Six lines of verse..

WHEN WE SET OFF AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR,
WE SET OUR HEARTS ON BECOMING A C1 SHEER,
PUTTING OUR MINDS TO SOMETHING COMPLETELY CLEAR:
THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AND A LOT OF EFFORT WE´LL BECOME PREMIER
OF THIS ADVENTURE OF LEARNING A LANGUAGE, APPEAR
THAT IT´S EASIER WHEN YOU HAVE YOUR HEART SET ON IT, DEAR..

READ THIS WONDERFUL STORY..

Whoa: we had a surprise twin double-breech roadside vaginal birth after Cesarean

Photo by Horia Varlan.

I was measuring consistently ahead in fundal height early on and just before the mid-point of my pregnancy my midwife referred me to an obstetrician to have an ultrasound (we'd not planned on having any) to rule out twins, fibroids, excess amniotic fluid, or any other complications. At the ultrasound, we were told there was one baby, no fibroids, and no excess fluid — the doctor said I simply had "a large uterus." So we went with that as confirmation.
At about 2:30 one morning, I had a contraction that woke me from my sleep. This had happened before, so I waited and felt a few more before I grudgingly got up and decided I'd take a bath to help them stop so I could get some sleep. I went into the bathroom and turned on the light. I saw that a little blood was in the toilet from sometime earlier that night, and wiped to see if there was any more… there was.
I woke up my husband, Garrett, and he called our midwife to tell her what was happening. She said it was probably just my bloody show and to take it easy but to call her if anything else happened. I tried to sleep, bathe, and just relax to get the contractions to stop. I was struggling to concentrate on the book I was reading. This was at about 6:30.

I took another bath, a shower, and tried to lie down and listen to a Hypnobabies CD, but the contractions were too strong for me to really relax. I definitely thought they'd stop. In fact, I thought they'd better stop, since I'd just had the home visit from the midwives on Monday morning. I could have a home birth in 5 days at 37 weeks, but not a day sooner!
I was determined not to be in true labor yet. When Garrett got home from dropping off our son (at about 8:30) and saw me in the bed, he said we needed to call our midwife again and so he did — all while packing a bag. She asked some questions and then suggested we come and meet her to assess the situation and see if I was really in labor or see what we could do to slow or stop it.
We left and on the way stopped at the store to get more minutes for our cell phone. I was low moaning for a while, but then that stopped working. About 45 minutes into the trip, my moans got higher pitched and less controlled. We talked about passing a bank, and how we'd definitely make it a few more hours at least and then a couple of minutes later, my water broke — everywhere! I was finally able to accept that the baby would be born that day, and soon, but we talked and I figured we still had at least a few hours. Garrett called our midwife to keep her updated, and she announced a change of plan — she said to meet her directly at the hospital. She asked Garrett if it was me moaning that she was hearing, and he said it was.
As they were talking, my body gave a tiny involuntary push, and I felt something come up between my legs. My first thought was, "Oh, God, the cord." But I knew what an emergency that would be, and thought that maybe, just maybe, I had somehow pooped. So I reached down (with much trepidation) and felt, and it was most definitely cord. I yelled, "The cord is out! The cord is out!" and my midwife heard me yelling over the phone. She told Garrett to pull over immediately and get me on all fours to take the pressure off the cord, and to call 911. There was, oddly enough, some traffic on the rural highway that morning, but after about a minute he managed to pull off the road. He got out and threw Bruin's car seat in the grass (we were, luckily, in front of empty fields on both sides of the highway. It was actually quite a pretty spot) and got me into the back seat, talking with our midwife all the while. She told Garrett to get my chest down and my butt up in the air, and then he called 911.
Somehow Garrett managed to get my shoes and pants off. I could hear him on the phone with the operator and the guy was asking him what he saw, and asking him to feel for a pulse in the cord (he didn't feel one), and telling him to hold the baby in. By now I was really in it… it was all happening so fast, but I truly was my primal self. The pushing and grunting was happening, whether the 911 operator told me to stop or not. I tried to be compliant, but I couldn't stop it. There was literally nothing I could do but work with my body and my baby.

It was the most beautiful feeling I have ever experienced. I wasn't scared — I was totally consumed, growling and pushing.

It was the most beautiful feeling I have ever experienced. I wasn't scared — I was totally consumed, growling and pushing. At some point, Garrett touched what he said was just the cord, which I shouldn't have felt, but it was excruciating. Whether or not the baby made a fluke movement at the exact same time or if for some reason I was able to feel it, I don't know, but I did try to donkey-kick poor Garrett. I tried to kick him off again (while yelling, "GET OFF OF ME!!") when the operator told him to flip me onto my back. That didn't feel right at all, but I tried, and just absolutely could NOT make my body do anything differently than it was doing. It knew exactly what to do, and there was simply no stopping it. I occasionally lifted my head to look out of the window at the trees in the sunshine, and just let my mind feel "universal."
About five minutes passed and I could hear the ambulance coming down the road. Garrett said he felt a tap on his shoulder and walked around the back of the car to come be by my head, and by the time he got to my side of the car, the baby's body was born (they had managed to flip me on my back during that time span, too). I will never forget the feeling of her body coming out all at once. There aren't words to describe it. I heard the EMT say, "We've still gotta get the head out!" and, from all my reading, I knew that it would come and that we weren't in any immediate danger as heads rarely get stuck. But I can understand why they freaked.
I waited patiently for my next contraction, and out she came, easily, quietly. Calliope Ontario Isis slipped gently from my body into the October sunshine. No one was yelling, and it was actually quite ideal for a birth. She was technically born outside, and I love that, and they immediately sat her on my thigh. She weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. She was whitish gray and completely floppy. I knew some babies are slow to start, and I wasn't scared, so I asked, "Boy or girl?" and was told girl. I thought my heart might explode I was so happy!
Garrett helped push the stretcher to the back of the ambulance and I was lifted into it. The contractions had stopped and I was feeling euphoric, even though I wasn't home, wasn't in the tub, and wasn't even holding my girl… but I had DONE IT! I had naturally VBACed a breech baby with a prolapsed cord! So I just laid there and watched Calliope's chest rise up and down, and listened to the chatter of the EMTs. Someone told Garrett to go ahead and meet us at the hospital, that we'd beat him, so he left.

I told him it almost felt like the contractions with the baby, and that I thought the placenta was supposed to hurt less.

Then I started contracting again, and we all assumed it was the placenta. One EMT in particular was talking to me now, and assuring me that Calliope was out of danger, and said, "Well this is a day of firsts. I've been doing this a long time and I have never delivered a baby." The younger guy had delivered one, but not breech on the side of the road. The older one asked the girl to start massaging my belly to help my placenta separate and at about the same time I asked him if delivering the placenta was supposed to hurt so bad. I told him it almost felt like the contractions with the baby, and that I thought the placenta was supposed to hurt less. I was vocalizing low moans at this point. He said, "Yeah, probably."
A few contractions later he said it sounded like I was ready to deliver the placenta, and moved down to check. I was involuntarily pushing again. He lifted the blanket and said, "Oh! There's feet! Did you know you were having twins?"
Imagine my shock now! Refer back to earlier in this story and note that we had an ultrasound at 18 weeks with an OBGYN at the insistence of our midwifery team. My weight gain was normal for one baby. No one had ever felt the second baby when palpating, and we never heard a second heartbeat. But the day before the girls were born we'd had our home visit with the midwives and they left unsettled. They were actually going to call on Tuesday to tell us that they were no longer comfortable doing a home birth and that we should plan on a birth center birth. They all knew something wasn't quite as we suspected, although no one could pinpoint just what it was.

Twin love!

Io Rumina River was born in just a few pushes, feet first. Unlike her sister, she came out yelling! I got to experience that first cry that everyone wants to hear. I was told, "You have another girl!" About eight hours from start to finish, and I'd VBACed two babies. The ambulance pulled over and the doors opened to another ambulance — they said since Mina was perfect and in good health (weighing in at 5 lbs. 13 oz.) that she would travel on her own. I held her for just a second before they put her in the next vehicle and we drove on. I delivered the placenta en route — I asked the EMT if there were any more in there, and he said no because there were two cords coming from the placenta (it was actually two placentas fused together).
When we arrived at the hospital, they took everything off of Calliope and placed her on my chest for transport up to the NICU and labor and delivery. I remember frantically trying to rub as much of her vernix into her skin as I could because I knew they would bathe her and wash it all off. I got some into her chest and shoulders and I just loved touching her sweet little body. They unloaded us, and Mina was shortly behind, but I was only holding Calliope when we got to the elevator, which is where we met up with my husband. He was quiet, and an EMT said, "Does he know yet? Oh, man! He doesn't know yet!" and I looked over and said, "There's two. It's twins!" Garrett didn't say anything, just looked completely overcome. It was a beautiful moment.

BOB DYLAN, ALIVE AND KICKING!

Robert Allen Zimmerman, folk rock singer and songwriter, very well-known under the name of Bob Dylan after the late Welsh poet Dylan, was born in 1941 in Minnesota (USA). In his 71 birthday today we congratulate him with this piece of writing.

Being a teenager in 1961, he moved to New York and was regular in cafes in Greenwich Village. In 1964, he first became popular with ¨Blowing in the wind¨ and ¨The times they are changing¨, two songs that became anthems for social issues such as war and civil rights. He became the voice of the generation transforming culture all around the world. He also started to have a big influence like ¨The Beatles¨ and ¨Jimmi Hendrix¨.

In 1965, he is very unpredictable, changing and continuing reinventing himself. He passed then from plugged (electric) to unplugged (acoustic) music, like his first hit ¨Like a rolling stone¨.

In the sixties, he was at his creative pick and critics tried to get desperately in Dylan´s head because his lyrics were not direct but always giving two meanings. He brought sophistication and a sense of poetry with his song writings that had no precedence.

In 1966 he had a motorcycle accident which kept him apart for a year but after his recovery he recorded new material with his band and recorded classics like ¨Blood on the tracks¨.

From the 80´s, he began touring all the time and even in 2006 he had a number one album. In 2011, he also announced tour dates in Taiwan, Vietnam and Australia.

Bob Dylan influenced everybody. No musician has had a bigger impact on the American pop music as him.

¨A hero is somebody who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom¨, Bob Dylan.

SIR KEN ROBINSON: DO SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY?

1.    Introduction

3 themes through the conference which are important:

-         Human creativity, its variety and its range

-         Unpredictable future for our children

-         Extraordinary capacity for innovation that children have although we squander them

 He introduces that he wants to talk about education and creativity.

2.    Give some examples.

-         The girl who wanted to paint the picture of God

-         The story of his son performing the Nativity at school

What he pretends with these stories is to tell us that children are not frightened of being wrong. ¨If you are not prepared to be wrong, we´ll never come up with anything original¨. And by the time they get adults, most kids have lost that capacity. We are running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make. We are educating people out of their creative capacities.

-         Picasso once said that all children are born artists. The problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.

3.    Educacional system

-         He moved to Los Angeles and then he realized that every education system on earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. At the top mathematics and languages, then the humanities and at the bottom are the arts. And even there is a hierarchy within the arts: art and music are normally given a higher status than drama and dance.

-         Education is focus on their heads. The whole purpose of the educational system is to produce university professors. And they are just a form of life.

-         Our educational system lies on the idea of academic ability because it was invented in the 19^th century to meet the needs of industrialism. The hierarchy is rooted on two ideas:

1.    The most useful subjects for work are at the top: mathematics and languages. Music? You are not going to be musician. Art? You are not going to be an artist.

2.    Academic ability, which is confusing the view of intelligence. This is killing highly talented, creative people. In the next years, more and more people will be graduating through education but suddenly degrees are not worth anything. Before, you had a degree and you had a job, but now, more degrees are required to apply for a job. It is a process of academic inflation. We need to rethink our view of intelligence.

4.    About intelligence

3 things:

-         It is diverse: visual, sound, kinesthetic, abstract, movement.

-         It is dynamic: it is interactive. It is the process of having original ideas that have value.

-         It is distinct. He explains how Gillian Lynne, the choreographer of Cats and The Phantom of the opera, discovered her talent. Finally, she had a wonderful career at the Royal Ballet.

5.    Conclusion

We should adopt a new concept of human ecology, new conception of the richness of human capacity. The education system has mined our minds for a particular commodity, and for the future, it will not serve us. We have to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children. Quote by Jonas Salk: ¨If all the insects were to disappear from the earth, within 50 years all life on earth would end. If all human beings disappeared from the earth, within 50 years all forms of life would flourish¨.

TED celebrates human imagination. See our creative capacities for the richness they are, and seeing our children for the hope that they are.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Personal opinion.-

-         In our educational system students are valued for their marks in the exams, and they are treated all equally. Teachers, in general, do not value their effort, from where they start, till they arrive. It only rewards students for their achievements in terms of results, marks, in some cases, the effort throughout the time is not considered. Education is based, therefore, on simple numbers. We are confusing education with academic ability.

-         Our education system turns its back on creativity. It does not let people think out of the box but only follow some concrete patterns of behaviour. In many cases, teachers are not prepared for real creative education. I think teachers, as parents, should not push children into any direction, just let them explore their inner capacities, to give them the possibility that they discover themselves their own capacities, likes and skills.

-         I agree with Sir Ken Robinson that the purpose of our educational system nowadays is to produce university professors or/and, generally speaking, people with a university degree. It is supposed that a degree gives you the knowledge to cope with that job, but it is certainly the contrary. University curriculum is not practical at all, but the contrary, they only feed the universities themselves, in other words, they produce their own professors and that is all.

-         And what about the wrong idea by which many people think that the more degrees you have, the more intelligent you are?

LETTER OF APPLICATION

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to apply for admission to the eight-week intensive English Course offered by your college which will take place on May/June 2.012.

I am a 25-years-old Spanish citizen, currently living in Granada. Since I got my degree in English two years ago, I have worked for several companies as translator or in charge of the international department. Suffice it to say that these jobs have provided me with a wide knowledge of the English language.

As well as a degree in English, I am a holder of an important English certification such as the
Certificate in Advanced English (CAE). Furthermore, I am currently preparing the following level, in other words, the Certificate of Proficiency (CPE). By this I mean that I am always investing my time and effort to ameliorate my knowledge of English. I am due to take my final examination in April.

I believe that I would be an ideal candidate to attend this course since I have the qualities and
qualifications required. The main reason to apply for this course is because, in spite of having a high level of the language, what I need is to move to an English speaking country for a period of time to practice the language. I think this course is a great opportunity to increase my range of vocabulary as well as become more fluent in English.

Your college has an extremely good reputation in the field of teaching English to foreign students. Moreover, I am fully aware of your familiarity with the new teaching approach.

Please find enclosed a copy of my CV, giving further details of my educational qualifications and work experience. I hope you will consider me for admission to your college and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
Rocío Martín

LETTER OF APOLOGY

Dear Mr. Hogan,

I am writing to offer my apologies for the unsatisfactory service and quality of food that you and your customer received at our restaurant last Friday evening.

First of all, I would like to give you an explanation with regard to the quality of food. Unfortunately, two of our three cooks fell ill and as a result, due to we were too short of staff, we could not handle the orders as we normally do that specific day. We were unable to contact another cook and, therefore, we were forced to manage with only one person leading to a worsening in the quality of food.

As regards the service, I insist on apologizing again since it was the first working day for the waiter and as he was concentrated on the job not to mistake, he spent more time not only in taking the order but also in bringing the dishes.

I appreciate your remark on overseeing the preparation of food personally but due to the circumstances pointed out above, lack of personnel, I was forced to deal with an emergency and, therefore, I was not able to look after the food. But, needless to say, that this was an isolated incident.

This is truly a regrettable occurrence. Please allow me to offer you the price refunded of your dinner by way of compensation. In addition to this I would also like to offer you complimentary tickets for you and your customer at a time most convenient for you. I hope this offer will make up for the inconvenience caused, and will restore your confidence in our restaurant.

Once again, I apologise for this inconvenience and I look forward to hearing from you to arrange a suitable date for our courtesy dinner.

Yours sincerely,

Rocío Martín
(Manager)

LETTER OF REQUEST

Dear Sirs,

I am writing in my capacity as chairman of the children´s home of our town to request volunteers to help at weekends. Volunteers should be young, competent and with a very responsible attitude towards children.

The planning of every weekend will be as follows. Volunteers are requested to be in the children´s home on Saturdays at breakfast time 08.30 a.m. to share and help the children with their breakfast. Throughout the morning sports activities will be organized by the volunteers together with the children till lunch time at 13.00 p.m. From 14.30 p.m. till dinner time children will have free time but volunteers should be in charge of them. I would suggest also that during the night volunteers stay in the house in case an emergency happens since children are minors. Food and accommodation will be provided for the volunteers.

On Sundays, the same schedule for breakfast will be followed. Then volunteers and children will go for a stroll in the vicinity of the house and will take a picnic to have lunch outdoors. After lunch, it will be up to the children whether to go to the swimming pool or to have a rest in the house. Volunteers will have finished by dinner time.

I feel it is appropriate to explain to you some of the ways that both volunteers and children might benefit from such a project. Young people involved in taking care of the children can be the future workers of our children´s house. They can also enjoy outdoors together with the children the sports facilities and the swimming pool.

In addition, children might benefit from being with different and young people during the weekends instead of staying alone while the staff which works from Monday to Friday takes the weekend off.

I would be most grateful if you could publish the vacancies required in your local newspaper. Thank you in advance for your kind cooperation and your time in this matter. I look forward to receiving your reply as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Rocío Martín

DESCRIBE A PERSON FROM YOUR PAST YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE AGAIN, AND EXPLAIN WHY.

- Marco, the person I would like to see again, was both my boss and my working colleague and friend. The day that he opened the door of his brother´s office at Goes, I knew that it was the beginning of a lasting friendship.

- Although he considered himself not to be very tall, he was 1.75 meters tall and a man with a strong build and a slender figure. His piercing blue eyes and soft blonde hair was a sign of his Dutch origin. As far as I remember he had a hooked nose, typical of people from the north of Europe. His face, with its warm and friendly expression, was very attractive. Marco, who must be now in his late forties, used to dress in smart suit and without tie.

- First quality that attracted people´s attention was how sociable and chatty he was, the type of person who always had something to say, no matter the topic, and enjoyed meeting new people. In addition to being very smart and witty, very adaptable to changes and different environments, he was also assertive and ambitious, the sort of person who might run a large corporation, and this is exactly where he worked when I first met him. Maybe he came across as conceited, but to me he simply was self-assured.

- He dedicated his life to his job and his family. He was not only committed to his four children, but also a successful businessman. In spite of being very busy, he always had time for his children. But what struck me the most was his ability to learn languages and the gift for changing
from one language to another. Till the moment I saw him for last time he was able to speak fluently Dutch (his mother tongue), German, English, French and Spanish.

- He had a very intense and busy lifestyle. His profession enabled him to fulfill one of his dreams: to travel. He travelled all around Europe visiting customers and suppliers; fortunately, he could
combine his interests and career. He was convinced that the secret of a successful business was to run it with humour and fun! As a result, work was never boring when he was in the office.

- The main reason for what I would like to see him again is because we had a close friendship and, due to our job in the same company, we used to have good time together. Since I left the company we have not met again.

- Another reason is that to me he was an example of an enthusiastic person who, in spite of the difficulty of running a large corporation, knew how to give his employees the freedom to work without pressure and enjoying their jobs.

Sneak Peak of James Blunt on Sesame Street

A CHANGE IN PLANS...

This happened 5 years ago, the first summer I was guiding a group around Italy, from Milano to Roma. We were supposed to arrive to Roma on 14th August and stay in the city two days before coming back to their respective origin cities. Then the official tourist guide from Roma phoned me to inform that, as every year, on 15th August everything in Italy was closed, in fact it is a festivity day called ¨Ferragosto¨ because all places, included The Vatican, are closed. As well as on 15th August, The Vatican usually closes also on 16th August. As a consequence, the group could not visit it since they were flying back on 17th. Taking into account that this is one of the most expected visits in Roma for some people, although, by the way, not the most exciting in such a fantastic city, people got very disappointed especially because the visit was included in the package. Of course I was not responsible for that change in plans but the travel agency which sold the package holiday. The travel agency compensation was to offer them an alternative trip in the city such as The Coloseo or The Catacumbs, or simply to get their money back. But in my opinion the travel agency was not honest, I think on the moment they sold the package holiday they knew in advance that this particular group was not going to enter The Vatican and they left this information out. If people had known it, they would not have bought it in those dates but maybe in other ones. This is how some business work and make profit..

BEING IN LOVE?

Who has not being in love any time? Love is a strong feeling that starts with YOU. You need to love yourself before you are able to love somebody else. A loving relationship is a friendship and something more. Lovers are friends in the sense of being soul mates, honest and trust each other. But this feeling can be confusing sometimes when a love at first sight ends up only as an infatuation.

Platonic loves are more common at earlier ages but we can fall in love at any age and under any circumstances. Platonic loves can last forever (Have you ever read ¨Amor en los tiempos del
cólera by Gabriel García Márquez?¨).

True lovers are inseparable body and soul. They are emotionally loyal to each other. They like each other´s personality or character and also are supportive at any level. They leave the other the space needed to continue their personal and independent development
and also share each other´s development.

True lovers are true friends. They are not critical of their friends and don´t talk behind their backs. Friends are kindred spirits, they have a similar way to think and look at life. And although they might have their ups and downs, there is always a connection to life, a tie to the past and a road to the future.

And then adore somebody, the utmost loving feeling for a person. It is to like, to love and to admire very much someone, what that person is, thinks, does, feels, dreams, and in fact everything.!

EMBELLISHING AND FINISHING A STORY

It was very early in the morning, before than the usual time for the retired Martin. After a whole life rousing from his sleep at 6 to commute, he had opted for relaxing in bed until the sun had risen and shone. But that day was he overcome with an uncommon and bizarre feeling. After dressing up, he took his book and began to read by the bedroom window. A nightingale was defining its musical words outside, in the beautiful romantic garden, mainly all over the great old sequoia, which Martin´s great grandfather had brought from California and had transplanted in
this ground, according to the family memories. Suddenly, a silence. So deep was the silence that Martin was affected. Standing up, he gazed at the window. Under the tree, as a part of the nature, there was a boy, not older than ten, wearing humble clothes, scanning a book, completely absorbed in his lines. Was the vision so out of the context for Martin that he rubbed his eyes. For a long time, he stared at the boy, voraciously reading his book and deeply engrossed in it, as if that corner of the garden belonged to him. Then Martin crept carefully down the stairs, opened the glass door onto the garden, and again padding softly along the garden, he approached the tree. Coming near the ground, he whispered: It looks as if it is a wonderful book, isn´t it? For the
first time, the boy, raising his head from the pages, shyly and delightfully murmured: ¨It is the book of my life¨.

- ¨The book of your life? How can a young boy have written the book of his life?¨ inquired Martin.
- I have not written it. At least I have not written it yet but I will very soon.

Martin was so intrigued by the boy´s answer and his book that only looking at Martin´s face did the boy realize that he had to give him some explanation. Then the boy began to talk. The book was a family book, a diary that every member of his family generation after generation since his great-great-grandparents had written before dying. Martin was amazed by the boy´s story. Apart from knowing his ancestors, who were they, what happened to them, their behaviors, feelings and fears, he was going to be able to understand better his present and his future. He would do the same for his children and so on till the chain would break if someone dies without descendant or till the end of time…

¨A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS¨ BY ROBERT BOLT.-

In our last class I reminded one book we read in our fifth course at the EOI which can give you a lot of historical information of the Tudor Dynasty, especially with regard Henry VIII reign,
Elisabeth´s I father. The book is called ¨A man for all seasons¨ by Robert Bolt and also the movie with the same title which was translated into Spanish as ¨Un hombre para la eternidad¨.

The book is a play and its main character is Thomas Moore, Lord Chancellor of England and catholic, who enters into political and moral conflict with King Henry VIII when he refuses to
support the King´s decision to divorce his wife Catherine of Aragon. Thomas Moore is an example of eloquence and personal freedom in an authoritarian regimen such as Henry VII reign.

I really recommend it to you!

CONTINUATION OF DAVID COPPERFIELD

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.
In consideration of the day and hour of my birth, it was declared by the nurse, and by some sage women in the neighbourhood who had taken a lively interest in me several months before there was any possibility of our becoming personally acquainted, first, that I was destined to be unlucky in life; and secondly, that I was privileged to see ghosts and spirits; both these gifts inevitably attaching, as they believed, to all unlucky infants of either gender, born towards the small hours on a Friday night.

No sooner had I grown up at the age of three years old than I began reading voraciously. Such was the interest of my reading that all my memories of childhood are related to the characters of the picaresque novels that I still remember one by one. While other children used to play outdoors, I was absorbed in my books. Never have I boasted about this innate skill which will give me so many satisfactions in the future. However, my teenager years turned out to be harder than my childhood since I had to support a large family and suffice it to say that books were forced into a background.

Looking backwards I do not regret any decision taken in my long life in spite of some events which caused me so much pain. Very soon I understood that we are a miracle of the nature and therefore we should accept one´s life come what may…

DULCE ET DECORUM EST BY WILFRED OWEN

DULCE ET DECORUM EST.
Torcidos, como viejos mendigos bajo sus hatos,
renqueando, tosiendo como brujas, maldecíamos a través del lodo,
hasta que donde alumbraban las luces de las bengalas nos dimos la vuelta
y hacia nuestra lejana posición empezamos a caminar afanosamente.
Los hombres marchaban dormidos. Muchos habían perdido sus botas
Pero abrumados avanzaban sobre zapatos de sangre. Todos cojos, todos ciegos;
Borrachos de fatiga, sordos incluso al silbido de las balas
Que los cansados cañones de calibre 5.9 disparaban detrás de nosotros.


“¡Gas, gas! ¡Rápido, muchachos!”; un éxtasis de desconcierto,
Poniéndonos los toscos cascos justo a tiempo;
Pero alguien aún estaba gritando y tropezando
Y ardía retorciéndose, como ahogándose en cal viva…
Borroso, a través de los empañados cristales de la máscara y de la tenue luz verde,
Como en un mar verde le vi ahogarse.
En todas mis pesadillas, ante mi impotente mirada,
Se desploma boqueando, agonizando, asfixiándose.

Si en algún sofocante sueño tú también puedes caminar
Tras la carreta en la que lo pusimos,
Y mirar sus blancos ojos moviéndose
En su desmayada cara, como un endemoniado.
Si pudieses escuchar a cada traqueteo
El gorgoteo de la sangre saliendo de sus destrozados pulmones,
Repugnante como el cáncer, nauseabundo como el vómito
De horrorosas, incurables llagas en lenguas inocentes,
Amigo mío, no volverías a decir con ese alto idealismo
A los ardientes jóvenes sedientos de gloria
La vieja mentira: “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”.

MONA LISA WAS STOLEN !

I chose this particular event because it impressed me how an innocent action of a person, the antique dealer, can do more than all the investigations carry out by the police throughout two years in order to discover where the Mona Lisa was.

- On August, 1911, Leonardo da Vinci´s Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. But the Mona Lisa wasn´t even noticed missing until the following day when a painter went to the Salon Carré, where the Mona Lisa had been on display for 5 years, to paint a painting, and realized that on the wall where the Mona Lisa used to hang, sat only 4 iron pegs.

- The painter contacted the section head of the guards who thought that the painting must be at the photographer´s. But it wasn´t. Immediately they called the police and about 60 investigators came to the Louvre. They closed the museum for 1 week.

- The most important discovery was to find the frame of the painting in a staircase, not damaged, and that the thief had some internal knowledge of the museum. But no more clues.

- Months and years went by with no news about the Mona Lisa and then the thief made contact. An antique dealer, Alfredo Geri, innocently placed an advertisement in several Italian newspapers stating that he was a buyer of art goods. Soon Geri received a letter stating that the writer was in possession of the stolen Mona Lisa. The letter was sent from a post office in Paris and was signed only as ¨Leonardo¨.

- Geri soon contacted with the director of the Uffizi museum in Firenze and they both decided that Geri would write a letter in return saying that he would need to see the painting before he could offer a price. Geri received soon an answer to arrange a meeting which was finally in Milano. When they met, Leonardo, an Italian man, stated that he wanted a half million lire for the painting and explained that he had stolen it in order to restore to Italy what Napoleon had stolen from it. Leonardo wanted the Mona Lisa to be hung at the Uffizi and never give back to France.

- Geri agreed on the price but said that the director of the Uffizi would need to see the painting before agreeing to hang it in the museum. They arranged to meet the following day. Geri contacted the police and the Uffizi. The following day when they saw the painting they recognized the Louvre seal on the back of the painting. It was the real Mona Lisa.

- Leonardo, a former worker of the Louvre hid inside the museum on Sunday knowing that on Monday the museum would be closed. Wearing the same white smock that other workers used to wear, he left the Louvre with the Mona Lisa.

- He was arrested and the Mona Lisa was returned to France after being displayed throughout Italy.

WHAT I TAKE FROM THE BOOK, OR FROM NELSON MANDELA...

The book is basically about Mandela´s character or personality, how he was before going to prison and how much he changed behind bars. I am talking about qualities or characteristics of his personality and how he used them to achieve his core principle of a non-racial democracy and a free society. For example being courageous in those circumstances is something admirable. But we can also experience courageous in our everyday routine, with our daily little problems, and feel proud of it as long as we are doing the right thing on every moment. And that is what I try every day.

Another lesson which impressed me from him is being measured, don´t act too fast, don´t hurry; think, analyze and then act. This quality comes from being an intelligent person or even more, being wise. A wise person acts like that, considering all the different options and points of view before acting or taking a decision. I take also this one because when you apply it to your small world as it is a family, and especially thinking of the children, I think it gives all the members a sense of responsibility and of freedom.

Probably the king of the qualities is ¨see the good in others¨. If politicians and others persons with big responsibilities in the countries had thought and acted seeing the good in others, can you imagine how many wars we could have avoided! Once more this characteristic comes from being a wise person. As Atticus Finch said in the book and film ¨To kill a mockingbird¨, to understand other person we should put ourselves in his/her own shoes.

To finish with my impressions, I will mix two more qualities in only one. I share with Mandela the fact that in many situations the answer is not always yes or not, but it is sometimes both or maybe something in between. This leads you to try to reconcile different opinions, different wishes, and it helps you not to be wrong under some circumstances. But one thing is for sure, when the answer is no, I don´t postpone it. Life is too short to waste our time with excuses.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

Happy New Year to everybody! Hope you are having a great Christmas time. I got a bad cold and I am still recovering from it but for the rest fine. I send you a picture of my daughters Lucia and Paola. I couldn´t get a picture of them in front of the Christmas tree, when one was in front, the other behind or the other way round !