How to learn a language?

Learning a foreign language is not easy. Ok, it's easy when you're still a kid, because then you don't think about learning, you just do it automaticlly, and your brain is relatively "empty" so it absorbs new information really quickly. 

So how should we learn a foreign language when we're older?

1. You have to want it. You can learn a language in few years or in a few months. The one and most important thing that determines how fast will you learn is your will to learn! If you decide to learn because you have to, it will take you years to master the language. If you learn because you are a really curious person and you want to know what your favorite song's lyrics is about, or what your favorite actor talks about in a movie, then you will learn really fast.

2. Learn the basics. The first thing that you have to do is learn some of the most common nouns and verbs. Later, when you will see whole frases it will be easier to understand what is it about and your mind will be able to focus on new things that you still don't know.

3.  Repeat! Don't try to learn 30 or more words each day. If you will try to do that, after few days your mind will mix all the words that you have learned and eventually you will forget everything.  Each day try to spend some time to repeat every word that you've learned. Just after the revision you can try to memorize some new words.*

*If you are a true genius this does not concerns you. 

And here you have something that really made my day:) It's so true and at the same time so horrifying...

Here am I sitting in a tin can... far above the world... Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do

Only one have left......

Last Sunday one of the greatest musicians died after an 18 month battle with cancer. It was a big shock for the whole world for two reasons: the first one was that all this time only few people knew about his sickness, the second one, he have JUST released his new album! David Bowie, an 69 years old musician, have left our world with dignity. His last album, Blackstar, or maybe I should  put ☆, was, as his producer later said, a farewell to all his fans. 

Universe, stars and everything that's far far away were always close to David. His most popular fictional character, Mayor Tom, was present in his music till the end. An astronaut Mayor Tom first appeared in David's second album, Space Oddity which was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Later the character appeared in his album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), released in 1980. The story of Mayor Tom continues.

The last mention of Mayor Tom, although not in the lyrics but in the videoclip, we find in his song Blackstar from the newest album.

David Bowie is one of the music stars that will live forever. During his life he proved himself not only as a great musician, but also a great person. He released 25 albums, had a big influence on pop culture, promoted or even "saved" a lot of different musicians (Iggy Pop, Placebo), have broken a lot of boundaries (bisexuality, homosexuality). Apart from his music career, he was a father and a husband.

Rest in peace, Bowie...

It's not worth doing something unless someone, somewhere, would much rather you weren't doing it.

Some time ago I watched a video created by an organization Care Norway called "Dear Daddy". It's a campaign in which a daughter tells her father about all of the harassment and abuse she will suffer because of men during her lifetime.
It's a campaign that is addressed to all the fathers in the world that says: you can do more than protect your daughter from physical dangers, you can change attitudes of men around you".




                




I have to admit that the video was touching. Maybe because of the few first seconds (not a long time ago I was torturing my sister by telling her what she can or can't eat, sushi was of course forbidden), or maybe because I could identify myself with a few situations that were mentioned in the video.
I could never understand why some men are violent towards women. And I'm talking about this irrational violence. We all, men and women, have mothers, sisters and daughters. And all daughters someday will grow up and become women.

I was very surprised when I saw all those comments below the video. I think that almost all the men that wrote there are strongly offended by this video. Can someone tell me why? It does not tell that ALL men are like that. But there is a lot of them. Someone asked why they are not making a big deal about the women's violence towards men - please, really? Maybe because men are stronger by nature and usually don't have problems handling women? But it's just my opinion...

New year, new....

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had great holidays:)

I've decided that this year I will not have any New Year's Resolutions or plans. Not this time. The one thing that the last year taught me was that you may plan things, you may have some resolutions or hopes and you may even be determined to do them, but then, LIFE happens. It always does, especially when you say out loud about what you dream about. 

It's the same with "I would never...". Try to say it like you really mean it and wait:)

But don't get me wrong, I am actually looking forward to see what this year will bring us. 

Here is a song that has been stucked in my head for almost a month. Enjoy!

George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. He was interested in classical and popular music, so his music is a mix of both. He was one of the first composers to combine jazz and classical music styles.

A girl who fell from the sky

It all happened in 1971. Julianne and her mother were supposed to fly to Pucallpa before the Christmas Eve, but because of the high school graduation ceremony, they decided to go there on 24th. At about 11am they got into the plane.

After a half an hour of boring flight, the plane flew into a huge thunderstorm. All that she could see were lightning flashes and things that were falling from overhead lockers. People screamed and cried as the plane started to shake violently. She describes herself as disorientated and terrified, as the plane began to nosedive. She remembers that she was still strapped into her seat when she fell of the plane at the attitude of about 10,000 feet. At first she didn’t realize that she was the only survivor. She found herself alone in the Peruvian rainforest. After regaining consciousness, she started to look for a help. Although she had broken her collarbone, she knew that she could not give up. As her parents used to take her on their scientific expeditions, she knew how to survive in the jungle. 

After a few days, she found a rivulet and started to follow it. She knew that finding a river was crucial to find help. Each night she had to find a safe spot to sleep in. She ate only the things that she knew that were not poisonous. When finally she found a river, she had to swim for a long time. Finally, she found a boat. Although there were no people inside, she knew that she had reached the safety. The next day, some forestry workers found her in the shelter on the hill, near the boat.

If you want to know more, watch Werner Herzog's documentary film Wings of Hope !

Life is Strange

Times have changed... 

Nowadays kids prefer to stay at home rather than play hide and seek in the backyard or to build castles in the sandpit. Now all that kids want is... to play computer games. And I'm not surprised. 

People have created games that are so realistic that we sometimes forget that's just a game! With a lot of details, beautiful characters, huge open spaces, and interesting storylines. When we play, we find ourselves in a totally different world. What else could we want?

I could tell you all about Shadow of Colossus (still in love with this game), Silent Hill series (almost died of a heart attack while playing), Witcher III (really proud that it's Polish!) or Bloodborne (although sometimes I truly hated this game, I would still come back to play it), and other well-known games, but today I wanted to tell you about the one that's called  Life is Strange.

What if you could change the past?

                                     

Life is Strange tells us a story of a teenage girl called Max, who after a five year absence returns to her hometown, Arcadia Bay, to attend a photography class. Soon she realizes that there's something wrong going on in the town. While being a witness of a tragic incident in the school's bathroom, Max discovers that she has the power to rewind time. 

Basically, it's a story of a true friendship between Max and Chloe. 

Life Is Strange is a five part episodic game that sets out to revolutionise story based choice and consequence games by allowing the player to rewind time and affect the past, present and future.

I highly recommend you to play it!

Peace for Paris

When I heard the news I was shocked. This time it's different. The attack didn't take place somewhere far away from me, or, like Charlie Hebdo shooting, it was not aimed to a specific group of people. They were shooting to random people. 

I just keep on wondering how many of them went out just to celebrate something, or were just coming back home from work, or went to buy milk. Or those who just went to a concert. But, seriously, why? A rock/metal concert?!

I just can't imagine how terrifying it must have been for those who live in Paris. 

Peace for Paris... Although "peace" didn't do much since the attack on Charlie. Maybe we should better say "Fight back, Paris"? 
Maybe this time something will change, maybe they will realise that if they take part in a war, they should pay more attention to who comes to France, and who already live there.