I've always liked visiting outdoor natural sites, especially interesting geological formations. Here are a couple that I went to recently that make for easy half-day excursions if you're ever in the area. The first is the Capulin National Monument, an extinct cinder cone volcano in northeastern New Mexico just off US 64/87. It last erupted around 60,000 years ago, and lies right on the route I always took when driving to Boulder from my parents' home in the Texas Hill Country. I never stopped here while actually going to school at CU, because the drive is 930 miles, and as I was a starving grad student with little money, I always had to make the drive in one day. This time I took two days to make the journey, so I stopped here on the way back for a couple of hours. A ticket runs $5 and is good for a whole week. Here is the view of the volcano from the highway: There are two trails here. One follows the rim around the cone, and takes about 45 minutes. The other goes from just beow the parking area to the crater. It's at most a five minute walk. More scenes: View of crater and crater trail from outer rim Rim trail with a view of another volcano in the distance Highest point on rim trail: 8182 feet Abandoned home in pasture near the Capulin volcano Next up is the Enchanted Rock State Natural Area in the Texas Hill Country. It is located about 17 miles north of Fredericksburg, Texas. It is a giant pink granite dome that rises up out of nowhere. Scientists estimate it is one billion years old (6000 years plus one week for you Young Earthers). Two things about this place: First, this part of Texas is blazing hot much of the year. The best time to visit is spring or winter. If you come in the summer, bring lots of water. There are two trails here, a 0.6 mile summit trail that takes anywhere from 15 minutes to one hour depending on the season, and a four mile loop trail. On my trip there the other day I saw many rabbits, deer and hawks. Second, this is a very popular field trip destination for area schools, as it is convenient to both Austin and San Antonio. Hundreds of howling kids descend on the place in the morning, scramble around the rocks making all kinds of noise, then go down to the picnic areas for lunch, normally leaving by 1pm or so. If you'd like to enjoy Enchanted Rock in a more serene setting, plan to arrive after 1pm. It costs $6.00 for a one-day permit. Here are some Enchanted scenes: View of Enchanted Rock from summit trail head Me at summit: 1825 feet Cactus in bloom at the summit Me between two granite obelisks midway up Enchanted Rock I'm headed for New Orleans on Monday and will return Thursday. I have several close family members there still trying to cope with the devastation. They're ok, but their homes are pretty much totalled. I hope to post a report on how things are going down there after I get back.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/30/2006 10:50:00 AM| |

 
Fair Warning: this will be a long post. If you have no interest in meditation, you might want to skip this one. My Vipassana Encounter I want to describe my recent experience of a 10-day Vipassana (vi-PASH-ana) meditation retreat I did in Onalaska, Washington. It is the course offered by the worldwide Vipassana organization of S.N. Goenka, a charismatic individual who has been teaching the technique for several decades. Goenka-ji is from Burma, but his heritage is Indian and Hindu. He learned the technique from a Burmese layperson, who in turn studied it under a Burmese Buddhist monastic. Goenka-ji has since introduced the technique to thousands all over the world. I first heard about the course while in law school at UCLA, and actually signed up for it at the northern California center, but was unable to attend. This method strives to avoid the appearance of sectarianism (how successfully it does so is open to debate), and in fact many participants are not Buddhists. Goenka-ji claims that the Buddha himself developed this form of meditation, and that it has been handed down unchanged from that time by teacher to disciple. He further states that it is therefore the purest form of Vipassana meditation, of which there are many kinds, and is the only true way to ultimate liberation. Of course, his assertions are impossible to validate. Many other schools of meditation make the same claims. Still, I wanted to give it a fair trial, as it is connected with the Theravadan tradition of Buddhism, which I have always found especially appealing. We checked in at the center on the afternoon of April 5. The course did not officially begin until 8pm that evening so we had a few hours to settle in. Course participants bunked in male and female dorms. They provided us a very tasty meal of soup and salad (all veg, as was every meal throughout the course), and at 8 they went over the course ground rules. First, there would be absolutely no mingling of genders. Males and females each had their own living, eating, and walking areas. Though we would share the same meditation hall for group sittings, we would sit on separate sides of the room. Second, we would all undertake to strictly observe the five lay precepts of Buddhism. Third, we must maintain ‘Noble Silence’ at all times for the entire ten-day period. We could ask our teachers questions pertaining to the meditation technique at specified times, but otherwise we were to refrain from speaking at all times, especially to other participants. We also had to take refuge in the Triple Gem, at least for the ten-day course. This was not an issue for me—I formally took refuge in July 2003, but Goenka-ji explained this requirement in a way that might make it possible for a non-Buddhist to accept and feel there was no conversion going on here. Again, I think this is open to debate. I should specify here that Goenka-ji was not present at our course site. Rather, we learned and practiced the technique through daily video and audio tape lectures of a course Goenka led in the US in 1991. We sat in the meditation hall and his two authorized assistant teachers, one male and one female, guided the course sitting on a raised platform at the front of the room. They would answer any questions during breaks, for an hour during the two-hour lunch break/rest period, and after the final group meditation in the evening. The technique: for the first three days we focused solely on the act of natural respiration. We concentrated on respiration at the small triangular area formed by the nostrils and upper lip. By doing this, we learned how to focus our minds ever more sharply. On the fourth day, we began the actual practice of Vipassana. This consists in carefully and mindfully examining each part of the body from head to toe, objectively observing any and all sensations without reacting to them, at all times keeping in mind anicca, or impermanence. All sensations, no matter whether pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral, arise and eventually pass away. The goal is to maintain an equanimous mind when observing them, therefore training ourselves to form no craving or aversions to bodily or mental sensations. From Day Five we began doing three sittings per day in the morning, afternoon and evening of 'Strong Determination' or Adhitthana. During these sittings lasting one hour each, we were to try with all our might not to move our hands, feet or open our eyes. That was no problem for me, but I had two intense experiences on the first and second days, one mental and one physical: on the first day at the afternoon sitting I had very strange mental formations bordering on hallucinations. These took the form of extraordinarily real-like conversations and visions in which I both observed and participated. I definitely was not asleep as I was aware of my own respiration and the movements and fidgeting of other meditators in the room. At the most frightening point, I became convinced that everyone in the hall was slowly asphyxiating through carbon monoxide poisoning, either accidentally or deliberately. I came really close to shouting for everyone to get out of the building. At the same time on the next day, I experienced unbearable pain in my legs because I chose to sit in the half-lotus. Somehow I made it through without violating adhitthana discipline, but it literally took minutes after the sitting ended before I could move. Another curious effect of these adhitthana sittings is that my eyes would water, but I was not crying. By the end of the course, I came to really appreciate these sittings, as I became quite proficient at focusing my mind on observing subtle, acute sensations occurring throughout my mind and body simultaneously. The theory of Vipassana: this is way beyond the scope of this post, but simply put, the underpinnings of this technique lie in classic Buddhist doctrine. The unsatisfactoriness (dukkha) of life is due to tanha: craving and aversion. This concept is not unique to Buddhism, however—Indian philosophers before and after Siddhartha Gautama all understood this. His breakthrough consisted in the realization that what we feel craving and aversion for are not the actual objects of our cravings and aversions themselves, but the physical and mental sensations we feel in the body and mind as a result. The path to liberation lies in not forming attachments to these sensations so that craving and aversion do not arise, thereby ceasing the production of samkhara (conditioned states/mental formations). To practice Vipassana properly requires a strong foundation of sila (conduct), samadhi (concentration) and pañña (wisdom). This is why Goenka-ji insists on an intensive ten-day course in isolation from the mundane world to properly learn the technique, so that students can establish this base. Analysis: this retreat turned out to be a very challenging experience, much more so than the monastic retreat I did in the summer of 2003. We woke up daily at 4am and did not sleep until around 10pm. We had to practice the technique, either in groups or alone, for upwards of 12 hours each day. Sitting still and concentrating for such long periods turned out to be extremely difficult for me. Oftentimes, it became too intense and I would have to take long walks outside. I consider myself to be a well-adjusted person, and content for the most part, but I guarantee that anyone who conscientiously applies this technique cannot help but confront issues deep in the mind that we all would like to keep submerged. It can be quite painful. Many people find they cannot complete the course. The first 6 days were tough for me, and in retrospect it is fortunate that I did not have a car there or it is possible I would have left on any of those days. It wasn’t until Day 7 that everything began to fall into place for me, but who knows: if the course was 20 days instead of just 10, I still might have wanted to leave. Each night we would watch a dharma talk by Goenka-ji. He is an above average speaker, who can clearly explain the technique and the dharma involved in a motivational way with many amusing anecdotes. I felt the quality of the lectures diminished somewhat in the final three days, however. I also think he tends to oversimplify Buddhist doctrine in an attempt to make it more palatable for Westerners and non-Buddhists in particular. His repeated claims that the course is non-sectarian is somewhat disingenuous, especially as he chants Buddhist suttas in Pali for extended periods during the course, and participants have no idea what he is saying. However, I do agree with him that the practice of Vipassana can be appropriate for a person of any faith. He borders on making exaggerated claims as to its efficacy at times, with anecdotes of how substance abusers, drug and alcohol addicts, etc, are totally transformed after only one ten-day course. I find that hard to believe. He also continually refers to the dharma developed by the Buddha as ‘scientific’. I may address this issue in a future post, but for now I will simply state that this is an inaccurate and potentially dangerous assertion. Living conditions at the course were quite adequate. Our lodgings were clean and comfortable, and they provided us ample time to rest and shower. The food was excellent, but I have to qualify that by stating that I am a person who prefers a vegetarian diet. They provide two meals a day—breakfast and lunch, with a tea and fruit break at 5pm. For the last few days I only ate at lunch, and wish I had started doing so from Day 5. Goenka-ji instructed us early in the course that eating to a feeling of fullness hampers progress in meditation, and I discovered he is absolutely correct. My ideal turned out to be about 40% of what I normally consume. Of course, other than daily walks, my caloric needs were much less than in the outside world. It’s interesting to discover that even this long after the course, though, I could still easily eat just once a day. The quality of the teachers left something to be desired. Although they were proficient in the technique, I came away thinking they were not very knowledgeable about more complex Buddhist philosophical concepts. Their understanding seemed grounded in American Buddhism with taints of the New Age. I have a lot of problems with American Buddhism, but that’s a subject for a different post. On our final day after they released us from Noble Silence, I spoke with some ‘old’ students who were there to take another course (Goenka-ji strongly recommends practitioners participate in at least one ten-day course per year), and I was highly surprised that to a person they did not know anything in-depth about Buddhism, or the suttas. More troubling to me, they seemed completely incurious. Fair enough, Buddha himself said not to rely on any one teacher or texts, but I would think that if they have adopted this form of meditation practice they would be more interested in exploring the rest of the Buddhist canon. There has been speculation as to whether Goenka-ji’s organization is a cult. I have to say that I did not feel that to be the case at any moment. I don’t think Vipassana practitioners pay Goenka-ji undue reverence, only a heightened display of respect towards a teacher that is quite common in the Asian tradition. It is true that the technique requires students to cut themselves off from the outside world for 10 days, but I consider that a rational condition of this course—it requires intensive, concentrated effort to develop the sila, samadhi and pañña necessary to learn the technique properly. I was able to make a phone call when I absolutely had to, and when one woman slipped and broke her nose, she left immediately for medical care. I consider this to be a legitimate organization that is very well run, for the most part, by committed, dedicated practitioners who believe this technique has helped them lead more fulfilling lives. Instruction, room and board are all provided absolutely free of charge. They request that upon completion of the course a student make a donation to cover the cost of a future student, but there is no excessive pressure to do so. In fact, I have yet to send in a donation (though I will in the next few days) and no one from this organization has contacted me about it. If you would like additional opinions, I provide other links of people who have taken the course here, here, and here. Bottom line: the retreat was a fascinating experience and I’m glad I did it because I learned many valuable things about myself. I still haven’t decided whether this technique is suited for me, and I plan to experiment with other forms of meditation in Taiwan. I recommend others take the course, but be forewarned, it is not easy. Go there with a proper open and receptive attitude. Go there prepared to work hard. If you do try it out, please email me, I’d love to hear your own experience. What follows are a few pictures I took before and after the retreat (we were not permitted to use cameras during the course itself): Male walking area looking back towards Center Garden at the front of the Center, home to several rabbits Male dorm structure adjoining the Center Meditation Hall Inside view of Meditation Hall My meditation stationEach student had an assigned spot. Goenka-ji recommends sitting in a cross-legged position, but this is not an absolute. Many people with bad backs, knees, etc. sat in chairs in the back. I used two postures which I would alternate between sittings: half-lotus and this Japanese-style stool. Me on my bunk Male cushion storage areaWestern meditators are odd birds. If you've ever been to a meditation hall used primarily by Asians, you'll notice they just throw a blanket beneath them, or maybe a simple pad at most. You should see some of the structures in Western meditation halls: cushion forts and padded mountains piled several inches off the ground. Some people even bring their own folding chairs, to which they'll add several more cushions. This one guy used what I thought of as the "Captain's Chair To Enlightenment". I wouldn't be surprised if he had a cup holder in there somewhere. Goenka-ji would kid around during his videotaped lectures about the agony students must feel sitting in uncomfortable positions for long periods of time. Believe it or not, these guys laughed knowingly from the depths of their comfy cushions piled on high.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/28/2006 09:00:00 AM| |

 
Just got back from our grad student reunion in Boulder. I still remember my first view of the city when driving in from Denver back in August 1996. I recaptured it on this trip:Those rock formations are called ‘The Flatirons’, and Boulder lies below, just off to their right. The department is going through some troubled times these days, the seeds of which had already sprouted even back then. I don’t regret going there, however. Besides Boulder being such a great place to live, the department actually had a rather decent Chinese department at the time, and Howard Goldblatt, probably the most pre-eminent translator of modern Chinese fiction into English, was there. He was the reason I wanted to attend CU-Boulder. I made several remarkable friends there among my classmates. Oddly, most of them were on the Japanese side. We began making plans for this reunion last year while I was still in Madras, and decided the reunion would kick off with lunch at one of Boulder’s most legendary institutions:Kim To Go 1325 Broadway Avenue, 303-442-2829It lies directly across from campus. A tiny hut, it serves up delicious Vietnamese and Vietnamese-influenced Chinese food. Very nice sized portions, and most importantly from a student perspective, it is CHEAP. I used to eat here several times a week. The place has been here forever, opened up by a sweet elderly Vietnamese couple. They ran this place 7 days a week for years. Really hard workers and they must have made quite a bit of money. I saw them last when I visited Boulder in the summer of 2001. Unfortunately, they’ve now retired and sold the place to some other Vietnamese. The food is still just as good, though. At first, I tried several items from their menu, but quickly settled on one: #8: Tofu with Stir-Fried VegetablesAfter I discovered this, I never ordered anything else. #8 is all you ever need to remember. It is amazing, and it kept me alive for two and a half years. It is very tasty, filling, and only costs $4. They provide the red Vietnamese hot sauce in little plastic containers. I normally add two, like you see here, but one is enough for most people. Here we are enjoying lunch on campus: Clockwise from bottom: Cornhole, Korpse, Cheez Whiz, Hazzard and Happy Meal One of the best things about living in Boulder was the great micropubs. Naturally, a large part of this reunion centered around beer-drinking activities. The most famous micropub in Boulder, and the best in my opinion, is the Mountain Sun. It is located at 1535 Pearl Street, and is extremely popular. It is quite small, and you always have to wait for a table here, sometimes as long as an hour. They’ve opened a new location in South Boulder, called appropriately enough, the Southern Sun, and since that was within walking distance from Korpse’s house, we headed there. I’ve been in an amber mood recently, so I ordered their Annapurna Amber:I was not disappointed. You can see it has a beautiful color. It has a rich, textured flavor, with not a hint of bitterness. We also tried their other amber, Colorado Kind Ale, which doesn’t make the grade. It is drinkable on its own, but it has a slight sour and bitter aftertaste, and is not in Annapurna’s league. A distant second. The Southern Sun is much larger than Mountain Sun, but the ambiance doesn’t compare. It is set in a strip mall, and though the inside of the place is nice enough, it still felt like a strip mall. Go to the original location, as it is right off the Pearl Street Mall (a pedestrian mall) and has far more character. No description of Mountain Sun is complete without mention of its finest offering: Isadore Java PorterI was happy to discover that I still have a strong affinity for this brew. It has heavy coffee tones (java), and as I’m not a coffee drinker at all, my fondness for this beer initially came as something of a surprise. But it borders on greatness, and comes with my strongest recommendation. They do make a stout, but it is forgettable, especially when compared with this incredible porter. As shall be seen, we were really fortunate with the weather. Boulder is one of the most beautiful cities in the US, and the Flatirons dominate the landscape as they are visible from everywhere in town. Here is the view from right off Korpse’s driveway:He and Happy Meal are the only ones of us that remained in Boulder, but I think we all would’ve like to stay there. Korpse has strong opinions when it comes to beer. He thinks that microbrews are an over-hyped fad for the most part. We argue about this all the time, but I agree with him to a large extent. There are far too many small-label brewers making truly noxious, overpriced beers, and they give microbrews a bad name. There is an awful lot of crap that you have to sort through to find the gold. It’s like punk (rock) in this way. But when you do, there is simply no going back. I compare it to broadband vs. dial-up Internet. The bottom line is that I am willing to pay more for good beer, and I’ll gladly go without if my only choices are Bud, Miller, Coors, Pabst, Michelob, etc. Samuel Adams will do in a pinch, and it’s the only decent representative of the national brewers. Anyway, here’s a shot of Korpse in typical form holding court on a REALLY awful IPA on offer at Old Chicago in the Pearl Street Mall. Well, it was on special at only $2.50 a pint: Korpse pontificating on the sad state of American micros, ©2006 Hazzard Tarhole Another Boulder landmark is the Village Coffee Shop. It is on 1605 Folsom St, and is a short walk away from Newton Court Family Housing, where Spicygirl and I lived. We’d go here almost every Sunday for breakfast. It doesn’t get much better than this: Veg Omelette, Hash Browns and Toast: $6.75 Our reunion weekend happened to coincide with the birthday of Cornhole, and we had big plans for him. Unfortunately, the previous evening at Southern Sun proved a bit too much for him, and he was zombie all day Saturday, his birthday. Even the Rockies game, where we witnessed the first home run of Barry ‘Bail’ Bonds in the 2006 season, wasn’t enough to snap him out of his lethargy. He was unable to finish the one drink he attempted all day ( a screwdriver) and for that he has earned the following honor:Congratulations, Cornhole Recipient of the 2006 Keith Kofford No-Show Award All in all, a great weekend in what is probably my favorite place in the US. A toss-up between here and Eugene. Boulder does have flighty weather, though. It was sunny and in the 70s (mid 20s Celsius) all weekend, but on the morning I left? Take a look at this:Snow, people. It wasn’t sticking, but what a sight! My only regret this weekend: I had wanted to meet up with reader Shoshauna and family, but I wasn't able to give them far enough advance notice. This was entirely my fault, as our reunion activities ate up a lot of time. I feel really bad about this, as I get a kick out of meeting people who actually read this thing, so I'm issuing her a Realm Raincheck, good for anywhere I happen to be if they make it there. And I know for sure I'll be back in Boulder. Hopefully it won't be another 5 year wait, though...
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/27/2006 12:05:00 AM| |

 
Inaugural Readers Poll Moustachioed PR: Yea or Nay?I stopped shaving the last few days of my recent Vipassana retreat so I could sleep in a few extra minutes until the 0430 meditation sitting started. This is the current result. I haven't been able to make up my mind about it, so I'm throwing the question open to my esteemed readers. You decide. Spicygirl has already made her vote quite clear, and I figure her vote is worth about 15 of yours, so the tally is already 15 in the 'nay' column. Please participate by leaving your vote in the comments, especially those of you who've never left a comment before. No electoral colleges here, friends, popular vote decides all. What you see there is me trying to bring a little bit of the Great Northwest to the Texas Hill Country. That brew I'm drinking is a Bridgeport IPA. I figured it would go well with yesterday's 40 degree (100 F) temperatures. Bridgeport has never been a favorite of mine, but it's about the best you're going to find in these parts. They print a phrase on the bottle: "Authentic Bottle Conditioned Ale", which is a strike against them from the outset. What a totally Budweiser thing to do. Breaking Story from the Realm Newsroom Long-time readers may remember one of our summer interns last year, Matt. He finishes up his MBA at UT-Austin next month and so I drove there to visit him today. In 2005 he passed both portions of the Foreign Service exams and today he received an email offering him a spot in the June 2006 A-100 class, which he promptly accepted. When someone of this caliber makes it in that easily, it reassures me that the exam system works at least some of the time. He is exactly the kind of person we need joining the Foreign Service, and the Department is lucky to get him. Here he is driving off to what assuredly is a great career and future: PR and Jeef While in Eugene I stayed at the home of my best friend Jeff. We are classic Army buddies. I've known this guy since 1984, when we were stationed at Ft. Sill together. They later sent him to Holland and I stayed in Oklahoma. We got out at roughly the same time in early 1988, so he flew from Europe to my parents' house and we drove out to Oregon together to begin our civilian life. That was a road trip for the ages. I hadn't seen him since he got married in 2002, and we had a great visit like we always do. Here we are at a Eugene landmark, the East 19th Street Cafe, on my last night in town. The beer? Why Hammerhead, of course. I had meant to share the following picture on my first post after I got back to the US. This was the morning sun breaking over the Alps on my flight out of Chennai. I was still awake, believe it or not, and here is where it 'dawned' on me that my Chennai experience was truly at an end. I'm headed for Boulder early tomorrow morning to attend a graduate student reunion of our department, East Asian Languages and Literatures. I'll be making notes of the current beer scene there. Along with Oregon, Colorado is one of America's few beer havens, tarnished only by the fact that Coors is headquartered there. While Colorado is not in Oregon's league when it comes to the overall quality of its beers, you can find some gems there if you look. In particular, I'll introduce those of the Mountain Sun, my favorite Boulder micropub. When I lived in Boulder, I used to rave about their Java Porter, but given the way my tastes have changed, who knows what my new favorite might be? I like to call Boulder 'Bouldahr', because I'm convinced many people there are living on an entirely different planet. But for the most part, it's a nice planet, and I think even Spicygirl will concur it is our favorite place we've lived so far since we married, eight years on May 9! OK, so I didn't get around to the report about my meditation retreat. I owe you guys one and I'll get to that after I return here sometime early next week.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/20/2006 09:30:00 AM| |

 
A Dedication To a good friend and truly fine human being: Some Guy From Tulsa™, this Hammer's for you!For those of you unfortunates not in the know, pictured above is a luscious pint of Hammerhead ale, brewed by McMenamins. Funny how one's tastes change over time. I went into the pub fully expecting to rediscover my long-lost love, Rubynator, which is a mix of this brewery's Terminator Stout and Ruby ale: I did have it, and must say enjoyed it, but it failed to captivate me as in the past. I then ordered the Hammerhead, initially to fulfill my promise to still-slogging-it-out-in-Chennai Some Guy From Tulsa™; after all, the poor guy plans to throw himself on top of a Haywards 5000 grenade for me: a true sacrifice because he hates the stuff. I remembered Hammerhead from when I used to live in Eugene. Honestly, it had never stood out. But this time, I was sorely impressed, and ordered another. I can now appreciate what all the fuss is about, and it became my brew of choice for the remainder of my time in Eugene. Along with Full Sail Amber, it shares the title and glory of "My Current Favorite Beer On Earth".
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/18/2006 04:30:00 PM| |

 
PR:< Dr. Nick Riveria voice> Hi Everybody! < /Dr. Nick Riveria voice> Happy Easter to all. I returned to Eugene early Sunday afternoon after attending a 10-day vipassana meditation course in Washington state. This may have been the most personally intense experience I have gone through since boot camp/basic training when I joined the US Army. I'm still trying to sort it all out. I'll post my impressions after I get a better handle on it. As for now, I leave Eugene this afternoon and will return to my parents' home in Texas. Another long day of travel lies ahead, so please check for updates in the coming days...lots of stuff to share!
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/17/2006 04:25:00 PM| |

 
This is my last full day in Eugene until the weekend of April 15. Tomorrow I'm headed up to Washington for a 10-day retreat. Right now I'm on the campus of my alma mater, the University of Oregon. I'd hoped to see some of my old professors, but they are either off campus today or on leave. I suppose I could've contacted them earlier, but I didn't want them to make a fuss, plus it's less awkward for me to simply drop in every few years when I come to town. They just started up the spring trimester classes, so I slipped into a third-year Chinese class incognito. I asked the teacher for permission, and she agreed to let me sit in on the class. This professor joined the university several years after I had already graduated. It's hard to gauge a class after just one session, but it's nice to see they are using more proficiency based materials now---a mainland produced Chinese language learning video series hosted by some British guy named Daniel, that airs on CCTV 4. His Chinese is really quite good; I think it is more natural sounding than everyone's favorite 老外 Mandarin parlor monkey Da Shan. The class didn't seem to be all that energetic, and the students were not very communicative, but maybe that is because the term just began. I doubt my third-year class here was much better, though I do have to toot my own horn a bit in that I was far more motivated than my classmates. Another thing that hasn't changed: a majority of Chinese-Americans, well over half the class of around 15 students. This used to upset those of us with no Chinese heritage because these guys grew up speaking the language at home with their families, so they were usually far more fluent, yet they received grades on the same criteria as us. The term for these kinds of students is 'false beginners'. The professors used to talk about forming separate classes for them, but I guess they haven't done so yet. It's always kind of bittersweet coming back to campus. I spent a very happy 4 years here, but of course time inexorably marches on and everyone I used to know has long since moved away. In a couple of hours I'll head down to my favorite brewpub in town, the High Street Cafe. If you're ever in Eugene, I strongly recommend their 'Rubynator', which is a black and tan composed of Terminator Stout and Ruby ale. Both of these beers are brewed on the premises. Like I mentioned in the last post, Oregon was always the place for America's best beer, but now more so than ever. Even your common roadhouse and corner joint now offers scores of the region's finest specialty beers on draught, like Full Sail Amber. It doesn't get any better than this, but the rest of you just go ahead and keep quaffing your Bud Light. All the more good stuff for me!
- posted by Prince Roy @ 4/05/2006 05:30:00 AM| |