17:00 Jeg hopper op på min kondicykel og jeg cykler 4 miles (7km). Hurrah – nu ved jeg, at jeg kan blive
rask igen!
Alison, vores datter i København, sender mig en sms. Hun siger, at hun
hellere vil udskyde til i morgen vores planlagde Skype-opkald. Hun var sent
oppe i aftes, og stod tidligt op i morges. Jeg formoder, at hun skulle hjælpe
Ed, sin mand, med at forberede sig på hans rejse til England. Han må have taget
et tidligt fly i morges fra København. Hun er meget træt og vil gerne gå
tidligt i seng med en god sengetidbog – stakkels Ali!
19:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og derefter bruger vi aftenen på at se lidt
fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om oprindelsen af
de orientalske folk, der i dag bor i Asien, og som ser så anderledes ud fra os
med deres flade ansigter, flade næser og smalle øjne osv – du godeste, sikke et
skørt emne! Programmets vært er den charmerende Alice Roberts, der voksede op i
Bristol-området og udtaler diftongen ’ow’ (som i ordet ”how” osv) på en
underlig måde – du godeste!
Programmet er dels videnskabelig dokumentarfilm, og dels rejsebeskrivelse,
hvilket er lidt ærgerligt for os, der interesserer sig bare for antropologi,
men det springer jeg over!
Jeg vidste ikke, at kinesiske børn i mange år er blevet fortalt, at de
orientalske folk er anderledes , end resten af verdens befolkning, fordi de angiveligt
stammer fra en anderledes gren af Homo Erectus-familien. Forskerne, der fremsætter denne teori, peger
på de forstenede kranier af forhistoriske asiater (med deres flade ansigter?)
og deres stenredskaber, der var langt mere primitive, end de europæiske.
Men beviserne på en anderledes oprindelse
har aldrig overbevist vestlige forskere (forhistoriske
kinesiske folk brugte sikkert bambusredskaber også, for eksempel!). Og nu har
moderne genetik aflivet den kinesiske teori – DNA undersøgelser har ikke fundet
nogen moderne kinesere, der ikke stammer fra den lille gruppe afrikanere, der
forlod Afrika for 70.000 år siden – aha, ligesom de europæiske folk!
de orientaliske folk stammer fra samme afrikanske forfædre
som
de europæiske folk – aha!
22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzz!!!!
05:00 Jeg står op og laver én af mine rutinemæssige danske ordforrådtester.
Bagefter skynder jeg mig ind i køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Jeg bringer dem
op på vores soveværelse og kryber tilbage i vores seng. Vi drikker teen og står
op. Vi spiser morgenmad.
09:00 Jeg går i gang med at arbejde på de første danske samtaler, jeg har
udtænkt for at forbedre vores evne til at tale dansk. Jeg er for tiden ikke
sikker på, om vores U3A danske gruppes medlemmer vil vise interesse for denne
aspekt af sproget. Det vil vi finde ud af på gruppens næste møde den 3.
november. Det gør ikke noget hvis de andre mennesker ikke interesserer sig for
disse øvelser, fordi Lois og jeg kan bruge dem mellem hinanden.
I mellemtiden går Lois i gang med at fremstille noget hjemmelavet
blommemarmelade. Vores nabo, Bob, gav os for et par dage siden en stor pose
blommer. Den følgende dag bragte han to tomme krukker. Budskabet var klart: han
vil gerne have, at Lois laver to krukker blommemarmelade til ham! Du godeste!
Vi tror, at dette er Bobs ”hævn”:
for to uger siden gav vi Bob to tomme æggebakker. Vi havde ikke nogen
skjulte formål, men Bob troede måske, at vi faktisk var ved at bede ham om at
give os nogle af sine hønseæg. Du godeste! Bob holder 3-4 æglæggende høns i
bunden af sin have. Men han fortalte os, at hans høns for tiden er i gang med
en kort pause fra at lægge æg. Pokkers!
Lois går i gang med at fremstille 4 krukker hjemmelavet blommemarmelade,
efter
Bobs forslag – Bob er vores nabo.
12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng og tager mig en
gigantisk eftermiddagslur – zzzzz!!!!
15:00 Jeg står op og vi slapper af med en kop te på sofaen.
English translation
17:00
I hop up on my exercise bike and I ride 4 miles (7km). Hurrah - now I know that
I can get well
again!
Alison, our daughter in
Copenhagen, sends me a text message. She
says she would rather put off until tomorrow our planned Skype call. She was up
late last night and got up early this morning. I suspect that she needed to help
Ed, her husband, prepare for his trip to England. He must have taken an
early flight this morning from Copenhagen. She is very tired and would like to
go to bed early with a good bedtime-book - poor Ali!
19:00 We have dinner and then we
spend the evening watching TV. They show an interesting documentary about the
origin of the Oriental peoples, who now live in Asia, and who look so different
from us with their flat faces, flat noses and narrow eyes, etc. - my god, what
a crazy topic! The program's host is the charming Alice Roberts, who grew up in
the Bristol area and pronounces the diphthong 'ow' (as in the word
"how", etc.) in a weird way - my god!
The program is part scientific
documentary and part travelogue, which is a bit annoying for us who are only
interested in anthropology, but I will let that one slide!
I did not know that Chinese
children have been told for many years that the Oriental people are different
than the rest of the world's population, because they allegedly come from a
different branch of the Homo Erectus family. The scientists who put forward this
theory point to the fossilized skulls of prehistoric Asians (with their flat
faces?) and their stone tools that were far more primitive than those in
Europe.
But the evidence of a different
origin has never convinced Western scholars (ancient Chinese people probably
used bamboo utensils as well as stone ones, for example!). And now modern genetics has killed
off the Chinese theory - DNA tests have not found any contemporary Chinese who
do not come from the small group of Africans who left Africa 70,000 years ago -
aha, just like the peoples of Europe then!
the oriental people come from the same
African ancestors
as the peoples of Europe - aha!
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzz !!!!
05:00 I get up and do one of my
routine Danish vocabulary tests. Afterwards I hurry into the kitchen and make
two cups of tea. I bring them up to our bedroom and crawl back into our bed. We
drink the tea and get up. We eat breakfast.
09:00 I begin to work on the
first Danish conversations I have devised to improve our ability to speak
Danish. I am currently not sure whether our U3A Danish group members will show
interest in this aspect of the language. We will find out at the group's next
meeting on 3 November. It does not matter if the other people do not care about
these exercises because Lois and I can use them between ourselves.
In the meantime, Lois starts to
make some homemade plum jam. Our neighbor, Bob, gave us a big bag of plums a
few days ago. The following day he brought two empty jars. The message was
clear: he wants Lois to make him two pots of plum jam! My God!
We believe that this is Bob's
"revenge": two weeks ago, we gave Bob two empty egg cartons. We had
no hidden purpose, but Bob thought maybe that we actually were about to ask him
to give us some of his chicken eggs. My God! Bob keeps 3-4 laying hens at the
bottom of his garden. But he told us that his chickens are currently on a short
break from laying eggs. Damn!
Lois begins to produce 4 jars of homemade
plum jam,
after Bob's suggestions - Bob is our
neighbor.
12:30 Lunch, and afterwards I go
to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap - zzzzz !!!!
15:00 I get up and we relax with
a cup of tea on the sofa.
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