English Recordings

248. In fall, cloudless skies have no boundaries.
In fall, the horizon seems to go on forever.
In fall, cloudless skies know no boundaries.
249. Low humidity makes the fall pleasant.
Low humidity makes the fall comfortable.
It's pleasant in the fall because the humidity is low.
250. The crisp fall air is invigorating.
251. It's nippy today.
It's chilly today.
252. This jacket will keep you warm.
This jacket will keep out the cold.
253. I complained about the cold.
254. You'll feel a chill when you go out of the house.
255. My dog is shivering in the cool night air.
256. There's not a cloud in the sky.
The sky's really clear.
257. We're enjoying fine autumn weather.

The cottages to the east of the hotel, which was out of sight anyway, could be forgotten. One, on a piece of land sticking out into the sea, stood on its own with a landing-stage below, but this would only strengthen my picture when I came to paint it. The rest were fortunately hidden by rising ground. I turned, and looked through the open windows to the bedroom within. Plain whitewashed walls, a stone floor, a comfortable low bed with coloured blankets upon it. A bedside table with a lamp and telephone. But for these last, it was simplicity itself, and I wished for nothing more.
I wondered why this cottage, and none of its neighbours, had been opened up, and stepping inside I heard from the bathroom beyond the sound of running water. Not further disappointment, and the place booked after all? I put my head round the open door, and saw that it was a maid washing the bathroom floor. She jumped as she saw me. Pointing around me, I said ‘Is this taken?’ She did not understand, but answered me in her own language. Then she seized her cloth and bucket and, plainly terrified, pushed past me to the entrance, leaving her work unfinished.

I walked down through the garden to the sea, and as I did so my spirits rose. For this, of course, was what had been so beautifully described in the agent’s leaflet, and why I had flown so many miles. The description was true, too. Little whitewashed homes respectfully set apart from one another, the sea washing the rocks below. There was a beach, from which people doubtless swam in high season, but no one was on it now, and, even if anyone should appear, the holiday cottages themselves were well to the left, safe, private. I looked at each in turn, mounting the steps, standing on the balconies. The clerk must have been telling the truth about none of them being let before the summer, for all had their shutters closed over their windows. All except one. And as soon as I mounted the steps and stood on the balcony I knew that this was the one I wanted to be mine. This was the view I had imagined. The water beneath me, gently splashing against the rocks, the bay widening into the open sea, and beyond, the mountains. It was perfect.

With a bed for a night costing as little as £9, the Saban guesthouse on Turkey's Lycian coast is a real steal. Add in great food, stunning scenery and fascinating historical sights, and it's impossible to resist.
I must have made a mistake. This is my first thought when the price of my booking at the Saban guesthouse in Olympos, Turkey, appears on my screen. I re-enter the details: two people, nine nights' half-board accommodation. The price flashes up again: £99 per person. Admittedly, I am not travelling in the peak season (although it's only slightly more in the summer months) and the price is for "treehouse"-style accommodation, which from the photo looks like a shed on stilts, but I've stayed in shabbier looking dormitories that cost more. Plus the dormitories didn't come with two meals a day and what local guidebooks describe as some of the best food in Turkey. I check the reviews on TripAdvisor. All good. I check the weather report: guaranteed sunshine 300 days a year. A quick search on Skyscanner for flights to Antalya and I'm good to go.

The ancient city of Olympos is an original Lycian settlement dating from 300BC that stretches along the southern Turkish coast. Protected by conservation laws that ban the use of concrete, Olympos is devoid of large-scale development and mass tourism. Over the last 20 or so years a village of around 20 wooden pansiyons (treehouse lodges) offering backpacker-style accommodation has sprung up.

In contrast to its noisier neighbouring lodges, such as the Turkman and Bayrams, whose young guests can often be heard partying into the early hours, the Saban is known for its calmer, family atmosphere and quality food. The Saban opened 22 years ago when there were only three other pansiyons in the village. It has grown too – from three treehouses and a camping area to more than 20 treehouses, a 12-bed dormitory and several ensuite bungalows.

We are met by Meral, whose parents opened the Saban when she was 12. Now in her thirties and with four generations of her family living on site, Meral runs the show with her two brothers Ali and Mustapha.

"I love my job," says Meral. "I've only left Olympos twice in my life. Why do I need to go anywhere else? I have everything I need here. The sun, the food, the sea. I prefer to let the people come to me."

A hard day's chilling at Saban
When Meral shows us to our accommodation, we realise there has been a mistake. A mix-up with our booking means we have been upgraded from a treehouse to a bungalow equipped with three single beds, air-con and ensuite shower-room (so small that one's top-to-toe cleaning routine can be executed while sitting on the toilet). But given what we were expecting, it feels like we've been upgraded to the honeymoon suite at the Hilton.

Meral takes us for a stroll through Saban's gardens, along a pathway lined with dill, mint, rosemary, bay leaves and basil. There are pomegranates, lemons, oranges, grapes, mulberries, nectarines and plums. Meral picks some mulberries for us to try and a handful of mint for a guest who likes it added to his evening G&T. By the time we arrive at the bar, we're so heady with the heat and aromas that it only takes one shot of raki to send us spinning back to our bungalow so we can wake in time for breakfast.

The next day, we head to the beach with some fellow guests. Getting to the beach, recognised as one of the best in Turkey, is an adventure in itself. We follow a dusty road to the end of the pansiyons where an ancient winding path begins, leading to the sea. A river shaded by oleander and fig trees runs alongside. On the way we pass the ruins that line both banks of the stream, including two Lycian tombs with epigraphs translated for visitors.

The pebble beach has hardly any shade to escape the blistering heat, so it's a relief to slip into the sea.

If breakfast at Saban can be repetitive – watermelon, feta, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, along with an omelette cooked to your requirements by Saffi the smiling chef – dinner more than compensates: spicy clay-pot chicken casseroles, baked aubergines and peppers stuffed with lemon and mint couscous, meat böreks (rich-filled pastries), Turkish ravioli, grilled vegetables bathed in yoghurt and house favourites: courgette and dill frittatas, and cheese-filled pastry "cigarettes". Fresh bread, salad and homemade soup, accompany every meal. Most of the fruit and veg is grown at the property, which is also home to free range chickens. The rest, along with all the meat and fish, is sourced from the nearby town of Kumluca.

We return to the beach late that night to swim among the phosphorescence. As we move about stimulating the plankton, stars shoot from our bodies. While we create miniature galaxies beneath the sea's surface, above us real shooting stars splice through a dramatic Milky Way.

The highlight of our holiday is a trip to the Chimaera, a series of eternal flames issuing from the hillsides of the Tahtali Dag (Mount Olympos). Burning for thousands of years, these inextinguishable natural gas flames are named after a mythological fire-breathing creature, which inhabited the mountains.
We forgo Saban's organised nocturnal minibus trip to the Chimaera in favour of walking. Setting off at dusk allows us to take in the sights of the neighbouring agricultural village of Çirali. Quieter but more developed than Olympos, Çirali tends to attract an older crowd and families. About an hour's stroll on from Çirali we reach the foothills of the Tahtali Dag and begin a 20-minute climb through forest up a well-trodden but steep and tricky path.

As flames leap and dance from the glowing rocks, it's easy to imagine how they once conjured the legend of a fire-breathing monster. We find an unattended flame to huddle around, and admire our surroundings. At a nearby flame a family are preparing their evening meal, using the fire as a barbeque. Below us, a group of teenagers try to reignite a gas source with burning sticks, shrieking as the flame catches and billows towards them. From our high position the view across the valley and out to sea is made even more spectacular by a setting sun, as red as the Chimaera themselves. We stay well after darkness falls and it takes great effort to drag ourselves away.

We return to the Saban guided by a full moon and the sound of chirruping insects.

Supermarkets

Supermarkets sell a wide variety of fresh, frozen and canned foods, drinks inculding alcohol, cleaning products and many other items. There may also be a fresh fish counter, delicatessen, pizza bar, salad bar, and bakery.
Most large supermarkets have public toilets, phones, cash dispensers and their own parking lot. There is usually no charge for a supermarket's parking lot as long as you buy something in the supermarket. Hand-held baskets and trolleys are always provided. Sometimes you need a coin in order to use a trolley. The money will be returned when you return the trolley after you have finished shopping.
If you have a little shopping, you go to a check-out with a sign saying, "baskets only" so that you don't have to join the long lines.

Social withdrawal

In recent years, the number of people who hide themselves off from the outside world, shutting themselves in their homes for more than 6 months, not going to school or commuting, has been incresing.
There are various possible causes for such social withdrawal. Most such people can't adapt themselves to the socity. They feel impatient. First they shut themselves away as a consequence of some entangled personal relations. Afterwards, blaming themseleves, they become afraid of people and their dread of coming into contact with others gradually increases. They often get caught in a vicious circle.
Besides, most parents of such problem children feel ashamed and try to hide them from their neighbors. In addition, these children are so sensitive that they are easily aware of their parents' sense of shame. As a result, whole families cut themselves off from contact with the outside world. They have nowhere to turn for help.
Proper social support should be given immediately.

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggling, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

<Would you correct my mistakes, if you have a free time?>

Hello everyone!
It`s rainning today.
However, it`s raining on and off from yesterday night till now, so it`s humid so it makes us annoyed .
I`m writing my entry from three days ago again ,
because I don`t know which are incorrect eventhough I feel I made a lot of mistakes.
It/This entry/ is very long, it`s not easy to correct all of my mistakes,
therefore you can correct just only one or two mistakes for me.

This entry is made in order to practice the description of my pictures,
so if you would like to see these pictures, click here.

===<No 1:Departing from Seoul /<One Night Two days>========
• It was a sudden proposal and decision, and we three women departed from Seoul,
listening to music of "DepartDre" sung by 김동률 August 9, 2012.
• Watching mountain ridges on the highway,
we hit the road.

•We were eating walnut cookies we bought on the highway rest area....
Would you/Why don`t you?/ enjoy my friend`s elegant and skillfull driving with the flowing music ....?
• Even though sometimes the highway was crowded with cars of summer vacation..
when I turned away my head and see the white clouds on the sky ,
and be connected mountain ridgelines, I felt being relieved..
•Stopped by the foot of a mountain and had a wild edible greens set menu for lunch ...

*We sat on the floor where the wind was cooler than the electric fan."
("We sat on the floor where the wind coming through was cooler than the electric fan." )
("We sat on the floor where the wind coming through the open windows was cooler than the electric fan.")
stimulated[aroused] our appetite diverse with wild edible greens!

• Before...... ^^/ A lot of wild edible greens on the table,~~
After...^.*/ Just there are empty dishes when after women`s hands passed ....kkk...
• Finished lunch, and then departed for 월정사?
•Then why don`t we walk along the road of a thousand years?
Then let`s walk along the road of a thousand years?

< Description Of My Pictures(One Night Two Days) >
===(Description of my pictures: No.2)
•You can walk clasping your hands behind your back...
•For old grandmas, using a walking stick is more comfortable..
•It's also good when a couple that has been walking a long way together talk about their past long time together...

•It`s also nice when a young couple who has a long way ahead to walk together in the future, push their baby carriage

•It`s great when walking with your neighbors with bursting laugh with crowd ...

•If not?
•Rather, take and hold your shoes and try to feel soil's touching?feeling? /
that ticking your sole of the foot.
•Block off the blazing sunlight squeeze into leaves with a parasol....
•Look at the sky!
and over there...Can you see those snewy branches spread out
•Try to take a smooth turn once...
•Trees will also follow you turn
•Do you see those white clouds between branches?
•Wow..The 600 aged fir tree were fall down

======< Describtion Of My Pictures / The Third >=========
I heard a stream sounds, so I turned my eyes.
•Ah, it`s a vally`s stream.
•Even though it have been droughty long time (while?) this summer,
here, it`s flowing (stream ?) as usual. ...
•We stopped by the traditional tea house in 월정사,
•We are having a tea time with the stream water under the our feet.
•The teas of fruits of schisandra chinensis`s and Japanese apricot,
it has?/was?/ really beautiful color.
•We are having a rest time with seeing the clear and cool valley stream under our feet.
•These (tea ?) glasses were filled with nice scent caused?/ by?/ a few of floating
pine nuts ...
~~（월정사）~~~~~~
I coudn`t take picturem, because my phone was out of work. Pity!

==<Description Of My Pictures(No.4) >==========
•It became darker and darker.
•The three of us are going to an outdoor club in the mountain on a summer night.
•in the hot summer night,
with a cool breeze...
and delicious sausages and fruits..

•Oh, it`s a fun and festive mood!
•The night is over
and
it's early morning on the mountain....
•One of my friends is making the morning coffee
and I am peeling fruits.

•Huhuhuh,
Today we're having a simple American style breakfast
with nice smelling bread, fragrant coffee and fresh fruits.
•^^ Good bye~!!
•Now it`s time to pack up our bags!
•Oooh? What is it?
•Is it a dragonfly on our car antenna?
•Do you know the name of this flower?
•It`s called “족두리 꽃“ which a Korean bride puts on her head on her wedding day.

•Uh: Hi: Hi: Ha: Ha`
•Have you experienced the feeling of flying?"
( "Do you know what it's like to fly?")

•If you try this, this is what flying feels like.
•Having a walk in the morning along a road with fantastic flowers.
•Now we are heading to 봉평 , "the house of 이효석`s birth " ....

Arrived at 봉평.
•Buckwheat jelly rice, buckwheat pancakes, buckwheat noodles (makguksu)
stimulate[arouse] our appetite with them..
•On the way, we found a grandma who was making durra pancakes.
The young and cute woman near her is her daughter-in-law.
•We bought buckwheat steamed bread...
delicious durra pancakes and buckwheat pancakes that the grandma made

•durra pancakes
buckwheat pancakes ..
•Cheer up with makkŏlli(raw rice wine )! ^.^/
•"The house of 이효석`s birth " " ....
•We couldn`t see any buckwheat flowers since it`s too early in the season ,
•But we can see the white buckwheat flowers when autumn comes....

==<Description Of My Pictures (The last ) >=========
•Head to Seoul............................!!!
•On the way home..
•Returning home...
•I couldn't take pictures of a view of a green rice field in 여주 because my phone camera was suddenly out of order.(/suddenly would not work)/.
Pity!
•So...now..
•I`d like to conclude time.
•Time was very short but I was so busy with friends for one night two days.
•Now we are waiting the winter`s one nigh ttwodays.
•I hope my friends` healthy and happy!
and hope, this three women`s "One night Two days" will be go on till seventy years and eighty years old..

<An Indian Movie>–(August 20, 2012) Hi, how are you,all? Today I didn`t write an entry, I just read my entries a/one year ago. When I don`t have any good ideas for writing today’s entry, just reading past /previous entries is also fun and good with me, because I guess it also can help my learning without being stressful. So~ the follwing entry is my entry for last year.
I watched this movie with my good friends. Hum….^.^/ I`m meeting them tomorrow agian. Anyway, one year ago two firends helped me corrected my poor English, thanks again for them! Now I`m rewriting it agian here, if you find any other mistakes, correct them please. Thanks for reading! Have a good day! Here in Seoul, it`s raining endlessly. Right now the windows just look like wet big glass tanks.
~-(August 22, 2011) Hi~everyone! How is everyone? / How are you all? This time I`m rewriting a jouranl entry in English from my Chinese entry five days ago (from Aug 22th 2011). Actually, it`s not easy writing English entries due to/my poor/ English,so every time I began to write an entry in English I used to feel nervous.( /I get nervous?/ I become nervous?/ I used to get nervous? )I`m just trying to ignore my feeing of nervousness, and try to(trying to) write once. Because it`s my hobby, not my obligation.Please correct my mistakes. ~ ♡THANK YOU VERY MUCH!♡ ~
–(Aug 22th 2011 01:04 )~~~~~~~~
• It’s getting pretty(quite) late, it`s already after 1:00am.
• So this time I`d better talk very briefly, and I`d like to explain in more detail tomorrow.
• even though it will be done as tomorrow`s conditons.
• Today, I watched a movie with two of my good friends.
It is the first time that I`ve ever seen an Indian movie,
(It`s the the first Indian movie which I`ve ever seen ),
and it`s title is ‘Three idiots’.
• That movie has many musical scenes, and it`s said that`s a characteristics of Indian movies.
The Indian movie industry is called ‘Bollywood’(=Bombay＋hollywood ) .
• Taken as a whole,(=Generally), this movie was good.
• This is a story of three students who are studying in the famous Indian university of Engineering.
• These three young men constantly do unexpected things.
• They agonize common problems / worries which are with nowdays young men. (=Their problems are just modern young men`s problems.)
• I`m uploading that movie`s preview now.If you are intersted in seeing more , you can try to clicking here.
• I uploaded some more movie previews and Korean Audio mp3, and also I uploaded other a few other pictures which are around the movie theater.

Don't Quit

When things go wrong as they sometimes will
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill
When the funds are low, and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but have to sigh
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but do not quit.

Success is failure turned inside out
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt
And you can never tell how close you are
It may be near when it seems so far
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things go wrong that you must not quit.