Library Owl

What is a potluck?

I haven't heard about a potluck before I came to Canada. A potluck is a gathering that each participant brings a dish to share with the group of people.

In the first week when the term started, SLAIS put up a potluck at its lounge. It was the first Friday of the term and there was a after-potluck party afterwards. Faculties, office members, and students greet each other to have a new beginning, and got drunk at the after-potluck party. Afterall, it's a Friday. People are welcomed to bring their partners to the potluck as well.

In the end of the term, there was also a potluck to celebrate the end of all the labours given during the term. A lottery was held there as well. The rule of the lottery is that 2 tickets for CAD$5 (or 3 for $10, kind of forget about the rules). The winner can get half of the cash while the other half of the cash goes to a charity organisation of the winner's choice.

I didn't know about it at first, and just went to the potluck in the beginning of the term. Then I learnt about the tradition and brought some fried rice noodles with pumpkin at the end of the term potluck. Some of the friends even baked their own brownies or cupcakes, they are really great chefs.

I was shocked when I learnt that I could only borrow books from UBC library for 2 weeks. Being a graduate student at NTU for years, I was used to be able to borrow books for 2 months, and renew books about once per 2 months. So, I read through the library's circulation rules, but couldn't figure out why I couldn't borrow books like other graduate students at UBC. Normally, graduate students at UBC could borrow books for 2 months as well. Then, I went to the library counter and asked about it. The librarians(?) at the counter checked my student card, the library record, and declared to me that I was an unclassified student at UBC. I was shocked. It was hard to define whether I was a graduate student or unclassified student in my mind since I attend master level courses there. As a result, I would like to have as much privilige as a true graduate student at UBC since its a tiring job to renew one's records online every couple of weeks as an unclassified student. Furthermore, graduate students often borrow materials to read for their term papers. It's really bad for an unclassified student to take graduate courses while one could not have as much time to read what they borrow as normal graduate students.

As a person spent years in Taiwan and becoming sick of the government, there is always doubts that what Taiwanese government is doing to promote Taiwan in the world. In fact, there is somthing they are trying to do, although I am not really sure about the effects.

Illustrator's Breakfast with Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire