Some years ago, Dr. Román Macaya was the Ambassador of Costa Rica in the United States. As you know, today he is the Head of the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (CCSS), and has done a great job along with Dr. Daniel Salas in the COVID-19 national emergency. When he was our Ambassador, he was invited to a program called This is America & the World hosted by Dennis Wholey. The presentation of Mr. Macaya that day was superb. Here you have the whole interview. Enjoy it.
As you know, I'm an English teacher. I've been teaching nationally and internationally for 25 years. One of the tools that we, English teachers, are using recently is YouTube. There are thousands of channels to learn and practice there; nevertheless, one of my favorite channels to teach pronunciation is definitely Rachel's English . I highly recommend her channel because she has a lot of very interesting videos for you to practice your English pronunciation.
I recommend you to follow her and SUBSCRIBE to her channel. You'll like it.
We're living very tough times nowadays with the COVID19 pandemic. The best thing we can do is to stay safe at home. When you're confined in your house, good books, television shows, tv series and movies become essential to have some entertainment.
Some days ago, I was taking a look at different titles of movies and series on Netflix, and I found a Spanish series named Unauthorized Living (its original name is Vivir Sin Permiso). The plot of the series goes around Nemo Bandeira (Jose Coronado) who is a supposed businessman in a northwestern city of Spain; however, he's actually a drug lord. Nemo is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, so he starts planning his retirement and thinking who his successor might be.
I finished watching the 23 chapters of the two seasons in just some days. Trust me. Watch the show. It's very well acted, the landscapes are breathtaking, and the plot will keep you stuck to your seat wanting for more. I really liked all of the characters, but my favorite one was Ferro (Luis Zahera), Nemo's loyal friend and servant.
It's been a very long time since I last wrote something here on my blog. My last entry was on February 19th, 2013. Gosh!!! More than seven years!! Seven years ago, we were living very differently. Technology was starting to become a vital part of our lives. The world was moving faster and faster, and even though, we had already faced deadly pandemics, they had been somewhat controlled. Nowadays, we're dealing with another one: Covid-19.
Yesterday, I had to go to a meat company, actually it is a slaughterhouse. One of the requirements to enter the place was wearing a mask. I didn't have one, so I had to buy it. Let me tell you it was one of the most overwhelming situations I've ever had. This company is located in Alajuela, Costa Rica. This place has a very warm weather all year round. Yesterday, it was extremely hot there, around 32°C. Here, I want to pay my respects to all the people who have to wear these masks all day long. I only wore it for about five minutes. However, I felt so overwhelmed that I got out of there as fast as possible so I could take it off.
Here in Latin America, Saint Valentine's Day or commonly known as just Valentine's Day is celebrated not only as the day of love, but also friendship.
I don't agree with the "celebration" of this day because if you ask me, I think it's pure marketing. As they saw in-love people spending large amounts of money shopping for presents, booking fancy restaurants and traveling, they had the brilliant idea to widen the gap and invite friends to the party. Great business!!
Love and friendship have to be celebrated every day, and they don't need expensive details.
Hey! You have to buy something for the one you love and invite him/her out, but don't forget about your friends!!! Spend!! Spend!! Spend!!!
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This song was chosen by my iPod's Genius application last February the 14th in the afternoon. Wasting Love by Iron Maiden.
I was listening to music with my iPod. There's a feature called "Genius" that sorts out the song you're listening to and makes a playing list with similar songs from different bands or singers you have.
Well, I was using Genius and then, randomly it chose "In My Time Of Need" by Opeth, one of my favorite bands.
There's this part of the song, the pre-chorus, that says: "Summer is miles and miles away..." When I listened to that part, I immediately remembered my friends in Madrid. It's winter in Spain right now, and I know a lot of them may be longing for the summer to come soon. This one is for you, guys!
Warning: Listening to Opeth will make all the other music sound like shit!!
My nephews, Ariel and Fer and one of Ariel's soccer teammates, Steven, went to the soccer field to practice a little bit. After playing for a while, they decided to take a rest. I took advantage of that and told them I was going to take a picture. I took the photo and then, we came back home.
A couple of hours later, I plugged the phone so I could see the photograph on my computer screen, and then, SURPRISE!! There was something in the sky and I can't tell what it is. Could it have been a plane? A bird? I don't know what that thing was, so I guess I can call it a U.F.O, right?
