..."I am a lazy worm."
Yesterday, we learned some common Swedish sayings in class. I cannot think of what these phrases are categorized as...similar to euphemisms, but not exactly. Do you know Grandma? Anyways, several are similar to those we say in English, such as "Happy as a lark" or "Beautiful as a butterfly." However, there are some that I found really funny. For example:
"Rädd som en hare" - afraid as a rabbit (We were supposed to make up our own, describing ourself. Another girl and I came up with the exact same: "Bouncy as a bunny." My Swedish teacher quickly corrected us because in Sweden, rabbits are associated with being "scared" not excited. Haha)
"Snabb som en vessla" - fast as a weasel
"Vig som en apa" - flexible as an ape (accompanied by a drawing of a monkey in a dress?)
"Mallgroda" - an arrogant toad (used to describe someone in a a negative way)
It was really interesting to hear what animals people associated with characteristics...it is definitely very different from country to country!
Yesterday was also Earth Day, one of my absolute FAVORITE days of the year. It is sort of tied with Saint Patrick's Day and World Vegan Day. Unfortunately, it does not really seem to be celebrated here. I mentioned it to a couple of people and received blank looks in return, which was pretty disheartening. I know that it was started in the USA (1970!), but I thought that it was a global holiday. Kudos to Tara for celebrating in Belize! I was busy with classes all day, so I did not have a chance to do anything special. However, the weather was beautiful, so I did my fair share of walking! Of course, I also ate yummy vegan food all day long too! I am really excited to see so many news articles coming out about the negative affects of a diet that includes animal products...not just health-wise, but environmentally related too. Sodexo ran a promotion at several schools on the east coast promoting eating "pb&j" for the earth, which is a great idea! There is an awesome website on the same topic at: http://www.pbjcampaign.org/. I hope that the rising food prices and shortages in less fortunate parts of the world will start to wake people up. 70% of the grain grown in the United States goes to feeding animals destined for slaughter. We could easily feed ALL of the hungry people in the world by only diverting the wheat fed to American cattle to people instead. The farm subsidies and other irrational agricultural political decisions made by the European Union and the United States, in particular, are really starting to backfire. I wonder how long it will take for the developed world to really wake up and change their ways though...
I am off to Portugal late tonight (we will not arrive until tomorrow morning)...exciting! I will be back on Tuesday next week, but am leaving for Helsinki next Thursday. I have a few weeks off between that and my trip to Ireland (which I am BEYOND excited for!). I have quite a bit of studying and some projects to do during the time in between travel, which means that life is busy, and I am very, very happy!
Yesterday, we learned some common Swedish sayings in class. I cannot think of what these phrases are categorized as...similar to euphemisms, but not exactly. Do you know Grandma? Anyways, several are similar to those we say in English, such as "Happy as a lark" or "Beautiful as a butterfly." However, there are some that I found really funny. For example:
"Rädd som en hare" - afraid as a rabbit (We were supposed to make up our own, describing ourself. Another girl and I came up with the exact same: "Bouncy as a bunny." My Swedish teacher quickly corrected us because in Sweden, rabbits are associated with being "scared" not excited. Haha)
"Snabb som en vessla" - fast as a weasel
"Vig som en apa" - flexible as an ape (accompanied by a drawing of a monkey in a dress?)
"Mallgroda" - an arrogant toad (used to describe someone in a a negative way)
It was really interesting to hear what animals people associated with characteristics...it is definitely very different from country to country!
Yesterday was also Earth Day, one of my absolute FAVORITE days of the year. It is sort of tied with Saint Patrick's Day and World Vegan Day. Unfortunately, it does not really seem to be celebrated here. I mentioned it to a couple of people and received blank looks in return, which was pretty disheartening. I know that it was started in the USA (1970!), but I thought that it was a global holiday. Kudos to Tara for celebrating in Belize! I was busy with classes all day, so I did not have a chance to do anything special. However, the weather was beautiful, so I did my fair share of walking! Of course, I also ate yummy vegan food all day long too! I am really excited to see so many news articles coming out about the negative affects of a diet that includes animal products...not just health-wise, but environmentally related too. Sodexo ran a promotion at several schools on the east coast promoting eating "pb&j" for the earth, which is a great idea! There is an awesome website on the same topic at: http://www.pbjcampaign.org/. I hope that the rising food prices and shortages in less fortunate parts of the world will start to wake people up. 70% of the grain grown in the United States goes to feeding animals destined for slaughter. We could easily feed ALL of the hungry people in the world by only diverting the wheat fed to American cattle to people instead. The farm subsidies and other irrational agricultural political decisions made by the European Union and the United States, in particular, are really starting to backfire. I wonder how long it will take for the developed world to really wake up and change their ways though...
I am off to Portugal late tonight (we will not arrive until tomorrow morning)...exciting! I will be back on Tuesday next week, but am leaving for Helsinki next Thursday. I have a few weeks off between that and my trip to Ireland (which I am BEYOND excited for!). I have quite a bit of studying and some projects to do during the time in between travel, which means that life is busy, and I am very, very happy!
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