Miserable Sick Cat

 

If you have a pet, sometimes you need to go to a veterinary clinic.

             One day I visited such a clinic with my cat. I was sitting in the waiting room. Then a miserable sick cat was taken by the owner. The cat looked like it might have vomited blood. The area around its mouth was bloody red. It might have also had sick eyes. The upper side of its face was unnaturally blue.

I was really worried about the cat. If my cat had the same disease, could I still love my cat?

Then the nurses in the veterinary clinic looked at the cat and laughed. I was shocked. How could they laugh at the miserable sick cat?

The cat’s owner said, “I put makeup on her.”

The red around her mouth was lipstick. The blue around her eyes was eyeshadow. I felt relieved. There was no miserable sick cat.

 

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Picture by MM Memo 

Relaxing Atmosphere

 

A friend of mine is a designer, but he was a chef in a French restaurant when he was young. I thought he had a unique career.

It might have been difficult for him to become a French chef. He might have studied for a long time. He might have spent so much time and effort. Why did he quit such a great job? One day I asked him this question.

He answered, “As a French chef, I needed to work on holidays. I hated it.”

I said, “But a chef can rest on weekdays. On weekdays, there are not many people at resorts. You could enjoy resorts without crowds.”

He answered, “That was the part I hated most. I can’t relax at a resort without crowds.”

I finally get the idea. There are many people at resorts on holidays, but having a lot of people at these resorts can be relaxing.

I have had experience as a stage actor. If an actor got nervous, the other actors started to feel nervous. Nervousness might be infectious. On the other hand, relaxation might also be infectious. If you go to resorts on holidays, you can mingle with many relaxed people. You might feel relaxed.

Dear theatrical friends, I know it is difficult for you to have days off on holidays. If you can, please have a day off on a holiday. Please visit a resort. There might be many people who might infect you with their relaxation.

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Wandering Intermediate Learner

I am studying foreign languages. I have heard the term “wandering intermediate learner.” This means that intermediate learners often have a difficult time learning.

If you start to study a foreign language, it is easy to find a textbook for beginners. It is also easy to find a classroom for beginners. In general, it is easy to start. However, for intermediate learners, the learning process suddenly becomes difficult. Most bookstores don’t have enough textbooks for intermediate learners. You can buy a foreign book from a foreign country, but if you can read the foreign book without a dictionary, then you are not an intermediate learner; you are an advanced learner.

If you are lucky, then you can find a textbook for intermediate learners. If the textbook is very interesting, then you are super lucky. In most cases, this does not happen. Most intermediate learners might have different fields of interest. If the textbook writer wrote material that is interesting to you, then the book might be interesting to you. If the writer wrote about topics that you are not interested in, then the book might be boring.

I have taken the TOEFL many times. It’s a test for students who want to study at a university in the United States. In my time, I was sure there was a test writer who was really interested in desert animals. In the TOEFL, there were many stories about desert animals. Of course, I was not interested in this. I was not so lucky.

It is difficult to find a class for intermediate learners. I think the most difficult part of such a class is that there are too many classmates at different levels in the class. Some students are almost beginners, while others are almost advanced learners. It is very difficult to study in the same classroom.

I recommend taking one-on-one classes. You can have a teacher for yourself, but this might be expensive. Furthermore, it might be bad if you and the teacher don’t work well together. Overseas study is another good idea, but it is more expensive. You have to leave your family and friends for a while. It might be difficult for some people.

Another difficulty for intermediate learners is maintaining motivation. Beginners start to learn because they have extra time and effort. They can easily feel themselves developing, and they have many opportunities to find the best results.

Intermediate learners have a long way to go to become advanced learners. They don’t have enough self-development opportunities. This might be because of the competition, the memorizing speed, and the forgetting speed. Some friends who start studying together might quit. If you temporarily quit studying, it is easy for you to forget everything.

An old Chinese saying goes, “Persons get old easily, and it is difficult to learn.” I am talking about studying a foreign language, but one can say the same thing about other fields. It is easy to begin, but it is difficult to continue.

I can say just one thing. If you keep studying, you might be an intermediate learner who can become an advanced learner.

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Picture by Cyclone