Hopes, dreams and ambitions

One day, I'd like to achieve all my hopes, dreams and ambitions. I'm not particularly an ambitious person who only tries to succeed in life without considering what other people want, dream or hope. However, I must admit that I usually get what I want and that makes me feel happy and satisfied with myself.

Here's a video for you to watch. The artist Candy Chang turned an abandoned house in her New Orleans neighbourhood into a huge chalkboard, asking her neighbours to fill in the following sentence "Before I die I want to ..." 

Her neighbours wrote amazing messages. 

Watch the video, reflect on it and ... What's your answer?

Before I die I want to ... make the people around me as happy as I can. At some point, I'd absolutely love to make them have peace of mind, take their worries out and make them aware of the genuinely important things in life.

There are also a lot of other things that I'd like to do before I die. Just to set an example, I can tell you that I've always wanted to run the world's largest marathon, yeah, you're right, I'd like to run the New York City marathon. Wouldn't it be amazing? But if I have to be realistic, I'd try, at least, to take part in it, if not finish it. New York is always an exciting place to visit.

So, now it's your turn. My aim with this entry is to make you all write a little bit, so put on your thinking caps and start blogging.

What are your hopes, dreams and ambitions? Will you be able to achieve them before you die?

International Day against Gender Violence

Today is the International Day against Gender Violence. It is terrible that violence still exists in the twenty-first century.

This day was designated in 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly. The date was chosen to commemorate and pay tribute to the lives of the Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic who were violently assassinated in 1960. Each year on this day, governments, international organizations and NGOs are invited to organize activities designed to raise public awareness of the problem.

Here is an extract of Ban Ki-moon's message for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women this year:

"Millions of women and girls around the world are assaulted, beaten, raped, mutilated or even murdered in what constitutes appalling violations of their human rights. [...] We must fundamentally challenge the culture of discrimination that allows violence to continue. On this International Day, I call on all governments to make good on their pledges to end all forms of violence against women and girls in all parts of the world, and I urge all people to support this important goal."                                             Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Domestic battery, rape and sexual abuse, mutilation, exploitation, ... Gender-based violence affects us all and we all may know women or girls who have suffered from this kind of violence and for whom violence is a daily reality. It destroys families, weakens the fabric of our society, and takes a heavy toll on our communities.

Today is also an opportunity to remember those who have died as a result of gender-based violence. And finally, it is a day on which communities can consider concrete actions to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. 

Here is a song by Sarita Bhukal, True Beauty. 

It perfectly reflects what gender violence is about. 

Some parts may even hurt your feelings, since they are disturbing. 

You are invited to write your comments after listening to it.

Facebook

We have spent a lot of time talking about social networking sites lately, especially Facebook. I don't want to finish dealing with the topic until you click here and listen to two people doing the same. They are Alex and Katia and they are talking about using social media and how they affect their lives. It's a good opportunity to practise your listening skills and then your writing by posting a comment on it.

If you want to find out more about how this social networking site began, click here and read it. It may well be interesting for you.

 

Are you on Facebook? 

Well, as you should know by now, I'm still thinking about starting to use it myself, but who knows, maybe if you encourage me with your comments, I'll get rid of all my prejudices and one day, I'm likely to surprise you all.

Common, guys, leave your comments now. 

You won't regret it!

Shop till you drop

Shop till you drop, apart from being a website where you can buy the latest products online, is the current trend.

As you all may know by now, after celebrating Thanksgiving Day last Thursday and being stuffed like turkeys with cranberry sauce, yesterday was Black Friday -the busiest shopping day of the year and the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. People queue until shops open and offer good discounts for their products. It's an excellent opportunity to go on a shopping spree.

The thing is that I couldn't wait to Black Friday and I had my own one two weeks ago, when  money was nearly burning a hole in my pocket and I decided to buy new clothes and shoes. I had that wonderful feeling of being satisfied by the amount of times I keyed in my PIN number.

Well, let's comment on consumerism and your habits. 

• Do you particularly enjoy shopping? 
• Are we getting used to spending a lot of money on things we really don't need?
• How often do you use your credit / debit card to pay for your shoppings? Do you think one day in the near future we will be living in a "cashless society" and we will pay for everything with credit cards?
• Have we gone crazy about shopping?

Write your comments about it and then if you want, shop till you drop!!!

How come?

Hi there,

It's been a long time since I last wrote an entry on my / your blog. I've missed it and once that we've got started I really hope that you all join and participate enthusiastically.

Now that is time to think about going back to my "normal daily life" after this holiday which I have been looking forward to for quite a long time and after having enough time to ponder about many a thing, a song comes to my mind and I'll tell you why. Maybe you all know it or maybe not, in any case, I want you to listen to it and write your reflections on it. 

If you are on the intermediate level, we are about to start unit two where we will deal with the topic of how to use social networks to communicate and keep in touch with people as well as having been putting into practice the form "used to" for past habits; whereas if you are on the advanced level, we are having a look on what the future can bring as well as our personal experiences within our families and city life. Paradoxically, this song reminds me of different situations any of us can have gone through at least once in a lifetime.

As I am ALIVE AND WELL (despite catching a cold these days), I would like you to sing along with Gotye, a Belgian-Australian singer, whose single Somebody I used To Know has been awarded all over the world.

Watch the video and listen to the song. I don't particularly like the aesthetics of the video clip but I have to admit that it is somehow striking. What do you think?

Well, this is it. Do you like it? When or in what situations could you say those terrible words? Who to? Why? Please leave your optimistic or pessimistic comments on this song. It will be interesting to know your ideas.

Bloomsday

These days, nearly everybody is thinking about going somewhere exciting or interesting for their next holiday. What about you? Well, I can't even think about it. However, what I can do is to travel from the comfort of my sofa with the help of Leopold Bloom. Do you know who he is? Let me tell you. He is the main character in a famous literary work, James Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses.

You should know by now that today people in Ireland celebrate Bloomsday, a celebration which has been named after the main character in Ulysses, Leopold Bloom. The action takes places in Dublin, on June 16th, 1904 (It is said that James Joyce chose this date because he had his first date with Nora Barnacle, his later wife, on this day). 

James Joyce

 

It narrates a day in the life of this man, who stops at different places and makes us think about what life is and the things that can happen on a single day. Today people in Ireland even dress as Leopold Bloom and other characters in the book and they stroll along the places Leopold Bloom visits on June, 16th. They stop and read some passages from the novel. They visit the house where Leopold and his wife, Molly lived, the pub where he used to hoist some pints of beer, ... There are a lot of activities to commemorate this. You can check them on the official website.

Leopold and Molly's house

Unfortunately, Ulysses is not a book I would recommend you to read at this stage since it is a thick book, about one thousand pages, narrated using the so-called interior monologue. That means, that the author narrates the events as they happen in the mind of the main character, without stops and using a complex network of symbolic parallels taken from the mythology, history and literature. James Joyce even created a unique language, he invented words and puns. 

Despite being very difficult to follow, Ulysses is an outstanding worth-knowing story. So, if one day, you find it on top of a market stall in Dublin, on a shelf of a library or in a bookshop and you feel like spending some good hours reading it, don't hesitate to do it. You probably won't be deceived.

The Queen's speech

After this pause on the blog, let's have a look at the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.

As you have probably heard on the news, Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1952 after her father had reigned for a really short period of time. It wasn't the first time a woman would reign but it is the first time that she does for so long. Queen Elizabeth II is the only queen most Britons have met. In spite of being on the spot, she is loved and criticized, worshipped and blamed for some of the faults made in the past, including when she did not know -or maybe did not want- to handle the situation after Princess Diana's death.

Nowadays, her public image has considerably improved and we can see her showing her feelings in public. She seems to be enjoying all these celebrations. She smiles, claps, shakes hands with her people, ... she even jokes (as you have heard before) and definitely she has proved herself to be that loving old Lady English people adore.

If you want to find out more about the celebrations this year, Queen Elizabeth's life and history, and other pieces of information, click on the official website link.

The history of England has been depicted in many good films. Some of the latest ones are these two:

The Queen (2006) where Hellen Mirren performs a magnificient role as Her Royal Majesty on her most difficult days ever after Princess Diana's death.And The King's Speech (2010) where Colin Firth displays all his talent to portray King George VI's effort to overcome his stammering with the help of a speech therapist.Both films are worth seeing!!!

And finally, listen to God Save the Queen, performed by Brian May (Queen) on top of the roof of Buckingham Palace in 2002, Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.