A Poem

When I was little I used to spend a lot of time in my primary school library. I used to borrow a new book as soon as I finished a previous one. I enjoyed every story and lived each one as if I was there. I still remember some of the images my head created while reading. Funny thing, a vivid memory from something that happened in my mind.
One of my favourite writers was and is Elsa Bornemann. I won't write here her bio, it's not my intention, you can google her. I just want to share with you my experience with her. I want to share this poem with you. Romance del País que No Conoci


 Elsa Bornemann writes books for children, and is amazing how she can understand us, I'm including myself, because she understood me when I was one.
Back on my primary school days I was always in love with someone, always. Once in sixth grade I fell for a 7th-grade boy, and he was my boyfriend for a while -the only one my mother really liked. To make a long story short, it didn't end well -we stopped holding hands. That was the first time someone broke my heart, or that I got my own heart broken. At that time, I was reading this book by Elsa, in which this beautiful poem was included. I felt it was written for me, to put into words everything I couldn't say. So I copied the poem on a beautiful paper, and I gave it to the boy. He never said a word about it. Now, I look at those days and I laugh, I've always been a bit melodramatic, I have to admit, but those were my feelings, right?
A few months ago, I read this poem again. I still find it absolutely beautiful and I hope you like it too.

Thick as Thieves

This another expression I found.
It's actually the name of a film, which I haven't seen yet. In fact, I had never heard of it until a month ago or so. The thing was like this. My brother in law started to tell me about this movie he had seen, and when I asked him for the name of the movie he mumbled "The Code" and this little phrase. Of course I needed to know what its meaning was, and here it is: Cliché very close-knit; friendly; allied. It makes reference to the closeness and intedepence existing in gangs of thieves. The word thick is used in its sense of 'densely arranged' as in thick hair, grass (from: http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/sayingst.htm).
I don't see myself using this phrase, but I found the combination of words interesting. I think it shows how creative we can be with the language. Everytime I come across these idiomatic expressions, in Spanish or English, I wonder who said it for the first time, and how it became popular. I think that this phrases are legacies from other times. Someone sharing a little piece of their present with us. Some become outdated, and lose popularity, but it is funny tosee how language is recycled. New generations take older expressions, assign new meanings or not to them, and bring them back to life, bridging the gaps between generations.

Give me a break!

Holidays, vacations, break, leave. Call it what you want, for me all these words mean the same: RELAXING! And the winter break can't come soon enough. One week to go, 5 days, 3 days, 2 days... I keep saying to myself so as not to lose it and end up killing someone...
I've never felt this tired before. I had done so many things this term that I can't tell. Workshop, Language, Workshop III. Not that many subjects, I know, but they are all very demanding. So much so that I even dream I'm planning! I feel like going mad at times. I'm sure you know what I mean.
I've reached a point in which my body doesn't obey my brain anymore: it takes me ages to finish a sentence, I bump into things all the time, I forget things, and of couse I fall asleep everywhere.
Being close to end of the term and looking back on it, I wonder: was it worth it? Every minute! I've learnt so many things and, I've grown so much. The sense of accomplishment is doping!
Anyway, I'm planning to enjoy my holidays as much as possible, sleep late, catch up with friends, and do all those girly things I've been leaving aside.

No Man is an Island

"...No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind;..."

John Donne.

I chose this quiotation for this topic beacuse in a way it is connected. Just change death for life, and diminish for heighten, and I hope you see it the way I see it.

Well, our first writing assignment is over...
I always get a bit anxious when I know we are going to write in teams, but I always find this experience of co-writing very enriching. Writing is a process that starts in our heads, what and how to write are questions that we answer before even grabbing a pen (or putting a finger on the keyboard). The thing is that when we write in teams, we have to consider other people's whats and hows -not an easy task.
When writitng in teams, compromising is key. Accepting that other point of view, that other way of putting an idea is what makes this process worthy. It opens your head, it widens your perception and it sharpens your sense or appropriacy -if she, that is part of the process, doesn't get it, an outsider won't get it either. Let's change this!-
What's also good about this way of working is that you are not alone. Sometimes we get so stucked in our thoughts, that we fail to see our mistakes or we can't find the correct form of saying something. Working in teams means having someone to rely on, someone at hand to help you see what you have missed.
Every time I work in teams, I take something with me -either a new word, a new strucutre, a new way of seeing things or a funny memory- which, I feel, is the whole idea of struggling to find common grounds.

About this specific task, I feel we worked very well together and I'm more than happy with our final version.

Sticks and Stones

I was watching a movie last weekend, when I picked up this cute little phrase. As a good language student, I ran to my dic only to find that its definition was not there. My next step was, of course, to google it. And there it was...
The movie I was watching was "The Blind Side", Sandra Bullock's latest movie. The situation was simple: All of the main characters were at a football match. They were on the audience, and together with them there was this man cheering for the other team, but he would only shout insults, obviously, to his opponents. So SJ, the younger son of the family, turned to him, he was ready to give the man a piece of his mind when his mother, Sandra Bullock, stopped him saying sticks and stones.
I looked it up, as I said, and this is what I found:
Sticks and stones is the beginning of a proverb which goes like this: "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." And the Free Dictionary by Farlex gives the following definitions:
1- "something that you say which means that people cannot hurt you with bad things they say or write about you Criticism has never bothered me. Sticks and stones may break my bones, and all that."
2- "Prov. You do not hurt me by calling me names. (A reply to someone who has called you names. Primarily used by children; sounds childish when used by adults.)"
I hope you find this interesting.