Carnival

Carnival for me will be a new experience. In England, I´m not sure if you are aware, but we throw all Carnival traditions out the window, with it marking the beginning of Lent, and the few that are celebrated take place in the summer, the most famous being Notting Hill Carnival. Whilst I did experience to some extent carnival in Lisbon, they do not celebrate it very much there. Here everyone I speak to has 4 or 5 different costumes already ready whilst I´m still trying to get one together. I will think of one, although somehow I think that I will be put to shame. Nevermind, it will certainly be a laugh. What do you think of Carnival? How are you dressing up? Let me know...

My scarf and a silly joke.

For those of you who were in Alex's class today (Wednesday), I have a colour for my scarf, and a joke which follows. See what you think. Firstly, the colour my boyfriend gave it was maroon.

So here's the joke -

Did you hear about the red ship and the blue ship that collided?

Both crews were marooned!!!

Silly, I know ;-)

Personal Bed Warmers

I’m not sure if anyone saw it on the news other day, but it made me laugh. Apparently in some hotels in England they are now employing people to get into client’s beds for a few minutes before they get in, so that the bed will be warm and snugly for them upon arrival. Personally I don’t like the idea of strangers warming up my bed for me. It also amuses me that the news that arrives to Spain from England tends to be of this sort of nature. What do you think? What other interesting news items have you seen? Let us know...

BUZZWORDS:THE NOUGTHIES

Although my Word spell checker keeps flagging (marking) it as incorrect, the ‘noughties’ is the name that seems to have caught on (become popular) to refer to the first decade of the 21st century. The word “noughties” comes from the ‘nought’ (zero), in front of each year number: 2001, 2002, 2003, etc. and sounds like ‘naughty’, which is probably the reason for its success.
Other suggestions that didn’t catch on were: ‘the twenty-hundreds’, ‘the double ohs’, ‘the twenty-os’, ‘the oh-ohs’, ‘the ohs’, ‘the zeros’, ‘the two thousands’, ‘the ones’, …

What will we call the decade that has just begun (2010-2019)? The favourites seem to be ‘the twenty-tens’, ‘the tens’, ‘the teenies’ and ‘the teens’. Time will tell.

There’s also some confusion about how to say the year ‘2010’. Although 2009 was ‘two thousand and nine’, the year 2010 is pronounced either ‘twenty ten’ or ‘two thousand (and) ten’. Some people even say ‘oh ten’. So it’s up to you (it’s your choice/decision) how you say it.

Source: Revista Think in English. http://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/noughties.html

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

ÚLTIMA SEMANA PARA INSCRIBIROS EN LOS CURSOS MONOGRÁFICOS DEL SEGUNDO CUATRIMESTRE(60 horas de febrero a mayo 2010)

* CURSO MONOGRÁFICO DE INGLÉS: JUST LISTENING AND SPEAKING. B1 (NIVEL INTERMEDIO)

Clases: Lunes y Miércoles de 19:30 a 21:20h.

Impartido por PALOMA GÓMEZ ROMERO, profesora del departamento.

* CURSO MONOGRÁFICO DE INGLÉS: JUST LISTENING AND SPEAKING. B2 (NIVEL AVANZADO)

Clases: Martes y Jueves de 19:30 a 21:20h.

Impartido por PALOMA GÓMEZ ROMERO, profesora del departamento.

Para más información , contactad con el departamento de inglés o la secretaría de la EOI.

PLAZO DE MATRÍCULA ABIERTO HASTA EL JUEVES, 28 DE ENERO.

Brain teasers

1 A man is writing a letter. The power goes out and he dies. Why?

2 A man lives on the 24th floor. He goes to the lobby on the bottom floor every morning to get the newspaper. He rides the elevator up to the 19th floor, then walks up the stairs the rest of the way. Why?

3 A man is in the middle of a room hanging from the ceiling. There is a puddle of water under his feet. There is nothing else in the room. How did he hang himself?

4 A man walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a glass of water. The bartender looks at him for a minute, then pulls out a gun and points it at the man. The man says "Thank You!" and leaves. Why?

5 A man is lying dead in the middle of a desert. He is wearing a back pack and has a full canteen of water. How did he die?

6 A man lives in a big tower with no windows. The bathroom is at the very top, and his bedroom is at the very bottom. One day he goes up to take a bath. While he was filling the tub, his cat chases a mouse by the door and accidently slams it shut. The guy tries to open the door, but it is stuck. He then tries to shut off the water, but the knob breaks off, and the water won't shut off. The tub begins to overflow and slowly fill the room. How does he survive?

Now, did any of you win the lottery?

I know that the Christmas lottery is HUGE in Spain. It really is quite astonishing how big it is. And I also got caught up in the whirl, not wanting to be left out. We all know we will not win, but then again... But today I was browsing the web and this comic strip made me laugh...let's see what you think.

Snow!!!

Snow. It's white, fluffy and very pretty. But that's not all. In England 2010 has commenced with the country being brought to a standstill by adverse weather conditions. Schools did not open, trains did not run and planes did not fly. In parts of Scotland temperatures got down to -22 degrees. Global warming certainly has some funny side effects.

Do you like snow? I like playing in it. But when I had to drive from Cirencester in ice and snow it sure was a scary experience. Following a lorry sliding around the Fosse Way (long Roman road that runs from South West of England to East Midlands) was not my idea of fun.

Even now, when the remnants of the snow are just a few sprinkles on rooftops and paths, schools are just opening and transport services getting back to normal. Does adverse weather cause the same problems in Spain? Or do you deal better with it? Do you like the snow? Let me know!!!

Happy 2010!

And you, have you made any New Year´s resolutions?