Well, it's Halloween and there are little children all over town dressed on costumes. I am not certain whether they are attending church-affiliated festivities as they seem to be mostly walking in that general direction. As I sit in the student lounge area of the library - taking a break from the research - I notice more students this evening than usual. Strange since I assumed they would be continuing the holiday revelling. There's a large booming noise outside the window but I cannot see out so it may be more firecrackers. It sounds more like huge drums being beaten.
Today, after attending church, I walked around the neighborhood taking videos and snapshots of houses. There is a wide range of plant vegetation - I even saw a palm tree in the front yard of someone's flat! It looked no worse for wear considering it get's quite cold - low 30's at times. I supposed it not that peculiar of a thing - just wholly unexpected. After my stroll I made my way back to the apartment to pack up my "gear" for the five minute jaunt to the library.
Normally, I'm just toting the netbook, paper, and a book or two. Today, I also brought along the regular-sized laptop - with an accompanying mouse, webcam, etc...which I packed in it's zebra print covers. I didn't make mention of this during yesterday's blog posting, but it had gotten a bit chilly and I had decided to change from my normal tweed jacket into my Tracken coat - a German number that looks more like Dracula's cape than the normal attire of most Belfaster's - usually mid-waist in length. I got quite a few stares, and at first, chocked it up to the thought that maybe passersby surmised it was a Halloween costume. One fellow stopped dead in his tracks - yelled out some unintelligible words, followed by "oy" and jumped back a step or two. Interestingly enough, the young lady walking with him was unaffected while this hulking guy was quite affected. I suppose the greeting I gave them may have surprised him enough to jump back as he did.
Anyway, I only bring this up because of the responses from almost everyone who saw me toting this zebra print laptop cover. You would have thought it an actual zebra on a leash for the way everyone responded. But, interestingly, after their initial responses of starting, staring, and mumbling something unintelligible, they would immediately take hold of their composure and move on as if all were fine. Some would elicit giggles, others would move a wide birth in their steps - but all who set their eyes on my zebra print laptop cover were forever affected. The most peculiarly interesting occurrence. Now, I'm trying to think of other things I may have brought that are the least bit "out of the ordinary" to continue this little anthropological case study.
I read the post by Dr. Hannah regarding Skype and was, I must confess, rather disappointed. Not only does he have access to t.v.'s he also can Skype on a regular basis. While, I, on the other hand, am so media-starved in my apartment, I still have yet to be able to Skype. Not that I haven't given it my all! As I've noted earlier, I have the technology available to me, I just don't have wifi available in a secluded enough place to actually have a conversation at a time when my family is awake and available. Group study rooms are more difficult to get than you would imagine. It's a first come first serve set up and the few available rooms go fast. Once secured, the rooms are used for quite some time by the students - studious little stinkers. And since I don't have wifi in my apartment, it's a bit dangerous walking about campus in the dark. Of course, maybe I should just drag around my zebra print laptop cover wearing my Tracken coat! That just might be the ticket.
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