Life's a beach
I love the photos Adriana! Nice to see and read about your holiday. I thought it might be interesting to tell you all about a similar holiday that I went on not that long ago. I say similar because it was a trip to the beach and we stayed in a lovely house very close to the sea. I thought it might be interesting for you and all our readers to see the contrast between the two places given that the cultures of our countries (my host country) are so different. Having said that, the place we were staying was formerly a Portuguese colony – like Brazil… I wonder if any of you have figured out where I’m talking about yet… your clues so far are India, beach, Portuguese…
Yep you guessed it, the place we visited was in Goa. In the northern part of India’s smallest state. We stayed in this lovely house…
…with some friends who were visiting from England. They have a three year old son so it was nice for Louie and him to play together. Like you, Adriana, we were only there for a couple of nights – just a long weekend. It was a bit short but still lovely and relaxing. We ate lots of fish, which was a real treat as we’re a bit scared of eating fish in Delhi as it is so far from the sea. Anyway, you can see from the picture below, the beach we were staying on isn’t very developed at all.
There are loads of beaches in Goa and some of them are really very (over) developed. One evening we went out for dinner on another beach – it was a real eye-opener and a side of Goa that I hadn’t seen before. Bars, restaurants and hotels everywhere and zillions of (other) tourists. I prefer the quieter beaches myself but it was still interesting to see.
I think my favourite thing about Goa is these beautiful churches that are dotted around all over the place. Like I said in an earlier post, I’m really interested in the different religions practised in India and how they are interpreted in different parts of the country. Most of the churches in Goa are Catholic and were built by the Portuguese but many still have huge congregations – much bigger than churches in England have these days. 
Goa has grown on me over the few times that I’ve been there – the first time I went I wasn’t that keen but I like it now. I’ve definitely been to nicer beaches in other parts of India though – Karnataka for example… but that’s a whole other story.
I sometimes find myself pining for the sea here in Delhi. That’s one thing that I love about England – you’re never too far from the coast. I love going to the beach, even in the winter and having a nice hot plate of chips with salt and vinegar… mmm my mouth is watering!
Well done on the homework Adriana – your first two corrections of the sentence *‘I’ve done writing’ are good: I’m done writing and I’ve finished writing but the other two corrections you have given aren’t quite right… *I’ve got my blog done and *I’ve finished my today’s blog. It would be better to say “I’ve finished my blog” or “I’ve finished today’s blog”.
As for the spelling – did you cheat and copy and paste the words ten times or did you write them out? :-) I was half-joking when I suggested you do that! Anyway, let’s see if you remember them now on ;-)
Seeing as it’s Sunday I’m not going to give you any homework today, just the vocabulary as usual and I’ll write back to some comments as well, below.
See ya Tuesday!
Amy
p.s. Adriana, you asked me what ‘ta-ra for now’ means – well it’s another way of saying goodbye. It’s more common in the north of England than in the south and it was made famous by a TV presenter who used to say it without fail at the end of every show. Ta ra!
Vocabulary definitions, as always…
Preference: the one or thing that you like the most, when given a choice
To bug someone: to annoy someone (note the difference to your definition, Adriana)
Trusty: dependable, always there for you
Once and for all: to settle something completely/finally (also check this one, Adri)
To employ: to use (in this context)
To slave away: to work very hard
Must rush: to go/leave quickly, usually for another appointment
To pull your weight: to do your share of the work. To not pull your weight means you are not doing your fair share
And new words and phrases from today
Contrast
Having said that
A long weekend
An eye-opener
Dotted around
A congregation
To grow on someone
To pine
Mouth-watering
AND some old words for you to review…
A troublemaker
Daunting
To tweak
To get the blues
To vouch for something
Check the usage and definitions here!
And NOW for some replies to our readers’ comments.... I’m sorry if some of you have written in but haven’t had your comments displayed on the website yet. I’m afraid I can only respond to the ones I can see! They should all come through eventually though – they're all mixed up with lots of spam emails, unfortunately. I’ll keep checking!
Filippo: Thanks for telling me about All Saints’ Day – I’ve heard of that before, I think it’s a really nice tradition… perhaps I’ll start celebrating it in my little family!
Ana Paula: glad you liked hearing about my Granny and Grampy – it’s too bad my Granny doesn’t have a computer, it would have been nice for her to read what I wrote. Maybe I’ll print it out and send it to her…
Silwal: Sorry to hear that you have had so much work to do! Ahh… now I understand what you meant by single! Don’t work too hard!
Kay: wow you ask some tricky questions! I think in the sentence ‘even more useful than something’ the phrase ‘even more’ is used a little differently than just ‘even’ on its own. It has to be followed by an adjective. Yes, you can use the present perfect with ‘even’ and you wrote it correctly – ‘have even done sth’. Here ‘even’ goes after the auxiliary and before the main verb (which is also a bare infinitive)
Jill: sorry to hear about your new manager… meetings can be interesting sometimes but not if you have too many of them, I agree. You’re absolutely right about that sentence – it should have been ‘who’, not ‘you’ – it was just a typo. Well spotted!
Reka: hello! I don’t really have light and spring steps, especially now that I am almost six months pregnant! I’m more like an elephant :-) My father (who I get my surname from) has always been a runner though – he won a lot of competitions and races when he was at university. He went for a run everyday for ten years, without missing a day! How about that?!
Adek: I’m glad you’re finding the blogs useful… feel free to ask as many questions as you like and I’ll try and answer them!
Virginia: thanks for your lovely comments! And yes, I will reply to you! Sorry if you have been waiting a while… it takes some time for the comments to be displayed on the website. Hope all is well :-)
Yvonne: yes, you’re right – listening does improve speaking in the same way that reading helps with writing. It’s especially useful to hear intonation patterns and how people say things, as well as the language they use. I don’t think you need to imitate a native speaker but just listen for phrases that you like and then try and use them yourself.
Paulraj: thanks for your nice comments and your kind wishes. By the way, where do you live in India? I think you told me once but I’ve forgotten.
Ahmed: Aha! You thought I was leaving but I’m not! I’ll be around on this website until the end of September – thanks for your kind comments though :-)
Jasmina: I’m always happy to hear from new people, welcome! You asked an interesting question – I think the English version of your name would probably be Jasmine, that’s the closest I can think of. However, these days there are people from so many different cultures and backgrounds living in England that it wouldn’t be uncommon to find a Yasmeen, a Yasmeena or even a Jasmina!
Comments
Dear Amy, This time we are really lucky to see all those lovely photos from both student and teacher bloggers. Both of you are on lovely holidays and enjoyed very much. Here in my part, I am unable to take even my one day off. Most of the time I get one day of on Tuesday and my children enjoy feast on that day. Your and Adarina visit to sea beaches forced me to recall my visit of Jagannath (the east coast of India). In that period, I get around 10 days of from my work due to SAARC summit held in Kathmandu six years ago. Nowadays, it is only sweet dream for me to have such a travel. It is not sure yet but my boss told me that I should start to work 7 days a week starting from coming week for about 1 month because one my colleague is going to be transferred to another location. Here is meaning of words you gave us as homework: Contrast -difference Having said that –Known from word of mouth A long weekend Saturday and Sunday with at least one additional day of holiday added, either Friday or Monday An eye-opener - something that surprises you and teaches you new facts about life, people, etc Dotted around - to be spread across an area A congregation – Gathering of worshipers or prayers in a building To grow on someone – you like them more and more although you did not like them at first: e.g. Spouse To pine –desperately need something or someone which not possible to get Mouth-watering-describe food that looks better and have pleasant taste
Hi Amy!!! Wow! Goa is so beautiful! Just like you, I prefer quieter beaches than that ones with zillion of tourists. I also like to go to the beach in the winter, just to hear the sea sound, it´s so relaxing... Well, time for word review :-): 1- a troublemaker: someone who causes trouble; 2-dauting: frightening or scary, especially when you think you aren´t able to do or cope with something; 3-to tweak: to change something a little bit; 4-to get the blues: to start feeling sad; 5-to vouch for something: to say that something is true. So I think it´s all Amy. See you soon, Ana Paula.
Hi!AMY! How is life going on and how is your family especially little Louie? I hope you are enjoying with your family and friends here in Delhi. Well, first of all let me check, do you remember me or forgotten! I hope you remember me ^_^ I like your thoughts and great feeling about India and specially about Indian culture which influence you to stay and work here in India, perhaps you like the freedom here in India because you can do anything what you want, you can go any where you want to go, you have the freedom of everything what you want to do. Am I right? I am a regular reader of your comments and I love to read BBC Blog, do you know what I do? Everyday, when I came to office firstly I checked your all replies and comments, than I starting other things. Hey pls keep blogging like this and never leave BBC, I thing you are the most perfect teacher at BBC I have ever seen. AMY I wrote many comments but you didn't displayed so far, I don't know is it a technical problem or any thing else but I hope you will put this message on the board this time. Hey I must say you should not forget to do yoga, it is very important for you because I am also a regular student of yoga classes here. Last but not lest, Pls tell us more about your marriage life, how you meet to your husband, Is it your love marriage or arrange marriage. Take care Bye Manoj ^_^
Hi, Amy! The house you stayed in looks so familiar! The Portuguese borrowed a lot from Indian architecture to adapt their houses to tropical climate here in Brazil, as well as left traits of their Iberian architecture in Goa. The outstanding ceiling all around the house sustained by masonry columns (what do you call this structure in English? In Portuguese it's an "alpendre") was brought to Brazil by the Portuguese and used in their colonial manour houses to protect them from the heat and excessive sunlight. They would also build their houses a little above the ground level, also because of the heat and so that no wild animals would come in easily, and leave the basement to store things. I guess you can still see a few of such Portuguese manour houses in Goa and other former Portuguese cities in India, can you? Speaking of other former Portuguese colonies in India, I don't know how they are called in English...I can think of Damão and Diu, in Portuguese. Do you know their English or Indian names? I wish Adriana will post a picture of an authentic Portuguese-Brazilian rural "Casa-Grande" so that you can see the similitudes to Goa's architecture (it really striked me!). The most representative ones of our colonial period are in Pernambuco, in the North-East of Brazil. You would certainly love visiting that part of Brazil -the beaches are awesome!
Amy, Thank you very much! I am very flattered when I saw my name appeared in the website. This is the place that I read regularly. I found it was interesting when I got the idea of other's cultures in here. I am sure I will read all of your articles. Bless you all the best. And again I am afraid I couldn't sleep tonight! I am very very happy:> Virginia
Hi Amy, so nice reading your blogs. Very beautiful places you showed us in your pictures. You sure go around don't you? I find traveling a wonderful thing. But I must confess that I'm a little lazy. When holidays come and I have more time to go around I end up staying home and resting. But when I decide to go on a trip I find it a wonderful experience. But I sure have to practice that more. Let me tell you that I'm learning a lot from your blogs. By the way, how do you pronounce Delhi? Does the final "i" has the sound of a "y" or "e"? Is it stressed in the first or final sylable? Thank you for your nice blogs. Good bye.
Hi,teacher Amy. I would like to say that long time no see. In this today's blog is interesting for me, that is because it is rather funny and getting stress out after I read and see all picture. When I see these picture, I feel like ichy feet to the sea as I imagine. Ha!Ha!However at this stage, I prepare for doing a special project and clear my tasks at the same time. It's quite hard to manage time with all tasks that I must have to do.It's a good opportunity to practice, isn't it? Anyway I always prefer to read your column as well as posting comment in here. Still to come again.Next time. Wisarut.
Goa is one of the good tourist places to visit. There are many foreign tourists always in Goa beaches. It will be good to visit there from Nov to Jan. I happened to be there some twenty years back along with my post graduate class mates. It was one of the memorable times in my life to remember. We stayed four days. We would visit beaches in the morning and evening and churches in the day time. We had drink party all the three days at night. The atmosphere and climate is always wonderful for tourists. Have you heard about Fenny drink? It is a hot drink. It is only available in Goa. You can’t get it in any other places in India. The people from other places use to purchase bulk quantity of fenny and carry with them when they return. I enjoyed this drink very much when I was in Goa. It wasn’t the same taste when I had it outside Goa once when one of my friends bought it from Goa. Even for taste of the drinks change depends upon the atmospheres.
HI Amy,Do you know how the Christianity spread in India? European priests had taken pain to travel India from for away places and baptized the Indian people. They used to sail the seas and reach Indian coasts. That’s why we have many wonderful churches in and around coastal areas. The Christian population is also thick in the areas. In Goa we have St. Xavier’s church where St. Xavier was buried. We have beautiful churchs in Tutucurin and Capecomorin. Have you visited Marina beach in Chennai. It is one of the longest beach. But it is over crowded and beautiful.Here we have Son Thome church on the Marina beach. St. Thomas was buried in the church. We have Our Lady of Health church in Vallankanni on the Nagappttinam coats where the Tsunami hit badly in 2005. you may like beaches in Kerala. you know Thomas was one of the twelve apostals with Jesus christ.
hi,Amy,this is a new member for the first time leaving comment to you ,i remember clearly that many roommates in university told me it is a great and can learn more regarding English by bbb program,as that time ,only to listen bbb radio in the morning but come aross many dificulties in the proceeding of listening because will appear too much culture diffrent in understanding ,nowday i find it is a good chance for us to learn more on boarding communication ,and share updated news aroud world freely ,so feel luck to log in and take part in talking about opinion from all over the world ,it is only my thoughs
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