Vancouver: Fall Back

Everything in Vancouver is going well- busy though! Last weekend we had "canadian thanksgiving", so I got to go down to the states (and my mom made me turkey!) for a visit. We had a BBQ at Suzies and I got to see all my best friends. I stole this picture from Suzie's blog since my camera was broken (thanks Suz!). I've since gotten a new one- so be on the lookout for tons of new pictures!

School is going well, my students are about to write their mid-term, which I'm sure scares them, and scares me a bit as well, since I'll have to correct it all! Today we did a lesson on Mozart and read a whole text together! Pretty exciting. My little 8 year olds are doing ok as well, although let me tell you, teaching them is most likely the most stressful thing I've ever done. It's exhausting to try to control 8 squirrely 8 year olds! Today one of them, Alsek, told me that – and I quote – I wasn't as retarded as he'd thought. Compliment? Anyway, in my second class, Matthew dropped his shoe in a water filled ditch during the break, and who came to the rescue? Only the best teacher ever! I got down (in a dress, mind you) and leaned over the edge to fish out his waterlogged shoe, while all three little boys were holding my ankles. Thank god no parents were around to witness that little scene. Poor Matthew had to go shoeless for the rest of the time. 

I got a fun tip this weekend from my friend Nik about my master's thesis. Not many of you know, but I've picked a thesis topic- mass media manipulation and quality television in Germany. Basically the idea came about from reading a text by Walter Benjamin called (translated from the German) The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

and also recently seeing the Hans Weingartner film Free Rainer. Anyway, Nik tipped me off to the debate in Germany spurred by a famous literary critic, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, who refused an award at a TV awards banquet on Oct. 12th in Cologne, basically saying all the other shows recieving awards were crap. Interesting. But now I have a very controversial and appliciable topic! 

Last weekend Clover and Derek came up from Bellingham and joined me and my friends Susanne and Phillip from Switzerland for the UBC Apple Festival. The weather was nice and the apples were crisp- I even tried a new "unpatented" apple called Golden Aurora Gala. Afterwards I took Clover and Derek to English Bay and to my favorite Indian restaurant, which I'm also excited to take Colin to someday soon! This week is pretty busy though- tomorrow I'll knock out some reading (since I'm swimming in it!), Wednesday there's a reading by Kevin Vennemann, a friend of Guido's from Berlin, on Thursday we're going to see Vicky Christina Barcelona (hmm... Woody Allen STILL at it, eh?) and then finally The Notwist concert on Friday. Saturday my friend Lydia and I are attending the Goethe Zentrum's teacher conference. I'm really excited, since I'll be attending a workshop about integrating the songs of Wir Sind Helden (my favorite band) into our german lessons! That evening I'm making enchiladas for Colin before we all go to the Parade of Lost Souls on Commercial Street- I'm a tree and he's a lumberjack... but believe me- we didn't pick them out together! ;o) More pictures to come...  

Vancouver: Back in the swing of things.

It's been about a month since I've been back in Vancouver. That means it's also been about a month since I've started the last year of my master's degree at UBC, which means that I'll be writing my master's Thesis this year. 

My first weeks here were hectic- balancing 2 seminars, swedish and teaching 3 classes (more on all that later...) but were made more enjoyable by the presence of Solen's friends from France, who shared our house for a while. I really enjoyed coming home to an environment francais and try to speak with Solen a bit (even if I tend to butcher the language). We also took a sunday to re-decorate our house. We covered the "charming" leopard painting over the fireplace with geometrical fabric, got a new rug and some new lamps, and hung new curtains in the dining room and kitchen. The place has never looked better! 

I started a new job 3 weeks ago as a german teacher at an after-school once-weekly german school in Richmond. I teach a group of 8 8-year-olds – 6 of which are rowdy boys! (which, yes, unfortunately, IS as bad as it sounds) and another class of 3 9-year-olds (which, by contrast, is heaven). I don't have too much experience with that age-range in general, but let me tell you, it's making me rethink the idea of procreation. 

My seminars at UBC this term are on "Nation and Migration" and "Critical Theory". Nat & Migrat (as I call it) is centered around the question if one can have a "national and normal" german identity after the Holocaust, and also looks at the idea of a "native country". We've got TONS of reading (about one novel per week with supporting articles) - but it's incredibly interesting and the discussions are always productive. Next on the list is "Critical Theory" with Steve Taubeneck- a class required for me to graduate but that I'm nonetheless happy to take. We've been mostly reading Nietzsche and Heidegger (moving on to Derrida next) which is great- plus for the final paper (25 pgs) I get to use the same topic as my thesis (and thus killing two birds with one stone, since I'll get 25 pages of it out of the way in the first term!) 

I'm also taking Swedish (3 times a week- not nearly enough!) and have become slightly obsessed- especially with anything musical by way of sweden- namely: Lykke Li (who I have tickets to see with Lydia - our new PhD'er - and Robb, her finance). Jag älsker svenska! 

My grown-up german class is going well- this year we're working with a strict study guide so there's not too much flexibility. Although that didn't stop me from inviting Florian (another new PhD'er from Munich) to my class friday to give a talk on beer (since I realized my lowly knowledge wasn't going to satisfy their thirst for information). I've also been playing german music before class- we've covered: Wir Sind Helden, Kettcar, Die Ärzte, Fettes Brot, Roger Cicero, Farin Urlaub, Tomte, Clueso, Seeed and the Notwist (who, although they sing in English, I advertised in class since they're playing here in a few weeks- and I'm going!).

Although I have tons of work to do, I'm excited for Friday night- my friend Colin (from last year) and I are going to see a hockey game- Seattle vs Vancouver! Doesn't get any better than that! Well- it kind of is on par with yesterday... I went swimming with my friends Florian and Susanne (she's a visiting PhD student from Zurich) in the Pacific!! We had a picnic on Wreck Beach and enjoyed the beautiful vancouver weather- which has been lovely! Vancouver is one of the best places in the world.