I have been learning Russian for about eighteen months now. I started on the internet but once I had a teacher I discovered how important they are. The internet can't stop you and say,"No that's not the way to say it." Not unless you are on Skype or something similar. My Russian teacher isn't Russian she is French but well able to take me through my paces. This week I have a treat for her. I was a bit bored with it all and picked up my old German text book and looked at a song and a story, a well-known story. I'm not going to tell you what they are, in case my teacher happens upon this. I next decided to translate them into Russian! As you do! Of course I can't translate the song so that it rhymes or even fits the music. I abbreviated the story. So that she does not think this is a ploy for me not to have a conversation with her in Russian I will see that we start the lesson with that and then see if she can work out what the song and story are. Of course she also has to deal with French as well as English, German and Russian in this process. I hope I don't twist her brain in knots. Did you know that learning a foreign language is supposed to ward off dementia, so perhaps I shall be a Canny Granny for a bit longer.
When something very nasty comes our way we can only take in some much of the horror of the situation and then our minds protect us by putting us into a state of denial. It's all very well sitting cozy in the middle of a storm, but by doing that you can put others at risk. It is tempting to think that the corona virus situation is not real and won't touch you and your family, to think that somehow the heads of state who appeared so lately to be at loggerheads are in fact manufacturing the whole thing for their own purposes. Just see how the mind wants to divert us from the awful truth. Do you realize we could be on the point of the total collapse of civilization? That's why people panic buy because inside they realize food production and distribution could break down. Of course the little store they have been able to stash away will not last long. Deny us our food and we turn into much nastier human beings, well no that's the way we always were but this brings out...
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