Monday, January 28, 2013

Pearson Brown English Lesson - just

Just

Just can be used as an adjective. It is related to the idea of  ’justice’ and usually means ‘proper’ or ‘correct’.
  • He is a just man.
  • I think their punishment was just.
There is an expression just deserts which means that someone got the punishment they deserved.
  • Twenty years in prison? I think he got his just deserts
There is also an adverb form justly
  • He has been justly praised for all his work for charity. 
However, we are mainly concerned in this lesson with the adverb just.

Just can mean ‘exact’.
  • You look just like your father,
  • That is just what I was looking for.
  • It’s just like Steve to be difficult.
Just can mean ‘nothing more than’.
  • Just do what I say.
  • Just a quick word.
  • I have just met him a few times
  • You will just have to be patient.
Just can be used for emphasis and then means ‘completely’.
  • It’s just amazing what he has done.
  • I just can’t believe it. 
Just can mean ‘a small amount’.
  • I had just enough time to talk to her before I left.
  • I just missed him. He had only gone a few minutes before I got there.
  • It should take just over an hour to get there.
Just can also mean ‘a small distance’.
  • My office is just down the corridor.
  • There is a good restaurant just around the corner.
  • The Spanish border is just south of Ceret.
Just with a past tense can mean ‘very recently’.
  • I was just trying to phone you.
  • I have just seen him. 
Notice that just is used with a Present Perfect in British English but frequently with the Past Simple in American English.
  • She’s just arrived.
  • She just arrived.
  • We have just been talking about it.
  • We were just talking about it.
With progressive forms, just can mean ‘in the immediate future’.
  • I was just going to bed when you called.
  • I am just coming.
With the present tense, just means ‘now’.
  • I am busy just at the moment. Can you call me back later?
  • I can’t do that just now.
Here are some useful expressions.
Just about means ‘almost’ or ‘nearly’.
  • Henry seems to have just about finished his project.
  • I have had just about all I can take from my boss. I am thinking of resigning.
Just a minute/second/moment is used to stop the movement or the speech of somebody.
  • Just a moment. Where do you think you are going?
  • Just a second. Say that again.
Just as has the idea of ‘same as’.
  • He is just as unpleasant as his wife.
  • Just as I anticipated, he left before finishing the work.
Just as well means that it is good that something has happened, even if it wasn’t expected.
  • It is just as well that you found out now that he is unreliable.
  • It is just as well that I didn’t take that job as the company has gone into liquidation.
Just like that means ‘suddenly’.
  • A big thunderstorm started just like that. We all got soaked.
  • He was here a moment ago. Then he vanished just like that.
Just the thing  means that something is perfect or the best.
  • I have just the thing you need to help you sleep better.
  • That rose is just the thing to put in your hair.
Not just yet is similar to ‘not yet’ but suggests that the action will be finished soon.
  • I haven’t quite finished reading his report just yet.
  • Lunch? Not just yet. Give me five minutes.  
Not just is similar to ‘not only’.
  • She’s not just a colleague, she’s a good friend.
  • It’s not just an ordinary birthday, it’s your 50th
Exercises: 
http://englishgrammarsecrets.com/just/exercise1.swf
http://englishgrammarsecrets.com/just/exercise2.swf
http://englishgrammarsecrets.com/just/exercise3.swf
http://englishgrammarsecrets.com/just/exercise4.swf

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Old memories

Woke up at 8:30 am and picked up my parcel at post office after breakfast.
I've ordered a red mini-cooper wireless mouse for my cousin as his birthday present.
It costs me about 50 EUR, but I don't care because precious moments are pricessless.
(However, the product slightly dissapoint me because it doesn't really meet my expectation. It just looks nice on the ad, but in fact the quality isn't as good as it seems... )
I really enjoy seeing the scene when  joy written all over the faces of those who I love.
That's the reason why I am willing to spend more money for buying presents instead of purchasing something for myself.
Giving out gifts brings me lots of joy and the happiness doubled.

At 10 am I started to vacumm the cellar, ground floor and first floor.
I didn't do any further cleaning up jobs but the vacumm alone took up one and a half hour!
Somehow some old memories before CNY conjure up...
As kids, we used to help our mother CNY preparation.
We wrote greeting cards, decorated our house with red packages and any CNY-related articles, wiped the dusts, cleaned our rooms etc. etc.
I can still remember how the task of changing cushion covers revulsed me...
But now I miss those days and I really hope that I can offer my mum a helping hand now!

Mum seemed to be under stress whenever CNY is approaching.
We couldn't help her preparing the plentiful complicated NY eve dinner, so we always tend to behave ourselves so that mum wouldnt have a chance to erupt. XD
The weather is usually incredibly hot during CNY.
On the first day of CNY, we would visit our dearest aunt who just lives 2 blocks away from us.
In the afternoon, we would drive back to our grandma's house and there we met the whole bunch of relatives (which consist of 10 uncles and aunts, uncountable cousins!)

I tried to avoid friends gathering whenever I could.
It is not that I dont like my fellows, but they visited from house to house doing nothing but gambling...:(
I dont like gambling and we have nothing much to talk about except their jabberwockies...
I prefer to stay at home watching TV, enjoying NY delicacies with my family.

It is sad to think about that....I couldnt even have a CNY eve dinner with them, my heart aches.
Hubby would say it is up to me whether to fly back to CNY, but since I have my own job here, I cant be that wayward and simply proceed on what I like to do. I am no longer a little girl, I have various roles to play in my life.

Deep in my heart, I have make a wish.
If I have my own child in the future, I would like to bring my child back to Malaysia during CNY until he or she admit school....

Friday, January 25, 2013

Friday Night but No Fever

Thanks God, it's Friday!
But my weekend makes no different for me since hubby is away for his scout activity from Friday to Sunday night.
Actually we stay at home most of the time during weekend especially in winter, (maybe just for a brisk walk to the nearest backery to savour a piece of cheese cake) but I feel comfotable with his companion, even though we are doing our own chores.

Feel like going out for a coffee? I don't want to disturb friend's family day. Furthermore, except Connie I don't feel like contacting any other friends in Munich.
Feel like going out for shopping? I'm sure the tour will end up in vain because I am too indecisive, and the main reason is, I am ALONE.
Feel like going out for a walk? Gee...my body automatically recoil from the piercing cold weather.

So, I decided to do some winter cleaning at home just to kill my time.
It is again another week, time flies like an arrow and sometimes I think that I am wasting so much time by being simply uproductive...

Thursday, January 24, 2013

register for postal vote

It surprised me when I came across an article posted by somebody in FB, knewing that I am actually allowed to apply as postal voter for the coming general election.
I have to admit that I am quite ignorance when it comes to politic, not even sure whether this is the first time our government agreed to "grant" us, those oversea Malaysians, the right to vote by post.

First of all, I have to fulfill three conditions which I think they are reasonable.
1. I must be a Malaysian (which means I am holding Malaysia passport)
2. Already a registered voter. (To be honest, I just voted for once, but the matter helps me to fulfill this particular condition)
3. I had been in Malaysia for not less than 30 days within 5 years. (why 5 years, because the last election was held 5 years ago)

However, it seems like today is not my day.
After filling up the form, I tried to fax it, but it doesnt work.
Then I tried to scanned it and decided to email it, but the scanned pages turned out to be blank.
Argg..!!! When it comes to technology, seems that I dont have much chance on it.

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sunday jaunt - Geocaching

It was a fun family outing despite the chilling minus 4 Celcius weather!
Hubby gave Papa a not-too-cheap GPS device as birthday and Christmas present 2 years ago hoping that Papa will have some fun with it.
Unfortunately Papa hasn't have the chance to operate it and of course, he hasn't explore the fun of using it.
So, hubby decided to organise a 'Geocaching' day out with him by using GPS system.

Geocaching becomes one of the famous outdoor activities here in Germany.
It is kind of treasure-hunt like activity which doesn't cost you anything, yet brings lots of excitement and joy for the participants.
According to Wikipedia, Geocaching is first played in May 2000.
To start your mini venture, you need to register yourself at the website (which is free of charge) and look for the places where the 'treasure' is located.
There are different levels and we choose the easiest one in the vicinity of our house.
The more difficult levels require participant to solve some questions.
The easiest one functions like following:

After we have choosen the location, we got a coordination code which shows the exact location of the treasure.
We simply need to go there and look for the treasure.
For beginners, you can also look it up in Google Maps before you go and hunt for it without GPS device.
It wasnt as easy as we though, but since it was the easiest level, we were still able to find it out within half an hour.

The so called treasure is actually a little Tupperware box which contain a lot of other small things which left by the former participants who found it.
There is also a small notebook where all the participants who successfully completed their task write down their name and date as memory.

I was the one who found the box. :)
It was hidden in a hole between 2 big trees covered with leaves and snow.
We are glad that both Papa and Mama were content with the game and family outing....

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Upset

Today morning I offered hubby a helping hand translating a few short german passages into english.
It was a scout meeting protocol drafted by Julia and it wasn't difficult at all to understand it even in the original language.
However, the translation has upset me when I realised that I couldn't produce a proper text in english!
Even the infamous Google Translate seems to offer better suggestions than what I thought.

I was so demotivated since language is my only skill I possess. (Feel ashame as typing this line though...)
Everybody consoles me. saying that it is totally normal because I am living in a foreign country which dont require any use of english.
I dont feel any better, even tough I know it is simply a "normal" phenomen.

Oh je, Saturday morning, and I realise my english is retrograding...

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Listen!

The video of domineering Miss Listen and brave Uni student Miss Bawani goes viral in internet unexpectedly and now becomes the hittest topic in the town.
The arrogant and aggresive attitude of the female speaker Miss Listen exasperates lots of Malaysian and they demanded Miss Listen to apologise to Miss Bawani (which I think on no account will she yield to the pressure from outside).

The lecture was held by one of the student domitories in UUM discussing some political outbreaks and the role of Uni student in political field.
Bawani, a second year law Indian student, was irritated starting from the beginning of the lecture since the speaker considered Bersih Rally as illegal and despised the supporters of Bersih.

During Q and A section, Bawani raised some questions and the speaker Sharifah tried to stop her from speaking by demanding her to "listen", which Sharifah repeated for not less than 10 times according to the video.
Bawani refused to bow to Sharifah and keep continuing asking her question.
Her act has obviously annoyed Sharifah who has very low EQ and even under the watchful eyes of all audiences Sharifah snatched the microphone from Bawani.

I wonder how could people (bitch) like Sharifah who respect a foreign word for her is qualified to be a lecturer or speaker on this kind of events.
Feel ashamed of those rude and aggresive reactions from Sharifah!

Saturday, January 12, 2013

KL112 Rally

Heard that the People's Uprising Rally KL112 ended in peace and without violence.
Downtown KL is swamped by about 100 thousand participants which consists of people from all walks of life without taking ages, races, religions, cultures, backgrounds and etc in to account.

I'm greatly touched and impressed by those photos uploaded by the participants in FB.
Although I am not able to present myself there physically, but I am always with those who strive after a cleaner and fairer government, both mentally and spiritually.


The unprecedented success of Rally KL112 shows that our people (including myself) have finally awaken to the corrupted and errant government.
Thanks to advanced technologies and uncensored net, we are no longer blindfolded by main streamed media and government. That's why the rally is named as "People's Uprising".

We love our country and we long for a healthier living environment not only for ourselves but most significantly for the younger generation.
We love our country, we can't bear to see our country goes south. Therefore we want a change.

These are the 10 declarations and objectives of KL112 Rally
10-point declaration
The #KL112 rally, also called the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat or the People's Awakening Rally, has 10 major objectives.  They are:
1. A call for clean, fair and transparent elections with a free and independent press
2. A call for the prestige, image and reputation of FELDA to be saved by guaranteeing its agricultural role in the economy and the land ownership of the settlers.
3. Fair treatment and allocations to Sabah and Sarawak vis-a-vis Peninsular Malaysia
4. 20% of oil royalty to be returned to the producing states
5. To raise professionalism, assure welfare and protect the future of civil servants including teachers and the armed forces
6. A call for a green environment that is clean and wholesome
7. A call for the national language to be supported, vernacular language to be preserved and standards of English to be raised in the education system, with free education for all Malaysian citizens.
8. A call to free all political detainees who have been unfairly imprisoned
9. A call for all traditional villages and places of heritage to be preserved, protected and defended
10. A call for a better lifestyle for women as promised in the Agenda Wanita Malaysia (The Malaysian Women's Agenda)

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Wellness Suite

My holidays are going to end!
Actually I have been on holiday for 2 weeks and start to feel a bit bored. XD
It has been rainning for some days and this gloomy weather bereaves me of my desire going out.

Well, when think of going back to normal daily life (main thing is going back to work!), it doesn't make me feel any better although I have had enough rest and fussing up and down the whole time. 
That is the worse part why I "hate" holidays because you have to adjust yourself both mentally and physically at the same time.
(Did I ever mention that I have ignored my training section for few weeks already?)

Hubby and I decided to spend 2 days in a so-called 'luxurious wellness suite' located at Mietraching (30km from our place).
It was the most expensive hotel room we have ever paid for until now.
199 EUR per night and we reserved it for 2 nights.

The interior design is not worth mentioning, just as simple as it seems.
But what make it so expensive and special is, it has a private steam bath room, a sauna room and a whirlpool attached!

Hubby was totally excited after we browsed through their website (which only 2 photos provided!) and wanted to reserve it for 3 nights at first.
But I insisted on 2 nights because I can foresee that we will soon feel bored, and guess I got it right!
It was rainning non stop and we didnt even want to venture out to have drink at night.:(

And how was our short holiday in this Wellness Suite?
Hmm...It was OK and Im happy that we tried it. But Im not sure whether I would like to do it again.
199 EUR, it is simply too expensive!

Here are some pics:














Oh yes. We did make full use of the kitchen by cooking twice in 2 days!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Looking back and moving forward

I seem to have a very selective recall of past events in 2012.
But one thing I can be sure of is,  the older I am, the more oblivious I have become.

Looking back on the past year, I am very grateful for what I have been given and what I have achieved, even though they are not worth mentioning.

Parents in the town!

The biggest acheivement of the year of 2012 was that my parents were here in Germany!

The word "gratitude" cant even describe how I feel towards my dearest sister for her financial, mental and physical support. She is such a darling although we were not that close during our childhood and teenage time. Since I am married and have settled down in Germany, we are getting closer thanks to modern technologies.
I always feel a twinge of guilt whenever I thought about my sist because it seems like I've never stand up for her when we were young and I didn't carry out my duty well enough as an elder sister.
However, I know she will understand and we love each other.

Last but not least, I'm particularly grateful to my hubby for his patience and support.

About Health 

I was healthy throughout the year despite some small harmless illness.
I visited my gynaecologist accompanied by Con for the very first time in my life.  Everything is OK.
In August, I finally bought a digital scale with body fat measurement which I've longed for for a long time. (and I "sucessfully" maintain my weight at about 55kg + -)

Work, work, work

Did 7 intercultural trainings in 2012. Actually I am getting used to it and I love the task, just that sometimes I can't express myself exactly by using German. Luckily most of the participants are friendly and nice to me.

Zhong Wen Guan remains more or less the same.
This year I have another problematic student Oliver who still owes me 220 Euro for over half a year.
Since I have taken lesson from 2011 (I was so angry about that brazen bastard that time), this time I react calmly and peacefully. Well, this is just some money (material) that I can earn back in the future, why should I fret away my life with those kind of trivial thing?

Rooms for improvement

~ Bestow less time to unpredicatable and uncertain future.
~ Laziness has made my english and german lag behind! Of course english is the worse case since I hardly use it and need it in my daily life. I've decided to join some german courses if I am able to get a suitable one. I hope I am able to write at least once a month an english blog like this, just to brush up my english...
~ I should do more exercises and live a healthier life. More water, vege and fruits!