Japan resumes Antartic whales hunt. Tradition or brutality?

Japan resumes Antartic whales hunt.

Tradition or brutality?

On 1st December Japan restarted its "scientific whaling" programme after a year-long hiatus. The hunt is expected to kill 333 whales. To carry out this mission a Japanese whaling fleet set sail for the Antarctic at the beginning of December. Last year, they couldn’t do this “lethal research” because the UN (United Nations) proved that it was a cover for commercial whaling and that they had no proven scientific merit. However, this year despite all the international pressure and as Australia said in “a whale sanctuary” of the Antartic, they have set their fleet there. What do you think about this “scientific research”? For Japan, hunting wales is a tradition, is this tradition, a tradition that should be banned?

First of all, it's true that scientists do many researches with animals, because we couldn’t cure for example a cancer proving with humans, because we would kill ourselves. It’s for that reason that they use lab mice to first try to find the cure and then they begin to administer the drug in humans. Nevertheless, why shouldn't we do it in whales? Firstly, because they are species that can’t reproduce as fast as lab mid do. Secondly, because they are at risk of extinction. Thirdly, because it’s unnecessary to kill an animal of thousands of tones to do a research. And, most important, because they are an important element in the food chain.

Like a lot of traditions that imply hunting animals only because it’s a tradition and that in reality they don’t need its food to survive, I reckon that is not a wise tradition. Or like in Spain that we have a tradition which consists of fighting with a bull on the arena, humbling it and then killing it; or running with a dozen of them beating them with sticks.

All in all, maybe my opinion is influenced by the fact that I'm an animal-loving person, but I don’t think that we are in the Middle Ages when people needed to kill whales to survive. That is why I would like to ask humankind for something: stop these brutalities! as we keep on maintaining these stupid traditions we'll put an end to our world, especially to certain endangered species, and I reckon we should preserve our planet as healthy as we can for future generations.

An example of direct and reported speech

A WEIRD LAPTOP

Two weeks ago I decided to buy a new laptop, because my last one wasn’t working well and it was old-fashioned. Therefore, last Tuesday I went to the new computer store that is just at the corner of my street. There were good offers and I bought a light red Mac (a laptop from Apple). The first week everything was okay, but on the second week, when I switched it on, it made a lot of noise and then it switched of. So, I went back to the shop and talked with the shop assistant and this is what he told me.

“Hello, can I help you?” He asked me.

“Yes, I’ve got a problem with the Mac that I bought here two weeks ago” I said.

Then I explained my problem, he took my laptop for a couple of days and he called me by telephone again.

                “Listen, Sir, your Mac has a virus and we can’t do anything for it” He told me.

                “But, but… I can change it for another one, can’t I? I asked impatiently.

                “No, because it was an offer”, he answered.

We were talking for two hours and then, I decided to talk with his manager. He finally accepted to solve the problem and told me that they would bring me another one, because they have some spare ones in another city. However, he told me that he couldn’t give my money back, because they had just opened, and I finally had to accept, but I didn’t go to that shop again.

Anyway, next time I will always check that any item I want to purchase has a guarantee and that it is valid for at least two years. Bargains can cost you a fortune!!

Local heroes: James Bond and Robin Hood

Local heroes: James Bond and Robin Hood. Do we have this type of heroes in our everyday life?

There have been many characters in our history like Robin Hood or James Bond that have taught us the good values of life and that have also been local heroes, because they have fought against the rich people that stole money from the poor. Currently, James Bond is still one of these characters that promote this type of values. In fact, soon there will be a new James Bond’s film. However, do we still have this type of heroes in our minds? Have we got a little local hero in our everyday life?


Firstly, it’s a well-known fact that this type of heroes had a lot of influence in the past, because there was no TV and no Internet, so to do revolutions against the rich, they needed to believe that a hero like Robin Hood for example, was supporting them in another part of these wars. I don’t know if they really existed, but perhaps it was true that someone did similar things and after his death, he became a myth, even if we couldn’t testify it.

And what do we know about them? Well, Robin Hood was an English archer of the Middle Age who stole the money from the rich and gave it to the poor. It’s said that he was a very kind man and that lived in the wild forest of Nottingham fighting even against the king. Another character is James Bond, or 007, an English secret agent who is the best in his job, because he kills everybody who is ordered to kill. People think that he is the perfect English gentleman because of his look, but in reality he’s a bit womanizer.

All in all, I reckon that before there were more local heroes that people believed in than in our days, because now our politicians are more corrupt and we have fewer local heroes. At least, now we can decide “the king” that is going to steal our money.

Paris COP21 What is it? Are our gouvernements going to do something for the climate change?

Paris COP21 What is it? Are our gouvernements  going to do something for the climate change?

For two weeks, from 30th November to 11th December, representatives of 195 countries will meet in Paris for the COP21, and what is the COP21? The COP21 is the 21st Conference of the Parties, the annual meeting of all countries which want to take action for the climate. And the most important matter, what are the main goals? Their main goal is that they want to reduce their emissions of CO2 so that Earth doesn’t get warmer than 2ºC. 

One of the problems that they are having is that the attacks of Paris were so recent that they can't give lectures in public and they have to be at every moment with a lot of security. As a result of the attacks all the presidents are giving their condolences to the victims. Another big problem in relation with this conference is that emerging countries don’t want to take part in this meeting, because most of them still use too much non-renewable energy, and that can be determinant in the end, because they are the most polluting countries.

In addition, this conference is more important than others, because now rich countries like the USA or China, which haven't wanted to respect the limits of pollution in the past, have now realized that renewable energies are more economic in the long term, so they are now in favour to reduce their pollution in their countries. Moreover, they want to promote this to poor countries, setting their renewable factories there (and for not paying taxes).

From my point of view, it’s good that we have this type of conferences, but we need to take practical measures, because if we don’t do something fast, we will finish with our planet. In Spain, we have had two alerts because of pollution and in two cities (Madrid and Oviedo) people couldn’t use their cars for a couple of days. I don’t know you, but I want to breathe fresh air.

A terrorist attack. Maintenan, on est tous Paris.

A TERRORIST ATTACK. MAINTENANT, ON EST TOUS PARIS.

Last Friday, 13^th November France suffered one of the worst episodes of the 21st century. I didn’t write about this before, because the event was too recent and I wanted to see what was going to happen next, the reaction of France, how much this has affected us, and obviously how this was going to affect Spain, because I remind you that Granada is one of the most menaced cities by these fanatical terrorists, because they still think that the south Spain is Al-Andalus, as it was called when they invaded the Iberian peninsula in 711 AD, and they still think that is part of their “empire”.

First of all, I’m going to talk a bit about the incident. It began in the northern suburb, Saint-Denis, on the night of 13th November 2015. The attackers killed 130 people, including 89 at the Bataclan theatre, where they took hostages. In total 368 people were injured. Afterwards, three suicide bombers struck near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants and a music venue in Paris. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying it was in retaliation for the French airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq. The President of France, François Hollande, said the attacks were planned in Syria, organised in Belgium, and perpetrated with French complicity.

In response, a state of emergency was declared, and temporary border checks were introduced. On 15^th November, France launched the biggest air raid, striking ISIL targets in Al-Raqqah. On 18^th November, the suspected lead operative of the attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, was killed in a police raid in Saint-Denis, along with at least two other people.

 
France had been on high alert since the January 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 17 people, including civilians and police officers. The November attacks have been the deadliest on France since World War II, and the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. 

But, why hasn’t Europe reacted now to this problem and not before? That’s because things only affect us when they are near us. There have been many attacks in other countries like Tunisia, Kuwait…, but it’s now when Europe is doing something against these terrorists. People think that this could be the beginning of the 3rd World War with a new type of fighting in which there won’t be a war between two factions, instead of that, we will have attacks like this one in Paris, where we could see that the terrorist hadn’t fear to die and kill themselves with bombs. 

And regarding the response of France, I reckon that it’s not the best way to solve this problem, because I think that they are killing too many civil people that maybe couldn’t have escaped from these places, even if now there isn’t another solution, because they are recruiting more and more children so that they can train them to do this type of things, which is inhuman. 

I only hope that this war will finish as soon as possible, so that these episodes won’t happen again in France, in Tunisia and in any part of the world. Even if experts say that it will take several years. Nevertheless, I only want our governments to stay together against these terrorists and not be hypocrites just putting a French flag in their Facebook profiles, because I didn’t see anybody with other flags when the terrorists attacked other countries, and please don’t say hypocrites to the people that observe a minute of silence, because nobody has observed a minute of silence in other terrorist attacks.

Living in the countryside or in a city?

Living in the countryside or in a city?

Nowadays there are a lot of ways of living, you have the possibility to live in a flat or in a house, but there are many different options like living in a boat, in a tree house or even in a cave. However, the most commonly forms are in a flat or in a house. But, is it better to live in a small flat in the city centre or in a little house in the countryside?

On the hand, it’s obvious that living in the countryside is healthier than living in a city, as you always breathe fresh air and you can do many activities outside. Moreover, it’s more relaxing because it’s not as stressful as a busy city.

On the other hand, in the day to day life it’s better to live in a city because now nearly everything is in the city. Therefore, if you live in the countryside you will have to take a car to go to places, polluting more than we should.

All in all, I reckon that it’s better to live in the countryside, if we want a healthy life. In my case I have a little house in the mountains and I like going trekking in summer, especially because of its pure air.

In what ways can ideas of greatness in the The Great Gatsby be linked to the American Dream of 1920s?

In what ways can ideas of greatness in the The Great Gatsby be linked to the American Dream of 1920s?

The Great Gatsby represents the American Dream in so many ways. After the war American, who had fought, became intensely disillusioned, because of the brutal carnage they had faced. Gatsby was one of them, he represents the cosmopolitanism and cynism that resulted from the war.

Gatsby represents the irresponsibility and the greed of decadent parties every Saturday night where social climbers and ambitious speculators evidence that greedy scramble for wealth. Moreover, The Great Gatsby shows us that marrying someone rich or doing illegal business finally helps fulfil the American Dream. This also shows us that is those years love didn’t exist at all, because people married for money.

To sum up, the American Dream was discovery, individualism and the pursuit of happiness, and also to finally form a family which Gatsby never achieved.

With the collaboration of María Elena Peinado.

Is it better to have older or younger parents?

Is it better to have older or younger parents?

It’s a well-known fact that your family, especially your parents are one of the biggest influences in your life, they take care of your education, your health. Therefore, how old should parents be? Is it better to have younger or older parents?

On the one hand, if you have younger parents, they will probably understand you better when you are in a bad mood, because for them it’s a recent past. Moreover, they will maybe do more physical activities with you, because of their age and that’s a good point in parent and son relationship.

On the other hand, if you’ve older parents, they will certainly have more experience of life than younger parents and they will help you more if they are retired. Even though, they won’t probably be fit to play with you, because of their age, now there are many kinds of sports that can be done alone with professional trainers.

As far as I know, now parents have their children at an older age than several years before, because now they need more money to support them. However, I don’t see the problem of being younger parents, because I reckon that all parents want the best for their children.

Back to the future and its predictions

BACK TO THE FUTURE AND ITS PREDICTIONS.

21st October 2015 was the date that Emmet Brown programmed the futurist amazing car for Marty McFly to go to the future in 26th October 1985, hoping to arrive in a very futuristic future they didn't know anything about. However, they were not totally wrong because this year in August, one of the inventions that “Back to the future” predicted has become true. The invention of the first hoverboard called Hendo is pretty amazing. But, my question is: can films like “Back to the future” of Robert Zemeckis or books like “De la Terre à la Lune Trajet direct en 97 heures” of Jules Verne predict our future like they did?

On the one hand, most science fiction films have been created to predict what our future will be like. They have done it, following evidences and leading them to the end to make their own future. There are some that predict a good future, and others that don’t. Nowadays, most of them talk about a near future in which robots will be in charge of most tasks we have to do, but we also have fear they may take over the control of the power or important things that control our lives.

On the other hand, futuristic movies are always searching a big audience and they sometimes make some foolish predictions that are impossible to achieve. Most of them talk about aliens and universal crazy wars, it’s true that there could be life in other planets, but I don’t reckon that this type of life will exist one day.

To sum up, science fiction films can predict our future, but I think it is us that make the important decisions about our future: polluting - planting new trees, taking a car - taking a bike. Therefore, I recommend you all to make good decisions that will help us our planet in the future and that will make our lives better, as life is too short.

What is a bookworm? And who is J. K. Rowling?

What is a bookworm? And who is J. K. Rowling?

First of all a bookworm is a person who reads a lot of books and enjoys doing it. We could say that before they used to be in libraries, but now due to Internet and specially mobile phones you can find them everywhere. Another typical characteristic of them is that they are usually very intelligent and they have a very good memory. I’m not a bookworm or as we say in Spanish “un ratón de biblioteca”, despite the fact that I enjoy reading, especially at night when I’m tired.

Joanne Rowling or J. K. Rowling (as everybody knows her) is a writer who is considered to be in the top 10 of literacy heroes for having helped to boost literacy or promote a love of reading. She is well known for having written one of the best book series in history, Harry Potter. Like thousands of children I’ve read the eight books of this book series (now she has written more books related with this fantastic book series). 

When did she think about the idea of Harry Potter? It was in 1990 when she was travelling by train, from Manchester to London when she first thought about a school for wizards, it’s for this reason that she thought in her story that there must be and special platform for magicians, Platform 9 and ¾. In her first book, it was also influenced by her mother's death and this is the reason why she explains in such a detailed manner Harry Potter's mum's death.

But how did she become famous? In fact, her first story was written in napkins, because she was really poor and she had to take care of her children. She presented her work to different publishers, but they didn't accept her story because of her poverty (without reading it), it was a daughter of one of these chief publishers who recognized the talent of the writer, and she became really rich only with this first book. (I’ll recommend you to go to Edimburgh and go to the Elephant House coffee shop, where she came every day to write all her ideas for her books).

In conclusion, I would like to thank J.K.Rowling for having given us the opportunity to read her books. Now, this writer is 50 years old and I hope she'll keep on writing as she has done it all these years.

NO SMOKING: Drive me home, Daddy!

NO SMOKING: Drive me home, Daddy!

According to the British Lung Foundation, more than 430,000 children are exposed to second-hand smoke in cars each week. There are 10 million adult smokers in the UK, and one of their many consequences is that they are affecting their own kids when they smoke in their cars. As a result of this, the English and the Welsh government are to implement a new law which will ban smoking in cars carrying children with a penalty fine of £50. But, is it enough? Are they conscious of the problem of smoking in cars?

On the one hand, there are still too many people who smoke in their cars that are still unaware aabout how this affects themselves and the other second-hand smokers. These are some of their many consequences: second-hand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, some of which are known to cause cancer; smoke can stay in the air for up to two and a half hours even with a window open; smoking in a car creates a higher concentration of toxins than in a bar - some research has put it at 11 times higher; research indicates 300,000 children in the UK visit a GP each year because of the effects of second-hand smoke, with 9,500 going to hospital…

On the other hand smoking in cars is allowed, provided that they don't throw away the cigarettes on roads or highways. Without talking about how much it can affect the other passengers if someone is smoking in the car, in Spain it is one of the main reasons of having a car accident, because it is a very common distraction. I think that if they are in a jam, and they are very anxious, they could have the possibility of smoking if this "relaxes" them.

In my opinion, I would never understand why people continue smoking, especially young people, because I’ve had at least 4 or 5 lessons about the effects of smoking at school and I can't see its relaxing effects, especially when I see the trembling hands of smokers I don’t find it very relaxing. Others will say that it is cool, but I don't find it 'cool' when someone dies of cancer. But well, each one decides how he will like to die and to live.

EuroBasket 2015: 

Comme dans un cauchemar!

One week ago in all over the world, people were only talking about one thing related with sports, and that was the European Basketball Championship. In this tournament the team that started like the favourite to win this tournament was France, because they were playing at home and moreover because they had some of the best players in the NBA, like Nicolas Batum and Tony Parker.


The other important rivals were Serbia, which had a great team with players like Nemanja Bjelica and Miloš Teodosić, who plays in Europe and in the NBA. Lithuania, which had  a very young team with high expectations of doing big things in the tournament with players like Jonas Mačiulis and Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who played in our league, in the ACB. And, of course, we couldn't forget the Spanish national team, but they weren't apparently in their best conditions, because hey played without Juan Carlos Navarro, Calderón, Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol due to different reasons.

It hasn’t been an easy tournament because all the teams played really well, but Spain won at least. They lost two matches in the first phase of the tournament against Serbia and Italy, in spite of that, they got over and they won against Poland and Greece. However, the big challenge was France, but Spain was able to win in the end in a tremendous match, in which Pau Gasol scored 40 POINTS which led Spain to an epic win. In the final they won easily against Lithuania, which didn't have their best day.

In conclusion, it was an exciting tournament with a tremendous Pau Gasol that gave us the pleasure of enjoying basketball once again and of watching how well he plays. In spite of the reaction of some French press saying that Pau Gasol was doped and more things that I didn’t expect from such an honest country. Nevermind, it was a memorable tournament for Spain. Now, we are on the road to Río de Janeiro!!

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.