strangerandpilgrim's Xanga

It never gets any easier.

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:11:29 GMT

Victoria went back to Norway yesterday. Mai-Britt is going back to Denmark (via Rwanda) on Monday. Katie is going back to the US in two weeks. John left for London on Thursday. Helen is going to Kenya on Wednesday. Joey will be moving to London soon.

I'm so glad I have so many friends in so many different places but goodbyes make me sad.

I like lists. Could you tell?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:34:19 GMT

My daddy is getting the best fathers' day present this year.
Please can I have a job which involves interpreting, talking to people from all over the world, and making food and crafty things?
It felt very very good to throw away my stinky rubber gloves when I finished my early morning cleaning job today.
My student card is no longer valid, as of today. This means I now have to pay full bus fare.

Miscellany 2: This and That

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:48:56 GMT

I am almost out of sparkling water. Whatever will I drink?
I've come across the "Shaddup-a ya face" song in two very different contexts within a very short space of time. Do you think this is a sign?
I love surprises.
Surprise #1: A completely unexpected and extravagant act of generosity from my mother, which reminded me yet again of my heavenly father's generosity.
Surprise #2: The surprise party for a very dear friend's 40th birthday that about 30 people from church are in on. She has ABSOLUTELY no idea and I cannot wait.
Why is it that some people like, and seek out, the feeling of fear - rollercoasters, skydiving, horror/thriller films? I think fear is my least favourite feeling, and the fear of fear occasionally gives me a slightly panicked feeling too. Am I weird, or are they, or is it just a preference like drinking tea or coffee?
Euro 2008 is much more exciting without the crazy hype and tinges of racism that would be present if England were playing.
Ich hab Angscht, dass ich kei Schwaebisch mehr kann.
I grew teary-eyed over the newspaper again today, and it wasn't even a particularly distressing story.

Also:

Dear France,

I miss you. I miss the simple suppers we had together on the terrace, in the beauty of the evening sun. I miss your lovely mountains, with their ever changing clothes. I miss those day trips you took me on - pottering about tiny villages, falling in love again and again with Annecy, exploring the back streets of Grenoble. I miss hearing your beautiful language every day. I miss the smell of fresh bread from a bakery early in the morning. I even miss our arguments.

I really wish I could, but I just can't visit you at the moment. Please come and see me, and please bring all those friends of ours with you. I miss them too, you see.

I love you,

Me xx

Miscellany

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:44:24 GMT

I am bad at blogging.
Squirrels scare me.
I prefer drinking hot vegetable stock to drinking hot chocolate.
I have only three exams to go and then I'll be finished with my BAMLI.
I still want to learn more Arabic. And quite possibly some Kurdish.
More and more I find myself tearful when reading the newspaper.
I have been feeling extremely maternal about two people who are older than me.
I want to run through a sudden summer storm again.
I cannot think of anything else to add to this list.

Relationships be tricky things.

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 16:20:33 GMT

True that.

I'm kind of coming out of blog-retirement, but I won't make any promises.

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:22:57 GMT

As those of you who read my facebook status will know, I am ueber ueber ueber EXCITED about having started an Arabic course this week. I've been wanting to learn Arabic for about four or five years now and kept on postponing it, often with flimsy excuses. So when I saw a sign advertising the University's intensive course over the Easter holidays, I decided to stop dithering and get started.

I've been giddy with excitement about it since I paid for the course two weeks ago - ask my housemates, they had to live with it!

But, honestly, I was also slightly worried. I have a natural ability with languages, possibly due to being bilingual from the age of one. And I've learnt French, German and Spanish (to some extent) since then with no great difficulty. I know fairly well how I best learn a language. However, I was worried that my language ability might be limited to the Germanic and Romance language families. That the writing system and complete different-ness of Arabic would prove too much for my brain. I was excited, but also worried that it might turn into a big let-down.

Which is why I'm absolutely thrilled that these worries didn't come true. It is difficult, true, and it is taking a while to wrap my brain around the reading and writing. But I'm managing, and I'm enjoying it, and my desire to learn the language has grown even more since we began. The ten hours this week are never going to be enough!

Just in case you hadn't twigged by now - I'm EXCITED!

Interpreting

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:15:24 GMT

Interpreting is really hard, and I love it. I've decided my brain is a masochist - it enjoys being chopped into pieces and made to do three things simultaneously.

And I can't decide if I prefer simultaneous interpretation out of French or out of German. German is definitely my stronger language - it just flows, I can think more freely in it, and stuff just instinctively sounds right or wrong. I can think in French too, but it's a bit slower and I know the rules as rules, so get hung up on them. My vocabulary isn't as extensive in French, either. So you'd think interpreting out of German would be easier. But it isn't always and I'm trying to work out why.

I think it's because I instinctively understand the German. So whereas I hear jambe in French and know it means leg in English, when I hear Bein in German, my brain gets confused: "What do you mean, you want me to translate Bein? Bein is Bein. What do you mean, but what does it mean? Bein means Bein, you silly sausage. A Bein is a Bein is a Bein." And this goes on for what feels like hours, until I finally convince my brain to think outside the German box and provide me with leg.

I love it - it's challenging and exciting.

I should do a new blog entry ...

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:22:09 GMT

but I simply cannot be arsed.

Should I sell an egg?

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 03:46:00 GMT

Apparently you get a lot of money for one. (Enough money for me to purchase an awful lot of sperm and be choosy about it!) But you also have to reckon with the fact that in 18 years or so someone might come looking for you.

This conversation led us to the conclusion that there's something fundamental to your identity about knowing who actually created you. It's not just the genes - it's who created you.

Wobbly examples: Frankenstein and Pinnochio - the person who created them was 'father', not the dead bodies or the wood (the genes, sozusagen) they were made from.

CS Lewis talks about the difference between us and Jesus being that we are created and he is begotten.

Do you put something of yourself in what you create?

Are things we create always, at least partially, like us?

There's a deep lesson in there, simmering at the back of my mind, but I can't quite touch it yet.

P.S.

Sun, 27 May 2007 09:56:09 GMT

This is so true.