Life Update 5/2/13

~1: Educational Update ~

• New vocabulary: Berceuse = a lullaby (comes from precise musical terms)

• New grammar fact: So why do we have those weird verbs? Like why do we have saw instead of "seed"? Or sang instead of "singed". Why do we have irregular verbs? They're relics from the past. If you think it's bad now, apparently it was worse in the past. There were many more rules when English got started and many of our irregular verbs are hold overs from 7 types of "strong" verbs. Many verbs were regularized when lots of foreigners learned it. The more often a word is used, the more likely it is to stay irregular. (have, do, am, go, say, will, see, take, get) The ten most common verbs held on to their irregular forms just because they're so common. (It's like biology! The genes that are used most frequently are least likely to get mutations because they have to be conserved! They have to stay working!) And surprise surprise! British people hold onto irregular verbs more than Americans have. And for some reason, occasionally we start reverting back to the irregular verb! (Snuck and lit). 

• New science fact: Onions have antibacterial properties - which makes sense since many compounds produced by plants are produced by the plant specifically to ward off bacteria and fungus. Onions don't want to get eaten by them any more than we do. 

• Language training: Hello = مرحبا (marh hahbin) Goodbye = وداعا (mah salaam)

• Geography training: 
  
  The marked is Brazil and the capital of Brazil is Brasília. Brazil is the fifth largest country with 193 million people. It was originally a colony of Portugal but obtained independence when they refused to be returned to status of colony after Napoleon's invasion of Portugal. Their economy is the world's seventh largest in the world and was a founding member of the UN. Brazil is also one of 17 megadiverse countries in wildlife and environment. 74% are Roman Catholics, Portuguese is their official language, and their current Dilma Rousseff, their first woman president.

• Memorization: "Hope on. Journey on. Honestly acknowledge your questions and concerns, but first and forever fan the flame of your faith, because all things are possible to them that believe." Elder Holland

• History: I'm studying the history of English right now. So starting off I learned that there are three times as many non-native speakers and native speakers of English. That's pretty crazy, but makes sense. English is the international language. I wanted to study the history to find out why we say boxes but oxen and why we have weird things like gnome. English has a massive vocabulary . . . because English has showed a crazy ability to adapt words from other languages into its language. The arrival of the Normans changed almost everything in England, especially linguistically because French became the official language of the English courts. It wasn't until the late 1300's that there was an English monarch that spoke English exclusively. Language isn't about numbers . . . it's about power. A small number of powerful people can force large numbers of people to learn their language. When the Normans took over, English almost became a dialect of French but instead just became a huge language with a huge vocabulary and that marked the transition from Old English to Middle English and now we speak Modern English. And guess what? Shakespeare spoke Modern English because you don't need a translator to read it. You may not understand all the literary parts, but you can get the gist without a translator. The King James Bible is another Modern English writing. The big difference between Middle English and Modern English is the way we pronounce vowels - and that was called the great vowel shift. The Canterbury Tales is an example of a Middle English text (although what we typically read in school is a Modern English translation). The three key components of English are pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. English is a Germanic language because English evolved from an ancient language called Proto-germanic. So it didn't come from German . . . it shared a common ancestor with English. So . . . the further back in time we go, the more it sounds like German since the more related it is to its common ancestor. Beowulf is an example of an Old English text (and once again in school we read a modern english translation). 

• Math progress: I never took Calculus . . . for anything. And I really wanted to. So today I started learning about limits. I'm trying to get a head start and then Naty is going to teach me what he knows (and since he's an engineer . . . . that's a lot). Today I just got the basic concept of limits on Kahn Academy . . . but I aced all the practice questions so hooray! 

~ 2: Moving Update ~

Well, a lot is moved in now. We've got all the furniture placed and most everything is put together. The kitchen isn't done yet (still some plumbing to be done and as I type there's some workers here to put in the counter and sink), so there is a huge pile of boxes in Andrew's office that need to be unpacked. But besides that I've got the bedroom, bathroom, living room, laundry room, and Andrew's office all arranged and unpacked. 

One of our fish didn't make the move. He was fine till we put him in new water and we must have done something wrong 'cause he died pretty much instantly. What a shock to just watch him die. It was a split second and I was very distraught. 

I bought three plants to get my garden started. Mint, Rosemary, and Basil. All herbs I used a lot the last year and wished I had fresh versions of. I think I'm going to try and grow them indoors and plant other things in the outdoor garden. I'm hoping for strawberries and tomatoes although I don't have the rest of the garden planned out.