자기 소개

I was tagged by Song to do this posting. I wonder who would want to know who I am or my thought or my interest. I hardly write about myself simply because I don't think anyone would be interested in my humble life. Too humble to be worth a mention. But then again, I am blessed to be able to lead a humble life. A life that does not have many ups and downs. A life that is not rich enough for me to take life for granted and not poor enough for me to fear for my existence. I am supposed to write six things about myself so here I go.

I grew up in a big household. There were four families and about twenty people living together under one roof. My grandmother, being a traditional Chinese elderly, liked all her children and their families to live together. A big household to my grandmother was a sign of prosperity and good luck because those who were not blessed would not be able to maintain a big household. Living in a big household had its good and bad. The good thing was, as a child, I was never lonely. The bad thing was that there were frequent argument between the adults. In the household, I was exposed to a myriad of languages. My father talked to his mother in Henghua (a Chinese dialect originating from Putian in Fujian Province). When my father talks to his siblings he would use Cantonese. My mother communicates with my father in Teochew. My aunt speaks to us in Hokkien. When I speak to my cousins, I would use Mandarin. To make thing worse, I have to learn English in school. It's kinda of "chaotic" and I later attributed my poor grasp of languages during my school days to this environment that I was brought up in.

As a student, I have always done well in both Chinese and Mathematics. My English standard was so-so in primary school (elementary school) despite the fact that I didn't have the habit of reading books. I usually joke that the reason I don't wear glasses is because I did not strain my eyes reading books when I was young. I was fortunate to have perfect eyesight until now because Singapore is known to have the highest rates of myopia in the world. However, the impact of not reading enough was shown clearly later in my secondary school (middle school) English results. I could not speak or write English well enough to save my life. I failed my English Literature for once and I never forgot because I never failed a subject in a proper examination, not even my university examination. I only began to piece together my English after I started my working life. Of course, I also started to read books and that helped a lot.

My liking for Chinese language prompted me to join the Chinese Cultural Club in my junior college (high school). Frankly, I did not have a strong Chinese language foundation. When I said that I have always done well in Chinese, I mean I have done well in Chinese according to Singapore standard and that standard is not that high. To illustrate my point, firstly, I could not pronounce Chinese words accurately. Secondly, I did not know much about Chinese literature and lastly I was quite ignorant of Confucius, Mencius or any other Chinese historical figures. It was during this period that I got deeply involved in learning Chinese. I was more conscious of my pronunciation of Chinese words. I read more about Chinese literature and got myself interested in staging Chinese plays and performance. Despite having weak knees whenever I went on stage, I enjoyed those memorable moment of acting on stage.

I used to have this ambition of becoming a doctor. A not very imaginative ambition. In the world that I once knew, the common occupations were jobs like doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant or teacher. Among these jobs, doctor as a profession appealed to me most. However, my biology lessons in junior college days kinda of killed this interest. Firstly, I was put off by the smell of formalin (a chemical used to preserve dead specimen). I was also not into dissecting animals. Furthermore, biological terms were too overwhelming for me to remember well. As a result, I majored in chemistry as an undergraduate in the National University of Singapore. As a science undergraduate, I spent a lot of time in four "Ls". They were lecture hall, laboratory, library and loo. While studying chemistry, I didn't view it as a science subject but rather as something like a life lesson. Many of the theories and principles of chemistry could actually be translated into great life philosophies. I did wonder sometimes whether I was studying chemistry or philosophy. If you do find my postings philosophical sometimes, you should know by now where this tendency originates from.

I have written in an earlier posting on what sparked off my interest in learning Korean language. The first Korean word, besides name of places, which I learnt to pronounce was "희망" or "hope" in English. The pronunciation was something like "hee mang" and very similar to what my mother will say "hope" in Teochew dialect. The awareness of this similarity brought me closer to learning the language. However, it was not until eight years later that I started my formal Korean language lessons at NUS Extension. Frankly before I started my Korean language lessons, I wasn't very interested in Korean food, drama or pop song. The main reason why I didn't like Korean food initially was because I don't quite like spicy food. But strangely this has since changed after I started learning Korean. These days, I can eat Korean food quite well. As I get more familiar with the language, I also begin to appreciate Korean drama and pop song better. The "Korean Wave", brought about by the Korean drama, did not sweep me into learning Korean. Rather I meet the "Korean Wave" because I pick up the Korean language.

It is not far from truth if you are to say that what people like are usually those things that they do not have or possess. I named my blog "Mountain and Field" and one of the reason is that I don't get to see them in Singapore. When I was Gyeongju in 2002, the scene of mountain and field captivated me that I long to write about them after returning from the trip. Of course, I didn't write anything until I was introduced to Blogger by my young niece and the rest is history. My blog's nickname "Equinox" is a constant reminder to myself to write with a balanced view. Equinox, as you may have known, is a natural phenomenon during which, the daytime and nighttime hours in a day are equal and it happens twice a year. I have no agenda to push and no point of view to make in my blog. My blog is a place where I write about things that I feel for. It is also a place where I practise my Korean and Chinese. Honestly, I have more things to write about than the time I have. Blogging has sort of changed the way I lead my life. I am now more sensitive to the details of daily life. When I become sensitive, that is when I start to find my life getting interesting. 세상이 좋아지기를 희망합니다.

Finally I completed writing six things about myself but it seems to me that I have just walked my life one round again. I probably have to make it clear that no one should tag me again. I find that writing about other things is so much easier than writing about myself :)