The world needs a little bit of the English

Reading this post's title, you may gasp and whinge at the colonial undertones, and bemoan, "Oh no you didn't!" But, contrary to a glancing moment's thought, a little bit of appreciation - and maybe, adoption - of the English mindset may do a bit of good in a world increasingly full of radicalisation, the so-called 'clash of civilizations', and fear.

I was brought to the attention of a particular article in the Guardian this morning. My flatmate (or, roommate, in North America) forwarded me the article, written by one of my favourite comedians, Dara O Briain. Dara, if you've never seen him in action on Mock the Week or Live at the Apollo, is a broad-chested, tall (at least from what I can tell on BBC iPlayer) Irishman who, despite casual allegations that he looks like a member of the Russian mafia, to me looks like a very huggable bear. An innocent one at that.

In this particular article, he's collected his conclusions about the English, their country, their behaviour, their habits. Like Dara, England and its largest city, London, were both foreign to me before 2007. My image of England pre-2007, which consisted of Princess Diana, the Beatles, Blair, David/Victoria Beckham, Hugh Grant and Bridget Jones' Diary, was as warped and bizarre as Dara's image of England derived from That's Life! So, when I did arrive that nippy September morning at London Heathrow, dragging my way to the Picaddilly line with all my luggage, one can only imagine - and I'll be honest here - the reality check, the disappointment, and the wonder as to why I chose England, over all the other countries in the world, to spend the next half a decade in. In the weeks that followed, I became more than just privy to the drinking, the smoking, the dirty streets, the packed buses and unventilated (and un-air conditioned!!!), tardy or broken down tube trains, and of course, the shock that not all English men had posh accents and looked/acted like Hugh Grant. And it was all too different from the England I had imagined.

Yet, the price I paid for the damn-expensive piece of paper from one university did have some effect on my merciless, and probably naive, judgment on England. I became acutely aware that the world is a complicated place that is becoming unimaginably convoluted with the process called globalisation. The knooks and crannies of what such a process entails, I won't get into here. But I will say that, with that complication comes a lot of fear and uncertainty. We fear resorting to relativism, because that could undermine the 'core' values we stand for. But at the same time, we fear the radicalisation and the fundamentalism that stands at the other end of the spectrum, because that, too, would only serve to undermine, rather than support, the long-standing values of the Western world.

So what can one do? How do we deal with it all? Take Dara's joke about how Londoners reacted in the wake of the July 2005 bombings:

The media reacted as if the attacks would, or should, be greeted like 9/11 had been in New York. Of course, the attack was nothing like 9/11 and besides... this is London.

They've had the Blitz and then there was the IRA...

In fact, the response in London to the attacks was much more: "There's been a bomb on the Piccadilly line!" (Long, thoughtful pause and then, like a problem being solved...) "Well, I can get the Victoria line..."

It's this comparatively non-chalant attitude about the things that happen in the world around us that I think is increasingly important to foster. While Dara's joke and the reality it points to may be an exaggeration, it's the sense of being reasonable, and realistic about events and people that perhaps, we should all learn to adopt.

The 'realism' I note here can also be seen in English soap operas. As one flatmate recently pointed out to me, whereas North American soaps are full of slim, relatively good-looking people with perfect white teeth and glowing skin who've all had the lucky genes of also-relatively good-looking parentals and thus - here's the key - only represent a very small portion of the North American population, the cast of English soaps are all ordinary people. Sure, there may be a few over-the-top glamourites in there, but on the whole, they look like normal people. And there's something comforting in that.

In writing about the appreciation of the English, one cannot purposely overlook the undersides: the binge-drinking culture. This is where my North American health-conscious mentality kicks in. Binge-drinking can't be good for you. It just can't. Consuming that much alcohol in that short period of time, regardless of how many alcohol-processing enzymes you've cultivated over generations, simply cannot be conducive for the health of your liver. And cholestrol levels.

Or the subtle ignorance that comes with the blurbs that come when an English team is beaten in football: "This, in a sport we invented." As Dara rightly points out, the English never invented football (and the Americans never invented basketball or baseball) - "They codified it, which is a different thing altogether":

You didn't invent football because you didn't invent the ball, or kicking, or fields. We should only be grateful that the Victorians didn't gather together in a room and write the first rules for the use of the wheel, or fire, so that you can claim credit for them as well...Villages have been dragging, pulling, kicking and running against each other for millennia; you just happened to be the ones with an empire when the upper class took an interest.

Well put, Dara, well put.

England once had an empire, a vast one at that, and that historical fact cannot be erased. But as Dara says, the superiority-complex that arises from a historical - not present - fact can't do much good in the complex world that is the present-now, and the English should "snap out of this" (as should other countries, too). But there is something to be said for the humility and realistic spirit that lies on the flip side of that coin. The ability to carry on without being enraptured by the effects of a bombing (although this begs the question as to what would happen if Big Ben suffers an attack not from an alien invasion but from another country), or to be truthful to reality in representing human drama (although perhaps 'truth' is not exactly the objective of American shows, and is questionable as to 'truth' can be used in the same sentence as 'soap opera' to being with) can be indicative of other elements of society and human behaviour. It really comes down to keeping things in context and perspective. And despite all bemoanings, it's a mentality modern societies need, and there's no harm in turning to the English for that.
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#1

...of how many more to come (or, not come), I don't know. My first real suit - that's something to be excited about, right? Now, all I have to do is get a job.
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Into Easter

It’s been about a week into Easter break. To no one’s surprise, the Library was bustling with students, once again, on the first day out of the Easter long weekend. If only people would stop recalling my books, I could legitimately spend my days at home instead of trekking to the school.

Not that the recalling of books would ever cease. I’ve been repeatedly amazed at how limited the book and journal selection is at the LSE Library. Recent books written on the most political and economic of subjects, such as the WTO, don’t exist, and their subscription to online journals is limited - you can’t access some journals volumes printed in the 1990s. It’s as if the school thinks the 90s is a decade long gone, of neither particular interest nor importance to students today. As a historian, I obviously object: history, of all things, matter more often and dominantly than we may like, recognize, or know.

I digress. It is now week 2 of Easter break and my review/essay-writing schedule stares at me from the bulletin board. This is no ‘break’ at all, with three assessed, 4000-word essays, 4 exams, and a thesis looming darkly over the back of my head. I would be tempted to call it a ‘break’, watching people leave residence for a week-long trip to the Eurocontinent, fly home to their respective countries, and/or party hard night after night… yes, for some it looks as though this is some ‘break’. But really, for all intents and purposes, if you seriously take a glance back to reality, this is what the Canadians call ‘Reading Week’. A good chunk of students go off to ski or snowboard or even dare to surf - if not, at least a camping trip of sorts would be in order. And of course, there are some who stay put, and do exactly what the week says it’s for: READ.

The belated posting of the 2008 exam schedule gave me a pleasant surprise, although it seems to have pointed a dagger to the throat for most others. I have three days in between each exam, and all my exams are at 2:30pm, instead of the dreaded 10:00am. I start with the easiest, and end with the most difficult. Not bad at all.

The assessed essays are a bit of a downer. As you can imagine, considering how all my work so far has counted towards 0% of my final grade, that the essays constitute 50% or more of my final grade is both a curse and a blessing. On the one hand, my formative grades seem to say I should just play my game and if written in the usual manner, the outcome should be of a similar numerical figure. On the other hand, £13,000 goes down the drain should I royally screw it up. An all-or-nothing deal is not exactly we, the North American-educated, are used to - but, there is no turning back now.

If there is one fat, ‘F’ I should be receiving, it would be in Job Hunting. Job hunting sucks, period.
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Here came Lent - Now, gone.

10 weeks sounds like a long time, but it really is not. The Lent term began in the second week of January, and its end arrived just as I started to feel like I was finally getting used to it. This sense of familiarity, however, was covered up by a hurricane of assignments (unassessed, of course) in the final two weeks. There was no time to look back and reminisce about where the 10 weeks had gone - papers needed writing, presentations needed completing, tests needed taking.

At the very end of February, I took an examination with the United Nations. The UN had been very mysterious about the format and content of their exams, so I spent the the last two weeks of February memorizing resolutions, conventions, terms, phrases, all 8 Secretary-Generals, dates, facts, and case-studies. The exam itself was not surprising, either in content or format. 3 full essay questions, and 8 short-answer questions - 4.5 hours of straight writing. Needless to say, it was a long and grueling 4.5 hours and my hand hurt at the end of it.

Preparations for the UN exam took up the last two weeks of February, so I ended up neglecting a lot of school work. Luckily, I had planned for this to happen, by being at least a week ahead of all my classes until those two weeks. Afterwards, there were only two weeks of school left anyway, and I simply played the catch-up game until the end. Not a big deal.

What really is surprising - and I say this knowing that I’m repeating myself - is how quickly the 10 weeks had flown by. The Michaelmas term felt much longer. Although there is one more term left in the summer, and a few classes here and there, this past Friday was the last day of ‘real’ classes. No more lectures to really attend, no more unassessed assignments to turn in. Three more assessed papers, four exams, and one thesis - and I’m done. Scary.

But I suppose they say that time flies while you’re enjoying something. In hindsight, the Lent term may have been more enjoyable than the Michaelmas, but I attribute this more to the fact that I knew my way around things in January than I did in October. Plus, I knew what to expect, and so more time was spent doing the work rather than figuring out the logistics (recalling that course selection was a bit of a nightmare).

11 weeks until exams, 6 weeks of Easter break. The first thing I did on my first weekend off since January? Read Harry Potter.
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Basketball!

You may think there isn’t much going on beyond academics at LSE. After all, it is a pretty small school, with give-or-take 8,000 students total, and the campus is tiny. Athletic facilities are nearly non-existent, except for the so-called ’sports hall’ in the Old Building basement with a pathetic basketball hoop and the basic gym in the East Building (which I actually don’t mind at all). There isn’t really much space for ‘hanging out’ and sitting around on the LSE campus, and hopefully this will be slightly ameliorated next year when they open the New Academic Building (when I’m not here anymore!).

But, despite the ‘pathetic’ basketball court at LSE, it has a basketball team. I joined the team in October during the Athletic Union day, and it may have been one of the best decisions I’ve made at LSE. Being made co-captain subsequently was nice, but what was more awesome and important was that I met a really fabulous group of girls - like-minded, fun, talented, and smart. In fact, we may have been a little too smart at times, analyzing certain basic basketball rules and the sheer nature of the game, but that was really what made it almost new for me. Indeed, I was used to playing the game with people who knew the game in and out, and I was also used to coaching a group who had no idea what the game was about. My team was an interesting mixture of people with a wide range of skills and capabilities - from the highly experienced to the not-so-experienced - but all so smart that it didn’t take much to explain the basics. Explaining the subtleties, however, was a very different task I had not encountered before.

The LSE Women’s Basketball team had, overall, a fairly impressive season record. We were entered into two different leagues: the BUSA and the ULU. We ended in the third seat for the BUSA league, and second in the ULU. But again, it wasn’t so much the game record I was concerned about (although admittedly, winning is nice); the entire team improved substantially over the course of the season, and our second-to-last game against the University of Bedfordshire (1st seat in BUSA), in which we played put up a huge fight (despite physical disadvantages!), stood as solid proof.

There are a few colleagues with whom I’ve become close over the school year. But the girls I met on the basketball team have probably been the most significant and most memorable. Yes, the facilities could be improved, but that would have merely been a bonus. The team gave me a good reason to meet people across departments as well as programmes (we were 50% postgrad and 50% undergrad) - and I’m so glad I took advantage of it!
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Winter in London

> Midnight Eucharist @ St Paul's Cathedral. Christmas Eve.


> The end of 2007, Trafalgar Square.
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The National - Best. Show. Ever.

I went to go see The National play at Shepherd's Bush Empire tonight, with a friend. It had been a while since I'd been out for a non-classical concert, so for one thing it was a nice change. I had also 'turtled' into my shell that is my room for the past two weeks, completing two presentations and two essays, so I felt like this was my reward for all the socializing time I had given up. And man, was it ever a treat! I'll be looking for a second-hand CD store the next few days to get a hold of all their CD's, because they were fucking good!! Such a presence on stage, and very intricate layers of music going on all at once. While at times percussive and explosive, they still managed to sustain the complexity that really lay at the heart of their music. At no point during the show did I feel that what they presented was clichéd, simplistic, or uncreative. A solid, solid show.
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Settled? Settling

The fact that it’s been ages since the last time I updated this blog should be a telling proof of how busy I’ve been. I can positively say that within the last two weeks I’ve devolved into a geeky hermit who’s already checked out 20 books from the library, and has spent at least £10 printing articles in the computer lab. This is probably more indicative of how not to spend your entire year in London than anything else.

Nonetheless, no one can really deny the keen mood that constantly hangs in the air. Such a mood drove a good handful of students to pack a sleeping bag and stand in line (since what obscene hour, god only knows) in the Old Building in order to obtain tickets to see Alan Greenspan talk. It has also consistently driven half the population at the LSE to step into the aesthetically appealing, yet funnily dysfunctional library at least once a day, and driven the other half to resist (deny?) any urge to go near it, let alone lay hands on a book in its shelves. Last week, it also drove a large majority of students who wanted to book a seat for the International Organizations’ Day to overload the school’s network system so much that it caused it to shut down for an entire afternoon. The list continues.

What exactly have I been doing? I have classes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and have had two presentations to prepare for within the last two weeks. I have two essays due this Friday (week 5). I play for the LSE women’s basketball team, and I work a double-shift, waitressing, every Friday. I’ve also been to the Barbican to see the London Symphony Orchestra perform Mozart’s Requiem, and spent an afternoon at the Borough Market, browsing through and tasting every kind of cheese imaginable with an old friend from grade school. I’ve taken part in the “G4 Summit” @ George IV Pub on Wednesday afternoons, finally stepped into the LSE Gym, taken advantage of 90p lattes at the Garrick on early mornings, and have indulged (twice) in a breakfast a la British at The Shakespeare’s Head. Sure, I haven’t exactly been plastered every night, nor have I basked in glory in the pub quizzes at the 3Tunnes. But I’ve managed to carve out for myself a piece of the London Experience. A few hiccups here and there, but all in all it’s been fairly alright thus far.
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Oh my god I'm in London

Skipping ahead to London.. (New York/Philadelphia entries to come later)

That's what I thought I'd think the moment I landed in Heathrow. But actually, I didn't. It's been three days since my arrival and it still hasn't hit me yet. I guess that's just how it goes. I expected a large, thick curtain to be lifted off my eyes, revealing something extraordinary, magnificent, and different. In reality, it was more like wiping away some spots off my glasses and putting them back on: most of it I'd seen or encountered before, and there were some details in the picture that were a bit blurry.

I took the Underground from Heathrow, and noticed that the London Tube doesn't smell like smoke, or sweat, or even urine, but excessive amounts of different colognes and perfumes, mixed together. I was slightly dizzy coming off the Underground at Angel Station. When I arrived overground at Angel at 6am, it was again the smell of the city that I first noticed. It wasn't like 6am in Beijing where you breathed in and out CO2, or like 6am Tokyo where you can smell the previous night's parties on the streets infused with carbon monoxide, or like 6am Vancouver where you can smell the ongoing rain, or like 6am Florence where you were tempted by whiffs of espresso and freshly baked brioches. I smelled 'Europe' but definitely not its continental counterpart. I smelled newspapers, trees, fresh cologne, and an aire of an inexplicable sophistication wavering through the busy, hurrying crowd. That was my first impression of London.

I spent most of the first day catching up on sleep, and exploring Angel in the early evening with a friend. On the second day, I ventured out to take a look at LSE, happily took a picture of it, forced my way into its famous Library and made use of the internet, took a picture of the spiral staircase (of course!), visited the bookstore and got a Watermark's card, booked a dentist appointment for mid-October, and then walked along the Thames from Aldwych to London Bridge (which is not Tower Bridge), and paid a visit to my residence in Southwark.

On my third day (today), I called up LSE Accommodation to see if I can move in a couple days early. Every night up until 30 September costs me an additional £15 but I thought it would be worth it - I haven't had my own room in so long! The said it wouldn't be a problem. Fantastic. I called my movers and asked them to deliver my boxes the next day. Then, I went and printed off copies of my resume and walked around in grey weather, looking for a job around Southwark. I visited T-mobile later in the day in an attempt to get myself a phone so that I'm more connected to the civilized world, but failed, when they said I have to sort out my bank account first so they can run a credit check on someone who just landed in England for the first time. Of course. By the time I left T-mobile, however, the banks were closed, so the HSBC Bank question and T-mobile question is left for tomorrow afternoon, after I've fit everything in my room at Sidney Webb.

Oh my god I'm in London.
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Leaving... again.

Which means, I'm packing, again. Except this time I am leaving the final remains of my mini-library. After having parted with over 100 books last summer, this is an all too easy separation. The Republic and Leviathan, and all my Foucaults will be left behind in this bland apartment. I kept 5 books: my Italo-English dictionary, Oxford English dictionary, the novel Q in the original Italian, my UBC Institute of European Studies publication, and Michel de Montaigne's Complete Essays. Besides that, my boxes dominantly contain clothes and the occasional shoe.

I filled out just over 20 pages of paperwork for shipping four boxes to London. After being asked "Do your shipments contain the following types of food?" about 5 times per page, I got the point that I was not to ship any food, which sucks. I was also already hesitant in packing for London - I seriously pondered whether I really wanted to go to this widely loved yet fatally expensive city - so this extensive writing process just made it that much more arduous and painful. Thank god I had tea - it solves everything.

So much thinking about what to and not to pack, so much writing, so much cleaning up. This left me with a slight appetite, so I cooked some dinner for the first time in who knows how long. But I realized today that I don't like the regular kind of spaghetti; it's too thick. So I tried adding a little bit of vermicelli pasta with the regular kind, which was a bad idea. The vermicelli overcooked. And once I started eating I realized that I don't like overcooked pasta, either. The better of the two evils? Hmm, that makes too much sense.
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I'm a Beaver.

Good god.. From a mustang, to a thunderbird... to a freakin' beaver. What kind of school mascot is that.
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Places to go in London 2

According to my neighborhood forum...

POGO CAFE - Vegan/Eclectic
76a Clarence Rd Hackney, E5 8HB
Their menus average under £6, rated highly on VegGuide.Org. Delicious soya shakes and smoothies.




INDIAN VEGETARIAN BHELPOORI HOUSE - Indian
92-93 Chapel Market, Islington, N1 9EX
One of the vendors at Chapel Market. For £3.00 I can eat all the Indian curry I want! How rockin' is that.




THE REAL GREEK - Greek
2A Southwark Bridge Rd SE1 9HA.
Up Great Dover Street, past Borough Statio and up Marshalsea Road, up Southward Bridge Road.





CHAPEL STREET - Marketplace
Islington, N1
Apparently this place is host to a wide variety of fresh fruit and veggies! Located north of Aldwych; nearest tube station is Angel.




TAI TIP MEIN - Chinese
6 Elephant&Castle, SE1 6TE
The name of this place literally means "Big Plate of Noodles." It hosts a cheap noodle bar and an all-you-can-eat buffet. For £3.50 - £3.95, you can get a full stomach! Go down Falmouth Road until you hit New Kent Road. Turn right, then turn left at Elephant&Castle.

THE WILLIAM - Vietnamese
16 Harper Road, SE1 6AD
They have pho--this is the key. Turn off Great Dover Street on to Trinity, then down Falmouth Rd. Located on the corner of Falmouth and Harper.




SUCHARD THAI RESTAURANT - Thai
102 Tooley Street, SE1 2TH
Reviews say they're cheap and good. Up Borough High Street towards the Thames, turn right on Tooley Street, go straight. Located on the corner of Bermondsey Street and Tooley.



COFFEE@BERMONDSEY ST. - Coffee shop
163-167 Bermondsey St, SE1 3UW
Free wireless internet, with a funky and relaxed atmosphere. Organic and fair trade goods. Possibly the equivalent to Think! Cafe on W10th in Vancouver. From Great Dover, go up Tower Bridge Rd, and veer off leftwards on Bermonsey St.

BRAZIL BY KILO - Latin American
17 Oxford St, W1D 2DJ
The will serve you rice, beans, veggies, meat, and weigh your grub by the kilo. The current rate is 99p/100g. Located on the corner of Oxford St and Court Rd.


CAFE ROSSI - Cafe
57 Borough High Street, SE1 1NE
Apparently I can find a good meal for under £4. Located up Great Dover and then up Borough High.





SANH HING - Chinese
82 Tower Bridge Rd, SE1 4TP
Another place to grab some cheap Chinese grub for under £4. Down Great Dover towards Tower Bridge Rd, turn left. Located on the right side.



Also:
ASAKUSA - Japanese: 265 Eversholt Street, NW1 1BA. Near Mornington Crescent station.
BAR ITALIA - Dessert/Cafe: 22 Frith St, W1D 4RP. Apparently a bit overpriced but has some of the best desert in town. Their hot chocolate is supposed to be amazing, and it's open all night!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT - Vegetarian: 31 Neal St, Covent Garden WC2H 9PR. 70s decor, quality cheap veggie food with good service.
WAGAMAMMA - Noodle House: Chain stores, on Wigmore St (behind Selfridges), Bond St, Streatham St (near British Museum), Lexington St (between Piccadilly and Oxford Circuses), Camden Lock, Covent Garden (south of the Market) and Leicester Square (Irving St).
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Places to go in London

As recommended by a friend..
1. Little Venice. Walk along the canal towards the London Zoo and into Camden. Check out the boat houses.
2. South Bank. Walk along river from the London Eye, eastwards.
3. Oriel's. A slightly posh French cafe on Sloane.
4. Sausages & Mash. Genuine (?) British food.
5. Electric. Restaurant on Portobello Road with good breakfast food. Check out the cinema with good lounge seats.
6. Goddard's Pie House. Currently under renovation? In Greenwich, right by the station. Apparently it looks like it belongs in Critter Country, Disneyland.

Any other recommendations are always welcome!
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