Hergest Ridge

“It is the confession, not the priest, that gives us absolution.”
– Oscar Wilde

Couple of days ago, I’ve sent a newsletter to my web design business subscribers. Below is a resulting exchange.

Client: Good luck I am sure the socialists in france will appreciate the extra revenue from their oppresive tax regime

Me: I find your reply interesting, yet not sure which of the many possible angles to approach it from, nor the source of the “extra revenue” which might enter the pockets of the “socialists in France.” Perhaps I can get a better understanding if you point me to which part of my Email you’re specifically replying to – a direct explanation is fine too. :)

Client: I assume you will be a taxpayer to an arrogant [French] government that still forgets it lost the battle of waterloo, relied on the United States for its freedon from the Nazis not to mention it was the country that most cooperated with them. But in todays world, you come to a country [Canada] that is by far, a country with a better financial situation, ample clean water, a country that is renowned for its assistance to other countries (incuding france) yet you make snide comments about it. Basically I am saying good riddance to someone who has no understanding of what Canada offers. Despite having cellular service that is more expensive in large part due to the countries size Vs population. The US carriers are far more profitable per subscriber as is Virgin Mobile. Canada is not perfect but overall. France is not a country to be proud to be in. I am a proud Canadian…I know what the country has done for my family and many others. If high cell phone bills chased you away…good for you

Me: One of the things that makes Canada so great is the freedom to voice personal opinions. My knocks are against the gouging of consumers in Canada by cellular providers, and not Canada itself. Economies far smaller than Canada’s are host to a thriving cellular network sector.

The statement that I do not understand what Canada offers is a complete miss on your part – your clearly stated and mistaken understanding that I’ll be a taxpayer in France perhaps offering an insight to your deeper misunderstanding of my entire sentiment.

I’ve flown the world over with the maple leaf on my backpack – I, and those I met on the way know where my home is. Your bigoted remarks against the French are likely the most un-Canadian part of the entire exchange – and I mean that in the most non-judgemental way.

I loathe bigotry.

Nostalgia is like a grammar lesson. You find the present tense and the past perfect.

– Unknown.

I just finished The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – the quotation above comes from one of its last pages where it resides with a few others.

As usual with a good book, from my reading I’ve scribbled a few pages of excerpts on gridded paper. I write in the books I own directly these days, highlighting left and right, but when reading in electronic format, I just copy out the parts that I find most intriguing.

I used to try and keep the books pristine looking – like they just came from a bookshop – but now I think it’s much better to be able to leaf through it, and at a glance see the parts that’ve made the biggest impression. It also personalises my copy in a way that might say something about me, which I’ve not yet learned to express. (It’s like an economy of words where the words of others are left to describe me, while I’m left to pursue other things.)

Things that excite me right now / these days:

• after six weeks of care, my plantling has graduated to flower status.
• i found a blog, where every song posted becomes my new favourite.
• bastion the rpg looks excellent – hello unfulfilled childhood fantasies.
• it’s tuesday 23:00, but i don’t have to be anywhere specific tomorrow.
• my new phone – it’s like i moved from middle ages into the industrial revolution.
• web design. the spark is back, and i’m learning lots.
• i’ve a million ideas. for everything. vague, i know.
• biology, medicine. evolution. technology. broad?

Exactly my sentiment, from someone who’s seen and studied the problem face to face.

“Let me clarify that point: it is an utter and complete failure [the war on drugs] – we cannot win the war an drugs. We have 20, 30 years of experience south of the border to illustrate that we cannot arrest our way through the problem. The drug war prohibition has created a lucrative underground economy for illicit drugs, and until we begin to look at that public policy measure called the war on drugs, we will never get on top of the gang situation or the drug trade.”

– Michael Chettleburgh

[Strictly addressing the native English speakers, the people who really have no excuse - the group which despite its advantage is in general the worst in their attempts to communicate.]

“You know what I mean!” you say. Usually, yes – but only after reading the sentence three or four times and putting in twice the thought into deciphering its meaning as you did when you went at it chimp-style by striking random keyboard keys.

Hey, I know – let’s all just grunt at each other. You’ll know what I mean!

Dedicating this song to those in Vancouver, those that knew right from wrong, and consequently put themselves in harm’s way to protect the city and its people during the riots.
 

“There is no word for procrastination in Polish.”

We sat in classroom number nine. Our usual classroom two now hosted an EU funded English class, which according to funding regulations is to receive the best a school has to offer – if you paid for a class out of your own pocket, surprise, you’re second class.

While smaller, classroom two is in the cool wing of the school. Classroom nine has huge windows without window coverings of any sort, the blistering sun cooking us blind. This is our new, permanent room.

Ewelyna is a psych student and knows the subject of our article well – procrastination.

“The only way to read about procrastination is in foreign languages” she explains.
“We have a word for laziness, but in all forms of polish literature, procrastination is simply interpreted as laziness, and not investigated any further.”

Kasia looked scorched. She’s almost nine months pregnant which is easy to forget – it doesn’t show despite her small build. Maybe next week we’ll hit a cloudy day, and we can stop moving our chairs around to chase the bit of shade that moves across the room. By the end of today’s lesson, all students were lined up against the southern wall in the last of the shade.

While I do my best to teach my students English, they teach me and expose me to things you won’t find in a textbook. I’m glad I came here. The cost was extraordinary in many ways, but the benefits are incalculable. I’m quite certain I will be back sooner than later.