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__ Friday, August 31, 2007 ;

Had a tiring day yesterday. Went for English tutorial with HuiMin. The tutor came from England. I felt that the tutorial was rather boring and we didn't learn anything except discussed some examples of Language Play. Hmm... Then went for Malay Studies tutorial alone. Sat there and stoned for the entire lesson because I couldn't follow the "debate" that some of the people were holding with the tutor. Met WenXiu, Keith and GimYong for lunch after my tutorials. Ate Laksa again! Gosh, I'm really getting fatter as days go by. Stayed in school to wait for the Malay Studies function which starts at 7pm. It's organised by the Turkish Embassy, Turkish Cultural Centre and NUS.

The function wasn't really as interesting as I expected. We had free Turkish food before the whole seminar started. I'm sorry to say that but I felt that the food was disgusting. Ok, maybe I am not used to the smell and taste. I can't believe Yingfen actually finished her whole plate!


Turkish food...

Haha... Anyway, after dinner was the start of the lectures given by the Prof of NUS Malay Studies Department and another person whose name I didn't catch. The aim of the whole thing was to create greater awareness and deeper understanding of Sufism. Sufism is the core of Islam and was introduced by this guy called Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi and this year is the 800th anniversary of his birth. After the lectures began the highlight of the day - Performance by the Faith Sema Group! The Sema ceremony is not a performance actually. In fact, it is considered a ritual for worshipping God. I took 2 photos of them!


They were making music and singing at the beginning...


'Whirling'. Can you believe it? They actually swirled around like that for almost 20 minutes without stopping?! Wonder how long they practice everyday to attain such skill. This whirling process symbolises the earth rotating around the axis. And when Rumi was whirling in the past, he was in a "spiritual intoxication" and was able to spew out verses from the Qu'ran. Interesting!

Everything ended around 10pm and I reached home at 11pm. Was really tired! Anyway, it was quite an experience at the function. Had a better understanding of Islam and the Turkish culture. University life is really enriching. =)

made another new promise ][-
 and broke it again at 8:03 AM ;