9 untranslatable Swedish words

About a month ago I gave a lunchtime talk to my colleagues at UIC about funny Swedish words. The words that I chose for the talk either look funny to the eye of an English-speaker, sound funny to the ear of an English-speaker, or are amusing in English translation.  It was a fun talk to give, I was able to field many questions and I received lots of positive feedback!  Here is a video from The Local, which interviewed people in Uppsala, about 9 Swedish words that cannot be translated directly into English.  Enjoy!

In anticipation of boredom…

I just created an account on Twitter.  Yesterday was the start of a long period of anticipated boredom at work.  We are expected to be there, but most of the time, there won’t be much/any work for us to do.  That is the reason for the recent barrage of posts.

Tomorrow, the entire English Language Center will go on an overnight “retreat” where we will combine a few meetings with some fun and relaxation at “southern China’s premier resort”.  Upon returning from the retreat, we have 4 days of exam invigilation and marking.

We’ll see how it all goes…

My upcoming adventure in France

Despite my failure to keep up with this blog during the past year, I am going to keep trying.  With that in mind, I hope, from time to time, to continue to post things to this blog, but I have also decided to create a second blog, which will be dedicated to my experiences in the Teaching Assistant Program in Program in France (TAPIF) between October 1, 2012 and April 30, 2013.  Please visit the new blog at ajzenfrance.wordpress.com!

Make your life count

During my final year at Gustavus, the college adopted the slogan, “Make your life count.”  I wasn’t always especially fond of this, as it seemed to imply that our lives didn’t count before and/or unless we attended Gustavus.  However, I believe the intended message is that Gustavus is a place that encourages and reminds its students and alumni to make the most out of each and every day, to not take things for granted and to not settle; it’s also about the college’s core values, Community and Service, which emphasize the importance of making life better for those around us.  Those are, without doubt, important and positive things for an institute of higher education to emphasize.

Christy shared this video with me today and watching it prompted the above thoughts.  Enjoy!

Europe’s most congested city

“But of course you have to love your cyclists, of course you have to love your pedestrians, of course you have to love the people who use public transport, because they are contributing to the well-being on tons of levels in the city. I mean the traffic is in many places in Brussels at a standstill. Imagine if all the people that were in the metro in the morning took a car instead. Just imagine!”

This isn’t just about Brussels. There is hardly a city in the world that doesn’t face these same problems. Let’s do something about it!

A bit of advice: go against the grain

Just discovered this.  I really like the animation.

Happy Mother’s Day