wow… here we all are! A lot has happened to me in the past 24 hours. My dad was admitted to hospital. Long story. The clincher was he was in pure pain — the nurses fed him 10mg of morphene which had little to no effect. It was heart-wrenching to stand there at his bedside helpless. Fortunately, a completely unrelated administration of another drug caused some of the pain to go… which gave us some solace as we were leaving. A further 24 hours earlier I had a grand reunion with some of my friends at an engagement party. It was a wonderful high vs a terrible low in such a short space of time. Ohh, that and the fact that my mother almost ran over an elderly lady as she was rushing my dad to the hospital. What a weekend.
ps: when it rains, it pours… as they say. It’s raining outside right now. Parallels of my life.
Oh Roy, you’re weekend was really hard! I hope your father is feeling better?
It rained the whole day. So we went to the Cinema and watched “Marley and I” with my daughter and her friend. I thought the movie was a bit boring. My daughter nearly felt into sleep but maybe it happened because she and her girl friend slept both in our house (how could I better express that?) and they talked half of the night
Thank you Steve. The sun has come out and it’s turned into a sunny day today!
On a lighter note, I am seeing a few upturns in the world economic crisis. Although the yen is quite strong and a hefty amount of Japanese companies are hemorrhaging cash like crazy, the price of Hondas, Toyotas, japanese cars in general are dropping! I have no idea how they could possibly sustain this… I guess they have no choice, but it’s quasi-good news for us here in Aust. Also the price of the Sony PS3 is expected to be cut soon to boost lagging sales. The twist here is, had Sony cut prices of the PS3 earlier last year, they would have sold more consoles (obviously) but due to the exchange rate they would most likely have been out in front revenue-wise.
In Russia financial crisis also caused crisis in machinery and metallurgy. I live in “the steel heart of Russia”, the main company in my town is Magnitogorsk Steel and Iron Works (aka MMK). It is the biggest Russian steel works since the World War II. The major part of MMK production (I heard above 80%) are exported. Other Russian steel and iron works mainly sale their production on domestic market. So, when world crisis began, Magnitogorsk felt it earlier then other Russian towns. In October, while the rest of country only had heard about crisis, crisis already was in Magnitogorsk: MMK cancelled contracts with cleaning, cooking and construction firms, moved crane operators (women) to cleaners and cooks positions, and men workers were sent at construction of new works… It was awful… Almost all other workers stayed at home, having wage of 2/3 of pay rate (it is much less then usual wages). Office workers moved to 4 or even 3-days-long work week (of course with proportional reducing of salary). As the major part of Magnitogorsk citizens works at MMK, the whole town stopped, crime rate increased… But in January it became better, and now our town is gradually rising (but a lot of workers still stay at home). At least the mood of Magnitogosk citizens is not so dark as in October-November. But in other towns and cities - like Ufa, Vladivostok - the most dark period started in January and still continues… In Magnitogorsk people even have already begun to buy flats
Last week it rained here in Spokane and melted most of the snow that was left on the ground. One day the sun even came out. And my daughter said, “Ah, Spring has sprung.”
Today it is snowing like crazy. It was a very short spring. I hope spring will be back soon.
It’s interesting that the weather is the main topic of discussion. I find that often Americans use either the weather or gas prices to start conversations with people they’ve just met.
Over here in Michigan it is quite cold and rainy, though it was sunny and nice last Friday. This state is known for its fluctuating weather.
I would say in UK also people like to talk about the weather all the time. In Greece people most commonly talk about the news, politics and rising prices at any occasion. The weather is a subject that women with family are mostly interested about and that’s because we rarely use dryer machines to dry our clothes :o)
And talking about flactuating weather… if you ever come to Scotland you will know what that means… The four seasons can change within 5 min!!!
In Russia we tend do not speak with people we do not know, at all %) But even with “semi-strangers” we speak almost about everything…
When I was a pupil, there were not enough buses, so every morning I go to school at overcrowded bus. And if yesterday there was a hockey match, the whole bus discussed this game :))) It was cool! Now we have microbuses, so there are only 13-15 people, and everybody stares out of the window and keeps silence. I miss that time when we talked about hockey with strangers… But during the play-off 06-07, a very difficult play-off, when our team was broken and toothless (yeah, at some games we have only 3 triples of forwards and about 2 couples of defenders… And at the semifinal our main defender lost his teeth…). Well, at that play-off all town spoke about hockey everywhere. And - yes!!! - we won that cup
Japanese don’t talk with strangers neither. The weather talk is a good start to talk with neighbors. In a bus or a train, most people read newspapers or comic books, play Nintendo DS or portable playstations, or email by mobile phones. Japanese keep silence, like Russians. It is painful for me to ride in a plane by myself when Japanese sit next to me. I, as a Japanese, need a lot of guts to talk to other Japanese whom I don’t know. I like cultures which allow people to talk to strangers.
I agree with you Emma. I have found that Japanese people are more willing to speak to foreigners, especially when they travel. Now that you are studying Spanish you can look forward to going to Spain or Latin America where they do like to talk to strangers.
When I go to Russia I will talk to strangers whether they like it or not and I will find people who are willing to talk to strangers, I think.
A terrible day, this day. In a Gym near my city we had an awful accident with a madman. He is at the moment not known, he is on the run.
In the Gym ten people are death and some are hard wounded.
The pupils, the parents, the police and all people arround are shocked.
Irene, a very terrible news!..
I watch only financial news and sport news, because other news are too distressing sometimes.
Emma, Steve
it seems Russians are not so… hmm… serious
when I flew to Vladivostok, before boarding the plane, on the airport bus, one rather old woman asked me did I know what weather was in Vladivostok. I said that I had not any idea, because I had not been in Vladivostok. And she said: “Oh! Really?! You are not resident of Vladivostok! You are our guest! Vladivostok is very-very beautiful city, I hope the weather will be fine. Unfortunately, it is too late to swim on the ocean. You should visit…” and so on, so forth. And several other people entered into our conversation, and began ask me where am I from, why did I fly from Moscow, not from Yekaterinburg. So, they were pleased that somebody is interested in their home city, and admitted me as a “non-stranger”. So, Steve, I suppose, when you will be in Russia, and begin speak Russian, there will be some natives who admit you as a “non-stranger” and will gladly talk to you.
I travel on the bus to town to shop each week. On most journeys I get talking to a complete stranger, usually a little old lady, and usually about our children (my little boy makes friends easily). The weather is a safe topic to talk about with total strangers.
People under about 50 were generally brought up not to talk to strangers (all strangers are evil knife-carrying, child-abducting terrorists ), but if I meet a stranger in my suburb I assume they are a neighbour that I just don’t recognise and I smile and say “good morning!” Usually I get a smile and a greeting back.
If I go to a big city like London I sometimes forget and smile at total strangers. They generally respond by looking scared. In London only the crazy people smile at strangers!
Yes, Japanese are more kind to foreigners than to Japanese. So if there are people who are reading this thread and start feeling worry about coming to Japan, DON’T WORRY! If you get lost in the middle of Tokyo, a lot of Japanese would come help you. Ohhh, I want to go to Mexico…
Irene, the tragedy in German was reported on TV in Japan last night. It is awful… Is he still on the loose?
Rasana, what a nice memory of travel! It is fun to communicate with natives, isn’t it?
I live in the country now. In the country, neighbors suppose to know everybody, or at least know their dogs. I talk with almost everybody I meet. When I go to Tokyo, I forget I should not to talk to strangers in the big city. A country girl like me starts talking like “Oh, it is cold, isn’t it?” Usually I get a scary look too. I love being the country!
Hi Emma, he shot himself down, but 15 people are dead. It is awful.
In Germany it depends on the region, if it is easy or difficult to come in contact with strangers. But I talk easily and often to strangers. My partner is always wondering how often I do this, but I like to communicate.
Hi hecmen84, look at this thread: http://www.lingq.com/learn/en/forum/4/2340/ There are a lot of free pod casts in the Internet. And also you find a numerous number of articles here at LingQ( in the library).
It was a very short spring. I hope spring will be back soon.