Music: All Saints "Pure shores"

I've crossed the deserts for miles
Swam water for time
Searching places to find
A piece of something to call mine
(I'm coming)
A piece of something to call mine
(I'm coming)
(I'm coming)
Coming closer to you

Went along many moors
Walked through many doors
The place where I wanna be
Is the place I can call mine
(I'm coming)
Is the place I can call mine
(I'm coming)
(I'm coming)
Coming closer to you

I'm moving
I'm coming
Can you hear, what I hear
It's calling you my dear
Out of reach
(Take me to my beach)
I can hear it, calling you
I'm coming not drowning
Swimming closer to you

Never been here before
I'm intrigued, I'm unsure
I'm searching for more
I've got something thats all mine
I've got something thats all mine

Take me somewhere I can breathe
I've got so much to see
This is where I want to be
In a place I can call mine
In a place I can call mine

I'm moving
I'm coming
Can you hear, what I hear
It's calling you my dear
Out of reach
(Take me to my beach)
I can hear it, calling you
I'm coming not drowning
Swimming closer to you

Moving, coming
Can you hear what I hear?
(Hear it out of reach)
I hear it calling you
Swimming closer to you

Many faces I have seen
Many places I have been
Walked the deserts, swam the shores
(Coming closer to you)
Many faces I have know
Many way in which I've grown
Moving closer on my own
(Coming closer to you)

I move it
I feel it
I'm coming
Not drowning

I move it
I feel it
I'm coming
Not drowning

I'm moving
I'm coming
Can you hear, what I hear
It's calling you my dear
Out of reach
(Take me to my beach)
I can hear it, calling you
I'm coming not drowning
Swimming closer to you
(Take me to my beach)

I'm moving
I'm coming
Can you hear, what I hear
It's calling you my dear
Out of reach
(Take me to my beach)
I can hear it, calling you
I'm coming not drowning
Swimming closer to you
(Take me to my beach)

Miscellaneous : Nursery games

Who hasn't played hide and seek or I Spy in our childhood? Here are some games we've all played for sure :

I Spy with my little eye, something that begins with ... (a letter )  ==> VEO, VEO

Eenie, Meenie, Miny, Moe ===> PITO, PITO, GORGORITO
Catch the tiger by the toe
if it hollers let him go
Eenie Meenie Miny Moe
You are it!

To play hide and seek = jugar al escondite

To play blindman's buff = jugar a la gallinita ciega

History: Queen Elizabeth I

We're about to date back to the 16th century, when Elizabeth I succeeded to the throne after her stepsister's death. Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's daughter had always had differences with Queen Mary I as for religious issues. The English Church experienced a thorough change during her reign although her cousin's shadow, Mary Queen of Scots, floated around her (something she could not take).
Here's an excerpt taken from Wikipedia about Queen Elizabeth I:

The reign of Elizabeth restored a sort of order to the realm following the turbulence of the reigns of Edward and Mary when she came to the throne following the death of Mary in 1558. The religious issue which had divided the country since Henry VIII was in a way put to rest by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, which re-established the Church of England. Much of Elizabeth's success was in balancing the interests of the Puritans and Catholics. She managed to offend neither to a large extent, although she clamped down on Catholics towards the end of her reign as war with Catholic Spain loomed. The war lasted from 1585 - 1603. In 1588, the Spanish Armada was decisively defeated, marking the beginning of England's rise as a naval power. Indecisive skirmishing continued throughout the 1590's, with English privateers pillaging Spanish commerce from America.

The queen ran afoul of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, who was a devote Catholic and had been forced to abdicate her throne as a consequence ( Scotland had recently become Protestant ). She fled to England, where Elizabeth immediately had her arrested. She was eventually tried for treason and sentenced to death, being beheaded in February 1587.

Elizabeth died in 1603. Her closest male Protestant relative was the King of Scots, James VI, of the House of Stuart, who became King James I of England in a Union of the Crowns.

to date back = remontarse ( a un tiempo pasado)
stepsister = hermanastra
thorough = completo
realm = reino
to clamp down on = tomar medidas drásticas contra
to loom = telar, avecinarse (en este caso)
skirmish = escaramuza
to flee = huir
treason = traición
to behead = decapitar
relative = pariente

Quiz Game: Christmas songs

Try to figure out which of these titles are popular Christmas songs.

1. Happy Christmas
2. Merry people
3. Silent Night
4. Love is love is love
5. Jingle bells
6. Santa Claus is coming to town
7. Snow angels
8. What child is this?


ANSWERS
1. Happy Christmas 3. Silent night 5. Jingle bells 6. Santa Claus is coming to town 8. What child is this?

Music: Owl City "Peppermint Winter" (Christmas song)

ENGLISH
There's the snow
Look out below
And bundle up
Cause here it comes
Run outside
So starry eyed
A snowball fight breaks out
And winter has finally begun

I twirl through the driveway with angelic grace
Till I slip on the sidewalk and fall on my face
This peppermint winter is so sugar sweet
I don't need to taste to believe
What's December without Christmas Eve

Hop in the sleigh
And we'll glide away
Into the night
And we'll sip on moonlight
Runny nose
My frosty toes
Are getting cold but I feel alive
So I smile wide

The snowflakes start falling and I start to float
Till my mean older brother stuffs snow down my coat
This peppermint winter is so sugar sweet
I don't need to taste to believe
What's December without Christmas Eve

All this holiday cheer
Heaven knows where it goes
But it returns every year
And though this winter does nothing but storm
The joy in my heart is ablaze and it's keeping me warm
It's keeping me warm
It's keeping me warm

I rip off the wrapping and tear through the box
Till I end up with 45 new pairs of socks
This peppermint winter is so sugar sweet
I don't need to taste to believe
What's December without Christmas Eve

TRANSLATION
Ahí llega la nieve
Cuidado, mira hacia abajo
y abrígate
porque aquí llega
Corre hacia afuera
Los ojos tan estrellados
Una pelea de bolas de nieve estalla
y el invierno finalmente ha llegado

Me contoneo por el caminito a casa con una gracia angelical
hasta que me resbalo en la acera y me caigo de cabeza
Este invierno de caramelo de menta es tan dulce como el azúcar
No necesito probarlo para creer!
qué es Diciembre sin su Noche Buena!

Súbete en el trineo y nos deslizaremos
hasta bien entrada la noche
Nos beberemos a sorbo la luz de la luna
Narices que moquean
Mis dedos de los pies helados
se están enfriando más pero yo me siento vivo
y sonrío ampliamente

Los copos de nieve empiezan a caer y yo me pongo a flotar
hasta que el mezquino de mi hermano mayor rellena de nieve mi abrigo
Este invierno de caramelo de menta es tan dulce como el azúcar
No necesito probarlo para creer!
qué es Diciembre sin su Noche Buena!

Toda esta alegría navideña
Dios sabe donde va a parar
pero vuelve cada año
y aunque en este invierno nada más que hace tormentas
La alegría de mi corazón está en llamas y me mantiene calentito

Desgarro los envoltorios y rompo las cajas
hasta que me encuentro con 45 nuevos pares de calcetines
Este invierno de caramelo de menta es tan dulce como el azúcar
No necesito probarlo para creer!
qué es Diciembre sin su Noche Buena!


;) Merry Christmas everyone!

Topic: Consumerism

Christmas time is round the corner. Lights, snow, joy,...consumerism! I can hardly see Santa with his sledge and offering joy and happiness but a lot of companies bombing us with their enticing ads on TV rather.  Everything they want us to do is consume as much as we can and the earlier, the better.

The black arts of psychological advertising were first developed after the last world war, when psychologists come into the field and advised the 'ad' men about the best ways to make commercialism into a religion, an ego trip of consumption, so was born the 'shopaholic.'

Nowadays, it seems as if Christmas time began right after Summer. In the United States, we could say that people start arranging their Christmas stuff on Thanksgiving's Day (last Thursday of November). But who says when Christmas is here? It goes without saying that we all know that Christmas's eve is on 24th December but joy and Christmas glee are floating in the air much earlier (that's not the case for Charles Dickens' character, Scrooge) . On the one hand, people tend to like this time of year because it is a good reason to get together with one's family, share special moments and forget about their problems. On the other hand, everybody tends to spend a lot of money with special food and presents. Sometimes the world forgets about those who can't afford a simple meal on a cold winter's night.

To be round the corner = estar a la vuelta de la esquina
sledge = trineo
enticing = alentador
to advise = aconsejar
shopaholic = adicto a las compras

Bookaholic: WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte

Wutherings Heights is known in Spanish as "Cumbres Borrascosas" and was written by Emily Bronte, sister to Charlotte Bronte (who wrote "Jane Eyre") and Anne Bronte (who wrote "Agnes Grey"). The story behind the book is one full of romanticism and despair among two lovers who, despite the fact that they're head over heels in love with each other, can't make it because life has been different for both; one chose a life brim with wealth and the other remained poor as he first was. The one who chose to become rich is Cathy, a character stricken by hatred, jealousy and madness who , although she is not in love with her present husband, decides to stay with him. Here's an excerpt from Chapter 15, where Heathcliff decides to send her lover a letter in order to get together.

Chapter 15
"Are you possessed with a devil,' he pursued, savagely, 'to talk in that manner to me when you're dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded in my memory, and eating deeper eternally after you have left me? You know you lie to say i have killed you: and, Catherine, you know that I could as soon forget you as my existence! Is it not sufficient for your infernal selfishness, that while you are at peace I shall writhe in the torments of hell?

"I shall not be at peace,' moaned Catherine, recalled to a sense of physical weakness by the violent, unequal throbbing of her heart, which beat visibly and audibly under this excess of agitation. She said nothing further till the paroxysm was over; then she continued, more kindly - 'I am not whishing you greater torment than I have, Heathcliff. I only wish us never to be parted: and should a word of mine distress you hereafter, think I feel the same distress underground, and for my own sake, forgive me! Come here and kneel down again! You never harmed me in your life."

(Some words may be difficult to understand because of the English of that period)

To be head over heels in love with = estar locamente enamorado
wealth = riqueza
hatred = odio
jealousy = celos
selfishness = egoísmo
to part = separarse
to distress = agobiar
underground = bajo tierra
for my own sake = por mi bien
to harm = dañar

Grammar spot: Prepositions II

Complete the sentences by adding a suitable word which goes with the preposition AT:

1. The car came round the corner at full _______
2. He was very good shot and could kill an elk at a _________ of 300 metres
3.He was very reluctant to do it at ______, but in the end he agreed.
4.Despite what people might hope, women are still at a _____ when it comes to getting a top job
5.Between 1939 and 1945, Britain was at ____ with Germany


ANSWERS:
1. at full speed = a toda velocidad
2. at a distance of = a una distancia de
3. at first = al principio
4. to be at a disadvantage = estar en desventaja
5. to be at war = estar en guerra

To be a good/bad shot = ser un buen/ mal tirador
elk = alce
reluctant = reacio
to agree = aceptar
Despite = a pesar de

Music: Alanis Morrissette "Everything"

FILL IN THE BLANKS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6kLbDHu0yc

I can be an asshole of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it’s going out of style
I can be the moodiest baby and you’ve never met anyone
who is as________ as I am sometimes

I am the wisest _______ you've ever met.
I am the kindest soul with whom you've connected.
I have the bravest ______ that you've ever seen
And you've never met anyone
Who's as _______  as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my _____
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

I _____ everyone else, not my own partaking
My passive-aggressiveness can be devastating
I'm terrified and mistrusting
And you’ve never met anyone as,
As closed down as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You _____ everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

What I resist, persists, and speaks _____ than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go

I'm the funniest woman you've ever known.
I am the dullest woman you've ever known.
I'm the most ______ woman you've ever known
And you've never met anyone as, as everything as I am sometimes.

You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here

And you’re still here
And you're still here...

1. negative
2. woman
3. heart
4. positive
5. dark
6. blame
7. dig
8.louder
9. gorgeous

Grammar spot: Prepositions I

Here are a few sentences for you to complete since the prepositions are missing. The prepositions you will have to use are: AT, BY, FOR, IN.
( Answers are below the sentences, so try not to look at them )

1.He sent a copy of his will to his bank....safe keeping.
2. The house is to be sold...auction.
3. You could tell...a glance that he was different.
4.There has been a sharp increase... house prices recently.
5. Did she give you any reason...her behaviour?
6.Multiply six....seven.


ANSWERS:
1.for 2.at 3.at 4.in 5.for 6.by

will = herencia
auction = subasta
sharp = brusco
increase* = aumento

*increase: cuando se trata del sustantivo "aumento" el énfasis o stress se encuentra en la primera sílaba; cuando se trata del verbo "aumentar" debemos poner el énfasis en la última sílaba ( esta regla la siguen la mayoría de los verbos como "decrease", "rebel", ...)

Song : REM "The sidewinder sleeps tonight"

For those who ignores what this abbreviation means "REM"...here I go..."Rapid Eye Movement" don't ask me but I think it has to do with a nerve in the eye, maybe. As for the title of the song, when REM talks about sidewinders I could only guess of a species of rattlesnake.

TRY TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE CHORUS SAYS WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE LYRICS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFf7_IKa7k8

This here is the place I will be staying.
There isn't a number. You can call the pay phone.
Let it ring a long, long, long, long time.
If I don't pick up, hang up, call back, let it ring some more.
If I don't pick up, pick up...
The sidewinder sleeps, sleeps, sleeps in a coil

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.

There are scratches all around the coin slot
like a heartbeat, baby trying to wake up,
but this machine can only swallow money.
You can't lay a patch by computer design.
It's just a lot of stupid, stupid signs.

Tell her,
tell her she can kiss my ass,
then laugh and say that you were only kidding.
That way she'll know that it's really, really, really, really me.

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.

Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me.
Today I need something more sub-sub-sub-substantial.
A can of beans or blackeyed peas, some Nescafe and ice,
a candy bar, a falling star, or a reading of Doctor Seuss;

Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.
Call me when you try to wake her up. Call me when you try to wake her.

The cat in the hat came back, wrecked a lot of havoc on the way,
always had a smile and a reason to pretend.
But their world has flat backgrounds and little need to sleep but to dream.
The sidewinder sleeps on his back.

Topic: Witches, Goblings and the whole crazy thing

What's the first thing in your mind when thinking about Halloween? Wicked pumpkins? Flying brooms? Horror movies? Actually, it's more than that. Halloween is a holiday which takes place on 31st October.
Its roots have to be found in a Celtic festival and the Christian holiday All Saints' day.

Trick or treat : it is a customary practice for children to carry bags full of sweets and knock on every door they come across to ask for sweets. They are in disguise  ( horror costumes) and they ask the popular question "trick or treat?". If any sweet is given to them, they may perform mischief on their property such as throwing eggs or painting the walls.

Wearing costumes: it is a tradition to wear costumes (usually scary costumes such as skeletons, vampires ghosts,..) on this special night. But not only costumes but accessories: masks, make-up, wigs,.. The more frightening you look, the better for the occasion.

Jack-o'-lanterns : carving Jack-o'-lanterns or scary pumpkins is a tradition when this season is coming. This practice was named like this after the phenomenon of strange light flickering over peat bogs (swamps). In a jack-o'-lantern, typically the top is cut off and remains the rest which is hollow. At night, a candle is placed inside the pumpkin (which normally has a strange face of horror made of cuts with a knife).

Apple bobbing: it is a game customarily played on Halloween. It comes from the verb "to bob for " which means to pick up with your teeth (or at least try to). The game is played by filling a basin with water and putting apples in the water. Players then try to catch one with their teeth. You mustn't use your hands and often are tied behind the back to prevent cheating.

Origin of the name : the word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even ("evening"), that is, the night before All Hallows Day.Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hālgena mæssedæg, mass-day of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.

Pumpkin: calabaza

Broom : escoba

To come across: encontrarse

disguise: disfraz

mischief:travesura

wigs:pelucas

frightening:aterrador

to carve:tallar

bogs:cienagas

hollow:hueco

basin:estanque

to prevent: impedir

Grammar spot

Personal Pronouns :         Object Pronouns :        Possessive Pronouns:    Reflexive Pronouns:
I                                          Me                                  Mine                               Myself
You                                    You                                 Yours                              Yourself
He                                       Him                                 His                                  Himself
She                                      Her                                 Hers                                Herself
It                                          It                                    Its                                    Itself
We                                       Us                                  Ours                                Ourselves
You                                      You                                Yours                              Yourselves
They                                     Them                               Theirs                              Themselves

Possessive Adjectives:      Demonstrative Pronouns/adjectives:
My                                       This / These  (este,estos)  "This book is mine" <== Demonstrative adjective
Your                                     That / Those (ese,esos,aquel)  "That is what I like best"<== Demonstrative pro
His
Her
Its
Our
Your
Their

Song : Chris Isaak "Wicked Game"

The world was on fire
No one could save me but you.
Strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you
And I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No, I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
No, I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
With you
With you

What a wicked game you play
To make me feel this way
What a wicked thing to do
To let me dream of you
What a wicked thing to say
You never felt this way
What a wicked thing to do
To make me dream of you
v And I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
And I don't want to fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]

{World was on fire
No one could save me but you
Strange what desire will make foolish people do
I never dreamed that I'd love somebody like you
I never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

No I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart
No I don't wanna fall in love
[This love is only gonna break your heart]
With you
With you

Nobody loves no one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJx4x2ulAkE

Bookaholic : "BLEAK HOUSE" by Charles Dickens

One of the best novels written by Charles Dickens, "Bleak House" makes us get into another mood filled with sorrow and darkness. Friendly characters entwined in a mysterious story behind them like the case Jarndyce & Jarndyce. Dickens describes every single detail about the streets of London in the middle 19th century. Here's an excerpt from the opening chapter:

1. The Court of Chancery

London, 1852. London in November. It was cold winter weather. There was mud in the streets. Dogs were covered in mud, almost drowned in it. Horses, pulling carriages through the city streets, were splashed up to their eyes. Shivering crossing-sweepers tried hard to sweep back the mud and dirt on the busy roads.

There was fog too. The fog was everywhere. It came up the river and down the river. Fog covered the boats on the river and filled the boatmen's eyes. Street lamps sent a pale, yellow light through the thick, foggy air.

Cold, mud and fog filled the streets of London. And the fog was thickest and the mud was deepest near Lincoln's Inn, the very heart of London. The Lord High Chancellor was there, sitting in his High Court of Chancery.

Chancery had ruined many men and driven others to madness. Whole families had been destroyed by Chancery and Chancery had brought great houses to decay and destruction. The streets of London were dark that day an in the Court of Chancery it was darker.

The case before the Court was the case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, and that case had never done anyone any good. The lawyers had lost all interest in the case many years before. Whole families had been born and died during the history of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. Pretty young wards of court had grown old and sad; strong young men had lost hope, and still the case had not ended. Over the years, Jarndyce and Jarndyce had slowly ruined the lives of many innocent people.

Bleak = inhóspito, desolado
sorrow = pena,tristeza
to entwine = entrelazar
excerpt = pasaje
court = tribunal
mud = barro
to drown = ahogarse
carriages = carruajes
splash up = salpicar
to sweep = barrer
fog = niebla
street lamps = farolas
thick = espeso
to ruin = arruinar, destrozar
decay = decadencia
Jarndyce & Jarndyce = nombre del caso
lawyers = abogados
wards of court = pupilos