Pasta will do you in. Absinthe is your friend.
~Mikaela, 2009
Pandas
February 16, 2009 at 1:34 pm (Family, Posted by Cindy)
Tags: Lee Mama, pandas
I interrupt the travel updating with a random quote from Lee Mama. Background information: several months ago, Taiwan got some pandas, so now everyone is extra in love with pandas. In fact, they’re calling them PAN-da, as opposed to “cat bear,” which is what they’re traditionally called. PAN = fat. Hehe.
Anyway, my mother isn’t quite so enamored of pandas. We weren’t really sure why, until…
Me: Mom, why don’t you like pandas?
Lee Mama: Why would I?
Me: Cause they’re cute! Everyone loves pandas!
Lee Mama: I know. It’s annoying. Everyone thinks they’re so cute. I think they’re just average.
Should be writing
February 13, 2009 at 2:26 am (Picture, Posted by Cindy, Travels, food)
Tags: H&M, Latin Quarter, Paris, Picasso, Pompidou
As always, I turn to blogging when I should be working. Don’t worry; it’s all to your benefit. I bring you…more travel tales! Youki, I’ll do you one better and include pictures when I post to FIT. I promise. Onto Day 3:
We had originally planned to go to Rouen on January 3, but rearranged our itinerary and decided to go to the Picasso Museum instead. (Oh yes, there was quite a bit of itinerary-changing!) Not so much French this time around. I think I was too tired/cold when I was writing!
samedi 3 janvier 2009
Tiff needed a hat, so we started at the mall next door. Auchan opens at 8h30, but the shops don’t open until 10. Uhh…H&M finally rolled up the gate at 10h07. Good job, guys. Off we went…
We wandered around for awhile, searching for the museum. Because we got off at Châtelet, we passed by Pompidou, so we went in. There was a HUGE line in the back…for the bathroom. (That was originally mis-written, and then crossed out. That’s how tired I was when I wrote this. I meant the library!) Right. We didn’t have museum passes yet, so we browsed a bit and headed out. Actually, that’s not completely true. We had just gotten the passes, an adventure in and of itself. I knew we could go somewhere in Les Halles, possibly at a store? The information guy [by the way, my handwriting got very sloppy here; I was definitely nodding off as I wrote!] said no, no passes here, but gave us a couple maps. (Which I used for the rest of the trip, by the way. Very handy…and slightly ragged by the end!) I asked at a telephone store. “Maybe FNCP???” Turns out, I was close. FNAC. It’s a Virgin-like store.
We walked through the free part of Pompidou, then checked out a blindfolded painter in the courtyard. Across from this glass monstrosity is an ancient cathedral/cloister; the juxtaposition seems so Paris.
I spotted a crêperie en route to the Musée (ok, that’s not hard to do), so I picked up a Nutella one and finished its gooey awesome-ness just as we arrived. Both the museum and the artwork were pretty cool; in fact, there was a temporary exhibit going on, and when we asked about it at the end, we found out we had been walking through it the whole time. A contemporary artist had erected huge mirrors and replaced some of the windows with colored panes. (Other observations previously noted.)
***
[I interrupt myself to note that no, I have not noted my other observations here for the blog. So, I will delineate my scribbles and perhaps find supporting Internet evidence for some of my favorite pieces...]
- pic of Diego Giacometti in Musée Picasso
- Picasso and ace of clubs-why?
- <<Le Baiser>> 12 janvier 1931
- <<La Suplicante>> 18 décembre 1937-wardrobe malfunction, missing shoe
- retrato = portrait (Sp.)
- I like <<Retrato de Dora Maar>>
***
We then met up with Joyce’s friend David underneath a statue of Danton at a Mètro station. I think we saw a movie about Danton starring Gérard Depardieu in Barnett’s class. David took us around the Latin Quarter. We stopped in at a café whose doors, like many French doors, do not swing shut. You must push them shut. Later, Tiff and I had Cuban food. I think I’m bad at picking cocktails–they’re always too sweet.
Day Two
February 7, 2009 at 1:13 pm (Picture, Posted by Cindy, Travels, food)
Tags: Eiffel Tower, French, grenouilles, Paris
As Tiffany mentioned, we stayed at her mom’s friend’s ex-husband’s place right outside of Paris. So, for future reference, Shu Shu = uncle and Ah Yi = auntie. For about the first week, I have actual travel journal stories, so I’m just typing out what I wrote in the lovely journal Michelle gave me for Christmas 
vendredi 2 janvier 2009
Aujourd’hui, nous nous reveillons à 9h45. Pour le petit-déjeuner, nos hôtes nous offrent du pain, de la confiture des fraises, et 雞肉醬. [Today, we awoke at 9:45. For breakfast, our hosts offered us bread, strawberry jam, and "chicken paste."] The jar wouldn’t open, though, and when I looked at it, I noticed it was <<de grenouilles.>> That’s not 雞. That’s 田雞! (雞=chicken. 田雞=farm chicken=frog!)
Plus important, il neigeait! [More important, it snowed!] As we finished eating, the snow stopped falling, and the sun came out. Before we left, we saw the snow start to melt.
Nous partons pour le gare. Aujourd’hui, c’était un voyage plus facile que lequel d’hier, car nous n’avons pas eu nos bagages aujourd’hui. Nous avons pris le RER C à Champs de Mars pour rendre visite à la Tour Eiffel. À midi, la tour était fermée car il faisait trop froid et, comme un officiel nous dit: <<It’s too icy.>> Tout de même, il y avait un queue long ne bougeant pas. [We leave for the station. Today, it was an easier trip than yesterday's, because we didn't have our luggage today. We took the RER C to Champs de Mars to visit the Eiffel Tower. At noon, the tower was closed because it was too cold, and, like an official told us, "It's too icy." All the same, there was a long line, not moving at all.]
Ainsi, nous nous sommes promenées au parc. Une femme avec hijab nous a approché: <<Do you speak English?>> Elle voulait de l’argent. Nous avons pris de photos, de la tour et au mur de paix. Nous avons marché plus, en passant l’École Militaire, un chocolatier, une libraire, des autres magasins, et beaucoup de cafés. [And so, we walked around the park. A woman in hijab approached us: "Do you speak English?" She wanted money. We took pictures--of the tower and of the Wall of Peace. We walked some more, passing the Military School, a chocolatier, a bookstore, more shops, and many cafés.]
Les immeubles de la rue sont dans un style classique, avec des portes merveilleux. J’aime bien ces portes. [The apartment buildings in the street were in a classical style, with marvelous doors. I really like those doors.]
En retournant à la tour, nous l’avons découverte ouverte, avec des queues tellement longs! [On returning to the tower, we found it open, with so very long lines!] There was a pair of girls in front of us around our age from some sort of place with white people that did not speak English, Spanish, or Italian. They didn’t talk enough for me to figure out what language they were using. In front of them was an American family; behind us were 3 Midwestern college students, possibly? (Definitely American, maybe Midwestern. Sidebar: while in the park, there were 2 little British girls “cantering” around yelling, “Giddy-up!” Also, many cute little doggies. Adorable.)
To climb the tower, it costs 3,10 € and many steps. With the wind blowing, it was quite easy to become short of breath, although the stairs were pretty manageable in height-length ratio.
Gorgeous views of course. Upon descent, we headed south and walked along Avenue de Suffren, which was mostly residential. In search of lunch and the métro, we turned onto Motte-Picquet.
Pain au chocolat. Win. Public telephone. Lose. We peered into the booth (3 stuck together in a triangle) and spied no coinslots; only a card slot. I tried inserting my ATM card, to no avail.
We had to ask the lady at a desk of a hotel for help twice. The calling card didn’t work. The guys at a phone shop told us to buy a carte téléphonique at le tabac, which we hadn’t been able to find, but it was INSIDE the café!
Finally, we could call David, but he was on his way to his uncle’s for tea, so we decided to just stick around the area and browse.
Monoprix- amazing! First floor: clothing, household items, boulanger, pâtisserie. 2nd: grocery store. Coke is made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup.
McDonald’s- really popular!? Many kinds of coffee, breakfast sandwich: bacon & egg sandwich.
We meandered down the street (Commerce), which had many cute shops, at least three Asian buffets, and lights arching over the street. There was a church at the end.
We headed back to the métro stop and got home just in time for dinner at 7h30.
*Random observation of the day: Placard on side of l’École Militaire in memory of 743 Jews sent to Auschwitz was rather non-descript.
***
Alright, now for some meta-commentary. Here are some “dumb American” things on my part: the lady in a hijab? All the ladies in hijab that I thought were Muslim? Were probably gypsies. I never did end up trying the frog paste, even after it was opened (but Tiffany did, so maybe she’ll tell you about it), but I did have snails, ok?
Oh, and David is Joyce’s friend from Princeton who is parisien and was nice enough to show us around (later in the trip).
I’ll post pictures of things at some point. They have been uploaded to the Internet, but I’m not sure if I want to insert them in blog posts or not. Anyway, Ashley had greatly recommended Monoprix to me, so I was super excited to check it out (continuously throughout the trip), and since it was across from McDonald’s, we looked at its menu, too. Also, I believe buffet in the French sense is like “smorgasbord,” or “spread,” rather than “all-you-can-eat.”
I’m visiting Davis this weekend, though, and Allie is lying in bed yelling at me/talking to Sichen, so I should excuse myself. À bientôt!
Diversity
February 6, 2009 at 1:17 am (College, Life, Posted by Cindy)
Tags: application, diversity, survey
I know, I know. I’m a bad blogger. I haven’t updated in awhile; nor have I shared my winter break stories. First, though, I have to show you this ridiculous survey I’m answering. The career center at school sent out an email asking us to participate, but I don’t think they’re the ones who wrote it; it is probably some sort of company that does recruitment. So, here’s a question I was asked (screenshot):
Why yes, I do have an age. Is it a diverse age? HOW CAN ANY AGE BE DIVERSE!? If a workplace has a wide range of workers, then there exists a diverse age range in that workplace. So, these are the ones that I find problematic (in that everyone has one; it’s just a matter of whether your personal ___ is different from everyone else’s ___):
- age
- education
- ethnicity
- gender
- life experience
- nationality
- personality (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
- sexual orientation (GLBT? Who calls it GLBT? I’ve always seen it LGBT; I guess that’s just an example of the diversity of my experience in this matter. Moreover, since when is heterosexual–but hopefully not overly heteronormative–not a sexual orientation?)
- socioeconomic background
- work function
- work style
I have a love/hate relationship with, “What makes you MORE DIVERSE THAN EVERYONE ELSE?” type questions. Because, really? More diverse? Diversity comes from a collective. I am only diverse if I have a variety of things within myself *that’s what she said*. It reminds me of the “diversity workshop” portion of RA training when I worked for CTD. We spent a couple hours listening to someone teach us about diversity. What did we learn? That the presenter was from Brazil, but she was Italian. In addition, “Hispanic is offensive, because not everyone speaks Spanish. Latino or Latina is preferred.” Really productive, wouldn’t you say? The whole experience was offensive! I ought to have stood up and had a diversity competition with her. “You’re of Italian descent? Well, I’m of Taiwanese descent. You’re from Brazil? Well, I’m from Cleveland. You live in Chicago? Well, I live in the Bay Area.” Does it make me more diverse that I grew up in an area where most people didn’t share my skin color? Does it make me more diverse that I now live in an area where there are a lot of people with different skin colors? Maybe; maybe not. It’s more how those (and other) experiences have shaped me. I’ve led diversity workshops, and let me tell you, they can be a lot more effective than the drivel to which Northwestern employees are apparently subjected. (Sorry for the convoluted prepositions.)
Speaking of Northwestern, let me show you my “diversity statement” for their application.
***
I am gratified to be asked about diversity because exposure to and interaction with a wide variety of people and ideas have so strongly shaped the person that I am today. There are, of course, the checkboxes I fill in on demographics forms. My parents are immigrants, and I grew up in a Midwestern town that did not abound in Asian faces. We later moved to a San Francisco Bay Area suburb whose ethnic and religious composition differed greatly from my hometown. It’s a little fun to defy expectations; Californians marvel at “the Taiwanese girl from Ohio,” and my Midwestern friends are often shocked by the number of Mormons now in my social circle. Neither my ethnicity nor their religion will be the first characteristics listed for our respective regions, but the reality of modern America is that this isn’t completely preposterous.
Tonight, I joined my friend’s family for a Hanukkah dinner. I haven’t been able to share in this tradition since leaving Cleveland, so it was delightful (and delicious) to partake of the latkes. Less ephemeral than the latkes, however, were our cultural revelations. We discussed how, when a friend is from a different background, it can be hard to parse whether our habits are due to personality quirks or cultural influences. I realized that my personal culture is shaped by all the people I’ve met, not just based on my parents’ nation of origin or my predilection for Black Forest Cake. My cognition is enhanced by my experiences, which will in turn contribute to the diversity at Northwestern.
My undergraduate experience has been at a public university, and we pride ourselves on tolerance and bringing together a wide range of backgrounds, but we still lag in representing California’s statewide population. I’ve met people who have not had as straightforward a path in science as I have had. I’ve been able to develop a passion for research because people encouraged me and my high school had the resources for advanced lab activities. Others were shoveled through under-funded programs or shied away from research because of media portrayals. People have every right to mistrust biotechnology, but it should not be due to inaccessibility or bizarre depictions of Frankenfood.
I bring a linguist’s perspective to solving problems; I bring a culturally-aware background to a diverse working environment; I bring passion for scientific research and equity in education. These are all qualities that I’ll encounter at Northwestern, so it is vital that I be able to learn and grow from the diversity that the campus has fostered.
***
So, here are my questions for you. Which checkboxes from above would you mark? (You can pick the problematic ones if you want; but explain!) Which criteria do you think are important for a diverse workplace, academic setting, or life?
