Time to catch up!

Photos from the first snow fall a couple of weeks ago. It was absolutely beautiful, light and fluffy.

Beautiful Days

17 degrees celcius and not a cloud in the sky....and it's February! It's always hard to stay motivated when the weather is nice after snow a couple of weeks ago. However, loads of reading awaits me for next week. Currently working my way through Zionist leaders, I will be moving on to religious authorities: shifting styles and politics. I can't believe there are only 4 weeks left in the term. Seems like I just started! Not to mention 2 looming essays and my dissertation title/topic due shortly.

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Also quite interesting, international politics make their way to Muscatine, Iowa, 45 mintues from where I grew up. Xi Jingping from China made an official visit and this piece by Al Jazeera highlights the small town attitudes, commenting on the quiet interest shown by the locals while demonstrators were kept apart by polite requests from the police. Sounds pretty accurate, but quite a world away from my life in DC or here in London.

http://blogs.aljazeera.com/americas/2012/02/16/chinas-xi-jingping-goes-iowa

Back up and running

It's amazing how dependent I am on technology. I was without my computer for almost a week and at first I had no idea how I'd manage. Living without access is one thing, but being a student and living in a dorm room is another....so, I made plans to keep myself busy and the week flew by! I finished all of my reading in the first 3 days, spent an afternoon in Camden, and went to the gym and multiple yoga classes. I can survive. :)

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But I'm glad to be connected again! Especially since I only have 5 weeks of teaching left. It's amazing how fast this time is already flying by. I also need to start reading for 2 essays coming up and researching for my dissertation. I had an excellent meeting today with my supervisor. You know when you get positive feedback to your ideas; how elating that is? Well, I had a basic idea of what I'm interested in focusing on and even just with one meeting, I have more of a direction and am more interested than ever. So, this will be a major evolution of topic but my very broad and with limited research topic concerns the Ultra-Orthodox conservative Jews in Israel who are being very vocal about their issues with women in public spaces and how they should act and dress. Heavily focused on theory, there might also be a chance for some fieldwork which always adds a unique component to a dissertation. Updates will certainly follow.

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So, this week will be quite busy: class topics include country-specific nationalism in the Middle East and Borderland areas. There are also 'extra' lectures that should be interesting...yes, I do attend more lectures than are required. It's so amazing to have access to the academics and professionals who are in London and doing work on the region. Not to mention finding time to go running and hit a couple of yoga classes! The weather has even been quite pleasant and sunny. Or maybe it just feels that way since it was freezing for awhile.

The Worst Thing EVER

So, when was the last time you were without a computer at home, in a dorm room isolated from the world?? AHHHHH. Ok, just had to get it out. I made the wonderful decision to knock over a glass of water and proceed to f*** up my computer (pardon my language). So, what am I to do? Well, the first thing is I ran over to the nearest computer repair shop (Fixit Nerds) and drop it off. A call should be coming this afternoon to tell me what the damage is and how much it will be to fix it. This is one of those things where you just say I don't care how much, just fix it and as soon as possible, please please please?

So, how have I been entertaining myself without my computer, unlimited access to the Internet and watching the next season of the Tudors? Well, I've actually been working my way through my mound of reading that I have for next week. This is technically reading week and I have quite a bit to do, so I guess it has been a semi good thing that I'm without my computer...I mean at least I wasn't writing an essay yet (although I did want to start researching for 2 that I have coming up). I've also been going to the gym, yoga and pilates classes and seeing films (Carnage was great and The Muppets is on tap for this afternoon). Oh yea, and more reading! Perhaps I'll even get ahead.

This should be a fairly busy week. I'm heading to St. Albans tomorrow to explore with some friends and then the musical Crazy for You tomorrow evening, visiting the gym and yoga/pilates classes quite a bit, and even making my way to the library (which is where I am now since I don't have my computer).

I will have more posts coming soon! We had our first (and second) snows which was quite beautiful and I had a sports filled day which was a blast watching the Ireland-Wales rugby game followed by the Super Bowl. Quite an experience on this side of the pond.