Having Time

I haven't had so much time to write in such a long time. Accompanying Joel as he studies for next week, I have suddenly found myself with very little work left over among the work that I brought along with me to Philly. And so it is that now, we're in his room, and there's soft jazz playing and every available light burning. The day, begun so softly with a late awakening at 12pm, is drawing to an equally soft end.

There is a real feeling of being at ease here. Partly, it's because I'm on schedule and I have time left over (also because, due to daylight savings time, we've magically gained an hour over the night of Nov 1, so we literally have more time). But it's also because of all the familiar faces here, of the people I met the last time I was here, and who are so unselfconsciously warm and welcoming. So it is, then, that I can walk around in Philly and UPenn feeling really safe: the safety of being in a place only temporarily and thus not needing so much to live with the consequences of your choices, and also the safety of being among so many familiar people. It is an interesting mix, a simultaneous feeling of being secure as a stranger and of being secure amidst people I know.

One thing that strikes me is how, here, people seem to move in fewer social circles. It seems to be the case, from the short times that I've spent here, that one can eat meals, study, go out and have long conversations with the same group of people. This is different from in Columbia, where it is much more the case that the people you eat lunch with will not know the people you eat dinner with. That way, you get to meet more people, and you're obliged to maintain more connections with more social circles, but there really is something to be said for a small social circle, in which you can take your time and develop deeper relationships. Of course, that is only one side of the equation, since having more people to make friends with will count for nothing if one does not put in the effort to make friends, and I do see that there is my main problem: my aversion to meeting new people by going out on a limb and approaching them randomly. But as far as personal preference goes, I would like to have a small and solid social circle, surrounded by a more diffuse network of acquaintances. In Columbia, the latter is much more in evidence, whereas in UPenn I can immerse myself in the former. The trick, I guess, is to find some way to unify the two geographically in the same place.

Yesterday night, after dinner and studying, went out with Joel and the rest of the gang to a club where the Singaporean and HK associations had organised a party. Despite it being Nov 1, everyone had apparently intended to dress up, so in an effort to keep with the spirit of things at the last minute, I pirated an idea from last night's Greenwich Village Halloween Parade and went as a recession. Anyway, it was the usual set-up: social mingling at the front of house, loading up on alcohol at the bar, and then heading to the back where a dance-floor was active. Clubbing is still not my thing, even after travelling halfway across the globe. I'm told that to enjoy it, you need to be tipsy enough to lose control and your inhibitions; I fear, though, that past experience has shown that I would only reach that state by being completely drunk, and when I'm completely drunk, I'm useless as a social being. But I have to say that as far as drinking and dancing goes, this was the best clubbing I've been to so far.

Randomly bumped into LL, out of sheer randomness. LL was one of the participants in the original Frexprog, and we hadn't talked to each other since coming back from Lyon, which was six year ago. How is it, then, that after coming to the other side of the world, I would happen to be in Philly and attend the same party that she happened to be at? It's a ridiculous alignment of the stars - fate - whatever. But it doesn't show that it's a small world, so much as showing that wherever we go in the world, our social circles tend to follow along. So we get the impression that we know everybody, while in actual fact we only know a few people and we just keep running into them wherever we go.

After that, Joel and I braved the biting cold of night and went out for supper at the Philly Diner with T and Ir, and over a cheesemelt sandwich and a stack of quesadillas we marked the occasion of the end of Daylight Saving by turning all our timepieces back an hour. And it was an easy conversation into the night, with the usual commiserations about how tough it is to be a student, how expensive it is to live in the States, and so on. The topics were not new at all, but then again, the topics were not the main point of the gathering. It was just nice to be out so late at night, amidst the hubbub of a 24-hour diner, with people I know and having an easy, flowing conversation. And for the first time in too long, I felt like I didn't need to be anywhere else; there was nowhere else to go, and there was time to simply enjoy being here, now.

Another thing that really stood out this time in Philly was the food. On arrival yesterday, I had my first Philly Cheesesteak from a roadside vendor downtown, and then last night we went to an authentic Vietnamese place for a marvellous bowl of pho. Today's lunch was at the wonderful Hill dining hall, which was serving roast chicken, roasted potatoes and divine pancakes which went so well with maple syrup and a sprinkling of blueberries. And just now, popped out to a Thai restaurant, where we had a spicy green chicken curry - the hottest thing by far that I've eaten since coming here. The proliferation of good food here made it feel like we were back in Singapore again.

Anyway, tomorrow still stretches out ahead, virtually unfilled. The UPenn people have classes, so I expect I'll take the chance to walk aroubd University City myself, and maybe try to find a barber that's cheaper than NY's offerings. And then, there'll be a smooth bus ride back to Manhattan, and then Tuesday's election day sociology project, and then two more days of lessons before the weekend is here again. I find that I have time again, and it's a good situation to be in.