Day 20

The reason why Ali is hibernating

We had our first visitors today. And for those of you who know us well, you'll know that's a good thing! We love having people over. So the children showed their new friends around the apartment & had a great time playing together (after they'd finished all their school work of course!)

The temperature outside is -26 degrees C and falling so I certainly won't be venturing outside tonight. In fact I haven't ventured outside all day, which is most unusual for this 'fresh air freak'! But I'm most content to just watch the snow from the window for a day or two.

Ali

Okay, so that was really weird. Gave a 2 hour lecture this morning on physical chemistry. The pitch was about right, though could have stretched them a bit more. But after I finished some of the students applauded me. And I’m pretty sure it wasn’t in thanks for having finally finished the lecture. Inevitably, there was a Boltzmann distribution of students who engaged with the lecture material. But some who didn’t even bring any writing material. Turns out the attendance for lectures is mandatory, though I’d rather they just didn’t bother. Next week I give a bit more phys chem, which will be accessed. Got a few days to prepare for it, so hopefully can figure out how to make physical chemistry interesting.

Got my first departmental meeting of academics this Friday. Quite excited by the prospects, but I doubt the feeling will last.

Ray