Being Pro-duck-tive

I'm writing now so that I can go to the libraries tomorrow to research for my other paper. I think I am going to write about how far glasnost and perestroika broke from Soviet communism. It should be interesting. Anyway, off ... off.. and today.

Monday
As I said earlier, I woke up earlier to go to breakfast in order to try the mysterious vegemite. Again, it was bad but not as gross as I previously thought. However, during CFB, Damon (an Australian) said that what I probably actually ate was marmite, which is a cousin of vegemite that the British eat. Whatever, it still wasn't good (really salty). Then, my Cold War class began, and again, I had a hard time getting through it. It has to be a combination of his voice (monotone), the time of the class (9 AM), and the duration (2 hours). He's a really nice guy who is actually funny, but I just have a hard time getting through that class. I don't think I've ever had that much trouble. Oh well, we learned about how history often was re-written in the Soviet Union. Originally, they had "Uncle Joe." Then, they hated Stalin, so his supporters had to do a 180 in order to save themselves. This continued until the end of the USSR. In the ensuing plenary lecture, we learned that there are new perspectives to the Cold War. However, she never really stated what those new perspectives were. She never really got to the point, but I did learn a lot about Ernest Bevin (Britain's Foreign Minister until 1951), Robert Schuman (France's Finance Minister during the same time), and Dean Acheson (our Secretary of State at the time). Again, she never really got to the point. We never found out what the new perspectives were. Later, during CFB, we learned about the occupational structure of Britain, mainly focusing on the difference in gender. Is the glass ceiling real? How much does pregnancy affect job acquisition? Does technology take away skills or give new ones? This class has really been interesting. I guess I'm a closet sociologist, but I guess that a social historian would be close enough. Dinner was interesting. We had mango chutney, naan bread, banana curry, and some sort of fish cole slaw. All of it was pretty good, but the fish cole slaw thingamajig (is that right? I'm sure there's a hyphen or something there) had a bad aftertaste. Since then, I went to work on my CFB paper, and I am essentially finished. I need to edit it and maybe add on some more, but all that is fairly nominal (well... editing isn't nominal, but it is easier than actually writing everything). As for the weather today, it rained. It was windy. It was cloudy. It was stereotypical English weather. However, the cool thing was when I went to get tea, I saw a duck walking on the quad's grass. Right now, I am sitting around for a little bit. I may wonder around to find people to talk to for a little bit, but who knows.

Observations:
- My beard trimmer died this morning. Honestly, I am kind of glad as it was never a very good one. I had to charge it up every time. Anyone have any suggestions? The bad thing is that I have to make a decision. Do I buy a new one here that has a British plug or just wait until I get back? I guess I'll see if Jon F (I have been spelling it "John", but I just realized his name is "Jonathan" ... oops) has one.
- I am drinking a lot of hot tea these days. No milk, but I am adding sugar (who would've guessed?). The main reason may be that tea is free and accessible in the JCR, but I like it anyway.
- No matter how much I talk to Kelvin (student assistant from Exeter University), I still can't understand him.
- Falling down rock stairs leaves one heck of a bruise.