ktravula – a travelogue!

Browsing the archives for the Fun category.

Winter Came Early

Soft floury flakes drown the land for as far as eyes can see. It was night, hours after the brightness of day had already packed up into the soft bosom of the sky. Flakes, snow flakes like the luminous slivers from heaven’s dinner table, fill the land with a breath of steam. One year ago as I walked out into the night under a snowing sky, I had wondered at how nice it all looked falling down with deliberate steadiness. It was the beginning of a new season and I remembered Jim Reeves. It was also the beginning of a new experience that brought with it the pleasure of seeing the world wearing a different look. I would get bored from it after a while, but the novelty was always quite unquantifiable. I would whip my camera out and start shooting.

It snowed all through the night, and I woke up with the whole ground covered in fluffs of white and muck. White when the snow resisted all attempts to put its glory under the rubber of the car tyres, and mucky when technology succeeded and trampled it under dark and merciless feet. It is not yet Christmas, but the face of the season is now irredeemably changed. I remember another memory from movies of youth and the overwhelming thought of how nice it must be to live where it snows all year around. If only one could live in such a place, how nice would it be – with lights, snowmen, Christmas trees, and long open land of white.

I may tire of seeing white in a few weeks, but I won’t lose the pleasant feeling that comes with the season of fluorescence.

Winter Came Early was published on December 13th, 2010, with the tags , , , under the Fun, Observations, Uncategorized category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

Wine Tasting in the Town

The last time I went wine-tasting was in September. There was an exhibition of the wines of Missouri and wineries from parts of the state came to showcase what they have. It took place at the Botanical Garden. I returned home with a bottle of Chambourcin.

Last Friday evening however, I went for another one – a private event at a local winery in Edwardsville called Springer’s Creek. The house, built in the 1800s, was nicely decorated with warm lights and wall pictures with other cozy features and a live band playing slow music in the basement. The wine was very sweet and distinctive. The company was pleasant, warm and relaxing, and after a few gulps that counted for much more than just tastings, I was loosened enough to go ice skating at an ice rink thirty-five minutes away.

Oh, I almost forgot. We were actually celebrating something: the joy of blogging, and the pleasures/treasures it brings.

Wine Tasting in the Town was published on December 5th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the adventures, Fun category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

Men On the Road

It snowed here yesterday, for the first time this season. The last time I saw my first snow was Christmas day 2009 and I’d wondered if the snow always timed itself for a special occasion. Yesterday was Thanskgiving and the snowfall was just as appropriate a blessing. I spent much of the day as a guest of a family my friend and fellow student linguist in St. Louis playing pool, getting stuffed (in a good, gastronomically pleasant way), laughing, meeting new people, and just being a good young boy in pleasant company. I haven’t done this in a while so it was a good break out of the stress of chasing the trees of syntax or the twists of ESL teaching assessment procedures.

Now I’m back home listening to George Lopez monologue of race jokes: “Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. And if you’re Native American, happy Thursday…” It was a wonderful day.

Tomorrow will find me on the road with three other gentlemen on a trip across at least two state lines. We are heading to the state of Kansas in search of knowledge and treasures. On this trip, we intend to visit the famous World War I Museum at Kansas City as well as the Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where British Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered his now famous “Iron Curtain” Speech in March 1946. There are no train routes from Edwardsville to Kansas City as there are between the many states of Europe because this country built its own treasures in Interstate roads rather than rails. And what a shame that would have been in the absence of a true pleasure of driving across town. And it is for that reason that this road trip will serve two main goals: one, to discover what lay in the westward side of the country while passing through the countryside with our feet virtually on the ground; and two, to spend the rest of our free time undertaking an endeavour more productive than remaining at home to stare out the window at migrating birds.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on who’s talking – snow has begun to fall and promises to make the journey even a little more colourful. See you at the end of the weekend, except of course we also get a chance to use the internet. And Happy Thanksgiving to you.

PS: Kansas City, not particularly a famous tourist destination reportedly has more boulevards than Paris and more fountains than any other city in the world except for Rome. (Source: Wikitravel). This explains why EVERYONE we’ve told of this trip had responded with “What the hell is in Kansas City?” I guess we’re about to find out.

Men On the Road was published on November 26th, 2010, with the tags , , , , , under the adventures, Fun, Travelling category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

American Students in Nigeria

I recently came across these blogs of the American students on the Flagship Yoruba Programme in my home University in Ibadan via Facebook, (thanks to Buchi). I mentioned this Flagship Programme on this blog once while I was in Ibadan in the summer before the students arrived. I want to share it with you now. From this distance, I have a new pride and a new appreciation for the field of language teaching as well as a chance to share in the journeys and experience of these new students in their immersion in the language and culture of my homeland.

Follow their blogs and share in their experience as they move through Nigeria:

http://www.northoflagos.wordpress.com by Cara “Titilayo” Harshman.

http://irinajoyinbo.wordpress.com by Kevin “Kayode” Barry.

http://wellesleyh.wordpress.com by Lauren Halloran

Here are some of the videos from the blogs. Note that much of the Yoruba language capability of the person in this video was acquired long before she even set foot on Nigerian soil. This is a testament to the progress of Yoruba language studies in the Wisconsin University at Madison, and a victory for globalization.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SlgnGAGFsU and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsltcnHxzfI. And in this amazing one, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLzWfxBRa8Q), where Titi takes a walk around the University of Ibadan.

Enjoy, and leave them some encouraging comments too.

American Students in Nigeria was published on November 22nd, 2010, with the tags , , under the Academic, adventures, Fun, Observations, Travelling category. There are currently 4 comments on this article so far.

Thanksgiving Break!

The whole of the coming week is all free of work here on this side of the Atlantic. (Yay!) We will all be busy travelling to places that warms our hearts and gathering at happy family tables to eat to our heart’s delight. It is the annual Thanksgiving celebration in the United States. The casualties this year, as in every, are the turkeys (and geese, for those with exotic taste buds), which would decorate each family table on Thursday amidst smiles and thankfulness. Last year, I spent the celebration in company of my wonderful host parents. This year, I would be spending it with the family of a friend. But on Tuesday, I would be at the International Institute to celebrate with other volunteers and international students.

More importantly, I would spend it in celebration of life, and much more: friends, family, adoptive parents, wonderful colleagues and co-workers, close and loved ones, distant well-wishers, blog readers and commenters, students, plantain chips, pounded yam and pepper soup, NPR, the dollar store, movies, music, Axe detailer, low gas prices in Missouri, eagled-eyed editors, warm socks, languages, smiling strangers, awesome classmates, amazing teachers, fast internet, long distance phone calls, Amazon.com, Skype, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, BreadCo, and the very many things and people that make live worth living.

Thanksgiving Break! was published on November 17th, 2010, with the tags , under the Fun, Observations category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.