opening blog #5
I was talking to one of my students at the start of a class, and I came to the self realization its not the summer heat that sometimes makes me feel uncomfortable ... its the bright light, I guess because a lot of my life was spent in the backwoods of Washington state... a place where direct sunlight (versus rain) was as about as common as alien attacks... which could have happened to a few of the odd locals at one time or another I suppose. Because I realized that the evenings here are devine, and I have always enjoyed the pleasent dark brooding heat. And when a warm breeze stalks the night, its all the more enjoyable.
And with a drum roll, I open blog number # 5 to the public... KATA SAYA. Its an indonesian blog, but dont over think my skills. I have been off and on studying Indonesian for about 4 years now I guess, and I still havent gotten much past the introductions ("hello my name is..." level) and I think thats quite sad. So in an effort to change this, I am opening a blog where I will try to use new words, basically with heavy looking at a dictionary and other tools of learning. So for now it will look something like a chopped up Haiku blog, with short sentences and odd grammar... no pain no gain. besides I might give up next week?!
You know? I should add a little about why I love studying Indonesian so much... so here you go, "Why I Love Studying Bahasa Indonesia"... and maybe you'll learn some too!
1.) The words sound so cool.. for example, gray is "abu-abu" ..sometimes is "kadang-kadang" etc!
2.) The litteral meaning of words are awesome... Fall is "musim gugur" or litterally "The Season of Wilting" ... "kupu-kupu malam" is something like prostitute but litterly its "Night Butterfly" which is somehow poetic... and you can say you are going to "eat the wind" ("makan angin") when you are going for a walk, but you say the wind entered you ("masuk angin") when you have a flu.... and the list goes on.
3.) Its not super complex, but its not over simple. In fact, the structure of the language is really cool.
And I could go on and on... maybe you've learned some Indonesian with me today, woo woo!
The cool new "next blog" function led me to a blog complaining about something that I hadnt noticed on the web before. Annoying ignorant stupid people sure do make the world narrow. Its kind of sad. Apparently there are endless links on the net about how the Beatles are Evil. Warning, the few I read were closeminded, racist, anti-everyone-but-us, and scary.. ..!! This one shows how "the lyrics are evil" (including references to masterbation being a sin and using drums being evil) and this one goes into explanations of why their "actions were evil." (Edit: I read the odd page at the base of the second article, and although I'm puzzled by most of whats on it, the author does say in an interview at one point that its good to respect that other people have other opinions, so if thats a true opinion, I shouldnt consider this second link too close minded I guess...)
tonight I will go see Tatsuya, the guy who let me stay with him my first time in Japan. Every year he has a firework viewing party at his place in Futakotamagawa.. I am excited to see him, its been over a year! Time passes fast, or actually it never passes at all, but my viewing of it shifts fast when I convinvce myself that it can have different speeds. Uhm. yeah. DAAG!
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:-) First time here... And hey... you made me wanna learn Indonesian too.. And hey, its strikingly similar to some indian languages, including Hindi, marati and my own native toungue konkani... Will click in back again...
And I've got a blog too... www.dpradeep.com
Pradeep D
2 years ago