It's over. I finally completed all my remaining assignments, and the relief is of the floating-in-the-air kind. I am relieved at the same time disappointed. Let me do a brief summary of what I thought of my first five months in STM:
The Good: a) Subject Material: Enjoyed it immensely. Learnt alot from the following classes (the 'material' was fascinating!) - Early Church History (50-500 AD) - Introduction to Theology (Doctrine of God- covers Natural Theology, Creationism, Problem of Evil, The Trinity, etc) - OT/NT Surveys (both taught quite differently, both uncovered new layers of understanding into how the Bible is/was structured and formed) - Greek (this could have turned out better, but midway through the semester, I realised my assignments were catching up on me, so the regular revisions suffered) b) Student Life: I have enjoyed meeting different people from different places, all having more or less the same intentions and worshipping the same Lord, although in slightly different expressions. "The Wonderful Peoples!" c) Food in STM: This has always been a sorepoint, but I found that the food in STM was actually quite edible, and although some complained that there was chicken everyday, I kinda got used to it. Not to mention all those odd days when a few kind souls would whip up Western-styled breakfast offerings, or the readily available siew pau....
d) Liturgy and Worship: I have been enjoying the varied liturgical forms used in our Chapel services. The various ways of worshipping God. Standing, kneeling and "Peace-ing" traditions that are as early as 200 AD!
The Bad a) Assignments, assignments, assignments Ya, this has been a sore point for me. Trying to finish all the readings (that I want) has been a killer, because I not only have to digest and make sense of all the stuff I am swallowing- not all whole- I also have to formulate these into coherent arguments. The delays in finishing these bodies of work inevitably resulted in a chain reaction prevented me from being set loose earlier (and owning this sense of happy-ness sooner. Ish.) b) Foray into Chinese I have wanted to improve my Chinese since my days in Kluang, four years back. Now it is no different. Trying to talk more, and also jumping at opportunities to interpret messages into Chinese, to which efforts have been quitge pathetic, to say the least (this is by the standards of some of my Chinese-educated friends). But... I doubt I will give up so soon.
c) Student Politics Plunged into the murky waters of student politics whether I liked it or not, the presence of misunderstandings, disagreements and hurt feelings are part and parcel of any organization peopled by 'human beans' (yes, me included). The thing is, how do we overcome this to strengthen the community and not destroy it? There ARE the trouble-makers, and there ARE the victims. Lord, help us all.
The Next Semester a) Next sem looks more ardous, as the credit hours are more and (I will have less time to do all my 'other' stuff- like play endless Scrabble games on Facebook!!) b) I hope to start training again for a run in December, which was put off earlier this year by an accident c) Start assignments earlier?
Just some plans lahh. But the last semester has again proved that "Man plans in his heart; but God determines his steps." So, I just hope (and pray) that I won't be making the same mistakes as I did this semester, and maybe there will be a more 'favourable' evaluation come November this year.
Comments (1)
Hi Friend..
How's your break so far? waiting for you to come back from your blogging break.