Random Thoughts On Nothing In Particular

It's been a hectic month, this month of June. I spent most of it on a train, but managed to squeeze in some travelling and celebrations as there were so many public holidays. I have been dreaming of a writer's hut and swallowed books.

We have seen some flats and almost cursed the situation in Stockholm, finding a flat is almost impossible. Funny enough, it was easier to find work than a place to live.
I started going to the gym at work, it's great.

Working in Sweden is completely different than in Slovakia. Once a week we have an hour to do whatever we want for our wellbeing (known as friskvårdstimme in Swedish, we celebrate with bubbles when the company shows positive numbers and the Friday fika is a holy thing.

The best thing - the very best thing - is that I will have three weeks of paid holiday even though I just started working in May. I'm planning to take the holiday in October and I'm already dreaming about faraway lands. It's exciting.

It's good to be back! :)

Hello Polish [Language Challenge]

Long time no see. But my language studies have continued and next time it is time to begin with Polish [an evaluation of my progress in Slovak will come later next week].

I did learn from past mistakes and decided to take a small test of Polish, in order to have some idea of where the journey would begin. As a reference point, I decided to use the Polish proficiency test at www.transparent.com at http://www.transparent.com/learn-polish/proficiency-test.html

So, no perfection but the score is OK.

I believe that I need to work on:

• Some grammar 
• ...but mostly vocabulary. 

Vocabulary is the key for communication! As with Slovak, focus will be placed on creating text and translation. Here the advantage is that my Polish is a lot better than my Slovak so I will be able to create more freely!

A Piece of Paradise

There, in a forgotten corner of the world, in a place with little human life and almost complete silence, one may find a piece of paradise. The silence is broken by the sound of calm waves rolling in and the murmuring sound of birds chasing each other. I think I found just that - a piece of paradise. A place where one can sit and become absorbed - absorbed in thoughts and in serenity. A place where the world ceases to exist, where the elements meet each other. 

. 

Mango & Peach Smoothie

This mango & peach smoothie is refreshing and the lovely color is energizing. [Oh. Let's learn languages the smoothie-way..] The following ingredients are needed for 2-3 servings:
1 mango
1 apricot
Some orange juice
Skimmed milk.

Just throw everything in a mixer and enjoy.

Prísady: mango, broskyňa, pomarančový džús a mlieko bez tuku

Składniki: mango, brzoskwinia, sok pomarańczowy i mleko beztłuszczowe.

Ингредиенты: манго, персик, апельсиновый сок и обезжиренное молоко

Oops. [Language Challenge]

This week, while working on my language project/challenge, I realized that I had completely forgotten one of the essential rules of goal setting - having a tangible goal. 

How can I really see any improvement if I don't know where I stand and have no idea where I am heading?

In order to solve the issue I decided to jolt down all the words that I could think of in Slovak in order to define my current level. The solution is far from ideal because it wasn't thought through. I also don't believe that the amount of words can be used to measure one's level in language.It doesn't work that way - in the ideal life, quality should come over quantity.

Apart from this mishap, I am quite happy about the challenge so far. I have done some writing, I have learnt some new vocab. All in all, it's fun AND it's a way to kill time on the train. 

Pictures from the week that was.

Yet another short week. Today is the National Day of Sweden, which essentially means that most people are off work. What luck that it is on a Friday. For me this is great news because it has been rather tough getting into that daily routine of getting out of bed at 5.20 am and returning home at 6.30 pm. I don't mind the work, and I really don't mind sitting on a train (in fact, it's rather comforting), but suddenly it feels like I have no free time.

Mariehamn

Vagnhärad

Stockholm

Básnik sa modlí za deti

In my Slovak book (Slovak for You) there is a wonderful poem written by Milan Rúfus and I thought I would share it with you.

I have translated the poem into English and Swedish. Both translations are below. At the end of this post, you will find a youtube video of another text by Milan Rufús. Listen to it, and you will hear what a wonderful language Slovak is.


Básnik sa modlí za deti 

Nevedia prečo,

no vel'mi im to treba.

A možno ešte viacej ako chleba.

Aby im v duši pusto nebolo.

Aby ich mali radi okolo.

Aby im bolo mäkko

ako v mame.

Ked' bolia veci, ktoré nepoznáme,

tu každé diet'a,

plaché ako laň,

na hlave musí cítit' teplú dlaň.

Bože,

o takú dlaň Ťa l'udské mlád'a prosí.

V čase, ked' ešte ani nevie, Kto si.

Nášiel Ťa hore ten džavot tenkých hláskov?

Nášiel. Dal si im liek.

A nazval si ho láskou. 

The Poet Prays for the Children

Not knowing why,

but it was to them very necessary.

Perhaps even more so than bread.

So that their souls would not be empty.

So that they would be loved.

So that they would feel as soft

as in their mother.

When the unknown hurts,

here each child,

shy as a dove,

must feel a warm hand on her head. 

God,

the human youth is begging You for such a hand.

In a time, when it does not yet know, Who you are.

Did the chatter of thin voices find You up above? 

It did. You gave them a remedy.

And called it love. 

Poeten ber för barnen

Utan att veta varför,

behöver de det så mycket.

Kanske även mer än bröd.

Så att de inte känner sig tomma i själen.

Så att de blir älskade. 

Så att de känner sig mjuka

som i mamma.

När det okända gör ont,

här ska varje barn,

skygg som en duva,

känna en varm hand på sitt huvud. 

Gud,

en sådan hand ber människobarnen dig om.

I en tid då de ännu inte vet Vem du är. 

Hittade pladdret av tunna röster Dig däruppe?

Det hittade dig. Du gav dem ett botemedel.

Och kallade det kärlek.