Saturday, February 23, 2013

回顾过去这一年(二)


            
我希望在农历新年之前把这篇回顾的篇章写完。之所以把这篇回顾分成两半,一是因为篇幅,二是从心境和遭遇来说,这是两个截然不同的阶段。前面我已诉说自己如何在抑郁症中挣扎,而接下来的这个部分,是我渐渐走出阴影、走向光明的过程。

我想父亲的到来和停留确实给我打了一剂强心针。虽然短暂,但那段时间我非常非常快乐。搬进了自己的空间,和弟弟一起,那个曾今有过父亲身影的房子,也有了家的感觉。新房子让我感到兴奋,而接下来在报馆忙碌的生活让我没有功夫继续为将来烦恼。但现在回想起来,那时候的我中途休学,大学和奖学金都没有着落,想着都后怕。


四月份在晚报工作,是我实习最快乐的时光。许多事情对我来说还很新鲜。采访、撰稿、编辑、想点子,这些环节我都尽百分之百的精力和效率完成。一整天最期待的时候就是和同事到附近的小贩中心吃午餐。报馆的同事每一个都很友善,个别的又出奇地幽默,和他们同时出去,总会擦出各种火花,每次除了填饱了肚子还可以心情很漂亮地回来工作。而我的主管,晚报的副编辑是个温和的女人。她有经验,却没有主管的气焰,反而很温柔,特别是对我。有一次因为我冷她把披肩递给我,让我感动。工作上,她也总是循循善诱,宽容我的许多错误,问我许多问题,诱发我像正确的方向思考。和她讨论我总是可以学到很多东西,曾经因为这样的讨论,我三次拜访采访对象,三次修改新闻材料,最后的结果好得让我惊讶。这个月因为温和又知性的主管、幽默的同事,我在其乐融融的环境中学习到了很多东西。


四月的某一天,发生了对我一生都影响深远的事情。我被通知到公共服务委员会(PSC)属下的测试中心接受心里考核。要通过笔试和面试两个环节,总共长达45个钟头。面试我的心理医师是一个名叫Angela的干练女人,长得异常美丽,非常睿智的一女人。她刨根问底问了我很多问题,有些甚至是侵略性的,整个过程下来我感到全身乏力。她最后的结论是:you are a genuine person, and very insightful.这句话给了我莫大的动力。我第一次了解别人对我的认知,第一次认识到原来真真实实的自己其实挺让人欣赏。直到今天我心里都存在一块空白,一个遗憾。就是母亲自小到大都没有夸过我,这让我从小都自信不足,总觉得自己不如人家,不值得别人赏识和肯定。我要感谢这个叫Angela的美丽女人。不得不承认,她的专业让我对她的话更加信服,这让我释怀,我因此开心了很久。不知为什么,此后我心里踏实了许多。


我想Angela对我的心理鉴定报告一定是正面的,因为不久后的五月份我就接到PSC的面试通知,开始准备各种成绩单、学校鉴定、毕业证书等等等等。那时候的我还在报馆工作,看报纸新闻什么的是顺手拈来的活,写博客也写得勤快。上班的时候除了工作就是看资料整理博客,写得内容都和教育有关。做家务时都会凤凰卫视打开听新闻,因为下班后还出去教补习实在没有时间。很多信息我不知不觉的就吸收了,没有花去多少精力和时间,但是后来都在面试中起到了关键的作用。最重要的是,我上网和面试过的人讨教心得,结论是面试最重要的,就是要真实。Angela说我是个真实、有洞察力的人,我很受鼓舞,心里想着,真正的面试就是另一个心理面试罢了,一下子轻松了很多。


530号,我着装整齐到维多利亚街的国家图书馆报道。PSC 的接待处我之前为ZJ递交材料时来过一次,多少人经过层层考验只为了博得在这里一展拳脚的机会,而今天我站到了这里。


大长桌对面一共做了78个人,整个面试2030分钟。缅甸政治、中国政治、奥朗德当选法国总统、欧债危机等等问题我回答得游刃有余、思路清晰、实事求是,不知道就说不知道,适当时对面试官的论点提出质疑。面试结束,我轻轻带上木门,面试官们交头接耳的画面消失在门缝里的同时,我却心潮澎湃。那是一种难以形容的好心情。它不是一闪而过的激动,不是莫名的快感,而是沉淀已久的渴望、期盼,在那一刻得到了爆发,得到了鼓舞。这种感觉让神采奕奕,让人不禁充满了喜悦。


这种喜悦感持续了好长好长一段时间,任何抑郁消极的残留,也彻彻底底地在我骨子里瓦解。虽然结果还是未知数,但我的沉着应对、我的冷静、我的不惧让我惊讶,让我自豪、自信。我沉浸在这种自信的欢愉中,耐心地等待面试结果。


6月初,结果出来了。果不其然,我成功了。PSC把我推荐给教育部最高级别的奖学金。眼前的唯一考验是月底的高层见面会,我必须好好表现,争取赴英国留学的机会。但诺丁汉经济学院的分量明显不足,我还是面临着被保送到天朝的命运。


628日,在缅甸两个星期的短暂休假后,我参加了高层见面会。博客再一次发挥了它的功效,因为实习时曾经就华文教育写过几篇博文,对实习经验任然记忆犹新,所以谈到教育政策和问题方面,我把这些储备好的点子一一列出,从容大方,没有一刻感到窘迫。两个星期之后,我已经坐在了教育部为奖学金得主们举办的茶会上,摆在我前面的是一个写着我英文名字的名牌,名字下面的括号中醒目地写着"UK"


我的梦想实现了。


它真真实实地摆在眼前。我永远忘不了7月的那一天,我在石龙岗补习时教育部Nancy的那通电话,告知我教育部决定给我奖学金去英国,去诺丁汉时,我心情是多么的激动。那么得难以平静。


接下来的日子里,我的生命进入另一个章节。我告别了灰暗的过去,告别抑郁,告别不堪的自己,怀揣着喜悦办理出国手续。


83日,教育部奖学金颁奖仪式。8月底为了及时拿到新加坡公民三天两头往移民厅跑(公民批准前无法与教育部签约、无法申请英国签证),为此我急的焦头烂额。96日,ZJ撇下我和我那充满未知的手续进程,远赴文莱军训。9月中旬,移民厅传来好消息,公民申请获批,立刻与教育部签约,并火速申请英国签证,920日,赴英国的前两天,获批签证。这一连串令人惊喜的事态发展,我无法与ZJ分享。他在月底军训结束回国时,我已经离开了那个一年365天充满阳光的赤道岛国,来到了寒冷潮湿的大英帝国。


我脱胎换骨的故事、梦想成真的过程,就在这里完结。接下来的故事,已经不重要。重要的是这段充满汗水和泪水的心路历程,这段永远会再我人生中占据重要位置的奋斗的章节。


谨此纪念。


2013223 诺丁汉


后记: 在这里我要感谢一路上帮助过我的人: ZJ、晚报的副编辑、和一个让人意想不到的人物--移民厅的公民登记处的Mrs Pang. 因为公民迟迟不批,我被迫无奈在移民厅软磨硬泡要求见长官。Mrs Pang接待了我,听我声泪俱下的诉说自己的困境,给了我几张白纸就地写上述信。我想就是这个机会救了我,过了两个礼拜Mrs Pang亲自打电话给我告知我好消息。三个月后我自英国回来到移民厅办手续时又碰到她,虽然只有一面之缘但她还是认得出我,问我近况。感谢一路来像Mrs Pang这样以各种方式帮助过我的人,没有他们我的梦想之路不会走得如此顺畅!




So Does Nottingham have touristy places?

Yes so after being asked about whetherI know about the existence of a certain place by the name of  "Nottingham Castle", to which I could not honestly say yes but was too ashamed to say no, I decided I do not know the city well enough, and am therefore adamant that I take every effort to go out of my way and familiarise myself with it.

So does Nottingham have "touristy places"? As much as I would like to believe there are, being foreign myself, after some time spent living here, and doing some research, there is, honestly, not much to see.

Nonetheless, I have made a worthwhile trip to the city centre where you can walk through the renown Lace Market (don't expect too much though, for it really isn't much more than a small area of quint, old, Victorian style buildings), shop round UK's biggest high street apparel stores back-to-back, and treat yourself to a warm snack like Jacket Potato or afternoon tea at Saint Peter's Church cafe.

So it's Thursday, not a perfect day for a trip, but for a student who has no lesson for a good half of the day, nothing can be better than taking an escape from familiar school and hostel grounds for a little exploration. (No, I won't reveal that I decided to add the "little exploration" to my itinerary because I got to return a few items to some stores there)

The Lace Market

The Lace Market  is what I set out for. It sounds like a elusive quaint little place, full of Victorian style brick buildings, stuck in past. Though  after having been there I found that we came really close to stumbling on its grounds on several occasions in the past.

There was never a market in the sense that there were stalls like a typical market, but you can still see the old  trading houses, warehouses and showrooms that in the old days used to display, store and sell the lace products. I came across this building that once belonged to one of such trading houses. It has Navilles Textile written on it's entrance, situated at the corner of busy cross-road along Stoney Street. It must have been a booming business back then, with its prime location and magnificent brick building.

Many other trade houses and warehouses like this constitute the Lace Market, a quater-mile square area at the heart of Nottingham. Once the heart of the world's lace industry during the days of the British Empire, it is full of impressive examples of 19th century industrial architecture and thus is a protected heritage area. It's probably the oldest part of Nottingham City and used to be occupied by the Saxons who first settled in the city. The street names are tell-tale signs of this: Fletcher Gate (Butchers' Gata, where Gata is a Danish word for Street) and Fishers' Gate. After the Norman Conquest, the Saxon area was merged with the Norman area centred around the castle, and Lace Market then became the administrative centre of the city, becoming a commercial and cultural sector as people conduct business, erect institutions here.

Now the area houses a school, a few cafes and some modern textile companies.

The once-booming Navilles Textile

Apparently, this are is now the centre square of a school, if I'm not wrong.

Another alley in the Market, where roads are wide enough for, presumably, courier  vehicles and heavy-duty trucks to load/unload textiles.


Saint Peter's Church
Compared to other cathedrals and churches in the UK, this is a humble church standing on a raised hill not far from the Lace Market. It has a little backyard surrounding the church, which rises high above ground level and ends with a pointed top. On Cafe Open Days, visitors can have afternoon tea inside the church at its little cafe. For just just 3 pounds, you get 2 sandwiches, one packet of chips plus a drink. Nice deal!


Old Market Square
This is a spacious open ground laid with stone slabs in front of the magnificent parliament building. It is excluded from trams and traffics, and is mainly used to host events such as the Christmas Market during festive seasons. Stalls selling piping hot Jacket Potato can be seen on a regular basis, while shops of all classes are all easily accessible from here: Clarks, Primark, River Island ect ect.

The Old Market Square under a clear sky!
Spotted outside a Cafe ^^

OK, this might look disgusting but it's simply the NICEST thing to have on a cold day in town!
Jacket Potato with beef&onions fillings (ooooo, such generous lady she was, gave me so many scoops of beef stew I had a hard time holding the box such that nothing whelmed out of it!)

This picture sums up how wonderful the day have been:)