"WHAT IF we are coming to resemble our own technology?
Are we thinking and communicating with the speed of the Internet - and ignoring the depth and breadth of what we actually feel? We can get any fact in a nanosecond, but getting wisdom still takes a lifetime (or more!)."
* reference Shirley MacLaine's book
...life abroad yesterday, today, tomorrow & inbetween
26 Feb 2014
18 Feb 2014
Meltdown
No, I am not talking about an emotional meltdown, although I was close to one this winter. I am actually celebrating this one - the snow is finally thawing. The pictures are taken from the front door of my house.
We have absolutely lovely plus 5°C (40°F) today! I don't know how long it is going to last but it should even rain tomorrow.The more snow disappears the better because we have nowhere to put it.
I guess we will remember this winter as I already mentioned in my previous post. I have heard a new description of Chicago's weather. It goes like this: "There is 9 months of winter and 3 months of hell in Chicago..." It pretty much describes it.
We have absolutely lovely plus 5°C (40°F) today! I don't know how long it is going to last but it should even rain tomorrow.The more snow disappears the better because we have nowhere to put it.
I guess we will remember this winter as I already mentioned in my previous post. I have heard a new description of Chicago's weather. It goes like this: "There is 9 months of winter and 3 months of hell in Chicago..." It pretty much describes it.
17 Feb 2014
Sushi Station
On Saturday we went to the Sushi Station again. Finally!
Sushi Station is one of my favourite places to eat. If only the place was closer. There are actually two Sushi Station restaurants. One is in Rolling Meadows (B) which is closer, and the other one in Elgin (C) which I like much better because it is a more spacious and modern place. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the one in Rolling Meadows and 50 minutes to Elgin.
I have heard that there are some plans to open a third location south, around where I live. I hope it is true, it would be amazing!
Note to the owners: "There are many sushi eaters here too, please open one soon :-)"
So what is Sushi Station? It is a restaurant serving Japanese Kaiten Sushi style where the sushi is served on small plates that revolve on an enclosed conveyor belt. I absolutely love this style because I can sample many different types of sushi at once, it is very affordable, and completely different experience. The price is determined by the colour of the plates.
If you have never heard about this type of restaurant there are some videos to learn more about it on this website.
Some of my favourites are Miso soup, Spider Roll (soft shell crab), Phoenix Roll (spicy tuna), but many more.
Sushi Station is one of my favourite places to eat. If only the place was closer. There are actually two Sushi Station restaurants. One is in Rolling Meadows (B) which is closer, and the other one in Elgin (C) which I like much better because it is a more spacious and modern place. It takes about 40 minutes to get to the one in Rolling Meadows and 50 minutes to Elgin.
I have heard that there are some plans to open a third location south, around where I live. I hope it is true, it would be amazing!
Note to the owners: "There are many sushi eaters here too, please open one soon :-)"
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| from www.sushistation.us |
So what is Sushi Station? It is a restaurant serving Japanese Kaiten Sushi style where the sushi is served on small plates that revolve on an enclosed conveyor belt. I absolutely love this style because I can sample many different types of sushi at once, it is very affordable, and completely different experience. The price is determined by the colour of the plates.
If you have never heard about this type of restaurant there are some videos to learn more about it on this website.
Some of my favourites are Miso soup, Spider Roll (soft shell crab), Phoenix Roll (spicy tuna), but many more.
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| Miso soup |
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| Phoenix |
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| Spider
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14 Feb 2014
Valentine's Day - numbers and facts
It is the day again today, Valentine's day!
I believe it has changed a lot in my home country ( I have been living abroad for a long time), but when I was younger we didn't celebrate Valentine's day, it just wasn't a tradition. People started celebrating about a decade ago. I am never back home in February.... I wonder how it compares to the US or the UK.
Here is to learn more about the popular day!
I believe it has changed a lot in my home country ( I have been living abroad for a long time), but when I was younger we didn't celebrate Valentine's day, it just wasn't a tradition. People started celebrating about a decade ago. I am never back home in February.... I wonder how it compares to the US or the UK.
Here is to learn more about the popular day!
Bet You Didn't Know: Valentine's Day
11 Feb 2014
What If...4
"WHAT IF Nature is designed to be fuel efficient without man's help, but mankind, forgetting we are part of Nature, has tinkered with that design?"
* reference Shirley MacLaine's book
* reference Shirley MacLaine's book
5 Feb 2014
Chicago winter
The most used sentence this winter: "I am sick of it!", of winter that is. Apparently, it has been the worst winter ever. My problem personally is not the snow, but the freezing temperatures. You just can't go out.
As for the snow, I am quite fond of it. In Europe I used to love being outside in winter. Imagine you are walking in the forest surrounded by needle trees, it is sunny and all you can hear is this winter stillness. Winter can be beautiful.
All I remember from this year winter is:
1. being freezing
2. shoveling the snow
As for the snow, I am quite fond of it. In Europe I used to love being outside in winter. Imagine you are walking in the forest surrounded by needle trees, it is sunny and all you can hear is this winter stillness. Winter can be beautiful.
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| "Winter WONDER -LAND" - not Chicago |
All I remember from this year winter is:
1. being freezing
2. shoveling the snow
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| Winter CHICAGO-LAND, - my street |
4 Feb 2014
Juice from South Africa
Last week I remembered to buy some South African juice again. It is not widely available here, so I am not reminded of it often. I have to go and get it in specific stores, last time it was at World Market.
The brand is called CERES after The Ceres Valley in the Western Cape, South Africa (where my husband comes from), made by Ceres Fruit Juices.
I like the juices because of the variety and the quality: no added sugar, no artificial colours, no preservatives. My favourite flavours are Litchi, Passion Fruit and Papaya. It is probably because I like it also as fruit.
The brand is called CERES after The Ceres Valley in the Western Cape, South Africa (where my husband comes from), made by Ceres Fruit Juices.
I like the juices because of the variety and the quality: no added sugar, no artificial colours, no preservatives. My favourite flavours are Litchi, Passion Fruit and Papaya. It is probably because I like it also as fruit.
3 Feb 2014
Czech language
Since I have been living abroad people have been asking about my mother tongue: "Is Czech difficult to learn?", "How does it sound?" etc.
At first it was hard for me to judge, I am Czech, it is easy for me but after learning other languages, I was getting the idea, it is probably pretty difficult for some people. If you are an English speaking person, I am guessing it will be a nightmare for you. To demonstrate, I am going to borrow a paragraph from the book "Me, Myself & Prague" written by Rachael Weiss, an Australian woman who was once living in Prague in search of her Bohemian roots.
This is her experience with the Czech language:-)
________________________________________________________________________________
" I'd tried valiantly to teach myself Czech with my guidebooks but I was struggling. The language seemed to be nothing but difficult consonants -ž's, j's and rolled r's -strung together. Ordinary everyday words were incredibly long and complex. The word for 'of course' is samozřejmě. It's pronounced samozrrrrrzzhayemnye - a truckload of consonants and tongue rolling for a word that in essence means 'yes'. It took me three weeks of practice to get that one word right. Knowing the words, though, wasn't enough. The words change completely depending on where they are placed in a sentence, which is why I hadn't been able to find anything in the dictionary when I was shopping or trying to make conversation. Every noun is either feminine, masculine inanimate, masculine animate or neuter. There are four different forms of feminine, four of neuter and two each of masculine animate and inanimate, and each form has a different ending, depending on its declension: twelve different noun types, each declined seven different ways. That's eighty-four altogether, and double that number because that's only singular and every noun is either singular or plural. So there are one hundred and sixty-eight forms a noun can take. All the adjectives have to have different endings too, because they have to agree with the nouns. Verbs take different endings depending on who you're speaking about or to, and how you're speaking to them. There are twelve different endings for verbs just for speaking in the ordinary way, and then another set of endings if you're ordering someone about. In short, the whole business is a nightmare.
Teaching myself Czech had got me as far as, ' His bicycle is clean but her car is dirty'; as useful as that might be in certain circumstances, it hadn't featured heavily in any of my conversations with the locals...."
_______________________________________________________________________________
And there is more.
There are many words that do not have vowels: zmrzl (frozen solid), ztvrdl (hardened), scvrkl (shrunk), čtvrthrst (quarter-handful), blb (dimwit), vlk (wolf), or smrt (death).
My husband shakes his head when he hears these words.
The consonants l and r can be the nucleus (nucleus is usually the vowel in the middle of a syllable) of a syllable in Czech. For examples we use these tongue-twisters to practice: strč prst skrz krk (stick a finger down your throat) and smrž pln skvrn zvlhl z mlh (morel full of spots was dampened by fogs).
And then there is the consonant ř. It is unique to the Czech language, and I have no idea how to describe it. One thing is for sure, it is very difficult to pronounce.
I will stop here, yes there is much more! For now, have fun watching this video. ALEX is perfect with his -ř- . Well done!
At first it was hard for me to judge, I am Czech, it is easy for me but after learning other languages, I was getting the idea, it is probably pretty difficult for some people. If you are an English speaking person, I am guessing it will be a nightmare for you. To demonstrate, I am going to borrow a paragraph from the book "Me, Myself & Prague" written by Rachael Weiss, an Australian woman who was once living in Prague in search of her Bohemian roots.
This is her experience with the Czech language:-)
________________________________________________________________________________
" I'd tried valiantly to teach myself Czech with my guidebooks but I was struggling. The language seemed to be nothing but difficult consonants -ž's, j's and rolled r's -strung together. Ordinary everyday words were incredibly long and complex. The word for 'of course' is samozřejmě. It's pronounced samozrrrrrzzhayemnye - a truckload of consonants and tongue rolling for a word that in essence means 'yes'. It took me three weeks of practice to get that one word right. Knowing the words, though, wasn't enough. The words change completely depending on where they are placed in a sentence, which is why I hadn't been able to find anything in the dictionary when I was shopping or trying to make conversation. Every noun is either feminine, masculine inanimate, masculine animate or neuter. There are four different forms of feminine, four of neuter and two each of masculine animate and inanimate, and each form has a different ending, depending on its declension: twelve different noun types, each declined seven different ways. That's eighty-four altogether, and double that number because that's only singular and every noun is either singular or plural. So there are one hundred and sixty-eight forms a noun can take. All the adjectives have to have different endings too, because they have to agree with the nouns. Verbs take different endings depending on who you're speaking about or to, and how you're speaking to them. There are twelve different endings for verbs just for speaking in the ordinary way, and then another set of endings if you're ordering someone about. In short, the whole business is a nightmare.
Teaching myself Czech had got me as far as, ' His bicycle is clean but her car is dirty'; as useful as that might be in certain circumstances, it hadn't featured heavily in any of my conversations with the locals...."
_______________________________________________________________________________
 |
| Czech Alphabet |
And there is more.
There are many words that do not have vowels: zmrzl (frozen solid), ztvrdl (hardened), scvrkl (shrunk), čtvrthrst (quarter-handful), blb (dimwit), vlk (wolf), or smrt (death).
My husband shakes his head when he hears these words.
The consonants l and r can be the nucleus (nucleus is usually the vowel in the middle of a syllable) of a syllable in Czech. For examples we use these tongue-twisters to practice: strč prst skrz krk (stick a finger down your throat) and smrž pln skvrn zvlhl z mlh (morel full of spots was dampened by fogs).
And then there is the consonant ř. It is unique to the Czech language, and I have no idea how to describe it. One thing is for sure, it is very difficult to pronounce.
I will stop here, yes there is much more! For now, have fun watching this video. ALEX is perfect with his -ř- . Well done!
Czech Tongue Twisters By American Diplomats in Prague
1 Feb 2014
The world according to Americans...
The other day I came across an interesting article which I would like to share with you by copying it here. It is written by Lynne Diligent, an American working and raising a family overseas.
Unfortunately, I must agree with her. I experience similar attitude here even today. You can see the American “We’re number one!” mentality (described below) all the time.
The maps are cartoon depicts but you would be shocked how much they actually represent the views of so many people.
I "love" to hear especially from these opinionated Americans who have never lived abroad or have never even been outside of the USA, in a better case have seen a foreign country from a cruise ship, majority of them don't speak any foreign language, but somehow they seem to know everything better.
Perhaps it is time to 'take blinders off'....at least sometimes.
________________________________________________________________________________
Why Foreigners Sometimes Think that Americans View the World as Geography Cartoons Depict
July 18, 2011
by Lynne Diligent
These maps represent what Americans are first taught about the world as children.
For a majority of Americans (speaking as an American now overseas) these maps are maps about feelings, rather than about knowledge.
It’s true that there are some Americans who never progress beyond this viewpoint, but the majority of American adults are not quite this uneducated. Among those who are, it comes from the “We’re number one!” mentality that pervades what children are taught about America (or at least were until recently).
No matter how knowledgeable we become, it’s true that we can look at maps like this and understand the reasons they are drawn that way immediately–from our first knowledge as children. That’s what makes them cartoons, that some of those feelings stay with us forever, in spite of our knowledge.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Unfortunately, I must agree with her. I experience similar attitude here even today. You can see the American “We’re number one!” mentality (described below) all the time.
The maps are cartoon depicts but you would be shocked how much they actually represent the views of so many people.
I "love" to hear especially from these opinionated Americans who have never lived abroad or have never even been outside of the USA, in a better case have seen a foreign country from a cruise ship, majority of them don't speak any foreign language, but somehow they seem to know everything better.
Perhaps it is time to 'take blinders off'....at least sometimes.
________________________________________________________________________________
Why Foreigners Sometimes Think that Americans View the World as Geography Cartoons Depict
July 18, 2011
by Lynne Diligent
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What Americans are first taught about the world as children. This looks like a 1970-2005 point-of-view.
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These maps represent what Americans are first taught about the world as children.
For a majority of Americans (speaking as an American now overseas) these maps are maps about feelings, rather than about knowledge.
It’s true that there are some Americans who never progress beyond this viewpoint, but the majority of American adults are not quite this uneducated. Among those who are, it comes from the “We’re number one!” mentality that pervades what children are taught about America (or at least were until recently).
 |
This view of the world looks more like how Americans felt in the 1950s and 1960s.
|
No matter how knowledgeable we become, it’s true that we can look at maps like this and understand the reasons they are drawn that way immediately–from our first knowledge as children. That’s what makes them cartoons, that some of those feelings stay with us forever, in spite of our knowledge.
 |
Anyone who lived through the Reagan years certainly remembers the country feeling just like this!
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