On Learning Languages

I have tried to learn a fair few languages in my day.  I can’t claim to be totally fluent in any of them, or even especially good at most of them, but I have learned a few things along the way.

In Paris, I learned not to be afraid to ask questions, even if I don’t know how to listen to the answer.  Questions I can remember asking in French include “Où sont les toilettes?”, “Où est La Jaconde?”, and “Il y a serviettes?”.  Only one of them produced an answer I understood all of, and that was probably because I asked my history teacher, who was indulging me.  Nonetheless, I was successful in finding both the bathrooms and the Mona Lisa, and in discovering that there were no napkins available at the fruit stand.

In Costa Rica, I learned that the absolute best way to get languages to stick in your brain is to practice them outside of a classroom environment.  I am so, so grateful to my host mother, Maria Eugenia, for encouraging me to practice my Spanish with her.  Some of my favorite experiences while there were having conversations that make more sense in Spanish than they do in translation.  I remember two such conversations, which I will write here:

1- Maria Fernanda (my seven-year-old host cousin): Emily, tiene usted un novio?
Emily (me)- No, solo amigos.
MF- Pero, tiene amigos guapos?
E- Si, unos!

2- Our guide in Tortugero, who told us a Costa Rican joke:  Que tiempo vamos a hacer hoy en Costa Rica?  Sol o lluvia!  (Es sol o lluvia, no es solo lluvia.)

In India, I have learned not to be afraid to sound like an idiot.  I mean that in the best possible way.  Sometimes, translating into Hindi is just too complicated for what I know how to say.  I might know some of the words, but I don’t know all of them and I’m not sure how to put them together.  The point is, though, that it doesn’t matter whether what I say is perfect or not.  People are generally pleased to help someone who is showing a genuine effort to learn their language, and in this way, I am able to communicate, even if I sound ridiculous.  The other day, for example, I was at a museum and I saw a wall of posters with pictures of deformed body parts.  The writing was all in Hindi, so I have no idea what it said, but I guessed that the posters had something to do with leprosy.  Instead of being confused about it, I approached the guard nearby, pointed, and said “Ye larka… leprosy ke sath?”, which means “This boy… with leprosy?”  I’m not actually sure what the Hindi word for leprosy is, but I guessed that the English one would suffice.  As it happens, it did.  The guard said yes and responded in Hindi, pointing to his face and shaking his head sadly.  I have no idea what he was saying, but at least I know that I was correct in thinking the pictures on the posters were of lepers.

Languages.  They’re fun.

Shoes

I have a confession to make- I love shoes.  In a totally girly way.  Shoes are useful and pretty, and I have a ton of them.  (Note- I once went thirty days without wearing the same pair of shoes twice.  I had to borrow some from my mom and sister to make this happen, but still.)

Today, my boyfriend told me I have “a questionable quantity” of shoes.  To think about this, I made two lists:

Shoes I Use

(I was going to title this list “Shoes I Need”, but I thought better of it.)

1- hiking boots (Merrell)
2- walking shoes (preferably Merrell)
3- comfortable sandals (Birkenstock)
4- hiking sandals (Teva)
5- snow boots (Sorrel)
6- winter boots- this may sound silly right after the snow boots, but these are ankle-high, which is far more manageable most days than the calf-high snow boots
7- black boots- slightly higher than the ankle, heeled, leather
8- black flats
9- fancy flats- in some color other than black, in case the occasion calls for it
10- fancy sandals
11- shower shoes- generally cheap flip-flops
12- ski boots
13- slippers

(Also, I am a brand snob when it comes to shoes that need to be functional.)

Other Shoes I Have Owned

- flip-flops- nicer looking than my shower shoes, to be used around the house like slippers or for a quick trip out
- Oddline shoes- purple, yellow, or gold shoes worn as part of an outfit designed to support the Oddline team at my alma mater
- more fancy flats
- gym shoes- old sneakers to be worn exclusively at the gym and NOT outside
- sneakers (and faux sneakers)
- heels (occasionally stilettos)
- tall boots- much like the black fashion boots listed above, but taller
- character shoes- heeled leather shoes made for dancing

 

He may have a point.  Still, I will probably always keep at least those thirteen pairs of shoes around the house.  Beyond that I find them less necessary but rather joy-inducing.

He sent a thick Darkness over all the Land

I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning but I did it anyway, and I was rewarded with one of the most moving pieces of music I have ever heard in my life:  “He sent a thick Darkness over all the Land” from Handel’s “Israel in Egypt”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0sD0P83m9I 

^^ It’s the second movement in this video, if you’re interested.  But the point isn’t necessarily for you to enjoy it as much as I did.

The point is, I was profoundly moved by this piece.  Have you ever found a piece of music (or artwork or writing or something) that resonated with you straight down to your bones?  Straight down to your BONES.  This music just awoke such strong imagry in me.  It’s about the plague of darkness that God sends over Egypt to punish the Pharoh for enslaving the Israelites.  Somehow Handel’s oratorio version just made me think about the plague of darkness in a way I never had before.  Imagine it- your whole world suddenly plunged into a darkness so black you can’t see a thing.  No immeadiate explanation comes to mind.  It’s not nighttime.  There are no stars, no moon.  You stumble around through supposedly familiar places that you can no longer navigate.  You can hear the voices of friends and loved ones, but you can’t see them.  Maybe you can’t even reach them.  It’s a terrifying thought, and Handel portrays it musically so well.  All the space.  The slow meter.  The accidentals.  The choir members calling out to one another.  Wow.

We listened to several movements from “Israel in Egypt” today, and many of them were quite good.  Experimental, innovative, interesting.  But “He sent a thick Darkness over all the Land” stood out among them to me as a brilliant, brilliant composition.

“Wow, you do a lot.”

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a woman who I’ve been in a few classes with here at Wells.  At the end of the conversation I said something like  “Well, okay, I’ve got to go to orchestra now” and she said

“Wow, you do a lot.”

What I wanted to say was “Thank you”, but as the words were in my mouth, I realized that “Wow, you do a lot” isn’t actually a compliment.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that to someone listening in, her “Wow, you do a lot” would have sounded more like “Are you completely insane?”

It got me to thinking about stress addiction.  Earlier this semester, I listened to a friend of mine describe her busy schedule (twenty credits, a part-time job, auditing an art class, a couple of clubs) and I actually felt guilty for not doing enough.  Keep in mind, this girl is no longer working that hard because it’s not actually possible for her to do so.  But hearing about it, even when I suspected she would eventually relax her commitments a little, was enough to make me jealous.

Here is a list of what I’m doing right now:

15 credits of “real” classes.
5 credits of independent study, choir, and orchestra.  Total=20 credits.
Henry’s VIII, a campus a’ cappella group, 6 hours/week.
Work study job, 5 hours/week.
Campus Greens, which I’m a partial member of.

Wow, I do a lot.  And sometimes I feel like it ought to be more…

Small Pleasures

Life is about small pleasures.  There are things that I like that are silly, but they make me happy.

The way certain outdoor lights make everyone’s lips look purple at night.
The way the wrapper on a roll of toilet paper crinkles into a ball.
Rare meat.
Cold showers on hot days.
A good stretch.
Good advertising.

And plenty of other similar things.  I appreciate them.

Things to Do With My Life Someday, a partial list

• Be a professional reader-out-louder
• fortune-telling/ mystic healing
• plant a garden and maintain it
• drive across the country in a cool van/ Magical Mystery Tour
• work on a political campaign
• work/ volunteer with a Christian youth group
• be a gypsy
• learn to play snare drums and play them in a parade
• do a juice fast for up to three days
• get into a pattern of yoga, meditation, and organic diet
• perhaps make something of declaiming
• volunteer with a feminist group
• lead a Girl Scout troop

Historical Figure #8: Thomas Paine

What you know about Thomas Paine:

He was an American colonist just prior to the Revolution who wrote Common Sense along with a few other pro-revolution materials.

What you don’t know about Thomas Paine:

He was born and grew up in England, where he failed at almost everything he tried.  First he failed out of school.  Then, worked for a time as an apprentice in his father’s corset-making shop, but he failed at that too.  For a while he tried being a sailor and a school-teacher, but that didn’t work out so well for him either.  Later, Paine became a tax officer, but he was fired from that job not once but twice for embezzeling.

So, after randomly meeting Benjamin Franklin, Paine decided to move to America.  There he became a journalist, which actually worked out pretty well for him.  His writings were widely read by American colonists, and works like Common Sense played a huge role in the Revolution.

Eventually, Paine returned to England, but there his writing got him into trouble.  Considered an enemy of the crown, he escaped arrest by fleeing to France, where he played a part in the begining of the French Revolution.  Unfortunately, as was the case with many initial leaders of the Revolution in France, Paine was soon jailed for his beleifs.  James Monroe (of the newly formed United States) helped him out of that fix, and he returned to the U.S. on an invitation from Thomas Jefferson in 1802.  Sadly enough, some of his more radical ideas had caused the American people to fall out of love with Thomas Paine, and died in New York City in relative isolation in 1809.

 

This post is largely paraphrased from:  http://www.ushistory.org/PAINE/

Bike Riding Story

Here is a piece I wrote for my Off Campus Study class as a reflection on a “significant experience abroad”.

I learned to ride a bike at the age of nineteen on a bumpy dirt road in Costa Rica.  The road was thick with the traffic of pedestrians, other bikers, and even a few cars.  My friends were almost literally riding circles around me.
“At least the road is flat, Emily!” they said.  “Imagine if you had to learn to ride on a hill!”
“I’d be dead,” I muttered.  I was terrified.

            The whole thing had started earlier that week.  Cat had heard about Puertoviejo de Talamanca, a Caribbean beach-town, and was completely enchanted with the idea of spending the weekend there.  The rest of us agreed to try it out.  After all, why shouldn’t we?  It promised to be fun and cheap.  When the COSI staff described it to us, they talked about the bikes.
“Is very cheap.  You can rent bikes and go to the beach,” they told us in their accented but near-perfect English.  My stomach knotted up every time the bikes were mentioned, but I told myself everything would work out.  I can probably pull it off.  I almost had it the last time I tried.  And if not, I’ll just walk.  It’ll be fine.

            I tried several times to warn the others, but they didn’t seem to get it.  When the time came and we actually found ourselves at a bike-rental shop, I had to tell them straight.
“Okay, guys.  I’ve never actually ridden a bike before.”  I think they were a little shocked.
“Emily, how old are you again?  What do you mean you’ve never ridden a bike before?”  They resolved to teach me. 
“You’ve just got to keep peddling.  Don’t move your arms so much.  No, don’t stop, keep peddling!”  At least one of them rode steadily beside me the whole time, giving me encouragement and staying safely between me and the traffic.

            I peddled through the bumps, rocks, dips, and mud.  I talked aloud, coaching myself through the hard bits.  When we passed people walking or biking in the other direction, I complemented myself on not running into them.  Passerby started to stare.  At one point, afraid I was losing my balance, I threw out a hand to steady myself on a parked car.  The car alarm started going off.  That was embarrassing.  When I finally got off the bike, I was shaking with adrenaline.  But the point is I did it.  I actually learned to ride a bike and made it to the beach and back without incident.

            While it isn’t necessarily the most significant experience I had while abroad, it is certainly indicative of what the trip was like for me.  I tried new things with only minimal fear of failure.  I ate new and different foods, went surfing and rappelling, and spoke to strangers in a different language.  And I tried biking even though I had failed at it in the States.  But this story isn’t just about trying something new, it’s also about friendship.  It would have been easy for the others to laugh at me or ride ahead and make me walk to the beach alone, but they didn’t.  Here were these people I had met essentially only a few weeks before, and they were already being such good friends to me.  The entire trip abroad was a great bonding experience for us, four people who definitely would not have been such close friends otherwise.

PAA (Post About Acronyms)

I’m sure acronyms can be quite useful.  And the best ones are clever, that’s nice.  But really, they are severely overused.  On campus, there are a plethora of clubs, positions, and campus groups that refer to themselves by acronyms.  That might be fine if they ever used the full names, but they don’t.  I am constantly getting emails saying things like “MUN is having its first meeting of the semester.  New members welcome!”  Which is all well and good if I’m in MUN, but if I’m a prospective new member, how am I supposed to know what those letters stand for?

Here is a list of a few of the acronyms we throw around on campus- you can try to make something of them.

MUN
MSA
WBS
WRC
WIIS
BIRT
GP
RA
TA
HRA
SA
SU
AI
Q & A
POWER
WISA
IT
JICS
LIS
CoCo
SAAC
AER
FARGO
WIRE

Butterfly’s Books

Hello, all.

This is not so much a blog post as shameless advertising.

I started a new blog.  It’s called Butterfly’s Books, and it is a catalog of children’s literature.  So far it’s mostly me reviewing books I like, but hopefully someday it will be a resource for various educators.  It’s getting more exciting by the day, so check it out!

Here’s the link:
http://butterflysbooks.wordpress.com/

Thanks!