Archive for March, 2011
there was a great wind
that swept my heart away
to a desolated unfamiliar land
ing.
it had no idea what was in store
or what was ashore
but birds were miming–
they could not sing
their wings were free
but their wills were a fling.
what thing?
naught thing.
things just have flings
with our feelings and clings
for a while before they leave
with a spring.
heart on a stake,
steak my mistake.
it really just wanted to retract
my hate.
But alas, it’s too late..
Any international student who comes straight from their home country to America to study and say they don’t experience culture shock, has just not met enough people.
I went to New Orleans this Spring break. I didn’t know a single person there since Carly popped her tendon and couldn’t go anymore. There were 3 main ways the trip affected me I guess:
1) Thinking about the actual people affected in the Lower Ninth Ward.
2) Thinking about all the 3rd world countries that are as bad or much worse than the above situation though without any occurance of a natural disaster (which I even include Malaysia in). A lot of deep reflection here.
3) Learning and understanding more about the American culture.
***
It’s funny but, I’m pretty sure that my Italian class classmates are a bunch of hipsters (nothing against hipsters–they’re interesting). It’s not to say we don’t hear the term “hipster” back home… but I JUST came to realization that this is the real deal.
There are just so many layers to American culture. I used to think a good command of English would make it a smooth transition over to the Western world…. but it’s just so much more than language that forces an unintentional invisible barrier between us and them. So much so that it’s awkward because they may not understand why it’s there. Americans generally aren’t very aware of other cultures. Can’t really blame them for that either. I’d be the same if I had grown up here the whole of my life.
But there was a lightning jolt of pain
that smeared the canvas and tore the painting asunder,
But that broken smile on that broken face
never stopped smiling.
But the painter never came home.
I realized something about language. Well, it’s nothing new and I don’t have the intellectual capacity to properly explain what I mean so I will just state my observations.
I was watching an Italian song clip on Youtube (the love theme from Cinema Paradiso–go watch the movie, you’ll cry too!), and realized that the words in Italian are so simple and straightforward in meaning, but when said out loud, has a a very full resonance with the soul. As if each word means something so simple yet we feel its complexity deep down. It’s not the same as English. Let’s say you take the word “love” and “amore”. “Amore” has more feel to it even though when directly translated they mean the exact same thing. Comparing Italian and English to Mandarin, Mandarin is different because each word sounds simple, but when you dissect it properly it has many layers of meaning to it.
My conclusions come to:
– Mandarin characters are inherently complicated and meaning-full.
– Italian words’ literal meaning is simple, but the feelings invoked are deep and rich.
– English is more colloquial, thus serving as a platform for people to interact and relate.
Of course… maybe coz Italian is a new foreign language to me, therefore its novelty brings about a special awing effect in comparison with the ones I’m already familiar with.
of human bondage 