Steph in Switzerland

Fishing in England

2012-01-25T09:02:00.006+01:00

I've never understood why most women find fishing boring. If they object to the work, or to squishing grubs onto hooks, or to smelling like fish, or to not being able to visit the powder room all day, or to having to cast in public (which is a bit like having to throw a baseball in public...I try but can't seem to help that I throw and cast like a girl!!), I understand all those points. But I've always enjoyed fishing despite all that. My friend Ben and I spent 3 days fishing last week in itty bitty rivers north of London. We caught lots of fish. Most of them were little, but I got a good-sized Perch and Barbel, Ben banked a Pike, and his brother Gabs came out with us one day and landed some other kind of fish that starts with a C. :) I can't remember what it's called. Chub? Is that a fish?

It was SO cold out! Second coldest fishing trip on record for me, in fact. Ben and I would go out in the morning, fish for a few hours or until my toes were numb and we both were starving. Then we'd pack up all our rods and tackle and trudge back through the muddy fields and across dubious bridges to the car. We discovered a Garden Center in the nearest village, and we went in there something like 7 times in the first 2 days to use their bathroom, buy snacks, and defrost over a cup of hot chocolate after we had eaten our lunch in the parking lot. Then we'd drive back to the river, carry all our things back through the woods and fish until dark.

When Ben was off coaching football on Saturday morning, I went with his parents to see an intricate mosaic Roman floor that was uncovered where a house stood centuries ago. Part of the old Roman wall still stands as well, not far from St. Albans Cathederal.

Beautiful Switzerland

2012-01-25T08:22:00.006+01:00

Switzerland is beautiful all the time, but in winter this little country is truly stunning. In mid December an old childhood friend was here for the weekend. Friday night we went to the Yyspalascht in Kleinbasel for some authentic Swiss fondue, and to Acqua, my favorite warehouse-turned-lounge in town. We met Richard and Valda and a whole crowd of their statisticians colleagues there. An African historian and a trauma nurse seem very exotic in a crowd of statisticians, we discovered. :) Saturday morning we skipped off to the mountains--these glorious Alps. If you got my Christmas card, you've likely seen one of these photos before....if you didn't get my Christmas card...better luck next year! :) No, I'm just starting to hobble together a list of people I want to be sure to keep updated on my whereabouts. If you didn't get a card and a letter but you'd like one next year, let me know and send me your address now! I'll add you to my list.

2011 was a year full of changes for me, and I hope that 2012 will be a bit more more stable. If it is, you might see more blog posts.

Driving fancy cars

2012-01-08T04:15:00.003+01:00

Gregg took me out to drive his car today, and he made a little video to share. In my defense, I seem much more competent in the original full length footage, and I did drive aaalllll the way out around the lake with no serious problems. And I only killed it a couple times.

hmmm....video problems. stay tuned.

HDR-ish Christmas

2011-12-26T02:53:00.003+01:00

Christmas tree inspires blog posts and a Glühwii party

2011-12-08T10:51:00.009+01:00

I asked my roommates in the summer if we could get a Christmas tree. Or more, I went hopping through the dining room saying things like, "I can't wait until we have a Christmas tree--It should go right there!" They thought I was getting a bit ahead of myself, and all the way up until last week we were still unsure whether we wanted to spend the time and trouble to put one up, considering some of us won't even be around for Christmas.

Good thing we did! Look how happy our living room looks now! The tree has inspired not only this blog post (and you thought I'd given up my blog entirely!), but also a Glüwii party, scheduled for next week so that our friends and neighbors can also enjoy the festiveness, and the view:

Nesting began before the tree, however. Sara and I have been reading design websites, painting rooms cheery colors, picking out furniture and lamps, hosting dinner parties, and generally embodying a winning combination of Martha Stewart, Betty Crocker, and Rosie the Riveter's strengths. We wield a drill one minute and pull pies out of the oven the next. Björn is pretty good sport. Not every man says ok to a pink bathroom. Raph shook his head when he heard our plan to paint the bathroom English Rose and said he would have moved out a long time ago.

Sara and I like the way the sunset fills our apartment with golden hues in the evenings, so we painted one living room wall to keep that feeling all day.

Who needs a ladder when you have a dining room table you can move around the apartment, right?

Current project: hanging the chandelier. Hans is helping us, and it will go over the dining room table.

Highlights

2011-09-27T21:23:00.005+02:00

Oh, me and my blog. It's been a bad summer for writing. Here are a few highlights:
While I was at home, I enjoyed working on a quilt with my Mom! We pieced the blocks in a week,and she's been very kindly finishing it up for me.

I spent a couple mornings paddling around Hagg Lake with friends--once with Crista and once with Anne. What a peaceful way to spend a few hours--out on the quiet lake with fir trees on every nearby hill.

Cristi and her sister came to visit! We went hiking and ate yummy pastries for breakfast.

Gadget, French linens, and puttering

2011-08-05T23:56:00.006+02:00

The adorable Gadgepadge: just one of many individuals I'm looking forward to seeing soon!

Last weekend my roommate helped me hang up pictures. The process is a little more involved than I'm used to, since Europeans make their walls out of strange things. Living with a man who owns a drill and a level is awfully convenient, though, I tell you! We had a fun evening too--made dinner and ate together, hung up pictures all over the house and watched a movie. Having roommates again is nice. Have I mentioned that? Last week he came home with flowers for the table, just because the dining room seemed drab to him! The other roommate and I were impressed. :)

Home improvements come in so many forms lately! I went to Ribeauvillé in France on Saturday to buy table linens. One is a wedding present for Laura, two are for mom, one is my own, and one was thrown in for free by the shop owner, Jean, who by that time was calling me Steph and telling my friends that if I were in the business, he'd hire me straight away--so rarely does he have a customer take SO LONG to look at each design and feel the fabrics. I bet he tells all his indecisive customers that.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

2011-08-01T23:42:00.003+02:00

Congratulations to my lovely parents who were married 30 years ago today! As usual, Switzerland is celebrating with fireworks. :)

Wherever you go...

2011-07-29T12:26:00.007+02:00

...same problems, different venue.

Still, escaping has its appeal, doesn't it? (See Song) I have a thing or two on my mind, so I plan to change my own geography for the weekend, find me a lake or a mountain (haven't decided which yet) and paint until I know what I think.

Oregon people, T-19 days till I have the pleasure of seeing you!

Knee Deep - Zac Brown Band and Jimmy Buffet

Gonna put the the world away for a minute
Pretend I don't live in it
Sunshine gonna wash my blues away

Had sweet love but I lost it
She got too close so I fought her
Now I'm lost in the world trying to find me a better way

Wishing I was knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze and it don't seem fair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Wrote a note said be back in a minute
Bought a boat and I sailed off in it
Don't think anybody gonna miss me anyway

Mind on a permanent vacation
The ocean is my only medication
Wishing my condition ain't ever gonna go away

Cause now im knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

This champagne shore washing over me
It's a sweet sweet life living by the salty sea
One day you could be as lost as me
Change you're geography
Maybe you might be

Knee deep in the water somewhere
Got the blue sky breeze blowing wind through my hair
Only worry in the world is the tide gonna reach my chair
Sunrise there's a fire in the sky
Never been so happy
Never felt so high
And I think I might have found me my own kind of paradise

Come on in the water it's nice
Find yourself a little slice
Grab a back, pack it light
You never know until you try
When you lose yourself
You find the key to paradise

Bliss on a Wednesday Morning

2011-07-20T09:25:00.002+02:00

Good morning! It's Wednesday, and a good one so far! Some reasons it's good: It's cold and drizzly outside, but I'm snuggled inside with a cup of coffee and a piece of hazelnut-chocolate coffee cake for breakfast. I'm probably going for my first ever pedicure in Switzerland with a new friend this evening. Raph finishes his military service and will be back in Basel soon! I've had extra work for Cambridge and have an MA thesis to edit, so I'm earning money to offset my tickets home. Speaking of home, I'm feeling pretty well-connected and all loved up after this week's skype marathons with parents, brothers, cousins, aunts, and roommates (but not Grandparents...who are hard to catch these days! call me!!). I'm about to go off to see my friendly compatriots at my spacious office to think and write for a half day about water in Zambia, emancipatory projects, and redemption. Ah, that's a good day. Plus, I'm going hiking in the mountains this weekend with a friend from school.

Little o' this and that

2011-07-12T12:03:00.005+02:00

I like this song, but I don't understand it yet.

Another thing I don't understand: why it's so hard to come up with solid research questions!? Ugh! I asked Pierrick if he ever feels like he has days--no, whole months--when he can't seem to find a single good idea in any corner of his brain. He said yes, and recommended a vacation as a remedy for me. But I suspect finding good ideas is a bit like drawing good pictures. You have to draw a lot of bad ones first, so you might as well keep the pencil to the paper till you're through them.

After two unusual and difficult weeks, things are starting to feel more on track again at work and personally. I'm especially enjoying time with my lovely roommates. I couldn't have asked for better roommies, and considering that we were all strangers before, I'm extra thankful that we found each other. The dude is sitting on a beach somewhere in Spain at the moment, so we temporarily have a girls house. The chats in the bathroom while we get ready for bed, girly movies, friendly and funny messages on our dry erase board, sharing coffee in the morning and dinner in the evenings is all lots of fun! I still miss Pfeffingen a bit, but I feel like I'm in a good place in town for this stage of life in the Basel area.

Overcoats of Clay

2011-07-06T23:14:00.003+02:00

Emily Dickinson wrote that when a person dies, the spirit lays off an overcoat of clay. A friend died on Friday morning before work. He was 30 years old, with a wife and two baby girls he loved very much. Tomorrow I'm meeting mutual friends and we'll go together to the funeral--my second funeral in Switzerland. Sharing in funerals here, like sharing in weddings and babies being born, knits me into Switzerland a little bit more. Strange to think that our lives were tooootally separate a couple years ago; we didn't have a place or a person in common. And now here I am, staring out the window instead of working, wondering how his wife will manage, and looking at the new baby at church and wishing his sweet daughters would remember how much they meant to him. Thinking about friends and acquaintances who were much closer to him than I was. Some losses seem so untimely and unreasonable. I know people are resilient and do recover, at least in a sense, from grief over death. But I don't know how recovery happens, really. Life doesn't go go back to the way it was, and we always miss people we love for the rest of our lives once they're gone (or at least, I miss a lot of people so far!) Why does comfort work at all? I think that's very curious. But I pray his family and friends will find comfort anyway.

Death is a Dialogue between
The Spirit and the Dust.
"Dissolve" says Death—The Spirit "Sir
I have another Trust"—

Death doubts it—Argues from the Ground—
The Spirit turns away
Just laying off for evidence
An Overcoat of Clay.

-Emily Dickinson

Wallis Weekend

2011-07-06T21:04:00.007+02:00

A few weeks ago, Raph and Ed and I drove south on a Thursday night to Raph's family's vacation house in the Wallis. From Thursday night to Sunday Afternoon we read books, watched An Idiot Abroad, went for a walk, visited an outdoor thermal bath with a nice view of the Alps, flew a helicopter in the house, embroidered a pillowcase and generally had fun relaxing together. I did the stitching; they navigated the airspace, in case you were wondering.

Chill am Rhy

2011-06-28T07:45:00.005+02:00

We've been having such beautiful, hot weather here this week! Perfect weather for a dip in the still chilly Rhine. I've had a cold, so I have been very responsible and refrained from swimming in the river myself. But I'm pretty sure everyone else in Basel has gone by now. I watched them all float by from my perch on the bank this weekend.

Thanks for bringing your camera, Gina!

Good Morning Basel

2011-06-28T07:28:00.007+02:00

I'm experimenting with new daily routines, trying to find one that suits me and encourages me to do the things that I need to do (since I'm definitely more motivated at some points than others!). Today I got up at 6.15 to go running, and this is the nice view I have when I lean out my window at that hour:

According to my little plan I'm trying this week, after my early morning run and shower, I should move on to German for two hours starting about now (will start as soon as I finish this!). Then off to my office for three hours of proper PhDing, then lunch, then another couple hours of proper work before skipping home for a snack and some quality time with my drawing supplies. And as for other essentials: anchor points are Monday/Tuesday is laundry, Friday is grocery shopping, and Sunday afternoon is house chores. Doesn't that sound like a good Stephanie schedule? I mean, as long as I go to bed early?

Nothing but a Breeze

2011-06-14T15:52:00.004+02:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks over here!

Work is all reading and note taking at the moment. I have a stack of books on my desk waiting to be read...titles like City of Flows, The Social Construction of Technological Systems, Social Power and the Urbanization of Water, Political Ecology across Spaces Scales and Social groups. And there are others. I asked Pierrick an hour ago when was the last time he read a book for fun. Ten years ago, perhaps? He said he reads the comics sometimes. At this very moment, he has his nose in a book about civility at the next desk. Uh huuuh. That's how cool we are. I'm working more or less on the idea of the waterscape this week, but I needed a break. Hence the blog. Oh, but here's some exciting work news: next weekend we're going to Germany for a workshop on qualitative research methods. Woohoo! road trip! :)

A couple weekends back I went with the Sunday School group to the tall hills in Solothurn. Camp is a good way to get to know the kids at our church better, and I especially like watching the network of friendships among them grow over the weekend together. My favorite camp moments are when the older ones start to be sweet to the littlest kids (some of whom march to the beat of their very own drums!), and when the kids who are never going to be called the most popular are cheered and appreciated for the strengths they bring to the group. I want them to be themselves and find they're liked for exactly who they are, short-comings and quirks included. That probably sounds cheesy, but really, when I see them accepting and taking care of each other, that makes me very content. We did all the normal camp things: made crafts and played games, sang silly songs and bible songs, watched plays and chased each other through the grass at dusk to capture flags from enemy territory. The boys caught at least one frog. The girls freaked out over one itty bitty tick (which hadn't even bitten anyone). They talked with each other about society, music, literature, science, God, and faith, and how they see those interacting in their experience. They learned to play baseball. Or, kinda. We scheduled kickball for one organized game time, and it seems European kids are not so familiar with the rules. "Ok, who has played baseball before?" I asked half the group as I about to explain batters and runners. Blank stares and not a single hand went up. Rachel had a comment though: "Do we have to stay out here very long?" She was swatting at her arms. "All these bugs and grass and stuff are so disgusting. I need to take a shower!" In the end, between Dave the Canadian, Molly the American, Raph who you well know by now is Swiss, and me, we more or less succeeded in miro-managing a game of kickball into existence, even though bases often ended up with three or more runners piled on them, and the concept of a foul ball never really caught on.

I'm having trouble uploading pictures, but I'll try again later. Right now I have to go get fancied up for Art Basel!

(and now some pictures...in no particular order. Mostly taken by Daniel, a camper with a brand new tripod.)

Urban living, p.s.

2011-05-23T16:13:00.003+02:00

One exciting thing I forgot to mention earlier: there aren't very many places in Basel to buy root beer (like, two), and my new house is super close to the most reliable and inexpensive source !! There are three cans chilling in my fridge for floats with the roomies later. :) Neither has has ever had one. Poor deprived Europeans!!

Urban living

2011-05-23T11:57:00.003+02:00

So, this country girl has moved to a proper city. (Pfäffige was just a little village, so small the neighbors all waved when they drove by). Saturday night I thought I'd sleep with the windows open in my new room in Basel by the river, but buses and trams and people on the street made me hop back out of bed after midnight to close the window that faces the busiest street. Other than the bustle and the noise, I like my new apartment, with it's creaky wooden floors and sunny rooms. And I like my two new roommates. I'm still thinking about what to call the two of them in my blog. I doubt they want the whole world to know everything about them! So for now: there's a guy and there's a girl and they're both quite nice. Saturday lots of people were over to help haul boxes and furniture up 66 steps to our front door, and we now have 10 bottles of shower products standing in a neat triangle, like bowling pins, on the corner of our tub. It makes us look high-maintenance, but I think we'll be a pretty laid-back little household, actually, with similar rhythms.

I'm still on the hunt for furniture. Saturday I managed to stop by the flea market just before it closed. Two important discoveries: First, I found a very nice, tall secretary desk/dresser in good shape (better than the other one!) for 25.- (marked down from 55.-). It wouldn't fit the space I had in mind, and I didn't want to buy something big and heavy on a whim, but it helped me decide there is no reason to pay more than 80.- for a perfectly decent secretary desk/chest of drawers. I might not come across 25.- again, but I have found plenty of good-looking pieces for under 100 now. Second, I found a big, old mirror in a wide frame (in other words, it has personality) for 50 francs! I looked at others that were about the same size for 600 elsewhere! The frame has some issues, but the mirror itself is good, soo...that's now standing in my room waiting for a little touch up and a nail. Pictures to follow at some point!

Other than moving-related activities and work (which is going fine) I have been catching up with old peeps and getting to know some new ones. I'm looking forward to rock climbing later this week with Pierrick (my work partner). Friday night I went to an Aargau band competition with a few friends. The whole event brought back fun college memories of concerts at Portland's old Meow Meow club! Except this time, we were muuuch older than the average age. The MC was just 14, for example. Fun to be there anyway, though, and I thought the kids did a good job, except for some repetitive lyrics here and there! :)

And so goes my urban living experience thus far. To end with a little Wordsworth:

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Pulitzer Prize and other ambitions

2011-05-19T00:08:00.002+02:00

Imagine my disappointment earlier this week when I discovered that the Pulitzer Prize for History is only awarded for works on American history! If I'd known that I would have seriously reconsidered my Africanist trajectory. How am I ever going to be successful now!? But not to worry. The Internet is a comforting friend, and soon informed me that there are (somewhat) prestigious prizes for books about Africa, but let's be honest: you've never heard of them, and neither have I, even though it's my own profession! (actually, I have heard of one of them but gooosh. it just doesn't ring like "Pulitzer" does!)

Ah, well. At least I can still be President.

More modestly, I am enjoying being the decorator of my life these days. I've inherited a wonderful assortment of household essentials, which frees up my greenbacks for more exciting purchases like shower curtains, duvet covers and laundry baskets! You probably think those are essential, but they actually aren't. Annnd! They come in so many styles and colors!!I'm sure you can see why they beat spatulas and frying pans. I bought a botanical print duvetbezug (another perk of new digs: I learn new words in German) and a Tanzania-made basket from the Fair Trade shop that's going to work quite well for laundry and which was half the price of similar Ikea laundry baskets. I have poked my nose into every antique and second hand store I've found, trying to locate a small and affordable secretary desk for my room. I found one yesterday. It has a price tag for something like 450.-. But I went back again today...talked to the guy a bit...and he offered 300, without me so much as hinting it was a bit steep. I think I'll keep going by. If he hits 200, he might have a deal.

Switzerland: the Sequel

2011-05-06T16:03:00.005+02:00

It's like watching reruns in Stephanie's life right now. I've moved for a second time from the same origin town in the US of A to the same destination town in my favorite little landlocked European country. Waiting with a ticket at the Swiss immigration office? I've done that before! But actually a lot has changed in three years (even if it looks a bit like things are on repeat), and moving to a familiar place is easier in so many ways I can't even begin to tell you all of them.

I started work this week. It's the first time I've started a new job without being nervous. I knew everyone already, and was so familiar with the place and the pace of this type of work that it was an easy transition. It's a good Stephanie job, I think. Thursday, for example, I woke up around 8 and came sauntering into my bright office around 9:30. I worked for a couple hours. "Work" included writing some stuff for the website, sourcing library books, reading about Africa, and researching Africa-related consulting companies. Then I hopped a bus across town to have a long lunch with Valda and Diana. I started to head back, but didn't make it past the bridge. I enjoyed ice cream and a chat with Ed by the water and THEN went back to a fairly productive long afternoon. Today was a similar story, except I took a boat across the river for a Falafel lunch in the sunshine with my two office-mates, and we had our first (and I think only) office "training" today: how to clean the coffee machine. Veit assures us we can earn credit points for that (but I think Veit may be telling us what we like to hear!)

so far, so good. And I'm thankful to have a job.

Packing with Eric Foner

2011-04-25T18:06:00.004+02:00

If you could see my room right now, you'd wonder if I've even started packing! I have, but so far it has produced an empty closet, a few shopping trips, strategic piles in some places, less strategic ones in others, and a discouraging sense that I don't know what to do with my stuff. Should I store it? Trash it? Sell it? Donate it? Keep it here? Pay to move it across the world for three years, and then likely back again? Last night (after saying goodbye to my Aunt and Uncle)I was ready to stick my head in some figurative sand and not think about moving. What better way to do that Stephanie-style than with Eric Foner's book Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution: 1863-1877! Three days before one's departure is a good time to start a 600 page book on post-civil war politics and life in the United States. I was off to an engaging start, but I got distracted last night making plans to go to a Swiss Circus on Tuesday (!), so I didn't get very far.

I picked this book off my shelf for a couple reasons. I don't remember a lot about Reconstruction, but I often find myself answering questions (in Europe) about race relations in the US and I really feel like I need to be able to explain an overview of reconstruction. People seem to know a little about the Civil War (though they tend to think it was all about slavery) and a little about the Civil Rights movement, but Reconstruction is an important link in between. Also, Foner is interesting to me because he has served as an adviser and commentator on PBS documentaries and NPR, and co-curated public history exhibits...stuff like that. Stuff I'd probably like to do later, except about water and Africa.

Alright, alright. I should pack, I know.

Tschau.

Marketing Postcard Mockups

2011-04-20T00:07:00.004+02:00

The boys and I are working on marketing materials for Dad's violin business, including finalizing a new website, updating business cards and creating brand new postcards for the 2011 Northwest Handmade Musical Instruments Exhibit.

Salmon Fishing on the Willamette

2011-04-16T23:05:00.003+02:00

I do enjoy a good fishing trip. I like fishing best on warm days, when I can sit on a rock in the sunshine and daydream while I watch my bobber. It was not a warm day last Sunday. It also wasn't dry. I wore a tank top, a t-shirt, a thermal/fleece, a waterproof thermal, a down vest, a gortex jacket, a fishing rain coat, and another waterproof jacet on top, all at once, AND a hat! And I was still kinda cold. But I had fun anyway, and there was plenty of day dreaming time since the boat has rod-holders. I hardly had to watch my pole or do anything at all except sit there munching my snacks and holding my fingers up to the portable propane heater. Pretty posh, huh?! Yeah, we were with a fishing guide. I guess people who fish regularly with guides expect things like heaters in the great outdoors!

The Willamette river flows through downtown Portland, and I've never fished there before. But it's spring Chinook Salmon season, and who can resist a day on the river? (well..grandma did. Said it was too cold and wet). We put in before 6 am next to an old gothic bridge called St. John's and shot down the river to the heart of the city, dropped our lines and slowly tacked back up, under most of Portland's beautiful 12 bridges. I caught just one Salmon (about 16 lbs) and it was wild so we couldn't keep it. Nobody else on our boat had even a bite. Grandpa and I had never fished together before, believe it or not! I enjoyed spending the day with him and with our friends!

Wedding Guests

2011-04-16T22:57:00.005+02:00

Just a couple pictures taken at Valda's wedding last month. It's taking FOREVER to upload things, so I might add more later, but for now, just two:

Surfing in Ireland

2011-04-16T21:57:00.002+02:00

This blog post is for my lovely Aunt Lou Ann, who may or may not have been hit by a tornado yesterday. Hopefully not! Thanks for the little push to write something. :)

Sooo...Ireland. I think that's where we left off last time. Sunday after the wedding, a bunch of us out-of-town guests headed for Sligo, a beach town on the west coast of Ireland. A few of us planned to surf. Most planned to pick up pebbles or fly kites or count seagulls, or something safe and sensible in the month of March. Personally I was nervous about surfing. I'm not a strong swimmer, and my local beaches here are craggy and rough, with sneaky currents that drag unsuspecting swimmers out to sea. And that's in the summer! Swimming in the ocean in March seems downright stupid. But apparently Ireland is a bit safer than certain Oregon beaches, and I have always vaguely wanted to learn to surf. I was prepared to give it a try with an instructor nearby and Dom, who I know is a certified and capable lifeguard. Still, the surf conditions were a bit iffy. Was it windy when we set out for the coast that day? It sure was. We were told to get there early because the waves would certainly be too big for surfing by early afternoon. Was it raining when we left? Yes, but you know--you'd be wet surfing anyway. Did it SLEET and SNOW! on the way to the beach? maybe. But we were undeterred.

Or, I should say, the others were undeterred. Diana and I realized not five minutes down the road that we had a flat tire on our rental car. We pulled into a gas station to change it, and I knew I would miss my surfing lesson. Awww, shucks, I thought. It was such a perfect day to learn to surf!! On the up side, however, I hadn't had opportunity to practice changing tires in a long time, and I was pretty pleased to be the only person in the car who knew how. Good luck to any girl who tries to change a tire in Ireland, however. If our experience is any indication, she's very likely to find that a flat tire is a magnet for kind Irish men who will take over so quickly and have the job done and the tools put away before she can even tell them that she wants to do it by herself!

By the time we got to Sligo, the non-surfers we knew were completely drenched and running through the sleet for their cars (literally running). The very small group of surfers were nearly a mile up the beach. So Diana and I parked, pulled up our hoods, and ran (also literally) to the nearest restaurant with a fireplace. While we ate, a couple families came in with guitars and flutes and a keyboard and sang Irish songs. One surfer (the only girl who braved the weather!) from our group came in early. "With the wet suit and the hood and everything, it really wasn't cold," she reported. I think she's just extra tough, because the guys' version 45 min. later was that it was "SO UNBELIEVABLY COLD!"

I don't think I missed much.

To break the silence

2011-03-22T23:01:00.005+01:00

My blog has once again failed to update itself, so I thought I'd better post something--absolutely anything--to quiet the crickets that I hear chirping when I open this site.

Therefore I bring you Ireland Photos. Mostly Northern Ireland, actually. On March 10th I flew to Dublin with Dom and a whole plane load of Valda and Richards coworkers and varied assortment of friends. I started my Ireland vacation by leaving my brand new kindle in my airplane seat pocket in front of me when I left the plane. Fortunately, I realized it and waited at the Service Desk amid a throng of peeved passengers until the service reps were able to track it down and hand it back to me. (I wasn't peeved; Everyone else was about their luggage). After that auspicious start, Dom and I stayed in Dublin that night at Valda's brothers' GF's house, trotted around Trinity college in the rain the next day (despite Dom's boast that he brings good weather) and finally in the evening drove with other wedding guests to Carrick-on-Shannon.

The wedding went as weddings go. The bride looked lovely. The groom cried. His mom wore a fantastic yellow and grey and black hat. Oh, but this was different: The wedding was in a long hall outside a ballroom at The Landmark Hotel. The wedding was "in the round," if you will, with the guests seated in a semi circle around the bridal party and the pastor. After the service they moved us to the reception area of the hotel for drinks, and then back into the hall on our way to dinner. By that time, all the furniture had changed and I didn't recognize immediately that it was the same room we'd been in earlier. Tricky! :) But a good use of space, I must say. At dinner we were seated at tables named after Swiss Mountains, and the wedding cake looked like the Matterhorn. I got special mention in Richard's welcoming speech for being the guest who had traveled the furthest to attend - over 7000 kilometers.

Look at that! That's a proper blog post and I haven't even gotten to the pictures or the entertaining post-wedding travels, flat tires, or missed surfing opportunities. Here's a few pictures. More stories to come.

Tutoring

2011-02-25T22:40:00.003+01:00

This morning I returned the last of my tutoring materials and student assessments to the tutoring company. I got some feedback on their progress. Juan's pre-tests placed him (arguably not very accurately) in the 2nd percentile. Post test? 86th percentile, and an increase equivalent of two grade levels! Great job, Juan! I'm quite proud of the little guy--at least as proud of him as he was of his brand new purple skinny jeans, which he mentioned about 6 times in our one hour meeting on Tuesday. I will definitely miss spending three evenings a week with my energetic, funny, creative little friend--even though he does gloat when he beats me at Go Fish, even though he had the audacity to call me "baby" this week, and even though he does want to name a pet dog "Stephanie Juan."

Basel Bound!

2011-02-24T20:44:00.002+01:00

I think most of you know by now that my PhD proposal was accepted and I will be moving back to Basel soon. I'm not sure when, but it's looking like April.

I was already planning to go to Switzerland in March to see friends there before and after hopping over to Ireland for Valda and Richard's wedding. Now, I'll use the trip to also meet with my new team, find an apartment, and start to move my stuff.

I'll arrive in Zurich next week and get right onto another plane for Salzburg, where I'll meet my boss and another newly hired phd dude, hop in a cab and 20 minutes later arrive at the university in time for the board meeting of the Humer Foundation--the folks who are generously funding our work. We'll all give presentations (the others' in German, mine in English), and we'll listen to 6 other presentations from other universities. Then, we'll go out to dinner with everyone. Then off to the hotel for what will be a much needed snooze by that time, and in the morning, we'll fly back to Zurich to catch a train to finally take me to Basel.

The next day I'll have lunch with friends, and attend a meeting about a house I might move into. After that, I plan to relax for a half a day at least.

You're up to date. More soon.

For tough weeks like mine was.

2011-02-14T10:07:00.004+01:00

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want;
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil;
for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.
-Psalm 23

Henri Nouwen, from Out of Solitude:

"Whereas patience is the mother of expectation, it is expectation itself that brings new joy to our lives. Jesus not only made us look at our pains, but also beyond them. "you are sad now, but I shall see you again and your hearts will be full of joy." A man or a woman without hope in the future cannot live creatively in the present. The paradox of expectation indeed is that those who believe in tomorrow can better live today, that those who expect joy to come out of sadness can discover the beginnings of a new life in the center of the old, that those who look forward to the returning Lord can discover him already in their midst.

You know how a letter can change your day. When you watch people in front of the wall of mailboxes, you can see how a small piece of paper can change the expression on a face, can make a curved back straight, and a sullen mouth whistle again. The day might be just as dull as the day before and the work just as tiring. But the letter in your mailbox telling you that someone loves you, that someone is looking forward to meeting you again, that someone needs your presence, or that someone promises to come soon, makes all the difference.

A life lived in expectation is like a life in which we have received a letter, a letter which makes him whom we have misses so much return even earlier than we could imagine. Expectation brings joy to the center of our sadness and the loved one to the heart of our longings. The one who stayed with us in the past and will return to us in the future becomes present to us in that precious moment in which memory and hope touch each other. At that moment we can realize that we can only expect someone because he has already touched us. A student from California [but let's pretend he's from Oregon] who had to leave many of his good friends behind to come to school at the faraway east coast recently said to me: "it was hard to depart, but if the good-bye is not painful, the hello cannot be joyful either." And so his sadness of September became his joy at Christmas time.

Is God present or is he absent? maybe we can say now that in the center of our sadness for his absence we can find the first signs of his presence. And that in the middle of our longings we discover the footprints of the one who has created them. It is in the faithful waiting for the loved one that we know how much he has filled our lives already. Just as the love of a mother for her son can grow while she is waiting for his return, and just as lovers can rediscover each other during long periods of absence, so also our intimate relationship with God can become deeper and more mature while we wait patiently in expectation for his return.

..."In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again." We are living in this short time...This is what we express when we take bread and wine in thanksgiving. We do not eat bread to still our hunger or drink wine to quench our thirst. We just eat a little bit of bread and drink a little bit of wine, in the realization that God's presence is the presence of the One who came, but is still to come; who touched our hearts, but has not yet taken all our sadness away. And so when we share some bread and some wine together, we do this not as people who have arrived, but as men and women who can support each other in patient expectation until we see him again. And then our hearts will be full of joy, a joy that no one can take away from us.

Grey Stilettos and a PhD proposal

2011-02-02T06:36:00.006+01:00

They say money can't buy happiness, but occasionally I am inclined to disagree. Admit Exhibit A: Now picture it in grey suede, to go with a grey flowered dress, to go to Ireland for a dear friend's wedding. Sasquatch-sized happiness in exchange for my George Washingtons.

Today I was informed that my PhD application has been shortlisted, and they requested that I "save the date" for an upcoming foundation board meeting. If I'm one of the two selected (out of a remaining 4 candidates), I will be invited to present my project to the board in Salzburg next month. There are still many unknowns about this position and about my job situation more generally, but it's not every day that foundations in Austria ask me to pencil them in! So I'm pleased to be in the final round at least.

updates

2011-01-27T00:19:00.004+01:00

Is there anything more exasperating than an inconsistent blogger? Possibly not. Sorry.

Here I sit, on a late winter afternoon, having a snack of toast between writing a survey for Mercy Corps and writing lesson plans for my four new students. My internship at Mercy Corps provides a sense of accomplishment each week, and I only resent having to get up at 5.30 for it at 10 pm, when I know I should go to bed but would rather stay up another three hours, and 5.25, when my first alarm goes off and I wish I had gone to bed at 10. I'm working with the intern recruiting team, coming up with better ways to gather, store and present information. The projects are bite-sized. No 300 page documents to manage here, which means I end each week feeling like I finished things. And while itty bitty projects might get frustrating if that's what I did for a full time job, it's perfect for how disjointed my weeks are right now.

Tutoring has been going fine. Once I settled into a routine with the kids and with my lesson plans, I was enjoying it. Monday was the last day of tutoring for my group of 3, however, and they are doing post assessments with other teachers now. I picked up a group of four new students yesterday--all different grade levels, three for math and one for reading. I'll only have them for a few weeks before I administer their post-assessments. My two off-site students will be done toward the end of the month. I really don't enjoy the upheaval and changing routine. It takes me longer to plan and leaves me feeling a little bit disorganized as I try to quickly assess how much can be accomplished in each new situation.

Juan is sounding out words like a champ, however, and I usually leave his house feeling at peace with the tutoring process. Shortly after my last post about him, we had a not-so-good session in which he cried and said reading was hard, and I felt terrible for not realizing pre-tears that he was feeling pushed. He was also sick that day, and in retrospect, that seems to have been the main problem. The very next day, I went with some dread that we'd have another difficult session. But instead, he was animated and engaged, and by the time I pulled out his little red book (the one that had pushed him over the edge 24 hours earlier) he said, "I LOVE reading!" and soon after that he was standing on his kitchen chair, arms in the air, doing a victory dance over what an accomplished reader he is. I think this change in tune might have had something to do with the two very sweet little girls who were visiting that night. One way or the other, he's reading quite well with very little help, and we're both pleased. We have a lot of fun too. He's come around from his original "no games" stance, and when I read to him, he says, "oh, do the voice, do the voice!" and then giggles every time when I read in my goofy man-impression voice. (don't ask me to do it for you; I only do it for cute 5 year olds). Monday he asked if I thought maybe I could come over sometime and we could play with his toys. Tuesday he assured me (without consulting his parents) that I would be welcome to join his family and their guests for pizza if I wanted to do that instead of going home. :) So I guess we're friends. Also, the little girls are there at least once a week, and one has taken to sitting in my lap and participating for the whole tutoring time, even though she doesn't understand English (but I think she's starting to know colors). She enjoys the books and writing, and when we play a game, she's on my team. It works out fine.

I had an interview for Intel almost two weeks ago, and was supposed to have another one this week. It's been postponed indefinitely due to changes in their hiring priorities, but the manager said that as soon as he knows that they're still hiring for this position we will reschedule. He won't know for at least another two weeks. Last week I also submitted an application for a PhD position in Basel. Those are the most promising two long-term jobs I'm following at the moment.

Five Little Peppers

2011-01-08T20:09:00.003+01:00

Tutoring re-started this week after a two week break for Christmas. Two of the first graders were moved to a different group and I picked up two off-site students, so I now see two kindergartners and a first grader in a group session, a fifth grader at his home, and another kindergartner (Juan) in his home. Juan's preliminary assessment test indicated that he didn't know his letter sounds, colors, or numbers, and basically didn't understand the material on the test. I was told to expect really low English comprehension. At our first meeting, though, I discovered he not only knows all his colors, can read numbers, can count reliably, can asses same/different, and can order pictures into a correct sequence; he can also correctly identify many letter names and sounds, come up with words that start with a given sound, eliminate words that don't start with the same sound...in short, I don't know what he was thinking when he checked out of that assessment test, but the kid is clearly a smart little dude. Also, he never accidentally switches to Spanish. He is all English when we're together.

In our second meeting, we began to review letter sounds again. He shrugged his shoulders and said "I don't know!" when I asked him letters he had known just yesterday. Suspecting he feigned ignorance, I circled back to a few of the letters he'd said he didn't know. "Ok, this is a really hard one..." I said. That successfully jogged his memory every time.

Thursday, I asked if he'd like to start with a story. He shook his head no. "No? ok, would you rather start with a game?" no. "Alright, well how about some letter flashcards to warm up?" nope, he didn't want to do that either. I said he had to pick one thing, so we started with flash cards (no memory problems today!), but any time I asked him for input about an activity, he said that actually, he didn't want to do it. I like that he's so frank, and I can hardly blame him! I wouldn't want to do an extra hour and a half of reading after school either! I also like that he didn't have a bad attitude, and when I said each time that I understood he didn't want to, but I wanted him to do it anyway, he got right to it.

I take a pile of books each day for him to pick read aloud stories. He picks long and complex stories like Owl Moon, The Three Little Javelinas and Lentil-- books that bore the the other ESL 5 year olds--and he stays engaged through the whole book and can answer questions and write a sentence about the story.

I think he probably is bored with reading material and exercises that are at his level (he's still learning to sound things out, and doesn't know all his long vowels yet). I picked up a set of "Bob Books" for him to start on - simple books that should be perfect for building his ability to sound things out, and I'm going to make a goal chart. Maybe he's motivated by lists, levels and prizes. I am. Also, I got a funny Skippyjon Jones book with some entertaining Spanglish:

"Ay, Skippito," said Don Diego, a purple dog. "It is good you are here. El Bumblebeeto has stolen our beans!"
"Holy guacamole!" Skippito Friskito cried. "We must get them back!"...
Skippito and his amigos found Bumblebeeto resting in a tree.
"Ay, Bumblebeeto," Skippito called out, "give Los Chimichangos back their beans!" But El Bumblebeeto didn't hear him. He was asleep!

I hope to see Juan reading independently soon!

2010-12-17T08:02:00.003+01:00

Happy Cat. Happy Steph.

Fingerprints

2010-12-14T18:14:00.003+01:00

I'm supposed to get fingerprinted today as part of my clearance to work at the school (where I've already been working for a week, I might add). I had my fingerprints taken by the same Sheriff's Office about five years ago, but apparently, they don't keep them! Here I've thought these five years that I had missed my window of opportunity to start my life of crime--that if I ever did anything criminal, the Sheriff would just look me up in his database by my prints (which I'm pretty sure I'd be stupid enough to leave at the crime scene for him). Well! Apparently, I was mistaken, and shouldn't rule out crime just yet.

In other news, I graduated from college 6 years ago this week.

Reading Chaucer

2010-12-09T06:06:00.002+01:00

I'm re-reading The Canterbury Tales, because "Chaucer's heroes regard love when it comes upon them as the most beautiful of absolute disasters," and sometimes that jaded perspective just hits the spot best when it comes in 14th century rhyme.

"I'd like to warn you; it is no child's play
Choosing a wife. It needs consideration,
In fact it asks a long investigation.

'Is she discreet and sober? or a drinker?
Or arrogant? Or, in other ways a stinker?
A scolder? Or extravagant? Too clannish?
Too poor? Too rich? Unnaturally mannish?"

one banana, two banana, three banana SPLIT!

2010-12-08T04:28:00.004+01:00

Last week I thought that Brian had taken to calling me "Howard the Un-hirable" when I came home from a job interview to that greeting. After a couple days it came up again and he said he didn't call me Howard--he only asked, "How're the Un-hirables today?" By that time I'd spent two days wondering why I didn't at least merit a more feminine name, like Henrietta or Harriet. It doesn't matter anymore, however, because I got a job.

Actually, I got two. I was selected for an internship with Mercy Corps. I'll be working on expanding their partnerships with global universities to improve their ability to recruit interns with highly specialized skills. That job will start next month.

The other job I got is a position tutoring reading at a grade school. Three first-graders and two kindergartners, all Spanish speakers, and I sat at a little table for an hour and a half this afternoon reading stories, practicing same/different concepts, colors, shape names, and learning about "sequence." I hope some learning occurred, anyway. There are several challenges with this group: the fact we meet after school; the fact they speak Spanish and I have to remind them to speak English; the fact that it's four wiggly little boys and one very silly, equally wiggly chatter box little girl; the fact that they basically don't know their letter sounds yet. The first graders know some sounds, but still take the "throw out random guesses" approach if they try to read. After meeting them today, I think I'm going to have to find resources for strategically teaching phonemic and phonological awareness skills (check out my happenin' new lingo!)as if they haven't had it before. I also was reminded how NOISY five and six year olds are, even when they think they're being quiet! It's like they don't even notice that animal sounds and humming and beat boxing is coming out of their mouths, even though they just very correctly and very sincerely told me that one of the rules is that "we work quietly."

It was an ok first day, I think, despite the gleeful use of Spanish potty-mouth words (they know I don't understand). Christian is having trouble remembering my name. He says, "Miss..uh..miss...hey, teacher! teacher! I'm done!" The first thing he said in class before he even unpacked his snack was "Read us a story!" That's a good start for a reading group! He also was caught climbing the stalls in the boys bathroom on our break, and his feelings were a little hurt by the (harsh!) scolding he got from one of the guy teachers. Gilberto follows directions well, when he understands them, but when he's in Spanish mode it's hard to get his attention. Saray says her dad builds ships, too, and enthusiastically said "YAY!" when I said I'd be their tutor from now on. Alejandro is as sweet as they come, and wanted me to draw him a duck, then a tiger, than a snake, as part of his story about the duck visiting the snake's planet. Gustavo, who their last teacher said "likes to be contrary" gives articulate answers when asked anything directly, and otherwise acts like he has better things to be doing than sitting in some stupid reading class. He also runs in the hall as soon as he's out of sight, makes funny faces almost constantly, likes Jack and the Bean Stalk, and overstays his turn at the drinking fountain while the other kids chant, "One banana, two banana, three banana SPLIT! Hey! You're supposed to split! We said split! Teacher, he's taking too long! Hey! He's drinking it all! Hey, he got too many drinks! Teacher!'

Oh, grade-schoolers.

Antique stores and driving on ice

2010-11-29T01:54:00.007+01:00

Christi was in the area this weekend for Thanksgiving! She made the trek over the hill from Sherwood to share a cup of coffee and do some shopping in the bustling metropolis of downtown Forest Grove. (If you have trouble keeping my friends straight, Christi is a former roommate turned hospital dietitian who lives in Southern Oregon). I had plans to revive my day-after-black-friday tradition of attending the Verboort Christmas Bazaar, but they don't do it anymore, so...other sorts of shopping had to suffice. Christi was in the market for a tea pot and I can almost always be persuaded to buy a tea cup (but I haven't in years!), so we considered every tea pot, saucer and cup in the big antique store downtown. Christi bought a classy white coffee pot and sugar bowl, made in Poland, which will double for tea duty until she acquires a full china set. I bought this Royal Albert tea cup:

It's now living on an international shelf with my other blue and green tea cups, next to my Swiss fondue pot, and with the South Africa wildlife.

I can't divulge the other fabulous things I picked up on Saturday, but I can tell you about the beautiful snow we had this week:

I love snow, but icy roads are the down side of it. The boys decided at 9:30 on Wednesday night that we should drive to town in the mustang for snacks and drinks. The mustang doesn't have traction tires or anything! Gregg hadn't even made it all the way into mom and dad's driveway that evening. Brian called him a pansy and went out to show him how driving on ice is done, but he too got stuck at the end of the drive. I offered my car with studded tires, but no--"where's the adventure in that, Stephanie!?" I said nooo way was I going to town with them! My idea of an enjoyable drive on snow and ice is not the same as theirs. But, profuse promises against sliding and one guilt trip later ("You lived far away for how long, and now you won't even go to the store with us!?"), I agreed. We drove super slow. There was no intentional sliding. I picked the music (hey-negotiated terms of the deal!). And I had fun. Yesterday with the boys: long talks while de-molding a bathroom, followed by dinner at an Italian restaurant. I'm liking all this time with my brothers.

Great clothes...

2010-11-25T03:51:00.007+01:00

Look at the beautiful clothes this lady makes:

Lirola on Etsy

They wouldn't listen to the fact that I was genius!!

2010-11-24T04:26:00.005+01:00

Happy Tuesday evening!
I'm sitting here applying for jobs (how predictable), when what should come up on itunes but Jim Croce, with thoughts on work. :) Enjoy.

Jim Croce - Workin' At The Car Wash Blues
Uploaded by asjacks75. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

I had a couple interviews yesterday. I felt like they went ok, but a positive interview doesn't always a paying job equal, in my experience. I liked both teams and would be happy to hear from them, so that's good at least. One position is retail. Beats rubbing fenders, doesn't it!?

I've been working on Christmas presents in the form of embroidered pillowcases, based on patterns out of Doodle Stitching: the Motif Collection. Don't worry, if you read this blog, you're unlikely to be in danger of receiving any pillowcases from me. I know some of you will be as relieved by that news as Gregg was that these cute, artsy birds weren't for him:

Organisationsentwicklungsinitiativen

2010-11-15T04:55:00.003+01:00

This very long German word is brought to you today by my latest translating project. It means Organizational Development Initiatives, and it's a good word for what I've been doing lately. You've probably been wondering what's been keeping me too busy to write, huh? I mean, how much can one under-employed girl have to do in a day?

Well. It's been one part busy, and two parts "I don't want to talk to anyone." Next time I graduate, particularly if it's with an obscure skill set, remind me to not do so during a recession.

If you've talked to me lately (but I know most of you haven't), you're probably tired of hearing about my job hunt. Sorry if it's getting dull. I know it's been over a year. It's the biggest project I have going right now and I spend a lot of time every day working on it. The latest news is: I applied today for holiday retail work. I got a very kind and personal rejection letter from Omya in Reinach (same problem as usual; it's too hard to hire an American). I'll be speaking soon with the Chair of Humanities at PCC about teaching African History at the college. I've re-applied at Google on encouragement from a recruiter there. And, I have an interview Monday for a pretty cool internship developing Mercy Corps' recruiting relationships with global universities (it's strangely like the Google position, now that I think about it...)

I'm tired of applying for jobs. And moving--even moving home--has its lonely points, and requires a lot of starting over. I appreciate the old friends from here who have been inclusive and sought me out to spend time together (and I really do have some faithful, persistent, steady friends here!!), and the few from Basel who have been in touch. I anticipated before I left that about a month, or month and a half of post-move directionlessness would be how long I'd be "pretty content" and that after that, it would get harder. I was right, so add that to your "useful knowledge about Steph list." When she moves, she's T - 5.5 weeks to Grumpyville.

But...a wise person I know says when you feel sad and discouraged and disappointed, it's a good time to focus on other people's needs and feelings. It's also a good time to be thankful for the good things we have.

In Pfeffingen, we used to sing grace before lunch:

Jedes Tierli hed siis ässä
jedes Blüemli trinkt vo dir
häsch au euis no nie vergässe
liebe Gott mir danked dir

I think I'd get it wrong if I tried to give you a straight translation of it, but the idea anyway is that God provides food for the animals, and water for the flowers, and he never forgets us. We remember his goodness, and give thanks.

(Feel free to correct me, you Swiss German readers, if I have it wrong)

Governor with a mandate

2010-11-04T19:46:00.001+01:00

Sherman County

2010-11-03T07:59:00.003+01:00

The great thing about waiting until election day to vote is the gratification of finding out the very same day what (and who) passed and what didn't! I don't think I'll ever come around to sending my ballot in early.

I think elections are wonderfully entertaining! What's more fun than a nose to nose gubernatorial race, an interactive map and a stream of live tweeted comments like the one at the top of the list? :)

das Imbergässlein

2010-10-30T02:27:00.004+02:00

(charcoal and pastel on paper, 10.5 x 14.75 inches)

I know some of you are thinking, "Wasn't she 'almost done' with this one months ago?" Yup. It's just that "almost" often ends up being a more elastic state of being than I wish it were. I had some persistent trouble areas, but I resolved most of them and thought of some additions that I am pleased with.

It's on its way to Richard Nixon.

New songs on the new guitar

2010-10-29T09:48:00.003+02:00

Brian is teaching me a few songs on the guitar. Today we worked on these three:

Jimi Hendrix, "Hey Joe" (sorry about the violent lyrics...):

Jack Johnson, "Flake":

Flake isn't my favorite Jack Johnson song, but it's the one Bri knows...so that's why I'm learning it.

Daphne Loves Derbey, "Pollen and Salt." Every time I tried to remember the name of this song I could only think about sea salt and vinegar chips. "Think Daffodils and the Ocean, Steph," Brian suggested. et voila. Pollen and Salt.

wi-fi in the wilderness

2010-10-17T16:10:00.003+02:00

Mom and Aunt Heather and I are painting in the Mt. Adams wilderness this weekend with Eric Jacobsen. Turns out the modern wilderness has free wi-fi.

Mom's easel

On receiving flowers.

2010-10-15T19:29:00.005+02:00

I was surprised and delighted last night when I got home to find a box of flowers sitting on the porch waiting for me. :) A thoughtful guy sent them.

I'm off shortly to paint in the mountain wilderness all weekend. bis nacher.

Three things I'm pleased about

2010-10-12T23:23:00.005+02:00

Two pairs of barely-worn Goodwill shoes, and a beautiful balcony!

I'm enjoying October from my flower-lined balcony this afternoon while I whittle away at my long list of outstanding obligations, emails, applications, and ideas.

back in town

2010-10-05T05:47:00.008+02:00

My last few days in Switzerland were filled with lots of packing, drawing, and some fun times with friends (typically immediately followed by not fun goodbyes). I enjoyed a long and leisurely lunch with my friend Marianne in the garden at her house in Pratteln. I went to M1's 7th birthday party, where her grandma asked if I was leaving Switzerland "für immer" (forever). I hope not. M1's Great Aunt Friede said not to worry, I'm young and can come back. It would be different if I was as old as she is and leaving. :) True, I guess. I wish you could meet Friede (I talked about her once before in 2008, here.) She's the younger sister of the girls' grandma, and she lives close enough to come over every Tuesday afternoon and evening to watch the girls, so we've spent a lot of time together. We watched the inauguration together, and she cried as the new president was sworn in. She thought it was such an important and promising turn for the world. She's calm and consistent with the girls, and lets them tie a rope around her waist and pretends with them that she's their horse. I hope I'm that much fun when I'm 70 something! And she's honest about what she's thinking and worried about. She's a bit pessimistic about the world, but talks about prayer sometimes--last week she was telling me about some of the difficult things her family is dealing with right now and said we often think we need to do this or that to make things happen and in the process forget to entrust our lives to God's hands. Timely words for a jobless, directionless 25 year old about to move half way around the world with no clear idea of what she ought to be doing next!

After M1s birthday party I hustled off to Claraplatz to meet Raph for a mystery going-away-present-event (the sort of going away present I wouldn't have to pack), which turned out to be a Mya Audrey piano concert with a couple of his friends. I am increasingly a fan of event/together time gifts. They've often been my favorite gifts (besides Tinkerbelle, of course, who is my all time favorite birthday present).

Friday night before I left I had dinner at the Reinle's...and got to pick my last meal. :) I think if Barbara cooked up enough Alpine macaroni with apple sauce for Israel and Palestine, they'd be so happy and content with the world they'd become friends on the spot. Of course, it wasn't ACTUALLY my last meal, because I stuck around for breakfast Saturday morning. There was already a fire crackling in the fireplace when I woke up, and I don't know whose idea it was to keep the marshmallows in the same cupboard as the coffee cups at their house, but as I went to make myself a cup of coffee, inspiration struck. S'mores for breakfast!

I went to the bookstore the other day to look for a book by the (late) Ghanaian theologian Kwame Bediako. They didn't have it. So then I asked for books on monitoring and evaluation in humanitarian organizations, and they didn't have ANY books on that! none! and that's a huge topic. Bookstores these days. But back to Bediako. He's great. He's one of the authors I read in preparation for my MA exams on the history and anthropology of Christianity in Africa. More on him soon, but here's a sneak peak, as an introduction. He's speaking here about the unity of the church, but the article I read and found so interesting was about the public role of African Christianity in the 21st century. Enjoy this little clip for now.

Later dudes.

goodbye party and rock climbing

2010-09-21T18:16:00.003+02:00

On Sunday, I was the soon-departing and thus honored guest at a "So Long, Switzerland" party at Diana's house. I've had more than my fair share of parties thrown for me while living here, and I'm honestly surprised and flattered that people keep showing up for them! I would have boycotted a long time ago if I were anyone else. On the up side for everyone, these events invariably include really good cakes.

Diana asked me a few weeks ago if there was anything from this area that I still wanted to buy before leaving, or that I wished I had been able to get. I already have some stuff--a fondue pot painted with pictues from the story Schellen-Ursli, books and cds in Swiss German, prints from an artist in the Alsace. But I have always really liked the black on white Scherenschnitte (here's an example), which are maticulously cut out by hand, and I said I regretted that I wouldn't be able to take one of those home. She shared that little bit of information with about 25 of my friends, and they gave me TWO on Sunday as a collective going away gift! two! I am really delighted with them.

Monday night I went indoor rock climbing for the first time ever with Raphael, Valda, Elaine, and other friends. I am still trying to find something I'm better at than Raph, but I was smart enough to concede ahead of time that it wasn't going to be rock climbing and he could just consider this a freebie. I wouldn't try to beat him. Well, he was disgustingingly good at it, naturally, though I am pleased to report he fell off a wall and I didn't. He fell off the same wall last night when we went again, and, once again, I sucessfully made it to the top of all my climbs. We just won't talk about the fact that his routes are a full grade more difficult, include some overhangs, and I tend to cheat by using holds that aren't actually on my color route. Yup. But now that I am feeling comfortable with the whole idea of scaling 30 foot walls, next time I'll try to be a bit more serious about sticking to a route and grade that's right for me without using the other holds that happen to be there.

I am off to deliver an apple pie. Later dudes.

All Ye

2010-09-16T13:52:00.005+02:00

Song for you. I like his attitude, his hat, his message, his song writing that draws on both old and new African-American oral tradition, and the fact he says "holler at yo boy." Who says that!? =)

All ye heavy laden
All ye heavy hearted
All ye heavy-burdened
oh, come.
The Lord will give you rest.
Yes he will.
Oh, come.
He will give you rest.

Oh come, and be healed.
Come, and be filled
Oh Come, and be healed
By the Spirit of the Lord.

Friends

2010-09-15T09:54:00.004+02:00

I feel like I ought to post an update, even though I don't have much to say. I've been hanging out here at Valda's, applying to jobs, getting rejected for jobs (story of this year!!), drawing pictures and thinking. Monday night Rebekkah, Diana, Lucy, Gina, Janet and Joseph came over for dinner. We went for a walk up near the zoo and came back to play a game. The way the game works is everyone takes a card with a statement or a question on it, and thinks about who in the group best fits the question or statement. They vote for that person, place the vote behind the question card, and pass it along to the next person for their vote. Along with Rebekkah, I was voted most likely to be targeted by a con artist (though Valda clarified that didn't mean she thought he would be successful), most likely to be chosen as a vice presidential running mate if any of the the group ever ran for president, and unanimously identified as the group member who has "perfected the art of flirting." Great. That's a heck of a reputation.

I've been enjoying the woods this week. I went for a nice run yesterday in the Allschwil Forest, and Saturday afternoon Raph and Lukas (and later, Dom) and I took bows, arrows, a target, and a bunch of marshmellows up to the woods near their house. We took turns shooting until it was too dark to find our last arrow, and then focused on the important work of making s'mores. Or Raph and I did anyway. Dom and Lukas don't fully appreciate smokey, burnt sugar with chocolate. While I worked on catching marshmellows on fire, the three of them told military stories. The running trails and grill times and military stories in the woods with friends are some of the things I'll miss the most when I leave.

Sunday I had lunch with Hans and Barbara and Dom, reconnected with their neighbor's cat, finally finished that rose picture I was working on for them, and watched Agatha Christi Movies with Barbara until I eventually got around to going home late in the evening. Hans agrees their house will be much quieter starting in a week and a half.

Brian bought me a guitar "and a pretty sweet gig bag" yesterday, so I am going to get serious about learning some new songs when I get home. It's been on the to-do list too long, and I'm tired of the two songs I can currently play. =)

WOOHOOO!

2010-09-10T14:29:00.003+02:00

I think I turned a corner in my soul yesterday or the day before, cuz I am getting SO excited about going home! Bothering my grandparents, hanging out with the boys, country music, meals and projects and jokes with mom and dad, thrift store shopping and hiking and lots of tea with Anne, new friends, a new church maybe, a new job (maybe), a new couch (mom saved me a couch!!), long conversations with Tinkerbelle...and drive through coffee huts, to name just a few marvellous things about going home. Life is good in the Northwest. Oh, know what else? I might just go watch Emily bowl in the national finals in Reno in October and get some lessons from the semi-pros. Uh huh. Watch out Swiss guys...next time we go bowling, I am so going to beat you all. And watch out other finalists, cuz Emily is comin' to town!

In other news...I hear rumor of a new malaria-drug related project at Novartis in Basel, and the new director has my CV, by which he is hopefully exceedingly impressed.

And now...back to editing. I'm cleaning up the English version of the African Studies guidelines for the Centre for African Studies in Basel, and I think from now on when people ask what a person can do with my degree, I'll just hand them a copy of this with the most salient points highlighted for them. The program really is cool and teaches so much relevant stuff! I almost want to do it again.

homeward bound...

2010-09-08T11:32:00.002+02:00

I didn't get the job, so it looks as though an intercontinental move will happen this month after all. I'm looking forward to seeing family and Oregon friends, but man! saying goodbye to Swiss friends is (already) tough.

But life moves on. So, I've applied to five more jobs in the last two days, and I still have three others on my list, including an estuary conservation project manager position in Astoria...I think that sounds really great, but the problem with a degree in African studies is that nobody has any imagination for how it relates to the job they are trying to fill. I don't mind connecting dots for people, but this one is going to be tough to justify, even for me. I'm planning to talk up my thesis on water, the political ecology connections that are relevant in any river estuary context, and my river conservation volunteer experience.

Also, I read that the US needs to create 8 million new jobs before 2011 to be back on track for employment. Well, the smart thing to do, obviously, is create my own job instead of waiting around for someone else to do it. The universities are busy places with unemployment so high. I'll try to drum up an adjunct position teaching African history or a literature course (African literature in English) at one of the universities. There is a surprising dearth of Africanists in the Portland area...time to be a big fish in a little pond!

Meanwhile, I am accepting any and all employment ideas you may have. I'll send you my CV if you ask for it. Any idea will be considered. Gregg has suggested I could be a greeter at the new Walmart...a very depressing thought, until one considers that I could start there, then become store manager, then director of the Walmart foundation in time for the foundation's funded scientists to discover the HIV vaccine. Then, after that, I could become Secretary of State. Walmart greeter isn't so depressing when you look at it that way.

Gregg says I should be sure to mention that in the interview.

The search for gainful employment...

2010-09-02T21:56:00.003+02:00

...carries on. Interview Part 1 went well, other than managing to show up late (gosh! that was frustrating!). I was invited to submit writing samples and do a writing exercise as 'round two.' I finished that today and I'm waiting to hear from them whether I've made it to round three or not. They already have a short list of around 4 or 5 people, so there's plenty of competition! However, they need a professional writer most of all, it seems, and that's one of my best selling points. So, we'll see. The office is in a nice accessible part of Basel, near to friends, stores, and restaurants, and I liked the people I met. I continue to have no idea what I really 'want' as far as which continent I'd like to live on, but if I was offered this job, I think I'd be very content working there.

Janet and the little dude stopped by to see me after the interview, and Janet brought ice cream as a 'congratulations! you had an interview' treat. :) Ice cream with Janet is ALWAYS a treat.

An ant on the move does more than a dozing ox.

2010-08-31T11:20:00.003+02:00

I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon for a marketing position with the Drug Information Association-Europe, in Basel.

Also, I have successfully moved out and informed the village they'll no longer have the pleasure of my company. I WOULD get a local job interview the very same afternoon I finish officially moving out of the country, hmm?

Raphael said "your whole life is last minute!" but I'd just like to point out it is not my fault this time. :)

Moving out would have been extremely stressful if hadn't been for the help of Lukas, Gina, and Lucy. Lucy cleaned my windows inside and out, Gina scrubbed cupboards and drove my final load to the city, and Lukas moved all my heavy stuff and drove me all over town dropping off clothes and boxes and recycling. And now I am encamped along the corridors of Valda and Elaine's house. Do I have generous and self-less friends, or what?!

Gina, working on the cupboards:

packing up, moving out

2010-08-24T15:56:00.003+02:00

The disaster zone also known as Stephanie's apartment:

I forgot what a bother it is to move...

Sunny Basel and Rainy Luzern

2010-08-22T23:06:00.013+02:00

I feel like I ought to say something interesting, but instead, some pictures and a song will have to do.

On mom and dad's first full day of sight-seeing in Basel, we enjoyed the view overlooking the Rhine from Pfalz, behind the Munster. It was HOT that day! See the first bridge in the background? That's where my eggshell-blue-with-stars-on-the-inside sleeping bag and I plan to move, in the event that we don't find a job. Of course, in Basel we stopped at all the obligatory places, including the Spalentor...

and Barfi.

and we had lunch by the Tinguely Fountain in Basel. Dad was impressed with the fountain's moving parts only until he figured out that they weren't water-powered. Then it was just your garden variety, sorta-artsy metal with motors. :)

We went to Luzern on foggy, damp day. My britches were soon soaked from hem to knee.

The flower boxes on the bridge were worth the trip all on their own, I thought! Even on a rainy day.

We stepped into this church to get out of the rain. A traveling high school or college choir had the same idea at the same time, and since they were in such a lovely place (or maybe because the acoustics were irresistible), they sang a couple songs for the rest of us as we all stood around with our collapsed umbrellas and soggy shoes.

With just a few hours left before our train home, we decided we didn't really have enough time to adequately explore the Transport Museum. We headed for the Richard Wagner Museum instead, because I wanted to see their exhibition about the pioneers of Swiss hiking who criss-crossed the alps when there were no yellow signs to tell them where to go or how long it would take to get there. Wagner liked the mountains. I reckon long hiking excursions were his way to clear his head temporarily of his many complex and doubtless stressful relationships. He had a house on Lake Luzern, and today it's the museum. Now, if you're ever in Luzern looking for the Richard Wagner Museum, please note it's a long, long walk from the train station. We had the address and knew the general direction, but, after walking for ages, we thought we must have missed it for sure. Fortunately, there was a gas station nearby. Mom and I just popped in there and consulted a map of Luzern. Then we put the map back, smiled at the teller, and left without buying anything. We found the Museum, and this very large bust of Wagner himself.

Other highlights from our trip to Luzern would have to include the extendable dam. Why didn't they just do that at Bonneville or Grand Coulee?

Lastly, for someone who doesn't like sap, I like some awfully mushy songs! David Gilmour sings "The Dimming of the Day":

I may be going nuts.

2010-08-17T22:07:00.003+02:00

Or...I might just be demonstrating fascinating signs of stress. A couple months ago, I had an odd dream about my teeth falling out for no reason. Really, no reason--they just fell right out of my head. I mentioned it to Rebekkah, who said, oh, that's a very common dream associated with anxiety. Hmm. Interesting, I thought. I was feeling anxious about a particular set of circumstances, so it seemed plausible. I haven't had any more strange dreams, but my latest abnormality is a twitching right eye. It's been throwing fits for a couple weeks now...and a quick Google search has just assured me that it's probably fatigue and stress and not a brain tumor (as I was beginning to suspect).

Whew! At least that's one less thing to stress me out!

D.O.N.E.

2010-08-16T13:53:00.004+02:00

Hoi.

I know you thought I fell off the face of the earth. I had to change the background colors so you'd notice something was different and actually read this! I am back, and I have about 15 mostly unrelated thoughts, ideas, stories, and ambitions to share with you. I won't write all of them today. Let's start with a quick summary of the most important and/or interesting bits since last time we spoke: I've finished my MA in African Studies(longest MA in the history of the universe!). It was a privilege to travel with my parents for three weeks (and I'm so thankful they could come). I went shooting with Raph and I'm now on friendly terms with the M16, however it turns out I'm a lousy shot at 300 meters. Well, not TERRIBLE. I have it on good authority from Stephan that my score would be passable in the Swiss military, but I clearly need practice. I'm considering applying for a Fulbright scholarship to do some more work on Hydro-politics in South Africa (mostly because I'm having trouble finding a job, and a Fulbright--henceforth referred to alternatively as a voll bereit, mann--is a paid, productive, and fairly interesting alternative). In September I will mostly be drawing. Hurray!!

Now on to other things. I think I've mentioned my respect for John Green of the Vlogbrothers youtube team. He's an author of young-adult fiction, but I enjoy his thoughtful, intelligent and often funny videos that he records for his brother and their mostly teenage audience. I like the way that he pulls together topics that would appear unrelated to make one good point about something. Take for example, this recent video: Other people who do this quite well include comedian Stephen Colbert and essayist Anne Fadiman. I've mentioned them before too, I think. (Watch Colbert's great piece on "being known," social media, and the meaning of the human experience HERE. It's better than John's video, in fact, but...perhaps a little crass for some people's taste. Anyway, I find these people quite inspiring, and I had an idea a while back for a small collection of essays about Switzerland which I'm starting to work on a bit. I hope that they'll have a similar mix of personal experience, humor, and observations that will stand out from the average crowd of "American living in Switzerland" writings. More on that if it goes anywhere.

And... That's good for now. Work beckons. Bis spoeter.

All quiet at Tipperary

2010-06-30T22:50:00.013+02:00

Lara named my apartment "Tipperary" because "it's a long, long way to Tipperary" (from the train station, on foot). The distance seemed shorter and shorter, however, as the visit progressed and their legs got used to walking. By week 3, after a 4 hour hike up the mountain from Grindelwald to Kleine Scheidegg, the little green bump in Basel Land where Tipperary sits seemed like a mole hill after all.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, perhaps), we've all agreed to a general policy of "what happens in Tipperary, stays in Tipperary," so I'm not allowed to share some of the most entertaining events and conversations from our three weeks together, but here's a few highlights that I think I'm permitted to tell you about.

We spent three days in the mountains last week with Sarah and Rebekkah, friends of mine from church who are the same ages as Chelsea and Lara. We started in Murten, a town I visited ages ago with Janet and her parents my first winter here. We followed Rick Steves' walking tour around town, admired the cannon balls lodged in city wall, thought of the star-spangled banner while attempting pull-ups in the ramparts, imagined Charles the Bold and his 20,000 Burgundians encamped upon the nearby hill in 1476, and enjoyed lunch by the lake, while watching a windsurfer try to right his capsized sail, only to have it immediately fall over the other direction.

From Murten we took the train to Grindelwald. A farmer and her sister were waiting to drive us to our "schlaf im stroh" accommodations nearby.

This is the advantage of being the first one up for a shower in the morning.

After breakfast with the other guests at the farm, we left for a hike.

Cable car and train views on our way up to the James Bond restaurant above Murren.

Silliness at the Shilthorn:

Hmmph. This is taking forever. More later.

In other news, we welcomed Janet and Stephan's son Joseph to the world on Monday. He's a sweet little dude! :) I got to have a much needed catch up chat with Janet today while rocking the baby. I'm looking forward to lots more visits with the two of them in the coming months (thanks, Gina, for the picture).

France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Home

2010-06-26T21:22:00.005+02:00

Ackkkk...busy busy. very busy. I'm traveling, entertaining, a little stressed about work/money/school/moving, missing all my favorite people cuz I haven't been home long enough to call anyone or write to anyone, but in between I'm going fun places, laughing a lot more than normal, and soaking up the summer with my cousins. More later about Italian fishing villages, sleeping in a barn under the Eiger North face and Swiss fighter jets.

Until then...if I owe you an email, a phone call, a thank you note, an edit of your MA paper, an invoice, a painting, a birthday card, a skype date, a google chat, a spending report, an essay, a translation, some photo prints or a pie (and I know I owe at least one person in each category!), thank you for your patience. I know you're all waiting, and I really am sorry.

More soon.

Tourismus

2010-06-13T22:47:00.007+02:00

Just a couple pictures from the week:

Friday we were going to go to St. Ursanne, but missed a bus and therefore missed the train, so we changed plans and went to Basel instead. We visited the market area and the Rat house and took a stroll up the shopping street, with detours for shoe stores (my request), before hitting the art museum. I think I should have started them at the smaller art museum...They've had their fill already and don't want to go to the Beyler, the best one in town. I knew they were done with art by the time we left, but who isn't after a couple hours of paintings? I thought it was temporary. I didn't fully apprehend their reaction to Monet and Picasso until we were sitting on a bench in a parking lot later that night and Chelsea said, "the museum was ok, but this is soooooo much better."

So much for culture.

Friday night we went to the 28th annual Nordwestschweiz jodelerfest in Laufen. That was nice, and an improvement on the parking lot, I reckon. :)

Saturday we finally made it to St. Ursanne, where the bridge is clearly the main attraction in town. We visited an antique store, a jewelry store, and the church, too, and ate an entire box of chocolate cookies.

Today after church we had a barbecue in the park in Basel with friends. Despite an impressive effort on Raph's part, and a less impressive but no less sincere effort on my part, the coals refused to burn efficiently and we finally ran over to Gina's house to finish cooking the sausages. It still tasted good, and it was nice to spend time with Ben and Ed and Ben's brother and sister, here from England, as well as more regular, see-em-every-week basel folk.

Company

2010-06-11T00:01:00.004+02:00

Two of my cousins from Montana are visiting. Today we took the bus to Gempen and tramped through the woods until we found the look-out tower and the Gempenturm restaurant, where we enjoyed cappuccinos, a long talk with the Egyptian server about American politics, and later, Rivella sodas for everyone as his treat.

Coming up: medieval towns, a cloister, and a jodelfest. Evidence that we're having fun, and I'm feeding them:

Descending the tower in sunny Gempen today.

Stuffed peppers and beet salad for supper.

After dinner ball-room dancing. Duh. :)

Quality note taking, at its finest!

2010-06-01T16:43:00.003+02:00

I'm reviewing my notes on commercial farming and class formation in South Africa from my Land Reform class in 2007 in preparation for my exam on Land Reform. I bring you this lucid quote, from Oct. 3, 2007:

"Afrikaners - saw themselves as a united, homogeneous group opposed to the Dutch VOC and later opposed to the British. Lots of myth; frontier stories, the Farmer and His Gun, Davy Crockett-style imagery around the Afrikaner image. Historians of course were problematic to the myth:said there were divisions w/in the white community, some serious poverty, etc.

Book on the History of inequality by some French dude. Important book, but still, even though it is just a few years old, still presented these myths of the Afrikaners..."

Where was my brain that day!?

Sleep: Not JUST for losers!

2010-05-31T09:49:00.002+02:00

I got a full night's sleep last night, and it's amazing how much better I feel! I still have a stack of articles to read and learn before Wednesday, and I still have things on my mind, but it seems I might have to shed my "sleep is for losers" motto. This rest bit could really prove addictive. I'm sure I'll still try it from time to time, but I reckon my days of 5 hours of a sleep a night for weeks on end are probably coming to a close (I haven't really been doing that regularly in a while--not since Fox--but at least until this year I could do it when I needed it. It's getting harder though).

One more week of grad school! I've been at the Uni Basel now longer than I was at Fox or PCC. In the spring of 2004, Kerry Irish, a history professor at Fox, read "George Fox Seniors, Will You Please Go Now!" to us in class (Marvin K. Mooney, Will You Please Go Now): "The time has come. The time has come. The time is now. Just go, go, go! I don't care how..."

:) alright, already! I'm going!

May is Busy

2010-05-28T10:35:00.005+02:00

Just a really quick note about a couple things. First, I'm sure some of you will be pleased to hear that I didn't ONLY apply for a job in Rwanda. I also have applications out for jobs in Boston, New York, and, as of yesterday, Geneva. (These three cities pop up a lot in my job search. Clearly, we need to work on building Portland's presence in the humanitarian Aid/International research scene, so I can come work there). I found a desk job (see Gregg? safe!) as a Reporting Officer (writer/editor/researcher) with the International Committee of the Red Cross. I hope that will turn into an interview! I think I'd like the work: it's the type of work I enjoy, on subjects that interest me. It would also be good for my French, and I think if I could figure out a way, I would jump right into intensive courses from the very beginning. I don't currently like Geneva very well, but I would learn to like it, I suppose. I do, however, like Nyon, and if living in da big city started to get to me, I'd just go sit on the castle wall at Nyon for a while, and look out over the rooftops and the lake, and it would be alright. Also, I'm applying for a job with the Oregon Child Development Coalition as the Education Coordinator for the Migrant Head Start program in Cornelius. So-there are a few interesting possibilities out there!

It's busy here. Baby showers and going away parties and papers to write and exams to study for...so much going on, as always, at the start of the summer. I've been running again lately. Now that the weather is nice, I look forward to going. There is a field of sheep on my running route, and in the evenings when I jog past, the old ones just look at me as they munch their grass, the babies hop around a lot, and I think of Psalm 100: Know that the Lord himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting, and his faithfulness to all generations.

That's the way that the world goes 'round

2010-05-21T21:30:00.004+02:00

That's the way that the world goes 'round
You're up one day, the next you're down
It's a half an inch of water; you think you're gonna drown
That's the way that the world goes around.

And when it comes to jobs: ya win some; ya lose some.
I'm doing translating work for a new client in Zurich this weekend. I didn't get the Roche job. I just applied for a job with an organization called Partners in Health as the Assistant to the Director in Rwanda. Yes, it's based in Rwanda. Hold on, hold on...I'll count to three so you can all object in unison: 1, 2,...3. Ok, objections noted.

Applying for new jobs is the secret to not being too bummed about not getting jobs I applied for last month.

And peppy tunes help too.

Check out this bug!

2010-05-20T23:48:00.004+02:00

This is the second little critter like this I've found in my apartment. They attach themselves by the mouth-end to fabric, or in this case, toilet paper. They could easily be mistaken for little peices of plant matter, if they didn't choose to hang off the upper portions of my drapes, or lounge around on piles of clean laundry that haven't been near any plants. I put this little dude outside after our photo session. Does anyone know what these are called?

Bellinzona 2

2010-05-14T19:09:00.006+02:00

Travel partner, who is about to flee the country for the Carolinas. Who am I gonna discover old fortresses with then?

The three castles at Bellinzona are collectively a UNESCO World Heritage site. They're worth seeing, even in the rain.

If it rains too much, you can experiment with your camera in the church.

Bellinzona

2010-05-14T14:36:00.005+02:00

Amy and I are back from Bellinzona (in Ticino, waaaay down close to Italy, but still Switzerland). Just two pictures until I get a few more important things done.

It rained. But a little precipitation wasn't going to keep us from eating ice cream and chips for dinner outside under a tree.

Why proof readers are valuable

2010-05-12T14:58:00.004+02:00

Amy and I are leaving soon for our miniature Swiss vacation, and as I was reading up on one of the places we're going, I found this paragraph:

Well, as you see, dead readers, the past ist there for all our visitors who wish to have a closer acquaintance with our town and the region as a whole, accompanied by these pages that invite reflection on the future and its relationship with reality.

So, dead readers, what do you think? Is that a threat?

Cats

2010-05-09T01:06:00.002+02:00

One cat I'm babysitting sits for ages looking at me and purring. nothing else. Just watching with a contented little rumble. She's doing it right now. It's very endearing until she decides that isn't quite adoration enough, and starts licking my legs.

Honestly, cat. Gross.

Exams, New Friends, Job Prospects

2010-05-07T10:46:00.005+02:00

Time for rapid fire updates!

School: One month left! I negotiated my exam topics this week. I'll have oral exams covering Land Reform in South Africa, Christianity in Africa post 1960, and Hydro-politics in Southern Africa. I have 9 books and 11 articles to read to prepare, so I'll be a bit busy. Oh, but, I'm pretty enthusiastic about the reading list. African Gifts of the Spirit: Pentecostalism and the Rise of a Zimbabwean Transnational Religious Movement, and Social Power and the Urbanization of Water: Flows of Power and "'After Years in the Wilderness': the discourse of land claims in the new South Africa," just to name a couple. I know you guys secretly wish you could spend your days learning this stuff. Oral exams work like this: 20 minutes per topic, and they can ask anything.

Work: I have an interview on Monday for a writing job in Basel. This interview was originally scheduled for May 5th, then canceled because they thought they couldn't work with my Visa, and now it's back on. It'll be five hours long. Almost 2 hours is one on one time with ze boss-to-be. I can't imagine what we'll talk about for two hours, but so far in our telephone conversations, I've found her easy to talk to (not that I have much trouble talking to people in general). I'm looking forward to the interview, but of course I'll be nervous on Monday. If you can pray that I'll just be myself and be able to articulate my thoughts well, that would be nice.

Big plans: Amy and I are goin' on a trip. We don't know just where, just yet, but give us 24 hours or so and we'll have it allll sorted out. Destination: Ticino! Also, my parents are coming to visit this summer. How fantastic is that? This will be a very family-filled summer (a good remedy to a rather family-lite year). First Chelsea and Lara will be here in June (woohoo!) and we'll do some traveling, and then I'll work a little in the first part of July and then Mom and Dad will be here!

Interesting People:Even though school has been busy, I've been trying to take time to chat with people at school and get to know new people. This is really aided by the fact that half of my friends have, for various legitimate and illegitimate reasons, more or less fallen off the face of the planet in recent months (that's right. you know who you are), leaving my free time schedule wide open. I've been filling it up with lots of long talks and nail-painting sessions with Amy, dining with the neighbors in Pfeffingen, and getting to know peeps from school. Yesterday I got to visit with a nice Swiss lady named Marianne from my sustainable development class. She's relatively new to Basel, and as she shared some home-made potato-onion tortilla with me yesterday, she noted that food is still a good way to make friends. She's coming over for dinner on Monday now to see my paintings and just to visit. Later I had an impromptu lunch with João, a guy from Portugal who is in a few of my classes (and who not only knows where Oregon is, but knows some things about the place, too!). And thanks to landing on the same project team a few weeks back, I have a new friend named Dominik. He's studying Theology, has spent extended time in Africa and has intriguing thoughts about worship, culture, and church.

And that, friends, is what's going on. I'm almost done house-sitting (hurray!), and I'm looking forward to being back in my own cozy house, with my own things, my own hazelnut coffee creamer, and my own woods just out my own front door.

Life life.

2010-05-04T15:27:00.009+02:00

Song for a busy, rainy afternoon:

Just A Closer Waltz with Thee

Roses with some issues. but still.

2010-04-29T05:57:00.003+02:00

A rose, by any other name, would still be suffering from composistional problems regarding the spacing of the flowers, but...could also still be fixed.

Superstitious Minds - Elvis and Expectations of Modernity in the Zambian Copperbelt

2010-04-29T01:56:00.003+02:00

Ok, ok. I admit it. I'm up in the wee hours (again...gosh! when will I learn how long it takes me to write presentations!), this time working on a presentation on James Ferguson's book (classic, I'd say), Expectations of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt. It's the most interesting thing I've read all semester. Anyway, page 120. Discussing witchcraft, murder, and miners who were afraid of their neighbors: "No one would claim that illegitimate harm-doers, poisoners, or sneaky killers do not exist, or that only superstitious minds are capable of believing such things. Murders occur in every society, and there exists considerable ethnographic testimony for the specialized knowledge and use of poison in south-central Africa, supported in some cases by autopsy and laboratory tests."

James probably chuckled to himself as he wrote "superstitious minds" and thought "We're caught in a trap...I can't walk out...because I love ya too much, Baby...we can't go on together... with superstitious minds...especially if you murder me with witchcraft..."

That's what I would have been thinking, anyway. chortle chortle.
Elvis himself

dumb presentations. I need to sleep.

Coming soon to posters near you...

2010-04-27T11:06:00.007+02:00

...the faces of African Studies in Basel. (I feel a little like a token blond American in this.)

David from Nigeria, Steph from the good ol' US of A, Myra from the Phillipines, Chantelle from Ghana/London, Chantal from Switzerland (I think).

Images belong to the Centre for African Studies, Universität Basel.

Steel Pan Bands

2010-04-25T16:17:00.003+02:00

I occasionally meet very interesting people on trains. Today on my way home from church I sat across form an older man who I'm sure I wouldn't have talked to at all, except for a couple of Arab women behind him who got into a REALLY loud conversation over...well, we don't know what they were talking about, actually, or if they were arguing or just talking loudly, but the man shook his head at me in disbelief and was a little perturbed by their noise. He asked if I was Swiss, and I found out he's from the Bahamas, but he's lived here 35 years. I'd like the Bahamas, he said. I should go sometime. He's a musician, he said, and asked if I play anything. I told him I used to play violin, and he said it was sad I don't play anymore and wondered if I'd pick it up again. When I got home I looked up his band, The Steel Harmonites, and discovered his name is Mike, he's from Trinidad, and he started the band in the 70s. It's the oldest steel pan band in Switzerland that is still playing. "Are you studying here?" he asked. "and your folks? are they in Oregon? Your dad and your brother--and do you have sisters?" I hadn't even told him I have brothers! How did he know that!? Maybe it shows. I wished him a good afternoon at my stop, and he said, "yeah, you too, sweetheart," and I felt juuust a bit like I was at home, where it's not so unusual to be called sweetheart by a perfect stranger after 5 min. of conversation. And where my pa always calls me that.

less grumpiness, more job interviews

2010-04-14T11:20:00.004+02:00

I'm pleased to announce 2 job interviews in the next 7 days. Both in Switzerland, both in documentation. One is in Geneva though...which is a bit of a commute, oui.

grump grump grump

2010-04-11T14:25:00.003+02:00

This is a public service notice that Stephanie is in a grumpy phase and feeling frustrated about...oh, pretty much everything lately. So you might want to steer clear, and I won't blame you for it. I will try to focus on positive things, for instance that my (probable) impending move will mean meeting new peeps and maybe spending more time with the familia, or that having 5 presentations to prepare means I'm going to learn some interesting things, or that house sitting this month means hanging out with a very affectionate cat who looks like Tinkerbelle's younger sister. But, by and large, it feels like moving means leaving people and places I like for a currently unspecified job that may or may not be interesting, and presentations and house/cat sitting take up a lot of extra time each week and I don't get to see said people I like, which is more frustrating and disappointing than it might normally be since I'm (probably) leaving soon.

The grumpiness was mitigated by M&Ms and a ride to the train station after church earlier. :) Amazing how far chocolate and a ride will go! I remember when I was an RA in college, if someone was having a particularly bad day (usually evidenced by long, quiet, teary phone calls sitting on the floor in the hall), the girls would take up a chocolate collection to cheer the person up. Whether it was the chocolate or the caring attention, it worked wonders.

On the job front, I'm applying for a couple jobs in Editing this week. They're located in Boston. I've always wanted to visit Boston, and while I don't really want to move there, at least the jobs genuinely interest me. I'm also applying for a communications job with Legacy Health in Portland, and I might apply for another communications position, also in PDX, but the problem is this company has already turned down my application for 4 or 5 other things in the last 9 months. I'd like to work for them though. What do you think--is it desperate or just persistent to keep applying as things come up? Someone said the worst they can say is no, but I think the worst they can say is "GOOD GRIEF! What a thick-skulled so and so who can't take no for an answer! We'll NEVER hire her," and that, of course, is worse and more permanent than simply "no."

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T00:50:00.004+02:00

I don't know what YOU'RE doing up at 1 am Saturday night before Easter, but I am up baking cookies, figuring out what to wear tomorrow and listening to "Walking in Memphis." I like the part that says "Reverend Green would be glad to see you when you haven't got a prayer," because my grandma's daddy was Reverend Green, and I've always looked forward to meeting him.

I've heard the song a few times now tonight and I still haven't decided on what I'm wearing (not that Easter outfits really matter). I do this on Saturday nights to spare my closet the tornado in the morning and to avoid running to the bus, but I usually end up running anyway. Awhile back I was talking to Laura early on a Sunday morning and I admitted to her that I didn't feel very ready for Sunday School, which I was teaching that day, and I didn't know what to wear. "How about nothing?" she said. "That would solve the problem about what to say in Sunday School too. Nobody would pay any attention anyway."
Ah, Laura. Such practical problem solving. That's why you're my best friend.

Anyway, it's time for your yearly Easter reading. Unfortunately, great literature and I have not been on very close terms lately as I'm up to my eyeballs in the social sciences. Your first Easter reading, therefore, is a hymn, and one of my favorites:

Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.

Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.

To all life thou givest to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
And wither and perish but nought changeth thee.

Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All laud we would render: O help us to see
'Tis only the splendour of light hideth thee.

My future home

2010-03-30T00:22:00.005+02:00

Gellertstrasse 25. I walked past today, and it was love at first sight. I want to buy this house someday.

(image thanks to the staatarchiv online directories. Photo taken in 1946, but it still looks about like that.)

Verdict: Pass

2010-03-28T23:44:00.001+02:00

My thesis passed...honestly, I'm a little surprised. I'm not sure I would have passed it. I have yet to see my grade on it, but I suppose it's good I don't have to fix it. And, as my grandma points out when I'm unhappy with my grades, I don't have to wear them on my forehead for everyone to see.

London Trip

2010-03-27T13:46:00.005+01:00

Red dress? Check! New heels? Check! Interest in Africa? Double check! Raphael and I flew to London Thursday for a Touch Foundation charity fund-raising dinner for Tanzania.

Despite a few stressful points, it was a fun trip. We met some interesting people, though it was a slightly intimidating crowd...definitely mostly not our peers! The Vice President of Tanzania was there, for example, along with the Minister of Health and various other dignitaries. I didn't recognize them before dinner, and I'm not sure if I'm glad or disappointed in retrospect that I didn't unwittingly introduce myself to the VP as "Hi, I'm Stephanie! What's your name?" Raph said no matter how 'important' people are, they're still just people. (That's a good perspective, but the problem is not everyone else is so egalitarian) I enjoyed hearing the VPs address later in the evening, though, and seeing the Touch Foundation people at work as hosts and organizers. I have several very good classes this semester on humanitarian intervention, African Societies, African Cities, etc. It's great to be interacting with the topics in "real life" as well as in my classes.

Earlier on Thursday, Raph and I met up with Ben, who took us to the Camden Stables Market. Unfortunately, our lunch didn't agree with Raph and he felt quite sick by 2 pm and wasn't sure he'd make it to dinner. While he stayed at the hotel, Ben and I trucked via a crowded Tube over to Westminster Abbey for the sung Eucharist celebrating the Annunciation of Our Lord. It was good to have a little quiet time with God to focus on his incarnation as the context that directs our interactions with our neighbors at fancy dinners in London and our neighbors in Tanzania.

When we got back to the hotel, Raphael was feeling much better thanks to the concierge's recommendation that two shots of vodka with pepper would settle his stomach. :) And so we went to dinner.

He cleans up pretty well, doesn't he?

After dinner I was talking with a guy at our table who works for Vodaphone. He was telling me about projects they're doing using phone accounts as a vehicle for cash transfers to rural areas. For example, a doctor in a rural area in some parts of East Africa may be paid by someone crediting money to his phone. He can then "cash" as much of that as he'd like, or transfer it on to another person's phone if he wishes. Pretty interesting idea! It has some potential problems, of course, and governments are not necessarily excited about a phone company taking over activities that are normally handled by the banking industry. Anyway, I don't know very much about it, but it was interesting.

And that, friends, was my Thursday in a nutshell.

Zertifikat Deutsch

2010-03-10T23:33:00.003+01:00

There's been enough dilly dallying on the language front, and it's high time I signed up for an expensive language exam as self-motivation to bring my German up to a respectable level. I checked the exam dates, and the next two options are the end of June or October! Since I don't know where I'll be in October, or what I'll have to do over the summer and early fall months, I think it's going to have to be June. They say that to be prepared for the test, a person needs between 350 and 650 hours of language instruction. I'm not sure how many I've had, but probably around 100, plus lots of exposure. What's a few hundred hours over almost 4 months, right?

Portland for the unacquainted

2010-03-05T23:53:00.002+01:00

I've recently tried to explain Portland to a few people. It's hard to do. Richard Nixon says that in all his travels to various cities in the states, it was the city he found to be the most like Europe...which might help. Probably doesn't though. Anyway, a nice little examples of typical Portland:
blog with a post about Hair. I went to school with the sister of the girl who did these hair cuts/styles, and I know the guy in the grey suit. Nice guy.

Fertig

2010-03-01T11:38:00.002+01:00

Now, I think we can all agree...it would hardly have been authentic if I HADN'T stayed up all night to finish it!

Thesis Writing Lessons Learned

2010-02-27T01:24:00.003+01:00

Hoi z'same. I'm taking a very brief break from tonight's midnight oil thesis-writing segment to share some things I've learned (and remembered) about myself thanks to this big ugly paper I'm (now almost finished) writing:

1) I really do write better and faster post-10 pm, except that I make more stupid spelling mistakes in the wee hours.

2) Peanut butter cups, tea, and company (certain people's company...maybe not just anyone's) help make working much more pleasant. Valda wins the prize this time around for best camaraderie during all night work sessions.

3)It's true I'm a procrastinator. I know most of you have long thought that if you look up "procrastinator" in the dictionary, you'll find my picture. Well, that may be so, but I submit that you'll find the same image under "perfectionist" because while I'm strolling about facebook, cleaning my house in minute detail, drawing pictures or deciding NOW is the time to pick up my German homework, and catch up on every email that could possibly need writing, in the back of my head I'm fretting that my paper isn't going to be any good (and by "any good" I usually mean Pulitzer-prize winner quality). And on that discouraging thought...I procrastinate some more.

4)I work much better on paper at certain stages of my thinking, and simply printing out sections of 10-20 pages to scribble on makes a tremendous difference for my ability to concentrate. There are some interesting cognition studies on how interaction with the physical environment is sometimes needed in order to produce certain outputs, or to "produce knowledge." I think it's something to do with that. Anyway, without that prop, I lose countless hours wandering around in my Word document wondering what it was I wanted to say again.

5) It takes me longer to write a research paper page than I thought it would. I probably need at least an hour a page by the time I'm done, and that's from when I already have my reading/research worked out.

Yup. so now I know. And now...back to it.

Oh, but first...thoughts about this Henri Nouwen quote (below)? Yesterday I got to see a bunch of Raph's pictures from his physical therapy work in Ethiopia the last few months. If you haven't seen them yet, you should ask to (um...if you know him, I mean). They're troubling, to say the least, and tragic when you consider how easy it would have been to correct many of the problems his patients face, if only they had been born in a place that had the resources and infrastructure to help. Today I read this comment by Nouwen, and it seemed to obviously relate, though I haven't decided yet how it applies:

“There is immense pain in the wide world around us; there is immense pain in the small world within us. But all pain belongs to Jesus and is transformed by him into glorified wounds which allow us to recognize him as our risen Lord.”

All pain belongs to Jesus. hmm. Actually I'm coming up short on what he's getting at. So I'll keep thinking about it, and you can too, and if you figure out how Ethiopia ought to inform my understanding of that, or how that idea ought to inform my understanding of physical therapy in Ethiopia, please do let me know.

And now, for reals, I'm really gonna go finish my paper. water. politics. what the fish said when he ran into the wall. etc.

Still glides the stream

2010-02-17T16:26:00.003+01:00

I think quoting Wordsworth is bound to enhance any MA Thesis on dams and hydro-politics, don't you? I bring you the following from my afternoon's work. Only "Still guides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;/The Form remains, the Function never dies" will be making an appearance in the discussion on the ecological impacts of large scale dam construction and river water management.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Sonnets from The River Duddon: After-Thought

I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide,
As being past away.--Vain sympathies!
For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes,
I see what was, and is, and will abide;
Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
The Form remains, the Function never dies;
While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise,
We Men, who in our morn of youth defied
The elements, must vanish;--be it so!
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour;
And if, as toward the silent tomb we go,
Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know.

job interview and a couple great lines

2010-02-16T11:53:00.002+01:00

I have a second interview this afternoon for a job. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Don't you wish you'd thought of these Tom Waits lyrics yourself:

Money's just something you throw
Off the back of a train
Got a head full of lightning
A hat full of rain

And the whole song, covered by Norah Jones:

Zwebelechueche mit Schpäck

2010-02-13T13:15:00.004+01:00

I have such nice neighbors here in my little village! Yesterday the boy from up the street was over for his weekly English lesson, and he asked if I like Zwebelechueche(a delicious baked onion and bacon pie/casserole dish). I said I do. "ok," He said. "Mom's making one tomorrow. We'll bring you some." He's a thoughtful little dude, if he's thinking of these things himself. I'm also invited for Lasagna next time they have that for supper. Anyway, sure enough, his mom and little sister (the latter dressed in full Fasnacht regalia including a mask) just showed up at my door with piping hot Zwebelechueche for my lunch.

See people? THIS is why I don't want to move to Basel.

Fasnacht

2010-02-11T22:24:00.002+01:00

I can hear fasnacht drums from somewhere across town. It's that time of year again. They went marching past this morning with their drums and piccolos in the wee hours. It always makes me feel like Paul Revere is going to go galloping past any minute yelling, "The British are coming! The British are coming!" It's like I woke up in the middle of the revolution, but all the minute men are wearing wooden shoes and over-sized masks. Last year two of them attacked me with pink confetti in Basel, and still, even this week, I've been shaking tiny pieces of pink paper from my coat.

Thanks for all your votes and opinions about the shirts (even you, Lukas, who said they're all equally blöd--that's 'stupid,' for those of you who aren't up on your SG words often used in swiss 3-year-old tantrums). Turns out a few people read this blog after all. In the spirit of democracy, I have ordered the crocodile shirt. And in the spirit of doing whatever I want, I have also ordered the touchdown shirt. I was still undecided between that and the dinosaur (also a great one!) until one of my Swiss readers missed the joke on the touchdown shirt. The subtlety of a joke on American sports (and the pleasing fact that although I don't know squat about sports, I at least know enough to know touchdowns don't happen in golf) elevated this option slightly higher than the literate dinosaur.

And now...back to my thesis.

How's my thesis going?

2010-02-08T22:02:00.002+01:00

About like that.

T-Shirt Poll

2010-02-03T19:31:00.006+01:00

Ok, friends, I am buying T-shirts (1 or 2 of the following), and I need your opinion on which two are the best. Please vote for your favorite two in the poll on the side.

All fromSnorg Tees

Church and Drugs

2010-02-03T08:41:00.007+01:00

I'm reading Philip Yancey's book Reaching for the Invisible God on the train these days. I picked up the book at Goodwill last summer on a particularly successful shopping trip in Beaverton, where Raph and I got a dress shirt and britches for him, a good pair of shoes, several books, cds, and this shirt with big red dots that I like so much:

And that's me and Barbara at a potluck two Sundays ago. The photo was taken by my good Ghanaian friend Stephen (below) who calls me "Name" since we have the same name. He just finished his studies at the Swiss Tropical Institute and heads home to Ghana and his wife this week. And that's Diana he's with, but you know her from previous pictures.

Anyway, Yancey. He shares this in his book:

I have often recalled the story of a man who came up to me after a speaking engagement and said, rather blusteringly, 'You wrote a book titled Where Is God When it Hurts, didn't you?" When I nodded yes, he continued, "Well, I don't have time to read your book. Can you tell me what it says in just a sentence or two?" (A writer loves requests like that, after spending many months on a book.) I gave it some thought and replied, "Well, I suppose I'd have to answer with another question, 'Where is the church when it hurts?'" You see, I explained, the church is God's presence on earth, and his Body. And if the church does its job--if the church shows up at the scene of disasters, visits the sick, staffs the AIDS clinics, counsels the rape victims, feeds the hungry, houses the homeless--I don't think the world will ask that question with the same urgency. They will know where God is when it hurts: in the bodies of his people, ministering to a fallen world. Indeed, our consciousness of God's presence often comes as a byproduct of other people's presence.

That's your thought of the day.

Also, for those of you I haven't told yet and who may be wondering, "gee, what does she think she's going to do with an MA in African Studies?" (and I know you all have wondered that at some point!), lately I have been learning more about issues relating to access to medicines for African countries, and finding it very interesting. I am looking for ways to build skills and knowledge that could be applied to a job in that area. I have an acquaintance who works on developing access to drugs and health infrastructure in Tanzania, and he's been sharing some resources with me to get me started. It seems like an area of work that's a good mix of regional expertise, business, and communication/liaison skills, and I think I'd like it. Plus, it's highly relevant, especially as countries and organizations continue to pursue the Millennium Development Goals to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods. Access to health care is pretty fundamental.

If you're wondering why I'm writing blogs when I should be writing a Thesis, this was my warm-up writing. :)

Wheels

2010-02-02T10:36:00.004+01:00

ah, public transportation. It has its joys and trials. I love it when the connections align and I can get where I'm going in minimal time. I love it when I am running late and can do my makeup in the restroom on the train. I think public transportation is GREAT when I'm the only person on the bus and my driver whisks me up the hill to my destination without making 10 stops along the way. I like it when the driver wakes me up just in case I wanted to get off at the station, even though he's pretty sure he knows my usual stop.

I like it a lot less, however, on Sundays after 8 when I have to walk a mile home, or at peak times when there are no seats left and 30 gradeschoolers are pushing each other and me while they throw some poor kid's hat around. Even at busy times, however, there is something nice about riding with my neighbors. This morning there was a bearded older man wearing a gigantic furry hat! And next to him, another guy had his eye glasses comically balanced just above his eyes as he read the morning news. An English lady was explaining to her daughter why perhaps some kids don't wear their coats at recess. And there are two kindergarten boys who love love love a highschool boy named Simon, and they save him a seat (always up front. That is SO elementary school!) and cheer when he gets on. They're so glad to see him that they forget to hold on as the bus pulls away and always just about fall over. Simi tries to head for the back of the bus, but he seems to like their attention too. And the whole bus smiles.

I have heard some promising feedback from IBM, and I have an interview tonight for a haushaltangestellt position doing house work and helping with twin infants. Hans says both my shoulders will stink like spit up, and he should know. How does that make you feel, Dom and Raph, that that's the FIRST thing your dad says about twin babies!?

Piano Lessons

2010-01-31T15:37:00.004+01:00

M1 is taking piano lessons now, and from my vantage point under the piano, I can testify that there appears to be no lack of motivation to practice. I can also tell you what her lessons include: most notably she has learned to play "Happy Birthday" this week. Over and over. and. over. And often between the hours of 7 and 8 in the morning, which I know is permitted under the "10pm to 7am" quiet hours custom, but it is still considered an ungodly hour of the morning by those of us who seldom go to bed the same day we got up.

Other than the serenades at the first crack of dawn, M1 continues to be a bright spot of joy for me--the cheery sort of little friend who stops in her tracks to jump up and down and wave when she spies my bus rolling by. Or if she's playing at a friend's house and sees me coming up the road, she and her friend will both stop playing to yell hello and ask me just where I think I'm going, or where I've been, and what's in my bag. M1 goes bouncing off to kindergarten every day, all bundled up against the weather, and the picture of anticipation and contentment. It's too bad you can't all meet her...she really is great, even considering the piano playing.

A mountain. I don't know which one.

2010-01-28T12:45:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I drew a house warming gift for my friend Joan's stylish new flat. As usual, I didn't make much effort to take a nice photo of it before I wrapped it up and hustled out the door to the party...but here it is anyhow. I drew this from a photo I took last year in Bürchen in the Wallis. (I've been informed it's the Bietschhorn, by the way).

Tschaau!

Basel

2010-01-25T22:54:00.012+01:00

Yesterday Richard and I took pictures in Basel, and since i haven't ever put proper pictures of Basel up, I thought I'd post a few for those of you who haven't seen the city.

This is the Basel Münster by the Rhine. On warmer days, people float this stretch of river with their dry clothes in a bag, but on overcast January days, there's hardly a soul near the river, let alone in it.

These pictures were all taken in the afternoon, but the early mornings on the river are really nice. I used to have class at 8 am in the second building from the right, where I sat by the window and watched the sun doing it's morning calisthenics each Thursday while the barges slipped up the Rhine. It's a nice place to watch the city wake up, and--oh, heck...how about a Wordsworth poem to help you imagine it:

Earth has not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This city now doth, like a garment wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields and to the sky,
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!

Are you feeling the moment now? (Yes, he did compose that on Westminster Bridge, but I'm sure he would have said the same had he been standing on Mittlere Brücke).

One of several Ferries. That's Klein Basel on the opposite bank.

Steph Chasing pigeons at Barfi...I was trying to encourage them to fly for the picture. Uncooperative little so and sos.

A street in one of the older parts of town.

Arches in the cloister connected to the Munster.

Richard (Nixon) in the Rat house. Really! :)

job apps

2010-01-18T22:10:00.008+01:00

I've been very busy hunting down work possibilities lately.

In the past week, I've applied to be...

-a first grade classroom assistant
-a technical writer for Day Software projects
-a documentation writer for IBM for pharmaceutical software
-an office assistant/technical writer for software projects of unspecified sort
-an Assistant for Engineering Documentation Management
-a Zebra fish care-taker at a scientific lab
-an Internal Communications Associate at a pharmaceutical company
-a study-skills workshop leader for college students
-a translator and writer in the education sector
-a house and cat sitter
-a baby sitter of twins
-a cleaning lady/laundry lady
-an English teacher
-an Editorial Assistant
-a warehouse worker
-and of course, a painter of master pieces (but that didn't require an application)

Whew! That's a lot of applications. I'm relatively qualified for all of them too, except I have no experience caring for Zebra Fish.

I'm reminded of this Big Bang Theory episode where Sheldon is out of work and, in his down time, starts experimenting with injecting fish with luminous jelly fish DNA to make them glow in the dark so that he can sell them as night lights and make billions.

Consider yourselves warned, Zebra fish.

And in other news, I wish you could smell this perfume I'm thinking of buying. I have a little sample on a card...mmm...smells good. I've been advised I should consider buying it BEFORE my interviews. Could help.