Galileo Galilei - Swan

I love every single song by this band...that's all I have to say on that point. Hopefully I'll get to see them live some day!

I was walking around campus today and it struck me just how different it is to go to school here in California, compared to Vancouver. The main difference, of course, is the sunshine...but then that sunshine effects everything else. Seeing students walking around in brightly colored shorts and T-shirts and tank tops and sunglasses...eating frozen yogurt and lounging on the grass...not scurrying about in rain and darkness...it's like a different world and I quite like it. It makes learning more fun, although it's harder to concentrate when all you want to do is eat the previously mentioned frozen yogurt while lounging on that lovely green grass. 

I met more lovely students (and teachers!) today and I can't wait to start teaching! 

Also, spanakopita may have become one of my favorite foods...somehow it sneaked up on me and now I can't get enough of it :-O

Fleet Foxes for Fall

I absolutely adore listening to Fleet Foxes at this time of year - it's cozy and heartwarming and all the harmonies somehow match this season perfectly. 

Today I finally started working again - exciting! This week is orientation week, so there's no actual teaching, but it's still exciting to meet the new students and help them settle into their programs. I met so many lovely people from all around the world...Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Russia... It's a special place to be and, for me, the most ideal job situation. I hope everything goes well!

The classroom I was in today didn't happen to feature functional air conditioning (less ideal!) so I was super hot and went straight for frozen yogurt after work. I've also been buying more and more kombucha lately. It's so refreshing and hopefully as healthy as it's supposed to be. Mass produced fermented products can't be as good as homemade ones, but I don't think I'll be making any of my own kombucha any time soon. A friend offered me her scoby once, but I was too terrified to accept it haha. 

Fleet Foxes, tea, and another sunny day tomorrow :-)

Reunions and goodbyes

I've spent the last two weeks in paradise, reunited with my bf who lives in Japan but came to visit after five (dreadfully long) months apart. He went back to Japan this morning and I'm a little bit in shock. It's strange to be apart from someone you love for so long, then to spend two weeks completely immersed in each other, only to say goodbye again and not see them at all, except on a computer screen. Lonely lonely lonely. It's amazing how different a place feels when someone you shared it with leaves...all the warmth dissipates. 

But, I will refrain from greyness and gloom. When we love someone, I think we can do whatever it takes to stay together and stay connected. 

Now on to comfort reading more Anne of Green Gables and refraining from drinking any more coffee.

Hello September, hello autumn, hello sunshine

Seasonal changes are times of transition, and as such they always make me feel a little scattered and pulled in different directions. Hold on to the last bits of summer, prepare for the crispness of fall, run around outside, contemplate Deep Things while looking at clouds, do academic productive things, have a movie marathon complete with popcorn and blankets, think of the future, live in the moment...sometimes I just don't know what to do with myself and then I end up doing nothing, and that can be okay too. Also, as much as getting older disturbs and confounds me, I do feel a lot more grounded and solid and sure of what I want and what I need. Time is not a thing, but when it adds up it becomes meaningful. Maybe. 

Last Saturday I went to Birch Aquarium and enjoyed being (not literally) submerged in beautiful underwater worlds. Being a terrible swimmer and unwilling to do much more beyond dabbling in shallow waters, I will probably never go scuba diving but I absolutely adore aquariums since they provide a glimpse of this magical otherworldly universe that actually truly exists. Also, I touched an anemone of some sort and the way it grabs and entwines your finger is kind of exciting. Interaction with nature, yes. A lifetime of not having any pets makes it that much easier to fall for the cuteness of little anemones. I did not touch the sea cucumber though. 

Here's to a fabulous, stunningly gorgeous September. Bring on the apples.