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tetsunabouquet · 6 months

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Remember when I read an article by a stupid Theology professor who was saying our universities were in favor of the 'white Christian' when our country's main religion that influenced our constitution is protestantism?

I just read another article from that newspaper which is a magazine regarding educational matters and my god, this entire newspaper seems to showcase why our education system has gone to hell.

There is no non-native English speaking country that is so well-spoken and quick to switch in English as The Netherlands, foreigners with experience travelling across the globe tell us so all the time.

But its starting to become a problem in the education system, especially colleges. The primary issue is that its getting to the level where its becoming inaccessible for a Dutch student who isn't particularly skilled in languages. We are already hearing stories of students who cannot actually study at certain colleges anymore because there is no course available for them in our native language.

Our government is now trying to change this, and amongst their plans is forcing international teachers to actually learn the language to a certain standard before they are allowed to teach as our pro-English speaking system has also drawn in a lot of foreign academics.

Who are currently crying discrimination.

Wtf.

How can you get fancy degrees, yet not have the braincells to be like, I'm gonna go teach in another country so how about I learn the language my students speak?'

Also how can you be so selfish as an educator to think your academic aspirations and how they are hindered by not speaking the language is worth more then people's education.

They are complaining about the cost of language classes and lack of time. Again, they should have had the brains to think about that before moving abroad and getting a job.

I cannot believe they have the audacity to demand for free language classes like the international students get. Those kids are paying our colleges for classes, we just give international students a bonus class. Whereas these college teachers are getting paid for their services. Big difference.

I also cannot believe that they demand the government to scrap this requirement because no one else is held to it. Yeah, those aren't educators.

Also the way this one anonymous professor was like, 'most of us actually do want to learn, I don't think forcing us to comply is the answer' is such an idiot!!! Have they never been in a poor area with lots of immigrants before?!

Because of us being so profficient in English, there are plenty of immigrants to be found who barely speak a word of our language despite being here for 10+ years. My Turkish childhood best friend who is the inspiration behind my TWP OC Zeynep? Her mother barely spoke a word Dutch when we were children despite being here for almost 20 years.

My mom was always like, "Just imagine your parent getting an STD and being forced to translate at the doctors office," because that is the case for these immigrants and they have already proven that unless you force immigrants to take language classes almost half of the group still won't be profficient within a decade.

For all their whining about how there are foreign colleges who pay them better and how much money language classes cost, they clearly don't struggle enough with money to actually have to live in a poor area and witness how the immigrants without a fancy degree prove the government's point at how giving people the choice clearly isn't working on a societal level.

I wonder if they will still call it discrimination if they ever get into a complex medical situation and their Dutch doctors doesn't know how to describe a medical term in English.

#tetsutalk #Seriously if you move to a country you gotta learn the language idiot #As shitty as our government is they aren't responsible for your poor decision making #Dutch students deserve to go to college and speak their native language #Do I need to begin about my old neighbor from Sri Lanka who could only have basic conversations in Dutch after 26 years of living here?#We speak English too often #Dutch education #Our education is going to hell #When our educators are more focused on their own academic achievements then they are on their students #Your career is less important then the education system and kids getting to sign up for college #If you don't get that then you shouldn't become a teacher

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caesium-55 · 2 months

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—seven days. [ iii ]

pairing: max verstappen x manager! reader.

summary: as the third time world champion, max verstappen's manager, you function on the belief that whatever max verstappen wanted, max verstappen shall get. but this time, after four years of working as his manager, you can't give him what he wants anymore and that was to stay.

author's note: hi hello welcome to part three. i flunked the quiz. lemme know what you think. NOT BETA READ. NOT EDITED. this chapter kinda sux. can't believe i went through a breakup just last week and i still cant write decent post-breakup scenes.

tags: @whatamidoingwithmylife-ramdom @eugene-emt-roe @bellezaycafe @barnestatic @theseerbetweenus @wcnorris @notyouraveragemochii @lpab hope i didn't forget anyone.

masterlist.

you: *sent a link*

him: ?

him: what's this

you: benefits of crying

you: read it it's enlightening

him: some people do not cry over a breakup you know and that is totally okay

you: why crying helps.

you: 1. tears release toxins, stress hormones to be specific. it is good to let all the bad energy out.

you: 2. it aids sleep. no need for further explanation.

you: 3. crying releases oxytocin and endorphins. i know you don't know what an oxytocin or an endorphin is but they're happy chemicals.

you: 4. crying helps you receive the support you need from the people around you. EMOTIONAL VULNERABILITY is okay, max. stop treating it like an STD.

him: it feels like an std

you: pussy

you: emotional vulnerability is a thing and it's normal so stop trying to be a big strong man when you're barely holding it together.

you: you may look fine now but i know you

him: please stop

you: no

you: 5. crying has a self soothing effect. very nice actually. it activates the rest and digest system.

him: what even is that

you: the parasympathetic nervous system

him: ??

you: this is why you shouldn't have dropped out of high school

you: education is important yknow

you: youre already lacking in three forms of intelligence, academic, emotional n social intelligence

him: fuck you im smart

you: fuck you 2 and yeah you're smart but only in geography

you: you probably can't do your taxes

him: im dutch so the company's account department do it for me by default

him: the american system is just weird

you: cant argue w/ u there

you: also, 6. crying helps restore emotional balance

you: see? you need that

you: yknow now that i think abt it you should consider seeking therapy

him: what makes you think i’m not in therapy right now

you: well have you considered getting MORE therapy?

You stand in front of the body mirror, holding the Red Bull polo shirt against your body to see how it looks on you for one last time. On your right sleeve, the word MANAGER is written in bold, white text. Because that was what you were. Just a manager.

In another universe this is not the shirt that you’d be wearing. The MANAGER would have been ENGINEER. In another another universe where your family has been well-off enough to continuously send you to karting school and you would have been the one driving the fucking car by now.

You know, if Max has even tried talking to Horner and suggested that you should be moved into the engineering team, then you wouldn't be stuck wearing this god-awful polo that burned your skin every time you wore it for work. Everybody reduced you as Max’s American manager and because you are American, most of them kind of just assumed that you're dumb, you know?

Does the world even know how smart you are? That you graduated top of your class, got the best thesis award, and that you had finished your masters just this year? Did they even know that a Japanese car company wanted you on their research team? That a NASCAR team wanted you on board as one of their engineers? Does Max even know?

Fuck no. He only knows that you're the best at ironing clothes and organizing his Google calendar and memorizing his entire coffee order by heart. He knew you're good at extinguishing kitchen fires and kicking ass in YSL Opyum heels. You doubt he knows that you can do Calculus in your sleep.

You can take it if the world puts you down for your appearance. But if the world puts you down because of your intellect? That's a different story. You'll take any insult to the face but not to your intelligence.

You have four days left in Monaco so you have begun packing already. You're right, everything did fit into three suitcases. Also, you haven't told Max yet. For some reason, you’re too anxious. Which is shocking to say the least because you never ever gets anxious when it came to Max Verstappen. You wouldn't have lasted this long working alongside Max if you were a pussy.

Max Max Max Super Max Max—

“[Name] here. Need anythin’, champ?”

Hearing a sob on the other end of the line immediately activates your fight or flight response. Your eyes widen and you toss the Red Bull shirt aside. Your legs leads you to the nearly empty shoe rack stationed beside the front door, grabbing the pair of shoes at the very top of the tiny shelf and throwing them on.

“I’m comin’ there. Hang on, Max. You wait for me, okay?”

He doesn't answer, just continuing to sob and the sound absolutely breaks your heart.

You run to his penthouse at a speed that will even put the RB19 to shame. Not even bothering to knock, you barge in and yell his name in the empty halls of his penthouse. You search in the kitchen. He's not there. The living room. Not there either. The room where his simulations are. Not there. You run to his bedroom upstairs.

The door is locked. Dammit. Panic overflooded your system.

“Max, sweetheart, you there?”

No answer, but you can hear a faint sound behind the door if you press your ear against the wood. Firefighter training covered how to open a fucking door when it was locked so this once again becomes a situation where you're grateful that you did that tiring and borderline suicidal volunteer work.

Max keeps a fire extinguisher inside his penthouse as per your advice. There is one stationed in almost every room inside his house. You knew there is one inside his room and another one just at the end of the hallway. You make a quick run for it and once you have the extinguisher in your hands, you run back to his door.

“Step away from the door!” you instructed while your mind mentally calculates your payment plan as you hit the door knob with so much force, the walls tremble at your strength. You're functioning on pure adrenaline. Your instincts only yell one thing and that is: go to Max. No one and nothing in this world will keep you from him. It isn't long until his bedroom door broke down. With one last final kick, it crumbles down from its hinges and you forcefully pry it open and sprint inside.

Max tucks himself in the tiny space in the corner of his huge bedroom, his knees shoved up to his chest. A 181-cm tall man trying to make himself as small as possible.

This is it. This is the bottled-up emotions he's been storing since Abu Dhabi. You cannot say you have not anticipated this. Max is bound to explode sooner or later.

Panic attacks have made a home in Max’s body since he was a child. That's what one gets when they’re parented by someone like Jos Verstappen. He killed Max’s soul and made the boy a machine and for what? To shape a child into a man, a racer that he wanted to be but failed to become at the cost of Max's mental health and childhood.

When Max looks up with that heartbreaking look on his face, you almost crumble. Almost, because you cannot crumble. Not when Max needs you.

Sometimes, you forget what it took for Max to become the champion that he is today. A childhood sacrificed for his dominance on the tracks. A whole lot of hatred from the people to become a WDC. And now, a love lost for his third consecutive championship.

“You came,” his voice cracks towards the end.

Your eyes soften, “You called, Max. Course I’ll come.”

You barely brace yourself for the impact that is Max’s body wrapping around yours in a tight hug. The man have literally launch himself from the floor to you at sixth gear speed. You stumble backwards slightly, holding his bed for support so the both of you won't fall down.

“Max—”

“No,” he whispers and his grip on your tightens as if he's afraid that you’ll slip away if he even tried to give your lungs space to breathe. “Don't speak. Stay.”

What Max wanted, what Max would get. So you shut your mouth, shuffle slightly so he'll be in a more comfortable position and allow him take whatever he wants from you. This will be the last chance he’ll ever do it anyway because in four days time, you’re flying to Texas.

You stay for what is probably hours in that position. Crumbled together on the floor, leaning against the side of Max’s king-sized bed. Your shirt is completely damp from his tears but you cannot even bring yourself to care about it.

“Your shoes…” It's the first time Max has spoken since the start of his meltdown.

“Hm?” you turn your head and your nose nuzzles against his hair, making you scrunch it up a little. His hair is tickling your nostrils. If you lean a little forward, your lips will meet the skin of his temple.

“They’re mismatched.”

Brows furrowed, your eyes move to your feet and see that Max is right. Your shoes are indeed mismatched. On your left is one of your Adidas slides and the other is your slip-on Skechers. You ran from one building to another in mismatched shoes. Fucking embarassing.

“Ignore them.”

Silence.

“You good now?”

“No.”

“Okay,” you say. “If you want to talk, I’ll listen.”

You hear Max let out a shaky breath, “Just stay for a while. Don't leave me alone.”

“Okay.”

Eventually, you manage to talk Max out of the hug. You're beginning to feel claustrophobic but you do not want to say it out right so you try to negotiate instead. That's how you and Max found yourselves inside his kitchen again. You're trying to replicate your Abuela's cheesecake, which she was known for back in Austin, and Max is…well, he's Max and he’s trying to be helpful in any way he can. If it's some other day, you'd have shoved him out of the way because you prefer working alone in the kitchen. Having eyes on you gives you anxiety. But given today’s circumstances, you do not have the heart to make Max leave so you task him with doing the little stuff like mixing things and throwing shit to the trash can nearby. And he does so splendidly.

“Thank you, by the way.”

“For what, baby?” You internally wince at your own slip of the tongue. Damn that habit of yours of calling people with affectionate call signs. Thankfully, Max seems to have not noticed it.

“For coming here.”

You shrug.

“I only did what you did for me in 2021.”

Again, your breakup with Leo was bad bad. You spent a month crying for a love lost and Max was there for you. For the most part, at least. You want him to focus on winning and winning alone that you pushed him away a lot of times but you appreciated how he was more obedient to your commands, that he held his tongue so he wouldn't piss you off even though he was not liking your words, and that he was considerate of you.

“I hope you won't go into fights though,” you chuckle. “Like I did after my breakup.”

He smiles, shaking his head lightly and you know he's recalling the memory. 2021 is a hilarious year for you, the Red Bull manager. You went viral after getting into a cat fight with a girl and a whole fist fight with her boyfriend.

You and Leo called it quits a week before Monaco and even though it had been four races since then, your heart was still in a quite fragile state at that specific race weekend. One minor inconvenience was enough to ignite a wild blaze of fire within you and nobody could extinguish the flames.

After Silverstone FP1, you were leading Max to the cool down room to brief him with Horner’s relayed instructions and someone had thrown a glass bottle towards the both of you while walking. Originally, Max was the main target of the bottle but you happened to have moved towards the line of trajectory and the bottle landed on your temple, hard enough that you stumbled upon impact.

You barely heard Max’s shocked gasp and shout of panic over the sound of glass shattering on your foot because the only thing you could register was the terrifying feeling of a thick liquid trickling down the side of your face and you didn't even need to see it to know it was blood.

The only thing you saw was red and it was on fucking sight.

Fucking Hamilton fan. Fucking Hamilton. He’s in Max’s way. He’s in your way. He’s the wall that was dividing you from your dream position in the engineering team.

You shoved the iPad you were holding to Max’s hands and marched down to the woman wearing the Merc #44 merch, swiftly jumping over the barricade and grabbing her by the collar of her pristine white Versace top.

The events that followed were too fast. You grabbed her collar. She pulled your hair. You also pulled her hair. Someone pulled her away from you. You tried to grab her, clawing her bare arms with your manicured nails. She screamed. You screamed back. You pulled out some curse words in Spanish as well because cursing her in one language alone is not enough. Her boyfriend appeared. A quick punch to your cheek. You fell to the ground.

The world stood still. There was a sting on your palm because your skin got torn from the hard surface of the concrete ground. You let a bloodcurdling war cry and your Dad would definitely be disappointed at you for using the boxing techniques he taught you for self defense purposes only to fight a guy two times your size.

Everything was a bigger blur from there. But you did remember the sensation of Max’s strong arms around you, stopping you from lunging forward again. He was saying sweet words to your ear to calm you down but your brain failed to intercept them so you could hear the words, could hear his voice, but not understand any of it. You remember Christian Horner's disappointed face that haunted you even two years later. You remembered feeling so terrified as you sat outside Christian Horner’s office waiting for the final verdict while he and Max and a few of the Red Bull higher-ups argued about your future with the team. You remembered hearing Max’s loud snarl on the other side of the mahogany door: “Did you see her face?! There was blood everywhere! On her nose, on her mouth, on the fucking side of her head!” You remembered the girl taking the case to court. You remembered fearing that you’d be sent to jail. You remembered that she lost the case because it was ruled as self defense and your injuries were grave. You remembered discovering that it was Max who used all his power and got the best lawyer to fight your case. You remembered the atmosphere in the Red Bull garage shifting when you entered it a few weeks later and everyone stared the bandages and bruises. Everyone thought one thing: of course, it would also take a monster to manage a monster like Max Verstappen. You remembered Lewis Hamilton, seven-time world champion, apologizing personally for the fight caused by his own fan. He didn't need to but he was so sincere with it that you cried when he handed you the apology flowers. God, how could you even hate this man? Your anger towards him was misplaced.

You’d been living with the guilt ever since, that you were horrifyingly violent for a day, that you were capable of killing for a day. And it could happen again. One day. God, you hoped you wouldn't have to see that day. You knew all your coworkers have been careful with angering you ever since. They're terrified of you even. Max should be, too. But then again, why would he when he already saw the horrors done by his father’s hands ever since he was a child? He was used to it.

“I won't,” he says, smiling at you. “I wouldn't want to add anymore problems for you to clean up.”

But you will not be the one cleaning it up because you resigned. You didn’t tell that to him though. Not right now. He just had a meltdown over Kelly leaving him and the news of his manager leaving him too will destroy him.

The cheesecake is a little burnt when you take it out of the oven but it actually adds more flavor to it so yeah, that's a win.

“We should drink,” you suggest.

“It’s mid-afternoon.”

“We drank at mid-afternoon yesterday,” you give him a blank stare. “With Alex and Charles, remember?”

He doesn't say anything as you make your way to his fridge and pull out two bottles of beer. Max has champagne stored somewhere but you have enough of those expensive champagnes. You need beer. Beer is good. Beer is nice. You're a beer type of person and it is time Max becomes one, too.

“I’m no scientist,” you begin, biting off the beer’s bottle cap. “But according to chemistry, alcohol is solution.”

Well, technically, edible alcohol or ethanol is not a mixture. Rather, it's a pure substance that happens to be a liquid at room temperature and typical atmospheric pressure. Pure ethanol is not a solution. Hard spirits though? That's a solution.

Beer is not a hard spirit. It's more of a fermented drink. But Max doesn't know that, though, so you don't bother explaining the science behind it.

Somewhere down the road, the two of you move to his living room. You use the Youtube app in his TV to search karaoke video and have the bestest time of your lives. You're screaming along some Daddy Yankee and El Alfa songs and Max doesn't know how to speak Spanish so he’s just vibing to it.

At 5 PM, you pull out Max’s expensive vodka bottle. Now this is the real shit. The ten bottles of beer? Those are just pregame. Max is already drunk with just those because he’s a pussy but you’re no pussy, so the only right answer is vodka! Viva la vodka or whatever.

Your throat gets tired of singing and Max gets tired from dancing, too, so you both decide to just go entertain yourselves in other ways. First, you introduced Max to beer-pong. He loses, of course. He sucks at everything not racing. Then, the two of you move onto chess. Max gives up mid-game. He cannot understand the rules. Then, lastly, you move to the billiard table Max owned. He only used it when the other guys are over and you do not even know why he bought it when he sucked at playing billiards.

“You know what Kelly said the morning before the race?” Max suddenly says and you look up at him, brow raising slightly. He’s drunk; his skin is flushed and he is all giggly and smile-y as he sits on the billiard table’s side rail and using the billiard stick as some sort of support stand to keep him from falling. You hope he won't accidentally poke himself. You're no better, too. Ten beer bottles and a few glasses of vodka. But you’re not as drunk as Max, and you still have a straight vision and you can still sink the colored balls into the pockets of the billiard table.

“Hm?”

“That it was unfair for her.”

You raise a questioning brow, “Why?”

“I bought shoes and they don't fit her.”

You blink. He laughs at himself as if he has uttered the funniest joke in the world.

“Three years of relationship gone because of a single pair of shoes,” he continues. “She wanted those shoes, too.”

Kelly….what the fuck?

“But that's okay. She….She made me open my eyes, you know? She made me realize what I truly love.”

“Racing.” It's not even a question. It's the truth.

Max stares at you, long and hard, and you look away first because you fear that if you allow yourself to stare too long, you’ll drown in those beautiful blues. This is enough heartache for the day. No need to add more.

“Hey [Name],” he begins. “If I asked you to kiss me, would you do it?”

#manager!reader #max verstappen x you #max verstappen x reader #max verstappen #f1 x reader #f1 imagines #formula one #fanfic #angst #mv1 #mv33 x reader #mv33

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jinitak · 8 months

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Rant about the book Jom is reading

The book Jom is reading from is Khan Chang Khan Phaen, a Thai literary classic. It is folklore from Siphon Buri and was only written down long after it was conceived.

The story by modern standards is quite problematic, I have summarised the story below but there is a TL;DR below this paragraph;

Khun Phaen (previous name, Phlai Kaeo), Wan Thong (previous name, Pham Phi La Lai) and Khun Chang were childhood friends, Shun Chang is handsome whilst Shun Phaen is balding. Wan Thong would fall in love with Khun Phaen and Khun Chang would fall in love with Wan Thong and they marry but he was sent to command an army to Ching Mai. During his absence, Khan Chang came up with a scheme to get Wan Thong to marry him, by lying that Khun Phaen was killed in action, it worked and Wan Thong was unwillingly married to him. When Khun Phaen came back, he found what happened and tried to get Wan Thong back, despite him finding a wife in Chiang Mai already. He kidnap Wan Thong from Khan Chang, getting a 3rd wife in process. Each side would kidnap Wan Thong back and fourth a couple times which led to a trial by Phra Phanwasa (meaning the Queen mother), the matriarch of the Kingdom, which ended in Wan Thong being executed for not wanting to commit to either men.

TL;DR a woman gets stuck in a love triangle between a man she loved which betrayed her trust and a man she didn't love who treated her well but their relationship was based on lies. In the end she was executed for not committing to a relationship. (Who could blame her to be honest)

Parts of this epic is actually mandated in Thai schools (I had this for one of my Thai midterms, lol) and in the education system, they focus on the literary rather than the historical context behind the epic.

Many scholars such as Sujit Wongthes believe that this epic is actually a story about a fictional hero of the Suphannaphum Kingdom, one of the kingdoms that would become Ayutthaya in the 14th century. The Suphannaphum dynasty would rule Ayutthaya for much of its early history, which might explain how the story is so widespread.

Sujit believes that many aspects of the epic is representative of the early history of the Suvarnabhumi (not the airport) region, such as

Khun Phaen being a name for the Hindu god of creation, Brahma

Khun Phaen's magical sword, the "Fa Fuen" is named after an ancestral god of the Nan and Luang Prabang region.

When presenting the "Fa Fuen" to Phra Phanwasa, she placed it next to the Chai Si sword, which is representative of the Lao-Khmer origins of Ayutthaya.

All in all, Sujit argues that this folklore is more rooted in the ruling classes than the popular folk. This analysis of Khun Chang Khun Phaen is not present in the episode though, as this would ruin the mood of it so much.

But its inclusion even though it seems out of place (Suphan Buri is in the central parts of Thailand whilst the story is set in the north), is actually not that weird. In the period of the series, Bangkok has just had a major reforms to local administration, ditching the Mandala system in favour of western style centralisation based on colonial administration in the Dutch East Indies. This had the effect of Bangkok suppressing Lanna culture and a "Siamisation" of Lanna. Yai's family who I presume is local administrators sent from Bangkok shows this very cleary, he doesn't try to blend in with locals, he speak the central (Siamese) tongue and reads Siamese literature.

The inclusion of this epic rather than using something most Thai people already know to create the scene, it also creates the historical backdrop in which the series is set.

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk. I might talk about Sunthon Phu, which Yai recited whilst drunk and also talk about the historical context behind the series too. Please tell me if you are interested.

#thai bl #i feel you linger in the air

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nardo-headcanons · 5 months

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Iwagakure Worldbuilding Headcanon

yes, it is time. i have been planning to do this ever since i wrote the suna ones. what inspired me to write these? my chem analytics lab practical

People and Culture

Iwagakure is a rather densely populated village, with its country having a rather large population. The citizens of Iwa are often times brutally honest with each other and often work as one big union. The language spoken in Iwagakure sounds similar to Konoha's language, but not quite (Almost like Dutch sounds compared to German). There are many different dialects across different valleys, every one sounding slightly different from the other. This sometimes leads to interesting dialoagues, but they manage. Many foreigners think Iwa citizens don't have a sense of humor, but they do. It's just that it's rather dry compared to what most foreigners are used to.

Infrastructure

A lot of the infrastructure in Iwagakure is made of stone and their architecture is very immaculate and they like using earth style to accentuate their homes. Despite their economy not being the strongest, Iwagakure has a homeless rate of 0% since housing is easy to construct there.

Education

In the Iwa academy, genin are not only taught ninja skills, but basic geology and chemistry as well. Despite Iwa nin being regarded as 'stupid' by outsiders due to their funny accents, they have an extensive education system.

Fireworks

Fireworks in Iwagakure are a special good, and they are very proud of the fact that they invented it. No one really knows how, but the story says that one shinobi of Iwagakure's explosion corps added copper sulphate, rubidium acetate, strontiom sulphate and lithium chloride into their explosive clay, creating a prototype of the fireworks they use nowadays. Using their knowledge of the different minerals and their flame test colors, the earth country's pyrotechnicians are able to create elaborate artworks out of thin scraps.

Clothes

Most clothes are dyed with either natural colorants or colorful chemicals. Most older people prefer the natural dyes from plants, such as ube, purple and orange carrots, etc. The youngsters are more adventurous.

Politics

Much like Suna shinobi, Iwa ninjas had more trust in their tsuchikage than in their own daimyo, however this recently changed due to Oonoki, the third tsuchi-kage hiring mercenaries like the Akatsuki to work behind the other big villages backs. Since the economy of Iwagakure was not the strongest, they often relied on imperialism as well as colonialism to build their economy. In the modern era, this has changed, however, since Iwa and the Earth country in general is the biggest exporter of rare minerals such as, diamonds, pottery, glassware and fireworks.

Flora

The Earth country is a cold and rocky place, with many gushes of wind carrying rock and debris throughout the country, even beyond its borders. The winters of Iwagakure are very cold and harsh and the summers are only mild compared to the fire country, where Konoha is located. There is little to no vegetation, and the vegetation that exists is used for agriculture which has led to many native animals being driven out of their natural habitat.

Fauna

The mountains of Iwagakure are populated by ewes, goats and sheep, which, much like in our world, could not care less about gravity. Another animal that can be found in such large heights is the snow leopard, a symbol of bravery and strength to Iwagakure shinobi. Wolves are also native to Iwagakure, however its citizens have an ambiguous relationship to the canines, as they frequently pillage livestock from the people. It would also be a crime to not mention yaks, the national animal of Iwagakure. Their meat, tar and fur are all highly prized and yak meat serves as a protein source to many Iwa shinobi. When looking up into the sky, eagles, kites, vultures and hawks are no rarity, feasting on any small mammal they might find. Fortunately for all arachno- and insectophobes, Iwagakure's insect and spider population is rather small, the only ones that survive living in such high altitudes either minding their own business or even being useful to its citizens, the iwagakure mountain bees, coming to mind.

Food

Tubers and Root vegetables

The main component of any Iwagakure dish are tubers and root vegetables. Iwa nin actually prefer them over grains as their main source of carbohydrates. The most popular ones are potatoes, purple carrots, parsnips and onions. Often times, ube and ube extract is used as a flavoring agent and colorant for food.

Legumes

Another important stable of Iwa cuisine are beans, which are imported from Sunagakure. The most popular variety are kidney beans, mainly due to their color matching the iwagakure shinobi uniform. In the past there used to be many lectin and cyanide poisonings, until the government stepped in and implemented 'how to properly cook beans' into the education system.

Meat

Most meat comes from either yaks, goats, dear or sheep. Unlike their close allies, Sunagakure, Iwa nin rarely dry their meat and prefer it marinated or jarred.

Sweets

Similarly to Kirigakure, not many manufactured sweets can be found here, however, crispy rice cakes (Iwagakure rock mochi) are a specialty. The most popular filling for these rice cakes is, of course, red bean paste.

#naruto #naruto shippuden #naruto headcanons #naruto imagines #naruto scenarios #naruto fanfiction #akatsuki #headcanons #fanfiction #deidara headcanons #deidara #iwagakure #iwa #naruto worldbuilding #worldbuilding

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reading-comp-posting · 6 months

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I'm from the Netherlands, and the final high school exams for Dutch focus almost entirely on reading comprehension. However, it is tested very poorly, and the only thing the exams seem to be testing is how good students are at doing those particular types of exams. Case in point: every year doctoral scholars of the Dutch language who should pass with flying colors take the exam and typically only barely pass, and authors of texts used in the exam come out contradicting the answer model of the questions asked for their texts.

This is all to say that I think you're doing a better job at teaching reading comprehension than the Dutch education system.

presented without comment

#extra post #ask #not reading comprehension questions

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gildedchoir · 1 month

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rdr high school/modern au.....

featuring only jovier for right now cus im ill someone help me write this

first up is javi duhhh

main facts:

• trans male, 18 y/o, 5'9"

• unlabled, questioning

• has like. four jobs or something

• Javier comes from a relatively poor family, and is used to cutting either corners or his own losses to get by. He values his family and loyalty very much, often going above and beyond for the people he loves the most. Hardworking and diligent, Javier does what he can to make the most out of his situation.

misc:

• really scary resting bitch face

• a little skittish, very concerned about his reputation despite being a little bit of a loner.

• top of all his classes and an honor student. typically keeps his head down in that regard, but internally holds a strong sense of justice - particularly towards the education system.

• the ONLY ONE who willingly puts up with John. not even Abigail wants to deal with him sometimes.

Next up is John

main facts:

• trans male, 18y/o, 5'10"

• the most disastrous bisexual you'll ever meet

• unemployed

• Adopted by Dutch and Hosea, John lives a fairly stable life. He is financially supported by his adoptive parents, opting to rely on their money rather than work for himself. John values being able to live in the moment, often times making less than smart decisions to be able to live up to that ideal. Impulsive, uncaring, and unpredictable, John is always up for a good time.

misc:

• stupid. EXTREMELY stupid. has all his core classes with Javier, so he's always bugging him.

• does not give a fuck about anything at all. lives the high life and is always getting into fights. he doesn't really get consequences, because Dutch and Hosea are office staff members.

• doesn't really smell that bad - he just sweats a lot and his hair gets greasy really fast

• rather self centered. he can never value what he has - he always wants, wants, wants.

Aaaand now some additional doodles cus i can

spoiler alert:

they ruin each others lives lol

#red dead redemption #jovier #rdr2 javier #rdr2 john #rdr1 john #rdr1 javier #red dead au #au #alternate universe #highschool au #modern au #rdr highschool au #someone share my brainworms #please #i beg of you #someone write this with me #pretty please

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maaarine · 1 year

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English is not normal (John McWhorter, Aeon, Nov 13 2015)

“Yet even in its spoken form, English is weird. It’s weird in ways that are easy to miss, especially since Anglophones in the United States and Britain are not exactly rabid to learn other languages.

But our monolingual tendency leaves us like the proverbial fish not knowing that it is wet. Our language feels ‘normal’ only until you get a sense of what normal really is.

There is no other language, for example, that is close enough to English that we can get about half of what people are saying without training and the rest with only modest effort.

German and Dutch are like that, as are Spanish and Portuguese, or Thai and Lao. (…)

We think it’s a nuisance that so many European languages assign gender to nouns for no reason, with French having female moons and male boats and such.

But actually, it’s us who are odd: almost all European languages belong to one family – Indo-European – and of all of them, English is the only one that doesn’t assign genders that way.

More weirdness? OK. There is exactly one language on Earth whose present tense requires a special ending only in the third‑person singular.

I’m writing in it. I talk, you talk, he/she talk-s – why just that?

The present‑tense verbs of a normal language have either no endings or a bunch of different ones (Spanish: hablo, hablas, habla). (…)

The second thing that happened was that yet more Germanic-speakers came across the sea meaning business.

This wave began in the ninth century, and this time the invaders were speaking another Germanic offshoot, Old Norse.

But they didn’t impose their language. Instead, they married local women and switched to English.

However, they were adults and, as a rule, adults don’t pick up new languages easily, especially not in oral societies.

There was no such thing as school, and no media. Learning a new language meant listening hard and trying your best.

We can only imagine what kind of German most of us would speak if this was how we had to learn it, never seeing it written down, and with a great deal more on our plates (butchering animals, people and so on) than just working on our accents.

As long as the invaders got their meaning across, that was fine. But you can do that with a highly approximate rendition of a language – the legibility of the Frisian sentence you just read proves as much.

So the Scandinavians did pretty much what we would expect: they spoke bad Old English. (…)

Old English had the crazy genders we would expect of a good European language – but the Scandies didn’t bother with those, and so now we have none. Chalk up one of English’s weirdnesses.

What’s more, the Vikings mastered only that one shred of a once-lovely conjugation system: hence the lonely third‑person singular –s, hanging on like a dead bug on a windshield.

Here and in other ways, they smoothed out the hard stuff. (…)

Finally, as if all this wasn’t enough, English got hit by a firehose spray of words from yet more languages.

After the Norse came the French. The Normans – descended from the same Vikings, as it happens – conquered England, ruled for several centuries and, before long, English had picked up 10,000 new words.

Then, starting in the 16th century, educated Anglophones developed a sense of English as a vehicle of sophisticated writing, and so it became fashionable to cherry-pick words from Latin to lend the language a more elevated tone. (…)

One result was triplets allowing us to express ideas with varying degrees of formality. Help is English, aid is French, assist is Latin.

Or, kingly is English, royal is French, regal is Latin – note how one imagines posture improving with each level: kingly sounds almost mocking, regal is straight-backed like a throne, royal is somewhere in the middle, a worthy but fallible monarch.

Then there are doublets, less dramatic than triplets but fun nevertheless, such as the English/French pairs begin and commence, or want and desire.

Especially noteworthy here are the culinary transformations: we kill a cow or a pig (English) to yield beef or pork (French).

Why? Well, generally in Norman England, English-speaking labourers did the slaughtering for moneyed French speakers at table.

The different ways of referring to meat depended on one’s place in the scheme of things, and those class distinctions have carried down to us in discreet form today. (…)

Thus the story of English, from when it hit British shores 1,600 years ago to today, is that of a language becoming delightfully odd.

Much more has happened to it in that time than to any of its relatives, or to most languages on Earth.”

#article #science

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repulsedrook · 5 months

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gonna start talking about the dutch education system the same way USAmericans assume their names for years are universally understood. Yeah this character is a 5th year VWO student, he's struggling through secondary school. What's a middle/high school, and why is there no low school, then? sounds fake, unlike onder/bovenbouw.

#saw one too many posts talking about sophomores or whatever and got tired

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laytonsartblog · 9 months

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Jasmine The Informant (TF2OC)

Here’s some more of my one and only Jasmine, the wonderful Informant!

I’m gonna add more on her in the form of a file summary, redacted for the sake of privacy and confidentiality:

Her name is Jasmine [REDACTED], born on ##/##/21 in [REDACTED], United States. Her home life was fine, and in some cases more open than her peers, if not distant. Encouraged by her father to expand her intelligent mind, she went to the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry in 1939 and received a PhD in Library and Information Science in 1947. In her final year at university, Jasmine would have a fling with one of her classmates: a man named David [REDACTED], and in 1947 was born her daughter [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. Jasmine raised her as a single mother for eight years before being contacted by The Administrator to replace the old Informant. She took the job on the condition that [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED], in exchange, she would [REDACTED REDACTED]. The Administrator agreed. In 1955, she officially became The Informant and has been working on the job ever since.

And here’s a list of things about her and her life:

• Her daughter, of whom you may know is named Mary, is an activist, and an organization leader for her service The Simple House, a nonprofit group dedicated to housing, educating, and caring for children. She has a side job at a restaurant as a waitress. She also graduated with an associate’s degree at the same college her mother went to for business with a minor in sociology

• While she can’t hack, she has incredible memory and often only needs to see someone type in a password once in order to replicate it. The same goes for organization systems, language, etc

• Speaking of language, she dedicates herself to learning every language that the Teams can speak. So far she knows Russian, French, Spanish, and German fairly well, though not at any fluent level. Catalan and Dutch are on her list.

• Her job is mostly like an archiving/IS job when she has free time, though most of the time she is tasked with making sure no one is contacting the outside world unless cleared and preventing any spread of information that leaks. This can lead from reporting any suspicious creations by the Engineer or Demoman that might work as a radio, removing any phone or computer not connected to the Administration’s network (looking at you, Spy), and following the Sniper to his phone calls to his parents. She is the one that writes down every recorded conversation and stores it safely away. She also occasionally helps Ms. Pauling on field missions, though mostly on information retrieval.

• Ms. Pauling views Jasmine like some grumpy aunt that mostly complains about her work and spills any gossip she hears around the office or team members.

Okay… silly fact time

• She is ambidextrous

• She hates any and all gerbils

• She eats a banana with jelly and peanuts on top every morning and washes it down with black coffee. She says it’s nutritious

• If you put sugar or milk in her coffee she will kill you. If you give her decaf as a prank she will ACTUALLY kill you

• She has one of those mini toolkits on her at all times and will freak out if she can’t find it

• She only ever had a pet cat and that thing hated her almost as much as she hated it. She only bought it for her daughter. His name was Donald.

• She only talked to Spy once. She almost throttled him when he asked her if she was single

• Her favorite color is a nice minty green

• She is so tired. All of the time. She sleeps a maximum of 6 hours a night, usually 4

• She is a bisexual mess. She’s fantasized many times having one spicy night with Helen. Look man don’t judge her she admires the ferocity and power what do you want

• She is genuinely awful at combat. Terrible. She stays fit and acrobatic to sneak around, but ask her to fight Scout and she’ll end up on her ass in two seconds

Aaand that’s it. I invite any and all propaganda, fanart, etc, for the @tf2shipswag OC tournament! Can’t wait to see how far she gets!

#tf2ocpropaganda #tf2octourney #tf2 oc #tf2 oc art #my art #The Informant

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cygninae · 3 months

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So this is really random, and no one asked for this, but have my nationality headcanons for a whole load of asoue/atwq characters.?? No real explanation for these hcs, it's just how I imagine the characters ! :) (might throw in some extra hcs along the way because why not.)

P.S I'm quite fascinated by the history of the colonisation of America and the patterns of immigration that occurred thereafter, which is partially why I'm making this post. However, I'm not American and have never received actual American education so I'm sorry if I am miseducated in any regard.

Sugar bowl gen

Esmé Squalor is British/Syrian

HC: she is a first generation immigrant to the USA when the events of the books take place. Her mother was Syrian and her father British. She has a twin brother who disagreed with her involvement in VFD and left the USA to go back to England once they were of age. She hasn't seen him since they were teenagers.

Jerome Squalor is British-American

HC: His parents immigrated to the USA from England before he was born.

Bertrand Baudelaire is French

HC: He is a first-generation immigrant and went to the USA on his own after the death of his parents.

Beatrice Baudelaire is American

HC: By the time she was born, her family had been in the USA for many generations. Some British and Irish ancestry.

The Snicket siblings are Chinese-American

HC: the Snicket siblings are second-generation immigrants to the USA. Both of their parents were Chinese.

Mrs (headcanoned first name Marzia) Quagmire is Italian-American

HC: she is a second generation immigrant. She grew up in a household that primarily spoke Italian.

Mr (headcanoned first name William) Quagmire is American

HC: like Bea, his family had been in the USA for many generations before his birth. British and Dutch ancestry.

Count Olaf is German-American

HC: Olaf is a second or third generation immigrant. His family were very wealthy but went to ruin and ran away to the USA. He still insists on keeping his ancestral title despite this.

Montgomery Montgomery is Pakistani-American

HC: Monty is a second-gen immigrant. He had three siblings who all moved across the USA once of age, but he made an effort to keep in touch with them and their extended family in Pakistan.

Ellington Feint is Chinese-American

HC: Ellington is a second-gen immigrant. Her father was American with British ancestry and her mother was a first-gen Chinese immigrant.

Captain (headcanoned first name Rory) Widdershins is Irish-American

HC: a third-gen immigrant who grew up very disconnected from his heritage due to being in the foster system.

Fernald "Widdershins" is Moroccan/American

HC: him and his sister Fiona (and theorised sister Friday) had an American mother and Moroccan father. Their father left before they were born and mother left when Fiona was young, so they were raised by Widdershins. They know very little about their heritage.

Moxie Mallahan is American

HC: her family had been in the USA for many generations before her birth. Distant British and Dutch ancestry.

Arthur Poe is American

HC: Poe and his wife both had generations of family in the USA. He has some Dutch ancestry.

Josephine Anwhistle is American

HC: her family had also been in the USA for many generations. She had distant Irish ancestry. She made effort to reconnect with her ancestry in some regards.

Ike Anwhistle is American

HC: Ike, too, had family for generations in the USA. Canonically in the books, he is the second cousin of one of the Baudelaire parents (I hc him on Bea's side of the family) so in my headcanon, his ancestry is British/Irish. His brother, Gregor, is obviously the same.

The Denouement triplets are American

HC: the triplets are third-generation immigrants with British and Dutch ancestry. Mother's side British and father's side Dutch. There had been plans to raise the triplets in England, but a mysterious friend of their mother convinced them to stay in the USA for reasons unknown...

Unfortunate Gen

The Baudelaire children are French-American

HC: Bea is American and Bertrand French, as stated above. They grew up speaking both languages fluently.

The Quagmire triplets are Italian-American

HC: their mother is Italian and their father American. Their mother and her parents made sure they grew up speaking Italian.

Fiona Widdershins is American/Moroccan

HC: As stated with Fernald above, her biological father was Moroccan, although her and Fernald never knew him nor that they were Moroccan.

Carmelita Spats is Dutch-American

HC: Carmelita is a fourth-generation immigrant and she has little connection to her ancestry due to not being in contact with her family anymore.

Beatrice Baudelaire II is Chinese-American

HC: as Kit is her mother, she has her ancestry, of course. I am personally a fan of the theory that Olaf is her father, not Dewey, so in this post, we'll say that his ancestry plays here too...

Ben (Violet's friend) is American

HC: Ben is American with British and Native American ancestry.

Well, I've probably missed about a million characters, but there it is ! This is a super random post but I just felt like I might as well post some headcanons for the hell of it. Always love to hear other people's headcanons for Snicketverse characters. Thanks if you read all the way to the end, I love you

#asoue #lemony snicket #a series of unfortunate events #vfd #atwq #unfortunate gen #sugar bowl gen #headcanons #my headcanons #hcs

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