Zen gardening

Do you know the little Japanese Zen-gardens you always get as a gift from a soon-to-be-ex-oh-so-funny-friend or family member? The gift always comes with some bogus line on how you have everything you need except for peace and harmony. Oh come-on... You've been there. Or worse, you got somebody a gift like that. In which case I say to you: May sand grains (g)rain upon you, and let there be no peace or harmony until you handpicked them from between your long pine carpet. There. See how Zen you'll be after that.

But there is some truth to this Zen gardening thing. I know because I made myself a personal Zen garden. Not with sand grains that need raking in some kind of intricate Tangram or Haiku design. But a garden with actual fruit and veggies. A mini-Eden with a few plants here and there of this and that, because I get embarrassed when I need to go on weekly coffee visits to friends in order distribute broccoli, zucchini, and turnip (which I used to hand over while whispering something about peace and harmony). I'm ready to get Zenish.

So in celebration of the Harvesting of Zendarins, Zenatoes and Zencchinis:

Can you feel it?
Now excuse me, I have to go yell at Paint for not doing what I want it to do.

Journalistic irony

I do love science. And the media. And the combination is simply hilarious:

On Nu.nl I read about a study on the quality and impartiality of journalistic pieces on science as reported by the BBC. Apparently, BBC journalists have a tendency to want to voice alternative theories or ideas when it comes to reporting on scientific results. So, if some researchers are unable to establish a link between let's say autism and vaccination, BBC journalists tend to overreport on studies and ideas that voice the opposite regardless of the lack of scientific proof of these counter ideas. As Knights of the Principle of Impartiality, I think this is a noble effort that might be applauded if it would not have been so entirely backwards.

You fail to see the humor in this? I understand. But it gets better. The proof is in the pudding, because after reporting on the study on the quality and impartiality of journalistic pieces on science, the journalist of Nu.nl (Mr. A. Nonymous) states: 'At least, this is the conclusion of .....' (dit is althans de conclusie van...) So, in reporting on this study, Mr. Nonymous shows himself to be a minor Knight of the Principe of Impartiality by casting some doubt on the results of the reported study. If only he would have gone all the way...

Double duties: patriotism

You might assume that moving abroad would have all kinds of benefits. And it does. But you should not dismiss the double duties we are also faced with. Or did you think that the Tax Authorities would just forget about us? No no, we are among the lucky few who get to fill out both the USA tax forms and the Dutch tax forms. And the Dutch forms need to be filled out on paper. Not just Any paper, Many paper(s). But in all fairness I need to admit that the Dutch Tax Authorities' slogan 'we can't make it any more fun, but we can make it easier' can be applied internationally. The USA tax forms are not an improvement of any kind.

But so far for taxes. The real hardships of our life here are the patriotic problems we encounter on a daily basis. The latest of our double Ds or double Ps was the 4th of July. We decided to pay tribute to the USA with a Dutch zest, so to speak.

So, it is with great pride that I present to you:

4th of July, the Dutch way*:

*of course, since helmets are mandatory for kids in California, there was just a hint of USA in our Dutch way. I say mix 'n match, let there be peace between our countries.

Talk about...

Lucas' talk.

Lately, I haven't given you any updates on the progress in English (and Dutch too) he's been making, so this blog is dedicated to him. In Dutch his favorite words include 'denk ik' (I think) and 'eigenlijk' (actually). Also, he's been working on his subordinate clauses with 'omdat' (because), which I think is actually a big coincidence, because I'm currently working on a project to get normative data on the Dutch RTNA (Renfrew Taalsschalen Nederlandse Aanpassing; Renfrew Language Scales) and get to see all kinds of data on subordinate clauses of children aged 4 to 8.

But... back to Lucas' talk:

If you can count it, you can have it:
all the numbers from one to 14, but mostly the following sequence: 'een, twee, drie, vier, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven'
Apparently, this is precisely what should happen according to second language acquisition theories as a friend who just finished his PhD thesis on code switching told me. But for those of you who are interested in the code-switching thing, you'll have to wait for my column in the Tijdschrift voor Orthopedagogiek.

Do's and don'ts:
jumpen, flyen, sit, march, have, want, drink, look, sleep, come, run

The more the merrier: add 'm ons:

little, big, more, blue, red, yellow (pronounced lello), purple, up, down, fast

Under my bed:
butterfly, bumblebee, ladybug, monkey, elephant, doggie, cat, dinosaur, dragon, rabbit (no, it ain't a bunny, it's a frog)

I want to ride on a..:
firetruck

But also in a:
bus, car, bike, airplane, choochoo train (AKA choochoo, AKA train, AKA Thomas)

Say it nicely:
thank you, please, good morning, hi, bye bye, my name is...,

But if you don't:
no (pronounced with an exclamation mark at the end), yes, come on, stop it, high five, everybody sit down, hands up, let's go, go away, ready, set, go! who's that? I want

Own up:
mine (accompanied by hitting if necessary), my, I, you (the last one only in combination with the aforementioned other own ups)

Grown up:
daddy, mommy, miss, doctor


And then some:
shoe, hat, crackers, ball (pronounced bow), moon, star, rain


Not quite there yet:
rainboog, sandbax

Music to my ears:
the wheels of the bus-song, twinkle twinkle little star, abc-song (although the double u is sung as hebbayou and results in a indefinite loop involving hebbeayous unless we manage to save him), five little monkeys are jumping on the bed, happy birthday to you, jingle bells, itsy bitsy spider, the ants go marching in, caring hearts song

First home-made sentence: I have cars (uttered on 1 july, 2011)

And I know I forgot a lot of things, so I'll post another blog soon.