TVTalk - Crying my eyes out...

Sorry friends overseas, you won't be able to watch the video below.

You can download this app this trick your computer CLICK HERE that you're in the US, UK or even Germany.

Anyways, I am a sucker for weddings.

This episode was great and struck a few emotional cords with me.

One of them being, compromise and not having to be always right - something that I've been struggling with for quite some time.  Next is tradition, I am so use to doing things my own way that sometimes, I am insensitive to others (its quite often actually).

Well, enjoy.  I need to start my day. haha, its almost noon!

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

MusicTalk - Michelle Branch

Thanks for listening to the music that I put on my blog, I never listen to the radio, so I'm not really sure how I discover new music.

This time, I'm going to share some music with you by one artist, who sings a wide range of songs (country to pop) and emotions (I love you, I hate you, die f***er).

Michelle Branch.

Songs are in random order.

#1 Are you happy now?  This is a song where her ex boyfriend leaves her.

#2 Breathe.  

#3 Everywhere

#4 The Game of Love feat. Santana

You can follow her on Twitter: HERE!

I'll be listening to Michelle Branch all day while I clean the house!  =]

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

TravelTalk - Berlin or Krakow.

I've been staring at my computer for about the last 2 hours debating on which city to go to for a week in August.  

I can't decide.

The plane ticket for Krakow is about 20 Euros more expensive, but I think everything else will be cheaper.

Has anyone reading this ever been to Germany or Poland or both?

Help!

VOTE BELOW!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

ESLTalk - Podcast - My Favorite Podcast - This I believe...

I only listen to 1 podcast.

It's a podcast, about 8 minutes per week which features someone's point of view around the world.

It is really interesting to hear about other people's lives and how the structure of their thought process while different is based on their realities.

I still remember one of the first podcast episodes I heard about 4 years ago.

She was talking about snitching, the act of telling on people who had done bad things.  

Snitcher (a person who snitches) has a very negative connotation.

She then talks about her neighbors.
The husband would beat his wife repeatedly and none of the neighbors did anything - because no one wanted to be a snitch. 

One day, he went too far and killed his wife.

This person was really upset that all of the neighbors had the power to stop the fighting, by making a phone call to the police, or stopping by the house, but instead they did nothing.

She then has made it a life mission to snitch.  Any disturbances, she was the first one to call the cops.

Many people might call her many names besides "snitch" but since the incidence of her neighbor's death, she will no longer be responsible for any future deaths.

Are you a snitch?

CLICK HERE for this link.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

EslTalk - NA2 - WEEK23 - Technology

 For this week, we will be covering or rather debating certain aspects of technology.

Technology has permiated every aspect of our lives.

For better or for worst.

CLICK HERE for this week's lesson.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

SpainTalk - DodgeBall (brilé) Time Ferrol!

Whether its called dodgeball, brilé or any other name, kids all around the world (before they were too distracted with Facebook statuses) played outside with other kids until the sun came down.

I figured it would be fun to play these types of games - as adults.

I've been looking for a park (with sufficient space) for a picnic and various children's games that we can play as adults.  Any ideas?  =]

I've included one of the funniest movies (featuring Ben Stiller) called dodgeball.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

MusicTalk - Paula Abdul

I recently just bought Paula Abdul's Greatest Hits Album and its worth every penny!

I wanted to share some of my favorite songs with you from this album.

Cold Hearted

Straight Up!

Dance Like There's No Tomorrow.
This song isn't in the greatest hits album, but its her most recent song and she can still dance and sing - though its a little too auto-tuned for my taste.


Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

Ferrol Dinner English Club - April 2013 - Entre Tapas Y Copas

Aloha everyone!

Thank you for coming - what a great turnout!

We also had our first birthday at the dinner!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

I forgot to take pictures of the food.

Details regarding the last Ferrol Dinner English Club will be published soon!

Click here to VIEW and/or DOWNLOAD all of the pictures from this event.

For those of you who have Facebook - Click here - to "like" them!

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

ESLTalk - NA2 - Workplace Safety

This week we covered workplace safety.  Not to be confused with work satisfaction.

To view all the Advanced 2 lessons, just click NA2 under "tags".

Click here for this week's lesson.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

ESLTalk - NA1 - WEEK22 - SLEEP

Aloha everyone,

Sorry for the delay.  

This week we covered a new disease.

Which raises further questions regarding the structure of the Medical institution.

What is considered an illness?  

Also, we covered USED to + verb.

To see all the NA1 lessons, just click the NA1 below under "tags"

Click here for this week's lesson.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

TravelTalk - SpainTalk - Bad Customer Service

While I really enjoy living in Spain, there is one aspect of living in Spain that is quite annoying.

Customer Service.

I've have had some bad experiences with certain companies recently and I am really troubled at what is considered normal customer service in Spain.

1)  To contact most customer service - you will have to pay.

VUELING...

Service Centre:807001717

8-24 h every day.

€0.42/min from Landlines and €0.79/min from Mobiles, incl. taxes.

Plaza Pla de l'estany 5, 08820 Barcelona.

WOW - seriously?!  Considering that you will be on hold when you call, this is crazy.  ALL airlines in the United States has a 1-800  number (free number to call).

CLICK HERE for a list of all US Airlines with their 800 number!

To be fair, Vueling does give you an option to send an email, which I sent March 22nd - and they did reply - on April 10th.  Seriously?!

eBay!

Este es nuestro número de teléfono: 902 88 94 01*

Utiliza este código de un solo uso: *****1Caduca en 15 minutos

de lunes a viernes de 10:00 a 19:00 horas
0,109 euros per el establecimiento de la llamada y 0,085 euros per minuto desde teléfono fijo, desde móvil se añadirá el coste normal del llamada.

eBay in the United States

Here's our phone number: 866-540-3229

Use this one-time passcode: ******9Expires in 15 minutes
5:00am - 10:00pm Pacific Time 7 days a week

This 866 number is another FREE number to call.

Not to mention its 7 days a week.

With poor customer service options, I am not surprised at all that online commerce is not a big deal in Spain.  Why buy online - if you have any problems - you are pretty much screwed.

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

ESLTalk - NA2 - WEEK21 - Medicine

For this week the lesson is regarding medicine.

As someone who was debating between a Masters in Medical Anthropology and Public Health, the issue between conventional and traditional medicine is a big deal to me.

One particular issue which has been completely institutionalized by medicine is the birthing process.

In the United States, Cesarean sections (C-sections) are performed nearly 1 in 3 births (CDC, 2013).  This is particularly disturbing to me as the process of birthing is becoming less and less natural.  

For example, it is not beneficial for hospitals to have someone in labor for an extended period of time, therefore medication is given to induce labor (pitocin).  One of the side effects, is that the contractions become very painful, then they have to give you another drug to take away the pain - causing numbness and doesn't give the woman the energy to push.  

Needless to say, C-section has become big business in the United States - more money for hospitals, more money for the insurance company [medication, procedure, anesthesiologist].  No where else in the world (including developed countries) has 1/5 of the rate of C-sections that are performed in the United States.

Sad thing is the United States has a very high IMR (infant mortality rate) in relation to other developed countries.  50 countries rank in front of the United States in regards to IMR - CLICK HERE.

This is just 1 issue that I have with the conventional medicine.

CLICK HERE for this week's lesson

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

ESLTalk - NA1 - WEEK21 - Music

The lesson this week is pretty straight forward.

Music - Advance 1 level.

CLICK HERE for this week's lesson

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

MusicTalk - Hawaiian Twist.

There are many famous English songs, but there are some that I like better when a Hawaiian twist is put into the song... Here are two of my favorites... Click play, listen and enjoy!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow -  Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole 

 

Stuck on you - Ekolu

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

TravelTalk - Summer Travel

Wow, my tickets have officially been purchased and yes, I will be a flying monkey this summer.  Pretty much traveling around the world, visiting friends and  family in Florida, California, Hawaii (Oahu, Maui and Big Island) and back to Spain...

Click here for the Spanish version of this blog  (ish)

OPO>FRA
FRA>IAD
IAD>TPA
TPA>ORD
ORD>SNA
LAX>HNL
HNL>ITO
KOA>OGG
OGG>HNL
HNL>SFO
SFO>EWR
EWR>LHR
LHR>FRA
FRA>MAD

This seems like a lot of traveling, but for me it isn't, I'm sure to having many many MANY MANY layovers to leave Hawaii and to get to a new place.

I am really excited, since I will not be going back to the United States the next calendar year.  

Sorry so short... 

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

SpainTalk - Aloha Ferrol...

Aloha everyone!

If you´re tired of reading my blog in English... well check out ALOHA FERROL (CLICK HERE)

It´s my blog where I write entirely in Spanish... 

I know, it needs a lot of work, but hey... little by little, right?

Thanks!

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.

TravelTalk - The More Places I See... France, April 2013.

This past week, I had a little vacation and went to Montpellier and Paris.

After visiting Paris, I get questions like:

Did you see the Eiffel Tower?

Did you walk along the L'Arc De Triomphe?

Did you see the Mona Lisa?

Did you go to the Louvre?

The answer is No. No. No. No.

This is my 10th time to Paris, maybe 11.  Funny thing is I more I travel, I am starting to realize certain things about the way I travel and what is important to me.  

So... what did I do in Paris?  Everytime I go to Paris, I want to do something different.  This time was really cold, which was surprising because 2 years ago, I went to Paris during this same time frame and the weather was perfect - in fact - I went hiking with Marc, pitched camp by the lake and had an awesome time.

In Montpellier, it was great to be with people I've known for sometime... Alex and Donalie...

Seeing familiar faces (Donalie's friends who visited Ferrol) was great along with new friends as well!

Here are some pics from the trip...  Some modified and taken with my Nokia 820.

Sete

Mahalo for reading. 

Until next time.