Gingerbread Adventures

Welcome to the Gingerbread Farm, where "Lean on me" is the theme song.

Because we all need someone to lean on, right? And on this farm, everything is frail and crumbly and glued in place with a mixture of icing sugar + water...
It's not perfect and pretty and awesomely crafted.
Which was not our aim, anyway.
But I didn't foresee how this would turn into an illustration of leaning on one another, of supporting one another.

We have had fun with our gingerbread, and in a few days it will be broken up and eaten - more fun with the gingerbread. We will laugh at the cows' expressions (not to mention the piglets, the shy, sly horse and the rest of the gingerbread crew).
We share these short sweet moments. We lean on one another.
 

In case I won't have a moment to spare for blogging for a few weeks: Happy Christmas!

Weekend Gratitude

The midweek came and went in a flurry of activity. Getting a Quick Lit post out took all the time I could put into blogging.

I haven't forgotten to be thankful, I just haven't had time to write about it.

Some random thoughts now, late on Saturday evening, as Junior is in bed and my husband is out running in the woods.

1. I'm thankful for things accomplished.

Such as almost all of our Christmas shopping.

2. As well as for things still in process.

We baked the parts of our gluten-free gingerbread "house" today. Tomorrow, on to the adventure of assembling it. I might post a picture when it's done. Even if it's not Pinterest Pretty and Perfect.

3. We'll be sending out a really pretty Christmas card.

Yes. The verb tense is correct: cards are another thing still in process. The picture (a photo compilation by my husband) is beautiful. I've written most of the envelopes. Some assembly still required. But hey, we're not quite ridiculously late yet. Just late. :) Another little project for tomorrow...

4. Relationships.

Family, friends. 

I've been so exhausted mentally that I've sometimes felt like suggesting "let's just cancel Christmas altogether, shall we?" 

But when I pause to think about it, Christmas is more about the relationships than about the outward trappings and traditions. Why do we bake stuff, and give presents? To show love. Why do we drive for hours? To see the people we care about, face to face. Send cards? To connect with the people who get them. 

I can do all that's really necessary for the sake of the relationships - not for the sake of some tradition. I'm thankful for those relationships and I want to value them. With actions, too.

5. Home comforts.

I have a home. With a roof and walls and windows and doors. Secure.

No one is going to tell me I don't belong here.

What a privilege it is to have a home.

And what made me think of it:

6. I've read this book.

(Or actually just finished it - I started it weeks ago already.)

It sort of ties in with Lila - the issues of living without a fixed abode, and the feelings of shame, stigma and outsiderness that go with it.

The difference: Charlie Carroll took on the experience voluntarily, in order to write about it, and it's contemporary Britain.

It's not the fault of the book that it took me weeks to finish it - I've had less reading time than before, and I was too keen to read Lila...

7. Not only do I have a home, I have a bed.

And I can go and sleep in it.

So why not do it. Like, now. :)

Mind The Gap - Living And Working Between Languages

I became a translator because I love languages.

I especially love the balancing act of getting a message in one language and relaying it in another language. It's a wonderful feeling when you get it just right. When you know that these words convey exactly the meaning you want. Yes, it happens, sometimes.

And sometimes a word or a concept in one language just doesn't fit neatly into the words of the other language. There is no equivalent. You can't translate, you need to think again, think differently.

As an example, we do not have a word for please in Finnish. Yes, there are ways of asking for things nicely and politely: "May I have..." or "Could I have..." But there is no single word that translates please.

Thank you, www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk!

The result is that it's hard for a Finn learning English to remember to say please. She thinks she's asking politely when she says "May I have a drink?" because that's how it works in her own language. And the native English speaker waits for the please and gets the impression that the Finnish person is a bit abrupt, impolite, clumsy. "Didn't her mother teach her manners, like we teach our little ones to say please?"

(After 35 years of learning English as a second language, I think I've learned to remember saying please. Now I'm the one getting antsy if someone forgets to use it. I'll do my best to teach it to my son as he is learning English...)

Another example. We Finns don't say he and she. We have only one third person singular pronoun that goes for both genders: hän. So, if you have a Finnish text that speaks about the protagonist only as "hän" and nothing indicates the sex of this person, it's awfully difficult to translate it into English. If you start translating with he and after a while it turns out the text is talking about a woman, you have to go through everything again and fix all the pronouns. (And what if the text is purposefully written to be gender-neutral? How do you do it in English??)

Incidentally, this is also one more thing a Finnish learner of English finds hard. Because you suddenly need to start thinking differently. You have only one pronoun in your existing system, but now you need to remember to use a different word depending on the person you are talking about.

But I'm a translator because I enjoy the challenges of navigating the no man's land between languages and learning its pitfalls. I can never be entirely sure that I know all the cultural contexts, connotations and implications of my words, especially in my acquired languages. But it's OK as long as I'm aware of this and tread carefully, minding the gap. There is always more to learn, and sometimes we learn the hard way.

And sometimes you can get a good laugh from the gap. Like when I read Oliver Lutz Radke's books: Chinglish: Found in Translation and Chinglish 2: Speaking In Tongues.

Chinglish, as Radke defines it, is English words and Chinese grammar, reflecting a Chinese way of thinking.

Sometimes, it's poetry found in translation, like the sign which is apparently in a protected natural area:

"A rock longs for permanence

And a plant yearns love care"

Sometimes, the translation ends up with entirely garbled meaning, such as "Slip carefully."

But Radke is not collecting these in order to mock the Chinese translators' mistakes. It's because he's fascinated with what happens when there is a gap between two languages and cultures, and you can sort of see the Chinese thought behind the English words. Translations such as "Slip carefully" happen because Chinese grammar is different; the Chinese characters convey the message "be careful so you don't slip", but they do not need so many words to express it and the word order may also be different.

But sometimes awful (and funny) things happen because computer translation systems, such as Google Translate, cannot bridge the gap. When there are several possible meanings for a word, depending on the context, and the computer suggests the wrong alternative for this context, and there is no one to correct it before it's in print.

Not to mention the results of simple typing errors. You can guess what happens to a restaurant menu when someone accidentally spells 'crab' with a 'p'.

It's also an unfortunate fact that some words are similar, yet far apart in meaning. Like inconvenience and incontinence.

If language humour like this is your cup of tea, there is a lot more in www.chinglish.de and www.engrish.com.

(For the latter link, at least, I guess I should warn that there is a lot of unfortunate 'language' and innuendo. Like the example with crabs above. And worse. Much worse. Let's just say that by reading engrish.com I have also increased my knowledge of American slang expressions. And I also wonder: where did someone get the text for this?

And what made someone think that stationery like this is a good idea?)

Mind the gap - and enjoy the trip between languages. You never know what you'll find there.

On Daring Greatly - Some Vulnerable Thoughts

Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. 

 

Not so much a book review as an attempt to sort out my thoughts about it. There is so much good in this book. Yet, I kept feeling that it's only a part of the puzzle, and some pieces are missing.

Then I got it. Of course, Brown is not writing a "Christian book" - she's addressing people of all faiths and worldviews, so that everyone can apply the principles to their own lives.

And I need to do just that. "Fill in the blanks" with my own convictions, and work out how the good stuff in her book is applicable to my life. Because I do, of course, recognize the patterns of shame in my life, the ways I am hiding my vulnerability.

And as I kept thinking about this, I realized: I've been learning about "daring greatly", as Brown defines it, all along my faith journey: from the Bible, from good Bible teachers, from the conviction of Holy Spirit.

I can't hide behind a facade of good deeds, "perfection" and people-pleasing. I am a sinner in need of God's love and grace. And it's only by God's love and grace that I can have the strength and courage to actually embrace vulnerability and keep living it consistently. Jesus is the "enough" for me.

The love and grace of Jesus are the missing puzzle pieces in daring greatly.

And as far as these have been present in my life, something has been happening. By the grace of God, I am no longer the same nervous people-pleaser that I was fifteen, twenty years ago. I think and act differently. God has made great progress in healing me, even if I'm still far from full "whole-heartedness". I can't take the credit for my maturity. Or whatever vulnerability I have been able to put into practice. And I admit there is still a long way to go. I keep needing God's grace.

Books like this are a help along the way, because they prompt me to ask myself the right kinds of questions. My heart beat faster when I got to the chapter on parenting and read the question:

"Are you the adult you want your child to grow up to be?"

This is what I want to keep from this book. Write it in big letters on the chalkboard of my soul. Keep asking myself these questions, and asking God to help me grow into a healthier direction.

Do I show respect to all the people I meet? Do I show love, in all the love languages there are?

Do I give my child the sense that he is valuable as a person? Do I model a healthy marriage relationship, too?

Do I admit my mistakes, and ask for forgiveness and make amends when appropriate?

Am I a person of integrity?

Am I ready to get out of my comfort zone?

To try new things without being stopped by fear of failure? And to put effort into doing things, into learning, growing, developing - even though it's not easy and I'm not instantly good?

Do I use my talents in a positive, fruitful way; set goals and work hard to reach them?

Am I worried about what other people think of me, trying to perform to expectations, and easily ashamed?

Or do I let other people see me as I am, do I put my real self and real thoughts out there, do I take the risk of being rejected?

Is my faith important to me, in deeds as well as in words?

Am I passionate about loving and following Jesus?

Do I pray, praise God, and read the Bible regularly, every day, not because I'm fulfilling a duty and trying to 'please' God, but because I truly believe that my relationship with God is the core and foundation of my life?

I know which questions I want to answer with "Yes" - what sort of person I want to be - and how I want my son to be. Whatever our talents, interests, temperaments, personalities.

And when we fail? Grace.

And when we succeed? All the more to the glory of God.

Thanks for the book, Brené Brown.

Hope Springs - Spring Hopes

Little blooms of sunshine have been springing up for a couple of weeks already. These little yellow flowers are usually the very first flowers here. (Wikispecies lists so many English names that I don't know what to pick.)

Crocuses peek out of the lawn in front of our house. 

 

"Snowbells" (snowdrops?) grow among the dead-looking branches: a promise of more to come. Not more snow, I hope. More flowers. More green leaves. More growth.

My blue favourites are also already here. From Wikispecies, I found out it has three names in English:kidneywort, liverwort and pennywort. I know I have no right to criticize the language of other people, but these names strike me as rather odd - kidneywort and liverwort sound more like some kind of diseases than a pretty flower...?

A part of my favourite walking route

Hope springs, too, with the spring coming back in my steps. I'm back to walking and trying to run at intervals, too. The ankle does not hurt so much any more, though there's sometimes pain afterwards. But better to train and have some pain than not to train and not get better either.

Another sign of spring in our home is my son's birthday. Junior Bookworm is now 9 years old. He was born on Easter Sunday, ten days past the due date, by C-section after a drawn-out delivery. I'm sure there's a lesson, a parable, a powerful message there, but I can't quite put it into words yet. Maybe that's because it is his story, after all, and it is still in progress.

Thanks for these years, son. It's a privilege to know the person you are and the person you are becoming, and the unfolding of your story.

Thank you, God, for all things that spring up, and grow, and bloom, and bear fruit.

Thank you for those things, too, that die so that new life can grow.

 

Adventures in Gluten-Free Baking

Gluten-free baking is an everyday adventure. I do it because I want all the members of our extended family to be able to enjoy the holiday treats when we get together next week.
I'm not a professional baker, just a fairly confident home baker - still, it's always a bit of a surprise how the results turn out. Especially with gluten-free baking.

Gingerbread houses are not everyday stuff, but they're adventure, and they're fun. I and my son have a yearly tradition to make a GF gingerbread house. Except it doesn't have to be a house. One year, it was a racing track with cars. This year's model is a gluten-free birdhouse.

We're home bakers and we don't try to attain perfection. We don't do grand big creations with lots of intricate details and piped icing.
We'll look at that kind of gingerbread houses on the Internet and go "wow".
Then we do our own thing. Small, manageable (gluten-free gingerbread breaks easily) and with plenty of sweets.

This was today's adventure. Tomorrow's will be transporting this without breaking it to my in-laws'. (Can you guess why I photograph it at home?)

Have a blessed advent time!

Small adventures

Small adventures can happen any day.
Like the day my 8-year-old son taught me how to make small origami animals. Someone else had taught him, and he wanted to show me.

A little life lesson in progress: this is what learning and education is all about. You learn something, you share it with others. It's not always me teaching you, buddy: you can be a teacher, too. Sometimes, it's us both learning together. We have questions, so we look for the answers. I hope we won't stop growing and learning, ever.

These are the ones I made, as he directed. Can you spot a mouse, a dog, a cat, a fox, a fish and a rabbit?