Although it is great to have my car again, it is very disorienting to drive! It is bad enough to drive after not driving for nearly 6 weeks, but on top of that I got throughly used to always being on the left of traffic and sitting in the passenger seat on the left side of the car! I was so confused pulling into traffic today! Good thing I live in a small town without much traffic :)
Speaking of being back in my small town... I am very glad it was sunny today and I could see the beautiful mountains and hills all around. It is disorienting to be home. I have to think about where I am and where I am going - roads that were 2nd nature probably still are, but briefly I am not sure where they lead and which way I'm going!
It is good to be home - and I picked up Audrey today. Having my sweet dog here is wonderful. My cats are also very happy to have me back. Home is comfortable (it is also dirty - working on that...) and best of all, it is my home...
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
I've really become an Oregonian...
So all my talk about enjoying the fashion on campus, and the fancy big-city style at the waterfront, I had a chance to go shopping alone on Saturday, and where did I go, but Cape Union Mart - South Africa's version of REI!! I bought a fleece, a sweater, and a scarf! Nothing high fashion there at all... Maybe it was the influence of the stormy weather, maybe it was the oncoming stomach virus, but I just didn't even have interest in trying on any of the cutsey fashions at this high-end mall!
http://www.waterfront.co.za/
This is THE shopping destination in cape town. If you want cute quiet boutique shopping, yes there are other places to go - but this is the place with gucci, armani, burberry, chopard and so forth... And I BOUGHT A FLEECE!!!!
http://www.capeunionmart.co.za/
http://www.waterfront.co.za/
This is THE shopping destination in cape town. If you want cute quiet boutique shopping, yes there are other places to go - but this is the place with gucci, armani, burberry, chopard and so forth... And I BOUGHT A FLEECE!!!!
http://www.capeunionmart.co.za/
Haircut
When I went to Cape Town I was in need of a haircut. I was debating about letting it grow out a bit, so I wasn't too worried - but I figured I could get it cut there if need be. Well, soon after getting there I realized that was a mistake - I really needed it. However, my host and friends all being guys were none too sympathetic to my plight and kept putting off taking me to a salon. I tried to make a booking online on my own, but that does not seem the way to do things in South Africa - responses are frustratingly rare to online inquiries!
Eventually, after about 3 weeks, my host was taking me for a walk with two of his long-time female friends and I asked him to ask them where he can take me THAT DAY! Fortunately they knew of a place, and it seemed to be a good place - I was quite happy with it. I was, however, quite frustrated at having my hair get so out of control, that I let the stylist go a bit crazy and now I have very little hair at all :) So much for growing it out...
Here is a progression. The first pic is my hair back in early June - before it got 2 months over grown. The second and third pic are of my new cut - one with the "bangs" down and the other with it spiked up. It looks quite cute spiked up - these pics don't do it justice - I just took them in bad lighting with my laptop webcam...
Eventually, after about 3 weeks, my host was taking me for a walk with two of his long-time female friends and I asked him to ask them where he can take me THAT DAY! Fortunately they knew of a place, and it seemed to be a good place - I was quite happy with it. I was, however, quite frustrated at having my hair get so out of control, that I let the stylist go a bit crazy and now I have very little hair at all :) So much for growing it out...
Here is a progression. The first pic is my hair back in early June - before it got 2 months over grown. The second and third pic are of my new cut - one with the "bangs" down and the other with it spiked up. It looks quite cute spiked up - these pics don't do it justice - I just took them in bad lighting with my laptop webcam...
Heading home
I can't believe it's been since the 18th since my last post! Well, I was very busy, then my last weekend I got sick, so I just never caught back up with posting.
At the moment I have little energy and want to close my eyes again, I just thought it would be fitting to close out my trip posting from the shuttle, just as I started the trip back on the 26th of July. I am about 45 minutes from home, in the airport shuttle. Amazingly, I have better internet on this shuttle than I have had the entire time I've been away!
This past weekend was not great - I got a stomach virus, my host got an upper respiratory infection, and my good friend ended up in the hospital visiting a family member.
On top of none of us being in good shape to do anything, the weather was horrible. There was some sort of winter storm that seemed to me to be at least tropical storm level. The wind was horrible and the rain came in huge bursts. It started on Thursday but the violent wind didn't get bad until Saturday. It was downright scary that day. Sunday wasn't much better...
I was bunkered down in my bedroom in that big old drafty house - I had the portable heater going nonstop, and had my biggest sweater on under all the blankets. It was perhaps good I was sick on top of it because I didn't even feel like getting out of bed, and there was no where to go anyway!!
The flight home would have been horrible as I'm still getting over the virus, except I saw a dr. before the flight and he gave me lovely sleeping pills... I solidly slept 19 of the 24 hours of my in-flight time. It is 2am and I'm on the shuttle (SO CLOSE NOW...) and I can't sleep now, but I'm sure it's just the anticipation of being almost home...
I miss Cape Town, but this trip I was ready to head home. I am sure I'll go back again and I look forward to ongoing work with my host, and keeping up my friendships..
I am much more comfortable back in Oregon than I was in NYC. I have to amend - I spent my 13 hour layover with a much appreciated rest and visit at my good friend's house (see blog links on my page) - but in the airport and such I felt culture shok. Oregon is calmer, nicer, quieter... Cape town is too big a city for me sometimes, but it is a friendly place - maners are different there. You don't over hear people talking too loud and about unseamly things :)
Cape Town is a beautiful place with beauiful people, so there is at least one thing - I no longer feel underdresesd now that I'm back in Oregon :) Being on campus, especially in the physics dept was of course not a place to play dress up - but you should see the glam at the fancy shopping places and out on the town!! I would have to try hard to keep up!
No stressing about it now :) Now I can go home, rest, cuddle my animals, rest some more, take a hike in the woods, and relax!!
At the moment I have little energy and want to close my eyes again, I just thought it would be fitting to close out my trip posting from the shuttle, just as I started the trip back on the 26th of July. I am about 45 minutes from home, in the airport shuttle. Amazingly, I have better internet on this shuttle than I have had the entire time I've been away!
This past weekend was not great - I got a stomach virus, my host got an upper respiratory infection, and my good friend ended up in the hospital visiting a family member.
On top of none of us being in good shape to do anything, the weather was horrible. There was some sort of winter storm that seemed to me to be at least tropical storm level. The wind was horrible and the rain came in huge bursts. It started on Thursday but the violent wind didn't get bad until Saturday. It was downright scary that day. Sunday wasn't much better...
I was bunkered down in my bedroom in that big old drafty house - I had the portable heater going nonstop, and had my biggest sweater on under all the blankets. It was perhaps good I was sick on top of it because I didn't even feel like getting out of bed, and there was no where to go anyway!!
The flight home would have been horrible as I'm still getting over the virus, except I saw a dr. before the flight and he gave me lovely sleeping pills... I solidly slept 19 of the 24 hours of my in-flight time. It is 2am and I'm on the shuttle (SO CLOSE NOW...) and I can't sleep now, but I'm sure it's just the anticipation of being almost home...
I miss Cape Town, but this trip I was ready to head home. I am sure I'll go back again and I look forward to ongoing work with my host, and keeping up my friendships..
I am much more comfortable back in Oregon than I was in NYC. I have to amend - I spent my 13 hour layover with a much appreciated rest and visit at my good friend's house (see blog links on my page) - but in the airport and such I felt culture shok. Oregon is calmer, nicer, quieter... Cape town is too big a city for me sometimes, but it is a friendly place - maners are different there. You don't over hear people talking too loud and about unseamly things :)
Cape Town is a beautiful place with beauiful people, so there is at least one thing - I no longer feel underdresesd now that I'm back in Oregon :) Being on campus, especially in the physics dept was of course not a place to play dress up - but you should see the glam at the fancy shopping places and out on the town!! I would have to try hard to keep up!
No stressing about it now :) Now I can go home, rest, cuddle my animals, rest some more, take a hike in the woods, and relax!!
Monday, August 18, 2008
Weather and fashion
Today the weather is terrific (it was all weekend, actually) - you can tell that spring is on it way. It will reach nearly 80 degrees and is beautifully sunny. I have seen students ranging from small sundresses to winter sweaters and scarves - some who have the mentality it is winter and others that are ready to celebrate the summer sun.
Fashion on campus is always interesting to see. We have everything from very rustic practical dress (similar to the countryside in france when I lived there, corduroy pants and a wool sweater, nice quality, but worn and bland), to high fashion, to hippy. I enjoy seeing the people who have touches of high fashion with their rustic practical clothes, for instance a gauzy/lacy blouse peaking out from a warm winter sweater.
Last week was fashion week in Cape Town. I tried to get tickets but it was all sold out. I thought it would have been fun, as well as a great statement of my broad interests to go to Kruger and a fashion show in the same week :) I could spend some serious money at some of the shops here getting totally sheik things, but I need to restrain - I still have to pay off the safari!!!
Fashion on campus is always interesting to see. We have everything from very rustic practical dress (similar to the countryside in france when I lived there, corduroy pants and a wool sweater, nice quality, but worn and bland), to high fashion, to hippy. I enjoy seeing the people who have touches of high fashion with their rustic practical clothes, for instance a gauzy/lacy blouse peaking out from a warm winter sweater.
Last week was fashion week in Cape Town. I tried to get tickets but it was all sold out. I thought it would have been fun, as well as a great statement of my broad interests to go to Kruger and a fashion show in the same week :) I could spend some serious money at some of the shops here getting totally sheik things, but I need to restrain - I still have to pay off the safari!!!
Nice weekend
I'm TRYING to keep up the hard work I did the first week I was here... However, there was just too much fun to be had this weekend!
Saturday, my host, his cousin (a psych prof) and I went hiking at Silvermine. We did an awesome hike that I remembered well from last year. It was nearly a 5 hour hike with some stops for views, photos, picnic lunch, and dessert. This hike is south of the city center, toward cape point, so when you go up the mountain you can see ocean (and false bay) in nearly every direction. There were a few flowers coming up, and the sun was wonderful. When we were at the top, though, big cloud blew in and it suddenly got cold! Good thing we were scrambling up and down a ravine and getting good exercise because it kept us warm :)
Sunday, my friend took me to Hermanus, which is a breeding ground for whales. He has seen as many as 20-30 in the harbor there at one time. There were 4-5 that we could see, and one did some nice jumps out of the water for us. I could easily see them spewing water out their blow holes, and we could hear them making noises which was super cool!! We stayed there several hours enjoying the sun and view - I could have stayed until sunset! (By the way, whales are hard to photograph!! I did get some video...)
I had to get home though, for the Sunday night dinner and scrabble game with my host's cousin (a different one from the hike). I lost again, but not quite as horribly as I did the last game two weeks ago. I started the game off with a bingo (all 7 tiles laid at once) and 82 points. I quickly lost my lead though, and the final scores were ~188, 250, 290! My host kicked our butts again... Apparently when I'm not around his cousin usually wins - so there is a conspiracy theory that I am helping him :) Not true! I am just still not that good at the game... I may have done a better job of keeping my lead last night if I had any tiles all night worth more than 4 points, but alas, no :(
Saturday, my host, his cousin (a psych prof) and I went hiking at Silvermine. We did an awesome hike that I remembered well from last year. It was nearly a 5 hour hike with some stops for views, photos, picnic lunch, and dessert. This hike is south of the city center, toward cape point, so when you go up the mountain you can see ocean (and false bay) in nearly every direction. There were a few flowers coming up, and the sun was wonderful. When we were at the top, though, big cloud blew in and it suddenly got cold! Good thing we were scrambling up and down a ravine and getting good exercise because it kept us warm :)
Sunday, my friend took me to Hermanus, which is a breeding ground for whales. He has seen as many as 20-30 in the harbor there at one time. There were 4-5 that we could see, and one did some nice jumps out of the water for us. I could easily see them spewing water out their blow holes, and we could hear them making noises which was super cool!! We stayed there several hours enjoying the sun and view - I could have stayed until sunset! (By the way, whales are hard to photograph!! I did get some video...)
I had to get home though, for the Sunday night dinner and scrabble game with my host's cousin (a different one from the hike). I lost again, but not quite as horribly as I did the last game two weeks ago. I started the game off with a bingo (all 7 tiles laid at once) and 82 points. I quickly lost my lead though, and the final scores were ~188, 250, 290! My host kicked our butts again... Apparently when I'm not around his cousin usually wins - so there is a conspiracy theory that I am helping him :) Not true! I am just still not that good at the game... I may have done a better job of keeping my lead last night if I had any tiles all night worth more than 4 points, but alas, no :(
Observations on observations...
While I was in Kruger, I had a lot of time to think and learn about observing and learning new things. There were a few specific experiences I had that prompted these thoughts. First, I was trying to learn new birds and to identify trees. I found that I had been trying to look at characteristics that were not defining in order to tell them apart, rather than characteristics that are more appropriate. The color of a bird's wings is less telling than the length of their legs, and the shape of their beak. Those things tell about their habitat and feeding habits. The color is pretty, but not necessarily defining - what if the bird is female or adolescent? They won't have the same color as the male shown in the birding book's artist rendition! Once I knew what to look for, it started to make more sense and I was able to learn more. With trees, the shape of the bark and the color of it is more important than the shape of the branches, which had previously held most of my attention. It's also hard to say something about "pointy leaf shape" if you don't have other leaf shapes to compare to, so being able to identify requires familiarity with a range of similar things. The other thing that really got me thinking about this was when we saw a dwarf mongoose run across the road quickly. If you had asked me what it was, I would have said it was a squirrel, because they are similar sized and scurry in a similar manor and are both brown. Because I am not familiar enough with the mongoose characteristics, my brain saw "small, scurrying, brown" and filled in the details that I am familiar with.
This is really interesting for me as an education researcher. It is well known that students will sometimes say they saw something different happen in a physics demonstration from what actually happened. This is known as "confirmation bias" - students will think what they thought would happen did actually happen. My favorite physics education person also says that when showing students a new phenomenon to observe, it is important to point out to them what to pay attention to. They won't know what details to focus on. I always thought it was kind of cheating to point out what to look for - but now I see it's important. If I wasn't pointed out what aspects of birds and trees to look for I would not have been able to start learning about them. (It's also funny how this ties into Ontology - how we characterize what is fundamental - which I've been discussing in detail with my host's masters student...)
Those are my thoughts on this, anyway. I always find that pushing myself to learn something new that I find difficult helps me learn about my students and is really beneficial.
I hope I have typed this clearly... All year they have been doing renovations to the physics building at UCT, and currently they are hammering right outside my window... The first day I was here there were 4 guys on scaffolding looking in the window at me - kind of creepy!
This is really interesting for me as an education researcher. It is well known that students will sometimes say they saw something different happen in a physics demonstration from what actually happened. This is known as "confirmation bias" - students will think what they thought would happen did actually happen. My favorite physics education person also says that when showing students a new phenomenon to observe, it is important to point out to them what to pay attention to. They won't know what details to focus on. I always thought it was kind of cheating to point out what to look for - but now I see it's important. If I wasn't pointed out what aspects of birds and trees to look for I would not have been able to start learning about them. (It's also funny how this ties into Ontology - how we characterize what is fundamental - which I've been discussing in detail with my host's masters student...)
Those are my thoughts on this, anyway. I always find that pushing myself to learn something new that I find difficult helps me learn about my students and is really beneficial.
I hope I have typed this clearly... All year they have been doing renovations to the physics building at UCT, and currently they are hammering right outside my window... The first day I was here there were 4 guys on scaffolding looking in the window at me - kind of creepy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)