loss and vanity

I lost one of my faviourite scarfs this morning, the one I bought in Estonia. I think it was when I went to the King's Manor in the city centre to submit a piece of writing to my supervisior. I was tired and in a rush. I believe this was partly why I lost it. I tried to find out but couldn't. I'll double check again at the security centre tomorrow. It's tempting to forget about it; it's depressing to remeber the loss of my favourite thing. But I write about it here, so that I can remind myself of this unhappy result of being in a hurry and badly organized.

A few small things saved me from feeling down though.

1) I bought another harb oil from Culpeper the harvalist. This time I got rosemary; while lavendar is more like relaxing, this one is kind of stimulating.
2) I got a pot of basil at the store for cooking. Chopped it and splinkle on top of my pasta. It was good.
3) and I found my photo at the departmental noticeboard. I was the last one in the list of departmental staff. It would sound silly (because it is!) but I found it absolutely gratifying. There's an irresistible sense of achievement in seeing myself (however a slightly awkward representation) among those who I thought beyond my reach at the beginning.

I shall mix the loss with the trace of vanity and remedies. I'll have a better day tomorrow.

2nd TA

I had the second session as a TA. It wasn't too bad, but we were running out of an interesting questions to discuss about. It would sound like an excuse (because it is!), but one of the reason seems to have been that students and I were less excited about the particular topic, which was the demographic impact of the Black Death in C14, and (to a lesser extent) its cultural impact.

Yet, I got to remember almost everyone's name now. I managed my preparation well, and spent only less than 3 hours.

It was still difficult to make everyone engage in the discussion. This seems to be a very difficult thing. It's just impossible when you are worried about how to direct the discussion.

There are four girls and eight guys in the discussion group. It seems to me that girls are a bit more confident in discussion than some of the guys. I don't know what kind of obserbation to make on this. Shall I endorse a popular claim that 'girls are great'?

A way of relaxing

Aroma!
Originally uploaded by koji.

Since I moved to another college in the university, I've been trying aromatherapy.

I took the idea from one of my Japanese friends in York. Her room was really nicely scented and I was quite impressed. So I asked where she got all necessary things. Accordingly, I got the essential oil from the shop called Culpeper, which she said one of the biggest harbal shops in the UK. I bought Lavendar oil. I mix a few drops with water and heat it with a tea-candle as you see in the photo. I can also have a few drops when I have a bath. (Yes, this time, my flat have a bath!!!) I think the scent allows me to breathe a little more deeply than usual.

So this oil now gives me one good solution to my personal concern: how to relax effectively during
& after often stressful research and writing. I would recommend this aroma thing if you like a scent of a harb on your favourite pasta or if you feel a bit happier when you happended to walk nearby a florist with a good scent of flowers.

But how do you usually have a rest after a hectic day of work or study?

Teaching Assistant for the first time

I did TA yesterday, and have just done Japanese teaching this morning. I got quite nervous especially before the TA. But both went well, or at least I thought they did. This time, just a few words about my first part-time job in the History Department.

One good thing. I took an extra care not to talk too much. And I tried to encourage them to talk among themselves. To my surprise, it was quite successful; I often interrupted the discussion, but i only did it to provoke them to speak more.

One thing to improve. Some spoke more than some others; so next time, I will try to involve everyone as equally as possible. For this, name tags would help. I can also give them some words of encouragement and feedback so that they can build their confidence through the discussion.

About preparation. I spent too much time to prepare for the discussion. Perhaps about 5 hours! No need to spend that much; maybe aiming at finishing preparation within 2-3 hours will be a good target at this stage. Just get a few points of discussion along with the questions given for each week.

The topic for the next session is the Black Death in medieval Europe, and the questions given are 1) How have scholars explained population change in later fourteenth century England?, and 2)How accurate are estimates of plague mortality and later medieval population levels? I don't know anything at all about the topic at the moment. But let's see how it goes.

Teaching the day after tomorrow

Oh, my first teaching job is coming on this Thursday! The first year module I'm going to support as a TA is called 'Making History', a compulsory module for all history first year students; it consists of a series of lectures that cover a range of topics from the fall of the Roman Empire from the Great Depression of the 1920s. So the aim is not really to gain specialist knowledge about a particular historical topic.

The overall aim of the module is rather generic and has two aspects. On the one hand, it is to introduce critically how historians use different sources available to them, including archaeological evidence, numerical data, legal or governmental documents, private manuscripts, visual materials, &c to arrive at often very different interpretations of the past.

It is, on the other hand, also to improve their study skills necessary for the degree level, including writing critical summaries of article, writing literature reviews, writing an essay with scholarly apparatus like footnotes and a bibliography.

Hummm, it sounds like I have a lot to learn from such a course as well!!

Oh, for this time, I would stop here; I should start looking at reading materials for the first session. Hope I can manage within 90 mins or so...

Teaching while at the same time studying

It's just turned out that I will be doing three teaching jobs from this academic term. I'm now at the end of Week 1 of the University, looking towards the remaining 9 weeks to come. From next week, I will be doing a teaching assistant (TA) to lead a discussion group of 11 first year undergrads in the History Department; also, teaching Japanese privately to a old gentleman at a fairly advanced level; and lastly, doing a private tutor of a teenage girl who's in a breath-takingly posh boarding school nearby York, who literally knows nothing about Japanese at all.

All the while, I have met my supervisor yesterday, and set a few goals for this term. It means I will be writing a literature review on the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) very soon. This is a field more related to business schools and social policy departments, but I have decided to dip myself into a little bit with historian's eyes.

Teaching three times a week while conducting my research in a new field sounds like quite a challenge, as it actually will be. But I take it to be the best opportunity to develop my teaching career, earn a little money, but more importantly to know more about undergraduate education in the UK, develop my skill of time management both academic and private, and not least to sneak into a world of teenage girls with uniforms and Queen's English!! Hahaha!
I hope I can soon share with you some of my experience!

I'm starting Ph.D research

One of my best friends in York told me the following poem several months ago. At that time, I was in distress. I wasn't sure which way to take: to pursue further study here in England, or to get a job in Japan. But now, I can clearly say that I have taken 'the one less traveled by'. I am very happy that I have finally come to the decision!!!

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken


TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.