Footnotes are Glorious

Day 8

2010-12-09T12:52:00.002+02:00

December 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)

I get excited about stuff... Like really excited about stuff. So much so that my eyes do the whole sparkly thing. At least that's what my significant other tells me!

I'm different in that minutiae make me excited! Words like minutiae make me excited! I get excited a fair bit. With that comes the downside of being disappointed, but good ideas are amazing! And make me light up - and therefore those around me light up, sometimes.

I'm sure there are other things. I will need to think on this one further. Maybe updates later... But for now. Sleep. :)

Day 7

2010-12-09T12:33:00.004+02:00

Day 7 – Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)

Community is something I've spent a great deal of time thinking about and trying to engage with over the last year. Working in SA, the creation of an intellectual community, the engagement with disadvantaged communities, the relationship with student community and community building. And then, slowly but surely, being part of an online community, which basically meant getting addicted to twitter...

The one thing I think that matters most in the building of community is the necessity of intergenerational mentorship. That resource of lived experience, well, I just can't prize it highly enough. I'm a better scholar, teacher, researcher and administrator when I can ask my peers who have forty years practice at what I've only been doing for four or five years. Their lessons and their experience is priceless - even as practice and pedagogy change.

I attended a conference today where one presenter talked about how he'd never learned to use powerpoint, he went straight from overhead projector work to tablet pcs! Some of the other presenters also argued that the pen and paper (or stylus tablet) is far more effective as a teaching tool than powerpoint or any other specky computing solution. And I understand their arguments and can see how they're right!

Day 6: Make

2010-12-07T07:15:00.002+02:00

Prompt: Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

The last thing I made (that I put any real effort into) was a vegetarian bobotie for a Chrismukkah party my friends had on the weekend. It was delicious!

Here's the recipe I use. It's really easy and soooo tasty!

Vegetarian Bobotie

By Cora_and_Clarice on June 12, 2009

Prep Time: 30 mins Total Time: 1 1/2 hrs Servings: 4

About This Recipe

"This is my own vegetarian adaptation of the traditional Cape Malay dish of my country. I have tried to approximate flavour and texture as closely as possible and have retained all the ingredients my mother used when making it - aside from the mince, of course :) This project has been very important to me as most of the vegetarian versions I have found online so far are rather inaccurate. Bobotie was one of my favourite dishes as a child and I wanted to preserve and share that memory as much as I could."

Ingredients

250 g lentils

1 large onions, diced

1 large fresh tomatoes, diced

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon turmeric

salt and pepper

4 tablespoons chutney

1 large handful raisins

40 g sliced almonds

For the topping

3 eggs

100 -150 ml milk (not entirely sure about the amount as I do it by feel, your topping should have a very pale yellow colour)

2 bay leaves (I tear mine up a bit, but some people put them in whole, up to you)

Directions

Rinse lentils until water runs clear.
Cover lentils with water and pre-cook for 30min (you may need to top the water up from time to time).
Drain lentils.
Preheat oven to 150C.
Saute onion and tomato.
Add curry, tumeric, salt and pepper.
Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add raisins, almonds, chutney, onion and tomato to lentils.
Mix and place in baking dish.
Shake up topping ingredients and pour over lentils.
Place in oven and bake for 1-1/2 hours (egg topping should have risen all the way to the middle)

Please note:

I spice my bobotie mildy and use a slightly sweet sultana chutney - one preference found in the Cape. Some people make theirs hotter and use Mrs. Ball's Original Chutney, which is very tasty and is less sweet. I recommend you experiment, but remember, the dish should be spicy as in flavoursome, not as in burn-your-mouth.

Also, adding a bit more diced onion will add more texture to the lentils.

Collected thoughts and quotes for the day:

2010-12-07T04:16:00.002+02:00

My favourites thus far...

From Clay Shirky:

"When authorities can’t get what they want by working within the law, the right answer is not to work outside the law. The right answer is that they can’t get what they want."

From the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford, in Geoff Mulgan's paper on social innovation:

"As the great Victorian historian Lord Macauley wrote: 'There is constant improvement precisely because there is constant discontent'."

#Reverb10

2010-12-06T05:42:00.006+02:00

Reverb 10 and Gwen Bell just happened across my twitter account... and have drawn me back to my blog which I have neglected like some pimply, snotty-nosed step-child for over a year.

I've done a twitter reverb of days 1-5... but thought I would collect them here in reverse order...

Day 5: Let go?: Academic career... maybe.

The shift out of Africa (quite literally) back to Oz has made me rethink the question of academia, and my involvement in it. I should probably qualify the above, I think I've left my discipline behind, as much as that makes me sad. But embraced the possibility and wonder of social entrepreneurship and participatory culture as tools for redesigning curricula and pedagogy.

Day 4: Sense of wonder?: spending time with my lovely Lauren, be it via the interwebs or gloriously when we are in the same space.

Day 3: Most alive?: Enthusiastic discussion of ideas, mostly with Ms Phillippa Wheaton, Executive Director of enke: Make Your Mark.

Day 2: holding me back from writing & how to change?: Lack of confidence in my authorial 'voice' - answer: get in the fray.

I've had talks with all kinds of academics and I think this is something that many ECRs struggle with, finding a voice and engaging with the larger public. So I think I need to brave my own fears and engage (consequently dusting this one off, rather than starting a new one!).

Day 1: word of the year: change. Moved continents, careers and 'lifestyles'.

December 6 2009, living in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lecturer (International Studies) and single.

December 6 2010, living in Melbourne, Manager (so in admin) and in a long-distance relationship.

But change is more amorphous than the 'content' of my life, I have been challenged to rethink, reimagine and reinterrogate what I think and believe and why, mostly at the prompting of the ladies listed above - but also so many others!

So that's where it's at.

I'm really looking forward to Day 6!

Botanical Gardens

2009-04-01T18:19:00.004+02:00

I realised over the weekend that I needed to get some 'green' time. I find that although I never intend to live outside of a major urban area again (except perhaps in England) - Sorry Mum and Dad - I do need to be surrounded by or at least get a decent dose of 'greenness' every couple of weeks. In Australia that just meant wandering through Victoria Gardens 100m from my flat. Here, it's a little more of a challenge. So I went to Emmarentia Botanical Gardens on Sunday and walked around for an hour. It was lovely!

I also took some pictures of the two towers - Brixton (on the left) and Hilbrow (on the right). Both towers are in areas you wouldn't want to frequent after dark (or at any time in Hilbrow) if you look like me!

I have a tshirt that was made as part of a visual literacy programme. It has Hilbrow Tower on it.

Both were used by the Apartheid regime. They controlled all media and were more than a little paranoid about what got on the air. They never introduced tv until 1976! Afeared as they were that it would lead to the "destruction of a white South Africa". I guess they were right about one thing, even if nothing else! Although, the role played by tv in the struggle movement is higly problematic and deeply questionable. Still, it makes an interesting case study! I'm working on some research examining the introduction of tv to SA at the moment. If I find some particularly delightful (and by delightful I mean abhorrent and unashamedly racist and patronising) material in the Hansard, I'll try and share!

Teaching and Learning

2009-03-19T14:14:00.004+02:00

We've just about finished week 3, because of the many and varied issues most of our students have with visas means that we don't start tutorials until this week. It's been strange waiting this long to get to know my classes. Tutes began and so now I have 50 or so new faces to get to know. I realised last semester that I recognise people regularly by their hairstyles, which doesn't work so well in a population that about once a fortnight changes the hair extensions, corn rows or other designs of their hair. But I'm slowly learning - the names are getting a little easier.
Some of my students have awesome names - Mwazvita, Naa-Odaaley, Lwamainsa, Bonang, Zwakele and Ditso. I, of course, absolutely mis-pronounce and otherwise do violence to their given names, which usually have lovely meanings. Still, I'm trying. I have managed to get my head around Thokozani and Sibongiseni, so things do get easier. And now Nthabiseng and Sibusiwe are walks in the park!
The strangest part about my life here, which I'm slowly coming to recognise, is that I'm actually not exposed to much of 'Africa' as it is sold in the tourist books or novels. I was told about the Shona hierarchies and kinship regimes the other night and it struck me that I really am having a very urban and western experience here. I don't know of or hear of or experience life outside of a very middle class, urbanised, Westernised worldview and framework. Obviously, living in Jozi means that going along to traditional ceremonies is not really on the cards, but it feels like my communication here is one way, and that is less than satisfying. Of course, that's not entirely a bad thing, but I really need to make an effort to experience something other than that which I could have anywhere else. I'm going to Zandspruit this weekend to do our community engagement programme at Masakhani Primary, so I'll at least see some of what 'real life' is like in the informal settlements.

PS. My internet is still "intermittent" which at the moment means not working at all, but as soon as it's up and running I'll post some pictures!

In praise of pavement

2009-03-13T09:37:00.003+02:00

Unlike my other friends who have been doing this for a really long time, I'm not very good at consistently updating my blog.
So what's been going on in the last few months? I've been to Australia, to Malaysia and am now back in Jozi.
It's a strange feeling returning to the place where your life is taking place, even if you emotions around that place are ambiguous. I love it here and I hate it. There are things about this city, and my life in it, that I like very much. There are also things that make me angry, really angry on a daily basis.
I always though tPerth drivers were awful, the ones here are many, many times worse. Most people complain of the Taxi drivers, they drive Toyota mini-buses and are the main method for most people who can't afford a car (which is most people) to get from a to b, to work and home again. The taxis are often overcrowded and the drivers can and do stop basically anywhere - freeway, highway, busy street. Part of the problem behind this is the lack of regulation that goes on, or at least that is how it seems to me. Plus the lack of infrastructure and the explicit denial by developers to include taxis in their civic planning. There are almost no taxi ranks, that is safe places off of the street where commuters can wait for their ride. The most common way of catching a cab is to hail it with a hand signal (which deserve a study in and of themselves!) on the side of the road. And we're not talking about suburban streets here, but dual carriageways or worse. The congestion that comes with taxis randomly stopping, and the danger it puts other road users in is insane. But that's only one part of the problem, the fact that the drivers have to do a set number of runs means that they literally take their (and their passengers and anyone else on the road) lives into their hands. They do things with a mini-bus I didn't think were possible without a turbo charger! I admire them their dexterity and tenacity. I dislike the carnage that occurs on an almost daily basis.
Before I left Joburg, in the weeks leading up to my flying to Perth, I saw three dead bodies on the roadside. I don't own a car. I borrow one from my very kind and generous boss's wife on occasion. So I drive to and from work with another incredibly generous colleague, and that's about it. I don't spend hours on the road each day, so to see three dead people is, well, saying something.
Pedestrians regularly get run over, and not only by taxis. I have seen the most discourteous and downright dangerous driving here, more so than the streets of Naples, more so than the hoons in country WA. Here, to take a corner blind, which turns directly onto a dirt road, at 80 km an hour seems the norm, the driver got annoyed when we beeped at her for nearly taking us out. In fact, by comparison, the taxi drivers are safer, at least you know they're going to be crazy!
That said, and the rantings are much easier to express than the things that make me smile, things here are not so bad. In fact, that I am so upset by the occasional driver who is rude, dangerous or simply shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car, says to me that by and large, things aren't so bad. They are the exceptions rather than the rule.
I just wish they'd put in pavement for pedestrians. So much could be fixed with 1.2 metres of concrete slabs on one side of the road.
Anyway, I promise nothing, but I'll try to update more, and with pictures. Next time.

Update

2008-11-13T12:07:00.000+02:00

Wow, sorry, it's been a month. I was waiting for internet at home, and then that died. Sigh. So I don't have pictures to put up for you! I have my stuff! It arrived a couple of weeks ago, which is just fantastic! I now have a wardrobe that consists of more than variations on the same three outfits. YAY!
We're at the end of semester, and things are more than a little crazy. I have a little bit more marking - the examiners' meeting on Monday and then its on to how quickly I can write the three papers I've promised to do.
Anyway, my rental car for the weekend just arrived, so I'd best go and get it! Yay! Swaziland! I'm going there for the weekend!

Week 13

2008-10-14T08:28:00.000+02:00

I'm not very good at updating this thing, am I?
My stuff has still not arrived. I am in the last week of semester - thank goodness. My last class is tomorrow and then nothing but marking from here on out. oh joy. But at least I won't have to prepare classes too.
It's been an interesting semester. With over a fifth of my class resubmitting because they plagiarised, it's a little different to Clayton. Still, I have some good students too. And my honours students are great.
Anyway, I must now prepare for my last class of the honours unit. We're doing revision! Hurrah!

the frustrating wait

2008-10-02T14:45:00.003+02:00

My things are now somewhere between Durban and Jo'burg. The guy thinks I should, all things going well, get them by late next week. sigh. I really would like my knives. And my pots and plates.
Oh well.
I've been talking with one of my colleagues about exciting possibilities in terms of what next to write. I have a couple of projects waiting for me to stick my pen (or my typing fingers) into them. It will actually be exciting to have the time to write. At the moment I'm just marking - lots and lots of marking. Here again, a couch would be advantageous. A desk at home too. Anyway, so I'm planning finally to write a book. It won't be the book I thought I was going to write, I think it's going to be far more wide ranging. But that's cool. The book I want to write requires time in archives in England and the US and that simply isn't possible at the moment. Although if the markets crash there and not here, it might be more possible! Not that I'm wishing that on anyone.
Anyway, I am frustrated, if for no other reason than I have no summer clothes and the temperatures are beginning to resemble February in Perth. ie. hot. damn hot.
But, to count my blessings; I have a beautiful niece who turned one today! Yay! I have a lovely apartment, albeit very empty. I have great colleagues who are willing to pick me up and drop me home. I have an awesome temporary housemate (aren't they the best kind!) who is organising Indian for dinner tonight! I have a couple of good students and the rest can only improve (particularly after I give them a bullocksing on Monday). Tomorrow is cultural day and I'm making salad. Plus I'm meeting with the University of Botswana tomorrow. So there are all sorts of things happening. And we're going to try to go to an elephant sanctuary this weekend! Awesome! So many kinds of good things are happening. Plus it's only two months and a couple of weeks until I'm back in Oz and I can see all you good people! Hurrah!

Mbeki

2008-09-23T08:30:00.002+02:00

The President of South Africa was forced to resign over the weekend. I didn't hear Mbeki's speech, but I did hear the Secretary General of the ANC make the announcement. He wasn't very convincing. It seemed like he was dodging questions and giving the typical bland responses one expects from a politician. It also seemed like the press corp were not exactly well known within the press conference. Perhaps I've been watching too much West Wing. Perhaps the people involved were simply not used to calling on the press. But surely asking 'the guy in the orange t-shirt after the lady over there' is not the most professional manner in which to address the press. Moreover it shows that hte moderator was really not sure over who she was giving the microphone too - actually the sound quality was so appalling I don't think there were microphones. I didn't hear any foreign press either, but that could be due to the lack of microphones. Surely it is sensible for government to be aware of who they are giving voice to - not in order to control it necessarily, although that certainly happens, but because being aware of who is speaking because they represent, or claim to in any case, the public sphere and the people in all their diversity within that sphere.
The press here, it seems, tend to speak in the same direction - they don't all say the same thing - but diversity of opinion and a good old fashioned dust-up between different perspectives within the fourth estate doesn't seem to occur regularly.
Anyway, the President has been recalled and so now we can expect a new one to be appointed over the next few days. Interesting times - a Chinese curse.
On a happier note, it's Heritage Day tomorrow - no one seems to know what that's all about but it scores me a day off so yay! Then the Brotherus Minimus' birthday on the 25th! Hurrah!

things...

2008-09-19T17:40:00.003+02:00

It's been too long. I'm alive and well despite my moving company having gone into liquidation. My stuff, thankfully, is still at sea and should arrive in Durban on Tuesday, which means it will only take about another fortnight before I actually get to sit on my couch and cook with my pans and cut with my knives and add colours to my outfits besides black, black, black and red. Actually, some more red would be nice. I am very sick of my clothes, with the exception of my 'John Allison' skirt. It's still just lovely!
Anyway, this weekend I have hired a car - it's a snazzy little Daihatsu. I was meant to have borrowed Michelle's car, but her parents, who have the keys, are busy tonight and I have to get home and get back to School tomorrow for the engagement program, so I need to be mobile! Anyway, it's also Priscilla's birthday so I'm taking her out for Indian in Greenside (where I went for the fantastic deli lunch a month or so ago!).
I NEED to get a car soon. I'm trying to work something out so that that can happen in the next couple of weeks. eish.
Anyway, I should be about ready to leave. I have a whole pile of marking that the students handed in today - so I have a fun weekend ahead if nothing else! They handed in at 5pm and I've already found one case of plagiarism! Students. blah.
But, my new flat is just lovely! The space is wonderful and the light just divine! So on balance, things are good.

trials and tribulations...

2008-09-12T08:33:00.003+02:00

I've had an eventful week. Last weekend I did a tree identification course with Lisa. We were accompanied by the Grey Hairs and the additional bonus of some racist Afrikaners. On Saturday afternoon I found a flat - in Northcliff. A lovely 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom place (why on earth does the place need two bathrooms when the second bedroom looks like a broom cupboard!). I'm not really complaining. It has great light and a wonderful balcony. It's only two years old and it has that luxurious 'we have too much money' look. Sunday was spent with Priss - trying to find an open bed or fridge shop. We failed.
I had the usual preparation and teaching on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It was also my Mum's birthday on Wednesday - Happy Birthday Mum!!! I went and saw Tropic Thunder on Wednesday night. Yesterday, my old Head of School gave a paper on campus - which was great. The less exciting aspect of yesterday was discovering, via Craig's List of all places, that my moving company has gone in liquidation. Hurrah. So all of my worldly possessions are now somewhere unknown to me between Melbourne and Johannesburg - I hope. I've been trying to contact the liquidation firm, but they haven't returned my calls as yet. My Dad is suggesting I contact my local state MP from Victoria... It might yet come to that. Anyway, I suppose what doesn't kill me will only make me stronger...
Except the heat. The heat is just plain nasty. We had a heat wave this week, with three out of the last four days with a max temperature over or on 30 degrees. And I only brought winter clothes with me - thinking I would have my stuff here by late August. Ah, the dreams of youth - how naive! How foolish!
I am still waiting to hear whether I have the flat yet. Although, happily, the kids were only up until about 11.30 last night. Or, at least, that's when I ceased to be conscious to hear them yelling up the corridor anymore.
The missing of Melbourne and of people in Melbs and Perth is really starting to kick in. Especially since two sets of friends are getting married in the next month or so and I won't be there for the parties... I think that's the bit that sucks the most. To not be there to celebrate with them.
Still, it could be worse. And I'm mostly just annoyed with myself that I chose an incompetent moving company...
Please excuse my whingeing. Things aren't really that bad. If the real estate lady gets her act together I should have a really lovely flat to move into! Wait until you see the photos - the place looks like a country club! And it has a pool! Start putting in your reservations for my tiny spare bedroom for 2010! It also has an amazing balcony which I intend to take full advantage of in the splendiferous Jo'burg weather. Especially if we hit summer weather in mid-September every year! They tell me it's going to be warm and barmy (if not downright hot) from now until early June. People think I'm crazy that I miss Melbourne weather, and they're probably right. I get less work done when it's warm and sunny. Still, if I have to live in the perfect climate, then I will do my best to have a stiff upper lip, lie back and think of England, and drink cocktails with the little umbrella's and floating fruit in them every night.

no longer illegal!

2008-09-04T17:40:00.004+02:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been a little busy.
I now have a visa though! So that is most definitely a moment for celebration. I can no longer be kicked out of the country without just cause! Hurrah! Plus I scored the five year version, so I'm set! I'm a 'valid' resident until 2013!!!
Anyway, with my visa I can now do some really basic things like get a bank account and a car loan. Hurrah! First I have to convert my driver's license to a SA one. But Malekwa in admin knows someone who knows someone... so hopefully it will be an hour trip not a three month wait...
I gave a paper today on my webcomics chapter. So now all I have to do is make sure I have a much stronger conclusion than the one I gave and find those final footnotes, do a last polish and Rich can have it. Hopefully by the weekend at the latest... eish. Sorry Rich.
Funny, that's something I've picked up quickly - the use of 'eish' as an expression. I rather like it!
Now all I have to do is find a flat or a cottage. The idea of a cottage is quite appealing - I'm going to go and look at one in Westdene on Friday and hopefully some flats in Northcliff too... Both safe suburbs, not THAT far from work (closer than Prahran to Clayton, anyway) and close to Melville and Greenside - both places I 'need' to be near in order to feel normal (coffee shops, bars and bookshops - the three necessary elements of life). So things are finally (hopefully) coming together. It's been a long and frustrating period - one which I haven't shared here so much (what's the point whingeing, won't change anything) and because there literally was nothing I could do until Home Affairs decided I was legitimate and the best candidate for my job. And yes, they checked. They rang the poor dudes who didn't get it. Man, that has to be salt in the wound!
Ok, on to drinking the very lovely Savannah Dry Apple Cider I have acquired in order to celebrate my legal status!

weekend...

2008-08-24T19:51:00.003+02:00

I seem to be getting into the habit of packed weekends. This weekend I did the Zandspruit Engagement program and then went to Constitution Hill with Simon, Amanda and the kids. Constitution Hill was once a prison that held both Nelson Mandela and Gandhi (not at the same time, obviously). On Saturday evening I went in to Pretoria to see a show at the state theatre called Karoo Moose. It was good - well produced and interesting. Rape seems to be a common theme in African theatre, but that's not to put you off. It was a well produced show and I enjoyed it! There was dancing and singing and drums and physical theatre - it was great. They also did this awesome thing to signify the character being a child or adult by having the actor peg or hold up children's clothes to signify their age. They also had a couple of the guys playing women - one guy (the whole cast was black) played a rather affected Afrikaners woman - he played her like a drag queen! It was hilarious. Plus some of the dialogue was in Zulu and Khosa - both involving the use of the clicky sounds which are just soo cool! One of the internet guys here speaks Khosa (which is said 'click-hosa') and has promised to take me to a traditional ceremony! How amazing will that be!

So after the theatre and failing to find an open and under 300db cafe in the main strip, we drove back to Jo'burg. It's only about 50km, so it didn't take long!

Then today I slept in, then tried calling some people (I have skype working - finally - in my room and so can call, especially early on Saturday or Sunday morning - the internet kinda works then!). After a quick snacky lunch we went to the Botanical Gardens (different ones from last time) and went for a walk. I bought hiking shoes and cargo 'action' pants, so I got to put them into 'action'! It was really nice out today - as always.

This is the Ementia Dam (I think that's spelt right) in the Botanical Gardens, from just outside the gardens (we walked around the dam). It's gorgeous.

Then the three 'Jacques' girls (after the three of us who travel around together using my gps - which I've named Jacques-Hendrik Pot Heater G.P.S) went to Melville for a coffee, which turned into a beer (cider on my part) and a shared Mediterranean platter. It was lovely!

Now back to my room to maybe do some work or just go to bed early! Hurrah!

(sans) Kimba... and nuncheon

2008-08-19T18:10:00.005+02:00

I haven't had a chance to upload the piccies of giraffes, rhino, elephants and most of all, the white lion cubs until now. I'll try to get them uploaded, although the web is unbelievably slow! Seriously, you wouldn't believe me if I tried to explain how slow it is.
So here goes...
Ok, so the internet is just too frustrating. It's refusing to load photos. So you get a giraffe. More later, if you're lucky.

I did manage to find on the weekend, along with the help of Jacques-Hendrik Pot Heater (my GPS), a wonderful cafe in Greenside. They served this amazing buffet lunch with sweet chili pumpkin salad, amazing green bean, nut and cottage cheese (I think) salad, an awesome cous cous tartine and some other very delicious things all for under R60 (for my plate anyway!). Plus they knew how to make coffee - real coffee! In the tradition of the Italian espresso, neither burnt coffee grinds nor overboiled milk, but rather very, very delicious! I can see I shall be returning to the Wild Olive Store!

Now I have to write a lecture on postmodernism. Pity me, people, pity me!

P.S. I added some piccies... yay for internet in my room!

Just a quick one...

2008-08-16T09:16:00.003+02:00

I now have internet in my room! Hurrah!
But more important than this is that el Brotherus Minimus, or Stevius Bigus as he prefers (I like the Greek myself, Stephevus Maximus) has a blog and OMG can the blogger write! Check it out - click here
So very awesome! It means I'm going to have to up the literary anti, I think!
Anyway, must go and play with the kids from Zandspruit.

I blame the lions... partial update

2008-08-14T16:52:00.007+02:00

It’s all their fault really.

Sorry for the lack of posting, I’ve had my brother to stay and we went away for the weekend. The weekend before I was madly trying to prepare for the visit of el Brotherus Minimus, as well as utilizing the hire car I had to its utmost, and so there’s been a silence from Jozi.

So, the week(s) in brief.

I went on the ‘702 Walk the Talk’ walk on Sunday three weeks ago… It was great fun, although deeply exhausting. Jo’burg is about 1800 metres up and so walking around is really, really exhausting. But there were lots of us and we managed to do the 5kms.

All the blue things are Monash noise makers, whoever thought them up was a marketing genius! So many people asked me about what Monash was and where we were and how many of us were on the walk (about 350 including staff and students!). It was a beautiful day - I even got sunburnt!

Then two weekends ago I hired a car and went for a wander over to the Rhino and Lion Reserve, which is actually only about 20 minutes from campus. I saw lions, zebra, ostriches, cheetahs, wild dogs and a plethora of what I fondly refer to as “bucky- things” – that is animals that bear some general relationship to a buck of some description! There were many, many bucky-things!

They’re kinda cute too, but not anywhere near as cool as the Lions! We saw white lions too! KIMBA!!! I love that show as a kid, so it was great to see the lion cubs playing and being thrown around by their carer.

Then this last weekend my brother came to visit, so I took him along to the wonderous joy that is Gold Reef City – it’s hideous really, but still the gaudiness was amusing to dis if nothing else! We saw a show there called African Footprints. It was, to be honest, really awful. There was a great deal of Bollywood going on, but Bollywood gone wrong. It was too glitz and also far, far too apolitical. We watched them deal with Apartheid in one rather easy and comfortable song.

El Brotherus Minimus at the gaudy entrance to Gold Reef City - check out the bling! Oh, and for R40 you can check out 'Groovy Nights' which looked like an excuse for a girly show. Yuk.

Anyway, after that we went to Pilansberg National Park on Sunday and saw giraffes! And elephants! And buffalo! And hippos! And rhino! And zebra, many, many bucky-things and other animals of an exotic nature. We did not, however, see any of the big cats. So we headed (back for me) to the Rhino and Lion Reserve to see the lions for el Brotherus Minimus! And that’s when we got to play with baby white lion cubs! They were only 7 weeks old and while I feel rather torn over the nature of our exploitation of these wild things, I also really loved playing with them, they were SOOO CUTE!!!!!!

[There will be pictures of giraffes, elephants and white lion cubs as soon as I can get an internet connection that is faster than an ice age.]

Anyway, now I’m back to the hard work again, which, really, is not so bad. Plus I’m actually getting some research done! Hurrah!

I shall to try to be more regular in my updates – plan for this weekend – do some bush walking to get out and about a bit. I don’t enjoy being cooped up like one has to be here. So a couple of us are planning to go up into the hills and do some hiking.

Oh, and I bought a GPS!!! It’s great!!! Even though I’m sure el Brotherus Maximus might find it a little pedestrian, it tells me where to go and in this city that is an amazing thing!

PS. There are more photos but the bandwidth here makes a 56K modem look like rocket science. So I'm going to try and upload more piccies tomorrow morning before the kiddies slow the web down to a pitiful dribble...

Weekend

2008-07-28T08:51:00.002+02:00

This last week has been crazy - I pulled some long hours during the week because I forgot (temporarily) how to write lectures. By the time I remembered, the week was half over and I was exhausted.
On Friday I spent the day with a series of Australians and others seeing the Apartheid Museum in Gold Reef City and the Hector Pietersen Museum in Soweto. We also went to a shabeen in Soweto for lunch. I had a great time, and the people (from TEAM Monash and the Edmund Rice Centre in Freo and a couple of others) were fantastic. Plus we had a local guide. It was thoroughly exhausting, though. The emotional drain was incredible. It's so close to the present that it seems different to say the history of the Holocaust. Anyway, I had the car this week due to the kind offices of Amanda. So I decided (in a fit of hospitality) that I should take out the Edmund Rice people, since it was their last night in Jo'burg. And here the fun begins. Long story short, I got lost and managed eventually to find my way through the CBD on my own and got there after a very, very long drive. At least I now have a much better sense of where things are and how to get around.
Then on Saturday we had Open Day. Which was very, very quiet, most unlike Caulfield last year. It was a fun day - we have a new caterer, and so we had a choice for lunch other than pap (African staple, made of maize, looks like mashed potato gone hard) and pork cutlets. There were salads! Real salads! And it was great hanging out with my colleagues. I went out to the movies that night and saw 'Caramel', a Lebanese-French film at Rosebank, at the art house cinema which was in a shopping centre (of course). It was a great film and we had great (although very odd) fusion-ish Thai at an uber cliched Thai restaurant called Cranks. If you can imagine a series of Barbie dolls in various compromising positions hanging from the ceilings and a series of large bad-sci-fi movie insects hanging from the ceiling on the verandah, then you have some idea of how the place looked at least. We had fun though, and only got lost four or five times. I can't wait til I get a GPS. And I never thought I would ever hear myself say that!
Yesterday I walked 5km in the annual 'Walk the Talk' fun-run/walkathon. It was great fun, although exhausting, and the I got sun burnt. Eish. I went out to a colleague's for dinner, which was lovely, and cooked with them - so exciting!
I'm getting a cold at the moment as well - sigh. So sun-burnt, exhausted and sick - that's me. And I have all the readings to do for my lecture and my honours kids... Still, I had a great weekend, despite the hecticness. And I discovered the area I want to live in - Westdene - it's right near Melville (an area that has bits that feel and look like Melbourne, specifically the cool end of Chapel, or maybe even a bit Greville st-ish) and is not a huge distance from work. Plus I have a number of excellent colleagues who live nearby.
Right, back to work... (and refreshing facebook until it loads properly!)

Is it? and the joys of Be Bop

2008-07-23T15:25:00.006+02:00

One of the marvelous things about being in a new country (where I speak the language) is discovering the nuances of language, tone and intonation that are different from home. In talking to my colleagues I've been informed of the joys of differentiating between 'just now' (meaning anytime in the next three hours, or perhaps three days) and 'now now' (what we would mean when we say 'right now'). There is something so lovely about not wanting to disappoint whoever you're talking to by telling them that they are going to have to wait for possibly many hours on a very uncomfortable chair while you go for a long lunch and see to the other pressing matters that might be on your desk and instead telling them with an incredibly reassuring smile that you will see to their problem, visa, bank account, etc. 'just now'.
The other linguistic quirk I have discovered and decided I really like (although it's a little bizarre at first) is the response of 'Is it?' to a statement of fact: "I went to the shops last night" response: "Is it?" My look of confusion and misunderstanding - "Umm, is what what?"
It's actually really quite endearing as far as a rhetorical response goes! Although I haven't yet encountered it yet, I'm also told than when I ask (in a truly Australian fashion, accent retained and no slippage as yet - fingers crossed) how someone is going, they will reply with their transportation options, rather than their state of wellbeing! I intend to ask as many people who are not familiar with Australian vernacular as possible until I get the response of "by Bakkie" (like a ute) or (equally fun!) "go where?"
Anyway, onto other matters - the teaching has begun. I have inundated my students with the joys of jazz - including Be Bop - making them listen to Thelonious Monk. They didn't understand it at all - their confusion was simply awesome!He was without a doubt the coolest cat ever. He just sizzles!
I mean, who wouldn't want to be as cool as him?! Just look at him! He rocks the suburbs, or rather he syncopates the urban ghetto or something jazz-like. Anyway, I felt largely like a fraud, not being the most knowledgeable jazz aficionado in my acquaintance! Still, I think I knew more than my students, which is perhaps not difficult. Sigh. The youth of today. What can you do? Play them Miles Davis, that's what!

Campus and Community

2008-07-17T15:43:00.002+02:00

One of the exciting things about being here and that I really want to be a part of, is the building of a scholarly community. We started that today with our first staff seminar from a visiting academic, Dr Sue Onslow, from the Africa Institute at the LSE. She gave a great paper on what she does at the Institute. She's also an historian - and it is always lovely to meet people who understand the importance of history ("Monarch [to avoid sexist language] of the Social Sciences"!).
Anyway, it brought home to me how important it is to have a community of scholars. And how that is built person by person, talking to each, having lunch and a beer together. Plus we have a new coffee shop on campus that has a liquor licence after 5pm. It's not as flash as the Mausoleum or, indeed, as Cinque Lire or Mama Dukes, but it has cheap beer and cider and pretends to know there is more to coffee than instant and that there are more breads than white, brown, rye and panini! All kinds of good.
I'm going to update this rather rambling post with some pictures of campus later - probably tomorrow - but I thought it important to say hi and let you know that things are still keeping on. If you're too impatient to wait for then - here is a photo tour the uni does.
I also started my classes this week. My honours students are great. I am yet to talk to the second and thirdies outside of a lecture, but once I've had some tutes with them (which everyone here calls tuts - like 'tut, tut'!) , I think I'll have a better idea of how things sit and what the standards and expectations are like!
Tonight, however, I'm off to some some of the highlights of Jo'burg with two of my wonderful colleagues! Huzzah!

Developmental challenges...

2008-07-10T13:18:00.004+02:00

So I've been trying to watch a video of Rich Stevens of Diesel Sweeties and Meredith Gran of Octopus Pie on YouTube. I'm writing a chapter on webcomics for a book on political cartoons, and what was really interesting for me was Rich's comments about the limitations placed on cartoonists in the print medium - and how liberating the web is by contrast. I thoroughly agree. However, and this is the bit I think is bizarre, the use that cartoonists make of that freedom is often not particularly innovative or radical. There are few anarchist comics that I'm aware of, or even comics that comment on the political - even in the sense of the politics of the everyday, critiquing culture or capitalism or any of the structures and rules that frame our society. I've been scouring the net for examples of webcomic artists and writers challenging 'the man', or 'the woman', or the corporation, or the government... or anybody really. While blogs have been used, with some degree of success, for activism and advocacy, there seems to be fairly little happening on the webcomic scene. Now a big part of this, I'm sure, is that as the mighty John Allison claims, he produces entertainment, not art - so the impetus to challenge the status quo that comes with producing 'art' is perhaps not as clearly articulated or even consciously understood as part of the cartoonists raison d'etre. Perhaps that's a good thing. I don't know, I suspect not. Perhaps it will come with the expansion of the webcomics realm. Perhaps as the landscape of the web includes more webcomics in it, there will emerge an underground movement, if you will allow me a gloriously intellectual reference to 1970s cinematic Italian Communism - a small mole may emerge and thus the whole edifice of capitalism (or in the Italian case Fascism) will collapse - and the glorious revolution will unfold! Or not.

Anyway, unfortunately I don't have my own house yet or my own internet connection, so it's taken me the better part of two days to watch the one hour video. Watch two minutes, pause it, let it load for twenty, watch another four minutes, pause it, let it load, watch another minute... all day. The experience of watching sucked, although the video is pretty rad - especially for someone with my interests.

That's one of the things that is a challenge about being here, especially for a web junky like me - not having fast downloads, waiting for minutes at a time while my 9 tabs open very, very, very slowly. And evidently it's good at the moment. It will get worse when the kids are here en masse. Yikes.

Anyway, other than the slowness of my interwub (it's like communing with a slightly dopey puppy - fun for a little bit and then very, very tedious), most things are slowly happening. Things just take longer here. Plus not having any transport or commercial ventures near enough to walk to is a little bit tough. Still, thems the breaks. I've also discovered I have attained a Gen Y attention span and am finding my teaching prep incredibly difficult! What is with that?

Photos! and my first weekend...

2008-07-07T17:14:00.006+02:00

My first weekend in Jo'burg was really quite lovely. I spent the morning on Saturday helping out with the community engagement program that runs on campus. We have 50 or so kids come up from the illegal settlement near here for videos, games outside, and chess lessons! I can't play chess, so that sounds all rather awesome to me!

Then, on Sunday I was taken out to the Botanical Gardens near the uni. The wind was rather bracing (it was bloody freezing), but we managed to scale up the path to the top of the waterfall!

We even managed it with the three kids (aged 5, 3 and 1!). I think we did rather well. It's a lovely spot and the gardens below, while not ornate, are pleasant and at least its somewhere I can walk around, sprawl on the grass and be relatively safe!

Then we went to one of the local malls so I could do some grocery shopping. I spent the evening watching The West Wing and cooking in my new fry pan! Yay!

My room is fairly small, but better than anything I had when I was at college!
It's pretty sunny here, even in the winter! While my room is most definitely a little stark, in the way that institutions are, I do have a glorious bunch of flowers that my colleagues sent me for when I arrived.

Which was really sweet of them! Speaking of which, my colleagues are increasingly making their way back onto campus. As are the students, so things are going to be a little noisier and perhaps more lively around here! Which doesn't bode well for my sleep patterns, but it will be great to have their energy around! Anyway, that's what I'll keep telling myself. I'll try to take some photos of the campus and things tomorrow so you, dear reader, can get an idea of what the place looks like!

Why I love the magical red plug…

2008-07-03T14:46:00.000+02:00

So today the power went out – evidently at about 4am. Although I was asleep and so missed it. Apparently a sub-station up the road overloaded and gave up the ghost. So the campus is without power. I haven’t had a shower today (my poor colleagues and I need to wash my hair!) and had to have spreadable cheese and sugar snap peas on rye bread for first lunch (I had a second lunch, but more about that later), rather than the risotto I had planned on. Cold risotto just isn’t that much fun.

I turn up at work this morning – sans caffeine (I’m still sans caffeine actually!) and wondered how the university would function. Only to discover that due to the ‘load shedding’ that has been happening here over the last six months or so, the university is very well prepared. We have a back-up generator and in every room there is a magic red plug! Said magic red plug puts you onto the emergency grid, consequently how I am able to write this now. So I still have the interweb, but no coffee. I did, however, manage to score a second lunch with two of the Pro-VCs and one of my colleagues. Part of the whole welcoming to Monash SA thing. It was lovely, food was good and we sat in the sun, so I'm without artificial stimulants and have been partly put to sleep by sunshine!

So, I think I might have to go and investigate to see if anyone else has misappropriated the magic red plug to boil the kettle!

Arrived!

2008-07-01T11:21:00.000+02:00

I'm here! The difficulties, which continued right up until I got on the plane (including my being asked to repack my carry on luggage as I went through the departure gates - luckily the nice departure man took pity on my teary state and let me through) have now seemed to have ended.
On arriving in Jo'burg the Customs guy barely even looked at my invitation to work letter. Mind you, he gave me the wrong visa - I think - but the HR people here seem to think it doesn't matter. And it's now up to them to sort out.
So, I'm staying on campus, in a light and airy room with a beautiful vase of flowers sitting there on my arrival! There have been *problems*, but of such a minor nature (my heater doesn't seem to work and my wardrobe doesn't lock yet) that I feel as if the difficulties are at an end. Plus, and here is the joy of globalisation, I went shopping yesterday to Woolworths (a far more upmarket version than our own Aussie version) and found a whole stack of familar brands! I even scored some Milo (evil, I know, but so tasty!). So I feel like I've not actually gone that far.
The food on campus is also familiarly bad. So, it seems that it is not so strange after all. I'm sure the culture shock will hit me at some point. But I'm just glad that it's given me a couple of days reprieve so far.
My office is light and bright and airy, and so far does not smell of wet dog - unlike the south wing of the Menzies. So despite not having some familiar and terribly missed faces along the corridor, my new colleagues are lovely - very friendly and welcoming. So all is well.
Anyway, this has been more than a little rambly. The facts in brief:
How am I? Well, thanks!
Was my flight ok? Yep, only a couple of screaming babies, and I managed to block most them out with the trashy novel Jess gave me. Thanks Jess!
How is it here so far? Really great!
Is the weather ok? Much better than Melbourne and sunnier than Perth, if that's possible.
Have I met some nice people? Absolutely, everyone has been very kind!
Is my accommodation ok? Yep, very new, light and airey. And safe.
Have I seen any lions, tigers or bears yet? Nope, but it's rather unlikely to see the bears or tigers, there are lions just up the road, evidently!

I can't think of any other hypothetical questions to ask myself. But if you have any, let me know!

Farmey, farm, farm... for Clare

2008-06-26T15:43:00.001+02:00

I'm home on the farm, literally. The joys of less than speedy broadband internet. Nonetheless, I come to you to say I was stressed, and now I'm sick. I'm not sure which I prefer. As long as the head cold disappears before my long haul flight to SA, all will be well. Until then, I bring you sniffles!

A week out... the debacle begins...

2008-06-15T11:33:00.000+02:00

So I organised to have a few friends come out for going away drinks at the wonderful, the beautiful, the (dare I say it) glorious Back Bar. I love the Back Bar, it's my favourite Melbourne bar. I rang and set it up a fortnight ago. Then they call me on Tuesday to tell me they no longer have a liquor license.
Fine. I can manage that.
So I drop in to La La Land and book their back room - to be told the next day that they've double booked me.
What the hell??? So, onto venue number three...
The Local - which isn't mine, but is still lovely.

So far nothing about this move has been easy. I am so much looking forward to finally stopping still for a little while.
Anyway, the drinks were lovely, I had a great time! Thanks to everyone who stopped by.
Now I have to organise things like the stat dec I have to sign to get out of jury duty.
The debacle... it's only just begun...