Letter Home (SHINE Competition Entry)

[This is something I whipped up for some international student competition a few months ago I wasn’t planning on entering but at the last minute decided to have a go at. Didn’t win anything in the end, but it was fun to write. Thanks to all of you who tell me my stories are entertaining, whether they actually are or not.]

 

Dear Mum and Dad,

Life in the UK is good (oh, I learned the difference between ‘England’, ‘Britain’, and ‘the UK’, by the way). More than good; it’s fantastic. My main source of information on Britain having been childhood literature like Robin Hood and Harry Potter, I had some pretty fanciful perceptions which I fully expected to be disappointed. They were not.

Sure, there aren’t wizards flying around on broomsticks (that I know of), but history and culture is positively oozing from every building I see. Before I left Japan, when I would tell people I was going to Bradford, aside from never once failing to have the link between my name and that of my destination pointed out, I certainly received a number of surprised looks from those who’d heard anything more about the city. However, the slight worry that began to stir in me was unfounded. It’s lovely here. As you saw, I couldn’t help but snap loads of pictures as soon as I arrived, and not just because of ingrained Japanese tourist tendencies.

I quickly took the opportunity to do a bit of traveling around West Yorkshire, which only served to confirm my amazement. In addition to modern city features such as malls and museums in Bradford and the nearby Leeds, there’s also wide countryside, rustic villages, massive ruins, the whole gamut. It might just be the faery-tale lenses on my eyes, but I think colours are more vivid here. The sky definitely is; it’s certainly not dreary grey as often as I was led to believe.

Speaking of added colour, since coming here I’ve expanded my vocabulary with words such as ‘rather’, ‘smashing’, ‘cheers’, and ‘yoright’, which basically means, “What’s up?”. I’ve also learned to spell properly, but it seems that I don’t pronounce things quite correctly.

On that front, however, I have had a kind of success. Like many others, before coming, I was guilty of assuming there to be a sort of ‘standard’ accent, like there is in Japan and, to a certain extent, the US. There doesn’t seem to be, or if there is, it’s certainly not to be found in Yorkshire, much less this uni. To the contrary, I’ve been surrounded by a mad swirl of different pronunciations since arriving, but am slowly starting to match accents to regions and cities. Fortunately, I picked up early on that no matter how curious I am to see whether my fledgling instincts are correct, I must never ask, “Is your accent Scottish or Irish?”.

Even though I had very little idea what I’d be studying in my chosen course, “peace studies”, this too has turned out to be excellent. I’m learning so much about, well, everything, and because we’re given a range of essay questions to choose from, I basically get to study what I want. One day I read all about the Chilean coup of 1973, the next day I went from knowing nothing about the British political system to having a much better understanding of it than either the American or Japanese ones. This culminated in getting to sit in on a Parliamentary session in Westminster, which most people would probably find boring but for me was, like all else, enchanting. It was a bit of a struggle towards the end of term to finish all my essays, but I was able to pull through and emerge into the sunlight of five glorious weeks of break.

I had the most amazing Christmas and New Year’s experience because I chose to spend a chunk of that break in London, the mecca of my magical expectations for this island. For twenty days straight I walked the streets, took in the sights, visited museums, and stayed at strangers’ houses thanks to a wonderful travel website called Couchsurfing. Between that, trying out hostels for the first time, and Megabus, I was able to have this entire adventure for quite cheaply; in fact, with my remaining few days of break I did the same with Edinburgh and was blown away, again. I’m absolutely chuffed to be making friends not only at uni but ‘all throughout the land’.

People ask me what my favourite thing in London was, and I suspect they wouldn’t be entirely satisfied with ‘standing amidst broad, old, tall, new buildings with my senses wide open, soaking in the the very spirit of the city itself’. But that’s the truest answer and also a pretty fitting description of my experience in Great Britain in general. It’s exceeded my expectations in virtually every aspect, and often I feel it’s almost unfair that my life should be so good.

I suppose this is what all those hours of teaching English last year really were for. And the complexity of getting academic transcripts and bank statements from both Japan and the US. And the scholarship essays. And the risk of committing three years to a place I’d only seen the website for. Well worth it.

So that’s been my first few months trying to convince the natives how great their country is, and I’m looking forward to what the next semester, and next few years, will unveil.

Love you much, and yes, I’ll try to be on Skype more regularly this year.

-Bradley

Blog Formative Years

As always, I’ve been perusing our dear Internet for ideas on how to improve this place’s visibility and appeal. My findings were quite useful, probably because I’m such a noob that nearly anyone’s advice is more than I already know. Check out this neat quote I found:

“Blogs are often too internally focused and ignore key usability issues, making it hard for new readers to understand the site and trust the author.” -Jakob Nielsen

This is the summary of an article on the top ten weblog design mistakes. I’ll interact with several of those points here, but you can click the link if you want it ‘from the horse’s mouth’. As they say. Sounds kind of offensive to me. Some of the points, while valid, were ones I chose to ignore because I’m not running a professional blog. I have strong preferences too, and where better to exercise them than on my own website? But I do care about you too. How can I serve you?

The first mistake was a lack of author biography on many blogs. Which I’m guilty of. I’ve been meaning to update that, so I’ll do that now. I’m supposed to write something that will get you to trust me – my expertise and my sincerity. My natural instinct is to let the writing speak for itself, but I guess it makes sense that you would want to know more about where I’m coming from.

I’m going to take a rain check on the author photo, however (I don’t understand that idiom either, could someone who runs a blog explaining such things enlighten me? I’m too lazy to Google it. My, my). I prefer to let your imaginations roam freely, but I will start you off by disclosing that I have brown hair. Do I have a peg leg? Is my hair naturally brown or just dyed currently? Am I Asian? Indian? Hmm…stick around.

Apparently my titles are inadequate. They’re too cute and humorous (aw, thanks for saying I’m funny! See, what you don’t understand is that I’m practically a prostitute for humor permeation. An out-of-business prostitute, ugh). Titles should be far more informational, for they’re the most valuable words I type. People on average only read the first three or four words of a title, according to the article. And they don’t want to be messed with. I think I may politely decline on this point too, however. I like my titles. I’ll count on the tags to pull you guys in.

I haven’t done too much with links yet (although you’ll notice an increase already in this article), but because I plan to this next warning is also useful. I need to be clear about where my links lead. I like this line: “Life is too short to click on an unknown.” How true. And yet not…one could argue that life is too short to only click on what you know. Those “life is too short” arguments are typically fallen. But point taken. I think I’ve been doing a decent job; you’ll find on my title page that I explain the difference between clicking on the tabs at the top and clicking on the categories list to the right. I also detail how to subscribe to the RSS feed, because up until recently I myself did not know about this feature and its capabilities [ooh, actually I recently took the explanation down because I thought people could figure it out for themselves. 3/11/10]. Even now that I know about it and use it to keep up with the news (in theory), I’m terrible about checking it. I’m sure you’re more diligent, so to be added to your subscription list would truly be an honor.

Good reminder to keep my most popular posts accessible, so new readers can get the best first, and also to link to other posts from entries that reference them, so readers can get the whole picture. Obvious stuff, but like I said, I’m a noob. I’m also completely guilty as charged of “mixing topics”. But I did tell you in my disclaimer that I wouldn’t keep these linear. I will completely knowingly wander around a bit, or a lot. I want to, so like always, the desire will trump the logic. I hope you’re okay with that. If you ask nicely, I could write a really focused post on a topic of your choice.

Here’s a helpful hint for Mac users: When clicking on links, hold down the command key to open that link in a new tab so you don’t lose the original article. There’s no telling how long a simple ‘Back’ function will take. If you have a PC, I’m sure there’s some equivalent. I’m not a hater, I used Windows for eighteen years of my life. Yes, I was using a computer from the day I was born, yes.

Mixed topics are, at present, a characteristic of this blog. You get a little of everything. I have been told it makes the entries seem more ‘real’. You may think differently. Never fear, I plan to diversify. At least I’m not putting posts in numerous categories. I would not have thought that anyone would be guilty of that, but there wouldn’t be a warning if there weren’t the mistake, right?

Funny story: I was at the contract-signing for my new job (English teacher, detailed here) and as we were going through the contract, the staff member mentioned that every clause in the document is there because some past employee has attempted said activity. That’s hilarious, considering how comprehensive the contract was. For example, I’m required to wear a dark suit to work. “It doesn’t have to be black – it could be navy, or dark ash…we just ask that you don’t show up looking like a pimp.” Haha. I would’ve liked to see that. Maybe not a funny story? Okay. Mediocre recollection of an amusing occurrence.

I’m supposed to write like my future boss will read this. Or my future wife (that wasn’t in the article but I think it goes right along with boss and might be even more worthy of consideration). I understand that. But I take it with a grain of salt. The chances that either of them will ever view this is quite low at present. The chances that they’ll be offended is significantly lower. I tend to think I’m a naturally inoffensive guy, except to easily-offended people. But on the other hand, I can never know what someone will take issue with. I do have strong opinions. You can call me out if you want. We can talk.

And finally, having a domain name owned by someone else. Yes, WordPress. I’m alright with that. Sure, it screams newbie. I’m not doing this for a living; I don’t consider it worth paying any money for just yet. At least WordPress is better than Geocities. What the heck is a Geocity.

Those are the top ten weblog mistakes I found, as told by Mr. Nielsen. I’m sure there are many more I’m committing as we speak (merely an expression used here for endearment). Ah well. Live and learn. Live and earn.

Before when I was in the bathroom I had a great idea for a new wing I could add to this building. I’m really excited about it, so maybe it’ll already be started by the time you read this. I’m thinking about calling it ‘Introductions’ [a.k.a ‘Links’. 3/11/10].

Nice to meet you.

-Brad