everything that has happened in the last week

i have been saving up lots of images and witty comments to blog during this horrifying internet-less period. cos i'm just so dedicated to you, dear reader.

first:

i passed french! very exciting! (it was a pass/fail course). and i can actually read bits of it, which is more exciting. and i got a smiley face sticker! i wonder if i could give my students stickers? i'm worried they already feel babied. hmm. oh yes, and the students, i gave this fabulous class on tuesday. it was fun, it was educational, they were giggling, i was wise yet entertaining, we prepared for the exam - then we ran out of time to do the bloody evaluations. waste of a good performance! then on thursday we had a fire drill at the end of class, so i got to herd them all down the stairs then stand around in the sun outside, making awkward small talk.

but my french class, that's right, we ended by translating this really neat poem about a school room which, through the song of a lyre bird, is gradually turned into a forest. the desks turn back into trees, the chalk turns back into the cliffs it was made from and the windows turn into sand. then our teacher said "and that concludes the poem and our french class." it was very sweet. i've enjoyed this class, whinge as i did in the beginning.

also:
some canadiana from another research trip to ubc. note snow-covered mountains and canadian flag. it was a day of big things. tell me this is an ordinary seagull!
note the blob of red on its beak - from disemboweling a victim. (gosh, i think all the reading has gone to my head). these things come nearly up to my knee, i swear. i remember being hassled by a gang of them in my first couple of days here - i very nearly dropped my sandwich and ran for it.

while i was eating lunch outside the library and being molested by seagulls a vegan evangalist gave me a glossy brochure to spread the word. very odd. *anyway*, also at ubc were big books. they have a good medieval reference collection, so i got quite a lot of good material for my essays, including this beastie (hand shown for size reference):

i also received a lovely package in the mail, oh, we covered that already, but there was a nice card from bbb as well:
the painting is called "some days R a drag" and it's by Beverley Skurulis, whose work can be found at www.skurulis.com.

vancouver has suddenly burst into blossom. it's all very beautiful.
i had heard this was going to happen, but didn't quite believe it. there were cherry blossom haikus on the buses. one of them even combined cherry blossoms and hockey - canadiana plus!

and this is me and my new friend, chicory:
chicory's human has gone to bolivia for a bit, and i am one of a small army of dog walkers. i'm very fond of senor chicory. normally he's an undemonstrative dog, but he was so excited to walk today he was jumping and whining. and we met all sorts of nice people on our walk, including various old italian men. it was good. i miss having a dog.

and that, i believe, is all i was saving up. i don't actually have much else by way of news. i have two presentations to give on wednesday, each quite long and worth much of my final mark, so i'm studying kinda constantly. except that now the interdistraction is back, damn it!

daffies: