Fenry Honda

Burns: Beep! Beep! Out of my way! I'm a motorist!
Chief Wiggum: That's some nice reckless driving, Mr. B.

Big things happening here. Seems I've once again thrown myself out of the comfort-zone I had found here: I've just bought a car, now I just have to learn to drive the thing! Not only is the steering wheel on the wrong side of the car and all the cars on the wrong side of the road but it's a manual and it's been a few years since I drove one. So while learning to keep to the right and indicate with my left hand, I have to remember how to change gears with my right. The state of Indiana wouldn't give me a licence automatically based on my Australian gold licence so I'm back on my Ls for at least 60 days. But I don't need to obey those rules, I can still drive myself around because I have an international driver's permit.


The car I've bought is a 1989 Honda Civic LX. As you can see it's a small 4-door, in less than mint condition. But it's good enough for my purposes. (N.B. That dent is from one of its previous owners, I have not hit anything yet!) At 1.5L, I'm hoping it will run on the smell of an oily rag. I bought it from another grad-student here who's just finished his degree, another Australian philosopher, would you believe it? I'm told the name is Fenry, a spoonerism. I can't think of anything wittier so I guess I'll keep the name.

This morning I tried to drive it to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to register it (with Patty and Selma). I was told that the wait would be shorter at the Ellettsville branch, only 5 min further to drive. So I looked it up on the map, seemed straightforward. Except that it's pouring rain here today. I had the wipers and demisters all going so it was very hot inside and my visibility was pretty low. I aquaplaned right in front of the cop-shop and spun the wheels at a few lights with my less-than-smooth first gear starts. But I am getting better; the gear shifting has come back to me, now I just need to get used to this clutch and this engine. It was very stressful and quite disappointing that I didn't even get there on time! At least I did get back home, without getting too lost or hitting anything. Will have to try again Monday or Tuesday.

A leather jacket with tweed patches on the elbows

I just taught my first philosophy class today. As mentioned before, I'm taking two discussion sections for Lisa Lloyd's "Evolution, Religion and Society". The undergrads are slightly more formal here so I made a point of referring to the lecturer as "Professor Lloyd", even though I always address her by her first name. That already had me feeling quite the school-teacher when I returned to my computer to find an email addressed to "Mr. Best"! Ah, freshmen, they look at me and see a grown-up. Scary!

I think both sessions went pretty well. Unfortunately there's about 30 students in each class, quite an unwieldy number for a discussion class, so they discuss things in small groups and then relate to to rest of the class their answers. All I need to do is elaborate on those and explain the subtleties like the differences between theories, hypotheses and facts. We've been given a large list of study questions related to the readings, which I used to guide the discussion. There are more questions than we can get through but that just means we concentrate on the good ones. They seemed relatively well-engaged with the material, so I think it's going to get better as the semester moves on.

Back to Class

Well my summer break is all over; tomorrow classes start back.

This semester I'll be taking "Logical Theory", "History and Philosophy of Big Science" and "The Meanings of Darwinism".

On top of this, I'm an Assistant Instructor for Prof. Elisabeth Lloyd's class "Evolution, Religion and Society". This means leading two discussion sections of 30 students each, as well as attending the lectures. This is going to be a new challenge for me as I've never taught anything so philosophical before. Last thing I taught was first-year chemistry lab, before that I also tutored high school physics and maths. Leading a discussion will be very different: I won't have students walking up to me, test-tube in hand, asking "What's this?", instead I'll get vocal opinions; instead of being able to tell them "Try it again with fresh reagents" I'll have to try to elicit a consistent position. Hopefully the skills I picked up facilitating all those Greens meeting will come in handy.

In the past, all of my classes have been on the lower part of campus, closer to where I live, but now this section I'm teaching will be in a residence hall way up on 12th St. It's fine for me to walk all that way during the summer but once it starts snowing I think I'll have to take the bus. I was really annoyed that Larry, the other AI, got a normal classroom down on 3rd St but then I learnt that, because it's in a residence hall, I get $10 of meal points every week so that I can eat there (ie they're encouraging me to fraternise with the students). It'll be worth the walk if I get a free lunch every Friday.

Paper Anniversary

Today marks one year that I've been in the USofA!

ROTFLMAO

On one of my many procrastination trips to Wikipedia I stumbled across this prank that Barry Humphries liked to perform in his younger days:

This involved carrying a tin of condensed soup onto an aircraft, which he would then surreptitiously empty into an air-sickness bag. At the appropriate point in the flight, he would pretend to vomit loudly and violently into the bag. Then, to the horror of passengers and crew, he would proceed to eat the contents.

I cacked myself laughing when I read that!

I'm not so keen on Dame Edna, and I understand why most people are turned-off by Humphries's demenour, but that prank is just so funny that I had to share it!

Early Mark

Got some good news today. The instructor for my French class cancelled the last few lessons, Monday will be the last one! I have a take-home test due then but it won't be too hard.

That means I will have the best part of three weeks off before Fall Semester starts. No definite plans yet but hopefully I'll find something a little more interesting than the writing and the lab work that I know I should be doing.

Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, relax the studious and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise and will not use abstinence.

(I'm writing about tea? That's right, my life has been pretty quiet lately!)

I think I've mentioned already that living in the USA makes you feel more English. Well, drinking lots of tea contributes to this a little because Americans rarely drink hot tea. (However they do drink iced tea, which really is an abomination -- about as appetising as a hot glass of Coke!) In fact, I drink far more tea here than I did in Australia because the coffee here is weak and/or bitter. The best I can do for my morning coffee is buy an expensive Italian brand (Lavazza usually) and put it in my American dripolator. The rest of the day I drink tea.

At first it was just Twinings English Breakfast (or sometimes Irish, for a change). But when I was up in Montréal I just had to pick up some of Leonard Cohen's favourite tea, Constant Comment. And, even though I'm not so fond of green tea, a meal at Chinatown convinced me that Jasmine tea is not too bad occasionally.

I never took the whole brewing process too seriously, apart from making sure that the water is always very hot, but recently I was helping a friend move when she kindly gave me one of her spare teapots. Now I'm using it all the time. It lets me get two cups from each teabag and also allows me to try some other Chinese teas I'm starting to investigate, like Pu-erh.

Although I am becoming a little more adventurous (I couldn't even read the label on the imported Pu-erh tea) I still wouldn't be caught dead drinking chamomile "tea" or any other tisane. If it doesn't contain leaves of Camellia sinensis, it's not tea!

Independence Day

Today's the Fourth of July, that's Independence Day here in the U.S. of A. My first ever.

I'm going to a big party tonight and have just now got back from a trip with my American friends to the fireworks store. We bought about $60 worth of explosives for tonight! It's quite a novelty for me. While I do remember when fireworks we legal in NSW, I was always too young to let them off myself so my memories are all of my father and uncles doing it all. (Except for that New Years Eve when my cousin was able to procure some...) From what I can see, they have pretty much the same sorts here, except no bungers. Oh, but this being for Fourth of July, some of them are a bit more patriotic than any fireworks I've seen before. Like the Indiana Liberty Fountain, not only does it have a bald eagle over the Stars and Stripes but it's state-specific patriotism! (That makes it even more American, it's unbelievable how much emphasis they put on their specific states.) Oh, and it even has a quote from Thomas Paine on the side!

What's even more disturbing, though, is the existence of the Dixie Dynamite firecrackers! I've never understood the whole Southern pride thing here, but the reason this is crazy is because we're in a Northern state here. Racist overtones aside, it still makes no sense to me that they would sell such a South-specific item north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Meh, let's not think about it too much (after all, it's not my holiday). I'll just concentrate on blowing the things up!

Des Langues Romanes

I've been doing this French reading class for a week now. It's more work than I anticipated; we only have 50 min of class each day but we have to translate several pages for each class. This takes me quite a while because I have to look up every second word in the dictionary. (My ability to order a cup of coffee or an ice-cream really isn't doing me much good!) It doesn't help that the texts we have to traslate are really pretty boring.

As I mentioned before, I've found that my understanding of French goes through some convoluted route inside my brain via Italian. This became particularly apparent in Montreal when I was speaking and, when I ran out of French words, I would finish my sentences in Italian. (Actually, I did get away with it occasionally. I was able to guess French words by saying Italian words with a French emphasis. It worked more than half the time, I had my teachers convinced that I knew tons of French words.) Anyway, it occurred to me that if I got too good at French (not such a big worry at the moment) that it might displace all that Italian I spent years studying but had neglected over the last little while.

Then I discovered that tons of people all around the world use Skype to improve their language skills. (That speech bubble thinga-magigga in the side-bar shows my current Skype status, in case you were wondering.) It's really easy, either you can post your details on a language exchange website or, easier still, search for people in Skype Me mode and start talking to them straight away. I've already found a few people to practise Italian with; it's going ok, I manage to make myself understood with a little help from online dictionaries. (We just type. I tried the mic once and it stressed me out too much being on the spot like that.) The plan is that after a few more weeks, if my French is good enough, I'll look for a Frenchie to practise with. But maybe I'll have to find one who wants to learn English so they can write to me in French while I reply in English; that might just work.

Back in Bloomington

My three week study-vacation in Montreal is now over; I'm back in Bloomington, Indiana.

I'm a little sad to have left so soon. I was just getting to know the other students at the school and could have spend many more days exploring Montreal's museums, galleries and bars!

Summer Semester II starts Friday and I am enrolled in the second part of French for Reading. I just hope I've learnt enough grammar to keep up with the students who did the first part during Summer I. I'm sure the sorts of words I know are very different from what they've been learning -- I can tell you the names of all the rooms in a house and various foods (mmm, crême glacée!) but I doubt that will be much use to me for reading philosophy!

Parc Jean Drapeau

Today after school I went for a walk in Jean Drapeau Park. It's on a little island between Montréal and the mainland but there's a Metro station there so it was very easy for me to get there.

Apart from the usual park things there's also a giant buckyball. I saw this from the bus on the way to Quebec city, apparently it was built for the 1967 World Expo but now it's home to a special water purification facility. There's a Museum of Water even! (I thought of Baden when I saw that but that still wasn't enough to make me pay money to hear about water purification. But, come to think of it, the tap water here in Montreal tastes much better than the terrible stuff we get in Bloomington.)

It's a surprisingly good park considering it's so close to the city but still not as nice as Sydney's Botanic Gardens. One thing they have that we don't get so much in Sydney, though, is groundhogs (aka woodchucks). Today was the first time I'd seen one so I took a photo. They're a bit timid and run into their burrows when you try to take their photo but this one poked his head back out.

Giving the Shirt off Your Back

It was pretty obvious from the start that my host family here in Montreal are very nice people but I've just been struck by Odette's increadible kindness.

They're always excellent hosts, offering me more food and engaging me in conversation. (Odette particularly likes to talk about the other students she's hosted.) I felt reassured when she told me how stingy some of the other families were; I figured that meant she wasn't like that and I was certainly right.

It was particularly convenient when I was telling them about my plans for Quebec city that Odette offered to let Edwina stay here in Montreal a night to shorten her travelling time. Alan mentioned something about an air mattress and I thought that sounded pretty good. So it all fell into place when Ed said that she wanted to see a show that was playing in Montreal on Sunday night.

When we got back from Quebec Alan picked us up from the Metro station and Odette dropped us off again so we'd make the show on time. We were already quite grateful for them being so accommodating but when we got back to the house and everyone was asleep, we found not an air matress but their master bedroom all made up for the guest! I felt a little guilty that they'd put themselves out for someone who was my guest, whom they didn't know from a bar of soap.

La Dolce Vita

Being in Montreal for a week (and not just being a tourist but living and commuting across the city) has reminded me of what it's like to live in a cosmopolitan city. I quickly noticed the better quality of coffee and the presence of more trendy items in the cafes (I've never seen a friand in Indiana). Then I stumbled across an enormous concatenation of shopping malls, partly underground (they call it la ville souterraine). It reminded me a lot of the QVB because I couldn't afford to buy much in its very stylish boutiques andbut, more importantly, there's plenty of fancy gelato.

Bloomington is a lovely little town and certainly not a cultural backwater (the university helps a lot, especially the music department). But there's something about the way a small town deals with cultures that's a little different. The only example I can give is when the department secretary asked me if I like "ethnic food" rather than any specific type. I get the impression that having international students just passing through means that their cultures remain foreign to the locals.

Anyway, the thing that most made me feel like I was in a happening place was a musical act I saw Sunday night. Ed and I had just returned from Quebec and went straight out to see one of her favourite singers, Imogen Heap, at a smoky little cabaret in a trendy quarter on the east side of town. It was the most avante garde act I've ever seen and I loved it! The opening act was a cellist who was recording live loops of herself to play over the top of to create a really fantastic sound. Then Imogen Heap came on and recorded loops of herself singing and using various synthesised instruments to create a very rich and interesting sound. But I knew that this was a special city when all the Montrealers remembered their favourite son and called out for Heap's version of "Hallelujah" for the encore.

La Ville de Quebec

I've had a huge weekend!

Every Friday we get off school early (11.30). So after class I met up with an Australian friend, Edwina, who had been studying in Kingston, Ontario for the past year. After a few hours of sightseeing in Montreal we caught a coach up to Quebec city.

We arrived a little after 9 pm, not knowing where exactly our hostel was (somewhere in the old city) but a terrifically helpful busdriver radioed to get us directions. (I later discovered that I had the address all along and a map with the hostel marked in a guide book in my suitcase! Sigh!) The Auberge de la Pais is a very nice little hippie hostel in Vieux Quebec. I was impressed that we got a free breakfast included for $20/night! There are no locks on the doors but I took a couple of bag locks and there were no problems at all.

The next day we walked all around the old city. Apart from the souvenir shops ranging from beautiful to tacky there's art galleries and a whole street filled with original artworks being sold from stalls (some of it really very good). Then there's the Chateau and the fantasic view over the St Lawrence River. There's also some terrific restaurants but as we walked past the menus on display I realised that the higher up the hill the higher the prices!

On the way back to Montreal I was very happy to be sitting on a bus for three hours just because it gave my feet a break after so much walking and hill climbing.

Je Parle Français

I had my first class at the language school today. The mother of my host family drove me into town and pointed out the train stations (a subway that they call the "Metro") and bus stops I needed to know to get home. The trip back was very easy, 5 min on the Metro and 30 min on the bus. Only about 200 m or so to walk.

I was prepared for negotiating a big foreign city but was quite surprised when the teacher started talking in French to our absolute beginners class. Not one word of English, she just kept on explaining in French and miming until we claimed to understand. It's really not easy to understand when a French word is defined in terms of other French words! Not really knowing what's being asked of me is the worst bit. Once I get enough French to follow the instructions I'll be a good student.

I did get by. The podcast lessons I'd been listening to helped a little, especially with the pronunciation. But the words themselves I'm understanding via Italian. (I only really have a smattering of Italian but compared to my French I feel like Luigi Pirandello.)

Compared to the teachers, other Montréalers are really very good with English. Getting a taxi from the airport yesterday was no problem. I asked the driver, "Parlez-vous anglais?" and he looked at me as though that were a condescending question. So I figured I could just speak to everyone in English. My first purchase went fine but he was already speaking English with the guy in front of me. But I think I may have annoyed another shopkeeper. I spoke to her in English and she replied in French -- just the price, I understood -- but when I gave her too much money she said, in French, "No, I said..." She didn't realise that my problem was actually with the Canadian coins! I will try to say as much as I can in French when talking to strangers from now on.

I also saw my first snow-mobile today. Just in a showroom but it's still a very Canadian thing and quite foreign to me. I saw my first beret yesterday on the plane before we even got to Quebec. (Not the first time I've seen one, but the first time I've seen someone wearing a beret non-ironically!)

Montréal

I'm now in Montréal! I had to wake up at 5 am (sic.) to get the 6.40 airport shuttle to be able to make my 10.30 flight. Stopped in Toronto for a couple of hours. The next flight was delayed for a little while to fix a cargo-bay door but I arrived at Montréal at 4 pm.

I'm staying with a French-speaking host family. Actually, he's a Scot who's been living in Canada for decades but she's a Quebecois. There's plenty of English spoken in this house so I'm feeling pretty comfortable.

Today's a public holiday in Canada, Victoria Day; it's basically the Queen's Birthday long-weekend. But here in Quebec, where they're not so keen on the British monarchy, they call it National Patriots' Day, a celebration of a famous rebellion against British rule!

Tomorrow my first day at GEOS Language School in downtown Montréal.

Tipping

I've done a little research for my trip to Montreal to try to find out the local customs. It seems they have tipping, just like the USA. (Except in the US there's a little more discretion ie 10-20% is recommended whereas in Quebec, because the tax is 14.5%, everyone equals the tax, I'm told.) It reminded me of just how unnatural I find it to give extra money on top of the charge. Of course I do it, but it's a matter of When in Rome. Most of the time it's not hard to remember but the other day I ate at a restaurant where we had to pay up at the counter, only after I paid did I realise that the tip was meant to be left on the table. (I went back to the table and left one.)

It's this fact that you're paying the waiter, separately from paying the establishment made me wonder if it's the process of having to evaluate the service that makes it feel weird to me, or just the fact that it's cash being thrown around none too discreetly. I think it's both. You don't need to be a militant unionist to feel that wages should be negotiated between the employee and employer, without the customer being involved. (Government regulation of minimum wages is different, because they're already involved with taxation etc. But I have heard that in the USA, waitstaff are not entitled to minimum wage because tipping is so entrenched!)

But I've also come to realise that, apart from this argument against it, I do have a cultural prejudice against filthy lucre. I assume it's a Britishism that Australians don't traditionally give cash as gifts. I know this is changing, and I suspect it's got something to do with immigration from Mediterranean countries (Asian cultures don't have a problem with cash either, especially with Chinese New Year, but their influence on Australian culture has come far later). I know I'm slightly more etiquette concious than other people my age but I don't think this is a rule-based objection, I just find it unseemly.

The thing that I find surprising is when at weddings Anglo-Celtic couples decide that they'd prefer cash and explicitly ask for it! A few years ago my friend Sara got married and sent with the invitation a little poem asking for cash. I got this mental picture of her leaving the reception in a wedding dress but, instead of a veil, wearing a bank-robber's mask and carrying sacks marked with dollar-signs! So that's what I gave her, a big sack of 20c coins marked with dollar signs!

Addendum 2006/6/8:
I accidentally offended a waitress last night.

I was out with friends from school and after dinner we went to a little cafe for dessert. (The strawberry cheesecake was excellent!) When the bill came I put down a note that was just over what I owed and then, instead of carefully equalling the tax, I put a bunch of coins on top that would have been a decent tip. As we were leaving the waitress plucked out all the pennies and handed them back to me saying, "I don't need these"!! I was too taken aback to say anything at all.

I remembered that, in the US at least, one can insult a waitress by leaving a tip of exactly two cents but I'd left more than that. Could it be the mere presence of copper coins that someone would find insulting? Sounds petty, as though they're not deemed legal tender! After a while I remembered when my family was in San Francisco back in '92 and my sister was giving change to a bum and he did the exact same thing as this Montreal waitress. (Thereby refuting the old adage!)

I felt really bad about it at first when I thought that I'd committed some sort of faux pas but the money was legal tender so they have no right to object. And, most importantly, I'm under no obligation to give them anything. There's no pleasing some people!

Fireworks

At the supermarket the other day I noticed fireworks for sale! (In a supermarket! It's always surprising the things they sell in supermarkets here.) I haven't bought any yet but I am on summer vacation and have a little time on my hands. If I can't find an excuse before then, I'm sure explosions will help get me into the spirit come the Fourth of July.

I also noticed that they sell chewing tobacco. As if smoking the stuff wasn't disgusting enough! That's one American custom I won't be embracing.

Finished!

I just submitted my last paper for this semester!

That's two semesters over. Now for a relatively relaxing summer break. (I'll be keeping occupied with a few bits an pieces but nothing to get too stressed about.)

Exam Season

I just got out of my Oral Exam.

Despite reassurances that they never fail anyone I went in there with the small worry that I might be the first that they do kick out of the program. A more likely result was that I would do badly and have to spend my summer writing a twenty-page paper on some question I'd answered poorly. I resigned myself to this when my advisor, Jordi, explained that it is only to make sure that all the students have learnt what they need to know.

I was not too surprised by Jordi's questions, they could have been much worse! Jim's were hard to answer just because they were so vague. He didn't mention the specific books much, just asking about the history of science as a discipline!

After they grilled me for half an hour on each of the three core class I took this year, they sent me out of the room so they could confer. Then they came out to tell me that I passed! They were happy with my performance and I don't have to write the extra paper.

Now I just have to get working on the two papers I do have to write for classes (due Thursday and Friday). I can't celebrate 'til Saturday but I will be celebrating.