Landschlacht, Switzerland, 9 August 2016 Yesterday, one of my Facebook friends posed the question: Considering your life experience, what one piece of advice would you pass onto others? My answer was: Don’t wait, for time belongs to no one. None of us know how long we each have to live nor how long our loved ones… Continue reading Yesterday’s children
Category: Teaching
Hongwon style: Canada Slim in Korea
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 9 August 2016 Thirteen months of time remembered sixteen years later…prompted by a recent edition of The Economist and another “old” article found whilst searching for conversation ideas for my Friday classes: First, the articles: “Watching a new film on the big screen could soon be consigned to the dustbin of history. Sean Parker,… Continue reading Hongwon style: Canada Slim in Korea
Best kept secret
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 7 August 2016 In preparation for my Friday morning conversation classes and in an ever valiant quest to bring order to the chaos that is our apartment I have stumbled upon an “old” article from the Independent. And it has got my mind spinning in a variety of directions. The article is about how… Continue reading Best kept secret
Canada Slim behind bars 4: Me and D´Arcy McGee
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 7 July 2016 I have some bad habits. I am essentially a man who prefers leisure to work. As each and every person who has ever existed, exists or will ever exist is defined by how he/she decides to use the 24 hours each day provided us indiscriminately, so it can be said… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 4: Me and D´Arcy McGee
Canada Slim behind bars 2: Punishment preserved
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 2 July 2016 Brexit and the European Championship seem all anyone can talk about these days, whether in the classes where I teach or at the Starbucks stores where I work as a barista. As I don´t have a stake in either event, my thoughts are more preoccupied with my duties at hand, plans… Continue reading Canada Slim behind bars 2: Punishment preserved
When the last Luddites walk away…
Nottingham, England, 1811 They move about in bands at night, masked and sworn to secrecy, smashing up the new machinery which is taking over the textile industry. Their leader is a mysterious man named Ned Ludd of Sherwood Forest, who has been likened to the legendary Robin Hood as a friend of the poor and… Continue reading When the last Luddites walk away…
Shakespeare in the original Klingon
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 20 June 2016 “All the world´s a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances and one man in his time plays many parts.” (William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act 2, Scene 7) “You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the… Continue reading Shakespeare in the original Klingon
Capital Be
Bern: 11 February 2016 / Landschlacht: Easter 2016 A while back, before silence dominated and clouds hung heavy over my head, I began to tell a story about Bern and its people, but much like a cyclist making a sharp turn and crashing onto the ground as his bike slips out from under him on… Continue reading Capital Be
Silence and gold
Landschlacht, Switzerland: 23 March 2016 It has been a time that has tested me both personally and professionally. It has been a time that has discouraged me, that has made me withdraw silently into myself. I have written little for over a month. I have wanted to write, not to say something, but because I… Continue reading Silence and gold
Canada Slim in the Capital
Bern, Switzerland: 11 February 2016 13,000 people move to Bern, Switzerland´s capital, annually. Some tens of thousands commute to the city every day. Approximately 17, 000 students are enrolled at the University. Above: The main building of the University of Bern The Bern Tourist Office registered 686,967 overnight stays in 2012. Hundreds more tourists come for… Continue reading Canada Slim in the Capital