I tried another SWAD microcurry today. It was Navratan Korma, and I think it is my favourite yet. The official description is: Mixed Vegetable in Cashew Sauce with Pineapple. When you heat it, the finished product doesn't quite look like what's shown on the cover. It is more liquid and a darker colour. However, it is delicious. It is heavy on cauliflower, but I never enjoyed cauliflower so much. The pineapple, which I think exists only to flavour the dish, adds a certain welcome sweetness.
The dish tastes so rich that I assumed it would be less healthy than the other two SWAD microcurries I've written about. When am I going to learn? It is actually the healthiest yet! One serving contains 6.3% of your daily fat intake, and 7.9% of your total sodium. Amazing for microwaveable yumminess!
October 31, 2009
October 30, 2009
Dhingri Mutter and Bhindi Masala
I tried two new SWAD micro-curries today: Dhingri Mutter and Bhindi Masala. First I ate Dhingri Mutter, and I was thinking about it all day, so I decided to make another microcurry for dinner. The only one of my selection that Zahra hadn't tried before was Bhindi Masala, so that's what I ended up making.
The SWAD Dhingri Mutter was amazing. I think it may be my favourite microcurry yet, of any brand. The official description is: Mushroom and Peas in Onion, Tomato and Cream Sauce. It has huge plump mushrooms and peas. It's very full and you almost forget that it's completely vegetarian. It had some spice but not enough to overcome the basic flavour. I will definitely be buying it in bulk next time I make it down to the middle eastern store.
I start my review of SWAD Bhindi Masala by saying that I actually do like it. So consider how good the flavour must be that I can actually tolerate it in the face of the many complaints I have about it. The official description is: Okra in Exotic Mild Curry Sauce. First off, mild? Really? It is the spiciest micro curry I have had so far. It wasn't so spicy that it wasn't worth eating, but it was spicy enough that I enjoyed eating it cold better than eating it hot, because the rice was less painful. So yeah, sort of spicy. The texture wasn't very appealing either - it was very slimy. I'm not sure what else I expected from packaged okra, but yeah, I wouldn't be able to tolerate eating it without rice. The worst, though, was that the Bhindi Masala had a quite bitter aftertaste. But the primary taste was somehow good enough to make up for the rest. I probably won't buy it again, but only because the other micro curries are so good.
When I compared the two packages I found some interesting things. Firsly, the picture on the front of Dhingri Mutter looks exactly like what's in the package. The cover picture of Bhindi Masala frankly looks nothing like what's in the package, though I can't say I blame them. (The contents are brown and slimy). In fact, I can't say that the picture on the front could even be a dressed-up version of what's in the box, using some toppings and other ingredients. It's a stretch to even imagine it as a restaurant version of the same dish. But ah well.
Also, since I loved the Dhingri Mutter so much, and since it lists cream in it's description, I assumed right off the bat that it would be higher in fat and other no-no's than Bhindi Masala. I was surprised to find that the opposite is true. The Bhindi Masala provides 25.8% of your daily fat - not bad for convenience food, but much higher than Dhingri Mutter's 13% of daily fat! The serving sizes are the same. (Also, the sodium, at 10.6% and 13.9% respectively, is much lower than most convenience foods such as ramen or canned soup). The seemingly surprising fat descrepency is explained by the ingredient lists: Bhindi Masala lists vegetable oil as it's third ingredient, in Dhingri Mutter the fat comes after the mushrooms, green peas, and onions that make up an overwhelming percentage of it's volume.
The SWAD Dhingri Mutter was amazing. I think it may be my favourite microcurry yet, of any brand. The official description is: Mushroom and Peas in Onion, Tomato and Cream Sauce. It has huge plump mushrooms and peas. It's very full and you almost forget that it's completely vegetarian. It had some spice but not enough to overcome the basic flavour. I will definitely be buying it in bulk next time I make it down to the middle eastern store.
I start my review of SWAD Bhindi Masala by saying that I actually do like it. So consider how good the flavour must be that I can actually tolerate it in the face of the many complaints I have about it. The official description is: Okra in Exotic Mild Curry Sauce. First off, mild? Really? It is the spiciest micro curry I have had so far. It wasn't so spicy that it wasn't worth eating, but it was spicy enough that I enjoyed eating it cold better than eating it hot, because the rice was less painful. So yeah, sort of spicy. The texture wasn't very appealing either - it was very slimy. I'm not sure what else I expected from packaged okra, but yeah, I wouldn't be able to tolerate eating it without rice. The worst, though, was that the Bhindi Masala had a quite bitter aftertaste. But the primary taste was somehow good enough to make up for the rest. I probably won't buy it again, but only because the other micro curries are so good.
When I compared the two packages I found some interesting things. Firsly, the picture on the front of Dhingri Mutter looks exactly like what's in the package. The cover picture of Bhindi Masala frankly looks nothing like what's in the package, though I can't say I blame them. (The contents are brown and slimy). In fact, I can't say that the picture on the front could even be a dressed-up version of what's in the box, using some toppings and other ingredients. It's a stretch to even imagine it as a restaurant version of the same dish. But ah well.
Also, since I loved the Dhingri Mutter so much, and since it lists cream in it's description, I assumed right off the bat that it would be higher in fat and other no-no's than Bhindi Masala. I was surprised to find that the opposite is true. The Bhindi Masala provides 25.8% of your daily fat - not bad for convenience food, but much higher than Dhingri Mutter's 13% of daily fat! The serving sizes are the same. (Also, the sodium, at 10.6% and 13.9% respectively, is much lower than most convenience foods such as ramen or canned soup). The seemingly surprising fat descrepency is explained by the ingredient lists: Bhindi Masala lists vegetable oil as it's third ingredient, in Dhingri Mutter the fat comes after the mushrooms, green peas, and onions that make up an overwhelming percentage of it's volume.
October 28, 2009
Ho Wei
"Eventually I came to see myself as two people, Ho Wei and Peter Hessler... Ho Wei was completely different than my American self: he was friendlier, he was eager to talk with anybody, and he took great pleasure in even the most inane conversations. In a simple way he was funny; by saying a few words in the local dialect he could be endlessly entertaining to the people in Fuling. Also Ho Wei was stupid, which was what I liked the most about him. He spoke with an accent; he had lousy grammar; and he laughed at the simple mistakes that he made. People were comfortable with someone who was stupid, and they found it easy to talk with Ho Wei, even though they often had to say things twice or write new words in his notebook. Ho Wei always carried his notebook in his pocket, using it to study the new words, as well as jot down notes from conversations. And when Ho Wei returned home he left the notebook on the desk of Peter Hessler, who typed everything into his computer."
- River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze, Peter Hessler
- River Town, Two Years on the Yangtze, Peter Hessler
Life is Crazy
It's fall. It's much warmer than a few weeks ago - we might not have a freakishly cold winter, after all. The last weeks it's been mostly raining and cloudy, and last night the sky looked red at midnight, the way it does when it's cloudy here. It's somewhat eerie. But today the sky was blue and it almost threw me off. I'm too busy for a blue sky at the moment. In the evening the light was long and golden and the air felt perfect.
It's a stressful time. It's not a bad time, I've had a lot of fun. But it's very stressful. There have been job stresses like iLife and the flood. I am worried about some family stuff. There are so many things I need to take care of right now - tests, projects, registration, changing the oil. I'm out of money again, or close enough, and angry at myself for it. That's what I get for taking two weekend trips and eating out all the time, though. My grades could be better, and I hate most of my classes.
I owe Liisa an email quite badly. I have written three cards I haven't yet had the chance to send out. I promised some of my residents a pumpkin carving party that I'm going to try to squeeze in tomorrow. I've got four parties to attend this weekend. I desperately need sleep but I'm not really going to get it until tomorrow.
I have travel rabies. I expected to take a bit longer to recover from Japan. Sometimes I feel that travelling only makes my wanderlust worse. I'm also very upset by the fact that I'm not really learning any languages right now. I'm so tempted to overcompensate and sign up for two or three next semester.
Life is good, but life is crazy. :( I am blogging so that I can ease myself into concentration.
It's a stressful time. It's not a bad time, I've had a lot of fun. But it's very stressful. There have been job stresses like iLife and the flood. I am worried about some family stuff. There are so many things I need to take care of right now - tests, projects, registration, changing the oil. I'm out of money again, or close enough, and angry at myself for it. That's what I get for taking two weekend trips and eating out all the time, though. My grades could be better, and I hate most of my classes.
I owe Liisa an email quite badly. I have written three cards I haven't yet had the chance to send out. I promised some of my residents a pumpkin carving party that I'm going to try to squeeze in tomorrow. I've got four parties to attend this weekend. I desperately need sleep but I'm not really going to get it until tomorrow.
I have travel rabies. I expected to take a bit longer to recover from Japan. Sometimes I feel that travelling only makes my wanderlust worse. I'm also very upset by the fact that I'm not really learning any languages right now. I'm so tempted to overcompensate and sign up for two or three next semester.
Life is good, but life is crazy. :( I am blogging so that I can ease myself into concentration.
October 21, 2009
Explore Your Environment
Some of the best advice my dad has ever given me is "Wherever you are, take the time to explore your environment". Now, last year that environment was Uni. Just being in college, in general. Campus. Pangaea. The sheer wonder of being far, far away from home. I can also chalk some of my hesitance to wander away up to the company I kept and my lack of wheels. Now, suddenly, I have friends who like to walk, car keys, and an eye on the horizon. And it's awesome.
Last weekend I went to St. Louis on a day trip. I know, crazy, right? Nineteen hours from start to finish, as we left at 7 am and finally got home at 2 am the next morning. The morning was cold and beautiful as we raced the dawn through mid-Missouri. The fall leaves were beautiful and we hit a valley filled with bright white fog. The grass there was soaking wet and glittered like diamonds as the soft, low lying rays of the morning sun hit them.
We grabbed Lucia in St. Louis and my, it was nice to see her. From there we went downtown, went through the courthouse in a rush, took pictures in front of the arch when the sky was grey and the monument seemed to gleam like liquid silver, and then did the mandatory ride to the top. I've gone up the arch about once every three years in my life. Any more and it would drive me insane - but this much is just about right. We rode the tiny capsule elevators all the way up and took laughing, silly, high altitude and crowded spaces pictures.
Zahra needed to pray, so we found her a spot on the arch grounds, in dappled sun and shade, and the rest of us ran to the nearby hillside which was blanketed in the yellow and gold leaves of two beautiful trees. Allan and I rolled down the hillside in a 'roly-poly contest', I believed he called it. Lucia took pictures of us rolling, collapsed in heaps, laughing.
Afterwards, a quick lunch at Hardee's behind the courthouse, and a few minutes running about the fountains there - one dyed blood red, the other cascading like a modernist waterfall down a series of steps. I made my way out to the center of it, trying not to get my feet wet. The weather by then was beautiful, absolutely ideal for October.
We went on to Forest Park, got in the zoo a few minutes before it was due to close. The zoo is free, so we didn't care much. At first it seemed that none of the animals were out but the birds - although there were no shortage of those, from the peacocks that wander the zoo grounds freely, to flamingos in the bird cage, to ostriches strutting around in open air safari exhibits. As the clock hit five, closing time, we made it to Big Cat Country, where we found a last enclave of late to leave zoo guests and a variety of beautiful tigers, pumas, leopards, and lions. We felt so silly, being there when the zoo was supposed to be closed, listening to the cats get impatient for their dinner. The hill was decorated with huge faux boulders, and it felt somewhat like a fortress as the sun sunk lower in the sky and bathed us all in golden light.
At length we headed for the exit, found one more animal in the form of a restless bear. We watched his fruitless attempts to climb to the top of his tree with his feed buckets and rubber ropes. We had him to ourselves. He was aware of our presence, looked at us. Once he stared straight at us and the hot air from his nostrils turned into white steam in the cooling air. The way his fur moved was very interesting. It was so thick, so tight. At times the bear stood on his hind legs and his movements seemed almost human.
We finally left, just in time to avoid the groups of workers who were heading out in search of lost and 'lost' zoo guests. As the sun set we took pictures in front of the art museum and it's proud statue of St. Louis himself.
The last item on our itenerary was the City Museum. Amy and Esther still seemed to think it would be an actual museum. I hastened to correct them. "It really doesn't merit the title 'museum'," I said. "It's more like a giant playground." I could tell, though, that my words didn't really sink in until we arrived, until they saw the sheer expanses of twisted metal and plaster that formed slides, ballpits, rope climbs, tunnels made of 'trees', castles, a series of caves and caverns that twisted far below our feet, a network of madness that brings out the best feelings of childhood. It's impossible to look at it all and not think, "If only I'd found this as a child!" And to that I reply, "Who said anything about being a child?"
Then I'm off, leading them through the tunnels, up slopes that seem too steep, through tunnels that seem too tight, up to platforms that seem unreachable. Esther is afraid of heights, but step by step she makes it to the two real airplanes that hang suspended in the sky above the city museum, the only passage defined by a tunnel made of wire and full of gaps large enough for arm or leg. The night air is cold but it seems right for such a place. Our adrenaline and energy is racing and our skin is warm and red. The metal is freezing cold under our hands as we fly further and further through the darkness. Below us, bonfires are lit and burn, tossing up sparks that disappear somewhere in the air between us and the ground.
When we've exhausted ourselves - when it's already late enough - we head to The Loop for dinner at the Melting Pot. The directions Google gave us are wrong and we spend twenty minutes searching for an address that doesn't exist, like Platform 9 3/4. When we find it at last it is late, past ten, but when we step inside it is warm and we are engulfed in the smells of rich fondue. We laugh, unwind, relax, eat bread dipped in swiss cheese fondue, mushroom caps stuffed with 'green goddess', filet mignon and duck cooked in coq au vin, and, for desert, a yinyang of dark and milk chocolate fondue with cheesecake, oreo covered marshmallows, strawberries, and brownies...
We head back through Missouri in the pitch black of the early morning. But it's the weekend, we can sleep as late as we want once we reach home, and, most importantly, we are free to do whatever the hell we want. It feels good.
Last weekend I went to St. Louis on a day trip. I know, crazy, right? Nineteen hours from start to finish, as we left at 7 am and finally got home at 2 am the next morning. The morning was cold and beautiful as we raced the dawn through mid-Missouri. The fall leaves were beautiful and we hit a valley filled with bright white fog. The grass there was soaking wet and glittered like diamonds as the soft, low lying rays of the morning sun hit them.
We grabbed Lucia in St. Louis and my, it was nice to see her. From there we went downtown, went through the courthouse in a rush, took pictures in front of the arch when the sky was grey and the monument seemed to gleam like liquid silver, and then did the mandatory ride to the top. I've gone up the arch about once every three years in my life. Any more and it would drive me insane - but this much is just about right. We rode the tiny capsule elevators all the way up and took laughing, silly, high altitude and crowded spaces pictures.
Zahra needed to pray, so we found her a spot on the arch grounds, in dappled sun and shade, and the rest of us ran to the nearby hillside which was blanketed in the yellow and gold leaves of two beautiful trees. Allan and I rolled down the hillside in a 'roly-poly contest', I believed he called it. Lucia took pictures of us rolling, collapsed in heaps, laughing.
Afterwards, a quick lunch at Hardee's behind the courthouse, and a few minutes running about the fountains there - one dyed blood red, the other cascading like a modernist waterfall down a series of steps. I made my way out to the center of it, trying not to get my feet wet. The weather by then was beautiful, absolutely ideal for October.
We went on to Forest Park, got in the zoo a few minutes before it was due to close. The zoo is free, so we didn't care much. At first it seemed that none of the animals were out but the birds - although there were no shortage of those, from the peacocks that wander the zoo grounds freely, to flamingos in the bird cage, to ostriches strutting around in open air safari exhibits. As the clock hit five, closing time, we made it to Big Cat Country, where we found a last enclave of late to leave zoo guests and a variety of beautiful tigers, pumas, leopards, and lions. We felt so silly, being there when the zoo was supposed to be closed, listening to the cats get impatient for their dinner. The hill was decorated with huge faux boulders, and it felt somewhat like a fortress as the sun sunk lower in the sky and bathed us all in golden light.
At length we headed for the exit, found one more animal in the form of a restless bear. We watched his fruitless attempts to climb to the top of his tree with his feed buckets and rubber ropes. We had him to ourselves. He was aware of our presence, looked at us. Once he stared straight at us and the hot air from his nostrils turned into white steam in the cooling air. The way his fur moved was very interesting. It was so thick, so tight. At times the bear stood on his hind legs and his movements seemed almost human.
We finally left, just in time to avoid the groups of workers who were heading out in search of lost and 'lost' zoo guests. As the sun set we took pictures in front of the art museum and it's proud statue of St. Louis himself.
The last item on our itenerary was the City Museum. Amy and Esther still seemed to think it would be an actual museum. I hastened to correct them. "It really doesn't merit the title 'museum'," I said. "It's more like a giant playground." I could tell, though, that my words didn't really sink in until we arrived, until they saw the sheer expanses of twisted metal and plaster that formed slides, ballpits, rope climbs, tunnels made of 'trees', castles, a series of caves and caverns that twisted far below our feet, a network of madness that brings out the best feelings of childhood. It's impossible to look at it all and not think, "If only I'd found this as a child!" And to that I reply, "Who said anything about being a child?"
Then I'm off, leading them through the tunnels, up slopes that seem too steep, through tunnels that seem too tight, up to platforms that seem unreachable. Esther is afraid of heights, but step by step she makes it to the two real airplanes that hang suspended in the sky above the city museum, the only passage defined by a tunnel made of wire and full of gaps large enough for arm or leg. The night air is cold but it seems right for such a place. Our adrenaline and energy is racing and our skin is warm and red. The metal is freezing cold under our hands as we fly further and further through the darkness. Below us, bonfires are lit and burn, tossing up sparks that disappear somewhere in the air between us and the ground.
When we've exhausted ourselves - when it's already late enough - we head to The Loop for dinner at the Melting Pot. The directions Google gave us are wrong and we spend twenty minutes searching for an address that doesn't exist, like Platform 9 3/4. When we find it at last it is late, past ten, but when we step inside it is warm and we are engulfed in the smells of rich fondue. We laugh, unwind, relax, eat bread dipped in swiss cheese fondue, mushroom caps stuffed with 'green goddess', filet mignon and duck cooked in coq au vin, and, for desert, a yinyang of dark and milk chocolate fondue with cheesecake, oreo covered marshmallows, strawberries, and brownies...
We head back through Missouri in the pitch black of the early morning. But it's the weekend, we can sleep as late as we want once we reach home, and, most importantly, we are free to do whatever the hell we want. It feels good.
October 20, 2009
School Matters
I went to see my adviser yesterday. I have a bona-fide graduation plan now, and things are looking good. It turns out that I have taken or am now taking almost all the classes that I am dreading, which means the ones that are hardest for me. Even if the curriculum gets harder, I will do better in classes that I enjoy. The ones I am in now are making me miserable - it was nice to see on paper that that trend is ending. In particular, next semester all I have to do is get into my Journalism sequence. So I have to take a really easy one credit geology class, a news class (yikes!!), and that's... about it. The rest of the classes for next semester are completely up to me. I need one humanity, but I would take one humanity anyway. I'm so tempted to go insane and take a bunch of cool classes, but I know I shouldn't, because News is apparently like a six hour class, and I'll still be a C.A. I'll probably end up taking a humanity (hopefully that Catalan class?), a Spanish class, and a German class, to get ready for next year. That's only 13 credits altogether, a very light semester.
I'm not saying that my GPA is going to be terrible this year, but I would not be particularly surprised if it was as low as 3.1. Cross Cultural Journalism and Econ are both classes in which there's no shame in getting B's. In History I should get an A, and I should get an A in Biological Anthropology too, but it's not a sure thing. This combination would give me a 3.5. We'll see. Still, if I take 13 hours next semester, and most of them classes that I like, there's no reason why I shouldn't get a great GPA to sort of balance this one out. In retrospect it was maybe not a good idea to take mostly classes I disliked this semester, but that's that.
I'm not saying that my GPA is going to be terrible this year, but I would not be particularly surprised if it was as low as 3.1. Cross Cultural Journalism and Econ are both classes in which there's no shame in getting B's. In History I should get an A, and I should get an A in Biological Anthropology too, but it's not a sure thing. This combination would give me a 3.5. We'll see. Still, if I take 13 hours next semester, and most of them classes that I like, there's no reason why I shouldn't get a great GPA to sort of balance this one out. In retrospect it was maybe not a good idea to take mostly classes I disliked this semester, but that's that.
October 19, 2009
World Heritage Sites
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.
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 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.
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