Last Saturday, a visitor from abroad arrived bringing about 5kg of homemade goodness from Morocco. The food is strangely familiar to a lot of Chinese delicacies, with a decidedly Mediterranean touch with the abundance of cinnamon, honey and almonds in the cooking. I still salivate at the thought of eating the pancakes with cheese and honey, an oddly addictive combination. There was so much love packed into those things, I don’t know how to express my gratitude except by exercising my creative planning skills to show the girl around and make her month-long stay a memorable one.

Between trips to the AGO, hosting last minute guests, I have never experienced so many people staying in a one-bedroom before, nor have had such demand for my music teaching abilities by someone who doesn’t speak English no less. Very different from my usual routine of coming home and sitting on the balcony for some tea and bread with a book in hand, but it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to play host to some very appreciative and lovely people. So what’s up on the academic front?