Playing for Change

I cannot sing nor dance, but I can appreciate good music and help to propagate it, which for me is good enough.  Last night, Ron and Beatriz gave me several CD albums, one of which is Playing for Change with songs and 150 musicians from 25 different countries and cultures uniting together for the common purpose of peace through music.   All the music was  recorded and filmed live outside from West African villages  to favelas in Brazil,  a very interesting musical journey.  It is a  great album just like the first one recorded in 2008.  Thanks to Ron and Beatriz, I am able to widen my cultural horizon.

Update On Mel

Mel  had an interview yesterday with EF Language School  (a prestigious international language school)  and...she got the Job! Finally!!! She will start in 3 weeks and it will run for a couple of months through  summer.  Her job will be an Activity Leader, this means going out with the students and keeping them busy and safe. Mel  will be running different activities including: volleyball on the beach, day trips to London, Oxford, Cambridge and surroundings.. She will  have to learn different games and the EF dance at the EF disco...all good fun!!! It will give her  a lot of experience and confidence in dealing with youngsters.

                                                                                                                          

In the meantime, she is helping  out as a volunteer in her favourite Nature Reserve called Brownsea island.   They have been  clearing Rhododendron, an invasive plant that kills all the other surrounding  plants on the ground.  It was a hard work but very rewarding, according to her.  She got up at 7h30am, cycled for 40 mins along the beach and then caught a little ferry to the island where she  met a few interesting people and also learnt a bit more about the way they manage and conserve this natural reserve. It was very instructive for her, she said.

On Sunday she will  also be  volunteering on another project, where again she has to get the bike and  catch a ferry, but this time it  will be in celebration of World Oceans Day. She will help out in different activities such as an underwater film show, egg hunting and many  more, all having  to do with marine conservation.

I am really happy for her because now she will be doing something she likes to do and not only to be working  for the money.  I remember when she was  a teen and she used to get  catalogues from EF Language School so she could study English abroad.  Now she will be working for them.  Good luck Mel! Hope this new job leads to another longer lasting career.

Everyday is a mission, each day a plan and sometimes you just have to follow your heart.

Source:  Mel's email  of June 3, 2011            

Typically Spanish

With the temperature on the rise, Spain in its bars and cafés has started  to serve tapas, which are small portions of food such as omelette, ham, cheese and olives  and drink. Several tapas oftentimes constitute a meal.

And the practice of going out for a drink, called tapeo is part of the Spanish social life.  It is common to have people eating in sidewalk cafés or in much  wider spaces outside.

      

      

Such a typical Spanish scene for the season!

Pictures published in:
El Mundo

June 2, 2011

Kayak Mel&Andy

Here's Andy with our double kayak.  He likes to use it for fishing while I like to paddle around the islands in Poole Harbour.  It's Good Fun!

Strange But Nice

Sometimes we are so immersed in our own obsessions and we forget that the rule does not  always apply.  Only when our minds are open to possibilities are we able to perceive amazing things that  happen around us.