Jan 17 Back to Teaching

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Teaching update: I had intended to play an American game (Charades or Seven Up) with my students, but we were short on time. Code that I expected to take 5-10 min took 30 min - 1 hour, likely because the students may not be comfortable implementing / debugging Python yet. (I will have to pay closer attention to students already familiar with Python.) I also led the class through the code much sooner than before since I was short on time. The problem is many students don't absorb/understand even after explaining.

Lunch: 5x5 Food Court

  • Cabbage dolma with rice and lentils
  • Beet salad with red beans
  • Buckwheat (?) - had lots of flavor / odd taste I'm not familiar with

Dinner: Ani Restaurant
  • Pork tabaka with potatoes, peppers, tomato
  • Greek salad

There was also live music! It was quite loud and drowned out conversation, so definitely not background music. The dhol (drum), tar (guitar like, except no holes), and keyboard provided support while the vocalist and duduk (loud wind instrument with reed) alternated taking the lead. The sounds of the tar reminded of a zither (or Chinese guzheng or yangqi). Also, all the musicians were men.


Also, at another table, there was a large family and I noticed that all the women and children sat on one side while the men sat on the other! And once the women all left as a group (maybe to smoke??) and then the men all left. The men are also more likely to show affection for each other than in the Western world - either through a kiss for greeting or by dancing together.

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