Wind's murmur_100402

 (A tree in Christ Church)

Dear JY,
 
Thanks for your warm and amazing email. I especially appreciate your words as:
"To live abroad is also to be born again: it never happen that a birth occurs without struggle.
But it is also the most amazing thing that can happen to one person."
 
How amazing you are! :)
 
My life here gradually settled down, even though my work schedule still needs to be established. Yet, all the emotional pressure, nervousness and so on have passed; thanks to the Cambridge workshop and the flu I got in the last week-- I had no energy to be nervous for everything. :) In addition, I eventually feel very grateful for everything happened here: they made my life not 100% smooth, but they worked perfectly well to give me a wonderful life.
 
You are right that I like to have a regular pattern/ schedule for my life or work. And this was what cause my frustration in the beginning. I'm going to share you, though, some things that you might be surprised as I was.
 
I think one of my wrong expectations to British was to expect them more or less like Americans. Yet, I surprisingly to learn they were much traditional than Americans, which is understandable, but even more than Taiwanese!! One thing especially makes me uncomfortable, i.e. they emphasize on guanxi (關係) more than Taiwanese. Such emphasis on guanxi was one of the elements for me to dislike Taiwanese. That was why I felt frustrated here when I learned this. Guanxi is not always bad, as long as it is used in a good way. Yet, things could go wrong very quickly as long as someone who holds the key to open your doors to somewhere doesn't like you. Americans emphasize on following rules more; this often makes them inflexible but at least you don't have to worry about pleasing others...
 
I understand what you described about Paris, in terms of racial population. It was also what I experienced in Hawaii-- a highly racial mix place! Although Oxford is not so mixed and has more Caucasians, people here seem fine with other races. It is a good thing for me. :)
 
Anyway, don't worry about me since I start to feel good about living here. Your BIG event is coming. Do have a good time, pls! I'm happy for you and wish you all the best.
 
Cheers,
L.