Today was great, but really really tiring because Hannah and I went to a show last night that ended up going a lot longer than we expected. I didn't get home until about 2 am, and then I had to be at work early for 8:30 because we were running trials of the tours I have been working with a group of Key Stage 3 stundents (about grade 8).
It was a good day, I was a bit frustrated in the morning but things worked out well in the afternoon. I felt like my part of the tour went over quite well, but I'm not sure if it was because the tour was interesting or that the kids just really liked listening to my accent. As soon as I started my portion of the tour they all got excited and gathered around much closer to listen in and ask me questions... it was nice, but I also felt like a bit of a spectacle.
Today at work I also got to wander around the big store room which houses the collections that the Museum inherited from the commonwealth institute. It was so much fun that I think I'm going to have to go back and do some more exploration (for professional reasons of course) tomorrow or maybe next week. The room houses artifacts from all over the empire, and I'm pretty sure its the only place in the world where you will find the following in the same place;
- a real stuffed Lion and cheetah standing next to a stuffed mountain goat
- a lobster trap from Nova Scotia
- an almost four foot tall statue of buddha
- masks and costumes from Carnival in Trinidad
- a giant Chinese dragon costume
- war uniforms from everywhere in the empire from Sikh Soldiers to members of the Canadian Air Force
one of the staff who took me up to the room event pointed out that there is a "real Canadian chainsaw" sitting behind the giant Chinese Dragon Costume, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that to me it really wasn't much of a novelty...
so it was a fun day, even though I was dead tired by the end of it.
I'm hoping to go exploring in the room again, I could seriously spend days in there... hopefully I'll soon be well enough aquainted with the collections that I'll be able to take friends and family who visit in to see the same store rooms.
off to bed early I've got some sleep to catch up on!
- Chris
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Sunday, September 25, 2005
lazy sunday
After a long week and a really tiring day yesterday I've decided that I'm just going to have a lazy sunday just so I can relax a bit and take some time to edit through my fellowship manuscript.
Yesterday I took a trip out to Weston-super-mare for the day and pretty much just walked around the town until I was too tired to walk anymore. It's a little seaside resort type town and lucky for me I arrived on the day of a clown festival, so there were litterally hundreds of clowns walking all over the city doing tricks and other things for kids of all ages. It was quite an experience... it's a nice place, very campy in that everywhere you turn all along the water there is cotton candy, arcade and amusement games and all sorts of stuff like that.
There is a big pier called Grand Pier which is basically a mini indoor amusement park that sits out on a long dock. When I got there it was high tide, but in about half an hour's time the tide went out so far and so quickly that by the time I got back from the end of the pier, which had once been standing over water it was now standing over sand. I posted some photos on my photo page, so have a look. I've never been to a place with such a drastic tide change, by the end of the day I could barely make out where the water started because the tide was so far out that it just sort of blended in with the sand.
I've found that lately I have been enamoured with learning british words and comitting them to my vocabulary... I'm finding it really interesting how we speak the same language and yet there are so many differences which make it difficult for a Canadian and British person to have a conversation. There are lots of obvious differences to get used to like having hot and water run from two different faucets in each sink instead of one that creates warm water, or everytime I plug something in I realize that I've forgotten to turn the adjacent switch on so that there is actually power getting to the item I am using... but I'm finding the language difference particularily fascinating because I'm constantly learning new words and expressions every day.
I've starting making a list on my computer at work, and I thought I'd post a few of my favorites...
see if you can guess what these are
corgettes
aubergines
sugar paper
nappy
naught
pants
rocket
garden
yard
a naturist
and my most favorite - mangetout
and here are the answers
corgette - zuchinni
aubergine - eggplant
sugar paper - construction paper
nappy - diaper
naught - zero
pants - underwear (trousers are our pants)
rocket - arugula
garden - any area with at least grass growing in it
yard - more like a patio (nothing growing) ie. if you called someone's grassy lawn a yard if would be a offensive, because it's considered a garden and a lot nicer than a yard.
a naturist - a nudist
and finally - mangetout means snow peas (I'm assuming named so because unlike other peas you eat the pod as well)
anyway that's just a taste of the many words i've been learning, but I thought it might be fun to make you guess to give you an idea of how often confused I am when people use words thatoften even in context ("I've got to pick up some mangetout for a stirfry") they are difficult to work out.
that's all for now, don't forget to check out the photos
- Chris
Yesterday I took a trip out to Weston-super-mare for the day and pretty much just walked around the town until I was too tired to walk anymore. It's a little seaside resort type town and lucky for me I arrived on the day of a clown festival, so there were litterally hundreds of clowns walking all over the city doing tricks and other things for kids of all ages. It was quite an experience... it's a nice place, very campy in that everywhere you turn all along the water there is cotton candy, arcade and amusement games and all sorts of stuff like that.
There is a big pier called Grand Pier which is basically a mini indoor amusement park that sits out on a long dock. When I got there it was high tide, but in about half an hour's time the tide went out so far and so quickly that by the time I got back from the end of the pier, which had once been standing over water it was now standing over sand. I posted some photos on my photo page, so have a look. I've never been to a place with such a drastic tide change, by the end of the day I could barely make out where the water started because the tide was so far out that it just sort of blended in with the sand.
I've found that lately I have been enamoured with learning british words and comitting them to my vocabulary... I'm finding it really interesting how we speak the same language and yet there are so many differences which make it difficult for a Canadian and British person to have a conversation. There are lots of obvious differences to get used to like having hot and water run from two different faucets in each sink instead of one that creates warm water, or everytime I plug something in I realize that I've forgotten to turn the adjacent switch on so that there is actually power getting to the item I am using... but I'm finding the language difference particularily fascinating because I'm constantly learning new words and expressions every day.
I've starting making a list on my computer at work, and I thought I'd post a few of my favorites...
see if you can guess what these are
corgettes
aubergines
sugar paper
nappy
naught
pants
rocket
garden
yard
a naturist
and my most favorite - mangetout
and here are the answers
corgette - zuchinni
aubergine - eggplant
sugar paper - construction paper
nappy - diaper
naught - zero
pants - underwear (trousers are our pants)
rocket - arugula
garden - any area with at least grass growing in it
yard - more like a patio (nothing growing) ie. if you called someone's grassy lawn a yard if would be a offensive, because it's considered a garden and a lot nicer than a yard.
a naturist - a nudist
and finally - mangetout means snow peas (I'm assuming named so because unlike other peas you eat the pod as well)
anyway that's just a taste of the many words i've been learning, but I thought it might be fun to make you guess to give you an idea of how often confused I am when people use words thatoften even in context ("I've got to pick up some mangetout for a stirfry") they are difficult to work out.
that's all for now, don't forget to check out the photos
- Chris
Friday, September 23, 2005
long week
I’m just coming to the end of what has been a really long week. Last night I was at the museum until 8:30 p.m. because there was a launch event going on for a new DVD teacher’s resource that the Museum has just put out called “Voices of the Transatlantic Slave Trade”. Basically it’s a big collection of various accounts, letters, diary entries, poems, and speeches that represent a broad array of historical figures involved in the slave trade, all performed by actors and actresses on film.
It’s a great resource because it follows all the different aspects if the trade from Africa pre-slavery to the abolitionist movement and it documents a large array of experiences and viewpoints from the sailors to the plantation owners, including many accounts written by slaves. It’s also really neat because all the accounts are real and it can be taught through a character driven exploration of the different stakeholders in a slave based economy, or used chronologically to teach the basic history of the trade.
The event was a big success and we had teachers from all over Bristol, local politicians, and even members of the Museum board of trustees. My job was to go through the DVD on a laptop with teachers and introduce them into different ways of putting it to use in the classroom. I got to meet a lot people involved in very different types of education and outreach and even got to chat to a few trustees who visited my station when I didn’t have any visitors.
Right now at work I’m working on retyping out the trails that families and schools use to navigate through the museum. (basically they are different themed booklets that guide people through the gallery based on specific themes or activities). It’s not the most exciting job, but it needs to be done because the photocopies are looking ratty and the files are in an old format, which can’t be opened. I was given the job when someone noticed that I had the ability to touch-type quite quickly, but thankfully since I started the project Its become less of simply retyping and touching things up and I’ve gotten to do some real editing and reworking of things a bit too.
I’m going to try to do a quick trip out to a seaside town called Weston-super-Mare this weekend just to get away from the city for a day, but I’ll have to see how the weather is because I might visit someplace more indoors if its going to rain a lot. I’m hoping the weather will hold out though because it is a resort type town and a lot of the things to do there aren’t open during the winter and the season is almost up. Saturday night I’m going to an electronic music night with Hannah from work so that should be really nice as well.
On a funny/quirky note. I’ve noticed that people are constantly asking me if I am alright… and yesterday it happened particularly a lot –probably at least a dozen times. When I got home and my housemates were all asking each other the same thing at the end of the day I suddenly realized that the expression isn’t really used in the same way that we use it in Canada. In Canada we use it when we perceive that something is wrong with someone and we want to inquire as to what is going on, but here it’s used more casually like “how’s it going” or “how are you?”… I was relieved to realize that I’m not constantly giving off the impression that something is wrong or that I am upset, which I was starting to wonder yesterday.
It’s quirky little things like that, which are the hardest to adjust to. I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing or just something around the office, but I’ve noticed that there is a much broader use of non-verbal, but audible communication going on here as well. For instance a lot more “mm hmms” and “uh hmmm” in different tones which replace expressions like “right”, “I see what you are saying”, and “tell me more”. Something I sort of noticed subconsciously, but when my Canadian co-worker pointed it out it suddenly hit me. I think between the two I was feeling a bit frustrated subconsciously, so it feels a bit better to realize that I’m not being patronized all the time.
Finally, I’m reading a really good book which, though I haven’t finished it yet, I wanted to recommend it to everyone. It’s called “The Rebel Sell – How the counterculture became consumer culture”… I saw it in the airport on my way here and then bought it for myself here on my birthday. It’s a really interesting book and although I’m not really sure how much I agree with the authors' opinions, it is giving me a lot to think about. It’s basically about how books like No Logo, Fast Food Nation, and Adbusters in some ways feed into consumer culture and about how subversive countercultures actually support a consumer economy in more ways that we might think. Interesting read if anyone is interested.
Will post some pictures of whatever I get up to this weekend
- Chris
It’s a great resource because it follows all the different aspects if the trade from Africa pre-slavery to the abolitionist movement and it documents a large array of experiences and viewpoints from the sailors to the plantation owners, including many accounts written by slaves. It’s also really neat because all the accounts are real and it can be taught through a character driven exploration of the different stakeholders in a slave based economy, or used chronologically to teach the basic history of the trade.
The event was a big success and we had teachers from all over Bristol, local politicians, and even members of the Museum board of trustees. My job was to go through the DVD on a laptop with teachers and introduce them into different ways of putting it to use in the classroom. I got to meet a lot people involved in very different types of education and outreach and even got to chat to a few trustees who visited my station when I didn’t have any visitors.
Right now at work I’m working on retyping out the trails that families and schools use to navigate through the museum. (basically they are different themed booklets that guide people through the gallery based on specific themes or activities). It’s not the most exciting job, but it needs to be done because the photocopies are looking ratty and the files are in an old format, which can’t be opened. I was given the job when someone noticed that I had the ability to touch-type quite quickly, but thankfully since I started the project Its become less of simply retyping and touching things up and I’ve gotten to do some real editing and reworking of things a bit too.
I’m going to try to do a quick trip out to a seaside town called Weston-super-Mare this weekend just to get away from the city for a day, but I’ll have to see how the weather is because I might visit someplace more indoors if its going to rain a lot. I’m hoping the weather will hold out though because it is a resort type town and a lot of the things to do there aren’t open during the winter and the season is almost up. Saturday night I’m going to an electronic music night with Hannah from work so that should be really nice as well.
On a funny/quirky note. I’ve noticed that people are constantly asking me if I am alright… and yesterday it happened particularly a lot –probably at least a dozen times. When I got home and my housemates were all asking each other the same thing at the end of the day I suddenly realized that the expression isn’t really used in the same way that we use it in Canada. In Canada we use it when we perceive that something is wrong with someone and we want to inquire as to what is going on, but here it’s used more casually like “how’s it going” or “how are you?”… I was relieved to realize that I’m not constantly giving off the impression that something is wrong or that I am upset, which I was starting to wonder yesterday.
It’s quirky little things like that, which are the hardest to adjust to. I’m not sure if it’s a cultural thing or just something around the office, but I’ve noticed that there is a much broader use of non-verbal, but audible communication going on here as well. For instance a lot more “mm hmms” and “uh hmmm” in different tones which replace expressions like “right”, “I see what you are saying”, and “tell me more”. Something I sort of noticed subconsciously, but when my Canadian co-worker pointed it out it suddenly hit me. I think between the two I was feeling a bit frustrated subconsciously, so it feels a bit better to realize that I’m not being patronized all the time.
Finally, I’m reading a really good book which, though I haven’t finished it yet, I wanted to recommend it to everyone. It’s called “The Rebel Sell – How the counterculture became consumer culture”… I saw it in the airport on my way here and then bought it for myself here on my birthday. It’s a really interesting book and although I’m not really sure how much I agree with the authors' opinions, it is giving me a lot to think about. It’s basically about how books like No Logo, Fast Food Nation, and Adbusters in some ways feed into consumer culture and about how subversive countercultures actually support a consumer economy in more ways that we might think. Interesting read if anyone is interested.
Will post some pictures of whatever I get up to this weekend
- Chris
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
quiz night
Last night I was inducted to Brit culture with a proper Pub Quiz night at the Prom pub, which is basically, just across the street from our house. Ben, Jess, Anja and I went out and it was such a fun night… they were quite surprised to find that we don’t really do quiz nights in Canada, and I was pleasantly surprised to see how popular an event it was.
Apparently you can find a quiz night every night of the week in a pub near you if you look for it. The topic of the night was music, and unfortunately I wasn’t too helpful because the questions were very U.K. centered, but when it came to knowing the release dates of a number of famous albums it turns out that my Social History of Popular Music course came in quite handy. It also helped that I knew Canadian music, though I wasn’t so proud to know trivia about Alanis Morisette and especially not Shania Twain.
It was really nice to go out with the housemates to pass a fun (and cheap) Tuesday night. Between the pint of cider and our entry in the game I only spent about £3.00 and it was tons of fun.
Basically there were about 20 teams and an announcer asks the questions or plays the sound clips that have to be identified… from there you write down the answers and after each round exchange sheets with another table for marking. We did fairly well, but not well enough to win any of the prizes, and not so poorly that we won for lowest score… still it was a good effort on all accounts.
My housemates are really loving the Canadian Music that I have been slowly spreading throughout the house; they are especially fond of Hawksley Workman and Metric, which are a little more outside the genre of music which is most popular in Britain right now. Tonight we are all making a big pizza together, so that should be fun – everyone’s schedules are a bit scattered but it seems that one or twice a week some sort of plan is laid out that involves cooking and we all get together. So that’s been really nice.
Things at work are going really well. We are doing a run through of the tour script that I wrote for the building, so it will be a real test today to see some reactions to the work I’m doing. I’m also crossing my fingers that I might be able to spend the day out of the office researching at the University on Friday or if not, early next week.
Unfortunately I don't have time for much more of an update.
Oh yeah, I've randomly picked up a wireless internet signal in my house... I'm not sure if it part of the city's wireless internet plan (a large part of the city is covered by a free open wireless network run by the City Council) or if it is a neighbor's connection. The hubs all run down the major streets and the network I am connected to is named after a street nearby so I'm tempted to think that it's part of the city plan... in which case I'm actually welcome to use it. The connection isn't the greatest, but it works well enough. Pretty soon we'll have our own internet connection wireless throughout our house so I'll be able to connect at a faster speed then.
- Chris
Apparently you can find a quiz night every night of the week in a pub near you if you look for it. The topic of the night was music, and unfortunately I wasn’t too helpful because the questions were very U.K. centered, but when it came to knowing the release dates of a number of famous albums it turns out that my Social History of Popular Music course came in quite handy. It also helped that I knew Canadian music, though I wasn’t so proud to know trivia about Alanis Morisette and especially not Shania Twain.
It was really nice to go out with the housemates to pass a fun (and cheap) Tuesday night. Between the pint of cider and our entry in the game I only spent about £3.00 and it was tons of fun.
Basically there were about 20 teams and an announcer asks the questions or plays the sound clips that have to be identified… from there you write down the answers and after each round exchange sheets with another table for marking. We did fairly well, but not well enough to win any of the prizes, and not so poorly that we won for lowest score… still it was a good effort on all accounts.
My housemates are really loving the Canadian Music that I have been slowly spreading throughout the house; they are especially fond of Hawksley Workman and Metric, which are a little more outside the genre of music which is most popular in Britain right now. Tonight we are all making a big pizza together, so that should be fun – everyone’s schedules are a bit scattered but it seems that one or twice a week some sort of plan is laid out that involves cooking and we all get together. So that’s been really nice.
Things at work are going really well. We are doing a run through of the tour script that I wrote for the building, so it will be a real test today to see some reactions to the work I’m doing. I’m also crossing my fingers that I might be able to spend the day out of the office researching at the University on Friday or if not, early next week.
Unfortunately I don't have time for much more of an update.
Oh yeah, I've randomly picked up a wireless internet signal in my house... I'm not sure if it part of the city's wireless internet plan (a large part of the city is covered by a free open wireless network run by the City Council) or if it is a neighbor's connection. The hubs all run down the major streets and the network I am connected to is named after a street nearby so I'm tempted to think that it's part of the city plan... in which case I'm actually welcome to use it. The connection isn't the greatest, but it works well enough. Pretty soon we'll have our own internet connection wireless throughout our house so I'll be able to connect at a faster speed then.
- Chris
Saturday, September 17, 2005
photos
There are two new photos albums posted if you follow the link to my photo albums in the righthand column.
One is random shots I've taken on my walks to work over the past week - and the other is full of photos of St. Mary Redcliffe Church. Today after I finished with the group visiting the Museum I went for a quick tour of the church as I had passed it several times a week but hadn't had a chance to go in. It's was quite impressive - once called by Queen's Elizabeth the "goodliest, fairest, and most famous parish church in England".
Have a look, and let me know what you think.
- Chris
One is random shots I've taken on my walks to work over the past week - and the other is full of photos of St. Mary Redcliffe Church. Today after I finished with the group visiting the Museum I went for a quick tour of the church as I had passed it several times a week but hadn't had a chance to go in. It's was quite impressive - once called by Queen's Elizabeth the "goodliest, fairest, and most famous parish church in England".
Have a look, and let me know what you think.
- Chris
Friday, September 16, 2005
another week gone by...
It's friday already and I can't believe the week has gone by so fast. I guess its a sign of how busy things are getting at work.
We are currently developing all of our education workshops and outreach programs for the Brunel 200 celebrations. There was a big meeting with all the different museums in the area that are planning events, and it looks like it's going to be a huge year! For those like me who would not know who Isambard Kingdom Brunel is before arriving in Bristol (or researching him for my job interview)- he is a famous engineer who had a huge part in shaping the development of England during the industrial revolution... building railways, steamships to the west and east colonies, the Thames tunnel, and countless other things. Basically 2006 is the 200th year anniversary of his Birth so there are all sorts of things in the works - one soda company is making a drink called Fizzimbard Brunel for selling at some of the events and celebrations.
It looks like it will be a good things for the Museum, because although the building we are in (Temple Meads Station) was built by Brunel, the focus of our actual galleries is entirely different... this way we'll be attracting people for the Brunel celebrations, but also giving them something to come back and see (the actual Museum)... alot of the other groups already have a huge focus on Brunel but we'll be getting good exposure and offering other options relating to the empire. Because we haven't had a focus on the building in the past we are doing a lot of work to educate ourselves and find resources on the topic.
FYI - this is the museum... The offices are in the front part that looks a bit like a tudor castle front, the galleries are in the part behind which used to be the old carriage shed of the train station.
I spent most of this week designing a tour of the building that talks a bit about some of the more ingenious aspects of Brunel's design, with a focus of giving some insight into the personality and character of Brunel through the interpretation of the building. I found a lot of really cool information about him - he seemed to be a bit of a megalomaniac obsessed with success and fame, resulting in an almost obessive personal involvement in all his projects. One example is that he would spend hours drawing incredibly precise plans for the most simple procedures so that everything would be done how he wanted. Furthermore, he didn't like to work with other well educated engineers because he didn't want anyone putting his plans into actuality to be able to reinterpret or review his plans with a critical eye... that way his workers had to build exactly to his specifications. The tour is basically done and we are going to test it out with a group of students who are visiting next week.
I've also been trying to collect resources that can be used in the education workshops we are planning - so I've been researching into the Brunel collections in the local libariries and archives and it looks like next week I'll be able to do some work out of the museum and actually get to go to the archives to do some research and pulling of resources.
Lots of cool things are going on, which is making my work day very enjoyable. I've started to go for walks a bit on lunch to explore the area around the museum a little more, i've taken some good photos so I will post them shortly.
Last night the Canadian lady at the Museum took me to her house for a good dinner with her family. It was really nice to have Barbeque (something they dont do much of here) and to just talk with some people in a family setting. Her son is about my age and lives in Canada, so I think she was fulfilling some of her material instincts by having me over and insisting that I eat as much as I could while I was there.
Tonight we are going out to the pub after work with some of the staff and I will get to meet Ondia who is the Canadian intern from two years ago... she has been in Bristol for a few years and is doing her masters in education here so I think we'll have a lot to talk about.
Other than that there isn't much new - Everyday I'm learning new things about Bristol and british culture... some things are just the same in Canada and some are totally different. It's helped having a Canadian in the office and my German housemate at home though to sympathize with me when people use words and slang I don't know.
For example a lady was giving me a phone number today and recited it 933-3-Not-45 and I had to ask her to repeat it twice over the phone before I totally gave up. Soon after I realized that "naught" is used interchangably with zero.
I'll try and get some photos posted this weekend... I think i'll hook up my laptop to the net at the Watershed tomorrow morning after I work (i'm coming in for that society for landscape history talk which I was working on finding a guest speaker for on my first few days here). It's not great to work a saturday but its only for a few hours and I'll take a morning or afternoon off in lieu next week.
- Chris
We are currently developing all of our education workshops and outreach programs for the Brunel 200 celebrations. There was a big meeting with all the different museums in the area that are planning events, and it looks like it's going to be a huge year! For those like me who would not know who Isambard Kingdom Brunel is before arriving in Bristol (or researching him for my job interview)- he is a famous engineer who had a huge part in shaping the development of England during the industrial revolution... building railways, steamships to the west and east colonies, the Thames tunnel, and countless other things. Basically 2006 is the 200th year anniversary of his Birth so there are all sorts of things in the works - one soda company is making a drink called Fizzimbard Brunel for selling at some of the events and celebrations.
It looks like it will be a good things for the Museum, because although the building we are in (Temple Meads Station) was built by Brunel, the focus of our actual galleries is entirely different... this way we'll be attracting people for the Brunel celebrations, but also giving them something to come back and see (the actual Museum)... alot of the other groups already have a huge focus on Brunel but we'll be getting good exposure and offering other options relating to the empire. Because we haven't had a focus on the building in the past we are doing a lot of work to educate ourselves and find resources on the topic.
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FYI - this is the museum... The offices are in the front part that looks a bit like a tudor castle front, the galleries are in the part behind which used to be the old carriage shed of the train station.
I spent most of this week designing a tour of the building that talks a bit about some of the more ingenious aspects of Brunel's design, with a focus of giving some insight into the personality and character of Brunel through the interpretation of the building. I found a lot of really cool information about him - he seemed to be a bit of a megalomaniac obsessed with success and fame, resulting in an almost obessive personal involvement in all his projects. One example is that he would spend hours drawing incredibly precise plans for the most simple procedures so that everything would be done how he wanted. Furthermore, he didn't like to work with other well educated engineers because he didn't want anyone putting his plans into actuality to be able to reinterpret or review his plans with a critical eye... that way his workers had to build exactly to his specifications. The tour is basically done and we are going to test it out with a group of students who are visiting next week.
I've also been trying to collect resources that can be used in the education workshops we are planning - so I've been researching into the Brunel collections in the local libariries and archives and it looks like next week I'll be able to do some work out of the museum and actually get to go to the archives to do some research and pulling of resources.
Lots of cool things are going on, which is making my work day very enjoyable. I've started to go for walks a bit on lunch to explore the area around the museum a little more, i've taken some good photos so I will post them shortly.
Last night the Canadian lady at the Museum took me to her house for a good dinner with her family. It was really nice to have Barbeque (something they dont do much of here) and to just talk with some people in a family setting. Her son is about my age and lives in Canada, so I think she was fulfilling some of her material instincts by having me over and insisting that I eat as much as I could while I was there.
Tonight we are going out to the pub after work with some of the staff and I will get to meet Ondia who is the Canadian intern from two years ago... she has been in Bristol for a few years and is doing her masters in education here so I think we'll have a lot to talk about.
Other than that there isn't much new - Everyday I'm learning new things about Bristol and british culture... some things are just the same in Canada and some are totally different. It's helped having a Canadian in the office and my German housemate at home though to sympathize with me when people use words and slang I don't know.
For example a lady was giving me a phone number today and recited it 933-3-Not-45 and I had to ask her to repeat it twice over the phone before I totally gave up. Soon after I realized that "naught" is used interchangably with zero.
I'll try and get some photos posted this weekend... I think i'll hook up my laptop to the net at the Watershed tomorrow morning after I work (i'm coming in for that society for landscape history talk which I was working on finding a guest speaker for on my first few days here). It's not great to work a saturday but its only for a few hours and I'll take a morning or afternoon off in lieu next week.
- Chris
Monday, September 12, 2005
familiar tunes
Tonight i was encouraged by my housemates to check out the BBC radio show hosted by Zane Low, which features lots of popular british alternative music - so I tuned in for a listen...
Here I was all ready to listen to a few new tunes when among the first songs they played where The Arcade Fire and then Bedouin Soundclash. Ha ha ... I thought it was great to hear some bands from Canada, especially since both bands were only playing small gigs around Kingston and the rest of Ontario in the past few years. Turns out they The Arcade Fire is huge here (some of the housemates caught them in Paris a few weeks ago) and Bedouin Soundclash is very up and coming.
I put together a couple of CDs with some current-ish indie-type Canadian Music for Jess (one of the housemates) for her Birthday including, The Hidden Cameras, Metric, Hot Hot Heat, Cuff the Duke, Po Girl, Sarah Harmer, The Arcade Fire, Hawksley Workman, Melanie Durrant, Sweatshop Union, Sarah Slean, K-os, and a bunch of other good artists... I hope that they get some play in the house, cause it's nice to hear the familiar tunes.
England won the ashes so everyone is out partying tonight. We are hosting a big meeting for all the groups preparing for the 200th Brunel Anniversary at the museum tomorrow so I'm going to go in early to help get things going.... so I thought I'd stay in tonight and watch some quality British TV.
Ben, another one of the housemates offered to take me around town to show me some good places to shop as well as to help me find a cheap bike on the weekend, so that should be fun. It seems that my idea of what I might spend on a used bike was a bit naive (I was thinking £30 tops which is just affordable on my budget), while the housemates think i'd have to spend at least £50 or £60.... but I saw a few ads in the newspaper that advertised for lower, so I'm determined to get a good deal yet. Ideally I'd like to get something decent, because one of my co-workers turned me on to the idea of cycling to Bath which is just about 18 km away... but we'll see how it goes...
- Chris
Here I was all ready to listen to a few new tunes when among the first songs they played where The Arcade Fire and then Bedouin Soundclash. Ha ha ... I thought it was great to hear some bands from Canada, especially since both bands were only playing small gigs around Kingston and the rest of Ontario in the past few years. Turns out they The Arcade Fire is huge here (some of the housemates caught them in Paris a few weeks ago) and Bedouin Soundclash is very up and coming.
I put together a couple of CDs with some current-ish indie-type Canadian Music for Jess (one of the housemates) for her Birthday including, The Hidden Cameras, Metric, Hot Hot Heat, Cuff the Duke, Po Girl, Sarah Harmer, The Arcade Fire, Hawksley Workman, Melanie Durrant, Sweatshop Union, Sarah Slean, K-os, and a bunch of other good artists... I hope that they get some play in the house, cause it's nice to hear the familiar tunes.
England won the ashes so everyone is out partying tonight. We are hosting a big meeting for all the groups preparing for the 200th Brunel Anniversary at the museum tomorrow so I'm going to go in early to help get things going.... so I thought I'd stay in tonight and watch some quality British TV.
Ben, another one of the housemates offered to take me around town to show me some good places to shop as well as to help me find a cheap bike on the weekend, so that should be fun. It seems that my idea of what I might spend on a used bike was a bit naive (I was thinking £30 tops which is just affordable on my budget), while the housemates think i'd have to spend at least £50 or £60.... but I saw a few ads in the newspaper that advertised for lower, so I'm determined to get a good deal yet. Ideally I'd like to get something decent, because one of my co-workers turned me on to the idea of cycling to Bath which is just about 18 km away... but we'll see how it goes...
- Chris
two week mark
Today marks the start of my second full week of work and the two week mark of my arriving in Bristol, though it seems like I’ve been here so much longer after so many things have happened both here and at home in the past little while.
My plans to attend the live music festival were rained out by what was my first official caught in a rainstorm moment in Bristol… it had rained once overnight but I hadn’t caught it yet. Since then the weather has been noticeably cooler over the past two days, but it should get a bit warmer this week. The humidity is hard to explain… it was quite hot last week, but not as hot as it was this summer in Toronto and Kingston… but it felt much hotter because it was so humid. I can’t quite get a grasp on the climate here as my instinct tells me it should be colder, but then I realise that it rarely gets colder than zero Celsius in the winter and I see people with palm-like tropical plants growing on their lawns.
Funny note – Mom, remember what I used to call "the smelly tree" which was the tree with really sweet smelling leaves which grew in the backyard until the air-conditioner people installed the a/c right over it? I’ve seen them a few times here, and only recognised them by the shape/purple colour of the leaves as they are a lot bigger than the one we had and also have grown small little flowers on them. But the smell is the same… I was just funny to stumble upon as someone down the street has one growing over the sidewalk, because I remember no one knowing what kind of tree it was.
Anyway, smelly trees aside, I was commenting on the humidity I think. It’s a bit strange – and you don’t really notice it until it gets cooler when it just sort of feels like light rain, but really its not raining there is just lots of water in the air. Hard to explain – not quite like fog – but it makes it feel significantly cooler when its cold and humid.
Instead of sitting out in the rain I stumbled across the reopening of the Arnolfini which is an art centre in Bristol… they had a huge wall of flowers on display designed to stimulate the senses (particularly smell) and tell the story of the various flower growers, sellers, and producers which designed their bits of the wall from all over the world. The exhibit is replaced every five days to replenish flowers and keep it alive. It’s pretty cool – a bit like the cube in that it’s a multi-purpose space but it’s a little more mainstream. They were looking for volunteers so I might try it out a night – it would be good for seeing movies and getting into exhibitions free – my Friend Hannah at work works at the Cube and she is going to take me in there one night to try out volunteering as well so that should be fun too.
The September 11th talk was really neat – they showed a movie made by a local group and there was a talk and question and answer period with the former MI6 agent. Lots of conspiracy theories, and some interesting things to think about regarding terrorism – because the movement which ran the night was started in New York by the family members of victims of 9/11 who were not satisfied with the answers they got from the government reports, it was interesting to see some of the personal stories brought out. I’m not sure how much I buy into the theories, but it was very nice at the very least to watch a talk that was so focused on inquiring into the disaster while also being really respectful of tragedy and the people who died in the events.
We’ve got some big meetings coming up at work, so it should be a fun week. The Canadian lady who works in the same office as me invited me to her house for dinner with her husband and parents – so that is really nice. I think we’ll do it later this week or maybe early next depending on our schedules… I think It will be nice to have a home cooked meal, though I have been fairing pretty well myself with cooking comfort food.
That’s all I’ll post for now. I’ve got to get to work.
- Chris
My plans to attend the live music festival were rained out by what was my first official caught in a rainstorm moment in Bristol… it had rained once overnight but I hadn’t caught it yet. Since then the weather has been noticeably cooler over the past two days, but it should get a bit warmer this week. The humidity is hard to explain… it was quite hot last week, but not as hot as it was this summer in Toronto and Kingston… but it felt much hotter because it was so humid. I can’t quite get a grasp on the climate here as my instinct tells me it should be colder, but then I realise that it rarely gets colder than zero Celsius in the winter and I see people with palm-like tropical plants growing on their lawns.
Funny note – Mom, remember what I used to call "the smelly tree" which was the tree with really sweet smelling leaves which grew in the backyard until the air-conditioner people installed the a/c right over it? I’ve seen them a few times here, and only recognised them by the shape/purple colour of the leaves as they are a lot bigger than the one we had and also have grown small little flowers on them. But the smell is the same… I was just funny to stumble upon as someone down the street has one growing over the sidewalk, because I remember no one knowing what kind of tree it was.
Anyway, smelly trees aside, I was commenting on the humidity I think. It’s a bit strange – and you don’t really notice it until it gets cooler when it just sort of feels like light rain, but really its not raining there is just lots of water in the air. Hard to explain – not quite like fog – but it makes it feel significantly cooler when its cold and humid.
Instead of sitting out in the rain I stumbled across the reopening of the Arnolfini which is an art centre in Bristol… they had a huge wall of flowers on display designed to stimulate the senses (particularly smell) and tell the story of the various flower growers, sellers, and producers which designed their bits of the wall from all over the world. The exhibit is replaced every five days to replenish flowers and keep it alive. It’s pretty cool – a bit like the cube in that it’s a multi-purpose space but it’s a little more mainstream. They were looking for volunteers so I might try it out a night – it would be good for seeing movies and getting into exhibitions free – my Friend Hannah at work works at the Cube and she is going to take me in there one night to try out volunteering as well so that should be fun too.
The September 11th talk was really neat – they showed a movie made by a local group and there was a talk and question and answer period with the former MI6 agent. Lots of conspiracy theories, and some interesting things to think about regarding terrorism – because the movement which ran the night was started in New York by the family members of victims of 9/11 who were not satisfied with the answers they got from the government reports, it was interesting to see some of the personal stories brought out. I’m not sure how much I buy into the theories, but it was very nice at the very least to watch a talk that was so focused on inquiring into the disaster while also being really respectful of tragedy and the people who died in the events.
We’ve got some big meetings coming up at work, so it should be a fun week. The Canadian lady who works in the same office as me invited me to her house for dinner with her husband and parents – so that is really nice. I think we’ll do it later this week or maybe early next depending on our schedules… I think It will be nice to have a home cooked meal, though I have been fairing pretty well myself with cooking comfort food.
That’s all I’ll post for now. I’ve got to get to work.
- Chris
Saturday, September 10, 2005
cider and more...
Things are going well here. It's saturday morning and I am just about to head out to walk around the city and see a big music fest going on in Queen's square (its a georgian style square downtown)...
Last night my housemates and I went out to the local pub The Cadbury, it was loads of fun. Very different atmosphere from pubs i've been to in Canada - really nice and chilled out... Pubs here close earlier at around 11:00 and people from there either go out to clubs/dance halls or just head home. It was nice to hang out with the housemates away from the living room, and I got to meet a lot of their friends which was also nice.
The southwest is really big on cider - there are lots of local independant breweries so I enjoyed trying a couple last night. I think i prefer cider to beer anyway, so i'm glad that there are so many options here.
It seems as though people are very open about anti-americanism here... or maybe it's just that I'm Canadian and people assume that I like to talk about differences between americans and the rest of the world... so there was a lot of talk about George W and his gang at the pub last night which was nice to have something I knew a bit about to discuss (I'm totally out of the loop on British politics, celebs, music, films, etc).. but it does seem that people really generalize the american culture and mentality a bit more here than we do in Canada. It's probably because they are so separated from actual Americans...
I've already seen a few people on the streets wearing anti-bush t-shirts that say "Somewhere in Texas a village is missing it's idiot" which I had a laugh over.
I was trying to explain to them a bit about Canadian-American relations but it was difficult to uexplain. People seemed pretty interested to hear about Canada and what's going on there from me though, but I didn't want to talk too much about it - because I'd rather be learning more about british culture than talking about my own country.
I'm going to a Sept. 11th talk at the cube (check it out here) tomorrow night with some people from work... the cube is a multi-purpose performance/art/film/music space which is a bit more alternative in its programming than other venues in Bristol. The speaker is a past MI5 member and is going to talk about conspiracy theories and what not surrounding Sept. 11 - should be interesting to see what transpires.
That's pretty much all that's going on here. My week at work was really good - I found a speaker for that talk coming up and got a bunch of other things done so I think my boss was really happy with what I'm doing.
Oh yeah, they also brought me a huge plate of biscuits, a few trinkets from the giftshop and a big card midday for my birthday which I though was really nice. Then in the afternoon my co-worker Liz (who i get along with well alot due to the fact that we both love to talk about food) brought be a piece of this amazing lemon cake with a raspberry jam and butter icing.. it was one of the best pieces of cake i've ever had.
anyway, that's it for now. I'm off to track down the live music going on in the centre
- Chris
Last night my housemates and I went out to the local pub The Cadbury, it was loads of fun. Very different atmosphere from pubs i've been to in Canada - really nice and chilled out... Pubs here close earlier at around 11:00 and people from there either go out to clubs/dance halls or just head home. It was nice to hang out with the housemates away from the living room, and I got to meet a lot of their friends which was also nice.
The southwest is really big on cider - there are lots of local independant breweries so I enjoyed trying a couple last night. I think i prefer cider to beer anyway, so i'm glad that there are so many options here.
It seems as though people are very open about anti-americanism here... or maybe it's just that I'm Canadian and people assume that I like to talk about differences between americans and the rest of the world... so there was a lot of talk about George W and his gang at the pub last night which was nice to have something I knew a bit about to discuss (I'm totally out of the loop on British politics, celebs, music, films, etc).. but it does seem that people really generalize the american culture and mentality a bit more here than we do in Canada. It's probably because they are so separated from actual Americans...
I've already seen a few people on the streets wearing anti-bush t-shirts that say "Somewhere in Texas a village is missing it's idiot" which I had a laugh over.
I was trying to explain to them a bit about Canadian-American relations but it was difficult to uexplain. People seemed pretty interested to hear about Canada and what's going on there from me though, but I didn't want to talk too much about it - because I'd rather be learning more about british culture than talking about my own country.
I'm going to a Sept. 11th talk at the cube (check it out here) tomorrow night with some people from work... the cube is a multi-purpose performance/art/film/music space which is a bit more alternative in its programming than other venues in Bristol. The speaker is a past MI5 member and is going to talk about conspiracy theories and what not surrounding Sept. 11 - should be interesting to see what transpires.
That's pretty much all that's going on here. My week at work was really good - I found a speaker for that talk coming up and got a bunch of other things done so I think my boss was really happy with what I'm doing.
Oh yeah, they also brought me a huge plate of biscuits, a few trinkets from the giftshop and a big card midday for my birthday which I though was really nice. Then in the afternoon my co-worker Liz (who i get along with well alot due to the fact that we both love to talk about food) brought be a piece of this amazing lemon cake with a raspberry jam and butter icing.. it was one of the best pieces of cake i've ever had.
anyway, that's it for now. I'm off to track down the live music going on in the centre
- Chris
Thursday, September 08, 2005
the ashes
things are going great here. Work is getting increasingly busy, which is nice and i've had some success on a few projects so I think they are happy with what I am doing. My boss was quite busy so after my list of assignments on thursday last week we weren't really able to catch up much until just yesterday, but she seemed happy with what is going on.
There is cricket fever sweeping the country today and it's all everyone is talking about at work. Right now England and Australia are starting the first of a five day "test" to win thecup of ashes (similar status to the stanley cup in canada I think)... cricket hasn't been huge here but England hasn't come close in 16 years or so, so everyone is picking it up really fast.
all these years i've heard the family talk about cricket, but I should have paid a bit more attention I guess. I think i've got the gist of how it works, but little did I know that a game lasts five days... Since today is the first day everyone is hoping that England gets off to a good start.
Last night my housemates all went out to the pub, but I was feeling a bit sick and having some allergy problems from something at work all day, so I just stayed in and had a quiet night. I think we'll all go out tomorrow and on saturday we are doing a day trip to either a place called Horseworld or something else which sounds similar to African Lion Safari... should be fun. They seem to be a fun bunch and like to travel a bit - they did a road trip to Paris a few weeks ago, and love to go driving so they were really interested to hear about my trip to Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans this year.
I've seen a lot about New Orleans on the news... it's so sad. It seems like the city might never be the same again. I remember the tour guides telling us that the city was below sea level and that if a hurricane ever hit it would be disastrous... I'm glad I had a chance to see it when I did, hopefully i'll be able to go back someday and see it revived. The British news is covering it all the time, floating around in boats and talking to people who refuse to leave their homes, interesting to watch but a bit overwhelming. I assume its probably the same there.
Anyway, i'm just starting work and got here a bit early so I thought I would put up a quick post... but it's time to get back down to business.
- Chris
There is cricket fever sweeping the country today and it's all everyone is talking about at work. Right now England and Australia are starting the first of a five day "test" to win thecup of ashes (similar status to the stanley cup in canada I think)... cricket hasn't been huge here but England hasn't come close in 16 years or so, so everyone is picking it up really fast.
all these years i've heard the family talk about cricket, but I should have paid a bit more attention I guess. I think i've got the gist of how it works, but little did I know that a game lasts five days... Since today is the first day everyone is hoping that England gets off to a good start.
Last night my housemates all went out to the pub, but I was feeling a bit sick and having some allergy problems from something at work all day, so I just stayed in and had a quiet night. I think we'll all go out tomorrow and on saturday we are doing a day trip to either a place called Horseworld or something else which sounds similar to African Lion Safari... should be fun. They seem to be a fun bunch and like to travel a bit - they did a road trip to Paris a few weeks ago, and love to go driving so they were really interested to hear about my trip to Memphis, Nashville, and New Orleans this year.
I've seen a lot about New Orleans on the news... it's so sad. It seems like the city might never be the same again. I remember the tour guides telling us that the city was below sea level and that if a hurricane ever hit it would be disastrous... I'm glad I had a chance to see it when I did, hopefully i'll be able to go back someday and see it revived. The British news is covering it all the time, floating around in boats and talking to people who refuse to leave their homes, interesting to watch but a bit overwhelming. I assume its probably the same there.
Anyway, i'm just starting work and got here a bit early so I thought I would put up a quick post... but it's time to get back down to business.
- Chris
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
photos finally up!
Finally, I was able to post some photos.
Things have been going really well and I've been working on a few research projects at work...
I'm missing home quite a bit this week as there is a lot of family stuff going on... but I'm still glad to be in Bristol. I've been making friends with a few people at work which is nice - we are making some plans to go out after work later this week. We had an education department buffet lunch this afternoon and I got to meet all the volunteers, many of whom are artists, actors, storytellers, and academics who all run different workshops with the museum - they were a really cool bunch. One of the people there is doing her Ph.D collaboratively between Manchester University and the Museum, its a project on colonial wars... really interesting!
anyway, I've finally posted some photos... it took quite some time to get all my comments in there, so try and have a look... Unfortunately I have no pictures of the Museum, so I'll have to work on that in a bit.
to check out the photos click on the link to the right of the screen - it should say My Online Photos... follow the link and click the Bristol photos album. I didn't want to overload this page with photos so I posted them on there, they quality is a bit better than they would be on here, and i'm pretty sure there is no limit to how many can be viewed. Unfortunately I don't have space on the internet to display them fullsize... but you'll get the idea.
Somehow after posting them, they don't really seem to capture the spirit and beauty of the city... but maybe that's because I've seen them so many times. What's really cool about the photos is that everything I took pictures of is within a 25-30 minute walking distance of everything else, so to get an idea Bristol not a huge city, but its also quite big and full of action.
hope you like - feel free to leave comments on here re: the photos, and i don't think there are any options to do so on yahoo. let me know if there are any problems with the viewing.
- C
Things have been going really well and I've been working on a few research projects at work...
I'm missing home quite a bit this week as there is a lot of family stuff going on... but I'm still glad to be in Bristol. I've been making friends with a few people at work which is nice - we are making some plans to go out after work later this week. We had an education department buffet lunch this afternoon and I got to meet all the volunteers, many of whom are artists, actors, storytellers, and academics who all run different workshops with the museum - they were a really cool bunch. One of the people there is doing her Ph.D collaboratively between Manchester University and the Museum, its a project on colonial wars... really interesting!
anyway, I've finally posted some photos... it took quite some time to get all my comments in there, so try and have a look... Unfortunately I have no pictures of the Museum, so I'll have to work on that in a bit.
to check out the photos click on the link to the right of the screen - it should say My Online Photos... follow the link and click the Bristol photos album. I didn't want to overload this page with photos so I posted them on there, they quality is a bit better than they would be on here, and i'm pretty sure there is no limit to how many can be viewed. Unfortunately I don't have space on the internet to display them fullsize... but you'll get the idea.
Somehow after posting them, they don't really seem to capture the spirit and beauty of the city... but maybe that's because I've seen them so many times. What's really cool about the photos is that everything I took pictures of is within a 25-30 minute walking distance of everything else, so to get an idea Bristol not a huge city, but its also quite big and full of action.
hope you like - feel free to leave comments on here re: the photos, and i don't think there are any options to do so on yahoo. let me know if there are any problems with the viewing.
- C
Sunday, September 04, 2005
sunday morning
It's sunday morning and I am really happy to be checking out of the hostel and moving into my new place this afternoon. I've rented a small-ish room in a house with four other people around my age (23-25) which is just a few meters of Gloucester road which is the main strip of shops in the Montpellier area of Bristol. Anja, one of my new housemates is picking me up at the hostel in a few hours so that I don't have to take a cab to my new place.
This morning I went to the Bristol "slow food market" which is sort of like a farmers market. There seems to be a movement for a slower lifestyle pushing its way around england, europe, and also north america, and its roots lie in the slow food movement, which pushes fresh ingrediants, home cooking, supporting local suppliers, organics, etc... I guess to support the movement the city made a once a month market, which is sort of like a farmers market but also attracts vendors from further out of town because its only once a month, and you can also find wine, cider, cheese, meats, preserves, and not just veggies. It was a nice market, though I didn't stop to buy anything. Check out this link to see more about this slow food business...
Last night I realized that I hadn't had a real hot meal for about a week (everything I eat is pre-packaged sandwhich and salad, and the occasional fast food) so I treated myself to a cheap dinner at a place called Double Dutch Pancake House to celebrate my finding a place to live. It was a strange place, they make these huge thin pancakes which are a bit like crepes but not as sweet and fill them with all sorts of things... I had the chicken curry which came with rice and salad. It was a bit like my Grandmother's roti in flavour, only not folded up so that you could eat it with your hands. It was really good regardless, and it felt nice to eat a meal that hadn't been pre-prepared and sitting in a fridge/under a heat lamp. Once I get moved in it will be great to be able to buy real groceries and cook for myself every day.
I'll post again later today and hopefully be able to put up some pictures... I just had a few minutes because I realized that at the free internet place with the metal keyboards which are difficult to use actually had free wireless and so I am able to plug my laptop in and get connected much more easily. And so I thought I'd log in before I ate my lunch.
This morning I went to the Bristol "slow food market" which is sort of like a farmers market. There seems to be a movement for a slower lifestyle pushing its way around england, europe, and also north america, and its roots lie in the slow food movement, which pushes fresh ingrediants, home cooking, supporting local suppliers, organics, etc... I guess to support the movement the city made a once a month market, which is sort of like a farmers market but also attracts vendors from further out of town because its only once a month, and you can also find wine, cider, cheese, meats, preserves, and not just veggies. It was a nice market, though I didn't stop to buy anything. Check out this link to see more about this slow food business...
Last night I realized that I hadn't had a real hot meal for about a week (everything I eat is pre-packaged sandwhich and salad, and the occasional fast food) so I treated myself to a cheap dinner at a place called Double Dutch Pancake House to celebrate my finding a place to live. It was a strange place, they make these huge thin pancakes which are a bit like crepes but not as sweet and fill them with all sorts of things... I had the chicken curry which came with rice and salad. It was a bit like my Grandmother's roti in flavour, only not folded up so that you could eat it with your hands. It was really good regardless, and it felt nice to eat a meal that hadn't been pre-prepared and sitting in a fridge/under a heat lamp. Once I get moved in it will be great to be able to buy real groceries and cook for myself every day.
I'll post again later today and hopefully be able to put up some pictures... I just had a few minutes because I realized that at the free internet place with the metal keyboards which are difficult to use actually had free wireless and so I am able to plug my laptop in and get connected much more easily. And so I thought I'd log in before I ate my lunch.
Saturday, September 03, 2005
another day
things are going pretty well for me here
one of the two places I was hoping to move into fell through, and the other ill be meeting later today to find out whats going on. In the mean time, I going to make some calls and see a few more places to keep my options open.
the organic food fest starts today and should be fun... i'm hoping there will be some free food tasting so I'm going to head down there around lunch time. For the morning I'm going to walk up to the montpellier area (where I want to live) and check out some shop window postings for other places to live.
I saw another great place last night after work, but it wasn't in the most ideal location for proximity to downtown, although the area was quite safe. Ill keep that on the back burner until I hear from the people this afternoon. I'm hoping that things work out because they were my first choice (nice people, really close to shops, and safe neighborhood), but i've got some more good leads just in case.
Yesterday was a fun second day at work. I started my day off with a few intro meetings and then spent the afternoon trying to find a speaker for a group who is coming to th museum in a few weeks... it was a tough job, because they want someone who can talk about the cultural exchange that took place between bristol and the caribbean with specific relation to its affects on the geoprahy (landscape and architecture) of both areas. basically someone who can talk about how the english modified the landscape in the carribean, and then how te wealth brought in from the slave trade affected the development of the city here..... YIKES! anyway, I got a good lead on a prof at the U of Bristol who is focused on landscape history and also cultural reactions to long distance trade routes, so that might take me somewhere on monday. I don't think this is the sort of job Ill be doing a lot, I think its sort of a get go job to keep me busy and see how I do with dealing with a peculiar sort of task.
I'm not feeling too homesick yet, though every now and then it hits me just how far away I am from Canada. Bristol is nice because on the whole it has a similar feel to Toronto (multicutural, mix of people, friendly nature, etc) so it doesn't feel like I am culturally so far away... especially as I am used to hearing the british accents now. Funny though, there are a few things to get use to - for example malls and shops all close arond five or half five here, so its tricky to do errands after work. Coffee shops are the same... most aren't open past six. And then going with that trend, people start lining up to get into clubs and bars as early as seven or eight... Like I said I'm totally used to the accents, though I did go into starbucks (forgive me the other coffee shops were closed and I had 45 minutes to kill before a house visit) and when the girl spoke with a british accent it took me by complete surprise - i think because it was so much like a starbucks in Canada, i forgot where I was.
Every now and then I think of the time difference (its six AM at home right now) or see a world map at the museum and it hits me how far away things are... but it doesn't really bother me too much aside from the occasional butterflies in the stomach. The museum has a big Hudson Bay Company blanket on display in its exhibit on the fur trade and it was a nice comfort to notice that yesterday when I was studying the galleries.
Well, I'm off to take a walk I've been taking lots of photos, so once I get settled I'll post them up here.
- Chris
one of the two places I was hoping to move into fell through, and the other ill be meeting later today to find out whats going on. In the mean time, I going to make some calls and see a few more places to keep my options open.
the organic food fest starts today and should be fun... i'm hoping there will be some free food tasting so I'm going to head down there around lunch time. For the morning I'm going to walk up to the montpellier area (where I want to live) and check out some shop window postings for other places to live.
I saw another great place last night after work, but it wasn't in the most ideal location for proximity to downtown, although the area was quite safe. Ill keep that on the back burner until I hear from the people this afternoon. I'm hoping that things work out because they were my first choice (nice people, really close to shops, and safe neighborhood), but i've got some more good leads just in case.
Yesterday was a fun second day at work. I started my day off with a few intro meetings and then spent the afternoon trying to find a speaker for a group who is coming to th museum in a few weeks... it was a tough job, because they want someone who can talk about the cultural exchange that took place between bristol and the caribbean with specific relation to its affects on the geoprahy (landscape and architecture) of both areas. basically someone who can talk about how the english modified the landscape in the carribean, and then how te wealth brought in from the slave trade affected the development of the city here..... YIKES! anyway, I got a good lead on a prof at the U of Bristol who is focused on landscape history and also cultural reactions to long distance trade routes, so that might take me somewhere on monday. I don't think this is the sort of job Ill be doing a lot, I think its sort of a get go job to keep me busy and see how I do with dealing with a peculiar sort of task.
I'm not feeling too homesick yet, though every now and then it hits me just how far away I am from Canada. Bristol is nice because on the whole it has a similar feel to Toronto (multicutural, mix of people, friendly nature, etc) so it doesn't feel like I am culturally so far away... especially as I am used to hearing the british accents now. Funny though, there are a few things to get use to - for example malls and shops all close arond five or half five here, so its tricky to do errands after work. Coffee shops are the same... most aren't open past six. And then going with that trend, people start lining up to get into clubs and bars as early as seven or eight... Like I said I'm totally used to the accents, though I did go into starbucks (forgive me the other coffee shops were closed and I had 45 minutes to kill before a house visit) and when the girl spoke with a british accent it took me by complete surprise - i think because it was so much like a starbucks in Canada, i forgot where I was.
Every now and then I think of the time difference (its six AM at home right now) or see a world map at the museum and it hits me how far away things are... but it doesn't really bother me too much aside from the occasional butterflies in the stomach. The museum has a big Hudson Bay Company blanket on display in its exhibit on the fur trade and it was a nice comfort to notice that yesterday when I was studying the galleries.
Well, I'm off to take a walk I've been taking lots of photos, so once I get settled I'll post them up here.
- Chris
Thursday, September 01, 2005
first day of work
I wish that I could send everyone individual emails and all sorts of different stories but the reality is that internet cost a pretty penny for a guy like me who has no fixed address and faces a lot of difficulty using the metallic keyboards at the free internet place.
Today was my first day of work and it was quite amazing. I guess about once every few months they have these things called staff induction days where you get a full intro to the musuem... it was perfect!
The director of the Museum gave us the full history of the museum and the building (it was especially neat to hear it from him because although the museum only opened in 2002, he has been working on the project since the early 1990s). The museum's history starts way back in the1980s when John Letts had the idea to found a museum that would show britians impact to future generations when the country had lossed a lot of power and become just a small island nation... he thought about the impacts of Britain (language, industrial revolution, and the effects of the empire) and realized that the latter of the three was rarely ever address in museum and school curriculums... thus the idea was born
It's such a cool story, but i'll save you all the details... but it really was amazing to hear about all the struggles the Museum director faced during the final years of the museum's establishment... from facing opposition in trying to create a museum that addresses very faux-pas topics, to the buying the old dilapidated Brunel train station and working through almost three years of renovations to get it going (this was even before the Museum had any artefacts or collections of its own)... it truly is an amazing story.
The director took us on a whole tour of the building, which was the first purpose designed passenger train station in the world (ie. a train station built to be a train station), which was really neat because one of the things I'll be doing right away is developing a tour of the building to be used as a trial tour in the next few weeks, later to be put to use in the Brunel Anniversary celebrations in 2006.
the Museum is quite remarkable... one of its major focuses is Oral history. In fact, when it was first being developed its first collections came out of 1000s of interview done of british citizens and citizens of other countries from the empire. Those interviews served as a basis for the museum, and the artifacts that many interviewees insisted be donated started off the physical collections. One section of the museum exhibits plays an ongoing set of video interviews which portray different experiences of people from the empire... one of whom is a woman who moved to London from Trinidad just after the war!
Another cool thing about the museum is that it is totally privately funded. In addition to funds from donations and visitors, it makes a great deal of revenues from renting out the old passenger shed platform part of the station as a multi-purpose banquet hall, and its boardroom for meetings and conferences. Also they rent out the kids areas for birthday parties and the cafeteria offers really tasty catering services for all on-site functions -all those endeavors make up for over 1/3 of its operating costs (about 1/2 million pounds). Also the Education department makes education kits for use outside of the museum inlcuding dvd rom sets and curriculum expansion units, which are sold or rented to teachers and school boards thus funding the programs more. They have some really ingenious ways of sustaining the museum.
Finally what is really great about the museum, is because of its contentious nature they attracted a wide variety of academic figures in its development, all of whom served as advisors during the 12 month period when the director and staff were rushed to create the entire permanent gallery. As a result, they are more connected to higher learning than any other museum and have linked with local universities and also universities all over the world.
sorry to go on, but it really is a remarkable place! it's really neat to see how things are organized at a large museum, especially that is organized so uniquely.
For my teacher type or museum savvy friends, check out the link on this site to the Museum, go to education, and look at the pdf guide to the learning journeys (their basic marketing tool for teachers and schools)... i think you'll find some of the workshops and also some of the ways that the programs are presented really interesting,
In other news, I followed lindsey's advice and went to Tesco to buy my dinner tonight. In an email she turned me on to the prepared food section, and I was able to buy a egg salad sandwhich, a chicken ceaser salad, a roll of fruit pastilles (my new favorite candy), and a bottle of apple juice all for £2.60. Definitely one of the best deals yet, though I bought a HUGE falafel pita for about the same from a kiosk in the harbour yesterday.
I'm currently debating between two places to live (matt I totally forgot to check for the blue duck thingy)... I lost a bit of sleep last night tossing and turning, but have bought myself another night because I just want to think a bit more. Both places seem really eager to have me... the long and short of it is that one is cheaper has a large room but is a bit further/not as nice an area, the other has a small room, is a bit more per month, and is located exactly where I want. ugh. also the people at the cheaper place smoke, so that's a factor. They are both having someone else to see it tonight, so I'm still looking up places in case they both dump me... but it seems like they will wait to hear from me before offering it to another person.
All in all that is what's going on with me. I'm really ready to move out of the hostel, though I think i could last a few more nights if I needed to... a bunch of loud/crazy guys where checking in this afternoon, so I'm hoping none of them will be in my room, it was only 5:30 and they all seemed a little drunk... so I thinking the hostel will try to put them all together (there is only one or two open beds in my room).
That's it... and oh yeah, in the post I wrote about the under 25 in clubs, I meant that the signs say "Over 25 at the discretion of the manger" meaning that they like to keep the clientele young and hip. sorry for the mistake
- Chris
p.s. i love brit-talk, this afternoon when my boss was talking about the right way to approach certain people for funding grants, he was talking about not giving them too much info or two many separate proposals at once so that they don't get all frustrated and cranky... and he warned that "...pretty soon it will be teddies flying out of prams" which I thought was a great expression!
Today was my first day of work and it was quite amazing. I guess about once every few months they have these things called staff induction days where you get a full intro to the musuem... it was perfect!
The director of the Museum gave us the full history of the museum and the building (it was especially neat to hear it from him because although the museum only opened in 2002, he has been working on the project since the early 1990s). The museum's history starts way back in the1980s when John Letts had the idea to found a museum that would show britians impact to future generations when the country had lossed a lot of power and become just a small island nation... he thought about the impacts of Britain (language, industrial revolution, and the effects of the empire) and realized that the latter of the three was rarely ever address in museum and school curriculums... thus the idea was born
It's such a cool story, but i'll save you all the details... but it really was amazing to hear about all the struggles the Museum director faced during the final years of the museum's establishment... from facing opposition in trying to create a museum that addresses very faux-pas topics, to the buying the old dilapidated Brunel train station and working through almost three years of renovations to get it going (this was even before the Museum had any artefacts or collections of its own)... it truly is an amazing story.
The director took us on a whole tour of the building, which was the first purpose designed passenger train station in the world (ie. a train station built to be a train station), which was really neat because one of the things I'll be doing right away is developing a tour of the building to be used as a trial tour in the next few weeks, later to be put to use in the Brunel Anniversary celebrations in 2006.
the Museum is quite remarkable... one of its major focuses is Oral history. In fact, when it was first being developed its first collections came out of 1000s of interview done of british citizens and citizens of other countries from the empire. Those interviews served as a basis for the museum, and the artifacts that many interviewees insisted be donated started off the physical collections. One section of the museum exhibits plays an ongoing set of video interviews which portray different experiences of people from the empire... one of whom is a woman who moved to London from Trinidad just after the war!
Another cool thing about the museum is that it is totally privately funded. In addition to funds from donations and visitors, it makes a great deal of revenues from renting out the old passenger shed platform part of the station as a multi-purpose banquet hall, and its boardroom for meetings and conferences. Also they rent out the kids areas for birthday parties and the cafeteria offers really tasty catering services for all on-site functions -all those endeavors make up for over 1/3 of its operating costs (about 1/2 million pounds). Also the Education department makes education kits for use outside of the museum inlcuding dvd rom sets and curriculum expansion units, which are sold or rented to teachers and school boards thus funding the programs more. They have some really ingenious ways of sustaining the museum.
Finally what is really great about the museum, is because of its contentious nature they attracted a wide variety of academic figures in its development, all of whom served as advisors during the 12 month period when the director and staff were rushed to create the entire permanent gallery. As a result, they are more connected to higher learning than any other museum and have linked with local universities and also universities all over the world.
sorry to go on, but it really is a remarkable place! it's really neat to see how things are organized at a large museum, especially that is organized so uniquely.
For my teacher type or museum savvy friends, check out the link on this site to the Museum, go to education, and look at the pdf guide to the learning journeys (their basic marketing tool for teachers and schools)... i think you'll find some of the workshops and also some of the ways that the programs are presented really interesting,
In other news, I followed lindsey's advice and went to Tesco to buy my dinner tonight. In an email she turned me on to the prepared food section, and I was able to buy a egg salad sandwhich, a chicken ceaser salad, a roll of fruit pastilles (my new favorite candy), and a bottle of apple juice all for £2.60. Definitely one of the best deals yet, though I bought a HUGE falafel pita for about the same from a kiosk in the harbour yesterday.
I'm currently debating between two places to live (matt I totally forgot to check for the blue duck thingy)... I lost a bit of sleep last night tossing and turning, but have bought myself another night because I just want to think a bit more. Both places seem really eager to have me... the long and short of it is that one is cheaper has a large room but is a bit further/not as nice an area, the other has a small room, is a bit more per month, and is located exactly where I want. ugh. also the people at the cheaper place smoke, so that's a factor. They are both having someone else to see it tonight, so I'm still looking up places in case they both dump me... but it seems like they will wait to hear from me before offering it to another person.
All in all that is what's going on with me. I'm really ready to move out of the hostel, though I think i could last a few more nights if I needed to... a bunch of loud/crazy guys where checking in this afternoon, so I'm hoping none of them will be in my room, it was only 5:30 and they all seemed a little drunk... so I thinking the hostel will try to put them all together (there is only one or two open beds in my room).
That's it... and oh yeah, in the post I wrote about the under 25 in clubs, I meant that the signs say "Over 25 at the discretion of the manger" meaning that they like to keep the clientele young and hip. sorry for the mistake
- Chris
p.s. i love brit-talk, this afternoon when my boss was talking about the right way to approach certain people for funding grants, he was talking about not giving them too much info or two many separate proposals at once so that they don't get all frustrated and cranky... and he warned that "...pretty soon it will be teddies flying out of prams" which I thought was a great expression!
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