Ah! I didn't expect this much of a response! Thank you, all!
Every square has one of four stanzas of the runic "translation" of the Icelandic version of the Poetic Edda. Goodness me that was one hell of a sentence to write out...
Under the gecko you'll find: "Better a house, | though a hut it be,
A man is master at home;
A pair of goats | and a patched-up roof
Are better far than begging."
Under the lion you'll find: "Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one's self;
One thing now | that never dies,
The fame of a dead man's deeds."
Under the owl you'll find: "A little sand | has a little sea,
And small are the minds of men;
Though all men are not | equal in wisdom,
Yet half-wise only are all." -... Sounds a little stuck-up, but has more to do with patience, to me.
And under the bear-paw you'll find: "The witless man | is awake all night,
Thinking of many things;
Care-worn he is | when the morning comes,
And his woe is just as it was." -... To... Basically tell myself to stop worrying so much.
Naturally the colours, animals and the positioning of the stanzas mean something to me personally, but I won't bore you with the details. Thanks for the interest in it, though!
It sounds like you have moved around a lot, bet that's interesting but maybe challenging too?
(I'm sorry, I often think way too far ahead when typing and talking, so I accidentaly upped the amount of migrations by one. I edited the first post, but prefer to be honest about the mistake)
I have! I'm thinking about posting a thread about it, since the first migration has left its very ugly scar, still, and I could use some help on dealing with it all. It's honestly wonderful to have experience with it, but it has been a serious ordeal. It's tough to learn a new language, but it's many times tougher to learn a country's culture.
My first run has been from the Netherlands to New Zealand, at the age of 15. My parents did all the managing there, so I had very little idea of what was going on, just that I had less school at the time
.
My second run has been from New Zealand to Sweden, to live with my husband, with whom I'd only had an online relationship with for eight years at the time.
Now I want to move back to New Zealand, but take my husband with me. ... I mean, it might not count as a migration because I'm going "back", but I've still lived in Sweden long enough to pick up its culture.
Again, thank you for all the welcomes to everyone else! I hope you'll understand that you're really making me feel welcome and supported in a time of need, even if it's just a simple message to you.
