"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.

How many children would you like to have?

How many children would you like to have? 

The Washington Post: Pope says 3 children per family is about right. Catholics don’t need to breed ‘like rabbits.’ 

Some decades ago families used to have more than three children, that was because families were poor and children could work from an early age, so they immediately go to work. However, life has changed since then, these days children must go to school and they can only work if they are sixteen. But, why has he said that?

Firstly, he has said that because in the Catholic religion some Catholic people think that in order to be good Catholics they have to “breed like rabbits”, as Pope Francisco has said. In addition, with the current situation, it isn’t a good moment to have too many children, so I also reckon that he is saying that for this reason.

Nevertheless, Pope Francisco can advise Catholic people what they should do, but he can't force people to have fewer children than the amount they want. I say this, because we are free and nobody can take our rights away. Furthermore, I don’t think that Catholic people are having children as they used to have a few decades ago, so it isn’t a big problem, if it were a problem.

To sum up, it’s true that the regular number of children that we should have are two or three. Although, no one can force us to do what we want to do, because for instance in Europe, where there are not so many births, the population could descend dramatically. 

Earthquake in Nepal!

Earthquake in Nepal!

Nepal is a Himalayan country which lies between Tibet, the Republic of China to the north and India to the south. It’s one of the richest countries in terms of bio-diversity, ranging from the mighty Himalayas with Mount Everest at 8,848 m and seven other eight thousanders to sub-tropical forests in the south, within a span of 150 kms. Nepal, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, boasts of a large number of world heritage sites and numerous pilgrimage sites to jungles teeming with exotic wildlife.

However, a week ago Nepal suffered one of the worst disasters this year, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake, which has caused five thousand deaths in the country. Moreover it has devastated the whole country. 

A lot of humanitarian charities are helping all the survivors of this earthquake at this moment. We also have to take into account that the 50% of Nepalese people are children, so it means that they would have more problems to help them. In our school, we are doing a donation to help Nepalese people, we donate 3€ and we can have a photo of Nepal.

In my opinion, it has caused more damage because of the poverty of the country, so they need more help than ever to survive, because the conditions are inhuman. There were some Spanish in Nepal, and they have all returned back, except one person, who unfortunately died. We have to thank everyone who have helped.

Baltimore, another case of racism?

Baltimore, another case of racism?

Fifty years ago, it was a well known fact that America was a country with a lot of racism. Black people have been suffering one of the worst periods in their history since the colonialism. Another important case of racism, took place in Germany during the 2nd World War, Nazis killed millions of Jews. However, people like Martin Luther King, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Teresa de Calcuta… and other fought to change this social inequality. In fact, they achieved a lot of human rights. But, has this racism finished yet, or not?

This year in America, there have been a lot of cases of racism, like this one in Baltimore, when Gray, a 25-year-old man was arrested in Baltimore on 12th April and died seven days after a serious spinal cord injury (caused during a transfer in a lorry), without lending him any medical attention. However, this is not the only case of racism that has happened in America, there have been three other cases, and one was about an eighteen-year-old man.

This means that we have to continue fighting against this type of racism. Nevertheless, we have to do it peacefully, and not using more violence. We could think isolated cases, but this isn’t true, because in Spain we also have racism cases with black people and especially with Gypsies.

In conclusion, things must change in our way of thinking because we are all equal, and in the case of America, policemen should have less power, and they have to care about who is a thief, and who isn’t, before they shoot anyone, and not be racist.