Wonderful city, real vacations: cosa voglio di + dalla vita?

Again, I'll be brief! I know, I know: it seems the only thing I can write about lately: my lack of time! If it's getting annoying for you who are reading...well, you can't imagine how stressful this has been for me! Anyway, let's talk of good things: I spent the last week end at Rio de Janeiro and i loved it! Well, first of all I had the chance to run away from my work (thank God! I really needed a few time off), then I had the chance to really see [part of] the most famous Brazilian city, I got to meet an old friend of mine, I had the possibility to train my spoken English with a German couple and some Americans and English and I traveled by ferryboat ;P Nice, ain't it?

Well, I can only say that everybody should visit Rio: it's a great city with a nice atmosphere...

Actually, I didn't actually see the "touristc Rio": I had access to another angle of the city, as you can see from the unusual pic of the famous Sugar Loaf...you don't find this kind of pics on postcards!

Well, that's it: thanx Elisa for the trip, thanx Alex for coming with me, thanx to technology for the photos and thanx Rio for being not too far from here!

That's it!

cheers :)

Hope you can take advantage of you holidays much more than I can...

We are the champions...

Campioni del mondoooooooo!!

Queen - We Are The Champions

I've paid my dues
Time after time
I've done my sentence
But committed no crime
And bad mistakes
I've made a few
I've had my share of sand kicked in my face
But I've come through
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world
I've taken my bows
And my curtain calls
You brought me fame and fortuen and everything that goes with it
I thank you all
But it's been no bed of roses
No pleasure cruise
I consider it a challenge before the whole human race
And I ain't gonna lose
We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fighting - till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions - of the world!

...I don't think I need any other words to describe this moment! It turned out that Elisa, Sylvia and Emmanuele were right after all - thank God! That was the spirit Italy needed! Congratulations both to the team and their supporters :)
PS. I have to say the team should be congratulated for two reasons: they were good players on the one hand, but the were above all very, very, very HOT men! At least this time the World Champions look very nice in the pics! - I think all the girls agree with me ;)
(photo taken from www.repubblica.it)

In Italy we trust...in Brazil not any more...

Hello!!
Here I am again...Time is something we never find...at least, not as much as we want, but I had to make some efforts in order to write about Brazil (sad news come first) and Italy (the good news).
Ok, about Brazil there's not much to say...there's just a lot to be angry about! What the he** was that? Do they call it a game? For most Bazilians it was just a shame...a shame for the team, a shame for what they call the best players in the world, a shame for everybody who trusted in the HEXA (and I can tell you a lot of people wanted it badly)...Well, I just think the players should think more of the support they get from the people than of the money they get from the brands they wear...not to say the illegal money they may have gotten to lose the game that way...Ok, nobody can prove anything, so let's just drop it and think of the good news...ITALY!!
I must say it was quite a surprise for me: Italy in the finals? Well, evrybody must agree with me that Italy didn't show any excellent performance in its first matches...who would have ever thought it would go so far?
Well...let's see what happens tomorrow between Portugal and France...hope Portugal wins, because France...well, I don't like it!
And for the finals, I can just say I'm starting to trust Italy again!! As Elisa said: Go Italy!!!

picture taken from www.corriere.it

Germany 2006

It' s been ages, I know!! I feel terrible about it: I mean, when I was writing frequently, a few people read my posts...now that I don't write anything, I guess no one will ever have a look at this blog any more!! Anyway, I'm an optimistic spirit - at least sometimes - and I decided to share with you the emotion of this World Cup. So far, I haven't decided exactly what team I am going to support: Italy? Brazil? Japan? Croatia? Austalia? In Italy we have the handsome Cannavaro, in Brazil there's Kakà, in Japan there are all these little cute Japanese, in Croatia there are the Kovac - Robert and Niko - and in Australia there's Kewell.
Finally, I'm starting to see soccer from a new perspective - a much more girlish and interesting one. Before, I used to be interested only in the results: who won was everything that mattered! Who wants to waste time watching a 90 minute match with 22 men trying to catch the ball? Well, the ball is still as unintresting as it was before...but some of the men really catch our attention, don't they? Especially this trend of exchanging the t-shirt uniform at the end of the match...very, very interesting indeed! =P
Ok, my time is running out...I need to catch some sleep...
Who will win the Cup? What do you think?

MIX: classes, monkeys and golden keys

Hey guys!

This time I won't write much (I always say that, and then I got myself carried on by the stream of my thoughts...^.^ But this time is 4 real: in 15 minutes I have to be dressed up and out of the door!). What I wanted to say is that from now I won't be able to write my posts with the same frequency (gasp!) as I did in these past months. The fact is that...oh, my god...my classes are going to start soon :/. As you can see I'm not very happy...as you know, I work as a teacher, and "classes starting" for me sounds as "A LOT OF WORK to do", not only as a student, but also - and mainly - as a teacher...

Anyways, as they say here in Brazil, my vacations should finish "with a golden key", which in my case means a week-end trip to a countryside town (or should we say village?): "Macacos". Yes, the name of the city in English would be : "Monkeys"! Maybe in this occasion my boyfriend will be willing to take pictures and actually post them in his multiply album...who knows?

Well, I told you it was to be a short post, haven't I? It is too short a post...I will regret of ever posting it maybe...

Anyways, let me go to my recommendations: don't study too much! Enjoy your spare time! Go to the movies! Learn a foreign language...Elisa I envy you so much for learning Spanish! You know, you should meet Lele's sister-in-law: she's from Cuba and she's very nice!

TEST: How much do you know about movies and the weird translation of their titles in other languages? Test your knowledge and have fun!

U2

I'm writing briefly of one of the biggest events that ever happened here in Brazil: the U2 concert in Sao Paulo. Well, as I wrote in previous post, I should have gone there, but getting the tickets was almost impossible: we tried, tried for almost 2 months and finally gave up! Well, if I could only go back in time, I wouldn't have given up the chance to see the U2 for the world! Instead of being there and see Bono and his band in flesh, I watched everything on TV and every second ofd the show I bitterly regretted not having made an extra effort to go...well, this is the lesson I learnt: NEVER give up the things you want...and, specially, NEVER GIVE UP THE U2!

As I told you, I will write briefly...even because there is not much to comment on the show: it was FANTASTIC, WONDERFUL, GREAT! Actually the U2 had two concerts in the Morumbi stadium in Sao Paulo: the first was on February 20th (monday) and the second on the 21st (tuesday). The one I saw on TV was the first, and the one I was supposed to go to was the second.

Well, since the show is simply indescribable, I will send you to some places so that you can have a look at (and die of envy):

1. some minutes of the first show. The video is not very good, but it gives the idea (a very poor one, actually, but better than nothing at all, right?)

2. Bono singing "Elevation". Again, the video quality is not high at all, but it's funny because at the beginning you can hear Bono saying in Portuguese "agora é a nossa vez", which means "Now it's our turn".

3. some photos (39) taken on the two days. Here the quality is pretty good and in the last photo you can see the woman that Bono called up to the stage. He sang "With or Without You" hugging her...it was sweet, but I hate that woman! Can you believe that when she left the stage she KISSED Bono on his lips? And she's not beautiful...and she's married... It should have been me!! (just kidding, of course!)

4. the list of the songs they sang on both days. This is a Brazilian blog, so everything's in Portuguese...but the guy who owns it promises to give a complete feedback on the show as soon as possible.

That's all for now...don't study too much, ok, guys?

Rock and Pride

Hey guys! I'm sorry it took me such a long time to write another post, but I have been quite busy. Not VERY busy, because I'm still on holiday (yes, a three-month holiday...I'm feeling some envy around now that I said it...^.^) from school. However, I did start working already...the work is fine: I was expecting something better actually, but, you know, "you can't always get what you want"...we always have to learn from the Rolling Stones, don't we? Speaking of them, yesterday there was their concert here in Rio de Janeiro. It was quite something actually: have a look at the pictures! It's quite a happy moment for rock fans in Brazil: Pearl Jame came in December, The Rolling Stones now, the U2 next week, the Oasis next month...I only wish I had the money and the time to see all of them! I was quite sure to go to the U2 concert, but sadly I had to give it up because of the tickets: it was SO hard finding them!
These days I was wondering: what can I write in my next post? Can I write about manga? about anime? about my readings? about movies? about music? about sitcoms? about holidays? about carnival? about the gym?
Well, I finally decided: i'm gonna talk about the past, about reading and about movies. And all of this in little space 'cause I know nobody has plenty of time to read my huge posts any more!
When I was young (oh, my God, I'm getting so old!), in my 15s, my teacher (one of the best I've ever had), Tiziana Bonamico, gave us a book to read: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I simply loved the book, I loved the way jane Austen wrote, I loved the characters... Pride and prejudice was my first Jane Austen, and my favorite too!
Now the movie was released, with the beautiful Keira Knightley and the handsome Matthew Macfadyen...and I really LOVED it! I admit the effects are not the same as the ones I had when I read the book (gosh! does AGE play any influence on this?)...but the movie is very sweet! Besides, D'Arcy is way more good-looking than the one I imagined and this, of course, can't hurt!
Ok, other suggestions for the cinema? Well, yesterday I saw Matchpoint, last Woody Allen's success, and I strongly recommend it. I also recommend "The secrets of Brokeback Mountain" and today I'm gonna see "Good night, good luck".
To see what's new in Italy click here.

I got it!

No, it's not a miracle, it's called "my dad out of my house". Just kidding...the fact is that, wasn't it for certain "events" I can't fight against, I really WOULD write more often in my blog. It's true, as you can see.

I realizes my last post wasn't very successful...almost nobody wrote anything about it. Just a tip: click on the links, the trailers are worthy to be seen! You don't to read everything! Anyways, I think I got it! It, what? Well, why nobody reads my posts: they're too long! Nobody wants to read that much! So I'm here just to let a brief post on...language!

Everybody knows of course that every language has its own idioms, sayings and proverbs. So, when we study a foreign language, we can't rely on simple word-by-word translation from our first language to the foreign one, because the result might mean absolutely nothing in the foreign language!

Let's make it simple: an example! I was writing a comment to Emmanuele in my very blog and I wanted to use the Italian saying "prendere due piccioni con una fava" ("catch two pigeons with one bean", which doesn't make any sense in English), that corresponds to the Portuguese saying "matar dois coelhos com uma paulada so' " ("kill two rabbits with one blow of the stick", which also doesn't mean anything in English). So, word-by-word translation is quite tricky in these situations...the only way out is the INTERNET! There, we can find lots of sites on proverbs and translations of proverbs!

Do you think you would be able to express the idea of "prendere due piccioni con una fava" using an English saying? Wanna see the answer? Are you curious? Ok, then you can click here and simply have a look, or you can test your abilities with this quiz and letting us know your score afterwards (I got 10/10!!^.^)

Ok, I think I should go now, otherwise this post will be as huge as the others. Anyway, I wanted to wind up saying that idioms are one of the taughest and yet most interesting aspects of a language. Today I found out a very interesting English idiom: "beer goggles". Click to know what it is...

Movies

Ok, I won't apologize for my terrible delay this time, otherwise all my posts will look exactly the same. And I don't think this will be nice, will it? I spent the last 15 days in a quite chaotic situation here at home, but let's not talk about it otherwise I'll get upset, or even angry. Nope, this won't happen, we won't think about it: I finally have a few minutes for myself and I have to use them wisely ^.^

Let's talk about movies!! Yuppieeee! This is one of my favorite topics...this doesn't mean I'm always at cinema or always watching movies or that I remember all the movies I've seen or all the actors I like (faaaaaar from it, actually ^.^)...I wish my memory was better, but sadly I was born this way...=/

Well, anyways, yesterday, after ages of abstinence, I finally went to the movie theater again and it was to see an awesome movie with an awesome actor, whose name, by the way, I DO remeber: how could I forget the name of Jim Carrey? My memeory is bad, but not THAT BAD! ^.^ The movie was Fun with Dick and Jane (click to watch the trailer) and it was so funny and quite insightful...well, I mean, it's funny but not silly! It really has a point and it is not a ridiculous one: it is about losing your job and looking for another one. Well, maybe I'm just a little sensitive to the subject because, in spite of not having lost any jobs yet, I'm having a hard time in finding one! Well, you know, you always listen to people saying that it's hard finding a job, but if you're NOT looking for one, you don't really care about it, do you? I mean, I knew it was hard, but just now I'm actually realizing HOW hard it is. I'm not saying you should watch the movie with this kind of spirit: c'mon, it's a commedy, it's for you to laugh! But, after you have laughed a lot, you still have something to think over...this, in my opinion, is what made this movie worthy to be seen (and, sigh!, payed for).

After all this free advertisement of Jim Carrey's movie (sonypicture should pay me for that...this is just the job I was looking for ^.^), let's have a look at the other films that are coming out here in Brazil and that seem quite good (and by that I mean I'm planning to watch them).

1. Broken Flowers

2. Oliver Twist by Roman Polansky (the same director of "The Pianist"). I don't know about the movie, but I LOVED the book

3. The Producers, which seems to be quite funny, good cast, quite metaliterary (or something like that) and a good chance to practice my German listening skills!

4. Jarhead, by Sam Mendes (the same director of "American Beauty"). I don't like war films, but this one...the trailer is just great and I really feel like watching it. Besides, "American Beauty" is one of my favorite movies...

5. Ae Fond Kiss, European movies are known to be particularly deep and full of xxx scenes (^.^). Well, this movie seems to be interesting anyways, and I'd really like to watch it. It's being released here only now, but it was released as a dvd in Europe in 2005...European movies always get here in Brazil ages after its releasing everywhere else...

Ok, readers...I hope you haven't given up on me, in spite of not proving myself very constant on my posts lately. So, if you are still following me, please comment on the movies I suggested (you can watch the trailer by clicking on the title) or suggest some others for me (and others) to watch, ok?

PS. Elisa, my mail address is still the hotmail one. Please, send me an e-mail so that I can contact you again, ok?

Traveling

Again, ages of silence! By now I think you have understood I have problems with schedules...hehe! I always plan my day to do several things and I end up doing just half of them! This is very frustrating and at the end of the day I get very upset, so my boyfriend tells me: "You know, you should plen less things to do, this way you will certainly manage to do everything and you'll feel happy at the end of the day"...maybe he's right, but there are always so many things to do...

Anyways, this is not the point! Today I wanted to talk about travels... Why? Well, first of all to link this post to the previous one, which was also introducing this idea, but mainly because yesterday I went to the airport to take up my dad, who has just arrived in Brazil. Well, it was strange: my dad misse the flight and I had to wait 4 hours at the airport...I saw a lot of people going and coming...it was a funny feeling to see everybody with their suitcases. The fact is that, while I was looking at people going to the gates to take flight to Sao Paulo, Rio, Salvador, Miami, I was thinking: "It should be me taking this plane"! Why? Because I LOVE travelling, I love the feeling of the plane when it goes up the sky, when it doesn't touch the floor any more, when you are practically in no man's land.

Now it's your turn, readers: lately you've been proving me you're not as imaginary as I thought you were...let's keep up the good work, ok? Do you like travelling? why? where would you like to go (if you had money, time, vacations, etc.)? ( it doesn't need to be the US, it can be anywhere in the world thi time).

PS. Elisa, I don't know how else to contact you: can you please send me your e-mail address again? The one I have doesn't seem to work...

San Francisco

Hello!
This is going to be a very special post...or maybe, a post to a very special person..no,no, let me rephrase: this post goes to a good imaginary reader...the one that is usually real, but that I can contact only virtually for the next months: Raphaella! Well, this is just to show you I don't think you're fiction at all...even though, sometimes...just kidding!
So, Raphaella is now working in San Francisco and...I envy her a lot! I wanted to be there, too...it doesn't need to be San Francisco, but somewhere in the US. Who doesn't dream of going there some day, right? Well, I must admit that my favourite destinations would be New Jersey, Michigan, New York and those states near there ...but I'd also love to go to Seattle! Raphaella, now that you work there and you're paid in dollars ($$$$), don't you want to buy my ticket? hehehe

Ok, this was just to say: Raphaella, take lots, lots, lots of pictures, ok? And keep visiting my blog...^.^

Now, a question to my other imaginary reader(s): if you could choose, what state would you like to visit in the US? why?

Harry Potter

Ok, calm down! My intention is not to spoil any surprise for anybody! Really...I hate when people tell me things about books and movies, so my intention is to keep the secret... So, there's a part in the book which is very sad because...just kidding, just kidding!

Well...I have been silent for a few days, haven't I? and the reason is Harry Potter! I got my hands on the 6th book, finally, and this time my dream came true: I read the English version! I will not say it is better than the Portuguese one, but it is different to read it in English...it seems more magical, more close to JK Rowling and her world. Yeah, because, you know, of course JK Rowling based her book on the British culture, so... Well, the fact is that this 6th book is great! I'm saying that because I didn't like all the books, and I found especially the 5th one very boring: Harry was boring, the story was quite still: nothing exciting happened! When the 6th came out I wasn't very eager to read it, but when I got hold of it, I just couldn't stop reading! This is the Harry Potter I like! So, this is just a bit of an advertisement to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince": read it and love it!

Well, since I was so busy reading the book and shopping for all those Xmas gifts, I really didn't have time to update my blog. Again, I don't know who I am apologizing to: maybe my imaginary reader? ok, just kidding (or maybe not)...

Let's focus: this post goes to Harry Potter! So, actually, I should talk about him/it! Well, we have the movies too, right? Here in Brazil the 4th has been released! Of course, I saw it! And this time I was very curious to see it, because...well, I personally didn't like the 1st and the 2nd, but I loved the 3rd...so I was curious: would be the 4th as good as the3rd? It turned out to be as good as or even better, so I was pleased and I walked out of the movies with the feeling that my money was well-spent. Which is good, isn't it? What about you, (imaginary) reader? Which movie did you like the best?

And what about the books? As I told you, I loved the 6th...but I still think the 3rd was the best book. Let me know your opinion, ok?

studying more

Well, as I told you, I'm on holiday now. I still keep addressing to an immaginary reader, and I'm really starting to think that my reader is an imaginary one...in fact, wasn't it so, probably I would gather more comments than I actually do. So, I stopped and thought: does anybody really read this that I'm writing? And, if nobody does, why do I keep writing? Is it a kind of selfreflection on my...uh...life? Is this thought too deep? Am I doing this for my English? Am I doing this for myself? Am I doing this for any reason at all? And WHAT is exactly this that I'm doing? Do you feel dizzy now? Don't tell me about it...Well, ok, I don't have any answer...as Eugenio Montale said: "non chiederci la parola che squadri da ogni lato l'animo nostro informe....etc etc... Codesto solo oggi possimo dirti, ciò che non siamo, ciò che non vogliamo". Ok, right, I know he was talking about poets and I'm not a poet at all...I'm not trying to put myself as a poet...I'm just trying out an analogy here, ok?

Anyways, does this really matter?

Let's talk of something else...what? My course!! Did I mention it? I'm taking a great course...why? Well, first of all because my curriculum doesn't have any worthy extrascholatic activity, and since I'm trying to make it look richer than it does, then I decided to include this course into my life. And it was a great decision! It's not easy to wake up early and spend 4 hours in a classroom, but I'm actually learning how to use games and understand the dynamic of a group. This will be incredibly helpful in my lessons (at least I hope) because:

1. I will include more games and practice activities

2. I'm learning so much about the roles of students and teachers, and the psychology behind their behaviour, that I'm really hoping to be a better teacher next semester.

I think the psychologic side of the coin is being particularly enlightening because I am such an emotional person, and I tend to take everything personally. For example, when a student misses a presentation and doesn't say anything, I think this is a lack of respect to me, so I get pretty mad at the student...now I'm learning that being emotional is not the case in the classroom...you have to be rational first of all, think of what you are going to say, the facial expression you are going to take, etc.

Ok, in short: I'm trying to become a better teacher, and this is something that is making me feel happy! It's good to try to improve ourselves, isn't it? Well, this is what I'm planning to do throughout my whole life...

holidays!

On holiday, at last! I couldn't stand this semester any more...but I can't complain much about it. The courses I attended at university were almost all great! My literature course was not as good as I expected, but I learned a lot from it too. My experience as Italian teacher was great! I'm not saying that everything was as good as I hoped it would be, but we always learn from our mistakes, don't we? I hope to learn from mine and keep on giving my best next semester. My private student...well, I have only one now and she gave me quite a lot of troubles. But her English and Italian are going well...she improved so much since when I started giving classes to her and I'm very proud of her. She keeps saying "I hate English", but I can see she doesn't mean it for real...! Of course, if she were more frequent, her improvement would be simply astonishing! Well, one big step in my semester was improving my computer skills...I hope I succeeded in my task...what would you say? Well, I do have a blog now, and a web narrative, and a webquest on the net, and a webpage (no recent updates, but the webpage is there)...
How did I spend my first "holiday hours"? Well, first I read the 4th manga of Fruits Basket (I told you I loved this manga, didn't I?)...I can't wait to read the 5th, but it's so expensive! Then, I checked all those fwd e-mails...hehehe...you know, I never read them because most of them finish like that "if you don't send this mail to at least 10 people, you will have bad luck for the rest of your life"...I really don't like these kind of messages! I only like those funny fwd messages. Why did I say all of this? Well, just to warn you: please, don't send me boring and annoying fwd messages: probably, I won't read them! hehehe ^.^ What else did I do? Well, I watched a little TV, I read an italian book, a very interesting one: "La donna della domenica". I didn't read it all, just a few chapters. This book is interesting but it's HUGE: 425 pages! It seems the endless story....hehehe. Ok, I'm being boring, aren't I? I'll keep you informed about my holidays later, ok? I hope to write more, and more interesting things in the next days...
bye
PS. I know I never put any real photo of mine in this blog...but it's because I don't like photos, specially when I'm in them...^.^ Anyways, for those who'd like to see some photos, here is my boyfriend's multiply address: http://alzivi.multiply.com/. There's no much yet, but there will be more photos as soon as he finds time to put on the web...now he's too busy playing World of Warcraft...hehe ^.^

new things...

I know, I know...I'm late again! Well, there is something you need to know about me: I'm always late! I use to make jokes about it saying that my life is a huge delay...it's a joke, but it's in fact the pure truth!! ^.^ Well, I wanted to tell you that there is something new on my blog now: my links! If you click on the "learning english" one you will find all the story of all my life from the perspective of English learning. It wasn't easy to write it...and it won't be easy to read it: it's huge!! (oh my gosh...I'm getinng so old...) But I hope this won't discourage you: please visit the site and read a bit of it (make my efforts be worthy)...I allow you to skip a few lines, if you want... =D
The other link I included is a webquest I created. I didn't know anything about webquests ( not even that they existed) before creating this one and I have to say that they are simply amazing!! It's unbelievable what an important tool it can be for teaching and leraning! If you don't know what a webquest is, click here and find out!

Hello!!

Well, I think you have understood by now that I am quite a big fan of manga and anime... this weekend I read an amazing manga and I'm here to make a bit of advertisement :D. The manga is called "Fruits Basket" and it's simply amazing. If you have the chance, you really should have a look at it! I can't wait to see the anime now...:D

Ok, I'm pretty busy these days...I have quite a big presentation next week and I have to prepare a poster (I've never done such a thing in my life and I'm scred to death of making some mistakes).

hope I'll participate more in my blog after the presentation...:D

cheers!

Today is the greatest

Today is the greatest...it's been exactly 4 years that I've been dating my boyfriend Alexandre! I don't need to say he is the sweetest person I have ever met and my best friend!

To prove you that I really am a great fan of the Samshing Pumpkins, here go the lyrics of one my favorite songs:

Today

Smashing Pumpkins

Today is the greatest

Day I've ever known

Can't live for tomorrow,

Tomorrow's much too long

I'll burn my eyes out

Before I get out

I wanted more

Than life could ever grant me

Bored by the chore

Of saving face

Today is the greatest

Day I've never known

Can't wait for tomorrow

I might not have that long

I'll tear my heart out

Before I get out

Pink ribbon scarsT

hat never forget

I tried so hard

To cleanse these regrets

My angel wings

Were bruised and restrained

My belly stings

Today is

Today isToday is

The greatest day

I want to turn you on

I want to turn you onI

want to turn you on

I want to turn you

Today is the greatest

Today is the greatest day

Today is the greatest day

That I have ever really known

Speaking of disarmament...

Smashing Pumpkins

Disarm

Disarm you with a smile
And cut you like you want me to
Cut that little child
Inside of me and such a part of you
Ooh, the years burn
I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my choice
What’s a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you
Disarm you with a smile
And leave you like they left me here
To wither in denial
The bitterness of one who’s left alone
Ooh, the years burn
Ooh, the years burn, burn, burn
I used to be a little boy
So old in my shoes
And what I choose is my voice
What’s a boy supposed to do?
The killer in me is the killer in you
My love
I send this smile over to you
The killer in me is the killer in you
Send this smile over to you
The killer in me is the killer in you
Send this smile over to you
The killer in me is the killer in you
Send this smile over to you

referendum

It's been a while since my last post! I'm terribly sorry about that, but these days have been just crazy! Well, this post is not going to be a long one (are you feeling relieved?) because today I don't have much time. Ok, the fact is I have so many things I want to post here, but no time to do it...but, it's been a while since I wanted to post something on a big event that we had here in Brazil: a referendum. For those who don't have a clear idea on what this is, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referendum. What was this referendum about? It was about disarmament. If you agreed with disarmament (i.e., if you didn't want people to have guns at home any more), you had to (and when I say HAD TO, I really mean it, since here in Brazil the vote is not a right but a duty of the citizens) vote YES; if you were against disarmament, then you had to vote NO. Guess who won? The NO, of course, and I'm not very happy with it. I really don't think disarmamente would have been a solution, but I don't agree with people carrying guns wherever and whenever they want to. I bet you guessed by now that I voted YES. Well, I just hope Brazil won't get more violent than it already is (in spite of evidence showing the contrary)... What do you think about it? If you were a Brazilian, what would have you voted for? Post a comment on it! (if you want more info on that, just go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,12462,1599331,00.html)

Children's day and Teacher's day

More posts! I was briefly researching on the holidays of October 12th to tell a little about it to my ibunka friends, and I found such interesting things, that it might be worthy sharing with you all (by saying this, it seems thousands people visit my blog, which is certainly not the case, at least for now ^-^...but you that visit it, this is just to let you know how important you are!). So let's start with Children's day: here in Brazil it is celebrated on 12th October. It was "invented" by a politician (Galdino do Valle Filho) in the 1920s. However, it really started making success in th 1960s when a Brazilian toy factory promoted the event with advertisement. Nowadays all Brazilian children get plenty of toys from their relatives on this special day and many schools take the whole week off. Brazilians just love holidays...=)
October the 12th is also an important day because we celebrate "Nossa Senhora Aparecida", patron Saint of Brazil. This saint has a quite interesting story: in 1717 some Brazilian fishermen were fishing in the Paraiba river, but they were out of luck: they kept throwing the nets in the river, but when they got them back, there was nothing. Once, at getting the nets back, they found an image of a saint, but without the head. They kept "fishing" and they found the head of the saint. They went on fishing and a miracle happened: thousands of fish were coming up with the nets. This is considered her first miracle. A curious thing about "Nossa Senhora Aparecida" is that her skin is black. If you want to know more about it, go to: http://www.portaldafamilia.org/datas/criancas/diadascriancas.shtml
Finally, I recently found out that on 15th October we celebrate Teacher's Day. Everything started back in 1827, when, on 15th October they created the first "General Law" for the elementary school. In this law, some issues concerning the teachers were also dealt with, and this is why the 15th October is now remembered as Teacher's Day. (For more info you can access: http://www.sabido.com.br/artigo.asp?art=1383). On this day students should give presents to the teacher, OF COURSE ^-^! And I can't complain because my students took a great "focaccia" to my class =) Sometimes being a teacher really pays off...=)