Europe's migrant crisis and Donald Trump’s American Idiocy.

Europe's migrant crisis and Donald Trump’s American Idiocy.

These days we are having very bad news in Europe related with migration. In the latest weeks there have been hundreds of immigrants that have died in European beaches or in illegal refrigerated trucks that had the intention of crossing the Hungarian border. But, why is this happening?

One of the main reasons for this massive migration is the Syrian War, which is causing a lot of damage to the Syrian population. So to escape, they are crossing all Europe to get to countries, like Germany (which is really far from their homes) searching for help and trying to find a job. On their way they are losing a lot of members of their families, so in addition to the big effort they are doing, they are also having psychological problems. 

Europe, on the contrary, is trying to host as many refugees as it can, and a lot of countries are helping to find solutions for this issue: Russia, France, England, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy… are accepting more refugees that they usually accept. Even celebrities and football teams are going to donate some charity help to these refugees.

However, in the USA, Donald Trump, an American politician of the Republican Party, has said really bad things about the issue of immigration and about all the things he has in mind about what he is going to do in the USA if he becomes president of the USA, which has shocked the rest of the world a lot. One of the measures that he is going to do is to pack up and expel 11 million people and untold numbers of American citizens of the USA for not being American or not being born in the USA. Another measure is that he wants to force Mexican people to build and pay for a 2,000-mile border wall, between the USA and Mexico to stop immigration...

By the way, all help is good to help Syrian refugees from their war and to try to stop their war and we also have to do as much as possible so that this American politician doesn't become president of his country. This year I have met a Syrian guy and he said that things are really bad, so I hope that this will finish soon.

LA VUELTA HAS COME TO LAS ALPUJARRAS!!!

LA VUELTA HAS COME TO LAS ALPUJARRAS!!!

The Seventh stage in La Vuelta has been very special for me because it went into the Alpujarras, where I have a little house and where I spend almost all my holidays. It wasn’t a very hard stage. Even so, cyclists couldn't cycle too fast as it was very steep up hill. Nevertheless, the stage turned out to be long and hot. They began in Jódar (Jaén) and they finished in Capileira (La Alpujarra) with a distance of 191 km.

The winner was Lindenman, member of the Team Lotto NL-Jumbo, who was in the breakaway and who was on his first real mountain test. Moreover, it was also a bad day for Chris Froome, who lost 30 seconds gap to his main rivals. It was not too much, but that showed that it wasn’t as easy as people thought. For the moment our best Spanish cyclist, Alejandro Valverde, is ranked at less than 40 seconds with regard to the leader, so I wish him all the best for the rest of the race.

I hope that next time they come to this area, I will have the opportunity to watch it, because I’ve never been in one. It was a pity that this time I was in France when La Vuelta began, but I think that next year I will be in Spain.

LA VUELTA 2015

Historical moment for America and Cuba!!!

Historical moment for America and Cuba!!!

Nowadays there are a lot of problems between certain countries, like between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine… However, there are other countries that are starting a new stage, like between Cuba and the USA. The question is when and why they ended up this relation.

As the influence of the Spanish Empire was over, its possessions in the Americas finished in the 1820s, as a result of the Spanish American wars of independence, only Cuba and Puerto Rico remained as part of Spain and in 1898 in the Spanish–American War, Cuba became independent. However, under the Treaty of Paris Cuba became a U.S. protectorate and the problem was that the USA began to dominate the island, until Cuba’s independence in 1902.

There was a Cuban Revolution in 1959 and bilateral relations deteriorated substantially. The USA began chasing people from the Communist regime, they banned corporations owned by Cuba, and it stayed like that for a long time, because on the other hand the Cuban government refused to be a democratic country and that the USA could interfere in Cuba’s economy.

Nonetheless, all this has finished, because Cuba and the USA began a process of normalizing relations in December 2014 and just a few days ago the flag of the USA was raised again in Cuba and the flag of Cuba in the USA. I hope that this relation will continue growing up, and Cuban an American people also begin a new relation.

"Paris sera toujours Paris"

"Paris sera toujours Paris"

Like Zaz's song says, “Paris sera toujours Paris”, I was in Paris two years ago and I found it quite interesting, there are many places to visit: the Eiffel Tower, the river Seine, the Louvre Museum, the Palace of Versailles, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Arch of Triumph… I couldn’t visit the entire city, so for the next time I would like to visit especially the Louvre Museum and Montmartre and I also would like to stay longer there.

Talking about the Tour de France 2015, we have to congratulate Chris Froome for his second Tour de France, and also to our Spanish cyclists: Valverde, Purito ( who won two stages of the Tour de France), Ruben Plaza (who won a stage) and also Contador, who hadn’t got his opportunity because of the tiredness of the Giro, but who fought hard with Froome, Quintana, Valverde, Nibali and Purito.

However, Paris has as well its problems one of them is its population, the best time to go is in July or August because the Parisians aren’t there (they could say that they aren’t as friendly as Spanish people). Another problem is their food, because it’s a well known fact that in France there is good food, but if you want to eat in Paris and anyone recommends a good place to eat, you have to pay too much for a common food like in most Europe capitals.

In conclusion, Paris is a fabulous city to visit, but you have to be careful of what you buy or eat and when you go, if you don't want to have a bad experience there. In fact, not many tourists know more than Paris in France and this is really sad, because Paris is not like the other parts of France.

Greece’s Future, and the Euro’s

Greece’s Future, and the Euro’s

These days every TV network is talking the same topic, the future of Greece. Everyone is following in the news how things are developing. Greece is now in a very delicate moment. But, how are they going to pay all their debts? Moreover, will they be able to pay them at least? 

On the one hand, now in Greece there is a far-left wing party in the Greek Parliament, who promised to reduce the debts that Greece had and who also promised other benefits to poor people, like a reduction in the electricity bills. Furthermore, Alexis Tsipras, the Prime Minister convoked a Referendum to vote  if they accepted what they have to pay to Europe or to force Europe to hand over more money with less austerity attached (what he was for). 

On the other hand, European countries want all the money that they have lent to Greece back. They think that Greece hasn’t done enough reforms to give them more money. For instance, there are only five swimming pools that pay taxes to the government, their VAT is very low… This means that Greece will have to pay at the end, because when they asked for money Europe gave it to them.

Finally they have accepted the conditions imposed by the EU, and they are going to do the necessary reforms to have the third rescue. Despite the fact that they are going to have an increase in their VAT, the limit of the cash money…, now I reckon that they have more possibilities than before to emerge from the crisis.

Baku (Azerbaijan): First European Games in its history

BAKU (AZERBAIJAN): FIRST EUROPEAN GAMES IN ITS HISTORY.

 

    Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan. It is also the lowest lying national capital in the world and also the largest city in the world located below sea level. It is divided into eleven administrative districts (raions) and 48 townships. The city is the scientific, cultural and industrial centre of Azerbaijan. Many sizeable Azerbaijani institutions have their headquarters there, including SOCAR, one of the world's top 100 companies and others. The city is renowned for its harsh winds. This is reflected in the city's nickname, the "City of Winds".

    Moreover, in this city one of the most important sport events of the year has taken place, that is, the First European Games. In these games Russia has been the country which has won more medals, Azerbaijan has been the second, which is also their best position in any European games and Great Britain has been the third. Spain has finished 10th with thirty medals.

    In conclusion, I reckon that it is good to celebrate games in new cities, as long as they have the facilities necessary to celebrate this kind of events. In addition, the European games are also a time to see our athletes competing with other foreign athletes and also because we can see new world and European records.

What games do you like playing? Describe them and explain why you enjoy them

What games do you like playing? Describe them and explain why you enjoy them.

Now, I don’t play any special games, because these days we have a lot of devices that can entertain us, like computers and mobile phones, which we can play very different games with. However, when I was younger, I didn’t have any of these devices and I used to play certain table games with my brother and family.

One of my favourite games were cards and I played a lot of times with my brother, especially in the summer, when we used to have more free time. We knew a lot of types of games with cards: “la brisca”, “la ronda”, “el cinquillo”... (Spanish traditional card games). Another game that I really enjoyed with cards was the UNO. In fact, we used to play everyday after having lunch.

                Another game that I used to play with my brother and my dad was “El parchís” and “La oca”. This game is only for four players, but once we had to buy this same game for six players (which also exists) as we were too many. The problem is that it was a never ending game and  we couldn’t even finish it.

                In conclusion, I think that before we used to play more games than now. Nevertheless, I sometimes play them when I’m bored, just to remember them, because I still have fun when I play them and they bring me such good memories to my mind.  And what about you, what are your favourite games that you used to play with?

Would you work as a volunteer for a humanitarian organisation?

Would you work as a volunteer for a humanitarian organisation?

These days we have to take into account too many things before being a volunteer. Nevertheless, there are many different types of volunteers, so it’s not necessary to go to a foreign country or put your life in danger to help other people. Here I would like to write about the advantages and disadvantages of choosing this kind of activity.

On the one hand, if I were a volunteer in a charity, I would do my best to help them, but it would be also important to show them how they could do things better on their own. I reckon it is more important to provide them with tools or to teach them the abilities to do things such as growing their own food or getting water easier than just giving  them food and water(providing them with food and water).

On the other hand, the hard conditions that many volunteers have to put up with are too many. You’ll have to be ready to cope with bad weather, poverty and difficult living conditions every day. Moreover, the fact that you are a volunteer and you don’t earn any money is such a big problem if you’ve got a family.

In conclusion, to be a volunteer you have to take into account all these facts. Anyway, I wish one day I could have this experience at least in my town, if I find it too hard to go far away from home, as this activity would probably make me feel really happy.