Yesterday during language class, in the middle of translating a really difficult reading passage, Mark came across a tongue twister of sorts. It was just a couple of words describing a water bottle, nothing extremely funny. Our language teacher, almost immediately grabbed a piece of paper and started writing something down. Our tired and somewhat focused minds thought he was about to expound on the grammar rule for making nouns possessive as a review for our feeble brains. However, what he wrote had noting to do with what we had just read, and it certainly wasn't a grammar rule. The longer he wrote, the bigger his smile became. There was also a slight twinkle in his eye, I think! He wrote three lines of words, and in the last line were the very two words Mark had stumbled across as he was reading aloud. It was a tongue twister - think "Sally sells seashells by the seashore" and you'll have the right idea. He menacingly asked Mark to read it aloud a couple of times. Then, of course, Mark couldn't let the opportunity pass without cornering me to try it!! We had some good laughs before he started writing again. This time he told us he was writing the longest word in the language - it has 36 characters! And do you think we were able to say it?! Not a chance!!
Well, we got back to business and finished our lesson, but I couldn't leave without telling him about the most mysterious word kids growing up in my generation loved to sing and attempt to spell. You got it . . . supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. (No, I never did learn how to spell it correctly by heart - I had to look it up on the internet!) I explained that it comes from a movie and that it's totally nonsensical. In fact, I don't know how many children watch good 'ol Mary Poppins anymore. He found it rather interesting.
Last night I made a point to write the word down for him so he could see it. Before we started class, I opened my notebook, pushed it toward him, and reminded him of the word we had discussed the evening before. He took a running start and made it almost to "expi" before he started giggling. He made a couple of attempts, read it to himself a time or two, and then got brave enough to try the whole thing out loud where we could hear him. It was really a hoot!! He gave a little sigh, like he was ready to start class, so I pulled my notebook back toward myself. Then I noticed him peeking back over to see it again, giggling to himself. Finally, he grabbed a pen, turned to a clean page in his book, and wrote it down.
I don't know what the longest word in the English language is, but between the two words we were comparing, his won out by 2 characters! And to top it all off, that one word equals a sentence made of 10-12 English words. Maybe one day, we'll have the guts to give it a try. Today, I think I would lose my breath trying to get through the whole thing!!
Hope you're able to expand your vocabulary a little today!
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Beauty of Spring
We had the opportunity to visit a historical site a couple of weeks ago, and it reminded me of the way God's beautiful creation does something to lift my spirits when spring arrives. The sky was so blue, the sun was so bright and warm, the grass was so green, the wild flowers were in full bloom, the air was full of the sound of shepherds ringing bells to gather their bleating sheep on the hillsides, and after a heavy spring rain, we saw a couple of rainbows that were set against the contrasting darkness of storm clouds and brightness of green pastures. Breathtaking!! Below are a few pictures we took. They don't really do justice, but maybe it will give a taste of the great outdoors we experienced.
This is some kind of unusual looking flower, weed, plant . . . don't know what it's called.
It's a little hard to see, but the little white specks (toward the middle of the picture) are sheep being herded by their shepherd. I spotted them after hearing the bell the shepherd was ringing.
This is some kind of unusual looking flower, weed, plant . . . don't know what it's called.
It's a little hard to see, but the little white specks (toward the middle of the picture) are sheep being herded by their shepherd. I spotted them after hearing the bell the shepherd was ringing.
The rest of the story . . . . .
Well, after asking for the THIRD time, I finally got the rest of the story about what happened to make all our neighbors come to our door at 12:30 at night. Here goes . . .
We had a candle lit in our bedroom in front of a window that faces the street. Apparently, sometime before we blew it out and went to bed, someone across the street saw the flame from the candle and thought there might be a fire. They called someone in our building, who in turn called our building manager, who just happens to be my closest neighbor's husband. It also seems that no one was sure if we were home or not. So first, they all (4 or 5 neighbors) gathered outside our bedroom window, trying to see if there was anything going on. Then they came to our door to see if we were home. When they saw that we were home and everything was OK, they were satisfied. When they asked if we were scared, they were asking if we were scared by them coming to our door. I explained to her that we weren't scared, but we didn't know who it would be or why.
There you go! Gotta love neighbors with a watchful eye!!
We had a candle lit in our bedroom in front of a window that faces the street. Apparently, sometime before we blew it out and went to bed, someone across the street saw the flame from the candle and thought there might be a fire. They called someone in our building, who in turn called our building manager, who just happens to be my closest neighbor's husband. It also seems that no one was sure if we were home or not. So first, they all (4 or 5 neighbors) gathered outside our bedroom window, trying to see if there was anything going on. Then they came to our door to see if we were home. When they saw that we were home and everything was OK, they were satisfied. When they asked if we were scared, they were asking if we were scared by them coming to our door. I explained to her that we weren't scared, but we didn't know who it would be or why.
There you go! Gotta love neighbors with a watchful eye!!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Who's there?!
Living in the first floor apartment that is located right beside the main entrance to our building can often be a little frustrating. Our bedroom is directly beside the door, so when our neighbors come in and go out after we've already gone to bed, we often hear the door slam, their hard bottomed shoes tapping on the marble steps, and/or their conversations with folks on the doorbell intercom. Sometimes taking a nap in the afternoon is impossible if there are a lot of people coming and going.
Well, last night we got into bed about midnight. We noticed shortly thereafter that our power blinked off and back on a couple of times. Then we started hearing all of these voices in the building lobby or just outside the door. We couldn't tell which. Mark was trying to peek out of our window (without being spotted) to see who it was. He couldn't tell who it was. He climbed back into bed, and just as we got settled back down to try to get to sleep, our doorbell started ringing. We ignored the first time, but then it rang again and again. Mark went to the window again to see who it was, and he saw that it was some of our neighbors. I thought maybe when the power blinked off the power to the door opener thing quit working and they needed to be let back in. So we decided to answer the door. When I got to the bathroom to get my robe, I heard my neighbor tapping our door saying my name. She sounded worried, so I, as quickly as possible, opened the door. I wish I could have captured the looks on their faces when they saw me in my pajamas and bathrobe!! (Apparently they didn't know we were already in the bed and seemed quite embarrassed about having disturbed us.) They asked if we were OK several times, and I assured them that we were fine. Then they asked if we were scared. I told them no, but I wasn't sure what they thought we would be scared of. I asked them what had happened, and they all started talking about the apartment building across the street. All I understood was the word for fire, but that word also has a few different meanings depending on how it's used. Again I assured them we were OK, and they told us (with looks of embarrassment on their faces) to go back inside.
Now, after all that, we still have NO idea what that was all about!! And we may never know. The good thing is that we have neighbors who care enough about us to ring our doorbell and knock on our door to make sure we're OK at 12:30 at night, even if something happened without our knowing it!
Well, last night we got into bed about midnight. We noticed shortly thereafter that our power blinked off and back on a couple of times. Then we started hearing all of these voices in the building lobby or just outside the door. We couldn't tell which. Mark was trying to peek out of our window (without being spotted) to see who it was. He couldn't tell who it was. He climbed back into bed, and just as we got settled back down to try to get to sleep, our doorbell started ringing. We ignored the first time, but then it rang again and again. Mark went to the window again to see who it was, and he saw that it was some of our neighbors. I thought maybe when the power blinked off the power to the door opener thing quit working and they needed to be let back in. So we decided to answer the door. When I got to the bathroom to get my robe, I heard my neighbor tapping our door saying my name. She sounded worried, so I, as quickly as possible, opened the door. I wish I could have captured the looks on their faces when they saw me in my pajamas and bathrobe!! (Apparently they didn't know we were already in the bed and seemed quite embarrassed about having disturbed us.) They asked if we were OK several times, and I assured them that we were fine. Then they asked if we were scared. I told them no, but I wasn't sure what they thought we would be scared of. I asked them what had happened, and they all started talking about the apartment building across the street. All I understood was the word for fire, but that word also has a few different meanings depending on how it's used. Again I assured them we were OK, and they told us (with looks of embarrassment on their faces) to go back inside.
Now, after all that, we still have NO idea what that was all about!! And we may never know. The good thing is that we have neighbors who care enough about us to ring our doorbell and knock on our door to make sure we're OK at 12:30 at night, even if something happened without our knowing it!
Happy Easter!
Mark bought some flowers for this very special holiday, and we wanted to share them with you. We hope you also had a blessed and joyous Easter!!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Have you had a good laugh this week?
Today as I sat in a second floor coffee shop downtown I began to look out over the street. There were a few things that caught my attention, which led me to think back over the week as a whole and remember a few other random things I found interesting. I hope you enjoy my recollections!
We've had lots of spring showers this week and a few downpours. On one such day, as we were coming out a restaurant (after waiting 10 minutes for a downpour to finish), I opened my umbrella just before I spotted a lady who had quite an ingenious idea. She didn't have an umbrella so to protect herself from the rain she had placed a plastic stepstool (with holes in the seat) over her head. She was wearing it like a hat and didn't care who saw her - oh, to be so clever and confident when my solutions seem a bit unconventional!
Wednesday night was supposed to be my bi-weekly bingo night. However, I had felt bad all day and decided that I would not go so I could go to bed early. I waited until 9:00 pm to put my PJ's on, thinking a neighbor would stop by like usual to see if I'm ready, so I could explain to them why I would not be attending. No one came. We went to bed early, hoping to go right to sleep, but for whatever reason both of us struggled to get to sleep. I lay there wondering why no one came to my door. (My neighbor that makes sure I know what's scheduled for when has been on vacation for a couple of weeks - I'm ready for her to get back to help keep me straight - I seem to be easily confused by dates/times!!) I decided that later in the week I would pay a visit to a neighbor to find out what happened. Well, fast forward to Thursday night. Again, we were both really tired from a long day and thought it would be a great idea to go to bed early again. We were both in our PJ's and in the bed by 9:00. About 9:30 the phone rang. Mark answered and passed it to me because it was a neighbor. She was calling to ask me if I forgot that we had bingo!! I was so confused (and still am) because it's ALWAYS on Wed.! I was too chicken to tell her I was already in the bed and that I, at that very moment, realized that when the doorbell had rung 2 hours before (and we didn't answer it) it was probably a neighbor coming to tell me it was bingo night. I was so discombobulated by this phone call that I couldn't even think how to answer her when she asked if i had known about the plans for that night. I had to ask her to wait a minute while I asked Mark what I needed to say!! I finally got my thoughts together enough to tell her that I wasn't coming. I still don't know what brought about the change, and I may never know either!!! I just know that if those women knew I was in bed instead of hanging out with them they would think I'm crazy. In their opinion, what could be more relaxing than playing bingo with them?! I mean, does it matter that I don't understand half of what they say since they all talk at the same time or that I end up drinking enough tea to keep me up half the night?! Ahhhh . . . the differences in perspectives that keep me on my toes!!!
So that brings me to today . . . I had been e-mailing with a local friend about meeting this morning (12:30 here is still considered morning - interesting, huh?!). But it was up in the air about where we were going to meet. I sent a message to her explaining that we should just meet at her house and walk together downtown from there because it's closer from her house. I didn't get a reply, but I assumed that it would be OK. I walked the 10 minutes to her house, rang her doorbell twice - no answer. I called her on her cell phone - no answer. I left a message apologizing for not meeting her where she thought we were meeting and telling her that I was on the way, knowing it would take me another 15 minutes or so to walk there. About halfway there, I opened my cell phone and saw that I had a text message from her - she was sick and at the hospital having some tests run so she wouldn't be able to come - she was sorry that I hadn't received her e-mail message before I left from my house. I continued on to the place we were going to have coffee and sent a text message back expressing my well wishes. It was at that particular place that I noticed the next few things . . .
Spiderman and Batman were standing on the street corners passing out flyers about something. I heard the squeals of children and looked down onto the street to see a handful of teachers with at least 5o primary school aged children crossing a busy intersection. Following that group was another group (a little older) running across as well, although not in quite the same organized fashion as the younger group! Have I mentioned that while observing these things I was waiting for a hot chocolate - it took 30 minutes to make, but it would rival Starbucks!!! YUMMY! Batman and Spidey finally disappeared, and as I continued to look out over the street, drinking my delicious hot chocolate, I was overcome by a sense of cheerfulness that had been lacking in my life over the past few days. I found that I was chuckling to myself and saying hmmmm hmmmm out loud as I enjoyed my hot chocolate. Thankfully, the music was loud enough that no one heard me!!
Well, later Mark joined my downtown, and we went to visit some friends at their shop. It was a really great visit filled with lots of laughter! When we left their shop, we headed to the seamstress (a man, by the way - here, men and women have their clothes altered at different places) to pick up Mark's pants. Then we headed to the "nice" public bathrooms downtown. It's really interesting when "nice" means they don't smell bad!! They're still squatties, there is still no toilet paper or paper towels for drying your hands, and you still have to pay 50 cents to use them. But, hey, they don't smell bad!!! This leads me to the next thing today that made us both laugh . . . When we reached the "nice" bathrooms, Mark entered the men's and I climbed my way upstairs to the women's. Without going into much detail, I've learned a trick or two about using squatties from my local friends. One of those tricks is to roll up your pant legs so they don't get wet from where your feet go when you squat. I finished in the bathroom, washed my hands, shook them as dry as possible (oh yeah, this bathroom actually had an automatic soap dispenser, too!), and headed downstairs. I walked up to Mark and he said "Was it a squatty?" I answered "Yes, why?" He then pointed out that my pant legs were still rolled up about halfway up my calves!! (With boots on, it's kind of hard to tell when they're up or down!!) As gracefully and quickly as possible I unrolled them, hoping no one saw me. Maybe one day I'll learn to check before leaving the bathroom as this is the second time in the past couple of weeks I've done that!
So, although my day turned out way differently than I had anticipated, it was a great day! I don't know if these little anecdotes made you chuckle as much as they did me, but maybe they'll at least cause you to pause and look for a few things around you (or about you) to chuckle over. And don't forget . . . if you find yourself in a rainstorm without an umbrella, grab the closest footstool!!
We've had lots of spring showers this week and a few downpours. On one such day, as we were coming out a restaurant (after waiting 10 minutes for a downpour to finish), I opened my umbrella just before I spotted a lady who had quite an ingenious idea. She didn't have an umbrella so to protect herself from the rain she had placed a plastic stepstool (with holes in the seat) over her head. She was wearing it like a hat and didn't care who saw her - oh, to be so clever and confident when my solutions seem a bit unconventional!
Wednesday night was supposed to be my bi-weekly bingo night. However, I had felt bad all day and decided that I would not go so I could go to bed early. I waited until 9:00 pm to put my PJ's on, thinking a neighbor would stop by like usual to see if I'm ready, so I could explain to them why I would not be attending. No one came. We went to bed early, hoping to go right to sleep, but for whatever reason both of us struggled to get to sleep. I lay there wondering why no one came to my door. (My neighbor that makes sure I know what's scheduled for when has been on vacation for a couple of weeks - I'm ready for her to get back to help keep me straight - I seem to be easily confused by dates/times!!) I decided that later in the week I would pay a visit to a neighbor to find out what happened. Well, fast forward to Thursday night. Again, we were both really tired from a long day and thought it would be a great idea to go to bed early again. We were both in our PJ's and in the bed by 9:00. About 9:30 the phone rang. Mark answered and passed it to me because it was a neighbor. She was calling to ask me if I forgot that we had bingo!! I was so confused (and still am) because it's ALWAYS on Wed.! I was too chicken to tell her I was already in the bed and that I, at that very moment, realized that when the doorbell had rung 2 hours before (and we didn't answer it) it was probably a neighbor coming to tell me it was bingo night. I was so discombobulated by this phone call that I couldn't even think how to answer her when she asked if i had known about the plans for that night. I had to ask her to wait a minute while I asked Mark what I needed to say!! I finally got my thoughts together enough to tell her that I wasn't coming. I still don't know what brought about the change, and I may never know either!!! I just know that if those women knew I was in bed instead of hanging out with them they would think I'm crazy. In their opinion, what could be more relaxing than playing bingo with them?! I mean, does it matter that I don't understand half of what they say since they all talk at the same time or that I end up drinking enough tea to keep me up half the night?! Ahhhh . . . the differences in perspectives that keep me on my toes!!!
So that brings me to today . . . I had been e-mailing with a local friend about meeting this morning (12:30 here is still considered morning - interesting, huh?!). But it was up in the air about where we were going to meet. I sent a message to her explaining that we should just meet at her house and walk together downtown from there because it's closer from her house. I didn't get a reply, but I assumed that it would be OK. I walked the 10 minutes to her house, rang her doorbell twice - no answer. I called her on her cell phone - no answer. I left a message apologizing for not meeting her where she thought we were meeting and telling her that I was on the way, knowing it would take me another 15 minutes or so to walk there. About halfway there, I opened my cell phone and saw that I had a text message from her - she was sick and at the hospital having some tests run so she wouldn't be able to come - she was sorry that I hadn't received her e-mail message before I left from my house. I continued on to the place we were going to have coffee and sent a text message back expressing my well wishes. It was at that particular place that I noticed the next few things . . .
Spiderman and Batman were standing on the street corners passing out flyers about something. I heard the squeals of children and looked down onto the street to see a handful of teachers with at least 5o primary school aged children crossing a busy intersection. Following that group was another group (a little older) running across as well, although not in quite the same organized fashion as the younger group! Have I mentioned that while observing these things I was waiting for a hot chocolate - it took 30 minutes to make, but it would rival Starbucks!!! YUMMY! Batman and Spidey finally disappeared, and as I continued to look out over the street, drinking my delicious hot chocolate, I was overcome by a sense of cheerfulness that had been lacking in my life over the past few days. I found that I was chuckling to myself and saying hmmmm hmmmm out loud as I enjoyed my hot chocolate. Thankfully, the music was loud enough that no one heard me!!
Well, later Mark joined my downtown, and we went to visit some friends at their shop. It was a really great visit filled with lots of laughter! When we left their shop, we headed to the seamstress (a man, by the way - here, men and women have their clothes altered at different places) to pick up Mark's pants. Then we headed to the "nice" public bathrooms downtown. It's really interesting when "nice" means they don't smell bad!! They're still squatties, there is still no toilet paper or paper towels for drying your hands, and you still have to pay 50 cents to use them. But, hey, they don't smell bad!!! This leads me to the next thing today that made us both laugh . . . When we reached the "nice" bathrooms, Mark entered the men's and I climbed my way upstairs to the women's. Without going into much detail, I've learned a trick or two about using squatties from my local friends. One of those tricks is to roll up your pant legs so they don't get wet from where your feet go when you squat. I finished in the bathroom, washed my hands, shook them as dry as possible (oh yeah, this bathroom actually had an automatic soap dispenser, too!), and headed downstairs. I walked up to Mark and he said "Was it a squatty?" I answered "Yes, why?" He then pointed out that my pant legs were still rolled up about halfway up my calves!! (With boots on, it's kind of hard to tell when they're up or down!!) As gracefully and quickly as possible I unrolled them, hoping no one saw me. Maybe one day I'll learn to check before leaving the bathroom as this is the second time in the past couple of weeks I've done that!
So, although my day turned out way differently than I had anticipated, it was a great day! I don't know if these little anecdotes made you chuckle as much as they did me, but maybe they'll at least cause you to pause and look for a few things around you (or about you) to chuckle over. And don't forget . . . if you find yourself in a rainstorm without an umbrella, grab the closest footstool!!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Ups and Downs of Our Lives
For those of you who might have been tempted to think we had forgotten about the blog . . . we haven't! Please forgive the very long time between posts!!
There have only been a couple of really major happenings since our last post.
The first major thing that happened is our "up." We were able to spend a few nights with some friends in another city. We had a great time! No language homework or class!! Our friends live in a much larger city, where public transportation is a bit different than the public transportation in our city. With their help, we were able to learn how to get around in no time. And off we went to explore! Wish there was time to describe all that we did, but instead here's a few highlights . . .
The second major thing that happened is our "down." One of our computers crashed. Before heading overseas we were able to purchase 2 computers to bring with us. What a blessing!! Well, one night last week while we were in language class, Mark left his computer running so he could download some things for us to view when we got home. When we got home, the computer locked up and then went dead. He got on the phone with the tech support guys at home and they were able to get the problem fixed. That same night Mark decided he should back everything up since it had been a couple of weeks since he had last done so, just in case! Two nights later, Mark tried to start up his computer and nothing happened except some beeping and a few messages telling us something was wrong - no kidding, right?! He called the tech support guys again, and they told him that this time it was dead.
As sad as that was (and still is) we are so thankful that he backed up everything just two nights before!! In addition to that, we have some friends coming to visit soon and they are going to help us get the new hard drive and return the old one. So for now, we are using this one computer, and you'll be happy to know that we are taking turns nicely!!
Hope you all have a wonderful day today! We'd love to hear about your ups and downs, too. Keep in touch! Love to you all!!
There have only been a couple of really major happenings since our last post.
The first major thing that happened is our "up." We were able to spend a few nights with some friends in another city. We had a great time! No language homework or class!! Our friends live in a much larger city, where public transportation is a bit different than the public transportation in our city. With their help, we were able to learn how to get around in no time. And off we went to explore! Wish there was time to describe all that we did, but instead here's a few highlights . . .
- ate at McDonald's (My BigMac was delicious and the fries were perfect!)
- ate Italian ice cream on the street in somewhat flavorful waffle cones
- took a boat ride and laughed as the birds flew right along with the boat the whole time as people threw pieces of bread to them
- toured a couple of historical sites/museums
- tried to shop while shopkeepers practically followed us trying (in English) to get us to shop at their shops and spend our money with them - it was both a fun and frustrating experience
- bought 100 grams of Melissa tea - yes, it's really made from a plant called Melissa something - check it out!
- bought bread dough and made homemade supreme pizzas with our friends (fake pepperoni included)
- ate hamburgers, french fries, and onion rings (all homemade) after the frustrating realization that the fire in the grill wouldn't start on the 5th floor balcony while the wind was blowing - a truly all Am. meal!
- walked up and down hills and up and down some more
- attended an international gathering of like-minded individuals on Sunday morning
The second major thing that happened is our "down." One of our computers crashed. Before heading overseas we were able to purchase 2 computers to bring with us. What a blessing!! Well, one night last week while we were in language class, Mark left his computer running so he could download some things for us to view when we got home. When we got home, the computer locked up and then went dead. He got on the phone with the tech support guys at home and they were able to get the problem fixed. That same night Mark decided he should back everything up since it had been a couple of weeks since he had last done so, just in case! Two nights later, Mark tried to start up his computer and nothing happened except some beeping and a few messages telling us something was wrong - no kidding, right?! He called the tech support guys again, and they told him that this time it was dead.
As sad as that was (and still is) we are so thankful that he backed up everything just two nights before!! In addition to that, we have some friends coming to visit soon and they are going to help us get the new hard drive and return the old one. So for now, we are using this one computer, and you'll be happy to know that we are taking turns nicely!!
Hope you all have a wonderful day today! We'd love to hear about your ups and downs, too. Keep in touch! Love to you all!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)