Today was our last Language & Culture Acquisition elicitation session. We made chicken adobo under Esther's guidance (oh my goodness, extremely delicious!), and then were evaluated on our ability to have an actual conversation in Ilocano. That was... fun, though I felt like I stumbled on almost every word, and I don't know how good of a grade I'm going to get. But Esther was pleased with our ability to speak, which is encouraging, even if she's just being polite. ;)
About halfway done with the 10-page culture paper that's due tomorrow at midnight. I think I'll finish it, if I can just make myself focus for long enough. (Writing this is only a small diversion, really!) Then there are a few more Field Methods assignments, a revision of my Syntax Language Data Project, two finals, and... am I forgetting anything?
Then a much-needed break!
Oh, and this weekend will help in that department. American Thanksgiving! And a real celebration of Mackenzie's and my birthday!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Music
Today in our elicitation session, Mackenzie and I asked our LRP to teach us an Ilocano song. Esther had looked for a Christmas carol, but she said the ones she found were really, really long, so she went with a simple little praise song. The English title is "The Lord our God is Good," which is Ti Dios Tay Ket Naimbag in Ilocano.
Esther played the guitar and we sang it through several times, once in English and the rest in Ilocano. It's a beautiful song, and it was just plain amazing to sing it with her.
God knows Ilocano, too.
Esther played the guitar and we sang it through several times, once in English and the rest in Ilocano. It's a beautiful song, and it was just plain amazing to sing it with her.
God knows Ilocano, too.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The end is drawing near
The last weeks of the semester are going to be crazy busy. I have a group presentation tomorrow, several final papers to write, several more that I have to edit and put together, a Greek test and the final to study for, the last few weeks of elicitation sessions that have to be prepared for somewhere in there, and a final in Syntax.
In order to stay sane, I will have to use my time well (obvious, I know, but not easy), but also leave room for important non-school things like Mackenzie's and my birthday, and (American) Thanksgiving.
*deep breath* Back to work, so that I don't fall behind...
In order to stay sane, I will have to use my time well (obvious, I know, but not easy), but also leave room for important non-school things like Mackenzie's and my birthday, and (American) Thanksgiving.
*deep breath* Back to work, so that I don't fall behind...
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Psst...
...we have a long weekend this weekend (Remembrance Day on Tuesday, and only one class on Monday). Due to scheduling conflicts, we can't go down south. We also have very few classes for the rest of the week!
So... anyone want to come visit?
So... anyone want to come visit?
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Tourist activities
After church today, Mackenzie and I finally made a trip into Fort Langley, the picturesque historical part of Langley. Even though the weather wasn't great (it's November now, so that means gray, rainy, blustery days!), it was a lot of fun. I can tell it would be a cool place to spend quite a bit of time.
We went into the Ruby Slipper, a fun little candy shop that specializes in crafting specialty chocolates, and also sells a decent variety of British chocolate and confections as well! That, as you may have guessed, was the main reason we wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, they don't have jelly babies, but they do have Turkish delight, Cadbury's dark chocolate, an Australian candy bar called Violet Crumble, and a lot of other things that didn't appeal to us as much (like nougat, licorice candies, etc.). Mackenzie and I now have some tasty-sounding treats to try out later.
Then we took a short walk down to the river (the Fraser River), just to take a look. Again, even in the gray and the rain, it was beautiful! There's still plenty of fall foliage on the trees, as well. I was touristy and took a few pictures, which are at the end of the album in that link. On the way to and from the river, we also window-shopped a bit and decided which restaurants we'd like to check out sometime.
So, next time friends or family visit, if we can find a good place to park in case of weather that prevents much walking, Fort Langley is definitely a place we'd like to take you!
We went into the Ruby Slipper, a fun little candy shop that specializes in crafting specialty chocolates, and also sells a decent variety of British chocolate and confections as well! That, as you may have guessed, was the main reason we wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, they don't have jelly babies, but they do have Turkish delight, Cadbury's dark chocolate, an Australian candy bar called Violet Crumble, and a lot of other things that didn't appeal to us as much (like nougat, licorice candies, etc.). Mackenzie and I now have some tasty-sounding treats to try out later.
Then we took a short walk down to the river (the Fraser River), just to take a look. Again, even in the gray and the rain, it was beautiful! There's still plenty of fall foliage on the trees, as well. I was touristy and took a few pictures, which are at the end of the album in that link. On the way to and from the river, we also window-shopped a bit and decided which restaurants we'd like to check out sometime.
So, next time friends or family visit, if we can find a good place to park in case of weather that prevents much walking, Fort Langley is definitely a place we'd like to take you!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Another cultural observation
I'm pretty sure Canadians (or at least British Columbians) care a lot more about Halloween in general than do most Americans with whom I am familiar. I'm used to elementary school-aged kids dressing up and going trick-or-treating or going to a harvest festival, and I'm used to carving jack-o-lanterns and all that. But up here, it seems like a whole lot more: store clerks were almost all dressed up, and people in our neighborhood went all-out decorating their houses for Halloween - some more tackily than others! And all the radio announcers (except maybe on the Christian station) were wishing their listeners happy Halloween, and playing appropriate music - such as the theme from "Ghostbusters", and Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Back in Washington, radio stations might mention the holiday once or twice on the actual day (not several days leading up to it), and might play a few Halloween-ish songs.
Also, on the news on Halloween night, the news anchors mentioned that police would be out in force to make sure that fireworks/firecrackers (?!) didn't get out of hand, and that there had already been an incident. I mean, I guess sometimes teenagers go overboard on the whole "trick" side of "trick-or-treat" back home - and probably moreso in other cities than my home city - but not so much that it's generally mentioned on the news as a state-wide thing.
And of course, since Canadians have already had their Thanksgiving, they start thinking about Christmas early on in November to an even greater extent than most Americans, I think. I know that stores start putting out their Christmas decorations quite early in the States, too, but since there is still a holiday for us between Halloween and Christmas, we might still be slightly more delayed on switching to the Christmas season than our neighbors to the north.
Also, on the news on Halloween night, the news anchors mentioned that police would be out in force to make sure that fireworks/firecrackers (?!) didn't get out of hand, and that there had already been an incident. I mean, I guess sometimes teenagers go overboard on the whole "trick" side of "trick-or-treat" back home - and probably moreso in other cities than my home city - but not so much that it's generally mentioned on the news as a state-wide thing.
And of course, since Canadians have already had their Thanksgiving, they start thinking about Christmas early on in November to an even greater extent than most Americans, I think. I know that stores start putting out their Christmas decorations quite early in the States, too, but since there is still a holiday for us between Halloween and Christmas, we might still be slightly more delayed on switching to the Christmas season than our neighbors to the north.
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