My Friends - Foreign Language class

Hello All,

Welcome to my Blog!

I would like to share few significant, memorable incidents that occurred in my foreign language center. 

I am living in a prominent country in Europe. As you all know, most of the countries in Europe have their own national language. So, when I shifted to another country in Europe, I had to learn the local language. I joined an integration course; it is basically a crash course.

Day one was funny. We were almost 30 students in our language class and people aged from 65 years old to 23 years old. They were from different parts of the world. Our class had people who spoke 18 different languages in total, only a few like me spoke English.

Our teacher knew little English, but to us from Day one she spoke only in the local language. She was doing full facial expressions and hand moments to make us understand, but never spoke in English. We were all smiling at each other, nodding our heads, but we were all confused about how to communicate to each other because no one knew others language.

But during the self-introduction round, we mentioned how many languages we can speak. So, that gave us a sense of who can communicate to whom. I easily got friends because I too followed sign language/actions like my teacher. One of my friends was an old Arab who cannot see properly, so he sat near me to take the notes and ask me what the teacher dictated.

He had a sad story of coming as an evacuee. He told one of his three kids drowned in the water, his wife, and a toddler still in his country. When I asked what had happened, he told he did not have enough money to pay for a good boat. So, people like him took the small boat but the boat was overcrowded. Half the way in freezing winter waters, the boat cracked, and all the people fell inside the waters.

Since the water was freezing few old people and kids were not able to make to the shore. His youngest son who was short got drowned when he was helping another old man swim. It was heartbreaking. I helped him as much I can in his studies, but he was not able to make to the next semester. He left to a new language center allotted by the administration, and I never met him.

There was a couple, Arab doctors. They bolted their country with their children leaving all their richness to dust and just to live in peace. They wanted their language certificate to work here. Another man was an Arab too but from a different country, he told he was an agricultural engineer and his wife was a doctor. They had triplet toddlers.

The story of their evade was terrifying. They came here with their cousin brother. They were wealthy, so they sold all their assets, took a cab to cross their city. If they get caught on the way, they will never body check women. So, they planned all their important certificates and passports totally sealed in plastics covers, will be hidden in his wife’s robe. He, His wife, and cousin brother carried each one baby and a backpack with essentials like milk, food, a spare dress for the toddlers.

They had to pay heavily to the cab driver, they started their journey in the midnight. Half the way as they expected they heard humans and they had to switch-off the car engine. When they planned to restart the journey, they saw them in front of their cab. They questioned and inspected them. My friend had told he was going to meet his old parents in next city, but they have seen many similar excuses and evading. So, they were instructed to go back home.

After they left, my friend told to drive towards the frontier. But Cab driver was so scared, that he dropped them halfway and he left. But they cannot stop in between, one it was midnight, second forest area, third they must cross before dawn, and finally, they must reach the boat on time. If they miss the boat, they were not sure when there will be a next chance.

He told me the greatest challenge for them was the toddlers. They prayed that toddlers should never wake up and cry till they reached the boat, and without further checking on their way. But with so much anxiety, obscuring and moving among the bushes they made to the boat. They again paid a big amount to the boat guy to get seated. They were not allowed to speak until they reached the middle of the waters.

After reaching the frontier here, they walked several miles for a week. On the way their money was ransacked by evacuee’s negotiator. They starved, but they made to frontier security. They had safeguarded their passports, so they were legally allowed inside after the document verification and were provided with home, food, medical care etc

I am sure you all would have read, heard, or seen people like them. They do not want anything other than a life full of serenity.

Comment if you know someone like my friends and they are happy now.

Note: 
Most of my friends from my class cleared with high score. Few friends got jobs, few doing their masters here to get good jobs. Ours was a cheerful, friendly group J. I have lots of memories to carry with me in this life.

International Food - Korean Cusine

Hello All,

Welcome to my blog!

This blog is going to be my journey with Korean cuisine, few main ingredients and one main unique recipe of theirs.

My Journey - Korean cuisine:

I live in popular country in Europe. Here you can find people from different countries, culture, food etc. I have lots of friends here. Since I love cooking, I discuss lot of cooking with my friends and try them at my home. Korean food attracted me as well. I found fermented pickle which they call Kimchi was one of the main side dishes consumed with any food they eat.

The beneficial power of kimchi comes from the lactic acid bacteria (also found in yogurt and other fermented foods) that helps in digestion and, according to some researchers, boosts immunity. In addition, the vegetables are excellent sources of vitamin C and antioxidants, which are believed to protect cells from carcinogens. The high fiber content aids bowel function.

Few main Ingredients: 

Before I learnt about their recipes or cooking methods, I did a small research on their ingredients. I learnt with the below few sets of ingredients we can cook many dishes from their cuisine. 

Their main spices included Gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes), Gochujang (Korean Hot pepper paste), Doenjang (Soybean paste), Roasted Sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, Ganjang (Soy sauce), Rice syrup, fish sauce. 

Also, garlic, ginger, green onions, sweet potatoes, Tofu, rice wine, dried fish, kelp, green peppers, dried root vegetables, sea foods, rice, chives, pine nuts played a major role in their cuisine.

Kimchi:

Kimchi (something like sauerkraut/pickles) is the lactic acid fermentation of Napa Cabbage/Radish/Vegetables or using all that mentioned. Kimchi is part of every meal like rice or soup or noodles. According to the region they live in Korea, there are slight variations in the preparation. 

Kimchi is mostly prepared in prior to heavy winter, when there will be less availability for vegetables. Kimchi plays a major role in substitute of Vitamins and minerals during this time.

Kimchi Preparation (I have shared a simple and small portion in traditional way)

1. Salting:

 - Cut Napa cabbage, big chunks (i used one big size)

 - Add 3 tbsp salt.

 - Mix and rest for 2 hours. Every 30 minutes give a quick mix. After two hours, wash the cabbage 2-3 times in cold water. Keep aside for 15 minutes and don’t discard the brine.

2. Porridge preparation:

Take 2 tbsp glutinous rice flour and 2 tbsp brown sugar mix with 1/4 cup water and heat in low flame for 3 minutes and keep aside for cooling

 3. Vegetables :

Cut 2 cup radish (long thin strips), 1 Cup carrots (Long thin strips), 6 green onions chopped,1 cup Asian chives(optional), and you can add extra veggies of your choice.

4. Mixing:

In a bowl add 6-8 minced garlic, 2 tbsp minced ginger, 1 medium sliced onion, raw squid or shrimps (vegetarians can skip this),  ½ cup fish sauce (vegetarians can replace with ¼ cup soy sauce and 1 tbsp salt), ½ cup Gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes), ½ tbsp salt and the vegetables we have cut and kept ready.

Give a quick mix to all the above and add the porridge we have prepared earlier with the salted Napa cabbage and the brine. You can use spatula to mix this, but hands are best to mix, so that all the vegetables will be coated well with the spices (you can use gloves if you feel uncomfortable)

Tips:

-Keeping in warm place for 1-2 days untouched gives quick fermentation.

- In refrigerator it takes 2 weeks to ferment

- Can consume as fresh kimchi as well

High School days

High School days

This incident happened when I was in grade 10. My first direct proposal from my classmate. I studied in a school, where we girls won’t mingle with boys much.  So many years in the same school, still no guy came to me and spoke, the main reason my brother was in the same school. When I was in grade 10 my brother had already left school for his college.

I started observing, many of my friends already had boyfriends and I felt are they crossing the limit!! Aren’t we supposed to study hard and get prepared for our future was all in my head? That was the way I was brought up. My mom’s mantra was don’t fall in love, there is an age for it, study hard- was the words, I used to hear that all the time. I followed her words.

Last few months to our final grade exams, we were so busy preparing for our mock exams, yearbook etc. So as usual for me talking to boys to get the Yearbook signed (friendship book/autograph book, see below to know more about this book) was the biggest task than my grade exams. It is funny when I think of it now. I didn’t have much strength to go and ask guys to write something for me. So, I just got help from my friend and asked her to cover for me.

After the lunch break, the teacher came for the next lecture, and suddenly this boy from the next row passed my book. For a few minutes, I just left it on my desk. Then out of curiosity I opened and ran through the new filled pages. One page at the end one guy had written a few numbers, which I couldn’t understand. I thought he had written his Telephone number. But the numbers were too long. My friend who was sitting near me grabbed the book, scribbled something in her note, cross-verified it and she was so furious. I asked any problem, she told me to wait until the class is over. He had written “I Love You” by replacing alphabets with numbers. Once the teacher left the classroom, she just looked at the boy and told, “You are just a seedling, and do you need love at this age?”

Oh, my goodness, the whole class looked at me and my friend. I started crying. I ran to the washroom. I lived in a conservative society. I felt so embarrassed, I had a feeling, the whole school was looking at me. I even felt guilty for no reason. That was true in a way, the news had already spread to all the higher grades and boys started gathering in front of my class. The next few days till my exams, it was a very hard situation.

Two days after this incident, the boy became so normal. I guess his friends already started encouraging him and told him to impress me. He was student-athlete in our school. We had our final inter-house sports event and shield distributions the next week of the incident. This boy was just staring and smiling at me the whole event, every time he got some trophy, he was smiling at me from the dice. From weird looks, this became a talk in our school. They were all curious about how I would react to this boy. But I had to concentrate on my exams and follow my mom’s mantra. I completed my exams with a high score. But I shifted to a new school for my higher grades.

Do you think, because my friend shouted at that boy, the situation became worse? Is that why I felt guilty? What do you think my friend should have done to handle that situation? Do you think even I would have attracted to this boy, but I just diverted myself because of my conservative surroundings?

Now we are all grown up and have families of our own. We have a school WhatsApp group; I don’t have any issues talking to that boy in the group chat.

But some of my other friends say boys always have a butterfly feeling when they talk to their first love, even in their old age. Is that true? Any comments?

Take care Until I meet you with yet another incident from my life…

Note:

Autograph book

An autograph book is a book for collecting the autographs of others. Traditionally they were exchanged among friends, colleagues, and classmates to fill with poems, drawings, personal messages, small pieces of verse, and other mementos. Their modern derivations include yearbooks, friendship books, and guest books. They were popular among university students from the 15th century until the mid-19th century, after which their popularity began to wane as they were gradually replaced by yearbooks. Today's autograph books are typically found in the hands of children collecting signatures from their favorite cartoon celebrities in amusement parks.

Teen and Temple

Welcome to my Blog!

You will be wondering what a confused topic “Teen and Temple”. I like to share a small incident that happened in my life when I just touched my teens. That’s the time you are so confused from child to teen.

Every summer vacation we used to travel to our native place. Those days my grandma’s house, which was a joint family of 11 people excluding us, means lots of fun and excitement. But as I was living in a nuclear family and adjustments from toilets, food from a totally different cuisine, sharing the sleeping space etc was all a problem for me. I guess those problems was not a problem before teen or now as adult J.

One such vacation, we all went to the biggest temple in the city. There temples has a different culture where all the sandals are left inside the premises, but the city I was living we used to leave our sandals in the counters. As my sandal was brand new, I started crying to my mom saying I won’t keep my sandals in an open place, where there are many chances of people stealing it.

My mom and aunts tried to convince me, but in vain. My cousins looked at me so weird. But I was so adamant, so finally they convinced me to keep my sandals below and all others left their sandals over mine and covered totally, so mine was not to be seen from outside. My mom was so ashamed in front of her family members. She warned me “this is a very powerful temple and very powerful goddess, all the devotees come here just for praying not for stealing”.

We finished our prayers and few rituals and went to the Anna-prasad area (it’s the food distribution by the temple for the devotees in most big temples in India). When I was standing in the queue, I noticed all type of people standing from rich to poor (I saw many homeless). The brainless part of me started fighting again with my mom saying I was not hungry, and I will wait outside the food hall.

Second time my mom felt so ashamed for the day. She knew the reason why I was doing so. She gave me a mom look. When we neared the food-hall door, they announced the food was over. Goodness, I thought, was that a punishment! Because my aunt said that has never happened before and we still had an hours’ time for the closing.

So, we all walked back with hunger to the sandals area. I was looking so eagerly from far, and I found all the sandals untouched and I felt so happy. Everyone took their sandals and I was waiting to take mine and alas, the bottom-most my new beautiful sandal was missing. I was shell shocked. I felt my cousins laughing behind my back. My mom told me “I told ya”.

Till now am not sure whether someone was watching us and took the sandals, or something special with the temple, as my mom said because same day two things uncommon happened. Was that a lesson for me “how to behave”. What do you all think? Please post your comments below.

Do you know my mom gave her sandals to me and she walked all the way to the shoe store in that hot summer afternoon for more than a km. I was so mean, or my mom was so sweet? I say all moms are sweet.

Before I say bye for today, I want to say you all, later in my life, I turned out to be nice woman without any attitude, and you will know that’s the reason I am not ashamed to share my teen atrocities.

Have a Great day!

Then and Now

Hi All,

Welcome to my blog.

Hope you will enjoy my scribblings and I will take you through different phases of my life. Many would have faced similar incidents in your life too and you will be driven through all the emotions of happiness, sadness, sobering, anger and so on in this journey.

So why “Then and Now”?

As am in my mid-40s I have grown in every phase of my life and I feel I am halfway through the learnings. I can’t say am totally matured. But as a daughter, sister and mom I have learned many things.

Then – daughter

I was the youngest and I was treated as a princess even though from a middle-class family, I was given more than I wanted in my life. But still, I had so many restrictions. Was always kept inside the circle, can’t decide on own like so. But I didn’t even realize those restrictions, I was very adamant, dreamy with very long hair and a skinny figure.

Then – Sister

I was protected too much. I was watched when I go out to school and college. As teenager,  i am not sure whether I was innocent or scared, every time I get proposal from the boys, I had a habit of elaborating every detail to my kin and I used to feel so relieved.

Now

God, my attitude has changed a lot. I am so independent, decision-maker, working woman, mom and so on. And yes, now I am not scared or shy to talk to the boys who proposed me in my teens. I even share all my teen experiences with my kids. This century kids are wonderful, and they don’t have any issues to talk to their parents about anything.

So, this a brief about me!

Bye until next time!