Maria T, New Year's Eve in La Palma island (2009)

My new year´s eve anecdote happened two years ago. It started on 31^st December 2009, when my sister, my mother and I decided to go to La Palma to spend that night where riends of my family reside. They are just like family.

We arrived in the evening and a few hours later we started to eat. We had dinner a modest but delicious dish which consists of chops with corncob, potatoes and green mojo. After dinner and the popping of the twelve grapes, my sister, my friend Ylenia and I went downtown for the street party. At 7 am, the three of us went to sleep in the car because we had drunk. The sunlight woke up us at 11 am. We were really hungry so we headed for a bar to have breakfast. After that, we decided to go to the beautiful secluded beach of “Los Cancajos” to continue the day. We arrived home at 6 pm. That was quite a memorable occasion!

Ines (NI 2) Remembers a Special New Year's Eve

NEW YEAR’S EVE

I have nice memories about a New Year’s Eve celebration when we went to Madeira in a cruise with the family and friends several years ago.

We arrived at Funchal early in the morning and we went to visit the city. The streets had a splendid Christmas decoration at that time with thousands of lights. The weather was lightly cold but not cloudy, the sun was shining and it was very nice to go for a walk.

That night everybody wore their best dresses for supper. I wore my long, black, evening dress and my high-heel-shoes. Our family and friends shared a large table. When one of my best friends was slowly walking to the table she twisted her ankle and fell on a chair near her. After that, she was very worried thinking about the people who had noticed that, although we insisted in saying her…No! Don´t worry nobody saw you!

For starter we had lobster salad with raspberry sauce. The main dish could be fish or meat. We had meat, a tasted sirloin in green pepper sauce, roast potatoes and sweet onions. And for dessert a fabulous pineapple cake with cream and almonds. We drank a lot of soft drinks and a bit of wine and champagne too.

Funchal is in a great natural amphitheatre looking onto the blue Atlantic so we could see the amazing show of fireworks from the boat which is the largest display in the world. Then we were dancing all the night. At 5 a.m. they served an amazing buffet of chocolate, it was delicious and then we went to bed.

I would like to celebrate my next New Year’s Eve in the same way!

Clown Costume Vocabulary

To give some background to today's topic here is some vocabulary you might fine useful.

Carnival Looms and Nancy is Ready!

A wonderful student Nancy applied for a (make believe) job in a casino that doesn't actually exist. She feels she is the perfect candidate for the post based on her clown experience. Speaking of clowning around, Carnival is coming up soon in Gran Canaria and throughout the Canary Islands. If you have not got a costume ready, check this one out!

Here is Nancy's letter

Mr. Randolph

I am writing in reference to your advertisement published on your website.

At the moment I am working independently as a clown. I usually organize children's party where I do magic tricks and games for children.

I am particularly interested in this job because I worked as a magician at The World Circus three years ago. I believe my experience as a magician would be an interesting quality to enable me to work in your company.

As you can see from on my CV, I have over four years of experience in dealing with customer sand I have done different magic courses and I knowledge about cards games. I have learned a wide variety of skills connected with my work.

I would be pleased to attend an interview to discuss my application in more detail. Thank you for taking the time to consider this application and I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Nancy O of NI2

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

We have had a quiet Christmas holiday and now Little Christmas (January 6) looms, the most important day of observance in Spain.

My friend Luis in Santa Brigida closed his DVD rental business this week after over a decade of providing local residents with big screen dreams on their own home TVs.

Although it was sad to see the video shop close down, Luis did offer us a dozen films for our EOI Santa Brigida library. Students will be able to borrow these films which includes big hits like Star Trek (the movie) and more quirky movies such as Jim Jamusch's Broken Flowers with comic actor Bill Murray in a more or less serious role.

The Boston Globe rated Broken Flowers, "among the best films of 2005." We found it a bit slow but also compelling. The story of Murray's struggle to get his life on track and join the human race after a bout with some sort of mysterious depression was moving. The final scene leaves the audience totally up in the air. But let's not ruin it for future viewers!

I would stare at the grains of light suspended in that silence space, struggling to see into my own heart.What did I want? And what did others want from me? But I could never find the answers. Sometimes I would reach out and try to grasp the grains of light, but my fingers touched nothing.

Haruki Murakami, in the novel "Norwegian Wood"

Gloria Wants to Work at Camp Active!!!

Here is another great application letter for the imaginary camp job at Camp-Active.

It is written by Gloria NI2 who hails from Andalusia.

Dear Sir or Madam,
I would like to apply for the job as Camp-Active counselor, recently advertised on your website.
As you can see in my CV, I have previously worked as a babysitter, entertainment organizer and in a school. All these posts involve work with children so I possess relevant experience.
In the different hotels where I have worked, we played games with children and this required considerable creativity to come up with new games every day. We practiced different sports such as cycling, tennis, sailing, windsurfing and all types of outdoor activities. At the school where I worked, I taught languages.
I am particularly interested in this job, because I love working with children and establish good relations with them. I feel sure that this experience would be valuable in the post as counselor.
Enclosed please find my CV. Thank you for taking the time to consider this application. I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Yours faithfully,
Gloria

Tennis Coach Post Sought -- Nancy NI2A

Nancy NI2A is applying for an imaginary job. Her qualifications are also fictitious, but well written! She actually works in computers. This is a great model letter for anybody seeking employment.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in reference to the advertisement on your website.

I finished my degree three years ago. At the moment, I am in charge of the Happy Valley Tennis Club, teaching children how to play tennis. As a physical education teacher, my responsibilities range from organizing timetables and managing instructors to giving classes.

I have worked as a primary school teacher for two years. I believe that my experience with children and education make me a very competitive candidate for this position.

As you can see from my CV, I have worked as an instructor at various summer camps for children when I was studying. I am physically fit. I like to run every day and I hike once a month.

I would be pleased to discuss this letter and my enclosed CV at an interview. Thank you for taking the time to consider this application.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Nancy

Mercedes and her Sister!

(We have been discussing the merits of growing up as an only children. Mercedes NI2 wrote a nice essay on this subject. Please note the clearly organized structure with an introduction, central body and conclusion.)

Nowadays people start their own family later than our parents, and they often have to work long hours each day. So, many families have one child.

Parents with an only child can buy everything that a child needs, such as: clothes, shoes, computers and toys. They also can bring up a child better than many children. Only children are more independent because they don’t have siblings to help them. However, children without brothers and sisters may feel loneliness. They are often selfish because they don’t lend their toys to other children.

In my opinion, my sister is the most important person in my life, because she always helps me when I need it. She is very loyal and kind. I love shopping with my sister and my cousins, especially in the boutiques in Triana.

“Csarnok Market” Laura (NI2) takes us to Budapest

Csarnok is the name of the biggest market in Budapest. It is a beautiful 19th century cast iron building. The famous architect Gustave Eiffel, (well known for the Eiffel Tower in Paris), went to Budapest to design the East Station. The market was built at the same time, in the same style as the train station.

Csarnok Market is well-stiuated, just by the Danube river in Pest side, (the name Budapest comes from the join of Buda and Pest, the two big parts of the city separated by the Danube). It is easy to reach Csarnok, there are many buses and trams that stop near there.

The first thing you find when you arrive, is a sight of the wonderful building, the bridge, the river, and the Buda foot hills. As you enter the market, the great space overwhelms you. Though somewhat gray and not very bright, it teems with stalls that break the darkness with colorful vegetables and fruits, apples, peaches, strawberries… and bananas that come from South America or even the Canary Islands!

I think there are three big groups of stalls, the first one sells fruit and vegetables, where the colors abound ...but take care! These stalls sell different types of Hungarian peppers (or paprika), the little dark red ones, strong green ones which are bigger than the reds, and finally a lovely innocent light green pepper. Guess! Which one is the most spicy?.... The innocent light green may kill you! You don’t need to eat it, just hold the pepper in your hand to cut it, and touch your eyes or mouth with the same hand, and you will start to suffer its effects…just try it if you are brave!

The second group of stalls sells meat, milk, eggs and cheese. In this part of the market the smell is not so good, but you can buy fantastic meat, and also a vast array of Hungarian cheeses, very tasty and not dangerous.

Finally you find spirits, sweets and bread, these are my favorites. I love biscuits and cakes, and I could find there a wide range of them, very cheap. You can also buy strong popular Hungarian alcoholic drinks such as Palinka or Unicum. The bottles seem so rude, you can imagine they are very strong before you buy them. It doesn’t happen the same with the peppers!

As for the sound of the market? Csarnok is not a noisy place, which intrigued me, people don’t talk much to each other, when you go to a stall and there are people waiting, you find a perfect queue! Thus they avoid to ask the other persons whose the last one or whatever, with this system somehow they avoid communication!

This happens very often in Budapest, often gray and nostalgic, but always beautiful.

Spooky Story by Mercedes NI2

There are many versions of this old tale, but Mercedes made this one her own! Although Halloween is already gone, I wanted to include the story in our blog. Thanks to Mercedes for sharing her imagination with us!


Last Sunday I went to a Halloween party with my friends in an old house in Santa Brígida. We prepared a barbecue in the garden and my friend Peter told me a really scary story about himself. It went something like this...
One day, I worked in my grandfather’s house until midnight. The weather was awful, so I was driving slowly. Suddenly I saw a young girl standing on the road and I stopped. The young girl moved in my direction and got into the car. I took her to the town because she told me that her car had got broken down. Her name was Molly and she lived in a farm near the road. When we arrived in the town, I lent her my jacket because she was cold. I left her at the door of her own home and, after that, I left.
I returned to Molly’s farm to pick up my jacket two days ago. The farm was very old and untidy. I saw an old woman and I asked for Molly. The old woman was surprised and she told me that Molly died many years ago, and that her tomb was near there. I went to the cemetery and I discovered her tomb. I was quite surprised to see my jacket on her tomb!

Since then, Peter doesn’t drive that road at night.

Idaira: Our World Explorer

Idaira (NI 2) enjoys undertaking great adventures. Last summer she went with her boyfriend and a group of intrepid Spaniards on a trekking holiday to Papua, New Guinea in Indonesia. There they learned about a very different culture and savored the great outdoors with great forays into the hills and jungles. We would like to thank Idaira for sharing her slides with us of the trip in a fascinating presentation she made at EOI Santa Brigida recently. In the photo, Idaira crosses a very unusual footbridge in the wilds of Papua New Guinea.

MEMORIES

I just read an amazing novel by a Japanese writer.
I found this quote in the text and would like to
share it with you. -- Delmar Lemming

"…I think … people's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel. Advertising fillers in the newspaper, philosophy books, dirty pictures in a magazine, a bundle of ten-thousand-yen bills: when you feed 'em to the fire, they're all just paper. The fire isn't thinking 'Oh, this is Kant,' or 'Oh, this is the Yomiuri evening edition… ,' while it burns. To the fire, they're nothing but scraps of paper. It's the exact same thing. Important memories, not-so-important memories, totally useless memories: there's no distinction--they're all just fuel." — Haruki Murakami (After Dark)

Keep on the Sunny Side of Life

I learned this lovely Carter Family classic from Lorre Wyatt in the 1980s. He recorded it on his Folk Legacy LP "Roots and Branches" I seem to recall. Lorre tells a great tale about the author Ida Blenkhorn, which involves a nurse pushing her patients around in a wheelchair. One young woman's only request was that they stick to the sunny side of the path. It apparently led to a great song!

There's a dark & a troubled side of life
There's a bright, there's a sunny side, too
Though we meet with the darkness and strife
The sunny side we also may view

[cho:] Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side,
Keep on the sunny side of life
It will help us everyday, it will brighten all the way
If we'll keep on the sunny side of life

Though a storm in its fury breaks today,
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear;
Clouds and storms will, in time, pass away
The sun again will shine bright and clear.

Let us greet with the song of hope each day
Tho' the moment be cloudy or fair
As we walk let us clear a sunlit way
And hope other souls will travel there.

(Ida Blenkhorn, lyrics modified by Lorre Wyatt circa 1987)

You are my Sunshine (from Idaira of NI 2)

Many thanks to Idaira from San Mateo (NI 2) for the link to You are my Sunshine!

My kitchen (by Susana from Santa Brigida NI 2)

The kitchen is very special to me. I have lived here for over ten years and it has become a part of me. It’s full of personal possessions: my crockery I have collected over five years, the wooden furniture that I have personally chosen. Here you will find all the kitchen tools needed to prepare delicious and aromatic recipes. Even a part of the wall has been decorated with my own hands with cheerful flowered wallpaper.
It’s about to 6 meters long and 4 meters wide. It’s big enough to have a glass round table at the bottom with 4 leather chairs which is the local point of the room, just at the front of the conservatory. This conservatory is a large floor-ceiling glass window which looks out onto the garden. The other two walls to the sides are plenty of furniture and appliances such as a microwave, the oven and the fridge, everything of steel colour. But you won’t ever find anything on the table or worktop except some flowers or fruit if we aren’t eating or cooking. This is because I can't stand clutter.
There isn’t any door, which means you come straight into through the living room and the dining room. In fact, there is no door anywhere on this floor except at the bath.
Whenever we have a party or a Christmas dinner, people gravitate with their drinks to the kitchen. It always ends up the fullest and noisiest room in the house but I harbour very pleasant memories of it.

Notes on You are my Sunshine

This old family favorite of mine has a lot of history to it. Apparently one of the co-authors actually ran for governor in Louisiana (or was it Mississippi?) and won.

Whatever the case, he helped produce one of the most tuneful folk classics in US singable history. Indeed, this has proved a crowdpleaser for me in three continents.

Please note that I have never, as far as I know, ever sung the song in G (one sharp) as written below. But the melody is more or less right. Enjoy this ditty and keep singing!

Delmar Lemming

Popular Request for Guaci and all!

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away!

1) The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

2) I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me how it will grieve me,
You'll regret it all some day.

3) You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between.
But now you've left me to love another;
You have shattered all of my dreams.

HALLOWEEN IS COMING

One of our favorite holiday celebrations, Halloween, is coming soon. We hope to have another session of spooky stories and songs and activities for our classes at the EOI Santa Brigida.

The Cat Came Back!