Ice

Out on my jog/walk today and saw ice puddles. Made something of it and, well, there it is. Not really good though… I have to blame the wind. It was really difficult to get sharpness with the iPhone.

Good day at work today. Learnt more Kurdish before turning the table and doing what I'm supposed to do: help out with Swedish. I now have 4 teachers in Kurdish and feel really lucky!!
At the end of my day I sat with a young woman I haven't spoken so much with before. We trained some Swedish and then begun talking about culture. I told her about the first time I'd gotten a compliment from a Kurdish man, that he told me I was a flower. I didn't really get that and I think I looked rather confused. Flower? Plant? Or…? We giggled about that and laughed even more when I told her about me being called a gazelle and that I first thought I was being called a cow… didn't feel really flattered then…I mean… cow?? Then I learnt that being called a gazelle is something really, really nice. She explained more of that to me and I now know what a great and fantastic compliment it is. We laughed a lot about this. Before I knew about this 'animal code' I joked with a friend at work and called him a fish. He looked a bit skeptical that time but continued to tell me that he'd been in the water for ages until his skin was all wrinkled. So I joked some more and said: You see: fish!! I have no idea if I insulted him…But, since he gave me a big smile I think he knew that I didn't mean what ever it meant to be called a fish... Next time I will ask before I make an animal joke...
This is what I love about meeting people from different cultures… It enriches my life in abundance.