in touch with everyday life

With my personal aversion to war, I am surprised how the news have become overtaken with Libyan issues, which for sure are of utmost importance, but I'd like to hear more about Japan dealing with the aftermath of the recent disaster. In the news the spotlights are on places where things explode or crush or drip with blood, as if humanity could only recognize itself in the moment of a blast and violence. Cameras never focus on the quotidien, the ordinary, the routines of everyday life that you have to build up from the rubble.

Nice to follow the diary of a Red Cross aid by Kathy Mueller, however scarce and so much lesser in volume than the fireworks of "breaking news" it may seem.

from the news

From BBC live I learn that in Japan, in the areas affected by the disaster, people are starving in hospitals. How come?

upside down

I wanted to write a review of King's Speech today, but after seeing the pictures of snow falling on tsunami victims in Japan - the people stranded in debris of their former homes - I guess I'm not able to at the moment.

If I lived any nearer, I'd offer a bed in our flat.

king's speech

Gripping, moving, intelligent, funny!
Made me quite speechless today, so this has to suffice for now - until I get my voice back.

old love never dies

I came across the word "autodidact" today which immediately made me remember my first English handbook. I found it on my Dad's bookshelf; the title read "Język angielski dla samouków" ("Teach Yourself English Manual") and the edition dated 1958. It consisted of twelve booklets and a glossary. I fell in love with it at the first sight and started rewriting phrases that sounded absolutely charming, like "my pen is read" or "the book is on the table". At that time I was perhaps thirteen which nowadays would sound strange for a beginner's age, as children (including my own) start practising in kindergarten. In that era, however, every Polish child was supposed to learn and adore Russian and in less frequent cases had the opportunity to pick up some German. English was an extravagance.

I remember this fascination with English never stopped in my teens. I used to watch "Demspey and Makepiece" or "Robin of Sherwood" tv series with a pencil and a piece of paper to note down phrases. A year after I'd discovered the dusty handbook, I got my first private English teacher, just at the other end of the city, a half an hour drive (my parents were hoping one day I would leave our communist country for some democratic, English speaking one). But then the Round Table occurred, and I have never emigrated nor had the chance to contemplate such possibility, as well as never stopped exploring English.