Picture of my sister's dissertation

Jönköping, June 20th 2007

After the Defence, the head of her supervising committee held a speech

Having passed, my sister is awarded her very own Swedish PhD hat - which I didn't even know existed!!

There was even a dissertation cake! The things I learned about Swedish formality...

Over at the feast location, the flowers were being places on the tables

And my sister and I traded states of mind - she started to relax and me started to worry, as my part of the evening (as toastmaster) was just about to start.

The evening went great however, and the ambiance was wonderful!

So glad we could all be together!

Both my parents held speeches, which were very much appreciated!

My sister then got to open presents, which she seemed to appreciate, even though she's never really enjoyed being the center of attention.

Much unlike her younger sister, who voluntarily had put together a play where she went out of her way to play the role of a young ambitious overly optimistic research apprentice who soon found out that the road to perfection was not as easy as she had first imagined...

And last but not least, the food was great!
Hope you enjoyed, for we most certainly did!

Ishtar

"Finalement!"

Wow, I cannot believe that I am finally done! Although I am not sure I will get that higher grade that I was hoping for due to persistent lack of time, I did my best according to the circumstances and handed in my essay ten minutes before deadline. That is, just now.


I am so thrilled. I don't care what the final grade will be; it's just a question of having completed a long overdue task. Mmm, the art of procrastination in all its glory but perhaps I am beginning to see the joy in putting things behind me as well. At least I am quite certain that I will sleep well tonight!

Ishtar

Not finished

I just finished the opposition, where four students from around Sweden and one teacher met on the web and commented on each others' essays. The whole ordeal took about two hours, but the process was much smoother than when I tried to go live from Africa, as I encountered no technical problems. Thumbs up to technology! Sometimes you really need it...

The opposition itself was fun, but challenging. I was told that my essay was logical, very well written and easy to follow, but- (there always is a but, isn't there!) It was on the whole considered to be a descriptive essay.

Ishtar: [Big sigh]

Just as I thought I was approaching the end, I am now back at the drawing board, where I will have to take a deep look at my arguments, dessicate the text with all the ruthlessness I can come up with, and somehow get the "for and against" parties to start shouting at one another, leaving me to moderate the discussion.


I realize now, in hindsight, that I didn't make things easy for myself as I did not pick any of the six or so titles suggested by the institution. The thing was though; I just didn't feel inspired about them, and without inspiration, I know from experience that I get very little done... Especially when all else in life is hanging on a loose thread.

As for current motivation, I have concluded though that at this time, I am motivated to turn the essay structure discursive out of two reasons:

a) I want closure (no way that I will not be finishing the module this time!)
b) I have already invested far too much time and energy into the work to settle for an essay version that will only give a reduced grade.

That said, I'd better be off and start hacking away! The good news is that I've had enough time away from my essay to be able to look at it with renewed energy. But boy will I be celebrating once this ordeal is over!

By the way, now is probably not the best time to ask me when I will resume my studies after the completion of this course. It won't be this autumn at least!

Ishtar

The Art of Procrastination

Although the essay was in the end entitled "Anticipating the Future of English as a Global Language", I would have - if given the opportunity (and note: we were not) - written something much more exiting (and to which I would be a much more qualified author!), most likely entitled something in line with: "How to Procrastinate a Sociolinguistic Essay".


An art which is superbly demonstrated in picture above, where I, while drinking delicious coffee, am thinking of everything and anything but the sociolinguistic arguments that will bring me closer to the fulfillment of another task. OK, so the picture was taken in Niger showing a slightly slimmer me, but the point still stands. Procrastination is a very enjoyable phenomenon. Much more exiting than the 'phenomenon of a global language' which I have been struggling to explain for the past few days (hence the reason for lack of blog updates!).

I did manage in the end. It took some blood, sweat and tears and not nearly as much procrastination as I could have applied, had my little horses for example been within reach.

Speaking of which, I have now added a little countdown at the bottom of this blog, letting us all know when I can stop dreaming about heading south and actually get to do it. Only 90 days left. Time is ticking!


Cheers to all of you; now I'm off to get some well-deserved sleep!

Ishtar

Teaching

Photo by Anette Bengtsson

Yesterday, I finally took my Language Survey English B distance course exam, that I have been postponing for nearly a year. I should have passed this course in January 2006, but I missed it because I fell of my horse and had a major concussion. Since then, I have embarked on the same course three times, and was about to drop off again when my mother's cancer was rediscovered a few days ago. I knew something had to go, but my father advised me not to drop the course. "You need to finish it," he said. "If you don't do it now, you never will."

It wasn't until the day before the exam, when I actually got the time to sit down and study, that I realized how glad I was to be finishing it off. I'm too tired after my concussion to have a million balls rolling at the same time. Now all that remains before the course B is closed in my book is to finish a 2500-word long essay about the Impacts of a Global Language. We only had six topics to choose from and last year I made the mistake of picking the one about Language Death, which proved to be too deep a subject for my battered brain to focus on. I think Globalism suits me much better! The essay deadline is on Sunday (and I have only just started) but after that, there are just a few finishing touches left and I'm done!

My grandmother asked me a few weeks ago, "So are you graduating this summer?" Ah, no, far from it, but at least I will have put an end to two years of language studies that I have done by distance while working as a volunteer in Niger. Though I am slightly tempted to get started with one of the C courses, I will not embark on any language journey this year, because I'll be moving out of the country and settling in Niger, which is a big step considering the fact that I have been such a free bird these past few years (splitting my year in two and spending half a year on each continent). I may want to pick up the teaching thread later on in my life, but the thing is that I don't need a full education to teach in Niger. Everything you say and do is an inspiration to others, and just taking time with the children gives the adults something to think about.

Teaching them to ride has been one of my greatest experiences in Niger, because horseback riding is something for the rich only and most kids never get to sit on own at all, much less learn to ride.

Life in Niger is full of developing opportunities and you don't need to be an educated teacher to expend the children's world view and teach them something valuable about life. That's a responsibility we all share, actually.


Greetings, Ishtar