Overread at the Counter: The Day After Christmas

The day after Christmas

and all through the cafe,

not a guitar was strumming,

All were quiet today.

The beans were still nestled

all sacked on the shelf,

and Verble was taking inventory,

like a right jolly old elf.

He enjoyed this time,

when the cafe was empty,

knowing that all patrons

were with friends and family.

Verble hung up the mugs

with all of great care,

knowing that by tomorrow,

the cupboards would be bare,

For the coffee would be flowing,

and music would fill the cafe

for everyone would return

with more stories to fill the day.

And among all the tales

of adventures of the weekend,

he knew there would be at least one

about a love with no end:

A love that came down

Like a hole torn through Time,

to be born as a child,

Just to walk through this Life.

MR

2010-1226

360s

Overheard at Booth 3: Learning Languages

Heard this psychologist talking on NPR last night as I was going to pick up some Greek food for me and the missus, and he was talking about languages ...

apparently, mathematically, languages are supposed to be impossible to learn.  Never knew that before.

He was trying to do these studies about why little kids learn languages faster than their parents, even down to the total lack of an accent when they speak it.

But even though he was going through all this "we can't follow them for years" and "maybe it's because the kids have more desire to integrate than their parents do" and the one thing he never talked about was this:

the parents have to find a place to stay, afford a place to stay, find where to get groceries, how to get clothes for the kids, how to get food for the kids, how to get a phone, how to get a bank account, how to enroll the kids in school, how to get them TO school, and what does the kid need to do?

All the kid has to do is watch cartoons and play with the other kids outside and at school.

The reason why it's easier for kids to learn a language is because they are immersed in the wonder of a new place.  They have all the time for imagination, to feel this sense of amazement, because the parent is doing everything they can to make sure they get fed and clothed.

If I went to a foreign country and the ONLY thing I had to do was sit around all day and talk to people in a coffee shop, because someone else was buying my clothes, feeding me, paying the bills, then I am pretty sure I'd pick up on the language too.

Moscow or SoCal?

Man: did you hear the other day that the wildfires are so out of control around Moscow?

Woman: I think I heard something about that on the news, it's really sad. People are dying.

Man: Yeah, I mean, these people don't even have air conditioners - never needed them. And they're stuck inside their homes and they can't open the window because the air's so stiff.

Woman: That is so sad.

Man: What's really sad, now, get this - the news said that the officials stated that they're losing about 780 people a week,

but get this:

they said it was unusual, because they usually only lose about 400 this time of year.

Woman: What?

Man: That's right. They usually only lose about 400 - to the smog. Now, doesn't there seem to be something wrong with this picture?