I made it

Allyson i can now write on the blog with no problems

Theatre trip - The Winter's Tale

Catia and friend.

I will leave your tickets at the box office. Tell them you have reserved them under my name.

Collect before 21.15

Call me if problems 967693386

Estrela Hall Lisboa

Lapa R Estrela 10

1200-669 LISBOA

213 961 946 Lisboa.

link to Map : Paginas Amereals:

http://www.pai.pt/search/Estrela_Hall,_Lisboa.html;jsessionid=A5DC3543A9A94E9716B97DE67DADAFC8

Review – Tea with the Birds

The short story Tea with the Birds by Joanne Harris deals with how little encounters can have a lot of meaning in one’s life.

Tea with the Birds tells us the story of a lonely, somewhat anti-social woman who comes across an enigmatic neighbour. His name is Juzo Tamaoki, which just adds more exoticism to the story and curiosity for the woman. Ultimately, their brief encounter will help her discover a new way of viewing life.

Using appealing images and simple language, the author manages to get the reader involved in the mystery of Tamaoki’s personage. This character is deeply connected with another powerful image – the birds. When reading the story the reader will notice that this image can give, not only much beauty to the text, but also a metaphor concerning the “captivity” in which the woman is.

Another captivating aspect of the text is how the small quotation in the beginning – “Some people spend their lives without ever raising their eyes from the ground. Others dream of flying.” – reveals and sums up the intention of Tea with the Birds.
Personally I think, it is this intention that makes the story so interesting and attractive.

The experience of reading Tea with the Birds can be quiet and peaceful at the beginning. But once the reader starts getting involved in the hidden meanings and new perspectives of the story, it can make him “dream of flying”.

In the end, a simple change of perspective can make one’s life experience much more pleasurable.

Collaborative group task

TASK OBJECTIVE:
To contribute to Wikipedia, enriching the information made available about Portugal.Due date: 1st draft version January 8th. Final version January 15th .

HOW?
In your small groups you will need to decide what areas of inteterest to focus on, what information about Portugal is missing, and then individually to contribute to your group’s work with entries to the Wikipedia.

STAGE 1. Research
See how Portugal is represented in Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/> Consider how representative Wikipedia is. (Use ‘search’ to locate Portugal).Read the guidelines for contributing to Wikipedia Portugal. You need to sign in to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction

STAGE 2. PLANNING
As a group, choose a particular area of interest, for example under Culture <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Portugal>, you may choose popular music. Identify who is already mentioned in Wikipedia and then decide on artists who you think should be mentioned. In your small group, you then plan who should research into which Portuguese artists to contribute to the work. Each person in the group should make an individual contribution.
You do not all have to choose the same topic area in the group, but you need to plan who will be doing what.

STAGE 3. Research and writing
Each person does their own research relating to their individual contributionand writes an entry for Wikipedia.Each person posts their contribution in the small group blog.Read and comment on eachothers work in your blog. Make suggestions to language and content.

STAGE 4. SubmissionsSubmit for marking on January 8th. Correct your work and submit to Wikipedia by January 15th .

This work may also provide the basis for your individual short talks in January. These will be timetabled.

Review: Tea with the birds

The story tells us about the life in Mortimer Street specialy about the life of a girl who moved into the terraced houses on that street. She describes the street as a place "busy without being comfortable", "crowded without being friendly" and a cold place, with "a reluctance to get involved". One particular thing about Mortimer Street was that despite the terraces being close together, people lived there like "birds in cages" closed in their own space, not caring about the others and not speaking to one anothers.

This girl was an outsider in a place where being an outsider was a crime. The coldness of the place was fine with her because she had spent two years in a psychiatric hospital and she was comfortable with privacy and silence. She didn't speak much with her neighbours and she enjoyed the peace and quiet of her little space.

One day someone moved into the flat opposite her. It was Mr. Juzo Tamaoki. He was a very silent and calm person, so the girl didn't have many problems with the new presence. There was just a problem which disturbed her and it was the fact that every early morning, there was a noisy delivery of vegetables for Mr. Juzo. This interfered with her sleep and it was the only thing that annoyed her.

Everything was curious about that man. One day he was waiting for her and without ever speaking to each other he invited her to his flat to drink some tea. It was the first person she felt comfortable in silence with. He then showed her his refrigerator and surprisingly it was filled with silent and colourful birds. These were the "vegetables" that were delivered every morning to Mr. Juzo.

After this, he left without saying goodbye and "a funny kind of woman" was the next occupant of the flat, a woman who didn't talk very much, as it was said. This didn't sound very pleasant for the girl as once it might have sounded and one night she inveted her new neighbour for a cup of Japanese tea that Mr. Juzo had left before leaving.

A brilliant short-story with a moral in the beginning: some people spend their lives looking down while others "dream of flying".