Haven't blogged in some time due to summer teaching, the garden, Lebanon preparations, and miscellaneous summer activities. I'm in my final week of the summer term and while I love to teach, I can't wait to finish up for the year. Summer I starts almost immediately as winter term is ending, which means no rest for the wicked. I collect final portfolios from all my students on Thursday, then a weekend of reading/grading, and, at last, fin. No more UM-Dearborn students until Fall, 2011.
Parsley's off to a sluggish start, but otherwise herbs are plentiful. I made pesto with my basil, a couple cloves of garlic, a handful of almonds, olive oil, and parmesan. Delicious on chops and boca burgers. Haven't gotten around to picking any mint yet. Wow, did I overdo it on the mint plants! But the mint combines nicely with lemon balm which grows along the side of the house, so I foresee some fruity salads this weekend.
Following leads on housing in Beirut. Expensive, but interesting. For instance, one place that sounds nice comes with the free use of a skooter. Okay, I guess, but maybe not so much with the rental costs higher than our mortgage. A few friends and friends-of-friends are inquiring for us, too, so we'll see what develops. In the meantime, I'm anxious to check out some of the ruins and Maronite sites in Lebanon, which look amazing.
Had a nice weekend in Burlington, Ontario, for the birthday part of Nicole's 95-year-old aunt. Nice get-together, and a fun city as well. Happened to visit during a street fair, so being out and about in the evening was jolly. They have good gelato there, so luckily the hotel had a great pool and gym on site. Been working out almost every day and managed to keep with it while in Canada.
3 comments:
Can you write something on this blog about your choice of Lebanon for your Fulbright? I'd be interested in knowing more about that.
Hi, Jonathan. I was interested in Lebanon for a number of reasons. One of the big reasons: I teach at a University in Michigan that has a significant population of Arab-Americans (especially Lebanese-Americans), and I think it would be useful to learn the context out of which these students and their families came. Also would like to link my University with my "host institution" in Beirut, and possibly plant the seed for various kinds of exchange programs, linked courses, etc. Also found a particularly appealing University in Beirut that had a relatively young writing program that's in part informed by "american rhet/comp" but also looks a lot like other English units in the region (lots of linguists, for instance)--sounds like a neat program to be part of, study, contribute to, etc.
Also: I really love the whole Meditteranean (my family's Italian)...the food, the emphasis on extended family, etc.
Interesting! I'm looking forward to reading your writing about the whole experience.
We have a lot of linguists in English depts here in Taiwan, too.
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