Teaching Greek to children
This week I gave my first Greek lesson to two Dutch-Greek kids. He is 5 to 6 and she is 7, turning 8 soon. They are two smart, adorable kids, with the girl being on the artistic side. She reminds me of myself a bit, as it is clear that telling her a good word or two about her writing and letting her draw keeps her happy and motivated. The little boy is more of a challenge and strangely enough, he does remind me of my brother. My poor brother was starting all new languages when I did, even though he was 2 years younger. And let me tell you, he managed to make a teacher quit!
In a way I feel sorry for the kids today, that their parents overload their schedule so much. But at least those two are lucky because their parents did not want to send them to the Greek school on Saturday, so that they still have the whole weekend to play. I am also trying to teach them through play, but let's face it, you can not trick a kid for long... The boy did not even want to join when we started with the girl but a few animal pictures later and me being over-enthusiastic with what the girl wrote -tah dah!- there he was! His attention span was a bit more than 40 minutes. The girl made it the whole hour, but I could tell that at the end she was really tired.
I believe they did not hate me, because the girl wrote my name in the end of the lesson and as she does not know the letters, it took some effort. And the boy asked if I would stay over so we could play UNO. I have promised to include poems and singing in the next course, next Monday, and see how it goes.
News from my work
I have realized that I have charged waaaaay too little for my first scientific ghost - writing in the most ridiculous way. I have been working on this project that took much more than expected, because we keep adding paragraphs and ideas and the feedback comes somewhat late, because the clients are busy and also kind of famous (so, busier).
But I gathered my courage and I asked for more money, as the project took longer than expected. I apologized for not expecting it to take that long and I kept my fingers crossed that they would not find the amount too high. Well, guess what. They sent me a mail saying "we actually find it more fair for you to get payed 50% more than what you suggested". Yes. They are THAT nice. And yes, I am that inexperienced and this is why I made a low offer at the first place; because I did not consider my self experienced enough in this field. Well, now I know...
So hopefully this project will be finished this weekend or by the mid of next week. And I would have to start looking for another big project to work on, along with my articles. But now I don't!
There is this great woman living in the US that I collaborate with, and she has been giving me 5 to 10 articles to write per week. She is also a small-scale entrepreneur, so the pay is not great, but she pays immediately and mailing with her is fun. She has also understood when I kindly refused to write articles about hunting, as I am a vegan. And she also respects my other project deadlines.
So today this great gal asked me if I would take up a 56-articles-in-two-weeks challenge. I did and I hope I won't regret it. I have realized that until I figure out what is a reasonable amount to charge for ghost-writing, it is better to stick to articles, because they pay directly and they end up being more well-paying than books.
News from the wedding planning process
We have reserved the 10th of June as our wedding day.
And all our guests agreed to stay at these great wooden houses at Delftse Hout.
There has been quite a few paperwork disasters in-between and in order to help others out there I want to share with you the fact that "birth certificate" in English can mean different things for the Dutch and the Greek. Enough said.
Cool things that took place throughout the centuries on June 10th:
In 1962, Briget Bishop got hanged and was the first person that was executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Having a deep love for all things pagan myself, this drew a wide smile on my face. Briget has been married three times, owned a few taverns, dressed provocatively and was outspoken. Quite a lady, I have to say!
In 1819 Gustave Courbet, French painter, was born. Check out his painting "the origin of the world" (l' origine du monde).
In 1880 André Derain, co-founder of fauvism with Henri Matisse, was born. Click here to immerse your soul in color.
In 323 BC Alexander the Great died. You can go read this and understand why I am not so sad he did not live much longer.
In 1926 Antoni Gaudi died. I love this guy. Click here for a few reasons to visit Barcelona. Some of the most famous of Gaudi's buildings are there. Legend has it that he was walking backwards to be able to see the whole of Sagrada familia, when a tram hit him. Poor Antoni was thought to be a beggar, as he had no ID on him and he was not exactly a huge fan of laundry. So he did not receive immediate medical care. Cruel world we live in.
In 1929, Hélène Smith dies. Too bad, 'cause she was a wonderful French psychic that claimed to communicate with the Martians and that she was a reincarnation of Marie Antoinette and a Hindu princess. Surrealists really liked this gal, because she was all about automatic writing and she was regarded by them as a symbol of surrealist knowledge.
This week I gave my first Greek lesson to two Dutch-Greek kids. He is 5 to 6 and she is 7, turning 8 soon. They are two smart, adorable kids, with the girl being on the artistic side. She reminds me of myself a bit, as it is clear that telling her a good word or two about her writing and letting her draw keeps her happy and motivated. The little boy is more of a challenge and strangely enough, he does remind me of my brother. My poor brother was starting all new languages when I did, even though he was 2 years younger. And let me tell you, he managed to make a teacher quit!
In a way I feel sorry for the kids today, that their parents overload their schedule so much. But at least those two are lucky because their parents did not want to send them to the Greek school on Saturday, so that they still have the whole weekend to play. I am also trying to teach them through play, but let's face it, you can not trick a kid for long... The boy did not even want to join when we started with the girl but a few animal pictures later and me being over-enthusiastic with what the girl wrote -tah dah!- there he was! His attention span was a bit more than 40 minutes. The girl made it the whole hour, but I could tell that at the end she was really tired.
I believe they did not hate me, because the girl wrote my name in the end of the lesson and as she does not know the letters, it took some effort. And the boy asked if I would stay over so we could play UNO. I have promised to include poems and singing in the next course, next Monday, and see how it goes.
News from my work
I have realized that I have charged waaaaay too little for my first scientific ghost - writing in the most ridiculous way. I have been working on this project that took much more than expected, because we keep adding paragraphs and ideas and the feedback comes somewhat late, because the clients are busy and also kind of famous (so, busier).
But I gathered my courage and I asked for more money, as the project took longer than expected. I apologized for not expecting it to take that long and I kept my fingers crossed that they would not find the amount too high. Well, guess what. They sent me a mail saying "we actually find it more fair for you to get payed 50% more than what you suggested". Yes. They are THAT nice. And yes, I am that inexperienced and this is why I made a low offer at the first place; because I did not consider my self experienced enough in this field. Well, now I know...
So hopefully this project will be finished this weekend or by the mid of next week. And I would have to start looking for another big project to work on, along with my articles. But now I don't!
There is this great woman living in the US that I collaborate with, and she has been giving me 5 to 10 articles to write per week. She is also a small-scale entrepreneur, so the pay is not great, but she pays immediately and mailing with her is fun. She has also understood when I kindly refused to write articles about hunting, as I am a vegan. And she also respects my other project deadlines.
So today this great gal asked me if I would take up a 56-articles-in-two-weeks challenge. I did and I hope I won't regret it. I have realized that until I figure out what is a reasonable amount to charge for ghost-writing, it is better to stick to articles, because they pay directly and they end up being more well-paying than books.
News from the wedding planning process
We have reserved the 10th of June as our wedding day.
And all our guests agreed to stay at these great wooden houses at Delftse Hout.
There has been quite a few paperwork disasters in-between and in order to help others out there I want to share with you the fact that "birth certificate" in English can mean different things for the Dutch and the Greek. Enough said.
Cool things that took place throughout the centuries on June 10th:
In 1962, Briget Bishop got hanged and was the first person that was executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. Having a deep love for all things pagan myself, this drew a wide smile on my face. Briget has been married three times, owned a few taverns, dressed provocatively and was outspoken. Quite a lady, I have to say!
In 1819 Gustave Courbet, French painter, was born. Check out his painting "the origin of the world" (l' origine du monde).
In 1880 André Derain, co-founder of fauvism with Henri Matisse, was born. Click here to immerse your soul in color.
In 323 BC Alexander the Great died. You can go read this and understand why I am not so sad he did not live much longer.
In 1926 Antoni Gaudi died. I love this guy. Click here for a few reasons to visit Barcelona. Some of the most famous of Gaudi's buildings are there. Legend has it that he was walking backwards to be able to see the whole of Sagrada familia, when a tram hit him. Poor Antoni was thought to be a beggar, as he had no ID on him and he was not exactly a huge fan of laundry. So he did not receive immediate medical care. Cruel world we live in.
In 1929, Hélène Smith dies. Too bad, 'cause she was a wonderful French psychic that claimed to communicate with the Martians and that she was a reincarnation of Marie Antoinette and a Hindu princess. Surrealists really liked this gal, because she was all about automatic writing and she was regarded by them as a symbol of surrealist knowledge.
No comments:
Post a Comment