I'm staying at the "All Africa" house - which is University of Cape Town's guest housing. Apparently the place is filled with visiting scholars, though I have yet to meet anyone. I took a picture today - I should post it here. I have a dorm room that looks like a hotel room except for the lack of decorations and the painted brick walls. I have a private bath. There are 10 rooms in my "flat" with a shared kitchen. There are about 6 or more of these in this building, and we have a common space like a big living room and a dining area that serves breakfast each morning. I missed it this morning, maybe tomorrow I'll go and see some people.
The university is nice - it feels very European. It is easy to be here. I listened to the radio this morning and the DJ mostly spoke in English (I learned this evening that each area has 3 official languages and English is one of them throughout the country). I heard music from Barkley's "crazy" (which always reminds me of Nicole and St. John's, she blasted it at the wedding reception and we all danced by the pool...) to Duran Duran.
I have my own office in the physics department, though nothing is set up in it yet. I should have internet once we get a plug for my laptop. There is a common area for faculty with afternoon tea - that is nice. Oddly we left the lab section today to go have tea - I wonder if the prof usually does that, or if it was just because I was there? I felt the students could use help, but I will be there more days to come.
Everything here is locked - I have keys for my food cupboard, the flat door, my room door, my closet, my office... and I don't yet have keys to the physics building or the bathroom - so there are more to come. Crime is an issue here. Apparently there was a bank in the Chemistry building for a while and it was robbed monthly so they moved it. When we gave out stop watches in lab, too, we had to collect student ID cards to make sure we got them back. Overall the campus feels like a regular campus, and the students were good to work with. They seemed shy with me, but they also seemed to enjoy talking to me, and were friendly. For most students in this class English is their 2nd or 3rd language, and they were shy to express their ideas. I will have to strike a balance between being an authority and being someone they can be comfortable talking to. It is good practice for me.
My host took me into the downtown for dinner, at a really nice waterfront area. It is beautiful there - but much like any beautiful city waterfront. The difference is the striking mountains that loom over the city. The best part of dinner, though, was that we finally had a chance to really discuss what I will do while I'm here. We had so many ideas once we got the ball rolling - we could be working on this project for a long time if things go well. It is a great start to my career to have this research connection. I really respect the work of my host. Before taking me back to the dorm I got some groceries, so now I'll be a little more independent, too.
We are both interested in writing in physics. We are going to look at a lot of related issues while I'm here, and see what comes of them. We discussed looking at how students are reading the text book, how they are writing required chapter summaries, and how they are taking notes, both in and out of class. I will do interviews with students, give them surveys, perhaps do a small study on reading and note taking, and collect their summaries. There are 120 students in this class - these will not be small tasks.
It is now 11pm, I have work to do, and I hope to get up early. I want to maintain my new exercise routine. My goal is to be able to do proper push ups, and maybe try another pull up when I get back to the states. I have toned upper ab muscles, and would like to be able to see the lower ones, too - which will require more crunches and the loss of 5-10 lbs. These next three weeks are as good a time as any to work on this. But I have to get up early to make it work.
It's funny, I enjoyed the summer so much, and felt the joy and freedom of doing whatever, whenever. But I think I especially enjoyed having new goals and learning/experiencing new things. I wondered if I would enjoy getting back to work - but the conference last week, and the dinner tonight both reminded me that I am passionate about what I do. I would not have survived through the PhD had that not been the case. I hope to maintain balance and exuberance in the future, but I also look forward to the return to my work.
The university is nice - it feels very European. It is easy to be here. I listened to the radio this morning and the DJ mostly spoke in English (I learned this evening that each area has 3 official languages and English is one of them throughout the country). I heard music from Barkley's "crazy" (which always reminds me of Nicole and St. John's, she blasted it at the wedding reception and we all danced by the pool...) to Duran Duran.
I have my own office in the physics department, though nothing is set up in it yet. I should have internet once we get a plug for my laptop. There is a common area for faculty with afternoon tea - that is nice. Oddly we left the lab section today to go have tea - I wonder if the prof usually does that, or if it was just because I was there? I felt the students could use help, but I will be there more days to come.
Everything here is locked - I have keys for my food cupboard, the flat door, my room door, my closet, my office... and I don't yet have keys to the physics building or the bathroom - so there are more to come. Crime is an issue here. Apparently there was a bank in the Chemistry building for a while and it was robbed monthly so they moved it. When we gave out stop watches in lab, too, we had to collect student ID cards to make sure we got them back. Overall the campus feels like a regular campus, and the students were good to work with. They seemed shy with me, but they also seemed to enjoy talking to me, and were friendly. For most students in this class English is their 2nd or 3rd language, and they were shy to express their ideas. I will have to strike a balance between being an authority and being someone they can be comfortable talking to. It is good practice for me.
My host took me into the downtown for dinner, at a really nice waterfront area. It is beautiful there - but much like any beautiful city waterfront. The difference is the striking mountains that loom over the city. The best part of dinner, though, was that we finally had a chance to really discuss what I will do while I'm here. We had so many ideas once we got the ball rolling - we could be working on this project for a long time if things go well. It is a great start to my career to have this research connection. I really respect the work of my host. Before taking me back to the dorm I got some groceries, so now I'll be a little more independent, too.
We are both interested in writing in physics. We are going to look at a lot of related issues while I'm here, and see what comes of them. We discussed looking at how students are reading the text book, how they are writing required chapter summaries, and how they are taking notes, both in and out of class. I will do interviews with students, give them surveys, perhaps do a small study on reading and note taking, and collect their summaries. There are 120 students in this class - these will not be small tasks.
It is now 11pm, I have work to do, and I hope to get up early. I want to maintain my new exercise routine. My goal is to be able to do proper push ups, and maybe try another pull up when I get back to the states. I have toned upper ab muscles, and would like to be able to see the lower ones, too - which will require more crunches and the loss of 5-10 lbs. These next three weeks are as good a time as any to work on this. But I have to get up early to make it work.
It's funny, I enjoyed the summer so much, and felt the joy and freedom of doing whatever, whenever. But I think I especially enjoyed having new goals and learning/experiencing new things. I wondered if I would enjoy getting back to work - but the conference last week, and the dinner tonight both reminded me that I am passionate about what I do. I would not have survived through the PhD had that not been the case. I hope to maintain balance and exuberance in the future, but I also look forward to the return to my work.
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