Tuesday, October 10, 2006

salt fish girl

i gave my presentation today and it went pretty well. people were nodding in agreement and writing stuff down, which is always gratifying and a little intimidating (despite being a big experienced TA now and used to such things. . .) and the prof liked it. he suggested a couple of articles to follow up - i think i might do my final essay on this topic. i was talking about food and sex in "salt fish girl". for my essay i'd expand it to include 'the kappa child' and a couple of other books. so that was worth all the work i put into it.

which was just as well, cos i had my first really ghastly tute with the first years today. we started 'the life of pi' and they had nothing to say about it. massive amounts of awkward silences and me blathering hopelessly. the other TAs had the same experience. eck! just as well the prof didn't sit in like she was going to. i shall have something fabulous and creative organised for next week (when she's sitting in), something that allows them no room to move at all.

okay, have to go read two versions of "dr faustus" (he sold his soul to the devil, the bad man!) plus all the crit in the norton edition and some other stuff and procrastinate marking essays.

(least i sound like a miseryguts, i should also point out that today also involved copious amounts of gossiping with eleanor, whining in chorus with the other TAs and then beer and vegie burgers at the pub after class)

and this is just to show that it's not all pastoral glory up here. these are a couple of views on my way to the dinner last night:

this is the science centre - it's like an enormous golfball covered in little lights. very speccy and a good navigation tool.


and this is a trolleybus (bottom) and a skytrain (above). the trolleybuses are quite endearing, like trams on wheels.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i wouldn't have much to say about the life of pi - it is a funny non-book kind of book

jsut read HJ Hyland's latest - was on the shortlist for the Booker, but didn't win

can't remember its name - carry me down? - but it was very very good - inside a boy's mad brain - my kind of plot

gumtreefid farmer said...

i gave them group work and directed questions and writing on the board and a book review! what more do they want???

haven't heard of hj hayland. should i look out for it?

Anonymous said...

I decided I'd better read Salt fish girl, but have discovered that it "is not yet held in an Australian library". But will eventually get hold of it. Can't have you talking about something I know absolutely nothing about

Anonymous said...

Ps
Love the night photos. Am still looking for a digital camera!!

gumtreefid farmer said...

hmm. 'salt fish girl' is 2002. you'd think it would be out in aus. you could try her earlier one: 'when fox is a thousand'. pub 1995, reprinted 2004. but they're both pretty obscure, i think.

you needn't read my books, jt! there are masses of them, apart from anything else. also what i enjoy deconstructing may not necessarily be what you enjoy reading.

have you read the hj hyland grot mentioned?

the nightime photos aren't too bad, this time. it's hard to get them in focus. it's pretty much the only flaw of hte camera. it was on special cos pentax or whoever had just launched an updated version. has bbb told you about the camera review websites?