NEW YORK-by María Pujol

New York

I have been in New York twice. The part of the city that I have visited is nice but I don’t think is as beautiful as people say.

My favourite spot is Times Square because there are many stores, like the M&M’s World Store, that is the biggest M&M’s store in the world.

I have visited lots of famous places like the Empire State, Chrysler Building, The Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge… Most people think that Empire State is more beautiful than Chrysler Building but I don’t agree.

Another place that I like is Central Park, it's the biggest park in the world. It has lots of hot dogs stalls and many other things. In Central Park you can find a big lake with turtles, frogs and fishes, and a zoo. The most popular animal in Central Park is the squirrel.

I have also seen the statue of liberty while I was on the Staten Island 
ferry; it is located on a small island called Liberty Island

MOCKINGJAY THE MOVIE- by Patricia Valencia

Mockingjay; the movie.

I really love the book of Mockingjay; in my opinion is the best of the three books (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay) but I didn´t like the film very much because they had changed many things from the book.

 In my opinion the directors of the films should have been faithful to the story of the book on which it is based. They can change details because it's impossible to represent the whole book in a film, but the important things or the ones that have special meaning shouldn´t be changed because if the author has written it so, is to be respected.

But regarding the actors, I love all of them, they are amazing doing their job! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS-by Maria Patiño

Merry Christmas

Christmas is here! We are in the best time of the year, when everyone is happy and celebrating the birth of Jesus. Everyone makes parties and celebrations like dinner or eating all the friends together or all the family together, because it´s time for that, to be with the people we love. Also, it’s the time to give presents to people, that´s why we wait for the three magic kings, or for Santa Claus. All the children are excited and looking forward for the 25^th of December, or for the 6^th of January, just for playing with their new toys or for wearing their new clothes.

Christmas, is not only the time to celebrate or to give presents, also everyone likes Christmas because of the food, on Christmas, everyone eats a lot of different and delicious food. Each country has different traditional Christmas food, but all of them are delicious.

In Christmas, also the people help more the people in need. Normally the churches or the schools collect different things for them. Normally there are food and clothes, and then they give them to charities that give everything to the people in need.

It´s time to have fun! So, get out of your house and celebrate that Christmas is here! 

CHRISTMAS-by Ana

Christmas

It's an important day for christians. Because on Christmas Day, Jesus was born, Christmas Day is the 25th of december. On this day the tradition is to put up in your house the Christmas tree and the Belen portal.

Normally in America, people said to the children that Santa Claus goes to their house on Christmas and he leaves gifts. Santa Claus lives on the north pole. When Santa Claus go to the house of the chrildren on Christmas, the children put out cookies and milk for Santa Claus and the reindeer that carry Santa Claus´s sledge. On this sledge Santa Claus carries the gifts for the children. In America it's said that Santa Claus gets in the house through the fireplace. Santa Claus only leaves gifts for the children that they have been good and if you are a bad child Santa Clause dosen´t bring gifts for you. In the north pole Santa Claus prepares the gifts with his elves.

Ana

A WALK TO REMEMBER (SPOILER ALERT)-by Ana Villajos

A walk to remember

I’m going to talk about the movie "A Walk to Remember". It is about a girl who doesn´t have friends and is very religious and her father is the priest of the town.Also it´s about a boy who is the “most popular” at the school. 

One day, the boy is punished and the punishment consists on going to clean and going to teach children with problems, and to participate in the show of the school. In those activities, the girls also participates so, they meet. At first, they don´t talk much but then they spend so much time together and finally, they end up as a couple. After some time, the girl tells the boy that she's ill and  she won´t be able to recover. The girl has a list that has all of the things she wants to do in her life, so before she dies, the boy helps her to make all of those things real, one of them is to get married. After some time, the girl dies and the boy remains alone for all his life.

TV-by Carmen Troncoso

TV

Television was created in 1925 in Scotland by John Logie Baird. All houses have at least one television, because for some people it is a must. TV can become addictive because people may be watch telvision up to four hours daily. The time children can spend watching television can cause getting bad grades, read fewer books, do less exercise and overweight. Most people eat very often watching it, what they do not know is that if you eat while watching TV slimline more than if you sit at a table to eat. Children also are guided by advertising, for example, a company is selling a new toy for Christmas and that company makes millions of dollars. The average is 23 ads per hour. More than half of advertising contains incorrect or misleading information.

84-by Diego García Echaniz

84 is a group created in 2009 by three men called Mon, Beris and Jaime. The group is called eighty-four and that all group members are from eighty-four. The songs are spanish pop songs that, although this group not triumphed much, are good music and above all have played with great musicians like Esàñola, Leiva or Dani Martin. Eighty-four have been working more as openers in 2010 they had a good time and now in 2014 they announced their separation as Jaime, the singer stopped playing for a few reasons I think not Mon and Beris know. On November 14th they held their last concert in JOY and 84 will remain in our memory

PEOPLE ON CHRISTMAS-by Ethel S-V

PEOPLE ON CHRISTMAS:

Christmas is best known to be the holiday in which everyone is happy, or everyone decides to change for the better and help their neighbors. Of course, being happy or trying to change yourself isn’t band, but it is kind of sad when people only do it because of the fact that is Christmas. For example: donations during Christmas tend to grow, while, during the rest of the year, they are lower. People shouldn’t do something just because “it’s the time when it should be done”, people should do them because they are important, and it’s necessary to help everyone all over the year, not only on holidays. People should gather with their families whenever they want to, not only on special occasions. If people find the need to change theimselves, they should do it just when they have found that feeling, not only on events where people become what they want to be or who they should be.

Of course, if they start doing this stuff during Christmas and continue to do it the rest of the year, then it isn’t a bad thing; but if people only do it on Christmas and when it’s over, then forget about it, that’s when things should be changed.

And, well, I’m not talking just about Christmas; I’m also talking about other holidays, like mother's or father’s day! We should treat our parents with affection every day of the year, not only on those days.

In my opinion, we have been limited and tricked by our own perspectives of what holidays are; like, if we want to donate in a time near Christmas, then we just think “I’ll wait until it’s Christmas, and then I’ll do it”; and we really shouldn’t do that. Donate whenever you want to, get together with your family whenever you want to and change yourself if you find the need to do so.

Ethel S-V

IT'S CHRISTMAS-by Diego Morcillo

IT’S CHRISTMAS !

Finally arrives the time of the year that all the children were wating for.

At Christmas all of the streets are full of lights and the happiness is present in all the people that you can see. The children are waiting for their Christmas presents and write a letter to the three wise men and when the children open their Christmas presents, for them it could be the best moment of the year.

At Christmas my family and I don’t have plans but I guess I will be studing and maybe we'll go to skiing. We will stay in Madrid until the 28^th and that morning we'll get out of Madrid, and we'll arrive on the 5^th.

On new years I will go to Bilbao with my father’s family.

Christmas in Bilbao are very funny because everyday I go out with my cousin and his friends and sometimes I see famous people like footballers of Athletic Club or spanish actors…

I suppose this Christmas won't be too much fun because every day I have to study and this is very boring, for that I didn’t expect many things of these holidays. 

VENICE-by Jimena Molina

VENICE

Hi, this post is going to be about travelling, specifically about my last international trip, which was to Venice.

This was my first time travelling to Italy and I didn’t know what to expect from this country, but everything, I give my experience there a ten out of ten. I really recommend you to visit this city if you have the opportunity to do it. At first sight, some people would say that Venice is not as good as what people in general say about it, but everybody who likes to travel and sees different things would love this city. I loved it. These are the reasons why I liked it so much:

-In first place, it is a  very different place from Madrid, because there aren’t cars, so as a consequence of this, no noise or contamination. People travel by acuataxi or vaporetto which is a boat for a lot of people, like a bus. Going everywhere by boat is very cool. In these cities you can go walking, on the streets, or sailing, in the canals. The canals are very pretty.

The whole of the city is very beautiful and pretty amazing. Some of the houses are in touch with the water and to enter you have to moor the boat in front of them, and the others are in too narrow streets. The houses and buildings are very old (but the state is constantly renewing them) and their front wall is full of decorations.

-This city almost subsists of tourism only, but this tourism is different from any other I've seen before anywhere. The Venetians are supposed to speak Italian (actually, a variant of it, Venetian) but they are always talking different languages, and everybody knows a lot of them. The whole city is like the “touristic part of Madrid”, there is no difference. Everybody treated me so well. Talking about the souvenirs, I especially liked a crystal made in the Murano island that can be modeled, so that all the souvenirs were basically different  figures made out of this crystal. These figurines were really well-made.

There are a lot of more things I could say about why I liked it so much, but in general everything is summarized in that the city was the most romantic and beautiful I have ever seen.

If you go, these are the main spots you will surely go to see:

St. Mark's Square: This is Venice’s principal square. It is full of history and surrounded by a great architecture. A lot of Venice's main sights are located here.

·         Grand Canal: It is the main water-traffic corridor sweeping on the city. It is amazing.

·         Rialto Bridge: It connects the districts of San Polo and San Marco across the Grand Canal in the center of the city. It is a very busy crossing and has amazing sights.

·         Bridge of Sighs: it has a legendary history behind.

DOGS-by Miguel López de las Heras

¤DOGS¤

Dogs are animals of company. Sometimes people say that the dog is the best friend of a man and I think it's true because the dogs can make you feel  better because they are always with us and with a dog you feel like if someone needs you to survive and that is a very nice feeling.
There are lots of types of dogs but my favourite one is the "labrador".
Dogs have lots of functions: some dogs are guide dogs, but there can be also guardians dogs, or company dogs ...
I think to have a dog is a very important responsability because you have to feed it, clean it,  take it for a walk...

I recomend a dog for everybody .

COCA COLA-by Rodrigo Larios

It is one of the most populars drinks of the world. Is one of the most worldwide sold drinks. It has a secret ingredient, that their rivals doesn't know. Coca cola appeared on the market in 1886. Currently it's sold in more than 200 countries. Its biggest rival is PEPSI. There are also varieties of Coca Cola, such  as Cherry Cola, Light, Zero or Vanilla. Coca Cola had been created by John Pemberton in Atlanta more months before. Coca Cola enterprise was called "The Coca Cola Company". In my opinion Coca Cola is a great beverage that has world fame and a different flavours to than other companies. And for me it's the best beverage of the world.

WHAT IS CAMP WATITOH?

WHAT IS CAMP WATITOH?

Camp watitoh, is the place where I’ve learned to coexist with people from all over the world; from all the way to Texas up to France or even China. Every single day, each camper gets to live their own dream surrounded with the people they love.

When I walk through those gates I can already picture a great summer ahead. I can’t help the feeling of joy running through my veins, it’s a combination of euphoria and exaltation which I cannot control. During the year I wait ten months to go back and once again, live the dream. It’s unbelievable how every time I go, it’s ten times better than the year before.

Watitoh is one of the few things that keeps me going throughout the year; I constantly look at how much time there is left for June to arrive, but the more I look, the further away it seems.

Without any doubt, the best three days of the whole summer at camp is what we call “Colour War”. This is basically when, in the last days, everyone gets ridiculously motivated and give their best at every sport.

At Watitoh you can either go to intercamps or sit with your friends around the camp fire eating smores. The impressive variation of either being a competitive soccer player to participating on a camp show gives campers a bigger range of options, so you can choose what you want to do.

What I’ve lived at camp watitoh is not something I can simply describe with words. My experience in camp watitoh has been unforgettable throughout all the years that have passes since my first time there. It has been a place where I have learnt how to be independent and how to connect with other people from around the world, and that is probably one of the things that I feel has make me appreciate my experience there and I will always be thankful to Watitoh.

LET'S GO CLIMBING

Let’s go climbing!

This month I want to write about another sport that I practise: climbing. Maybe I should have said “another strange sport” because people usually get astonished when I say that I go climbing. Some people think that I go to the countryside and I climb trees, and others think that I climb buildings or something like that. 

Climbing is the activity of ascending objects (that can be totally vertical, steep, or even horizontal). There are lots of types but the one I practise is “bouldering”. We practise this sport in special facilities (climbing walls) that can be: any shape, indoor or outdoor, only two metres high or even 50 or higher... These walls are especially prepared for this sport because they have appropriate holds that you’ll have to grip and hang on them.   

I have always loved climbing. When I was little, I enjoyed climbing the small walls in parks. But three years ago I found out that my uncle was going climbing to a sports centre every week, so I decided to go with him to try it and... Since then, I’ve been going with him once or twice a week. And I’ve taken part in two competitions which were really difficult but really fun too.

As I’ve said, we train in those climbing walls, but only to get fitter and stronger, because you need to improve your ability to be able to climb real mountains or rocks, which are the real fun! Depending on your ability, you can access certain circuits. And the better you get, the higher-graded routes you can enjoy. These grades show the difficulty of the variety of routes. There are lots of ways to express the grade, but here in Spain we use roman numbers from I to V (for the really easy routes, almost like ascending stairs) and then we use the French graduation with numbers from 6 and up, and letters like a, b, c to be more precise (being “a“ the easiest and “c”, the hardest).

 The equipment we need is not abundant, we just use climbing shoes and special chalk (to avoid the sweat and grab the holds easier). Obviously, if you want to climb higher, you’ll need protection like a special mat (“crashpad”), a helmet, rope and a harness.

The thing I like the most of climbing is the variety of ways that you can practise this sport. It seems that it’s always the same, but it’s actually the opposite. You have lots of alternatives depending on the weather:

• ·       During the winter it’s really cold so you can enjoy ice climbing
• ·         During the summer it’s really hot to train indoors so... you can practise psicobloc!!!

What’s psicobloc?

Psicobloc is a type of climbing practised on cliffs by rivers, the sea, or any mass of water. The advantage of psicobloc is that when practising it, you don’t have to care about protection, you just climb as high as you can (and as high as your fear lets you) and then you just need to be brave and jump into the water.

We practise psicobloc in a lake in Guadalajara. There, we take our canoes, we row until the route we prefer, we climb it... and then we jump!

In my opinion, psicobloc is the best part of climbing because you can mix the fun of climbing with the fun of swimming and jumping into the water. 

MY FAVOURITE HOLIDAYS

MI FAVOURITE HOLIDAYS

Mi favourite holidays are in the mountains.

Every year my family an I go to Baqueira to ski in Christmas and sometimes on EAster holidays.

The trip to Baqueira lasts abaut six hours. When we arrive, firs we go to the apartment and then we tidy up the house and after that we go to the ski shop to rent the ski equipment.

Next day in the morning we wake up, have breakfast and finally we get dressed for skiing. When we are ready, we buy the forfaits and then my family and I catch the cabin that takes us to the mountains. Once we are already on the top we start enjoying ourselves skiing.

While we are skiing I prefer to go with my father because he skies faster than my mother  and he is more daring choosing the ski runs.

My brother an I always compete to see who goes faster and I always win but on the other hand I'm very clumsy and often fall while I'm skiing. Once I twisted my ankle skiing, I remember that happens in virgin snow and a man called the medical service and they took me on a stretcher and brought me down.

The bad thing of skiing is when you have to wake up early for have more time to ski in the ski runs because it's closed at 5pm, but I think that this sport is great and you can have fun with your friends or your family.

ONE STUDENT

Hi readers, 

I want to say "hi" for the first time and say that this blog its a really good idea, that helps readers to know how and what do we think.

I'm going to talk about my experience in England. I've been in England for 1 month and I want to say that it has been the best month ever. I've been in a school from Liverpool called De Aston (Market Rasen) the students the first day were very surprised about us coming, everyone was trying to speak spanish (that was REALLY funny), The first day I got a "buddy friend", I was with Olivia all the time (that was a little bit boring😩) because she was really quiet and I love to speak and to meet people so the boys started to talk with me (that was more interesting) and they were like trying to speak spanish and the things that they knew are rude words (so I was laughing all time) The timetable was really good because the school finishes at 3:30 (I loved that).

Then in the boarding house we were like 15 spanish so we had like "spanish meetings" the others were like [stupid spanish meetings...] and that, but we made lots of really good friends❤️  

I loved saturdays because all we did was waking up late and be all day in pijamas and eating... 
That was really fun.

The day we left ALL the boarding house was crying and hugging each other, two days after the chinese people told us that the boarding without spanish was really quiet spanish people are really loud.....

THE HUNGER GAMES

The Hunger Games

It´s an action and dramatic film by the famous author Gary Ross.

The film is about the poorest 12 districts where every year one woman and one man from each district fights for their life or death and there can only survive one.

The protagonists are Candis(the actresse's name is Jennifer Lawrence) and Pita(the actor's name is Josh Hutcherson).

It premiered in March of 2012 in France and other places in USA, it was the most seen in one weekend.

The protagonists win these games but as can only win one and the two planned to be alive so the person that makes the games decides that one of the two has to die.

But as they have won,all the district(the number 12)has food for a whole year.

After this film there are three more with the name:on fire and mockingjay part 1 and 2.

By Natalia Oriol.

JOHN LENNON – HAPPY XMAS

JOHN LENNON – “HAPPY XMAS”

Christmas is coming! Because of that, today I’m going to talk about an emblematic Christmas song called “Happy Xmas (War Is Over), composed by John Lennon.

WHO’S JOHN LENNON?

John Lennon was a British singer and musician that founded the band “The Beatles” with Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, a band that became a reference in modern music’s history . 

BIOGRAPHY

He was born in Liverpool, the 9^th October of 1940, while the Nazis’ airplanes where bombarding the city. His father abandoned his family when he was a child.

During a few years, he studied in the Academy of Fine Arts, where in 1956, he met Paul McCartney. Two years later, George Harrison joined the band, and they started playing in bars under the name of “The Nurk Twins”.

 In 1958, Lennon’s mother died, and he tried to find a job with no success, so he lived unemployed for a few years.

 In 1960, the group was renamed to “Long John and the Silver Beatles”, a name that, in the end, was summarized as “The Beatles” because of a word game that Lennon did, blending the musical term “beat” and the word “beetles”.   John, Paul and George went on a tour to Scotland, accompanying a singer called Johnny Gentle. When they returned to their home town, they started playing in a subterranean club, The Cavern, where they exhibited their songs and music. In 1961, Brian Epstein, who owned a record shop, discovered them. Since then, the musical career of “The Beatles” took off. In 1962, Ringo Starr joined “The Beatles” as the drummer of the band. So, then, the group was completed and prepared to face the whirlwind of triumphs and glory. The songs of the Beatles were composed by John and Paul, and the entire band stood out because of their new clothing style and haircut, and their funny and challenging attitude, especially leaded by Lennon. 

A few years later, John married the Japanese Yoko Ono in Gibraltar.

In 1970, because of the financial problems and the supposed artistic jealousy between Paul and John, “The Beatles” broke up. When the band was dissolved, Lennon said: “the dream is finished”.

At that time, Lennon became a peace activist and his talent for composing and songwriting was reflected in songs like "Give peace a chance", "Power to the people" or "Some time in New York City". But his most successful song was “Imagine”, produced in 1971 that became a peace hymn in those conflictive times. 

In 1980, John recorded the album “Double Fantasy”. In the songs of this album, he wrote about his unconditional love to his wife and his son. The 8^th December he was murdered by Mark David Chapman, a fan who shot him five times when Lennon was going back home. This event turned him into a “modern legend”

HIS SONG “HAPPY XMAS”

The story behind this song

Lennon composed this song as a protest against the Vietnam War. This purpose is reflected in the lyrics, that are based in an advertising campaign that Lennon and Yoko did in 1969. The couple rented out hoardings and magazines so they could publish in an article the slogan “War is over (If You Want It). This advertising campaign was developed in eleven cities, such as London, Athens, Rome, New York and Tokyo. That’s why, in one of the verses Lennon asks for peace, (and so happy Christmas for the yellow and red ones), in which “the yellow ones” symbolizes the Vietnameses and “the red ones” symbolizes the Americans.  

When, who and where is the song recorded?

The song, recorded in the “Record Plant Studios” in New York in October 1971, starts with John and Yoko wishing merry Christmas to their children.  

John recorded the song with his wife and a children choir called “Harlem Community Choir” with singers, such as Hugh McCracken, Stuar Sharf and Chris Osborn and guitarists, Jim Kelther as well as the drummer and Nicky Hopkins playing the keyboard. 

Xmas spreads out of the world

The single was published the 6^th December of 1971 in EEUU, and in the UK in November 1972. When Lennon died, the song was reedited as a single in CD with songs like “Imagine” and “Instant Karma!”, part of the LP “Lennon Legend: The Very Best of John Lennon”.

In 2006, the band “The Fray” recorded a version of the song, and so did several groups and musicians like Melissa Etheridge, Céline Dior or Neil Diamond.

Xmas in Youtube

You can find this song posted on YouTube if you click on this link:   x-mas. 

The lyrics of “Happy Xmas (Was Is Over)” put us face to face with the year that comes and the one that is finished and shows a world divided by power, wealth, race and ideology. Lennon asks people to keep hope alive and to wish the war to end.

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear ones
The old and the young

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas (War is over)
For weak and for strong (If you want it)
For rich and the poor ones (War is over)
The road is so long (Now)
And so Happy Christmas (War is over)
For black and for white (If you want it)
For yellow and red ones (War is over)
Let's stop all the fight (Now)

A very merry Christmas
And a happy New Year 

THE REAL STORY OF SANTA CLAUS

The real story of Santa Claus:

Everybody knows something about the famous legend of Christmas...the lovely and fat Santa Claus. But not so many people know about the real story of this man. The tradition to receive presents on Christmas that this odd and agil men leaves at our house in the middle of the night, is something that we have been doing since many years. But the real story, is something a little bit longer.

The real santa.

This man was the not as well known , Bishop St. Nicholas of Bari. Born in a village of ancient Turkey called Lycia . The story basically tells that , at Christmas time , this bishop , observed poverty by passing by some of his neighbors . Moved by compassion and generosity , he decided to throw a few coins wrapped in cloth out the window outside their homes, always disappearing without being seen. One of the three neighbors who were helped , ran after him to reach by Nicholas, who made ​​him swear to keep the secret until his death. This secret was kept it until his death , many years later. 

The apparence.
The bishop did not look like the current Santa. The truth is that he was a young man, tall and thin. And it was not until 1809, when the writer Washington Irving, in a book titled Knickerbocker 's History of New York decided to modify the appearance of the bishop by making him the fat and smiling man that he is today. This Santa Claus wore clothes in white and gold, wearing a fur coat and carrying a Dutch pipe and a hat with wings. The next years, Santa Claus took on different outfits in different colors like green for example. 
The Coca cola company was, years later in 1931,who decided to choose the Santa Claus dressed in red entrusting this design to the American painter Thomas Nast . Although this had been originally created by the magazine “Puck” around the year 1902. Since the multinational became so popular, this character as become imperative for Christmas .


The name










The name Santa Claus is derived from Sinterklass (St. Nicholas) , it was how the dutch called him, and when they founded New
Holland (New York) they told  the Americans about this men to ,who with their  pronounciation ended up modifying his name to Santa Claus. And when they came to Europe they called him Father Christmas, name that has been translated to different languages like spanish for example ( Papa Noel ).

∙There are many legends about this beloved character . But most important is that thanks to a priest who decided to take part of his generosity hundred years ago , today wecan all live the Christmas season with a lot more enthusiasm , especially children .