Children's day

The United Nations General Assembly recommended in 1954 (resolution 836(IX)) that all countries institute a Universal Children's Day, to be observed as a day of worldwide fraternity and understanding between children and of activity promoting the welfare of the world's children. It suggested to governments that the Day be observed on the date which each considers appropriate.

In Argentina Children's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of August, TODAY!!!
HAPPY DAY CHILDREN!

Olympic Games

This is the link to the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Enjoy it!

http://en.beijing2008.cn/

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is the longest named railway station in the world. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgo gerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch is an actual town in Wales.Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, translated in English means "The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".
The locals hardly use this long word, instead call it as Llanfair.
Also, this town boasts the longest single word (without the hyphens) .com domain name in the world. The maximum allowed characters as a .com domain name is 67 characters in length. So this, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com has a few more characters to spare (58 characters in length). Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.com is officially in the Guinness Book of World Records and was registered by Internetters on 21st October 1999.

There are two other towns with longer name than llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogery chwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, one in New Zealand with 92 characters long, "Tetaumatawhakatang ihangakoauaotamateaurehaeaturipukap ihimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuaakitanarahu" and the other in Thailand which has a staggering 163 characters long named, "Krungthepmahanakornamornra tanakosinmahintarayutthayamahadilokph opnopparatrajathaniburiromudomrajaniwes mahasatharnamornphimarnavatarnsathitsakkattiyavisanukamprasit".

It is easy to understand why the people living there burst into tears when you ask them where they are from.

Winter

Winter

Autumn winds are dying
As winter rears its head.
Soon the land will sleep again
In the silence of the dead.
The gray sky seems a blanket.
The golden trees now bare;
Their branches reach out to the sky
To grasp the misty air.

Dark browns replace the orange
And grays replace the blue
Soon snow will change this landscape
As the spiral dance holds true

The silence will be welcomed
By a solitary crow.
An eerie song of mystery
That few will ever know.

For winter keeps its secrets,
The ones not hard to hide.
The answer's all around us,
But the question sleeps inside.

Friend's day

Friend's Day is a celebration of friendship held annually on July 20th, mainly in Argentina and Uruguay but also in some other countries.

The idea for Friend's Day goes back to Argentine teacher, musician, and dentist Enrique Febbraro, who had the idea of turning the anniversary of the first moon landing into an international day of friendship. He argued that on this particular day, the whole world had been friends of the three astronauts. The first official recognition of the day came with decree No. 235/79 by the government of the province of Buenos Aires, which authorized the celebration and gave it official nature.

In Argentina, Friend's Day is often a good excuse for a common friendly gathering, though people also employ the day to get in contact with old and seldom-met friends and greet them. Since it is not a public holiday in Argentina, the gatherings tend to happen during the evening.

Though Friend's Day has always been respected, in recent years it has turned into a very popular mass phenomenon. In 2005, too many well-wishing friends led to a temporary breakdown of the mobile phone network in the cities of Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario. In Rosario, the celebration of the Friends Day has been moved to the 19th of July, when Roberto Fontanarrosa, the best comic writer of the city, died.

Source: http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/MegaBBS/forumthread12038.htm

Mandela's words

While reading about Nelson Mandela, South Africa and the Apartheid last Friday, I found this quotation I'd like to share with you.

Mandela's statement from the dock in the Rivonia Trial ends with these words:

I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

Verb tense practice

Those of youwho want to practise with verb tenses should try this website. You can do exercises and get corrected on-line. Thank you Anto for the tip!
Good luck!

www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html

Irish Prayer

Today is a very cold morning, it's freezing outside!, but I found this Irish prayer that could make you feel warmer inside. I hope you like it!

Always remember to forget
The things that made you sad.

But never forget to remember
The things that made you glad.

Always remember to forget
The friends that proved untrue.

But never forget to remember
Those that have stuck by you.

Always remember to forget
The troubles that passed away.

But never forget to remember
The blessings that come each day.

Ken Nesbitt

Ken Nesbitt is a children's poet from Spokane, USA. His poems have appeared in every book in the acclaimed Kids Pick the Funniest Poems series and in school textbooks around the world. He writes a popular children's poetry web site, and his poems are also consistent winners of the "Read 'Em and Rate 'Em" contest on www.GigglePoetry.com.

Here is another of his poem (Back to School was also written by him)

This Poem's Not About a Dog

This poem's not about a dog.
It's not about a cat.
It's not about a fish or frog
or anything like that.

It's also not about my shoe,
or cows from outer space,
or purple pigs from Timbuktu,
or weasels on your face.

This poem's not the slightest bit
about some guy named Fred.
There are no robot ducks in it,
or hippos overhead.

It's not about electric sheep,
or eighty-five times nine,
or watching grandpa fall asleep,
or cheese from Lichtenstein.

It's not about a hungry hog
who ate a bowling ball.
This poem's not about a dog,
or anything at all.

--Kenn Nesbitt

Julian Beever

In a few days Julian Beever is going to be in Buenos Aires. Julian Beever is an English artist who draws and paints flat images on the floor, if you look at those images from the right angle, the pictures seem to defy the laws of perspective and you'll see an amazing 3-D effect. He only uses chalk, so after some time his works vanish. What a pity!

Here is an example,

Could you believe this is just a regular drawing on the floor? Incredible, isn't it?

If you want to read more about him:
http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/index.html