Halfway through the Masters

This morning when I got back from my walk, the dogs were under attack by an angry swarm of bees which had made their nest under the eaves of the garden shed. So just when I thought I had a quiet morning after the builders left, I was phoning around for a "bee-man". It's no simple problem. As I write this they are being smoked out and then the roof has to be sealed, including every single corrugation it has, so that the bees don't come back to the nest. 

The academic year ended three weeks ago and apart from builders I have also had to deal with the city council and pest control because apparently it's rat season in Cape Town. And then a small matter of root canal surgery. Seems this was all on hold while I was indulging in the student life. 

I can hardly believe that the first year of the MA programme has come and gone. Half the time I was ecstatic about the opportunity and couldn't believe my luck. I probably irritated a few people by being on an almost-constant high about all that I was learning and didn't need a second invitation to talk about the course. The rest of the time I felt slightly inadequate about my illusions of being writer. There was more than one occasion when I huddled with my fellow-students outside the Arts Block after a seminar where a hallowed-published author had just given us a talk on how difficult it was to be a writer. 

The course work is done and now the real work begins - writing a 65-70 000 word thesis - putting all that I have learned into practice. I have no intention of spending 3-5 years on this masters programme but am a little worried about being able to dish up a book in a year. On the other hand, I am a late bloomer and want to get the MA behind by my back. There are many more projects to get on with.

As I was recently reminded, everyone feels inadequate at one time or another, you have to use it to your advantage, to spur you on. So, I intend to stay focused and see this through as best I can. At the end of the day I believe that you write because you can't help yourself. You create a work of art and if other people love it, that's great. If I worried about whether or not everybody else was going to like it, I'd never do it. In any case, my supervisor says that I should be writing to one reader - him. 

In the words of one of my teachers, "Onwards and upwards!"

Let's go out with a bang!

Machu Picchu courtesy of TripAdvisor

I was a bit taken aback recently when someone commented that going back to university at my age was perhaps best left to the young ones, and that I shouldn't be cramping my daughter’s style. While my brain may be teetering close to overload, I am not quite ready to be put out to pasture. I cannot remember when last I have been so stimulated by what I am learning.

Last night I met someone, “my age”, who has climbed Kilimanjaro and hiked to Everest base camp. Next on her list is the Inca Trail and Machu Picchu in Peru. My friend, Kam, has also done the Everest base camp as well the Inca Trail.

I dragged myself away from my books to have a quick look on the internet which revealed that in November 2012, life expectancy in SA was said to have increased to 60 years from 54 in 2009, according to The Lancet health journal. In 2009 the South African Institute of Race Relations said that South Africans would not live longer than 50 years, and World Bank indicators in 2010 put the life expectancy for women in SA at 52.2 years. So it does seem that I may well be in my twilight years…

However, I am not getting depressed by this. Far from it. I am surrounded by inspiring women who are not letting age stand in the way of their goals. My friend, Mary, has just published a cookbook which she did the layout for and took the photographs; Alison, who, recently became a grandmother, has just returned from a trip to the Antarctic, has walked the Santiago and learned to speak fluent Spanish. There are numerous others who have changed track completely and re-invented themselves.

There are many mountains left to climb - let's go out with a bang!

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...