First “official” sentence with my “teacher”/language exchange partner J. Now, I wonder why I’m talking about going home early in the morning instead of leaving the house. It might be my dirty mind playing tricks on me.
Interesting note: domov is pronounced like domou.
Aprenderás, Jorge Luis Borges
Después de algún tiempo aprenderás la sutil diferencia entre sostener una>mano y encadenar un alma, y aprenderás que amar no significa apoyarse, y que compañía no siempre significa seguridad.Comenzaras a aprender que los besos no son contratos, ni los regalos son promesas....
Comenzaras a aceptar tus derrotas con la cabeza alta y la mirada al frente, con la gracia de una mujer y no con la tristeza de un niño y aprenderás a construir hoy todos tus caminos, porque el terreno de mañana es incierto para los proyectos, y el futuro tiene la costumbre de caer en el vacío.
Después de un tiempo aprenderás que el sol quema si te expones demasiado. Aceptaras incluso que las personas buenas podrían herirte alguna vez y necesitaras perdonarlas. Aprenderás que hablar puede aliviar los dolores del alma.
Descubrirás que lleva años construir confianza y apenas unos segundos destruirla y que tu también podrás hacer cosas de las que te arrepentirás el resto de la vida.
Aprenderás que las nuevas amistades continúan creciendo a pesar de las distancias y que no importa que es lo que tienes, sino a quien tienes en la vida y que los buenos amigos son la familia que nos permitimos elegir. Aprenderás que no tenemos que cambiar de amigos, si estamos dispuestos a aceptar que los amigos cambian.
Descubrirás que muchas veces tomas a la ligera a las personas que más te importan y por eso siempre debemos decir a esas personas que las amamos porque nunca estaremos seguros de cuando será la ultima vez que las veamos.
Aprenderás que las circunstancias y el ambiente que nos rodea tienen influencia sobre nosotros, pero nosotros somos los únicos responsables de lo que hacemos.
Comenzaras a aprender que no nos debemos comparar con los demás, salvo cuando queramos imitarlos para mejorar.
Descubrirás que se lleva mucho tiempo para llegar a ser la persona que quieres ser, y que el tiempo es corto.
Aprenderás que no importa a donde llegaste, sino a donde te diriges.
Aprenderás que si no controlas tus actos ellos te controlaran y que ser flexible no significa ser débil o no tener personalidad, porque no importa cuan delicada y frágil sea una situación: siempre existen dos lados.
Aprenderás que héroes son las personas que hicieron lo que era necesario enfrentando las consecuencias...
Aprenderás que la paciencia requiere mucha practica.
Descubrirás que algunas veces, la persona que esperas que te patee cuando te caes, tal vez sea una de las pocas que te ayuden a levantarte.
Madurar tiene mas que ver con lo que has aprendido de las experiencias, que con los años vividos.
Aprenderás que hay mucho mas de tus padres en ti de lo que supones.
Aprenderás que nunca se debe decir a un niño que sus sueños son tonterías, porque pocas cosas son tan humillantes y seria una tragedia si lo creyese, porque le estarás quitando la esperanza.
Aprenderás que cuando sientes rabia, tienes derecho a tenerla, pero eso no te da el derecho de ser cruel.
Descubrirás que solo porque alguien no te ama de la forma que quieres, no significa que no te ame con todo lo que puede, porque hay personas que nos aman, pero que no saben como demostrarlo...
No siempre es suficiente ser perdonado por alguien, algunas veces tendrás que aprender a perdonarte a ti mismo.
Aprenderás que con la misma severidad conque juzgas, también serás juzgado y en algún momento condenado.
Aprenderás que no importa en cuantos pedazos tu corazón se partió, el mundo no se detiene para que lo arregles.
Aprenderás que es uno mismo quien debe cultivar su propio jardín y decorar su alma, en vez de esperar que alguien le traiga flores.
Jorge Luis Borges
Mondays at the gym mean eye candy. Today it also meant various types of deadlifts, squats and hip raises in such quantities and with enough weights to make me walk like a duck tomorrow.
And then J tried to keep me awake in Subway by talking about politics. It almost worked. I’m tired, my muscles hurt. I wonder if it’s time to grow up.
Last night I read Jack Kerouac’s The Sea Is My Brother: The Lost Novel. Say what you will about the writer’s maturity, the book was breathing wanderlust and such joie de vivre. Those things, if any, are truly beautiful.
Appetizing pictures again – let them not scare you, this is tasty.
Veggies:½ large onion, 2 potatoes, 1 carrot, mushrooms, a few cherry tomatoes. 1 garlic clove. Mix with some olive oil and a lot of spicy paprika.
Add water.
Leave to boil for a while.
Add tomato purée.
Add soy protein.
Let simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add dried basil.
And the book collection is growing.
I was asked to post photos from Prague. Here we go then, photos from Prague. A lot of them, in the wrong order. You can click on the photos to make them bigger.
Prague was a lovely city. I loved the atmosphere, the architecture. The bookshops, the cafés, the language. Everything was perfect. The company was great and we had such fun. Going to Prague from Bratislava is easy and cheap. We decided to go by bus, which took about 4 hours. We paid 50€ each for buses + 2 nights at a ***-hotel in the city centre.
There was something I wanted to write about here. Now my head is empty and my thoughts have returned to wherever they came from. Last night I went out with some people, to a nice place here in Bratislava. And suddenly it hit me, I do like this place, this city. And it’s not just because we were dancing like mad to some cheesy Slovak pop music, and not because we were surrounded by tall, handsome men. Recently I’ve been reading some melancholic stories, bittersweet accounts of life. And something inside me is madly in love with life itself.
The thought was to have pasta with something more colourful than usual, or maybe the best description would be colourful stuff with pasta.
The idea turned into a yummy, delicious, wonderful, satisfying AND filling meal.
Ingredients: whole wheat spaghettis boiled with carrots, onion and zucchini. Added to the mix: smoked salmon, avocado, tomato, cheddar cheese, fresh basil and dried cranberries. Pepper and garlic.
For the first time in years I’m leaving my laptop at home when going on a trip. It’s time for a holiday. Prague is calling, I will be back on Monday night.
Tschüss!
“No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.”
- Haruki Murakami -
Hi friends. Wednesday and I’m lying in bed with my laptop and a cop of coffee. Such luxury! And just to add cream to the cake, I’m working with our research project. On social inequality. Oh yeah. Stuff like this makes me happy, I’m such a geek. No need to mention my excitement about the next module, which is European law. We get to write an assignment on a topic of our choice, and I’m thinking about Slovak labour law or European guidelines concerning minority languages, or integration or…. 
Last night I thought about life. The life I’m leading and the life I want to lead. I’m a bit hesitant to write about my dreams publically, but then again, they are nothing big, nothing special.
Today – once the project is finished – I’m going to treat myself with a trip to the book shop, after which I’m actually going to work. Because that’s where the gym is!
It’s Sunday. Bratislava is drowning in fog and clouds. I woke up wishing that I could hug someone, sometimes being single sucks. This is something I was thinking about the other day, how being loved is not a human right. It’s something you’d wish to everyone, but maybe one needs to face that there is a chance of eternal singlehood. It’s not a happy thought, but coming to grips with that thought might make life a little easier.
On a happier note, I might be surrounded by the best people ever. We laugh, we joke, we drink too much diet coke, we plan trips to Prague and other places and we try to heal the world. I keep repeating this, but I do believe that it’s important to be thankful for the people around you. So many people have come and left in my life, I really want to hold on to the good ones.
Life is intensive, slightly too intensive. This weekend I have slept about 24 hours and now I feel back to normal. This weekend I’ve been trying to dive into Slovak culture. On Friday a Slovak boy was telling me about Ľudovít Štúr and how important he is considered in contemporary Slovakia. This is what I want, to know this country, its culture, the language.
One of my colleagues is Danish and for some reason my eyes have recently opened to German and Danish. There is no time, I know. But I really like the sound of both languages. So, right now I’m listening to this.
Friday: wine and cheese with friend.
Saturday: exam, coffee date with the sweetest girlfriend, wine and small talking with a bunch of fun people.
Sunday: coffee, more wine and good conversation. Someone (finally) explained how the banking system works. Who thought it’d make so much sense?
Monday: definitely not physically rested after all the socialising. And the deadline is drawing nearer and nearer. And the need to go to the gym is growing, my muscles want to feel some serious pain. So, probably have to wake up in five hours or so.
But. At the end of the day, it’s the people who keep one sane. And will not write a single more sentence today.
…again. But only for the day. But this is the second Sunday in a row that I’m going to Austria.
Other places on the list to visit this spring.
Now I need to run to the super market (fingers crossed it’s open) before running to the train station (fingers crossed they sell tickets).
Have a nice week, everyone!
Today I feel like talking about languages and minority and minority policy. I’d like to sit down at some table and try to save the world. Talk about openness. How all people – no matter what – are equal. That immigrants shouldn’t need to be grateful for anything just because they are immigrants. How languages are important because they make us who we are. That there is no such thing as a wrong language. That learning languages should always be endorsed. That minorities should have the right to speak their own languages and develop their identities without having to have to listen some idiot remarks from the majority population.
So, yeah. Hej. Languages are the best. Being who you are is also the best.
This post was inspired by a conversation with some Slovaks about the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, this song (by some Fenno-Swede artists) and this article (by a former immigrant in Finland).
…that’s what my friend J told me today when I was getting *slightly* too excited about Czech writers and their ability to write beautifully.
I believe it was said with affection.
So I took it as a compliment.
And in order not to let such a great compliment go to waste, let’s train our language skills.
Finnish: olet hullu.
Swedish: du är galen.
Spanish: estás loco/loca.
Slovak: si blázon.
Polish: jesteś szalony/szalona.
Hungarian: te őrült.
Russian: Ты сошел с ума/ Ты сошла с ума
French: tu es fou
Пустое вы сердечным ты Она, обмолвясь, заменила, И все счастливые мечты В душе влюблённой возбудила. Пред ней задумчиво стою, Свести очей с неё нет силы; И говорю ей: как вы милы! И мыслю: как тебя люблю.- A.S. Pushkin -
Today I had an interesting discussion with a Slovak colleague of mine (who also speaks Swedish really well) about how to address people.
In Finland and in Sweden, we tend to be very informal. I would never address anyone formally in Finnish or Swedish, unless it were an elderly, grumpy lady.
In Slovakia – as in most of Europe – people are a lot more formal. No stranger would say “ty” to me (resulting in me feeling like that old grumpy lady).
This topic led my thoughts to Slovak declension of personal pronouns. I copied the table from Wikipedia (yes, shame on me).
As you can see (you Slavic speakers), there are similarities with both Russian and Polish. Also note that Slovak, very much like Polish, has a locative case.
Definition of false friends according to Wikipedia: False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects (or letters in two alphabets)[1] that look or sound similar, but differ significantly in meaning.
As you know, in my Slovak studies, I have been focusing on comparing Slovak with Russian and Polish. One of the funniest pair of false friends I’ve come across this far is úžasný vs. ужасный.
Don’t let the letters fool you, these two words are very similar in pronunciation, not, however, in meaning. The Slovak word úžasný means wonderful or amazing, whereas Russian ужасный means terrible.
