I thoght the catholic church I knew was the same with the catholic center, but as I approached the catholic church, I found out it was locked. I was embarrassed at first then I figured that there must be a catholic center separate from the church, but I had no idea where it was. I went into the kimmel center and asked to the security guard if he knew where the catholic center was and he told me the direction. Right after I turned into a corner of the street, there was an entrance to the catholic center. Dr. Gilbert generously welcomed me with his sense humor about my confusion, excuse for my being a little late. At the very first minute I saw my classmates were sitting around in the large space of the catholic center, I could feel quite a different atmosphere than I used to in the conventional classroom. Actually I thought it was a better place for our creative process class. A huge and open space with a grand piano and a little bit darker light and the ambiance of rich reverb of the sound all seemed to be welcoming me to the creative journey with the guidance of Dr. Gilbert.
Dr. Gilbert began to guide us to the first step toward our way to a creative process. The first step was to write a three line poem. I never wrote any poem in English so far, actually I don’t remember writing any poem in my mother tongue either. There was a time when I tried to write some poem, but I was never a poetess. Everyone became quiet. Everyone including me became serious and I was having a hard time trying to think of what to write, how to write. Chianan who sat next to me used his lap top instead of a paper and he wrote a great poem that nicely rhymed. Jeanie whispered to me that ‘ I’ve never written a poem in English so far’ and I answered ‘ me, neither’. After a certain silence, our poems began to sound in turns. I was impressed how each one sounded so nice with some rhymes and how everyone expressed their feelings or thoughts in their life. Dr. Gilbert told us to play our poem like we play music. This time, our poem was a score. From the silence, someone first read his poem softly and the others began to add their voice. Dr. Gilbert showed and suggested the ways we could play our poem in a various way. Everyone performed their poem in a various ways by varying the pitches,volumes and repeating some parts an so on. There was a moment it sounded like a climax and a graual ending. It was quiet a different experience , certainly an impressive beginning. I had a good feeling about this group, space and this class. It was like meeting a new person, somewhat exotic one who makes me curious and wonder about him or her.
