š¤” I don't know how to make jokes
An average chronicle, a useless website and three fun facts about Denmark I discovered recently.
Today, I woke up and thought, "I want to write something to make people laugh." When I write, I tend to be too dense or sound too professional. Almost like a motivational speaker. And every time I exaggerate ā because sometimes even I notice ā I think: āDo you think you know more than the others, young lady!?ā.
This conversation reminded me of Aunt Cristina, the mother of one of my best friends (in Brazil, especially when we are younger, we affectionately call our friends' parents uncles and aunts). During high school, I was frequently at his house doing what teenagers do best: eating junk food and doing nothing. Aunt Cristina is a teacher and at that time she was an elementary school teacher.
I believe that every good teacher for children and young people needs to navigate between an authority figure and a welcoming, empathetic posture. Without one of the two, it's difficult to create connection.
Well, Aunt Cristina is a wonderful person. She spoke loudly, gave commands, but always full of love. At least that's how she was at home, since I never went to one of her classrooms.
Occasionally, as the three of us chatted, my friend would joke: āThe speaker has arrived!ā, referring to the professorial way his mother imprinted on some mundane topic, such as the best way to preheat the oven to prepare frozen pizza.
The instant my friend said those words, I realized that she did exhibit a posture and tone of voice as if she was speaking in a classroom to 30 tormented teenagers. But in that situation, there were only two: me and her son.
I have never forgotten these observations for two reasons:
First: they were very accurate and always followed by my friend's perfect impersonation of his mother. And y'all think that would make her stop? Never. Then she used to get louder and lectured even more. And the whole thing was hilarious. It was admirable how well she handled any mockery that fell on her.
Second: because I became the person who could easily hear this kind of joke š¤”
(I feel like I'm missing out on my goal of writing something funny, sorry)
I find it much easier to make fun spontaneously than in a premeditated way. Just yesterday, I made fun on Instagram stories because I went for ice cream, but there was zero planning. And from the messages I received, I made the night of some very happy.
It made me think about the work of comedians. How do you create a joke on paper?
A teacher prepares the content of the class and if it happens to be funny, it is usually natural. I don't know any teacher who prepared the lesson AND the jokes he/she would tell. It would probably be a disaster.
A comedian, on the other hand, needs to take a paper, a pen and produce texts that have the potential to make other human beings laugh, and at the moment of creation he only has his own head to make that judgment.
Do comedians laugh out loud as they create their jokes? On one hand, I hope so, but at the same time, it sounds pedantic, doesn't it? What a cruel job, Sunshines.
I wanted this chronicle to have a genius ending. Comic. Unexpected. Memorable. But here I am, throwing fancy words around to see if inspiration comes. And by the way, I think we're just going to be left, you and I, with the discovery that I don't know how to write jokes.
It's ok, I leave that to the professionals. And I also want to share all my admiration for teachers, comedians and, of course, for Aunt Cristina. Only they know the hard work behind the scenes to shine on their stages with such lightness and naturalness.
Including having to laugh at your own jokes.
ā Can you draw a perfect circle?
This is the purpose of this site, in addition to making you waste a lot of time. Just give it a try. Here's my best result made with a mouse, try to beat it and tell me how it went:
š Meanwhile in the Kingdom of Denmark
Danish lessons
I wanted to say I'm going to start learning Danish, but since it's super hard, I'd rather say that I'll start my classes on the 22nd of February. Yey! The Danish government subsidizes classes for foreigners to learn the language, which is really cool - thanks, Daisy!
Weeks of the year
Also, I found out that people here say dates using the week of the year.
Yes, the week number.
Remember that a year has 54 weeks? So, my classes start in week 8 š¤” And I was also informed that in our cell phone agenda you can find this information š²
Natural scam
Beautiful day in the photo below, isn't it?
Yeah, there was so much sun that it was even coming in our room through the window, but make no mistake: it was SUPER cold. I'm discovering that Copenhagen can be tricky. It is impossible to leave the house without verifying two pieces of information: thermal sensation and wind.
Winds of 42km/h is a CRAZY THING. From 30km/h on the weather is already wild. So today, I'll stay home :)
See you!
Remember: english is not my native language! This is a translated version of Liliando in portuguese. If you see any major mistake, please be kind and just let me know!