Today I am going to describe my best friend, she's Anna and she lives in Castelló d'Empúries and she's sixteen years old she's older than me. I think that she's difficult to describe because she isn't like everybody. At first time that you meet Anna she's shy and she don't speak with you but when you begin to know Anna she's more sociable and expressive. The character of Anna is special because she can be happy or she can be angry with everybody.
I think that she's moody, but if she's angry in a few minutes she's happy with everybody. Often she's pessimistic she always thinks the worst, but partly it's best because if you have a problem that it's evident that it's bad, or if not evident doesn't matter.

She's very honest and she can't lie because is note in the face. She always tells the truth. I like that she's this way. She's very expressive and when I look at Anna and she looks at me we know what we are saying. Anna is part of me, I miss her when she's in holiday for example or similar things.
I believe that Anna is responsible for things but not for everything she's lazy! When she doesn't have anything she can stay all the day in the sofa like me. I stay all day with Anna, we only separate to sleep. We do everything together, study together, laugh together, go to the high school together, go to the party together and more things.

We have very good and funs moments with Anna and I wouldn't change the moments with her for anything! I laugh a lot with her and she always tries to help me!

Discussion essay

Being a celebry is a great thing

There are advantages and disadvantages to being a celebrity. On the one hand there are many advantages, nearly everyone who is famous is rich but at the same time that doesn’t mean that they are happy with their lives. They can go to interesting people and meet with other famous people and on the one hand it’s fun and interesting to share experiences.

Like I said before, not every celebrity is happy with life there are many people who end up in a detox center for as a result of drugs or alcohol. One example as everybody knows is Britney Spears and we all know what happened to her!

The filming is funny and when we watch the cuts we laugh and don’t think about the hours that the actors spend in the studio, they work a lot of hours for our satisfaction! And also for the money. However vey often they don’t have work like artists sometimes they can work a lot or sometimes never draw an go hungry. The actors can make film and film for a year or more but afterwards they don’t have work, but they don’t go to the un employment because they are rich! They made a lot of money with their last film and they can spend it on new cars, buy a big house or luxury thing that we can’t do.

Some famous people do not have personal life and hey never see their family and the result is distance and then depression! Let’s not forget the paparazzi! One hand they make the famous more famous but the other hand it’s like a leech! You can’t go alone on the street.

I think I would like to be a celebrity because I would like to buy new things and not worry about anything and live life! Because life is short! And not worry about the crisis! Some a lot and others nothing!

Minister Maragall wants to change the schools calendar

Minister Maragall wants to change the schools calendar, he wants to advance the start of school one week, I say that If now we start school on 12 of September ,Maragall wants to begin the 6 or 7 of September and a set seven days of vacation in February week. Some parents and unions believe that it's inappropriate but for Maragall it's the best because the change will improve teaching.
I think that it is better that the minister Maragall and the Education change the calendar because we have a lot of days in the summer and after when we begin the second term, it's very long and we don't have holidays and days for parties, but this is only my opinion

Catalonia Today

http://blog.cataloniatoday.cat/

Valentine's Day, or Love is in the Air

It’s that time of the year when couples show their love for each other by sending cards, flowers and chocolates. But Valentine’s Day is not only about public displays of affection: in recent years it has also become big business. In the UK alone, more than £20 million is spent on flowers, whilst in the United States over $1 billion is forked out on chocolates.
Although Valentine’s Day has become a global industry with more than 80 million roses sold worldwide, the origins of the day are unclear and hidden in the mists of time. Nobody knows exactly who St Valentine was, although some historians suggest he was a Roman martyred in the third century AD by a Roman Emperor. It is said that the first recorded Valentine’s card was sent by the imprisoned Duke of Orleans in 1415. It is believed that he sought solace from his confinement by writing love poems to his wife.
Valentine’s Day, or its equivalent, is now celebrated in many countries around the world. However, the traditions often differ from place to place. In Japan, for example, it is customary for the woman to send chocolates to the man, whilst in Korea April 14th is known as ‘Black Day’ and is when the unfortunate men who received nothing on Valentine’s Day gather to eat noodles and commiserate with each other.
Technological developments have also played their part in keeping Valentine’s Day relevant in the 21st century. Valentine’s e-cards have been all the rage in recent years. However, internet security experts urge web users to be wary as malicious hackers could use e-cards to spread viruses and spyware.Valentine’s cards can also be used for less than romantic purposes. Police in the UK city of Liverpool sent Valentine’s cards to criminals who failed to appear in court or have not paid fines. The cards contained the verse, “Roses are red, violets are blue, you’ve got a warrant, and we’d love to see you.” Who says romance is dead?

Vocabulary

public displays of affection

showing your feelings of liking or love for someone in public
forked out

forced to spend

hidden in the mists of time

too old for anyone to remember/confirm/clarify

martyred

killed because of his beliefs
recorded

known, documented
imprisoned

put in jail

sought solace

tried to find comfort

confinement

imprisonment

equivalent

here, a special occasion that has the same meaning and purpose

customary

normal, usual
commiserate with

show sympathy for
e-cards

short for electronic cards, i.e. virtual cards that are sent via the internet
all the ragevery popular

wary

here, careful
malicious hackers

people who access other people's computers with bad intentions (e.g. to look for their personal information, like credit card details, or to stop their computers working properly)
viruses

here, computer programs which can make copies of themselves, preventing the computer from working properly
spyware

computer programs that reveal the identity of a computer user
warrant

adocument that gives police specific powers, e.g. the right to search or arrest somebody

Listen to the story:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/ram_files/wo090210.ram

Mary Shelly online

Are you interested in Frankenstein? You can read the original book by Mary Shelly online.

http://www.literature.org/authors/shelley-mary/frankenstein/index.html

Frankenstein

This is the Trailer!

Nice Ice

Costa Brava

Resident

Serving the english speaking community

August 2008, n:36

What started as a family-run ice cream shop in Empuriabrava has grown to become a global success.
Dino Parvese and his family came to the Costa Brava on holiday. Parvese soon spotted a gap in the market. New-built Empuriabrava had plenty of cafés and bars, but no ice-cream parlour.
His marketing plan was simple; use only fresh fruit and dairy product as a healthy foodstuff rather than confectionery. It clearly worked, for the business flourished; new outlets soon opened up in nearby Roses and Santa Margarita.
Today Gelats Dino is a multimillon-Euro business with a gleaming new factory in the centre of Empuriabrava. They now produce ice-cream without sugar or gluten and next year introducing a soya-milk version for customers who are dairy intolerant. Although ice-cream might be seen as a luxury product, sensitive to the economy. Gelats Dino has never felt the need to diversify.
And despite inroads made by more exotic flavours, the old favourites vanilla,chocolate and strawberry in that order, still account for over half of European sales.
http://www.gelatsdino.com/

Opinion of the New:

Now, I am going to give my opinion about this news.
I think that it’s very interesting news because it’s news that influences Empuriabrava, our town .
Is there anyone who hasn’t ever eaten an ice cream?
I love dino ice cream!!
The objective of this news consists of giving information about the business and a little history about Dino’s family. But for other part I think that it’s also publicity.
In summer I went to Dino, to see other people and the machines that make ice creams, It’s very interesting and impressive and after the visit, they gave me a vanila ice cream!

Well, today I want to describe a place, that I think that I can describe exactly because I spent 15 days there, and I could see the different ways of working , the food, other patients, different doctors and nurses and different rooms. It's located in Girona. It's a big place, that the people go because they are ill, you can enter emergency or as outpatient. It's a public hospital that everybody can go to. Also it's a university hospital. It's a very technologically prepared hospital which provides much material.
At the end of summer, the hospital programme visits because it was its 25th birthday, I went there with Anna and hier mother. We saw all the techologies, also the kitchen and the ambulance. .It was really interesting. There are so many people and everybody has his speciality. When I stayed in there I could see the different jobs and it was a very different, for example, the woman who cleans the hospital, the nursing assistant, the nurse and finally the doctor. The rooms aren't special, I never stayed in Girona but when I was 6 years old I stayed for 3 days in Figueres.
The first 9 days I stayed alone in an isolation room but I stayed in there for precaution, the problem wasn't that I passed something but the people passed something tome. I liked to have a room for me. I can describe the eighth floor. If you want to go up to the eight floor catch the lift!. when you exit the lift you can go on the left or right. If you go on the left you can find the ICO in there there are the people with cancer, I think that it's the new part of the hospital, only if you can see the rooms, the walls with pictures also there is a fishbowl and a small library. But if you go on the right you can find the infectious unit and internal medicine.
At first I stayed in the infectious unit, which was a corridor that the people stayed alone and in some rooms the doctors and nurse had to go with masks and gowns. The rooms have a bed, table, chairs, bathroom, small cabinet and nothing else, they were simple rooms. Next to my room was a big room for the people to go to stay in there and read, speak and relax. I spent a lot of time in there I like this room. A few days later I went to Interal Medicine which was on the same floor. In there everybody shares the room and for me it's different. But the only difference was that you sleep in the same room as the other people and the bathroom doesn't have ashower. There I stayed in two different rooms. But if I could choose a room, I would keep the first room. So I stayed in four different rooms in Hospital Trueta. If I tell the UCI, but I can't describe it because I can’t remember.