I am rebelling. I have not cut my hair in a year. It all started last summer when I visited a Korean hair salon. My hairdresser confessed that his English was limited, but I figured that showing him pictures of caramel highlights would be enough. I was mistaken. I had to go into work looking like…
Author: TeacherLindsey
Reading into my Readers
I was curious about who was visiting my site, so I took a look at my Stats and Insights. There, I found some illuminating facts about you, my dear readers. My top post is about some massages I had back in 2013. Then, for better or for worse, I delved into the Google searches that…
Observations Learning Spanish
Over the past six months, I have noted down the interesting phrases and words I have encountered. Here are some of them, including my first joke in Spanish: Esmoquin – a Tuxedo. You look smokin’! No lo trago – I don’t buy it / believe it. Literally: I don’t swallow it. Una discusión – an argument. This one…
Ant’s Eye View
Join this journey through MacRitchie Nature Trail from an ant’s perspective: We begin by scaling the boardwalk and marching across the wooden rails. A tiny but perfectly formed flower hangs suspended in the air as if by magic. A chorus begins around us to accompany our footsteps. What is that deafening sound? A beautiful emerald…
Chasing Dragons
A welcome committee sat waiting for us as we stepped into the village. The skulls were licked clean and mounted on rusted nails. Curved horns of water buffalo, the thin jaws of deer and curled teeth of wild boar revealed our predator before we had set eyes on it. As we stepped onto the jetty,…
A Monkey Mugging
I considered the carved coconuts in front of me. This one was the best size, but it was a little lopsided. I liked the shape of this one yet the design was not as intricate. I eventually whittled it down to two. The first had fine swirling leaves, whereas the second had birds of paradise…
Learning Spanish – some pitfalls
One of my friends told me that the best part about learning Spanish is dropping in some howlers when you feel the conversation is getting away from you. There are so many common mistakes for newcomers to choose from. Here are a few of them: 1. ¿Puedo abrir la ventana? Es que soy súper caliente….
Duolingo Update – What’s New
Since my last post about my journey learning Spanish, a lot has happened. I went on holiday, lost my 115-day streak in the Bornean jungle and underwent a brain scan. As you’ve probably guessed, I put Spanish on the back-burner for a bit. Yesterday, I reopened my old friend Duolingo after a month of zero activity. I…
Salties
Hypercarnivorous apex predator. The three most chilling words in the English language. “This is what we do if we get attacked. You go for the eyes, or if you’re caught in its mouth, you need to reach to the back and past the tongue. There’s a flap there which stops water flooding their lungs.” Tom…
Wonky
“Oh no!” The silver ball flew through the air and rolled into obscurity on the grey speckled carpet. The nurse quickly dropped to her knees and combed the floor with her blue rubber gloves. I leaned forwards, woozily sat back up, then told her not to worry. I was secretly relieved. That piercing had been…
Ferns and forest 