Wednesday 31 May 2017

Little stones 4 - Draft post from 2nd January 2013

Handing over a plastic bag of ties / I touch the dark blue one with butterflies on it / I tell the man that I love this one and that it is the most beautiful of all of them / he says that they will sell quickly and thanks me several times

--

I still remember that tie, I am sure someone somewhere loves it too

23rd May 2017

Tuesday 30 May 2017

Little stones 3 - Draft post from 2nd January 2013

Flick through the pages / easy to read the English poems and text / strangely emotion-free / is this my culture, it seems barren, difficult, suffering / sounding out each letter in some Arabic words / aha, this is 'habibi' and ooh, this is 'hajj', and there is 'alhiya' that must be the one or God / such beautiful kindness between the father and the son at birth / I want to lend this to my Arabic teacher

--

That didn't go so well when I tried, I was given the brush off, oh well, so what. I wasn't trying to look as if I could read actual lines, just one or two words. I was happy with finding my words in there. That book is left behind now too. Another of the casualties of a fast move.


Monday 29 May 2017

Little stones 2 - Draft post, also from 2nd January 2013

To the left / parallel to the garden wall / standing motionless on the grass of the wide verge / eyes open / ears spread out and still / brownish / greyish / I want to ask the USA Chicken man to walk around our village at night and see such things too / welcome to our town

--

He disappeared after an immigration round up. He was a kind man, I gave him a plant one day, for the business, and he was so so thrilled, gave me the biggest hug ever.

He was Kurdish and he used to ask me to knit him socks when he saw me sitting with my needles and wool waiting for him to cook the chicken things for me to take away back home.

We managed to talk about children via simple English. I explained how old mine were and wished children for him in the future.

23rd May 2017

Sunday 28 May 2017

Little stones 1 - Draft post from 2nd January 2013

I sat on the stool and watched the orange glows shifting about / there were clefts between portions of black burnt wood / the papery, weightless ashes lay about all still / suddenly the logs were no longer brilliant orange, but a bright white / how did that change occur without me seeing it / I was staring all the time

Saturday 27 May 2017

YouTube is so helpful with learning a language - Draft post from 22nd November 2012

The Alphabet song: ber, bu, bi etc Really fast for a beginner like me, but I'll know I'm getting further when it comes automatically.



Friday 26 May 2017

Home ed in the teen years - Draft post from 28th October 2012

Well, I am leading by example and am whizzing off to my adult education classes in Arabic for total beginners. My older son is getting back home to babysit my younger one for me. It is costing me more in taxi fares and car park fees than the actual course.


Thursday 25 May 2017

Chopsticks and Home Education - Draft post from 27th September 2012

Spontaneous education would be a better name. Tonight T came home telling us how easy it had been to learn how to use chopsticks. The time was right, he was in the right place, with a friend and he wanted to learn. So it took him a few minutes.

All those blog posts about how when the person wants to learn something, they just do, are true.

Imagine a structured plan to engage someone with chopsticks in a pretend restaurant, with no real food....This is why the word 'engage' makes my hackles rise. Similarly with the word 'get' someone to do something.

I'm on the verge of doing the jumping off the cliff and hoping to find I have wings thing with learning Arabic. It will be on Monday evenings and I have no babysitter yet. I may need one from October 2012 until March 2013.

--

El Morabba3 & El Far3i - Taht il Ard = Under the Earth


كلمات الأغنية
ما تقوليلي ..تحت الأرض..إلي أسبوعين واقف على الأرض ..عم بحكي و بشكي ..مصافي و قوانين طاقة و علوم ..ما 
تطلعي فوق..عالم مجنون..عم بحفر..نازلّك عم بحفر..في عالم عم تؤمن و عالم عم تكفر..و كلهم هون ..بشوفهم كل يوم إشي بيكره حاله و إشي بيكرهني..أنا بس لو سيّارة لبعيد تاخدني..طب تكسي! يوقّفلي..طب ضلّك ..ضل رايح..لبعيد ..نيّاله!.. أو الله إيعينه على حاله.. تلاقيه من كل نمرة طلعتله قرفان....

تحت الأرض خلّيكي..بركان بيتغزّل فيكي..خلّي الجذور تحميكي..بترجّى فيكي..

مشكلتي أنا بحكي كثير...أنا بحكي كثير..بس بدّي أقلّك قصة أسير..ضل يحفر تيوصل و يهرب ..و بس شاف الشمس كانت عم تغرب..قال الحرية مبيوعة و الناس ما بتوعى..كل واحد سكّين و بيطعن بأصله و كل ما بخف ..في صوت بيندهله...بقلّه تعال!..تع ننسى الأحوال..يابا مافي احتلال..هاي هي الحرية..هذا فرد مي و دبّابة وهمية..عشان يصعب التفسير..عشان يصعب التفسير...

Lyrics in English
Under the ground

Don't tell me... under the ground... I have been standing on the land for two weeks... I'm just talking and complaining... refineries, energy and science laws... don't go above... a crazy world... I am digging..Coming down to meet you ..I am digging... there are people who are believing and people who are becoming non believers...and all of them are here... I see them every day, some of them hate themselves and some of them hate me... if only a car could take me far away... or a taxi! 
Please stop for me... or just keep going... far... he is lucky! may God help him... he is probably disgusted from everyone that rode with him today...

Stay under the land... a volcano admires you... let the roots protect you... I am begging you...

My problem is that I talk a lot... I really talk a lot... but I want to tell you a prisoner's story... the prisoner keeps digging until he reaches and escapes... and he finally sees the sun, but it is setting... he says freedom is sold and the people are not aware... everyone is a knife, stabbing his descent, and when that cures... there is a voice calling him... it tells him, "Come!... Come, let's forget the condition... hey man, there is no occupation... this is freedom... this is a water gun and a fake tank..." and the explanation becomes more difficult... and the explanation becomes more difficult ...

Wednesday 24 May 2017

Don't let school get between parents and children - Draft post from 29th August 2012

--

This draft post only had a title, but I am posting that title because it is important. Years ago, around 1989 or 1990 we lived in Hackney and went to a church called St John of Jerusalem. We sang in the choir which meant rehearsals and several services a week. So I saw the preaching every time.

The priest there only preached once in all the time I was there. Others preached instead. He walked up and down the aisle and made the briefest of sermons. Essentially, don;t let anything, ANYTHING, get between you and God.

Note that he did not discuss what that weighty word God might or might not mean, for him or for anyone else, just focused on the issue of separation and togetherness in that one warning from the heart.

As with his fragment of a sermon, so with pretty much everything in life, but replace the word God with whatever things mean much to you.

23rd May 2017

--

All Saints - One Strike

I love this black and white film, uncompromising, clear, simple, focusing on the faces

Tuesday 23 May 2017

Morphing - Draft post from Friday 24th August 2012

This year both my sons have grown to look similar to two of my family members. The common ancestors are my father's mother's parents, who were born pre-1900 in Serbia/Yugoslavia.

--

Mary J Blige / U2 - One

Saturday 13 May 2017

نوربورج رينج

القيادة خلف أبني الكبير على شوارع في مدينةه مثل القيادة على نوربورج رينج في المانيا, والقيادة خلفه على شوارع الرئيسية مثل مطاردة بالسيارات!

--
Corrections: 2 wrong out of 23 words. Not bad at all. Being perfect would be a bit odd. Though it probably sounds very English and stilted, just not natural Arabic at all. Well, I don't care.

القيادة خلف ابني الكبير في شوارع في المدينة مثل القيادة على نوربورج رينج في المانيا, والقيادة خلفه في الشوارع الرئيسية مثل المطاردة بالسيارات!

--

Actually, now I prefer مدينته which means 'his city', I like the fact that I can make these decisions. 

واو - ليمون مع ملح

أحب الاكل نصف ليمون مع ملح, إنها هوايتي الجديدة. قبل أيام أربعء انا ذهبت إلى منزل صديقتي وهي أعطتني ذالك.

واو هذا لذيذ لكن أنا سوف أحاول الاكل ليمون حامض الأن أو غدا.


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