The first picture is of one of those silver trees that look so beautiful in the wind. The leaves really are very silver-colored. I have an up-close of the leafs in the mix here, too.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Kirstenbosch pics
Here are more pictures of the botanical gardens. The phone-camera worked well!
The first picture is of one of those silver trees that look so beautiful in the wind. The leaves really are very silver-colored. I have an up-close of the leafs in the mix here, too.
The first picture is of one of those silver trees that look so beautiful in the wind. The leaves really are very silver-colored. I have an up-close of the leafs in the mix here, too.
Settling in nicely
Although I am anxious to get to Oregon and start my new job, this week I'm settling in nicely here, and starting to regret that my trip is so short. I've started to get my bearings, and am starting to feel like things are friendly (not just my host, who has been great since the start, especially at making me feel comfortable).
This morning I had my second breakfast in a row with the Irish guy - he turns in his PhD tomorrow, he looked quite relaxed this evening! Amazing that people can actually be ready in advance! This morning I saw the first other female in my part of the dorm - and I sat with her while I ate dinner. Not only is she the first female I've spoken to the in the dorm, but she's the first American I've spoken to since being here. She's a visiting professor from Emory, in religious studies.
She invited me on an outing next Wednesday, but I can't go - because next Wednesday I'm giving TWO seminars! My seminar yesterday went well, apparently, and people want to hear more. My host tells me people have said nice things about it, and that it was very interesting/good. I always second guess whether I have anything important to say - and I came here primarily to learn from people. Now here I am being an "expert" and creating new research with my host.
The department is also getting friendlier, with people who actually choose to sit next to me during tea, and talk to me. I'm normally the only female in the tea room, and often people speak of people/places/research I'm not familiar with (I COULD be, if they wanted to explain the names they're using...) Unfortunately I think one of the people who wants to sit next to me is a grad student who may be a little smitten with me... I look too young!
Today I also took two female grad students to lunch, and we had a nice time. They are in my research area, so I wanted to allow them a chance to discuss their work with me. It was also nice to talk to women for a while - something I've hardly been able to do since I arrived! They were friendly and it was good to be a little relaxed. I teased my host that he couldn't go with us, and he acted sad about it - but the truth (which I told him later) was that one of the women is very shy and I wanted to make sure she was free to tell me about how her work is going. I also learned some from them about how the academic system works here.
The weather today was terrific, and it is supposed to be good tomorrow too. I will try to take a little walk - there is a memorial to Rhodes near campus, as well as a town area I've been meaning to walk to. The trouble is I can only go during the daytime, and I keep working late. I also need to do laundry!
Saturday it looks like I'll finally get to go on a hike. I have my camera batteries recharged and am ready to go!
This morning I had my second breakfast in a row with the Irish guy - he turns in his PhD tomorrow, he looked quite relaxed this evening! Amazing that people can actually be ready in advance! This morning I saw the first other female in my part of the dorm - and I sat with her while I ate dinner. Not only is she the first female I've spoken to the in the dorm, but she's the first American I've spoken to since being here. She's a visiting professor from Emory, in religious studies.
She invited me on an outing next Wednesday, but I can't go - because next Wednesday I'm giving TWO seminars! My seminar yesterday went well, apparently, and people want to hear more. My host tells me people have said nice things about it, and that it was very interesting/good. I always second guess whether I have anything important to say - and I came here primarily to learn from people. Now here I am being an "expert" and creating new research with my host.
The department is also getting friendlier, with people who actually choose to sit next to me during tea, and talk to me. I'm normally the only female in the tea room, and often people speak of people/places/research I'm not familiar with (I COULD be, if they wanted to explain the names they're using...) Unfortunately I think one of the people who wants to sit next to me is a grad student who may be a little smitten with me... I look too young!
Today I also took two female grad students to lunch, and we had a nice time. They are in my research area, so I wanted to allow them a chance to discuss their work with me. It was also nice to talk to women for a while - something I've hardly been able to do since I arrived! They were friendly and it was good to be a little relaxed. I teased my host that he couldn't go with us, and he acted sad about it - but the truth (which I told him later) was that one of the women is very shy and I wanted to make sure she was free to tell me about how her work is going. I also learned some from them about how the academic system works here.
The weather today was terrific, and it is supposed to be good tomorrow too. I will try to take a little walk - there is a memorial to Rhodes near campus, as well as a town area I've been meaning to walk to. The trouble is I can only go during the daytime, and I keep working late. I also need to do laundry!
Saturday it looks like I'll finally get to go on a hike. I have my camera batteries recharged and am ready to go!
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
So many stairs!
Today I had a big thrill: I walked home!! This is a first since my arrival. I've been told not to walk at night, and thus far I have never managed to leave the physics building before sunset, resulting in getting a ride back from my host on his way home. Today I managed to leave before 5pm even, and am now posting this from my room while it is still light out.
I counted the number of stairs today - there are 243 exterior stair-steps between my dorm room and my office. If I include the interior ones it must be close to 300. It's not too bad, either, because the physics building is on one of the lower levels of main campus. Each building has at least two floors difference between the exterior entrance on the two sides - so for instance physics has a ground floor on the back, and when you enter from the front you enter on the 3rd floor. Each row of buildings is the same. It must have been another 60 steps to go to the place where I gave my seminar today.
Where I taught this past year people talked about the huge number of stairs on that campus. It was something like 107 between my office and the union where I ate lunch. That suddenly seems tame!
I've been keeping up with my daily exercises every day but yesterday. When that cold front blew in I felt miserable. I don't know what that happens to me. I was so completely groggy it took me an hour to convince myself to get out of bed. Then walking to school it felt like it was hard to breath the air - I didn't think I'd make it all the way up the stairs without taking a break. Normally the stairs aren't a problem for me at all - they feel refreshing. I would like to figure out why this happens to me so I can try to do something about it. I hate feeling groggy.
Speaking of the weather changes, today was nice again, on and off. It started beautiful, clear and sunny. Then it got really cloudy, then it got sunny again, then cloudy, now sunny... And I mean the whole sky changes - not just the patch above us. The clouds move in and out so fast. I hear the winds here are horrible in the summer; the trees are sideways. It isn't windy on campus at all - I guess we're sheltered by the mountain, but there must be strong winds up higher to move the clouds so fast.
Speaking of exercising - I'm amazed at how hard it is to do a real push-up. I've been working on it now for nearly 10 days. I have so little shoulder strength to begin with... I find that I torque my body, either pushing my shoulders up first or my butt up first, and can not push up fully keeping my body straight. I can go back down straight, so maybe I'll build that strength slowly.
I'm quite tired this evening, having taught part of the class this morning, and given a seminar to a mix of language and science people in the Center for Higher Education. The room was full, and people were friendly, but it was not only taxing to give, but taxing to try to remember everyone and follow up with conversations after it was over. I'm going to take a break and read a bit. I am now reading a modern Sherlock Holmes book recommended (and lent) by my host. In a few hours I'll be "collected" to go to dinner with the dean. I always find it funny he says "collected" - as if I've broken into pieces and he's going to come sweep them up and bundle them together to take me somewhere...
I'm a bit worried about my host... He says he plans to take me to the wine regions this weekend, get me drunk, and talk me into doing more projects... I'm exhausted already, and I'm not yet even working full time! How will I do all these projects once I've started teaching again??? I'm glad the collaboration is going well :)
I counted the number of stairs today - there are 243 exterior stair-steps between my dorm room and my office. If I include the interior ones it must be close to 300. It's not too bad, either, because the physics building is on one of the lower levels of main campus. Each building has at least two floors difference between the exterior entrance on the two sides - so for instance physics has a ground floor on the back, and when you enter from the front you enter on the 3rd floor. Each row of buildings is the same. It must have been another 60 steps to go to the place where I gave my seminar today.
Where I taught this past year people talked about the huge number of stairs on that campus. It was something like 107 between my office and the union where I ate lunch. That suddenly seems tame!
I've been keeping up with my daily exercises every day but yesterday. When that cold front blew in I felt miserable. I don't know what that happens to me. I was so completely groggy it took me an hour to convince myself to get out of bed. Then walking to school it felt like it was hard to breath the air - I didn't think I'd make it all the way up the stairs without taking a break. Normally the stairs aren't a problem for me at all - they feel refreshing. I would like to figure out why this happens to me so I can try to do something about it. I hate feeling groggy.
Speaking of the weather changes, today was nice again, on and off. It started beautiful, clear and sunny. Then it got really cloudy, then it got sunny again, then cloudy, now sunny... And I mean the whole sky changes - not just the patch above us. The clouds move in and out so fast. I hear the winds here are horrible in the summer; the trees are sideways. It isn't windy on campus at all - I guess we're sheltered by the mountain, but there must be strong winds up higher to move the clouds so fast.
Speaking of exercising - I'm amazed at how hard it is to do a real push-up. I've been working on it now for nearly 10 days. I have so little shoulder strength to begin with... I find that I torque my body, either pushing my shoulders up first or my butt up first, and can not push up fully keeping my body straight. I can go back down straight, so maybe I'll build that strength slowly.
I'm quite tired this evening, having taught part of the class this morning, and given a seminar to a mix of language and science people in the Center for Higher Education. The room was full, and people were friendly, but it was not only taxing to give, but taxing to try to remember everyone and follow up with conversations after it was over. I'm going to take a break and read a bit. I am now reading a modern Sherlock Holmes book recommended (and lent) by my host. In a few hours I'll be "collected" to go to dinner with the dean. I always find it funny he says "collected" - as if I've broken into pieces and he's going to come sweep them up and bundle them together to take me somewhere...
I'm a bit worried about my host... He says he plans to take me to the wine regions this weekend, get me drunk, and talk me into doing more projects... I'm exhausted already, and I'm not yet even working full time! How will I do all these projects once I've started teaching again??? I'm glad the collaboration is going well :)
Monday, August 13, 2007
Small victories...
I have just found that I am about 2/3's of the way through the horrible task of coding these summaries. My host and I had discussed having the students write summaries before I arrived, but when he set the assignment he didn't give any restrictions - so we have a pile of about 100 summaries ranging from 4-30 pages long. It is taking a LONG time to go through them. It is not fun work. The later summaries are restricted to one page, so the project should get better...
I met another dorm-mate this evening, a guy from Ireland here to finish his PhD in law. I found his accent hard to understand, then I remembered how much I've adjusted this past week - I felt the same way about people here last Monday and now I understand almost everything. I still miss the names of things sometimes though.
Ever since going to Kirstenbosch yesterday, I have been contemplating whether I feel comfortable being so much more well off than the average person in this city. People in the gardens all seemed well off, and the restaurant had quite a stuffy atmosphere. Part of me wants to go to the winelands and eat at some fancy vineyard on Saturday, but another part of me wants to go do volunteer work. I'm sure if I lived here I would find ways to contribute to society and not just take advantage of fitting into the upper crust. I would like to interact with more of a range of people - but I don't know of any safe way to do that. At least I know I'm helping disadvantaged kids at the university. Still, they have made it to university, so they are doing well. It is important to help them succeed though - the drop-out rate can be very high here.
I think I will take a reading break then do some more coding before bed. I have to space it out - it is just not fun.
I met another dorm-mate this evening, a guy from Ireland here to finish his PhD in law. I found his accent hard to understand, then I remembered how much I've adjusted this past week - I felt the same way about people here last Monday and now I understand almost everything. I still miss the names of things sometimes though.
Ever since going to Kirstenbosch yesterday, I have been contemplating whether I feel comfortable being so much more well off than the average person in this city. People in the gardens all seemed well off, and the restaurant had quite a stuffy atmosphere. Part of me wants to go to the winelands and eat at some fancy vineyard on Saturday, but another part of me wants to go do volunteer work. I'm sure if I lived here I would find ways to contribute to society and not just take advantage of fitting into the upper crust. I would like to interact with more of a range of people - but I don't know of any safe way to do that. At least I know I'm helping disadvantaged kids at the university. Still, they have made it to university, so they are doing well. It is important to help them succeed though - the drop-out rate can be very high here.
I think I will take a reading break then do some more coding before bed. I have to space it out - it is just not fun.
Nerdy Thrills...
Today I decided to finally pay for the NY Times "Times Select" option so I could return to reading the op-eds of my favorite columnists. It used to be discounted for faculty members, and I figured it was worth the price. Low and behold, it is now FREE for students and faculty - lucky me! I have finally returned to reading the news daily - it's a habit I broke during my busy interview period in the spring. Being out of the country made me want to get back to reading the news even more - since I don't have NPR on my radio.
Speaking of the radio - I have become sick of the local station. This happens to me every time. I move somewhere and turn on what sounds like a fun station while I settle in. Within a few days I get absolutely sick of it. The same songs over and over, and the ridiculous things said by the people on air. I will have to start listening to the web broadcasts of NPR. I also remembered I have several CD's on my laptop, so I can listen to them as well. I am now listening to Satie in my office.
I remembered a funny thing today - in the first lecture I sat in last week, a bird flew in the lecture hall - the students were quite amused by that. Today's lecture was a lot better than last week - on a Monday I guess the students are a bit more serious. They seemed to be engaged and enjoying the majority of it. One of the projects I'm working on is helping them make productive lecture notes. I took my own notes today, and the difference between mine and what I saw on the pages around me is phenomenal. My host spent the first 15-20 mins on some demonstrations, and many people wrote nothing down the whole time. Then when he was discussing graphing, many people copied the graphs without ever stating on their papers what they represented, what the actual problem was that they corresponded to. It will be interesting to see what we can measure from this study, but I think in the least it is worthwhile to help them with this.
I'm off to get lunch. I had to sit in front of my heater for a bit before venturing outside. My feet and fingers needed to thaw out. I should have worn thicker socks today - the weather is deceiving. It will get worse again tomorrow, but that is ok, as long as it clears up by the weekend. During the week I simply have to get more work done.
Yesterday my dorm became more interesting. There is a Brazilian guy that introduced himself to me - he looks like he's just arrived from years on a deserted island. Then we have at least two new young looking fellows, who unfortunately don't believe in cleaning up after themselves. Today was the first day since arriving that I couldn't wait for the cleaning people to show up. The common kitchen was a mess. I have learned to be good again, cleaning up my dishes immediately since so many of us must share the sink. I will be glad for my dishwasher in Oregon :)
I am nearly done with Slaughterhouse 5 already - it is an interesting and quick read. I found a terrific mention of Newton's 3rd law in there last night. I typed it up and would like to use it with my students. It states that when Billy coughed, something simultaneously came out his back end, due to the 3rd law of equal and opposite reactions. I am shortening it here, and making it less grossly explicit. I think the students will enjoy that!
Ahh... time for lunch. It's amazing how quickly time passes!
Speaking of the radio - I have become sick of the local station. This happens to me every time. I move somewhere and turn on what sounds like a fun station while I settle in. Within a few days I get absolutely sick of it. The same songs over and over, and the ridiculous things said by the people on air. I will have to start listening to the web broadcasts of NPR. I also remembered I have several CD's on my laptop, so I can listen to them as well. I am now listening to Satie in my office.
I remembered a funny thing today - in the first lecture I sat in last week, a bird flew in the lecture hall - the students were quite amused by that. Today's lecture was a lot better than last week - on a Monday I guess the students are a bit more serious. They seemed to be engaged and enjoying the majority of it. One of the projects I'm working on is helping them make productive lecture notes. I took my own notes today, and the difference between mine and what I saw on the pages around me is phenomenal. My host spent the first 15-20 mins on some demonstrations, and many people wrote nothing down the whole time. Then when he was discussing graphing, many people copied the graphs without ever stating on their papers what they represented, what the actual problem was that they corresponded to. It will be interesting to see what we can measure from this study, but I think in the least it is worthwhile to help them with this.
I'm off to get lunch. I had to sit in front of my heater for a bit before venturing outside. My feet and fingers needed to thaw out. I should have worn thicker socks today - the weather is deceiving. It will get worse again tomorrow, but that is ok, as long as it clears up by the weekend. During the week I simply have to get more work done.
Yesterday my dorm became more interesting. There is a Brazilian guy that introduced himself to me - he looks like he's just arrived from years on a deserted island. Then we have at least two new young looking fellows, who unfortunately don't believe in cleaning up after themselves. Today was the first day since arriving that I couldn't wait for the cleaning people to show up. The common kitchen was a mess. I have learned to be good again, cleaning up my dishes immediately since so many of us must share the sink. I will be glad for my dishwasher in Oregon :)
I am nearly done with Slaughterhouse 5 already - it is an interesting and quick read. I found a terrific mention of Newton's 3rd law in there last night. I typed it up and would like to use it with my students. It states that when Billy coughed, something simultaneously came out his back end, due to the 3rd law of equal and opposite reactions. I am shortening it here, and making it less grossly explicit. I think the students will enjoy that!
Ahh... time for lunch. It's amazing how quickly time passes!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Kirstenbosch
Today a prof in the department took me to Kirstenbosch, with his wife and 8 month old. Kirstenbosch is hands down the most amazing botanical gardens I have ever seen. The only plants there are native to South Africa, and the diversity in species is fantastic. They encourage people to go on the grass here, and even have plaques to read up under the trees which encourages you to go up close to the plants. Many people were picnicking. The setting for the gardens is part of what makes them so breathtaking - it is at the base of the back side of table mountain. Apparently you can walk straight up the mountain from trails at the back of the gardens.
We also had lunch at a restaurant in the gardens - it must be the most beautiful view I have ever had from a restaurant table. I wanted to buy gifts for people at the gift shop, but found things overpriced. I'm glad I waited, because after we left the main part of the gardens, the prof''s wife (who is also a prof by the way - just not in the dept. hosting me) wanted to stop at the nursery. The shop there had many of the same items for 1/4th the price - I now have most of the gifts I wanted to buy :)
My camera ran out of batteries so I have only 3 of the gardens. The prof let me take many with his phone - which had a 3Mpix camera. I will have to get them from him before I go.
We also had lunch at a restaurant in the gardens - it must be the most beautiful view I have ever had from a restaurant table. I wanted to buy gifts for people at the gift shop, but found things overpriced. I'm glad I waited, because after we left the main part of the gardens, the prof''s wife (who is also a prof by the way - just not in the dept. hosting me) wanted to stop at the nursery. The shop there had many of the same items for 1/4th the price - I now have most of the gifts I wanted to buy :)
My camera ran out of batteries so I have only 3 of the gardens. The prof let me take many with his phone - which had a 3Mpix camera. I will have to get them from him before I go.
Some guilt allieviated...
So I confessed to my host that instead of working Friday I finished reading Harry Potter... Much to my surprise he replied not to tell him anything because he's only half-way through :) I guess I'm not in trouble for that lapse of work! I think I might try to play scrabble again sometime too - I had no idea the game was so rich in strategy until I saw them play. I have never seen a board like ours was - there were only two pieces in the upper left diagonal and almost no free space in the half of the board we used.
To answer a few questions in the previous comments - yes, everyone I have encountered speaks English. It is one of the 3 official languages in each province. It is the only language I have heard spoken by academics at the university as well. Even though I am working with kids who are considered to have poor English (they converse with their peers in other languages - that makes it hard for me to roam around and listen to how they are working out the problems in lab) they understand me well and can communicate fairly well.
As for segregation, there are areas which are clearly very expensive and other areas which are worse than the worse slums in the US. I have not gone anywhere alone, and I have only interacted with people who are well educated with good jobs. There is so much crime here because of the huge difference between the haves and the have-nots. The prices here are similar to the US - the cars, the houses, the food - they're probably on average half the cost of what we pay in the US, so quite similar. However, my host told me that being a gas station attendant is
considered a good working class job. This came up when we were at the pump, and we were discussing the pros and cons of not being able to pump your own gas. In South Africa (as in New Jersey and Oregon) the attendant is the only one that can pump. It works well here though because the job is coveted so the people work hard and quickly to take care of your car. If they don't, they will be replaced. The people having this job earn approximately $3000 per year, though, full time. So that's a 10th of an average US salary, yet the cost of living is about half of ours. And that is for someone with a "good" working class job. Apparently 30-40% of the population is unemployed. The average salary is quite high, though, because of how rich the rich are - they total swamp out the non-existent salaries of the poor. Even though Aparthide is gone, the effects are still quite rampant.
To answer a few questions in the previous comments - yes, everyone I have encountered speaks English. It is one of the 3 official languages in each province. It is the only language I have heard spoken by academics at the university as well. Even though I am working with kids who are considered to have poor English (they converse with their peers in other languages - that makes it hard for me to roam around and listen to how they are working out the problems in lab) they understand me well and can communicate fairly well.
As for segregation, there are areas which are clearly very expensive and other areas which are worse than the worse slums in the US. I have not gone anywhere alone, and I have only interacted with people who are well educated with good jobs. There is so much crime here because of the huge difference between the haves and the have-nots. The prices here are similar to the US - the cars, the houses, the food - they're probably on average half the cost of what we pay in the US, so quite similar. However, my host told me that being a gas station attendant is
considered a good working class job. This came up when we were at the pump, and we were discussing the pros and cons of not being able to pump your own gas. In South Africa (as in New Jersey and Oregon) the attendant is the only one that can pump. It works well here though because the job is coveted so the people work hard and quickly to take care of your car. If they don't, they will be replaced. The people having this job earn approximately $3000 per year, though, full time. So that's a 10th of an average US salary, yet the cost of living is about half of ours. And that is for someone with a "good" working class job. Apparently 30-40% of the population is unemployed. The average salary is quite high, though, because of how rich the rich are - they total swamp out the non-existent salaries of the poor. Even though Aparthide is gone, the effects are still quite rampant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)