Christmas

I like Christmas, but not very much for the gifts, because I think it’s a moment to stay with family and friends. But gifts represent, in this society, the affection that we feel for people we love. I looove giving people gifts, but last year I didn’t have enough time to make or buy them. I like specially making gifts because in this way they have an emotional sense and people value it most.

I like receiving gifts too, but not huge gifts, I like that the person that gives me a gift is careful about it, that she or he finds something special that surprise me, but not expensive.

Last year, I didn’t spend a lot of money in Christmas gifts, because time and university worked against my Christmas spirit and I couldn’t buy anything to make my own gifts. So I had to buy it in a little donnybrook where there was a lot of handicraft made by people that work independently.

But it’s difficult to me to choose something special for every person, because I’m a little bit indecisive and when I’m buying I always think “Mmh, I hope he/she likes it and doesn’t throw it to me over the head”.

In this sense, I like most giving that receiving gifts, I don’t know why it is. I think it may be because I worry a lot about people and I like them to stay ok. And when I receive a gift I feel a little rare, because I think that people shouldn’t do it for me.  Just Camila’s things ahaha. 

                                        

An example of meaning that is giving to christmas nowadays. I didn't find it in english, I'm sorry :(

Be friendly with the environment!

I think people learn friendly practices with the environment mainly in home, because for me the family is the most important base of the children’s learning. Then comes the school where children stay almost the whole day, so teachers and people at this stablishment are very important too, because they have to form habits in the kids, to teach them how to recycle, to ride a bike instead to get to the school by car or things like that. But adults can learn this practices too, through the incorporations of those habits in the society.

To come to the university I can’t use a bike because I live in Paine and it would be a little bit crazy! So I use the public transport because it is cheaper and it’s used for a lot of people at the same time, thing that reduces the polution that produce the cars.

I haven’t joined an ecological organization yet, but I would like to do it, because I think it’s important to get organizated and to expand the knowledge about the environment and all the things we can do for get it better. But I think that by myself I’ve done a lot of things, because I try to recycle, I try don’t riding a car and to prefer the public transport, to use less water when I’m in the shower and all the recomendations that expert people give us to reduce our carbon footprint. I'm a vegetarian too, that's a big thing, because when you don't eat meat you reduce the issue of gases that come from the wastes of cows, pigs, etc.

I think that in our society, specially Santiago and big cities, we are too worry about the job, about the university, school, and all those things that consume our lifes; that’s why people have no time to get worry about that important things, such as the environment. Therefore it’s necessary to teach to the new generations of kids the importance of being friendly with the environment, and of course, we as adult people, incorporate this habits to our everyday life.

Traveling :)

I really like traveling because I love to know new places, specially with cultures different of our, but I haven’t done it much in my life; I think that’s because my parents work a lot and they don’t have much time to do this, because when they have time, they prefer just to stay relaxed at home.

Regarding the places I like to visit, I prefer to go to cultural sites, I mean museums, libraries, theaters, etc, specially museums because I love to know the history of the places, to see antiques and can feel myself into the period that museum shows.

But I like to go to the beach too, because it’s a place to get relaxed, to share with family or friends, visiting the craft fairs and to have a great time in the afternoons.

It would be the perfect place if it could combine these two things that I like.

I would like to travel to France, as I said in a previous post; it’s like my dream of all my life. But I would like to travel to England too, actually Europe in general, not without knowing mi whole country (but this whether it’s almost impossible dream, because I would spend A LOT of money).

The best trips I remember are when I went to the beach, Pichilemu, with my parents, which is almost every year. We go for a few days, but we have really incredible times.

This year maybe my parent can’t go to the beach, so I hope to go to Valparaíso with my friends, because I really love that city, its colorful houses, the port and all the tourist attractions in general. 

Unhappy childhoods

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/12/unhappy-childhoods-childrens-society-low

According to a survey made by the Children’s  Society, one in ten children are unhappy. In this survey they questioned more than 30.000 young persons between eight and sixteen years old at the UK.

This investigation show us that the family generates a big impact in the children’s happines, because its behaviors affected the emocional stability, mainly of the young people of the family. Another factor that influence weel-being is to move home, specially when it happens more tan once in a year.

The study also show us that the unhappiness increase with the age, above all when children go  in to the puberty and they “need” to look well to be accepted by they peers, being this more remarkable in girls.

The study says that children since eight years old already realized about the monetary’s problems of their parents, thing that increase the concern of the children for things that they wouldn’t have to worry about.

Also, in school one in ten children feels dissatisfied with the relationship with their teachers, and one in six doesn’t  feel uncomfortable with the way that they are being listened at the school.  

Even the archbishop of York told his opinion, he said that the huge quantity of unhappy children it’s  "a wake-up call to us all".

Finally, Elaine Hindal, director of the campaign for childhood at the Children’s Society, was very worried about this situation; that’s why he made note "We are calling for a radical new approach to childhood, placing their wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. Our research has exposed that how children feel really matters. We know that, right now, half a million children are unhappy. We have discovered the key reasons for this unhappiness and what we can do to make it better. We want our country to be the best place for our children to grow up. Yet unless we act now we risk becoming one of the worst and creating a lost future generation."

Music in my life

I didn’t grow up in a family where music was really important, so I had to find it by myself. However, since I was a little girl, my uncle showed me music like Los Prisioneros and Soda Stereo, but Michael Jackson and Cindy Lauper too.

Then when I was in primero medio I started to found new music; in some way, I found my style. That was thanks to a friend that I had in school; she started to show me some new music, American and british bands. Since then I haven’t stopped to listen this kind of music. Now I found new bands by myself, which are similar to those that I listen most often (without neglecting folklore, of course, because it is always in my life, in spite of the music that I listen to in everyday).

Now music is really important in my life, I couldn’t live without it. Also I love to sing and play de guitar, it’s one of my favorite hobbies, because I can get empty of the bad energy and have a good time, alone or with some friends. 

Books!

Through the books, we can know a lot of stories, wether about fiction or reality stories. I don’t have a favourite one, because I think every book has things that make it special. However, I like a lot a book called “The tunnel”. This was written by Ernesto Sabato, an argentinian writer. This book talks about a man that has a romantic obssesion with a woman; I can’t tell you the end, but it is a little bit unexpected and hard for both principal characters. It’s a book to think about the things we are doing wrong and try to fix it.
Another book that I really like is “The house of the spirits”, by Isabel Allende. Maybe she’s my favourite author, because I love the way she writes and her stories are amazing.
I start to read books since I was a little kid, because in my school, it was obligatory to read one book a month. There, we had to read specially novels, so I think that’s why I enjoy reading them so much (although now we have to read about other themes at the university).

I’d like that every village, commune or city has a library, with a lot of  books, specially for kids, because they should learn the “art” of the reading since they are little.

France, here I come!

I've always wanted to visit Europe, but especially France; when I watched Amelie movie, I fell in love with it. This is not a very large country, but it has a beautiful architecture, which is demonstrated in buildings like the Palace of the Louvre and the well known Eiffel Tower, one of the most famous modern buildings in the world.

I would love to go to this country because I like its culture, the way that they stimulate the tourism and the most important thing to me: their language. I’d really like to learn French, I think it is a lovely language, but also difficult to learn.  

When I get my degree and my own money, I want to travel there at least for a month and visit each corner of the country. But I’d just like to go for visit, because I want to work here in Chile. Maybe I would take some French course to be able to communicate with French people during my stay. I hope to carry out this travel some day and fulfill my dream of visiting France, its culture and its people. 


I hope you like this country as much as I like :)