Congratulation?

One of the most pervasive errors in English here is the use of the word congratulations - it keeps being used as congratulation on cakes, cards and in conversation.

This started me thinking, why do we, in the English world, offer each other either congratulations or condolences, plural? Why not a single congratulation or condolence? We can offer words of congratulation and words of condolence, but then the plural rests in the use of words. Does it perhaps rest in the fact, that, to be grammatically correct, we need to append a or the, since these words are, after all, nouns?

So, if I'm not that happy about your achievement, can I offer you a congratulation?

Liberty and responsibility

I am reading a very interesting book at the moment, dealing with the rise of liberty as a concept in western society.

I am purely at the initial stages of the book, and so have not yet formed an opinion as to how accurate the thesis is, but it started me thinking about the concept of liberty, and how, to some extent, the idea of responsibility had been abrogated with respect to this concept.

Let's talk about liberty. The idea of freedom is intoxicating - being free to live life the way you want to, not having to answer to anyone, free to think and say and do what you want. Most of us consider ourselves free - we live life freely and without being a slave to anyone. Yet, if you really think about it, what does our freedom consist of?

If we broke a law, we'd be imprisoned. If we gave in to our baser impulses (and we all have them!), we'd be rapists, murderers, thieves etc. We do not live exactly the way we want to - we conform to the norms of the society we live in. In that sense we are slaves, slaves to the idea of civil behaviour.

However, so ingrained has become the idea of freedom of speech that people can stand in the streets calling for Obama to be assassinated! Or publish blogs calling for abortionists to be strung from lampposts, blacks to be castrated etc.

Which brings me to responsibility. Unless we temper freedom with responsibility, where we consider the consequences of our deeds and are prepared to bear those consequences, we cannot really have a free society. And, moreover, that responsibility should not be 'I killed him but I can live with it' kind of responsibility, it should be the kind that asks what effect your actions will have on those around you, on the community and on the world.

Tests and short-term memory

It is said that we humans can hold only three items in short term memory at any one time. So, there is a continual shuffling of material between short and long term memory, all happening at incredible speeds, which is why our thoughts can seem so chaotic at times.

Yet, if we think of this in the light of helping students to study more effectively, we certainly would not overwhelm them with mock test papers to do, but instead would give them three concepts to study, test those extensively, then do three more, test those etc. and repeat the formula the next day with the exact same set of concepts, but different tests.

In this way, we would utilise short-term memory most effectively, promote the retention of information as the short term memory repeatedly shuttles the information to long term and back again, and prepare our students for tests far better than we do if we simply have them write mock tests, give them the answers and then proceed to test them for real.

Building, weather and kids

The school is adding a gym, and so we've had about four months of ground-levelling, digging, cement pouring, scaffolding etc. until we are now at the stage where the skeleton of the building is receiving the flesh, so to speak.

Bricklayers are building up the walls in between the concrete pillars, roofers are laying panels on the steel girders and the sound of hammers echoes through the building.

It's getting to the nice part of autumn in terms of weather - lovely cool breezes during the day, and just cold enough at night to need a cover but not uncomfortable if you kick it off. If only I could find a job that allowed me to travel around the globe, staying in this zone all the way! I like autumn more than spring, because the green is still around, the fruits are there ripe and ready and it seems more leisurely than spring.

The kids are being typically Korean about it - Koreans like living in hothouses. They are horrified that I'm walking around in short sleeves still, and that I don't seem to mind the coolness!

Housework is hard work

In this humid, hot climate that is the South Korean summer / autumn, you have to pretty much wipe and spray with either bleach or a mold remover unless you want to live inside a penicillin experiment.

Now, I am not a good housekeeper, and a lot of my wiping is surface stuff, but when you open your cutlery drawer and see green spots on the forks, you know you have to do a major clean-up.

So, out came the gloves, the bleach, several cloths, the bowls and the brushes, and I started - cupboard by cupboard I unpacked, wiped, dried, washed what had been inside and then repacked. After twenty minutes I was dripping with sweat, by an hour I was a sweat machine - dripping all over.

So I decided to take regular breaks for sticking my face into the airstream of that dreaded machine of death - the fan (Koreans will tell you very earnestly that to leave a fan running all night will kill you, since they 'suck all the air out of the room'), or to splash cold water over myself.

In this fashion I managed to clean the kitchen and bathroom, thoroughly demolding them, and I got the mold wiped from the cupboard in the bedroom, but I still have to clean that room thoroughly - shifting furniture, wiping, bleaching and drying - and its gonna be hard work!

But that got me thinking - maybe I can start a cleaning service where I don't pay the help, they pay me! Instead of going to gym, just come and clean a house - more calories burned and the satisfaction of leaving behind a sparkling house!

Writing in the void

I find myself wondering at times whether anyone but me is reading this, just as I wondered whether anyone else but me was watching what I had put on YouTube. Then I realise that it does not matter - I am, after all, using this as a way of putting down my thoughts and my feelings.

If someone does read it, finds it amusing, controversial or in any other way it stirs them, then that is a bonus.

It is, however, sometimes useful to get feedback - so if you are reading, drop me a line, even if it is to tell me you hate it!

Sundays

I must say this morning I really could do with being able to pop down to the Waterfront in Cape Town, set myself down at one of the many cafes and order a big English breakfast while reading the Sunday Times!

Comfort zones come in many shapes and sizes, and breaking free of them is not always easy. For instance, I was sure that moving into a gypsy kind of lifestyle, my predeliction for clutter would be ameliorated, however, I find myself having to pick my way through bags, books and knick-knacks! I'm due for another de-cluttering, and fairly soon!

Some other comfort zones may include what you eat, who you read, what music you listen to etc. Of course, being pattern seekers, we tend to also be most comfortable when we live inside a pattern, a routine, a set of behaviours.