See you soon

I don´t like it when a year ends. Definitelly, doing summaries is not my favourite activity; that´s because - may be -eveytime a year ends i have the feeling that i didn´t do enough things. Time flies so fast that the concern of making the most of something is ... no words about it. Fortunally, a year ends once per year. I would prefer singing happy days and not happy birthday or happy new year.

Let´s see. At the beginning of the semester i didn´t like the idea of taking an English course. I thought it would be like in High-School: boring classes, tests, etc. I took the class according yo my schedule, without thinking about the teacher or classmates. Thanks life it was a good decission.

I consider that the best activities were talking and talking, it´s the best way to learn: Expressing ourselves. Sometimes the subjects weren´t as interesting as i expected but, well, those are details (social scientists are talkative people, so they´re going to end talking about society or individuals anyway). If the objective of the course was develop communicative skills, it made it. However, besides that, i think that it would have to include some Grammar Units. I´m not sure if i learnt something new, but definitelly i learnt how to express myself better.

What i really don´t like was the schedule (even if i chose this class for it). Having English in two different days is easier to get focus in class as well as to asecure assistence (Wednesday is in the middle of the week!). Besides that our worst problem was THE COMPUTER LAB! I didn´t discovered anything in the "English Discoveries" because every class i came (remember: Wednesday is a busy day) the computers weren´t working.

If i failed in the Final Exam and i have to take this course again i would choose the class by its teacher first; then by its schedule. Related to develop communicative skills i consider that more activities generated by students have to be included. For example: bringing subjects to discuss, watching movies, doing interviews each other, having chilean-british parties :) etc. Now, if i wanted to continue taking English courses, i would like them to prepared me for the TOEFL exam because English is an indispensable tool for our professional life.

That´s it.

See you soon: next week!

18

Happy Birthday!

"This is THE age".

The age when you, after of been on Earth 6.570 days, you finally become into a adult (?) and you conquer your freedom. Legally, you become into a citizen. However, the childhood and the adolescence are stages of the same process, which is more complex and larger than just 18 years. Being 'under-age' or not is something involved with maturity and responsibility, not something determined by law. Fifty years ago, women weren't considered as citizens; nevertheless, they were having babies since they were 14 years-old. Today, even 50 year-old adults, don't stop of growing.

However, maturity, immaturity, responsibility and irresponsibility are as such as subjective concepts. Everybody knows that society doesn't work like that: It's prefers rationality and groups, avoiding particular distinctions between population. In this way, i think is reasonable put the limit between the childhood and the adulthood at 18 years old. Proper border, just after the High-School, that commitment driven by the state.

Why not before or later?

Of course, something so unclear and abstract llike responsabilities and duties from the individual perspective; must have some inconsistencies and paradowes. Well, lest´s see...

In Chile, the criminal responsability is set on the 14 years-old. However, the age of mayority is set on the 18 years-old. It´s known that there´re social problems involved in the enactment of this law, but trying to put in teens in "Rehabilitation Centers", i don´t know that´s the best solution. The families of the teens, of course, sometines don´t have the medias to ensure their security and individual development, Despite the above, openning Rehabilitation Centers without a serious introduction programs (education according their ages and not technical courses) for those teens, is waste money, lifes and time. You may be 4 years in those centers before you´re old enough to vote (by the way, inscription should be automatic and, the voting voluntary)

The situation in other countris, is not very different. Another example: In tbe United States, the age of mayority is set on 21 years-old. Before that, since you´re 16 you may drive a car; since you´re 18 you may get into night clubs and travel around the world without your parents´auhotization, BUT you can´t vote or even drink alcohol until you turn 21. Incredibly cynical. These are one of the paradoxes if the "Land of opportunity".

How useful is the age of mayority when if your parents are permissive (I don´t know if that´s the correct world. I want say... when you know that your rhetoric is extremely powerful with your parents)? With the authorization of both the doors of the world are completely open. Think about the exchange students. Last year, in Argentina, a 16 year-old boy changed his sex with his parent´s authorization. The biomedical debate was huge, but according the constitution everything was in order.

In China, the age of mayority is set on 13 years-old. After that, boys and girls can get lovers. In the EU is set on 18 years-old in almost all the countries. In Japan, when you turn 20 years-old. In South-Korea, the limit is 19 years-old. What happens with the gypsies?

And the list goes on...Probably, all the differences between countries and cultures is fault of the adolescence´s invention. Dón´t you think?

Say or Do?

They tried to make me go to Greenpeace but i SAID no, no, no
Yes, it's been bad but when glaciation come back, you'll know know know
I ain't got the time and if world thinks I'm not fine
It's tried to make me DO a 'green-thing' but i won't, won't, won't

I'd rather be at home with friends
I ain't got seventy days
Cuz there's nothing
There's nothing you can teach me
That I can't learn from Captain Planet

I didn't get a lot in class
But I know it don't come in a plastic bag

They tried to make me go to Greenpeace but i SAID no, no, no
Yes, it's been bad but when glaciation come back, you'll know know know
I ain't got the time and if world thinks I'm not fine
It's tried to make me DO a 'green-thing' but i won't, won't, won't

The man said 'why do you think you here'
I said 'I got no idea'
'I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose my TV
So I always keep a remote near'
He said 'I just think your depressed,
This me "Yeah, baby, and the rest"

They tried to make me go to Greenpeace but i SAID no, no, no
Yes, it's been bad but when glaciation come back, you'll know know know

I don't never wanna help again
I just ooooh I just need a friend
I'm not gonna spend ten cents
Have everyone think I'm on the mend

It's not just my pride
It's just til these rivers have dried

They tried to make me go to Greenpeace but i SAID no, no, no
Yes, it's been bad but when glaciation come back, you'll know know know
I ain't got the time and if world thinks I'm not fine
It's tried to make me DO a 'green-thing' but i won't, won't, won't

This humble attempt of song tried to be a parody about Rehab's lyrics. However, the important meaning behind this is to notice the differences between SAY and DO: People usually say "stop global warming", but what do we do about climate change? According to our possibilities, what are we doing now?
Thanks to Internet, almost everybody knows about 'environmental awareness', however, sometimes by custom or by financial priorities, (organic food is so expensive!, as well as the alternative energies), what is sustainable is left in second place (thanks industrialization!). Despite the above, little changes may be done benefiting to the nature and to our budgets. Unplug appliances that aren't being used, carry our own plastic bags to the supermarket or take a shorter shower HELP.


What do you think? Say or do?

Holly laws, Holly blood!

If you ask me to tell you about my family, i would say it´s composed by my mom, my dad and my grandmother (my mom´s mom, of course). I´m the only¨"child" (even if i turn 60, i still will be a child for them); however, i´ve got about... 25 cousins? I´m not sure. Now, if you ask me about my extended family, wow! My dad has four sisters and three brothers (there´s the origin of the 25 other people with whom i share part of my genetics). The last time we have been all together was for my grandparents´ death, seven years ago. People say that weddings and funerals get the family together and - i think - it´s true (even if your cousins don´t invite you to their weddings). Nobody had passed away ever since: bad news fly faster than the good ones (considerating that after the weddings children don´t wait much time to come: six new kids. My cousins are making babies!).

By my "other" side, my mom only has one sister who also only has one daughter. I don´t know much about my grandfather lately; he left my grandma thirty years ago and the relationship between him and his daughters is not the best (nor good). I haven´t seem him since i was 10; and it´s understandable: he has his "new family" (it sounds like the women he left were a pair of shoes). Since then (although i haven´t borned yet), it would be appriopiated to say that we´re a "girly" family, women´s zone, near to feminism (even if my grandma have not never thought on that hahaha - Sorry, dad!)

Where the hell is the love between all these? I don´t like to think about my family as my relatives. Much better is describe them as the people i love, no matter what the family book says. Probably, part of my DNA ties me to another 40 or 50 people and we share the same blood (or blood group, at least), but i don´t feel especially related to them. It doesn´t mean i don´t care about them (I don´t want to sound bitchy or individualist), but they´re like those neighbors or ex-classmates from High School ...

Who said that parents have to love their kids? Who said that kids have to love their parents? I remember there's a book about that or,at least, with that title.
When i think about "family" i can't avoid thinking about Religion: the family is the society's foundation, sex is for reproduction. Also, public politics here in Chile are focused on the family and not on communities (Chili is as such as traditional country).
BLAH!
I'm not agree with these approaches. Basically, because in my opinion: 1)Family is composed by love and commitment. Its beginning is not the Family-Book but the generosity and reciprociy (i support the responsible gay-parenting and maternity for lesbians). 2)Despite love is an abstract concept, no matter this, a family can be composed by people who love and care about each other (so, why would be wrong say that friends are my family?). 3) Love is not an idyllic reality, it's full of mistakes, doubts, joys... and life. 4) The marriage is a law, not the nucleo of the family.

What do you think?