Washington DC: First Sights Reminiscence

Since arriving in the US, our Fulbright group was brought back to D.C. by the UMD team from College Park via the metro, our first public transit ride on the rail. The last time we saw Capitol Hill, it was at night. This time, we got to visit the actual interior. It is evident that both the exterior and interior of the heart of this top American Federal Institution was designed with grandeur to fill visitors with awe.

The most distinct landmark of D.C., the dome of the home of the Senate and House of Representatives

Within the interior, there are many statues of individuals who have made significant impact on American history. I noted two: Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan (pictures below). Of course Franklin D. Roosevelt has made great impact on America during the Great Depression years but the legacy of Lincoln and Reagan has been very far reaching. The former brought an end to slavery under utmost difficult circumstances, the latter was instrumental (together with Margaret Thatcher) in bringing down the Berlin Wall and the Eastern Bloc. Both are not perfect, and both have had their respective critics. But both had the vision to believe in achieving the seemingly impossible.

I think Abraham Lincoln, in particular, is one of the greatest man ever lived. The American Civil War was costly, with casualty estimated to be over 600,000 lives, and much of the infrastructure in the south destroyed or badly damage. But the nation would have disintegrated had the north-south divide on slavery issue remained. Lincoln lost his life for a cause he believed. In a way, he was also a casualty of the Civil War, but that vision, a firm belief in what is good and right and an unwavering will are what made him great.

Other Landmarks

The Washington Memorial is currently under repair and restoration works after an earthquake. I am disappointed that I will not be able to go up to the top of this structure during my Fulbright stint in US.

The US Library of Congress is the oldest US cultural institution (Picture below). The library is meant for use by the members of the Congress and high ranking officials of US government administrative and judicial agencies. The interior decor is highly ornate and the images are loaded with symbols representing bodies of knowledge and various disciplines.

During the tour, we were told that the library currently brings approximately 22,000 publications (both digital and printed versions), of which 10,000 publications made it to the permanent collection after a selection process. This collection growth rate is absolutely staggering!

Summer Sights@University of Maryland

First Impressions

It was a hot summer day. The temperature was slightly above 30 degrees C but the humidity was below 60% and the heat was quite piercing. But in terms of photography colour temperature and white balance, the same colours will look more vibrant in summer than cooler months, so I can't complain.

We were taken around campus on a walkabout tour and the campus is filled with buildings of the 19th to early 20th Century architecture style that was prevalent in the US - Greek Revival Style. The main features of this style is the use of Classical Greek facade of the isosceles triangular tympanum and sima at the top with even number of corinthian columns. The main buildings walls are usually finished with red brick outer layer with Georgian windows that have grid-division white window panes.

For someone foreign to such architecture, it seemed that every building looks the same. The differences are with the building layout and dimension, thus it can make it more difficult for someone totally new to find a building as a landmark or signpost for directions.

The university was founded in the mid-1800s but the campus was burnt down in the 1912 fire. The current campus was rebuilt in the next few decades but retained the architecture style of the early late 19th to 20th Century.

The university sits on a huge site it does take a while to walk from end to end of the entire campus. There is vast spaces and fields in between clusters of buildings and the open spaces is a good change for me from the urban jungle at home. For someone who enjoys walking, this is just great! But in the summer, with the hot sun, it'll be necessary to wear sun-block lotion and ideally a hat.

The much beloved mascot with a shell

The UMD mascot is the terrapin. It is indigenous to Maryland and it is considered a good luck charm for people who believe in what I would call 'object-associated serendipity'. I do not believe in that but it was amusing to hear that those who may be desperate to pass their examinations would rub the nose of the bronze-cast terrapin sculpture (picture below)

Well, if the terrapin had a chronic sinus problem, it would have really appreciated the regular supply of free 'hand wipes' it gets from examination-stressed students and visitors. Heh heh heh...
The UMD sports teams also believe in the effect of good luck charm. We were told that it was stolen by rival college teams. It once got abducted as far as Florida! So the UMD folks had enough of the abduction and it was finally installed permanently into the concrete pedestal at the current location.
You will see many versions of this reptile on T-shirts and other gifts at the book store like the one below.... FEAR THE TURTLE!

Since the rival college sports teams are supposed to fear the turtle, I thought it would be really effective if there is a menacing giant turtle hidden in a lake somewhere around on campus and whenever there is an eminent threat, it could be called upon to crush the enemies, like Godzilla or the super heroes in the Hollywood movies. May be this could be named as Terpzilla! Well, I created a possible scenario with Photoshop (see below)...

I have considered the issue of 'sustainability' for this super hero, so Terpzilla has a child.. here in the pond at the heart of the campus, and I shall name Terpzilla Junior 'Terppie'.

Till I write again.... cheerios

Food: It never fails to bring people and cultures together

Those who know me knows that I love to cook. I have been brought up in a family that believes in feeding people. My father was a man of few words, but he did share fondly of the fragrant sweetness in freshly plucked lychees from the family's fruit vines. He also told us about my grandfather's generosity in China before the post-war communist government took away almost all the family's lands, that he would not hesitate to provide for poor neighbours at dinner time. That spirit of generosity was carried over to Singapore when the family left China. I guess in an immigrant society, new immigrants knew the need for community support and have learned to be unselfish despite not having much.

In terms of food preparation, my grandmother and mother were creative and excellent cooks. Despite having small a household budget, they could whip up the most tasty dishes from cheap ingredients. As a kid, I would watch them prepare meals, and many times helped in the process, albeit clumsily.

Cooking for family and friends, for church and work potluck parties is my way of 'decompressing' from work pressure. I love to go supermarket and grocers to look at produce and ingredients. As I browse the aisles of fresh produce, I would start conceptualising the dishes I could cook using them.

Food never fails to bring people together. Since arriving in the US, I miss cooking. The first two days of moving into the Varsity Apartments, meals have been provided by the UMD-Fulbright team. The provided meals were pretty substantial, yet I could tell how much some of the Fulbrighters miss home cooked meals. William (from ELIS, Singapore) sorely misses his sambal and kopi, although I am unable to help until I find a good Chinese grocery shop.

So when I got the chance to cook the first meal at the Varsity Apartments, I invited a few Fulbrighters in the next apartment to join me for dinner. There were just two simple vegetarian dishes as I had not found quality meats. The strange part was that I cooked an Italian tomato dish instead of Chinese food! Incidentally, my Fulbright neighbours are vegetarian and that was just perfect. We do not even have a dining table but that did not spoil our enjoyment of the meal. Revathy, one of my 'invited guests' brought a jar of spicy pickled tomato relish from India and that was like icing on the cake!

I have also discovered that there is a farmer's market every Wednesday, located outside the Benjamin Building, home of the Education Faculty! Today was my first visit to the stalls and got some very pretty kale and berries, even good cuts of beef.

Food is a form of concrete representation of cultures, and it never fails to bring people of diverse backgrounds together. This will be one of the many platforms for cultural exchanges amongst the Fulbrighters from five countries here in USA.

Of course, they are many platforms for exchanges. The Singapore Fulbrighters can value add to this community in various ways. William is in charge of conceptualising the cultural item from Singapore, Ivin is now the ICT trouble-shoot master, while I will share Singapore culture through cooking.
(Today I shared a piece of our special colloquial vocabulary with Dr Letitia Williams, the assistant director of the Office of International Initiatives at UMD. I explained to her what 'longkang chui' (or gutter water) means. She was amused and agreed that bad coffees are nothing but bad.

Meanwhile......
Bon Appetite! Tuck in! Hyvää ruokahalua (Finnish)! Jemput Makan (Malay)! 请慢用 (Chinese)！Buen provecho (Spanish)! بالصحة (Arabic, Moroccan), आप का खाना स्वादिष्ट हो (Hindi),  மகிழ்ந்து உண்ணுங்கள்  (Tamil)*
*Well, please pardon me if I get the respective languages wrong as I relied on internet translation =) 

Settling-in: Strange context alienates the familiar, and strangers become family

The moving-in to Varsity Apartments:
We were actually very well cared for by the University of Maryland (UMD) team in charge of the Fubrighters.

They provided the transport from apartment to Target for us to shop for basic moving-in essentials, they provided all three meals. They provided everything, and we were also given 'settling-in' funds to buy the essentials.

Compared to the other two times I stayed outside Singapore, this must be the 'easiest' of the settling-in, given the provision. My first time away from home was on a shoe-string budget. The house-hunting, the banking, the setup cost-watching and everything was done before the era of Google, smartphone, internet banking and all the convenience that comes with IT. Even the train ticket was a paperback weekly pass and ticket machines on trams did not give change.

One may assume that with all the provision and technological affordances this time round, things would be very easy. Well, it is both 'yes' and 'no'. The need to quickly settle into a vastly different system in itself is no small matter. Little operational things that we take for granted in our home country has taken on varying degrees of unfamiliarity. Even the way we lock our apartment door is not the same. Tasks that we have functioned on auto-pilot mode now need some cerebral effort and coordination. Our bodies and brains have been negotiating many changes: time difference, currency difference, shopping 'ritual' difference, lack of comfort food and the list goes on. We would certainly have burned off extra sugar and protein for the settling-in. It was evident that everyone was tired.

Having said that, we are all grateful for the immense help given. The UMD team has been impeccable and without them, we would have suffered immensely.

The silver lining in all these strenuous settling-in activities was that we grew close together as a group very fast. This reminds me of a Chinese idiom I learnt in primary school: '在家靠亲戚，出外靠朋友' (It translates as 'One relies on family while in hometown, yet relies on friends while away from home').
So, so true!

We started off as somewhat half-strangers, having only met online 4 weeks prior to arriving in the US, to becoming friends within a week. In many ways, we have become more than friends. We helped one another, looked out for one another, comfort one another with humour and small chats. We have also celebrated the first Fulbright community birthday, ventured out to exchange purchase in a group on public bus (see pictures below). I suppose discomforts in life is a good thing: they make us appreciate what we have taken for granted, they remind me how small I am, they show me the truth in these words: 'no man is an island'.

I thank God for everyone: the IIE team, UMD team and the newly formed Fulbright community.

We celebrated Ivin's birthday at Jason's Deli in College Park town

Aida's first ride on public bus!

From right: Patricia, Analia and myself

DFAT D.C. Orientation Revisited: At the Heart of Being a Global Citizen

The Institute of International Education (IIE) organised a two and half day Orientation for all the 2013-2014 DFAT teachers, both international teachers and outbound US teachers going to UK, South Africa, India, Argentina and Singapore. They also invited DFAT 2012 Alumni US teachers who have completed their exchange and returned to the US, with some only just landed in US two weeks earlier.

The sessions were well organised and very thoughtful. Personally, I am deeply touched by the sharing of the US Fulbright alumni (picture on left). Essentially, many have learnt to be a real global citizen during the 3 to 6 months in the various countries. Their sharing is sincere and insightful. They learnt life outside the US, they learnt life the less convenient way, they walked the path unfamiliar, they learnt life in another culture and system, they learnt a side of themselves unknown to them until they left home.

In many ways, Singapore as a nation has become affluent over the years. In general, our kids are very well provided for. Relatively speaking, our poorer kids are considered fortunate when compared with kids in some countries. I wish some day, Singapore will have its own version of Fulbright exchange program, not just for teachers but for leaders amongst students. We have moved into the new phase in our education - student- and values-centred education. I believe that it is essential to develop resistance towards apathy in our youth. I imagine that if at least 2 secondary student leaders from each school can be involved in a 4 to 5 week exchange and community project in less affluent communities locally and abroad,  they would learn to become more appreciative and hopefully develop an emotional capacity and desire to give back. I am touched by one of the Fulbrighters who shared that in her community, many students are from less affluent families, and may have financial challenges but they have always been taught that "one is never too poor to give". Thus it changes the mindset from that of 'giving is done by the privileged' to 'giving is a privilege for anyone'. That is so empowering!

Many shared how much they have been re-energized as an educator, and how their passion further fuelled. At the heart of being a global citizen-educator is to have a heart beating strongly for education, knowing that an individual educator can make a difference. It does not matter how great or small, what matters is that consciousness in the heart.

The Orientation at D.C. ended with a reception dinner that saw more sincere sharing, some singing and a performance by the talented young daughter of one of the Fulbrighters. At the end of the night, we were given a Fulbright pin and were told to wear it with pride. I held the pin in my hand and know I will wear it with deep gratitude in my heart. I am humbled. The totally 'unexpected art educator' has been blessed with such privilege to listen, to see and to learn. Praise God.

Arrival in Washington D.C.

We arrived on 13 August (Standard Eastern time, 12 hours behind Singapore pacific time zone). I went for a quick walk after dinner as I needed to stretch my legs after nearly 20 hours of flight. The White House was just two blocks away and I caught a glimpse of it before it started raining.

The next day a few of the International Fulbright (DFAT) teachers took a walk to White House and the Washington Memorial, which is currently under repair due to an earthquake. Throughout the day, the DFAT teachers both from the US and various countries continued to arrive at Capitol Hilton Hotel for the Orientation by Institute of International Education, a non-profit organization commissioned by the US State Department to run the DFAT program.

We walked as a group and started getting to know one another. By the time we reached the cluster of Smithsonian Museums, a few felt tired and went back to the hotel. William from ELIS, Patricia (Argentina DFAT Awardee) and myself ventured into the Natural History Museum. It was interesting as it was the first time I saw the skeleton of a giant land sloth of about 8 to 9 meters tall (See picture on left).

I decided to skip lunch at the hotel to visit the Holocaust Museum. No photography was allowed but the images, documented footage and artefacts spoke volumes that no words can express. Looking back at the Natural History Museum, and then the Holocaust Museum, all I can say is, even animals kill their own kind only under extreme situation or dire threat, and not because they desire to. Only humans are capable of mass genocide. Such is the sinful nature of mankind.

The Prelude to Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching Programs: Application

Sometime in August 2012, I saw an email calling for application to the Distinguished Fulbright Award in Teaching (DFAT).

I remembered a similar email in my inbox a year earlier and I even deleted it without reading. I was busy with the starting up of the Niche Program in Visual Art in my school and did not want to be distracted. But in 2012, I opened the email and I got interested. I downloaded the form then totally forgot about it amidst the busy schedules. A reminder email came and I decided to give it a try. I had some idea on the required Capstone Project proposal. It grew from an idea I had on school-based art curriculum design based on two books I have read during my masters studies at the University of British Columbia. The books are Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998) and Art Practice As Research: Inquiry in Visual Arts (Sullivan, 2010, 2nd Ed.)

When I filled in the application, I had really thought that it would be a writing exercise. I thought it would be good to concretise some ideas from the two books when I crafted the write up for the Capstone Project proposal. In all honesty, I never thought it would be of interest to the selection panel of the DFAT.

I was pleasantly surprised to be called for a "tea-session", a kind of informal group interview. I thought I had made sense in that session and did hope to progress further. Then I was called to go for a 2nd tea session but was not sure what to expect. We were asked on a topic in education that I really only had partial knowledge. In my career, I have taught different profiles of students and done various types of work at the school, zonal and national platforms but none of my work experience was related to the question asked. Every candidate spoke well in that session and although I did respond (which I was expected to), I could only base my response using Howard Garner's Multiple Intelligence theory and projecting a potential approach to designing pedagogy in a hypothetical situation rather than drawing from real ground experience. I left the tea session not expecting to be chosen for the final selection by US State Department. I felt I came up short this round but I did not feel defeated as being in the final group interview was itself beyond what I had expected. It was a great privilege to be amidst a bunch of brilliant educators in a group chat!

A phone call came sometime in May (I think it was late afternoon before the school shut its gates) and I recalled I was really tied down with Mid-year examination committee work, that when I was told I got the DFAT, I did not really register what had just I heard (well, I know I am not an audio-digital learner). After the phone call, I asked myself "Did I hear it right?" I sat there for a few minutes and thought to myself "Wow! You mean this is real?". I went to the school principal and all I could say was "If I heard it correctly, I have been given the Fulbright Award and awaiting final approval by US State Department". I believed I had a more puzzled expression than elation and my principal did not know what to make of it!

Prologue: The Unexpected Art Educator

I had never thought I would become a teacher. When I was in primary school, whenever my teachers asked if anyone wanted to be a teacher, a number of my classmates would raise their hands but I never did.  That had never crossed my mind. In fact, I had not liked school that much.

After GCE 'O' levels, I entered National Junior College Art Elective Program and my new school life took a dramatic turn. I was totally immersed in that program, perhaps a little too much. I started to think that teaching would be something worth trying so I joined National Institute of Education to be trained as an art teacher.

When I first joined the profession, I was still very much an artist at heart. Well, I enjoyed (still do) teaching but I had thought I would teach art for a few years then I would quit to become a full time artist. I saw teaching as a way to sustain my art practice. But teaching grew on me over the years and I never took that U-turn. In hindsight, this journey in the Distinguished Fulbright Teaching Award would not have become reality if I had taken that U-turn.

And I Thank God.