Friday 8 July 2026 Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Day Three of my exile from Georgia and I am still finding topics for the blog about the journey to Georgia… Above: Landschlacht, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland Sunday 10 May 2026 Rize, Rize Province, Türkiye Mountain Shores, Part Three I wandered down towards the beach. Beach? Sorry, no.… Continue reading The dream weaver’s visit
Tag: language
A cup of tea
Sighnaghi, Signagi Municipality, Kakheti, Georgia Tuesday 7 July 2026 My last full day in Georgia (for now) and here I am writing about my last full day in Türkiye (back then). Better late than never, I suppose. Above: Sighnaghi Town Hall Mountain Slopes, Part One Rize, Rize Province, Türkiye Sunday 10 May 2026 Rize is linked… Continue reading A cup of tea
Mad honey
Sunday 5 July 2026 Sighnaghi, Signagi Municipality, Georgia As my days decrease here in this country, my chronicles come closer to arriving in it. Mad honey has been intoxicating travellers along the Black Sea coast for over 2,000 years…. Sunday 10 May 2026 Trabzon-Rize Shuttle Bus The Difficult Daughter A day that began as a… Continue reading Mad honey
A separate Málaga
Tuesday 2 July 2024 Eskişehir, Türkiye Fair land! of chivalry, the old domain,Land of the vine and olive, lovely Spain!Though not for thee with classic shores to vieIn charms that fix th’ enthusiast’s pensive eye;Yet hast thou scenes of beauty richly fraughtWith all that wakes the glow of lofty thought. Felicia Hemans (1793 – 1835), Abencerrage… Continue reading A separate Málaga
Canada Slim and the Borders
Landschlacht, Switzerland, 11 November 2017 As one travels around the world a person discovers that there are arbitrary lines drawn across landscapes and charts and maps that define what is Here and what is to be considered There, and there are arbitrary lines drawn between classes and positions in our everyday societies. Mankind has done… Continue reading Canada Slim and the Borders
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
Lingua Helvetica: Language(s) in Switzerland
Buy some medicine in Switzerland (if you can afford it). (And considering how generally the Swiss worry about life far more than they actually seem to enjoy living may be a great reason to run (not walk) to the nearest Apotheke!) You will see that the instructions (the message in the bottle, so to speak)… Continue reading Lingua Helvetica: Language(s) in Switzerland
The sounds of silence
First thoughts upon first awakening are sometimes strange and wonderful things…. (After all, there must be something positive about getting up at 0400 in the morning to be ready to do a 0630 shift at Starbucks St. Gallen, an hour’s distance from my home.) I remember snatches of dreams that have somehow drifted over from… Continue reading The sounds of silence
Sounds and signs in discord
One of the greatest difficulties with English language teaching is trying to explain why English words with similar spellings can have such different sounds. Compare for example words like though(th-oh), through (thr-oo), thorough (thur-oh) and tough (tuff). Or why words with different spellings have the same sound, like to, too and two. And there are… Continue reading Sounds and signs in discord
Sympathy for the dialect
Every nation has its faux pas – things that you shouldn´t talk about or joke about…EVER. For example, don´t call a New Zealander “an envious Aussie”, or a Canadian “a wannabe American”, unless you like your tires flattened. Don´t call la Manche the English Channel when you are in Paris or call the French “brie-eating surrender… Continue reading Sympathy for the dialect