Monday, October 22, 2007
Of all jobs to have gotten in Bilbao...
Ok. So I teach Finnish now.
[pause]
[this is where you burst out laughing]
So yes, I have a linguistics degree and in theory can teach any language I know well enough.
But, seriously, who the hell wants to learn Finnish in Spain??! A Spanish first year history student who thinks Finnish is a very nice language...
[stunned silence]
Yes, be amazed, be very amazed. And to make matters even more interesting, this guy is like a genius at languages - I mean, he positively absorbs everything I teach in like two seconds flat! I prepared about three hours worth of lesson (for 1.5 hours) just to be sure I had enough material (last time he was done with 1.5 hours worth of stuff in about 40 minutes), and he went through almost all of it!
Whoohoo! It's good fun to be a teacher of such a rare language though!
fon @ 10:24 PM link to post * *
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Funky boots save the day!
You know something is wrong when random strangers are telling you that you shouldn't be walking home alone at night, as they graciously send you home in their (very flash) car, as you apologise for being exceedingly out of it. Aargh! What was I thinking?? I suddenly decided at around 4:30 that I want to go home and that I wasn't waiting for anyone to walk the same direction as me, and that it was too late, etc. etc. But of course I started walking the wrong way, and must have looked very lost because this guy just pulls over and asks me what I'm looking for.
Aaargh! I can't believe I accepted a ride from a total stranger! I've never done such a thing in my life. But he was totally nice - he didn't even ask my name (only where I bought my boots from - cos he owns a chain in Bilbao and Barcelona and thought my boots were super funky!).
Thank-god I survived that! *Slaps own hand disapprovingly a few times*
fon @ 7:20 PM link to post * *
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Torture, privacy, civil liberty - a small investigative rant
The "funniest" thing I've seen today:
NY Times quote of the day:
"Torture is unlawful under the laws of this country. It is not what this country is all about. It is not what this country stands for. It’s antithetical to everything this country stands for."
MICHAEL B. MUKASEY, President Bush’s nominee for attorney general.
Well... not exactly funny. But it does raise some interesting questions. Like, for example, what about Guantanamo? So torture is unlawful in the USA, but US citizens are at liberty to detain and torture non-US citizens as long as it is not on official US territory? Or, could Mr Mukasey actually be taking a stance on the issue, condemning the practices at Guantanamo Bay? It seems highly unlikely.
As candidate for Attorney General of USA, does Mr Mukasey believe that the detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be tried and have their verdicts "pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized people" as per Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (which USA has signed). If so, should detainees not be allowed private (re: non-military) lawyers and to see what evidence there is against them?
And of course, Does Mr Mukasey believe that the detainees should and "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely"? (Also Article 3 of Geneva Conventions)
After a brief google search on Michael Mukasey and Guantanamo, I was unable to link the two. Thus, he appears to have no public opinion on the matter. He does, however, have a public opinion on the USA Patriot Act ("Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Interrupt and Obstruct Terrorism"), which he fully supports, and which, many argue, allows (albeit not explicitly) for the covert spying-on of citizens.
In his opinion piece, he states:
"The statute also codifies the procedure for issuing and executing what are called "sneak and peek" warrants that allow agents, with court authorization, to enter premises, examine what is there and then leave. These warrants had been issued by courts ... on the fairly simple logic that if it is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment to enter premises and seize things, it should also be reasonable to enter premises and not seize things."
This is not fairly simple logic at all. It does not follow that if it is acceptable to enter and seize things from private property on the basis of strong suspicion of criminal activities that it is acceptable to enter and not seize things.
The problem is that whilst it may endanger an investigation to allow a potential criminal to know that s/he is being investigated, it also creates an atmosphere whereby any citizen may be watched without their knowledge of it. To broaden the argument, I hereby reproduce an article from The Economist, September 20, 2007
What the article is trying to say, and where I have strayed to, is that nobody should have the right to secret surveillance over individuals. As Mr Mukasey states in his opinion piece "If you leave behind a note saying "Good afternoon, Mr. bin Laden, we were here," that might betray the existence of an investigation and cause the subjects to flee or destroy evidence." However, I'm in agreement with The Economist on this one: "Dozens of plots may have been foiled and thousands of lives saved as a result of some of the unsavoury practices now being employed in the name of fighting terrorism. Dropping such practices in order to preserve freedom may cost many lives. So be it."
The question is really whether you prefer to live a safe and highly restricted and regulated life, or be free to negotiate your own relations with your neighbours but have some risks?
I don't know about you, but I'm certainly not in favour of totalitarian, authoritarian rule.
fon @ 8:45 PM link to post * *
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Still no pictures. Lots of cooking. Moments of solidarity.
I'm still incredibly averse to the idea of taking pictures, for some odd reason. Other than of food. I took a total of two pictures on Sunday. Love-bit-me-Anjalai: You'll approve, methinks :)
This is Sunday dinner: Coconut eggplant dahl, rice, and stuffed green peppers
And the best Sunday chill drink ever! Blended home-made piña coladas with real coconut milk - and not the cream that they like to substitute it with at some bars!
*** *** ***
Solidarity? At the moment, there are 4 of us left homeless currently at the NOHA programme. So Fanny, Nacho, Luca and I set off on a house-hunting expedition yesterday afternoon, and over an incredibly long walk-about, crossing over rivers and climbing vast hills (albeit, one of the hills had an ascending conveyer-belt type thing cutting through an old 'barrio' of town - like those escalators they use at supermarkets for shopping trolleys). Still, we came to the conclusion that we are all in this together, .... like we're in some sort of perverse battle against xenophobic landlords...
*** *** ***
Well, my boxes have arrived in Spain, so I'm done with waiting.... the market, and then some more cooking adventures, await me! I'm glad I've got some food-friendly guinea pigs to test things out on as I adjust to Spanish materials!
fon @ 4:04 PM link to post * *