Lajos Zilahy – Torres de Madera (Wood Towers)


This comedy is about a family living by the times of the Second World War. Its main theme is the nationalism inspired by the Nazis.

Rudy, a German that had spent most of his life in Hungary, was starting to wonder about going back to his natal country after Germans declared themselves the “superior race”. Hungary’s nation had given him everything in life and had made him what he was then, but anyway he wanted to leave this “meagre” country and go to Germany.

His wife Clara, a Bulgarian woman, reacted in front of this situation. She loved her husband but she couldn’t bear the fact of leaving her country. That’s why she decided to separate from Rudy and, instead of choosing to stay with her, he decided to leave her and move to Germany.

Their son, Arpad, is also involucrate in this dilemma. Firstly, he opted to go with his father, but at the end he preferred his mother. He knew that if he went with his father he would have plenty of good jobs available, but he chose staying with his family and in his own country. He privileged affection instead of money.

The author criticizes Nazi’s concept of “Aria race” and the general assent and filiation of several Germans who “recovered their identity” with the idea of superiority.

The whole play is entertaining and full of amusing situations, confessions and strategies.

It’s easy to read and enjoyable!

FIE experience

Saturday 19en


The last day arrived.
We all cried when the Closing Act finished.

We didn’t want this experience to come to an end!
We had made so many new friends and now we had to separate...
We asked for mails and took the last photos.
We exchanged gadgets...

No one wanted to leave.
But we leaved with the promise to come back next year!

This week was incredible!!!!

One we will never forget.
One that changed our life

One of the bests!!

FIE experience

Friday 18en


We had breakfast and later a conference with a guy that went to the “Atlantis Expedition”. It was amazing what he had done. At the end he gave us an advice.

A man come to teach us how to dance reggae ton and salsa. And the woman of Jordan showed us the Arabic dance. It was wonderful! So funny and entertaining!

Then we had other conferences and activities, like the exam to the finalists of the “FIE entrepreneur” or the one to the MESE finalists.

At night we had the final of the Talent Show, where anyone who wanted could perform an act (dance, acting, singing, playing an instrument or doing anything at what they were good).

Tonight was the Formal Dinner for which girls had to invite a boy. And then the party that last till 3 am, more than usual.

FIE experience

Thursday 17en

Today we had a conference on social responsibility and another with Patricia Sosa. The first one was said in Portuguese, but it was very understandable and interesting. The second one was very motivating and attractive.

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We also had a sympathetic activity, where we had to do pencil boxes and notebooks to donate to a school. Then, the teachers and some kids from the school came to take some donations and they thanked us all. They seemed very happy and that made you feel happy too. In that moment we were sharing feelings.

Then we had another activity where we were divided again into different groups. There we met other people. We had so much fun that we didn’t want it to end.

The theme of this night was peace. We all had to go dressed in white clothes.

After dinner we had a party again. After each party, when the music went off, they passed a little movie that had a reflection at the end, or you had to try to guess which was it.

FIE experience

Wednesday 16en



Today we had to wake up earlier than ever because we had to prepare breakfast. Every delegation had to share their typical breakfast and there was a jury that decided which stand was the best prepared. There was a great variety of weird foods, not even their names were known in Tucumán.

At 9 am we had one conference and another after lunch.













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Then, at 4:30 pm we had to get together with our group to discuss and take decisions. This activity implied a great cultural exchange, because in the group were 20-25 persons that were from different delegations, and you learned their customs when you talked with them. And many of the members spoke different languages, and you had to think of the way you could make them understand your idea. Furthermore, forming groups was how you started meeting new people and making new friends.




Another event was the “Feria de compañías”, where the delegations showed the products made the year before during the program of Junior Achievement: The Company.







In this night took place the “Fiesta de la Hermandad”, where you had to dress up with the typical clothes that people use in the country you most like.

FIE experience

Tuesday 15en

Breakfast was everyday from 7 to 8 am, i.e. you had to get up very early and you couldn’t sleep much, because of the great amount of activities you had.

In the morning we had a great conference and another funny after lunch. Unforgettable both.

In the afternoon we had other activities where we were divided into groups. The members of that group had to think of innovative products, discuss and choose the best. Then make an environmental campaign and a business plan and so on. At the end, everyone shared their products like if they were broadcasting a TV commercial, and we laughed a lot with all the crazy ideas we heard.

At night we had an especial event called “La vuelta al mundo en una noche”. Every delegation prepared a stand with information of their motherland and everybody had to go dressed with their own traditional clothes.

After dinner we had a party.

FIE experience

Monday 14en




We arrived to Córdoba and we spent the morning in “Ciudad de las Artes” until the majority of the adolescents arrived. There were persons from all parts of the Country, continent and world. You could find boys from Guatemala, Bolivia, Santa Fe, Córdoba, Paraguay, Uruguay, Jordan, US, Peru, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Mendoza and more. We were 600 in total.

We had an informative meeting where we were retold the rules and conditions of the trip, and then we travelled to Tanti, where the hotel was.

The hotel was enormous. In fact, there were like big buildings distributed round the area. It was incredible!


Since we arrived at Tanti and lunch we had free time. There we were photographed all together. Most of us used the time to put the luggage in the room and meet the person with whom you were going to sleep, because you didn’t know them (the rooms are for 3 or 4 persons). But some stayed in the centre garden dancing and taking photos. The best was that everyone was with everyone, although they didn’t know each other. We had a lot of fun. Brazilians and cordobeces played their drums and sung while others danced. The atmosphere was full of positive energy.

During the day we had many informative meetings, where the staff explained the basis of MESE and other activities we were going to do. At 9 pm we had dinner in the huge dinning room altogether. Afterwards we had an original welcome event that finished with fireworks.

They were very strict with punctuality. We had to return to our rooms at a specific time, if not you had a demerit. Also when arriving late to any meeting or activity. You were expulsed if you had 11 demerits, but that didn’t happen this year fortunately.

In the room you could stay awake, talking with your partners, tiding up, taking a bath or anything you wanted in the way you didn’t bother the others.

For years, scientists have tried to improve our diet, which has become a bomb to our heart on account of the exaggerated proportion of fat we consume and the poor physical activity.


This sentence is the true reality. There might exist thousands of operations to improve our physical appearance, but if we don’t change our consumption manners we will never improve our health.

Many persons eat healthy food, avoiding fats, and go to gym only because they care about their appearance. Appearance is very important to keep high the self-esteem because that is what rules our daily-life. Our attitudes, disposition towards life, humour, sensations, thoughts, all our behaviours rotate round self-esteem. Having a good physical shape makes you feel more comfortable with yourself and with the others. Although that is not a fact, because many people feel well being plump, in our society being thin is a synonym of being nice.

Beyond this, the main purpose of eating well and doing physical activity should be HEALTH. You can feel comfortable being fat, but that doesn’t mean that your body feels well. Many problems are associated to the embroidered eating of fat, and many of them are fatal.

We have to change our consumption manners. People should care about what they eat, and if they have the possibility to choose between a burger and a salad, pick the salad because it’s healthier. You can eat hamburgers, but not everyday. Extremes are the problems: it’s bad if you eat 3 burgers and 4 hotdogs each day, but there’s no problem if you eat 2 hamburgers per week, for example.

We have to be moderated. That also applies to physical activity, because we don’t have to overdo e.g. with one hour of walking everyday is enough. A plus of sports is that, beyond giving fitness, are good for making friends and having fun; they are a complete activity: enjoy time while making good to your body.

Living a healthy life it’s not difficult, the hard part is to get used to it when you have been living like we are. We only have to change our bad habits with the advice of an expert. Restaurants and fast-food-deliveries should help with this change by varying their menus.

The change is possible!

Felipe Catalan’s art exposition

We went to see this exposition at Centro Cultural Virla.

The technique Catalan uses is aquarelles. The paintings are very original, full of colours and shapes. I think he starts with stains of aquarelles and then he gives them definite shape.

We can see that faces are a recurring figure. Musical instruments also appear frequently, like cellos, trumpets and accordions.

In these paintings colours are used with total freedom, without forcing any combinations. Yellow is put together with either orange or violet. Even though, colours have harmony, respect an equilibrium.

The artist also plays with the intensity of colour to give shape to the stains and define shapes.

For example, in this work he uses a monochromic of red to paint the background, and he highlights the figures of the two persons in the centre by putting them in a white square.

In this painting Catalan incorporates animals and continues drawing faces.

I think this work is very interesting because it includes components of different cultures. I can distinguish a “gaucho”, an Egyptian pharaoh, a European baby princess, a mother of “plaza de mayo”, an African woman and man and a lot of other characters.

None of these paintings had a title that’s why we can’t exactly know what the artist wanted to express with each one. I think that the title is very important, but in this case you can leave your imagination fly and think whatever.

Another observation is that these paintings were little. Their size was no bigger than 10cm x 20cm.


Beyond everything, the images are wonderful. Analyse and enjoy them!!

BREAKFAST

The importance of breakfast


It is the most important food of the whole day, because it reconstitutes the energy reserved used during night, what means to stop with an 8 to 12 hours fasting. Furthermore, it helps to re-establish the functions of the digestive system and to accelerate the metabolism. When breakfast is omitted our body has to use internal sources of energy and nutrients, what implies metabolic changes that can affect the normal function of the organism.

Recent investigations demonstrate that breakfast improves the diet quality and the ingestion of nutrients. By another hand, it increases the evidence that forgetting this food can affect cognitive function and academic performance, especially in kids (the majority of children that don’t have breakfast can’t recover its wanting nutrients with the other foods of the day).

What’s more, to do any kind of physical activity breakfast is the best alternative to have a good performance. For sportsmen as for active people, the best fuels are nourishments high in carbohydrates and one of the best ways to obtain them is through morning meal.

Studies have also proved that a breakfast low in fat and plentiful of fibre contribute to reduce the ingestion of fat during the whole day and can help to reduce levels of cholesterol in blood.

The composition of nutrients in breakfast doesn’t differ significantly from that in other foods. Complex carbohydrates have to predominate, contribute with high quality proteins, be full of vitamins, minerals and dietetic fibre and a low contribution of fat.


Breakfast and apprenticeship


Many studies have evaluated the impact of breakfast in a great variety of cognitive functions. Studies on children had been done since the 30 decade, evaluating there behaviour in class, abilities in school and physical work. Those investigations seemed to suggest that there was a benefit in breakfast, but there were no definite conclusions that could be concretised because there were failures in the designs of the experiments, little sizes of samples and a not rigorous measure of the variables.

Now, new statistics from experimental studies with very strict scientific methodology have cleared the panorama of the effects of long fasting in the cognitive function and in many specific affected proceeds. This finds have served to elucidate biochemistry and physiologic process of this effects at the same time that they have helped to resolve the influence of the nutritional state of the individual in response to such process.

The omission of breakfast can be very pricey, particularly for children. The child who omits it is not so efficient in the selection of relevant information for the solution of problems. Between the most affected functions we also find the ability to remember and use new information, verbal fluidity and control of attention. Bad nourished children as well as good ones experiment these effects.

The importance of breakfast on cognitive functions has also been demonstrated in young adults and elder people. Investigations of the role that breakfast performs in mental performance have found that the levels of glucose are associated to the proper function of memory. Cerebral function is very sensitive of the variations in the immediate access of nutrients and energy. So far, it has been scientifically proven that breakfast is, and will continue being, the most important food of the day for the multiple benefits it aids.


Personal translation from an article of the “Almanaque Mundial 2006”

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That breakfast is the most important food of day is an old myth that many people have stopped to believe because they thought it was only that, a myth. But several experiments have been tried to demonstrate that this legend was, actually, a fact. And if so many researches have proved its positive effects it’s because they’re true.

Even though, people don’t care about breakfast. For example, in my school there is a high percentage of children who don’t breakfast anything. And this really affects their performance in classes, which are all day long. If they hadn’t had a good breakfast they stay like zombies, which reduce their learning intensity.

Furthermore, children think they replace a good breakfast with a chewing-gum, a chocolate and a pile of candies that they buy at the kiosk. This is a wrong concept that must be changed. In my opinion, school should help with this change by making campaigns of consciousness or by ruling the kiosk to sell not only candies but also food.

It’s said that when a concept is incorporated into a child that child will never forget it and will accept it as a natural thing. So, if you teach children that they must breakfast those children will do it, because they get used to that idea. It’s more difficult to change an attitude in an adult than in a child. And having breakfast is a very positive action, so teach children to do it. For adolescents we should think of the way to convince them to change the attitude they have acquired. But it’s not difficult; we only have to do it.

Children are the base of society. If you teach them they will teach their parents. It’s like that. When they learn something at school they are so excited that they want to do it all day, and that’s the way they influence their parents. When parents have changed, and also have children, this problem would disappear and society would be more effective and live a better life.

Another point to review is what the kiosk sells. Many children buy lollipops because there isn’t any apple. Very few nutritive foods are sold, if not any. Maybe only cereal, but that’s not enough. The kiosk should have a menu for those who want to eat real food, not only for breakfast but also for lunch. And there should be posters where it’s said what food it’s appropriate to eat and all the detailed information.

As a conclusion, I think that the change is possible; we only have to start it. Breakfast is an important item to consider about because it affects our daily life. Let improve our life and future generation’s.

Raquel van Gelderen

Raquel Van Gelderen is a painter from Tucumán. Two weeks ago we went with Leti, Flor and Lauri to see her exhibition in “Casa de la Cultura”, but I’ve already seen one with ValeBe in “Timoteo Navarro”. The advantage of the second visit was that we had the opportunity to talk with her.

I think that the most important idea she expressed was about nature. Nowadays we are in the boom of an ecology tendency. We are worried about environmental problems: pollution, contamination, destruction, deforestation,… We have an example at school: the garbage treatment project.

Yeah… Everyone cares about not throwing papers to the floor, but no one cares about admiring nature.

Protect. Help. Danger. Pollution. Rubbish. Devastation. Clean. Save. Help. Clean. Rubbish. Those are daily expressions. How about: Enjoy!

People are so worried about preserving the environment that they forget to see nature. Cleaning is as important as appreciating. Nature is beautiful, spectacular, gorgeous!

She made me realize this and I totally agree with her.




Another impressive thing from Raquel is that she has a positive view of life. Leti told us that she was discovered to have cancer. When she first found out she was gloomy, and that melancholy was showed in her paintings: she used dark colours.

But she has changed now. Her mind has made a click. Unfortunately, she still has cancer, but her view has changed to positive. Instead of paying attention to the negative aspects of life she sees the happy ones. Her draws are now full of colour and positive energy.

She is an exemplar. I think that we should always see the positive side of thing; the vessel middle filled than middle empty (“ver el vaso medio lleno antes que medio vacío”).

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One day, a shoe company sent 2 businessmen to make a review of the market situation for there production in Africa.
One of them said in his report that their industry had no future in Africa because no one used shoes.
But the other businessman said that Africa was the best place to put their factory because no one had shoes.




If you’re positive you will be happy. Enjoy life!



SMILE



=)

Reaction Paper
Radio Programme: “Dr. Keirstead’s stem cell research”

Stem cells are very powerful biological tools because they can replace any destroyed or damaged cell in our body or well slow down the progression of diseases and biological disorders.

Paralyzed people who thought they would never walk again have recovered their hope. Scientists working with Dr. Keirstead have probed the effect of stem cells in animals. They introduced the cells in the spinal chord of paralyzed rats and 6 weeks later these animals could move their tail and then walk. But there are al least 5 to 10 more years to wait to finish the studies before trying this technique in humans.

This project was delayed because it is very expensive and George W. Bush has banned the federal funds destined for it. He took this decision because he extremely opposes to the methods practiced in the project. In order to obtain stem cells human embryos have to be destroyed. These cells are subtracted from embryos 5 days after fertilization and transplanted into humans. Although, in California, 5 million dollars of private money has been invested in order to avoid the stagnation of researches.

But yet moral concerns cause lots of strong discussions, also between scientists. In one hand, Dr. Keirstead was criticized by some scientists, and in the other hand, he was prized for his work. Many scientists think stem cells are the solution to some incurable diseases as heart-attack or diabetes. They tried them in sick mice and after 6 weeks these cells had replaced the damaged ones.

But above all, Dr. Keirstead does not think that what he is doing is morally incorrect. He values life and he thinks this treatment is a responsible thing to do. “Don’t throw embryos away, use them,” he says. Maybe, with this phrase he refers to embryos used for in-vitro fertilization. In this method, for each mom several embryos are fertilized. They use one or two and the others are frozen. After several years being kept freeze they are throw away because their parents have forgotten them. What Dr. Keirstead proposes is to use those embryos to save or improve human life instead of wasting them.

Another advantage of steam cells treatment is that it does not consist of a big operation. Patients go out of hospital very fast and with a band aid only. Although they haven’t tried it in humans yet they know that they require 20 million cells to introduce per person. Short term paralyses are going to be treated firstly.

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I think that this treatment is wonderful because it improves human lives. Although stem cells are subtracted from human embryos, in my opinion this does not have any negative moral implication.

If you have a cow ovule fertilized with a bull spermatozoon in a Petri dish and beyond it another dish with a human in vitro fertilized ovule, would you see any difference between them? They are both products of technology. Those ovules need to be implanted in a womb to live; if not, they will never evolve; they will never be a human being or a cow or anything.

Many people question their selves if in-vitro fertilization is right. We tend to think it is correct because its reason is correct, though the words “artificial manipulation of embryos” sound like something bad. This technique is normally required when a mother and father need help to become pregnant. As said before, popular opinion perceives this as a good cause to manipulate embryos. But they are still technology and would continue being if not introduced in a womb.

With stem cells is the same process. We use technology to join a woman’s ovule with a man’s spermatozoon and produce an embryo. That embryo can become a baby born in a family or can be used to save people’s life. To save people’s life is not immoral, and even less if we do it with technology.

Totally immoral would be if we took the embryo naturally conceived of the womb and kill it to take stem cells. That can be consider a murder, because that embryo is alive and it is going to become an entire human being. But you are not doing this, you are using technology to obtain stem cells and that’s not a murder.

I think that the ethic and moral of an action depends on its intention. The purpose of stem cells is to improve people’s life, not to kill. That’s why for me it’s not immoral the use of stem cells to save people.

My first day organizing a children’s festival

It was Saturday morning. I woke up at 10 (I usually get up earlier to take advantage of my time, but this occasion I decided to relax a bit more, as I’d been very tired with that exhausting school week), ate my breakfast and took a bath. My mom was waiting for me; she asked me to accompany her to go to the supermarket.

After doing the shopping, my mom leaved me at the primary school because I had to help with the organization of the children’s festival. The first thing I did, once I’d greeted the few pals that were there at time, is help Vale Marun to fix the roulette.

Later, Gissel arrived and (as always) she started talking and talking and talking and talking. She has always something to say. Never stops. The point is that she was telling us the problem that took place with the cokes. This conversation was interrupted by Vale Marun’s blond wig and Roman toga, followed by the woman’s mask. It was so funny to see her with all this costume. She was unrecognizable, very strange but funny.

We were carrying some desks from one room to another bigger to make the ghost train when Flor come to ask me if I could take care of the “kermes” (I hope it’s well-spelled). The truth is that I didn’t know anything about that activity, and she was really a “great help” (sarcastically talking). She told me “you have this, this and that. Be creative and do something. Bye”. I was astonished. I even don’t know how it’s spelled that word, so you can imagine how creative I should be to organize that activity from which I had no idea about.

With a green bucket and 2 apples I prepared a game that consisted on children biting an apple that was floating in water to win a prize (which I decided it will be a box of candies). It was not as easy as it sounds. To bite the apple children had to submerge their heads in the water (hopefully it was a beautiful sunny day because if it had been a cold cloudy one children could have caught a cold). This was a very original game. It was funny to see the children trying to get that apple in less than 3 opportunities.

Another game was the one with 3 vessels and one ball. I put the ball under one vessel and mixed the three of them in order to confuse the children so that they didn’t guess were the ball was. But children were far cunning and they always knew which vessel had the ball and received a chewing “chupetín” as a reward. But I had some difficulties to carry on this game because the ball, apart from not being the small enough, it was painted with a fluorescent orange colour that was easily distinguished trough the vessel, that’s why I had to put one vessel upon another. Furthermore, these vessels were the white plastic ones, which are translucent. Luckily, I found some blue ones and used them. As I’d never practiced this hand’s movements the trick was not much good to get the children puzzled, but it was excellent to make them laugh.

Finally, I also took care of the roulette, which was a loved game by the girls, who spent a lot of money to get the prize, which was a simple chocolate bar. Next to these 3 games, there was an extra one in which children had to put into the mouth of 6 bottles 4 rings, if they achieved it they received an award.

Each time children wanted to play one of these games they had to pay $0.25, and I collected thousands of coins. These games were like a magnet. I didn’t stop working in the whole afternoon. It was very exiting.

Although I didn’t have any motion of what exactly was a “kermes” I deal in a great way with it. This idea is connected to that in the You 2.0 text, where it was developed the theme of the fear to unknown experiences. We always have to bear in mind this phrase: “We tend to regret the things we didn’t try more than those we did – even when we fail.”

Reaction towards the Radio Programme

In the radio programme we listened to 3 persons talking about their daily life and their experiences in the new experiment in which they are participating. This experiment consists in people who can work wherever and whenever they want, as long as they do what they had to up to the dead line.

I agree that this work condition is very positive in many aspects of life.

Firstly, with this system you better organize your times. As you are in your home, you have the advantage that you can do other things at the same time you are working. Let’s suppose you are a mother with a baby, you can’t leave home unless you carry your baby with you; and you can’t go to the office to work with your baby because it’s a very uncomfortable situation. With this experiment you can work at home and bring up your baby without any inconvenient.

Let’s take another example, when you are ill you often don’t go to work and get delayed in your activities. With this new system, as you work at home, when you finally feel better you can take your computer to bed and work there. It’s much more convenient, suitable and practical.

Secondly, you save a lot of time. As you don’t have to go to your office, because you stay working at home, you don’t waste a lot of time travelling. And this action takes a lot of time in more highly developed countries, because the distances are very large. So, you make use of that valuable time and as a result have more time to work, what is more producing to the company for which you work (in this radio programme they talked about a best bury).

A negative point may be that sometimes you over exact yourself by working too much and can become a workcoholic. And you can think that giving more benefits to your company is good, but you have to have cleared the notion that every extreme is bad. Not working is as terrible as working too much.

Like the 3 interviewed persons said, they worked so much that they started to lose the habit of relating even with their own families. They spent the whole day working, and when they weren’t working they were sleeping. Everyone in the family lived an independent life, like if they were in different universes.

Also, this people work on the computer. They multitask every second. E.g., while they are checking their e-mails they are IMing and having a regular conversation by phone, all at the same minute; or typing an e-mail while driving, as well as being interviewed when having a bath. They don’t waste even a second; it’s obvious that they reject the concept of time-wasting.

Another disadvantage of using the computer the whole day is that, behind losing family relationship they lose personal contact. And everyone knows that body language is very important to express ourselves. One person of the interview said that instead of talking face to face with his son, they preferred to chat. Maybe in the United States this is a popular habit, but as in my house is not like that it called my attention.

So, I think that as well as you control yourself it’s much more comfortable to work at home, but not leave the habit of practicing physical activity and going out to have some fun with friends.

The good bye

Tomorrow we are going travelling.
3rd polimodal is going to Tafí del Valle to do a “relevamiento” of the rubbish situation up there. I hope it goes us well.

We'll see Caroline and Charlie at Wednesday. Don’t miss us! Why were you upsen Caroline? Hope you are doing well. Kisses!

I spent this whole day at the computer, whether doing Philosophy homework or English one. Yes, I upload as many entries as I could. It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me Charlie, but my internet is working extremely wrong and is very slow, although I have installed the faster speed.

At this right moment I’m trying to upload some photos, but I can’t!!! There is an error in the page that it’s freaking me out. I wish I could put these photos in the page, to make it more interesting and nice, but I don’t know what else to do!!! I’ve tried everything. I want Caroline to be here with me so that she explains me how to do this (because she uploaded a photo on her blog while being an inexpert, not like ValeBe or Charlie).

I want to clarify that many of my entries took me more than half an hour to write them, so I want you to consider this.

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I now can upload the photos! I understood why I couldn’t do it before. Because the photo was too big! I now cut them and that’s all!! THANKS MOM!!!!!!

Yeahh!!!

I will now dream tranquil. I have to prepare my bag for tomorrow and the food and take a bath!

Jesus, help me!

Opinion

We have to do an essay for the English IB of about 1.500 words. And I have already written a little more than 1 thousand words. I liked very much to do this essay, I don’t know why really.

I think that when I analyze a text I like it more! The first copy I wrote of this essay was very bad and I have to confess I did it without thinking, only because I had to do it. But then, I started to get interested in Hemingway’s work, and started to understand all the meanings of his stories.

Furthermore, when I paid attention in class I understood more and more. That’s why I always take notes of what the teacher says.

And the third, fourth and fifth time I revised and corrected my essay, each time I got much more satisfied with the job done.


But this does not only happen in English. For example, in Spanish Language the teachers make us read books. And maybe I didn’t like them very much, but when we do all the analyzing work I end affectionate to those books.

Well, the point was to say that I hope the other 500 words rest of my English essay we can use them to write about Fahrenheit, because I like very much that book. And I think that I can develop it and I would be glad to do it.

Please Please Please, say you will consider this option!

Thank you!

The Baobabs

When I was a child, my father obliged me to read “The little Prince” (“El Principito”) but I didn’t like it.

Last year he suggested me to read it again, and I loved it.

I’m not going to tell you what is the story about, but I recommend you read this book. It is wonderful and has lessons for life.


For my Art work I remembered this pleasant book. I connected it with my art theme and decided to investigate a thing that caught my attention. The famous baobabs, the giant trees.


Yesterday I was looking for some photographs, and the ones I found impressed me. I’ll try to upload some so you see them.


The baobab is an African tree with a stubborn shape, which’s flowers have the figure of a human hand (with fingers). It can achieve a height of 25 metres and the perimeter of its trunk can be superior to 40 metres. Some exemplars have 4.000 years.

It is also called “reverse tree” because its top branches (at summer) took like roots.

The Baobab can store up to 120.000 litres of water, what explains the importance of this giant in the deserted zones of Africa.


When I read all this data I would have probably fall off to the floor if I wasn’t sitting in the chair. It is amazing!!! And wait to see the photos!

They are incredible trees! I am fascinated!!!

Tributo to Queen - I mean: to Vale Becker

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DEAR FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want you to know that I consider you a very special person.

Like you once wrote in your fotolog: “we are companions in everything”. And I want to add one detail: I want it to continue like that!

I think you are a great person! I remember that at the end of the previous year I wanted to write to you a letter saying how much I loved you and why… When I was thinking what to put in the letter my eyes started to get full of tears. That was a very strange feeling: I wanted to tell it to you, I needed to.

But I don’t know what words to use, what to say. There are so many things that I need you to know but I don’t know from where to start. I had told you some things personally, but it’s important to have it written.


It all started last year, when you changed your whole you. When we were in 1st polimodal you were very irritable. But in 2nd all went the other way run, and you were the most sensitive person of the world, and I discovered it throw your fotolog.

In that web page you write how you feel, what you think, your beliefs and reactions, everything. And the photos that you upload are also incredible.

That’s the way I started knowing more about you. And I liked what I discovered. And I like it more each time.


I’m very proud of you.
I want to have you as a friend for all my life.
Never change my view of you.
You are perfect.


I hope you enjoy this day. Your day. Your life.
Never stop smiling.

Love you.

Anto

Last Friday’s activities

I was very excited at the idea that we were going to see a film about the Secession War in the last two modulos of the morning. Unfortunately, miss Laurita didn’t feel alike, and she told us that we had to stay in the class.

Luckily, after that modulo we were aloud to go upstairs and we saw the end of the film. At 12:25 we didn’t listen the bell ring, that’s why I was late to get to Nabila’s car, but they waited me.

At school in the afternoon we had a free hour and then we had a practical lesson on Physics, where the whole room was dark and we were working with lights of different colours. This is a very interesting topic to study.
When I got home, and after having my tea, I took a bath. Then, I went to the computer to search for information so as to do my Art homework. But I felt really tired, that’s why I took a very little nap, until my parents got home.

At that point I had to go to have dinner with them. This is the only time I can talk with them, because they work all day long. I like this part of the day, the night.

After this I went to dress up to go to a pub, where a Chechu’s friend was going to play the electrical guitar in a band. And Vale Becker was coming to my house before going to this pub, that’s why I had to hurry up.

Opportunely, I was almost already when Vale arrived. We finished with the last details and then we waited until the other girls called us (there were more than 45 persons in the chat), in an attempt to turn up at the same time in order to not being along in that place (girl’s stuff, jajaja).

Finally we got there, and Chechu, ValeMe and Juli eat some pizza, and then Gina asked for a “picada”. They ate while catching up with the news. We laughed at the jokes that were said. I enjoyed this fine time.

Afterwards, the famous band interpreted their songs. In my opinion, they can we better if the voice of the principal singer is not tapped by the sound of the guitar or the battery.

In the end, I went home.

Journey to La Pampa

The previous weekend was a large one because it was Easter. That’s why my family planned to go travelling.

In this occasion we decided to go to La Pampa, where we have some relatives. My father’s grandfather founded a town in the limit of the provinces of La Pampa and Buenos Aires, which it’s called “Villa Maza”.

Time passed and there is still a generation of my father’s grandfather living there, who are also my relatives, of course. In fact, although it’s only one little branch of my huge family the ones who live there, they are many persons.

We started our journey at Tuesday afternoon. We went by car all the way. We took the road that goes to San Luis because we had to look for another part of the family, my father’s cousin with his wife, Daniel and Saada. We stayed that night there, and went to sleep after being talking for a long while.

At the following morning we took the breakfast and talked a little bit. (I’ve just decided not to put every time we talked because that’s what we did most of the time; therefore, instead of writing it all over, now you know it so I don’t have to write it any more).

At midday we went to visit a cousin of mine (Daniel’s daughter) which I haven’t seen in my life before. She was also with her two daughters, which are really cute. We spent a great time talking, drinking coffee and watching photos. She is very charming that’s why I liked to meet her.

Then we went to buy some food and started the way to La Pampa with my father’s cousin and her wife. I forgot to say that in our car was also my niece, Estefanía.

At night we arrived to “Villa Maza” and before getting there we called our relatives so as they start making the fire for the “asado”. There I met a part of the family: Dora (my father’s and Daniel’s cousin), Joaquín (Dora’s husband), Julia (Dora’s daughter), Charlie (Julia’s husband), Elina (Julia’s and Charlie’s daughter), Lorenzo (Elina’s brother), Martín (Dora’s son), Mirna (Martín’s wife), Gonzalo (Mirna’s and Martín’s son), Alvarito (Gonzalo’s brother), Fermín (Gonzalo’s and Alvarito’s youngest brother) and Federico (Dora’s nephew, my dad’s nephew and my cousin also). That night we stayed until 4 am talking and catching up with the news.

Villa Maza is in the province of Buenos Aires and my relatives’ fields are in the province of La Pampa. And we went from one to the other (they are separated by a distance of only 2 kilometres).

My father lived his childhood in this town (in the fields), but he hadn’t return there for the last 50 years.

The next day we went to take a walk through the village (7 x 7 squares, very little, jajaja). The funny thing is that we got lost!!! No, I’m kidding… The amusing thing is that my father remembered all the buildings from the town! Many of the houses or stores had changed or disappeared, but he hasn’t forgotten where they used to be 50 years ago. It was a trip to the past. INCREDIBLE.

That same day we met another cousin called Mariano (Federico’s brother).

At afternoon we went again to the fields, where my nephews (jajaja, it’s funny to call them like that cause they have my own age; but I call them “nephews” because you will get lost if I called them “cousins”, for example) where riding horses and driving a “cuatriciclo”.
We went to the “tambo” to see how caws were milked. I like field’s life!

Then, in the house, I met Sebastian (Martín and Mirna’s son) and his girlfriend, and we spend some time talking.

At night we had dinner at the house with other guests. The food was delicious. I met Andrea (Federico’s wife) Rosario, Mercedes and Justina (their 3 daughters) and Carlos Mariano (Martín and Mirna’s son) with his girlfriend. We stayed again until 30 passed 3 am.

At the following day we went to Federico’s home, where we have lunch. He is arming the genealogical tree (I love this subject) and showed us lots of very old pictures, some of which I’ve already seen before and much others that were new for me. It was very interesting and exciting!!! To know where you come from… wow… We also went to the cemetery to see the tombs of our ancestors.

At afternoon we went to the field where my father had once lived!!! Again, he remembered each building, each tree, and lots of anecdotes. The house is changed now from what it was 50 years ago. But, for example, my dad said “there was the house where the workers used to sleep”, and it was true because the actual owner of the field then answered “oh, yes! When we were making the tennis court in that place we found the foundations of some building…”

And that always happened, confirming what my dad said.

That Friday’s night we went to a restaurant to eat a kind of “paeya”, which wasn’t very tasty. And then we went to a super disco to dance. The club was extremely little. That is understandable, what sense to do it bigger for that small town? Jajaja…

The last day (Saturday), we went to eat another “asado” to the field. We ride horses a while before eating. And previously we leave we took some photos of the whole family. One of them is this I update. And we completed one part of the genealogical tree.

Finally, we leaved. We get my niece Estefanía on a bus that went to La Plata, where she lives.

We started our trip back home, and stopped in San Luis again, to sleep. The following morning we continued it. Our car is very comfortable, I slept a lot, jajaja…

We arrived to our house at 7:30 pm approximately. And, after taking a bath and getting some familiars conclusions of our journey while having dinner, I started to do homework.

I was thinking how many homework I had, and so few time to do it. But my brother told me that maybe tomorrow we had no classes. At that instant I called Tamara to ask whether it was true or not, and fortunately she told me that yes! THERE WERE NO CLASSES at Monday!!!!!!! It was the best news!! I would do all what I had to do on Monday.

So, I went to sleep…

Comment about Fahrenheit

Beatty tries to describe the society that discard all unnecessary, time-wasting thoughts. Since the twentieth century, with the huge development of technology everything became faster, instant, easier. But as most books were written before these years in which all kinds of texts are short, people have to spend lot of time reading them. That is why people stopped doing it, because they now read one column, two sentences, a headline, because that’s all what they need, Captain Beatty says.

Nowadays, this tendency is getting stronger. With all the new technologies life is becoming more comfortable (easier, faster, unproblematic, simpler) and time-saving. It only takes 5 minutes to look for information in the internet; with cars you save a lot of time if you have to go somewhere; with cell-phones you can communicate instantly with persons that are in different places; with television you know what is happening at this right moment in the other side of the world; films tells you what a book is about in only 2 hours, and lot further.

Also, people look for the easiest way to do things. E.g.: adolescents are not interested in doing their homework; they don’t’ think about their future, they only plan the way to pass the exams. They don’t mind if they don’t think, learn, reason or analyse different matters.

Reaction about Fahrenheit 451 (up to page 28)

“Are you happy?”

That simple question made Montag realize he was not as happy as he thought he was. He had never stopped to think about that matter. He was lying himself, because he wore his happiness like a mask, while in his deep soul he was unhappy. But he hadn’t become conscious about it up to the moment when he talks with Clarisse. Clarisse makes him think about several little aspects of life, to which he had never paid attention before.

Clarisse was a curious 17 year-old girl that appreciated the little things of life. She enjoyed doing simple activities, like looking at the moon or tasting the rain, which most of the people didn’t have time to even imagine.

On the other hand we have Mildred, Montag’s wife. She is thirty and yet Clarisse seemed so much older at times, said Montag. Mildred enjoyed watching soap-operas, believing that she took part of them. Her whole life went around them. She was an ignorant.

Actually the majority of the people were ignorant. This was all planned by the government, because it was useful for them so as to control citizens; they didn’t want them to think. That’s why books were burned, to avoid education, because intelligent persons may question the actions or the decisions taken by the authorities and could try to reduce their power.

Clarisse thought. This was dangerous for the politic system. The government could attempt to kill her if they discover it, that’s why her uncle advised her to say she was insane, so as to protect her from suspicious people.

The better organized one

You 2.0
Homework
Follow-up

“We tend to regret the things we didn’t try more than those we did – even when we fail.”I chose this phrase to comment on because I think that what it says is very important and useful for our daily life.Unfortunately, people have the tendency to be afraid of new experiences, maybe because they don’t know what they are going to feel afterwards.

If you always follow the same routine, i.e. if you do each day the same things, life would be very unexciting and boring. As we live only once, we have to take advantage of the time we are given. This reminds me of another slogan, “Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today.” We have to live each day as if it was the last one. If we want something, we have to do it. However, we never have to forget about the morality of each act.

Another phrase from the text, connected to this idea, is “Temporary slips are crucial to eventual success.”Mistakes are very important because they make us see in what way we are wrong, and by knowing this we can correct our errors and do things right.
Perhaps, sometimes we are fearful of doing something new because we may do it incorrectly. Frequently, the first time we have done things, we don’t obtain the results we want. But if we do it a second or a third time, we will have seen which were our errors the previous times and will be able to avoid them, so that our work ends right. Because we learn from our mistakes “we never encounter the same stone.”

So, don’t feel sorry if you did imperfectly something, just do it again until you do your best.

It’s true that sometimes we can fail in our objectives, but if we never try we’ll never know. When we don’t do something just to avoid difficulty, we prevent ourselves from enjoying countless feelings and experiences. And in fact, those are much many than failures.

Summarizing the idea: we don’t have to be cowards, just enjoy life at ever moment and always try to see the positive side of each situation.

Another one

Finally I could open my window!!!!!! And now I have to write and write for almost half an hour.

I have just finished doing my homework for Global and Literature. I like how Fahrenheit is going so far, but I didn’t understand the part of Mildred’s script. Tomorrow we’ll surely discuss it in class, so that’s not a big problem.

Now I am waiting until the window of hotmail opens. As you can see I am “multitasking”, but only doing two activities at the time. I sometimes can listen to music while I am IMing and looking for some pictures in the net, but when I have to do some homework I need my whole brain to be working at it just to get my best. I have to be very concentrated. For example, while I was doing the follow-up activities from You 2.0, at the same moment I was chatting and talking with my brother, and the results were those… but I was neither inspirited that afternoon. I spent, how much, 2 hours in writing that.

It’s horrible when you are doing something you don’t want to, but you have to do it because if not you will receive a 1. And maybe you are tired and your mind is anywhere else except in that homework, and the consequence is a 57 degree.

Oh! I need to go to sleep, but I must write to my “ahijada” also! She wrote to me two great letters!! And that made me so happy! She is so cute that I hope our relationship grows well.

Ok.. I’ll try to write tomorrow also!

Bye bye…


Charlie! Hope you are getting well!!!!

Homework

You 2.0

Homework
Follow-up

“We tend to regret the things we didn’t try more than those we did – even when we fail.”


I chose this phrase to comment about because I think that what it says is very important and useful for our daily life.


People have the tendency to be afraid of new experiences, maybe because they don’t know how they are going to feel like after them. Unfortunately, many prefer not to try anything new, just not to have to deal with another possible problem or difficult circumstance.

But what this folks don’t know is that, when they don’t do something just to avoid its consequently probable difficulty, they are prevailing themselves to enjoy thousands of new feelings and experiences.

It’s true that sometimes you can fail in your objectives, but if you never try you’ll never know.

Perhaps, you are fearful of doing something new, because if you do it wrong you’ll be punished. Frequently, the first time we do things, we don’t obtain the results we want. But if you do it a second or a third time, you will have seen which were your errors the previous times and try to avoid them, so that your work ends right. Because we learn from our mistakes “we never encounter the same stone.”

Another disadvantage is that if you always follow the traditions, i.e. if you do each day the same things, life would be very unexciting and boring. As we live only once, we have to take advantage of the time we are given. This reminds me another slogan, “Never leave for tomorrow what you can do today.”


Another phrase from the text, connected to the previous idea, is “Temporary slips are crucial to eventual success.”

Mistakes are very important because they make us see in what we are wrong, and by knowing this we can correct our errors and do things right.

For example, I prefer teachers to correct my mistakes instead of avoiding them. If they don’t point me out which were my mistakes, I will never learn. And I will think I did things well, when that’s not true. Maybe I pass one exam, but it is useless to be incorrect in life. It is better to accept a reproach than being an ignorant.

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COLDPLAY - FIX YOU


When you try your best but you don't succeed
When you get what you want but not what you need
When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse
And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
When you love someone but it goes to waste
COULD IT BE WORSE?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

Tears stream down your face
When you lose something you cannot replace
Tears stream down your face
And I

Tears stream down your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down your face
And I

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you.

My first comentary

Well........

Today we were Tamara, Chiva and me in the same computer, creating our blog for English.

Chiva got angry with me cause of a joke Lucas made to him. But he believed I did it... I'm not that bad..

ValeBe has much more practise than me in writing, so don't expect me writing as much as her!! She told me she had been exploring her blog and personalized it. I tried to do the same, but I had no patience. May be other day...

I hope next time I'll be more inspirated to write. See you at school!

Bye bye