Browsing the archives for the Fun category.
I came across this video through a friend a few days ago, and I am convinced that this is was very apt now that school resumes today. Most apt. Well, enjoy the speech by Sir Ken Robinson. He makes a whole lot of sense.
PS. There is the option of subtitles for the video, for those who don’t do well with spoken British English.
Courtesy Ted.com
Here are some more random pictures taken in/of the snow that has now made it a habit to come down everyday, covering everything that moves or doesn’t. It has even made it difficult for me to attempt to walk on my ktravulake now. The white is quite suspicious. Nobody knows what is underneath, or how frozen hard it is. I don’t want to walk to the centre only to fall in. It is so white that if I fall inside, nobody will know what had just happened. Anyway, here are pictures.
The other set of pictures were the ones I took when I went swimming with Ben yesterday at the University pool. The University pool is three feet deep on one end, and thirteen feet deep on the other. The last time I swam was many years ago, in the pool at my University in Ibadan, and I am finding out happily that I have not lost much of my skills after all. It took a little while more than necessary to warm up, of course, but when I finally did, I was able to swim the whole length of the pool back and forth for a few times. Ben, on the other hand – who had been going to the pool at least twice every week since school started – didn’t have any problems going back and forth many more times without stopping. He also had more speed. Well, what can I say, I need more practice. Hmm, I am exercising editorial discretion by not showing you the full frontal shot I took while I was in only shorts. I’m afraid of lawsuits that might result from swooning and fainting ladies in many parts of the world where they read my blog and see my pictures. 😀 Sorry!
Those pictures were taken by Mafoya who went with us but was too lazy, or afraid, to get into the water and learn some skills. The water was warm (81 degrees F or 27 degrees C). The hardest part of the trip was the walking to and from the gym in the freezing harsh snowy stormy weather. But we were three, and we made it through warm clothings, jokes and banter, and songs.
Needless to say, if I ever find myself on a capsizing boat, I am fit enough now to save myself, and at least one beautiful damsel.
The successful outing of my My [State/Country] posts on this blog (after Texas and Saudi Arabia) is giving me many more great ideas. How many states will I be able to “visit” virtually and publicly thank before my time here is over? Who wants me in their area? I definitely would like to show here to you my readers all the relevant ktravula hot spots all around the world, just in case it ever occurs to anyone someday to organize a get-together/reunion party of all my blog readers, fans and commenters. 🙂 But I can’t. Or so I think. Physically, I’ve now been to Providence RI, Washington DC, Boston MA, St. Louis MI, Edwardsville IL, Cahokia IL, Principia IL, Chicago IL and Olney MD, among a few other small places. But virtually, I’ve been in many more places I probably would never see. Here’s the plan, as time permits, I will go around the world from here. The traveller is coming to a location near you. 😀
School resumes on Monday. I have not yet confirmed whether classes resume too. If so, then I will use this weekend to plan my class schedule for the year. It’s the hardest (I think) part of the work. When the plans are set, it not so hard to follow through in class, even though there usually occurs along the way some things never before planned, like public holidays, snow storms, and other engagements. But I like to have a plan. It helps to keep me focused. The last time I checked, I will now have sixteen students. That’s a higher number than the last nine who, like they told me on the last day of class, must have told their friends to sign up for that foreign language class where you could get an A (if you work really hard for it) and have fun all at the same time. Talking about As, all my last students but one got As. The person that didn’t get an A got a B, deservedly. She wasn’t as punctual as she should have been. And she did really poorly in the mid-term test. As for my own Linguistics class, I have not yet seen my results. Next week, maybe.
How did I spend my Christmas? I went to the house of my Professor A., originally from Nigeria, who was spending Christmas in town for the last time. He had resigned from this university and was moving into government work in the capital (Springfield). The most memorable part of the very beautiful evening was the “lucky dip” where everyone was asked to pick choice presents from a whole lot gathered in the living room. I got a wall clock. Now I can see what time it is while sitting on my bed without first having to pick up my phone or computer. However, there was not much Nigerian food at the table, surprisingly. There was mostly American foods, which I enjoyed. And there was moi-moi. It was a very memorable and enjoyable evening in company of people of different nationalities, behaviour and beliefs. I met his young children and their friends. One of his children’s young cousins in attendance had attended St. Patrick’s school, Bashorun Ibadan before relocating to the States. Our discussions brought back memories of truancy in secondary school days when we snuck out of our school premises to attend Christmas parades in the compound of the Broadcasting House just across the road…
New year’s eve. This one was a story with a k-leg, because Chris from class who had checked with me many times about our earlier plan to spend the eve together at his house partying, playing, reminiscing and flirting around with American girls suddenly had a work schedule! Oopsie. (Sorry Chris. I know you might not believe it, but not all of us from that side of the world play around with firecrackers around festive periods. 😉 ) In any case, I believe(d) him and stayed indoors since Ben also had suddenly disappeared earlier in the day to go to his folks at St. Louis. I fell asleep at nine, and woke up barely at a quarter to twelve, so I slept again, hoping my some miracle to wake up before twelve. The next time I opened those eyes, it was 1pm and I had two messages on my cell phone, from Nigeria. Happy New Year, they said. There were no fireworks like it would have been at New York’s Times Square, or back home in Nigeria (yes, we use fireworks too. Note to Chris: They are festive fireworks, not explosive firecrackers). I went back to sleep a few hours later, consoling myself that in some other parts of the world – in California, for example – they were still in 2009 by a few minutes.
I broke my first and major new year resolution on the third day of the year. I ordered a $24 pizza from Papa John’s! And as guilty as I felt after placing the order, I enjoyed it. It was coming after a few gruesome days of needed abstinence. Thankfully I didn’t have to eat it alone. But on the (not altogether so) bright side of this matter, a freak error/mixup of communication between me and woman at the housing office on Monday when I went to make payments for my housing rent has cleared my bank account/card of ALL available funds. The situation, as she apologetically promised afterwards, is now being rectified. Five days later, it has not, and I’m mad! One week, and perhaps more, is a very long time to wait. This means of course that there would be no more Papa Johns, even if I crave it. And as soon as my supplies of food run out, which they will, very soon, I will be very screwed :D, not literally. So, sigh, wish me luck people, or send relief, or remember me in your prayers. But whatever you decide to do, when you eat your nice meal of turkey, moi-moi, amala, potato salad, stuffing, egusi, pounded yam, broccoli, jollof/fried rice, ogufe, or whatever else you have on your plate on your side of the world tonight, please remember this American child that is now surviving on less than a dollar a day. Don’t look for any paradoxical punch-lines to this. There are none! 🙂 😀 🙁
The lake is frozen. The waters are frozen. The land is frozen. My hands are frozen. Everything is dead. It is winter.
Today I walked on water, almost like Jesus did. Only this time, it was day, and the water was no water after all. It was ice. I walked on a frozen lake. I almost gave in to the temptation to ride on it as well. Who knows, I might still give it a try. My friends in the mountains of Colorado have had snow since October. They have ice rinks up in Chicago for skating and ice hockey. I have the Cougar Lake in its frozen glory. I may not be able to skate on it, but slide I shall with my winter boots. It’s my own winter sport, invented and patented by KTravulad himself. We shall rename this spot, this water, the KTravulake.
But I pity the ducks, the geese. They have now been confined to the sky since their primary playground has become a plate of solid glass. I don’t envy them, and I pity them only a little as well, since I was never a fan of their loud cackling in the first place.
In any case, it is winter. I’m enjoying it.
