365 Adventures In A Year

Adventure 31 ~ Introducing Inuktitut And The First Guest Adventurer!

/ intrepidjane

It’s the last day of my first month of adventure and I’m really going for it today! You’ll see that there are 3 videos in today’s post : the first is my adventure for today ; the second is a review of what I’ve learned from my adventures so far; and the third is a submission from my first “guest adventurer”, David Orchard!

Today’s Adventure ~ I’ve really enjoyed my language-learning adventures and I wanted to stretch myself today. So guess what I’m going to do? (Okay, you’ll never guess. Not in a million years.  So I’ll tell you 😛 ) . Today I’m going to learn how to describe the parts of my head in Inuktitut. Inuktitut is the language spoken by the Inuit living in the eastern part of the Canadian Arctic. To make it even more exciting, I’m going to learn a specific dialect : Inuinnaqtun. This dialect is spoken in Qurluqtuq, Iqaluktuuttiaq and Ulukhaqtuq. I used a fabulous resource to help me with this adventure (and you can compare how I got on with the vocabulary resource there too 🙂 ).

What I’ve Learned From My Adventures So Far ~ I knew this project would be fun but I just didn’t realise how much I’d learn! I’m musing about my first month of adventures here :

January’s Guest Adventurer ~ David, who lives in France, really knows how to dive right into adventure 🙂 “For my job I am lucky to be able to travel to many different parts of the world and I have had many adventures along the way, notably in China and Colombia. But the idea of adventures on my doorstep intrigues me because often we miss the amazing things right in front of us. After reading “The Four Hour Body” by Tim Ferriss I knew I wanted to experiment with cold water. So this is the beginning something new. And my dog thinks it is great as well.”  You can follow more of David’s adventures here

Watch his January “cold water swimming” adventure here :

I am just going outside and maybe some time.

JT

Adventure 30 ~ How To Count To 10 In Japanese

/ intrepidjane

Today I’m keeping yesterday’s adventure theme going by attempting to learn to count to 10 in Japanese. I found a really helpful guide to pronunciation here.

I am just going outside and may be some time 🙂 .

JT

Adventure 29 ~ How To Write My Name In Japanese

/ intrepidjane

For today’s adventure I decided to see if I could learn to write my name in Japanese. It’s absolutely amazing what you can find on the internet these days : sure enough, there’s a 37-second tutorial on YouTube entitled “How to write Jane in Japanese“. How brilliant is that? (By the way, there are all sorts of names on the E-Japanese Channel if you’re curious how to spell your name in Japanese too!)

I watched the tutorial 3 times and then gave myself 1 minute to memorise the characters and their locations. You can compare how well I did with the YouTube tutorial but I think I got it right ~ more or less 🙂

Here’s me writing my name from memory :

Kanji JaneI am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 28 ~ How To Tie A Maedate Knot

/ intrepidjane

maedate knotIn 47 years, I’ve never tried macrame and so today’s challenge is a decorative knot-tying adventure!

I have chosen to learn how to tie the Maedate Knot . This knot was inspired by the kuwagata, or twin-horned crest, of the samurai helmet.

I followed this brilliant (and very short) YouTube tutorial which also gives more fascinating information about the origins of this knot.

Watch me in action with a piece of old climbing rope here 🙂 ~

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 27 ~ How To Taste Chocolate Like A Pro

/ intrepidjane

Today, I thought it would be a real treat for me to learn how to taste chocolate like a professional. As my coffee-tasting adventure was so interesting, I was really looking forward to what today’s adventure might bring.

If you’re interested in learning how to taste chocolate in this way, you can find a really comprehensive guide here.

How did I get on?

I am just going outside and may be some time 🙂 .

JT

Adventure 26 ~ This Trick Is A Triumph

/ intrepidjane

Today I’m trying my hand at learning, and performing, a new type of magic trick. This type of card trick is known as a “triumph”.

Can you work out how it’s done?

I am just going outside and I may be some time 🙂 .

JT

Adventure 25 ~ Speaking The Local Dialect

/ intrepidjane

I’ve been living in Northern Ireland for 2 and a half years now and I’ve learned a whole new language in that time! For today’s adventure I’m going to see if I can speak for a minute using words from the local dialect 🙂 .

The language in the area in which I live is heavily influenced by Ulster Scots and many of the words you’ll hear me speaking find their roots in the Scots language. There are also words which find their roots in the Irish language.

I’ve put a translation key below the video (and you can follow the link here for more etymological details. Just scroll down for a table of words and their roots 🙂  )

Bake ~ mouth / Boke ~ vomit /

Clarried ~ mucky / Cowp ~ tip / Culchie ~ farmer

Footer ~ mess about ; waste time

Gutties ~ training shoes

Hoak ~ search for

Hot press ~ airing cupboard

Prooties ~ potatoes

Scunnered ~ hacked off; annoyed / Sheugh ~ ditch / Stoor ~ dust

Tare ~ loads of / Throughother ~ a mess ; messy

Weechel ~child / What about ye? ~ How are you?/ Wheen ~ several; a few

Yous ~ you (plural)

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 24 ~ How To Sing Overtones

/ intrepidjane

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to report that not only have I submitted my tax return but I’ve also paid my tax bill! (That rap really worked 🙂 )

I feel so good, I could sing.  So I’m going to do just that! Todays’ adventure sees me trying my hand at overtone singing (sometimes called harmonic singing or throat singing).

I followed a 5-minute You Tube tutorial for beginners. To optimise acoustics, I took myself into the bathroom. I had to keep the light off because it is attached to a very noisy fan – that’s why it’s so dark 🙂

I recorded my first attempt. You have to listen very carefully but you can actually hear the overtones (they are like a whistle above the “drone”of my voice). A little more practice  (and a “tighter” aperture) might be required but the tutorial did seem to work!

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT

Adventure 22 ~ You Say It Best When You Say Nothing At All

/ intrepidjane

Let’s get straight to it today! For today’s adventure I’m going to attempt to speak for a minute , sound like I’m saying something really important but actually say nothing  at all!

This was quite challenging because as I was  speaking, I was thinking “this is easy, this sounds like utterly meaningless , but important,  gibberish”. However, when I listened back, I began to make meaning  : us humans just can’t help ourselves when it comes to making meaning!

What do you make of my profound non-message ? 😛

I am just going outside and may be some time 🙂

JT

Adventure 21 ~ Eminem Versus My Tax Return

/ intrepidjane

If you were a spy and needed to get state secrets out of me, all you’d have to do is threaten me with my tax return and I’d talk. Anything but my tax return!

In the UK, the deadline for submitting our tax returns to the HMRC (IRS) is fast approaching. It’s not  something that I ever look forward to but it is something that just has to be done. Today I was “knuckling down to it” when the ridiculous thought occurred to me : “you might be able to have fun doing your tax return!” An adventure had announced itself from the piles of invoices and mileage records – and I was up for the challenge 🙂 .

Please enjoy my tax return rap! I don’t think I’ll attract a record deal but do feel free to nominate me for an Ivor Novello award (I think the lyrics are rather powerful 😛 ). The experience brought me genuine joy : an hour after making my video, I am still glowing inside. I am still giggling too.

I am just going outside and may be some time.

JT