I'm afraid Japan has spoiled Laura. Me, too, but especially Laura since it was her first destination. Everywhere we went in Japan seemed to be a World Heritage site. It was almost difficult to maintain a perspective of how few there really are worldwide - 890. Split across the entire world, and adjusting for the fact that Europe has a few more than it's share of them - there's really not so many to go around. So I decided it might be interesting to see which ones I had been to.
In the United States I've managed to see precious few of them. Most of them are on my top ten list of things to see in America, however. :) Of the U.S. sites, I've seen Everglades National Park, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, La Fortaleza and San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico, and Yosemite National Park.
In Greece I've seen the Acropolis in Athens.
In Germany I've seen Cologne Cathedral.
In France I've seen the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, and Paris Banks of the Seine.
In Finland I've seen the Fortress of Suomenlinna.
In Belgium I've seen La Grand-Place, Brussels.
Of Norway's sites, I'm kicking myself for not seeing Røros. Maybe next time. I'll be studying right next to Bryggen, so that's a given for the near future. As it is, I've seen 'only' Geirangerfjord.
I didn't see any of the World Heritage sites in Sweden or in Costa Rica.
I didn't see any of the World Heritage sites in the Netherlands proper, although after my German class I feel like I've been to the Wadden sea, but I did see the Historic Area of Willemstad, Inner City and Harbour, Netherland Antilles in Curacao.
For Mexico I've seen the Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza.
For Italy, which is positively overflowing with these things, I've seen Villa Adriana, Costiera Amalfitana, Historic Center of Naples, and Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura. Yes, that is one name. I'm trying to figure out why the Forum, the Colosseum, Pompeii, and Herculaneum aren't on the list. Seems a bit weird. But then again, that's the hardest list to read. Also, the Vatican City, listed separately...
For Japan I've seen the Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area, Himeji-jo, Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Itsukushima Shinto Shrine, Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, and Shrines and Temples of Nikko. (I also got close enough to Shirakawa-go that if I was less impressed by the area, I wouldn't feel the need to go back. But I loved it, so I probably will. :))
So, in all, I've seen 25 World Heritage Sites. Of these, 6 were in Japan, and 6 were in Italy.
October 19, 2009
October 18, 2009
Aware of that Moment
We were all posing on the big statue of St. Louis outside of the Art Museum. Lucia was taking our picture, her back to a wide expanse of Forest Park in fall colours. She looked lovely. There was laughter. I was incredibly aware of that moment - it wasn't simply a sensation of taking a snapshot, or a memory. I was incredibly aware of being right there, right then. Of how in two months Esther and Amy will leave. Of how the six of us shall never meet again by the statue of St. Louis. Of how Allan will leave soon, too. Of how beautiful the fall colours were, of how they change with every day. Of how even Lucia and my time together, which once seemed limitless, will not last forever. Lucia was taking our picture, but I was taking hers, I was taking a picture of all of us, I was thinking about the wide expanse of time before and after, how strange, how arbitrary that I was living this now and soon wouldn't be. And Lucia lowered the camera and started walking towards us, and I fell back into time.
October 16, 2009
October 13, 2009
Neither Rain Nor Snow
It's neither rain now snow, but something in between. It reminds me of a poem we had to read once, one that has come into my head again and again in the years since.
Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle
That while you watched turned into pieces of snow
Riding a gradient invisible
From silver aslant to random, white, and slow. There came a moment that you couldn't tell.
And then they clearly flew instead of fell.
- Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry, by Howard Nemerov.
Everyone keeps saying that we didn't have autumn this year, that Missouri went from Summer into Winter without a pause. I'm not so certain of that. No, we haven't had the sort of Indian Summer we've gotten so used to, but still, there were crisp cool days, warm afternoons, long shadows and golden light, and when I drove Anlan to KOMU today, the fall colours were lovely, even surrounded in the cool grey not-quite-rain.
But you're right. Now it's too cold to smell the roses.
Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle
That while you watched turned into pieces of snow
Riding a gradient invisible
From silver aslant to random, white, and slow. There came a moment that you couldn't tell.
And then they clearly flew instead of fell.
- Because You Asked about the Line between Prose and Poetry, by Howard Nemerov.
Everyone keeps saying that we didn't have autumn this year, that Missouri went from Summer into Winter without a pause. I'm not so certain of that. No, we haven't had the sort of Indian Summer we've gotten so used to, but still, there were crisp cool days, warm afternoons, long shadows and golden light, and when I drove Anlan to KOMU today, the fall colours were lovely, even surrounded in the cool grey not-quite-rain.
But you're right. Now it's too cold to smell the roses.
October 08, 2009
Chinese Writing... Yikes!
"One could say that Chinese is phonetic in the way that sex is aerobic: technically so, but in practical use not the most salient thing about it. Furthermore, this phonetic aspect of the language doesn't really become very useful until you've learned a few hundred characters, and even when you've learned two thousand, the feeble phoneticity of Chinese will never provide you with the constant memory prod that the phonetic quality of English does.
Which means that often you just completely forget how to write a character. Period. If there is no obvious semantic clue in the radical, and no helpful phonetic component somewhere in the character, you're just sunk. And you're sunk whether your native language is Chinese or not; contrary to popular myth, Chinese people are not born with the ability to memorize arbitrary squiggles. In fact, one of the most gratifying experiences a foreign student of Chinese can have is to see a native speaker come up a complete blank when called upon to write the characters for some relatively common word. You feel an enormous sense of vindication and relief to see a native speaker experience the exact same difficulty you experience every day.
This is such a gratifying experience, in fact, that I have actually kept a list of characters that I have observed Chinese people forget how to write. (A sick, obsessive activity, I know.) I have seen highly literate Chinese people forget how to write certain characters in common words like "tin can", "knee", "screwdriver", "snap" (as in "to snap one's fingers"), "elbow", "ginger", "cushion", "firecracker", and so on. And when I say "forget", I mean that they often cannot even put the first stroke down on the paper. Can you imagine a well-educated native English speaker totally forgetting how to write a word like "knee" or "tin can"? Or even a rarely-seen word like "scabbard" or "ragamuffin"? I was once at a luncheon with three Ph.D. students in the Chinese Department at Peking University, all native Chinese (one from Hong Kong). I happened to have a cold that day, and was trying to write a brief note to a friend canceling an appointment that day. I found that I couldn't remember how to write the character 嚔, as in da penti 打喷嚔 "to sneeze". I asked my three friends how to write the character, and to my surprise, all three of them simply shrugged in sheepish embarrassment. Not one of them could correctly produce the character. Now, Peking University is usually considered the "Harvard of China". Can you imagine three Ph.D. students in English at Harvard forgetting how to write the English word "sneeze"?? Yet this state of affairs is by no means uncommon in China. English is simply orders of magnitude easier to write and remember. No matter how low-frequency the word is, or how unorthodox the spelling, the English speaker can always come up with something, simply because there has to be some correspondence between sound and spelling. One might forget whether "abracadabra" is hyphenated or not, or get the last few letters wrong on "rhinoceros", but even the poorest of spellers can make a reasonable stab at almost anything. By contrast, often even the most well-educated Chinese have no recourse but to throw up their hands and ask someone else in the room how to write some particularly elusive character."
- http://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html
October 05, 2009
Winter is Coming
I wasn't really around, but I heard tell that it was a cool summer here in Missouri. No one minded, I'm sure! But fall seems to be coming hard and fast, and now I'm thinking that this year might be a cold one all around, with a long winter ahead. Last year I wore a tanktop to renfest. This year, renfest is next weekend. For Halloween last year, I wore a bodice and a very skimpy sort of undershirt thing underneath, and I spent all night in it until we walked two or three miles back to Laws in the wee hours of the morning. It was chilly, yes, but it was bearable, and that's the point. This is Missouri, so things can still change, but so far we're looking at a cold year.
In the mornings we can see our breath. The green leaves still on the trees look silly. When I walk outside, I see first sunlight and green, and the unmistakable smell of winter is startling. Yes, winter already. Now and then I catch a whiff of autumn too, but already I smell winter. And it's only October. Poor Zahra, her first winter and it's promising to be a hard one! I myself, being from the "Heart of Winter", (as I call Missouri to mess with foreigners from more summery lands), will be fine, of course.
Yesterday Allan, Yannick, Esther, Amy, and I went to Baja Grill. Yannick was only wearing a thin jacket and he was complaining bitterly about how cold it was. Not wanting to hear that, I finally took off my jacket and threw it at him. I figured that he must really be cold if he was desperate enough to wear a small girl's jacket. He zipped it up all the way.
Baja was yummy and afterward we went still further, towards the agricultural buildings, a part of campus I like to refer to as the ends of the earth. On the way back everyone complained about the cold except for Allan and I, although they were all in pants, shoes, and jackets, while Allan was wearing shorts and flip flops and I was wearing sandals and only a medium-sleeved shirt. We reveled in a sudden sense of Scottish Superiority.
And I really wasn't even too cold. I felt the cool air, certainly, but I didn't feel in a rush to get into the buildings or anything like that. My fingers did lose a bit of their dexterity, though, so I kept my fists together to keep them a bit warmer. It would have all been fine and good, if Yannick hadn't gone off and smoked a cigarette while still wearing my jacket.
This is a major fail. I don't have my winter clothes yet and I'm going to need that jacket for a while. And now it smells... indescribable... X(
In the mornings we can see our breath. The green leaves still on the trees look silly. When I walk outside, I see first sunlight and green, and the unmistakable smell of winter is startling. Yes, winter already. Now and then I catch a whiff of autumn too, but already I smell winter. And it's only October. Poor Zahra, her first winter and it's promising to be a hard one! I myself, being from the "Heart of Winter", (as I call Missouri to mess with foreigners from more summery lands), will be fine, of course.
Yesterday Allan, Yannick, Esther, Amy, and I went to Baja Grill. Yannick was only wearing a thin jacket and he was complaining bitterly about how cold it was. Not wanting to hear that, I finally took off my jacket and threw it at him. I figured that he must really be cold if he was desperate enough to wear a small girl's jacket. He zipped it up all the way.
Baja was yummy and afterward we went still further, towards the agricultural buildings, a part of campus I like to refer to as the ends of the earth. On the way back everyone complained about the cold except for Allan and I, although they were all in pants, shoes, and jackets, while Allan was wearing shorts and flip flops and I was wearing sandals and only a medium-sleeved shirt. We reveled in a sudden sense of Scottish Superiority.
And I really wasn't even too cold. I felt the cool air, certainly, but I didn't feel in a rush to get into the buildings or anything like that. My fingers did lose a bit of their dexterity, though, so I kept my fists together to keep them a bit warmer. It would have all been fine and good, if Yannick hadn't gone off and smoked a cigarette while still wearing my jacket.
This is a major fail. I don't have my winter clothes yet and I'm going to need that jacket for a while. And now it smells... indescribable... X(
Language Context and Rosetta Stone
I found this quote:
"If the only time you make use of your language is when you are studying, should you need to use that language you may well be stuck because you'll be in the wrong context for retrieving it."
on this site: http://gbarto.com/multilingua/confessions/
It's interesting. I hadn't thought about the situation from exactly that angle, but it does seem to make sense. For example, my spoken Spanish isn't terrible, but my written Spanish is much better. On the other hand, my written Norwegian is okay, and so is my spoken Norwegian - there is not nearly as much of a difference between them. Comparatively, my spoken Norwegian is actually better than my spoken Spanish, because I am more comfortable with it, and more rarely am frustrated because I hear my own mistakes.
I'm wondering now about whether or not Rosetta Stone gives you the right context. I tend to think it does, more than studying from a book or flash cards. Whatever I may think about the learn as a child situation, Rosetta Stone does help me to start associating the language very directly with real life. Just as I start to think of the new words when I see the RS pictures, when I go about my day later, the words echo back into my head when I see objects, actions, situations that remind me of what I learned.
This really does not happen as much when I learn a language through reading. I might remember the words fine, but they don't usually just present themselves in my mind in response to visual and aural stimuli. It might take me a bit longer to mentally access them, as well.
I think Mandarin will help me understand this process more. With Japanese, I learned a lot from Rosetta Stone, and I did pretty well with Japanese when I was in Japan. But I went into Rosetta Stone with a lot of Japanese experience, however scrambled it was. Mandarin is a fresh start that will let me look more purely at the Rosetta Stone method.
"If the only time you make use of your language is when you are studying, should you need to use that language you may well be stuck because you'll be in the wrong context for retrieving it."
on this site: http://gbarto.com/multilingua/confessions/
It's interesting. I hadn't thought about the situation from exactly that angle, but it does seem to make sense. For example, my spoken Spanish isn't terrible, but my written Spanish is much better. On the other hand, my written Norwegian is okay, and so is my spoken Norwegian - there is not nearly as much of a difference between them. Comparatively, my spoken Norwegian is actually better than my spoken Spanish, because I am more comfortable with it, and more rarely am frustrated because I hear my own mistakes.
I'm wondering now about whether or not Rosetta Stone gives you the right context. I tend to think it does, more than studying from a book or flash cards. Whatever I may think about the learn as a child situation, Rosetta Stone does help me to start associating the language very directly with real life. Just as I start to think of the new words when I see the RS pictures, when I go about my day later, the words echo back into my head when I see objects, actions, situations that remind me of what I learned.
This really does not happen as much when I learn a language through reading. I might remember the words fine, but they don't usually just present themselves in my mind in response to visual and aural stimuli. It might take me a bit longer to mentally access them, as well.
I think Mandarin will help me understand this process more. With Japanese, I learned a lot from Rosetta Stone, and I did pretty well with Japanese when I was in Japan. But I went into Rosetta Stone with a lot of Japanese experience, however scrambled it was. Mandarin is a fresh start that will let me look more purely at the Rosetta Stone method.
October 04, 2009
"Nothing is Original"
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
— Jim Jarmusch
— Jim Jarmusch
Miracle of Language
What's this? Mandarin?
That's right.
I more or less flipped a coin among the Rosetta Stone languages and this is what I came up with. I have nothing at all to push me along other than my own joy and curiosity, and that, I knew, would be enough to at least match my very few phrases of Cantonese with a very few phrases of Mandarin. I have enough friends that if I want to practice, or need help, I can get it. At the same time I am accountable to no one. This is not connected with any grade or any measurement. I am free to love it for it's own sake.
And, although I am only two days in, I am loving it so far. It's the first tonal language I've done really anything with (tones in Norwegian and Japanese are optional unless you need to sound native). It's entirely foreign, and the only thing I know going in is Ni Hao. I sort of know that goodbye is something like Di Tien, and Xie Xie is thank you, but I have no idea how to pronounce Xie Xie and two minutes into Unit 1 I learn that my pronunciation of Di Tien was WAY off.
So it goes. This is the miracle of language acquisition in it's rawest form. It sends little happy tickles down my spine when I step back for a second and think, two minutes ago this sentence would have sounded like absolute gibberish. Now I know that it means "The adults are not cooking, they are eating." Miracle.
I have no plans to advertise this to anyone until I get a bit further along, if I do get a bit further along. Still, I was thinking to myself, "I wonder when the first time I'll actually understand something in Chinese will be." Now, I'm not sure whether this counts, but later the same day that I started using Rosetta Stone, so about a half hour in, I was at the dining hall and I heard Di Tien, the correct way to say it, that I had just learned, and I couldn't help turning around and feeling very pleased with myself for even understanding such a rudimentary phrase. The girls I turned to look at all noticed that I had a bit of a funny smile on my face, but I don't think they thought too much of it. If only they knew... Muahahahahahaha... XD
Murphy's Law in Action - Hayride
Zahra and I were supposed to leave for the potluck just after the UP group did, at 6:00. Things didn't quite go according to plan. I had invited three residents from my hall - Allan, Haruka, and Reika. Since I am a P.A. and am not allowed to drive them anywhere, I asked them to go to UP, where the carpooling was to be arranged.
Zahra and I went to Walgreens to get our flu shots first. The process took longer than anticipated because there were essentially four stages - declaring our intent, turning in paperwork, paying, and actually recieving the shot. There were 5-10 minutes between each of these sections, including the ten minutes we had to wait at the end to make sure we didn't have bad reactions.
Anyway, this whole time I was on the phone with everyone. Allan called to say that he hadn't met with Haruka and Reika, and he was lost. I directed him to UP and gave him a phone number to call if my instructions were crap. I tried to call Reika to see if they were okay. No response. Meanwhile I needed the address to the potluck myself, so I called my friend Sam, who was an organizer. He gave me another number, Callie's, which I called, and Callie told me that she'd call me back when she knew. She called and gave me the address and directions, which I wrote down on a piece of paper. Sam called to ask how things were going, and I said fine, but had he recieved a call from Allan? He hadn't, and I was worried, wondering whether any of the three I had invited would make it to the Potluck. Reika still wasn't answering. Soon afterwards Prite called. I hadn't expected to have to worry about him at all, but he appartently got to UP too late, and didn't know how to get to the potluck. He suggested that he just come with us instead of my trying to give him directions. We agreed, but said we would be there in several minutes, as we were finishing up at Walgreens but had to get warmer clothes from home before we left. Prite told us that by the time he had arrived, there was no one at UP. He didn't say "No one except for a strange Scottish guy", so I thought that perhaps Allan had found his way there on time.
On the way home Zahra and I thought we'd be clever and take a Rollins road, assuming it would get us to campus. It didn't and this detour delayed us by five minutes and formed our second major delay after the flu shots. From here we went to my dorm and I quickly ran in and grabbed my warmest shirt, a turtleneck. Finally Reika called and said that she, Haruka, and Allan were all fine and on their way to the potluck. :D :D Then we thought we better get Prite, since he would be expecting us. So we went to UP and picked Prite up, and then went to Zahra's so that she could put on real shoes (she had flip flops on). We waited a long time for Zahra and I tried to call her to see what was up. There was no response and Prite and I were like... ??? After several minutes she called and said that the answer to both riddles was that she had left her cell phone upstairs and had to go back for it. She really needed the phone because we were relying on it's GPS to tell us how to get to the potluck. This was our third major delay.
When we finally got going it was 6:40. The GPS told us to go a slightly different way than we remembered from the written instructions, but we started following it. Zahra kept talking about how far it was, and finally I asked if it had an estimate for how long it would take to get there. Suddenly Zahra said, "Stop, stop! The instructions are wrong! It's taking us five hours to get there!" (This was our fourth major delay) I laughed, stopped, we decided to follow the written instructions. But it turned out that Zahra had left them at home. I remembered two things - to get on highway 70 and to take exit 117... no, later emended to 121. Prite called Sam to confirm this, and Sam told him to call back when we had taken the exit.
I missed the exit. (Fifth major delay). We decided to go ahead and take 117, because that was the next exit and I couldn't turn around before then anyway. So we called for alternative directions. We had to look for Rocheport Gravel Road. We got off on J at 117 and drove for a little while, about four miles. We had to cross a busy road at one point without a light, which was fine but it took a while as we waited. I kept feeling that we should keep going, because it should be far if we hadn't taken the recommended exit, and I remembered something of the written instructions that said to keep going and going. But Prite and Zahra said that a long time ago we had passed a road called Rocheport, so finally I turned back.
We drove J all the way back to the highway's exit. The very first left after the highway was indeed called Rocheport... Old Rocheport, to be precise, and it was a gravel road. We started down it and Prite called to see if it was the right road. It wasn't - they were confused about where it was. When I explained, they said that we had to go much further, about four miles down J. We turned around and started back down J. We ended up having to cross the one road, with the delay, three times. This confusion definitely made our Sixth Major Delay.
Rocheport Gravel Road ended up being the very next left from where I had finally turned around. If we had driven even 100 meters further, we would have seen it. This irony was just too much. I had to laugh a bit hysterically. Sam stayed on the phone from this point on as we made our way through the 'neighborhood', past a fork in the road and down a long, narrow, tree encircled road. Finally we saw Sam in the very last of the light of the setting sun. We had arrived.
The food was all gone, so Zahra ate the remainders of what few vegetarian dishes there had been to begin with, and Prite and I ate the omelette Prite had made, and all three of us ate more than the Food Pyramid's recommended amount of my Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies. But it didn't really matter - we had arrived in time for the real fun.
Zahra had her first campfire and s'mores. She really charmed the owner of the farm, and the nice lady took us on a tour of the barn (including a baby calf! :D) and her home. Zahra really enjoyed it and kept saying how much the whole place seemed like out of a movie.
Soon was the hayride itself. Allan, Zahra, Reika, Haruka and I all rode together. (Prite was on the other side of the wagon, so we didn't see much of him) It was so dusty and I was a bit jaded from having been mostly on Haunted Hayrides, but I still enjoyed it, especially because Zahra, Reika, and Haruka enjoyed it so much.
Allan said that when we had been so late he thought to himself that it had been a trap, that I had never planned on coming but had instead lured him there with false promises. I told him that it was true, the whole thing was a sex slave operation that I got a 10% cut of for my role in luring unsuspecting exchange students there. He said then that he wanted that job, and I said that he might be convinced to join the operation, since he would probably be rejected as a sex slave. He's never going to let anyone forget that I have essentially called him an Ugly Sex Slave.
After the potluck we went back to the barn and the man of the farm told me that I could go into the baby cows pen and play with it. I did and it sort of liked me. It was very friendly and approached slowly and licked my hand. However, there were a lot of people who had followed me and were just outside the pen, so it was a bit nervous. When Prite came in that was too much, and he retreated. I blamed Prite. Afterwards Haruka came in and the calf absolutely adored her. It wouldn't stop licking her everywhere. She was thrilled and wouldn't stop giggling. I tried to take pictures but it wasn't so easy in the small dust filled pen. :P
We also swung about on rope swings in the barn - well, mostly Prite and I. Prite and I often speak Japanese to each other, since we are about equally bad at it and it is fun for us. So I was saying most of the things we normally say to each other, like, "You are a monkey" and he was saying similar things, like, "You are too." and Reika and Haruka thought it was very funny, so pretty soon my entire rope swinging performances included short announcements in Japanese directed at the three of them.
The rope swing was the only thing Zahra didn't try. She said that she was too cold. :P It is her first winter, after all.
Despite all the difficulties I think it ended up being a really fun evening for everyone involved. :D
Zahra and I went to Walgreens to get our flu shots first. The process took longer than anticipated because there were essentially four stages - declaring our intent, turning in paperwork, paying, and actually recieving the shot. There were 5-10 minutes between each of these sections, including the ten minutes we had to wait at the end to make sure we didn't have bad reactions.
Anyway, this whole time I was on the phone with everyone. Allan called to say that he hadn't met with Haruka and Reika, and he was lost. I directed him to UP and gave him a phone number to call if my instructions were crap. I tried to call Reika to see if they were okay. No response. Meanwhile I needed the address to the potluck myself, so I called my friend Sam, who was an organizer. He gave me another number, Callie's, which I called, and Callie told me that she'd call me back when she knew. She called and gave me the address and directions, which I wrote down on a piece of paper. Sam called to ask how things were going, and I said fine, but had he recieved a call from Allan? He hadn't, and I was worried, wondering whether any of the three I had invited would make it to the Potluck. Reika still wasn't answering. Soon afterwards Prite called. I hadn't expected to have to worry about him at all, but he appartently got to UP too late, and didn't know how to get to the potluck. He suggested that he just come with us instead of my trying to give him directions. We agreed, but said we would be there in several minutes, as we were finishing up at Walgreens but had to get warmer clothes from home before we left. Prite told us that by the time he had arrived, there was no one at UP. He didn't say "No one except for a strange Scottish guy", so I thought that perhaps Allan had found his way there on time.
On the way home Zahra and I thought we'd be clever and take a Rollins road, assuming it would get us to campus. It didn't and this detour delayed us by five minutes and formed our second major delay after the flu shots. From here we went to my dorm and I quickly ran in and grabbed my warmest shirt, a turtleneck. Finally Reika called and said that she, Haruka, and Allan were all fine and on their way to the potluck. :D :D Then we thought we better get Prite, since he would be expecting us. So we went to UP and picked Prite up, and then went to Zahra's so that she could put on real shoes (she had flip flops on). We waited a long time for Zahra and I tried to call her to see what was up. There was no response and Prite and I were like... ??? After several minutes she called and said that the answer to both riddles was that she had left her cell phone upstairs and had to go back for it. She really needed the phone because we were relying on it's GPS to tell us how to get to the potluck. This was our third major delay.
When we finally got going it was 6:40. The GPS told us to go a slightly different way than we remembered from the written instructions, but we started following it. Zahra kept talking about how far it was, and finally I asked if it had an estimate for how long it would take to get there. Suddenly Zahra said, "Stop, stop! The instructions are wrong! It's taking us five hours to get there!" (This was our fourth major delay) I laughed, stopped, we decided to follow the written instructions. But it turned out that Zahra had left them at home. I remembered two things - to get on highway 70 and to take exit 117... no, later emended to 121. Prite called Sam to confirm this, and Sam told him to call back when we had taken the exit.
I missed the exit. (Fifth major delay). We decided to go ahead and take 117, because that was the next exit and I couldn't turn around before then anyway. So we called for alternative directions. We had to look for Rocheport Gravel Road. We got off on J at 117 and drove for a little while, about four miles. We had to cross a busy road at one point without a light, which was fine but it took a while as we waited. I kept feeling that we should keep going, because it should be far if we hadn't taken the recommended exit, and I remembered something of the written instructions that said to keep going and going. But Prite and Zahra said that a long time ago we had passed a road called Rocheport, so finally I turned back.
We drove J all the way back to the highway's exit. The very first left after the highway was indeed called Rocheport... Old Rocheport, to be precise, and it was a gravel road. We started down it and Prite called to see if it was the right road. It wasn't - they were confused about where it was. When I explained, they said that we had to go much further, about four miles down J. We turned around and started back down J. We ended up having to cross the one road, with the delay, three times. This confusion definitely made our Sixth Major Delay.
Rocheport Gravel Road ended up being the very next left from where I had finally turned around. If we had driven even 100 meters further, we would have seen it. This irony was just too much. I had to laugh a bit hysterically. Sam stayed on the phone from this point on as we made our way through the 'neighborhood', past a fork in the road and down a long, narrow, tree encircled road. Finally we saw Sam in the very last of the light of the setting sun. We had arrived.
The food was all gone, so Zahra ate the remainders of what few vegetarian dishes there had been to begin with, and Prite and I ate the omelette Prite had made, and all three of us ate more than the Food Pyramid's recommended amount of my Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies. But it didn't really matter - we had arrived in time for the real fun.
Zahra had her first campfire and s'mores. She really charmed the owner of the farm, and the nice lady took us on a tour of the barn (including a baby calf! :D) and her home. Zahra really enjoyed it and kept saying how much the whole place seemed like out of a movie.
Soon was the hayride itself. Allan, Zahra, Reika, Haruka and I all rode together. (Prite was on the other side of the wagon, so we didn't see much of him) It was so dusty and I was a bit jaded from having been mostly on Haunted Hayrides, but I still enjoyed it, especially because Zahra, Reika, and Haruka enjoyed it so much.
Allan said that when we had been so late he thought to himself that it had been a trap, that I had never planned on coming but had instead lured him there with false promises. I told him that it was true, the whole thing was a sex slave operation that I got a 10% cut of for my role in luring unsuspecting exchange students there. He said then that he wanted that job, and I said that he might be convinced to join the operation, since he would probably be rejected as a sex slave. He's never going to let anyone forget that I have essentially called him an Ugly Sex Slave.
After the potluck we went back to the barn and the man of the farm told me that I could go into the baby cows pen and play with it. I did and it sort of liked me. It was very friendly and approached slowly and licked my hand. However, there were a lot of people who had followed me and were just outside the pen, so it was a bit nervous. When Prite came in that was too much, and he retreated. I blamed Prite. Afterwards Haruka came in and the calf absolutely adored her. It wouldn't stop licking her everywhere. She was thrilled and wouldn't stop giggling. I tried to take pictures but it wasn't so easy in the small dust filled pen. :P
We also swung about on rope swings in the barn - well, mostly Prite and I. Prite and I often speak Japanese to each other, since we are about equally bad at it and it is fun for us. So I was saying most of the things we normally say to each other, like, "You are a monkey" and he was saying similar things, like, "You are too." and Reika and Haruka thought it was very funny, so pretty soon my entire rope swinging performances included short announcements in Japanese directed at the three of them.
The rope swing was the only thing Zahra didn't try. She said that she was too cold. :P It is her first winter, after all.
Despite all the difficulties I think it ended up being a really fun evening for everyone involved. :D
School Update
I don't particularly love any of my classes this year. Okay, that's a lie. I enjoy Biological Anthropology. And I don't mind teaching my FIG class, either, although sometimes I wish I could have done it last year, or do it at least separated from the C.A. aspects of being a P.A., so that I could give it more energy. But Macro-Micro Economics, Cross Cultural Journalism (not my FIG), and Twentieth Century American History... they're just okay.
Last week I had tests in three out of four of my classes, which was lots of fun. Things didn't go as bad as they might have. I am not the best Journalism test taker (the peculiar mixture of specifics and 'understanding' sometimes trips me up), so I probably got a B on the test - will get a B in the class.
In Econ I surprised myself by getting an A in both the regular class test and the Journalism class test. This is supposed to be one of Journalism's hardest classes - everyone rants and raves about it except for fellow C.A. Kevin. So the idea of getting an A honestly didn't occur to me before I got these results back. Now I'm somewhat torn. Factoring in the weekly online quizzes, which I have had rather mixed results on, I think I have a low A now, but classes get harder as they go along. It's a five credit hour class and an A would be GREAT. On the other hand I'd have to drastically change my study habits and work hard to actually get one, whereas I could probably be fairly lazy and get a B. :S Oh, the choices...
History was kind of a wild card before the test. On one hand, I knew it was a totally normal class - not in the honors college, not in the J-school, not preceded by a reputation for impossibility. But you never know how these things are going to go. It's history - you can't have it memorized, so much depends on the whims of the professor. The test ended up being very merciful. I will be greatly surprised if I didn't ace it, and the whole grade in the class is two tests and an out of class essay. That's an A right there.
Biological Anthropology is lovely. It almost makes up for not having a Foreign Language class. ... Okay, so it doesn't. But it's still nice. I'll have an A unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong. And the best part is that it's a five credit hour course. :D
So basically, my goal for the semester was a 3.5. I am directly on course to receive that without much effort. However, if I work hard in Econ, a 3.8 is not out of reach. I honestly can't decide if the possibility is encouraging or annoying. It's tantalizing, that's for sure.
Last week I had tests in three out of four of my classes, which was lots of fun. Things didn't go as bad as they might have. I am not the best Journalism test taker (the peculiar mixture of specifics and 'understanding' sometimes trips me up), so I probably got a B on the test - will get a B in the class.
In Econ I surprised myself by getting an A in both the regular class test and the Journalism class test. This is supposed to be one of Journalism's hardest classes - everyone rants and raves about it except for fellow C.A. Kevin. So the idea of getting an A honestly didn't occur to me before I got these results back. Now I'm somewhat torn. Factoring in the weekly online quizzes, which I have had rather mixed results on, I think I have a low A now, but classes get harder as they go along. It's a five credit hour class and an A would be GREAT. On the other hand I'd have to drastically change my study habits and work hard to actually get one, whereas I could probably be fairly lazy and get a B. :S Oh, the choices...
History was kind of a wild card before the test. On one hand, I knew it was a totally normal class - not in the honors college, not in the J-school, not preceded by a reputation for impossibility. But you never know how these things are going to go. It's history - you can't have it memorized, so much depends on the whims of the professor. The test ended up being very merciful. I will be greatly surprised if I didn't ace it, and the whole grade in the class is two tests and an out of class essay. That's an A right there.
Biological Anthropology is lovely. It almost makes up for not having a Foreign Language class. ... Okay, so it doesn't. But it's still nice. I'll have an A unless something goes horribly, horribly wrong. And the best part is that it's a five credit hour course. :D
So basically, my goal for the semester was a 3.5. I am directly on course to receive that without much effort. However, if I work hard in Econ, a 3.8 is not out of reach. I honestly can't decide if the possibility is encouraging or annoying. It's tantalizing, that's for sure.
September 27, 2009
How Much Am I Worth?
The website is actually very interesting. After you take the quiz it breaks down your value and explains it. It's part lightweight fun and part thinking about how much people are 'worth' - can you put a price tag on a human being? And not even in a more abstract sense, but even in a practical sense?
Once I read that the human body would be worth about 5$ if you sold it for scrap...
September 24, 2009
???
I've had a sore throat since Sunday morning. At first it was very mild, and I had no other symptoms (except being tired, which may have been completely unrelated). After a while it got worse, and since I had been dealing with it for four days, on Wednesday I called the Student Health Center and made an appointment. So today I went to the doctor and she looked and said it didn't look like strep, and I said that I had noticed the same thing (looking for spots, you know). She conjectured that it might be an allergy thing, so I bought some Sudafed. And she said it wasn't contagious.
Then, suddenly, after dinner today, the sore throat went away completely. And I just looked at my tongue in the mirror and it is bright red with white spots. Looks pretty weird.
What the hell?
Then, suddenly, after dinner today, the sore throat went away completely. And I just looked at my tongue in the mirror and it is bright red with white spots. Looks pretty weird.
What the hell?
September 18, 2009
Altid Dansk, Aldri Norsk
Det var to danskere på festen i natt, og vi pratet litt hyggelig sammen. Og så må jeg spøre: Hvorfor er de altid danske og aldri norske? Jeg hadde ikke virkelig snakket norsk siden jeg snakket med Eva, den danske jenta jeg møtte på en annen fest siste år - bare pratet litt med Uni på Skandinavisk. Og jeg synes at Uni har ikke hjulpet norsken min. Nei, når jeg prater med ham snakker jeg mer og mer nynosk og mindre og mindre bokmål. For eksempel sier jeg nesten aldri 'en pike' nå, aldri, 'ei jente'... og av og til sier jeg 'ikkje'! Og det var to av dem og en av meg, og jeg kunne ikke høre så bra... vi forstod hverandre ikke så bra som Eva og jeg hadde kunne forstå hverandre.
Men de likte det likevel!! Jeg er så glad i skandinavisker. :P
Jeg måtte selvfølgelig si "rød grød med fløde." Først sa jeg det som norske ord, og de sa at det var veldig godt. Da sa jeg det som norske ord og med en innbilt potet in munnen min. Det var ende bedre, sa de. Da måtte jeg si det igjen og igjen i en mikrofon. "En amerikaner som kan dansk!!"Ja, ja. Men jeg kan ikke dansk, jeg kan norsk. NORSK! Men jeg finner aldri nordmenn.
Jeg kunne kanskje snakke med nordmenn. Istedenfor kan jeg bare prate litt med dansker og si "rød grød med fløde" igjen og igjen. Vi forstår hverandre ikke nok til å diskutere mye mer, særlig når det er musikk og så videre. Jeg forstår godt at jeg er en nysgjerrighet. De reiser nok tilbake til Danmark og sier, "jeg fant en amerikaner som kan et skandinavisk språk!"
Haha, okay. Jeg vet ikke hvorfor jeg følte at jeg måtte skrive dette her. Å praktisere norsken min, kanskje. Før det kommer å bli dansk! ;)
Men de likte det likevel!! Jeg er så glad i skandinavisker. :P
Jeg måtte selvfølgelig si "rød grød med fløde." Først sa jeg det som norske ord, og de sa at det var veldig godt. Da sa jeg det som norske ord og med en innbilt potet in munnen min. Det var ende bedre, sa de. Da måtte jeg si det igjen og igjen i en mikrofon. "En amerikaner som kan dansk!!"Ja, ja. Men jeg kan ikke dansk, jeg kan norsk. NORSK! Men jeg finner aldri nordmenn.
Jeg kunne kanskje snakke med nordmenn. Istedenfor kan jeg bare prate litt med dansker og si "rød grød med fløde" igjen og igjen. Vi forstår hverandre ikke nok til å diskutere mye mer, særlig når det er musikk og så videre. Jeg forstår godt at jeg er en nysgjerrighet. De reiser nok tilbake til Danmark og sier, "jeg fant en amerikaner som kan et skandinavisk språk!"
Haha, okay. Jeg vet ikke hvorfor jeg følte at jeg måtte skrive dette her. Å praktisere norsken min, kanskje. Før det kommer å bli dansk! ;)
September 17, 2009
September 15, 2009
Words Slipping like Droplets of Sweat
"I could feel the Japanese words slipping like droplets of sweat from my brow."
- Page 7, Turning Japanese, David Mura
The Japanese words, yes, and the German, the Finnish, the Spanish, the Norwegian, the Faroese, the Italian, the Latin... isn't it startling how quickly it abandons you, especially right after a trip? When you go from living and breathing a language to forgetting it ever happened? Eventually the rate of evaporation does slow down, leaving you a sort of thick, sludge like remainder of words that, you think, you are unlikely to forget as long as you know your own language. Still, the speed of the disintegration, the helplessness of it, is striking...
A month ago I could identify close to 200 Kanji. Two months ago the number was about 100, and I could write nearly all of those. Yeah, during my three intense and in-Japan weeks, the rate was too rapid to be sustained, and even in the weeks of preparation I was half learning and half cramming.
How many Kanji can I recognize now? Perhaps one hundred. Perhaps less. How many could I write? Perhaps fifty.
So it goes.
- Page 7, Turning Japanese, David Mura
The Japanese words, yes, and the German, the Finnish, the Spanish, the Norwegian, the Faroese, the Italian, the Latin... isn't it startling how quickly it abandons you, especially right after a trip? When you go from living and breathing a language to forgetting it ever happened? Eventually the rate of evaporation does slow down, leaving you a sort of thick, sludge like remainder of words that, you think, you are unlikely to forget as long as you know your own language. Still, the speed of the disintegration, the helplessness of it, is striking...
A month ago I could identify close to 200 Kanji. Two months ago the number was about 100, and I could write nearly all of those. Yeah, during my three intense and in-Japan weeks, the rate was too rapid to be sustained, and even in the weeks of preparation I was half learning and half cramming.
How many Kanji can I recognize now? Perhaps one hundred. Perhaps less. How many could I write? Perhaps fifty.
So it goes.
Stress and Stupidity
This morning I realized that I didn't have my jacket. Or the map I got yesterday. With a bit of mental backtracking, I realized that I left it/them either in the computer lab in Johnston or in my Economics classroom. The Econ Classroom was more likely, since I sort of dashed out right when the bell rang to get to the FIG class on time. I asked at Johnston and they knew nothing. I found my jacket in the back of the Econ room :), but no map. :(
My schedule is now officially full to bursting, and it's jumped straight from quite manageable to full of irreconcilable conflicts. For example, I am supposed to be in two small groups this year.
One, for Cross Cultural Journalism, is one of the largest 'small groups' I've ever worked in. It's about 15 people, and they decided to meet tonight and asked for times we were available. I said I was available except for from 5:30 - 7:30, since that's when I have the South Staff meeting. Guess when they scheduled the small group meeting? 6-7. Right. So it's not even possible for me to leave one early and get to the other one late, since it's a half hour walk from where I live to where they're having the meeting (almost the furthest possible point from where I live). It's not personal, of course, I just think that if you have a 'small' group expected to coordinate and meet outside of class, it should be around 8 people at the most. Because I don't know how I'm going to do this.
The other is for Biological Anthropology. I was supposed to be able to get honors credit through contract for that class by attending a discussion group every week. This would really be my only chance at staying n the honors college, since most Journalism classes don't offer honors credit, and Biological Anthropology would potentially give me 5, and I'd be all caught up. But the teacher says he can't find a time for everyone to meet, so he'll probably have to cancel the honors discussion group. I want to know what he means by everyone - couldn't we pick a time most people could come and sacrifice the others? I mean, it sucks, yeah, but I would be less frustrated if they 'sacrificed' me, than if they just canceled the whole thing. It sucks for everyone.
While trying to figure all of this out, I came back to the dorm. I had a few packages and while I was opening them a lady came with stuff for iLife, asking for a Miranda, so I actually got three packages. Feel popular. :D The problem (of course there was a problem), is that one of the packages is something I ordered from Amazon about two weeks ago, and they didn't charge my credit card until it shipped or something... so here I was thinking that had already gone through and that I had 30$ in my account, and suddenly I have 10$. I was comfortably broke and now I'm just destitute. The other problem is that I had ordered an extra small t-shirt. Yeah, extra small my ass. The thing is HUGE. I mean, insanely huge. Reslife gives out really big shirts, but this is the size of their medium, and it's an EXTRA SMALL. I brainstormed ways to use it but gave up. It's so big I think it would even be uncomfortable to sleep in, and anyway I don't pay 20$ for sleepshirts. So I actually had to email the company about it and we'll see how that turns out.
AHHHH!!!!
My schedule is now officially full to bursting, and it's jumped straight from quite manageable to full of irreconcilable conflicts. For example, I am supposed to be in two small groups this year.
One, for Cross Cultural Journalism, is one of the largest 'small groups' I've ever worked in. It's about 15 people, and they decided to meet tonight and asked for times we were available. I said I was available except for from 5:30 - 7:30, since that's when I have the South Staff meeting. Guess when they scheduled the small group meeting? 6-7. Right. So it's not even possible for me to leave one early and get to the other one late, since it's a half hour walk from where I live to where they're having the meeting (almost the furthest possible point from where I live). It's not personal, of course, I just think that if you have a 'small' group expected to coordinate and meet outside of class, it should be around 8 people at the most. Because I don't know how I'm going to do this.
The other is for Biological Anthropology. I was supposed to be able to get honors credit through contract for that class by attending a discussion group every week. This would really be my only chance at staying n the honors college, since most Journalism classes don't offer honors credit, and Biological Anthropology would potentially give me 5, and I'd be all caught up. But the teacher says he can't find a time for everyone to meet, so he'll probably have to cancel the honors discussion group. I want to know what he means by everyone - couldn't we pick a time most people could come and sacrifice the others? I mean, it sucks, yeah, but I would be less frustrated if they 'sacrificed' me, than if they just canceled the whole thing. It sucks for everyone.
While trying to figure all of this out, I came back to the dorm. I had a few packages and while I was opening them a lady came with stuff for iLife, asking for a Miranda, so I actually got three packages. Feel popular. :D The problem (of course there was a problem), is that one of the packages is something I ordered from Amazon about two weeks ago, and they didn't charge my credit card until it shipped or something... so here I was thinking that had already gone through and that I had 30$ in my account, and suddenly I have 10$. I was comfortably broke and now I'm just destitute. The other problem is that I had ordered an extra small t-shirt. Yeah, extra small my ass. The thing is HUGE. I mean, insanely huge. Reslife gives out really big shirts, but this is the size of their medium, and it's an EXTRA SMALL. I brainstormed ways to use it but gave up. It's so big I think it would even be uncomfortable to sleep in, and anyway I don't pay 20$ for sleepshirts. So I actually had to email the company about it and we'll see how that turns out.
AHHHH!!!!
September 14, 2009
The Asian Minority
At one point, on the river, Ju and I realized that we hadn't seen Fangbai for a while. We decided to wait for her, since we didn't know what she might have gotten into. So we found a quiet part of the river and stopped paddling, just drifted and ate some more of our lunch. A long time went by and we started to think that maybe we had been mistaken, and that Fangbai had been ahead of us. At this point some other people, not from our group, were going past.
Ju: "Why don't we just ask them if Fangbai is behind us?"
Me: "But they don't know who she is?"
Ju: "Excuse me! Are there three Asian people in a boat behind us?"
Guy: "Yeah."
Ju: "See? Was that so hard?"
Haha. No, not really. But believe it or not I think I felt the effect of having been to Japan. On a river in Mid-Missouri, yes, it makes sense that an Asian canoeist would be unusual enough that someone would remember seeing them and know who we were talking about with just the one adjective. I might have come more quickly to that conclusion a year ago.
But my trip to Japan seems to have changed things a bit. I no longer take it for granted that Caucasians form the majority. In some ways, that's a good thing. But then again, this situation demonstrates the usefulness of categories, and yes, even 'stereotypes' in a sense, for efficient communication.
Ju: "Why don't we just ask them if Fangbai is behind us?"
Me: "But they don't know who she is?"
Ju: "Excuse me! Are there three Asian people in a boat behind us?"
Guy: "Yeah."
Ju: "See? Was that so hard?"
Haha. No, not really. But believe it or not I think I felt the effect of having been to Japan. On a river in Mid-Missouri, yes, it makes sense that an Asian canoeist would be unusual enough that someone would remember seeing them and know who we were talking about with just the one adjective. I might have come more quickly to that conclusion a year ago.
But my trip to Japan seems to have changed things a bit. I no longer take it for granted that Caucasians form the majority. In some ways, that's a good thing. But then again, this situation demonstrates the usefulness of categories, and yes, even 'stereotypes' in a sense, for efficient communication.
A Crazy Week
The last week has been insane - both in good ways and bad. This is what I did:
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Monday - Flew home from Dallas, Texas.
Tuesday - South Hall had a fire drill, which I had to help conduct since I'm a P.A. Afterwards I went and played Racquetball with Ju, Prite, and Zahra for two hours. :)
Wednesday - I put up a bulletin board, had a staff meeting with my CET, then ran straight to Rollins for dinner with Tabi, and we went to see Tulpan (a Kazakh film) at the Ragtag.
Thursday - One on One Staff Meeting, then helped Kevin with Spanish a bit, and then ran to Middlebush for the year's first Alpha Mu Gamma meeting. We had great turnout actually. I walked home with Lucy and found out that we have a lot in common, and that we both live in South. Don't know how we missed that before. :P Then I made an email list for AMG.
Friday - I went to the Mosque with Zahra for Ramadan, ate yummy food, and then hung out with her and Maria, her roommate, for a while. Came back to the dorm around eleven and realized that the canoe trip on Saturday started really early in the day. So I had to make a really fast run to Schnucks for Canoe Trip Food before it closed.
Saturday - I woke up at 5:30 for the canoe trip. Do the math - I didn't get much sleep. It was really fun though. Ju and Fangbai were there. The river was low but actually the canoe that Ju and I were using was light enough that we just managed to drift over spots where other people were having to get out and drag. We skipped rocks and went swimming a bit. The water was the perfect temperature. On the way home I got to ride in a cool convertible, and I got home just in time to be on call. (First I ran to Dobbs for dinner and Carole happened to be there, so I ate with her and two of her friends) It was a football night. The stadium was packed with about 60,000 people and they were all chanting and shouting. A bit scary. Oh, and someone peed in the elevator and I got to clean it up. Charming.
Sunday - I slept until noon without even noticing. Then I got up, got dressed, and drove to Fayette. The drive was lovely with yellow wildflowers and old barns. Kristel made vegetarian lasagna and garlic bread which was very good, and then we studied Faroese with Uni for a while, interrupted for forty five minutes by an oboe recital across the street and a quick tour of CMU's campus. Then I drove straight back to campus just in time to meet Laura, Laura, and Peter for dinner at plaza. They were late, though, so first I sat with Allen, Esther, Amy, and Tina for a while, which was also nice. Then I was on call again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Monday - Flew home from Dallas, Texas.
Tuesday - South Hall had a fire drill, which I had to help conduct since I'm a P.A. Afterwards I went and played Racquetball with Ju, Prite, and Zahra for two hours. :)
Wednesday - I put up a bulletin board, had a staff meeting with my CET, then ran straight to Rollins for dinner with Tabi, and we went to see Tulpan (a Kazakh film) at the Ragtag.
Thursday - One on One Staff Meeting, then helped Kevin with Spanish a bit, and then ran to Middlebush for the year's first Alpha Mu Gamma meeting. We had great turnout actually. I walked home with Lucy and found out that we have a lot in common, and that we both live in South. Don't know how we missed that before. :P Then I made an email list for AMG.
Friday - I went to the Mosque with Zahra for Ramadan, ate yummy food, and then hung out with her and Maria, her roommate, for a while. Came back to the dorm around eleven and realized that the canoe trip on Saturday started really early in the day. So I had to make a really fast run to Schnucks for Canoe Trip Food before it closed.
Saturday - I woke up at 5:30 for the canoe trip. Do the math - I didn't get much sleep. It was really fun though. Ju and Fangbai were there. The river was low but actually the canoe that Ju and I were using was light enough that we just managed to drift over spots where other people were having to get out and drag. We skipped rocks and went swimming a bit. The water was the perfect temperature. On the way home I got to ride in a cool convertible, and I got home just in time to be on call. (First I ran to Dobbs for dinner and Carole happened to be there, so I ate with her and two of her friends) It was a football night. The stadium was packed with about 60,000 people and they were all chanting and shouting. A bit scary. Oh, and someone peed in the elevator and I got to clean it up. Charming.
Sunday - I slept until noon without even noticing. Then I got up, got dressed, and drove to Fayette. The drive was lovely with yellow wildflowers and old barns. Kristel made vegetarian lasagna and garlic bread which was very good, and then we studied Faroese with Uni for a while, interrupted for forty five minutes by an oboe recital across the street and a quick tour of CMU's campus. Then I drove straight back to campus just in time to meet Laura, Laura, and Peter for dinner at plaza. They were late, though, so first I sat with Allen, Esther, Amy, and Tina for a while, which was also nice. Then I was on call again.
September 07, 2009
Routine Flights
Today I came back home to Columbia after a weekend in Dallas. Usually I absolutely love traveling, am so filled with excitement and positive energy that even annoying things either fade completely away or become part of the epic. This time, however, the flights and drives were isolated and just felt routine. I imagine that my dad feels this way a lot, but it's new to me.
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I was amused by the airport people's expectations of me.
"Take care, dear."
"It's the second stop. God bless you."
"Are you old enough to be traveling by yourself?"
Me: "I really hope so, seeing as I've flown by myself internationally. And I am nineteen, just so you know."
If people actually see me in action, they rarely say any of these silly things. I check my gate and time on the flight monitor without slowing down, I never pause and look confused, I switch my bag from rolling to carrying and back again quicker than any but the most experience business travelers. So take that.
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On the flight from Dallas into Memphis, we were on a smallish plane. There were twenty rows, with four seats in each row. The girls sitting across from me kept freaking out about how it was the smallest plane they'd ever been on. There was pretty bad turbulence at one point, and they shrieked a bit. When we got off, I heard other passengers complaining to waiting family members in the terminal about what a small plane, what a bumpy ride it had been. I laughed.
The plane from Memphis to Columbia had 20 passengers, one flight attendant, and of course the pilots. It was a propeller plane and shook the entire trip.
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With aspirations as lofty as mine, you would think I'd prefer to call some big city home. You know, someplace cosmopolitan and famous and connected. Actually, I'm proud of being a bit provincial. And while Tokyo and Paris definitely had their charm, I also have a perhaps less common fondness for the smaller, more out of the way destinations, and regular flights on a twenty seat plane, among other things, are helping prepare me for them.
And there's something wonderful about Columbia. It's a bit of brilliant civilization surrounded by a mix of ruralness and wilderness that I love just as much. :) I'm not sure I'll be one of the many graduates who stay here after finishing their studies, but I will enjoy my two and a half remaining years in Mid Missouri.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I was amused by the airport people's expectations of me.
"Take care, dear."
"It's the second stop. God bless you."
"Are you old enough to be traveling by yourself?"
Me: "I really hope so, seeing as I've flown by myself internationally. And I am nineteen, just so you know."
If people actually see me in action, they rarely say any of these silly things. I check my gate and time on the flight monitor without slowing down, I never pause and look confused, I switch my bag from rolling to carrying and back again quicker than any but the most experience business travelers. So take that.
-----------------------------------------------------------
On the flight from Dallas into Memphis, we were on a smallish plane. There were twenty rows, with four seats in each row. The girls sitting across from me kept freaking out about how it was the smallest plane they'd ever been on. There was pretty bad turbulence at one point, and they shrieked a bit. When we got off, I heard other passengers complaining to waiting family members in the terminal about what a small plane, what a bumpy ride it had been. I laughed.
The plane from Memphis to Columbia had 20 passengers, one flight attendant, and of course the pilots. It was a propeller plane and shook the entire trip.
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With aspirations as lofty as mine, you would think I'd prefer to call some big city home. You know, someplace cosmopolitan and famous and connected. Actually, I'm proud of being a bit provincial. And while Tokyo and Paris definitely had their charm, I also have a perhaps less common fondness for the smaller, more out of the way destinations, and regular flights on a twenty seat plane, among other things, are helping prepare me for them.
And there's something wonderful about Columbia. It's a bit of brilliant civilization surrounded by a mix of ruralness and wilderness that I love just as much. :) I'm not sure I'll be one of the many graduates who stay here after finishing their studies, but I will enjoy my two and a half remaining years in Mid Missouri.
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