Final Reflection - Portfolio

My progression

In my oral presentations, I can see many differences between my oral presentation about Pro Gat and the one about my research project. Firstly, my pronunciation is better, I can use higher level vocabulary and I speak more fluently. Moreover, I've become more confident of myself and I'm able to look at my audience more than before. My sentences are better structured, as well. The same happens with my writings. My vocabulary, structure and specially sentence linking have improved a lot from my welcome e-mail to my writing about nuclear power, for example.

If I had to show my best evidence for my English level, I would show...

...for my oral evidence, my podcast reading the tale I wrote last year. Alltough there are some pronunciation mistakes, it shows that I can speak quite well and it also shows some creativity, with music and sound effects. I think that's also important, specially for what I want to study, because you have to work with computers.

...for written evidence, I think my formal letter or my sentence from home-related post are a good evidence of my writing. They also show my maturity and my opinion about some recent topics, beside of my English level.

For the future, I want to practice my English a lot so I can go abroad and communicate with people without problems, for example. Maybe I find a job where I need English or something like that, so I think it's a good opportunity to be able to learn it and keep a good level.

Inline-skating II

I've already told you about my tramuntana experience while practising again with my inline skates. But there are far more exciting ways to entertain with inline skates!

That friend of mine who's been here during Easter has shown me how he enjoys great days with his skates. He goes to practice tricks in a halfpipe once a week and also goes to contests. Actually, he's at a contest in Berlin today, the 21st May. The winner is going to spend two weeks in Barcelona, for another contest.

When he was here, I got to see him skate twice in the little street park in Castelló. As it is a street park and he usually only skates in halfpipes, he couldn't do many tricks, but it was still nice to see it. If I go to Bremen by the end of June, he promised he will take me to the skatepark an show me how he really skates. I'm looking forward to it. Here I have a photo (the best one I got) from his skating sessions in Castelló.

I've been thinking of trying it out a bit, actually.. What do you think?

Finally! - Plans.

I must say it: it's Friday, the 20th May 2011. Today have been my last two second batxillerat exams. I'm so glad!

This week has been so stressing, you know, I'm still happy I get some time to rest now. On wednesday, there will be a maths exam I'll have to take, but that's okay. At least it's not two exams every day now! And now, at last, I get some time for my friends. So this evening I'll go bowling with some friends and tomorrow afternoon I'll go have some ice-cream with Alexandra and Melissa (I hope she comes, too).

Monday.. yeah, on Monday I'm going to IES Castelló and look for the marks I still haven't got. I'll take my philsophy (Plato) notes with me because I'm going to help Pep (Joey) with it. He has to take the philosophy exam on Tuesday. We'll see If I can help him, but I really hope so!

For the rest of next week I have plans, too, like going to Figueres and such. I will meet once or twice more with some of my friends. I really need now some days off, to relax and have fun. And then, study again for PAU!

3 monsters at home: my cats

Lucy...................Timmy..................Maya

I can't believe that I haven't written a post about my three cats yet. Most people already know them, but I think it's time to write a blog post dedicated to them! :D

Timmy is the oldest of our three cats. Still in Germany, I wanted a cat as a pet and ym parents told me that I could have one when we had moved to Spain. So, two months after moving here, I got him. That was in June 2003. He was three months old, more or less, so he was born in March, 2003. That means that he's over 8 years old, not so young for a cat! But he's still very active, playful and cute. Lately he's grown very fond of my father, some years ago I was the only one he really played with. My father and I think he's the most intelligent of the three because he always listens to us talking and seems to know exactly when we talk about him.

Lucy is the second cat we got. We don't know how old she is, because she was a homeless cat. We found her in the nieghborhood, very thin, hungry and scared. For some days, we went to feed her and as she was always there, we knew she was homeless and took her home. She is a silly. When someone of my family goes out the house, she starts crying until he returns, which is really annoying, but it seems like she is somehow afraid that he or she won't come back. Now we've learnt to deal with it and she is learning that nothing happens. We've had her for 3 years now.

Maya is the youngest of our monsters. She's two and a half years old and that's also how long we've had her. We got her as a little kitten, some hours old, because her mother left her on our terrace. So we raised her with special kitten milk. She's.. well, special. She's the one who less cares about us humans because, I think, my mother was too good to her, she allowed her a bit too much. But Maya's very sensitive and notices when there's tension in the air. When I'm sad, she always runs over to me and tries to cheer me up. She tends to annoy Lucy when she can (well, it's quite easy, I must say).

News - Finally, equality?

I've read about a news article saying that the most powerful people in India are women. So, the president of India is a woman, Sonia Gandhi. The speaker of the parliament and the leader of the opposition are women, too.

Sadly, it's not like they got there by their own strength, as they inherited the charge from a male mentor. But still, I think it's a progress because in other countries female descendents couldn't inherit such important charges. In my opinion, this is an important step to equality that might already be done in most parts of the world, but still not everywhere.

But even in Europe the world equality is still quite relative. For example, women with the exact same qualification and the same job as a man still earn less money. I think that isn't exactly what equality should be like. However, we're still quite a few steps ahead of some countries, where women still have many, many rights less than here.

Finally, I think it's nice to see that the world is in a positive progress, it seems, but that can't be the end now. It must go on like that.


Font: http://www.bbc.co.uk/

Linkin Park - Somewhere I belong and concert!!!

Linkin Park is a band that I've known for more or less 4 years now, so I can say that I've become an "adult" listening to their music. First, I'll tell some of general information about the band: Linkin Park is a band from California which was formed in 1996, with the name Xero. First, it was only made out of three highschool friends: Michael Kenji "Mike" Shinoda, Bradford Phillip "Brad" Delson and Rob Bourdon. When they finished highschool, they got more serious with the band, hiring Joseph "Joe" Hahn (or, better known by his stage name, Mr. Hahn), Dave "Phoenix" Farrell and Mark Wakefield, who left the band shortly after. Searching for a new vocalist, they found Chester (now also called Chazy Chaz from his bandmates) Bennington. The band changed its name twice: the first time to Hybrid Theory (which became the name of their first album), the second, due to copyright issues, to Linkin Park. On 1999, they signed a record deal with Warner Bros. Records and released their first album a year later.

What I like about Linkin Park is the special combination of their two vocalists, Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda. Chester is able to sing soft and melodical songs, but he can scream, too! That singing of him and Mike's raps make an unique combination that I like a lot.

But the most exciting thing is that I'm going to see them live! There is a concert in Hamburg the 21st June, and I'm going to Bremen, the 20th. A friend of mine is already ordering our tickets! I'm really excited about it

Finally, here you have the song which is my favourite at the moment: Somewhere I Belong.

Easter holidays - unforgettable!

So, many people already know that I had a friend staying at home during the Easter holidays. I can say that it was an unforgettable week for me.

On Friday, the 15th April, I didn't come to school because at 8:30 in the morning I had to be at the airport in Girona. So my father and me set off for it at 7:20. At 8:15 we were there. I can't explain how nervous and excited I felt! It would be the first time I'd see him face to face, because I met him through my ex-boyfriend, but didn't get to meet him in Germany. My father told me to go inside the terminal and look at the screens to see if the flight was on time. On my way there, though, I found there was no need to, as he was suddenly standing in front of me! My first reaction was saying: "You're too early!" We greeted eachother with a hug and we got back to my father.

The first day was rather peaceful. The next day, on Saturday, my grandma arrived by bus in Figueres. My parents went to collect her and my friend, Tyrone, and me made breakfast for everyone. But on Sunday was a very exciting day: Tyrone and me got up early to catch a bus to Barcelona: we were going to the "Saló del Còmic". We spent all morning going around in Barcelona, so he could see the city. He liked it a lot. After that, we actually went where we wqanted to go: the convention. We bought a few "souvenirs", like posters. I bought myself a necklace resembling the weapon of the game Kingdom Hearts. After going through everything there, we went back out and to have lunch. After that, we had a rest in a park. We rested there for an hour or so, then we went to the harbour, as he wanted to see it (he loves the sea..). But we didn't have too much time to get back to the bus, so we went on after another hour or so and got back to the bus station. On the bus home, we almost fell asleep, we were so tired! The we walked home from the Empuriabrava bus station. At home, we were so tired we got directly to sleep. I already loved my Easter holiday, and it was just the third day!

The nuclear disaster in Japan - Nuclear Energy

Since I heard from the tsunami in Japan and the nuclear disaster that happened two months ago, I've been interested in what exactly failed to protect the facility and the population from this disaster as it was supposed to be safe. I'd like to explain what I found out.

First, from the news in the german television, I heard that the nuclear facility had emergency generators, so they could keep running the cooling system as long as they had enough oil. the only problem was that they were in the cellar of the building. So, when the tsunami entered the building the water went down and broke them. I think that wasn't thought out well when they built the nuclear plant.

Moreover, the Japanese government bought the nuclear technology directly from the USA, including the safety measures. In America, there aren't many tsunamis, if there are any. American nuclear facilities are secure for tsunamis up to 10m of height. In Japan, there are statistics that say that there is a bigger tsunami approximately every 10 years, so they would have needed higher security, but they put the same measures as in America. So I think it was quite clear that someday something would happen, but I think not even the Japanese govenment thought it would be such a disaster.

Finally, I think Japan should think over all of their nuclear facilities and secure them better so there won't happen anything like this again.

A sentence from HOME - History of a journey

"In the great adventure of life on Earth, every species has a role to play, every species has its place. None is futile ur harmful. They all balance out."

I think this sentence is entirely true! The Earth has alwys been well balanced out where every being needs of others. For an example, you only have to think about the food chain. For example, in an ocean, there is plankton, which is eaten by small fish. Bigger fish eats those, and so on until the biggest ones, like tuna or even sharks. If the small organisms disappeared, the bigger ones wouldn't have anything to eat and die out. If the bigger ones weren't there, the small ones would reproduce and die much less, so there would be an overpopulation and more or less the same consequences. Of course, humans are considered to be on top of the food chain.

the problem comes when this balance is broken, like we humans do. So, considering the same example as before, we catch too many tunas. So, the smaller fish have less natural enemies as before and can reproduce more, causing the above said overpopulation. More of those smaller fish means they need more food, like plankton. So they eat and eat more and more plankton until theres nothing left. As it can't regenerate because there are too many fish eating it away too fast, those fish will start to die out, causing the organisms higher in the food chain to have no food, too. So, entire ecosystems can die out because of us catching too much of one single species.

To sum up, I think we should be cautious about nature in every way we can and be respectful with our planet, so our children and all the other generations will have a place to live as nice as ours still is.

Osama Bin Laden's death

"Justice has been done." - That's what Obama said when Osama Bin Laden's death was announced. What I was asking myself immediately when I knew it: didn't they want to judge him properly? If so, why did they kill him directly? Couldn't they get him alive?
In my opinion, the american soldiers could have caught Bin Laden alive and bring him to the USA, but Obama didn't want them to. I think Bin Laden would have had too many things to say, I mean, for example, the 11th september, as I don't think Bin Laden is to blame for that. There were too many coincidences and strange happenings. The American government didn't want Bin Laden to talk, so they killed him before he could. That's my opinion about it.
I would like to hear other opinions about it. So, what do you people think?

Lego is fun! - Minecraft

I know you now might think I'm crazy, talking about Lego. But it's not exaclty like that. I'm talking about my new game: Minecraft, a game that's now getting very well-known nearly all around the world.

The reason why I compare Minecraft to Lego is that its entire world is built out of blocks, even animals and the player are square-shaped. And at the start, that's all: you're dropped in a completely virgin world and you can start collecting blocks of different materials, like dirt, gravel, wood... When you collect wood, you can build a workbench and create some tools to get stone, coal, iron... But at night, you have to be careful because monsters will come out.

What's special about Minecraft is that, because of that "blocky" design - you can build almost anything out of those blocks because you can place them as you want. It's a game that is a lot of fun if you're a creative person and you like to build.

I very like the idea that game follows: a mix of building, searching for ressources and surviving in one. It's a very nice idea. Moreover, here you have some photos. What do you think about it? Did you know it?

Dialogue: a profession that's dying out

A dialogue between Anna and a family friend, Mr. Adams.

- Hello Mr. Adams! How are you doing?
- Hello Anna! I'm fine, thank you. What's the matter?
- Errr.. There's something I've been wanting to ask you for.. for quite a long time now...
- So, what is it?
- Ummm.. There aren't many shepherds like you left here.. I mean in Spain, are they?
- That's right. Many things have changed that made us shepherds, like, less necessary: at least not so many of us are needed now.
- Really? And what has changed exactly?
- Some years ago, shepherds were nomades. They wandered with their lifestock.. I mean their cows, sheep and such.. So they wandered up a mountain during spring and then had to stay up there all summer long. In autumn, they got there herds back down. They always went were the grass was the freshest.
- But.. you don't wander around with your cows.
- (laughs) No. Nowadays we keep our lifestock in stables and feed them hay and industrial food. Now it's a lot easier and less time-comsuming to have big herds.
- Ummm... So now a single shepherd can produce more milk, meat or such and... that's why this profession is slowly dying out?
- Exactly. Also there are new machines to help us do our job.
- (laughs) Yeah, I've seen them. So.. thank you very much, Mr. Adams.
- You're welcome. But now I have to get back to work. If you have more questions, feel free to ask!
- Thank you again. See you!
- Bye!

Formal letter - World Nuclear Association

Fountain street 3
50397 Traverse Town

12th May 2011

World Nuclear Association
...
...
To the director general, John Ritch

Dear Mr. Ritch,
I am writing this letter in order to give my opinion about the nuclear accident in Japan after the tsunami a month ago and to give possible solutions for the future.

First of all, I think the problem would not have been so terrible if the emergency generators had not been in the cellar of the building. I think it was a big mistake while planning how to build the nuclear plant, thinking of the high risk of tsunamis in countries like Japan.

Furthermore, it is said that the nuclear plant of Fukushima was already obsolete and should have been shut down years ago. If that is true, I think other older nuclear facilities should be shut down and tested, at least.

Of course there can not be done anything about the Fukushima disaster now, but I think you should learn from it and try to prevent other nuclear accident like Japan's.

I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Kairi Johnsson

The self-evaluation of my oral presentation

In the oral presentation of my research project, I used a Powerpoint, almost the same as the one for my catalan presentation of the project. It was like a summary of the most important things and it helped me to not get lost. So of course it supported the presentation. The timing of my presentation was okay.
I looked at the audience and didn't read from notes (as I actually didn't have any), but from the Powerpoint. Ididn't get lost, because I had done that presentation before in catalan. Gestures and eye contact definitely got better than last year.
I believe I introduced new information to my audience, referring to my project and tree species. Some of my information was complicated (the different species), but I think I managed to explain it in an easy-to-understand way. The only source for my presentation was, of course, my research project.
The grammar was correct, I think I got confused once or twice and just repeated the sentence. Vocabulary was also okay, I tried to use scientific words, but easy to understand. I also used sentence linkers. My pronunciation was also allright, I think. I checked the pronunciation for words I didn't know, so I was prepared.
For my next presentation, I should work again on body language and eye contact. I would give myself a 7 or an 8.

My text was this one:

"Hello everyone. I want to present you my research project, which has the title 'botanical route through Castelló d'Empúries". I chose that topic because I got the interest in plants from my mother, she loves looking after her flowers in the garden. First, I'll explain what my objectives were. The first one was learn to classify different species of trees. then, I wanted to design a botanical route in a zone I chose first. Finally, i had the objective of checking the route by doing it with 1st ESO students. To accomplish that objectives, I followed the following methodology: First, search theoric information of the different trees I could find. Then, I had to search for books and maps of the zone I wanted to study, the 'Passeig de les Oques'. The practical part was aking photos of the trees in the zone, make dichotomous keys and design the route. The last would have been to check the route. I decided to divide the zone to study into two subzones. So, the first subzone would be between the 'Pont Vell' and the bridge of the Sant Clara street and the second one from that same bridge to the Castelló Nou bridge. I went to the zone and took photos of the different trees I found there, then I made an inventory. As you can see, each page of that inventory contained the scientific and popular names of the species, a short description and photos. The last parts of the research project were the ones I liked the most: designing the route, making the exercices and drawings and the dichotomous keys. Dichotomous keys are like questions where you have to choose from two or three possible answers and then continue with the question you are told, until they give you the name of the species you are looking for. After doing this, I also designed some exercises, which were basically to help the children to see what they had to focus on. They had some drawings to help them understand some words that could be difficult. After doing all the research project, I had the following conclusions: firstly, there are 11 different species which are typical river-side trees, although the 'Passeig de les Oques' is a zone that is influenced by humans. secondly, most of the species are represented by only one tree, but there are 3 that are very common: Platanus x hispanica, the banana tree, at zone one, and Populus alba and Populus nigra, which are called 'pollancres' in catalan, in zone 2. Due to a lack of time I couldn't check the route with 1st of ESO students, although I would have liked to do it. In general, I'm satisfied with my research project, but I would have liked to have the route ready earlier to be able to do it with the children. And that's the end of my presentation. Do you have any questions?"

Botanical route through castelló d‘empúries

View more presentations from the_two_memories.

Podcast - Description of a friend

(It finally works!!! -.-)

One of the best inventions of 2010

In my opinion, one of the most useful inventions of 2010 was the "electric eye". It's still under development, but it supposed to allow blind people to recognise faces and go through a room without help, so they recover (or get, when they were blind from birth) parts of their sight! For it to work, the person must wear some special glasses that are supposed to stimulate the optical nerve.
In my opinion, it's very useful for those blind people, so they can have a more normal, easier life. I also think it deserves the title of "best invention of 2010" because it helps people and is not another of that unnecessary inventions some people seem to adore. It shows that there are still scientists willing to help ill, disabled or handicapped people.
moreover, it makes me think that, if there's a possibility to make blind people see, there may be cures for many other handicaps and diseases. Inventions like that one help us to be optimistic about our future development. And I think that optimism can be applied for every "category" of science.
For this particular invention, we only can wait for its development and see if it works how it should. Personally, I think we're in a period of great progress and I enjoy watching it. Hopefully we all can do our part to help that progress.

My frist day in Bremen - What it was like.

I know I've already talked a whole lot about my trip to Bremen, but it's a topic that's very important to me, so I'll leave it in my blog.
On Monday, the 27th December 2010 I was very nervous, because at 11 o'clock I would be driving to the airport of Girona. I was very, very excited about my trip there because my boyfriend (now ex-boyfriend, sadly..) lives there. It was the first time we actually met eachother and I would be staying at his house for 10 days!
So, at exactly 11 o'clock, a friend of my parents drove me to Girona. From there, I had to get into the plane alone. It was the first time I was at an airport alone, but it was easier than I thought, I found everything easily. As I was in the plane, I got a bit more relaxed. The worst was over. Now I only had to wait for the plane to arrive at Bremen and my boyfriend and his mother would be waiting for me at the airport.
Despite my expectations, the 2 hours on the plane went by quickly. I still can't explain with words what I felt when I got my first sight of the snow-covered Bremen through the window. I was close to crying. I had fought so much for that trip, to meet him, and now it would be less than 10 minutes. I couldn't believe my luck. As I got off the plane, I looked for my boyfriend, but I couldn't find him. Was he in the other terminal? It could also have been that they hadn't arrived yet. I decided to call him, so I searched for a phone cabin and entered his number. As he answered the call, I asked "Where are you?" to what he responded "Where do you think I am? Come on!". I explained where I was (the terminal was called terminal E, which is the one for Ryanair flights) and he said they would come. So I waited. 2 minutes passed and he arrived. I couldn't help but smile, I was so happy. I greeted him and his mom and then they brought me to the car. It really was a short trip from the airport to his house, more or less 15 minutes. As we arrived, I introduced myself to my boyfriend's father and grandmother, then we went to his room to have a rest. We spent the entire day talking about everything, making plans and so on. It was also the day we kissed the first time..

My first day in Bremen may seem boring to you, but for me it was a memorable day. I won't forget how we met the first time. Ever.

Dancing and Audition

Do you like dancing? Well, I do! I'd like to take dance lessons, but my reduced free time doesn't allow me to do it. Besides, I guess they're expensive and my parents wouldn't pay much for them. Anyway, as music is a very important thing in my life, I dance around with almost every sing I like (usually I don't do that in public, though, as I'm convinced that I absolutely CAN'T dance!).
I don't really have a favourite style, I like them all. But there's such a great diversity I can't even say how many there are I don't know! I enjoy watching people dance, like Arunas sometimes between classes or my ex-boyfriend, who dances jumpstyle.
I also like playing games with those dance mats. They're fun and you make a bit of exercise too. There's also a computer game about dancing I like: Audition Online. It has different game modes (the newest is a guitar mode, similar to Guitar Hero) where you compete with other players in so-called dance battles. Furhtermore, you can buy clothes for you character so it is prettier and different from the other ones. There are lots of songs from not so well-known bands, some of them really good ones. Of course, the songs have diofferent speeds and so some are easier than others. I've played that game now for more or less a year and I think I'm not really really good, but it's okay for my level, as I don't play much.

After all, of course that kind of games are nothing compared to lessons, but it's also a way of having fun with music.

Inline Skates and Tramuntana

Last week, I went to the supermarket Esclat with my mum because she needed to get some ingredients for lunch. I decided to go with her and take my inline skates. That's because I want to get used to them again. On Easter, I'll have a friend staying at my place and he'll bring his inline skates and he wants me to go with him. As I don't want to fall down when he's with me, I'm training now.
So, the way to the supermarket wasn't easy as we had Tramuntana blowing at our faces. Sometimes Mum had to drag me because otherwise I think I would have rolled backwards, unable to go on! As we made it there, I changed my inliner for some normal trainers and we went inside. Of course, as we hat everything and paid, I got outside and put them on again. The way back home was easier and a lot funnier! At some point of our way, the wind got stronger and pushed me forward at a considerable speed. I was a bit scared at first, but then I started laughing as I saw my mother running after me! As I managed to stop, First I had to laugh. It was so funny!
After that funny little surprise, the rest of the way back home went without greater anormalities.

Howerver, I'll train a bit more with my inliners, because the next day my legs hurt a bit. Butt until Easter I still have time!

Pokémon..

Red, blue, yellow, gold, silver, crystal, ruby, sapphire, emerald, fire red, leaf green, pearl, diamond, heart gold, soul silver and now black and white.. It really seems like the Pokémon series never end. But, surprisingly, it's still fun! At least I think that way.
The games may seem for little children, but there are many (hidden) strategical points that are interesting for older people. But my main occupation in Pokémon Pearl is searching for some extremely rare creatures with different colors, called shinies. So far, I've collected 10 of them and I'm working on more. There's a special method in the game to increase the probability of meeting one of those shinies, but it's hard, so I have to try several times before I succeed. The normal chance to find one is 1/8192. But after applying the method successfully, it's 1/47 or so. It's still small, but it really makes a difference.


The pictures are some of the shinies I've got. Aren't they pretty?

Something I need to tell him..

Hello my dear,
this is probably the last time I write a letter like this one to you. I know it's probably too late to tell you all that's spinning in my head now, but I'll do it anyway.
So, where to start.. maybe by saying sorry. I know I've made lots of mistakes, even if you say nothing is my fault. I know I got too angry too easily many, many times. Sorry aybout everything I said when I got annoyed about something. Sometimes it wasn't even related to you.. Sorry about crying twice when I was staying at your place, because I was afraid to go home, be without you and someday, losing you..
Secondly, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being with me when I had hard times, thank you for loving me even when I was so incredibly and stupidly angry at everything, thank you for the wonderful time I had in Germany with you..
What else to say? I don't know.. There are just so many things running through my head.. I don't really know exactly when things started to go wrong, but I sure know that we weren't able to do anything against it. I'm so sad about the way it ended, knowing that it possibly wouldn't if I hadn't been so stupid and stubborn.
You know, when I listen to the old songs, the ones that we were both listening to all the time when everything began, I can't help it but smile. Inside, it feels like something is breaking right now. I know it will probably get better with time, but I don't even know if I want it to be at the moment..

I just want you to know that even if we're not a couple anymore, I'll be there for you if you need me. Always.

God, I want you back so badly..