Nice surprises (^^)b

I got a call from Elizabeth yesterday evening and Claudia was there with her. I turned on Skype immediately and began to talk with them. What a nice surprise! I was cutting tomatoes to cook chicken curry but I just left it there on the cutting board and enjoyed the chat with them. Every time I see them on Skype, I realise how much I miss them and how important they are for me. So fortunate to have such lovely people in my life that always brighten up my day. I always love you guys!!

Claudia sent me a link to a German singer called Daniel Wirtz. It's a song called "Sherben" meaning 'broken fragments' according to her...

Doesn't he sound good? I love his voice a lot. This kind of music is something you cannot find in Japan unless you are very interested in German music. I don't understand what he sings about but German words no longer sound unfamiliar to me. I  guess my ears are used to its sound and my brain made a space for it. I don't know if I can find his CD here but will try it anyway.

Speaking of getting used to unfamiliar words, I'm listening to John-Hoon's CD repeatedly lately. Not the ones he sings in Japanese. The compilation of the UN's songs released in 2000-2005. He's a great singer. I mean, the more I listen to him, the better I love his voice. All the songs are sung in Korean but I don't find it uncomfortable any more. And I'm kinda learning the correct sound of some Korean words I know by listening to him. Generally, great singers pronounce words right with the correct accentuation.

I realise again it's the exact way for me to learn foreign languages. Getting familiar with sound, correcting the pronunciation by imprinting it in my brain, and then learning the meaning of words. In my case, music works best for this. If I want to actually pronounce a certain language, the additional practice is recording my speaking it, listening to it and correcting my embouchure repeatedly.

To my surprise, I often find myself humming my favourite parts in some of his songs, especially the song above, even though I don't really know what they mean. This reminds me of my teenage when I was monolingual learning English by listening to my favourite Western bands and singers. The power of love always help you learn new things for sure :D

It's not a nice surprise but I lately find certain people around me are not as open and nice as I thought they were. That shows in the words they choose to say or write unconsciously. They might try to sound funny or bully-ish but they rather sound harsh and a bit too carried away... Sad!

One new thing I've recently found about them is that they are somehow mean to the genius with recognition and fame. They often seem drawn to the second best or the less-renowned genius, so to speak. Probably they love and show off the fact that they know more about a certain thing than others. Or could be their jealous that generates such feelings against successful people...

But you don't have to show it to others if you know you know much about a certain thing. No need to show off. It just comes out and people get it and respect it more if you are humble about it. In this case, shouting it out loud is only for those who don't have it, I believe.

I thought about how and why they become so for a while but finally got to the point to ignore them. People constantly bitching about everything are not comfortable for me to share my time. I rather want to be with positive people who want to share good things with others. That's my basic strategy to lead a happy life and I have certain people I love and am loved ;)  That's the best thing in my life, indeed! :D