enjoy myself. There are many reasons for that. Firstly, on the eve of these festivals there will be celebrations and performances in school for everybody. I really loved to watch them, it is really very entertaining. Secondly, these festivals are accompanied by public holidays which means i do not need to go to school, so i can either go out or stay at home since there will be a lot of TV programmes. Thirdly, my Malay or Indian friends might just invite us over or treat us with homemake tradition food. ) Talking about it makes me hungry now. At this moment, i am craving for the coconut delicacies……YUMMmmmY!!

Tommorrow i will be going downtown, my mother wants to see if there are any beautiful, newly arrived clothes suitable for Chinese New Year. It is too early, isn’t is so? It is not even Christmas yet. Is it true that boys hated shopping? I heard that many boys find it terribly boring.

) This coming Monday, i will be going for a friendly match of soccer held between celebraties. My sister is a Westlife fan and she is so excited when she won the tickets. I am happy too because i like them too and i have not been too far away from home (at least the indoor stadium is not within my walking distance) for these some time already. I will tell you more about it in future.

This is quite a long letter so i certainly hope that you will not fall asleep after reading it. Just kidding. I will sign off now and hope you will enjoy your weekend. Au revoir (that’s a french word for goodbye) !!!

Take care,
Qing.Singapore

Hello Enriques,
Are you doing fine? I’ve checked with class enrolment for computer class but i think most of them will start in late december. Well, my vacation is about 1.5 months in end year and 2 months in mid year. Quite short though but it is better than nothing. I think the reasons for vacation are for students to take a break after the exams and to recharge for another year of pressurising school load. For some, it is a period of revising the work of previous semester and study for the next semester. I miss the period of 6 months vacation just after the ‘A’ levels (i think it is like your College Entrance Examination).

Indeed we do not have winter&spring festival since there is no season change here. We have school or public holidays. I am sure China have that too, right? I always like that because we do not have to attend school or we just go back there for celebration programmes. There are 3 races here (Singaporean-Chinese, Malays and Indians) so there are quite a lot of holidays and festivals. Can you figure out why? Most of them i think, will sound alien to you so instance Hari Raya Puasa….etc. Sorry for my ignorance, do you celebrate Chinese New Year in the same day as New Year’s Day (the first day in January)?

I have been reading and i just completed a book called “San Francisco Earthquake 1906″. The earthquake part is of secondary importance but what i think is quite good about this book is that it sees through class, wealth and status as well as emotions. Guess i can read another book today which is called “An Old Fashioned Girl”. If it is good, i will tell you more about it the next time.

Good luck to you. As a boy i guess you are obligated to doing more exhausting chores. As a girl myself, i have experienced the “privileges” of doing lighter work. Occassionally, important figures do come but regardless of that, there is a school clean up in my junior college every year. Once i remember in my year 1, the guys have to climb up the windows, move all the chairs and tables. Girls only have to wipe these tables and chairs clean, do some tidy up job. I was mopping the floor until one boy take over after he is done with his. It really made my day because i am not exactly good in housework. Be glad that you are born a stronger sex, at least physically.:-)) this must not be said in front of any extreme girls who preached sexual equality.

I have heard of Dou wei and Yanni but i have not really heard of their music before. I can understand your difficulty of interpretating your feelings into words. It is a hindrance to me too. I listened to quite a lot of songs than music. I am not sure if the music that you are referring comes with lyrics, but i have to admit that lyrics plays very crucial role to install emotions in me. There is a song by Boyzone which is called “Father and Son“. I always like the music because it is very Irish sounding and soothing. it is further enhanced by the lyrics with tells a story through the son’s perspective of his father who appears to be strict but deep down hidden behind his face shows his love and concern. I do not think i can help you in any way for your oral English class since i have no expereince about a music review. However i feel for a song through the words and i think music serve as an appetizer that builds up feelings within a person and enhance a person’s emotions further. A song with good lyrics but without an appropriate music is never good, vice versa. A music without the need of any lyrics like that of Kenny-G, is good because it makes me feel comfortable and relaxed. Enigma’s music is even better because it gives me this mystery, errie and antique feeling. Have it ever occur to you that when you listened to a piece of music and it gives you this deja vu feeling?

My mother’s birthday is approaching, actually it is in December. My sister and i are thinking of cooking dinner for her. This is a “big project” for the both of us as we cannot cook.:->> Quite embarrassing. I went to borrow a cookbook from the library and luckily there are some recipee that only require the use of microwave. Wish me luck as we decided to try it out this weekend first before the actual day.

I have to go for now and write me back, okay?

Take care,
Qing.
(from Singapore)

Deareast Enrique!!!!

Bigggggggggggggggggg
Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!

It has a long time since the last message I sent…sorry for that long
silence..i went to Oman for three weeks in fact more than three weeks
ahh…I’ve missed you very much and I missed all my friends too…I visited
different places and areas in Oman ..it’s Great!
There are many beautiful mountains and beaches ..by the way Oman is famous
for the big numbers of forts and castles it has …
To answer your questions about the black clothes ..it’s a tradition clothes
not for the university most the women in my country and in the Gulf
countries in general wear .but it’s not clothes it’s a body cover and under
this black cover the real clothes appear..but not all the women wear it it’s
not a obligatory ..it seems funny but about me I wear jeans and the I wear
the black cover but usually I don’t wear black cover…and it should not be a
black color nowadays girls wear different kinds of colors like
white,pink,red , blue and any color..it’s the Fashion!! ahh ..but as I told
u if you come to my country u may feel that most what women wear is a
western style ..one day u will not see any women wearing a tradition body
cover ..in my country there are many universities and one is called “the
Emirates University” this one the student live on campus ..but in my
university students don’t live on the campus.. but maybe in the future it
will be specially that we have many student come from a far areas ..but me
it’s near to my home ..it just takes about 15 minutes from my home to the
university to arrive..by car …I’m lucky!
It’s really sad when graduation come..me too ..i can’t stand saying bye for
my teachers and my friends..specially if I will not be able to see them
again.sometimes I ‘m thinking to not attend the graduation ceremony ..after
I have finished the exams I didn’t get my marks yet but today I will get
them and I will tell if I did well ..i’m sure I will be fine…
It seems u don’t believe me about the proverb!! Ahhh but in the Arab world
all the arab countries and people heard about China do u know why? Many
hundreds years ago there was a man called “Ibn Batutta” I’m not sure about
the spelling but he was a famous arab traveler who traveled to the east
China, India and many others eastern countries ..in fact he worked in china
also and he wrote about what he saw …u can do some search and u will find
about him because he is famous and many European know about the east after
they translate his books..beside there is a famous Itlian traveler also
called “Marco pollo” again I’m not sure about the spelling but he visited
China hundreds years ago and wrote about what he have seen there…
I try to make my letter short but it seems that I love writing…
Hope you enjoy your time and with a good heath
Have a nice day!
Hugs&Kisses
Fatima
(from UAE)