Tirsdag den 17. oktober 2017

04:00 Jeg står tidligt op som sædvanligt og kigger lidt på nettet. Kl 8 hopper jeg tilbage op i sengen til Lois og vi drikker vores morgenté. Vi står op og spiser morgenmad.

10:00 Min ven, ”Magyar” Mike kommer og vi lærer ungarsk i en time. Vi bruger vores nye lærebog igen, Assimils ”Ungarsk uden besvær”, som vi for nogle år siden afprøvede.

Assimil: den nye lærebog ”Magyar” Mike og jeg

har besluttet at afprøve igen

Det er umiddelbart klar, at bogen er lidt frankocentrisk, hvilket er lidt usædvanligt. Jeg har gjort lidt forskning på nettet, og opdaget, 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.

Jeg tror, vi langsomt vænner os til bogens typisk franske stil, og vi er begyndt at nyde bogens lidt udtraditionelle, frække humor.

en typisk, lidt fræk grammatikforklaring og

en lidt fræk dialog fra lærebogen.

Mike, der bor lige udenfor den lille by Nailsworth,  har lidt af et usædvanligt problem for tiden. Hans nabo, Peter, flyttede væk fra sit hus for nogle måneder siden – han fortalte Mike, han skulle bo imidlertidigt i Bath-området i nogle måneder. Han efterlod hos Mike nøglen til den udvendige hoveddøren, så Mike kunne opsamle og opbevare posten.

I begyndelsen smuttede Peter nu og da tilbage hjem for at hente og klare posten, men Mike har ikke set ham nu i nogle måneder. Peter besvarer ikke Mikes telefonopkald. Nu er et nyt problem dukket op i huset – vandet fra køkkenhanen løber nu konstant ind i afløbet lige under køkkenvinduet. 

Derudover bliver Peters have mere og mere overgroet, og andre naboer er begyndt at gå til Mike of beklage sig over det. Du godeste – stakkels Mike!!!! 

Mange folk ville lige fralægge sig alt ansvar for problemet, men Mike er samvittighedsfuld  og han har tendens til at bekymre sig over det hele. Stakkels Mike!!!!

For et par dage siden, fik Mike fat i nøglen til Peters indvendige hoveddør og besluttede at åbne den. Desværre begyndte Peters tyveri alarmklokke at ringe – Mike vidste ikke, at der var en tyveri-alarm. Han gik i panik, men heldigvis holdt klokken op med at ringe 20 minutter senere. Han har siden de ikke kunnet kontakte tyveri alarm selskabet – han formoder, at det måske er gået i konkurs. Yikes!!!!

11:00 Mike skal hjem. Lois kommer tilbage fra det lokale sogneråds administrative kontor, hvor hun spørgte sekretæren, om det var sandt, at vores lokale lægeklinik havde til hensigt at flytte til landsbyen Bishops Cleeve næste år. Lois og jeg bor lige rundt om hjørnet fra den nuværende klinik, så det vil være meget irriterende, hvis vi fremover skal køre til Bishops Cleeve for at se lægen.

Sekretæren siger, at klinikken er meget karrig med information, men han er helt sikkert på, at klinikken vil flytte herfra – det hele er et spørgsmål om penge, siger han. Lois og jeg synes, lægerne er ligegladige med interesserne af deres lokale patienter. Vi er meget vrede på dem – ingen tvivl om det! Men at skifte læger vil heller ikke hjælpe os ret meget – vi har faktisk ikke andet valg, end at forblive på deres liste – altivernativerne er meget værre – pokkers!!!!!

13:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage mig en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. Jeg står op kl 15:15 og hopper op på min kondicykel. Jeg cykler 9 miles (15km) og samtidigt ser jeg på noget ikke bare belærende men også meget sjovt for en gangs skyld: Easy Danish with Thomas D: Intermediate. I mellemtiden går Lois ud i baghaven for at fortsætte med vores projekt ”at lægge haven i sengen for vinteren”.

ThomasD: ikke bare belærende men også

meget sjovt for en gangs skyld

Jeg kommer ned til køkkenet og laver to kopper te. Lois kommer ind igen fra haven og vi slapper af i sofaen.

17:00 Jeg kigger lidt på nettet. Alison, vores datter i København, har lagt et charmerende billede af sin 11-årige datter Josie op på whatsapp. Josie er i gang med at lege med de to kulsorte, herreløse killinger, som familien forleden adopterede.

Josie, vores 11-årige barnebarn i København

leger med de to herreløse killinger, som familien lige har adopteret.

Alison siger, de overvejer at kalde killingerne henholdsvis Albus (hannen) og Hermione (hunnen), navne, der tilsyneladende findes i Harry Potter-bøgerne.

Lois og jeg føler os mere og mere udenfor nu til dags, fordi vi ikke har den fjerneste anelse om, hvad der står i Harry Potter-bøgerne og filmene. Steve, vores svigerbror i Philadelphia, fortæller mig, at der nu findes en virkelig liv Hogwarts-akademi (kun det lokale øjenavn – det officielle navn er Bethel Skole af Overnaturlig Betjening, en kristen læreanstalt) i byen Redding i Nord-Californien, hvor studerende bliver undervist i at udrette mirakler, kurere de syge og ”bruge det overnaturlige til at vinde sjæle” – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!!!

Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry: studerende bliver undervist

at udrette mirakler, kurere de syge, og

“bruge det overnaturlige til at vinde sjæle” – sikke et vanvid!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bagefter sætter vi os foran vores computere for at tjekke emails osv.

Jeg blader igennem de næste 4 sider af ”Forbandet” af Gittemie Eriksen, den danske kriminovelle, som er vores U3A danske gruppes nuværende projekt, og jeg får lidt af et chok, det må jeg indrømme.

Novellens helt er Per Janson, landbetjent i en normalt fredelig lille dansk landsby, der befinder sig ansvarlig for at undersøge en stribe drab af nogle og 30 årige eks-skolekammerater, herunder deres tidligere lærere.

Per har en kone, Vivi, der er lidt afvisende overfor ham, og som kritiserer ham konstant. Det er derfor nu lidt af et chok at læse siderne 106-109, hvor forfatteren skildrer en noget grafisk morgensex-scene mellem parret.

Klokken er 8 om morgenen, og Per har lige fået et telefonopkald fra sin chef, kaldende ham ud til et gerningssted – endnu to eks-skolekammerater er blevet fundet døde: de erblevet dræbt brutalt. Det mærkeligste er, at disse to var to af politiets vigtigste mistænkte – du godeste!

Per og Vivi har oversovet sig og er begge nøgne – det lader til, at de i går aftes havde sex. Og på trods af dette vigtige telefonopkald får Vivi Per til at give hende ”endnu en omgang” – du godeste, sikke et vanvid!

Det vil være lidt pinligt at oplæse denne sex-scene op i vores U3A gruppemøde – vi plejer at skiftes at til at oplæse en side og oversætte den til engelsk. Jeg ved ikke, hvad jeg skal gøre. Jeg beder Lois om at læse siderne i morgen, så vi kan diskutere dem sammen. Jeg må i hvert fald advare gruppens medlemmer, at vi har en noget grafisk sex-scene forude – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om!!!

Jeanette er dansker, så antager jeg, at hun aldrig føler sig pinlig, når det kommer til sex! Men bortset fra hende, er jeg ikke så sikker på, om de andre vil indvende mod alt det der, eller ej. Måske vil de være meget glade for, at lære nogle nye ord, såsom balder, bryst, brystvorte, morgenjern osv – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

I hvert fald får jeg se i morgen, når Lois har haft chancen for at læse scenen.

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzz!!!!!

English translation

04:00 I get up early and take a little look online. At 8 o'clock I hop back into bed with Lois and we drink our morning tea. We get up and have breakfast.

10:00 My friend, "Magyar" Mike comes and we learn Hungarian for an hour. We use our new textbook again, Assimil's "Hungarian With Ease", which we tried out a few years ago.

Assimil: the new textbook "Magyar" Mike and I

have decided to try out again

It is immediately clear that the book is a bit francocentric, which is a little unusual. I have done some research online and found that Assimil was a French company, founded in 1929 by a man named Alphonse Chérel, which sounds very French, no doubt about that. 

French humor is completely different from ours and I find it difficult 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 humor, which sounds a lot of fun.

I think we are slowly getting used to the book's typically French style, and we have begun to enjoy the book's slightly untraditional, naughty humor.

 a typical, slightly cheeky grammatical explanation and

a rather naughty dialogue from the textbook.

Mike, who lives just outside the small town of Nailsworth, has a bit of an unusual problem at the moment. His neighbor, Peter, moved away from his house a few months ago - he told Mike he would be staying in the Bath area for a few months. He left Mike with the key to the external front door, so Mike could collect and store the post.

In the beginning, Peter occasionally returned home to retrieve and manage the post, but Mike has not seen him now for a few months. Peter does not answer Mike's phone calls. Recently a new problem emerged in the house - the water from the kitchen faucet is constantly flowing into the drain just below the kitchen window.

In addition, Peter's garden is becoming overgrown and other neighbors have begun going to Mike to complain about it. Oh my god - poor Mike !!!!

Many people would just wash their hands of all responsibility for the problem, but Mike is conscientious and he tends to worry about it all. Poor Mike !!!!

A couple of days ago, Mike got hold of the key to Peter's inner front door and decided to open it. Unfortunately, Peter's burglar alarm began to ring - Mike did not know there was a burglar alarm. He panicked, but fortunately, the alarm stopped ringing 20 minutes later. He has since been unable to contact the burglar alarm company - he imagines that it may have gone bankrupt. Yikes !!!!

11:00 Mike has to go home. Lois comes back from the local parish council office where she asked the secretary if it was true that our local medical clinic intended to move to the village of Bishops Cleeve next year. Lois and I live just around the corner from the current clinic so it will be very annoying if we are going to have to drive to Bishops Cleeve to see the doctor.

The secretary says the clinic is very sparing with information, but he is sure the clinic will move from here - it's all a question of money, he says. Lois and I think the doctors do not care about the interests of their local patients. We are very angry with them - no doubt about that! But changing doctors would not help us a lot either - we actually have no choice but to stay on their list - the alternatives are much worse - damn !!!!!

13:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. I get up at 3:15pm and jump up on my exercise bike. I cycle 9 miles (15km) and at the same time I look at something not only instructive but also a lot of fun for once: Easy Danish with Thomas D: Intermediate. Meanwhile, Lois goes out into the backyard to continue with our project to "put the garden to bed for the winter".

ThomasD: not only instructive but also

very funny for once

I come down to the kitchen and make two cups of tea. Lois comes back in from the garden and we relax on the couch.

17:00 I take a little look online. Alison, our daughter in Copenhagen, has posted a charming picture of her 11 year old daughter Josie on whatsapp. Josie is playing with the two coal-black stray kittens that the family adopted the other day.

Josie, our 11 year old granddaughter in Copenhagen

playing with the two stray kittens the family has just adopted.

Alison says they are thinking of calling the kittens respectively, Albus (the male) and Hermione (the female), names apparently found in the Harry Potter books.

Lois and I feel more and more out of it nowadays because we do not have the slightest idea of what's in the Harry Potter books and movies. Steve, our brother-in-law in Philadelphia, tells me that there is now a real life Hogwarts Academy (Local nickname only - the official name is Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, a Christian school) in Redding, California, where students are being taught to perform miracles, heal the sick and "use the supernatural to win souls" - good grief, what madness !!!

Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry: students are taught

To perform miracles, heal the sick and

"use the supernatural to win souls" - what madness !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and afterwards we sit down in front of our computers to check emails, etc.

I browse through the next 4 pages of "Accursed" by Gittemie Eriksen, the Danish crime novella which is our current U3A Danish group's project, and I get a bit of shock, I have to admit.

The novella's hero is Per Janson, a constable in a normally peaceful little Danish village, who is responsible for investigating a string of killings of a bunch of 30-somethings, ex-schoolmates, including their former teachers.

Per has a wife, Vivi, who is a little stand-offish with him and is constantly criticising him. It is therefore now a bit of a shock to read pages 106-109, where the author depicts a somewhat graphic morning sex scene between the couple.

It's 8 o'clock in the morning and Per has just received a phone call from his boss calling him to a crime-scene - another two ex-schoolmates have been found dead, brutally murdered. The strange thing is that these two were also two of the police's most important suspects - good grief!!!!

Per and Vivi have overslept and are both naked - they seem to have had sex last night. And despite this important phone call, Vivi gets Per to give her "another round" - good grief, what madness!

It will be a bit embarrassing to read out this sex scene in our U3A group meeting - we usually take turns to read out a page and translate it into English. I do not know what to do. I ask Lois to read the pages tomorrow so we can discuss them together. I must at least warn the group members that we have a somewhat graphic six scene ahead - I have no doubt about that!!!

Jeanette is Danish, so I suppose she never feels embarrassed when it comes to sex! But apart from her, I'm not so sure if the others will object to all that, or not. Perhaps they will be very happy to learn some new words, such as buttocks, breast, nipples, “morning wood” etc. - my god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

Anyway I'll see tomorrow when Lois has had a chance to read the scene.

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzz !!!!!