When Wouter is not on the road heading toward a new destination full of confronting new challenges again, he likes to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. About actually just anything he finds interesting enough. Wouter does not talk much about himself though. If you think he does, you are not a good listener. He will in fact ask you many questions. Questions disguised as stories. Stories! Yes, true stories. Stories waiting for your response.
Yes, I am a scavenger. I am always looking around for whatever rejects and trashed objects are laying around for me to pick them up. I give those things a second life. I recycle, reinstate, reclaim, refurbish, and renovate. ‘Wiederverwertung’ in German; giving things a new value again. Récupération … Emmaüs. Abbé Pierre! Emmaüs ou venger l’homme. The book.
This time I found egg trays and a big file holder. The egg trays will serve to improve the acoustics in one of the classrooms of the Candlelight Academy. A classroom with disturbing echos. The fileholder has already found its proper purpose on top of my wardrobe. Life is good when you are in the knowledge of recycling and reclaiming.
Oui, Mesdames et Messieurs. On fait bien la récupération!
A contemporary saga of insanity and homelessness meandering towards an understanding of the human condition. An understanding which eventually culminates in discovering sanity at the horizon. The reader is led on a journey to discover the key elements of life as it is experienced by both our goodness and our ugliness. Hell on earth in eight stages with paradise on the horizon. Or is it beyond? Beyond the horizon?
Dreadfully effective in growing to understand how make-believe supersedes the reality of our momentary presence on earth.
This is Brendan Shusterman’s first and very successful solo venture into the challenging world of publishing. The Shopping Cart Serenade… Do you dare?
Brendan Shusterman teaches English at Assumption College in Bangrak district, Bangkok, Thailand.
The Shopping Cart Serenade can be bought from Amazon at US$ 9.99 for the Kindle version and US$ 14.99 for the paperback.
Vanavond geen Lao bier. Goedkoop, lekker en rein bier. Heel anders dan het bier in Thailand. Vanavond ook geen koffie, De laatste vandaag was bij Lao Kham. Een klein kopje Mocha.
Koffie houdt je wakker en alert. En uit je slaap!
Ik doe ook aan naaldwerk. Doorgesleten boorden van overhemden verwijder ik en maak daarmee een Chinese/Japanse kraag. Gevuld met een deel van de versleten boord of zoals mijn eerste met een stukje Laotiaanse mannensarong. Ik knip er gewoon een stukje af. Lang zijn ze meer dan genoeg. Heel anders dan de — zelfs jonge- — mannen hier heb ik … géén bierbuikje.
Ook dat naaldwerk is heerlijk rustgevend.
Vanavond Infusion Tilleul Menthe. Daar slaap ik heerlijk op.
Morgen ben ik jarig. Ik heb mezelf al drie nieuwe badhanddoeken cadeau gedaan à 45k LAK per stuk. Dat is nog geen 2 USD per stuk.
Oude voorraad van een promotieactie voor een of ander luxeproduct. Het luxeproduct is er niet meer maar de handdoeken waren er nog steeds van voor de covid. Nog eentje ligt er op de plank in de winkel op de hoek van de oprijlaan naar het appartementencomplex waar ik nu leef en werk. Zal ik ‘m kopen?
s’Morgens sta ik meestal wat later op. Een bak flink sterke koffie markeert vervolgens het begin van de werkdag.
Veel informatie willen en soms ook moeten verwerken, maakt dat ik ook veel slaap nodig heb. Tien uur is vrij normaal. Alleen al daardoor ben ik anders dan mijn leeftijdsgenoten die ‘s nachts juist veel minder slapen en overdag geregeld indutten. Zodra ik op gang ben gekomen ben ik ook nauwelijks meer te stoppen. ‘s Morgens nog in bed en ‘s avonds nog niet volledig in slaap bereid ik mijn lessen voor. Gewoon in mijn hoofd want dat werkt het prettigst.
Ik heb een collega die in hetzelfde jaar geboren is als ik. Een collega die jaloers is. Ook hij is anders. Hij heeft een hekel aan de leerlingen en bereidt zijn lessen niet voor. Al jaren draait hij dezelfde lessen en doet daarbij heel gewichtig. Dat werkt vaak in zijn voordeel.
Behalve dan bij de meer bijzonder dan andere leerlingen. Die stellen hem vervelende vragen. Vragen waar hij geen echt goed antwoord op kan geven. Daarom heb ik die leerlingen toegewezen gekregen.
www.taal.cafe is er mede voor de leerlingen. Omdat de twee jongsten — 7 en 11 jaar oud — niet alles mogen lezen, heb ik op een aantal artikelen een wachtwoord gezet.
Zondag ging ik zoals gebruikelijk vroeg in de morgen naar de plaatselijke markt. Gewoon langs de straat. Ik kocht er aardappelen, wortels en uien. Wat ik daarmee ging doen, wilden de jongedames van de beste straatgroentewinkel weten.
The Best Greengrocers
Hij eet ontzettend goed merkte de oudste op. Haar jongere zus knikte instemmend. Ik pakte mijn telefoon en zocht wat plaatjes op van hutspot en andijviestamppot.
“kijk”, zei ik. “Dat is wat ik kook.” Dat is Nederlands eten.”
The sisters
Ze waren blij. Weer een nieuwtje over die rare buitenlanders om rond te vertellen en te bespreken.
On a Sunday night it came, completely out of the blue, invading my peace of mind.
“Hello, it seems that I am a low-life teacher below you, and you have your click1 of friends. I see you are a true Christian, too. You wear the cross too, and every Sunday you go to church and you don’t work on a Sunday the same it says in the bible. Wow, god will love you and bless you to your commitment to him”
“Thank you. Sleep well.” I replied.
Then came the final: “Yeah, I will. I won’t contact you again”
Continuously seeking conflict with people in his immediate surroundings. Striving to be grandiose to no avail. You help them and they rise to a twisted feeling of being of great importance. Bombarding you with messages about … only themselves. Telling personal stories that no one really wants to hear.
Rambling on and on about themselves. Overwhelmingly being all over your friends and acquaintances in a café until they run to pay the bill and leave.
God has some real weirdos as devotees!
No doubt he contacted me again today. Of course! Aspiring to being great takes a lot of effort.
Some people do excel in overstaying their welcome!
Teaching material for Speaking and Listening Classes
Instructions: Read out loud and clear.Use rhythm, stress, and tone changes.
Who were they? Where did they go? What happened?
One autumn1 evening Charles and Beth went to the theatre2 They attended a play. The play started at 7 pm. Charles and Beth enjoyed going to the theatre.
After the play, Charles and Beth walked together in the park. They walked beside the lake. The moon was bright. They talked about there future.
When Charles and Beth went home, their children were not asleep. They waited for Charles and Beth to return. They were excited to hear about the theatre!
Charles told the children about the play. Then Beth put the children to bed.
Charles and Beth were very tired. It had been a good night!
fall (mostly Am. English but also correct in British English) ↩︎
Teaching material for Speaking and Listening Classes
Instructions: Read out loud and clear. Use rhythm, stress, and tone changes.
It was raining. John looked outside. He felt hungry and thought; “I may cook a meal”. John started peeling three potatoes. Then he washed some vegetables and drained the water off.
Julasamai School, Songkhla
John also wanted some meat to go with the potatoes and the veggies. The fridge was however empty. He took his umbrella and went to the butcher. He was the only customer.
The butcher asked: “What will it be for you today, Sir?” John decided on chicken drum sticks. “Anything else, Sir?”, the butcher asked, because he always tried to sell more. ” No, that will be all for now”, John replied.
Business could be better for the butcher when it would not rain. Nobody wished to go outside. Almost everybody stayed inside, at home.
“By the way … How is business?”, John asked the butcher. “Business is not good these days”, the butcher complained. “It just keeps on raining”, and he started looking very sad. “I hardly see any customers these days.”
How about you, John?”; the butcher inquired. The weather did not affect John’ s business, because John was a computer programmer. “I am fine. No worries!”, John replied. A hush fell over the two men.
Courtesy of Mr Pongsak Klakhai
“Well …” said John. “A life without rain is like the sun without shade. After rain comes sunshine.” “You’ ll be alright,” John said. “Tomorrow you will be okay too.”
And so it was … Just as John had said. The day after, the rain had stopped. It was again a beautiful day. The butcher’s shop was now crowded with people. Customers were queuing up in front. They had found their fridges all empty.
Darling she sighed … Pulling a lustful smile, Swiftly lifting her eyes to the sky Then caught me with a gaze.
"I miss you”, she wrote Then sent the same message to yet another dozen men.
“You are the only one!”
Call it utopian or dystopian. Bar girls are going to be replaced by artificial intelligent holograms. BGHs will serve you your wildest imaginations. Robots will do what remains.
