Proud Mary - CCR

Left a good job in the city,
Workin' for The Man every night and day,
And I never lost one minute of sleepin',
Worryin' 'bout the way things might have been.

CHORUS:
Big wheel keep on turnin',
Proud Mary keep on burnin',
Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river.

Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis,
Pumped a lot of 'tane down in New Orleans,
But I never saw the good side of the city,
'Til I hitched a ride on a river boat queen.

CHORUS

Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river.

If you come down to the river,
Bet you gonna find some people who live.
You don't have to worry though you have no money,
People on the river are happy to give.

Gerkhin Looms

30 St Mary Axe, also known as the Gherkin and the Swiss Re Building, is a skyscraper in London's main financial district, the City of London.
The gherkin name dates back to at least 1999, referring to that plan's highly unorthodox layout and appearance. Due to the current building's somewhat phallic appearance, other inventive names have also been used for the building, including the Erotic gherkin, the Towering Innuendo, and the Crystal Phallus.

East End

The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames, although it is not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries. Use of the term in a pejorative sense began in the late 19th century, as the expansion of the population of London led to extreme overcrowding throughout the area and a concentration of poor people and immigrants in the East End.

The invention about 1880 of the term 'East End' was rapidly taken up by the new halfpenny press, and in the pulpit and the music hall... A shabby man from Paddington, St Marylebone or Battersea might pass muster as one of the respectable poor. But the same man coming from Bethnal Green, Shadwell or Wapping was an 'East Ender', the box of Keating's bug powder must be reached for, and the spoons locked up. In the long run this cruel stigma came to do good. It was a final incentive to the poorest to get out of the 'East End' at all costs, and it became a concentrated reminder to the public conscience that nothing to be found in the 'East End' should be tolerated in a Christian country. —The Nineteenth Century XXIV (1888)

Throughout history, the area has absorbed waves of immigrants who have each added a new dimension to the culture and history of the area, most notably the French Protestant Huguenots in the 17th century, the Irish in the 18th century, Ashkenazi Jews fleeing pogroms in Eastern Europe towards the end of the 19th century, and the Bangladeshi community settling in the East End from the 1960s.

Jacket Potato or Baked potato

The baked potato has been popular in the UK for many years. In the mid 1800s, baked potatoes were sold on the streets by hawkers during the autumn and winter months. In London, it was estimated that some 10 tons of baked potatoes were sold each day by this method.Guy Fawkes Night was a traditional time to eat baked potatoes, often baked in the glowing embers of a bonfire, however this is no longer common and they are eaten at any time of the year.

We are alive

Imagine a mountain higher than Mount Everest, so high you can almost touch the stars and the clouds in the sky. Life, in a simplistic way, is something like this. The bad news is you only have one chance to approach the summet on the top. It's not an easy climb (we have the proper name Ascensión in Spanish which comes from the verb ascender, maybe all people with this name have half of the journey already gained). Paradoxically, the verb ascend exists in English (according to the RAE it has a latin origin) language too, and in both languages we have the word (to) descend (verb) and descent (noun): descender and descenso respectively. Leaving words far behind, and carrying on with the metaphor, it's easily to fall down and move backwards. Nevertheless, it's a valuable lesson when you are able to fight nail and tooth to get back in the climb and don't give up.
The secret is to look for a ladder in one side of the mountain, a place more accesible and less uneven. If I have learnt something is: there's always a way, there's always something we can do about absolutely everything. So step by step, little by little, petit à petit, poco a poco...We learn in each step we take forwards, but remember sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward.

Raindrops and Sunshine

Another week is just beginning. Abbie was complaining about the bad weather, saying we are about in spring and I answered her 'Precisely because spring is coming we have rain!'.
Another spring. Time goes too fast to me lately, I don't know why, I don't know how...but days pass by in front of my eyes and I feel it slipping through my fingers like fine sand.
I love listening to the birdsongs in the morning, they answer each other, in a secret code that most people can not perceive or simply ignore.
The other day, I was looking through my window. It's amazing how clouds move, they slide in the sky very gently.
It's funny how people suddenly is taking a umbrella in Madrid. The situation is as follows: Nice wather, passers-by form a mass of heads and blurry faces in the crowded streets and the sky begins to cry and the faces disappear and all you manage to see is a lot of umbrellas opened creating a colourful view. However, when it begins to rain in England, people usually cover their head with a hood. There are just a few with brollies. Most of them wear raincoats.

I used to hate rain in Madrid. I considered it very annoying and unpleasant, but I'm learning a valuable lesson..:C'mon it's just some water.

Hot cross bun

In England, hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday; they are marked on top with a cross, wither cut in the dough or composed of strips of pastry. The mark is of ancient origin, connectd with religious offerings of bread, which replaced earlier, less civilized offerings of blood. The Egyptians offered small round cakes, marked with a representation of the horns of an ox, to the goddess of the moon. The Greeks and Romans had similar practices and the Saxons ate buns marked with a cross in honor of the goddess of light, Eostre, whose name was transferred to Easter.
According to superstition, hot cross buns and loaves baked on Good Friday never went mouldy, and were sometimes kept as charms from one year to the next. Like Chelsea buns, hot cross buns were sold in great quantities by the Chelsea Bun House; in the 18th century large numbers of people flocked to Chelsea during the Easter period expressly to visit this establishment."
(Oxford Companion to Food)

Hot cross buns!

Hot cross buns!

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons!

Eskimos and the snow

¿Cuál es la relación existente entre los idiomas y su entorno? ¿Hay una correlación? Como en la mayoría de los casos, existen diferentes hipótesis al respecto.
Brevemente, podemos mencionar la Hipótesis Sapir-Whorf, la cual afirma que el lenguaje que una persona habla influye en la forma de percibir nuestro entorno e interactuar con el mundo. Al contrario de lo que Chomsky y los lingüistas cognitivos sostuvieron, quienes afirman que el lenguaje humano es independiente del entorno.De acuerdo con los estructuralistas el mundo es construido por el lenguaje.

Como todos los buenos debates, el argumento de si el pensamiento controla el lenguaje, o el lenguaje controla el pensamiento, en última instancia no puede ser demostrado. No obstante, sería demasiado osado aventurarse en este complejo asunto. Centrándonos en un tema diferente, pero que guarda relación con lo arriba mencionado, hay una popular leyenda urbana que cuenta que los Inuit o Eskimo, están equipados con un extenso número de palabras para referirse a la nive, algunas cifras son descabelladas y superan con creces la centena.En realidad, el número de palabras depende del idioma, pues no hay uno exclusivamente (conocidos como Eskimo-Aleut languages), y naturalmente también de las diferentes estructuras gramaticales con las que éstos cuentan. En concreto, estos idiomas tienen sistemas de sufijación derivacional para la formación de palabras, por lo que una palabra es el equivalente de una frase en otros idiomas. Siendo cautos, previamente,y antes de llevar a cabo un recuento del número de términos empleados para referirse a un único elemento, en este caso, la nieve, deberíamos establecer unas pautas, comenzando por responder ¿Qué es una palabra?

Si tuviéramos el tiempo y la paciencia necesarios, podríamos escribir una cantidad ingente de términos, en cualquier lengua, pero siempre debemos tener en mente que los mecanismos de formación de nuevas palabras varían de una lengua a otra. Aquí dejo algunos ejemplos:
aput- snow in general
qanir- to snow
utaryuk- fresh snow
qanisqineq- snow floating on water
muruaneq- soft deep snow
kanevvluk- fine snow/rain particles
mangokpok- watery snow
nataqqurnat- hail
qanik- Snowflake
(Más ejemplos: http://tafkac.org/language/eskimo_words_for_snow_derby.html)

La primera referencia que encontramos al respecto la encontramos en una obra del lingüista y antropólogo Franz Boas:
...just as English uses derived terms for a variety of forms of water (liquid, lake, river, brook, rain, dew, wave, foam) that might be formed by derivational morphology from a single root meaning 'water' in some other language, so Eskimo uses the apparently distinct roots aput 'snow on the ground', gana 'falling snow', piqsirpoq 'drifting snow', and qimuqsuq 'a snow drift. (The Handbook of North American Indians 1911)

Encontramos además un eco literario en la figura del escritor alemán Kathrin Passing en su obra You are here:
“Eskimos, as the unimaginative would now interject, have all sorts of names for snow. This information is presumably intended to demonstrate the city dweller's blunted feel for nature. I have no sympathy for those who parrot this pedestrian theory. Eskimo languages are polysynthetic, which means that even seldom-used expressions like ‘snow that falls on a red T-shirt’ are combined into one word. It's so tiresome to have to keep pointing this out.”

Además,me gustaría incluir un pequeño glosario de algunas palabras o expresiones que guardan relación, de un modo u otro con la nieve en inglés: Avalanche, blizzard, frost, hail, igloo, sleet, snow bank, snowman, snowflake, flurry, slushsnow, snowstorm, frost, glacier, hardpack, ice, icecap, iceberg, powder, rime, slush, snowball, dusting, snowcapped, snowlike, freezing rain, new-fallen snow, etc.

Hay otro mito, quizá menos conocido, el cual afirma que el griego tiene más términos para expresar el concepto de 'amor' (e.g. Agápe=amor, Eros=amor apasionado, Philia=amistad, Storge=afecto) que el inglés, pero una vez más, podemos encontrar una gran variedad de términos, tales como: adoration, affection, ardor, amourousness, attachment, caring, concern, cherishing, compassion, devotion, enamorement, fancy, favor, fondness, liking, love, lust, passion, tenderness...

Quizá el mito de los esquimales y la nieve surge debido a nuestra necesidad de contabilizar, de marcar fronteras, de catalogar.

“All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality -- the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape.”
- Arthur Christopher Benson

Life's a bitch and then you die

This weekend has been raining incessantly. The sky has been dyed in grey and there was a kinda brightness. There haven't been any cloud in the skyline. Paradoxes of life, I felt a bit under the weather as well, homesick, lonely, and apathetic. However, I suspect which are the reasons that make me feel like that. It's undeniable the fact that I'm very stressed lately, and I know I have to do something to cut it down. Everything has its pros and cons and to live abroad is not an exception, but everybody needs a hug and a bit of warmth occasionally.
As the saying goes: never a night defeated a daybreak, so let's be positive and stone the crows.

Crumpet

Although at first glance it could look like a pancake, it isn't. This spongy and toastly kind of bread snack is consumed mainly in the UK and other nations of the Commonwealth. This recipe was created by Anglo-Saxon people. The origin of the term can have a Celtic etymology (krampoez).
Crumpet can be topped with a broad variety of things, such as: butter, marmite, jam, peanut butter. They have a characteristical holes and they are thicker than pancakes or pikelet.

Mouettes

(Photo took 18th March in Dockyard, Chatham)

You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" George Bernard Shaw

Nemo * me * impune * lacessit

Mainly, this is the Latin motto of the Order of the Thisle. It also the moto of several regiments of the British Army. There's a French equivalent phrase that goes: Non inultus premor ("I cannot be touched with impunity"), also a reference to the thistle, which is the symbol of the region of Lorraine.

According to legend, the "guardian thistle" ( Scotch thistle) has played its part in the defence of the ancient realm of Scotland against a night attack by the Danes, one of whom let out a yell of pain when he stepped on a prickly thistle, thus alerting the Scottish defenders. In the motto "No-one attacks me with impunity" (Latin: "Nemo me impune lacessit"), "me" was therefore originally the thistle itself, but by extension now refers to the Scottish regiments which have adopted it.

17th March St. Patrick's Day

Beannacht Lá Fhéile Pádraig

Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. The origin of St. Patrick's Day was established as a religious feast day in honor of the death of St. Patrick, Ireland's patron saint. Traditionally St. Patrick's Day, observed on March 17th, is celebrated in Ireland and in many Irish communities throughout the world. The St. Patrick's Day celebration traditionally includes an Irish mass in the morning and a celebration of traditional Irish food and dance throughout the day.

About St. Patrick
St. Patrick was the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland. St. Patrick is believed to have been born in the late fourth century.

Saint Patrick (in Irish: Naomh Pádraig) is the patron saint of Ireland. his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

Saint Patrick’s Day is usually celebrated with a parade. The one in Dublin, Ireland is known to some as the Irish Mardi Gras.

Saint Patrick and the snakes

Although it’s true that Ireland has no snakes, this likely had more to do with the fact that Ireland is an island and being separated from the rest of the continent the snakes couldn’t get there. The stories of Saint Patrick and the snakes are likely a metaphor for his bringing Christianity to Ireland and driving out the pagan religions (serpents were a common symbol in many of these religions).

The snakes myth and others—such as Patrick using three-leafed shamrocks to explain the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost)—were likely spread by well-meaning monks centuries after St. Patrick's death.

St. Patrick's Day is celebrated on March 17, the Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years. On St. Patrick's Day, which falls during the Christian season of Lent, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon.

Traditions

Green

So why do they all wear green?
Probably because you'll be pinched if you don't! School children started this tradition. Green is also the color of spring, the shamrock, and is connected with hope and nature. Historically, green has been a color used in the flags of several revolutionary groups in Ireland and as a result it appears in the official tri-color country flag, adopted in 1919. In addition to that, Ireland is often called the "Emerald Isle"

Leprechauns

The original Irish name for these figures of folklore is "lobaircin" meaning "small-bodied fellow." Belief in leprechauns probably stems from Celtic belief in fairies, tiny men and women who could use their magical powers to serve good or evil. In Celtic folktales, leprechauns were cranky souls A leprechaun looks like a little old man and dresses like a shoemaker with a cocked hat and leather apron. A Leprechaun's personality is described as aloof and unfriendly. They live alone and pass the time by mending the shoes of Irish fairies.

If you listen closely for the sound of their hammer you might be able to capture one. If you do you can force him (with the threat of bodily violence) to reveal where he's hidden his treasure. Be careful! Do not take your eyes off him for if you do he will surely vanish and your hopes of finding his treasure will vanish with him.

There's a Leprechaun in me head, and I wish that I were dead

For I don't think he'll e'er let me be. Oh, he tempts me with his gold,

if I were e'er so bold,I'd strangle him and leave him in the street.
Well, he says to me, "Ah, you're no Irish Laddie!And ye call that thing a harp?"

But each time I share the lore that I am learning.He hides in shame while my friends they chant.
La ta tee, da diddley dee, la ta tee ta tee daLa ta tee, da diddley diddley daiLa ta tee, da diddley dee, la ta tee ta tee daLa ta tee, da diddley diddley dai

Shamrock

The shamrock as symbol of Ireland and St. Patrick's Day is partly due to the natural abundance of clover plants in the country, but largely due to its strong association with Christianity.

It was also called the "seamroy" by the Celts, was a sacred plant in ancient Ireland because it symbolized the rebirth of spring. By the seventeenth century, the shamrock had become a symbol of emerging Irish nationalism. As the English began to seize Irish land and make laws against the use of the Irish language and the practice of Catholicism, many Irish began to wear the shamrock as a symbol of their pride in their heritage and their displeasure with English rule.

Four-Leaf Clover

Although clovers are most often found in nature with three leaves, rare four-leaf clovers do exist. Finding one is thought to bring someone extreme luck. The folklore for four-leaf clovers differs from that of the Shamrock due to the fact that it has no religious allusions associated with it. It is believed that each leaf of a four-leaf clover represents something different: first is hope, the second is faith, the third is love, and the fourth is happiness.

The Claddagh Ring

The Claddagh Ring features two cupped hands holding a heart with a crown on top. It has been the traditional wedding ring of the Irish since the 17th century. For love, the heart is worn. In friendship, the hands are worn. And, in loyalty and lasting fidelity, the crown is worn.
If the ring is worn on the right hand, with crown and heart facing out, this symbolizes that the wearer's heart is yet to be won. While dating and under love's spell it is worn with heart and crown facing inwards (still on the right hand.) Wearing the ring on the left hand, with the crown and heart facing inwards, signifies that your love has been given to one and only one, through marriage.

Corned Beef and Cabbage
Corned beef and cabbage is the traditional meal enjoyed by many on St. Patrick's Day, but only half of it is truly Irish. Cabbage has long been a staple of the Irish diet, but it was traditionally served with Irish bacon, not corned beef. The corned beef was substituted for bacon by Irish immigrants to the Americas around the turn of the century who could not afford the real thing. They learned about the cheaper alternative from their Jewish neighbors.

Does your dog bite?

This's the question a kid asked me the other day being in the school's entrance. It seems to be a polite way to say: Can I stroke your dog? Obiously, most people will answer: Of course my dog doesn't bite. It sounds so ridiculous to my ears! Why don't you ask directly to the dog? How can people know if their beloved pet is gonna bite you? It not depends on me, we cannot have any control over animals although we think the contrary.
If my dog considers you a threat he will try to defend himself with tooth and nail. I'd like to have a white shark instead of a tiny dog, most likely they don't try to touch it!

Good morning bright sun

(Photo taken from the train on my way to London)

This morning the sun is shining in the sky and I couldn't see beyond my feet because of the blinding rays of sunshine. I don't mind to wake up early, but this has been one of those days you want to stay longer in bed under the warm sheets (no sheeps!). The option snooze shouldn't exist in the mobile phone because it's a big temptation. So I've overslept 15 minutes, although nobody has realised because I've dressed up really fast.
When Abs and me were walking Scrappy Doo, we've realised flowers are about to bloom in the small grassland where we go for walks with the dog. They are really nice, a kinda yellow ones, and there are plenty of them along the grass. I like to see how the warm weather (relatively) is coming. But I know I'm not the only one feeling happy this morning.
Let's see how the day goes on... !!!

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching two by two,
The little one stops to tie his shoe
And they all go marching down to the ground...

Cockney Rhyming Slang

Rhyming Slang phrases are derived from taking an expression which rhymes with a word and then using that expression instead of the word. For example the word "look" rhymes with "butcher's hook". In many cases the rhyming word is omitted - so you won't find too many Londoners having a "bucher's hook" at this site, but you might find a few having a "butcher's".
The rhyming word is not always omitted so Cockney expressions can vary in their construction, and it is simply a matter of convention which version is used.

Cockney Rhyming Slang originated in the East End of London. Some slang expressions have escaped from London and are in popular use throughout the rest of Britain. For example "use your loaf" is an everyday phrase for the British, but not too many people realise it is Cockney Rhyming Slang ("loaf of bread: head").

Apples and pears = stairs
Biscuits and cheese = knees
Army and navy = gravy
Loaf of bread = head
Mince pies = eyes
Raspberry tart = fart
Pony and trap = crap
Daisy roots = boots
Dog and bone = phone
Donkey's ears = years
Elephant's trunk = drunk
Rosie lee = tea
Weasel and stoat = coat

Cockney Rhyming slang is a coded language invented in the nineteenth century by Cockneys so they could speak in front of the police without being understood. It uses a phrase that rhymes with a word, instead of the word itself – thus ‘stairs’ becomes ‘apples and pears’, ‘phone’ becomes ‘dog and bone' and ‘word’ becomes ‘dicky bird’. It can become confusing when sometimes the rhyming part of the word is dropped: thus ‘daisies’ are ‘boots’ (from ‘daisy roots’).

Hillforts, promontory forts and Royal sites

Dún Aengus - Aran Islands (showing the chevaux-de-frise)
Hillforts are often sited in spectacular settings with commanding views over the countryside. The fort of Dún Aengus on Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran Islands which lie off the Galway coast, is one of the most dramatic of all. It is built at the edge of the steep cliffs on the sothern tip of the island.

Grainán of Aileach - west of Derry, one of the great forts with stone ramparts.

A perspective from The Grianán of Aileach

Summer has come, healthy and free,
Whence the brown wood is bent to the ground:
The slender nimble deer leap,
And the path of seals is smooth.

A sound of playful breezes in the tops
Of a black oakwood is Drum Dail,
The noble hornless herd runs,
To whom Cuan-wood is a shelter.

The sun smiles over every land -
A parting for me from the brood of cares:
Hounds bark, stags tryst,
Ravens flourish, summer has come!
(Old Irish poem)

Hill of Tara

Irish Teamhair na Rí, "Hill of the Kings"), located near the River Boyne.

(The most famous royal site in Ireland)

The mound of the hostages (Irish: Dumha na nGiall)
It's an ancient passage tomb located in County Meath.The mound was used for burials from the early Neolithic up to 1600 - 1700 BCE. There are an estimated 250 - 500 bodies buried in the mound, organised into layers under the passage. The dead were most often cremated, and their ashes and grave goods spread on the floor of the tomb. These grave goods include decorative pottery and urns, stone beads, and bone pins.

Eamhain Mhacha

Goddess Macha
She's a presumed goddess of ancient Ireland, associated with war, horses, sovereignty, and the sites of Armagh and Emain Macha in County Armagh, which are named after her. A number of figures called Macha appear in Irish mythology, legend and historical tradition, all believed to derive from the same deity.

Another year went by...

SEIZE THE DAY...

Since last 11st, I have to add another number to my ID card. It has been an intense year, I've met different people along it, and I've learnt about all the experiences I've gone through. It was a nice day, because the family made me feel special and they showed me a lot of affection. They are really treating me like a member of the family which is helping me loads, but sometimes, I cannot avoid to feel alone. Life is like a big-dipper, constantly we experiment ups and downs in our lifes.

It's the law of life. If we wouldn't know what's the pain and illness we wouldn't appreciate the value of health (I hate conditionals!), and the same regard as the other feelings and emotions. The best we can do is try to learn off of our mistakes and try don't trip over on the same stone, there must be a proper idiom for this...Voilá! "to run into the same brick wall a thousand times" It has nothing to do with the Spanish one, but it encloses perfectly the essence in meaning.

In any case, and as I was saying...I had a great and fabulous (de fábula!) day. We went to Strood at dinner-time and we were in a kinda American restaurant, quite similar to Foster's Hollywood which reminded me of my father and make feel a bit homesick somehow. But I passed over it when my fajita was on the table saying to me: eat me! I didn't know fajitas could speak...

It could be said that Abbie fell over and it was really funny because she was coming back from the loo and suddenly she was on the floor, and she got up quickly. Oh, dear! Little machine of noise like she is called by her daddy.



Besides, I could enjoy of a nocturnal lovely view of the river Medway in Strood. All the lights and houses were reflected on the dark water. I took some shots but it was practically impossible from the car. Luckily, they stopped the car so I had the chance to do my best and this is the result, much better than in motion but not a masterpiece though.

Little Ben

My hands you may retard or may advance
my heart beats true for England as for France.

This miniature clock-tower is situated in Westminster (to be more especific in Victoria Street). It's made of iron and, it's a monument unknown for majority of visitors. However, the real name is St. Stephen's Tower.

The chickpea king

Once upon a time,
there was a king very thick
who walked with an ivory stick
he was afraid of milk and silk
and smoked joss sticks,
He flicked the ficks so quick
clack, click, tic!
His name was Nick The D**k.
One day he felt sick
he had an illness very quirk.
He had to eat licorice stick
to break the magic trick.
Sadly,He didn't eat enough and
turned into a chickpea.

Gem

Era un niño que soñaba...

Era un niño que soñaba
un caballo de cartón.
Abrió los ojos el niño
y el caballito no vio.
Con un caballito blanco
el niño volvió a soñar;
y por la crin lo cogía...
¡Ahora no te escaparás!
Apenas lo hubo cogido,
el niño se despertó.
Tenía el puño cerrado.
¡El caballito voló!
Quedóse el niño muy serio
pensando que no es verdad
un caballito soñado.
Y ya no volvió a soñar.
Pero el niño se hizo mozo
y el mozo tuvo un amor,
y a su amada le decía:
¿Tú eres de verdad o no?
Cuando el mozo se hizo viejo
pensaba: Todo es soñar,
el caballito soñado
y el caballo de verdad.
Y cuando vino la muerte,
el viejo a su corazón
preguntaba: ¿Tú eres sueño?
¡Quién sabe si despertó!

Six months living in Kent

It has been a LONG time without writing any post, but as the saying goes: better later than never, so here I go. Many things have happened in these time. Step by step I'm getting closer to the summit (I learnt this word yesterday! ^^) and I'm a bit closer to my dream which isn't easy to fulfill. In fact, it's a hard task and I sometimes get the feeling I want to give up. By luck or misfortune, I'm a fighter and I'll struggle with tooth and nail (that's fiercely) to achieve it, whatever it takes, it doesn't matter.
I need to polish up, to work hard every day and to avoid to be low-spirited to keep it up.
The overview of these six months in here is positive but I have been quite isolated from people due to the job I'm doing. But, I'm happy because I'm living in the UK and maybe I can stay longer, at least I know how to manage on my own in the area, and I'm not afraid of being alone in a strange place. In a few days It will be my birthday which means to me I need to keep focused on my studies because I'm not a baby and time/life goes by meanwhile you keep busy.
Today I've paid my fee for CAE, I hope to be able of passing it, if not, it doesn't matter I can do it. Today is freezing! I don't know how english people can wear just a t-shirt. Unbelievable! Increíble!