Blogging experience

It was very difficult to use blogger for the first time. I didn’t know blogger. In the starting, I was confused with the design and tools. In the present, to use it is easier, but I don’t know all of blogger’s tools yet.

I think the blogging helped me to improve my English, in reading, writing and listening. It forced me to think in English for writing and not think in Spanish and then writing in English. I had to listen videos in English; it was very hard!. I think that I had a progress.

I believe blogging is a useful tool for practicing English. We can write about anything that we are interested, discuss different opinions, surf in the web for finding some interesting theme, learn new words and expressions.

I would suggest you to make the corrections blog by blog; I needed corrections for knowing the real progress in my English level. I don´t know how my English is in grammar, coherence, correct use of words, etc. The corrections would allow me to make modifications in the blogs, and to improve the next blogs. Although I liked my blog experience, I feel blogging a little disconnected with the English class.

Surfing in the web

Surfing in the web I found a video of Alanna Shaikh, a global health and development specialist. In her video she explains how she’s preparing to get Alzheimer’s.

She considers three things in her preparation:

1. Changing the hobbies. Doing any fanny activity for amuse herself, for being happier, for enjoying her life.

2. Working the physical strength. Doing yoga for example, for preparing  her body to physical symptoms of Alzheimer

3. Being a better person. She says: “I need a heart so pure that if it’s stripped bare by dementia, it will survive”.

I was interested this video because it made me think how I would face up to any mental disease. I think that there are some mental diseases a lot more close us, like depression, that we can get it in any moment, even when we are young. The life puts much uncertainty, and then we need to live better, but not will prepare to get a mental disease. We need to enjoy our life with the people and things that we want. In this context I agree with the idea of being better person, doing funny hobbies, and doing physical activities.

English learning

Studying English at the university has been very useful because I have to read many papers for my courses and thesis, and also, I need to learn English for communicating with the people if I travel outside Chile for academic or personal reasons. This English course is a fundamental course for PhD students; it allow to improve the English level, for the future to take a more advanced course outside University.

I would improve the English course. I would like to have more available material for studying at home. Plataforma is good, but I need more material for studying, maybe a book and material to listening. And also, the course should incorporate homework in some classes.

In general, it is a good course. I think that it evaluates the four capacities (Reading, writting, listening and speaking), and the teacher is very good.

Top 10 hobbies taht can pay off

Today, many people saving for funny vacations or buy first house, car or anything; some just aren't able to have as much fun because of their little money. We almost always leave our hobbies for economic or free time reasons. But we can find inexpensive hobbies that we turn it into a money-making machine. According to "howstuffworks", many hobbies really can pay off if we are good at them and know how to market ourselves. Here, some examples are:

10. Shopping
9. Dog walker
8. Baking
7. Organizing
6. Playing guitar
5. Coaching sports
4. Anything crafty
3. Writing and editing
2. Photography
1. Web Design

This theme called my attention because I have passion for some hobbies, but I can't do it. I always think about any activity that I can turn it into an funny job.




I have thought about my hobbies that can pay off. Writing and editing!. But I think it will be difficult. In my free time I had written poetry since my childhood, but the poetry isn't good business. Also, I like to draw, but is less likely that it is good paid. As Agriculturalist, I can get more money. But, to the future I would make my own business, it would be related with gardening consultances, landscaping, production of nursery  plant, or anything as this.

I think the playing guitar and dog walker wouldn't be good business in Chile.

Do you have some hobby that you can turn it into a money-making machine?.

Changing Education Paradigms

I think the same about Public Education Model seems to an industrial process. The public education is based in assumptions social structures capacity and the economic imperative of this moment. Also, in both, school and University, the standarization of the tests limits the real capacity of the students. This situation leads to lack of freedom to discover the vocations, interests or capacities. But, to make new forms for evaluating is difficult.

Really, ADHD is a fictitious epidemic. ¿Einstein had attention deficit? I think so.

I disagree with to copy in the school is called collaboration outside school. I think that collaboration is to make anything with contributions of all participants of a work; in this process, the discussion and reevaluate of the ideas is fundamental. I think that "to copy" erases our ideas and limits our capacities.

The Bridges of Madison County

The Bridges of Madison County is a 1995 and North American film, it was directed by Clint Eastwood. This film was adapted by Richard LaGravense and is based from the novel by Robert James Waller, called with the same title.

The plot is about the relation between Francesca (Meryl Streep), a housewife, and Robert Kincaid (Clint Eastwood), a National Geographic photographer, in 1960's.

Francesca is an Italian woman and got married to a U.S. soldier. They emigrate to U.S. and live in Mandison  County. Francesca is a lonely housewife and has a monotonous life; she left her work and dreams for dedicating to family. One weekend, she was alone for four days, because her husband, son and daugther were in a Illinois's fair. In this context she meets Robert. Robert arrived to Madison for photographing to covered bridges in this area.

Francesca engages in an affair with Robert. They fall in love and live an intense love-relation during that period. She discovers a never has felt passion and thinks it is the real love in her life. In this situation, Francesca comes into conflict with herself: the housewife and mother fight against the woman. When the Francesca's family goes back to home, she has to decide between to stay with her family or to go away with Robert. Although she loves Robert, she decides to stay with her family, in a dramatic scene: in a raining day, Robert waits that she gets off the husband's car to go with he.

Working after get home

In the present, people often work on laptops, mobile phones or tablets in their homes, after they have left the job site.

According to Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, people "have become screen slaves" and "are adding to their working day more than two hours of extra screentime, on average, everyday"

Additionally, people use the laptops or mobile phones for connect to social networks in their homes, adding more hours of screentime yet.

The people's health can be risked by this situation. For example, in the home, we generally use the bedroom or living-room for working, where there are not suitable conditions for writing on the laptops. Then, we have a poor posture in these places, which can lead to back and neck pain.

If this situation becomes a regular activity of our evening routine, then it can lead to stress-related illness. We spend time front the screen, losing the free time for other activities, for example, meet anybody, enjoy the nature or do physical activities. Also, we can feel under pressure by extra hours of work at home.

In my case, there are some weeks very complicated, which I am very busy, and then I need to work at home  some extra hours. In fact, I wrote a draft of this theme sited in my bed, before to go to sleep. When it happens, I have headache and backache in the next day. I am stressing, I need holidays!!!