Tea ceremony and calligraphy!

Haven’t updated the past two days, but I shall today.

The day before we had an IS class on Feng Shui and the different foods in China. I think the lecture on Feng Shui is very interesting. I’ve always been a little curious about how the masters calculate Feng Shui, but now I think the gist of it. It’s pretty common sense to me. If your back and sides are protected, that would be favourable, because this would keep the Chi in the building for a longer period of time. Chi is like the life force or energy in us. And if there is a body of water in front, that would be favourable as well. So if you, and by you it could be a room or a whole building, have your back and sides protected, and a body of water in front, then that would be the best. But if the body of water is moving, like a river, and it’s coming towards you, then it would be unfavourable. This is a disclaimer, that this is my interpretation of the Feng Shui. I’m not sure this is what the teacher actually meant but I think of the moving water as a medium. It could either bring you good fortune, or bad. If the water is moving perpendicular to the building, it would be like it is sweeping the bad away from the building, but if it was coming towards the building, then it’s as if the water is bringing the bad towards the building. And when in a room, it is best not to block the doorway, which is where the Chi enters the room. So this means it will be better if the bed wasn’t placed in front of the door. To me, all these kinda makes sense to me, but I don’t know about anyone else though.

Then we talked about food. The lecture started at 6 in the evening, the time where we’re usually having dinner out. It’s a good thing I ate a cup of instant noodles before going for class, but still its jaw watering when he went through the different types of food in different region of China. He also went through some of the common food we have in Singapore as well. This was the worst part. We got reminded of what we are missing. I mean, just the mention of Bak Kut Teh gets my saliva going. Add in the sweet and sour pork, that’s it man. I can’t express how grateful I am to have eaten something before the lecture. The food was pretty intense. But it is really interesting how different region have different tastes. The teacher said Hokkien people have stronger taste, 重口味 (zhong kou wei). I find it to be true for me. My family are Hokkien, and I like to eat food with stronger taste to them, so I like salty and spicy food. This was pointed out by the lecturer, and I was a little amazed. So many things you can tell just by looking at the food and its taste. Some of the province likes blander food, some prefer stronger tasting food, and some likes a balance of both, not too strong, not too bland. And then some have simple, easy to cook(?) dishes. Dishes that would be easy to cook and are not too complicated. I think it is really cool how we can guess what kind of food and background of a person by looking at the way they cook or prefer their food.

Then yesterday we had lecture in both the morning and the afternoon. Forensic psychology in the morning and crime scene investigation in the afternoon. Both are interesting but I think I like the crime scene investigation lecture better. But the differences between insanity and incompetency and the difference it makes in court is cool. I used to think they are all the same, just mental disorders, and they are all the same, but in fact, there are differences that determine if a person can stand trial or is certified to be mentally incompetent to stand trial. The line might be very thin in some places, so being a reliable forensic psychologist is really important. For the lecture on crime scene investigation, I was pretty intrigued from the start. I won’t go into the gory details, but I have to say that in crime scene investigation is where the real action is at. The application of the techniques we are taught in school and how to decipher the results to get to the conclusion is really interesting.

But the highlight was at night. We went out to the city again. Did I mention that I bought seven pairs of socks the last time I went to the city? This time I went back and bought another five pairs? Add on to the three I bought out in the streets, I have bought a total of 15 pairs of socks since I’ve been here. I would buy more if I can find more that I like. XP oh and I also bought macaroons. It’s a little different from the ones in Singapore. It’s a little sticky, not as crisp as the ones in Singapore, but I liked it. Especially the lemon flavoured one. It tasted like the Kong Guan lemon biscuits back in Singapore. Yummy! The yam flavoured one too. Sooooo nice~ kekeke

But other than that, we didn’t really do much. But I did buy a shirt and a pair of pants, along with the socks. And chicken wings~ teehee.

But when we got back to the apartment, that’s where the real fun starts. I was introduced to Julian Laputa. He has a middle name that I added in, but let’s not be too obvious. But with the added middle name, it has a better ring to it. Seriously! But we somehow graduated from a guitar(Julian) session to a party session. All sorts of weird and hilarious stuff went on behind the closed doors of the master bedroom. All I have to say is that it involves body waves, weird music(Elmo song included) and a new sort of disco light. But it was a really good experience. It was the first time all eight of us came together and sat down, and all because of Irfana’s Julian. :D

Today we had Tea Ceremony and Calligraphy class for IS. I was really excited! I did both before in Singapore but I like the whole process of brewing tea and the also the process of properly appreciating the tea. We tried different tea leaves and the different ways of brewing them. We had green tea, Tie Guan Yin, a type of clear 清(qing) tea, Pu Er 普尔 tea, a type of black tea, Da Hong Pao 大红袍 tea, another type of clear tea, yellow tea. I was already a green tea lover, and after this session today, I learnt that I actually do appreciate the taste and fragrance of black teas as well. They leave a bitter aftertaste that stays in the mouth for a few minutes. Pu Er has a bitterer aftertaste than Da Hong Pao, but both have a floral fragrance when you smell it. And the Da Hong Pao is an expensive tea. It costs 1500 yuan for 100 grams of the tea leaves. Xenia and Jovin doesn’t like Pu Er but me and Kristine liked it. The teacher taught us the different apparatus for the whole ceremony of brewing tea, including the utensils and the whole tea set and how they are used in the brewing process. And different leaves have different brewing methods. For green tea, red tea and yellow tea, because they are not as strong in terms of fragrance as the other teas, they do not have to be washed. For teas like Pu Er, black teas, they have to be washed be washed with hot water. By washing I mean the first brew of the leaves is not drank. Only the second brew is for drinking. This is because the leaves are fermented. The teacher said for black tea leaves that have been fermented for more than four years, the tea’s color will turn out a more wine red color than just black color, like soy sauce. And like wine, the the older the tea leaves, the more expensive the tea leaves are.

We took the teacher’s name card, and I hope we will have the time to go to her shop, she opens her own tea specialty shop, and buy some back for my family. :D I still have a tin of the green tea leaves I bought in the mountains I haven’t touched yet, partly because I forgot about it, and then again because I was too lazy to do so. LOL

After the tea ceremony class we had a calligraphy class. I learnt from my God-mother, and I had some crash course in primary school and secondary school as well, so I’m pretty familiar with the basics. But the hand writing itself… I can’t seem to get my down stroke right. It always turns out horrible. But my horizontal stroke is pretty nice. Even the teacher said so. :D yay to my God-mother’s crash course! ^ ^

I managed to get the teacher to write my name for me, just before he had to leave. Teehee. And I got tips from him too! So all in all, the IS class today was fun and enlightening for me, since I have an interest in both calligraphy and tea.

But I sad to say, I got tempted by Monisha to go check out a pleather jacket. I might buy it. Well, there is a high possibility I would buy it, but who knows. It’s up to the fates to see if they will have my size available!

Sleepy and my stomach have been weird these few days. And I might be coming down with something again. I haven’t even fully recovered from my previous batch of germs, and now I might be down with another… T.T so sleep, I shall(anybody gets this reference? Lol I’m lame I know).

Goodnight and peace out~