luni, 14 iunie 2010

The almighty World Cup

To start with... i have no clue what football really is. I managed to understand last year what "a corner" was but now i swear i have no clue. I've never loved it, to be honest i hate it with a passion. What i do like these days is watching the supporters. All supporters - african, german, english, romanians and so on. I'm talking about the peaceful ones. The ones that gather in a pub in front of a tv screen with their cheeks painted, with flags and vuvuzelas, yelling from the top of their lungs when their favorite team scores. Even if it won't let me sleep or focus on what i'm doing, i do like to hear my neighbors suddenly yell and then feel the walls shaking because they're either dancing or crashing on the floor.
I was thinking these days, with all the fuss about the WC, how i used to stay up until late with my cousin and watch the game, even if i had no idea what was going on. I was just watching the scores and it was all that mattered. Sometimes we were out to play, and all the kids from the neighborhood were gathered under the windows of the first floor apartments to hear what was happening. Which wasn't really necessary because when something happened the whole neighborhood would be filled with a tremendous buzz sound and you could hear people screaming from two blocks away. And we would either do our little victory dance or be confused and worried as if that were our kids playing. I remember us swearing we would go out in the street with the crowd if our team would win, but of course, being around 7 years at that time we had to please ourselves with just watching the crowd from the window.
What i'm trying to say is, even if i'm not a supporter of something in particular, like football, i appreciate people who are and i like to be happy with them.
So may the best win! i'll be happy for them and celebrate alongside whichever team would be! :)

P.s.: i want a vuvuzela!!!
P.p.s: and we would all eat ice cream shaped in a football!

miercuri, 9 iunie 2010

The end (?)

The English diary... I never forgot about it, but only now I realize that I shouldn't have waited for someone to tell me what to write in it, or when to write in it. And I should've written in it, because now all the thoughts are coming in my head and I don't know how to put them down in order and I'm sure I will forget some.
Overall, it's been one amazing "journey". I feel now, after this year that this class helped me overcome some of my weaknesses and develop new skills. I knew most of the hints& tips that we got, about learning or about dealing with difficult people or even common people. There were also new ones. Both were useful not only because I read them, but because I managed to put them into practice and observe them on other people. Knowing something is as useless as not knowing it if you never use it or know how to use it. This wasn't an English class as I first thought it would be when I entered that closet, sorry, that little class. I did notice after a few minutes that it wasn't going to be the typical class. Only after some time I realized that it's not a Teacher comes and gives us more or less useful information we stuff it in our notebooks and sometimes in our heads and we leave.(and that took more time than it should have taken) This was, as I see it now, a Teacher comes and we brainstorm together to come up with useful information that we chew on for the rest of the week. Because every time I left the English class I left it with my head still looking for some answers that were only going to come from me. I found answers to some questions and managed to solve some long existing issues, like self confidence and why I was missing it, and more importantly, I convinced myself that hundreds of us claiming to be so different are more similar at the core than one could ever think. We all share the same problems in a certain degree and we all want pretty much the same things, only we express it differently. I know answers to many questions, but I know it's up to me how I am going to use them, but I AM STARTING THAT REVOLUTION and i don't care who will join me or not. And this is the most serious promise I made so far. I don't have a plan, but starting now I will think twice before doing or saying something and I will force myself to get out of my shell because nothing will happen if I stay comfortable in there. Oh, as cruel as it might be, I am determined to get other people out of their bubbles!
Anyway...I am rambling :) sorry...
There was a moment there when you asked about friends that we made this year. And yes, I made 3 friends this year at the English class. One of them I had met before at other classes, but I think, no... I am pretty sure that we wouldn't have become friends if we weren't together at the English class. The other 2, those two I am sure they will be good friends even in the future. Those might just be those kind of friendships you never let go to. And I met them at the English class. It's probably because of the "magic" of the English class that made us realize what we are and realize how many great things we have in common. And I think Teacher will be a good friend for the next years! I am not going to leave you in that same darkness, because this won't be an experience i will forget. And I know these are just words, I still have to prove it!
The end of this class meant more than any other end that i have come to. It was finally an end that made me count nice memories, made me think, and made me look to the future with a bunch of useful things I have gathered and will make my way there easier. What I'm trying to say is that the end of this class wasn't really an end. It was just the ending of the first "growing process" that probably was the hardest one.
I collected a lot of quotes at every class. My turn now, here's one I found a few days ago, and fits very well here: "A teacher is a person who never says anything once" (Howard Nemerov) and I could add, that's also a person who is willing to share experience to make you better!
I am sure I had more things to say, but I think i made my point and said the more important bits. THANK YOU for making a great LEARNING TEAM! All of this wouldn't have happened without someone to open my eyes, but wouldn't have happened without me finally keeping them opened for more than a few minutes! :) If I would get the chance to do this again (no, I don't want to repeat the year!) I would do it in a completely different way, pretty much as I had started to perceive it towards the end of the semester!