The Dalai Lama and more

This week I had a lot of adventures.  Let me share some of them with you.

The Dalai Lama at Loyola University.

On Thursday, the Dalai Lama was conferred with an honorary degree for his commitments to interfaith dialogue and a “lifelong devotion to peace and nonviolence” by my university.  He then delivered a speech and answered questions by a number of students.  To participate in this ceremony I had to pay $10, wait for about an hour in the cold outside the arena where the ceremony was to be held, and sit on a very uncomfortable bench.   Nevertheless it was really worth it.  The Dalai Lama was very informal and has a good sense of humour, which made the event even more enjoyable. (He has this infectious giggle…)  His message was also very thought provoking.  He spoke about the essential need for inner peace and compassion and about injustices in the world.  He also praised the good relationship Buddhists have with Christians especially Catholics.  The event reminded me a lot of the Youth Meeting we had with Pope Benedict in Malta two years ago. It was after all an event which promoted more respect and dialogue between people who hold different beliefs.

An adventure on the El.

Earlier in the week, on my way to an appointment, to which I was already late, I got a wrong train.  So far so good, you would say.  The only problem was that fate would have it that the train I caught wasn’t just a normal train, but an express one.  That meant that I couldn’t stop at the next station, because the train didn’t stop in that station.  It meant that I had to wait until I got to Howard, (the farthest north I’ve ever been I Chicago on the El) catch the train back to where I had originally left from and catch the right train to continue with my journey.  It was quite an adventure.  To add insult to injury, when I arrived at Howard, I thought I shouldn’t catch the normal train (Red) which was about to leave, but wait for the express line (Purple).  Still when the purple line train arrived, I discovered that it doesn’t make the journey southwards.  So I had to wait for the red line, which fortunately didn’t take long to arrive.  To recap, this adventure costed me an hour of my life, but on a positive note, now I know much more about the transportation system in Chicago.

Spring Block party

On Wednesday we had the Spring Block party which was cool.  There was free food and also some entertainment.  Unfortunately due to the bad weather, most of the stuff had to be stopped or moved indoors.  I went to the party with some of the Chinese friends I’ve met here, and took the opportunity to learn some mandarin words, might come in handy when meeting the PRC’s president. :P

International Talent show

And finally, yesterday I went to a Talent show organised by the Loyola International Club.  It was a very pleasant evening and it was fantastic to see so many performances from different cultures from all over the world.  This semester I didn’t have a lot of time to participate in the events organised by the Club.  I hope that in the coming months I’ll have more time to participate, because you do learn a lot about different cultures and it is also fun!

Springfield, Illinois

Now, I can finally say that I’ve been to more than one city in the United States, although I still cannot say that I’ve been to more than one state.

This week I’ve been to Springfield.  It is the capital of the state of Illinois, in which Chicago is situated.  Having been to Chicago, Springfield seems much quieter and calmer, even tough the place I’ve been to – the state Capitol wasn’t that calm.  The main aim of my Springfield trip, was to understand better how the political system here works, what is lobbying and to take part in the lobbying done on behalf of the Chicago Coalition for the homeless.  I did this to understand better what we’re speaking of in our community organizing class, which as I explained in one of my earlier blogs, is something very organised here in the States.

The capitol as seen from the western side

The capitol is quite impressive, with its large dome towering over Springfield, marble floors and walls, painted and stuccoed ceilings and bronze bass reliefs.  I wouldn’t define the building as beautiful, more ostentatious I would say.  It is in this place that the legislation for the State of Illinois is developed and enacted.  It is were the decisions are taken.  Thus it is also the place where many of the lobbyists come to.

It was explained to me that the term lobbyist comes from the lobby, the space were those who want to speak to the representatives wait.  People wait here, with the chance of meeting such representative, with the aim to speak to him/her and convince him/her to vote in a particular way.

I was impressed by the amount of people rushing from one place to the other trying to catch up with these legislators and speak to them.  There were quite a good number of organisations, each one of them trying to get the representatives to support their cause.  I imagine it can get quite competitive, especially when different organisations would try to pressure the same person to vote in opposite directions.

There are different types of lobbyists, as well.  There are the professional lobbyists who would be more discreet and whose power would be in the financing they represent.  Then there are the community organizations, whose power lies in the amount of people they gather.  These would generally have coloured T-shirts to make them immediately recognizable, and the sense would be that the place was flooded with people asking for the same thing.  For this reason this large group would be split up in a number of smaller groups each targeting a number of representatives.  The group I was with, spoke to a representative and a senator.  I believe that the first meeting was very positive, but the senator seemed quite evasive to me.

So basically that’s what lobbying consists of.  Generally at the end, one would also ask for a sort of commitment from the legislator.  The whole thing seemed to me like a big market, where everyone was trying to sell his product.  I don’t know where’s the connection but I remembered of that story in the Bible when Jesus went to the temple and found a market and was furious.  Maybe because it seemed to me that democracy might have been reduced to a market.

Anyway the lobbying was soon over, and we headed over to lunch and then to the long trip back home.  All in all I enjoyed this experience.  And, by the way I didn’t meet the Simpsons, but I found that Abraham Lincoln was from here.


P.S. With the weather getting colder - (to a degree comparable to what I'm used to in Christmas at home), I've decided to finally gift myself with a new camera.  It's one of those inexpensive Canon point and shoot.  I think it was very good value for money.

Update

Hi,

This week’s blog will be a short update, as I have very limited time.

These coming weeks will be very busy.  I have a lot of work to finish by the end of this month, which happens also to be the end of the semester.  I’ve got a number of assignments and group projects to tackle.  I’m also going round, looking at different places, and hopefully I’ll be staying at a new place in the first week of May.  I’m moving, since sometime ago I’ve realised that the area I’m living in is called The Gold Coast.  And it’s got this name for a reason.  So now I’m looking for a place where the rent is cheaper, and the apartments bigger.  Hope I have luck, because time is really flying. 

Festa Frawli

This weekend in Malta, there’s the Festa Frawli – a festival of strawberries.  I’ve been a number of times to this festival and the strawberries are delicious.  I was jealous of all those people eating good strawberries, so I went out and bought myself a box.  As I’m writing this blog, I’m devouring this box of delicious fruits.  Outside there’s a thunder storm and it’s raining heavily.  The feeling is quite nice.

Springfield

I’m also very excited because Wednesday I’m going to Springfield, which is the capital of the state of Illinois.  I’ll be part of a lobbying trip, and I’m going there to better understand the American system of governance, and how lobbyists influence legislators.  For all Simpsons fans, no unfortunately this is not The Simpsons’ home town.  Apparently just three days ago Matt Groening revealed that Homer’s Springfield is in Oregon.  Definitely news of the trip, will follow in the upcoming blog. 

Happy Easter!!

I’m happy.  Easter always makes me happy, and the wonderful weather outside is also contributing to the effect.  I had the opportunity to celebrate it with some wonderful people, and it was also an occasion to renew my faith.

This week was also a new for my culinary experiences.  As I told you in my previous blog, I had my first attempt at making Figolli (a traditional maltese Easter sweet).  And here are the results:

It wasn’t as easy as I thought as it would be, mainly because the pastry was very crumbly, and impossible to roll.  So I was a bit creative and instead of rolling it pressed it and played with it, like we used to play with plasticene.  Well, in the end I somehow managed to produce 6 small easter lambs.  I also managed to find half chocolate eggs, which aren't so common here.  If I somehow managed to produce figolli, I didn't manage to decorate them as I wanted to.  My chocolate wasn't as fluid as it should have been.  It resembled more nutella than molten chocolate.  Infact the amount of chocolate on each figolla varies greatly on the amount of patience I had left, as you can see in the image below. 

As they say practice makes perfect, but I'll doubt if I want to practice this anymore.  It's too time consuming.  Anyway the people who tasted them, said that the taste is great.  

More on Food

One of the assignments I'm preparing for at the moment, (dealing with environmental issues) is about food, and I’ve suddenly become more conscious of the processed food I’ve been eating.  I started looking at the ingredients on the packets, and I was shocked.  For instance, I realised that what I thought to be Chicken nuggets were actually not.  The writing says Chick’n nuggets and they're suitable for vegetarians.  Baffled as to how chicken nuggets could be vegetarian, I gave a look at the ingredients and found no chicken but plenty of other substances with difficult names.  I'm traumatized.  God knows how much rubbish of this sort I have ate, without really noticing.  I promised myself that I will be eating less of this stuff, and more healthy and organic food.

Rooms which travel

Now that I have submitted my assignment I can finally relax and write my blog.  This week was again a very busy week.  It was so busy that I had to abdicate some of my duties, like sleeping, and ordering my room.  In fact in Maltese I would say: ‘ghandi l-kamra se ssiefer’ which literally translates to my room is going abroad.  It is a very interesting and strange saying.  I wonder why they would refer to a disordered room as one which is about to go for a journey.  Maybe because when one is about to go on a trip, they would as I do, take out all their belongings to see which are to go into the luggage.  Or perhaps it is because in a departures’ lounge there’s always a bit of confusion. 

Interestingly tough, the way it is said, implies that it is the room itself or whatever is the object of the statement which is going for a trip, not who ever is the cause. 

Anyway, the origins of this unique Maltese idiom will remain a mystery.  And because now that I submitted my assignment I’m going to spend some time re-organising and cleaning my room, it will stay here.  At least for a while.

Freud’s Last session

This week I also went to watch a play.  It was called Freud’s last session, and it basically shows a speculative encounter between Freud and C.S. Lewis.  On the day England enters World War II, Freud and Lewis clash on the existence of God, love, sex and the meaning of life – only two weeks before Freud chooses to take his own.  There is no proof that this session actually ever happened but the author cleverly presents both perspectives in an interesting way. 

It was quite thought provoking, and being acquainted a bit with both I enjoyed the dialogue.  It was also a good prelude to holy week, which started today with Palm Sunday.   Living this week here, will be a wholly new experience.  I will definitely miss the beautiful scent of stocks which flourish abundantly this time round in Malta.  I will also miss the traditional Maundy Thursday bread called ‘The apostles’ ring’.  Hopefully I will not miss the traditional Easter biscuits: figolli, as I’m attempting to bake them this week.  Will update you next week with the results.