Once I was shouted at so intensely that all I saw was the rectangular box of the mouth and the two eyes. I took in none of the words, apart from the fact that there was no swearing. My reply was full of swearing.
In contrast I sat in a friend's kitchen today, holding a mug of coffee, waiting for her to say more, for her face to keep on shifting, for her thoughts to come. I asked some questions and listened to the words she used.
A new game has come along, Fall Out Shelter. It involves many things, but all I care about is the babies! H announced he'd got 3 on the way! I kept on asking if the mothers had gone into labour yet. Eventually he rushed into the kitchen and showed me that the first one had been born. I was so thrilled :) Over the next 15 mins the others arrived.
My mother in law came in, so we told her about one virtual baby. We didn't let on about the other two, she was shocked enough by just one :)
Showing posts with label looking and listening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label looking and listening. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
Friday, 31 July 2015
Looking at words
Last Saturday I had a real treat. My friend had asked her Iraqi engineering professor friend to be our teacher for one afternoon. I didn't know this was going to happen.
I had forgotten how wonderful it is to see and hear all these words being said just there a few feet away from me. Every vowel is slightly different from how I say it and every consonant too. Just that bit more for real.
We sat in a circle and repeated words after him. First he'd say a sentence at the normal speed, for his own pleasure at speaking Arabic obviously, and we'd go blank, then he'd say it word by word and we would copy like baby birds again and again.
I was so happy in the car back home. But it disappears so quickly. I now can't remember what his voice sounded like. I need a constant flow of real people speaking, like in the bookshop in London.
Someone else said Kalila u Dumna to me, then changed it, so I thought, to Kalila wa Dimna. ?? what was going on there?
Then I bumped into a woman who may have been Spanish, but she spoke Arabic and we said hallos, names and welcome to Oxford :)
I had forgotten how wonderful it is to see and hear all these words being said just there a few feet away from me. Every vowel is slightly different from how I say it and every consonant too. Just that bit more for real.
We sat in a circle and repeated words after him. First he'd say a sentence at the normal speed, for his own pleasure at speaking Arabic obviously, and we'd go blank, then he'd say it word by word and we would copy like baby birds again and again.
I was so happy in the car back home. But it disappears so quickly. I now can't remember what his voice sounded like. I need a constant flow of real people speaking, like in the bookshop in London.
Someone else said Kalila u Dumna to me, then changed it, so I thought, to Kalila wa Dimna. ?? what was going on there?
Then I bumped into a woman who may have been Spanish, but she spoke Arabic and we said hallos, names and welcome to Oxford :)
Monday, 13 July 2015
Peaceful --- In the house --- No noise --- It's been so long --- All these months of rushing around --- It feels unreal
No more rushing - We have time to talk to each other
Moving slowly - We can ask just one question at a time
Taking my time - We wait for the kettle to boil
One thing at a time - We went and did some digging in the front garden
Time to take photos - Let my sore feet rest after hours dancing
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