violetismycolor

great way to learn a new language?

A CZECH speedway driver knocked unconscious in a crash stunned ambulance drivers when he woke up speaking perfect English.

18-year-old Matej Kus was out cold for 45 minutes after the crash, but when he woke up he conversed fluidly in English with paramedics, even speaking in an English accent.

The teenager had just begun to study the language and his skills were described by friends and team-mates as “basic at best”.

Wow...can I do that?  As long as the head trauma doesn't kill me!

Unfortunately, the guy doesn't remember anything about the accident or speaking English in proper British fashion...

Here's the whole article:

Czech crash victim wakes up speaking English

By staff writers

September 14, 2007 10:25am

A CZECH speedway driver knocked unconscious in a crash stunned ambulance drivers when he woke up speaking perfect English.

18-year-old Matej Kus was out cold for 45 minutes after the crash, but when he woke up he conversed fluidly in English with paramedics, even speaking in an English accent.

The teenager had just begun to study the language and his skills were described by friends and team-mates as “basic at best”.

Peter Waite, the promoter for Kus's team, the Berwick Bandits, told the Daily Mail: "I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"It was in a really clear English accent, no dialect or anything. Whatever happened in the crash must have rearranged things in his head.

"Before his crash Matej's use of the English language was broken, to put it mildly.

"He was only just making a start on improving it and struggled to be understood, but was keen to learn.

"Yet here we were at the ambulance door listening to Matej talking to the medical staff in perfect English.

"Matej didn't have a clue who or where he was when he came round. He didn't even know he was Czech.

"It was unbelievable to hear him talk in unbroken English."

Unfortunately, the speedway driver's new found skills didn’t last and he remembers nothing of the accident or the following two days. He is now keen pursue studies in English.

He told the Daily Mail, through an interpreter: "It's unbelievable that I was speaking English like that, especially without an accent.

"Hopefully I can pick English up over the winter for the start of next season so I'll be able to speak it without someone having to hit me over the head first.

"There must be plenty of the English language in my subconscious so hopefully I'll be able to pick it up quickly next time."

book...

Even though my library gives me 3 weeks to read a book, I (apparently) am not capable of living within that timeline.  Some books, I just renew over and over and (finally) get through them.  But when the book is on hold by eleventy-hundred other people, they won't let you renew it to your heart's content.  NO renewals at all...  Those party poopers over at the library think that EVERYONE should have a shot at reading that same (MY!) book.

So it was that I found myself with my book already due, and me only 100 pages into it.  Now, I loved this book (The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng).  It was a debut novel, but nominated for the Booker Prize.  It was the story of a young Eurasian man, set in WW2 Penang, Malaysia.  He is trying to both save his family (and family business) and serve his sensei (a Japanese spy, it turns out) by working for the Japanese during the occupation AND betraying them by using the information he has to save many people. It is beautifully written and the characters are very well-drawn.  

Getting back to my point...I spent a couple of days devoting myself to getting the book read, so that I could turn it in with only 2 days worth of fines (= 50 cents).  Cheaper than going out and buying the book and less frustrating than waiting several more months to get the book back from the library.

Well worth it...

Baker and Spice...

In reference to yesterday's post, I also show up at Baker and Spice (my favorite neighborhood coffee shop) on a regular basis.  My friends and I meet there and give each other advice on our families, listen to stories, and make plans to do other things together.  It's like a common living room that we all share.

You can see how much I am up against, trying NOT to eat their delicious baked goods.  I only buy coffee there, usually.  I buy their drip coffee, because I really love it AND because refills are free.  I use their porcelain cups, so I am not creating more garbage with a paper cup. 

They also support local artists.  The picture of Irene, above, shows one of the oil painting now being shown there.  Irene's favorite is this picture of a nest of eggs (below) because she is the mom of three chickens that she raised from chickhood.  Chickens apparently don't misbehave as much as the teens in her house...

Veronica and Francia...

Veronica is leaving at the end of the week.  But she had her friend Francia here for the past 5 days.  Francia is also a Chilean teacher here on a Fullbright Scholarship, but she is teaching in Vista, California (near San Diego) and has been living in Oceanside.  She comes from Patagonia, the coldest, Southern part of Chile...so San Diego has been VERY different for her. 

They were in my favorite coffee shop, Baker and Spice, having coffee this morning before Francia had to get out to the airport.  Don't they look happy?

perfect party day...

Our good friends, Tige and Peggy, had a wonderful party today at their gorgeous farmhouse in Cornelius. 

First of all, we arrived and heard, "Diane and John, what are you doing here?"  It was my lovely niece, Maria, who was apparently working for the caterer.  Her sister, Eileen, was also working there.  That was so much fun, having them there.  I spent a fair amount of time just visiting with them.

The weather was absolutely perfect, around 75 degrees.  The party was set up outside, with tents, and seats, and a live band...great food and drink.  There were activities for kids:  face paints, cookies with icing available for decorating, bunnies...

Also, it was a great way to spend Father's Day...

Mr. Darcy...

According to the BBC, this watercolor miniature is of the man purported to be Mr. Darcy.  Yes, THAT Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.  It is expected to fetch 50,000 pounds.

I'm not all that thrilled with the white hair that was so fashionable then, so I photoshopped in some brown hair.  Ah, MUCH better.  He actually looks like a young man, here.

Could this guy have actually been as dreamy as the Mr. Darcy of THE BOOK? 

According to the BBC:  Austen wrote of her sadness, saying: "At length the day is come on which I am to flirt my last with Tom Lefroy... my tears flow as I write at the melancholy idea."

 

favorite bird? and would your wear it on your head?

I love bluebirds, hummingbirds, and cardinals:   American birds who are small, colorful, and charming. I might fashion a piece of headgear in their image (like this ibis-headgear) if I thought they might come up this close, I suppose.

The only one that we have here is the hummingbird. We have a few that hang out here in my garden.  A couple of days ago, I heard a buzzing sound and saw that one of them was only about 2 feet away from me.  Now, that was cool.

Cardinals aren't West Coast birds but I learned to appreciate them from my time on the East Coast.  And Bluebirds, just the cute round fuzziness of them makes you just have to love them.

Wouldn't it be awesome to have these red, green, and blue birds all in your garden at once?

cooking dealbreakers...

There is a great article in today's NY Times Food section...Recipe Dealbreakers:  When Step 2 is 'Corral Pig'.

This article was asking chefs what were the things in recipes that they considered dealbreakers.  Let's just say, they are willing to put up with ALOT more than I am.

One recipe discussed involved (for Mexican sausage moronga) called for 2 quarts of pigs' blood.  "If you do not kill your own pig," she advises, "order it through your butcher."  LOL.

Now, I like to cook (sometimes:  ie when I am not too tired, too stressed, have food in the house) but I have lots of recipe dealbreakers, and none of them involve pigs' blood.  Never even thought about that before...

I have to have a limited number of ingredients.  More than a dozen, and my eyes glaze over.  

Ingredients that I can't find in my local grocery store, unless I can substitute successfully with items at-hand:  forget it!

Things that need more than 4 hours to marinate...no, siree...

I'm pretty persnickety, I guess, but I don't want to spend all my time looking for, planning for, or spending my savings on things to put into my mouth.  

breathe in...

I took my Dad to the pulmonologist today.   They made him walk up and down the hall, wearing a little blood-oxygen monitor on his fingertip.  He actually did well on all his tests, the one today and the two last week.  His lungs are functioning well. 

So, why can't he breathe?  

Many things all working together and several things that still need to be tested and resolved.  He needs some physical therapy.

Fingers crossed...

cellphone deaths are up...

Yesterday, Ross sent me an instant message saying that he had washed his pants, without checking his pockets.  And, oops, his cellphone was washed and is ruined!

Today, Adam called to report that he had washed his pants without checking his pockets...and his cellphone was in it.

Is there some weird virus attacking the brains of my sons?  And was Bonnie infected when both of her brothers were here last weekend?  Will her cellphone be next?

Scary!