Time for some silliness

Goodbye, report on my internship! I don't want to describe the class and its students anymore.

Time for some old Worst Witch episodes.

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( Part 2, part 3, and part 4. )

I also found, to my delight, that someone had uploaded two episodes of the series "The Demon Headmaster", and a couple of other Worst Witch episodes. It's so sad that they're no longer on TV over here, and I don't think I've ever seen The Demon Headmaster - which is sad, I really enjoyed the books.

The University of Hamburg...

... has accepted me!

... one one condition: they want me to re-send certified copies of EVERYTHING I've already sent them (the certificate of qualification for university matriculation, the intermediate degrees of both my courses of study, a kind of official document stating that my English is good enough, and a certificate of my health insurance) and an application for enrollment (which is basically another application) until the 19th of March.
Madness! Whatever FOR?

With the exception of the certificate from the health insurance they already HAVE all those things, I had to submit all those things for my application, the only thing I can think of they might not have a certified copy of are the copies of my intermediate degree in German. And now I have to re-submit everything for my enrollment? CERTIFIED copies (€1 per page)?

It was a standardised page they sent me, so maybe they were just missing the one thing, but that makes me worry they won't accept the confirmation of my language proficiency they've got. When I started at this university I had to do a language test hosted by our institute, now they've abolished those and people have to do the expensive TOEFL test instead. They said what I've given them was fine, and even if I did the TOEFL test now I would never have the results on time, as it takes three weeks for them to correct the essays you have to write.

Grrrrr. I really hope that THAT's not it. If my language skills are good enough for the University of Glasgow, they bloody well should be good enough for the University I have been studying at for years now, without any notable break.

Ok. Back to see Miss Heise on Monday, and to make all those copies.
I don't want to be rejected anyway in the end because I handed in the wrong kind of copy.

Family

This is not really new, but the thing really gets on my nerves every time I see it, which is a lot, because someone decided that subway stations really need this poster.


(On the photo: "I'll learn how to crawl with my Mummy, and how to walk with my Daddy." - although the blog I took this photo from already changed those. -- Under the photo: "The new family benefits. With parental benefits and tax benefits for childcare expenses. (web address)") (c) Der VÄTER Blog


Of course it's good that our government wants to support families. Of course I like the fact that there are programmes that supports families financially, taxes are high enough so that tax benefits come in handy especially for young families with little money. Of course I think active fathers are a good thing because there are far too many absent fathers in families with married parents already.

Of course.

And I never thought I'd mind, because I did not use to care a lot about those stereotypical images, but seeing those images of family perfection, of a man, and a woman, and a baby in the media over and over again makes me feel curiously excluded. As I said, I never thought I'd mind, and in a way, it's ridiculous, as I did not feel excluded when I was a single woman, and I did not feel excluded only half a year ago when I was not thinking seriously about my future and possible families.

One thing is: any future family I can imagine now will never consist of me, a man, and a baby.
If I become pregnant, IF, it will not just happen in any "natural" way, it will not be the result of an accidentally split or an absent durex according to plan, the way they want their families to be.
Starting a family will involve a host of very expensive doctors, probably, quite possibly abroad, a lot. It will involve adoption services, a lot. It will involve the state and lots of paper work and possibly even stern looks from the person on the opposite of the desk, a lot.
And not one of those people who came up with the idea of the poster is going to make it easier for my possible family and others that are not like that image they chose to conjure up.

Another thing: the stereotyping is revolting. Even if I were in a hetero-relationship I would hate the fact that the poster makes mothers once more the nurturers and protectors of the newborn while the fathers are responsible for taking them out into the world. Bah.