11 Random Facts - Eleven! A Great Way to Build Relationships!

It is amazing how time flies and that I am sitting here writing on my blog again in 2014!
The truth is that, due to irresponsibility coming from the two main Power Companies, there were several days of blackouts in the city of Buenos Aires. We were one of their victims too.
Why am I posting an update?  To answer the last set of questions of that Tag Eleven Bloggers.
Almost a month ago, I started this quite a long trip and expressed the following: 

December 21, 2013. Today is the First Day of Summer here in the Southern Hemisphere. Temperatures are slowly rising and will get to 39°C on Christmas Day. Just praying for power to stay on!.

Why all this? Because this is supposed to be the last working week before Summer Break: I have decided to do what I have not done along the year due to...different reasons. However, this temporary rest is never going to happen because I get busier and busier, or should I say I need to get busy and engaged or is it that my awesome colleagues love to keep on challenging me. Either way: I love it!!


Now, some other exciting CHALLENGE! I have been tagged by Shelly Sanchez Terrell, Vicky Loras and Malu Sciamarelli: so I´d better start working on the 11 facts or 33?... before I get tagged by someone else!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

The following goes to Shelly´s:
http://teacherrebootcamp.com/2013/12/19/11-random-facts/

Eleven Random Facts about me:

1. I am a tall person but I was never too happy about it: when I was 12 I was already 1.70 m and nobody believed me when I told them my age. (Then I grew more and more: 1.74: not an average height for my age and "times". Nowadays, teenagers are really huge!).

2. I married one of my best friends from my "teenage" summer holidays and we have been together for almost 29 years.

3. Myself together with one of my best friends from Secondary School (ages 12/13-17/18) became official members of the International Beatles´ Fan Club and attended meetings when they were held here in Buenos Aires.

4. As a totally fully passionate Beatles lover, I cried my heart out when John Lennon was shot and when George Harrison passed away.

5. One more fact as a fan: my grandpa came with me to the movies to see "Help" when I was only ten years old because none of my "friends" were fond of watching "that" kind of film.

6. I started listening to the radio when I was ten and interacted with the announcer by writing letters or giving my opinion about the topics they discussed.

7. I had never thought of becoming an English teacher, I wanted to be a lawyer, a History Professor, a stewardess and a radio announcer. So glad I decided to study to be an educator! I would like to thank my mom who gave me the opportunity to study English (EFL) when I was ten!.

8. I never formally went to Kindergarden. It was just a two-day unforgettable experience!.Consequently, I was given a test for first grade at four and entered Primary School at five, something which is no longer possible now, but it was legal in the seventies.

9. I was a sort of bookworm at a very early age: the books were at home so I read them, as simple as that. I enjoyed "Little Women", "David Copperfield", "Jane Eyre", "Wuthering Heights", "Around the World in 80 Days", "The Iliad and The Odyssey" among other Greek masterpieces: one of my favorites was a book full of stories about Greek Gods which I used to read over and over again. Also, I watched "Anne Frank" on television more than ten times and cried every time I saw it!.

10. I loved to dress up as Jo from "Little Women"!. My grandma, Catalina,  had made me a dress just like the one in the film starring June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor and Janet Leigh. Later in order to not "argue" with my best friend, I gave in and played Meg instead!. 

11. My parents, my sister and I went on camping trips for our summer vacations and they were so much fun!! I guess not so much for my dad who was the only one to put up the tent!. 

My answers to Shelly´s 11 questions:

1. What is a goal you hope to accomplish from your bucket list? To be fluent in Portuguese and Italian. Love those two languages!.
2. What is one goal you hope to accomplish in 2014? To finish my specialization (post graduate course) and become a teacher trainer. :-)
3. If you could host a reality TV show, what would it be about? Maybe about music or education.
4. How do you blow off steam? All the time!! I complain about everything, everywhere, too much. 
5. What is one of your personal theme songs? "In My Life"
6. What are you incredibly proud of accomplishing? Get to live in a foreign country.
7. What was one of your favorite gifts? Not favorite but the Best gifts ever: my children: Martín and Carolina.
8. How have you dealt with a past failure? I always asked God for advice, peace of mind and heart and also comfort.
9. What is one piece of advice that has helped you throughout life? To live my life One Day At A Time.
10. What was your favorite toy when you were a child? I loved my Barbie doll, all my dolls and my records!.
11. What’s your favorite piece of art? "Sunflowers" by Vincent Van Gogh.

FOR YOU, SHELLY:

Eleven Questions for the bloggers I am tagging: Marijana Smolčec, Maria Bossa, Cristina Monteiro Silva, Theodora Pap, Débora Tebovich, Roseli Serra, Rose Bard, Sylvia Guinan, Juan Alberto Uribe, Gordana Popovic and Hana Ticha!

1. What are three adjectives that describe you best?

2. Who is someone you admire the most? Why?

3. What is your favorite color? Why?

4. Where would you like to spend your dream vacation?

5. Are you a good cook? What is your "speciality"?

6. Have you ever met a Hollywood star? Where? How?

7. The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?

8. Can you Tango? or better said: Can you dance Tango?

9. Have you ever eaten some exotic food?

10.Do you think you are a connected educator?

11. If you were ever offered to teach in a foreign country, which one would you choose?

The mission for the 11 bloggers I am tagging, only if you feel like participating!

1. On your own blog, create a post and mention I tagged you along with anyone else who did.
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3. In addition, to these facts answer the 11 questions I created for you.
4. List or tag 11 additional bloggers, not me.
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer, and let all the bloggers know they have been nominated.

Mission One Accomplished!! Now, I go for Vicky´s and Malu´s!

MISSION  # TWO: I was tagged by Vicky Loras and Shelly Sanchez Terrell almost at the same time. I got both notifications on Twitter and from there on my Gmail account!

These are my answers to Vicky Loras´ Eleven!!

1. If you were not an educator, what line of work would you imagine yourself in? Maybe something connected with Media. Definitely not in an office.
2. Which person in ELT would you like to meet in person and why? You! Because you believed in me from Day One. Also I´d love to meet Shelly, and many of my ELT connections on FB: to Thank You and Them for helping me to grow!
3. What new activity / hobby would you like to start?  Right now, I am doing many new activities to become a better and connected teacher: blogging, studying, reading, watching tutorials, attending webinars, so maybe something new would be some work out, doing something for my health.
4. Which is the best book you have recently read? Why? I recently reread "The Great Gatsby", "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" and I am half-way through "Hard Times". Besides, I am reading "History Of England" and some poetry. Those are books I studied at college. 
5. If you could change one thing in the world, what would that be? Child labor and child abuse.
6. Which is the nicest destination you have visited so far and why? This is really hard to answer! I´d say Cuba: Havannah and the beaches, Las Vegas, New York City and the Outer Banks (NC, USA).
7. If you decided to write a book, what would it be about? It´d be about a sort of auto biography.
8. What is your favourite song this period? None!  I am a classic rock blues, jazz, classical music and tango listener. Anyway I like Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Maroon 5.
9. What is your favourite and least favourite food? My favourite food is Argentinian barbecue, all kinds of pasta and my least favorite sea food and fish: the smell kills me!(I developed a kind of allergy since my first pregnancy)
10. Which is the next conference you plan to attend? I just wish I could go to IATEFL 2014!
11. With whom from the PLN was your first meeting in person? What was it like? I have never met anyone yet. :-( Just hoping to meet at least some  them soon! Which actually did happen January 17, 2014 (See picture at the bottom of this post!)

THANK YOU VICKY!!

During the following days I will update this post with Malu´s questions!!

See you soon!

UPDATE!!January 19, 2014:

It was a real pleasure to answer another set of 11 questions. 

This time those Eleven replies go to Malu Sciamarelli: http://www.malusciamarelli.com/

1. What do you have on your bedroom wall? We have a big picture of each of our children when they were about 5 months old and between both of them there is an LCD TV.

2. What’s the first thing you do when you get up? Thank God for giving me the chance to live another day! Then, I turn off the alarm clock and take my thyroid pill (Levothyroxine)! Fun! Isn´t it?

3. Do you have a pet? No, we don´t. :-)

4. What’s your favorite food from your childhood? It is called milanesa con papas fritas, or breaded meat (thin beef covered with bread crumbs and fried) and fries.

5. What do you like most about teaching? Hmm, I think the permanent exchange of ideas with young people, teaching new things to them and the fact they teach me new things to me.

6. What’s the best thing about going to a conference?  Well, getting to conclusions, learning new things, refreshing ideas, plus seeing old friends and colleagues and meeting new ones, too.

7. Do you read two or more books at the same time? Yes, I do so badly!!

8. Who is your hero? Anyone who fights for Peace and protects children from the “evil world”

9. What’s your favorite country to visit and why? I would like to go to England, Italy and Switzerland because I love English and I am Italian descendant.

10. What’s making you smile at the moment? What I am writing :-)

11. Life is too short to…spend most of the time “ fussing and fighting, my friend!”  Seize the Day! Carpe Diem.

I thank Malu for thinking of me, and 

dedicate this quote to her for reminding us that

A collection of the ELEVEN ANSWERS OF ALL THE TAGGED ONES HERE:

http://padlet.com/wall/gysllmmuxv