Current Music: Volumia - "Zeg dat je hoeft niet te gaan"
Well, another day of class is over. But I wish it weren't. I have another spreekbeurt on Tuesday and this time it has to be longer - between 5-10 minutes. It's not the talking per se that's so hard - it's thinking up something that you can TALK about for 10 minutes! I think I'm going to talk about my Auschwitz trip, but I have more details about the trip itself - trains, etc. - than I do about the actual places. Oh, well, I'll make it work somehow. Too bad I have to do it with Petra, though - I'd be less nervous if it were Saskia. Around her I manage to speak slowly and clearly, which is hard for me - I talk fast in English, I talk fast in Spanish, so now I'm doing what comes naturally and talking fast in Dutch, and I need to stop it because nobody can understand when I go that fast. I think I rattled off my last spreekbeurt in about 2 minutes when at home it took 5... LOL! But I figured out something about Saskia that may be the reason why I'm more comfortable with her - if I don't look at her while she's talking, her voice and intonation sound almost exactly like P's, my first Dutch teacher. That makes it easier.
I had my taalkunde tentamens yesterday and it went pretty well. But it took three hours with no break, and my 'flakes were fading' by the end, as Mom would say. I expected the phonology part to be easier, since that's the way it's been all along, but that wasn't so - the syntax part was only one question, drawing a surface structure tree (of course) showing all movement and theta-role assignment. And I of course had my notes (it didn't even seem like a test; we were allowed to use whatever resources we wanted) and I had an example almost exactly like the one on the test, so that only took around 10 or 15 minutes. The rest of the 3 hours was phonology, and let me tell you, if I hadn't been able to use my reader and notes, I would not have had a good time on that test. He purposely made it hard so that we would have to look up things - he even included something called 'parsing' that wasn't anywhere in the notes OR the reader, and I've been in class every day so I don't know how I could have missed that. It just wasn't there. But he was using it in contrast with assimilation, so I had a tiny bit of context so I did what IBers do best - made something up that actually sounded kinda right. :) Oh well, but I'm sure I passed - with a high mark, even - and that's all that matters.
I think I'm going into hibernation. I'm always tired lately! I came home on - was it Tuesday? - and fell asleep around two, then briefly woke up and through my sleep-clouded mind saw how dark it was (it starts getting dark here around 16.30-17.00 depending on the weather, which is weird for me), mistily decided that it was nighttime, and went back to sleep. I woke up at 19.00 and couldn't sleep that night until like 2.00. Oh well.
I made a really hideously ugly calendar yesterday when I was so bored (no class). It's loooong and white and now it's tacked to my wall. The squares are pretty straight, but it's really ugly because it's white on a white wall. It just looks tacky. Oh well, I'll brighten it up somehow.
I want to print these entries for my scrapbook!!! Let's see if the printer will work this time... somehow I doubt it. It never works for me, though everyone else seems to have no trouble.
Amusing anecdote of the week: P (nee, niet jij, de andere!) was teasing me earlier in the week about finding my 'gevoelige snaar' ('tender spot' in English... or something like that) when he said I didn't dare to chat live with him - the problem was with S's computer, it wouldn't let me get on MSN, but he was having fun teasing me about being a chicken. Anyway, he speaks a lot of Dutch to me, even on the phone, and that's hard - written, I'm fine, but we all know my troubles with men's voices, plus on the phone you can't watch mouths... and it doesn't help when my mobile's cutting in and out like it does at home. So yesterday I complained via SMS (in Dutch) that Dutch was hard on the phone, so he sent one back (also in Dutch) saying "You're the one who wants to learn it, aren't you?" so I responded that THAT was my 'gevoelige snaar' and we got to mock-arguing about it. Then he called and said "Wij hebben nu oficiëel ruzie!" ('We're now officially fighting!') and then we started talking about what an expensive argument this was, with all the calls and SMSs. So then he said "We could also have a cheap argument." I answered, "How's that?" Right as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what he was going to do, but it was too late... click... and there was the dial tone in my ear. HAHA!!! I laughed for about ten minutes.
OK, I'm STARVING! Time to go get some food and look for sweaters. Ciao!
Well, another day of class is over. But I wish it weren't. I have another spreekbeurt on Tuesday and this time it has to be longer - between 5-10 minutes. It's not the talking per se that's so hard - it's thinking up something that you can TALK about for 10 minutes! I think I'm going to talk about my Auschwitz trip, but I have more details about the trip itself - trains, etc. - than I do about the actual places. Oh, well, I'll make it work somehow. Too bad I have to do it with Petra, though - I'd be less nervous if it were Saskia. Around her I manage to speak slowly and clearly, which is hard for me - I talk fast in English, I talk fast in Spanish, so now I'm doing what comes naturally and talking fast in Dutch, and I need to stop it because nobody can understand when I go that fast. I think I rattled off my last spreekbeurt in about 2 minutes when at home it took 5... LOL! But I figured out something about Saskia that may be the reason why I'm more comfortable with her - if I don't look at her while she's talking, her voice and intonation sound almost exactly like P's, my first Dutch teacher. That makes it easier.
I had my taalkunde tentamens yesterday and it went pretty well. But it took three hours with no break, and my 'flakes were fading' by the end, as Mom would say. I expected the phonology part to be easier, since that's the way it's been all along, but that wasn't so - the syntax part was only one question, drawing a surface structure tree (of course) showing all movement and theta-role assignment. And I of course had my notes (it didn't even seem like a test; we were allowed to use whatever resources we wanted) and I had an example almost exactly like the one on the test, so that only took around 10 or 15 minutes. The rest of the 3 hours was phonology, and let me tell you, if I hadn't been able to use my reader and notes, I would not have had a good time on that test. He purposely made it hard so that we would have to look up things - he even included something called 'parsing' that wasn't anywhere in the notes OR the reader, and I've been in class every day so I don't know how I could have missed that. It just wasn't there. But he was using it in contrast with assimilation, so I had a tiny bit of context so I did what IBers do best - made something up that actually sounded kinda right. :) Oh well, but I'm sure I passed - with a high mark, even - and that's all that matters.
I think I'm going into hibernation. I'm always tired lately! I came home on - was it Tuesday? - and fell asleep around two, then briefly woke up and through my sleep-clouded mind saw how dark it was (it starts getting dark here around 16.30-17.00 depending on the weather, which is weird for me), mistily decided that it was nighttime, and went back to sleep. I woke up at 19.00 and couldn't sleep that night until like 2.00. Oh well.
I made a really hideously ugly calendar yesterday when I was so bored (no class). It's loooong and white and now it's tacked to my wall. The squares are pretty straight, but it's really ugly because it's white on a white wall. It just looks tacky. Oh well, I'll brighten it up somehow.
I want to print these entries for my scrapbook!!! Let's see if the printer will work this time... somehow I doubt it. It never works for me, though everyone else seems to have no trouble.
Amusing anecdote of the week: P (nee, niet jij, de andere!) was teasing me earlier in the week about finding my 'gevoelige snaar' ('tender spot' in English... or something like that) when he said I didn't dare to chat live with him - the problem was with S's computer, it wouldn't let me get on MSN, but he was having fun teasing me about being a chicken. Anyway, he speaks a lot of Dutch to me, even on the phone, and that's hard - written, I'm fine, but we all know my troubles with men's voices, plus on the phone you can't watch mouths... and it doesn't help when my mobile's cutting in and out like it does at home. So yesterday I complained via SMS (in Dutch) that Dutch was hard on the phone, so he sent one back (also in Dutch) saying "You're the one who wants to learn it, aren't you?" so I responded that THAT was my 'gevoelige snaar' and we got to mock-arguing about it. Then he called and said "Wij hebben nu oficiëel ruzie!" ('We're now officially fighting!') and then we started talking about what an expensive argument this was, with all the calls and SMSs. So then he said "We could also have a cheap argument." I answered, "How's that?" Right as the words came out of my mouth, I knew what he was going to do, but it was too late... click... and there was the dial tone in my ear. HAHA!!! I laughed for about ten minutes.
OK, I'm STARVING! Time to go get some food and look for sweaters. Ciao!
stormed at 06:28
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