Cheerio from a land which has days that are four hours
longer than they were when I arrived! I'm quite enjoying the fact that
the sun is actually up before I am (most days, anyway)! However, it means
that our nights are getting shorter, particularly due to the constant bass
of my flatmate's radio. Oh well...
This week has been primarily one of studying, trying to get ahead of
work before all of my visitors come. At the beginning of the week I had
my Japanese test, which I totally bombed. A lot of the words were ones I
hadn't studied, yet when I asked the professor what to do about them, her
response was "shoo ga nai," "that can't be helped." Luckily, the JYA
advisor has told us that we are not supposed to take tests alongside
full-year students simply because they have studied lots we haven't. I'm
off to talk to him this week to see what to do. And it's not even
worth 10% of my grade. :)
I also worked on, and finished, a ten-page paper for my Themes of
Japanese Religions class...it's about mizuko-kuyo, or "water children,"
aborted children in Japan, and their relation to Japanese Buddhism. It
sounds strange but it's actually quite interesting because theoretically
Buddhism shuns killing, but the practice of worshipping mizuko kuyo occurs
at Buddhist temples. Anyway, I'm proof-reading it now...
Thursday I went to see Cameron Mackintosh's "Witches of Eastwick" at the
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Cameron Mackintosh is the producer of the
majority of the big and popular NYC plays, Phantom, Les Mis, and Miss
Saigon, and Witches of Eastwick opened last year on the West End. It's
suspected that it will be in NYC in a few years time. Anyway, I wanted to
use my two free tickets to see it, but the play ended
yesterday at the Theatre Royal--it will be off the West End for a month
before returning to a smaller theatre near Leicester Sq. Theatre Royal,
though, is the original Miss Saigon theatre and one of the nicest theatres
I've ever been in--four tiers tall and incredibly fancy!! The play itself
regards three women in Eastwick, Rhode Island, who are kinda outsiders in
small-town, 1950s America...thus the devil moves to town in disguise, and
they hook up with him until they learn how evil he is (and even use his
own magic to get back at him)! I'll save you a full recount of it, but if
you've seen Footloose, it's similar but plenty better...it was lots of fun
and hilarious too! The only really strange thing was that the show
started 45 minutes late because someone in the stalls (orchestra) had a
seizure & they had to call an ambulance! Thus I chatted with some
Americans across the aisle (from NJ of course)...enjoyed the whole evening
lots!
The other highlight (supposedly) of my week was going to Oxford. I
figured I would save money by taking the free Beaver College coach bus to
Oxford yesterday, but I ended up being totally disappointed by the trip.
Two busloads full of shallow and boring Americans was not my idea of
fun...the town itself was cute, but full of school buildings and more
American tourists. I hung around with two students from UCL whom I met
during orientation, but to give you an idea of them, one kept putting down
British people--loudly--as we walked down the sidewalk. I was quite
relieved to return to the international environment of SOAS!
Today I went to Chinatown for lunch with my friend Holly and then to St.
James' Park (next to Buckingham Palace) to study...it was rather cold, so
cold we had snow last night, but it is always nice to get away from the
dorm!
Anyway, I better return to studying...I think my dinner break is up for
now! Hope you'all are doing well & talk to you soon! Oh yeah, next
week's weekly letter won't be coming until Monday at the earliest, I'm
going up to Wales for three days with my boyfriend...and even skipping
class Monday to do so! :oP See ya later! |
