What I've Learned

I've learned a lot this week: about the phases of the Celts and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in 5th-century Britain, about St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, about the formation of pidgin and creole Englishes in the post-colonialist era, and about the early linguistic history of Scotland. Nevertheless, as dreadfully earnest as it may sound, none of them moved me as much as an incident that happened on Tuesday.

I was just about to leave for the ISoc movie night when I got a call from mum, telling that my grandma Mami had been taken to the hospital in the morning in very poor condition. My dad had found her lying on her bed that morning, rolling her eyes short of breath. She'd assumedly had some sort of a stroke during the night.
In the hospital it turned out that she didn't react to voice or clench her hands. Later on we were informed that she had a nasty infection in her lungs and a high fever that just wouldn't go away. So recovery from that state seemed a bit too much to hope for.
However, agains all odds she struggled her way back from the ICU to normal ward, and her condition is more or less stable now. No brain damage whatsoever. She still sleeps a lot and remains silent, but the doctors suggest she wouldn't even have the energy to talk. Let's see what happens. We're hoping for the best, of course.

So, after all, the most essential and noble thing I learned this week was that go and visit your grandparents while they're still here among us. Make them a warm cup of tea, give them a hug, and listen to their stories, maybe jot down a few of them. Their experiences might teach you a lot. Go ASAP, next week might be too late :|