New Addition
Well. Lots has happened since my last post. I'll try to hit the important details. I realized that this `blog serves two purposes. First, it affords everyone who reads it a tiny bit of insight into my mind and life. Second, it serves as an electronic memory. Lots happens, but I remember in the end sadly little. I hope that I pick this back up again more regularly!
Most of my time at the MFO was spent attending lectures and talking to people. When I wasn't sitting in a classroom, I wandered around the Black Forest. This had some delightful consequences, especially when I started heading out on my own. I took my camera a few times, and I was richly rewarded with such finds as a baby deer, beautiful beetles, and loads of wild flowers. I tend to photograph mostly bugs and flowers. For one thing, they are easy to photograph. For another, they tend to be the things I notice first about a scene. Guess that speaks volumes about me.
After the conference finished up, I took a train with Little Red Corbett and E. M. to Mainz, a semi-industrial city on the Rhine river. We got to our hotel in the early evening, so we decided to check out the conference site. What a dump. The university at Mainz was built in this absurd 1960s blocky style. The oldest buildings are actually beautiful, harkening back to more classical styles (not a surprise, since many are original buildings in those styles), while the new ones were just terrible. Luckily, the conference was housed in some of the newer buildings. We returned to our hotel and just relaxed for a while. The next day was the conference proper, and it was, in truth, not one of the better ones I've seen. In fact, it was pretty poorly organized it seemed. We left early, and I used the time to wander around the city some. While doing so, I ran into pretty much everyone I knew there. I would leave one group of people to head off again only to run into a second group and then the first again. It was a bit of a surprise. The next day, I again wandered around the city to pass the time before my train back to Paris. I ended up going to this natural history museum where I made a complete fool of myself trying to hand money to the ticket woman in response to her saying to me in German, "Free". Hilarious.
Back in Paris, I had just about a single day to kill. I wandered around the city for a bit, and then I decided to see a movie, since it was quite hot. I went to see "Batman Begins", which I very much enjoyed, actually. It was pretty entertaining. I met up with my friend D. R. for dinner, and we went to an old staple: Cafe de l'industry. Apparently the owners have expanded a good bit, buying the space across the street from their old place, but we just stuck with what we knew and sat in what is rapidly becoming a regular spot. It was really nice to just kick back and shoot the shit for a while in French. I was psyched to see how quickly it returned to me, especially since I haven't spoken it in a long time.
Now I'm back at home. Things here have been really good. My Senate Contact and I spent a quite nice weekend down at the beach and then bumming around Boston. I managed somehow to avoid getting any color to my skin, even though we sat out in the sun for hours. Thank God for strong sunscreen! He did manage to get some sun in, and it seems that his burn is fading. Work is going fine, and in a few minutes I am due at a function where I will meet the high school students whom I am to mentor for the next month. Unspeakable joy.
Having run through all of the less exciting stories, I can get to the fun one: my Senate Contact now has a kitty! Last week, he and I went to a local animal shelter and found an adorable, tiny kitty. She is two years old, meaning that she is fully grown, but she is just slightly bigger than a kitten. I was instantly smitten with her, and as luck would have it, so was he. He talked with his landlord and squared away all of the details, and he picked her up today! After my meeting, I am going to head over there to see her in her new home. I am really excited. Kitties are my favorite.
Most of my time at the MFO was spent attending lectures and talking to people. When I wasn't sitting in a classroom, I wandered around the Black Forest. This had some delightful consequences, especially when I started heading out on my own. I took my camera a few times, and I was richly rewarded with such finds as a baby deer, beautiful beetles, and loads of wild flowers. I tend to photograph mostly bugs and flowers. For one thing, they are easy to photograph. For another, they tend to be the things I notice first about a scene. Guess that speaks volumes about me.
After the conference finished up, I took a train with Little Red Corbett and E. M. to Mainz, a semi-industrial city on the Rhine river. We got to our hotel in the early evening, so we decided to check out the conference site. What a dump. The university at Mainz was built in this absurd 1960s blocky style. The oldest buildings are actually beautiful, harkening back to more classical styles (not a surprise, since many are original buildings in those styles), while the new ones were just terrible. Luckily, the conference was housed in some of the newer buildings. We returned to our hotel and just relaxed for a while. The next day was the conference proper, and it was, in truth, not one of the better ones I've seen. In fact, it was pretty poorly organized it seemed. We left early, and I used the time to wander around the city some. While doing so, I ran into pretty much everyone I knew there. I would leave one group of people to head off again only to run into a second group and then the first again. It was a bit of a surprise. The next day, I again wandered around the city to pass the time before my train back to Paris. I ended up going to this natural history museum where I made a complete fool of myself trying to hand money to the ticket woman in response to her saying to me in German, "Free". Hilarious.
Back in Paris, I had just about a single day to kill. I wandered around the city for a bit, and then I decided to see a movie, since it was quite hot. I went to see "Batman Begins", which I very much enjoyed, actually. It was pretty entertaining. I met up with my friend D. R. for dinner, and we went to an old staple: Cafe de l'industry. Apparently the owners have expanded a good bit, buying the space across the street from their old place, but we just stuck with what we knew and sat in what is rapidly becoming a regular spot. It was really nice to just kick back and shoot the shit for a while in French. I was psyched to see how quickly it returned to me, especially since I haven't spoken it in a long time.
Now I'm back at home. Things here have been really good. My Senate Contact and I spent a quite nice weekend down at the beach and then bumming around Boston. I managed somehow to avoid getting any color to my skin, even though we sat out in the sun for hours. Thank God for strong sunscreen! He did manage to get some sun in, and it seems that his burn is fading. Work is going fine, and in a few minutes I am due at a function where I will meet the high school students whom I am to mentor for the next month. Unspeakable joy.
Having run through all of the less exciting stories, I can get to the fun one: my Senate Contact now has a kitty! Last week, he and I went to a local animal shelter and found an adorable, tiny kitty. She is two years old, meaning that she is fully grown, but she is just slightly bigger than a kitten. I was instantly smitten with her, and as luck would have it, so was he. He talked with his landlord and squared away all of the details, and he picked her up today! After my meeting, I am going to head over there to see her in her new home. I am really excited. Kitties are my favorite.
posted by Just a Guy | 6:30 PM
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