Funny Vocabulary

While I'm on the topic of vocabulary, I thought I would share a exert from the Indian Institute of Pluses Research pamphlet I was given when visiting the station. Under the heading 'Brief History', it reads:
"Before metamorphosing into its present incarnation in 1993, the Institute has started its journey as All India Coordinated Pulses Improvement ... It was later elevated as Directorate of Pluses Research ... The AICPIP was trifurcated in to three coordinated projects on chickpea ... the Institute is playing a key role in strengthening the nutritional security and sustenance of soil health."

I found it funny that such elaborate vocabulary was used within a paragraph plagued with grammatical errors, although who is the English as a first language person to point fingers. I am sure I would slaughter a paragraph in Hindi and rely quite heavily on a thesaurus.

Expanding My Vocabulary

Today I read 2 articles and learnt a new word in each of them. They are very good words. I would suggest incorporating them into your vocabulary. I plan on doing so. Here they are:

Emanating - verb : to come out from a source a sweet scent emanating from the blossoms

Ameliorate - transitive verb : to make better or more tolerable; intransitive verb : to grow better.

Actually, I think I new emanating already. Oh well.

Is it garden time yet???

This weekend I got approval to put in a small garden at Morgan's. I am so excited! So I am starting a list of thing I plan on putting in my garden (to go along with the raspberries and rhubard that are apparently already established). Here it is (so far):
-Tomatoes
-Cucumbers (I love making pickles!)
-Carrots
-Lettuce
-Onions
-Potatoes
-Pumpkins
-Sweet corn (I know it will not be the same as home, but it's better than nutin')
Any more suggestions/requests?

In the future I hope to expand the garden to include strawberries, a dozen sour cherry trees, saskatoon berry bushes and maybe some apple trees, but for now I think I should focus on the annuals. Happy spring everyone!

Facebook

I have found a new distraction. I do not need a new distraction right now. I am very busy, although you would not know that based on the amount of time I have wasted on Facebook this past week. Facebook is annoyingly addictive. I have located many of my old friends from home (a few I was hoping to forget) and joined a group called 'My first drink was at a cow show ... and it wasn't the last'. I am going to set up Facebook regulations for myself so I do not spend more than 1 hour a week wasting time on it. I knew I was wasting time last night when I asked each of the leaders of the 3 non-franco major political parties to be my friends (the PM included).

Table manners

Since returning, I have realized in 3 different times that my table manners have disappeared. I am not surprised. When an entire sub-continent eats with their hands, I guess what we would consider table manners are not a part of the dining culture. And when you are exposed to that for the better part of a month I am sure it is bound to wear off. For example, whenever we would have a meal in Bangladesh, it would be like everyone was pulling up to the trough. People would eat fast, with their elbows on the table, would dish up their food and not pass it along, would make sucking noises while eating and would indulge their entire hand into their plate of food, the lick it off when finished (sometimes up to the forearm!). At the conclusion of their meal (at which time I would be done about 1/2 my food), they would proceed to get up from the table, walk over to the communal sink which was usually in the dining room and hoark. This wasn't a quiet spit either. More like multiple digging from their throats with massive amounts of air derived from the diaphragm. So if I happen to eat with my elbows on the table and speak with food in my mouth for the next few weeks while I am adjusting to a mannered society, please forgive me.

Not a real post yet

I have uploaded a pile of pictures from my trip on my Flickr site, but have not yet had a chance to fill you in on the details of the last week of my trip. Once again, Shauna has described things in much more detail than I would provide. I also suspect she is in the process of uploading some pictures to her flickr site. There are some great ones Shauna! I journaled quite a bit throughout the last leg of the trip and will hopefully transcribe some of my thought within the next week, so please keep on reading!

I'm okay!

but i don't have long to post. I am at heathrow airport in london right now waiting to fly out in an hour and a half. i'll have to write a long post on my journeys since my last post when i get home. it was a crazy ride!

the past 2 days i have been taking in some sites in london and visiting with my cousin andrew and his girlfriend maki. i love london and find the way british people talk to fish very amusing ... i'll explain later. a big congradulations to andrew who was offered a position as a history prof at laurentian university last night. i think i am a prof-offer good luck charm as this is the second time i have been with someone who was offered the job! anyways, gotta go, only a few minutes left before my pound worth of time runs out.