Census!

We've got the forms for the Census, and answer the questions because everyone holding a work permit or student's visa has to do so.

The questions that attracted my attention.

Relationship of Person 2 to Person 1 in the household:

* Husband or wife of Person 1

* Opposite-sex common-law partner

* Same-sex common-law partner

Then there are children-in-law, grandchildren etc. Examples of "Other": cousin, employee, same-sex married spouse.

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What is the language that this person first learned at home in childhood and still understands? If this person no longer understands the first language learned, indicate the second language learned.

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The Statistics Act guarantees the confidentiality of your information. Does this person agree to make his/her 2006 Census Information available for public release in 2098 (92 years after the census)?

("If you are answering on behalf of other people, please consult each person." I'm sorry, Aque, I didn't get your concern!)

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souls and other creatures with wings

Cadet Rouselle a trois maisons,

Cadet Rouselle a trois maisons,

Qui n'ont ni poutres ni chevrons,

Qui n'ont ni poutres ni chevrons,

C'est pour loger les hirondelles.

Que direz-vous d'Cadet Rouselle?

Ah! Ah! Ah! mais vraiment,

Cadet Rouselle est bon enfant!



Cadet Rouselle has three houses,

Which have neither beams nor rafters,

They are homes for the swallows.

What can you say of Cadet Rouselle?

Ah, but really,

Cadet Rouselle is a good child!



However, for the last 5 years there is another soul living with us under the same sheltering sky of the planet Earth.

The social side is observed to my best for today (on Saturday I have to bring treats to the Ukr. school, on Sunday we'll go to an ice-cream parlor.) And no guilt or too much introspection today. It also looks like another sign that I'm growing up. Or it just suggests me to look for another "challenge" - e.g. the create the reason for more remorse, fears and other things to tickle my nerves.

Happy Birthday to Aque!

запись создана: 02.05.2006 в 05:46

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14 years. Already

I live without my grandmother Lidia Anna.

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Multicultural (...)

- And, come on in, monsieurs, signori, everything to please you!

(Click on "comments" - far left link under this posting - to see what we have for you!)

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"on the audience demand"

Orchids first

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Easter

Yesterday morning - the service and consecration of Easter food - passed very well, expecially for such a zombie I was that time. I even managed to keep a little paper icon the priest put on my bread, although being back home I managed to lose it. And looking for it I first found a card of the same size that said Detective XXXX, Criminal Investigator, Division X - Team X. For a moment I was ready to believe in existence of were-cops (or, even better, because the Chinese for it has a real animal connotation - were-gous) who wanted to stole the Easter.

It was raining - pouring - the whole day yesterday, so the consecration was held in the hall in the church basement. In Wukelan the Easter food - the first humble meal after the Great Lent - consists of two kinds of egg bread, one is just a bit sour, theother is a bit sour and very sweet, some ham, cheese, sausage, butter, eggs - some painted in one color, the others are elaborately decorated, and one is broken in half to show the yolk; then there is a "symbolic" vegetarian part: horseradish, beetroots, onions. There also must be a candle. Then everyone is free to add any flowers or pussywillows to the basket. Every family brought a basket or two with this traditional set, and there were, I would say, about 150 baskets. So you may imagine the flavour filling the hall! I regret I didn't bring my camera to capture those still lives, but I'm afraid that time if I would not forget my camera there, I could forget my head.

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Mattell sucks

All the hard thoughts should be cured with consumption. Or re-consumption. And shows, although not so much appropriate for the time...

Yesterday after a ballet class I took Klavka to a monthly The Kid's Club at one of the Protestant churches in our West village. The club is almost for free. They accept donations, but that is not obligatory. And we saw a guy from www.reptileparty.com Not the best thing to watch on Good Friday, but I don't think I should restrict Klavka in anything before she turns 7. Then I may only suggest her what to do, and that's her good will to accept or reject that. Klavka was very much pleased to touch one of the snakes. It was really nice to touch - I was holding the creature under its belly to help Klavka - she was touching it, not holding its weight.

Today in the morning I went to the Mom to Mom Sale. Got a unicorn costume and a plastic castle with a herd of "ponnys" of unnatural colors. Aque is happy, so I'm satisfied. And the prices were nice, I could even bargain. Big brandnames suck.

And we made a "fertilizer" of egg shells. Very environment-friendly. Baobeir was excited to hear us making it.

Have to go to bed. Tomorrow the older friends will be here at... 7:30 to carpool me to the church.

@настроение:

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...

Learned out the reason why L was avoiding me. That was not the gossip among neighbours. However, I don't say "luckily" - this time I would be glad if that was a gossip about me. That was her real health problem... I am so sorry for her... It's a pitty such a nice person leaves. Well, finally I'll need to write e-mails in Chinese... Perhaps the only good thing in all that... And I really hope she will be well.

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stencils as they are

www.banksy.co.uk

It even didn't want to set a cookie on our computer. A real democracy.

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Exi_stenci_alism

It is good to hide in the washroom with a mug of coffee in the morning: that guarantees all your needs will be fulfilled in time, because you have to catch a bus that often breaks any schedule, but you can call the dispatcher and they would agree that that is their fault. It is good to scare troll-like guys on buses and in downtown with my black-and-white "business" clothes combined with a huge backpack and a new free copy of View. The well-lighted lobby in our multicultural slums is much better than those dim concrete "caves" in Jifu. The local teacher who comes suddenly to your house to check if you are not keeping your child in handcuffs is better than a couple of bullies in the class back there. I will not compare the quality of healthcare and social benefits, that's obvious (but still I could get better services, what we have is what we need, not a luxury). I may enjoy the sunshine and the moving shadows on the ground - those are the shadows of sqirrells running on the wires above my head. I enjoy having occasions to speak 4-5 languages in one day!

But still some things is missing for me. I can name a few. Our parents. The very old and authentic things, like museums and old houses. And if most of the food was natural! I don't say "organic" - just healthier.

I am totally aware that going back I will find myself in the environment as open to new ideas as it was in Paleolith. The local society has already entered the Bronze Age and has elaborated better rules of conduct. At least when you are a victim of negligence or somebody's mistake, you are not guilty in the other people's faults (in Paleolith that's vice versa). So the Bronze Era has more advantages.

However by now I can use only a couple of them. And in a short-run, I'm afraid, I will not be able to enjoy all of them. Will I take a chance for a long run?...

I don't know if "my Jia-na-da" is much different from "the other's Jia-na-da". I just don't feel that this is a place where I would like to live my whole life. The place is funny, but I am not attached to it. It is like this diary in comparison to all the books and small, not precious, but valuable for me, things that I left in Jifu.

I am not guaranteed that I would get more attachments even having "a house with a garden".

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Ser Gut news

Now The Agency charge our clients for min 2 hours, even if a translator works for a half an hour.

And we are moving to a good location!

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wrath, truth, misunderstandings and politeness

Meanwhile the local Chinese families don't consider me as a dangerous creature any more. Klavka again plays with X at their house. Unfortunately, they leave for China soon. L's husband found a job in the States, so they visit their homeland before moving to the USA.

L told me about one Chinese boy who is X's and Klavka's classmate at the public school. The boy told his mother that another boy, a white one, said something like "You were born in China, so you have to live in China, not here." L's exprеssion was "Grapes of Wrath". I listened and didn't interrupt, didn't add anything or argued. I understood everything. I understood her reaction. Perhaps I grew up. Finally.

Now I sleep well after reading about Chernobyl victims in the evening.

I just sneer at all the Jewish-Slavonic/Baltic conflicts and misunderstandings.

I am not surprised with the cornucopia of complains about "blacks and mentally challenged" in the American schools from the good woman who asked about "my Chinese husband" (for the full picture I have to add her membership in a kind of a "church", where there are "normal families").

I don't want to tell L anything about what was that - being a foreigner in China. She is not responsible of all the foolery and thirst of "using" a foreigner that surrounded me those 10 months. She is a cheerful person and an excellent diagnostician: imagine me once telling her about Baobeir's health complains - she suggested one acupoint - Baobeir felt improvement right on the spot!!!

I didn't want to tell her what attitudes she would meet living in the former SU!

I'm just sorry that the more experience of this kind I get, the more often I stay silent when people express their anger or embarrassment about these issues. Perhaps speaking that out will help humans be more human. But there is politeness. And only anger (where there is no room for politeness) tells the truth.

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heterochromatopolygamia

- I've spoken with your husband. He is so clever. He is a research fe-ellow.

- Thanks.

- And he is your second husband, isn't he?

- Pardon?!

- Haven't you divorsed from that Chinese?...

- Chinese?!

So, that could be almost 7 years ago, somebody told the good lady's husband that I "got married and went to China". So their conclusion was very rite! I only was too surprised to tell her that before marrying Baobeir I didn't divorse from that Chinese, and we live happily in a very multicultural and almost Swedish family.

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politcorrectnost' :)

Если в кране нет стрелы,

Значит, пропили хохлы!



Если нету простокваши —

Значит, выпили чуваши!



Если вдруг пропал кумыс —

В кухне ночевал кыргыз!



Нету огненной воды —

Чукча приходил сюды!



Нету коньяка в стакане —

Значит, выпили армяне!



Если в доме нет мацы —

Съели черносотенцы!



Сало сперли со стола —

В розыск объявляй хохла!



Нету на столе аджики —

Явно слопали таджики!



Нету в доме анаши —

У казаха поишши!



Если в доме нет мужчины —

Скоро явятся грузины!



Если нет пружин в диване —

Продавили молдаване!



Курка, млеко пропадайт? —

Кто помог им, угадайт!



Метеориты пропадают?

Тунгусы их домой таскают!



Кончился коньяк французский —

Значит, выжрал новый русский!



Мало стало в теле мяса —

Мясо съели папуасы.



В доме ослабли семейные узы?

Значит, жену разложили французы!



Если в доме нет вопросов —

Тут живет семья матросов.



Если в доме нету ваты —

То узбеки виноваты!

(Басмачи из русской ваты

Понаделали халаты!)



У дочурки косы русы —

Постарались белорусы!



Начал пропадать тротил —

К вам чеченец заходил.



Поп-корна нету у гражданки —

Поп-корном угостились янки!



Пропали амфоры в квартире —

Их греки все расколотили!



Опять “Педигри” не досталось собакам?

Свистнули чехи, продали словакам!



Бдительны будьте, следите за чаем:

Чай обожают черкес с карачаем!



С громким криком “Э-ге-ге!”

Что-то тырят удэге.

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continued about babies born with dictionaries

Well, the local school system is, in fact, more enriching and reasonable in its methods than it seemed to me before, when I was reading information letters for parents.

Frankly, some of the methods of teaching letters Claudia's teacher was introducing made me think of scientists trying to communicate with apes: the symbols of abstraction used by the scientists for the apes were a level higher than those used by the teacher for the human kids. Luckily, those methods are marginal to what the class generally do.

Not to mention the teacher's unexpected visit to our place when Klavka and I were both sick. The teacher brought a big get-well card, but she could call in advance to let us know, couldn't she?

All that made me quite, hm, assertive. On Friday I spent some time in a classroom and felt relief after seeing what and how they do there. Perhaps the teacher was also satisfied with what she has seen in our "hospital at home" that day, so she gave me a positive feedback about Claudiuccia's development and even didn't write about My Treasure's weak points.



The Early Words (the speach specialists) had closed the file of my faultless child. We had a long conversation over the phone, I was told that Claudia grows out of the iligible age for receiving their services. I was asked what did I expect from them (I said: "Evaluate her speach and give me some clues how to improve her English; my opinion could be biased, because I'm her closest relative, I may concern about something that is not as important, but it may happen that I don't notice something that is really important."). Then they told me: "We work with the younger children who don't speak any language or speak it badly, so in your case you have a big advantage because she speaks two language." Speaking two languages badly is better than speaking one language badly or be mute. I was also told that "it was a pleasure to speak with an intellectual woman like you"

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virgins shining clean

Passing by a Greek restaurant. A poster says: Elena's Bridal Shower.

Baobeir comments: Look! They wash virgins' private parts here.

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Arts and Crafts :)

I'm dissatisfied with the Steel City BDSM community. Why can't they postpone their show, so that doesn't contradict so much with my beliefs! Look at their ad:

DSSG's Kinky Craft Show. Artisans&crafts people offering wares for the fetish & BDSM community, April 22, 1 pm. www.dssg.org

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castles for rent

Spoke with Lao Luo today. He says that somebody proposed the Ukr. president to give the historical castles for rent.

Me: But one may argue this before the project is approved by the president!

Lao Luo: I had given an interview to the Ukr. Service of Radio Liberty reporter about that. Then the reporter was scolded by his boss for touching this subject.

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a reptile?

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fluffy