Magical Moments
Hello Everyone,
Oh dear, we seem to be having problems with the student log in system. I am sure that it will be fixed soon. In the meantime, while we wait to hear from Xuan we can chat. Thanks you for all the comments on the May Day post and I was interested to read who you were all spending May Day holiday round the world. Ana Paula, I am glad that you got onto the PC while your sister was in the shower. Hyoshil, Thailand does have crazy golf courses, but its too hot to use them at the moment as there is generally no shade. Good luck with the competition, Chaos, and Filipo, spending your day off as a couch potato sounds good to me. I hope it was relaxing. Beatriz - I am sorry that there WERE not MANY THINGS (or there WAS NOT MUCH) to do on your holiday, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.
I am back in the internet café, but this time I am prepared. Last time I was attacked by hordes of mosquitoes and got peppered with bites. So this time, I am absolutely lathered in insect repellant. And I have brought crayons and a coloring book for Josh. He is still pretending to type like mummy on the next terminal, though.
We are having a smashing time by the beach. We had a magical moment on Thursday evening, right after I wrote my last blog. Josh and I pootled back to the room and we all got our cossies on ready to go swimming. The suddenly, the skies opened and we were hit by torrential rain. Whilst everyone else in the resort was racing for cover, we were running to get outside to the pool. For 10 minutes we splashed and jumped about in the pool while the rain came tipping down. We spend so much of our normal lives complaining about rain and trying not to get wet (I’m thinking about me getting to the office in my suit in the mornings, here…) so it was totally liberating just to be able to run about in the rain. It was a really wonderful family moment. How about you – tell me about some of your ‘magical moments’.
I have another one! The first time I saw Mount Everest. Steve and I visited Nepal a few years ago and walked the trek up to Mount Everest base camp. It is a fairly arduous hike, but quite doable if you are reasonably fit and you don’t need any specialist climbing gear to do it. There is a point on the trek, after a village called Namche Bazaar, when you come round a corner and suddenly, in the distance, you can see the top of the world. I have to admit I cried. How often in your life do you get to see something so rare and special? I remember, Steve and I sat for ages just staring at it. Then we plodded on down the track to the next tea house for a cup of mint tea and some chocolate.
So, please tell me about your magical moments and explain why they were special.
(Vocabulary challenge now. In the previous 2 paragraphs, how many synonyms can you find for ‘walk’ or ‘run’. You have to find at least 3 verbs and 2 nouns)
Well done to those of you who worked out the previous vocabulary challenge. Maione among others was correct with the definition of ‘beat the crowds’ which means in my blog ‘to avoid the traffic’. I t can also mean, as Naheed pointed out ‘to avoid large crowds of people. Chiladi from Germany got the other one right; ‘my neck of the woods’ is a reference to a physical location, and in my blog I meant that Xuan lives not far away from me (Vietnam is in the same ‘neck of the woods’ as Thailand, being located in South East Asia). One final word for you. Suzy in Malaysia said she was eating ‘breakfast cum lunch’ with her hubby. There is a nice word to describe this meal which is BRUNCH. Steve and I like to have brunch with the kids at weekends.
Here are the corrections of the sentences:
(1) In THE first place, water and ice
(2) I can rely on FRUIT and vegetables for a long time without ever missing the MEAT or anything else
(3) I HAD never thought that fridges COULD tell us about PEOPLE
(4) ANYWAY I liked the BEACH PHOTOS (or) PHOTOS OF THE BEACHES
(5) PEOPLE who live in THE city (or URBAN AREAS) are able to USE FRIDGES
OK everyone, I’m back off to the beach with Josh. I have become addicted to the hotel’s café lattes so I need another cup. I will tell you more about our holiday and show you some snaps on Monday night, when we get back to Bangkok. In the meantime, can you guess the definitions of the vocabulary (hordes, peppered, lathered, cossies, arduous, gear)? Remember to use the context of the word to guess the meanings.
Bye for now,
Anne and Josh
xxxx
Comments
Hi,Anne Just a short note for you and your family.Mosquitoes don't like pleasant smell so my advice is that put some lavender oil on your skin.It might help mosquitoes to keep away from you and your family.Anyway it sounds a bit cruel but I couldn't resist chuckling a lot when I read that you had got peppered with the bites. I have got some magical moments in my life and I would love to share with you but it's a pity I am unable to share with you right now. I am sure I will have another opportunity to tell you all about them.It's a bank holiday on coming Monday so our family is planning to do something special. I wish you and your family to have lots of unforgetable and magical moments during your holiday! Bye bye xx
hi Ann,i'm trying toanswer your questions:I could find the following synonyms:Pootled back-was racing-plodded down.The nouns:hike - track."hordes of mosquitos"a large quantity of enemies,got peppered with bites:to become as red as a pepper becauseof......"lathered" means completely covered with ......."cossies"are swimming suits."Arduous"means very difficult and "gear"is special equipment
Hello Anne, your magical moment reminded me of our visit to the Murree Hills. The magical thing about that place was the steep hills surrounding the place all over and in that there were pine trees with green foliage. But the most scary thing was the road leading to the hills, which was all the way in 'S' shape. It was summer then but when we reached at the hills we felt as if the winter had started because the temperature was cool enough to make us forget the hot summers that moment. Anne, this time again, the homework is very interesting. Synonyms: racing (v)-syn (run),hike(n)-syn (walk),plodded on (v)-syn (walk). I have tried to work out the meanings of the words:hordes = many in number, peppered = a kind of burning sensation often after biten by an insect,lathered = to be covered with sth, cossies = clothes for swimming, arduous = tiring, gear = kind of equipment. Best wishes, Naheed
Dear Anne, This event had occurred about 24 years ago, I was returning from my campus. On the way to my house from campus, I was walking carelessly thinking about lessons I had learned in that day, I was just about collide with late King of Nepal, HM Birendra Shah. In that day, he had visited one of his offices out side of his palace. He was returning from that office and I was returning from my campus, I saw him, only a feet away from me and he asked me how my study was going on and other things. I was completely nervous and stared his face during the whole conversation. It was completely unexpected that the King asked me several questions and gave few minutes on the main street though he didn’t know who I was. Word meanings: Hordes- crowd, peppered -bite, lathered – cover body with lotion, cosies – swimming costume, arduous - difficult, gear- device. synonyms ‘walk’ or ‘run’-hike,trek,plod,
Hi Anne. For word 'rapellant'in one of your sentence, is this correct word? Or it's supposed to be 'repellent'?
Hello Anne. I would like to write about my magical moment. It was a few years ago when I spent my holidays in Barcelona. The whole city was excellent but I wasn't able to say a single word when I saw Gaudi's cathedral Sagrada Familia. I lost touch with the reality. Not only me. A lot of people were lying on the sleeping bags and they were watching and watching. It is so magnificent and breathtaking. It's unlike anything I've seen before. Now vocabulary tasks. The synonyms for run and walk, according to me, are: go, come, follow, speed. The definitions of the vocabulary. Hordes - a lot of. Peppered - covered. Lathered - sprinkled. Cossies - swimming costumes. Arduous - hard, tough. Gear - equipment. That's all from me. Have a nice weekend. Bye, bye.
Hello Anne: thank you very much for your corrections. Again, I say that you are one of my best English' teacher. Some days I'm a little sad because I think that I make lots and lots of mistakes in my writing. But, on the other hand I'm so grateful with you and all the BBC team because I can practise with native people. Bye for now. Mercè
Hi Anne, May the 1st was my marriage anniversary, and we had a very small party, all three of us (my husband, my son, and I)in a cosy restaurant just outside the city. And guess what I got as a gift, an MP4 player, now I can download all the MP3s from BBC and listen to them at my own pace.And YA, my wedding day was one of my Magical Days. But most certainly nothing is more magical than the time I stepped into the motherhood world. I can truly say, that it was a totally new and marvelous life, the time after the birth of my son...
Hello Anne, I enjoyed reading about your "wonderful family moment". The picture (in my mind) of seeing you running toward the pool splashed a lot of happiness to the face of my mind... Keep on creating more and more fantastic moments out of your life and keep sharing them with us. Yes, it can be my magical moment to read of others magical moments and to learn that one can create such Magical Moments from such small and simple instances.
horde: group, great number of; peppered; it means that signs of the bites spread all over the body like the small grains of pepper; lathered: covered; cossy: jacket tubes; ardouous: hard, difficult to do, something needing labor to accomplish; gear: tools
Hi Anne, Just a quick comment. I imagine that you mean synonyms according to the context of the use you have given in your paragraphs. In that meaning « walk » and « run » ? I am tempted to say that there are some “to go + prepositions”, to stroll, to pace, to hike, to sprint, to dash, … in the same way you do “doable” maybe runable and walkable could work too, but I am not sure. I also think on “walker”(not the black or red Johnny) and runner. Concerning a magical moment, the first one that comes straightaway on my mind was the exact instant of my daughter was delivered (born) I think it was one of the most touching moments I have ever experienced. Antonio
Hi Anne and Josh, Could I use " Magic Moments" instead of " Magical moments". What is the difference between them? I surfed on the internet and found nothing about the difference between magic and magical. Best regards, James.
Hi Anni & everyone, Thank god you & your family recovered from illness bout at an early date and bloggers could read your blogs regularly. Because of thrashing of harvested crops (wheat) there is a very much presence of dust participles in the atmosphere. These dust participles when goes in food pipe, gives birth to respiratory problems. Lucky are those who are spared from this seasonal illness. My daughter, Son and me forced to pay visit to doctor in these months. You whetted my appetite for Mount Everest. I am pleased to submit answer as follows: Hordes – flock of mosquito, Peppered – Red, Lathered – a cream which turned into foam while massaging on body. Cossies – items for swimming, Arduous – Sharp & Difficult, Gear- accumulating strength for specific purpose, increase volume of strength. Thank you.
About magical moments now I remember two: 1) when I went to Spain and entered Seville Cathedral, 2) When I visited Perito Moreno glaciar in Argentina. I was surprised not only for the inmense glaciar, but for the silence of the place, only interrupted when a piece of ice falls from the glaciar. About the challenge: climb, come round, plod, trek. If I make mistakes as in the previous post that you corrected me, sometimes is due to the fact that I write quickly been connected to the internet. Perhaps I should prepare it previously. Regards
hi Anne I read the description of your magical moments with pleasure,and I wouldlike tosolve the tasks you gave us.For"walk"and"run" I have found;pootled - was racing -èlodded down and the nouns:Hike and track. hordesm of mosquitos means alot of .a great number of enemis -got peppered meansI was as red as a pepper. I am absolutely lathered....means completely covered with......... "arduous"means difficult "gear" means equipment.Have I guessed?bye bye for now maione
Hi Anne! One of my magical moments was about 5 years ago when I watched the sunset in a dazzling beach in the Northeast of my country. Do you know when the sky has a kind of nuances of colours? It becomes yellowish-red-orange( I don´t know if I can say that. I hope you can understand me) at the same time and you can´t take your eyes of it. In addition to this beautiful scenery I´ve heard as a background the soft sound of the waves breaking on the shore. It´s an introspective and magical moment for me. I´ll never forget :-). Best wishes, Ana Paula.
Hello Anne, first of all, let me try to answer the vocabulary challenge. I guess some of the words might be: pootle back, to race, a hike, plodded on. This last one I'm not very sure. I hope they are right. Let me try now to work on the other pieces of vocabulary (hard ones I have to say): hordes - great number of individuals. peppered - full of marks? lathered - covered with? cossies - would it be swim suits? arduous - very hard gear - equipment. Well, I hope I have not done too badly. Let me tell you I liked very much to know about your special moments. I agree with you. They really were special. As for me, I had some special moments when I spent some time on the seaside with my mom, my brothers and my grandparents. They're not around anymore, but the memories will always be with me. Thank you for your special blogs. See you next time. Bye.
Hi Anne! Before you started your blogging my first words to you didn´t apear. Unfortunately, since then my notebook have been almost constantly away for claiming amendments and so was I, not just claiming repair, lying in a hospital. I have missed a lot of practice here with all the audience. What may I say about magical moment is that it hapening to me at my attemts to work on a new picture. To be absorbed with the idea you want to bring on the white area befor you I am free from all troubles about anything. I think, those are the only magical moments which I don´t need to travel to anywhere but depend on my inner dispositions, moments full of the joy and misery. These are my first sentences after long time, hopefuly uderstendeable. Best wishes!
Thanks for all your contributions. This blog has now closed and can no longer accept new comments.
