Morning, morning!
(image from www.allposters.com)
Good Morning Xuan and Readers,
Xuan – I hope the student blogger portal is fixed and that we can hear from you again soon. Don’t forget the task that I set you in my last blog. And please tell us about where you live in Vietnam. Are you in the north or the south?
Another early start for me today, hence the image at the start of the blog to describe how I feel! It’s 6.30am, I have a wonderful cup of coffee in my hands and I am at my desk typing away. Talking of coffee, I caught the end of a really interesting programme on the History Channel about the history of coffee. I didn’t know this, but instant coffee was invented by an British guy, George Washington (not the American president) who went to live in the US and founded his own company called Washington coffee. The popularity of instant coffee really took off during the 1st and then the 2nd world wars, when it was included in American soldiers food ration packs. By the time of the 2nd world war, there were 6 companies making instant coffee, including Nestle and Maxwell House. After the war, the popularity of instant coffee further increased and it became mass produced using a freeze-dry process. It is now drunk by 70% of all coffee drinkers around the world. It’s even more popular than ‘fresh’ ground coffee, especially with those over 50 and people in their early 20s. Well, it’s a long time since I was 20 and I have 15 years to go till my 50s, so I am going to enjoy my nice, fresh, Columbian beans until then. I don’t watch much TV, but I really enjoy programmes like that, that teach you things you didn’t know about common, everyday objects.
Anyway, talking of enjoying things, I had a really good time last night (after the coffee programme) reading all of your comments, to my and Xuan’s posts. We have a great international following on this blog, and I was amazed to see new comments from bloggers in Toronto, Singapore, Brazil, Slovakia, Costa Rica. Thanks for all of your comments and please keep them coming.
I enjoyed reading all of your ‘magical moments’. In answer to James’ question, you can say either magical or magic moments. Both words here function as adjectives to describe the noun ‘moment’ (although the word ‘magic’ can be a noun as well). Silwal, how incredible that you met the king of Nepal! Habooba, congratulations on your wedding anniversary. Monkia, I would love to go to Barcelona. Here is a new expression for you. When you wrote, ‘I couldn’t say a single word’, you could say ‘I was lost for words’. To be lost for words means that you are unable to speak in a given situation. Beatriz, I don’t think you need to prepare your blogs in advance. Just type freely. I enjoyed your description of the GLACIER. And well done Hooda, I should indeed have written ‘repellent’ (not *rapellent)
Thanks also for the comments on the ‘spirit house’ post. To answer Cris’s question (hello again Cris – how is 1984 going?), Buddhism is the main religion in Thailand. But Buddhism and animism somehow coexist side by side. Paulo from Brazil, your question about ‘start’ and ‘begin’ is not a silly one. Thank you for raising it. In some cases, these words are synonyms, and mean almost the same thing. For example, if we use them as verbs we can say ‘to start a journey’ or ‘to begin a journey’. However, both words cannot be used in all contexts. For example, we can say ‘to start a company’ meaning to set up a new company, but we can’t say *’to begin a company’*. ‘Start’ can also be used as a noun, e.g. ‘at the start of the day’. But begin cannot be used as a noun as well. The correct noun for begin is ‘beginning’, so ‘the beginning of the day’ (not *the begin of the day*). Whenever you learn words such as these, it is always useful to write down a few sentences which show you how to use the word in context.
Here are the answers to the vocab challenge I set you. The verb synonyms for walk/run were:
(1) To race for cover (to run fast, here to avoid the rain)
(2) To pootle back to the room (to amble slowly - informal)
(3) To plod down (to walk with a heavy step)
The noun synonyms were ‘trek’ and ‘hike’.
The vocabulary definitions
Hordes of mosquitoes – lots of mosquitoes
Peppered with bites – absolutely covered all over in bites (ouch!)
Lathered in insect repellent – absolutely covered in repellent
Cosies – slang for swimming costumes
Ardous – difficult
Gear – specialist equipment
OK, the kids are squeaking now so I need to go and get them up. I promised you some details about our holiday – I think this will have to wait until next time. In the meantime, here is a shot of us leaving our apartment. We took this deliberately – we take so many photos once we arrive in a place, but we don’t take many of the journey, so we decided to take a shot of us and the car before we even left home. Josh is wearing his new Thomas the Tank Engine hat, so daddy hat to wear his hat too.
And here are Rachel and I in the garden of the resort, with the swimming pool in the background. I was having a very bad hair day.
Have a great day.
Anne
xxxx
Caught the end – saw the very end of a programme
To take off – here, means to start to become popular
To coexist – to exist together at the same time
Squeaking – making a noise (like little mice…)
Bad hair day – a day when your hair looks really bad (do you ever get these?)
Comments
G'day Anne,Hope you are doing great. I was bit busy last weekend.Cofee early morning - Nah!! I dont like coffee.I always try to avoid it.I always used to be interested in Documents and information but now a days i sit befor the tely only if there is any exitement i watch the programme.i don't have patience atall. The photos looks good.I like that innocent Rachel's look.Regarding tradition- In India we can find similar kind of functions,habits,culture etc.I dont want to comment whether its right or wrong.Most of the habits are traditional.Even in our village in TamilNadu, there is a Burial place where our ancestors have been buried.Every year on a particular day our whole family will assemble there and we offer prayers.End of the day we will have a feast.India has too many traditions and this blg will not be enough to explain .Cheers,V.Praveen raj
Hi dear Ann and my loyal friends , what are you up to? dear Ann , the photo were amazing . I love the family photo . All of you and looked grate . And it sounds your hair is curly ,is n't it ? i wish i had curly hair , although curly hair need to more care and attention . And i loved your folwery skirt . It cheered me up . Hope to hear from you as soon as possilbe . cheers and byeeeeee
Have a nice coffee day, as this is my first comment, I would like to say this BBC blog is great that help me to improve my skills in English. It is my extreme pleasure to thank you and all workers in BBC. I am not fond of coffee, I drink tea once in a day, and I had a coffee, last month evening that lost my sleep. Any way, your blog on animism is excellent. For me, as Indian, it is not wonderful thing. Most of Indian worship ghosts, animal and somebody worship human beings. We say our India is “Gods’ own country” because many gods are available here more than other countries.
Hi,Anne. Wow this tradition of having a spirit house is so amazing! I want to tell you of a tradition among Arabs. You might have heard that Arabs are great coffee drinkers. And, it's very common among them to entertain their guests with black coffee which should be presented to the guest with the right hand and not the left hand. If the guest feels that one cup was enough for him, he should shake the cup while giving it back to the host. If he does not, the host presumes that he wants another cup of coffee and he pours him another one. So Anne after how many cups do you shake your cup?
I Elena from Tadjikistan. I want to express you the gratitude for excellent{different} blog very much helps me in studying English. My daughter studies in America and I have decided to study English independently. I not only study language, I study the WORLD
Hi Anne and readers! I just wanted to tell you how interesting I found your post about "spirit houses", you give us such a near and fresh image of Thailand that I am learning a lot about this country apart from improving my English vocabulary. Thanks very much for your interesting topics.
Hello Anne, what a lovely family photo. Your kids a very cute, I like your daughter very much she takes after you. It seems you like to watch tv programmes that provide you with some useful information. As for my favourite tv channels, I like BBC food and our local food channels, National Geographic and Animal planet. Best wishes, Naheed
Hi Anne: I have just arrived from Barcelona and I am now in front my PC reading your comments. I live near this city (two hours by car)and I go there many times for work' meetings. I have read your comment about this city and also I have read the comment of Monika about her magical moment when she visited Barcelona. Really it's a beautiful city. Perhaps when you are so near from a place, you don't apreciate it as much than when you go to some place as a tourist. But now I want to repeat it: it's an amazing city!!!! I wish you could visit it some day. Thanks for all. (Sorry if I make mistakes but I'm writing so quickly because I have lots of homework to do). Mercè
Dear Anne, After reading your blog and comments written by colleagues, I can’t still think what should write comments for this post. Starting morning with a nice cup of coffee gave you energy to write this blog. I prefer tea to coffee. I want to tell frankly I drink 6-7 cups of tea while I am at work and when any waiter or waitress visits my office, they used to ask me either I need some more cup of tea. It is really interesting to know the inventor of instant coffee through your blog. Photos are nice.
Hi Anne, You look very pretty on the photos, especially the 2nd one in which you look like a sister of Raquel's rather than her mum. It seems that all of you had a good time. Like you, I don't like to watch TV so much. I only choose National Geographic, History Channel or The gourmet. By the way, I bury myself in "1984" at the weekends. It's amazing that Orwell wrote this book in 1948. It reminds me of the "military process" Argentina went through since 1974 to 1983. Unfortunately I was a teenager by then and had to deal with it. We had to take care of what we said and what book we carried with us. If they caught you they checked your belogings, sometimes they broke into your house and you could easily dissapear (I mean they made you dissapear if they found something they didn't like). Moreover, in 1982 we are not allowed to learn English and I had to give it up. All the English Institutes had to close and you couldn't carry an English book. Sounds terrible? It was very real. Looking forward to your next blog. Bye for now. xxx Cris
Hi Anne! Did you know that in the end of the 1930 decade the Brazilian goverment had no idea about what to do with the excessive amount of coffee that was produced in the country? Therefore, the goverment asked to Nestle to come up with a solution in order to tackle the coffee problem. Hence the company came up with the instant coffee :-). Even though my stomach complains a lot, I cant´t live without a good cup of expresso, hmm... delicious. Anyway, in answer to your question Anne, I have many bad days hair. Firstly, I have curly hair( well, I guess I´ve said everything). So every morning when I wake up I look like Simba, yes that´s right, I look like the King Lion ( and believe me it isn´t a nice thing to look like it :-) ). Good bye Anne, see you soon, Ana Paula.
Hi Anne, I have been enjoying those two photos of this entry. You are lucky to have a happy family. Every time I say " lucky to have a happy family.", there will be someone who won't agree with it. They will say:" It's nothing about lucky, It dues to my actual capacity.". Well, it's my feeling that I am lucky to have a happy family, my actual capacity is more or less helpful but not the most part. What's your opinion? Incidentally, I love the car(Toyota) which is on the photo. Best regards, james
Hello Anne, oh! Rachel is so adorable. How's Josh getting along with her? Is he a good brother or ...
Hi,Anne First,I would have to respect you get up so early,do you always get up at 6:30 am everyday? Further to coffee,I like it very much.I always think it is related with romantic things.I don't know why I always had this image.I enjoyed to have a coffee at afternoon in the coffee store,sometimes to talk to my friends,sometimes just to see the views outside alone.It was more comfortable than anything.I often find out local special cafes when I visited somewhere,for example,when I went to Lijiang,(a little old town in the south of china)I looked for many cafes.I stayed there for two weeks,and I spent most of my trip in the coffee store:)There are many kind of coffee stores there.Some of them have good foods like Pizza,some of them are famous for their original musical,some of them have good coffee.There is a sort of coffee called 'little YunNan coffee'.It has a special taste.It grows in local.If you have opportunity to take a trip to china,you should taste it and visit that old town.It is very beautiful old town surrounded by snow-clad mountains and rivers.Blue sky,white cloud,pure air, sacred mountain and lots of local culture,the scenery is very different with the beach.It's nearby famous city Shangri-La.I strongly recommend it deserves you to visit.:)Wow,I couldn't stop to introduce it.Sorry off the topic.In china,most of us often drink instant coffee(thank you for your coffee programm to let us know its history), a few people like to cook coffee and know the coffee culture.I heard that the boss of the cafe with over-hundred history in Italy often told people the stories of coffee and told how to taste coffee.It must be enjoyable. Unfortunately,I often have a bad sleeping now,so I have a little worry to drink coffee.However I like the atmosphere of cafe and feeling of sitting there.I can't give up to seek good cafes when I take trips.
Hi again. Sorry, but I typed wrong the year when the "Military Process" started in Argentina. It was in 1976. Moreover, I used to watch BBC channel too but now the cable channel took it out and if you want to watch it you have to pay for a special package, which is very expensive. So fortunately I can visit the BBC web page. By Anne and readers. Take care. xxx Cris
Hi Anne! I think that instant coffee is horrible, but i'm italian...;)
Hi Anne and everybody!!! I love to drink coffee every morning. In fact, I drink coffee every morning and many people(almost everybody) in my country do it. So, you can see a lot of people all the mornings making lines to buy a cup of coffee and "arepas". I think that is a kinf if relaxation before start working. By the way Anne, you look very well in the pictures. I have curly hair and if one have this kind of hair all your days are bad hair days hahaha. Take care everybody
Today I had a bad day at Colege. My English teacher told me that I needed to improve my written. Therefore I tried to find some help at the internet and I found this site. I enjoyed a lot your text about coffee, It represents relaxing moments and I like It very much. Hugs!
Hello Anne, I always read your blog and I think it is wonderful, you have interesting themes too, I just write to student blogs, but I never write to teacher blog,I study english by myself and I make many mistakes,today I am beggining. I love coffe and I am like you, I prefer the fresh coffe, and I really like the smell of coffe. bye for now
Hi Anne, i am a new blogger, my name is Simone and i comes from Italy. I read your blog everyday and it made me really intrestead about english, your life, your fantastic family and thank you because now i know lots of things about Thai while, before your blog, i didn't know nothing at all about. I have to apologyse for my english.I have been studing it just for 1 year so i have lots of problems...I hope you'll understand me. Please keep blogging!!! Simone
Hey guys I am extremely and profoundly gratified to read such nice english sentences. I come from Uganda, the Pearl of Africa (ref Sir Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister)and where very sweet coffee is produced in abundance. You might have to take a trip there and have its taste, you will love it, i promise. I am currently undergoing a four weeks english for academic purposes course before i embark on my postgrad studies in October. I am very happy to all blogers who have written correct english. I was able to identify mistakes i have been making in Anne's otherwise interesting piece. I hope to continue reading more of such stuff! Felix
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