The semester is finally over. Justin and I both finished grading students' papers yesterday, and I finished my last final on Tuesday. Phaaa-shshshooooo.
So what does the summer have in store for us?
Justin's preparing for oral exams (reading a whole bunch of books) and writing his prospectus (planning the research he'll do in Zanzibar for his dissertation).
I'm working a couple mornings a week, taking a readings course, preparing for my internship in Zanzibar, and enjoying, finally, a break from the intense demands of my first year of grad school. That means I don't have to study every second I'm not with Juma. Just most of them.
The readings course I'm taking I designed myself. I picked the topics and the books and articles, so it's more like reading for fun than a class. The topics are the history, anthropology, and public health of Pemba and Unguja (the two main islands that make up Zanzibar).
The book I'm reading now is by a Brisith surveyor, written in 1913 . The stuff he says really dates him--racist overgeneralizations about "The African" and quirky stuff about health. For example, he recommends wearing a flannel shirt and khaki knickerbockers cut at the knee in the tropical heat, but to be sure to wear extra layers of cotton or flannel over the spine to protect it from the sun. So far the book is turning out to be more informative about surveying instruments and techniques than about Pemba or Pembans.
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