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memorylang · 4 years

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Language Learning, Mom’s Birthday | #43 | August 2020

Since Mom had held language-learning close-to-heart, I dedicate my August update to a language theme!

With August 9, 2020, my late mom turned 55. I’ve often felt since 2017 a bittersweet fondness for the summer months between Mother’s Day and her birthday. That year had been my first summer in China getting to know Mom’s family after her death.

For this August’s story, I’ve reflected a great deal on my experiences with language learning. Of which I’d written before, I’ve basically chosen five languages as the ones I want to be functional using (my native English included). So beyond the usual reflections from this COVID-19 summer in the States, I also take us back through my young life learning.

And, I’m pleased to announce that I've begun to work on a new writing project! More on that soon.

From Multilingual Mom to Me

I start us from spring 2020, around evacuation back to the U.S. from Peace Corps Mongolia.

By April 10-16, I’d been in my sixth week in Vegas again. Yet, less than a couple months before, I was in Mongolia packing to evacuate. As part of my coping while packing, I’d listened to hours of music. Much included Chinese Disney themes I’d found on Spotify.

Well, having returned to Vegas, you might recall that the sisters’ songs in “Frozen II” resonated deeply with me. Whether while waking or working the yard, I’d listen to “Frozen II”' tracks in Chinese, sometimes in English. Finding songs in other langauges fit my 2020 exploration resolution. I humorously suspected that my Spotify Wrapped 2020 will surely list the same tracks in different languages... if only Spotify had Mongolian versions. Well, a month later, by week 10 (May 8-14), I’d exchanged the songs’ English versions for Spanish!

That week also featured May 13, 2020—the third anniversary of Mom’s funeral. This year, something special happened.

I’d received a fateful book—A Primer of Ecclesiastical Latin. My college pastor had ordered this for me just days after I’d asked him what I should consider studying while discerning during quarantine a doctorate in religious studies. After my pastor noted my interest in world Christianity, especially its past and present in Asia, he highly recommended I study Church Latin.

My pastor’s suggestion pleased me in a curious way. It reminded me of my Duolingo dabbling back in Mongolia, how at that time I’d favored Latin over Greek. Still, Liturgical Latin, studied seriously, seemed like quite an undertaking. Nonetheless my pastor commended my talents and felt confident I could succeed along paths God may open for me. I felt grateful for the aid!

Embarking on my quest to learn Latin, I’ve found the language remarkable.

It’s felt at times the culmination of my years learning languages. In fact, Mom had actually wanted my siblings and me to learn languages since we were little—She’d taught us to read English then tried to have us learn Chinese. Most summers, she’d have us in the mornings copy down Chinese characters before she’d let us play games or do activities that weren’t “educational.”

While cleaning my family’s garage this COVID-19 this summer, I’d unearthed old notebooks in which my siblings and I would write Mom’s required phrases. I noticed how even back then I’d seem to try harder than most of my siblings, given how many characters I copied. Still, I hadn’t much inclination to know the language words beyond, then, clearing Mom’s barrier to letting me play games.

Still, even if the notebooks had implied some aptitude I’d had for languages, Mom’s requirements left me if anything more averse to language acquisition than eager.

Suffering Through Spanish

Many today may feel surprised to know that for years I’d called Spanish my second language.

Given my childhood disdain for studying languages beyond English, I’d found my task to study Spanish in high school assiduous. I formally began in the language fall 2011 as a freshman. Spanish was our Vegas school’s only foreign language option, and all honors students needed two years of language. Yet again, my language studies drew from a requirement—little more.

Many of my classmates and I rapidly found our classes exhausting, for our instructor had a thick French accent. Furthermore, verb conjugation, unfamiliar tenses and gendered vocabulary felt alien. I didn’t get why a language would be so complicated.

Yet, despite my struggles to understand our teacher, she’d commended me because I “made the effort.” Well, I sometimes felt like I’d make the effort to a fault. When peers cheated on exams, my darn integrity had me abstain.

By my second year, when I was succeeding in college-level AP world history, my fleetingly flawless GPA took from Spanish a beating. That hurt. By my senior year, at least Mom let me take Spanish online instead. I’d learned that I’d known more than I thought, but I still sucked.

Redemption Through Mandarin

By fall 2015, I’d had graduated high school and enrolled as an honors undergrad facing another foreign language requirement.

Licking my wounds from Spanish, I ruled out that language. I saw the University offered Chinese, though. Studying world history had interested me in Mom’s cultural background and native tongue. Considered she’d made my siblings stare at the language since childhood, I hoped it wouldn’t be too hard. So, I chose Mandarin Chinese.

And by my first days learning Chinese, I could already feel the benefits of having taken Spanish.

Chinese felt astoundingly straightforward. Spanish had taught me to recognize that English letters (better known as the Latin alphabet) sound differently in different languages. For example, I felt pleased to notice that the ‘a’ /ah/ letter in Spanish sounds similar to its Chinese pronunciation. Thus, Spanish’s “mamá” and Chinese’s “māmā” relate, despite appearing in separate languages.

Thanks to my Spanish experience, I picked up Chinese’s general pronunciation system far faster. Furthermore, I felt relieved to find that Chinese grammar lacked the conjugation and gender nightmares I’d faced in Spanish. I’d even loved how Chinese characters’ little images could often help me guess word meanings intuitively!

My interest and success with the Chinese language led me to study abroad in 2017, planned with my mother before she was killed. I returned to China a year later, in 2018 on an intensive program. Both times, I spoke my mother’s native tongue, meeting relatives and making friends. I even received awards for my skills.

Yet, despite my progress in Chinese, I’d often considered it only my third language. After all, much of my success in Chinese came having struggled through Spanish.

Finding Peace with Spanish

In my college senior year, January 2019, I’d attended a religious pilgrimage in Panamá—a Spanish-speaking nation.

By that time, I’d grown acquainted with language immersions. In fact, I readily used my Mandarin skills when I met World Youth Day pilgrims from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan. They often felt shocked to meet someone outside their communities who knew their language!

Of course, Panamá left me at times surrounded too by folks who only spoke Spanish, including my host family.

I listened carefully. A luminous spark, I’d felt. Buried memories of my broken Spanish resurfaced. Near my last day in Panamá, I felt awed to have had a conversation with a cab driver completely in Spanish.

My peace with Spanish became a renewed interest.

After our pilgrimage, I’d continued with my host family and new Latin American friends to speak and write almost exclusively in Spanish. Online, we benefited over WhatsApp with Google Translate, too. Panamá in 2019 had taken a language that was for me dead and breathed in it new life.

Peace Corps Language Level-ups

Later that year (last year), I began to learn what would be my fourth language and one entirely unfamiliar—Mongolian.

I should note that before reaching Mongolia June 1, 2019, I couldn’t even read its Cyrillic alphabet. I’d basically started at zero.

Peace Corps’ language briefings had at least taught me that Mongolian is an Altaic language, distinct from Indo-European language like English and from character-based languages like Mandarin. Over the course of summer in villages of Mongolia, Peace Corps put us through mornings of immersive language training followed by returns home to our host families.

Still, many Peace Corps Trainees felt unmotivated to learn Mongolian. After all, with statistically few Mongolian speakers worldwide, many felt that we wouldn’t have much utility for Mongolian outside Mongolia. Nevertheless, I felt motivated by desires to understand and feel understood. I powered through.

Initially, Mongolian baffled me.

Its Cyrillic alphabet (and its script one, too) includes consonant and vowel sounds unknown to English, Spanish and Chinese. Furthermore, Mongolian uses a case-based grammar of suffixes, a reversed subject-object-verb order and postpositions instead of prepositions. Mongolian even reintroduced me to my nemeses gendered vocabulary and tense-based verb endings!

I felt grateful for the sparse Chinese loanwords I wouldn’t have to relearn! Yet, my kryptonite was often pronunciation. Challenging consonants and tricky long vowels left me so inauthentic. Regardless, I was an ardent study who savored most every chance to receive Mongols’ clarifications and corrections.

Finding Latin in Asia

Curiously, Catholic Churches became great places for my language learning.

This was the case for me both with learning Chinese in China and Mongolian in Mongolia. Parishioners would often take me under their wings to support me. Curiously in Mongolia, an English-speaking French parishioner pointed out once that Mongolian grammar is quite like Latin. I didn’t know Latin, though.

I had encountered Latin, though. For, Asian vocabularies for Church topics often derived more directly from Latin than even English translations! These pleased me, since learning the vocabulary to speak about religion felt less foreign.

Then came the sleepless nights during Mongolia’s COVID-19 preemptive quarantining, January and February. I’d had taken up Duolingo and opted for Greek or Latin in hopes that they’d bore me to sleep. I’d also hoped they might supplement how I teach English and read Scripture. And while Greek felt hopelessly confounding, Latin vocabulary felt surprisingly... natural. Despite my lack of formal training, I did alright just guessing.

My Roads Led to Latin

From late May through mid-June 2020, I’d read the first four chapters of the Church Latin book. Meanwhile, mid-summer, I felt pleased to reach Duolingo’s Diamond League! Realizing that to become Champion would take far more effort than I cared to give, though I focused just on keeping my streak.

Still, my Latin especially progress slowed after Dad’s remarriage and my relocation to Reno, Nev. My mostly-free summer rapidly grew hectic. But even in those first four Latin weeks, I’d discovered true gems in pursuing the historic language.

At face value, Latin’s vocabulary reminded me of Spanish and English. Sometimes, Church words I’d learned first in Mandarin and Mongolian too related! Vocabulary felt profound.

Furthermore, Latin grammar felt reminiscent of not only Spanish conjugations but indeed Mongolian cases! I felt relieved that Panamá had freed me from my conjugation aversion. Likewise, my Mongolian skills felt far from obsolete!

To supplement my Latin studies, I try to translate between Chinese and Spanish, the way how in Mongolia I’d translate between Mongolian and Chinese. By juggling languages, I seek to codeswitch in more contexts with a more unified vocabulary.

Wherever I wind up academically and professionally, I hope to work between languages. Through daily discipline, textbooks, apps, videos, notes and conversations, I trust I’ll go far. Feel free to connect if you want to practice with me! The more corrections, the better.

From Ecclesiastical to Classical Latin

On August 23 (of my stateside week 25), I’d reunited in Vegas with a high school friend who’d studied classics in undergrad. From that meeting on, I’d not only ramped up my Latin studies but also transitioned from Ecclesiastical Latin to classical.

For, Church Latin is but an evolving Latin. To understand the orgins of many words—beyond simply their uses within the Roman Catholic Church—I would need the eternal Latin that changes no more. Well, my friend offered to tutor me, so I offered to try!

Classical Latin is harder, by the way.

And in the midst of my suffering throughout September, my friend had even offered to tutor me Greek. While mostly joking (but also not), I’ve offered that I might learn Greek from him if for no other reason than to thank him for teaching me Latin!

Nearly a month since beginning the tutorial system with him, we’ve since cleared over a fourth of a textbook meant sometimes to take a year’s worth of study. I hope by the year’s end to have finished the book.

At least a third of my waking hours at times seem to go into Latin. But, it’s nice to keep learning! That same week, my siblings had all resumed their undergraduate studies. At least I’m still learning something!

Embarking on a Book Memoir

Besides working on my other languages, I’ve even placed time in my English.

Lastly, I want to share about my writing quest! Although the project isn’t always across the top of my agenda, I keep at it. We return again to mid-summer.

Peace Corps friends and I have often checked in on each other since evacuation to the States. Some also write. During a webinar for evacuated Returned Peace Corps Volunteers, I’d met many looking to tell their stories.

Most weeks since July, I’d also have a few video calls. I’d take these no matter what I was up to. I’d still been doing that ‘groundskeeping’ in Reno, Nev. of which I’d written before. Whether I was getting the mail, trimming the hedges, pruning the flowers, watering the lawn, raking debris, sweeping the floor, taking out the trash, tugging the garbage bins, adjusting the windows or washing the dishes, I’d often had some task that Dad requested I’d tend to. Calls with friends broke the monotony.

After encouragement from mentors and friends, I’d decided to write a creative nonfiction book memoir for publication someday!

The first step, of course, is having a manuscript. So, since week 17 (June 26–July 2), I’d been typing away at the first chapters to what seems will be a story spanning my three years of studies and service overseas after Mother’s death, leading up to my acceptance and peace. I'm excited to tell stories about finding purpose and identity, despite grief and loss. I hope it helps readers to find their own peace amid confusion. All things are so fundamentally interconnected.

By three weeks in, I’d felt so grateful for the outpouring of support I’d received. Frankly, I wouldn’t be writing so much if people hadn’t been saying this has potential. Thankfully, readers offer marvelous insights. They treat the story as one deserving of quality. I love their attention to details.

Still, among the most grueling lessons I’ve learned learned has been that a book about grief has needed me to relive the hurt of my mother's death for repeated days. I trust nonetheless that once I’ve written and rewritten well, the remaining may rest behind me.

If you’re looking to read what’s coming, you’re in the right place. Merely starting on the book has helped me to improve my blog writing. You may have noticed in my recent summer 2019 throwback stories, for example, I’ve used more narrative than before. I hope you’ve enjoyed!

The language studies and the book continue, though I’ve taken more breaks lately with the book. From mid-August I’d embarked on advocacy projects with the National Peace Corps Association. I’ll share more on that soon. Having doubled-down on my Latin studies from mid-September, it can be a quite a black hole for my time! For everything there is a season (Ecc. 3:1).

Seeking to Stay Holy

A couple friends admired my dedication and called upon me to help them meet their spiritual goals. What a kind expereince! In helping them keep accountable, they’ve likewise helped me.

With a homebound Knight of Columbus, we’d continued July’s rosaries throughout August, as many as three times a day leading up to the Catholic Feast of the Assumption. Afterward, we’d reduced our count back to two times daily through early September. I’d never prayed so many rosaries before!

Through August, I’d also read a chapter of Proverbs daily with a friend. I’d reconnected with her during my outreach for the book. I enjoy our weekly Scripture chats, and she shows more Protestant perspectives on our faith!

I find God a great companion along the journey of life. Regardless of how you view religious and spiritual topics, I trust that you have companions, too. They’re so important!

On a positive note, I’d gotten to revisit my undergrad parish. I felt so amazed to hear that students I’d never met thought I was a cool person! I try not to think too highly of myself, but I feel touched when people notice me. I hope I inspire folks.

Coming up Next

Thanks for reading my meta-stories about languages and stories!

If you’ve been following my tales for a while now, you may recall I’d mentioned feeling surprised to learn that my mother had been studying Spanish around the same years I’d been studying it. I felt awed to realize that even when I’d tried to learn one of my earliest new languages, Mom was trying to learn what was for her one of a few. I’m glad to have perhaps inherited Mother’s interest in languages.

Up next, I have a very special piece dated for September 2020 [and ultimately released in October]. I’m focusing on perspectives—mine and others’. I’m particularly excited to share adventures with teams including those within the American Psychological Association and the Honors College at the University of Nevada, Reno. They’ve given me plenty of fun roles amid the pandemic!

I’m also writing about national and state parks! God, I love nature.

Stay healthy, friend.

COVID-19 and America Months 11 through 15 | April, May, June, July, August

Easter Epilogue in America | #35 | April 2020

Remembering Mom—Third Year After | #36 | May 2020

Fathers’ Day, Faith and Familiarity | #38 | June 2020

23rd Birthday~ Roses and Rosaries | #39 | July 2020

Language Learning, Mom’s Birthday | #43 | August 2020

You can read more from me here at DanielLang.me :)

#memorial #WithMe #StayHome #languages #Nevada #Peace Corps #Mongolia #memoir #story #Catholic #God #memoryLang #Disney #Chinese #Mongolian #fall #Latin #evacuation #Coronavirus #COVID-19

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years

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07/23/2020 DAB Transcript

2 Chronicles 8:11-10:19, Romans 8:9-25, Psalms 18:16-36, Proverbs 19:26

Today is the 23rd day of July welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it is wonderful, it’s a joy and an honor to be here with you today as we dive in and take our next step forward on the journey that carries us from the first page of the Bible to the last page of the Bible in a year. And this is the 205th day of that journey. So, we are well on our way but there is so much yet out in front of us before we conclude our journey at the end of this year. So, let's take that next step. We’re reading from the New English Translation this week. Second Chronicles chapter 8 verse 11 through 10 verse 19 today.

Commentary:

Okay. So, in the book of Romans, the letter to the Romans, we’ve been kinda working day by day through the things that Paul is saying as he lays out his…his argument or his persuasion, his interpretation of the Hebrew believers, but I mean…but today it's like buckle your seatbelt because what he's saying here, this changes everything. Like, if what Paul is saying is true, and as believers in Jesus, we believe this is true, then it's so much of a game changer that that’s not even the right way…like there's no proper way to describe the implications. So, let’s just listen…let’s just listen to what Paul says. “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through His Spirit, who lives in you.” Right? So, Paul’s saying, “you died to who you were and everything that had claim to that person is dead. And when your dead there's nothing that has claim to you anymore. So, you will become free but dead. But not left dead because the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead is raising you up as well into this whole new spiritual family that God is raising up on the earth of which Jesus is the firstborn.” O my gosh! Like…this…if we just stop there. That's like crazy. What would it change if we like acknowledged and lived from that place? Like, how could we be abandoned by God if He is within us animating our very life like we’re not even alive without His Spirit present? How could He abandon us? And that's just the beginning. If you just sit and think about what that would change…like what that would change if we understood it, and what it does change because it's the truth, it's phenomenal! Paul goes on to describe the implications. “We are under obligation not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God, like…like the children of God, like members of God's divine family.” So, Paul’s saying, “the spirit of God is within us. This is how we live. And because we become aware that this is what's going on and how we live, we become aware that we are a part of God's family - sons and daughters of the most-high God.” And that's not something we sing in a worship song, that's who we are. And Paul says, “you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry Abba Father.” Like Abba, this is Aramaic, it’s like papa or daddy. “The Spirit”, Paul says, “the Spirit Himself bears witness to our Spirit that we are God's children. And if children, then heirs, namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him so we may also be glorified with Him.” So, we’re effectively saying, “life…life has challenges. This is a broken place. We are here. Even Jesus, God in the flesh, faced considerable challenges. This is a challenging refining place. So, this is part of it. But when we become aware that God is within us, reclaiming this broken place through us then we realize we are collaborating, that we are in lockstep with our papa and we can run to our Father at any moment constantly. He is within us, inviting us to participate in the redemption of this broken place.” I think…I don't I know what…I mean…we need to meditate on this. Like we need to think about what that looks like for us, what this means for us, what it means to live into that fully. But I think that one thing that we could come out of this today understanding at the depths of our being is that God is here, he is present, we’re gonna make it, we’re gonna be okay. And when get this big picture view that Paul is giving us, we realize there’s way more going on than just us. Like we live self-absorbed so much of the time. It's all about what's happening to us. But when we get this view that we are joint heirs with Jesus to the kingdom of God…well…man that changes perspective in a hurry. And we realize the Spirit of God is within us and within all of our brothers and sisters around the world and this makes up the body of Christ and the work of Christ continues in this world through us because of us because we’re here, we then begin to realize we are participating in holding this whole thing together. We are here to reclaim and restore. It’s a way bigger picture and a way bigger story than…than the story of the world that continues to try to be divisive in our lives, dividing us. So, let's give that some thought today as we move in and through this day.

Prayer:

Holy Spirit, as we so often do, we open ourselves to become aware of Your presence that is already here, already within us. Well up within us. Come, reveal the way forward. Let these truths sink in and sink into the depths of our soul so that we can't look at anything the same anymore. Come into this we ask in Your mighty name we pray. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it is the website, and that's where you find out what's going on around here. So, check it out.

Check out the Initiatives section where things that are going on. Check out the resources that are in the Shop. Check out the community section and get connected.

Also reminding you of…of this new resource. It's not in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. You’ve gotta get it either at the iTunes store the Google Play store, but it's this resource called Hearts, which is a contemplative kind of guided prayer and musical journey. Takes…takes about an hour to go through the whole thing, but you kinda come out of that our feeling like you were able to empty some things out, like to just really invite God into the things that we've been feeling over the course of these last months and maybe even years. And it's just a healing time. So…so, check that out.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. And I thank you. I thank you that that we're in this together and that we remain in this together and that the mission that we share as a Global Campfire community to bring God's spoken word every day to anyone who will listen to it, because I believe if we hear the words of God then we’re hearing…we’re hearing…we have this opportunity to hear from God. And it's striking how much we need it on a daily basis. And, so, to bring it to whoever will listen to it. And because it's a rhythm because it's daily. We build community around this. And if that has been a life-giving source for you then thank you for being life-giving. So, there’s a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, which is the little red button at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian. I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi this is Teresa from Indiana and I’m calling to say that I love you guys so much. And Esther from Orlando Florida, I just love you. I love the way you pray. You’ll say, “in the name of Jesus! In the name of Jesus!” And I just love that. And I’ve picked that up. So, I just love you guys so much and I just wanted you to know I’m praying for you, each and every one of you, I’m praying for you. I love you. God bless you.

Hi this is Oleanna from Delray Beach. I wanted to say hello everybody and thank you for your amazing prayers. I cannot stop listening. It’s going to be two years soon and I’m just so excited that I’m part of this community and just know that I’m always praying for you. And I want to pray for Veronica today, the Veronica that was praying 10 years for her husband to be saved and to be equally yoked with her. And I wanted to…I wanted to also say to you that God is our biggest antidepressant. He took me off my state of depression and He put me where I met today and even my husband is not saved and I’m praying two years for him to be and we are on equally yoked as well. But the joy of the Lord remains in me as I abide in Him. And I just…I know that I am praying for you and I know that God is going to do that for you. In the name of Jesus, He’s gonna restore you and He’s gonna restore your marriage and He’s gonna…He’s gonna give you all of the peace and all of the joy. And I wanted to…to read a Psalm to you. Create in me a pure heart O, God and renew a steadfast Spirit in me. Restore me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Lord you are sustaining us, and we thank you for it. You are enough. And Veronica I pray for your journey. It’s going to be the journey…the journey of giving away your antidepressants and just relying on God. And I believe God is going to be with you. In that moment that you prayed He answered your prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen. Love you guys.

Hi guys this is Silver Lining Cindy from Seattle. Harold, I cannot believe they canceled the Chicago Marathon. I am so sorry. I know that you had a goal but I have to say that I’m happy and God always has a plan for us and we don’t always know what it is but just by way of training for that marathon you stumbled upon this community and I’m so happy you’re a part of it. I wanted to tell you that you’ve been inspiring me all year and I actually planned a run this year similar to the run I did last year, and I no longer sign up for marathons. I run and I plan runs that are just meaningful to me. So, I’m running to see my dad on Vashon island later this summer. It’s about a 15-mile run and then I’m gonna spend the night and run home the next day. So, it’s…but it’s…again a run that’s meaningful to me. And I…I just challenge you to find a 26.2-mile course somewhere that’s meaningful and really special and make it your own Haroldathon. Also wanted to pray for the woman whose son was just diagnosed with autism who is 14. I happen to be the mother of the 14-year-old daughter with awesometism, that’s what we call it around my house. And wow it’s really answered a lot of questions and opened a lot of doors and really helped me to discover what a unique and wonderful individual she is. So, I am praying that the problems will be solved and that you will find special and wonderful ways to work with your son. Also want to pray for the woman who is really trying to get pregnant with her husband. I’m praying for you for fertility and I’m also praying for the woman who is having neck pain, that peace surrounds you. Thanks.

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Duane from Wisconsin. All praise and glory to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Calling in today for a couple of the DABbers. Roy called in and would like us to pray for his sister Robbie who is struggling with a…with a number of issues from a suicide attempt that she attempted a number of years ago. So, I lift her up. I want to lift up her daughters. We ask for the Lord’s intervention. We ask for the Lord’s healing. We ask of the Lord’s understanding. Lord, we bring Robbie to you, we lift her up to you. We ask for your intervention. We ask the Holy Spirit to come upon her, to give her direction, to give her light, to let her understand that she is still a child of Yours. Be with her daughters as well as we go through this time as well is Roy. Gigi called in. We want to lift you up. We heard that your father has passed away. So, our blessings go out to you, our sympathies, our prayers, our condolences. We ask the Lord to give you strength during this time you’re still going to school, and we praise You for that Lord and give Gigi strength during this time so she can continue her efforts in her school. Give her compassion and grace and uplift are to you. We want to lift this all up to our wonderful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. I want to thank you all. Praying for you all continuously and God bless.

Let’s pray. My dear Lord I depend completely on You. Please take away all other dependencies. You are my all. You rule over all and You delight in me. You are the foundation of goodness. How can I distrust You? How can I be anxious about what happens to me? In the light of Your preciousness the world and all of its enjoyments are infinitely poor. I value the favor of men no more than pebbles. Among the blessings I receive from You may I never lose the heart of a stranger. May I love You, Your benefits above all not forgetting that my greatest danger arises from my advantages. Produce in me self-despair that will make Jesus precious to me delighting in all His authority taking pleasure in all His ways. O that I would love His commands as well as His promises. Help me discern between true and false love, the true one consisting of extreme supreme love to You the other not. The true love uniting Your glory with man’s happiness that they become one common interest, the other disconnecting and separating them both seeking the false neglecting the true. Teach me that genuine love is different, not produced by genuine arguments or the motive of self-interest. This true love is a pleasing passion giving joy to the mind where it resides. Give me grace to distinguish between the genuine and the false and to rest in You who is all love.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family of God. Thank you Pastor Brian for your insight, your wisdom and your desire to serve the Lord with all your heart, soul mind and strength and your beautiful wife Jill and your fabulous daughter and all of the examples that we are given daily to see what it looks like to stand in the grace of God and to be patiently enduring under trial and joyfully rejoicing in that endurance. And it is that spirit of mind that I have to say when I hear parents call in and act as if a death sentence has been pronounced upon them by hearing that their child is on the spectrum of autism, it breaks my heart. There so many people that have been born by the grace of God and under His direction with autism that have changed our world. Albert Einstein, Temple Grandin. So many people. Those are just a couple. So, I encourage you parents to look at this as a blessing from God, not a curse. Each one of your children is going to demand things of you and bring things out of you that God had intentioned. None of us gets our own way. We all have to work together with the spirit of love and unity. And usually when there’s a problem it’s something sensory, too much noise and it’s asking for quiet in some way. I love you guys. I lift up the Lord and praise His name for the way that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank you, Jesus. Treasured Possession.

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janephillipsblog · 4 years

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Babette’s Gift

I recently closed my first semi-professional theatre experience with Fire Exit Theatre. It was quite a journey and a very rewarding and challenging one at that.

Back in August, I auditioned for “Babette’s Feast”, a play adaptation of the short story by Isak Dineson, conceived and developed by Abigail Killeen and written by Rose Courtney. It turned out to be a very unconventional audition as the venue was not open during my time slot. We auditioned in groups and my group ended up auditioning outside in a residential area. We worked on scenes from the script as well as doing group performance exercises for the director, Jeany Van Meltebeke, to see how we worked together as an ensemble.

Several days later I received an email from Artistic Director, Val Lieske, offering me a role in the ensemble, with the note that specific roles would be assigned at a later date. A couple of weeks later, another email was sent with assigned roles. I would be playing Babette as well as a little bit of ensemble work in the first part of the play before Babette makes her first entrance.

Photo Credit: Andrea Cross Photography. With Kyla Ferrier and Sarah Haggeman.

“Babette’s Feast” is set in a small Norwegian town called Berlevaag and centres around two sisters, the children of a dean to a religious sect. The two sisters, Martine and Philippa, despite their beauty, offers of marriage, and for Philippa, a chance to be an opera singer, remain in Berlevaag as spinsters throughout their life, carrying on the work of the dean after his death. In their autumn years, they take in Babette, a French refugee from the Paris Commune, as a housekeeper. Babette was once a celebrated chef at the Café Anglais in Paris and had fought as a communard, alongside her husband and son, both of whom were killed in the civil war. The story culminates in Babette’s gift to the sisters and the community – a fabulous feast of French cuisine.

We had about a three-month rehearsal period before we moved into the Engineered Air Theatre at Arts Commons, throughout which, Jeany gently pushed us to “tell good story,” paying attention to the details and working on the subtext of the script. Looking back it was incredible how much we gleaned from between the lines of what at first appeared to be a simple script and story. Rachel Peacock, as well as being a part of the cast, was the composer and musical director for the production and her compositions enhanced the show no end, with the music performed with a harp, violin, glockenspiel, our vocals and even toy wooden blocks!

I made some personal discoveries as a performer during the process. Jeany would often tell me to work on being neutral emotionally at certain parts in the play. Well, people have always been able to read me like a book and I am a terrible liar as it simply shows too much on my face. Poker player I am not! For acting there is so much to work on within to achieve what the audience will eventually see. Part of that skill is learning to live in the present, moment by moment. What human doesn’t wander emotionally into the past or future? In the many years of doing theatre, I have learnt that this mental wandering out of the present can trip a performer up in a performance.

During the rehearsal process, imposter syndrome also raised its ugly head on occasion. This was my first production out of the community theatre world where most other fellow cast mates have other careers and acting is a hobby and a different way to socialize for a lot of people. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it is a fantastic hobby and there is nothing wrong with not wanting to pursue it as a career and a person can still strive for excellence in a pastime. From the day of the first read-through, I discovered that I was among kindred spirits. I was with people working in some capacity within the industry and who wore many hats like myself, often with many projects on the go at the same time. I felt at home, however often my anxiety would whisper negative things in my ear that I didn’t belong.

The biggest challenge for me was the fact that Babette was French. Whilst it wasn’t a goal of the production for the performers to have impeccable accents, I did not want Babette to sound English. I also did not want her to have a stereotypical French accent. There were also a few lines in French within the script which presented another challenge. During high school in Ottawa, probably in Grade 11 or 12 (I have moved from the UK the summer before I started Grade 11), I was kicked out of Grade 10 French for struggling with the work in the class. My mother is still angry about it and I realize now that it was probably more to do with the teacher wanting to keep her class averages up than my learning ability. I was a shy and self-conscious teenager who hated speaking aloud in class and had always been very self-conscious about the way I spoke even in English, let alone a foreign language, as we had moved around a lot and I always had a different dialect. Those early days in high school in Ottawa usually meant I had to repeat sentences about three times to my friends before they understood what I was saying! The result was that I no longer had confidence in my ability to even learn to speak a second language. I seem to recall that in the UK, I had quite enjoyed French and German classes, but in Ottawa, everyone was so far ahead in French. The last French course I took was in first year of university as a degree requirement. My inability to speak Canada’s other official language was one of the reasons I ended up moving to Alberta.

There is a section in the script where the ensemble repeat some of the French words spoken by Babette. At the first readthrough during which I most likely pronounced the French lines incorrectly and with limited understanding of the meaning, having the words repeated caught me by surprise and in a moment of self-consciousness, I honestly thought some of the others were correcting my pronunciation! This was not the case! Though certainly down the road, Caleb and John, other cast members (Caleb was also the assistant director), helped me with the pronunciation. Google Translate also became a good friend! I talked about my hang-ups with speaking French with Caleb about two weeks before we moved into the theatre. He asked me when I was going to let them go. Right now, was my reply! I had already upped the ante for myself by inviting French-speaking friends to the show and at this point it was time to really put in some work. I would record myself speaking Babette’s lines to ensure they sounded like Babette and not me.

Photo Credit: Andrea Cross Photography

By the week of our final rehearsals, I felt that Babette had really arrived. I felt confident in my ability to portray her on stage. I was super-excited to be in a show at the Engineered Air Theatre. I had been in the venue once during the Festival of Animated Objects in March (I love the retro décor) and on the first day we were in the theatre, I remembered the intention I had set through a selfie on Facebook in May during the Bouffon workshop (held in the ATP rehearsal hall) that I hoped to again enter and exit the stage door of Arts Commons many, many times in the not too distant future. Well it came true! That is the power of manifestation, folks – I also manifested a free transit ticket that day.

Opening night was on a Wednesday. Fire Exit has a tradition for everyone to wear red shoes on opening night (started by Val and her red boots). I found a really nice pair that day in the WINS thrift store and they went really well with my green Christmas leggings. We had a talk back after the performance, my first ever. There were a couple of complimentary comments about how humble Babette was. In the lobby after, a lady asked if I was French! All our performances went really well, despite sickness making its way around the cast (par for the course for a December show – I was lucky as I had been sick a few weeks prior). Once we had an audience, we discovered that what had seemed like a serious play for the most part, was actually quite whimsical and fun throughout. Our audiences were great, very loving and kind. My French-speaking friends told me that they understood every word and joked how they were going to converse with me in French now.

Photo Credit: Andrea Cross Photography. From left to right: John Moerschbacher, Kyla Ferrier, Daniel Kim, Caleb Gordon, me, Sarah Haggeman, Rachel Peacock, Kendra Hutchinson and Ainsley Daumler.

“Babette’s Feast” was over too soon after a run of only seven performances. It will be an experience that I will forever treasure and remember. Thank you to all involved for sharing this incredible journey with me!

#actorslife #theatre #babettesfeast #fireexittheatre

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scriptlgbt · 5 years

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Do you have any information that would be helpful writing a trans woman in 1918 (or LGBT people in general)? Like what terms people would use and stuff like that? It's set in France. Also, it's first person and the narrator at the beginning of the story is transphobic, but by the end is ok with it. It's told in past tense, should I have him use she/her to refer to her the whole time just not in dialogue?

Answering about the pronouns first because it is the shortest answer:Personally, my take is that misgendering your characters should be avoided at all costs. I usually only say it is okay when you have a character do it in dialogue in a way that conveys to the reader that misgendering is not okay. Either someone doing it deliberately is a villain in that situation, or it’s someone doing it accidentally who self-corrects and moves on. (If it’s a stranger, it might not be corrected, but there will be a way to note somehow in the narration, the fact that it was misgendering, and the gravity of that - which does realistically differ depending on the person and the day and how much of it someone has had to deal with recently.)

So I’d say, especially considering it’s in past tense and your character does come around, it should be best to use the character’s right pronouns the whole time with the dialogue being reflective of what was used then.

Regarding terms in general and era-appropriate LGBT+ research, I’ve been waiting for the perfect opportunity to share this info!

Magnus Hirschfeld was a gay, German Jewish researcher and physician who founded an institute for sexological studies in Berlin. (A bit to the east from France, but hard to exclude these things from influence over each other.) This institute was birthplace to some of the earliest iterations of the transition-related surgeries that we know and use today. He wrote several books from the first person perspective about the experiences within the community.

At the time, transness was largely considered to be on the same continuum as gayness. Just like, the Kinsey scale with no limit on the gay end, pretty much. I believe a large part of what moved us away from this way of thinking was in part because it has largely been debunked that gender and orientation are inherently tied for everyone. And there are so many trans lesbians and gay men who this concept erased or did not include in the beginning. Folks who weren’t straight trans women and straight trans men were not even really considered for the most part. There’s a lot of exceptions and so on and individuals who I assume understood these things. But for the most part, studies and folks in the community speaking about it, for the most part, assumed this is one continuum and community. Nuance and branches off with different words came a little bit later, unless in terms of specific cultural identities around the world.

Terms used at this time in Europe, were generally iterations of “urnish” and “uranian”

Magnus Hirschfeld’s work was largely targeted and burned during the Nazi book burnings. But the current iteration of his legacy is working on the repatriation of the library at the institute, and they have links available to some digitized repatriations. A lot of the things I know and have learned about LGBT+ history has been through these books, even outside of the eras they cover in them. (Not because they cover non-contemporary topics, but because it has helped me to analyze the different ways that our community finds itself, transcendent of time and culture.)

Much of the content is in German, but some of it is translatable using Google translate for webpages. (I know “Berlin’s Third Gender” has a version I’ve had my browser translate.) Anyway, here’s the link. (If using Chrome, right click and click “translate to English” to translate the page to English.)

#Anonymous #mod nat #history #magnus hirschfeld #this is really longwinded for the amount of info i gave sorry #also followers please add in recs for such resources!#historical #trans #trans history #pronouns

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milkandhoneyoongi · 6 years

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something different (hoseok scenario)

request: Hello! I recently read the drabble your wrote about taehyung and his s/o not speaking the same language, and i loved it 💗💗💗😭if you are taking requests, do you think you could do a similar version but with Hoseok? Thank you!!

a/n: some changes between this and the original found in translation? one, it’s hobi and not taehyung. two, reader does not speak korean...or a lot of english. figured it would be interesting if neither of them were comfortable in the only language they shared. adds a bit of spice. much different vibe to this one.

and ya’al when i say i got carried away...i got carried away

ALSO i hope people aren’t annoyed by the way i lowkey diss paris in the beginning but like… i’m french so please let me live. like the reason reader speaks french is because i’m literally fluent in french i swear.

you can always send me a request here (please please do so i am almost done with any requests i have at the moment) and view my old imagines here

genre: angst/fluff

word count: 1,903 words

warnings: none?

There was something about Paris that drew people in. You understood why. If one spends so much time in a modern world, a city that sticks to its traditional roots can have an allure, but you had grown tired of the old architecture, tired of the effortlessly beautiful vibe that applied both to Parisian style and most aspects of the city. The stone walls and that ugly tower, you were over it all. And maybe that was because of the connections you had made to those aspects, but you needed something new.

You needed sleek buildings and a clean metro. You needed air that didn’t smell like rust, because no, it’s not rustic, it’s just gross. Nothing chic about an intolerance to change.

You, always having been spontaneous and free-spirited, made a rash decision and just… Got a job in Korea. Seoul specifically. You had gotten lucky, finding some job to talk to French business associates of this company that you could not care less about, but it was different, and for a while that’s what you needed. Just something different.

You thought you were just going to be talking to French business associates and occasionally exploring, but then you got a text from an unknown number. There were three messages, one after the other, all in full Korean Hangul. You’d probably eventually need to learn the language if you planned on sticking around, but as a kid you had told yourself the same thing during your English lessons and look where that got you. You learned nothing.

For the time being you plugged the texts into Google Translate, hoping to get some manageable translation to which you could respond.

From unknown: Thank you for last night. It was nice talking to you. This is Hoseok, by the way.

Hoseok, you thought, Poor Hoseok. His date gave him the wrong number.

You thought back a nice way to respond, plugging a simple “I’m sorry, but you have the wrong number,” and copying and pasting the characters to send to this Hoseok.

Within minutes the poor boy had responded again with a simple: are you sure?

You grinned. Why wouldn’t you be sure?

To hoseok: Pretty sure.

And then he was calling your phone. Odd. You couldn’t answer… No, you couldn’t speak Korean, but you felt bad for the boy. He was probably heartbroken.

I’m really sorry. This is not the one from last night. You seem sweet, and you deserve someone better anyway.

Sure, Hoseok noticed the silly mistakes in the mystery person’s Korean, but he didn’t think much of it. Plenty of people made typos or grammatical errors.

From hoseok: Someone like you?

His heart was broken; He was feeling bold.

You held back a gasp, looking at your translator app with wide eyes. Someone like me? You shrugged. This was something different.

To hoseok: Yeah. I guess someone like me.

You and Hoseok actually got on quite well over your little text conversations, communicating almost every day. You’d been quite flirty but he was cute and he was interested. You were the rebound, you knew as much, but you had been before and it wasn’t too bad. Things in your life had a way of working out.

Until he asked to meet you in person.

Yikes, you thought. The jig was up. How do you tell someone you really like that you’ll likely never be able to communicate in person? You certainly didn’t know.

Maybe you should have mentioned, Oh by the way I don’t speak Korean and I’ve been using Google this entire time. But you didn’t want to ruin a good thing, and you didn’t know if he’d be weird about that. In a way, you had been lying to him, but you never explicitly mentioned that you were fluent in Korean so, lying by omission.

You had never talked about the details of your personal life. He knew you had moved to Seoul for a change of scenery and a change of pace, but you hadn’t mentioned where you moved from. You mentioned the company you worked for, saying you worked in communications, all true. You could tell funny stories from work that day without mentioning they happened entirely in French. The fact that I don’t speak Korean just hadn’t come up, you thought to yourself, Nothing dishonest about that.

From hoseok: Hello?

You looked back down to your screen, where Hoseok had asked if you if you wanted to meet in person. Who’s gonna tell him? You shrugged.

To hoseok: Hoseok I haven’t been entirely honest with you…

He frowned reading the text? What had you lied about? Your age? Your location? Your job?

I don’t speak Korean.

He read the text that said, in perfect Korean, that you didn’t speak Korean. He hadn’t expected that, certainly not from someone who had been texting him in Korean for a few weeks, anyway.

From hoseok: Oh.

To hoseok: I’m sorry.

From hoseok: I’m a K-Pop star, so.

To hoseok: Oh?

From hoseok: Everybody hides the scary stuff.

To hoseok: I guess so.

From hoseok: Is you not speaking Korean why you hesitate to hang out with me?

To hoseok: Definitely.

From hoseok: Then let’s have a date.

You grinned. Of course he didn’t mind. You two made fast plans to meet after you got out of work, both eager to finally see one another.

You had locked eyes with him outside the small market, smiling widely at his multicolored outfit and happy expression. “Y/N?” You nodded, shocked by how comfortable he was just pulling you into his arms as soon you did so. He was so friendly.

“You know any English?” He asked, and you found yourself flushed as you shook your head.

“Not a lot.” He loved your accent as it rolled over the words, the syllables falling from your unfamiliar tongue. He found himself in awe of your appearance, your features everything they thought they would be. You looked perfect. Not that that mattered, but the lighting graced you in a way he hadn’t expected and he found himself just as enamoured with your appearance as he was with your words, with your wit, with your wonder. “I speak,” you hesitated, “French.” Funnily enough the word was hard to say with your accent, but he got it.

“French,” he said back, “Fancy.” He giggled as your brows came together, “Oh! Fancy… avant garde.” You grinned at how he pronounced the word with a strong American “r”. There was something about the way he spoke, about the way he made an active effort to make you comfortable that made your heart flutter in an unfamiliar way. “Let us go?”

You had spent the time in the market, Hoseok pointing at different things and teaching you the Korean word for it. You had learned all sorts of thing from girl to cabbage, the last causing you to crack a wide smile. Maybe one day you’d figure out how to tell him about the pet name in your own culture but you couldn’t find the words in that moment.

Despite it being a day of learning, you had more fun than you had in a long time, loving the child-like giddiness that crept up your throat when he reached down and grasped your hand, swinging your hands back and forth between each other.

You said very little overall but you left him that day eager to see him again, even if just to learn more seemingly useless words.

There was a day he texted you in French. You felt like a teenager again at the gesture, your limbs feeling soft like putty as you realized how far deep you really had fallen.

Over the course of several months your Korean had advanced to that of a ten year old boy. That’s what Hoseok said anyway. He felt overwhelming pride when your tongue formed the words correctly, or even when you tried. You’d meet up at cafes or libraries and write down notes in a small book. Vocab, Hangul, everything. You were determined.

You were determined because you and Hoseok couldn’t talk much around each other but being in his presence allowed you to feel a distinct happiness that you hadn’t felt in a long time. You couldn’t explain why, it just was that way, and he felt the same.

You were so cute and so willing to talk even if you didn’t know the words. You’d risk it, and you’d put yourself out there, bounce back from failures and press on. You were so admirable in your work ethic and he couldn’t help but feel electric when he was around you. You had gotten comfortable around him and in that process given him a number of sweet French nicknames. You told him he wouldn’t get the meaning anyway, but that it was a cultural thing thing to give people sweet pet names.

One time he called you jagiya by mistake. It just slipped out. He told you that you wouldn’t get the meaning, but that it was a cultural thing. You didn’t ask about the flush that painted his cheeks.

Within a week of calling you that by accident he asked you to officially date and it was then that he told you jagiya was reserved for significant others. You laughed and made a move, pulling his lips to your own in an act of sweet passion.

Hoseok had told his members about you by the fifth month of dating or so. He wanted to keep you away from his idol life for as long as possible, loving your very personal and intimate times together. But when you became more comfortable with him when in person, he noticed little things you did that he thought would make his members laugh, things they would love about you as much as he did. Oh, he nearly choked on his drink, love.

At first they didn’t approve. They didn’t like the idea of him getting hurt by finding out they actually had nothing in common once they could talk to each other comfortably in real life.

But then they met you, and they saw the way both of your faces lit up at the sight of one another.

“Hobi!” You had cried, bounding toward him. “Mon petit chouchou,” you chirped, nuzzling yourself into his arms. You pulled away, bringing his lips to your own as you smiled. He asked how you were in French and your eyes lit up, starlight twinkling in your irises at his attempts to connect with you.

The boys watched as you attempted to explain your day in Korean, mostly successful. He’d softly correct you sometimes and you’d scrunch up your nose like a rabbit. The chemistry between you two was tangible.

The members introduced themselves to you one by one in their best Korean so you’d understand and you grinned.

After that day you often hung around the other members with Hoseok, often with his arm slung around your shoulders, head thrown back in laughter. Sometimes you’d teach them little things in French, and you found yourself turning Seoul into a home. You had friends, learning Korean had gotten you a raise at work and they even offered to subsidize your study of the language, and you actually had stories to tell your mother when she called.

You had never been happier than you were in Hoseok’s arms, and you didn’t need to know the words to explain how that felt. You had found your something different and it was different in all the best ways.

#bts #bts scenario #bts reaction #hoseok #hoseok scenario

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katy1900 · 2 years

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Language Barrier

Entre 9- over the last couple of weeks I have had a similar obstacle occur while I was working. All four times, it was during the afternoon, two of the times the guests were brought by security. What was the obstacle? The four guests spoke, very little to no English. When I first started working at the airport I did expect to run into a language barrier, but I had a plan. It was not a foolproof plan but it did work, for the most part, all four times. That plan was google translate. The first time was a kind older woman who spoke Spanish, I do not speak Spanish but I can understand basic words. Luckily she had paperwork and boarding passes from her previous flight so I was able to find out where she was going if she had paid for the luggage and if she needed new luggage tags. I used google translate to tell her what I was going on or if I needed any information back. She somewhat understood me if I spoke English but I usually just stuck with using google translate. I got her fully checked in and dropped off her luggage, then I walked with her all the way to security so she would not get lost. The next time it happened it was a man who spoke Punjabi. He too had paperwork and came from a previous flight, and I was using google translate to communicate with him whenever he did not understand what I was saying because at times he could understand what I was trying to say. Unfortunately, there was a problem with his reservation and I could not check him in at the Kiosk. So I took him over to the check-in desks and was actually able to find someone who spoke Punjabi, he also had someone on the phone who spoke English so that helped as well. But the check-in agent said she could check him in, so I told her to thank you and went back to the kiosks. The third time was a women who only spoke French. Apparently, her luggage had been lost, after her last flight so when I tried to use google translate to tell her lost and found was downstairs, she did not really understand. Since it was quiet, I decided to take her down to lost baggage. When we got down I asked for her boarding pass to tell the man what her name was and to give him the small part of the bag tag with her information. When she gave it to me, it was an Air France boarding pass. I was very confused because the security guard brought her to us instead of Air France, who were the ones who lost her bag, but I guess it was because her next flight was with us, he thought we could help, Anyway, I asked the man and he said that they didn’t have her bags. So we went upstairs and I was trying to tell her, using google translate that she had to go to Air France and ask for her bags. I told her that Air France was down the terminal but she did not understand. And I could not take her because there were now people at the kiosks that needed help. For some reason, she would not use google translate to tell me anything, even if I asked her in English or in Fench. I was able to find a WestJet employee who spoke Fench and I asked him to explain to her that she needed to go to Air France and ask for her two bags. Thankfully he was free at the moment and went to speak with her. I told him, thank you so much and asked if it was ok if I went back to the kiosks, he said it was fine if I left. The fourth occasion actually just happened a few days ago. A woman for some reason had been detained after getting off her flight the day before and spent the night in the hotel. She had someone on the phone who spoke English and she told me that the guest spoke Ukrainian and that WestJet had offered to rebook her flight for today so she could fly home. I was not able to help her at the kiosk because at the moment she did not actually have a flight. I took her over to the check-in counters to ask if we had anyone that spoke Ukrainian but we did not. I asked the agent if he could help her get booked but he said that he was not signed in yet so he directed me to another agent that was great with elderly guests. I went over to the other agent and explained the situation and also handed him the guest's phone so he could speak to the woman on the phone. He told me he could handle the situation so I went back over to the kiosks. I hope that the guests that I was not able to personally help were able to get the help they needed from the check-in agents.

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msl4233 · 6 years

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A neurodivergent guide to traveling to Japan

Idk how many people will benefit from this, and I guess some of my tips will help neurotypicals as well, but its 1 am and I camt sleep so here we go. (In no particular order)

Don’t take the hotel soaps with you. In America, this is perfectly fine. They have to throw them away after each person. But in Japan (at least in the hotels I’ve stayed in), they reuse the shampoos and such. You might notice that its a normal size bottle, and has some missing. That’s because they sanitize the outside of the container and leave it for the next guest until it gets used up. There are a few things like toothbrushes, hair ties, and small packages of shaving cream that are more one use that you can take with you, especially if you’ve opened them. Those they have to throw away.

Japanese thermostats are in Celcius, so if you’re American like me they can be tricky to figure out what temperature it is inside. Google can be very helpful here and has an online converter. Some thermostats have a button to change from Celcius to Fahrenheit as well.

To board the airplane early (if you have an invisible disability and have problems with boarding like me), line up with the wheelchairs and people with small children. In America you can explain in more detail and the Tsa will ptobably ask, but in Japan (and Taiwan for that matter, I had a layover flight there), just say “Special needs” and they let you go right ahead.

Speaking of tsa, their website has a customizeable card you can print out and show at security that tells them what your disability is so they can help you get through security smoothly. Mine says I’m autistic, and my dad has one that says he has an artificial hip replacement.

Weighted blankets have to go through additional screening if they are carried in your carryon. For me this meant that it was removed from my bag and the tsa worker felt each of the pockets to make sure there’s nothing hiding in them. The worker was very respectful and did it in front of me, explaining what he was doing as he went along. He let me fold it and put it back in my bag. I’m not sure how Japan does this, since I transferred it to my checked bag after the overnight flight. Ill update when I go home and go through security again.

If you take prescription medication, check a few months in advance if youre allowed to bring it into the country. Some medications are required to be sent to Japan two months in advance for screening (like prescription painkillers). I take Zoloft and it was not required to go through this process, or be declared at customs. Just make sure you keep it on your body during the entire airplane process. Don’t ever put your meds in your checked bag, in case it gets lost.

Google translate app is you best friend. You can take a picture of anything and it will translate it for you, and if you’re having trouble communicating then you can talk or type into the app and it will translate to Japanese and vice versa. Its very fast and easy, and I used it at the angelic pretty store to ask where the changing room was. The employee spoke into the app and it translated for me, so the language barrier was nearly invisible.

Hotel water is mostly drinkable. Sometimes there is a sign, if theres only one sink. But if there is multiple sinks drink from the one that has the tea making supplies next to it. Thats the kitchen sink and potable.

Walk on the left side of the sidewalk and staircases. In Japan they drive on the left side of the road, and walk on the left side of the path as well.

Dont jaywalk. Ever. Only cross the street at marked crosswalks or pedestrian bridges.

If you’re having trouble finding your way, ask a bus driver. They know the city very well and speak English relatively fluently. Don’t stop random people to ask for directions, that’s weird and rude and they might not speak English.

If you have personal space issues, I would recommend getting a taxi or uber as opposed to riding train and busses. Depending on where youre going and the time of day, the latter can be packed like sardines. Taxi/uber are more expensive, but if this is a serious problem for you then definately make room in your budget for this.

Speaking of crowds, if you’re overwhelmed and need to get out of a crowd quickly shout “sumimasen” repeatedly while walking to your destination (I recommend a bathroom). That word means excuse me, and people will understand that you need to get somewhere quickly.

All Japanese coins are marked with the value except for the little bronze one with a hole in the center. Its worth 5 yen.

If you use a mobility aid, you might feel daunted by the amount of stairs everywhere. However, for every staircase there is an elevator, and sometimes an escalator as well. They are typically marked on the walls, but if you can’t find one ask someone who works at the place you’re at. Some crosswalks are the kind that go up and over traffic, but there is a traffic guard underneath who will stop cars and help you cross. I havent tried this for myself, but for my dad who had his hip replaced and has problems on stairs still.

When in doubt, find and information desk.

7-11 has the best atm machines. This might feel really weird, but 7-11 in Japan is much better then America. Its more like a tiny Wal-Mart.

Spaghetti in Japan doesn’t take like spaghetti. It tastes more like offbrand kraft macaroni and cheese with a slight hint of tomato. Its good, but not what spaghetti is expected to taste like.

French fries are often lightly or unsalted. You might want to ask for salt.

The trains are color coded. If you can’t find your line check on a map in the station what color it is and then follow that color.

If there is a raised step in a room, take off your shoes before going through. Slippers are often provided as well so you’re not barefoot or in your socks.

If you go to a cat cafe and talk about your own cat, you might be asked to show pictures to the staff.

Lots of shops have a ban on taking pictures. If you are unsure, ask an employee. “Camera ok?” Is understood and they will answer yes or no. If you can’t find anyone to ask, just don’t take the picture. Its not worth the risk of getting thrown out.

English swear words are common. So is sexual themes. I passed a condom vending machine walking down a main street. If this bothers you, try to ignore it. Honestly theres no avoiding it.

Most plaves have free wifi, but.renting a pocket Wi-Fi is cheap and then you always have a secure connection.

If you’re having trouble ordering food, a lot of places have the menu on the counter with pictures. Point at what you want. This isn’t rude like it would be in America.

Lots of restaurants have fake food in cases outside. I can nearly guarantee you that what you will be served looks exactly like the representation. I’m surprised every time, having grown up with the American standard of “it looks like its been sat on and ran through a washing machine”.

If a store has multiple levels, a good rule of thumb is to pay at each level.

Most stores have a sign that says “Japan tax free”. To get this, you have to show your passport when you check out. Keep your receipt because tsa might ask for it.

A lot of stores only allow tax free on purchases over 5400 yen, or about $54.

Japan tax is 8%

Wall outlets dont have the classic pig nose input. They only have the two vertical lines. Make sure your charger will work with them, or bring an adaptor.

A lot of places have usb chargers built into the wall next to the outlet.

When paying for something, put the money in the little tray on the counter. Never hand it directly to the employee. They might put you change in the same tray or hand it back to you on your receipt, it varies by shop.

100 yen is about equal to $1. It fluctuates but this is a good rule of thumb.

Dont litter. Its a huge fine and possible jail time. Hold on to your trash until you find a trash can. Most convenience stores and vending machines have one.

Thats all I can think of at the moment, feel free to send asks If you have questions. This is by no means a complete guide, just the ramblings of a very sleepy tourist.

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ancheng19 · 7 years

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TIPS FOR LEARNING A LANGUAGE

Your brain has no word limit. “Memorise every word you encounter” That’s not a requirement, that’s an impossible goal you should set for yourself. Learning vocabulary is like a plate that slowly turns into a bowl the more water you pour in it(weird metaphor I know but bear with me). You can learn 100 words and you’ll quickly forget a lot of them. You can learn 10 words and you’ll quickly forget some of them. But learning 30 words out of 100 is much better than learning 8 out of 10(you feel me?). The plate will overfill regardless of how much water you pour in there, so just pour as much as you can and turn that sucker into a bowl.

Simply put: The more you learn, the easier it gets to learn.

There’s no such thing as a useless word. Vehicle. Spaceship. Run. Skedaddle. Are all important words. Never ignore a word because you think it’s useless. It’ll come to you, maybe in the next test, maybe in a conversation with a stranger, maybe written in scary red paint on the wall of a sketchy neighbourhood telling you to skedaddle. You need it.

Speak your target language*duh*. *Imagine if you will, you’re in France with little to no vocabulary. You walk into a hotel, worried as to how you’re gonna communicate with the person at the desk. As soon as your eyes meet he greets you saying in the most fluent english accent “Hello there! How may I help you?” You sigh a sigh of relief, however you remember that you’re in France, you’re committed to learning the French language. You take a deep breath and respond with “Salut! je maple Timothy je want une casa” Now obviously there’s so much wrong there. But it’s so much better than speaking english because you’ll learn what a room is, and you’ll even learn a word in Spanish.

You’ll embarrass yourself in conversations. No advice here just telling you a fact. A Chinese guy once asked me if I understood something and I simply replied with “I am bread” So yeah good luck.

Idioms. Learn them. They’re awesome.

Think in target language. Weird I know. But seriously if you know how to think a sentence in your target language, do it. You’ll be more comfortable saying it and you’ll revise what you’ve learnt. As well as discover what you forgot.

Lie. When it’s harmless. Try telling a taxi driver you’re Sri Lankan see where that takes you. Unless you are Sri Lankan in which case you’re Cambodian. Say you married an Austrian pilot, or own a pet rock, or maybe related to the queen. You’ll have much more fun and useful conversations. (P.s. If you’re half-Sri Lankan half-Cambodian you are officially Martian.)

Helpful Apps:

HiNative: Allows you to ask native speakers what something means, how it’s used, whether your sentence is correct, or simply any question you have about said language or even culture.

Flashcards: Pretty self explanatory. Make your own flashcards, one side in your language, one side in target language. Perfect in revising words. You can also download decks that other people have created and made public. Obviously you can use it for other subjects too.

HelloTalk: Texting people of target language who want to learn your native language. Help each other learn each other’s language and has great features for correcting sentences and grammar.

(dictionary): No that’s not the name of the app. Having google translate is helpful and all but try finding a language specific App(e.g French to English). It’s also good to have a dictionary. All words. Easily accessible. Works offline. (For Chinese that App is Pleco)

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automagick · 4 years

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The purpose of lorem ipsum is to create a natural looking block of text (sentence, paragraph, page, etc.) that doesn't distract from the layout. A practice not without controversy, laying out pages with meaningless filler text can be very useful when the focus is meant to be on design, not content.

The passage experienced a surge in popularity during the 1960s when Letraset used it on their dry-transfer sheets, and again during the 90s as desktop publishers bundled the text with their software. Today it's seen all around the web; on templates, websites, and stock designs. Use our generator to get your own, or read on for the authoritative history of lorem ipsum.

Origins and Discovery

Lorem ipsum began as scrambled, nonsensical Latin derived from Cicero's 1st-century BC text De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum.

Hedonist Roots

Until recently, the prevailing view assumed lorem ipsum was born as a nonsense text. “It's not Latin, though it looks like it, and it actually says nothing,” Before & After magazine answered a curious reader, “Its ‘words’ loosely approximate the frequency with which letters occur in English, which is why at a glance it looks pretty real.”

As Cicero would put it, “Um, not so fast.”

The placeholder text, beginning with the line “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit”, looks like Latin because in its youth, centuries ago, it was Latin.

Richard McClintock, a Latin scholar from Hampden-Sydney College, is credited with discovering the source behind the ubiquitous filler text. In seeing a sample of lorem ipsum, his interest was piqued by consectetur—a genuine, albeit rare, Latin word. Consulting a Latin dictionary led McClintock to a passage from De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum (“On the Extremes of Good and Evil”), a first-century B.C. text from the Roman philosopher Cicero.

In particular, the garbled words of lorem ipsum bear an unmistakable resemblance to sections 1.10.32–33 of Cicero's work, with the most notable passage excerpted below:

“Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem.”

A 1914 English translation by Harris Rackham reads:

“Nor is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure.”

McClintock's eye for detail certainly helped narrow the whereabouts of lorem ipsum's origin, however, the “how and when” still remain something of a mystery, with competing theories and timelines.

McClintock wrote to Before & After to explain his discovery;

“What I find remarkable is that this text has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since some printer in the 1500s took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book; it has survived not only four centuries of letter-by-letter resetting but even the leap into electronic typesetting, essentially unchanged except for an occasional 'ing' or 'y' thrown in. It's ironic that when the then-understood Latin was scrambled, it became as incomprehensible as Greek; the phrase 'it's Greek to me' and 'greeking' have common semantic roots!” (The editors published his letter in a correction headlined “Lorem Oopsum”).

As an alternative theory, (and because Latin scholars do this sort of thing) someone tracked down a 1914 Latin edition of De Finibus which challenges McClintock's 15th century claims and suggests that the dawn of lorem ipsum was as recent as the 20th century. The 1914 Loeb Classical Library Edition ran out of room on page 34 for the Latin phrase “dolorem ipsum” (sorrow in itself). Thus, the truncated phrase leaves one page dangling with “do-”, while another begins with the now ubiquitous “lorem ipsum”.

Whether a medieval typesetter chose to garble a well-known (but non-Biblical—that would have been sacrilegious) text, or whether a quirk in the 1914 Loeb Edition inspired a graphic designer, it's admittedly an odd way for Cicero to sail into the 21st century.

Meaning of Lorem Ipsum

Lorem ipsum was purposefully designed to have no meaning, but appear like real text, making it the perfect placeholder.

Interpreting Nonsense

Don't bother typing “lorem ipsum” into Google translate. If you already tried, you may have gotten anything from "NATO" to "China", depending on how you capitalized the letters. The bizarre translation was fodder for conspiracy theories, but Google has since updated its “lorem ipsum” translation to, boringly enough, “lorem ipsum”.

One brave soul did take a stab at translating the almost-not-quite-Latin. According to The Guardian, Jaspreet Singh Boparai undertook the challenge with the goal of making the text “precisely as incoherent in English as it is in Latin - and to make it incoherent in the same way”. As a result, “the Greek 'eu' in Latin became the French 'bien' [...] and the '-ing' ending in 'lorem ipsum' seemed best rendered by an '-iendum' in English.”

Here is the classic lorem ipsum passage followed by Boparai's odd, yet mesmerizing version:

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam hendrerit nisi sed sollicitudin pellentesque. Nunc posuere purus rhoncus pulvinar aliquam. Ut aliquet tristique nisl vitae volutpat. Nulla aliquet porttitor venenatis. Donec a dui et dui fringilla consectetur id nec massa. Aliquam erat volutpat. Sed ut dui ut lacus dictum fermentum vel tincidunt neque. Sed sed lacinia lectus. Duis sit amet sodales felis. Duis nunc eros, mattis at dui ac, convallis semper risus. In adipiscing ultrices tellus, in suscipit massa vehicula eu.”

Boparai's version:

“Rrow itself, let it be sorrow; let him love it; let him pursue it, ishing for its acquisitiendum. Because he will ab hold, uniess but through concer, and also of those who resist. Now a pure snore disturbeded sum dust. He ejjnoyes, in order that somewon, also with a severe one, unless of life. May a cusstums offficer somewon nothing of a poison-filled. Until, from a twho, twho chaffinch may also pursue it, not even a lump. But as twho, as a tank; a proverb, yeast; or else they tinscribe nor. Yet yet dewlap bed. Twho may be, let him love fellows of a polecat. Now amour, the, twhose being, drunk, yet twhitch and, an enclosed valley’s always a laugh. In acquisitiendum the Furies are Earth; in (he takes up) a lump vehicles bien.”

Nick Richardson described the translation “like extreme Mallarmé, or a Burroughsian cut-up, or a paragraph of Finnegans Wake. Bits of it have surprising power: the desperate insistence on loving and pursuing sorrow, for instance, that is cheated out of its justification – an incomplete object that has been either fished for, or wished for.”

Usage and Examples

Lorem ipsum was popularized in the 1960s with Letraset's dry-transfer sheets, and later entered the digital world via Aldus PageMaker.

Digital Ipsum

The decade that brought us Star Trek and Doctor Who also resurrected Cicero—or at least what used to be Cicero—in an attempt to make the days before computerized design a little less painstaking.

The French lettering company Letraset manufactured a set of dry-transfer sheets which included the lorem ipsum filler text in a variety of fonts, sizes, and layouts. These sheets of lettering could be rubbed on anywhere and were quickly adopted by graphic artists, printers, architects, and advertisers for their professional look and ease of use.

Aldus Corporation, which later merged with Adobe Systems, ushered lorem ipsum into the information age with its desktop publishing software Aldus PageMaker. The program came bundled with lorem ipsum dummy text for laying out page content, and other word processors like Microsoft Word followed suit. More recently the growth of web design has helped proliferate lorem ipsum across the internet as a placeholder for future text—and in some cases the final content (this is why we proofread, kids).

Controversy in the Design World

Some claim lorem ipsum threatens to promote design over content, while others defend its value in the process of planning.

Design or (Dis)content

Among design professionals, there's a bit of controversy surrounding the filler text. Controversy, as in Death to Lorem Ipsum.

The strength of lorem ipsum is its weakness: it doesn't communicate. To some, designing a website around placeholder text is unacceptable, akin to sewing a custom suit without taking measurements. Kristina Halvorson notes:

“I’ve heard the argument that “lorem ipsum” is effective in wireframing or design because it helps people focus on the actual layout, or color scheme, or whatever. What kills me here is that we’re talking about creating a user experience that will (whether we like it or not) be DRIVEN by words. The entire structure of the page or app flow is FOR THE WORDS.”

Lorem ipsum is so ubiquitous because it is so versatile. Select how many paragraphs you want, copy, paste, and break the lines wherever it is convenient. Real copy doesn't work that way.

As front-end developer Kyle Fiedler put it:

“When you are designing with Lorem Ipsum, you diminish the importance of the copy by lowering it to the same level as any other visual element. The text simply becomes another supporting role, serving to make other aspects more aesthetic. Instead of your design enhancing the meaning of the content, your content is enhancing your design.”

But despite zealous cries for the demise of lorem ipsum, others, such as Karen McGrane, offer appeals for moderation:

“Lorem Ipsum doesn’t exist because people think the content is meaningless window dressing, only there to be decorated by designers who can’t be bothered to read. Lorem Ipsum exists because words are powerful. If you fill up your page with draft copy about your client’s business, they will read it. They will comment on it. They will be inexorably drawn to it. Presented the wrong way, draft copy can send your design review off the rails.”

And that’s why a 15th century typesetter might have scrambled a passage of Cicero; he wanted people to focus on his fonts, to imagine their own content on the pages. He wanted people to see, and to get them to see he had to keep them from reading.

When to Use Lorem Ipsum

Generally, lorem ipsum is best suited to keeping templates from looking bare or minimizing the distractions of draft copy.

Form Over Function

So when is it okay to use lorem ipsum? First, lorem ipsum works well for staging. It's like the props in a furniture store—filler text makes it look like someone is home. The same Wordpress template might eventually be home to a fitness blog, a photography website, or the online journal of a cupcake fanatic. Lorem ipsum helps them imagine what the lived-in website might look like.

Second, use lorem ipsum if you think the placeholder text will be too distracting. For specific projects, collaboration between copywriters and designers may be best, however, like Karen McGrane said, draft copy has a way of turning any meeting about layout decisions into a discussion about word choice. So don't be afraid to use lorem ipsum to keep everyone focused.

One word of caution: make sure your client knows that lorem ipsum is filler text. You don't want them wondering why you filled their website with a foreign language, and you certainly don't want anyone prematurely publishing it.

Lorem Ipsum All the Things

Coming full circle, the internet's remixing of the now infamous lorem ipsum passage has officially elevated it to pop culture status.

Because it's the Internet

There was that time artists at Sequence opted to hand-Sharpie the lorem ipsum passage on a line of paper bags they designed for Chipotle—the result being a mixture of avant-garde, inside joke, and Sharpie-stained tables. Those with an eye for detail may have caught a tribute to the classic text in an episode of Mad Men (S6E1 around 1:18:55 for anyone that didn't). And here is a lorem ipsum tattoo.

Of course, we'd be remiss not to include the veritable cadre of lorem ipsum knock offs featuring:

Bacon Ipsum – Served all day. “Bacon ipsum dolor amet chicken turducken spare ribs.”

Hipster Ipsum – In case you're in need of a “shoreditch direct trade four dollar toast copper mug.”

Corporate Ipsum – “Leveraging agile frameworks to provide a robust synopsis” from eight to five.

Legal Ipsum – Fully unlicensed legalese for those times you don't want to pay $400/hr.

Not to mention, Cupcake Ipsum, Bob Ross Ipsum (“happy little clouds”), and the furry Cat Ipsum. And in case that's not enough, check out our very own Ultimate List of Lorem Ipsum Generators.

So there you have it. Lorem ipsum: the nonsense words unable to fully escape meaning.

Original Source Text

Below are the original Latin passages from which Lorem Ipsum was derived, paired with their 1914 translations by H. Rackham.

Section 1.10.32 of Cicero's “De finibus bonorum et malorum”

Original Latin text:

“Sed ut perspiciatis, unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam eaque ipsa, quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt, explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem, quia voluptas sit, aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos, qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt, neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum, quia dolor sit amet consectetur adipisci[ng] velit, sed quia non numquam [do] eius modi tempora inci[di]dunt, ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit, qui in ea voluptate velit esse, quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum, qui dolorem eum fugiat, quo voluptas nulla pariatur?”

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daniactuallysnuffledthatpopcorn · 7 years

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May I Kiss You?

Summary: After finishing university Phil Lester goes on holiday to Greece to celebrate with some friends. There they meet a group of Italian tourists, one of whom catches Phil's eye. Phil has ten days to win Daniel Howell's attention.

Word count: 4.4K

[A/N] Loosely based on how my parents met. Sometimes so many coincidences lead to certain people meeting, that I feel like the stars alligned in a specific manner just to make their meeting possible.

Phil was walking along the beach in his bare feet. Chris and Louise were close behind him, Louise holding her slippers in one hand and trying to take the perfect selfie with the other. It was their second day in Greece. Their first full one, technically. The previous day they had arrived early in the evening and after dinner at the first restaurant they laid their eyes on, they went to the beach and found the perfect spot to set up camp. They were now on their way back to that spot, with the sun high in the sky and sunblock at the ready so they could spend the whole afternoon there.

As they got closer they realised that the spot they’d spent an hour scouting last night was taken. Phil started walking faster, as if he’d confront the people sitting there about the fact that that was their spot. “We should have plastered our names on there or something.” Chris said when he caught up with Phil.

“We can still sit next to them, it’s no big deal.” Louise said, always quick to avoid conflict. Phil wasn’t one to seek conflict himself either, he’d just sit and sulk for a few minutes before letting go and having fun. He knew that, because he was always like that in the face of conflict.

Louise even managed to cheerily greet the people on the towels in their spot. The boys reluctantly said “hello” back, and judging by their accents and confused expressions, Phil figured they were not confident in their ability to speak English and have a real conversation.

“Good spot that, eh?” Chris asked, not realising the same thing Phil had.

One of the boys nodded reluctantly, “Good sun.” He offered.

Chris seemed satisfied with that answer. He put down his towel and lay down with his limbs spread.

Phil gave the boys an apologetic look and put down his towel too, lying down just a tad more modestly.

After about half an hour of sunbathing, Louise got out the beach ball and convinced her two friends to play some very watered-down version of beach volleyball without a net with her. After Phil had just made a heroic dive and taken a mouthful of sand in in the process, Louise decided that there was too much beach for them to cover with just the three of them. As Phil attempted to get the sand out of his mouth as best he could, he watched Louise walk over to the foreign boys and ask them to come play. The boys exchanged glances and then got up. Phil quickly got to his feet, scared to seem weird to these boys, even though they’d most likely seen him dive anyway.

One of the boys walked straight up to him, and Phil wiped his mouth and gave his best smile. The boy offered him a bottle of water. Phil gave him a confused look, but the boy motioned to his mouth and nodded insistently. People were nice. This boy who could barely understand him and could not make himself understood had brought him water to rinse his mouth just from the good of his heart. “Thank you.” Phil said. Hoping the boy spoke at least a little English.

“I am Dan.” The boy said.

Phil spat out the gulp of water he had in his mouth and said his own name.

“Good.” Dan said in response, not able to form an actual reply.

When they’d played for a while, Phil had figured out that the other boys were called PJ, Ale, Antonio and Davide, who was Dan’s brother. They were from Italy. Those few bits of information were all they had been able to communicate to each other in over an hour of playing beach volleyball together.

Phil thought of it as a game; trying to decipher what these people were saying to them. He was trying to get them to tell them how to say all the things they knew to say in English in Italian. If he was going to spend the afternoon with these Italian boys, he might as well learn something from it.

Dan, who was positioned next to him, kept saying Italian things and smiling when Phil tried to repeat them. He was even willing to repeat some English things, even though he was a bit hesitant.

When they sat down to have a break Phil asked him, “You’re not making me say rude things, are you?”

Dan tilted his head to the side and lightly shook his head. Phil understood that this wasn’t a response to his question, but rather an indication that the other had no clue what he’d just said.

“Rude?” Phil tried again. “Fuck?”

Dan laughed at that. He clearly knew that word, but had no idea why Phil had suddenly said it.

“Cazzo.” He said.

Phil took a second to process it, but then he started laughing, “Wait, is that Italian for Fuck?”

Dan nodded. Phil laughed even more at that. A small miscommunication, but one that had taught him an Italian swearword, which was always useful.

When they started playing again, he made sure to use his new word every time he missed the ball by a mile or tripped over his own feet. The others didn’t seem to care much, but every time he did it Dan shot him a satisfied look.

Phil was disappointed when they had to leave by the end of the afternoon. They hugged the boys and Louise had somehow managed to establish that they’d be coming back the next afternoon, so they’d decided they would too. They weren’t sure if the others had actually understood that though. It wasn’t until they were walking along the water again, back to the boulevard, that Phil realised he’d gotten a massive sunburn on his shoulders. The Italians hadn’t stopped the volleyball to reapply sunblock, and it was only now that Phil realised the fact that his pale skin was not used to sun, especially not compared to a group of Italians. He bought some After-sun cream in a shop they passed on their way to a restaurant Chris had spotted the day before and wanted to try.

During dinner Phil practised his new Italian words on his friends and they laughed at him, confidently betting on how many days it would take for Phil to start a wild Summer romance with Dan. Although Phil laughed off their comments, he couldn’t deny that Dan was cute and he would not mind running his hands over the boy’s tanned torso.

One of the plusses to hanging out with good-looking people on a beach was that they wore a very minimal amount of clothing and Phil had been able to cast a lot of sneaky glances in Dan’s direction.

By the time they were walking up to their spot again the next day, Louise and Chris were completely done with Phil’s blabbering on about how worried he was that the Italian boys hadn’t understood them and weren’t going to be there. As soon as they got close enough to see even black shapes in the distance, Chris clapped him on the shoulder and said sternly, “See, there they are. All of them. Your boyfriend too.”

“How do you know? You can barely see them.” Phil didn’t even object to Chris calling Dan his boyfriend.

But when they got closer it turned out that it was indeed all five of the boys from yesterday sitting on the towels. When they walked up to them Ale held up a watermelon and asked, “Eat?”

Of course they sat with them and ate watermelon. Phil enjoyed it so much he didn’t realise he had watermelon juice running over his chin and must be looking ridiculous until he caught Dan’s eyes. Dan was smiling at him, “Anguria.” He said, pointing at the piece of watermelon Phil was holding. Phil wasn’t certain if the word he’d just said meant ‘watermelon’ or ‘drool’.

When Chris got up and threw the beach ball at Davide – who only just managed to catch it – everyone got up to go play beach volleyball. Everyone except for Dan. Phil kneeled down and motioned over to the others, but Dan shook his head and took a magazine out of a backpack that was lying near him, “Leggo.” He said, “Read?”

“Yes.” Phil nodded. And then repeated the Italian word for ‘I read’. He got up to play volleyball with the others for a bit, but he kept glancing over at Dan, who was sitting quietly and reading his magazine. Phil was aware that he was playing possibly the worst game of beach volleyball he’d ever played, as he was just to distracted by Dan. When he missed another easy ball, Chris motioned over to him and said, “He’s in amore, guys. Can’t be saved.” The Italian boys seemed to understand and laughed. They rapidly said some Italian things to each other and Dan even looked up, shot them a grin and responded something. Phil felt his face go red.

He tried his best to focus on the game after that. Dan joined in when he finished his magazine, and when they eventually got bored, someone mentioned the word “gelato”, which everyone understood, and they climbed up onto the street at the back of the beach. The road had some weak fences lining it that one could easily jump over, and if you did you made drop of about 1,5 metres down onto the beach. It was just as easy to climb up, over the fence and onto the street. There was an ice cream shop across the road and that was where they went.

The Italian boys ordered their ice cream mostly by pointing and gesturing wildly. Antonio managed to say a few English words, but the others stuck to just sign language and a “thank you” at the end. They sat out on the terrace in front of the shop and Phil got out his phone to Google Translate a few questions he had for the boys.

“Quanti anni avete?” He managed in what was probably a laughably bad accent.

They all said numbers, accompanying them with their fingers. Dan said twenty, which was easy to do with his fingers. “Venti.” He added, just because he knew Phil liked to repeat his Italian words. What he didn’t know was that Phil also just liked hearing him speaking Italian. It was a beautiful language and hearing it come out of this equally beautiful boy’s mouth was mesmerising.

He Google Translated “tell me something in Italian; anything” and Dan started talking in Italian. A bit hesitant at first, but when his friends started chiming in he got more comfortable. And Phil loved it. He had no clue what they were talking about – for all he knew they were just insulting him – but he couldn’t get enough.

Now that he had Google Translate out anyway, it was easier to ask the Italians if they were going to be on the beach again the next day. Dan communicated with the help of the app that they were going on a snorkelling trip for the day, but they would be back by six. Louise immediately shouted a word she’d remembered from one of the travel guides she’d leafed through on the plane, “Ristorante!”

And that was how Phil ended up spending the next day just waiting for the time to pass until they’d be going to the boulevard to meet the Italians for dinner.

“Are you sad you’re not going to see Dan without his shirt on today?” Chris asked with a wink when they finally left the beach and started walking to the boulevard.

“Yes.” Phil said. There was no use in pretending, as he’d clearly been a bit dreamy all day. His mind was elsewhere, on a boat on the clear sea with a certain boy in snorkelling gear next to him.

They were the first to arrive at the restaurant. The waiter seated them and they ordered drinks while they waited for the others to arrive.

“So serious question.” Louise said. “What are you going to do if you actually get with this boy?”

Phil shrugged, “Cross that bridge when I get to it.”

The Italians arrived with their hair barely dry and still salty from the seawater, and as soon as they’d ordered drinks they started showing them pictures on their phones. The landscape looked amazing, with the clear water Phil had imagined, with some islands here and there and beautiful colourful fish all around. There was a picture of Dan underwater, reaching out to a turtle as it swam past. It was good enough to fit in a magazine and Dan himself looked good enough to be a model who’d naturally be in those magazines. He was almost disappointed when the next photo was put on.

As Phil started daydreaming, his eyes still on the phone with the pictures, but his mind barely registering the images, he was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. He turned to Dan, who was sat next to him. The Italian boy pushed his phone over to him on the table. The Google Translate Application was opened, and below the Italian input text it said in English: “I would like to get to know you better”. He tried -and failed- not to blush, but when he looked up Dan’s cheeks were a pretty shade of red too. It looked good on his tan skin.

Carefully, Phil took the phone into his hands, reversed the input and output languages, and typed his response: “I’d like to get to know you better too, but I think it might be hard as we don’t speak each other’s language”. When Dan read this, he seemed confused for a few seconds before he grinned and nodded. Apparently the App had made something slightly nonsensical of his words, as Google Translate was known to do.

“Let’s go somewhere together tomorrow.”

Phil took a sharp breath and kept his eyes fixed on the phone, so Dan couldn’t see his face.

A date.

Was Dan asking him on a date?

Or was he just interested in being friends with him?

No, that’d be weird, wouldn’t it? If Dan wanted to just be friends he wouldn’t ask to hang out alone.

So he finally looked up and nodded. Dan’s eyes lit up. “Gelato?” He asked.

A waiter arrived to take their food orders, but Phil had completely forgotten to even look at the menu, so he said “the same for me”, despite not knowing what it was that the person before him had ordered. The Greek dish names were a mystery to him.

He quickly realised his mistake when Louise whispered, “I thought you didn’t like shellfish.”

They sat at the restaurant for much longer than necessary, ordering three more rounds of drinks after dinner. Phil had already gone to pee twice, but maybe that was less from the cups of tea and more from the butterflies in his stomach. He was going to get gelato with Dan the next day. They’d meet at one, before the groups were due to meet each other at the beach, at the gelato shop they’d been to a few days prior. It had been a hassle sorting the agreement out over Google Translate during dinner, but a well-willing Antonio helped them out. From the group of Italians, he was the one with the most knowledge of English. And ‘the most’ in his case meant ‘very limited but would probably not die in England’.

Phil knew that Louise had been sending him knowing glances throughout their conversation, but he’d tried to ignore them the best he could. When they finally left the restaurant around midnight, there was no escaping it.

“You are so fucked.” Chris said as they walked on the boulevard back to their hotel.

Phil groaned, “I know, I know.”

After setting their appointment -date?- Phil had spent the rest of the evening chatting to Dan. He’d learnt some new Italian words from him and learnt that they were from Naples, which was a name Phil vaguely recognised. He’d started out just trying to learn new Italian words from the boy, but he’d now progressed to just wanting to hear him speak Italian, as it was possibly the most sexy thing he’d ever heard.

“I think it’s cute.” Louise offered. “Worrisome, but cute. You’d make an adorable couple.”

“I don’t even know if it’s a date.”

Chris and Louise both laughed heartily at that. “I do.” Chris said.

Phil couldn’t get to sleep that night.

It was significantly warmer than it had been in the days before. Phil’s shirt was soaked in sweat moments after he had put it on, and his sticky legs felt like he’d wet himself. He didn’t own any tank tops as he didn’t feel like his arms were much to show off, so he had to drag himself to the gelato shop with sweat stains under his armpits. He would have to try to keep his arms down the whole time.

The ten-minute walk from the hotel was almost too much. He was sure the sweat stains would have spread down to his hips by now and felt ridiculous, but it was too late to turn back now; he could already see the flashy ice-cream-shaped sign of the shop in the distance. As he came closer, he spotted Dan’s head just sticking out above one of the windshields surrounding the terrace. And when Dan noticed him too and waved, all hope was lost: there was no turning back and feigning a sudden illness now.

He sneakily glanced at his shirt -which was disgusting- as he walked onto the terrace. The first thing he noticed about Dan was not the fact that his hair seemed to curl particularly beautifully today, or the fact that his smile had gotten broader and broader as Phil got closer, but the first thing he noticed was that Dan was not wearing a shirt. And this didn’t shake him because Dan was so gorgeous, although, also that, but because here Phil was, so worried about those stupid sweat stains, that he hadn’t even considered just not putting on a shirt at all.

He sank down on the bench next to Dan, and immediately pulled his shirt over his head. Get rid of that insecurity right away: he had plenty more to bring to the table.

“Hot.” Dan said. For a moment, Phil figured Dan probably didn’t know the word could also apply to people, but then he noticed Dan’s grin and his face flushed red. “You too.” He quickly replied.

“Caldo.” Dan then said, and Phil was grateful for the change of topic. He repeated the Italian word a few times, until Dan nodded in satisfaction.

“Sun.” Phil said, pointing to the sky. “It’s too hot.”

“Il sole è troppo caldo.” Dan responded.

“Si.” Phil nodded, not daring to attempt the entire sentence. He only did so when Dan said it slower, so he could properly hear the distinction between the different words.

They sat and threw some Italian words back and forth for a while, until Dan finally pointed to the shop behind them and asked, “Gelato?” and thereby reminded Phil why he’d actually come here in the first place.

As soon as they got their ice cream they got back to their Italian and Phil once again immersed himself in the conversation, again forgetting about the ice cream. And again it took Dan pointing it out to him for him to remember. “You’re just more interesting than ice cream.” Phil said, not really expecting Dan to understand him. But he did, and he laughed.

“Più interessante.” He said, and then, “More interesting.” And Phil realised that as much as he loved hearing Dan speak in Italian, he loved hearing him speak English even more. His accent was adorable.

They met again the next day at one. This time they only met at the gelato shop, but didn’t actually go inside. They wandered around the narrow streets behind it, with pastel coloured houses and tan people sitting outside on the streets, enjoying the sun.

Every now and again Dan would point at something and say the Italian word, which Phil would repeat. Then Phil would say the English word and Dan would repeat it, shaking Phil’s arm excitedly when it was a word he already knew.

“You have brothers?” Dan asked as they walked into a small park.

“I have one brother. His name is Martyn.” Phil responded. “Is Davide your only brother?”

“Davide is my brother.” Dan said carefully.

“You have one brother? Uno?”

“Yes. Davide.”

In this wobbly manner Phil also figured out that Dan lived with his parents and went to university in Naples. He had a cat called Salvatore, who was always outside -outside was ‘fuori’. Figuring that out cost a bit of frustration from both sides-, and a rabbit named Bobby. Phil told Dan he lived alone and made YouTube videos for a living, although he wasn’t sure Dan understood that entirely. He also said he’d just finished university and was on holiday with his friends to celebrate that fact, and he used to have a dog.

It was basic conversation, but it was hard enough and took them nearly two hours to sort out. Dan could understand some basics, but speaking was very hard for him. Phil, of course, didn’t speak any Italian and was completely reliant on Dan’s limited language skills.

“Back to the spiaggia?” Phil asked when it got so hot in the small streets where they were walking that after already having taken off his shirt he was now considering taking off his pants too.

Dan nodded and together they made their way to the beach. Their friends should already be there by now, and Phil couldn’t wait to dive face first into the cool ocean.

Just as they were about to step out of the alleyway next to the gelato shop, back onto the street that ran by the beach, Dan grabbed Phil’s arm and pulled him back.

“You okay?” Phil asked, confused.

“I like you.” Dan blurted out.

Phil opened his mouth and closed it again. So these had definitely been dates then. “I like you too.”

“May I kiss you?”

“Yes, definitely.”

In the shade that the gelato shop offered them, shielded from eyes coming from the street, Dan stood on his toes and kissed Phil, more confidently than either of them had expected. Phil put his hands on Dan’s bare back and returned the kiss. Dan was soft and warm, and probably much less sweaty than Phil himself, but Dan didn’t seem to mind. His hands were on Phil’s hips, nails digging into his skin a little.

“That was good.” Phil said breathlessly when they pulled apart. He wasn’t sure why he said that and was afraid he’d made things awkward, but Dan just nodded and offered his hand.

As they walked to the beach together, hand in hand, Phil knew his Summer crush had just gotten a lot more complicated.

It was their last day in Greece. The Italians would be staying another day, but Phil, Chris and Louise had to go back to England. They’d ended up spending most of their time at the beach together, apart from the Italians’ day trip on the boat and the day the English went to visit some museums and churches in nearby villages.

After that first kiss, many more had followed. Phil had taken every opportunity he could get to kiss that beautiful Italian boy, as he knew it would be long before he would get to do that again. Maybe it would never even happen again. Their flight was at five in the afternoon, so they would be leaving for the airport at two.

Dan and Phil were sitting outside the gelato shop, both holding ice cream with one hand and holding each other’s hand with the other. They’d exchanged phone numbers and Phil knew that although it would be easier to communicate with the help of Google Translate through text, he would still miss speaking in person, even though it was a struggle.

There was one more thing to do before he left, but Phil had been putting it off for a while now. He didn’t have much longer though: Chris and Louise would be coming by with the rental car to pick him up in five minutes. He felt like his heart was trying to climb its way up to his throat; a combination of his rapid heartbeat and feeling like he was going to throw up.

When he finished his ice cream, he ran out of reasons to put it off any longer.

“Hey Dan?” That was a start. He’d initiated the conversation and now he had no choice but to finish it.

“Yes?”

A silence.

“Will you be my boyfriend? Like officially?”

“Yes. Official.” Dan said, and broke into a smile that assured Phil he knew what he had just said.

A last kiss as they saw the ugly red Renault turn the corner and Phil grit his teeth to keep his tears back. “I will text you.” He promised when they pulled apart. He got to his feet and quickly wiped his eyes. Dan put his head on Phil’s shoulder and kept it there until the car pulled up in front of them.

Chris and Louise had been teasing Phil for the past ten days, but now they were both serious and recognised that this was not the right moment for jokes. Phil kissed the top of Dan’s head and opened the car door and got in the car. He didn’t let go of Dan’s hand until he really had to close the door, and even then he immediately rolled down the window so he could squeeze his boyfriend’s hand one last time.

He watched Dan’s silhouette get smaller and smaller and smaller through the back window until he could no longer see him.

Before they boarded the plane, Phil went into a tourist shop and bought an Italian dictionary. An image of Dan stuck in his mind told him they could make it work and Phil was willing to give it his all.

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