Hi Federico!
Hi Federico!
It was good to hear from sunny South America this morning because here it is dark, wet and very windy. Strangely, though, it is incredibly mild for December – about fourteen degrees Celsius at seven o’clock in the morning (we could easily expect it to be zero degrees at this time of the year).
So, you are a gold mining engineer. My daughter was interested immediately! Gold, you see. Teenage girls, eh? She asked me to ask you what sort of project you are currently working on. Actually I’m interested to hear more about what exactly a mining engineer does.
After I had read your blog I went immediately to my atlas to look more closely at Peru. As I told you yesterday, I have worked in almost all European countries, I know Scandinavia very well and I have even worked in Siberia and the Far East. However, I have never been to South America. Sorry. The nearest I have been to Peru is probably Cuba. I went there about eight years ago for a study visit. I do have a friend, here in London, from Bolivia, which is not so far away from you, is it?
So I have to learn more about Peru now. Well, I looked for your hometown of Talavera but either my atlas is not good enough or Talavera is VERY small. Perhaps you could tell me a bit more about it.
Like you, I spend much (if not most) of my time travelling – but not to work, because I work from home. Also like you, I like to read when I’m on a train or a plane. I really enjoy thrillers, especially detective thrillers, so we seem to have a lot in common. Do you know authors such as Michael Dibdin (an Irish crime writer whose thrillers are often set in Italy and who has a wonderful detective character called Aurelio Zen), Carl Hiaasen (an American journalist who writes ironic thrillers set in Florida) and Ian Rankin (a Scottish writer whose detective John Rebus works lives and works in Edinburgh)? These books could be difficult to read in English but I am sure they’re translated into Spanish. Try reading one in Spanish and then reading the same book in English.
When you cycle each morning is that to keep fit – some sort of training programme? Is there somewhere in the city centre where you can cycle for pleasure safely? You mentioned the traffic in Lima. Do you know about our Congestion Charge, here in London? There is a large part of Central London where you must pay to go in by car. Next year the Congestion Zone will be enlarged. The system has reduced traffic in Central London and although it’s expensive to drive there at least the traffic usually keeps moving. Public transport has also improved quite a lot and we now have rather comfortable buses and a reasonably good rail network. Have you ever been here?
I will think about you on the bus tomorrow morning. Four hours on a bus is not much fun. And 4,900 metres is extremely high. But I suppose you are used to altitude. How high above sea-level is Lima? I told you I’m training to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, didn’t I? That’s almost 6,000 metres above sea-level, and the only thing I’m really worried about is altitude sickness. Evidently, there is nothing you can do to prevent it. My Bolivian friend, Bruna, drinks coca tea and she is convinced that it will help me to overcome altitude sickness.
OK, I think that’s enough. It’s easy for me to go on writing all morning. If this is too much for you please tell me and I will write a bit less. Meanwhile, there are a few words and expressions, which I have typed in bold, and which could be useful to learn.
atlas
a book of maps
have a lot in common
if you have a lot in common with someone you are interested in similar things
for pleasure
when you do something for pleasure you do it because you want to do it, not because you have to do it
mentioned
said, told (me) about
Congestion Charge/Zone
a charge (fee) you must pay to enter an area which is normally congested (so busy that the traffic hardly moves)
enlarged
made bigger
altitude
height (above sea-level)
altitude sickness
sickness caused by being at high altitude (e.g. dizziness, nausea)
prevent
stop something (before it happens)
overcome
beat, recover from, get over, deal with, manage
Have a good day at Castrovirreyna (do you go underground?). Don’t work too hard!
Very much looking forward to hearing from you tomorrow.
Bye for now,
STEPHEN
Comments
Hello, Stephen and welcome.I love your style of writing so it's a pleasure to read your posts.I can't wait to see your next entries.I will read them all in one breath everyday.Good luck! See you!
hi,Stephen it's a great pleasure to meet you. your blog already grips my attention and i can't wait to read your next post.your mention of Kilimanjaro takes me back to the days in KOREA.there was a song about a leopard who lived in the mount Kilimanjaro.the song's lyrics were written about loneliness and isolation and seeking hope. it was very popular once in korea.by the way i think your coming blogs are never boring me or too much to read for me. it don't matter how long they are going to be..the more you write the more i will learn. good luck and have a nice day
Please write longer for us to read.I'll appreciate it.By the way,I have been to London in last summer vacation.I think tube is the most convenient public trasition there.I took it everyday many times!
Hello Mr keeler . It seems very pleasure to have a teacher Which is a writer . I like detective novels but unfortunately I am n't familiar with new ones . sport ,travel , art all are my interest so I suppose your blogs would be very attractive for me . I live in north part of Iran . I 'm a jobholder woman and a mother and ofcourse an house wife .I work in our provinc 's communication company . I live in ARDEBIL city in north of IRAN . ARDEBIL is located in the foot of an old volcano . It is called SABALAN mountain . t has a small lake in it's top .it is very beautiful . perhaps some day you come in our little city for climbing at SABALAN . I hope to improve my English talents for many porpuses . And I have learnt lot from this blogs . Have it for now . I wish you good luck. Have a grate time bye bye pary form nothr part of IRAN.
Hi Stephen, While we are still remembering our previous teacher bloggers we are happy you agreed to be our new one. I can imagine it’s not an easy job! Your post reads so smoothly – for English learners that’s really a unique opportunity to caught a bit of every day English in its best form. I know that you are a writer but I think that this also a matter of some kind of personality, I mean openness in expressing thoughts and feelings. I cross my fingers for your successful Kilimanjaro preparations. I got through it but only as an observer, when my son, then teenager, was preparing for Kilimanjaro expedition. He climbed till to the Gillman point and had to resign due to terrible headache. I was happy he was enough reasonable to make such tough decision. Hope you’ll be more lucky. Good preparation, including medical consultation, really counts. Best
Hi Stephen,it is amazing to see such a huge interest about a student. The article could I read smooth fluent. Please, write so much for us we are looking forward to hear more and more. It helps improving the writing skills very good. But there is a question if I would understand somebody´s native English speech as well? Anyway, each small progress which I can feel by reading blogs is delighted!
Hi Stephen, You said about congestion charges. You see, India is one of the thickly populated countries. You can’t imagine the traffic in metros in the wee hours. But it will be very difficult to practice congestion zone in our cities. We have public transport systems like bus and trains. In that also you can see the crowd where ever you go. Sot people not to prefer take public transport system. Most of the middle class people are buying cars now days. The numbers of car user are in raise. The congestion in major cities are intolerable. i do not know how we are going to overcome this problem
Hi Stephen, You are right when you say that Bolivia is not that far from Peru.( at least for us Brazilians who are so used to long distance). In fact, Bolivia is on the border of my state, Mato Grosso, in Brazil. We are around 4 hours from there by car. Actually, we receive a lot of cultural influence from Bolivians. My husband looks like Evo Morales, the Bolivian president. How nice to hear that you are preparing yourself to face the big adventure of climbing the Kilimanjaro. I love adventure. What kind of training are you going through? Once I took a Yoga course in São Paulo and one of my teachers was training a group of people who would climb the Everest. He was giving them lots of breathing exercises to improve their lung resistence. Is this the kind of training you are taking? Will you be climbing on your own or with a group of people and a guide? How long will it take for you to reach the top? I've also heard that coca leaves relieve altitude sickness. Brazilians who go to Bolivia are advised to munch them. However Frederico's soup also sounds good.
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