Today we were supposed to go for a walk, from La Catedral, formally Pablo Escobar’s prison and fortress, past two waterfalls, and through forests to a lookout point. I was the first to drop out due to a niggling medical thing that turned into a small crisis (by which I mean I will have to […]
Older woman
It is strange to be in the position of being the older woman in a group of younger people. All the others here are college students, and of course stay together and don’t have much to say to, or interest in, someone who is clearly not one of them. So we sit at the breakfast […]
Higher level beginner
This is where my teacher placed me today, as nearly imtermediate level but not quite there. OK, I suppose, given that I didn’t really speak a word of the language until three weeks and a couple of days ago. I think I would have been more advanced had I not been working, and been better […]
Moved out
I moved out of the flat this morning and took a taxi to the homestay. This is a bright blue building, very easy to find, just up the hill from one of the prettiest parts of the town. It’s on a big road which can get noisy, but my room is at the back of […]
On the fritz
I’ve been on the fritz for a couple of days, throwing mini strops, mostly silently, like a well-bottled beverage. One little eruption actually took place on Metafilter, where there has been a longrunning pair of threads on the site’s white middleclass American orientation and the moderators having only one solution: applying copious amounts of goodwill. […]
Long day
Yesterday I had a second class with the new teacher and while she is very sweet and also very good, spoke to the owner of the school that I’d prefer to return to the old teacher. At the time she said yes certainly, though we will see what happens. I was then up late at […]
Not quite enough
Though Saturday it was a working day today, though we went for a leisurely lunch. Sadness was largely kept at bay, though I felt slower and even quieter than usual. From experience I should be back to normal tomorrow. But today even yesterday’s diversion didn’t raise a smile and though I enjoyed a spoof video […]
Eid GRAR
Eid Mubarak! Fucking Whatsapp.
Chauri Chaura
Nearly twenty years ago, I took a course on South Asian history at a large university in the United States, as part of my undergraduate degree. It was a mid-sized lecture course and had weekly sections, smaller discussion groups. In my section I was the only one from Pakistan, the only Muslim. Most of the […]
Unwanted children
I listened to the latest Talking Politics podcast this morning, which had an interview with the historian Tom Holland about Roman collapse and the present day. One throwaway point he made was that Europe, Russia, the Islamic World, are all descendants of Rome and, before that, Greece and the Near East, and their thought descends […]