10 Things You Want To Do Before You Die

Because of my age I'm limited with my choices. I can no longer play football in a Premier League football team for example or travel around Europe on a Student rail card (you need to be under 26 years old!).

However, there are other options.

1. I'd like to travel to lots of places. If money was no option I think my first stop would be Japan because I've always been fascinated by Japanese culture and I'd like to experience it first-hand.

2. I'd like to direct a movie. I started making little videos last year and I think it would be amazing to do something more professional.

3. I'd like to finish writing a novel. I've started lots but never get past 2 or 3 pages. I think if I took six months off it would be a possibility.

4. I like to record some of my newer songs in a good studio. I've made lots of recordings but I haven't recorded anything in a good studio since 1996.

5. I'd like to see Janelle Monae in concert. My nephew saw her last year and said that she was brilliant.

6. I love cooking so one of my ambitions is to open a little restaurant. Maybe it’s something I’ll do when I retire from teaching.

7. Actually, I love drinking so I’d also like to open a little bar. One that plays good music and that all my friends use as a meeting place.

8. As most of you know, I come from a big family so; I’d love to be able to invite all my family for a holiday reunion in Chile. It would be great to show them all how beautiful Chile is.

9. One of my ambitions would be to take a year off and work my way around the world. My wife and I have joked about doing it so maybe next year……….

10. Finally, I’d like to find inner peace and contentment. Phew!

My Brother Adrian

I come from a big family; I have 5 sisters and 3 brothers. Today I'm going to talk about my brother Adrian or Ady (Adie, AD) as we call him.

Ady is 18 months younger than me. He lives in Paekakariki, a lovely little beach town in New Zealand, with his wife and two teenage children. He's a furniture designer/maker but he spends a lot of time repairing violins and cellos. He's very good at what he does and enjoys doing it. He's also a very good musician. He plays violin and guitar and loves making music in his spare time. His wife is also a musician so they often play together live in Paekakariki and in neighbouring towns. As a child Ady had the nickname Billy Whizz (a British character from a comic) because he was also running off very quickly. My elder sister used to look after him and if they took their eyes off him for more than a second he would disappear in a flash. Ady has a great sense of humour. He’s always making jokes and fooling around and although he has his serious side, he tends to be smiling and laughing most of the time. Although he studied Kung Fu and other martial arts, he has a very gentle nature. He likes to read and one of his favourite activities is going walking. In fact, he and his family often go on walking holidays, which are very popular in New Zealand. I have a great relationship with Ady and we speak to each other every month. It’s great that we had Skype and internet because it’s easier and cheaper to keep in touch. I love visiting Ady because he lives in a beautiful place and has a beautiful family.

 

Write about someone in your family.

 Say:

Who it is,

Where they live,

What they do,

How often you see them,

What sort of relationship you have with them.

 

Mention anything else you thing is important. Write 250 words. Leave a comment on your teacher’s blog and on the blogs of a least 3 classmates.

A Beach You Like

The first time I went to the beach in Chile was a special occasion because it was the first time I saw the Pacific Ocean. It must have been in October or November 1996 and I went with 2 Chilean friends, Rodrigo and Chelo. Rodrigo was a student of mine at UMCE and Chelo was his neighbour. They invited me on a trip to El Ouisco for the weekend. We left Santiago at about 6pm on a Friday evening so my first glimpse of the Pacific was actually from a bus on the coast road into Algarrobo. The beach in El Quisco isn't that attractive and the town was (is) quite run down. We spent the first evening on the beach drinking and chatting to other people who were also drinking and chatting and then spent the night in a kind of hostel that cost 2 lucas per person. As you can imagine, it was very basic. The next morning we took a local bus down the coast and went to the beach I'm going to talk about, Canelillo. The sensation was total different from El Quisco beach. Canelillo was a beautiful cove. Golden sands, pine trees running almost down to the waterline, deserted. It reminded me of something out of the Narnia books or Lord of the Rings.

I didn't have a swim suit, but it didn't matter because the water was way too cold for swimming. However, it was nice just to lie on the sand and soak up the rays of the sun. We spent the morning on the beach. As from 11 o' clock other people started to arrive with their deck chairs and their picnics so at about 1PM we walked back to El Quisco along the coast. It took about an hour but it was a nice walk. I’ve been back to Canelillo a number of times; the last time was about six months ago. Unfortunately, they built some apartments on one side of the bay which takes away some of its charm but it’s still a great beach, especially when it’s empty.

 

Write about a beach you like.

Say:

Where it is,

When you went there for the first time,

Who you went with,

What you did there,

Why you like it.

 

Write at least 300 words. Leave a post on your teacher’s blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.

A Present

One present I remember receiving was a musical note shaped earring. My sister Moria (Scottish version of Mary) gave it to me for my 20^th or 21^st birthday. The reason I remember this particular present is that my sister lived in London at the time and I was living in Chester (6 or 7 hours train journey in those days) and she came up especially for my birthday. Moria, or Moe as we like to call her, was a DJ at a well known London club called Stringfellows and I always used to go and stay with her in London so I was really surprised when she came to see me in Chester. She didn’t tell anybody she was coming and, if I remember rightly, she was waiting outside my flat when I got home from work. Just seeing her was a great present so I was really happy when she gave me the earring. Anyway, we went out for a meal and a few drinks with one of my brothers and a couple of close friends. Obviously I wore my new earring (men usually only used 1 earring in those days although I sometimes used 2) and I thought it was really cool. I actually wore the earring until I came to live in Chile when people advised me to take it out for job interviews (in 1996 not many Chilean men used earrings as it was frowned upon). By that time I’d grown out of my earring phase so it was no big deal to take it out. I still have the earring in a box of trinkets I have at home. Every now and I then I come across it and it reminds me of my other life as an aspiring musician.

Write about a present you received.

Say:

What it was,

Who gave it to you,

Why you liked it,

Where it is now.

 

Mention anything else you think is important. Write at least 250 words. Leave a comment on my blog and on the blogs of at least 3 classmates.