Life on Mars

Some pieces of information about current and future missions to the planet Mars have hit the media lately. It has been for a few years now, but today it was made public an unsuccessful mission developed by ESA (European Spatial Agency). Basically, the plan was to put a robot on Mars and use it to collect and transmit information to the Earth to help the researchers to decide if there is life on Mars or not. It sounds amazing and challenging. However, to set up all these kind of projects it is necessary a lot of funds.
On the one hand, it is well-known the fact that investing in research and development for this kind of projects has a huge impact in our lives because of the future use of the technologies and scientific breakthroughs obtained during the path to achieving the goal. In fact, a lot of the commodities we enjoy nowadays are due to advances in science and technology achieved during the project Manhattan to build the atomic bomb, or during the Cold War in order to put a man on the Moon.
On the other hand, it is easy to consider that a lot of funds still can be destined to research and development projects aiming to improve the quality of life on Earth, taking into account all of the people living here, and our environment. This way, money would not be wasted and better investments would be made, providing benefits to a larger amount of people saving a considerable amount of capital in the process.
Following with the idea of not funding projects to travel to Mars or other planets that cannot give us shelter, it is fair to ask what the point of putting a human being on Mars is. Considering the climate conditions not suitable for human life, the scarcity of water in the liquid state, the lack of other raw materials needed to survive, the distance to Earth, etc. it is understandable to find this project a way to throw away a lot of money and resources that could help millions of people to survive, and have a better life here on our planet.
In conclusion, governments should be more concerned about citizen's needs and less about trying to achieve a place in history. It should be necessary to vote to decide on this kind of megaprojects.

About writing

When I start writing something in English, I usually have two problems. On the one hand, I have the most common problem about writing: fear of blank page. Besides, I have the usual doubts of non-native speakers when dealing with a language.
The "syndrome" of the blank page is not a big deal for me. I started a blog several years ago, and I used to write quite often. Also, I read a lot about different subjects, so I also have ideas wandering around my mind and ready to be put down in words. The problem is sometimes the way I write down those thoughts. I only have to take some time to order my thoughts and keep my writing structured.
Writing texts is always a challenge to our mind, thus writing in a second language is even more challenging. I have a lot of doubts about the punctuation, the suitability of the words I use in every situation, the grammar, or the structure of the whole article. This situation is not very different than when you use your native tongue. However, in my opinion, using English raises these feelings of insecurity to a higher level.
In conclusion, we are not such unique individuals. We share a lot of things in common, and one of them is the fear of the unknown. Considering that, it seems to me clear that the best way to mitigate our issues with writing is doing it. There are no magical solutions, just working on it. The more we practice, the more comfortable we will feel about it.

Blank mind

It's been a while since my last post here. I have no excuse this time, I have been busy doing other things, or doing nothing at all sometimes. But life doesn't stop just because I don´t write. Therefore, I guess I have just been living my life. Today, I have felt a bit lazy since I got home in the afternoon. I have been resting, and doing nothing for a while now. But a few minutes ago, I remembered this blog and I decided to take a look at it. I have nothing in my mind to write about, that means I am improvising.
I guess I could write about politics (current situation in Spain has no precedent in history), or about corruption and fraud all over the world (Panama papers are on the news permanently these days), or about football (Barcelona vs Real Madrid match took place last weekend, and last night Barcelona played against At. Madrid for Champions League). Or I could write about something else, but, like I said, I am feeling a bit lazy today.
Taking this into account, I think it is enough for now. I will consider this post as a kind of warm up session to start writing again soon more frequently.
At first, I had no intention to publish this, but after a bit of thought I decided to do it. I have read a lot of articles in newspapers and magazines that don't say anything interesting or nothing at all and they are still there. So, why shouldn't I post this?
I will write another entry on this blog when I actually have something worthy to share with the world (how solemn that sounds!). Anyway, I am glad to be back.

Always learning

Learning a language is always an incomplete process. There's something new to learn every day. Today I'm going to write about my last achievement in English learning, and the great opportunity I had a couple of weeks ago to test my listening and speaking skills.

I have been learning new things about different topics using the Internet, through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). This courses are provided by a lot of universities worldwide, and you can learn about a huge amount of different subjects.
A few weeks ago, I found a course about writing essays in English, and I decided to sign up for it. It was developed by University of Reading in the UK. As you can see in the picture on the left, I finished it. It is a basic course about writing essays, but it helped me to learn how to organize my ideas and thoughts, and to improve my writing skills.

I have to admit that speaking is the hardest part to practice when learning a language. Fortunately, some friends of mine are English native speakers, and I try to meet them from time to time and practice a bit. However, it is never enough time.
A couple of weeks ago, I had a bonus. I traveled to England to attend a wedding that I had been invited about 6 months ago. This trip was a good opportunity to meet a lot of people, all of them English native speakers. It was a great experience, that I enjoyed a lot, and it encouraged me to keep learning and mastering English language.

To sum up, it is important to keep learning, but it is even more important to remember that the goal of learning a new language is to communicate with people who speak that language. I will continue to do both things.

Talking to a child

A little girl is sitting in the school hall waiting for someone. She looks shy, and a bit nervous, but she handles all these feelings quite well. She is short and thin, and around 6 or 7 years old. She has long dark hair, and her skin is quite pale. Her big brown eyes stand out on her face. She is wearing what seems to be the school's uniform, and she is carrying a bag on her shoulder.
After a while, a young woman approached her. The woman was probably one of the teachers at the school and she came to welcome the new student.
    -Hello! You must be Sarah. I am Laura, and I am going to be one of your teachers here.
    -Hello!
    -I have been told that you do not speak Spanish. Is that right?
    -Yes, I am so sorry.
    -Do not worry. You will learn Spanish soon, we are here to help you. And you can help us with our    English. I am afraid it is quite rusty.
    -Thank you! I will try to learn as quickly as possible. And your English is quite good, I understand you very well, and I am very happy to have someone to talk to.
    -Ok, then. Are you ready to meet your classmates?
    -Yes, but I am very nervous.
    -There is no reason to be worried. They are looking forward to know you. They even have been asking things to the English teacher in order to be able to talk to you. I think you will get along very well.
    -Ok, I feel a bit better now. We can go.
    -Come on, then. This way.

Respect

This single word could be the solution to most of the problems there are in the world nowadays. If we unwrap the full meaning of this word, we will find that it is not just a word, it reflects a bunch of human behaviors that mostly differentiates us from animals. Respect is not about being politically correct, or trying to keep your bad behavior hidden, or not hurting people that you know. Respect is to be considerate of others, to care about other people. It is about avoiding to hurt others even if you have never met them, and it is about really trying to behave the best you can, considering other people's feelings and situation. This is what comes to my mind right now, but I am completely sure that I am missing something. Anyway, I think it is enough to make my point. Taking into account my previous definition of respect:

• Do you think that politicians respect their voters?
• Do you think that banks respect their clients?
• Do you think that someone that beats his wife respects her, or loves her?
• Do you think that a teenager that is bullying a classmate is respectful?
• Do you think that someone who doesn't pay taxes having millions respects others who pay?
• Do you think that a football player that fakes a foul respects his opponents and their supporters?
• Do you think that someone that made a mistake and avoids to pay for it respects someone?
• Do you think that a driver who parks his car in a place reserved for disabled people respects them?
• ...

In my humble opinion, nowadays people mistakenly confuse respect with other things like admiration, envy, fear, etc. Therefore, politicians and banks "respect" you if you are a powerful person, or you have a lot of money because they can get some benefit from you. In the same way, an abuser will "respect" you if you are stronger than him or her, but just because he or she is afraid of you. And most people "respect" the rules, because if don't, they would be punished in some way. I am sure that true respect will solve a lot of problems in our world, but my doubt is how to teach respect? I consider that the best way is giving example. What do you think?

New Year's resolutions (V)

It has already been 5 years since I started to share my resolutions for the New Year. During these years I have always tried to be realistic, and I was able to achieve a lot of what I was planning to do during the next year. I have just reviewed my resolutions for the year 2012, and I have to say that I tried hard to do what I promised, and I got some positive results. Unfortunately, there were a lot of unexpected events this year, some of them pleasant, but others quite unfortunate. I know that all that events are beyond my will, but I will try harder this year to fulfill my expectations. I think that next year will be a year full of opportunities and I have to try to take advantage of them.

During this year I accepted a challenge, and I had the opportunity to teach some students, and I enjoyed that experience a lot. And more important, I realized that I can do things that I consider I am not able to do. Therefore, it was more than a very good experience, it was a valuable lesson for me.

Apart from the fact of realizing that I am capable of doing things I thought I couldn't do, I also learnt new skills. I started to learn French more seriously, and now I feel more confident when reading writings in this language. Besides, I started learning how to program Android apps, and I am reviewing other skills that I had partially forgotten. In summary, I am trying to make a good use of my time. 

I also met a lot of people with whom I spent the good and bad times during this year. They are the most valuable thing of the year, the most precious treasure I can keep.

At this point, I have to make my resolutions for the year 2013. I intend to keep improving my English and French level, and practice them as much as possible (that is the only way to stay fluent). I also want to keep learning programming Android, and building amazing apps, and also learning new skills in this field. I would love to meet new friends like the ones I am lucky to have now. It would be great if the current situation in Spain and the world improves, most people don't deserve this kind of punishment.

There are several other resolutions that I am going to make, but I am not going to write them down here because I did it in the past and I was not able to fulfill them. Therefore, I am not going to do the same but I will try harder to achieve that "invisible" resolutions.

Finally, in order to finish this post I would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!

P.S. I have to say that I celebrated New Year's Eve the typical Spanish way on the 30th December for the first time (Apparently, it is a new tradition in Spain to celebrate this date before the real time. Crazy, isn't it?).