Onwards!

Really don't have much to write about. I have been transcribing interviews for my study and am doing another one tomorrow. .,;6yp;ojuollllllll..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,ypli
Yikes! Just got hijacked by a 3.5year old. Refinanced my loan today, so that should trim some buckeroos off the repayments.
All is going well. Not much to report.

Algeria

You might have noticed I haven't blogged about our time in Algeria in July. Well to put it bluntly, it was tough. If ever I doubted our relationship, it was this month. DJ did exactly what I expected he would do, and simply disappeared for most of the month, after giving us explicit instructions not to leave the house. He was nervous about our personal safety and very very scared of kidnapping.
We managed to leave the house after about a week for a walk, in 38 degree heat, not very successful. The car that his dad has bought in the end wasn't delivered until after we left, so no transport made DJ a very unhappy puppy.
Luckily Hakkim took a week off towards the end of our visit and drove the 12 hours to get to see us. He looks like he's a man with troubles on his mind. He is lovely and adores his family, but he's not letting on his problems. Theriva doesn't want to move to be near him, so he only gets to see his family once every two months.

Kate was a horror in Algeria. She didn't like it at all and misbehaved with me most particularly. It became a "I love daddy I hate mummy" thing which was more than I could bear. She disliked the heat, her grandparents and the food. She stopped eating, lost lots of weight. As did I.

Overall, next time I think we'll stay only a week or two, and treat ourselves to somewhere luxurious on the way home to make it worth while. Hard hard work.

Running goalposts

Well, yes I am slack, or to be more precise, just very very busy. I wish I could devote all my waking hours to this study, but unfortuately I have to earn money as well, and as PhD scholarships fall well below the poverty line, I need to supplement my income. I am after all the main breadwinner in this equation.
I have to get on it however. Each time I meet with Andy, it feels like the goalposts move. I go down one path and I have to do more and more and more just to satisfy what needs doing.
I think this is why I lose motivation. I'm doing what I think I want to do then I have energy and commitment, then it all gets shifted. I feel like I'm walking on sand.

Obama

Had a conversation with my PhD supervisor who is a californian vietnamese of indeterminate sexuality. I commented that I never suspected that the Americans would ever elect Obama as president - that was until I head his oratory. The man is an absolute marvel. He's clearly super intelligent, competant, a brilliant speaker and cuts through the chaff like a scythe. I thought the demoncrats were balmy going for a black man and a woman. Given my impression of the US culture. (Not saying that we here are any better!) I have absolute respect for Mrs Clinton and was gutted when Obama flicked her out of contention. But really never thought the democrats had a chance.
My supervisor's comment, there are those in the US who still can't reconcile that he's president due to the hue of his skin. They can't see how he, from a middle class non-white background could rise to achieve the American dream. I said surely it's to do with the quality of the individual... my supervisor just looked at me and said that I don't quite get the racist thing.
Nope. Don't get racism. Never did really. Must be why I married an Algerian Muslim.