Graduate classes

Little-known fact about my job: as part of my contract, I am allowed two free graduate- (or undergraduate-, should I so desire) level classes per semester. In other words, I am allowed to take, either for credit or as an audit, two classes anywhere on campus, provided that said classes don’t conflict too heinously with my work schedule (to wit: no classes that meet across campus 5 times a week for two hours each day— obviously, this diminishes my selection pool by two or three classes at the most).

Having slagged out a 130-page thesis and graduated from Amherst College only too recently, I decided that I should probably go easy on the coarse load this semester. Nothing wrong with pursuing an intellectually rigorous education — and the price is certainly right — but I’ve had quite enough stress for one year. I would like to keep my healthy tooth enamel and my thick, well-colored head of hair,  thank you very much.

That said, the two “easy” courses I selected for my fall semester are this:

…and this:

I am super excited about learning the violin. I know, I’m turning into a jack-of-all stringed instruments and master of none, but I’ve always secretly wanted to learn how to work my way around a violin/fiddle. It’s just such a pretty instrument, and even more portable than a guitar. Plus, with three instruments under my belt, I will totally be able to write my own ticket into any upstart indie band in the country, should I have a desire to play in such a group when I return to the good ol’ US of A.

But I’m getting ahead of myself: I had my very first lesson today, and my instructor was very supportive. She told me that I have excellent hands (read: long and thin-fingered) for the violin, and that my posture and technique is already pretty close to perfect—both probably carry-overs from my guitar muscle memory. I do need to work a little on properly holding and using the bow (no surprises there), but irrespective of that we seem to be moving through the material very quickly. She told me at the beginning of the lesson that my homework would simply be working on my bow technique, but by the end she had me reading and playing some very basic sheet music! She tells me that I am one of her more motivated students, a very quick learner, and a natural. I don’t know if she’s telling the complete truth or flattering me so that I’ll be more inclined to practice, but I can’t complain either way.

As for Arabic… well, I’m forgotten a lot of my vocabulary, which is a problem.  Add to that that we’re learning out of a completely different book than the one I used at Amherst — meaning that I’ve got more vocabulary and grammar skills than my peers in some cases, and less in others. And as this is a foreign language class, the university does not frown upon the teacher for instructing in Turkish; the book we learn out of, meanwhile, is written for English students. This means that the class is taught half in Turkish and half in English (and partially in Arabic), and it can all get rather confusing. Thankfully, the professor is very nice, and when he finds himself forced to teach a concept in Turkish he usually pauses afterward to give me a quick synopsis in English. It’s been a difficult experience so far, but I have been able to follow along without too much trouble. With some rigorous study I should be able to catch up with the vocabulary and grammar, and at that point it will be much easier for me to keep up with the class.

Oh, and before I forget: Happy Yom Kippur to all my Jewish friends!

I am not observant, so I didn’t attend services or anything (not that there seem to be any synagogues to go to around here), but two other members of the tribe (Jamie and Kim) invited me and all the other instructors to celebrate the break-fast with a potluck. So, I threw together my go-to “specialty” entree, Nikita’s Russo-Glaswegian Apricot Chicken w/ rice, and exchanged it for access to a buffet of scrumptious Kosher delights. I was happy to see that my contribution was one of the first things devoured — though I received some spoken compliments, that was by far the best vindication of my culinary skills. If political science, comparative literature, foreign languages/diplomatic work, journalism, or musicianship doesn’t work out for me, maybe I’ll still have a future in cooking…