Wrapping Up, and Looking Ahead

Been writing up a little reflection on my experiences with the Campus Europae exchange studies in Latvia: http://www.positive-ecology.org/cv/CampusEuropae-Latvia.html

Also, inquired about accreditation of courses for English. Went better than expected; with a little luck, it will go pretty well.

Out of the one China application that was futile, another opportunity has opened up. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but at least it is one more chance.

Between Times

So, two of my three applications for going to East Asia have amounted to nothing; the decision on the last one will only become known mid-August. I'm not really hopeful anymore, but still waiting.

Meanwhile, this week I have started organizing accreditation of the courses I took in Latvia, and also of former lectures in biology for a potential teacher training in biology at University of Salzburg. I've been finding that I need to have biology, not only (but along with) languages and associated cultural issues be part of my work even in teacher training/teaching.
Should I really not make it to East Asia, the application for the second year abroad with Campus Europae will be handed in this summer... and I should have the money necessary for a little research trip in Europe.

Work is progressing with writing, both where publications and where my (planned, started, and immediately "resting") professional blogs are concerned. Planned timeframe: Finishing the first of these things this month. Let's see if I really manage that. Sure would be good to finally get a sense of progress... I've recently not felt like a researcher, even though I did some research and have been working on writing it up. It would be a lot better if I had a job (i.e., earned money) with that, but getting something published would be a step to breaking through my impasse, too.

Where training is concerned... that's another post today.

Recovery Week

The (lower) legs were pretty sore from the mountain marathon / Bergmarathon on July 5, and that for quite a while. Still, time to continue training - and blogging it.

• July 8: on the bike - 00:53:34 - 13.82 km - avg. HR 106 - TE 1.5
  Cross-training like that was very nice, I'm doing something this way, getting a low training effect for once, and still not abusing my legs.


• 7/11: running again - 00:50:30 - 8.44 km - avg. HR 138 - TE 2.5
  Running early in the morning to stay out of the heat (and to get in training before almost everything else), and it seems to have been very nice and easy. The legs are still a little heavy, but almost back to normal; I do wonder, though, if the heart rate is low because I'm doing better or because of some effect of overtraining...


• 7/12: biking - 01:09:05 - 20.78 km - avg. HR 109 - TE 1.4another nice and easy ride, not least, to keep doing something
  7/13: and back to running yet again - 01:22:57 - 13.89 km - avg. HR 148 - TE 3.3Looking, and feeling, good.

I am starting to think I really ought to find another event to train towards, and soon ;-)

Bergmarathon 2008 Report

By the organizers' description, Europe's most beautiful mountain run,
according to many participants, the hardest event...

70 km, 4300 meters of ascent are quite something, after all.
My GPS-POD actually recorded a distance of 85 km, but it jumped around like crazy...also, according to my Suunto t6c's analysis, I burnt nearly 10500 kcal.
A normal day's worth is 2000-3000 kilocalories.

It took me 14 hours and 10 minutes.
And yes, indeed, it is beautiful. And hard. - Just check out the altitude profile:

... read on and see more here.

Bergmarathon

Report is coming soon; posts while on the move (which were never finished) have been deleted

blog rename

An old friend of my father's came by for a visit. His comment to my life so far - studies, sojourns abroad, plans and proposals: "an academic adventurer."

I've realized something.
Talking about the things I'm doing as manyfold - as "me, myself, and I" (the old title of my blog) - fits with the outside view. The view of those same kinds of people who were amazed when I started studying and was an adventurous student - dedicated, but to the connection between some fields rather than to single-field specialization. And who now see my success with that, but either choose to complain that I did not yet finish more, or denigrate it by arguing that a person would only follow so many interests if he did not really know what he wanted.
The one is nothing I can change right now; the latter, simply wrong.

I know what I want, and I am following that with all dedication.
If detours such as into school teaching are necessary, then so be it. (I'll still be a more interesting and interested teacher than those who only want it as an easy job.)
It may look as if I were interested in too many unrelated things, but they all come from the same source and feed the same purpose: understanding the human condition as a part of this world, and influencing our move towards sustainability.

In honor of an awareness of this, to fit my own view, and in honor of Eddie, my dad's long-time friend, former colleague, and an adventurous person himself, I've decided to rename my blog.

Always being right...

It's a real curse to always be right.
As expected, I got a letter informing me that I would not be receiving the Monbukagakusho scholarship.

I'm still a bit mad about the committee and what it focused on (such as, my not focusing only and exclusively on Japan), and my own failure to explain my plans and motivations better.

And I'm really mad at those rejection letters: You are supposed to learn from your mistakes, but you are never told what motivates a rejection.
Then again, I met a former classmate recently. She is now also studying (or rather, soon finishing) teacher training in one of the subjects in which she had earlier received her master's. Why the switch to a different kind of career? She had been working unsatisfactory jobs, applying for a research project, only to be told that she were a woman, and the persons responsible thought they shouldn't pick a woman for that project since it were in Sicily. - Wow, a case in which you know what was the fault. Very helpful knowledge, that.

I still haven't learnt about the China application I should already know something about. In the meantime, I'm getting older, soon I won't be in a position to apply for another post-doc scholarship because too much time will have passed between then and when I received my doctorate, and if I applied, I guess they would tell me that I didn't have enough research experience. Still, I'll be trying.

Now - well, tomorrow, actually - off to Altmünster for the Bergmarathon. As I said before: Something that (also) takes stamina and perseverance, but at least is not contingent on what other people think of you, but on yourself. Let's see how far I get there...