The most important things in my life are my family, my friends and good books. I am an introverted guy (OR: an introvert). I like to stay alone. That's why my family is so important to me. They understand the way I am and don't force me to be someone that I am not. I dont have many friends. But the few friends I have are close to me. I like spending time with them. I can't make friends easily. That's why I feel awkward whenever I am in an unknown place with new people and I need to interact with them. I like to read books. I believe that the root of suffering is ignorance. Hard times are inevitable in life. But if we know why something is happening or how things work in life, we can handle hard times without making our life miserable. And books help me find the answers to questions that bother me and give me pain. They give me solace in times when I feel down and rejected. To summarise (OR: to sum up), Life is a continuous journey. Things will change, old people will go and new people will come in my life. But whatever happens, I know that I will learn and grow.

Well. It’s difficult to say which is the best one if you have travelled a lot. So, let me just talk about a memorable experience I had during my last time traveling. It was 4 years ago. My friends and me were traveling in Sri Lanka. It was just few days after the bombs happed there in May. We visited a small town that has a long history, which is famous for selling a lot of interesting stuff, like antiques, paintings, sculptures etc. I was hanging around on a street with only a few tourists passing by. While I was busy window shopping on the sides of the street, suddenly, my eyes were drawn to a small shop. The doorframe was made of red wood and you could clearly see those deep and small notches on it, making you feel that it’s just waiting for you to explore. While I was wandering, I stepped into this mysterious shop. It turned out the shop was spacious, full of wood made furnitures, including tables, chairs and many other manually crafted pieces ("stuffs" is not a word, it's only used in the singular). An elderly man introduced me to them. Even if I did not show any intent to buy anything, he patiently shared all the details he knew when I seemed interested in some stuff. Somehow, we started a conversation and he made me seat on a long chair by the door and started to share the story of this shop,and also his own, with me. He used to be a principal in a local school. That’s the reason why he could speak English fluently. During the conversation, he also shared with me how their life has changed after the bombs which I still clearly remembered. Our conversation lasted for 20mins and we went through the culture, history, and life in that small town. Finally I had to leave, but this old man impressed me with his knowledge and wisdom so far. I won’t ever forget his smile.

Para reducir estrés, prefiero hacer deporte como correr, nadar o montar la bici. Creo que estar al aire libre y moverme son estrategias buenas. Así puedo olvidar mis problemas y los pensamientos estresantes en mi cabeza. También he intentado hacer meditación o yoga, no han estado mal y he podido relajarme, pero para mí el deporte funciona mejor. Suficiente sueño y una alimentación saludable pueden reducir el estrés también. Lo más importante es saber qué o quién te causa estrés y aliviar/ combatir las razones de estrés. Si tienes demasiado trabajo o muchas reuniones, puedes preguntarte si es realmente necesario hacer esta tarea hoy o asistir en esta reunión. Una buena gestión del tiempo puede ser útil. Intento tener pausas de cinco minutos entre las reuniones o apagar el Outlook y mi móvil cuando hago una tarea importante y no quiero que nadie me moleste. Estos son dos ejemplos, así mantengo mi enfoque y evito el estrés.

Hay algo que me molesta mucho cuando hablo español. Es el hecho de que muchos hispanohablantes creen que solamemte su manera de hablar es correcta. A veces cuando estoy practicando por audio o en persona suelen corregirme cuando uso expresiones de España o Mexico. Las uso más porque veo muchas series y películas de esos países, entonces por supuesto que tendré mucho más influencia de ellos que de otros. Estoy segura que el español es un idioma muy rico hablado como lengua oficial en 22 países, y eso es genial pues hace que nosotros tengamos una gran variedad. Mi intención aquí es solamente hablar de un tema que me aburre, no tener pinta de gilipollas (esta palabra tiene un significado bastante fuerte, no está mal utilizada pero en ocasiones puede ser un poco chocante).

It is well known that music is a powerful recaller of memories, so I looked into it to get more information about that and I ended up finding something called "the soundtrack of your life". The soundtrack of your life is a compilation of all those songs, whether you like them or not, that bring back memories of a particular moment or a period of time in your life such as a particular month or that can also remind you of a person. For this reason I've decided to create my own soundtrack, to be able to experience the different parts of my life through that list of songs. I'll share it with you guys in the next post 😄.

Yo no estoy de acuerdo con la educación segregada por sexos. La vida en general no está segregada de esta manera, entonces tener un educación segregada para niños y niñas no les enseña mucho sobre las habilidades sociales esenciales. Creo también que la educación segregada puede resultar en que los niños crezcan siempre viendo el otro sexo como muy diferente, cuando la verdad es que somos todos humanos incluso si tenemos características diferentes. 

Creo que es genial que los mayores todavía tengan la fuerza para aprender algo nuevo. La abuela de mi amiga empezó a aprender español cuando tenía 82 años. Al final, no aprendió a hablar con fluidez, pero lo intentó, y eso es increíble. En cuarenta años, me gustaría ser una anciana tan activa que esté constantemente aprendiendo cosas nuevas.

Licorice Pizza is a film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It's nominated for 3 Oscars (best director, best picture and best screenplay). So, Licorice Pizza tells an archetypical and sappy story. The performances are convincing enough but nothing special, although the atmosphere is nicely created. The truth is that Licorice Pizza is a pretty forgettable movie. It's a pity because I expected more from it.