ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing ktravula – a travelogue! blog archives for the day Friday, November 20th, 2009.

Hear This…

…from an email I just received. I’m giddy. How did they know that I like stuff like this?

****

Dear colleagues,

This is an invitation to participate in a holiday game called “Amigo Secreto”.  This is a Hispanic tradition and it is a lot of fun!

This game consists on having a random secret friend for the last two weeks of school.  During this time, you should keep in contact with your secret friend without letting him/her know who you are.  For this reason, you could leave funny notes, give candy or do anything creative, and deliver it in creative ways.

The game will end Friday December 11th at a Holiday Lunch, where you will discover who your secret friend is.  This day, you should bring a small present of $5-10 labeled with your name and your secret friend’s name (The gift doesn’t have to be something new or bought, again be creative… it’s for fun!).

If you would like to participate in this game, please email H… at h…@siue.edu before Nov. 30.  On this day we will put all the names in a hat and randomly choose your “Amigo Secreto”.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

****

Let the games begin! *Drum rolls*

Hear This… was published on November 20th, 2009, with the tags , , , , , under the adventures, Fun category. There are currently 2 comments on this article so far.

It’s a Recession & I Know Now

The news of the recession in the United States has never hit so close to home as it did for me last week when I read this article on Clarissa’s blog. Clarissa is a professor in my department. Apparently, the state of Illinois has been holding out on its workers for so long a time that now it is so hard to pay fees, and the Universities are going to have to suffer in the coming months. Coming from a country where it is commonplace for Professors to be owed many months salary by the government, it is a painful reminder. But in a country where order, probity and accountability are virtues expected at the highest level of government, it is a totally upsetting news.

In some way, I am immune to this situation because my pay is not tied to the state of Illinois, but the prospect of downsizing a department already understaffed for required languages is not one that I would look forward to with glee. It is very easy to throw out the words such as depression, recession and financial crises, but when it hits home in its ugliness, words fail in conveying the pain it brings to the folks involved.

I doubt that the case involves only the state of Illinois, but a few people I’ve spoken to about it seems to believe that it is a reflection on the dirty politics that has marked the state for a very long time.

It’s a Recession & I Know Now was published on November 20th, 2009, with the tags , , , , under the News, Observations, Opinion category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.