Weeknote 48/2023
“Everything I do is the most important thing I do. That means I will be ambitious with my job and not with my career. That’s a very big difference, because if I’m ambitious with my career, everything I do now is just stepping-stones leading to something — a goal I might never reach, and so everything will be disappointing. But if I make everything important, then eventually it will become a career. Big or small, we don’t know. But at least everything was important.”
Verbs
Eating: The Bless, Berlin
On my second evening in Berlin I was looking for somewhere to eat - I wanted somewhere near-ish to the hotel, highly rated, not too expensive (££, £££), and ideally offering the kinds of foods that are harder to get at home in Serbia. A Google search came up with The Bless with a menu that looked pan-Asian with a strong Vietnamese focus and that happened to be 8 minutes from my hotel. I booked a table the evening before and put it out of my mind.
Skirting the ice floes the following evening, I headed over there to get some dinner. I’ve no problem dining on my own and have done so a huge number of times, but restaurants can vary a little in how the treat a solo diner. Most see you just the same as any other table, but occasionally there’s a little hurrying and harrying so that you don’t tie up a table for too long that could go to a couple. In this case, they asked if I would be OK eating at the bar - which happens from time to time when I’m on my own - and, as always, I said that’d be no problem at all. Once I was perched on my bar stool I was immediately welcomed and made to feel like something of a VIP by the Vietnamese barman who made the whole visit a complete joy. He was friendly and engaging, asking me casual questions and checking in with me, and all to exactly the right degree. I didn’t feel hassled or harangued but I felt, seen, and taken care of, and very much welcome. The food was exceptional, creative, and really beautifully presented - I completely inhaled my Asian shrimp tacos to start with and followed it with sticky, glossy pandan duck (the barman’s recommendation) that was paired with matcha waffles and pickled watermelon. A delicately winter spiced old fashioned was expertly made for me with the barman taking me through the process as he did so which was a lovely touch. I then finished things off with a sesame and green tea tiramisu.
The real treat, though, was the barman casually asking if I usually went for whisky cocktails - having ordered the old fashioned. I told him they were definitely my favourite, besides a dry martini here and there, and I would almost always pick one on a menu. He then proudly extracted a bottle of crystal clear liquid from the fridge behind the bar which he told me was a fully clarified New York whisky sour! A what? I asked him. And so he then took me through the whole process - mixing a classic sour, shaking it with hight fat milk, straining it for 12+ hours through coffee filters, building the cocktail in the glass then floating red wine on the top. As he’s explaining all of this to me, and I’m drinking in every word like the big food and drink nerd I am, he’s actually going through the steps so that as he says “… and then a red wine float on top” he stoppers the wine bottle with a flourish and slides the glass over to me. This is for you - I’m experimenting, he says. I’d love to know what you think. Well, ladies and gentlemen, how could you top that?
Watching: Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials, Disney+
Doctor Who holds a special place in mine and my wife’s hearts as, back when we had first met, it was a show that we really bonded over. My wife had never seen any Doctor Who before, so her first experience was actually the 50th anniversary special - not an easy or obvious starting point - but she loved it, and we then went back and watched all of the reboot episodes that came before that and have then followed along with the show since. To have David Tenant back - almost certainly the best Doctor of the reboot era, and a hot contender for a top spot in the all time rankings - is like finding there was one last incredible present left under the Christmas tree. We’ve loved the two episodes that have been released so far, and can’t wait for the third. I’m extremely excited to see Ncuti Gatwa’s take on the Doctor when he arrives in some week’s time and, more than anything, the show really feels like it’s back in the golden days of New-Who with the return of the inimitable Russell T Davies.
Using: Coffee Trip, app and website
When I’m travelling I like to find good coffee shops. They’re a nice place to be, usually located in interesting areas, and if you ask the staff nicely they can often tell you the best restaurants, the best books shops, the best bars and whatever else you might be looking for. I also like to buy bags of coffee beans from local roasters when I travel so that once I get home I can enjoy them as a little memory of the trip and as a way to try some new and interesting coffees. To make all of this easier I’ve used the app and website European Coffee trip for 3 or 4 years and it’s always helped me find brilliant coffee shops wherever I am. In the case of my recent trip to Berlin that was Zwipf coffee where I had a really bright, fruity, juicy V60 and bought some locally roast Colombian coffee beans to bring home.
Following: Noel Philips, YouTube
I subscribed to Noel Philips YouTube channel for a little while now and I enjoy seeing his blogs and videos from his travels around the world. Whilst I was away I watched his video where he attempts to travel around the world in 80 hours using only low cost airlines. I’ve travelled much less this year than the last couple of years where I was flying around 30 times a year - but the kinds of travel this guy does is crazy. His focus is on what the experience is like, how to try and get the best experience possible, and to learn where you can easily save money and when it’s worth spending a little extra. There’s nothing stunt-like to his videos, they’re thoughtful, human, and really insightful. His video about crossing the US from New York to LA entirely on Greyhound busses, for example, is particularly eye-opening and he goes a long way to look at the lived experience of travel in a way I find very engaging. The fact that even under quite tough and stressful circumstances he is unfailingly kind, polite, and calm is particularly impressive.
Words
The brilliant workshop leadership team for the Berlin IBO workshop.
The real focus of this week was my trip out to Berlin to run an IBO workshop for philosophy teachers as part of a bigger IBO training event that was being held. Thinking back I realised that it had been 23 or 24 years since I had last been in Berlin - for a school trip for GCSE history! - so I was really looking forward to seeing the city anew. It’s been so long, in fact, that the airpot I flew into all those years ago is now a park. How time flies (deal with the pun!).
The city had experienced pretty heavy snowfall just the day before I arrived and everything was white as we came in to land. Temperatures hovered around minus 5 for most of the time, and winter and the festive season had very much descended. I was fortunate enough to arrive pretty early the day before the workshops began which meant I had a bit of time to get out and about and I made the most of the opportunity to catch up with a friend, and former student, who is now living in Berlin. We had some fantastic (and enormous) burritos and really good coffee whilst having a chance to chat and catch up in the warm.
With meetings and faculty dinners that first evening, I had a chance to meet the other workshop leaders who were a really fantastic, friendly, and supportive group of professionals. Coming from all over the world and working in a huge range of schools, it’s always such a pleasure to be able to spend time with colleagues and fellow professionals - especially those that really care very deeply about the work that we do.
The workshop itself was enormous fun. I was blessed with an incredible group of participants who were both genuinely excited by and invested in the work we were there to do, whilst also being a fantastic group people to be spending time with. With all the changes to my work over the last months it’s actually been about a year since I led a face to face workshop and it was great to be reminded of why I love working in that format so much. The chance to connect, build relationships, explore, play, experiment, and spend time in the company of wonderful, intelligent, capable, funny people is such a privilege. If any of you guys are reading, thank you!
I’ve mentioned above some of the great food I was able to enjoy whilst in Berlin and I also took the chance, as best as I could in light of the enormous fields of deeply treacherous sheet ice, to have a bit of a walk around each evening after the day’s workshop. I particularly loved a store called Modulor that I found near to my hotel which is probably the biggest art, design, and stationery store I’ve ever come across. It was so big, and offered so much it was almost a little overwhelming but I picked up a few bits and pieces whilst I had the chance.
Travel back home was relatively smooth and uneventful - the best kind of travel in my mind - and of course it’s always good to be back home. We’re travelling again in a few weeks, though not for work this time, which will be a highlight of the festive season I hope, and then there’s travel for business lining up already in the new year. It was brilliant and genuinely rejuvenating to be back working with teachers face to face after so long and has given me exactly the renewed excitement and energy I need as we move into 2024.