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June 29, 2007
Kept in the dark
Woohoo! The first of of our home grown Portobello's has appeared!
Posted by Faith at 07:10 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2007
The perils of multiculturalism 3
Jacob has a new DVD, a Dora the Explorer one. While the English version has smatterings of spanish the Dutch version has english as it's second language. Often while working in the Netherlands I was confronted with colleagues who had learnt enough English at school (which is compulsory there) to feel confident enough to translate documents themselves. This can lead to interesting usages as there are certain things that only a native-speaker or someone who has lived within a culture will know about use of certain phrases etc.
In the Dora adventure of the Prince and the Frog this seems to have been the case. There are some obvious literal translations, "Anybody help me" when it should be "Somebody help me" for example, but more alarmingly one instance where the usuage is just plain innapropriate.
In order to cross the crocodile lake Dora has to ask the crocodiles to close their snout's allowing her to walk over them. The initial translation into english is borderline; "Shut your mouth, please", only the 'please' softening an otherwise startling phrase in the mouth of a pre-schooler. But it gets worse. After asking the first crocodile to "Shut your mouth please", Dora switches to what someone obviously felt was the less formal version and tells the following four crocodiles in turn to "Shut up", "Shut up", "Shut up" etc.
It's a daunting thought that Dutch pre-schoolers are being taught to say "Shut up", a phrase most native english speakers would find unaceptable in a pre-schooler. It's even more daunting trying to explain to Jacob why he MUST NOT use this phrase when he goes to creche or anywhere else. Why it's OK for Dora to use it, (apparently) whereas if he uses it he will end up being isolated in the baby-room at creche, just like that-Nicholas-who-uses 'bad words'.
Posted by Faith at 06:48 AM | Comments (0)
June 23, 2007
On Saturday we bake muffins
Posted by Faith at 04:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 22, 2007
On wednesdays we eat chocolate cake
Posted by Faith at 04:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2007
Lions of Moreland
Posted by Faith at 05:03 AM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2007
Butterflies
Look what arrived in the mail today! Just to prove it wasn't all a dream, my copies of The Butterfly Month from Scribe. I haven't dared look inside the covers yet (and suspect I won't) but it LOOKS gorgeous! Which of course is absolutely the most important thing about a book.
Posted by Faith at 05:32 AM | Comments (0)
Posted by Faith at 03:30 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2007
Kick
About five days after we moved into our house in Brunswick we were accosted by a location manager from Storm productions who cheerfully informed us that our street was about to become "the Ramsay Street of Brunswick." I don't think speechless horror was quite the reaction he'd been looking for.
Anyway, the result, Kick, will be premiering on SBS on Saturday 9th June at 8.00pm. I'm not sure how much of it I will be watching, most of the marketing seems to be aimed at thirteen-year-old girls and pink features far too much for my liking. Our street and those around it have of course been renamed, Hope St and Love St, which may sound corny but the original proposition was for Wog St so I think we got off lightly there. Just so you know, it's Albion St that sports the name Love St, or Lerv St as we like to call it. (Instead of doing the Albion St slalom we now go 'gliding down Lerv St'). Virtually all of it was filmed around Brunswick and Coburg so it will be fun to watch just for that alone and of course we will be taping it for the rellies overseas.
In the meantime here's a trailer with some nice views of Brunswick and Coburg.
Posted by Faith at 05:00 AM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2007
Bad Hair Day
Our poor neighbours were very busy yesterday with lots and lots of visitors. No doubt everyone wanted to chew the fat about cousin Tony. I just hope the wig doesn't catch on.
Posted by Faith at 01:47 AM | Comments (0)
Posted by Faith at 01:34 AM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2007
Yes we have no apples in the laundry cupboard
Its been a big few weeks for Jacob. Besides learning to ride a bike without trainer wheels, draw in two dimensions and not to put stones up his nose he has also discovered lying.
This is real three-year-old lying. ie:he is totally crap at it and it's done with a strange sort of innocence.
For instance:
-Mama, I've finished my apple.
-Good boy.
-Don't look in the laundry cupboard mama.
-bewildered silence from mama who hadn't made any plans to look in the laundry cupboard
-Why shouldn't I look in the laundry cupboard?
-DON'T look in the laundry cupboard!
-I think I'll look in the laundry cupboard.
-No! Mama! DON'T look in the laundry cupboard!
-Is your apple in the laundry cupboard?
-No mama.
-bursts into giggles and runs from the room to laundry cupboard where he flings his arms across the door
If only it will always be this easy.
Posted by Faith at 12:04 PM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2007
The second dimension
Sunday morning Jacob was busy drawing on the blackboard cupboards in the kitchen. The first thing I noticed was that while last week his drawings were made up of squiggles, (even though he knew how to draw squares, rectangles and circles) for the first time he has started using rectangles in his drawing.
The rectangles quickly became two dimensional spaces, one our backyard, with trees, grass and a giant-chicken and the other the zoo, full of lions and other animals. With both spaces he was very particular about what was on the inside and what was on the outside and the possibilities, or not, for moving from one to the other.
Posted by Faith at 11:18 AM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2007
A bridge too far
Saturday night we were invited to a party in Thornbury. Thornbury this side of St Georges Rd, the other side of Merri Creek. Far too close to find a taxi who would be bothered bringing us home. So we decided to cycle. The quickest route seemed to be straight down Holmes, right along Normanby and then right down along the park until we found Woolton Ave. Simple!
So simple we didn't take the street directory with us.
The problem with living in an area that is still relatively new to you is you don't know all the strange quirks and foibles of the area. Like the fact that at Holmes St, Normanby Rd is signposted Moreland Rd. At least in the dark it is. We cycled all the way to Bell St, turned, cycled back, made a small detour down Rennie St hoping for a way across Merri Creek that was discoverable in the dark, and then ended up taking the one route we were sure would work (but was a considerable detour) down to Arthurton Rd and back up along St Georges' Rd. The scenic circular route, just not a lot to see at 10.00pm.
It bought home to us how different cycling here is to, for example, Amsterdam. It is not far from Brunswick to this western edge of Thornbury but we would almost never have cycled that far at night in Amsterdam. The other thing that struck us is how dark it is at night. Because all the houses in the Netherlands (even the new ones) are so close to not only the pavement but the side of the road, and because the Dutch like to keep their curtains open at night, (I will not be snide, I will not be snide.....) 'informal' street lighting makes cycling much easier. One man's 'light pollution' is another man's beacon illuminating the wobbly wine-soaked way home.
And helmets! As a committed hat lover the helmet thing is driving me nuts. Oh yeah, and Amsterdam is flat, FLAT flat. Flatter than a pancake. No hills. The pros of cycling here? Well, it isn't raining as often and if it is you know it will stop soon. And the raindrops here are a tenth of the size. And it's a darn sight warmer, even at 1.00am. And NO black ice. So over that adrenalin rush as I hurtle on my ass across tram tracks and a lane full of oncoming traffic in the dark.
Posted by Faith at 01:59 AM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2007
Mika
Is this a bandwagon? Am I jumping on it? You bet! But damn, he is only appearing in Sydney as far as I can see. Who the f*ck is in Sydney?
Posted by Faith at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
June 01, 2007
It's so long since I've blogged I don't even know where to start.
Posted by Faith at 03:12 AM | Comments (0)