(Insert Your Own "Wizard of Oz" Joke Here)

Man, it's been windy here for the last few days. I've never seen wind like this, and I've been to Wyoming!* In any case, the house where we're staying now has a nailed-on roof (as opposed to a screwed-on one). For a few nights, the wind was lifting the tin panels into the air slightly (and taking some of the support beams with them). Every 20 seconds or so, the wind would let up a bit, causing the tin and the wood beams to slam down onto the rest of the roof. As you can imagine, this doesn't make for sweet dreams, especially when the crashing is literally above your head, with a thin layer of wood ceiling protecting you...a thin layer of wood ceiling that is continually dropping dust, dirt particles, dead bugs, and other crap on your head while you're trying to sleep...

Anyhow, the house where we live now belongs to Angela's brother, and he repaired it very well, and it's now pretty solid. Unfortunately, we can't say the same about the poor garage, which is getting screwed up more and more each day. They can't repair it since the wind hasn't let up enough to make it safe to get on the roof.

Fortunately, our new house was just fine, since it's built with stronger, more wind-resistant techniques and materials. We did lose a few giant pine trees, though, but they were ugly and blocking our view of the gulf anyhow. And the rest of Berl�n wasn't so lucky, either. One house actually blew down yesterday. No one was living there, and since it was a seasonal house for coffee pickers, it probably wasn't built very solidly, but still....shit, man.

So for all of you who may think that living in "paradise" is a fairy tale, well, you're sometimes right. But this time, the story is "The Three Little Pigs," evidently.

Well, that's about the news for now. I'd have written more, but we also keep losing electricity, and it's hard to motivate when everything going on around you just makes you want to crawl back into bed (or under your desk).

Hope everyone is doing well, and remember to hold on to something solid.

*One time when I went from Colorado to the Wyoming border with my friend Josh, we opened the car door to get out and take some pictures of the "Welcome to Wyoming" sign. An enormous burst of wind blew into the car and swept out a Burger King bag that had been in the back seat. Seconds later, I'm sure it pelted someone in Nebraska in a small explosion of nose-blood and ketchup packets.

The Cheapest Destinations In Europe

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January was very significant month for me. Thanks to internet, my relatives found me. I did not see them for about 30 or more years and was very glad to know they remember me. Some of them are married with Germans and live today in Germany. And now all of those want now to come in Italy for holidays. So, we have to think about interesting places to visit, about hotels because we have not place for great companies, about prices etc.

All this I tell you to explain that I know prices in our zone.

That is why I was surprized to read an article today. The name of that article was sometinng about most cheap cities in Europe. Written by a person that does not know real situation. Well, I know, many articles are written not from own experience but using internet resources.

So, if you want to visit something, you have to consider that:
1/ there are touristic zones and not touristic zones.
2/ In every touristic zone live persons that are locals and not tourists. And they can't pay tourist prices.
As the conseguence, it's enough sometimes to enter a non-touristic street to find non-touristic prices. It's enough to book in non-central street/part of a town to have half a price for a hotel.

You have to come some hours earlier if you have a meeting. This way I could find single rooms in hotels in Milano for 35-40 euros. Do you know how much have you pay in Milan for a room? I found an entire street of cheep hotels that I could not find when I looked for them in internet and in yellow pages. Well, it was 1 hour from the place of the meeting, but it was not a problem for me.

In the touristic street of Salerno you can pay for coffee even 1 euro. Make 10 steps in the side-street and you will find same coffee for 0,60 of euro.

My relatives wanted to come here and found a room in a hotel in touristic zone for 635 euros 5 nights for 4 persons, more they had to pay 18 euros parking a day. They want to come with their auto. Our non-touristic zoner is 12 km from the sea. We found a room for 65 euros for 4 persons (325 x5 nights) with parking gratis. In the center of a near town. What are 12 km made with a car?

So, I want to say, if you want to have non-touristic prices, use your brain when you travel.


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Walk - Foret de Branguily (Tues 10)

We have a walk on Tuesday (start 2pm) in the Foret de Branguily, including the Nantes-Brest canal and the Rigole d'Hilvern, its extraordinary feeder channel which wiggles across the landscape for more than 60kms to bring water from the reservoir at Bosm�l�ac. Short walk, straightforward route - let's hope for a lull in the wet weather :-) Everyone welcome. Details on www.brittanywalks.com

The Mangy Wolf

Here is my attempt at a photograph of the local mangy wolf. Another area blogger, Sue at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters , wrote recently about this wolf. The wolf has set up housekeeping on the south shore of Gunflint Lake, as she has been seen widely throughout our area.

I say she, because Greg believes that it is a female wolf, based on observations of her and some of her habits. Another person, who saw her in pursuit of a deer, concurred. He was driving on the Mile of Pine road, when a deer came careening onto the road, with this wolf in pursuit. The wolf paused for a moment to urinate in the road, and didn't seem to be bothered by the car at all.

In late December, three wolves were in the yard of Sharlene, Greg's mom. She was watching them go about their business, and then she noticed the mangy wolf hanging around, too. She said that it was very evident that the lone wolf was not allowed to be anywhere near the other three. It was as though they were shunning her. It makes sense, as they need to protect themselves from the mange. That same trio was spotted a day later, right on the ice in front of our cabin called Birch. One of the three had a noticeable problem with its gait when it ran. We suspect that it had a dislocated shoulder.

Several folks in the last weeks had been telling me that they were seeing this mangy wolf, but it was a long time before I finally caught a glimpse of her. One of the first things I noticed was how large her head seemed in proportion to her body. Then I realized that it is because the body of a healthy wolf is fluffed up and filled out with a thick coat of hair at this time of the year. While she is definitely lacking in a decent coat, she does not look as sickly as a mangy wolf that we saw several years ago when we had chickens. At that point, I should say we had one rooster. That mangy wolf came in to the yard to try and get Blizzard, to give him the same fate as the two little hens we had lost the previous night. That wolf looked to be in much worse shape and it was summertime. This girl actually looks like she might pull through. We give her credit for making it through two cold snaps so far.

She also has the habit of dropping a large pile of scat at the bottom of the highline ski trail, out near our gravel pit. It is certainly a decent pile she leaves, noticeably full of fur. So it appears that she is able to still hunt and pursue in order to get protein into her diet.

Though I haven't been able to find out the possibility of this, we are hoping that she can survive the winter and somehow rid herself of the mange.

In the meantime, she will remain in a lonely position, like in this last photo, as she takes off up the hill.

Congratulations to Adriana!

The girl on the left of this picture is my lovely wife Angela, and on the right is Adriana Mora, one member of our army of nieces and nephews. Last weekend she graduated from the Universidad Latina with a degree in Administration, so I just wanted to say congratulations to her!

The picture was taken by Angela. The two intended to graduate at the same time, but due to various circumstances, Angela got out a bit earlier. In any case, many congratulations to both of these lovely ladies, and best of luck to you both in the future!

Sitzmedia: Language Websites

Now that I�ve been teaching English at a call center for about a year, I�ve had many chances to go through the internet to gather various materials for listening and speaking exercises. If you�re reading this blog, then you can obviously understand some English, and for most of you, it�s your native language. There�s also a good chance that you take that fact for granted.

I am often taken aback by some of the English questions that my students have come up with, and I�m also surprised by the questions that I find myself asking. English is a very incredible and weird language, when it comes down to it.

Consider our vocabulary for a moment. I toss out scores of vocabulary words to my students every day but I know that I�m only scratching the surface of a deep ocean of wonderful words. Then again, in a book called �The Mother Tongue� by�once again�Bill Bryson, he comments: �Here, as in almost every other area of language, natural bias plays an inescapable part in any attempt at evaluation. No one has ever said, �Yes, my language is backward and unexpressive, and could really do with some sharpening up.��

The point of this whole discussion is to draw your attention to a few resources that you, presumably as a native speaker of English, may not have even known were out there. The Internet is all about strange little insular worlds concentrated on one idea or area of expertise, and the digital realm of English Language Learning is no exception to that concept.

I have selected a few resources, both digital and in print, that you might find interesting, even if you�ve spoken English since the day you were born. Consider them curiosities to add to the bookcases and knick-knack shelves of your brain, if you will. The first two have proven useful and entertaining to both my students and myself, and the third is just a good book about the history of the English language. The last is just a weird, random thing if you�re into Swedish� and who isn�t these days?

Take a look or have a listen if you ever get the chance, and see how the other, English-learning half lives:

1. http://www.talkenglish.com/
This site is a collection of hundreds of dialogue samples and real-life scenarios, all of which have imbedded audio and text, both of which are great for my teaching purposes. The audio is kind of dry and at times even nerdy, but if you�re trying to learn how to talk the talk, this is a great site. If you already speak English, it�s worth checking out the profanity or sex talk parts, just to remark to your coworkers, �Wow, listen to this geeky-sounding voice talking about how he likes big titties!�

2. http://www.china232.com/
This is a collection of podcasts and their complementary English lessons. As the site�s title indicates, the podcasts are from China, and they are recorded by two Canadians (but we won�t hold their nationality against them�for now). The lessons are definitely for language learners, and if you�re not careful, the speakers� slow, nearly-monotone Canadian voices can lull you to sleep. But when you pay close attention to the humor that�s beneath each broadcast, it�s quite easy to get pulled in and listen to these two brothers explain their take on everyday things. All in all, it�s enough to make you want to call your own brother to try to convince him to move abroad with you to record an English-learning podcast�Paul, you in?

3. "The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way," by Bill Bryson
This is the book that I mentioned previously in the post, and it�s one of my favorites by Bryson. While he�s a hilarious writer in basically any circumstance or scenario, he also proves himself to be a consummate researcher and academic in books like this. This fascinating book frames the development of the English language by considering its historical, cultural, and contemporary significance. My personal favorite section is�of course�the one on swearing. A sample from page 215:

�English is unusual in including the impossible and the pleasurable in its litany of profanities. It is a strange and little-noted idiosyncrasy of our tongue that when we wish to express extreme fury we entreat the object of our rage to undertake an anatomical impossibility or, stranger still, to engage in the one activity that is bound to give him more pleasure than almost anything else. Can there be, when you think about it, a more improbable sentiment than, �Get fucked!�? We might as well snarl, �Make a lot of money!� or �Have a nice day!�

As an aside, Bryson also wrote a book called �Made in America,� which examines our language even more closely, but from a specifically American English perspective. Both books are well worth your time if language remotely interests you. The more compact "Mother Tongue" is a good start if you�re just curious about English or language development in general, but would prefer to learn about it with bit of a laugh.

4. Swedish Radio Site: Klartext
This is the weird one for people who like Swedish. It�s basically daily radio broadcasts from Svenska Radio, but with simplified vocabulary and slower speech. If you happen to be learning Swedish, it�s a great resource, and if you�re not learning Swedish, it�s still funny to laugh at. Check it out one way or the other. First, follow the link above. Below the calendar, click on the little speaker symbol for the day you want to listen to. An audio player should pop up, and after choosing your player preferences, click "Spara" (Save). Listen, enjoy, and repeat as necessary!

Well, that�s it for today. Now, you had all better start studying, because all of this could possibly show up on the quiz!

Oh, Coast Tasty

Sorry I've not posted anything in quite a few days. When I went to the internet caf�, it didn't have internet. This happens surprisingly often for a place called an internet caf�*.

Ah, sometimes I love this country so much that I think I might just scream till my head explodes...

Fear not, though, the situation is being dealt with, and we'll be back in service directly.

Thanks for reading!



*Especially considering that internet caf�s here don't have caf�s, either, even on their best days... just internet. And although some caf�s have wireless internet, it's just an incidental coincidence, and the internet at those usually doesn't work anyhow.