Lois tilbringer dagen i køkkenet – hun forbereder på middagselskabet, vi i
morgen kaster til Susan, min kusine fra Monument, Colorado, til John, Susans
lillebror, og til Chris, Johns kone: John og Chris bor i byen Witney i
grevskabet Oxfordshire.
Mine kulinariske færdigheder er ganske begrænsede, så jeg prøver at hjælpe
til på andre måder. I formiddag rydder jeg op i stuen, og bagefter rydder op og
støvsuger i spisestuen. Jeg rykker møbler fra det ene rum til det andet (og tilbage igen ha ha ha).
10:00 Min ven, ”Magyar Mike” kommer og vi lærer ungarsk i en time. Vi har
besluttet at afprøve en anderledes lærebog, Assimils ”Ungarsk uden besvær”, som
vi for nogle år siden brugte.
Assimil:
den nye lærebog ”Magyar” Mike og jeg
har
besluttet at afprøve
Det er umiddelbart klar, at bogen er lidt frankocentrisk, hvilket er lidt
usædvanligt. Jeg gør lidt forskning senere på nettet, og jeg opdager, at
Assimil var et fransk selskab, grundlagt i 1929 af en mand, der hed Alphonse
Chérel, hvilket lyder meget fransk, ingen tvivl om det. Fransk humor er helt
anderledes fra vores, og jeg har svært ved at forstå bogens illustrationer. Men
jeg trøster mig selv ved at kigge på den som et to i et kursus – hovedfag i
ungarsk og bifag i fransk humor, hvilket lyder meget sjovt.
Bogen
er lidt frankocentrisk, hvilket lyder
en
forfriskende forandring. Sprogbøger på engelsk
er
normalt anglocentriske eller USA-centriske
Illustrationerne
er lidt af en gåde – det må jeg indrømme!!!!
Mike og jeg skifter lærebøger ganske hyppigt, på grund af, at Mike kun kan
klare de meget basale kapitler i disse bøger. Efter de første få kapitler
bliver han lidt forvirret – han er gladest for, at bruge praktiske ord og at
klare almindelige hverdagssituationer på ungarsk, men han har ikke evnen til at
gøre fremskridt mod mere avancerede eller abstrakte koncepter og udtryk – uha!
fra venstre til højre: ”Magyar” Mike, ”Magyar” Steven (Mikes barnebarn),
og
”Magyar” Mary (Mikes kone) i Prag tidligere på året
For Mikes vedkommende er det en chance for at lave noget lidt
intellektuelt, og for mit vedkommende er det en behagelig og ukrævende måde at
vedligeholde vores venskab og også min venskab med Tünde, min penneveninde i
Budapest.
Jeg ville gerne koncentrere mig lidt mere om at lære ungarsk, men det er
det svært at finde tid til. Vores datter Alison og hendes familie planlægger at
blive boende i Danmark i det mindste indtil næste juni, så jeg må koncentrere
mig først og fremmest om at lære dansk. Intet i livet er simpelt ha ha ha.
Jeg kan mindst sige, at der ikke er nogen mulighed at blande de to sprog
sammen – de er slet ikke slægtede og er vidt forskellige, gudskelov.
13:00 Vi spiser frokost. Lois har fået en mail fra Mari-Ann, en anden
medlem af sin kirke. Kirken har i to måneder drevet en pop-up shop midt i
Tewkesbury, men shoppen skal lukkes om et par dage og omdannes til en polsk
delikatesse, hvilket er lidt surrealistisk.
Pop-up
shoppen, som Lois’s kirke for 2 mdr siden åbnede midt i byen.
Der er en mand, som jeg kalder for en ”original”, der har for vane at
tilbringe størstedelen af ugen i shoppen. Han bor i et telt bag byens
anglikanske kirke, men prædikanten har nu bedt ham om, at pisse af , men han
siger, han vil ignorere prædikantens ønsker.
Denne mand virkede som om, han var interesseret i Lois's kirkens tro og
aktiviteter i byen. Kirkemedlemmerne,
der har bemandet shoppen har været meget venlige overfor ham, og har nu og da købt
ham snacks osv. De har hjulpet ham på en entusiastisk måde med at tale med de
lokale sociale myndigheder, så han kan kvalificere sig til at få dagpenge og en
lejlighed, ved at tilbyde at acceptere betalt arbejde osv.
Jeg må indrømmer at jeg selv var skeptisk fra starten om projektet for at
hjælpe ham, og jeg mistænkte, at han snød kirkemedlemmerne, men Lois opfordrede
mig til at blive mere menneskekærlig, hvilket jeg prøvede at gøre.
Desværre er hele projektet nu ikke blevet til noget, ifølge Mari-Ann.
Kirkemedlemmerne købte ham en spritny sovepose, men den er nu forsvundet. Mange
tror, at han har solgt den – du godeste!
De sociale myndigheder har tilbudt ham en række lejligheder, men han har
afvist dem alle på en eller anden grund – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!
Men det er rart at finde ud af, at mine første mavefølelser var rigtige for
engangs skyld – hurra for mig! Men jeg må fortsatte med mit projekt for at
blive mere menneskekærlig, uden tvivl om det!
15:00 Efter min sædvanlige gigantiske eftermiddagslur, går jeg ud i
baghaven og klipper hækken mellem vores have og Bobs have, der i de seneste 2
måneder er blivet lidt overgroet. Når Susan, John og Chris i morgen kommer, vil
jeg ikke have dem til at kritisere i smug mine havearbejdestandarder – åh nej!
16:00 Jeg kommer tilbage ind i huset og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop
te og et stykke kage i sofaen. Bagefter smutter jeg ind i køkkenet og skrælle 3 pund kartofler – jeg håber, det
er nok.
Eksperterne fraråder os hele tiden at drikke alkohol, hvilket er lidt af en
skam. Men i går gik vi på indkøb og købte 3 flaske vin, en flaske sherry og 6
flaske øl som forberedelse på morgendagens middagsselskab.
For det meste plejer Lois og jeg ikke at drikke alkohol, så det er en
forfriskende forandring (og lidt af en lettelse) at kunne have alkohol i huset
i en kort periode. Jeg er allerede begyndt på flasken sherry, må jeg indrømme –
uha! Hvis vi er heldige, vil vi også have lidt alkohol tilbage efter
middagsselskabet – hurra, jeg forudser en behagelig uge forude!
17:30 Vi spiser aftensmad lidt tidligere, end normalt, og bagefter skal vi
ud. Lois ønsker at deltage i sin kirkes bibelseminar, det finder sted i aften i
byen Brockworths bibliotek. Hun er ikke tilladt at køre bil for tiden på grund
af grå stær, så jeg kører hende over til Mari-Ann og Alfs hus. De vil kører hende over til Brockworth.
Lois’s øjenoperation er bestemt til fredag (den 15. september), og vi håber
på, at den ikke bliver udskudt.
19:00 Jeg kommer hjem og slapper af ved at se lidt fjernsyn og lytte til
radio – men resultaterne er ikke ret tilfredsstillende – uha! De viser en
dokumentarfilm, det første afsnit i den 2. sæson af ”Spar penge: god sundhed”,
en klodset titel for en 30-minutters show, der prøver at udrette en masse, men
uden succes – uha!
Jeg tror, jeg lærer
kun én nyttig kendsgerning fra programmet, og en kendsgerning, som jeg ligesom
vidste allerede: deodorantstifter virker meget bedre, end deodorantsprayer (der
fungerer lidt tilfældigt). Du godeste,
en halvtime af mit liv, som jeg aldrig vil have igen ha ha ha!!!
20:00 Bagefter ser jeg en vigtig dokumentarfilm, der handler om jagten
efter en ny jord, en planet, hvor menneskehed kan flygte til, hvis vi har for
meget klimaforandring eller for mange atomkrige og alt det der lort. Jeg må
koncentrere mig om dette program, især når værterne taler om kvalifikationer til
at blive accepteret som en af de første banebrydende rumrejsende, men jeg begynder
at føle mig pludselig mere og mere søvnig – uha!
Det er nemmere at se videnskabelige programmer, når Lois er ude af huset,
fordi de har tendens til at få hende til at føle sig urolig, har jeg bemærket.
Jeg tror, at apostlen Johannes i sin åbenbaring (sidste bog i det nye
testamente) forudser dommedag og derefter ser en ny himmel og en ny jord, men
det er jeg ikke helt sikker på.
”Radio Times”-tidsskriftet antyder, at Stephen Hawking vil være programmets
vært, men det er faktisk Manchester Universitets charmerende astrofysiker
Danielle George, der spiller hovedrollen. Jeg finder, at jeg snart bliver
charmeret af hendes lyshåret nabopige-look, mulige fravær af make-up, almindelige
jeans, og blød ”geordie” akkent, og jeg falder snart i søvn i sofaen, lige da hun begynder at tale om kvalifikationerne til at
blive en af de første rumkolonister – pokkers!
jeg
bliver snart charmeret af Danielle Georges lyshåret
nabopige-look og
går glip at programmets vigtigste sekvenser – pokkers!
Rejsen til Proxima
B planeten (4 lysår væk fra jorden) ville tage 250.000 jordår med nutidens
teknologi, men måske med den planlagte laser-teknologi kun 20 jordår, hvilket
lyder ganske kort i sammenligning, men kunne stadig være ganske kedeligt. Du
godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!!
22:00 Lois kommer
hjem og jeg går i seng, men Lois trænger til at slappe af og geare ned efter
aftenens stimulerende bibelseminar, og hun bliver oppe og ser lidt fjernsyn.
23:00 Hun hopper op
i sengen til mig.
English translation
Lois spends the day in the kitchen - she
is getting ready for the 'dinner party' we are throwing tomorrow for Susan, my
cousin from Monument, Colorado, for John, Susan's younger brother, and for
Chris, John's wife: John and Chris live in the town of Witney in the county of
Oxfordshire.
My culinary skills are quite limited, so
I try to help in other ways. This morning I clean up the living room and
afterwards clean up and vacuum in the dining room. I move furniture from one
room to another (and back again ha ha ha).
10:00 My friend, "Magyar Mike"
comes and we learn Hungarian for an hour. We have decided to try out a
different textbook, Assimil's "Hungarian With Ease", which we used a
few years ago.
Assimil: The new textbook that "Magyar"
Mike and I
have decided to try out
It is immediately clear that the book is
a bit francocentric, which is a bit unusual. I do some research later on the
web, and I find that Assimil was a French company, founded in 1929 by a man
named Alphonse Chérel, which sounds very French, no doubt about that. French
humour is completely different from ours and I find it hard to understand the
book's illustrations. But I comfort myself by looking at it as a two-in-one
course - majoring in Hungarian and minoring in French humour, which sounds like
a lot of fun.
The book is a bit francocentric, which sounds
like
a refreshing change. Language books in English
are usually anglocentric or US-centric
The illustrations are a bit of a mystery - I
have to admit !!!!
Mike and I change textbooks quite
frequently, because Mike can only handle the very basic chapters in these
books. After the first few chapters he gets a bit confused - he is happiest
using practical words and handling ordinary everyday situations in Hungarian,
but he does not have the ability to make progress towards more advanced or
abstract concepts and expressions - oh dear!
from left to right:
"Magyar" Mike, "Magyar" Steven (Mike's grandson),
and "Magyar" Mary (Mike's wife) in
Prague earlier this year
In Mike's case it is a chance to do
something a bit intellectual, and in my case, it is a pleasant and undemanding
way to maintain our friendship and also my friendship with Tünde, my pen-friend
in Budapest.
I would like to concentrate a little
more on learning Hungarian, but it's hard to find time for it. Our daughter
Alison and her family are planning to stay in Denmark at least until next June,
so I have to concentrate first and foremost on learning Danish. Nothing in life is simple ha ha ha.
At least I can say that there is no
possibility of mixing the two languages up - they are not related at all and
are like chalk and cheese, thank goodness.
13:00 We have lunch. Lois has received
an email from Mari-Ann, another member of her church. The church has been
running a pop-up shop in the middle of Tewkesbury for two months, but the shop
has to close in a couple of days and it is going to be transformed into a Polish delicatessen,
which is a little surreal.
The pop-up shop which Lois's church opened 2
months ago
in the
middle of the town.
There is a man whom I call a "weirdo" who has the habit of spending most of the week in the shop.
He lives in a tent behind the city's Anglican church, but the preacher has now
asked him to piss off, although he says he will ignore the the preacher's wishes.
This man seemed like he was interested
in Lois's church's beliefs and activities in the town. The church members who
staffed the shop have been very kind to him and have occasionally bought him
snacks, etc. They have enthusiastically helped him to talk to the local social
services so that he can qualify for unemployment benefits and an apartment by
offering to accept paid work, etc.
I have to admit that I was sceptical
from the start about the project to help him, and I suspected he was deceiving
the church members, but Lois encouraged me to become more charitable, which I
tried to do.
Unfortunately, the entire project has
come to nothing now, according to Mari-Ann. The church members bought him a
brand new sleeping bag, but it has now disappeared. Many of them believe that
he has sold it - good grief!
The social services have offered him a
number of apartments, but he has rejected them all for one reason or another -
good grief, what madness !!!
But it's nice to find out that my first
gut feelings were right for once – hurrah for me! But I must carry on with my
project of becoming more charitable, no doubt about that.
15:00 After my usual gigantic afternoon
nap I go out into the backyard and cut the hedge between our garden and Bob's
garden, which has become a little overgrown in the past 2 months. When Susan,
John and Chris come tomorrow, I do not want them to criticize on the sly my
standards of gardening work - oh no, not that!
16:00 I come back into the house and
Lois and I relax with a cup of tea and a piece of cake on the couch. Afterwards
I pop into the kitchen and peel 3 pounds of potatoes - I hope that's enough.
Experts always advise us against
drinking alcohol, which is a bit of a shame. But yesterday we went shopping and
bought 3 bottles of wine, a bottle of sherry and 6 bottles of beer in
preparation for tomorrow's dinner party.
For the most part, Lois and I do not
drink alcohol, so it's a refreshing change (and a bit of relief) to have
alcohol in the house for a short period of time. I have already started on the
bottle of sherry, I have to admit - oh dear! If we are lucky, we will also have
a little alcohol left after the dinner party - hurrah, I anticipate a pleasant
week ahead!
17:30 We eat dinner a bit earlier than
usual and afterwards we go out. Lois wants to attend her church's bible seminar
taking place this evening in Brockworth library. She is not allowed to drive a
car at the moment due to cataracts, so I drive her over to Mari-Ann and Alf's
house. They will drive her over to Brockworth.
Lois's eye surgery is scheduled for
Friday (September 15) and we are hoping it will not be postponed.
19:00 I come home and relax by watching
TV and listening to the radio - but the results are not that satisfying - oh
dear! A documentary film is on, the first episode of the 2nd season of
"Save Money: Good Health", a clumsy title for a 30-minute show that
tries to accomplish a lot but without success - oh dear!
I think I only learn one useful fact
from the programme, and a fact I already sort of knew: deodorant sticks work
much better than deodorant sprays (which work a bit randomly). Good grief, a
half hour of my life which I will never get back ha ha ha !!!
20:00 Afterwards I see an important
documentary about the hunt for a new earth, a planet where humanity can escape
to if we have too much climate change or too many nuclear wars and all that
crap. I have to concentrate on this programme, especially when the hosts talk
about qualifications for being accepted as one of the first groundbreaking
space travellers, but I'm beginning to feel more and more sleepy - oh dear!
It's easier to see scientific programs
when Lois is out of the house because they tend to make her feel uneasy, I have
noticed. I believe that the Apostle John in his Revelations (last book of the
New Testament) predicts judgment day and then sees a new heaven and a new
earth, but that's something I'm not entirely sure about.
The "Radio Times" magazine
suggests that Stephen Hawking will be the programme host, but it is actually
Manchester University's charming astrophysicist Danielle George, who plays the
lead role. I find that I am soon charmed by her fair-haired girl next door
look, possible absence of makeup, her regular jeans, and soft
"geordie" accent, and I soon fall asleep just as she starts talking
about the qualifications for becoming one of the first space colonists - damn!
I'm soon charmed by Danielle George's
fair haired
girl-next-door look and miss the program's most
important sequences - my god!
The journey to the Proxima B planet (4
light years away from the earth) would take 250,000 earth years with today's
technology, but perhaps with the planned laser technology only 20 earth years,
which sounds quite short in comparison, but could still be quite boring. My
god, what madness!
22:00 Lois comes home and I go to bed,
but Lois needs to relax and wind down after the evening's stimulating Bible
seminar, and she stays up and watches a bit of television.
23:00 She hops into bed with me.
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