I Didn't Do It

No, it was someone over at Computer Services (GCCS). Fall cleaning time came around and I got wiped from the system. Now, according to the campus network, I no longer exist.

I discovered this astonishing fact at 3:30 P.M. This is the time I start work in the language lab on Wednesday afternoon. This is also the time the GCCS helpdesk (and phone) closes. Fortunately, my professor placed a call that cheated the system and went through to someone in the mysterious rooms behind the helpdesk, where no student save the selectively inducted ITer has ever entered.

My existence should be re-established sometime today. In the meantime, my wonderful roommate is letting me use her identity to access the Internet.

Darker

Today I had a square of this, courtesy of Prof. Schram.

Daddy and Mommy, maybe it's time to upgrade from Dove's. Lindt 85% cocoa is incredibly intense. Mmmmm.....

After the Sunday night homework

Today I figured out why we have pencils. Pencils are for non-math majors taking math classes. That, or a pen + lots of scratch paper.

I sincerely wanted to type out for you some of the ridiculous algebraic contortions a few problems sent me through today, but it just wouldn't work, at least not on Blogger. Fortunately I'm not a math major and I don't have to now regret not selecting a blogging service that has such capabilities.

Hopefully you don't get the impression that I don't enjoy Calculus I. Believe it or not, I do... mostly. It's just that math class, for me, is more of a foreign language class than the foreign languages classes I've taken. Let's hope this means I'm fulfilling my culture shock requirement before going overseas.

Hopefully, as well, I will soon have the time to sit down and write a long, substantial post. Just don't count on it.

Multilingualism

Not very surprising that 50% of Europeans speak at least two languages. Europe nearly has to be multilingual, especially tiny countries such as Luxembourg, squeezed in between countries of greater geographic and economic power.

I do feel sorry for all those Americans who only have access to the English-speaking world!

Super

My passport came!

It was being processed through New Orleans.

Now I can look for an airline ticket to France.

No literary gimmicks

The "Bible itself"?

I don't think so.

A few of my favorite words

I discovered another expression to add to my collection!

"That is out of control."

When I heard the RD in my class utter it, I felt a tingling sensation. When the same person said it a second time, I felt a deep thrill. Yes, here was a new one! Is there anything more exciting for a collector than stumbling across a new item for a change - so new, yet so obvious, that it leaps at you?

Here are a few more from my collection:

totally
like
scary
cool
random
amazing

... and, my personal favorite:

"It's huge."

Oh, I forgot to give the list a title. I'll just put it last.

Vocabulary That No One Will Ever Hear Me Utter

(Publisher's note: The above list is incomplete. Items for consideration and publication are always welcome.)

. . . yawn . . .

There really isn't much to tell. My weekend was quiet. I wasn't even scheduled to work at the library. I've had a Saturday shift for the last three weekends, which makes three out of four weekend shifts for the semester.

But I did work at the library. About halfway into a quiet afternoon and four sips into a hot cup of tea, my phone rang. The girl at the library had just had a piece break off one of her teeth. So I took over for 1.75 hours.

It's nearly 10:30 and I am nearly falling asleep. High time for bed.

For she's a jolly good mother!

Yesterday my mother celebrated her 47th birthday. Happy birthday, Mommy! Of course, you know I didn't forget your birthday... I just happened to not think of it on that day (till you posted).

Time sure flies. It seems like just five years ago you were telling people you were 42.

Eat lots of chocolate to celebrate! I will too.

Pommes et étudiants

Thanks to my lovely mother who sent apples right off the trees from home. :)


I propose that we need more Navajo and Pueblo values in college classes today.

At the University of New Mexico, a typical class may include several Navajo or Pueblo students. They are unlikely to ask questions during class sessions or to volunteer answers to the teacher's questions. To do so would be culturally inappropriate; it would not be the Native American way. When a teacher calls on one of the Native Americans with a question, there is usually a pause of several seconds. The impatient teacher is likely to call on another student rather than wait for a response. From the Native American student's viewpoint, an important question should not be answered immediately, without carefully thinking out the answer.

-- Rogers & Steinfatt, Intercultural Communication

Or maybe I'm just biased. Maybe no one else finds it difficult to rapidly generate good responses for classroom interaction.

I wonder, is extrovertedness a characteristic of personality, or of culture, or of both?

Fall begins today

My roommate and I were walking back from supper and agreeing that it was there... the feel of autumn. Maybe a change in the wind after the drizzles this morning. I hope we have a long, long autumn this year.

Finally a free evening, free for scampering around in socks, doing laundry and studying two hours in a row! It doesn't get better than this.

Of course

"In 1311 [Ramon Lull] attended the Council of Vienne, where he presented a number of proposals, including, of course, 'that there should be builded certain places where certain persons, devout and of lofty intelligence should study diverse languages to the end that they might preach the holy Gospel to all nations.' "

--Smith, The Gift of the Stranger

Note my italicized words.

Fall 2005

I am getting so amazingly good at not posting very often!

Here are my classes.

Calculus I, 11:00-11:50 MWF

We're just in pre-calculus review right now, and we have a patient and understanding professor. One of the girls in my class loves calculus like I love languages... I got her extension!

Intercultural Communication, 14:00-15:20 MW

Very interesting, good professor, nice majority of language majors in the class.

Healthy Lifestyles, 18:15-20:00 M

Oh yes, those wonderful mandatory physical education classes. This one isn't too hard, just a lot of busy work and mandatory exercise. So much for my lovely morning walk, since I have to get my heart rate over 120.

Language Senior Seminar, 12:30-14:00 TR

I get to take this with seven others (six seniors and one junior) who have all already studied abroad. But it's a fall class and I'll be in Argentina next fall. It's interesting, good to hear experiences and perspectives of others. We don't exactly meet on Thursdays; instead, we all eat lunch and speak French, German, and Spanish at our weekly language tables in the cafeteria. The big project is a 20-page paper and presentation at the end of the semester.

Study Abroad Briefing, 14:00-15:00 T

Small class, homework is all reading or getting VISAs and other study-abroad arrangements done. Hopefully my passport will be ready in time. It was being processed in New Orleans.

Old Testament, 18:30-21:00 T

Another lovely night class, held in a local church, interesting. Our professor encouraged us not to take notes.


It's a good class schedule. Mondays and Tuesdays are pretty full, then the week starts tapering off. So, my weekend is beginning just about now. No class tomorrow!

Besides classes, I work in the library eight hours a week and at the Language Department six hours a week. Both jobs are enjoyable, especially with some new and more interest-specific projects they've given me.

Now that I finally have a partially free evening, I should study.

Philosophy from calculus

I know, I know... blog posts of a language nut like me should be on language, not mathematics. Well, just think of this as mathematics translated into English. Professor Dilling said something in class last week that instantly popped a new life-axiom into my head (those sayings that are so much fun to formulate and sound great but have little practical value since you never recall them):

Life is like a square. You can't just take the positive.

I just remembered that I promised updates on classes, especially now that I've had a proper week... maybe tomorrow.

Just a vapor

Today I learned that my life expectancy as an American woman is 79.5 years. That means my life is already 25% gone. What a sobering thought.


Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

James 4:14


As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years,
Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.
Who understands the power of Your anger
And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
So teach us to number our days,
That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:10-12