国
=
囗
+
玉
:
Mnemonic symbol: a nation's flag. Let's say the Chinese flag.
In the observatory's kitchen (o2) Gitta Giraffe (gu) is practising her ballet performance. She got a whole crate (囗) full of jade bracelets (玉) and flags (国) and fixed one flag to each jade bracelet. This makes a perfect combination for throwing the ring with the flag waving behind it and catching the ring again after a few pirouettes.
border / edge / boundary / interval / between / inter- / to meet / time / occasion / to meet with (circumstances)
际
=
示
+
阝
:
Joan of Arc (ji) and the pope (阝) have an international (际) meeting in the space station's bathroom (Ø4). They decide on the border through the bathroom and mark their territories using standards (示).
to ally / to unite / to join / (poetry) antithetical couplet
联
=
关
+
耳
:
Li Qingzhao (li) invented a machine able to combine (联) her hair into braids, and she is trying it out for the first time in the anthill's kitchen (an2). Just as the machine starts Li Qingzhao realizes it is going to combine both of her ears (耳) into one braid she quickly hits the machine's off button (关).
oath / pledge / union / to ally / league, a subdivision corresponding to prefecture in Inner Mongolia
盟
=
明
+
皿
:
Mahatma Gandhi (m) is searching his shallow bowl (皿) in the darkness of the engine's kitchen ((e)ng2) using a search light (明). He swears (盟) that if he ever looses it again he'll go absolutely mad.