Doing Laundry: Sept 11, 2006
Bonsoir!
Life occurs at a different pace from the States here in Quebec. Getting
your washing machine repaired, for example, turns out to be a drawn out
process consisting of (so far) at least two weeks of interactions with the
washing machine store. The whole thing begins with first visiting the
repair company to order the repair, then waiting three days for them to call
back in order to schedule a repair visit two days later, then being told the
maintenance person will be over in 20 minutes only to have him come over in
four days instead, then finding out he can't repair THIS problem in the home
so he'll have to call back after he talks to his boss, which takes four
days, then when he does call it is to schedule to pick up the machine, which
occurs two days later. Our machine pick-up did finally occur last week and
five days later, we still sit without a returned and repaired washing
machine.
Waiting for a machine repair, it turns out, means that washing clothes in
Montreal amounts to filling the bathtub with hot water and Tide Free (no
perfumes, or dyes), then adding clothing. Then Rachel and I get to climb
into the tub bare foot and walk around and around in circles on the clothes
kicking our toes in the soap. Washing clothing in this way is a great way
to practice French.
"Lavez les vêtements" (wash the clothes)
"Regardez comment sombre la blouse jaune devient?" (see how dark the yellow
shirt becomes?)
"J'aime la blouse jaune!" (I like the yellow shirt!)
Etc.
Other things in Quebec happen much faster than in the States. The
University semester, for example, covers the same amount of material in 13
weeks instead of 16. A work week ends faster, covering only four days,
instead of five, in the summers. A work days ends more quickly, finishing
at 4:30 (after starting at 9:30), rather than 5.
Rachel and I returned to Montreal in the middle of August after spending the
summer in Alaska with our family. Rachel has already begun her first grade
school year and is also in the process of getting her first two adult teeth
They're the bottom two in the middle, the same first two teeth she got as a
baby. Gratefully, this year Rachel loves going to school. It's a huge
relief to miss the process of her crying everyday all the way there for a
month. She's at Ecole St. Louis de Gonzague this year, which is two blocks
further east than her school last year. An over enrollment difficulty at
her previous school pushed us into the new one. I was worried at first that
this would force further adjustment on Rachel. But it turns out the new
school seems better organized and is less inclined to write home notes about
the protein in her lunches.
My school started last week. My first full-class-time presentation already
occurs this week. I'll be presenting for an hour on the function of thought
experiments in science (I'm looking at Kuhn and Galileo, for those of you
interested) and then fielding questions for another hour. Later on in the
semester I'll be doing a presentation on Derrida's _On Grammatology_ for a
Political Science class on Hobbes and Rousseau that I'm auditing. This is a
profoundly strange juxtaposition of material (going from Kuhn and Galileo to
Derrida), as some of you know. But I'm looking forward to it. I've also
arranged a directed readings course on Althusser, a 20th century French
Marxist, and a reading group on Race and Representation. We'll be reading
_The Racial Contract_ by Charles Mills first.
It's good to be back in Montreal, though I miss Justin (the very nice man
I'm dating from across the continent) and my family quite a lot. It was
good to be with all of them this summer. My summer had its challenges too
though. Two of my friends, one of them a very close friend, committed
suicide in July. It's been painful to deal with the loss, and I'm
struggling. The experience has even influenced what kind of work I want to
do in philosophy and the poems I've been writing.
Being in Montreal also means being further away from our dear friends. We
miss you all very much and would love to hear from you. Please feel free to
call and write. It would be terrific to hear what you're up to and how your
summer has gone.
All our love to all of you!
Je vous aime!
Elaine
Life occurs at a different pace from the States here in Quebec. Getting
your washing machine repaired, for example, turns out to be a drawn out
process consisting of (so far) at least two weeks of interactions with the
washing machine store. The whole thing begins with first visiting the
repair company to order the repair, then waiting three days for them to call
back in order to schedule a repair visit two days later, then being told the
maintenance person will be over in 20 minutes only to have him come over in
four days instead, then finding out he can't repair THIS problem in the home
so he'll have to call back after he talks to his boss, which takes four
days, then when he does call it is to schedule to pick up the machine, which
occurs two days later. Our machine pick-up did finally occur last week and
five days later, we still sit without a returned and repaired washing
machine.
Waiting for a machine repair, it turns out, means that washing clothes in
Montreal amounts to filling the bathtub with hot water and Tide Free (no
perfumes, or dyes), then adding clothing. Then Rachel and I get to climb
into the tub bare foot and walk around and around in circles on the clothes
kicking our toes in the soap. Washing clothing in this way is a great way
to practice French.
"Lavez les vêtements" (wash the clothes)
"Regardez comment sombre la blouse jaune devient?" (see how dark the yellow
shirt becomes?)
"J'aime la blouse jaune!" (I like the yellow shirt!)
Etc.
Other things in Quebec happen much faster than in the States. The
University semester, for example, covers the same amount of material in 13
weeks instead of 16. A work week ends faster, covering only four days,
instead of five, in the summers. A work days ends more quickly, finishing
at 4:30 (after starting at 9:30), rather than 5.
Rachel and I returned to Montreal in the middle of August after spending the
summer in Alaska with our family. Rachel has already begun her first grade
school year and is also in the process of getting her first two adult teeth
They're the bottom two in the middle, the same first two teeth she got as a
baby. Gratefully, this year Rachel loves going to school. It's a huge
relief to miss the process of her crying everyday all the way there for a
month. She's at Ecole St. Louis de Gonzague this year, which is two blocks
further east than her school last year. An over enrollment difficulty at
her previous school pushed us into the new one. I was worried at first that
this would force further adjustment on Rachel. But it turns out the new
school seems better organized and is less inclined to write home notes about
the protein in her lunches.
My school started last week. My first full-class-time presentation already
occurs this week. I'll be presenting for an hour on the function of thought
experiments in science (I'm looking at Kuhn and Galileo, for those of you
interested) and then fielding questions for another hour. Later on in the
semester I'll be doing a presentation on Derrida's _On Grammatology_ for a
Political Science class on Hobbes and Rousseau that I'm auditing. This is a
profoundly strange juxtaposition of material (going from Kuhn and Galileo to
Derrida), as some of you know. But I'm looking forward to it. I've also
arranged a directed readings course on Althusser, a 20th century French
Marxist, and a reading group on Race and Representation. We'll be reading
_The Racial Contract_ by Charles Mills first.
It's good to be back in Montreal, though I miss Justin (the very nice man
I'm dating from across the continent) and my family quite a lot. It was
good to be with all of them this summer. My summer had its challenges too
though. Two of my friends, one of them a very close friend, committed
suicide in July. It's been painful to deal with the loss, and I'm
struggling. The experience has even influenced what kind of work I want to
do in philosophy and the poems I've been writing.
Being in Montreal also means being further away from our dear friends. We
miss you all very much and would love to hear from you. Please feel free to
call and write. It would be terrific to hear what you're up to and how your
summer has gone.
All our love to all of you!
Je vous aime!
Elaine
posted by hawkbrwn at 1:20 p.m.
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