In the Between...

Time seems to be standing still for me this moment. I have finished my required studies and main exams for my course, save one. This one is coming up in 10 days time, but it may as well be a year from now with all this waiting! :-)

Yet, I am grateful for this intermission for it is allowing me to prepare myself sufficiently for that moment as I revise through those required topics and doing up the schemas for them. This will help a lot later when I finally know which topic to present for that day and do not need to hunt and run all over the place to search for the details and answers.

In the interim, I have put up a minor widget that sits unobtrusively by the right sidebar which, when clicked, will randomly direct me to any of my past posts or blog entries. It has been coming a little addictive, since then, to click on it and read what past entries I had done and compare that to where I am now. Some made me laugh, some made me cringe with embarassment, a few others brought a tear to my eye, but all a telling journey that carry with it a sense of growth and transformation of sorts.

Now that I am finishing another chapter of life's journey, what the next one will hold is anybody's guess....

(pic: East Coast Park benches, Nov 19, 2006)

Collegio's Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday and we get through a reading today that recalls the Passion of Christ.

We, at the Collegio had a cool and pleasant morning to enter into the Holy Week with a short procession with palms... er.. olive... branches in our hands as we celebrate the first part with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. This is my first Palm Sunday, celebrating the occasion in the Collegio. Last year I was at St Peter's Square with the rest of the people (and other pilgrims) joining in the Mass with the Holy Father.

The occasion this morning wasn't as grand and awesome as that at St Peter's, but it was still a good and solemn celebration where I had the opportunity to be with my brother priests as a community of sorts. The sisters who looks after our meals and laundry were also present in their brown habit of the Carmelites.

For the rest of the day, I am still in the early part of our Easter holidays here (2 weeks) and welcome the R&R that is ahead to 'recuperate' awhile...

(more pictures of the Palm Sunday Mass here)

Advent Ramblings

The sun's out this morning but the air is still a little chilly.

As we moved into the 2nd Week of Advent, the surroundings of the Collegio begins to take a semblance of the Christmas festivity. They have put up a grand tree by the corridor entrance and several Santas could be seen hanging, one on the corridor lamp and another by the entrance to the refectory. Inside the refectory, they have decorated the place with some golden streamers and a medium size tree is placed in the middle with some half-finished decor which, I presume, would be more complete as we get closer to Christmas.

The crib will be put out later, I think next week, and that should balance the commercialised decor already prevalent around the Collegio. It is still a little strange, though, why we would go to an extent of using more secular decor rather than more Christian ones first, in a pontifical college as as this. Even one or more of the Christmas Christian symbol from any one of the mission country used would be a much better substitute than the overused secular ones (Santa, snowman, snowflakes, etc).

Anyway, I have no plans to travel anywhere outside of Italy this Christmas, except to a place up north for a few days with some priest friends sometime in the days after the 25th December. (more on this later) It is always a good and normal practice for me to just enjoy the holidays, in Italy, by just staying close to one's abode and experience the quiet and solitude it can offer despite this being in a place of utter craziness...

Have a good Advent and catch you along the way towards Christmas!

Asian Mission...

We had our Collegio Mission's day last weekend...

It's that time of the year, usually on the last Sunday of the liturgical year (Christ The King), where the folks here bring out their country's image in a form of an exhibition stand.

We have many priests(-students) here who hail from various parts of the world, where most of them are from the African continent. We also have those from India, Vietnam and some from South America. One mustn't also forget yours truly from that little island state of a red dot we call Singapore!

So, I joined forces with the Malaysian and came up with a decent exhibit display of our own. We had displayed just about all we could get our hands on, namely from previous years and complemented others from the Internet. What was lacking and our greatest wish was a real DURIAN that we could offer to any brave person who dared to take it! Instead, we gave out durian flavoured sweets...

More pictures here!

Feeling Buoyant!

Aaahhh... one more week before my classes begin for the new academic year!

Meanwhile, the weather here has been getting colder as the weeks go by signalling the return of winter. The rains that dropped in now and again make the day a little more colder and wet! But I am not put down by all this, simply because I am now in my final year and can look forward to the day when I shall complete my tour of duty here and get to go back to Singapore later next year.

That thought has begun to bouy my spirits somewhat in a manner that I don't feel to down or burdened, say compared to the first few months when I arrived here last year of July. I have now gained a little more insight to this crazy city and able to cope with its peculiarities. Then there is this 'upgrade' that shows I am a 'senior' amongst the newbies that arrived recently and now moving into the 1st year studies. No, I don't bully them. It's just this understanding that I can help them get use to this place and acquainted to the style of living in this crazy city... :-D

Back Where I Began

I am now back and nicely sequestered in the Collegio after the summer's absence from here.

It took me these two days to unpack and tidy up my room before I can be satisfied with it being a temporary haven of home-way-from-home and a personal space I can call my own. Most of the stuff have been done up and after some back breaking moments of carrying and lifting, it's all completed.

Both the Convitto and the Collegio are different environment and setting, yet they both represent a place that allowed me to express some personal part of myself which continues to survey the journey of my faith and just how much I have responded, in kind ,to the experiences that they had brought about.

Back here at the Collegio now, I have this sense of excitement of the anticipation that points to the end of my studies come June 2009. While waiting for classes to begin, of which I'm not holding with bated breath, I am allowing the time to teach me also some patience and care. Patience to help me bear with the rigours of the studies later and for the people around, and care not to make life difficult for anyone unnecessarily, whatever that may be. Most of all, it is to be positive in all of this.

Counting...

Two down and three more to go! Actually it is 4, as the earlier ones were class work and a seminar. I haven't gotten the signature for the seminar one yet. But I should be able to when I go for my oral with the same professor later. Now, I am just counting the days.... :-)

I managed to survive today's outing at the University grounds under the interrogation of, none other than, the Dean himself! After about 10 minutes of 'chit-chat' I came out feeling I have won a small battle with my fears. I should pass this - hopefully! Canon Law (Consecrated Life) is never my strong point as any subject.

Meanwhile, there were already signs around the College that show Lent is upon us and soon! Yesterday's choir practice, before the the 6.45pm Mass at our chapel, saw the members going through the Gospel Acclamation hymns that do not contain the 'Alleluias'. Tomorrow, we get ashed for the evening Mass that will be celebrated by our new Rector. And yes, I think we fast too! :-P

Tension

The tension is building up as the weeks draw closer to the exams.

I decided to take a little break today by taking some shots of the games this morning at the College. The event was organised in preparation for the coming College's feast day on the 26th January. We had three types of games that went on one after the other beginning with table-tennis, followed by basketball and ended of with football. I only managed to attend the basketball and football matches and so was shooting happily away at these games.

It was relieving to be able to let go and take some time off to break the tension that will be heightened more in the weeks to come. I have a total of 5 subjects to be examined upon and I am not looking forward to any of them. But they are necessary evils which all kinds of students will need to face...

The Missions

Still struggling with my assignments! I have to get all in order before the exams somewhere in January 2008. :-P I also have one project paper to do that accounts for 45% of the exam marks for one subject...

Meanwhile, life goes on.

We started our exhibition of the missions this weekend. All priests from the various countries were invited to set up a booth to illustrate their country they came from and highlight,whenever possible, missionary items or activities going on there. There are booths from various countries in Africa, India, China, S. America, Indonesia and of course, Singapore. We joined with Malaysia to set up a booth as we are few in numbers.

The array of items that were displayed for the exhibition is simply amazing! Posters, clothings, musical implements, books, magazines and ornaments. One booth even gave out peanuts to anyone who wanted to taste them :-D

What our booth lacked most was the Singaporean flag!....

The College

I am back at Rome!

The past few days have been hectic with conferences with the Vice Rectors, Spiritual Director and Administrator of this College as they spell out to us, new students staying at San Paolo, the various regulations and schedule of the whats and what-nots of this place.

I have been assigned my room and other necessary items and am now nicely settled in. Hence, this entry. Tomorrow, however, I shall be going to the Angelicum University to settle my registration for the course in Spirituality and to meet the Dean for an interview. I have no idea what will happen so, I shall have to wait and see what tomorrow brings! :-)

Meanwhile, the weather here is a little warmer compared to Terni and the mosquitoes are a real nuisance. Their sting is very sharp indeed!

Being in a country not your own, and far from families and friends, everything here can be very frightening! It is with God's providence that he has given me some good priests companions, who have journeyed with me since Terni days, to help in smoothing the days of our stay here. Still, there were many occasions that I missed my family and Singapore...

la Lingua e il Cibo

I have almost come to the end of my one week stay here in College San Paolo.

Tomorrow morning (9.00 a.m. Rome time), the group of us will be heading up to Terni to start our 3-month stay there to learn Italian. So far there are about 70 of us here from this college who will undergo this studies. We have Africans, Malaysians, S American, a Kiwi, Vietnamese, just to name a few who will begin to speak or attempt to in Italian.

For the past week I have been cracking my over the language here as others use Italian to communicate with one another. Because of that and also Italian being the default language, communication is made and I see Chinese speaking to Africans, S American speaking to Indians with nary a problem! Amazing! We'll see how Terni can create this 'anti-Babel' when our batch heads there... :-D After three months, we come back to the College and we'll be speaking Italian like we were born with it!... I hope :-D

Food is no problem in San Paolo so far. Though it is generally pasta in its offering, there have been occasions of rice and a lot of meat to satisfy one's appetite. On special solemnities and Sundays, we have gelato and bananas on top of the usual fare. Then there are lots of salad to drown oneself in! ;-) So, I won't go hungry here!

This morning, I took a stroll together with 3 other brother priests. We wanted to see our neighbourhood and what they have. The streets were a little less crowded and cars weren't too many. Still it was quite an adventure walking around and adjusting to the roads when everything here is going on the right side! When we came back, we now know where the telco shops are, the supermarket, department stores and the MacDonalds! ;-)

Meanwhile, have a pleasant week ahead. The next one will be from Terni! Ci vediamo!

Four Years Already!

This morning we celebrated the Solemnity of Ss Peter and Paul. With that celebration I have now officially seen through 4 years of priestly life and with some indefinite number of years ahead that I know not what it will tell... :-)

One thing I do know is that staying in Rome and learning to speak Italian can be very fascinatingly frustrating! :-D First, you have to get use to their system of work and attitude here. They seem to be very laisse faire about all this and you cannot hurry them. Everything in Singapore works and you can get what you want quickly and efficiently. Here - well - you need to take a deep breath most of the time and pray you have patience before you can see anything happening. The strangest thing is that these Italians are proud of this! *shake head*

Nonetheless, the staff and formators here have been very accomodating and helpful and always want to make the stay here as comfortable as possible. So, it's ok... :-)

To all who have commented, thank you for your greetings and I seem to detect that there is a slight movement towards 'parlare italiano'. Yes, we'll see how we can have some fun with that. At least I will, from next week onwards, when I find myself in Terni for the next three months. For now, I am following the Mass and Office in Italian with the rest of the residents here, making some head and tail to what is going on... :-P

Meanwhile, you may want to check out the pics on flickr for the latest shots of the place of my stay.

Città Eterna!

Buona sera! Come va? :-)

I am now safely sequestered in Collegio St Paolo (St Paul's College) on via Torre Rossa. It's the place where priests under the study scholarship in Rome stay. The other place where this kind of stay is offered is at Collegio St Pietro (St Peter's College). It just so happens that I was sent/assigned here.

So, this is the first entry since I arrived here some three days ago. The trip with Qatar Airways was rather long with a transit of about 2 hours in Doha. I spent the next two days after arriving here recuperating and slowly getting use to the people and environment. First thing you will notice is that the time difference is 6 hours behind Singapore. So the time post you see on this entry is one of evening. Hence 'sera' :-D You were probably sleeping away when I was writing this! :-)

The residents here speak Italian and their own language from where they came from. We have Africans (the most), S Americans, Chinese, Koreans, Indians (just as many), Myanmarese, Vietnamese, Thais, Indonesians and of course your own Singaporeans. I am in the midst of a cosmopolitan group here in this college. I am not that alone though. My classmate from the seminary is here, Fr Stanley Pang. He just finished his second year of Canon Law. He has been 'baby-sitting' me for this week, helping me to familiarise with the place.

I shall have to go for a 3-month Italian language course at Terni (up north) beginning next Monday. A group of us will be heading there and will spent that time to pick up and learn to speak Italian as it is meant to be ;-) During that time, I shall have to do with io, tu, lui, lei, noi, voi and loro. It's back to school for grammar! :-P Hopefully when I return to St Paul's after that stint in Terni, I can order a good cup of kopi and a nice plate of mee pok ta in Italian without blinking an eye! :-D

I shall post up some pics later and there will quite a few as this place and area around here is HUGE! :-) Meanwhile, I had the fortunate time to goover to the Vatican for purpose of opening a bank account there. Being there for the 1st time and looking at the place in all it's realness was quite a breathtaking experience. Unfortunately I did not bring a camera but I should be able to get some pics later as I would be passing by that place now and then. ;-)

So, till the next one, ciao! a presto!