Community
I just got a call my cupboard's arriving tomorrow! I'm so excited. And I still haven't decided where to put it. *rolls eyes*
The new place is really taking shape. I'm still unpacking, but I've got my figure-skating calendar up on my wall, as well as a poster (believe me, it looks much better in "real life" than in that picture!). Also, Janelle painted a picture for me as a Christmas present, and that's gone up on my wall too. She did a "flower portrait" for each of the people closest to her. Mine is not supposed to be any particular flower, but it looks vaguely like a purple begonia. I guess that must mean I'm hard to define! :)
I'm enjoying my new place. There is a huge difference between renting a room in a house full of strangers, and renting a house with friends. For one thing, I come home, and the whole house is so welcoming. The atmosphere's different. Then I go up, and the door to my friend's room is open, I can hear worship songs playing on her stereo. I stop by and say hi, we chat a little about our respective days; I go into my room and leave my room door open...
In my previous place, I'd always just come home, go upstairs, and closet myself in my room. I lived there for three months before I even knew what the girl who rented the room next to mine looked like! I was very isolated and never liked going home because it was so lonely. My room was basically just a place for me to sleep.
Previously, when I was in college, I'd been staying in a Catholic church hostel. I was pretty contented there, and had a wonderful roommate who was extremely tolerant of my messiness. I tried to tone it down for her sake, but still, at one glance you'd know which half of the room was whose!
My roommate had attended Chinese schools all the way from primary to secondary level, so her grasp of English wasn't too good, and I had NEVER been in a Chinese school, so my Mandarin was horrible (Malaysians have a word for this; "banana", they call me yellow on the outside, but white inside! LOL). We made a pact: I'd teach her English and she'd help me with my Mandarin. She'd always forget to speak English to me, though, but I had great fun trying to speak Mandarin to her.
When I went home for summer hols, I wrote letters to her in Mandarin, painstakingly looking up the dictionary for practically every single word! After I got back, she went over my letters with me and we had a hilarious time. I remember writing that I was so frustrated, I wanted to "tear my hair out", translating it directly from the English into Chinese. She was completely puzzled. "There's no such saying in Chinese!" she said, and we laughed until our sides ached!
She was Buddhist, from a Buddhist family, but her eldest brother had accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour some years back. She'd been to his church for special events such as Christmas and Easter, and sometimes she'd ask me questions about Christianity, which I tried my best to answer in my clumsy mix of Mandarin and English. I don't know what kind of testimony my life was to her I was messy, after all, and she knew I didn't work very hard at my studies but in the end, if at all I managed to make a difference in her life, it could only be God's grace.
Having lived in a hostel environment and lived "alone", I now realise that I need some kind of community around me. I'm a pretty solitary person by nature, and it doesn't help to further isolate myself. Oh, and leaving my door open will help me to keep my messy tendencies in check I hope! *laughs*