Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Hafiz
Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket to protect you.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Man and Boy
Harry and Gina love each other tremendously so they get married. Nothing seems to disturb their bliss, but after five years in which they raise their child, Pat, Harry has a one night stand with no meaning to him but unfortunately (or not) Gina finds out about his escapade, so she decides to start her life all over again, but this time away from Harry, in Japan.
The important question that Harry asks himself (and we should try to find an answer to it, just in case...) is: "Can one stop loving and give up on a relationship that they thought it would last forever just because of a mistake, be that sleeping with a colleague?"
"People don't break up because of a one-night stand, Gina. It's not what grown-ups do. You don't chuck it all away because of something like that. I know it hurts. I know what I did was wrong. But how did I suddenly go from being Mr Wonderful to Mr Piece of Shit?"
The answer is in the book, but what kept me reading on was how Harry managed to cope with it.
"Man and Boy" reminded me of "One Day"'s male voice and that was one more high point in the story, which also takes a look at how we (should) act at thirty, wondering if we made a good choice giving up some dreams just to follow others.
"That was my problem. When I thought of turning thirty, I thought of somebody else's life."
Find time to read it! ;)
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Word of the Week: Horses
We may say we love horses, but the English love them more, since they have so many idioms and expressions about them :)
~(straight/right) from the horse's mouth: if you hear or get information straight from the horse's mouth, you are told it by someone who has direct knowledge of it
~ a horse of a different color: (Am.E.) something that is completely different from another thing
~ horses for courses:(Br.E.) the process of matching people with suitable jobs or activities
~ never/don't look a gift horse in the mouth:(spoken) used to tell someone to be grateful for something that has been given to them, instead of asking questions about it
~ white horses: (Br.E.)waves in the sea or on a lake that are white at the top
~ put the cart before the horse: to do two things in the wrong order
~ hold your horses!:used to tell someone to do something more slowly or carefully
~ dark horse: (Br. E.) someone who does not tell people much about themselves, but who has surprising qualities or abilities
~ be flogging a dead horse:(spoken) to be wasting time or effort by trying to do something that is impossible
~(straight/right) from the horse's mouth: if you hear or get information straight from the horse's mouth, you are told it by someone who has direct knowledge of it
~ a horse of a different color: (Am.E.) something that is completely different from another thing
~ horses for courses:(Br.E.) the process of matching people with suitable jobs or activities
~ never/don't look a gift horse in the mouth:(spoken) used to tell someone to be grateful for something that has been given to them, instead of asking questions about it
~ white horses: (Br.E.)waves in the sea or on a lake that are white at the top
~ put the cart before the horse: to do two things in the wrong order
~ hold your horses!:used to tell someone to do something more slowly or carefully
~ dark horse: (Br. E.) someone who does not tell people much about themselves, but who has surprising qualities or abilities
~ be flogging a dead horse:(spoken) to be wasting time or effort by trying to do something that is impossible
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Eat Pray Love (or a book about an American woman bored with life)
It is a wonder I went on to finish this book, taking into consideration that I stopped enjoying the main character, Elizabeth Gilbert, after the first fifty pages.
Still, I do understand why it has become a bestseller: it presents a rather selfish American woman who has it all, including plenty of money to take a year off and travel to three foreign countries - Italy, India, Indonesia - drops it all, messes with her life and, of course, just as in a soppy American movie (yes, I have seen this as well) finds happiness in the end. Don't we all want this?
I don't want to be married anymore. I don't want to live in this big house. I don't want to have a baby.
Surely, I understand her struggle with not wanting a baby, her wish to discover God and love after divorcing her husband, her craving for good food, her drive to feel free, her need to satisfy both spirit and body through her actions, but her journey was not at all convincing. I found her quite naive to just travel to Bali a second time because a Yodalike medicine man told her she would do so, to pretend to be such a post-feminist liberated woman and then long for a handsome Italian to kiss her, while still analyzing his status and not being satisfied with the fact that he lived with his mother (while she gave up a marriage to a powerful man who loved her very much)and he was younger (I found no reasonable explanation for this, only maybe that she was more into older guys, seeing that she chose Felipe, a Brazilian man much older that her).
I wish Giovanni would kiss me.
Oh, but there are so many reasons why this would be a terrible idea. To begin with, Giovanni is ten years younger than I am, and, like most Italian guys in their twenties, he still lives with his mother. These facts alone make him an unlikely romantic partner for me, given that I am a professional American woman in my mid-thirties, who has just come through a failed marriage and a devastating, interminable divorce, followed immediately by a passionate love affair that ended in sickening heartbreak.
Even if certain American critics claim that this is not chick-lit but an irresistible memoir, my view is that her whole spiritual journey is rather fake. It is a good book if you have nothing else to read and the only ideas that you remain with after the final chapter are a) people can be so superficial, even on a spiritual quest b) each person has his/her own word. Hers was "antevasin" (in the book) and "attraversiamo" (in the movie, demonstrating that, after all, anything is changeable when it comes to "serious" literature). As for my word, I haven't found it yet, maybe I will go on a spiritual journey in its search :)
Still, I do understand why it has become a bestseller: it presents a rather selfish American woman who has it all, including plenty of money to take a year off and travel to three foreign countries - Italy, India, Indonesia - drops it all, messes with her life and, of course, just as in a soppy American movie (yes, I have seen this as well) finds happiness in the end. Don't we all want this?
I don't want to be married anymore. I don't want to live in this big house. I don't want to have a baby.
Surely, I understand her struggle with not wanting a baby, her wish to discover God and love after divorcing her husband, her craving for good food, her drive to feel free, her need to satisfy both spirit and body through her actions, but her journey was not at all convincing. I found her quite naive to just travel to Bali a second time because a Yodalike medicine man told her she would do so, to pretend to be such a post-feminist liberated woman and then long for a handsome Italian to kiss her, while still analyzing his status and not being satisfied with the fact that he lived with his mother (while she gave up a marriage to a powerful man who loved her very much)and he was younger (I found no reasonable explanation for this, only maybe that she was more into older guys, seeing that she chose Felipe, a Brazilian man much older that her).
I wish Giovanni would kiss me.
Oh, but there are so many reasons why this would be a terrible idea. To begin with, Giovanni is ten years younger than I am, and, like most Italian guys in their twenties, he still lives with his mother. These facts alone make him an unlikely romantic partner for me, given that I am a professional American woman in my mid-thirties, who has just come through a failed marriage and a devastating, interminable divorce, followed immediately by a passionate love affair that ended in sickening heartbreak.
Even if certain American critics claim that this is not chick-lit but an irresistible memoir, my view is that her whole spiritual journey is rather fake. It is a good book if you have nothing else to read and the only ideas that you remain with after the final chapter are a) people can be so superficial, even on a spiritual quest b) each person has his/her own word. Hers was "antevasin" (in the book) and "attraversiamo" (in the movie, demonstrating that, after all, anything is changeable when it comes to "serious" literature). As for my word, I haven't found it yet, maybe I will go on a spiritual journey in its search :)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Joy
Joy is knowing God has granted you innermost wish and you are still around, basking in His glory, breathing the air and smiling back at the sun or childishly enjoying the raindrops falling on your cheeks. Joy is knowing you are not alone and there is always someone to share the miracle of being alive with.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Word(s) of the Week: Angry
Everybody knows what "angry" means, but did you know these related words and expressions? :)
a little angry: miffed (informal), peeved (informal)
rather angry: annoyed, irritated, cross, in a bad/foul mood
very angry: furious, livid, outraged, incensed, incandescent with rage (formal)
to become angry: lose your temper, go mad , go berserk (informal), go ballistic (informal), hit the roof (informal)
words for describing someone who often gets angry: bad-tempered, grouchy, cantankerous, crabby, stroppy (BrE informal)
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
"Call me Z"
"I thought you are my Jesus"
"A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers" is a beautiful book. So beautiful that it becomes difficult to express it into words. It is the story of a simple girl from China who is sent to London by her parents to study English so that she could easily establish connections and develop their business. Nothing out of this world so far, except that she narrates her story/love affair with an older Englishman in a rather incorrect English, and this is what made it unique for me. Besides the sad love story. Not only is she struggling with tenses and plurals, but she also has difficulty in understanding the Western way of living and loving.
The honest way in which she compares attitudes and cultures is so touching. Her naivete and search for love and truth are endearing. We do smile when she pays a visit to a sex shop or when she states how irrelevant it must be to talk about the weather all the time. Still, there is sadness in her lines when she talks about being loved and needed.
"I hate myself being so needy. The way I want of love, is like a hard toothbrush try to brush bad teeth, then it ends up bleeding. The harder I try, more blood comes out.But I believe love can cure everything, and eventually the teeth will not bleeding anymore. I still think love is the hope, of everything."
Is it, indeed? There are many dreams in a long night...
To read the entire novel, click here.
"A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers" is a beautiful book. So beautiful that it becomes difficult to express it into words. It is the story of a simple girl from China who is sent to London by her parents to study English so that she could easily establish connections and develop their business. Nothing out of this world so far, except that she narrates her story/love affair with an older Englishman in a rather incorrect English, and this is what made it unique for me. Besides the sad love story. Not only is she struggling with tenses and plurals, but she also has difficulty in understanding the Western way of living and loving.
The honest way in which she compares attitudes and cultures is so touching. Her naivete and search for love and truth are endearing. We do smile when she pays a visit to a sex shop or when she states how irrelevant it must be to talk about the weather all the time. Still, there is sadness in her lines when she talks about being loved and needed.
"I hate myself being so needy. The way I want of love, is like a hard toothbrush try to brush bad teeth, then it ends up bleeding. The harder I try, more blood comes out.But I believe love can cure everything, and eventually the teeth will not bleeding anymore. I still think love is the hope, of everything."
Is it, indeed? There are many dreams in a long night...
To read the entire novel, click here.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Partir
There's nothing like a French movie, especially when Kristin Scott Thomas stars in it. After an astonishing part in "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime", she takes up a role in which she embodies a wife who longs for attention and love and whose husband doesn't seem to provide that. So, she finds herself a penniless lover and strives to get by with very little, provided she is offered love, sweet love. Is there a happy ending to their story? Maybe, maybe not...
I quite liked the movie, but I still prefer "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime", simply because I didn't find any plausible reason why I would sympathize with the Spanish lover... Nevertheless, the scene at the gas station is heartbreaking and the way Kristin portraits a 40 and something woman in love is quite impressive and reminiscent of this.
Peut etre partir, c'est aimer un peu...
More about the movie and the director's ideas here.
I quite liked the movie, but I still prefer "Il y a longtemps que je t'aime", simply because I didn't find any plausible reason why I would sympathize with the Spanish lover... Nevertheless, the scene at the gas station is heartbreaking and the way Kristin portraits a 40 and something woman in love is quite impressive and reminiscent of this.
Peut etre partir, c'est aimer un peu...
More about the movie and the director's ideas here.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
I Read Books Because I Can't Stop
Is it a bad thing being a bookaholic?
* I spend more money on books than on other "respectful" things.
* There are times when I don't go to sleep because I have to see how a book ends.
* I have a book with me most of the time I am out of the house.
* It is hard to leave a bookstore without buying (a) book(s) even if I have a huge pile of "to-be-read".
* I am not sure of the books I have.
* I sometimes find myself quoting from the books I have read.
* I don't lend my books because I might not get them back (or have them stained).
* I can easily get excited about any new book that my favorite writers release.
* There are plenty of books I have read before other people.
* I can leaf through a book and forget about the food on the cooker.
* I enjoy reading reviews before and after I have read the book.
* I have a wishlist on a dedicated site.
* I have my favorite books in English, French and Romanian (if they have been translated).
* I have struggled to get autographs from my favorite authors (and succeeded).
* It took hours to be taken out of the "Shakespeare and Co."
* I am planning a future trip abroad in accordance with a literary festival.
* I spend more money on books than on other "respectful" things.
* There are times when I don't go to sleep because I have to see how a book ends.
* I have a book with me most of the time I am out of the house.
* It is hard to leave a bookstore without buying (a) book(s) even if I have a huge pile of "to-be-read".
* I am not sure of the books I have.
* I sometimes find myself quoting from the books I have read.
* I don't lend my books because I might not get them back (or have them stained).
* I can easily get excited about any new book that my favorite writers release.
* There are plenty of books I have read before other people.
* I can leaf through a book and forget about the food on the cooker.
* I enjoy reading reviews before and after I have read the book.
* I have a wishlist on a dedicated site.
* I have my favorite books in English, French and Romanian (if they have been translated).
* I have struggled to get autographs from my favorite authors (and succeeded).
* It took hours to be taken out of the "Shakespeare and Co."
* I am planning a future trip abroad in accordance with a literary festival.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Teaching to the Student
Seth Godin continues to teach me smart things :)
All teachers know about differentiated learning, but what this phrase actually says is that different students want to do different things and what they end up doing is what makes them acquire new information. Thus, if you want your students to learn the most, you should start by thinking that they are different.
The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition states that there are 5 stages that a student could pass through:
1. Novice
--wants to be given a manual, told what to do, with no decisions possible
2. Advanced beginner
--needs a bit of freedom, but is unable to quickly describe a hierarchy of which parts are more important than others
3. Competent
--wants the ability to make plans, create routines and choose among activities
4. Proficient
--the more freedom you offer, the more you expect, the more you'll get
5. Expert
--writes the manual, doesn't follow it.
Although it is hard not to teach to the book or to the curriculum, what should one do is teach to the student in order to get positive feedback.
All teachers know about differentiated learning, but what this phrase actually says is that different students want to do different things and what they end up doing is what makes them acquire new information. Thus, if you want your students to learn the most, you should start by thinking that they are different.
The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition states that there are 5 stages that a student could pass through:
1. Novice
--wants to be given a manual, told what to do, with no decisions possible
2. Advanced beginner
--needs a bit of freedom, but is unable to quickly describe a hierarchy of which parts are more important than others
3. Competent
--wants the ability to make plans, create routines and choose among activities
4. Proficient
--the more freedom you offer, the more you expect, the more you'll get
5. Expert
--writes the manual, doesn't follow it.
Although it is hard not to teach to the book or to the curriculum, what should one do is teach to the student in order to get positive feedback.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Demonstrating Strength
Via Seth Godin's blog.
Apologize
Defer to others
Avoid shortcuts
Tell the truth
Offer kindness
Seek alliances
Volunteer to take the short straw
Choose the long-term, sacrificing the short
Demonstrate respect to all, not just the obviously strong
Share credit and be public in your gratitude
Apologize
Defer to others
Avoid shortcuts
Tell the truth
Offer kindness
Seek alliances
Volunteer to take the short straw
Choose the long-term, sacrificing the short
Demonstrate respect to all, not just the obviously strong
Share credit and be public in your gratitude
Friday, October 1, 2010
Poetry Is Where the Heart Is...
TIPTIL
aud glasul tau si privesc in
lumina ochilor tai.
fara suflare
incerc sa-ti patrund in inima
cu sfiala,
sa nu-ti tulbur ritmul
exact si perfect,
care ma-nfioara.
(Nicu Alifantis)
aud glasul tau si privesc in
lumina ochilor tai.
fara suflare
incerc sa-ti patrund in inima
cu sfiala,
sa nu-ti tulbur ritmul
exact si perfect,
care ma-nfioara.
(Nicu Alifantis)
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