It's been active here this week. Along with my regularly-scheduled course - for which I have calculated that I am probably earning about CHF 3 per hour, if I count all the hours that I spend in preparation for it - I will also be giving a reading course in English as a Second Language (ESL) beginning in October. The schedule and course work are already planned out for me in that one and I can coordinate with the regular instructor. So even though the stated hourly pay for language courses is less than for "content" courses, the hourly work rate may actually work out to be much higher simply because I'll spend less time of my own in preparation. I have 18 students in the first class and only three in the ESL class. What fun!
In addition to my regular course, thanks to the good-will of the regular ESL instructor, I also spent some time this week sitting in on the ESL class, in order to avoid a too-abrupt transition from what the students are used to. We also had our first faculty meeting of the term this week, which gave all of us a better idea of the university's plans for the upcoming year - and even into the future, assuming that the global financial crisis does not disrupt those prognostications. It was a good meeting on the whole and my colleagues seem very open and friendly so far. I simply feel a bit overwhelmed by trying to learn all the new names.
In this third week, I am finally getting confident enough to recognize my students well enough to call them by their names, instead of simply getting by with a smile and a wave. We have a three-hour session once a week. If I saw them more often, I believe that I would have learned their names much faster. But I do enjoy only having to teach once per week although I do wonder how well they are learning. They may have the same trouble with taking in a whole lot of information at once, only to have it gestate for a week before learning a whole lot of new information. The good thing is that I have covered much of the overall conceptual framework already. Now, it's time to start demonstrating the concepts with real examples and driving the concepts home through case studies. If today's class was any indication, they seem to enjoy that approach and it will get the course away from being totally instructor-centric, even though I'll still have to channel discussions carefully and keep them on track.
Unsurprisingly, it is the female students who seem the more serious from the get-go. In my experience, it usually takes males of this age some time to settle. They like to "test" a bit more. Once they've made a few half-hearted challenges, realize that there will be little encouragement for such and that there is every incentive to buckle down and get to work especially if they have become even slightly motivated by the subject matter in the meantime, some will perform at least as well as their female counterparts. The others will find their own rhythms eventually. But each class has a different dynamic and this one is still in development mode, an appropos term in the circumstances.
Friday seems to have arrived in record time and I am thoroughly looking forward to my "off" day, before I have to get busy for next week's classes. I will also need to find time before next Friday to prepare the equivalent of a final examination for a student who has received official permission to receive credit for the course that I teach, provided that he/she passes the exam that I prepare.
So, it looks as if there is still a busy weekend ahead.
29 September 2011
27 September 2011
And Now He Is Three!
Yes, Prince Tyger celebrated his third birthday this month. In fact, he had so many different celebrations that he is likely confused about when his birthday actually occurs! But he has now achieved the third milestone and is such a kick that he keeps his parents - and this Proud Grandmom - in stitches with his comments and actions. It is so much fun to be part of his world.
He had one party with his little friends, although he spent most of his time with Proud Dad. I like to think of this as his "Sistine Chapel moment."
Even Little Bro, Prince Attani, was there - and he had a great time too.
When it came time to blow out the candles, the moment passed almost too quickly. But Prince Tyger jumped right into the eating -
with gusto.
Fortunately, the prime candle moment was captured at a family gathering later on.
And while Prince Tyger gloried in his gifts, Prince Attani was thoroughly captivated by the paper wrappings.
Both enjoyed the event! And we Elders who were present enjoyed the enjoyment!
He had one party with his little friends, although he spent most of his time with Proud Dad. I like to think of this as his "Sistine Chapel moment."
Relativity and Time
The scientific world has been rocked on its heels with the revelation that at nearby CERN, some neutrinos (and I never even realised that such things existed) that whizzed from Rome to Geneva seemingly at a speed faster than light have disproven Einstein's Theory of Relativity, one of the great constants upon which modern physics is based. Of course, since my understanding of physics borders on nil, I have probably not explained that correctly at all. In the meantime, the scientists at CERN are waiting - with bated breath, one presumes - to see whether their observations and conclusions can be independently verified.
What will this mean? Probably not a whole lot to those of us who are in our twilight years - just another example of shifting sands, if proven correct. Those of my generation and older have seen so many shifting sands that it is difficult to believe in any constant at all. But this discovery apparently will have major consequences for those who may attempt future long-distance space odysseys, as well as disrupting umpteen theoretical presumptions. I am perverse enough to hope that it will at least shake up the Scientologists - whose so-called "religion" is based on the science fantasies of L. Ron Hubbard and who have a cult-like grip on their adherents. But zealots, particularly religious zealots, always find a way to explain away anything that doesn't fit into their notions of the universe. So that is likely a forlorn hope at best. Anyway, we'll all see what develops.
What I have discovered in my own situation is that, whatever the scientists at CERN may have discovered and whether their experiments may be validated or not, time does have consequences. For example, my at first good-looking hourly pay seems to have dwindled substantially when I add in the amount of research and preparation time that I spend for my course. If I calculate correctly, I am probably earning less than minimum wage! Still, I have been learning a lot of new things and even some new skills. If nothing else, I'll probably be able to teach a course in preparing Powerpoint presentations very soon. It's been fun, although somewhat fatiguing. So far, the class - somewhat disgruntled because not enough course textbooks were ordered - which has resulted in my having to shift emphases and concepts around, has been friendly enough. Some actually seem interested, which is always a joy. Unsurprisingly - based on my experience generally - it is principally my female students who appear the most serious to this point, but we'll see how things play out in the long run.
Tomorrow is my first official faculty meeting. Back to the future indeed!
What will this mean? Probably not a whole lot to those of us who are in our twilight years - just another example of shifting sands, if proven correct. Those of my generation and older have seen so many shifting sands that it is difficult to believe in any constant at all. But this discovery apparently will have major consequences for those who may attempt future long-distance space odysseys, as well as disrupting umpteen theoretical presumptions. I am perverse enough to hope that it will at least shake up the Scientologists - whose so-called "religion" is based on the science fantasies of L. Ron Hubbard and who have a cult-like grip on their adherents. But zealots, particularly religious zealots, always find a way to explain away anything that doesn't fit into their notions of the universe. So that is likely a forlorn hope at best. Anyway, we'll all see what develops.
What I have discovered in my own situation is that, whatever the scientists at CERN may have discovered and whether their experiments may be validated or not, time does have consequences. For example, my at first good-looking hourly pay seems to have dwindled substantially when I add in the amount of research and preparation time that I spend for my course. If I calculate correctly, I am probably earning less than minimum wage! Still, I have been learning a lot of new things and even some new skills. If nothing else, I'll probably be able to teach a course in preparing Powerpoint presentations very soon. It's been fun, although somewhat fatiguing. So far, the class - somewhat disgruntled because not enough course textbooks were ordered - which has resulted in my having to shift emphases and concepts around, has been friendly enough. Some actually seem interested, which is always a joy. Unsurprisingly - based on my experience generally - it is principally my female students who appear the most serious to this point, but we'll see how things play out in the long run.
Tomorrow is my first official faculty meeting. Back to the future indeed!
26 September 2011
A Happy Ten-Year Milestone
Yesterday, I wrote about the ten-year milestone of the single worst attack on US soil ever. It was not a happy post. But September 2011 is also the tenth anniversary of No 1 Son's marriage to Sweet Momma H - who was not at all a "momma" in those days.
Given that the Big Day was scheduled to occur in a major US city and because several of the usual airports were still closed because of the heightened fear remaining from 9-11 earlier in the month, there was some doubt that the wedding would go ahead at all. But the principals had been together for a long time prior to the wedding date. Both decided that since all the preparations had been made, it was then or never.
HWMBO and I literally were not sure whether our transatlantic flight would depart -so many flights had been cancelled and travel schedules for everyone were in chaos. But just as we had given up hope, we received word that yes, our flight would depart as scheduled. Better yet, our luggage could be checked all the way through - a development that had just gone into effect. Otherwise, we would have had to pick it up at our first flight arrival point and re-check it, always a terrible nuisance - even more so at the time because security took forever and a day to get through. Other out-of-town guests - and there were several who were to be in the wedding party - had been able to re-book flights to alternate airports even though some airports remained closed altogether. Although folks generally were a bit nervous about flying at all, and especially to certain destinations, all of the expected wedding guests arrived in fine fettle. Thank heavens!
The bride was beautiful and the groom handsome, although I must admit to being a bit biased.
And now, ten years later, the little family has doubled in size: first, our very precious Prince Tyger, here exploring with Proud Dad,
and then, his equally precious little brother - here looking very satisfied with himself at the center of Sweet Momma H's attention.
Happy Anniversary - a bit belated - to two Very Special People! We love you and we love your whole sweet little family! Life. Goes. On.
Given that the Big Day was scheduled to occur in a major US city and because several of the usual airports were still closed because of the heightened fear remaining from 9-11 earlier in the month, there was some doubt that the wedding would go ahead at all. But the principals had been together for a long time prior to the wedding date. Both decided that since all the preparations had been made, it was then or never.
HWMBO and I literally were not sure whether our transatlantic flight would depart -so many flights had been cancelled and travel schedules for everyone were in chaos. But just as we had given up hope, we received word that yes, our flight would depart as scheduled. Better yet, our luggage could be checked all the way through - a development that had just gone into effect. Otherwise, we would have had to pick it up at our first flight arrival point and re-check it, always a terrible nuisance - even more so at the time because security took forever and a day to get through. Other out-of-town guests - and there were several who were to be in the wedding party - had been able to re-book flights to alternate airports even though some airports remained closed altogether. Although folks generally were a bit nervous about flying at all, and especially to certain destinations, all of the expected wedding guests arrived in fine fettle. Thank heavens!
The bride was beautiful and the groom handsome, although I must admit to being a bit biased.
25 September 2011
Meandering in Maryland
I am among the most fortunate persons in the world. I have the opportunity to live in two very different, but also very beautiful, places. I do appreciate both of those opportunities and am savoring every moment. For example, when I am in Maryland, I love taking walks. Even though the normally hot and humid summer weather in Maryland is not conducive to strenuous outdoor activity, a nice walk in the early part of the morning is a great pleasure. Where we live, lovely walking paths are abundant.
On this particular route, I found some very interesting fungi.
Although I would hesitate to use them in a recipe, they were quite beautiful.
And I especially love seeing the colorful black-eyed susans, Maryland's state flower, along the way.
Ten Years
I believe that part of my unwillingness (or sheer laziness) to post this past month has been due to the ten-year anniversary of 9-11, which was remembered - "celebrated" is hardly the word to use - globally on that date earlier this month. I remember how the whole global spectrum changed completely - and irrevocably - for the worse that day and how the sense of foreboding that the event left with me did not even come close to the horrors that were justified by it later on.
Also, due to my not paying attention when I booked my return flight to Switzerland - after all, many, if not most, dates outside the US are written typically as "day-month-year," instead of the North American "month-day-year" - it failed to register with me that 11-09 was, in fact, 9-11. I realize that sounds lame. But I was paying more attention to re-scheduling my previous return date to the US from 10 September to 10 August in order to have some time in the US with family before beginning my new job. What was most important to me for the return to Switzerland was to get the best deal, i.e., to use my air mileage rather than my woefully depreciated USD. The 11-09 date was the latest possible departure day that would allow me to use air mileage, arrive here and still have a couple days to recover from the jet lag before beginning my first course. Jet lag considerations become ever more important as one ages. I was also more concerned that I would have to leave from Dulles Airport, rather than BWI, which I consider far more user-friendly. Certainly, BWI is much closer to our home in MD. Thus, it only much later dawned on me that 9-11 would be a travel day for me.
I was not superstitious, as some appear to have been, about the date, but would not have chosen to travel then, had I realized in time. It would have been more out of respect for those innocents who died then and who have suffered since than for any other reason. Still, it was interesting to see that my transatlantic flight was absolutely chock full. Either the other passengers were like me and honestly hadn't realized or needs must, I suppose. Still, life must go on.
On The Day ten years ago, I was with my then-Team in Geneva, frantically putting the finishing touches on the final version of that Team's final Panel report, awarding compensation to certain victims of Iraq's illegal invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990. Irony indeed! We were all in the UN complex at the time, which is not where our offices were generally located, and had chosen to forego a late lunch in order to complete our work while the Panel took a break.
We were so engrossed that when the normally jovial Panel Chairman returned slightly in advance of his colleagues and asked whether we had seen anything about the "kamikazes" (his term) hitting New York City (it was nearly 15:00 Geneva time by then), we at first believed that it was the prelude to a joke and waited for a punch line. When no punch line came and we realized that he was talking about a horrible current event, we all flew to the one computer in the room that had an Internet connection. Of course, every news site was jammed. We remembered, however, that there was a television in our Executive Secretary's office and decided to ask permission to watch and see what was happening. This was generally before the days of cell phones that could transmit pictures and videos instantaneously. So, up we raced to the office and knocked on the door - ordinarily we wouldn't have dreamed of doing such a thing without having been summoned. The door was opened by a colleague, who put his finger to his lips, and ushered us in silently. The office was literally packed. Some major players on the international scene were present, including an official Iraqi delegation from Saddam Hussein's government - present to attend a major hearing for another Panel.
We all watched in horror as the attacks on the Towers were played and replayed. There was not a dry eye in the room - no matter what country an individual was from. Tears were openly streaming down peoples' faces, including those from the Iraqi delegation, and others of us were sobbing out loud as we watched the literally unimaginable happening before our eyes. Our Executive Secretary had his head in his arms on his desk.
The truly wonderful thing that happened then is that every single person in that room was united in compassion for those whose world had literally come unglued and for their families whose lives would never be the same. Every single person was an "American" for those moments. Even then, I realized how special those moments were - that every one present, regardless of nationality or religious or political beliefs - repudiated those horrific actions in the strongest terms possible. It was a privilege to be there, to participate in and to witness them firsthand.
Later events would deliberately squander that unity irreparably to wreak havoc and devastation on a scale and to a horrific extent almost unimagined for my country - especially as the preponderance of subsequent victims were entirely innocent.
While I will never forgive those who teleguided the suicide bombers or the bombers themselves, I will also never - ever - forgive those who seized the opportunity to undo human and civil rights protections for us all and to unleash forces on innocents in order to advance their own, equally evil, agendas. They ignored the warnings and did not protect us.
But now it is the entire world that is paying the price.
Also, due to my not paying attention when I booked my return flight to Switzerland - after all, many, if not most, dates outside the US are written typically as "day-month-year," instead of the North American "month-day-year" - it failed to register with me that 11-09 was, in fact, 9-11. I realize that sounds lame. But I was paying more attention to re-scheduling my previous return date to the US from 10 September to 10 August in order to have some time in the US with family before beginning my new job. What was most important to me for the return to Switzerland was to get the best deal, i.e., to use my air mileage rather than my woefully depreciated USD. The 11-09 date was the latest possible departure day that would allow me to use air mileage, arrive here and still have a couple days to recover from the jet lag before beginning my first course. Jet lag considerations become ever more important as one ages. I was also more concerned that I would have to leave from Dulles Airport, rather than BWI, which I consider far more user-friendly. Certainly, BWI is much closer to our home in MD. Thus, it only much later dawned on me that 9-11 would be a travel day for me.
I was not superstitious, as some appear to have been, about the date, but would not have chosen to travel then, had I realized in time. It would have been more out of respect for those innocents who died then and who have suffered since than for any other reason. Still, it was interesting to see that my transatlantic flight was absolutely chock full. Either the other passengers were like me and honestly hadn't realized or needs must, I suppose. Still, life must go on.
On The Day ten years ago, I was with my then-Team in Geneva, frantically putting the finishing touches on the final version of that Team's final Panel report, awarding compensation to certain victims of Iraq's illegal invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990. Irony indeed! We were all in the UN complex at the time, which is not where our offices were generally located, and had chosen to forego a late lunch in order to complete our work while the Panel took a break.
We were so engrossed that when the normally jovial Panel Chairman returned slightly in advance of his colleagues and asked whether we had seen anything about the "kamikazes" (his term) hitting New York City (it was nearly 15:00 Geneva time by then), we at first believed that it was the prelude to a joke and waited for a punch line. When no punch line came and we realized that he was talking about a horrible current event, we all flew to the one computer in the room that had an Internet connection. Of course, every news site was jammed. We remembered, however, that there was a television in our Executive Secretary's office and decided to ask permission to watch and see what was happening. This was generally before the days of cell phones that could transmit pictures and videos instantaneously. So, up we raced to the office and knocked on the door - ordinarily we wouldn't have dreamed of doing such a thing without having been summoned. The door was opened by a colleague, who put his finger to his lips, and ushered us in silently. The office was literally packed. Some major players on the international scene were present, including an official Iraqi delegation from Saddam Hussein's government - present to attend a major hearing for another Panel.
We all watched in horror as the attacks on the Towers were played and replayed. There was not a dry eye in the room - no matter what country an individual was from. Tears were openly streaming down peoples' faces, including those from the Iraqi delegation, and others of us were sobbing out loud as we watched the literally unimaginable happening before our eyes. Our Executive Secretary had his head in his arms on his desk.
The truly wonderful thing that happened then is that every single person in that room was united in compassion for those whose world had literally come unglued and for their families whose lives would never be the same. Every single person was an "American" for those moments. Even then, I realized how special those moments were - that every one present, regardless of nationality or religious or political beliefs - repudiated those horrific actions in the strongest terms possible. It was a privilege to be there, to participate in and to witness them firsthand.
Later events would deliberately squander that unity irreparably to wreak havoc and devastation on a scale and to a horrific extent almost unimagined for my country - especially as the preponderance of subsequent victims were entirely innocent.
While I will never forgive those who teleguided the suicide bombers or the bombers themselves, I will also never - ever - forgive those who seized the opportunity to undo human and civil rights protections for us all and to unleash forces on innocents in order to advance their own, equally evil, agendas. They ignored the warnings and did not protect us.
But now it is the entire world that is paying the price.
Autumn Equinox
No, there has been no emergency - and no real excuse - for not posting for almost the entire month of September. In part, it was due to the time change. The blog time is set for one time zone and I spent the early part of the month in another time zone six hours away. This generally meant that by the time I was ready to sit down and write something, I was already into the next day blog time. So I would rationalize by saying that I would write first thing in the morning. Of course, that never happened.
So, here we are, with the Autumn Equinox occurring during the past week. If I don't get myself in gear, the whole month will have passed SD by and we'll be in October. When did Time begin to pass so quickly? I can remember summers before I was teen-ager that seemed to last forever and a day, so that we were almost happy to begin a new school year just to have a routine again.
Ironically, I have begun an academic School Year this September, as has HWMBO. Each of us, however, is seeing things from a different perspective. I, on the one hand, have returned - somewhat - to my first career incarnation, i.e., teaching. But there is a small, welcome difference. I am teaching university-level students this time, rather than my most recent formal teaching experience of secondary students. Of course, I did also training sessions with adults before HWMBO and I met and married, but the training sessions were not strictly in an academic framework and were very much project-oriented. HWMBO, on the other hand, has returned to student life. He is auditing two courses at the local community college. He is, by far, the most senior member in his classes. Still he seems to be greatly enjoying the co-ed life. Both of us are enjoying the stimulation of young minds once again. But we still find ourselves on separate continents.
I returned to Switzerland earlier in September, so the time zone excuse - if it ever qualified as an excuse - no longer qualifies. But most of my time has been spent in research, preparation of lessons and in learning the mysteries of Powerpoint in order to transfer concepts to PPT slides to teach and repost on the university's intranet site. I can even insert hyperlinks into the slides so that the students can follow the links to the source sites. Meanwhile, HWMBO has been learning how to use his college's intranet, where the professor actually posts lectures and follow-up thoughts in addition to the regular class materials.
This new generation takes such marvels for granted. Both HWMBO and I can remember all too well the pre-xerox days of smeary "ditto" machines (carbons even!), when slide and overhead projectors were considered daringly avant-garde and a good supply of white-out was absolutely necessary. In those days, out-of-date films from the state film library - usually spliced and re-spliced ad nauseam so that they broke off in the film projector; no showing ever involved fewer than two stops and restarts - and recorded tapes were audio visual mainstays. We didn't even have video cassettes when I last formally taught, long ago in those "Dark" Ages. Now we have access to information even as it is being updated.
Sometimes I wonder, however, whether all this access to information leads more to information overload than to knowledge. I would like to believe that greater knowledge is indeed the end result, but I am not so sure.
In any event, my students and I have now all survived the first couple weeks. I've even been offered an additional class to teach, beginning in October. The wonderful thing is that this new "career" offers me the opportunity to continue living in my beloved little Swiss haven, just when I had thought that I really would have to face economic reality and leave.
I hope to enjoy The Dream as long as it can last. And SD will share that enjoyment with me, even when I am slow - even very slow - to post.
So, here we are, with the Autumn Equinox occurring during the past week. If I don't get myself in gear, the whole month will have passed SD by and we'll be in October. When did Time begin to pass so quickly? I can remember summers before I was teen-ager that seemed to last forever and a day, so that we were almost happy to begin a new school year just to have a routine again.
Ironically, I have begun an academic School Year this September, as has HWMBO. Each of us, however, is seeing things from a different perspective. I, on the one hand, have returned - somewhat - to my first career incarnation, i.e., teaching. But there is a small, welcome difference. I am teaching university-level students this time, rather than my most recent formal teaching experience of secondary students. Of course, I did also training sessions with adults before HWMBO and I met and married, but the training sessions were not strictly in an academic framework and were very much project-oriented. HWMBO, on the other hand, has returned to student life. He is auditing two courses at the local community college. He is, by far, the most senior member in his classes. Still he seems to be greatly enjoying the co-ed life. Both of us are enjoying the stimulation of young minds once again. But we still find ourselves on separate continents.
I returned to Switzerland earlier in September, so the time zone excuse - if it ever qualified as an excuse - no longer qualifies. But most of my time has been spent in research, preparation of lessons and in learning the mysteries of Powerpoint in order to transfer concepts to PPT slides to teach and repost on the university's intranet site. I can even insert hyperlinks into the slides so that the students can follow the links to the source sites. Meanwhile, HWMBO has been learning how to use his college's intranet, where the professor actually posts lectures and follow-up thoughts in addition to the regular class materials.
This new generation takes such marvels for granted. Both HWMBO and I can remember all too well the pre-xerox days of smeary "ditto" machines (carbons even!), when slide and overhead projectors were considered daringly avant-garde and a good supply of white-out was absolutely necessary. In those days, out-of-date films from the state film library - usually spliced and re-spliced ad nauseam so that they broke off in the film projector; no showing ever involved fewer than two stops and restarts - and recorded tapes were audio visual mainstays. We didn't even have video cassettes when I last formally taught, long ago in those "Dark" Ages. Now we have access to information even as it is being updated.
Sometimes I wonder, however, whether all this access to information leads more to information overload than to knowledge. I would like to believe that greater knowledge is indeed the end result, but I am not so sure.
In any event, my students and I have now all survived the first couple weeks. I've even been offered an additional class to teach, beginning in October. The wonderful thing is that this new "career" offers me the opportunity to continue living in my beloved little Swiss haven, just when I had thought that I really would have to face economic reality and leave.
I hope to enjoy The Dream as long as it can last. And SD will share that enjoyment with me, even when I am slow - even very slow - to post.
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