Weekend

After giving my talk on emotions in live, televised soccer commentaries yesterday and ending up afterwards in the Faculty club to celebrate over a pitcher of beer, I decided to go to town and have a look at the art and antique shops in High Street (124th Street) this morning. But having walked all the way from Corona Station to 124th Street, I felt it was too cold to walk any longer. I did some 'organic' shopping and drove back to campus. The weather is not too good at the moment. I am missing the sun. For tomorrow, slight snowfall is to be expected with temperatures around -11/-13° during the day.

It is amazing that people go around on bikes even in very cold weather. To say nothing of the sometimes icy roads. And not only students! As you can see, bikes are kept on the balcony when not used. I had a look at the river valley from one of the many platforms that give you a good view. People go there for relaxation - in winter it is mainly cross country skiing or walking their dogs. It must be beautiful in the summer or in autumn. "We cram everything into two or three months, when it's warm here. And a lot is going on. Festivals - jazz, folk music, fringe theatre, street performers etc. There are only two seasons here: when the snow is melted, and when it is not", said one of the colleagues from the Department of Linguistics yesterday.

Horoscope

What shall I make of this?

Congrats on your growing ability to do more floating ...I think you are finally understanding that a little bit of chaos isn't a sign that everything's falling apart forever or migod the entire planet's crashing and evil is in ascension ... but rather that a healthy amount of bewildering unpredictability keeps things fresh and clean. My advice is to relax even more as you glide with serene amusement through the bubbling and churning waters of life. (VUEWeekly #745//Jan28-Feb3, 2010, p. 44)

I don't think I'll change at my age, though. What do you think?

P.S. Relaxed. Went to see “Broken Embraces” with Penelope Cruz.

Busy busy ...

I am busily preparing my talks for this and next week. Keep your fingers crossed. It is a different thing to speak in front of scholars at another university in a foreign country & in a foreign language ... You see how nervous I am. The first talk will be on emotions and soccer language, and the second on silences in Russian. I am looking forward to doing something different then, believe me! What I am interested in at the moment is language and rituals, language and sexuality, and language and testing ... The libraries here are great! A search for reading assessment in book titles, for example, yields 174 results.

Sunday: Half time

A lazy Sunday?

I decided to get up late. The reason was I get these funny noises in my bedroom and they kept me awake between 4 and 5 in the morning. So I decided to read. Elie Wiesel's Night. Not the reading for a sleepless night.

The weather is getting colder: -10° today. After breakfast I read through the four Gutachten of my Habil. It is high time my work on "Silences in Russian" got ready for publication. I thought I would have more time here but this does not seem to be the case. I am quite busy with preparing my talks and keeping up with my online course at Lancaster University. And also my blog takes time. But I enjoy writing it.

Today I moved the desk to the window in my little study between bedroom and living room/kitchen. The view is neither stunning nor breathtaking but there is more light now and I am not sitting with my back to the window. Well, back to my work then …

P.S. Went for a walk for half an hour after sitting over my work all day. Minus 11. Feels like -19, says Edmonton Weather, because of the wind (20 km/h). But I enjoyed it!

Democratic deficit

I had already read in "The Gateway", the official student newspaper, that some people criticize the democratic deficit in the Canadian electoral system. Some even consider it 'antiquated' and demand an urgent up-date. Under the current system favoring two main parties, minor groups have no chance of getting into parliament, which leads to a misrepresentation of voters.

So it was not surprising that I ran into this demonstration for "Democracy Now" on Whyte Avenue, when I was walking back from Farmers' market to University Campus. Read more.

Plagiarism

When I was surfing the Internet to find information about Asian Students here at UoA, I incidentally came upon a site called Why students plagiarize? Having had a few (minor) cases myself recently, I wonder why this happens and so I had a look at this site. (There are useful handouts for students by the way, which you may want to have a look at.) I do not know whether a similar site exists at our university (will check, though). To publish guidelines could be helpful. I know that in Austria guidelines are there to bypass but one should at least try.

Talking of Asian students: I haven't yet found out how many Asian students there are at UoA. There exists a Department of East Asian Studies with e.g. a combined BA major in Chinese and Japanese. Or what about an MA in Japanese Cultural Studies?

European Universities seem to neglect Asian studies, as the whole European market seems to ignore China at the moment. Yes, of course, you can do a BA/MA in Sinology in Vienna, and you can even do Chinese and Japanese at the isi>> in Innsbruck. But that's not much in comparison to here. Below you find something interesting to read that may also serve as an example of how to write a seminar paper: Behavior of Chinese Students at Academic Libraries

Enough for now: I'm off to the Farmers' Market.

Music at Convocation Hall

There are concerts in Convocation Hall, which Marcela Požárek, a colleague from Wirth, drew my attention to. Tonight Martin Riseley (from New Zealand) and Janet Scott Hoyt (Alberta born) played three sonatas for violin and piano by Johannes Brahms (Opus 78, 100, 108). Three more concerts in January will be dedicated to the music of Hindemith, Wilder, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov and others. In former days (prior to WW II) organ recitals were given on the University Memorial Organ in Con Hall.

As almost everything nowadays, also these music events are being evaluated. I am always fascinated by questionnaires that try to find out why one was attending an event, where one heard about it, what could be done to attract even more visitors to such events, how one feels about the price, what one liked best and what least, and if one has any other comments. Last but not least, one can rank and rate the performance, the program, hall, seating, parking and public transit. Amazing!