PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

We are going to talk about six years ago where everything started, until yesterday, my last day as a student of the school IES Castelló d'Empúries. During these six years of my life I have been studying English in this school with Milco, Anna and my English teacher of this year Lourdes.

The last essay Lourdes asked us to write, is our personal development in English. To begin with something, I will say that the huge difference between the first day and my last day in that school is the fluency of my English speech. How could I get a better fluency in English through the years? This question brings us to go back in time when I began school in IES Castelló d'Empuries.

Everybody started by knowing few words and trying to structure some sentences that make sense. With those kinds of basic words and sentences, no one can have a long discussion. That makes me remember how difficult it was to make oral presentations.

Things change when you do your best in each task, exams, and essays. To hit the books for each exam is not easy at all but this is the key for learning basic structures and vocabulary. Nevertheless, to learn and get a good mark and then forget it all is the wrong path. Immediately after learning new vocabulary the way to remember them is to use them. I believe that to use them is the most important.

How do I use them? I used to watch films in English with my sister during the school year when we wanted a break, I practice a lot in summer too, speaking English with tourists and the clients of my parents. Tourists make me see the evolution of my English and through the years I saw that every year I could understand more and more people that speak English. Finally, books help also. Through the years I sometimes took time to read and I could see how much easier it became to read and understand books each year.

The last thing that helped me a lot to increase my English were the extracurricular classes of English with Ceri. An English woman that gave me the chance to perfect all I had been studying and learning at school.

INFORMAL LETTER

c. Olivera s/n 17487 Castelló d'Empúries

20th April, 2017

Dear Friend,

    It was great to hear from you! I have so much to tell you but let me expose the problematic situation that is rising every day in my lectures.

Teenagers in this day and age depend on their mobile phones and it's constantly increasing. This new generation is used to being connected to their device like their life was depending on it.

Not only that fear of being apart from their phone is ending by destroying their interpersonal communication skills with their comrades, but another, mobile phones bring many problems because of photographs taken without permission.

You will understand that these problematic devices have to be used only for emergencies. Therefore, I hope you have a solution for it. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to seeing you.

Take care,

Lourdes

FORMAL LETTER

12 Sandmoor Lane

Norwood

London SE19 4FB

22nd October, 2010

Office of the United Nations High

Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Palais des Nations

CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Dear Sir or Madam,

     I am writing to complain about violation of human right in South Sudan. The Government of South Sudan doesn't try to find a solution to their worrying war.

Civilians in front of that imminent risk of violence flee headed the Upper Nile region. This situation is killing women, children and men that are living in the most horrifying circumstances.

In view of the large numbers of civilians that are dying because of that military conflict we hope you will do something for it.

Yours faithfully,

Justin, P.

The power of introverts

https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_cain_the_power_of_introverts#t-1124703  

(Abstract)

In a culture where being social and outgoing are prized above all else, it can be difficult, even shameful, to be an introvert. But, as Susan Cain argues in this passionate talk, introverts bring extraordinary talents and abilities to the world, and should be encouraged and celebrated.

(Opinion)

Have you ever been afraid to be alone? Perhaps because I have three sisters, because I have never been alone and I have always an example to follow, because of these, today I believe I am the kind of person that is afraid to stay alone.

Susan Cain makes me see the importance of introverts. Being alone should be a synonym of growing up as a person. Being alone we inevitably end by doing reflections about us. And I think that the day we understand ourselves we will understand others too.

Introverts are the kinds of people that we can called “observers”. Our society is forgetting to watch and add value to action. We should take time to listen the ones that observe and we will learn much more that with the ones that are extroverts. Extroverts don’t always have the best ideas. Let’s take time to observe and listen more. We have time to act then.

The power of vulnerability

https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability#t-1200270

(Abstract)

Brené Brown studies human connection — our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.

(Opinion)

As Brené Brown says people usually answer the opposite of what there are asking of. Why? We are afraid to show our self. Showing to people who we are without filters.

This fear comes from our vulnerability. We are imperfect and most of society don’t accept it. We are afraid to show our imperfections and we don’t realize that it makes us unhappy.

Another point is that we don’t realize that our vulnerability is the cause of our happiness too. Because when we accept that we are not perfect we show to others who we are. Then if people love what we are showing it then makes us happy because they accept our vulnerability.

When we will realize that our vulnerability is related to happiness and sadness, we will realize that to be shy of our imperfections isn’t the key. We have to accept who we are. More, we have to accept our feelings, even if they are good ones or bad ones. All of them make our vulnerability and in the end make the person we are. When this happens people will start to live.

Human rights

"Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible." says the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Finally, our human rights are the rights we have just because we are human.

First there were no human rights so when and why they were created? If you didn't know it, a guy named Cyrus the Great decided to change the conditions of slaves in 535 BC. After conquering babylon, he said that all slaves were free to go and that they could choose their religion no matter what crowd they were.
Parts of the words of Cyrus have been documented in a clay table known as the Cyrus cylinder. Here appeared the first Human rights.

Nowadays, there are thirty human rights. They are in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights done in 1948 by the United Nations . Let's talk about the first article "We are all born free and equal". You should know that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Despite being a human right, through history it happens many times that it has been violated. For exemple the oppressor Hitler put up concentration camps and transported Jews from their homes, put them on trains, and sent them to their death. They were killed without any say and all their rights were long forgotten.

The Rokeby Venus

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6UIxKISZ_yHQVVvV2hKLU51Qk0/view?usp=sharing

ROKEBY VENUS
Here we have the painting of Velázquez from the 7 centuries. The painting is called the Rokeby Venus, also the Venus del mirall in Spanish, or The Toilet of Venus. The first name, Rokeby Venus, comes from where this painting had been kept at first, at the Rokeby Museum. Nowadays, it is in the National Gallery.

In this painting, as you can see, there are: the Venus that relines on a bed and the Cupid holding a mirror.

Venus is looking at the mirror, we can see the face looking at us, it could mean she was looking at the viewer “the one is looking at her”. Then, we can see that the body of this woman is older than the face. This could mean beauty isn’t always the same. By the time passes the beauty goes. The light of this painting has the focus in the middle, where Venus is.

Today, the only painting of a nude woman by Velázquez is this one. He painted more than one but the only one we kept, that is in the National Gallery as I said, is The Rokeby Venus. We think that he painted this one when he made his trip at Italy.

My "soul mate"

(What's a soul mate?)

A soul mate is a person whom you can trust in any situation of your life, even if there are bad or good ones. It is the person who you would love to be with and who fits perfectly with your personality.

It is the person that has the same intentions than you, for example, when you look for funny things or for a chill-out with someone he/she wants it too, but it is also the one who respects that the moment of solitude, the one when you want to be alone.

They have defects and virtues like any person, but the blend of both sides of their attitude is what causes that they are essential in our life. With them you dare to do things you would never think to do and you would know you can maintain a secret from each other or one more personal that you would have never told it to someone else than him or her.

You wish you can always count on them, but, on the other hand, his/her loss can cause you a huge sadness and you realize that you will never find someone like her/him because every human is unique.

GET READY FOR LONDON :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6UIxKISZ_yHTFN2aDF6ekJ5ZTQ/view?usp=sharing

 in London... Soon I will post an explanation about a painting from the National Gallery !

Review (In the place of fallen leaves)

In the place of fallen leaves by Tim Pears is the life story of a girl call Alison. She lives her life in a western country where inhabitants are traditional and religious people.

Through the storyline we learn to understand this little girl that didn’t talk so much at the beginning. Most of the book turns around the description of what she sees, what she hears and what people explain to her or answer to her questions. The mentality of this time makes me think about how a teenager lives nowadays. We are not afraid anymore of older people. I believe adults are, more than anything else, friends that want us to grow up in a world we can understand by ourselves. Years ago, what adults wanted was to have their children helping them with housework. Before, people needed to work to survive, now we can take time for culture. And you should know that culture is the future.

In the childhood of Alison, she is a girl that lives the present. I remember she said something like she doesn’t want to grow up because then she will be unable to swim with boys in the river without a swimsuit. If people would live the present many of us would be happier today. I am sure that the key for happiness is in living the present and leave the past in the past and what is to come let it come. Sartre says: “the present, nothing but the present”.

While she grows up and sees her body change like the one of her older sister Pamela we learn some details of the daily life of her family. The grandmother has inspired me a lot. She lives the life with admiration for it. As technology arrives in their little town new things appeared. For example, the television. For her it is an instrument that shows us that life is something that goes around and comes around. The future is in the past and the past will be in the future.

Life is one, and even if you are afraid of tomorrow you will one day realize that every single problem will resolve itself one day and that’s why we must know that no one in this world can be one hundred percent sad. Life is one and life is beautiful!

Alison leaves her country to study, even though she will lose an important person to her, Jonathan. Her fate was to face up to the outside world that was waiting for her. If one day I lose a valuable person, I would smile with sadness. I will be sad because to lose someone we love is something we are not set up to face. And I will smile to have the chance to meet this wonderful person. In any case, people make us learn something about life or make us learn something about us. People are life because all of us have a different point of view and the build-up of them will be the answer of life!

How beauty feels?

https://www.ted.com/talks/richard_seymour_how_beauty_feels#t-1016359

(Abstract)

A story, a work of art, a face, a designed object — how do we tell that something is beautiful? And why does it matter so much to us? Designer Richard Seymour explores our response to beauty and the surprising power of objects that exhibit it.

(Opinion)

A beautiful thing is something that tells us something. For example, in human’s photography the most important and beautiful is often the eyes. Why? Because there will be where we can catch the essence of someone. It is where there is the main message that a person transmits.

“We see things not as they are, but as we are” says Richard Seymour. He let us understand that things are beautiful because we see them beautiful. Just trying to find something universally beautiful for everybody we will find that there are none. That means we see the only beauty we create by looking at something and not because something it is really beautiful.

Now we can understand why canons of beauty through history have changed constantly or why we see something beautiful now and years after it looks ugly. The true beauty exists in us. In the way we look at what surrounds us.

Is there a real you?

https://www.ted.com/talks/julian_baggini_is_there_a_real_you#t-706979

(Abstract)

What makes you, you? Is it how you think of yourself, how others think of you, or something else entirely? Philosopher Julian Baggini draws from philosophy and neuroscience to give a surprising answer.

(Opinion)

“We don't have to find ourselves we have to create it” says Julian Baggini. I consider his different vision on essence very interesting.

I used to hear that through our lives we use to discover ourselves learning about us as we were discovering the history of a book. This idea is quite a mechanical vision, as we were built with different kinds of things we still don’t know and which finally define who we are. It is like history was already previously drawn and the future was not to write but to discover. 

I think everything is the result of something else. Whatever we chose to do, we are changing something. Why? Because when energy gives off, it always creates disorder.

Because disorder can be put in order, ourselves can be changed in what we want to be. We just have to create it. Therefore, put in order a disorder made of our experiences and knowledge.

Our disorganized choices we have taken in the past, define who we are in the present order.

Are words so important?

In my view, yes they are. Words enable us to describe what our eyes can see and most of our feelings.

It is said that words are the language of the spirit. Music is the one of the soul and mathematics is the one of the mind. This can be true but I don’t have any proof. I just can say that words explain what we lived and what we are living.

The importance of those words started when we have invented the way to pass them in writing. At that time our history began or at least the one we know.

Is jealousy natural?

At first glance, the word “jealousy” may seem a word that describes people in a negative way. However, if we talk about the nature of the feeling, basing our thoughts on the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, since very young we experience jealousy when, in the case of boys, their father becomes a figure that steals them time from their mother’s attention, and in the case of girls, their mother steals time from their father’s attention. Nevertheless, as Armengol, R., Creixell, J., Riera, R., & Sáinz, F. say, some people experience obsessive or childish feelings of jealousy, but we can all feel that a good and healthy relationship is emotionally threatened. Another thing is how we reason and proceed in those circumstances, in which there are people who can react in a possessive and obsessive way and make this feeling become harmful for both the person being the apparent cause of jealousy and the person activating it.

In my opinion, like all feelings and emotions, jealousy is natural and innate in people and a bad management of it can produce negative social situations. I think that the secret not to get to extreme situations is to learn how to manage it and let the nature of this feeling affect individuals in a regulated way, letting it be a sign of esteem rather than a sense of belonging. Despite the above, every individual is a whole different world and feel in very different ways, which could make us doubt of the nature of feelings and emotions, as in the case of jealousy.

(Armengol, R., Creixell, J., Riera, R., & Sáinz, F. El futur de la psicoanàlisi des d’una perspectiva independent1. “The future of psychoanalysis from an independent perspective”)

INTERNET AND ITS USERS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER

Some people have always tried to change the world for the better.

Nevertheless, we don't always have the same ideas of "a better world". That's why through history we have had dictatorships, or other politic systems where those who were leaders believed that they were proposing the best option.

So, we can say that the idea of a better world is interpretable; all of us have different ideas and I think we all agree with it. 

Even so, I'm sure that few ideas are commonly accepted by the majority, we just don't know yet which ones.

These few ideas, thanks to the internet, can be shared and seen by millions and millions of people. A lot more than years ago without internet.

That's why I believe the Internet users can change the world into a "better one" or in the way people think it will be better.

Although people would change the world, the idea of a better world isn't always included. I think people are egotistical. No one does something without a reason. Even the kindest person does things to make people happy because it make them happy too, and here we are, including our self.

The world don’t stop to turn because of our individuals benefits. Our selfish attitudes make us change things and many changings should change any world. 

The case is; being egotistical will bring us a better world or a bad one ? I just can affirm that the internet has the power of producing a global and universal changing faster as never before. Because nowadays, we live in an interconnected world.

Extra (Letter)

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to apply for the position as a waitress in your new restaurant, as advertised in the newspaper the 12nd of March of 2017. 

I am a 28 year-old girl and I have graduated in the hotel trade. I have always taken a keen interest in working in a restaurant. I am a team player, which is why I had work as an event organizer every New Year for my secondary school. The people around me used to say I am a hard worker.

In addition, I am interested in all the cultures and I spend a lot of my free time reading books about cultural traditions.

I have enclosed a copy of my curriculum vitae for you to look at. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me and could you please tell me how much I would earn.

I am able to attend an interview at your convenience.

I look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully

Faustine Gabard

Believe in you, in life, in things

Forebodings are caused by dreads. Dread is caused by the unknown. Those unknown that wear etiquettes. Etiquettes that are established by a society.

Let me give you an example: We are walking in the street and we ask what time is it. However you go to ask could kidnap you. You would say that looking at the person you can see if there is a safe person or not. And here we are, with etiquettes. The strangest person can be more reliable than the most normal person.

Don’t you ever listen at someone says things are not always as they seem. That’s true and we should always remember that. Go to explore and learn about people, all of us have something to bring you. Feelings, thoughts and experiences can be shared. That’s why don’t be shy nor fearful because life isn’t perfect, but that’s why it makes you learn many things. And the most important, doesn’t make you shrink because you are a special person as all the people around you. All of us have something unique to bring to others.

Beautiful new words for describe obscure emotions

(http://www.ted.com/talks/john_koenig_beautiful_new_words_to_describe_obscure_emotions#t-436189 )

(Abstract)

John Koenig loves finding words that express our unarticulated feelings — like "lachesism", the hunger for disaster, and "sonder", the realization that everyone else's lives are as complex and unknowable as our own. Here, he meditates on the meaning we assign to words and how these meanings latch onto us.

(opinion)

I don’t know what to say about that speech apart that I totally agree with John Koenig. The only thought I was thinking listening to this ted video was “Yes, it’s true!”

Words have the power to make us see the world in a way. Why in one way and not in another? Because a world is like a perspective. A perspective of something or feelings.

Those words are made by people like us. So finally, the words we created to define things and feelings, define us because they represent our perspective and our feelings.

John Koening says that some words are missing to express our feelings. That’s true, but because people still haven’t created them.

That’s just a question of time!

Sophie Scott: Why we laugh

http://www.ted.com/talks/sophie_scott_why_we_laugh#t-1011409

(Abstract)

Did you know that you're 30 times more likely to laugh if you're with somebody else than if you're alone? Cognitive neuroscientist Sophie Scott shares this and other surprising facts about laughter in this fast-paced, action-packed and, yes, hilarious dash through the science of cracking up.

Opinion:

I never stopped to think if laughing does transmit information. This Ted, let us see that people automatically classify heard laughter. Once we can see laughter it is always meaningful.

Everybody can distinguish, most of the time, a real and involuntary laugh from a posed and voluntary laugh. We know it, consciously or unconsciously. Older people laugh more often in a real way because according to Sophie Scott they are the ones that understand laughing better.

Nevertheless, the most important thing to know is that laughing has many healthy effects. That’s why we should all look at laugh as often as possible in a real way. The true laugh will make us happy and sincere. Two adjectives that can change the worst world into a better world.

Hans and Ola Rosling: How not to be ignorant about the world

http://www.ted.com/talks/hans_and_ola_rosling_how_not_to_be_ignorant_about_the_world#t-1112604

(Abstract)

How much do you know about the world? Hans Rosling, with his famous charts of global population, health and income data (and an extra-extra-long pointer), demonstrates that you have a high statistical chance of being quite wrong about what you think you know. Play along with his audience quiz — then, from Hans’ son Ola, learn 4 ways to quickly get less ignorant.

Opinion:

I believe we are ignorant on the present because most of us focus on what we see around us and take it as a general condition around the world.  With this ted video we can clearly see that personal bias.

Besides, most of us don’t realize news is a point of view. The news bias lets us see what they want us to see in the way they want. We need to be critical and compare different newspapers. Like this our global vision will widen.

In fact, what I just said before, I’m sure most of us know it. The things we forget are the outdated facts. Things, years ago, were in a way but nowadays they not still being that way. We must not forget that things change as time passes. That’s why we have to know that what we think is what we are, including the world. If we think positive our world will be healthy.

Laura Vanderkam: How to gain control of your free time

http://www.ted.com/talks/laura_vanderkam_how_to_gain_control_of_your_free_time#t-702240

(Abstract)

There are 168 hours in each week. How do we find time for what matters most? Time management expert Laura Vanderkam studies how busy people spend their lives, and she's discovered that many of us drastically overestimate our commitments each week, while underestimating the time we have to ourselves. She offers a few practical strategies to help find more time for what matters to us, so we can "build the lives we want in the time we've got."

Opinion:

Must of us usually say “I don’t have time” but we should know this means “it’s not my priority”. I’m sure we all know that we can do what we spelling ourself to do, taking the time to doing it. Time isn’t a problem and Laura Vanderkam let us see how much we are underestimating the time.

After all, we just need to know what are our goals, what are our priority in each present  moment. At the end we find time for what we want. We just don’t have to be afraid to make a little step, and I mean with the first step is, you have to say that you can.

A little anecdote !

Which girl has never dreamed of being a top model?

I'm studying in a model school and a friend who studying with me told me last Saturday a little anecdote that was quite shocking. That's why I wanted to explain it today.

During a Parisian fashion week, an American model, didn't want to share a car with other models to go to parade to parade, so she asked for a private car with a chauffeur. The appointments came one after one, breakfast was short, time was running out, the endless days, like it used to happen in this fashion week. Soon, the chauffeur and the model were sharing dinners together. As the days went by, a rapport started. Living far from Paris, the model had invite one night her chauffeur to sleep at her hotel where the couple got intimate! At the end of the week, the model had the unpleasant surprise to be charged not only the hours of breakfast, but also the nights, with a higher hourly working rate! No matter if she tried to protest and say it was out of work hours, she had to pay an astronomical amount. And the chauffeur maintains that he had only made himself available 24 hours a day, at the express request of the model.

Did you know... (HARIBO)

... that a chain of Gold Bears produced in a year would go around the earth 4 times! That's 160,306 Km!

Next week, the 3rd of January 2017 I will have my first interview and it will be my first job. Is true that every summer I work at my parent's boat renting agency helping them. But this year won't the same.
I will have an interview with the Haribo industry; founded by Hans Riegel in Bonn -a city in the state of North Rhine, Westphalia in Germany- in 1920.
Do you know that we use to say: "first work experience for lifelong success". I decided to think about this quote for didn't stress and be natural. Like this I hope to match with the profile they are searching for.

Wearing nothing new (Jessi Arrington)

https://www.ted.com/talks/jessi_arrington_wearing_nothing_new

(Summary)
Designer Jessi Arrington packed nothing for TEDActive but 7 pairs of undies, buying the rest of her clothes in thrift stores around LA. It's a meditation on conscious consumption — wrapped in a rainbow of color and creativity.

(Point of view)
I'm a person who loves brands. Because of the idea that a brand lets us think we look as beautiful as the photo of the model that promote the brand. Because of the quality they should have in regards of the high price. Because the price should confirm that those who work in this brand work in good conditions. Because people say: "tell me what you wear and I will tell you who you are".
The case is that watching this TED talk, I realise that I have an erroneous idea. We have to realise that the price of the clothes do not always mean the condition of those that manufacture the clothes are decent. The price doesn't mean people that are looking at you will always think you know how to dress well.
The truth is that those who dress in a way they feel confident, even if it's out of the tendance, they will smile hand if you're smiling, any outfit will look beautiful. 

https://audioboom.com/posts/5549139-short-story

Scenario Two sisters watching a Christmas film.
Characters Jessica (sister 1), Rebecca (sister 2)

JESSICA Rebecca the film on T.V is starting !
REBECCA Yeah, I'm coming ! (Few minutes later) I'm here !
                Did I miss something interesting?
JESSICA Nothing much for the moment. So far the main character has just met the man of her dreams in a police station. Or it's looks like! And right know she is just cooking some stuff before her meeting arrive.
REBECCA Okey !
JESSICA Tell me, why you take so much time for come?
REBECCA I was waitting for a call. An important call! But anyway it seems they'll not going to call                  me today...
JESSICA Important call?
REBECCA Yeah... You know, to get an interview appointment.
JESSICA Oh, yeah, I remember! You ready told me about it.
REBECCA Anyway! Let see this loving film!
JESSICA Yep!
Watching the film Rebecca suddenly said:
REBECCA Waouh she's so beautiful, isn't she ?
JESSICA That's crazy ! You know, I didn't think people would like these kind of films if they weren't full of beautiful stereotypes.
REBECCA Could be...
JESSICA I'm sure of it ! The influences of publicity on the perfect and artificial image of woman are also in these innocent Christmas films.