It's raining again. Looks like we're in for a swampy Christmas!
❇ ❈ ❅ ❄ ❆❄❅ ❈❇
Between a cold (I can finally sort of breathe through my nose again!), finishing Christmas presents, time with family, and a few other issues, I've not been on my computer much (and will continue to not be on much) but I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year!
Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, something else, or nothing, this is still a great time to show your love and support to family and friends.
I wish you all the best.
-Ally
23 December 2011
13 December 2011
Finals Week Haikus
Haikus for each of my classes and some about finals week in general:
Class about "real life"
Do I really need to know
This much about porn?!
Personalities:
We don't quite know what they are
Or how to use them.
Inferential stats
My P-value is
NOT significant.
Marx, Goffman, Foucault
Your theories change over time
You give me some hope
Mental disorders
You probably DON'T have one
So stop your whining
What? No, I can't come!
I've got three finals today!
Ask some time next week.
One final to go
And then I can go back home
And sleep for three weeks.
I don't think this test
Measures what you want it to
(i.e., what we learned).
Okay, now it's your turn! Haikus about finals, stress in general, or just the week you've been having, please!
Class about "real life"
Do I really need to know
This much about porn?!
Personalities:
We don't quite know what they are
Or how to use them.
Inferential stats
My P-value is
NOT significant.
Marx, Goffman, Foucault
Your theories change over time
You give me some hope
Mental disorders
You probably DON'T have one
So stop your whining
What? No, I can't come!
I've got three finals today!
Ask some time next week.
One final to go
And then I can go back home
And sleep for three weeks.
I don't think this test
Measures what you want it to
(i.e., what we learned).
Okay, now it's your turn! Haikus about finals, stress in general, or just the week you've been having, please!
08 December 2011
More Gay Penguins!
In light of my recent story about the gay penguin couple that was separated (and subsequently reunited) in Toronto, I wanted to post more good news of a story reported by Time Magazine's website of a zoo in China.
Harbin Polar Land in China not only allowed their gay penguins to stay together but they also threw a wedding (even giving them outfits in the traditional Chinese wedding color, red) for them. Further, they gave them a chick to raise! The chick had been one of two that a female was struggling to raise (I've babysat twins, they are QUITE a handful...and penguins don't even have hands) and the keepers through that, since the gay penguins (Steve and Adam) had tried to steal eggs in the past, it would be a good chance to share some parenting skills and make everyone a little happier.
Contrast this to Toronto, who separated the penguins for "breeding purposes."
I think they're adorable and I'm glad to see how well this works out for all the parties involved. Also, it's adorable.
I would love to hear some other opinions!
Harbin Polar Land in China not only allowed their gay penguins to stay together but they also threw a wedding (even giving them outfits in the traditional Chinese wedding color, red) for them. Further, they gave them a chick to raise! The chick had been one of two that a female was struggling to raise (I've babysat twins, they are QUITE a handful...and penguins don't even have hands) and the keepers through that, since the gay penguins (Steve and Adam) had tried to steal eggs in the past, it would be a good chance to share some parenting skills and make everyone a little happier.
Contrast this to Toronto, who separated the penguins for "breeding purposes."
I think they're adorable and I'm glad to see how well this works out for all the parties involved. Also, it's adorable.
I would love to hear some other opinions!
06 December 2011
Why is it...
That I have three finals this week and only two during finals week?!
Between that and the fact that it's my last week of work, I am a bit busy and for that I apologize.
Between that and the fact that it's my last week of work, I am a bit busy and for that I apologize.
Forgive me? Pleeeease?
01 December 2011
More Job Fails
So, remember when they were changing the room number of the room I had to go to for work as I stood there watching?
Today, I went to another building. All the rooms on the floor were labelled...except the room I needed.
Not a room number mishap but still work-related:
Yesterday I was standing at the front of a room (on the second floor of a more than forty story building), talking to the class when water drips from the ceiling about an inch from my arm. I immediately step to the side ("Smart choice" says a kid in the class) and see a stained spot on the rug. I don't know what it was but it wasn't water.
Fun times.
Today, I went to another building. All the rooms on the floor were labelled...except the room I needed.
Not a room number mishap but still work-related:
Yesterday I was standing at the front of a room (on the second floor of a more than forty story building), talking to the class when water drips from the ceiling about an inch from my arm. I immediately step to the side ("Smart choice" says a kid in the class) and see a stained spot on the rug. I don't know what it was but it wasn't water.
Fun times.
30 November 2011
I have:
Two weeks and a day until I'm home for the holidays (and get to see my family and friends)
One week until my first (two) final(s)
One week and two days left of work
Two more church services in which to sing this semester
One more handbell concert
Four things that I want to do on Thursday...all at the same time
Four examinations (only one cumulative, thank goodness!) and a take-home essay test coming up
Written a 9 page (maximum limit: 8 pages...oops!) paper on Venezuela and the U.S.
Flipped back and forth between frantic and freaked out and completely mellow and relaxed
Still not decided about which finals I'm worried
Quite a few people for whom I still need to figure out/acquire gifts for the holidays
Two museums and a botanical garden to visit before I go home
Melted snowflakes on my jacket
Not yet figured out how I feel about said snowflakes
Approximately 200 sheets of paper in my backpack
A wocket in my pocket
...okay, that last one's a lie. But I wish it were true.
Things are getting crazy because they're winding down (and the winding down is a bit too fast for those affected, hence the crazies) and it's exciting to see how little I have left to do and yet how much. It's a fairly short amount of time but it's jam-packed with exams and activities (both of my choosing and not so much).
And I'm mostly loving it. Probably because I do know that I'll get a break soon.
What stands between you and your winter holiday of choice (even if it's just a day or two off from work)? How was your Thanksgiving? To what are you most looking forward this winter?
One week until my first (two) final(s)
One week and two days left of work
Two more church services in which to sing this semester
One more handbell concert
Four things that I want to do on Thursday...all at the same time
Four examinations (only one cumulative, thank goodness!) and a take-home essay test coming up
Written a 9 page (maximum limit: 8 pages...oops!) paper on Venezuela and the U.S.
Flipped back and forth between frantic and freaked out and completely mellow and relaxed
Still not decided about which finals I'm worried
Quite a few people for whom I still need to figure out/acquire gifts for the holidays
Two museums and a botanical garden to visit before I go home
Melted snowflakes on my jacket
Not yet figured out how I feel about said snowflakes
Approximately 200 sheets of paper in my backpack
A wocket in my pocket
...okay, that last one's a lie. But I wish it were true.
Things are getting crazy because they're winding down (and the winding down is a bit too fast for those affected, hence the crazies) and it's exciting to see how little I have left to do and yet how much. It's a fairly short amount of time but it's jam-packed with exams and activities (both of my choosing and not so much).
And I'm mostly loving it. Probably because I do know that I'll get a break soon.
What stands between you and your winter holiday of choice (even if it's just a day or two off from work)? How was your Thanksgiving? To what are you most looking forward this winter?
23 November 2011
Thanksgiving and Thankfulness
I spent the first semester of my freshman year of university in Scotland.
It's a long flight there and back.
And they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.
So there I was, my first year away from home to start with, in a foreign country on top of that, facing the prospect of my first ever Thanksgiving without my family and friends and without any notice from the rest of society. I would have classes the day of Thanksgiving, I would have them the day after, and no one (except the other American students) would understand why this made a difference.
I had tons to be thankful for: family, friends, good health, and this huge opportunity for me to be experiencing life in a new place.
But for a holiday about giving thanks, that didn't seem to be enough.
The two components of Thanksgiving for me were always the food and being surrounded by my family and friends, the people who loved me unconditionally. In Scotland, I was facing thousands of miles of distance between myself and my family group and you just can't buy most of my family's traditional foods there (without paying a huge price to import it).
Pumpkin is only available at the gourmet stores, where they imported Libby's brand pumpkin just for the American exchange students who were studying at the University. Cranberry sauce is the traditional meaning, a fairly liquid-y affair rather than a deliciously gelatinous blob that retains the shape of the can from which it comes. Turkey (not that I eat it anyway) isn't stocked in the butcher shops until closer to Christmas. Little things that I'd taken for granted (like so much in my life) were no longer there.
There were no turkey decorations, no pumpkin-flavoured baked goods and drinks, no politically incorrect pictures of awkward pilgrims and native Americans.
And, once I remembered the occasion that started Thanksgiving, it made sense. And I didn't really expect a Thanksgiving.
I lived with another American exchange student and three Europeans (all of whom I absolutely adored). The other American girl and I decided we couldn't make it through without some type of Thanksgiving, so we planned one.
I was also lucky enough to find a bible study group; there were many Americans and a Canadian in that group and, just because we loved food, fun, and trying new things, we decided to have a Thanksgiving feast too.
And you know what?
They were both fantastic.
I may have been eating vegetarian haggis instead of fake turkey...but it was Thanksgiving.
Those around me may have been strangers as of three months before but we had found tremendous affection for each other...and it was still Thanksgiving.
I may have been missing some of my family's traditional dishes and learning about some of the Thanksgiving foods from across the nation...but it was still Thanksgiving.
It wasn't the Thanksgiving I was used to and as I always pictured it...but it was definitely still Thanksgiving.
And I learned a lot from that. Thanksgiving doesn't need to be the same thing every year to be wonderful; you don't need to have a Norman Rockwell occasion to have fun and feel happiness. It was very different and often funny* but it was incredible. I got to teach people about hand turkeys and my family's traditions, I got to learn about new foods (that I now want to make for Thanksgiving this year) that are traditional to others, and I realised that I still had those love and food components that really made Thanksgiving what it was.
Most of all, I learned to be thankful in a whole different way. Thankfulness for new friends, for sillness, for love and support, for learning new things, for new experiences, for opportunities. Thankfulness for all that continues to be dropped in my lap.
This year it appears (as of now) that I'll have not one but three Thanksgivings, including one with the same people and foods I was raised with. I'm excited to have that again and I know that I will love it...but I think I will miss that strange and wonderful experience that I had in Scotland, learning new things, teaching new things, and creating something completely different. It was so different but still amazing.
I'm still learning that. Different doesn't have to be awful; it may be frightening at first but that doesn't mean it won't be beautiful, too.
Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? If so, what traditions abound at your Thanksgiving? If not, what do you think you would like most about Thanksgiving?
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it and happy Thursday/almost winter holidays to everyone. I am thankful for you.
*At my bible study group, the Scottish and English students (one boy in particular) were wary of pumpkin pie; they always thought of pumpkin as a savoury food and couldn't understand it as a dessert. They all promised to try it but looks of dread abounded until they got their first taste. All but one ended up loving it. (Related, one of the girls in my flat, who is from Norway ended up becoming completely enamoured of it.)
It's a long flight there and back.
And they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.
So there I was, my first year away from home to start with, in a foreign country on top of that, facing the prospect of my first ever Thanksgiving without my family and friends and without any notice from the rest of society. I would have classes the day of Thanksgiving, I would have them the day after, and no one (except the other American students) would understand why this made a difference.
I had tons to be thankful for: family, friends, good health, and this huge opportunity for me to be experiencing life in a new place.
But for a holiday about giving thanks, that didn't seem to be enough.
The two components of Thanksgiving for me were always the food and being surrounded by my family and friends, the people who loved me unconditionally. In Scotland, I was facing thousands of miles of distance between myself and my family group and you just can't buy most of my family's traditional foods there (without paying a huge price to import it).
Pumpkin is only available at the gourmet stores, where they imported Libby's brand pumpkin just for the American exchange students who were studying at the University. Cranberry sauce is the traditional meaning, a fairly liquid-y affair rather than a deliciously gelatinous blob that retains the shape of the can from which it comes. Turkey (not that I eat it anyway) isn't stocked in the butcher shops until closer to Christmas. Little things that I'd taken for granted (like so much in my life) were no longer there.
There were no turkey decorations, no pumpkin-flavoured baked goods and drinks, no politically incorrect pictures of awkward pilgrims and native Americans.
And, once I remembered the occasion that started Thanksgiving, it made sense. And I didn't really expect a Thanksgiving.
I lived with another American exchange student and three Europeans (all of whom I absolutely adored). The other American girl and I decided we couldn't make it through without some type of Thanksgiving, so we planned one.
I was also lucky enough to find a bible study group; there were many Americans and a Canadian in that group and, just because we loved food, fun, and trying new things, we decided to have a Thanksgiving feast too.
And you know what?
They were both fantastic.
I may have been eating vegetarian haggis instead of fake turkey...but it was Thanksgiving.
Those around me may have been strangers as of three months before but we had found tremendous affection for each other...and it was still Thanksgiving.
I may have been missing some of my family's traditional dishes and learning about some of the Thanksgiving foods from across the nation...but it was still Thanksgiving.
It wasn't the Thanksgiving I was used to and as I always pictured it...but it was definitely still Thanksgiving.
And I learned a lot from that. Thanksgiving doesn't need to be the same thing every year to be wonderful; you don't need to have a Norman Rockwell occasion to have fun and feel happiness. It was very different and often funny* but it was incredible. I got to teach people about hand turkeys and my family's traditions, I got to learn about new foods (that I now want to make for Thanksgiving this year) that are traditional to others, and I realised that I still had those love and food components that really made Thanksgiving what it was.
Most of all, I learned to be thankful in a whole different way. Thankfulness for new friends, for sillness, for love and support, for learning new things, for new experiences, for opportunities. Thankfulness for all that continues to be dropped in my lap.
This year it appears (as of now) that I'll have not one but three Thanksgivings, including one with the same people and foods I was raised with. I'm excited to have that again and I know that I will love it...but I think I will miss that strange and wonderful experience that I had in Scotland, learning new things, teaching new things, and creating something completely different. It was so different but still amazing.
I'm still learning that. Different doesn't have to be awful; it may be frightening at first but that doesn't mean it won't be beautiful, too.
Do you celebrate Thanksgiving? If so, what traditions abound at your Thanksgiving? If not, what do you think you would like most about Thanksgiving?
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it and happy Thursday/almost winter holidays to everyone. I am thankful for you.
*At my bible study group, the Scottish and English students (one boy in particular) were wary of pumpkin pie; they always thought of pumpkin as a savoury food and couldn't understand it as a dessert. They all promised to try it but looks of dread abounded until they got their first taste. All but one ended up loving it. (Related, one of the girls in my flat, who is from Norway ended up becoming completely enamoured of it.)
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