First of all, this guy's story is incredibly touching...
Secret Santa, Facing Cancer, Encourages Generosity in Others
There were a lot of interesting conversations going on around me on the train from Boston to New York, and even a few before then. Waiting on the Quad for the shuttle to Harvard Square, a guy (presumably a senior) was talking about his research taking MRI images of people while they meditated, perhaps something related to the work of Dr. Jeremy Gray. In the South Street Station, I was waiting in line for my sandwich at the ABP stand and a woman with a bright blue Yale scarf almost ran up to me smiling. "Wasn't it a wonderful game yesterday?! So many people came, the weather was wonderful..." We chatted for a bit - turns out she was an alum (duh) and her son is currently a sophomore in Saybrook, so that was pretty cool.
The train itself was full of Elis and Cantabs. Two people sitting behind me were a Harvard alum and a current student, the girl sitting next to me was a Silliman '06 graduate, and the group across the aisle included a Yale law prof with his young son and another Harvard alum. Understandably, the conversations were rather on the intellectual side - the merits of Harvard vs. Yale law school (the Yale law prof had gone to Harvard law school); the revitalization of one alum's neighborhood in northern NJ; etc. but some were fun too, like the the adults were asking the young boy what were his favorite school subjects and his favorite sports to play.
For me, though, the most interesting group was the four women in front of me - three who were apparently visiting from Australia (judging from the conversation and their accents) and one American. Their conversation ranged all over the place and provided an interesting cross-cultural comparison, but there was almost an element of bragging or competition underlying the subjects, at least on the part of the non-Australian. For example, in talking about the different holiday customs, the Australians were talking about fruit pudding - how they made it by boiling the mix in cheesecloth instead of baking like fruitcake, the consistency and taste - and her response was, "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!" They talked about the custom of giving out gifts to wedding guests and at one point she said, "Oh no, that would be considered a cheap wedding here..." and went on to talk about a wedding where each guest received a commemorative pottery plate with the bride/groom's names and the date inscribed on the underside. Seriously, isn't the point of a wedding to celebrate the happiness of the two people who are getting married?
What really got to me was at the end, when she went to the cafe car and came back with a tray of drinks. "I wanted to get cocktails for all my new friends, but the credit card machine is broken.[insert more monologue]..I hope you all like white wine!" I didn't realize until later that this woman strongly reminded me of a TV character: Samantha from Sex and the City. Socially aggressive, dominating conversations, ostentatious mentions of wealth (she talked about her husband taking one kid up to Maine to go skiing while she took another one to Florida for that week because he/she didn't like the cold) and connections (his best man flew in from India - he was studying with the Dalai Lama)...she even had the blond hair. It's easy to see why the rest of the world often stereotypes Americans as loud, brash, braggarts who practically throw money out the window...I sincerely hope that's not the final impression that the Australian women will have of this country.
Anyway, the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful - it's nice to be home with good food (chicken soup with mushrooms and qing gong tsai!) and the luxury to sleep for more than 8 hours at a time, even though I have quite a bit of work to do over the break. I doubt I'll end up doing as much as I should, between running errands for Mom and helping my sister de-stress, but you can't do anything but try =P
Secret Santa, Facing Cancer, Encourages Generosity in Others
There were a lot of interesting conversations going on around me on the train from Boston to New York, and even a few before then. Waiting on the Quad for the shuttle to Harvard Square, a guy (presumably a senior) was talking about his research taking MRI images of people while they meditated, perhaps something related to the work of Dr. Jeremy Gray. In the South Street Station, I was waiting in line for my sandwich at the ABP stand and a woman with a bright blue Yale scarf almost ran up to me smiling. "Wasn't it a wonderful game yesterday?! So many people came, the weather was wonderful..." We chatted for a bit - turns out she was an alum (duh) and her son is currently a sophomore in Saybrook, so that was pretty cool.
The train itself was full of Elis and Cantabs. Two people sitting behind me were a Harvard alum and a current student, the girl sitting next to me was a Silliman '06 graduate, and the group across the aisle included a Yale law prof with his young son and another Harvard alum. Understandably, the conversations were rather on the intellectual side - the merits of Harvard vs. Yale law school (the Yale law prof had gone to Harvard law school); the revitalization of one alum's neighborhood in northern NJ; etc. but some were fun too, like the the adults were asking the young boy what were his favorite school subjects and his favorite sports to play.
For me, though, the most interesting group was the four women in front of me - three who were apparently visiting from Australia (judging from the conversation and their accents) and one American. Their conversation ranged all over the place and provided an interesting cross-cultural comparison, but there was almost an element of bragging or competition underlying the subjects, at least on the part of the non-Australian. For example, in talking about the different holiday customs, the Australians were talking about fruit pudding - how they made it by boiling the mix in cheesecloth instead of baking like fruitcake, the consistency and taste - and her response was, "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard!" They talked about the custom of giving out gifts to wedding guests and at one point she said, "Oh no, that would be considered a cheap wedding here..." and went on to talk about a wedding where each guest received a commemorative pottery plate with the bride/groom's names and the date inscribed on the underside. Seriously, isn't the point of a wedding to celebrate the happiness of the two people who are getting married?
What really got to me was at the end, when she went to the cafe car and came back with a tray of drinks. "I wanted to get cocktails for all my new friends, but the credit card machine is broken.[insert more monologue]..I hope you all like white wine!" I didn't realize until later that this woman strongly reminded me of a TV character: Samantha from Sex and the City. Socially aggressive, dominating conversations, ostentatious mentions of wealth (she talked about her husband taking one kid up to Maine to go skiing while she took another one to Florida for that week because he/she didn't like the cold) and connections (his best man flew in from India - he was studying with the Dalai Lama)...she even had the blond hair. It's easy to see why the rest of the world often stereotypes Americans as loud, brash, braggarts who practically throw money out the window...I sincerely hope that's not the final impression that the Australian women will have of this country.
Anyway, the rest of the trip was fairly uneventful - it's nice to be home with good food (chicken soup with mushrooms and qing gong tsai!) and the luxury to sleep for more than 8 hours at a time, even though I have quite a bit of work to do over the break. I doubt I'll end up doing as much as I should, between running errands for Mom and helping my sister de-stress, but you can't do anything but try =P
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