Funfare for the Common Man

I’m not a fan whatsoever of alternative medicine: for me, it’s evidence-based, scientifically-proven conventional treatments all the way. But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures, right? I’ve already been down this road, in extreme detail, in a post from nearly 7 years ago, in the early days of my first blog (7 years? Honestly?). I hate to quote myself, but nevertheless I will: One doesn’t truly learn to appreciate living in lesser developed countries (am I starting to sound like an Orientalist yet?) until it comes time to deal with the typical and ever-present bureaucratic rigmarole of everyday living. In other words, the things most of us take for granted, such as healthcare. I’ve found that some of the starkest differences are to be found in three areas: hospitals, post offices and internet cafes. For me anyway, these have been the scenes of some of the most frustrating, enervating moments, though in retrospect I do laugh from to time. I ...

Part IV on my Reflections of 10 years of Teaching: How students annoy us If you missed parts I, II and III, you can easily find them on the right of this page, from April, May and July. What started out as a monthly series of ‘this time 10 years ago’ teaching reflections has hit a lengthy hiatus – at least I’m consistently optimistic even if I can’t deliver on my promises. Forgive me – I’ve been busy. But this has turned out to me one of my most pondered-over, drawn-out posts. I started writing this almost 3 months ago. I wrote a draft and put it aside, to be polished up a day or two later. But then I remembered one or two more ideas and then put off adding them for a week or two. And then I thought of more…and more…and then it started to get out of control and I could barely stop myself. I’ve probably updated this, re-ordered some of the points, added a few, deleted a couple…I don’t know, about 9-10 times now. I’d make a lousy journalist – I’m undisciplined,...