kittydesade: (play your fingers to the bone)
[personal profile] kittydesade

Sort of half semantic, half direct! I think.

Many Swiss emigrate to America. Therefore there are in America also some places with Swiss names. Some American and Swiss cities have partnerships and organize pen pals with the goal of bringing young Americans and Swiss [people] together. Thomas Wild out of New Glarus in Wisconsin and Claudia Handschin out of Glarus in Switzerland would like to [the phrase used is 'begin a correspondence friendship'] be pen pals. In her first letter to Thomas Claudia writes about her country:

Dear Thomas,

My name is Claudia Handschin and I am 22 years old. I study Chemistry in Basel, but I come from Glarus. I am interested in America. Because our two cities have a partnership, I have your address and a little information about you. Your great-grandparents were emigrated from Glarus to America last century, yes? You study German, yes? Do you also speach German at home or do only the older people in New Glarus speak German? Have you relatives here in Glarus?

65% of all Swiss speak German. German is however only one of our official languages in our country. Italian, French, and Rhaeto-Romanic are the others. Therefore our country has also no official German, French, or Italian names, but rather a Latinate(?) Confederation-Helvetica. (???) It is called in German "Schweizerische Eidgenossenschaft." [Swiss Confederacy]. You see, our tiny Switzerland has 26 autonomous cantons and Bern is the capital.

Glarus lies in German Switzerland. We speak [the house dialect?], do you too? In Kindergarten we still say "grüezi" and "woane gaasch" but in school we learn High German, and must then say "grüß Gott" and "wohin gehst du?" We also speak High German with foreigners still, and under formal circumstances and often in radio and television. When we wright, we use our dialect.

What more can I tell you about Switzerland? You probably know that Switzerland has a strong economy. But perhaps you do not know that our small country has no raw materials. We must import raw materials and groceries. In order to be able to pay, we must be able to compete on the world market. That we can only do through quality. We Swiss make everything very precisely: machines, instruments, chemical products, apparatuses. These quality products are together with the tourism the basis for a strong economy in Switzerland. And the strong economy is in turn the basis for our high standard of living. Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. But many people -- above all young people -- find that our country should become a member, because otherwise our economy could become weaker. In the end the world economy becomes more international. Conservatives and older people however argue for the other hand(?). For it is a step against the autonomy of Switzerland, if Switzerland belongs to the EU.

Many people were however also on the other side, that Switzerland became a member of the UN. But since 2002 Switzerland has belonged to the UN and thereby abandoned a part of its 500-year old neutrality. There was a huge controversy about that. The opponents -- often older people -- emphasized the positive aspects of neutrality in both world wars. I and many others however feared that Switzerland would be neutral but also isolated from the world. Now Switzerland is in the UN and that has always had its European seat already in the city of Geneva, in the French part of Switzerland.

So, dear Thomas, for today that is all from Switzerland. Please write me soon something about America. I already look forward to your letter! Much love,

Yours,
Claudia



おきゃくさん guest; visitor; client; customer
おとこ man
おゆ hot water
おんな woman
かぎ lock; key
かみ paper
きゅうりょう salary
コンタクト contact lenses
さいてい the lowest; the worst
サラリーマン salaryman
ざんぎょう overtime work
ストーブ heater
たからくじ lottery
ちがい difference
ニュース news
ひげ beard
ひみつ secret
りょう dormitory
りょこうがいしゃ travel agency

うらやましい envious
すくない a little; a few
つよい strong

えらぶ to choose; to select
おゆをわかす to boil water
かみをとかす to comb one's hair
こむ to get crowded
たからくじにあたる to win a lottery
ねぐ to take off (clothes)
ひげをそる to shave one's beard

いれる to make tea, coffee, etc
かぎをかける to lock
たりる to be sufficient, to be enough
なれる to get used to (ni)

けしょうする to put makeup on
しゅうしょくす to get a full time job at...
する to wear small items (necklace, watch, etc.)
りこんする to get a divorce

おめでとうございます Congratulations!
~かな(あ) I wonder... (casual)
じぶん oneself
ずいぶん very
そうか I see (casual)
それに moreover...
たとえば for example
~にくらべと compared with...
~によると according to
まえ before...
やっぱり after all




Sort out each of the jumbled sentences to make a short dialogue.
a) Introduction: A Pheig, seo mo chol ceathar Nuala.
b) Greeting: Conas tá tú, a Nuala?
c) Response: A Pheig, tá áthas orm bualadh leat.

Líon isteach na bearnaí. c and d involve the optional use of é or í
Seán: Dia dhuit, a Mháire!
Máire: Dia is Muire dhuit, a Sheáin!

Liam: Conas tá tú, a Shíle?
Síle: Go breá, conas tá tú féin, a Liam?
Liam: Tá mé go maith.

Dónall: A Thomáis, seo é mo chol ceathar Pádraig.
Tomás: Tá áthas orm bualadh leat, a Phádraig.
Pádraig: Dia dhuit, a Thomáis

Áine: A Sheosaimh, seo í mo chol ceathar Siobhán.
Siobhán: Conas tá tú, a Sheosaimh?
Seosamh: Tá áthas orm bualadh leat, a Shiobhán.


FUCKING OW. GODDAMMIT, BODY.

Okay, that's not as bad as the all-caps make it sound, but it is really incredibly annoying to even get your teeth cleaned with giant aching cramps. I disapprove. On the plus side, today's lecture consisted mostly of "eh, brush a little harder, your gums are still a little pink." Which is way less of a lecture than I expected! Go go decent dental hygiene habits? Only decent, I swear, but apparently that's enough for now.

I made all the appointments yesterday. Seriously, all of them. And it looks like everyone can meet up the schedule but dear lord I am at the top of my juggling things to do tolerance. And then Anna pointed out that I haven't actually had a vacation since doing all the Yuletide ever, because straight after that we launched into house buying crap and now my head really is exploding. It is really getting to the point where I cannot take on another task, if I do, someone hit me. Hard. Once some of these things calm down I'll be able to do something else but not right now! An organization list will shortly follow.

I will also say, throughout this, my friends and my boyfriend have been amazingly helpful with reminding me of things and doing their fair share of shared workloads. The past month has been a study in I get by with a little help from my friends.

Right now I just want to go home and curl up around my guitar for an hour or two. Fiddle with songs, maybe learn Money For Nothing, and do nothing more complicated than figuring out that that's a slide not a bend. Sadly, I have six more hours of work. At least the food for the week is pretty much pre-cooked and I got through my dentist appointment. And I got some sleep. Blessed, blessed sleep. I went to bed at 9, woke up at 2.30-3 for some reason thinking "Of course Emma's kiss didn't break the spell, Gold created the spell, it has to be Gold's True Love's Kiss that breaks it!" No, I don't know why that popped into my head when I was dreaming about planting things and pancakes. But the I went back to sleep maybe thirty minutes later and slept till 6. And that was damn good.

Right, making that list of things I need to do. Onward and upward! The only way out is through.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-01 05:09 pm (UTC)
kikibug13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kikibug13
And you are doing damn well with going through. And HOPEFULLY the excruciating waiting period is almost over, too. Because that means that you get on with the exhaustingly busy, and then it's done and you start doing things at your pace.

Or, you know, if necessary, the pace of repairs. And movers.

... but, I mean, the high stress points are the high money points, and you're almost at them.

Ahem.

Dammit, so want it to be Bael. So then possibly--

... then again, you know, thinking that he might fall in love with Emma is looking way and way more likely.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-01 06:32 pm (UTC)
kikibug13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kikibug13
*nods, and snuggles* Yes. And thank gods that you have enough presence of mind to organize things on them spreadsheets. But! Yes. Well, the whole thing at least here required a few last minute verifications to make sure the property deed will be valid, and they really need to be done within a small time range from the deal, buuuut at that point hopefully the terms are negotiated and the requirement for thinking is much less. Just. Go to X office, do Y. Lather, rinse, repeat. ;)

It's ... new sort of stress that you're not used to dealing with, maybe? So your head is trying to figure out how to feel? >.> Or something like that. *snuggles* Breathe indeed. It's important.

YES. I WANT TO KNOW ALL THE THINGS but I also just want to watch the two actors chew the frell out of each other.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-01 07:26 pm (UTC)
kikibug13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kikibug13
*wry* my friend, the lawyer, had told me about some of the horror stories. And then a friend of another colleague found out, five years after the purchase of HIS new apartment, that he got center stage in yet a different horror story. Sob, people do bad things to each other, and apparently can get away with them, and as;dlkas;ldkjfad

Which is another reason to keep good lines of communication with your realtor and listen to what she tells you, especially when the finalization of the documents comes about. YAY explanations!

*snuggles* mm yes. *shares eclair*

... well, there's chance that the dialogue will make it unintentionally hilarious?

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-01 07:38 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
There's also a secret exit through the little green pipe on level seven. Watch out for the landsharks!

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-01 07:46 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
Then you'll just have to settle for wielding your No Vorpal Sword. +8 to Confusion!

I will write you something. And by "you", I mean picfor1000 and I also mean "I will write something for you" because "I will write you something" feels like it should grammatically incorrect. But whatever. Prompty prompty prompt.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-01 08:46 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
Fandom?

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-02 07:37 am (UTC)
kikibug13: (Default)
From: [personal profile] kikibug13
... and then I fell asleep ridiculously early, again.

Ohhh yeah. ALL THE FLAIL but at least you wouldn't be pushing something people aren't willing to do at the time. ALSO it shows that they DO want to sell the house, so... something? *crosses fingers that you can make an offer QUICKLY AND IT WORKS OUT*

Noms. all the noms.

That does work out, timing-wise. With all the RARRSMASH that the episode will - oh. It'll work as a catharsis? ;)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-07 09:07 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
I tried to write something about Eldred Jonas with a splinter of the laughing glass in his foot and how he lost and was sent west and walked through different worlds and how, at the end, rather than seeing what waited for him in the clearing at the end of the path, he went out through the trees instead, but it didn't work at all. >:(

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-07 09:20 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
The writing part. >>>>:(

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-07 09:26 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
This is the least terrible opening of all the openings I tried:

This is how it begins, say thank ya; Maerlyn shatters the laughing mirror, scattering the pieces throughout the worlds and so, here, Eldred Jonas treads incautiously, confident as all youths in his own immortality, and is pierced through the heel and so, there, Susan Delgado goes to the Charyou Tree, and, ever after, Roland Deschain of Gilead is lost. Or, no, this is how it begins, with the AllAxis, the HubSpark, the Body of Gan, the Dark Tower rising six hundred stories of glass smooth black stone out of the blood soaked roses of Can'-Ka No Rey, for that is how all things begin and end and begin again, here in the center of all worlds, all times, where destinies are cast on the great spindle and wound up tight as a Beam.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-07 09:34 pm (UTC)
nope: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nope
I know, right? It needs another really long sentence between the first one and the last one.

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kittydesade: (Default)
Jaguar

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