October 25, 2012

I had run out of money the day before, so going to the bank was the order of the day. I found two crisp, clean fifty dollars bills and walked to the nearest bank to exchange them and then bought flat bread from the little stand near the supermarket. Beta store was next as I had decided to buy a canister to keep my coffee and a couple more containers for spices. I stopped at their bakery, but the samsis were not out yet and I settled for two other types of pastries even though I wasn’t quite sure what they were. Found a piece of salmon in the frozen case, a bit expensive at more than $10.00, and bought more Sumatra coffee just in case.

The puff pastry had a cheese filling, and it was the perfect thing to eat between breakfast and lunch while preparing to deliver my sixth presentation at the KNU campus. I walked there under leaden skies while a soft breeze pulled the remaining leaves from the trees creating a multi-color carpet at my feet.

Since the topic of pragmatics was a new one to these teachers, and I didn’t want to bore them with a lecture, I interspersed the role play cards every so often so we could have an example and a source for comparison and contrast between the United States practices and the ones here. In most cases, there was a stark contrast and teachers admitted they could not behave in the same fashion here without losing friends and offending family members.

I announced that Natalia from the embassy would be expected to make an appearance at our last session next Thursday bearing their certificate of attendance. The teachers informed they wanted to have tea with me outside of the university next Monday as a token of their appreciation for all I had shared with them. I was quite touched by the invitation and told them I was more than eager to share time with them outside of the classroom.

I returned to the flat and spent several more hours poring over books and research findings for my next presentation on teaching to multilevel classes. I did another load of laundry and cooked the salmon in a bit of butter after marinating for a couple of hours. It was delicious and worth every penny I paid for it. I had enough leftovers for another meal.

Zarina called to give me instructions on how to get to her tomorrow as she had invited to celebrate the Eid Khourbon holiday with her family. I informed her that my cable television connection was lost and I was afraid the landlady had perhaps forgotten to pay the bill. She offered to call her tomorrow after the lunch to find what is going on.

I watched “The Man who knew Too Much”, a film that had been on my list of movies to see for the longest time. Hitchcock outdid himself here and the acting was quite good even from Doris Day, whom I had never considered such a good actress until today.