Sunday, October 26, 2008

HOMEWORK: My secret life

I wonder why people are so inquisitive. We don’t know our self well, but we want to know everything about the others. I think it is in the human being to be inquisitive and to wish what is forbidden…like Eva and Adam.

Sometime we need to tell ours friends about happy or sad moments we lived…hopping to find recognition or an invigorating relationship between us and our friends. With whom can we share a secret? If it is a secret, you don’t tell anyone…but let’s take a look at the dictionary‘s definition (http://www.answers.com/topic/secret):

1. “Kept hidden from knowledge or view; concealed.
2. Dependably discreet.
3. Operating in a hidden or confidential manner: a secret agent.
4. Not expressed; inward: their secret thoughts.
5. Not frequented.
6. Known or shared only by the initiated: secret rites.
7. Beyond ordinary understanding; mysterious.

8. Containing information, the unauthorized disclosure of which poses a grave threat to national security”


According to this definition I shouldn’t write in my blog about my secret life…this writing is about my life.


The home I grew up in was a flat apartment block. My village is on the banks of Danube River, inside the Danube Delta. Living in a natural reserva means sometime being isolated from the rest of the world. But I enjoyed my childhood away from noise pollution, cars and mindless vandalism. I used to help my parents on the farm, feeding the animals or working the land.











When I was a child I wanted to be be a doctor. I created a chemistry laboratory in my room and I had been experimenting with new drugs on my dolls. I discovered that in mathematics and physics disciplines I was better than others children and I wanted to become an engineer at the village mine, the only industrial activity of this place. I started realise that my parents are working very hard in this mine and I wanted to change their life being their engineer. Today I finished my studies in business of corporation and sole the though to go back and living in my village scare me. How quickly die the dreams of a child! Despite their ephemeral aspect, we need dreaming to go on.

The moment that changed me for ever is a bad thing that had happen to me…my secret. But don’t we change every day a little? Life is a progression and what we see, hear, and live in a lifetime is changing us.

My greatest inspiration was Eminescu, a celebrity in poetry in Romania and Mircea Eliade. Eminescu’ poem is reflecting love and sadness’ emotions. Mircea Eliade was a historian of religions, fiction novelist, a teacher, a philosopher, but the one of his book that changed me is “Adam si Eva” which explain the “déjà vu, déjà connu” phenomenon.

When I was a child, at night I was dreaming of being princes. Today, at night I dream of real life.
Men think that the primary concern of woman is looking in the mirror. What I see when I look in a mirror is a rather fat and short person, but image change function of days spirit.

My style icon…I don’t have one anymore. I used to emulate one of my cousin…she was studying medicine and was so kind with all people around her, but I grow up and I sow that things are not what they seems to be. We are all prisoners of our selfish life.

My favourite item of clothing…I don’t have one still I’m comfortable with.

You wouldn’t know it but I’m very good at improvising. For example I can cook couscous in the microwave, and I can make a sauce function that what I can find in my fridge. I never go out to bay the right ingredients. You may not know it but I’m no good at history and geography…I never liked learning the important years of different countries’ history, but if someone rephrasing for me their stories like a legend, I’ll remember all my life.

All my money goes on…I don’t have enough money…My little money goes mainly in phone bills ( I speak to much with my mother) and in my survive out border.

If I have time to myself…I listen music, I drink and I smoke… altogether still I think about my past, my present and my future. Of course I prefer stretch out on the grass, admire the blue sky with its shining eyes and hear the restless waves of the sea, but I’m spending the most part of my life in the noisy cities.

I drive…I don’t drive. I have learned driving with an incompetent instructor but I haven’t find time to take my drive licence.

My house is…I don’t have my own house. I’m renting in London one room, I cancelled my rent contract in France and in Romania I’m living with my parents or my friend.

My most valuable possession is …me, my brother, my parents and my friends all over the world.

The last album I bought…I never bought one. My brother provide me any music I want or I don’t want.

In 10 year’s time, I hope to be…enough happy and rich to help my family, hope to be surrounded by friends and hope to be enough powerful to earn a smile from sad faces.



My real-life villain…I discovered that each of us feed an evil inside…we are such a selfish being. My greatest regret is I’m not different. I heart people and I got heart. This is a part of our little life…it suppose to make you stronger.
…if I could change one thing about my self…but I can’t.

Today my life in more then seven words…be tolerant, ignore what you can’t change and pay attention at what you can change.



Wednesday, October 22, 2008

ABOUT ADDICTION

When we decide that an individual is addicted? Peoples have tendency to call addiction the dependence on behaviour or on a substance that can destroy your health. Most of us are dependent of something. I smoke, he drinks, she takes drugs, they do harm their selves and she can’t stop eating…..she can not or she dose not want it? What about people who can not stop thinking have sexual activities and they abuse of someone weak…are they addicted or just mad? According to the definition I found they are not addicted because their health is not threatened by their action. A common problem in our days is the dependence to computer games, internet and gambling… they don’t destroy their organism neither, but we call them addicted, so I have searched other definitions:

- “a chronic relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain » (medical dictionary definition )

- the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (dictionary)

I’m not a psychiatric or doctor to decide if there is a sexual addiction, and even if this subject demands more researches, it is not the primer aspect of this writing…so I’ll pass on it. It is always easier to speak about something that you seen or you felt…that you think you know... which concern you; it’s always about us. We are just little selfish creatures.

I had started smoking “because of my friends”. I had been smoking searching a kind of euphoria sensation…when I couldn’t find anymore, I have been smoking because of sadness, stress, depression. Today my cigarette represents my motivation to wake up in the morning, to go in class, to work, to spend evenings with people who speaks about things that don’t interest me ( because it doesn’t concern ME), to imagine time goes faster….I’m addicted. For him, the alcohol represents the award at the end of each working and stressful day…and he thinks he’s addicted. She is overweighed and she continues eating more that she needs…..JUST FOR PLESURE…but we have all an excuse ADDICTION. We can’t stop this behaviour, we are depended. We feel bad if we don’t smoke, drink or eat, and we don’t want to feel that. Is this behaviour destroying generally human organism? Maybe not mine maybe is already too late for me or maybe just doesn’t matter anymore. People don’t understand that we do that because we love our self, because we love the present (this moment when I’m smoking, he’s drinking, she’s eating)…because we are unconsciously so selfish and so self loving, that we are convinced we are victims of addiction.

…don’t even try to judge us. You think you’re free, but in someway in your little life you are depended on one believe, on other peoples, on one activity, on chocolate, on coffee…on something; you just ignore it having the impression you’re different.
“People do not realise that what is opposed to something is also identical with it.”





Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Review - such a mess in my head

I did all the extra exercises from the Language Leader CD :) concerning Communication (unit1), Environment (unit2), Sport (unit3)....it was not so bad. Is still obvious that I’m not an expert n grammar, but since I arrived in London, I have been doing some progress...Is my last sentence using the right tenses? I have no idea. But I really try to understand when we use one of the tense aspects and why. I have been studying English for two years at school, when I was 14years old, and after that I hadn't touched grammar again. I'm doing it now and it's not so easy like I expected to be. Yesterday I barrowed 2 grammar books from the library...so, I’ll be a tolerant person and I’ll try to understand it (despite my belief that it is not the most important thing - but I'm agree it can be useful). I don't see it like an impediment, my self-studying can solve the problems, but unfortunately, it will not help me much for tomorrow Alex's test. I need time.

It’s strange. I have been watching American films since I was a little girl and I’m a good listener. I’m reading every day the Metro newspaper, because I’m spending two hours per day in the underground and I don’t have anything better to do….of course there are words that I never met before, but I can understand the meaning of the article. I enjoy reading and writing, much more than studying grammar. I’m such a rambler…I started to write all the nonsense in my blog, just because I don’t want to get back to my language leader coursebook (“try think before write, Ramona. You’re changing the style of your writing and not in good way”). I’m going mad, so I should better go to sleep. Bye everyone!
…can someone “help” me tomorrow? I was joking. But maybe someone can correct my text and send me a comment.

"This is the Man's World" - James Brown

Today we had our presentation. It was the first time that I enjoyed making a presentation. I invested a lot of time. Our group has tried to bring the audience into the Manx world. See more in our travel group blog: http://traveltoisleofman.blogspot.com/

...and tomorrow we'll have a grammar test, so I'll do better going to review a little...I don't think that is really important to be an expert in tenses. I would like rather speak fluently than use the write tense of verbs. But sometime we don't have choice and we have to do things that we don't like, but maybe can be useful...I never liked English before and now I'm spending a lot of money to learn it...






Wednesday, October 8, 2008

QUANTIFIERS

Grammar is my weakness in English. This blog message is entirely dedicated to quantifiers.

“Quantifiers are words that are used to state quantity or amount of something without stating the actually number. “

I find an interesting link on the internet: http://www.smic.be/smic5022/quantifiers1.htm and I did the exercises online:
- the first exercise learn you how to use: little, a little, few, a few. My first score was 63%. I wasn’t pleased so I’m trying to remember the rules:

Little -> uncountable nouns -------- = ------hardly any, no much
A little-> uncountable nouns -------- = ------some, small amount
Few-> countable nouns -------- = ------ hardly any, no much
A few-> countable nouns -------- = ------some, small number

The Alex’ homework for tomorrow is also about the quantifiers.

Exercise 7/29
0%
None (both)
Almost none (countable)
Hardly any (both) / little (uncountable)/ few (countable)
Some (both) / a few (uncountable)
Many (countable) / much (uncountable)
Far too many / far to much
A lot of (both)/ All (both)
100%

HOMEWORK - TOPIC SENTENCE

Read the passage. Underline the topic sentence.
Circle the sentences that don't belong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Probably the best loved of American poets the world over is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of his lines are as familiar to us as rhymes from Mother Goose or the words of nursery songs learned in early childhood. Thumbelina was written by Hans Christian Anderson. Like these rhymes and melodies, they remain in the memory and accompany us through life.

There are two reasons for the popularity and significance of Longfellow's poetry. First, he had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. Many song birds are found in Massachusetts. Read or heard once or twice, his rhyme and meters cling to the mind long after the sense may be forgotten. Second, Longfellow wrote on obvious themes which appeal to all kinds of people. His poems are easily understood; they sing their way into the consciousness of those who read them.

Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because he was among the first of American writers to use native themes. Columbus called the Native Americans "Indians" because he thought he had landed in the Indies. He wrote about the American scene and landscape, the American Indian ('Song of Hiawatha'), and American history and tradition ('The Courtship of Miles Standish', 'Paul Revere's Ride', 'Evangeline').
At the beginning of the 19th century, America was a stumbling babe as far as a culture of its own was concerned. The people of America had spent their years and their energies in carving a habitation out of the wilderness and in fighting for independence. Wood carving was a common American pastime. Literature, art, and music came mainly from Europe and especially from England. Nothing was considered worthy of attention unless it came from Europe. But "the flowering of New England," as Van Wyck Brooks terms the period from 1815 to 1865, took place in Longfellow's day, and he made a great contribution to it.
I

The new legend of the Isle of Man ( short version)

I was wondering how many people visited or have a little information concerning the Isle of Man. I was surprised to find that same of them never heard about it or don’t really know where is it situated. So I decide to write a story about this land using all the information I could collected.

Long time ago, the giant
Manannán Mac Lír took a huge rock on the Northern Ireland and droped it into the sea. The wind and the water carved the rock and gave it life. The people who live there are called Manx and their land is the Isle of Man (IOM). During their lomg history, they have built on the steep wooded valleys, homes, farming villages and cities. Some testimonies of their sweat are the Casteltown and its medieval Castle Rushen, the Corrins Tower, the Lady Isabella, the Cregneash Village, the Peel Castle, and the Tower of Refuge.
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The Manx created a close-knit community and their own flag. A brutal punishment by hanging was imposed on people who betrayed their society. This capital punishment was abolished only in 1993 and people say that the Castle Rushen is still haunted by a "woman in black" hanged for murdering his children.
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Time passed and their society changed faster then their law. Even today the abortion is not allow in the IOM. Sometime, a close-knit community forgotten by the rest of the world can look like a prison, but each 'tribe' has its imperfections.

The IOM will always be an enchanting island with deep waters, high sandy headlands, the rarest wetland wildlife and the Manx have found a way to attract the young of the other countries. They have done this by creating a Tourist Trophy (motocycle race), offering haven taxes and the movie industry. Their stunning views have appeared in more than 80 films (such as Trauma, Cinderella and Lassie).

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

What the people say about Isle of Man ? (long version)

I was wondering haw many British people visited or have any information concerning the Isle of Man. I was surprised to find that same of them never heard about it or don’t really know where is it situated. Despite his unpopularity in London tribe , I succeed to collect same interesting stories about capital punishment, lower taxes, abortion low and movies productions. I couldn’t verify all of them, but maybe this fact can provides the charm of a legend. When I thought finding a subject that can steel my classmates’ attention, another impediment dissipates my entire enthusiast: how can I write about these little stories with no connection between them? So I decide to tell you another story using the information I could get by people sayings and the cyber universe: Internet.

Long time ago, the giant Manannán Mac Lír took a huge rock on the Northern Ireland and drop it into the sea. The wind and the water carved the rock and gave it life. People that have been living there are called Manx and their land, Isle of Man. Along of their history they build on the steep wooded valleys, homes, farming villages and cities. Some testimonies of their sweat are the Casteltown and medieval castles (Castle Rushen), the Corrins Tower (1806), The Lady Isabella (1800), the Cregneash Village, the ruins of the Peel Castle (1392), and the Tower of Refuge (1832).



The Manx had created their own flag represented by tree legs in red background. ('What has three legs and flies? Manx trousers’) and they have been living in a close-knit community. A brutal punishment by hanging expected the people who betrayed their society. In 1872, the last hanged man was called John Kewish. The Queen Victoria was not happy to be involved in those criminal punishments and she asked the abolishment, but the Manx low didn’t change until 1993. A legend say that a "woman in black" hanged for murdering his children is hunting in the Castle Rushen of Casteltown.

Time passed and their society changed faster then their low. Until today the abortion is not allow in the Isle of Man. Sometime, a close-knit community forgotten by the rest of the world, can look like a prison for their members. A woman, who decides by her self she’s not prepared to be a parent, has no choice.
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But each tribe has his imperfection. The Isle of Man, still stay an enchanting island with deep waters, high sandy headlands, the rarest wetland wildlife and the Manx found a way to attract the young of the other countries. In our days, this land is associated with motorcycle race, the TT (Tourist Trophy), haven taxes and the movies industry. His stunning views appeared in more than 80 films and TV dramas (Trauma, Cinderella, The dark, Lassie, Finley the fire Engine, The Cotage …

slides show Isle of Man

"The attitude of the Manx people is best summed up by a joke:

A tourist having a pint of Okell's beer in the pub is joined at the bar by a fisherman with a bucket of live crabs. The fisherman gets a drink and ignores the bucket. The tourist watches as the crabs skitter about, trying to climb out of the bucket. He says to the fisherman 'Aren't you afraid you'll lose your crabs?' The fisherman glances down at the bucket and replies, 'No, those there are Manx crabs. As soon as it looks like one of them is going to get out, the others gang up and pull him back down to their level."

Source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/pda/A3197207?s_id=2