Shadows

No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

2007-05-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

I’ve enjoyed myself reading No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency. In spite of the writer is a man, he knows perfectly how women are: “We need more women in public life. They are very practical people, women. Unlike us men.” … “Women are gentle most of the time, but they can be tough when they need to be.”
Mma Ramotswe was to quick to agree. : “If more women were in power, they wouldn’t let wars break out. Women can’t be bothered with all this fighting. We see war for what it is – a matter of broken bodies and crying mothers” page 194

He introduces the reader to Africa very well. While you’re reading you’re seeing all the landscape descriptions in your mind:
“She drove past the hills to the east of Mochudi and down into the broad valley beyond. All around her there was nothing – just endless bush that stretched away to the bounds of the Kalahari on the one side and the plains of the Limpopo on the other. Empty bush, with nothing in it, but some cattle here and there and the occasional creaking windmill bringing up a tiny trickle of water for the thirsty beasts; nothing, that was what her country was no rich in – emptiness.” page 163.
“To the front, an acacia tree, the thorn tree which dots the wide edges of the Kalahari; the great white thorns, a warning; the olive-grey leaves, by contrast, so delicate.” page 1
“The tiny grey-green leaves, like blades of grass, were folded in upon themselves, against the heat, and beyond them the empty sky, so pale as to be white; and the smell of dust” pages 88-89

Mma Ramotswe’s surname is Precious. Wonderful name! She is a precious African woman: “Her weight was hardly a confidential matter, and anyway, she was proud of being a traditionally built African lady, unlike these terrible, stick-like creatures one saw in the advertisements. Then there were her corns – well, those were more or less on public display when she wore her sandals. Really, there was nothing that she felt she had to hide.” page 193

She is a religious woman although she had been puzzled when she was young:
“Precious Ramotswe learned about good and evil at Sunday School. … She could not believe that Lord had walked on water – you just couldn’t do that- …These were lies, she was sure of it, and the biggest lie of all was that the Lord had no Daddy on this earth.” pages 33-34
“She said her prayers whispering the words although there was nobody in the house to hear her. It was always the same prayer, for the soul of her father, Obed, for Botswana and for the rain that would made the crops grow and the cattle fat, and for her little baby, now safe in the arms of Jesus. pages 90-91

Precious is a modern woman. She is self-confident and self-contained. She is proud of living alone. “This was what husbands were for. If she had accepted him long ago, then she would not be driving alone up to Mahalapye. She would have a man with her and he would be getting under the van to poke the snake out of its place.” page 165

I think that paragraph is the best to understand the Mma Ramotswe’s behavior and life:
“God had been kind to her. He had given her a happy childhood, even if her mother had been taken from her when she was a baby. She had been looked after by her father and her kind cousin and they had taught her what it was to give love – love which she had in turn given, over those few precious days, to her tiny baby. When the child’s battle for life had ended, she had briefly wondered why God had done it to her, but in time she has understood. Now his kindness to her was manifest again, this time in the appearance of Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, a good, kind man. God had sent her a husband” page 242”

MORE ABOUT ANIMALS

2007-05-18T08:21:00.000-07:00

Curiosities about animals

All these sentences are true.

Elephants are the only mammals that can’t jump.
Cockroaches can live without a head for 8 days. They die of starvation.
Penguins can drink sea water. They have a special enzyme that filters the water and releases the salt from their beak.
Giraffes can lick their ears with their tongues.
Snails can sleep for three years.
Bats can sleep upside down. Bats can eat 1000 mosquitoes in 1 hour.
Tigers like swimming.
Mosquitoes like bananas. If you have eaten a banana they are more likely to bite you.
Polar bears eat with their left paw/hand. All polar bears are left-handed.
Frogs can’t drink. They absorb water via osmosis. Some frogs eat mice. There’s a large Argentinean frog that can eat a mouse in one swallow.
The original name for the butterfly was flutterby.
Mosquito repellents don’t repel. They hide you. The spary blocks the mosquito’s sensors so they don’t know you’re there,
To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, prick your fingers into its eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.
The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.
Crocodile only animal & reptile that sheds tear while eating.
There are more chickens than people in the world
The thumbnail grows the slowest, and the middle nail grows the fastest.
It is physically impossible for pigs to look up into the sky.
Butterflies taste with their feet.
In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated
The ant always falls over on its right side when intoxicated

LEARNING ENGLISH

2007-05-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

Spanish’ newspapers are full of advertisements written in English. I don’t know if current people are able to understand the message. English is cool in Spain.
Here, there are some of them I’ve been collecting this month.
I’ve enjoyed myself doing that work, and the most important thing: I’ve learnt new words. (I’ve kept them to show you they are true.)

Perfumery and health:
The new fragrance for men Bulgary
Be seduced… 212 sexy. Carolina Herrera
Pure white linen Estée Lauder
High definition lashes Clinique
Lancôme loves men. Age fight
Continuous rescue antioxidant moisturizer Clinique
Gillette fusion hydra soothe
Aromatic sculpting gel Shiseido body creator
Perfectly fit seduction Calvin Klein
Fat combustion accelerator gel. Reduce and define your abdomen perimeter. Yacel for men
Resilience lift extreme. Ultra firming makeup Estée Lauder
Hylexin: formulated to help reduce the appearance of serious dark circles and visible puffiness surrounding the orbital eyes
Bayer HealthCare
Turbo slim men 24 h Forté Pharma Laboratoires
Advanced technology in sleeping Duxiana

Clothes:
Adventure anywhere Timberland
Not for ordinary people. Alcott
Space for your style Friday’s project
Born again, it’s Friday. Friday’s project
This is the authentic American Style. Arrow
Great minds think alike Ermenegildo Zegna
An exclusive personalised collection. Massimo Dutti (personal tailoring)
Global warming ready Diesel for successful living
I’m in Lois. Love is Lois

Watches:
Be urban. Be Tous
What are you made of? TAGHeuer Swiss avant-garde since 1860
George Clooney’s choice Omega

Travelling:
Life’s a journey. Samsonite black label
There’s no better way to fly. Lufthansa

Drinks:
Forever genuine since 1820 Beefeater

Vehicles:
The power of dreams Honda

2007-04-22T11:20:00.000-07:00

I went to Berlin with some friends this Easter holidays. Berlin is a very, very big city. It’s a plain area so there are lots of bicycles. Berlin is a modern city with lots of new buildings. I recommend you: the Sonny Center and the new Haupbanhof station.
Berlin is cosmopolitan, so there are people from the whole world, consequently, there are all kind of restaurants and food.
I was very impressed by the Checkpoint Charlie and the old wall which separated the country. It was a terrible experience. I can’t understand why “people” don’t learn by their errors and make the same errors throughout the times: The Germans destroyed the wall and try to forget the horror of the war, while Israel, Melilla and other countries build new ones.

BCN IS COOL

2007-03-10T10:22:00.000-08:00

BARCELONA IS COOL

Woody Allen will set his new film in BCN with PE and Bardem and maybe with Scarlett Johansson. Last week, Allen told Jordi Hereu, the mayor of Barcelona, he wants to show our city like he shows Manhattan in his films. He will come to BCN in June.
For Allen Barcelona is cool.

Police will sing in BCN next September to celebrate their 30th anniversary. BCN will be the only place they sing in Spain
For Police Barcelona is cool.

Russian tourism in BCN has increased 123% from 2 years. 60 flies a week confirmed that. The warm weather and the cultural offer enjoy Russian tourism.
For Russian tourism Barcelona is cool.

“Barcelona and Modernity: Gaudí to Dali” is the new Metropolitan Museum of New York exhibition. People from New York and the States can enjoy and know more about our art and culture since Renaixença to the Civil War
For Metropolitan Barcelona is cool.

I live in Barcelona. I don’t know if Barcelona is cool or not. I only know that I love my city.

A true story

2007-01-13T04:39:00.000-08:00

The nurse rang the bell at 1:00 pm.
He opened it and said:
“She doesn’t want to talk to me until 12:00 pm.”
The wife was lying on the floor.
“She fell off the bed. I couldn’t pick her up. I put a blanket over her.”
The nurse realized she was dead.

2006-12-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

Unblock nose spray is a drug.

When I was a teenager as soon as I had a cold I had a runny nose. My nose was normally blocked all day, so I had to put a spray in order to unblock my nostrils. I used the spray all day and finally I was addicted to it. I couldn’t live without it. I brought it with me everywhere. I had to go to the doctor and he recommended me to add saline water in the spray and day by day put more water than spray.
It was the solution: Using only saline water I could finally unblock my nostrils.
I explain this to us because I still have a spray near my bed, in my bag, … I don’t need it but I couldn’t live without it.
If I would know how a tennis ball can unblock my nose, ... perhaps today I would have a tennis ball close to me instead the spray.

2006-12-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

The best goal I’ve never seen.

Barcelona, CAMP NOU
Saturday 25 th November 2006

7:50 pm. It’s warm. People are coming into the Stadium and getting their place.
Camp Nou is packed.
A voice announces over the loudspeakers: “One minute of silence for ….” People stand up.
During the minute we listen to “El cant dels ocells” of Pau Casals. I get goose pimples.
Immediately it sounds “L’Himne del Barça”. Everybody sings.
The players are in the middle of the football pitch. The same voice says the name of each player and the crowd say “Bé” after listening it.

8:00 pm. The game starts. People cheer their team on. There are commercials around the football pitch. Every few seconds they change. I can’t concentrate in the match. I’m attracted by the commercials.

8:35 pm. Penalty. I can’t see the fault very well. Ronaldinho scores the first goal. The stadium is one shout.

8:40 pm. I smell hotdogs. The bars are doing sandwiches for the break.

8:45 pm. The first half is over.

9:10 pm. Gudjohnsen, with his head, scores the second goal.

9:25 pm. Iniesta: 3-0.

9:35 pm. Barça wins the match. Some people stand up and go away. I don’t like all these movements of people.

9:43 pm Ronaldinho stops the ball with his chest and back to the goalkeeper he makes a “chilena” and he scores the fourth goal. People are standing up.

It isn’t a dream. Ronnie is a star.

2006-11-25T03:47:00.000-08:00

I like reading.
I’m reading 3 different books at the same time now.

One of them, “The curious incident …” I must confess I have read it in catalan last summer, so it’s more easy to me to understand it.

The second one it is a beautiful book, “El cor damunt la sorra” of Jordi Llompart. It looks like “The little prince” of Saint Exupery, but the protagonist is Jana, the writer’s daughter 7 years old who died in Namibia in April 2005.
Jordi Llompart wrote this book in order to talk with Jana, to explore her feelings and her youngest world. This book is for children but I think everybody should read it.

The third one it’s a best seller, “La Catedral del Mar”. I don’t finish reading it yet, and I have to read some pages every night. I’m envolved in the story. It talks about Barcelona, my city, in the XIV and about the life of Arnau, a catalan boy, teenager and man who must work hard to be alive. I can’t imagine the end.

2006-11-12T12:16:00.000-08:00

“You’re so vain, you probably think this song is above you …”
Carly Simon

I studied French at the school, but I learned English singing English songs.
One time, one friend of mine let me a record of “Peter, Paul and Mary”. I sang some of their songs in Catalan with my guitar. There were the English lyrics inside the record, so I listened to them many times until I learned them in English.

My sister and I won the 2nd prize at the school singing the song of Peter, Paul and Mary: If I had a hammer. We sang the song although in Catalan and English. I wonder if we won because we sang well or because we sang in English.

In 1980’s there were only 2 TV channels and my family usually watched Eurovision Song Contest every year. I remember Abba’s group and their “Waterloo”. It had got a catchy tune, but I think the best song is “Chiquitita”.

In 1980’s my sister and I loved to play to sing. We switched the record player on and sang. Now, people go to a Karaoke’s bar to sing. We didn’t need that. I have always sung. Today I still remember the lyrics of these songs I sang with my sister: Clair, Close to you, Without you, You’re so vain, Yesterday, At seventeen, Sealled with a kiss… and I still keep all these records like a treasure.

For the new Millennium my sister gave me a CD with all these nostalgic songs.

“I can’t live if living is without you …”
Nilsson

2006-11-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

“All art should have a certain mystery and should make demands on the spectator. Giving a sculpture or a drawing too explicit a title takes away part of that mystery so that the spectator moves on to the next object, making no effort to ponder the meaning of what he has just seen. Everyone thinks that he or she looks but they don't really, you know.”Henry Moore I enjoyed visiting Henry Moore exhibition. When I saw his sculptures in class I thought that I wouldn’t like the visit because abstract art isn’t easy for me to understand.(I congratulate Anna, the guide. She spoke very clear and I could understand her very well.) During the visit, I thought that some of Henry Moore’s works remembered me another artist: Antoni Gaudí. For example:Moore’s helmet remembered me Gaudi’s chimneys in la Pedrera.The same happened to me when I saw the human bones and vertebrae. I remembered the windows in Batllo’s house. Also when I saw “the bird basket” I thought about Gaudí using threads and little sacks to calculate the structures of the dome of the “Sagrada Família” It could seem rare, but I try to explain why both of them have some in common although one was an architect and the other was a sculptor.· They worked with natural elements like stones, wood, marble, bronze, … and they used found objects in their works like shells, glass, bones, …· They used round shapes instead straight lines.· They made “monumental” works: big sculptures and uncommon buildings· They have been inspirited in ancient art: African and Mexican art in Henry Moore and Chinese and medieval in Gaudí.· People didn’t understand their work. I think Henry Moore and Gaudí changed the concept of art. If Henry Moore had visited Barcelona instead the north of the country (1934), he would admired Gaudí’s buildings.

First

2006-10-22T04:37:00.000-07:00

Hello
It's the first time I create a blog.