a busy week

[aryanhwy]

Monday there was an afternoon workshop in Leiden, "Modern and Medieval Logic: An Encounter". There were three talks, the first by Stephen Read, whose visit from St. Andrews was our excuse to hold this event in the first place, then a joint presentation by Benedikt and me, and then Goran Sundholm, from Leiden. I wasn't sure exactly how many people to expect before we went, and thought it would be fairly small, as the ones in Amsterdam have tended to be. So I was very pleasantly surprised that there were nearly 20 people there! Some undergraduates, some faculty, a lady from Utrecht that I'd met at the conference in Udine - all in all, it made for a much more vigorous interaction than I'd expected, complete with very interesting discussions after each talk, and then again during the little reception afterwards. I did have a very bizarre moment at one point, though, mid-way into the final talk, when I realized that somehow in the last few months (since July or so), I've suddenly gone from one of the people who attends various lectures to one whose lectures are attended! All of these people were there to hear me give a talk - sure, it might not have been me, specifically that caused them to come, but they still took time out of their day to come and hear me give a talk. I feel like I've transitioned into a new stage in my academic career. :)

Wednesday Stephen Read came to Amsterdam to give a talk here, which was mostly attended by master's students but which I found both fascinating and enlightening. We took him out to dinner afterwards, to an Eritrean restaurant none of us had been to before, so we had no idea if it was going to be a hit or a miss. I think the verdict came down on hit - the descriptions of the food on the menu seemed a bit off (Stephen and I had specifically desired non-spicy foods, whereas Joel and Stefan prefer spicy food and Joel had specifically picked something described as spicy, and it turned out that what Stephen and I picked out was far spicier than what Stefan and Joel ordered). But it all worked out because the five meals all came in one huge dish, along with a plate of injera (African pancakes), which you tear into pieces and pick up bits of food with (no silverware). So everyone just ate some of everything, and it was all very tasty.

Today I spent most of the afternoon TeXing up the Latin text I'm translating, as I think that in the end the best thing will be to have the Latin on one page and the English on facing pages. After typing up 11 pages of Latin, I feel very confident of my spelling abilities. I think it will also help, as I continue working through the translation process, that I've now thoroughly read the entire text and it will be rattling around in my brain even when I'm not thinking about it specifically.

Tomorrow soon after Latin reading group I'm heading off to catch a train to Hamburg and from thence to Lübeck where I'll be met by someone and taken the rest of the way to Kingdom University. I'll be teaching a class on medieval logic, in addition to my usual class on "European Names and Naming Practices, 500-1600". I'm looking forward to meeting in person a number of people that I've met via email over the last year. And afterwards I've been offered crash space and some tour guide services from someone living in Hamburg, so I'll hang around until Tuesday afternoon sight-seeing and doing neat things until taking the train back Tuesday evening.

Like I said, a busy week.

Comments

[flammifera.livejournal.com]

But it all worked out because the five meals all came in one huge dish

Oooh, have you never had Ethiopian or Eritrean food before? (When I started reading the paragraph, I thought you meant you'd just never been to that particular restaurant before.)

I am immensely thankful to the senior who introduced me to Ethiopian food my freshman year in college. It's one of my favorite cuisines, and being in West Philly, I live near all 3 Ethiopian restaurants in the city, heh. (Although I still only go to 1.)

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

I'd had East African (I think Ethiopian but I'm not sure) before, but only from one of the little restaurant-carts in the mall in front of the library in Madison, where the dishes came in little styrofoam containers. It isn't quite the same. So this style of eating and the restaurant itself were both new to me.

I *love* Ethiopian!

[bend-gules.livejournal.com]

(Eritrea is a country that split off from Ethiopia, on the east side that includes the coast. Ethiopia was apparently unhappy to let it go, because it left them completely landlocked.)

There was a really nice small Eth. restaurant close to my first flat, which has since disappeared, sadly.

Robert has succeeded in periodically finding injeera in the Middle Eastern shops, and recreating some of the dishes, but I love the whole experience in the restaurant - hot cloths to clean your hands before the meal, eating with your fingers, the very different flavours. Yum.

A favourite of mine is the way they serve coffee - tiny cups, very hot strong coffee, with sugar, with room on the tray for a small incense burner. The incense aroma is part of the experience of the coffee! Since coffee is supposed to originate in Ethiopia, I'm sure they know best. Fabulous.

I'll try to make time for your logic class - see you there!