Paulino Verde Cabaret video

My Birthday today!

Oh yeah! That! I forgot. Today I turn into a frog... no.. I mean... I turn 34!

Leave a gift/comment if you want :-)

The wisdom of Ivory soap

I always like the short quotes on my Ivory soap wraps. Here is the latest.

"Complicating life is easy. The genius is in the simple things"

"Se compliquer la vie, c'est facile. La génie c'est de la simplifier"

Paulino Verde Cabaret, Sunday, January 20th, 2008, 3 pm @ Patrick's Cabaret , paulino.info

V de Verde

(verde:  spanish for "green")

SAVE THE DATE

PAULINO VERDE CABARET

featuring: Patrick Scully, Amy Salloway, Nicolas Carter, Masanari Kawahara, Jennifer Ilse from Off-Leash Area and more!


SUNDAY 20TH, JANUARY 2008       
3 pm to 5:30 pm
at PATRICK'S CABARET
3010 Minnehaha Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55406

More info at   www.paulino.info

I got elfed

Watch my elfself here

The formal picture

This picture was taking at my school (Spring Hill School).

Big and Green

Something BIG and GREEN is coming on Sunday 20th January 2008.

SAVE THE DATE!

...more info soon...

Life Update/Poniendome al día

En español

What a Saturday!!!

I had a wonderful day last Saturday!

In the morning I volunteered at the Walker Art Center for there Free First Saturday for Families. The Frida exhibit is on so the place was packed. I was in charge of Storytime. I read the book for children "Frida" in Spanish and English and then I was asked to introduce the performers of the day: the Mexican Dance Group "Cielito Lindo".

At noon I went to my physical theater class with Jon Ferguson. It's a great class and I am enjoying it a lot. It good to put my body in motion again. I really needed to take some theater class because I haven't done anything like that in a very very long time.

After my class I picked up Andrei, the Russian teacher visiting my school. We had a quick dinner with Olga and Kirill, the other Russian teacher and some of the Russian students that are visiting the Waldorf schools in the Twin Cities. Then Andrei and I went to the Orpheum theater in downtown Minneapolis to see the "Lion King". I've been wanting to watch this musical for years. Specially after I took one sample class with Garth Faga, the choreographer for Lion King. Andrei and I were really amazed and almost had no words to describe the show. It was so magical, colorful and artful. It was definitely more than I expected.

To close the night we stopped by a small art gallery opening in NE Minneapolis before I took Andrei home.

What a full Saturday!

Meet Minneapolis at night

Night view from Guthrie endless bridge on Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Sorry, the image is not very crisp but that's the best my simple flip video camera can do :-)

Concordia Language Villages at MCTLC 2007

Today I volunteered at the CLV booth at the MCTLC conference 2007.

And of course Magda and I play with my Flip Video Camera :-)

Playing the YouTube game: "Water Can Burn?"

Having a little more free time in my hands I decided to play the YouTube game. You know, you see a video, you post a response, you get some comments, etc.

I saw a pretty interesting but simple video Water Can Burn?

And I replied with a series of 4 videos (see links at the bottom) that I then complied in one final version. Here:




Other responses
Trying to burn water # 1
Trying to burn water # 2
Trying to burn water # 3
Trying to burn water # 4 (final video)

The result was pretty amazing. I got more views and in less time than usual. A few people subscribed to my channel and I even started to get a few "honors" for my Re: Water Can Burn? The final attempt

MNStories

Yay! My Pillow Fight video made it to MNStories.com! I am honored to be posted there again! :-)

Yum, yum, yum! Milanesas de pollo!

Today my friend Elena invited me to eat with her and the whole Casa Hispana -Hispanic House)at Macalester College for their weekly common meal. She and Romina, both from Santa Fe, Argentina, are the native speakers this year. I was a native speaker at Macalester College 5 years go. Anyway, the meal was "milanesas de pollo con pure". My absolutely all time favorite meal of all!!!!! It was delicious, yummy, gimme more!!! :)

Here is Elena explaining how to make this plate. The video is in Spanish, sorry for the monolingual people out there :-)

Whomp, whomp! Pillow Fight Minneapolis 2007

Pillow Fight tomorrow!

I got this from

http://www.unapologeticnonsense.com/2007/10/pillow_fight.html

Pillow Fight!

You may remember the Pillow Fight from last year. If it looked like fun, you have a chance to participate in this upcoming event. From what I can tell, the two pillow fights are not related, but don't take my word for it. At any rate, get the word out.

Feathers fly and teddies soar as you converge for the Twin Cities first giant urban pillow fight! Swing and whack as you evade pillow-wielding assailants. Bring a soft pillow at 6 PM and wait for the signal (you'll know when). Pillow fight!

PJs and funky pillows encouraged. More fun with Feathers.

Pillow Fight Minneapolis
Outside Walker Art Center (grass circles) @ 6:00 PM
Friday, October 12th 2007
Rain Date TBA. Free for all ages!

Rules: Please follow these guidelines to ensure a safe and fun pillow fight for everybody!

+ Soft pillows only!
+ Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
+ Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
+ Remove glasses beforehand!
+ Wait until the signal to begin.
+ Spectators welcome, but consider bringing a pillow.
+ Bring garbage bags to help clean up afterwards.
+ TELL EVERYONE ABOUT PILLOW FIGHT.

Feel free to repost this on blogs, forums, Myspace, Facebook, etc…

Get them moving!

Have you ever been in a big room with 500 high schoolers and your job was to make them move/dance? OK. Now add to that the fact that those students are from MINNESOTA!
Today I had the honor and pleasure to work with the University of Minnesota and do exactly that! They received about 500 students from high schools in the suburbs and provided them with a mini "university experience". In this case I opened the event doing some dances from the workshop "Bailemos Juntos". I am glad that I just presented that at IWLA conference so I had all the dances very fresh in my mind. Of course there was a big difference in sharing the presentation with 3 other people (Kika, Alicia and Luz, the other members of "Bailemos Juntos" team) to a group of Spanish teachers to doing it all by myself with 500 teenagers! But it was quite a success. Most of them were quite engaged and they all seem to be having fun. A bonus was that I did part of the presentation in Spanish so they got to hear a native speaker using his mother tongue. Most of these students are taught by American teachers, and there is nothing wrong with that at all, but they are not native speakers of Spanish. So it was a great opportunity for them AND for me. It was very good for me to break out of my 1st to 8th grade mode (which I love) and be a dance/rock start among teenagers! I even had some of them on the stage leading some steps with me. I had my own "dance with the stars" moment. The organizer (and the teachers) were very impressed and satisfied with my work. They already requested that I come back in April for another presentation similar to this one. My presentation was followed by a university teacher who had the hard task to have these kids thinking about the issue of immigration and undocumented immigrants for a moment. A Cuban salsa band was the perfect closing part of this experience. Students were up again dancing and moving. It was great to see such a large group of students from Minnesota shaking their bodies and having fun!

Chango Spasiuk, accordion genius!

I forgot to write a post about it but a few weeks ago I had the pleasure to go to a concert of Chango Spasiuk. He is a musician from Argentina and an accordion genius. I always admired him and loved his music while I lived in Argentina but I never had the chance to see him live. That chance came to a reality on Sept. 22nd at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis, MN. Here you have a few shots.

Mini-summer in Iowa

Iowa was a lot of fun! The IWLA conference was pretty good and I had fun with my friends. It was also very hot! I couldn't believe how hot it was being the first weekend in October. We also sold several DVD of "Bailemos Juntos". I am going to be selling the DVD's online soon.

First "Bailemos Juntos" DVD is here!!!

I seems I have been presenting "Bailemos Juntos" workshop for ever. But I never get tired of doing that. Not only because I love dancing and teaching dances but also because I get to see my friends from El Lago del Bosque (Spanish summer camp at Concordia Language Villages): Alicia, Kika y Luz. It's like a mini reunion at each conference and we have so much fun together! We will be presenting this weekend at IWLA for there annual conference. There is one more reason that will make this presentation very exciting. We are launching our first DVD!! Si, si, si! El DVD esta aqui!!! We recorded one of our previous sessions and I've been working really hard in editing it. I think it looks pretty good. It contains explanations of seven dances from our workshop plus a couple of extras (surprise!). I can wait to see my friends again and dance with them! You can learn more about our workshop and dances at our Bailemos Juntos website

Flip Video Vs. Flip Video Ultra

I got a new Flip Video Ultra now. This video is a comparison between my "old" Flip Video and my new Flip Video Ultra. Do you notice any difference? Tell me what differences you see.

Faces While Driving

En la vida de Paulino (Oct/02/07)

Paulino's Life Update

"Cara a Cara" - Face to Face - (Adobe Premiere exercise)

I am testing and experimenting with video editing using Adobe Premiere.
I tried the split screen with the crop video effect and I also played with subtitles. Because the quality of the original audio was not very good I used voice over but I need to practice more with that.
In general the result is not perfect but I am quite satisfied with this first experiment. I don't have video editing training and I am learning all this on my own.
I welcome feedback and suggestions.
Is the middle line too evident? How do you make it disappear?
Is there any good trick to help the actor (me in this case) do each part of the dialogue so that it syncs later? Mine is a little off.
Thanks for all your ideas and suggestions!

paulino

Video for Everyman

And it did happen! My experience with new technology (more specifically the use of Flip Video Camera) was featured in an article called "Video for Everyman" by CHRISTOPHER LAWTON, September 26, 2007; Page D1 of the WALL STREET JOURNAL
Just to avoid any infringement of copyright I am not going to paste the text here. If you didn't get the newspaper you can read it online.

Or you can listen to an excerpt that I read in this video.

I speak so highly about the Flip Video Camera. May be Pure Digital Technologies Inc. will send me a new one! Since now I am kind of their unofficial spoke person :)

Spanish subtitles are here!

Well.. now that I am going to become an international person! (LOL!) I need to make my videos more accessible to different audiences. Let's start with a very important market: The Latino Community.

Here is my first attempt at adding Spanish subtitle to one of my videos.




or click here

My name on a major international daily newspaper?

Is it true? Could be true?
Paulino Brener mentioned in the Wall Street Jounal?

Yet Another MN State Fair 2007 Video

Yet Another MN State Fair 2007 Video

International Club is back!

Eight years ago I spent my first academic year in US. I was an Amity Scholar and I worked (or rather volunteered) at Brighton High School in Rochester, NY. It was a wonderful year and a great way to start my life in US. One of the things that made it great was that I had the opportunity to work with three interesting ladies who later became my friends. We were part of what we called the "International Club". I know, not a very original name but it was special for us. We all came from different parts of the world: Imke from Germany, Maeva from France, Veronica from Spain and Me from Argentina. We shared many adventures. Today, after many years and thanks to Skype conference feature, we had our "International Club" meeting. It was very exciting to hear the four voices back together. We even talked about starting a blog together and share experiences, pictures, etc and the seed was planted to have a "real" meeting (meaning in person) some day (possibly summer 2009 in London). :-)
Our of the four I am the only one who remained in US and even though I like it here I miss visiting other counties (mainly in Europe) and learning about other cultures. But now may be we can be back in touch and they can bring Europe back to me until I can go and meet them there.

Here we are:



Can you guess who is who? :-)

Say hi to "Paulexto Balut"

OK. So lately I've been pretty active on cyberland: myspace, facebook, youtube, etc. But I have been avoiding a biggie: Second Life. I did try it a few months ago but it didn't really get much of my attention. Now there is a language festival coming in September and I want to attend it so I gave Second Life a Second Chance.

This is the beginning of the metamorphoses of my avatar. I randomized all features (skin, shapes, etc.) and then adjusted just a few. I am sure I will make changes a few things here and there with time but for now I like being a blue man. After all blue is my favorite color. What do you think?

My videos in MNStories.com

Yay! A couple of my videos were featured as MNStories.com

Or you can just watch them here :-)

Ready for a ride?

Last Saturday I went to the Minnesota State Fair. I haven't been there for 4 years.
I went there with my friend Tyson and we had fun. Specially when we found, just by chance that "Forro For ALL" (a band that plays Brazilian music) was there! They are very good. It was supposed to be a short visit to look around but I ended up staying a little later to take some pictures and videos.

Including this video of the Skyride



More video and pics later. Enjoy!

Audiobooks discussion continues

This is a continued discussion about Audiobooks (see previous post)

Steve,

Hmmmm... you speak like someone who is trying to sell something and relies a lot on capitalism for that... Oh wait! You ARE someone trying to sell something! :-)

Steve, I am glad you are blessed with the wealth that allows you to afford all the comforts you deserve at your age. And mind you, I do say "at your age" with respect. I am sure you have worked hard (and continue to do so) in your life and you are able to purchase and enjoy your Argentine wine and Russian audiobooks. Great! Good for you!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) at this moment in my life I have other priorities and needs. I work in a small private school and the salaries are not that high. I am not complaining, I love my job! I have all the food, clothes and housing that I need and I even go out once in a while! :-) But I do live on a budget and I appreciate the opportunity to use free resources until I am able to purchase other type of resources. I know many people who are in the same (financial) situation or they are just frugal and don't want to pay for their audiobooks or anything else they can get for free. What's wrong with that?

I am not saying that librivox.org is the all fulfilling solution. It's just one more option. Options are good! It's good to have options! And you would be surprised. Some of what you call "second rate audio books produced by volunteers" are of high quality since some of those volunteers are in fact PROFESSIONALS! Many of them work in radio, voice related jobs.. and guess what?... yes! some of them are even readers for professional audiobook companies. Then why they do it for free? The answer is: promotion and marketing! Since all books that you find at librivox.org are from/in the public domain (i.e. very old books) so you won't find your recent bestseller novel there. For that, and I agree with you Steve, you should pay for the unabridged audiobook. :-)

Take and give care,

paulino

ps1: Since I work in a private school I am not afraid of any school district deciding to use volunteers. We are an independent school. :-)

ps2: Your title for this post has to a's in front of "good". You don't mind that a Non-Native Speaker of English points out your typos, right? May be you'll pay back and point out my typos, grammar mistakes, etc, etc, and then I'll learn from my mistakes and improve my writing. And believe me, I know I need to improve my writing skills!!!

ps3: I wanted to talk more on volunteerism and non-profit organizations but I'll leave that for another time.

Audiobooks: great resource for language learning

This is my response to Audio books - a richer reading experience


hi steve,

i love audio books! specially since i drive at least 1 or 2 hours a day from/to work.

my favorite site for free audio books is:

http://librivox.org/

there are tons of them. now, since these books are recorded by volunteers not all of them are of the best quality. but once you start browsing around you can find which readers have not only good audio quality but also are good readers.

also, once you find a reader that you like, it's possible to find other recording that he/she made.

you can download all audio books here. they are complete free and they offer 3 different formats.

AND MOST IMPORTANT! you can become a volunteer, too!!! i would encourage non-native speakers of english to:

1) listen or download audio books in english from this site.

2) BECOME A VOLUNTEER READER! There are several recordings in languages other than english... but i think there need to be more!

all the information you need is in their website http://librivox.org/
but if you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me and i'll try to help you. i've been reading/recording for them for while in spanish and english.

enjoy!

How is my driving?

Minneapolis Time Lapse Drive (Hwy 7)

From Excelsior, MN to Franklin Ave. and Harriet St. in Minneapolis. A 30 minutes drive in a 2 minutes video. How is my driving? Driver: Paulino Brener

Let's teach more languages in schools!

I recently came across this post about teaching languages in schools

Let's stop teaching languages in schools.

Since, like Steve, I am also passionate about language teaching I posted the following response/comment:



Steve,

As a language teacher myself this article makes me very uncomfortable. Even more coming from someone like you, who promotes language learning and makes a profit from it.

I am grateful to be able to work in a private school where I have total control, flexibility and creation of my curriculum and decision over method(s) of instruction. I just need to follow the guiding principles underlying our school (I work in a Waldorf school). But the rest is totally up to me. In this sense I think I am privileged that I am able to "experiment" different ways to reach my students. I understand that most mainstream or public schools do not have that luxury.

Nevertheless I believe that (at least in US, where I live) public schools still don't have the level of support that the teaching of foreign languages deserves. Despite the many years of research and strong evidence of its advantages and benefits foreign language learning is not regarded as a priority or even considered as a core subject. Some progress is being made at a very slow pace, though.
Posts and comments like yours, especially when titled “Let's stop teaching languages in schools” might lead the general public into miss-informed or wrong directions. I would strongly encourage you avoid such language.
I do agree with you that some reform might need to happen for schools to teach languages more effectively. I also sympathize with your proposed methodology. It’s very radical and innovative. Although I could see some challenges in its implementation. May be we can talk about it some day.

Take and give care,

paulino

PS: BTW, I believe that you meant to say “He commented that Canadians who go to Japan learn JAPANASE (not English) better than Japanese who come to Canada.” right?

Posted by: paulino brener | August 16, 2007 at 03:53 PM

Nokia 770 Internet Tablet

During the month of July I have been an avid contributer to the online magazine Vita.mn. Every contribution got me Karma points. And since I was the person with most Karma points in July I got the first prize! A Nokia 770 Internet Tablet...
Here is a pic of me with my new box (still in box) in front of the Startribune (producer of Vita.mn)

Rough beginning for a great mini-vacation

So my mini-vacation to Chicago ended. I was there from July 31st until August 5th. I had a blast. But the beginning of it seems like it was not going to be a good ride.
First, before leaving home, I locked myself out of my car when I went to look for a few items there. I've done this a few times before but this was definitely the most inconvenient time of all. I call my resident manager and I was very VERY lucky that not only she was in her office but also that she answered the phone. Something that she doesn't usually do in that early in the morning (about 7:30 am). Once she opened my apartment for me to get another car key and retrieve my apartment keys everything was fine.
I took a combination of bus and LRT to the airport. I must say that neglected to double check what terminal my flight (Airtran) was departing from. I got out of the LTR at the Lindberg (main) terminal. Again, I was very lucky that I chose the shortest line for security checks because it wasn't until then that I realized, or that the security person realized, that I need to be at the Humphrey terminal.
The shuttle to the Humphrey terminal was quick and there was not line at the security check there. Now it was time to relax and wait for my flight.

More on Chicago later...

knitters, bridge and spanish curriculum

Chicago has been hotter and hotter since I arrived. But it's very cool. I've been roaming a little bit and there is live everywhere. A lot of people outside, some small restaurants have musicians on the sidewalk. Chicago definitely comes to life in the summer.
I am enjoying my stay so far. I have met a couple of old friends that live here and a new friend: Franklin. Franklin is a knitter and photographer (I think he also has a day job... but I didn't pay attention to what it was). He has a cool blog about knitting and life. He is very funny and his writting is usually quite witty. Check it out here. He also started a cool project called 1,000 Knitters and I wanted to part of it. I must admit that it was a little weird being photographed while knitting.. but I will survive. Here is a pic of Franklin and I that I took with my cell phone.

Later that night it was Franklin who showed me (on the monitors of the bar where we were in) about the huge bridge catastrophed in Minneapolis. That was horrible. I tried to call a few friends but it was impossible to connect. Luckily txt msg worked much better. All of them are fine. Some of them also confirmed they were fine through email, myspace. etc.

Today (Thursday) and part of Friday I have been working on my 8th grade Spanish curriculum (and more) with Ileana. She is the current Spanish teacher at the Chicago Waldorf School and it has been great to work with an experienced teacher like her.

...

Wicked is coming soon!!!!

Chicago... Chicago...!

Oh, wait! The song was New York, New York! Oh well. I am having lots of fun in Chicago as if I were in New York City. The weather is super nice (kinda hot). It's kinda nice to get out for Minneapolis for a few days and be in a bigger city. I can always find smaller town or peaceful places in Minnesota :-)
The trip started yesterday morning with a little bit of a nuissance. Right before I was going to leave to take the bus and train to airpot I checked my car for a few item that I needed from there. And I locked myself out of my car! Apartment keys and everything! I just wanted to bang my head on the wall! I was very very lucky that the resident manager was not only still there but that she also answered the phone. I don't think she usually does early in the morning. She was a great help! Thanks Ann!
I got to the airport on time, only that I went to the wrong terminal. I neglected to check that AirTran was leaving fron Humphrey terminal and not Lingberg. But they are very close to each other. The shuttle bus was quick and I went through security very fast. That terminal was so quiet!
The flight was calm and short and the train to the hostel was easy to find.
The plan is to stay a couple of night at the Hostelling International Chicago downtown (to enjoy a little bit of the city life). Thurday and Friday I will be doing some work, yes work! :-) I will be meeting with an experience Spanish teacher in a Waldorf school to work on 8th grade curriculum. Then Friday afternoon and Saturday I will meet my good friend Steve from Rochester, NY. We are getting together here in Chicago to see WICKED!!! I can't wait!
More later... time to have breakfast!

Campaña Informativa en Español para madres/padres que tienen la custodia de sus hijos

Ecobulbs

It's not cheap to be eco-friendly! But I'll try...

Malt at Uptown Diner

All you wanted to know (and more) about malts.

Twin Cities Secrets # 1: The Elf Tree

Amy tells us about the Elf Tree by Lake Harriet in Minneapolis

My new Flip Video Camera

Amy comments about my new Flip Video Camera at Tea Garden (Minneapolis)

So what's going on this Summer ('07)

Well...as usual I told myself that I was going to have a relaxed Summer and I ended up being pretty busy. But "good" busy. I am really enjoying the activities I am doing.

* I just finished a two weeks workshop on Mexican traditional dances. Nice workout and cultural experience.

* I am taking two classes:

- Introduction to Creative Writing at MCTC: It's an online class and I like it but it might end up being too demanding with too many deadlines. I might drop out of it but haven't decided yet.

- ASL 2 at St. Paul College: I love it. LOVE IT!!! I think I might even continue on ASL 3 this fall.

* I will be performing my 2 solos at Dreamland Arts in July (more info soon, or visit my website paulino.info)
* I had a lot of progress on my Green Card process. It has being a lot of work (and money!) but there is definite progress. Unfortunately due to a recent (today) change from the Department of State I might have to wait a little longer than expected. I know I haven't written much about this. It's a delicate topic and I might write more about the experience when it's all done (when I finally get my green card) but for now I'll keep it to a minimum. But if you want more details email me and I'll be glad to tell you more. (mail AT paulino DOT info)

* I am going to Chicago end of July. Multipurpose trip: visiting Chicago friends, working with an experience Waldorf teacher, meeting Rochester, NY friends and watching WICKED!)

* And like every Summer I'll be visiting El Lago del Bosque, Wilder. One of the Spanish camps from Concordia Language Villages. I have many good friends that work there.

And last, but not least... one of my favorite activities in the Summer: going out and meeting new people! Will you be next?

Mexican dances

There is nothing more motivating for me than learning ethnic dances. This week I had a unique opportunity to learn some Mexican traditional dances with an instructor from Mexico. The workshop will continue next week, too. I'll see how much I can do and learn or how long my legs can keep up with that! :-)

Faces

Ivory quote # 2

True, natural beauty is in the simple things.

En vérité, la beauté naturelle se trouve dans le choses simples.

Winter... Spring..and then Winter Again

I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota is a state in the northern central region of US (known as Midwest). This state is known for its long (very long) winters. They are also very cold winters. But one would hope that by the end of March, and with Spring officially "announced", the snow would melt away and green would slowly start to surround us. And that DID happen. We had a few lovely and sunny days with temperatures rising up and signs of Spring everywhere: small buds on the trees, more birds flying around, etc.
But yesterday the Winter King decided to pay us his last visit of the year and everything went white again. Unbelievable! Well.. everything is possible in the land of 12,000 lakes. Anyway, we tried to make the most of it. I admired how beautiful the trees looked with snow on their branches and children everywhere made their (probably and hopefully) last snow man of the season.
Ok, now...that's it! We want the Spring Fairy to come and bless us with green trees, sun, warm temperatures, birds and lots of flowers! ... Achoo! Oh no.. what about allergies? Oh well, no season is perfect. Thanks mother Nature! :-)

Ivory soap and quotes

Ok, if this information is more than you wanted to know... let me know :)

It's been a long time that I use, almost exclusively, Ivory soap. Why?

The Soap So Pure It Floats!
An established American icon of pure clean, Classic Ivory Soap is a simple, pure formula that cleanses your skin by removing dirt and oils which can clog pores. The classic, 99 44/100% pure formula contains no heavy perfumes or lotions so it leaves your skin feeling naturally clean with a light, Ivory-clean smell. Discover the consistent quality and value that have made Ivory the leading pure soap on the market for decades.

For your convenience, Classic Ivory Soap is available in the family-size
4.5 oz bath bar and the 3.1 oz personal size bar
in a variety of package choices.

(source http://www.ivory.com/YourIvoryProducts_ClassicIvoryBarSoap.htm)

Last time I bought some it was a 12 pack but it wasn't until today, when I reached for the last bar of the packet, that I noticed that each bar comes with a quote. A different quote in each bar!
How come I didn't notice this before?

Anyway, I am glad I did and I will be paying more attention next time. But I identify soooooo much with this quote that I wanted to share it with you. It's in English and French on the wrap paper and I like both versions, so I am going to copy them literally.

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things."

"Profitez des petits plaisirs de la vie, car un jour vous vous rendrez compte qu'ils étaient vraiemnt de grans plaisirs."

Insomnia 2: mr. alien

What happened to mr. alien? What is he thinking? Why did he change color? Why did he run the other way?

If you have answers to any of these questions, please let me know (post a comment)

Insomnia 1: old habits and hobbies

This is what happens when I can't sleep at night. I go back to old habits and hobbies. I haven't done this in a while, so be nice... :-)

New phone and new mobile blogging

I got a new phone today. It has a camera on it. Finally I am catching up with cellphone technology. Now I will be able to send pictures from my phone directly to my new Paulino on the GO blog. Like this one:

I then I can edit the post and add some text to it... or not :-)

Patrick's Cabaret demo

Wow, more than a month and a half without blogging... what a slacker :-)
And I have so many thing to tell.. anyway until I get to them I will post a demo video I edited to promote Patrick's Cabaret.

Here it is:

Esperanto is not dead

Even though I haven't made much efforts to improve my Esperanto lately, I keep finding examples that show that this is not a dead language at all.

Look at this cute video:

Let's burn down the house!

Well... not literally.
I just started experimenting with a new home project: Melting Crayons.
I was going pretty well... until I have a little accident in the oven and now it's partially covered in crayon wax... oops!
But I have been more careful lately and I am having fun and some good results.
This is my last badge:

Before melting

After melting

Esperanto>Youth>Spain>Madrid

My friend José is one of the organizers of this really cool gathering for young people (like me!) who would like to learn more about Esperanto or practice this interesting language with other cool people. If you are near Madrid, don't miss it! I wish I could be there, guys! Good luck!

ENCUENTRO IBÉRICO 2007 Del 9 al 11 de marzo en el albergue juvenil "San Fermín" (Villaverde-Madrid). Organiza HEJS, la Sección Juvenil de la Federación Española de Esperanto. Para más información: www.esperanto.es/iro2007/index.htm IRO 2007 Iberia renkonto Okazos de la 9a ĝis la 11a de marto en la junulargastejo "San Fermín" (Kvartalo Villaverde de Madrido). Organizos HEJS, Juna Sekcio de HEF. Pli da informoj : www.esperanto.es/iro2007/index.htm

EPOTI featured on the Bob and Rob show!

This is a post from a blog where I collaborate English Practice over the Internet

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By now most of you know about podcasts and how useful they are for learning English. One of the ESL podcasts we (EPOTI group) like is "The Bob and Rob show". It has very good information on language and culture and it's very educational yet informal and even funny.

Some EPOTI members have developed a relationship with Bob and Rob. I think Ignacio has been mentioned in several lessons and the rest of us post comments quite frequently on their blog.

In their Latest show Lesson 72: Money they mention our website www.letslearnenglish.info! They even added the link to their side bar. Thanks Bob and Rob!!!

May be they did this because I (Paulino) have been helping with corrections to their transcripts (listen to voice message on Lesson 72 or find corrections on their discussion board -registration needed-) OR maybe because another EPOTI member (Jiri) sent them some beer and chocolate!

In any case, we are honored to be part of the Bob and Rob show!

Posted by paulino brener at 3:28 PM

Wash your hands! Lavate las manos!

Last week was pretty hard at school. We had a lot of sick children (i.e. absent) and a few teachers as well. I usually start teaching my Spanish classes at 11:10 am but I had to teach Morning Lesson (8:30 to 10:30 am) on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for 2nd Grade that week. After having been teaching ML for the two prior weeks I was hoping to rest a little but it was not possible. At least I am glad that I didn't get sick.
During that week I taught all the lower grades (1st through 4th) how to say "lavate las manos" (wash your hands) and we actually washed our hands in class! It was a wait to contribute and to minimize the spread of whatever was out there (norovirus and influenza according to one school email).

Mayas and Folk dances

What an amazing and busy week! Classes resumed at Spring Hill School. Besides my regular Spanish classes I am teaching a block of two weeks to the 7th grade titled: Ancient Civilizations of Mesoamerica. This course concentrates on the Mayas and Aztecs. Mayas last week, Aztecs this week. It's very interesting being a class teacher. I am enjoying it a lot.

Also on Fridays 5th and 12th I taught Argentine and French folk dances at Tapestry Folkdance Center. I had a warm (even a little nostalgic I must admit) feeling when I had more than 30 people dancing gato or carnavalito with me. I'll teach my last class on Friday 19th.

Talkcast at Talkshoe

Lately I've been pretty hooked to Skypecast on Skype. But yesterday I took part of a new type of online show. This time hosted by my friend (and EPOTI member) Marian. He knows a lot about internet, blog, podcast, etc. and he has a very interesting blog.
Marian used a new website called Talkshoe. "TalkShoe™ - a new way to create Interactive Podcasts and talk with interesting people with similar interests around the world.
Other uses of TalkShoe include talk shows, discussion groups, fan clubs, and friends & family chats.
TalkShoe is also being used by businesses and organizations to improve communications with customers & suppliers, get out marketing messages, and facilitate better employee communications." (from Talkshoe.com)

If you are interested joining Marian here you have more information:
Talkcast information:
Talkcast Name: Webtutor: Internet Magic made easy
Host: Marian Heddesheimer - mh@rent-a-tutor.com
Next episode: EPISODE2 - Talk about Podcasting and Blogging, Thu, January 11, 2007 02:30 PM EST
This Episode is dedicated to podcasting and blogging. I will tell you how to start your own blog at blogger.com or your own podcast at blip.tv. We will also discuss how to promote your blog and podcast in some detail.
Phone number: (724) 444-7444
Talkcast ID: 12267
PIN: The phone number or 10-digit PIN you signed up with

Or click here:

Happy Birthday Song in Chinese

I have just received another cyber-present from Lingual Bee (David). He is originally Chinese but he lives in USA now.

Here is his song


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