New York Trip

      On the fourth Friday of my stay at Yale, Yale Summer Session arranged for us to go to New York city, a place well known to the world, but I was not as fascinated as what I had imagined I should be. 

      Two and a half hours bus ride was rather a long trip for me who suffer from bus-sickness sometimes. I almost felt like vomiting when the bus arrived in the downtown area of New York at 11:30. We got off the bus in front of the Metropolitan Museum, a grand and world famous museum on the fifth Avenue.

We planned to spend the rest of the day visiting the museum, but the museum is so big that we could hardly fulfill the task, so we decided to search some sections we are more interested in first. We were completely surrounded by the world-famous artworks of the European and Egyptian sections so much so that we got lost sometimes. Everything seemed to be amazing till we got to the section of China’s exhibition. We were shocked by the darkness of this part and felt uneasy and uncomfortable when we were walking around in this section. The Chinese elements presented here include some artworks of the blue and white porcelain, cheongsam, which are really a part of Chinese art, but there are also some things such as opium and other obscenity in the noisy TV show which have long been discarded into the dustbin of history. We wondered why these elements are still presented in the museum, so we went to seek for answers from one of the clerks in the museum. A black lady explained that they know what is shown here is not what China is, and it is only what the designers thought China might be. The darkness might suggest the mystery of China. Anyhow, no matter what the reasons might be, we just do not like the atmosphere in the section about China. We felt very disappointed because we cannot find in the museum the best part of China such as the wisdom of Chinese people in the long history of our country. It is really a great pity.

Joyce Zhou at Yale--an Unusual and Amazing Experience in a Church

Before Marina, Jason and I went to Saint Paul's Church, one of the Union American Methodist Episcopal Churches in New Haven，I thought it was a sincerely quiet activity to pray in church. But a public worship service I observed in this church on a Sunday morning changed my opinion.

    Unlike other services I observed in the past，the worship service here is just like a concert，with occasionally some prays made by the Minister. There are more black disciples in the church, which is another interesting phenomenon, and they seem to be very outgoing and excited. The choir of the church does a great job, and we are all moved by their performance. Many people including us three keep clapping and rocking，some people singing along with the choir in the whole service. Some go to the front, hugging the clergy, walking around and greeting with each other. An old lady is so thrilled that she even sobs when the pastor is preaching. In the whole morning, the church is full of cheerful melodies and chants. 

    Since we are the only three easterners in the church, we capture a lot of attention and a great deal of concern. Noticing that we are not familiar with the procedure and unable to follow the pastor sometimes, a black gentleman kindly helps us occasionally. At the end of the service, the pastor comes up and chats with us for a while, saying that he would be glad to say us again. I wish I had more time at Yale so that I could find more time to appreciate the "church concerts".