28 March 2013

Made it to Mid-term!


It’s been pretty quiet on this side of the blog front as I juggle student life with being the toilet fairy. This week we have been on vacation, NOT holiday, I must stress. At post-graduate orientation one of the professors informed us that it was called a vacation, because you vacated the university campus to go and work at home!

So indeed, here I am having a break, working on a short story, writing a 2500-word book review and sourcing images for another course.

Walking has kept me sane. I am out there at 7 in the morning doing eight kilometres three times a week, putting one foot in front of the other. It clears my head as I move through the neighbourhood and I often come back having mentally worked out an issue.

So many people are asking my daughter what it is like to have me on campus. For the record let me say that we hardly see each other and only share one lift. I promised that I wouldn't be hanging around on the Jammie steps with her. Anyway she is way too cool to worry about whether I am cramping her style or not.

Now if it was my son, it may be a different story. Although last week he took one look at me parked in front of the TV with a packet of chips and a mug of tea (comfort after a 3-hour workshop) and said, “You’re turning into me!”

I have survived the first term and am enjoying the breather. I have gotten over both the shock of the youth and the technology (well, sort of) and think that pretty soon I will be able to hold my own. Every day I come home in awe of how much I am learning. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity to be back at university. I even found myself wondering what I could study next, once this was under the belt...Okay, it was very briefly...

19 March 2013

World Storytelling Day

File:Wsdmatslarge.png
World Storytelling Day logo designed by Swedish storyteller, Mats Rhenman

20 March is World Storytelling Day. It originated in Sweden in 1990 and has become a global celebration of the art of oral storytelling, taking place on the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere. The idea is to get as many people as possible from around the world to tell stories through the day and night. 

The theme for this year is "Fortune and Fate". Appropriately, I will be in class tomorrow, sharing stories about bulls and bullfights. 

My friend, Marlene Winberg, is travelling to the Kalahari Desert where she will be facilitating a two-day event with  indigenous people from all over the region. Visit her  website: marlenewinberg.com 

Let the stories begin!