I found this bit of gorgeousness via languagehat, a blog I’ve only just started reading.

Antoine Cassar writes in five different languages, but rather than write one poem in one language, he has attempted to “braid” all five together into single poems, called Muzajik or Mosaics. The results are intriguing. The first and third link will take you to some of his poems, and while you’re there I’d recommend listening to the posted recordings. I’ve found, in my brief encounter with them, that the different languages gel well with each other and form very interesting poetry. He’s woven the sounds of the different languages together wonderfully in the poems I’ve heard so far (Go listen).

In the Chimera piece(first link), Cassar says:

“…the mosaics are more than a mere linguistic challenge. Having lived in five different European countries and languages, I find it difficult to decide which tongue I feel more at home with. Although I still write monolingual poetry occasionally (particularly in Maltese), I believe that selecting one, or even two, would mean sacrificing others, and to a certain extent, I feel that making a choice would also imply a political decision. Why the fixation with one as opposed to many?”

I think that’s what immediately appealed to me. Being multilingual, one tends to code-switch – or at least want to code-switch – quite a bit, and it is sometimes frustrating to have to limit oneself to just one language when another would fit a particular situation so much better. Given that there are probably more bilinguals and multilinguals in the world than monolinguals, it is worth asking why the majority has to limit itself for the sake of the minority. (And the over-generalized answer, probably, is that the minority is more powerful or influential – neither of which is to be construed as pejorative.)

There are more things to address here, not the least of which is Cassar’s project to include languages he does not speak into the mosaics, but as the project is, as far as I can tell, still gathering steam, I expect there will be more opportunities to do so. In the mean time, I’m just going to go enjoy what there is.

I’m enrolled in the PhD program. Till 2012. And I’m being paid to do it, which is utterly cool.

There were delays, of course – it’s taken almost a month and a half to process everything. You’d think, with an unconditional offer and two full scholarships, there’d be no reason for any holdups, wouldn’t you? I thought so too. I have seldom been so horribly wrong.

See Australia requires international students to have health insurance while they’re in the country. In itself, this is not a problem. It becomes a problem, however, when you want to switch insurance companies. They don’t like each other and while they’re happy to have you, you need to be punished for ever going over to the competition in the first place. Once they work you over good and proper and make you swear a blood oath to never ever leave the fold again on pain of torture by red tape, you are finally redeemed and accepted into the fold.

You can imagine, then, what the company you’re leaving does to you. Honestly, if my parents had divorced when I was 12 and I’d been forced to choose between them, it could not have been worse.

The incompetence of the people who are supposed to ‘handle’ us international students  was the next hurdle. Yes you need health cover for three years. No you don’t. Yes you do. No you don’t. Unfortunately, it was ‘yes you do’ when I went to accept my offer and I was sent packing straight to the insurance company with offerings of money and vows of eternal fidelity. They were in a benevolent mood – and hey, who isn’t when you give them money – and back I went to finally, finally accept my offer. And then, naturally, I find out that the department of immigration only requires you to have cover for the first 12 months of your degree, after which it is your responsibility to keep it updated.

That stupidity aside though, it’s done and I’m ready to start. I’m quite excited and nervous, but I have about four years to get over that.  I’ve started exploring German on my own, though I’ll sign up for proper classes once I sort out where to go. I’m also sorting through what resources I’ve found at the library and looking for stuff online, though the amount of material searches turn up is a little frightening. Ah well, as I said, four years to go through it all.

I realized something else that’s ‘official’, or at least will be by the time I finish: in 2012, I will have lived in Melbourne for just under six years – that’s longer than I’ve ever lived anywhere before.  Who’d'a thunk?