The ways how a home is furnished and arranged can reveal a huge amount of traits of the owner's personality, as well as the kind of habits the owner has. You create your home and the atmosphere that you live in depending on your tastes. I am sure that when you visit a home from someone else, more than once you thought that it suits the owner down to the ground. Indeed, unconsciously people furnish their home as they are.
If I had my own ideal home, an essential point would be the sunlight. Windows would be gigantic to let natural light in as much as possible. I know that it has a strong impact on my mood. Then, my bedroom would be located in the East. In that way, I would benefit from the sunlight in the morning to wake up in a beautiful and comfortable atmosphere. It would lighten my day. In contrast, the living room would be inundated by sunrays in the afternoon due to the fact that I would probably spend most of my time there.
In relation to the furniture, I will avoid to have to many things. I want my home not only to be stylish, but also to be practical. Efficiency is one quality that I advocate in my everyday life, this quality should be directly reflected on my environment. Space would be a priority, I do not want useless pieces of furniture to be on my way. The furniture would be modern, but at the same time with a touch of tradition, materials as wood and glass would be privileged to others. Even if I am open to the evolving world, I am guided by my principles coming from mother's education. The colors would be pale from blue tones in my room giving the idea of a haven of peace. Sleeping time is crucial for me. However, the common areas as the living room and the kitchen would be a gradation of yellows to reds without forgetting the oranges, these are warm colors and convey the ideas of well-being and conviviality. The decoration would be simple some paintings of the Impressionist movement in the manner of Monet and some souvenirs coming from remote areas and former trips from all over the world. It means that I have a strong taste for travel and adventure, as well as my curiosity for other cultures. The paintings show that I privilege moods and impressions and that I rely on my emotions to make my decisions.
This would be perfectly my Ideal Home. The overall feeling would be tidiness, a life with no artificiality. You could learn all that about me if you pay attention to these kind of details in this Ideal Home of mine. In observing other homes you can find more depth in someone's personality than the person itself wants to show. Homes are our microcosms that we can control according to our wishes. A place that belongs only to ourselves and describes our beings, where our unfulfilled dreams and passions can be realised and we eventually claim out loud "Home sweet home".
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Languages for communication
Learning languages has always been extremely important for me. Firstly, since I am living in Switzerland, where four languages are recognised by the government, I have to be at least bilingual. Secondly everyone knows that if you are a resident of Geneva as I am, it is essential to know how to speak a minimum of English to have a decent job.
Another reason for my interest for languages is the desire to communicate with other people from different cultures, so I was lucky to study some. I am bilingual since I was born due to the fact that my parents are emigrants from Portugal and could not speak in french at the beginning of my life. I just learned french when I went to school and when I created friendships with my classmates.
The third language that I have been studying is english. I first learned the basis at school as everyone nowadays do. However, it was not enough for me. I decided at sixteen years old to go to England for four weeks. It was a great experience because it was not only the first time that I was travelling alone without my family, but also the first time that was going directly to a country to learn its native language. I discovered a new culture and history and that helps to take a keen interest in this language. For instance, I am proud of being able to speak the language of Shakespeare, Oscar Wild and so many others illustrious authors.
I studied, as I mentioned before, not only portuguese, but also italian and german. Luckily, I could travel also in those countries and knowing about the country, the culture and even about litterature is highly fascinating. In addition, it definitely helps in acquiring knowledge about the language itself. Of course, watching movies in those languages and having the oportunity to practise them by speaking with people represents a great part of the process for being fluent in a language.
Nonetheless, learning languages includes very high difficulties as well. All the Grammar " stuff" is absolutely overwhelming and I have often the impression that even if I am supposed to be knowledgeable about a certain language, I just think that I do not know anything about it. There are always new words and expressions coming up and it is impossible to memorize them all.
Obviously, learning is not exhilarating at all times, but when we can communicate with people in another language and get across with most of ideas that they want to express, it provides such a feeling of pride and satisfaction that it really worths it.
Another reason for my interest for languages is the desire to communicate with other people from different cultures, so I was lucky to study some. I am bilingual since I was born due to the fact that my parents are emigrants from Portugal and could not speak in french at the beginning of my life. I just learned french when I went to school and when I created friendships with my classmates.
The third language that I have been studying is english. I first learned the basis at school as everyone nowadays do. However, it was not enough for me. I decided at sixteen years old to go to England for four weeks. It was a great experience because it was not only the first time that I was travelling alone without my family, but also the first time that was going directly to a country to learn its native language. I discovered a new culture and history and that helps to take a keen interest in this language. For instance, I am proud of being able to speak the language of Shakespeare, Oscar Wild and so many others illustrious authors.
I studied, as I mentioned before, not only portuguese, but also italian and german. Luckily, I could travel also in those countries and knowing about the country, the culture and even about litterature is highly fascinating. In addition, it definitely helps in acquiring knowledge about the language itself. Of course, watching movies in those languages and having the oportunity to practise them by speaking with people represents a great part of the process for being fluent in a language.
Nonetheless, learning languages includes very high difficulties as well. All the Grammar " stuff" is absolutely overwhelming and I have often the impression that even if I am supposed to be knowledgeable about a certain language, I just think that I do not know anything about it. There are always new words and expressions coming up and it is impossible to memorize them all.
Obviously, learning is not exhilarating at all times, but when we can communicate with people in another language and get across with most of ideas that they want to express, it provides such a feeling of pride and satisfaction that it really worths it.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Soraya
My sister, Soraya, is the most important person in my life even if our relationship has gone through ups and downs.
When she was born I was only sixteen months and of course as a lonely child a feeling of jealously grew in me. This sensation lasted only for a while. I got used to her and a very beautiful relationship was born. When we were children a lot of people thought that we were twins because we were always together and dressed in the same way. They might also have felt the strong bond that we had in common.
Later when she was the age to go to school, I was the one in charge because my parents were working a lot at that time and very young I learned to take care of her. My sistes has always been a little bit naive and I was always worried that something bad could happen to her. During break times at school I could not play with my classmates because I wanted to watch her. This struck the teachers because even if I was young, I was protective and caring towards my little sister.
We love so much each other even now we have a very close relationship. The fact that we have nearly the same age enabled us to share everything because we were living exactly the same things.
However our personalities are totally different. I am more intellectual and theoretical in my way of living, whereas she is pratical and extrovert. She is passionate and sentimental in everything she does. She can cry easily.
I regret to say something negative about her, but she is also bad-tempered. Her angers can be heard miles away from where she is. We have to be very careful with what we say to her because she is extremely touchy.
Nevertheless she has a sense of share that I cannot find in someone else. She is not only helpful and understanding, but she is also trustworthy and brave. We really get on well with each other. Although we have distinct personalities, we are complementary to each other. We have an essential point in common, we have had the same upbringing and the same childhood that means that we share the same morals, the same pains and happiness in our memories.
When she was born I was only sixteen months and of course as a lonely child a feeling of jealously grew in me. This sensation lasted only for a while. I got used to her and a very beautiful relationship was born. When we were children a lot of people thought that we were twins because we were always together and dressed in the same way. They might also have felt the strong bond that we had in common.
Later when she was the age to go to school, I was the one in charge because my parents were working a lot at that time and very young I learned to take care of her. My sistes has always been a little bit naive and I was always worried that something bad could happen to her. During break times at school I could not play with my classmates because I wanted to watch her. This struck the teachers because even if I was young, I was protective and caring towards my little sister.
We love so much each other even now we have a very close relationship. The fact that we have nearly the same age enabled us to share everything because we were living exactly the same things.
However our personalities are totally different. I am more intellectual and theoretical in my way of living, whereas she is pratical and extrovert. She is passionate and sentimental in everything she does. She can cry easily.
I regret to say something negative about her, but she is also bad-tempered. Her angers can be heard miles away from where she is. We have to be very careful with what we say to her because she is extremely touchy.
Nevertheless she has a sense of share that I cannot find in someone else. She is not only helpful and understanding, but she is also trustworthy and brave. We really get on well with each other. Although we have distinct personalities, we are complementary to each other. We have an essential point in common, we have had the same upbringing and the same childhood that means that we share the same morals, the same pains and happiness in our memories.
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