Back to Homestay

Back to Bedlam / James Blunt
★★★★ (out of 5)


This is a great album! You should listen once if you've never listened.
Honestly, I didn't know who James Blunt was, maybe I've heard of the name but forgot it. It was my flatmate who had songs of this album. He liked listening the songs in living room, so I heard it. Then, I realised that I knew some songs, such as "You're Beautiful" and "high". I got the songs from the flatmate. I like James Blunt's voice. It's special. Though most songs are nice, specially I like "You're Beautiful", "Goodbye My Lover" and "Cry". I reckon these are great songs.

The most impressive song, I think, is "Goodbye My Lover". I like this following part.

"I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you."

How passionate phrase! And the melody is awesome.
I also like the melody of "Cry", except one part of the song.
"You're Beautiful" is famous and good song, but I think the lyrics are a little bit funny, cause it's about man and woman who met once. Though this is love song, the woman may have a boyfriend and the man knows it. The story is just like this; their eyes met on a subway, and the woman smiled at him. He says "I don't think that I'll see her again,but we shared a moment that will last 'til the end." Isn't it a bit funny? Or ... maybe I'm misunderstanding the lyrics. I like this song though.

This album contains the song named "Wise Men". Every time I listen to this song, I remember my homestay life, cause I used to listen to it during homestay period. It was one year and 4 months ago, I came to Sydney and started to live in homestay. My homestay family was only an old lady, who divorced her husband and her children were living other places. The host was the lady, but her friend was also living the house. Then, There was one international student who went to the same school as mine (international student changed two times during my stay though). Altogether, there were four people, including me, were living in the house.

I got many good experiences for living in Australia there. On the first day, I was surprised because the bathroom's door couldn't be locked. I think it was because people close the bathroom's door only when someone is inside, so they don't need to lock the door (In my country's culture, bathroom's door is always closed, so if you forgot to lock the door, someone may open it while you're inside). I knew that toilet and shower were one room, but I didn't like it, cause when someone's taking shower, others couldn't use toilet. My homestay didn't have a bathtub. It's okay but sometimes I missed it. Also, I knew that people wear shoes inside of houses, but I felt guilty at the first time when I entered the house. Foods were alright, but I often didn't like them, and I missed rice. Though host mother said,"rice is not main meal here", she cooked twice a week. She was nice and kind (but I didn't understand what was funny and what wasn't for her). I learnt not only Australian culture, but also other Asian culture. I met three international students there, and talked a lot with each student. They're from Shanghai, Jakarta and Beijing. Their stories about home countries were interesting for me.

At that time, my English skill was poor both speaking and listening. Every time I talked with host mother or her friend, I needed to say "Sorry?" "Pardon?" or "Come again?" (sometimes I even didn't say these words. It doesn't mean I didn't know the words, I just couldn't react in English immediately). When I asked host mother more than two times, she gave up telling me. But of course she answered my questions when I need answers. I asked her, "How can I improve my listening skill?" She answered, "Watch TV". Then, I started to watch TV as long as I can. The music TV program, broadcasted in weekend morning, was my favorite, so I watched it every week. During this period, I listened to "Wise Men" from TV. It was popular at the time, so I listened almost every week. That's why it reminds me my homestay life.
The song repeats the phrase, "Got to ask yourself the question, where are you now?". I answer, "I am in Sydney, Australia. Oh, yes. I'm living in overseas now".

I've lived in the host mother's house for three months and a half.
Yeah, I enjoyed my homestay life.