Skip to content

Sivin Kit's Garden

Planting Seeds for a Better World

Menu
  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing
Menu

Random Thoughts on an early ‘Høst’ morning

Posted on 18 September, 201118 September, 2011 by Sivin Kit

These random thoughts have not only been ‘random’, but also quite ‘sporadic’ these days, The only consistent postings have been ‘project 365’ photos. So, it’s good to make brief return.

Why so little blogging? Well, maybe because much of my online life is more limited to Facebook interaction, a bit of Google+ minimally, and more importantly there’s loads happening offline. So, it’s only natural that there’ll be less output in this ‘garden’. Yup, I decided to switch make to my original organic title. Since, life is already full of adventure, perhaps the metaphor of ‘garden’ fits into the slow me down mode which is needed for reflection. Less intense.

On speed and intensity, it’s still quite a journey thus far. Did two PhD courses, one big (15ECTS) and one small (5 ECTS) and another small 5ECTS coming. The first in Kristiansand, the second at Lesbos, Greece, and the upcoming one will be at Uppsala, Sweden. So, three courses at three locations is quite a chunk. But, from a course load point of view I think it’s wise to clear as much as possible. To add some icing on top the big chunk of ‘course’ cake I’ve been devouring, I’ll be off to the American Academy of Religion big ‘party’ in San Francisco, USA before the year wraps up. So, pretty full for year one of the PhD program. Very enjoyable so far.

This blog post will also be a mini landmark where I use my new ‘beginners’ typing skills which took me a month to complete one round of lessons. I still fumble a lot but it’s sped up my finger movements on the keyboard for sure. I plan to still go through the lessons another round just to sharpen this new acquired skill. Good bye to four finger typing, hello to using all the fingers!

Some self-reflection is in order here. I noticed this is basically how I learn. I need to have a overview first, and walk though the lessons at least one round in total. Getting the big picture and then zooming is how it works well for me. And yet, the irony is in order to have some grasp of the big picture, I get there by moving through the bite size lessons to get there. About 22 total for this round. So, the big picture and the details though distinguished, cannot be separated. When one is aiming for a big picture feel, she gets there step by step. There can’t be a big jump.

A side track thought intervenes here. ‘Jumps’ are still needed. But it’s mostly, at least for me, I ‘jump first, fear later’ to decide to move from one phase to another. Once I’ve landed somewhere, it’s ‘looking before the next leap’, and the movement forward a little more gradual in small baby steps. One can’t hurry in learning, and wisdom most surely is not in the paradigm of ‘fast food’.

Next, besides basic typing, I’ve also started my evening Norwegian classes. It was a surreal feeling especially for the first class last Tuesday. It was like a scene right from the old British comedy which by today’s standards totally politically incorrect: “Mind Your Language”. So Mr. Brown is replaced by an older Norwegian lady who reminds me of the best teachers I had in school. The students come from Canada, UK, Tanzania, Ethiopia, China, Poland, Italy, Chechnya, and yours truly Malaysia! Mrs. Torv refuses to use the one to one translation approach to teach us. And to be fair, not all of us are primary English speakers, so right from the word ‘Velkommen!”, it’s been mostly in Norwegian unless really needed. I giggle every time she says “demontrasjon!” (I think that’s how it’s spelt), so a lot of what’s going on is like any primary school language class for kids. This includes a long stick she waves over the whiteboard to walk us through the sentences!

I wonder whether this was what was in Wittgenstein’s mind when he was in Norway. This experience really makes me want to revisit his “Philosophical Investigations” where so much attention in on ‘language’. How do we even begin to speak a new language? I’m very conscious how it works for baby Anja now, especially when she’s surrounded with loads of words, sentences, tones, expressions not only in English and Mandarin, but with occasional Norwegian. So, I’m like Anja in many ways but for Norwegian. If I want to extend this analogy further, I feel the same as I start to navigate my self in academic waters.

I’ve made a little detour from my original big picture/small details discussion, and the relation between them which is not that sharp in actual reality. The language discussion should be a bonus!

It’s already a pretty long post for a return. More another day. There’s a limit of how much a picture and photo can convey. Sure, a picture is worth a million words. But, some times we at least minimally need some words, and not a million words, about a thousand might be in order. 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Sivin Kit’s Adventures …
  • Moved to Medium
  • The End | The Beginning
  • I Will be Back …
  • It’s Been a While …

Recent Comments

  • Sivin Kit on Project 365: A photo a day for 2010 – Pilot
  • Malaysia: Government Vows to Review Web Censorship Law After Protest · Global Voices on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • List of Participants in Internet Blackout Day! « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • Join Us and Support Internet Blackout Day « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • JB on Imagining My PhD Journey

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

CALENDAR

September 2011
M T W T F S S
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
2627282930  
« Aug   Oct »
  • Academics
  • Bangsar Lutheran Church
  • Beyond
  • Bible
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Christian Year – Lent
  • Church
  • Conversations
  • Emergent/Emerging Churches
  • Events
  • Family
  • Five Sentences
  • Friends in Conversation
  • Fun stuff
  • Gracious Christianity
  • Ideas
  • Images
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Lists
  • Lutheran
  • Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Meditation
  • Micah Mandate
  • Mission
  • Movies
  • Music
  • New Stuff
  • Norway
  • Norwegian Notes
  • Personal
  • Philosophy
  • Podcast
  • Preaching
  • Prezi
  • Project 365
  • Random Links
  • Random Thoughts
  • Random Tweets
  • Random Utterances
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • RoH Malaysia
  • Second Thoughts
  • Seven Series
  • Simple Steps
  • Spirituality
  • Technology
  • Theology
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • World
  • Worship
  • Writing

Archives

  • November 2023
  • November 2020
  • November 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004
  • January 2004
  • December 2003
  • November 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • August 2003
  • July 2003
  • June 2003
  • May 2003
  • April 2003
  • February 2003
  • August 2002

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Pages

  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing

Social Media

© 2025 Sivin Kit's Garden | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme