The other day, I published on my Facebook page the article about reputation. Hearing my sister laugh, my nephew wanted to know why. And so my sister showed him the post.
My nephew:
‘Did she
write this? And can anyone read it? … Well, at least she did not give away my
name!’
Especially, regarding the methods one uses in order to make calculations.
I did not make so much use of the abacus when I was a child, but I do
remember one ingenious method that I discovered while I was an English teacher
in an afterschool.
I had finished the English class and I stayed in order to keep an eye on 8, 9 years old children doing their Mathematics homework. The management was really clear that us, the teachers, should be very careful not to let the children solve their exercises by using the calculator.
I was thus on a serious mission while surveying the little ones, when one of them drew my attention. I discreetly approached him and asked the little boy to draw out from underneath the desk whatever he was using to solve his exercises. He looked me in the eyes, with a mix of amazement and shame, and pointed towards one of his feet.
I took a better look and saw that both his feet where on the chair.
Thus, I asked him to explain to me what he was doing.
Unaffected, he replied that the exercise he was working on needed more than the number of fingers from his hands in order to be solved so he went and used his toes, too.
It is during moments like these when a teacher really discovers the beauty
of her/ his profession.
This summer, we visited Slovenia.
It was quite a beautiful experience and we enjoyed the scenery and the people.
Ljubljana is indeed very beautiful, but it was Maribor where I could
actually find books written by Slovenian writers translated into English.
I entered a beautiful bookshop in Maribor and asked the shop assistant
to direct me to the shelf of translated Slovenian writers. She was quite
puzzled and when I got to the counter to pay for these books below, the shop
assistant said:
‘Oh, you only bought Slovenian writers' books. Are you a teacher here, coming
to teach English?’
‘No’, I said. ‘I am a tourist, but I am really interested to discover writers from everywhere I go’.
That smile. A mixture of pride, humbleness and joy. That is something one can never take for granted.
And to embellish them all, I found a keychain with my favorite dogs breed.
(I love my West Highland White Terrier)
In Romania, most of us use the English language at work more than the Romanian one. This is how the Rom-English language appeared, and words in Romanian
are butchered constantly.
Sometimes, we use English words without knowing the proper meaning to
them. For example:
‘I thought you were a professional, so I do not need to explain what I want.’
Well, you do. Everybody does. No one, not even those with a lot of
personal or professional experience, can guess what’s in your
head. You are the one that must direct them to what you need or want. This
is how speech appeared, to facilitate the understanding among people. The more
explanations, the better. Trust me!
Try and make an effort and think about what words you use and how you
use them. It will go a long way for your business or personal relationships.
Autumn has already beautifully colored our balcony. Sure, if it was not for the great gardener that took care of it, the harvest would have been less rich.
Real music never dies. It stands out so easily from the noises in fashion.
The other day, my cousin showed a picture of Freddie Mercury to my nephew and the latter admitted that he did not know who that man was. And maybe it’s not at all that bizarre given that when I was 12 years old I did not know how John Lennon looked like. But I did know that song.
Once I arrived at home, I started listening to Queen’s albums, one after the other. Inevitable, I have my favorite songs.
Who does not get goosebumps when listening to the song above?!
A great comedy, with funny lines and monologues that are, from time to time, tender and touching.
It is a while since I laughed the way I did while watching this movie. And I must add that some theater techniques used in the movie give it a special charm.
Until you go see it, here’s a line to ponder on:
‘You will fall a couple of times and you will get hurt because life is a
bicycle with no training wheels.’
