Mikeldienas

Mikeldienas Festivities in Riga, with Apple Market and Annual Fair... even Roland gets decorated, crowned with an autumnal wreath. And it was quite to my liking: One place at which to find quite a few of the varieties of apples being grown in Latvia, and do they have some I have never heard of before, and don't deem likely to be seen in the "more developed" West... for example, the Cukurini which would be considered abnormally small. I did of course get some apples of different kinds, and I'll be unable to resist trying to plant some of their seeds...

Also, I had a little talk about a plant which seemed awfully familiar, yet I was not able to place it. Turns out it is WuWeiZi (Schisandra chinensis), a plant I know from Chinese medicine, and which also features under the name Limonnik - which, apparently, is what it's called in Russian. D'oh! And there were not only apples. Also, there's some ceramics; some of it rather too folksy - or, anyways, just not my kind of thing - some pretty nice, some outright creative. Linen and wool also figures, and with some of it you can tell that it's not too strangely handled (sheep wool should slightly smell of sheep, and the one I found here sure did. Finally, of course, there's breads, cheeses, and meat products (and I forgot about smoked fish). Something to note, though nothing that usually excites me. For those who like down-to-earth products, though, I must say that Latvia is an excellent place... bread alone comes in a large variety, and is excellently made. (In fact, one of the breads you can find among my pictures of Mikeldienas Festival was my first buy... medium dark, medium soft, flat loaf, with raisins but still not too sweet, some spices - most lovely.) Oh, yes: And, I finally went to Emilha Gustava for a little cup of dark chocolate. Oh my! Ever wondered why coffee was supposed to be for the enlightened people and the workers (for the caffeine), while chocolate was sensual and luxurious? Go to Emilha Gustava, get a small cup of their hot chocolate, and this question will be answered forever and always... it is most luxurious indeed. I think, I just found a place where I should establish my traditional Sunday afternoon drink. (And, I'm back to the theme of living the way I like it: Why the hell should I destroy brain cells with alcohol, going out partying, when I can indulge my taste buds and imbibe the food of the gods?)

Hmm, yes...

"Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti."
(Go your own way and let people talk.)

Interesting pedigree to this saying,
and an idea I want to summarize some
of my recent writing by...

Now, back to what's going on in Riga.
Today's Mikeldienas (Michaelmas), after all.

Home, and Work

No, I am not talking about homework.
Rather, my thinking is revolving around two aspects of a life:

• a sense of home, and what may be called
• lifework, all the studies, learning, training, making-a-living that makes up such a big part of life. (In fact, what I'd now consider the rest is mainly sleeping, eating, and trying to avoid doing or thinking about lifework, like when watching TV or partying.)

I mean, if you are living the life of a pleasure-seeker, things may be rather easy:
Where's the next party? And, if you are sort of unfortunate, How do I get the money do go there? (Yes, of course, it's a caricature.)

If, however, you seek sense, meaning, purpose… Well, for one, welcome to my world.
Secondly, why bother when you only know for certain that it will still end with death?

My thinking is that you do, in fact, need to allow for a coexistence of opposites in thinking about that:

On the one hand, you need to accept that your life is quite likely to end quite suddenly and stupidly, e.g. stepping in front of a car. Yet, it is about the experiences, about being lived, so you'd better - if that is what you want - go out and seek the experiences. Basically, there are two ways of doing that: the real and the virtual.
Real, when you yourself go places, such as I've now done. Of course, the world is somewhat the same everywhere. - Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. Nonetheless, if you don't get out, you don't get the experience.
Except that there is also the virtual, and I am thinking more of books, and also video, as well as of the internet… these are possibilities for having experiences, not with all senses, but nonetheless. And they are venues for, in a way, sharing in a kind of experience of other people and other times, as well as the imagination. Not bad what we humans can do…

On the other hand, you also need to assume that your life may go on for quite a while, so there will always be more chances for learning something new or more, and a world of further experiences which is opened with more of this work.


Really, it's a luxury to even be in a position to consider these sorts of things as if they were a problem… But then, that is why some (so many?) of us sometimes envy simpler times and places when you easily knew who you were and what you were supposed to do. With great opportunities comes great responsibility to take your life into your own hands…

To me, all of that is related, in more ways than one, with my take on "home:"
Again, I'd rather like a definite answer. In this case, a place which I'd want to call and consider home, know intimately, shape the way I like it… Then again, I rather like considering the world my home, just carving out niches - basically, where my main notebook is (and nowadays, where I find an electric and network jack for my notebook computer). If you aren't quite at home any distinct place, and seek something anyway, you need to get up and get out.
Hence, I am - all the problems that arise notwithstanding (and it's not as if there wouldn't have been any problems "at home") - considering myself lucky to have jumped at this opportunity for going abroad.

Now, which book in Russian do I get first (not that I could already read and understand it, but still: I will before I go on.) And, where do I go next...

Life less ordinary

Funny what can sometimes seem peculiar:
Just yesterday, I had a chat with a fellow exchange student. Actually, coming to think of it, two with two people. Both couldn't quite get it into their heads that I don't drink and don't go out partying...
I still don't quite understand what makes people go out so much. Or maybe, I have an inkling of it, but to me, there is a shallowness to it that I can't stand.

The only reason why it might be good for me would be to meet a woman, but since you're unlikely to meet somebody for a relationship (rather than a quick fling) in such venues: No, thank you.
(Even so, I met somebody only to have her tell me that she has a boyfriend and that she wouldn't want a complicated life anyway...
Having thought about movies recently:
I loved "Before Sunrise".
In my life, however, they might also have a good talk, but not a thing more than that because she is taken, and he's too nice -or whatever- anyway.)

Well, screw it.

You only, as far as you know it for sure, have this one life, so you'd better live it the best you can, and the way you want... For a while already, I've been thinking it would be best to live even more unusually (compared to common expectations) and even more radically in tune with what I find important and worthwhile in and for my life.
Hopefully, this will make for some more experiences to share...

On TV

I don't have TV here, and I think it's quite a good thing. Yet, I am not only spending (too much?) time online, but also checking out DVDs.
(It's just my thing: you are in control of when and what you watch, able to watch series in the original language, oftentimes in other foreign languages as well, and it's commonly possible to get shows on DVD which haven't even been on TV in Europe, yet.)

All those DVD re-issues of old TV series gets me to reminiscing:
I basically grew up on a fare of MacGyver, Kung Fu (on a 50's black and white TV which, for some reason, was able to pick up cable TV via its antenna…), and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones.
(Okay, there was also Knight Rider, Airwolf, and probably a bunch of others which I forgot or repress ever having seen.)
Later on, The Pretender was a favorite, too - and still is, in a way; if you need, you could also count me among the Browncoats who think Firefly was and is excellent (but that's a pretty recent addition).

Now, intellectuals aren't supposed to like TV.
Nevermind the books on the philosophy in and of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for example…

I rather like being away from TV, and fear I could get back into switching on TV, and switching off a sense of better things to do with my time, rather easily. (And, I'm not at all sure I'm not doing basically the same thing surfing on the web… I still need and want to work more on my writing, and now preparing English lessons has been added to the to do-list.)

Nonetheless, I can't quite shake the feeling that people who suggest that there are no more good role models - especially on TV, which is all too shallow - aren't quite right.
Of course, thinking of all too many a TV show, it's totally right: entertainment of the shallowest kind. The kind which, if you were in your right mind, you'd not even find entertaining. (Excuse me for saying so, if you must, but I will stand by that word. That much of an intellectual, I sure am.)
Still, a MacGyver or Kwai Chang Caine did not set the worst kind of example.

Kung Fu may have been responsible for getting me interested in East Asia and Buddhism… even if, seeing it now, I can only laugh at some of the ideas they promulgated.
Similarly, if I ever had a (theoretically) adventurous side, it flourished with The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. To think you could witness such world-changing events. Or, as I had been thinking about it ever since, to think that you probably could not even notice that you witnessed such an event… but if you only stayed at home and didn't do anything, didn't go out and see the world, you certainly would not.
I had had journals before, but since the first episode in which very young-Indy is admonished to keep a journal of his experiences, I hardly leave home without one. You'll never know when and what you'll experience if only you go out, keep your eyes open, and have an open mind as well.
(Obviously, now there's also blogging… but some things are better written in a nice old-fashioned way.)

Quick update

Finally, I managed to apply for my residence and work permits today. October 2 I'll see if it is all indeed working out. I have one up on Doubting Thomas, but at least it's good that this is also settled, as far as I am responsible for it... and actually, people at the office of citizenship and migration affairs seemed confident it shouldn't be any problem.

Getting into it...

Alright.
I'm registered for the best part of my courses.
I shook up my schedule a bit, the school where I'm teaching has been shifting things around, and I will be teaching all eleven hours (three classes) they asked me to teach.
The letter confirming student status, which is necessary for applying for the residence permit, is now ready, too. So, I'll be going to the government office in charge of these things on Monday... there'll probably be some more hoops to jump because I also require a work permit (unless I wanted to go on teaching without getting paid... nah, not if I can help it).

Campus Europae has some news:
The memorandum of understanding with Ankara University has been signed, and it looks like they will also participate in the teacher training part of this exchange program.
(Joensuu, Finland, has also joined the network, but isn't yet on the map. - I'm talking about the map of participating universities to be found on www.campuseuropae.org.)
St. Petersburg has also joined, is on the map, but not participating in teacher training - as far as I know.

Unfortunately, the website isn't nearly as good as it should be; there are quite some inconsistencies. The program, however, is getting better.

The first point to note:
Campus Europae wants to be at the forefront of European understanding - and I'd think it's one of the best organizations that manage to be. Turkey and Russia are both commonly "problems" to the EU, but not quite a part or wanted to be a part of the Union… yet, in many ways, they are better considered a part of Europe than not. At least in my opinion. And in Campus Europae, they are, too.

On a more personal note:
Being in Riga, where even more people speak Russian, are of Russian origin, or might even still be of Russian citizenship (although they have lived here for all their lives), than in the rest of Latvia, I was thinking how strange it were to have Latvians who don't speak Russian.

How good/likely/appropriate/… is it to not know a language you encounter a lot?
Which question got me to thinking…
I grew up (and still live) in a village in Austria which has a Croatian minority (the dual-language city limits-road signs which are such a big problem in Carinthia … we in the Burgenland have them). When I went to elementary school, I learnt some Croatian. It might even have been the first foreign language, although we soon started to learn English. By high school, I had forgotten nearly all of it; it's been a language the use of which is declining in this village for quite a long time.
The percentage of Turkish immigrants (and, I should add, people of Turkish descent who were born and raised in Austria), on the other hand, has been on the rise.
So, I live(d) in a place where you encounter Croatian and Turkish quite a lot (and on the Viennese open-air markets, you will hear Turkish about as often as you hear Russian on Riga's markets). But, do many people have any functional command of this language?

Just the way it goes with issues of cultural anthropology: The strangeness you notice somewhere "foreign" turns around, if you are any good at realizing those paradoxes, to bite you in the ass.

This and that

Mail from home finally arrived today. Yep, it's the little things you soon learn to appreciate... some more clothes, some chocolatey things to use as presents, DVDs.

I hardly miss TV at all, but the possibility for some relaxation with some glimmers of the boobtube... Sorry for the expression, but I had to get my DVD set of Surface - still one of the best series for the struggling academic interested in the big questions about such a person's life, the mysteries to follow, and the world's fate; but I digress - and season one of Supernatural... and Jensen Ackles, in Dark Angel, talks about TV as the boobtube.
And, season 2 is already on its way (amazon triumphs over local bookstores, let alone DVD stores - which hardly exist here - by miles).
While talking about that: I'm sort of excited "The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones" is finally coming out on DVD... it brings back some memories (and it may be something to write on).

I basically had the first week (or two weeks) of lectures by now, yet some things are still in flux. Today, I finally registered for most of the courses I'm now taking (although, I now registered for one course which I had not yet been to...).
Finally, I have joined the Russian course which is not for total beginners, after all.
And it looks like the teaching job (school schedule) is finally getting somewhere. I shook up my university schedule quite a bit (dropped some courses), but now it's starting to look like I'll actually be able to teach all the hours and classes I was offered (certainty's coming tomorrow), and still get enough credits for Campus Europae at university.
The paper we need to apply for our residence permit still isn't here, and so my work permit might be quite a bit longer away, too... which is an ending on not such a good note, but I'm not doing that for the money but for the experience, anyway...

First classes

This Wednesday and Thursday I had, and actually taught, my first classes in Latvia.

So far, I'm only taking classes from the English philology program at the Faculty of Modern Languages, ranging quite far: from first-year students' phonetics and phonology (which I might not get credit for in Austria, but like quite a bit more than our similar courses), to courses in literature studies, and to teaching methodology.

Pedagogical classes are getting rather short shrift; and geography is almost off the table. In Austria, the person responsible for accrediting courses taken abroad would want all class notes, I would be lucky if I could learn from a book. For one thing, the courses are all in Latvian (in which I'd actually like to have one or two lectures already); and I'm already doing rather too much.

So, not least with the continuing Latvian language course, the schedule is getting tight.
And there would still be Russian, which has been presenting an odd problem: The beginner's course starts from zero. Which is not where I'm at. But the non-beginner's course (or at least, the test for it) is at a level that's a bit too high for my current knowledge... Self-studies?

On an interesting, but also odd note, I have found a class for Tibetan which seems to actually take place at a time when I could attend it (Japanese or Chinese could be nice, but those classes take places Monday to Thursday or something like that).
Sometimes, having many interests isn't the best thing. Well, one could think so, at least.

Still, I haven't explained the "I taught classes":
Have I even written about the likely teaching at Agenskalna gimnazija (I'd sure think so, but it might have been only in e-mails)?
Well, anyways: I will be teaching there (English, of course). This thursday, I already held the first two classes. Basically, just introductions, a little bit of - hopefully - breaking the ice. Monday, I'll be back, and hopefully get a schedule. Which is, of course, one of the reasons why my complete schedule is still not quite worked out.

At least one concern has largely been resolved: I should be getting enough credits for Erasmus and even for Campus Europae (which requires double the ECTS of Erasmus)... maybe just not in the subjects which are mentioned on the exchange agreement (for English: yes; for geography: not at all).

Planning, planning

Almost forget to write, I'm kept so busy trying to come up with a
schedule... classes teaching at school, classes to take. And I'm quite
certain that, once I seem to be settled with it, I'll discover that I
wouldn't be getting as many credits for the courses as I'll need.

Some divergence (from initial plans) will be necessary anyway. For example,
I could take a class which I know I'd get credit for. But then, I wouldn't
be able to go to the next level of Latvian language classes. And those, I
wouldn't want to miss. After all, I'm here to get the know the country and
culture, and the language is one of the main aspects, of course. (And only
tomorrow, I'll learn a bit more about Russian: I'm not so sure I'll be at a
level for joining the higher-level class, but I'm near-certain I'll not have
time when the beginner's class is on....)
On the other hand, I'll be able to take both Latvian at the next level and
another class on creative writing (in English) which I don't know if I'd get
credit for, but which does seem rather appealing. (Actually, there's a
number of classes like that ;-)

Well, time will tell. And probably soon, since classes are starting.
In fact, I may have a very full day tomorrow, already...

Life in Riga

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Just had to try this out; guess I'll have to add to it later and put in a link. Otherwise, I'm still keeping myself busy looking for lectures to take (and, more importantly, to combine into a lesson plan that actually results in a schedule it's possible to have) and working on what are to be my next publications.