Ithaka, a poem about the journey

The Odyssey. Image from http://keanxchange.com/sites/default/files/pr/odyssey1.gif

BY C. P. CAVAFY, 1911

TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY AND PHILIP SHERRARD

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:

you’ll never find things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind—

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you’re destined for.

But don’t hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you’re old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Source:   http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181782#poem

:( Leaving the nest ... A post with a lot of I(s)

Seattle Sunset - Google images

I am pretty sure no one will get to read this, but I feel a little nostalgic over not being able to be a teacher for a while.

I recently made a decision to leave Colombia to follow my heart, and although it feels right and I am very happy,  there is this one piece of me that is forever staying in my native land.

I miss the sweet smell of coffee and guava trees at the university, six days a week for over six years I got to know the old trunk of a tree where I sat with my friends and told each other stories. I shared a million smiles and a few tears. I saw children become teenagers and teenagers become adults. I even saw people become  bilingual.

EAFIT taught me to be a teacher, a student, to love, to listen. I always knew it was a great place to work, but now that I look back to it I think it was THE BEST place for many things.

I became a woman there, but I also learned to embrace my inner child instead of just letting it go, like other professions or other paths require it sometimes.

I am forever grateful for each one of you and for every lesson that my life as a teacher has provided.

:)

Show your English week, and my students' awesomeness!

The first Show Your English Week is over and I have nothing but positive words to describe it! However, as we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words, so...            

Tuesday

;)

Wednesday presentation

Andres Jimenez's students... they rocked

Hard work :)

Friday

Movie tickets and medals!

Course 8

Story telling

mr. cloud

Learning English using Podcasts

'Podcast' combines the words iPod and broadcast.
What this means is anyone with an internet connection can listen to what they want whenever they want, by logging into iTunes store or 'googleing' Podcasts.  Millions of gigabytes of  ideas can be played online or downloaded into your MP3 player, cellphone or iPod, for free.

It's like listening to a radio station except you don't have to tune in at an specific time or listen to things in which you're not interested. Users create their own podcasts and share their thoughts with the world, which are stored online, just waiting for your spare moment or two.

Since there are so many categories in the Podcasting world, as you can imagine there are tons of English learning possibilities.  Some of them are worth the time, especially ones designed for non-native speakers.  So  search, listen, enjoy, and improve your skills!




I recommend that you check out 'English Addicts' or some other English learning series.

Then, if you think you are ready to listen to other things ... Go for it! Topics range.  Biology, Technology, Literature, History, Arts...  Anything of interest is available. The ultimate goal when we learn a language is to fully comprehend it, and to be to able to communicate who we are, what we like, what we know...

I think that this is an amazing global tool.  So much is out there, just try!

I recommend:

www.englishaddicts.com (for non-native English speakers)

www.tunein.com (podcasts and radio stations from all over the world)

I am craving...

 a happy cupcake!  :) 

What are you craving right now?



 google images

An invitation to discuss Gender Stereotypes

I came across Twitter very recently and decided to love it - which is another story. Then, I started adding people interested in the book publishing industry - one day I will tell you why. Soon, I became aware of a blog entitled The Achilles Effect, where author Cristal Smith 'debates the impact of gender stereotypes on boys, especially the effect on their understanding of masculinity'.

She uses Word Clouds (available at wordle.net) to show how gender stereotypes are reinforced by toy TV commercials in Canada. See Smith's wordles below.  For her methodology and explanation see:
http://www.achilleseffect.com/2011/03/word-cloud-how-toy-ad-vocabulary-reinforces-gender-stereotypes/

I strongly recommend it!

Her pertinent clouds:

Boys' Toys:

And even less surprising... Girls' Toys

My question now is... Does this seem to be the case in our country?

Because we pretty much buy US toys, I guess we buy their stereotypes too, right?  But if  toy manufactors in Colombia would actually research more they would probably come up with.... the same?

What do you think?

Thanks for your comments!

Put on Your Yellow and Yell

Like many other nations in the world Colombia enjoys its soccer. We know it’s important when the TV news dedicate more than 30 minutes of their three-times-a-day broadcast to this very passionate sport.   Oh, and let’s not forget about the weekends, and the usual stadium fights that sometimes make it on national television. Any other athletes would love to get at least one of those minutes to promote their sport.


But are we loyal fans of our national team?


Last time I checked it was OK to support one’s squad. That hasn’t been the case lately though. I’ve met a lot of people who thought Colombia wasn’t going to make it through round 1 of the Copa America.
Some people argue that our coach is not bringing anything new to make us win. Some others say with disappointment that it’s probably better to not get any further since we may get our butts kicked even worse and that players like Radamel Falcao Garcia only score in Europe. We are better off without a humiliating parade of goals against.

Is this pessimism a reflection of our society? We kinda do that in our lives. Always expect the worst. Don’t get our hopes up too high. Let’s just pray speed skating makes it to the Olympics. Maybe one day.   But not tonight.


What happened to the ‘Si, si, Colombia, si, si Caribe’ thing? Did we become too used to losing? Are we a glass half empty country? Or is it that I’m blind and our national team sucks for real?

Right now all that matters is the next ninety minutes. I am a true believer in the kind of energy you put into things and how it affects the final outcome. You know, karma.  Maybe Dayro Moreno will feel my good vibes and finally score.

*extra credit if you send me an e-mail  this week with a short definition of slang and which words you think are slang.

What do you think?