Visit Lima Peru

http://www.youtube.com/v/u2SFh9QMWNI?autohide=1&version=3&showinfo=1&attribution_tag=J5To5VSOtGTva9rIQD9-Yw&autoplay=1&autohide=1&feature=share

Something I really hate about my country, Peru is without a doubt its public transport system. If you have not been to Lima yet, you have no idea how stressful it is. If anything brings Lima´s traffic to a grinding halt every day, it is transportation's  disorganization.

I mean there´s no way out. You either deal with it or move to another country. However, you can take advantage of the low bus fares. For instance, today that I left school late, I had to take two buses to get home. They were both crowded, though I could save some cash.

It really is hard for a Peruvian citizen to get through their lives with such a disorganized public transport. Nevertheless, one thing we´re famous for is for not giving up. In fact, some local students plead transport problems for arriving late at school.

Anyhow, I´ll be posting a video about this topic. Therefore, you can see not only the negative aspects of Peru, but also its positive ones. To sum up, I´ll say that Peru may fare badly in public transport, nonetheless it does well in other things. Its food for example.

The Real Story of Halloween.wmv

http://www.youtube.com/v/Hm9jeSLGTZU?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&autoplay=1&showinfo=1&feature=share&attribution_tag=EY5gq_nwcDK5RTSliSDNig

Halloween...we all have heard of it. Though, we don´t know much about it. It is commonly known to come along every October 31st, and that we disguise for fun. Besides, it is a healthy celebration and it´s meant just for entertainment. People usually complain they gotta wear earmuffs cause kids call at the door all the time that day asking for candies.

However, not only do young-lings enjoy this celebration, but also adults. In fact, I myself try to dress up and hang out with friends every year. I mean life is too short not to have fun once in a while. For instance, once I dressed up as Harry Potter; since I had a resemblance to him back as as kid. Anyhow,

I´ll be posting a video on this topic too. I wanna let you guys know a little more about its history. Personally, all I know about Halloween is that I spent hours watching horror movies and guzzling with soda. However, I´ve heard as well that this celebration is related to death and suffering. Though, I don´t see it that way.

Of course Christians see Halloween as a pagan celebration as well; nonetheless, it´d be important to disentangle the truth from those false believes. To sum up, I´d say that Halloween, is indeed a significant bash for society. In fact, I´ll be partying this October 31st as a way of cheering up.  Kind of on the mend after depression. I recommend you do the same.

Nobody Likes a Bully - How to Stop Bullying in Schools - Deal with Bulli...

Bullying is something that shouldn´t exist. However, just like any other bad thing there is in life, it does. Therefore, we gotta learn how to deal with it. One thing we always gotta remember is that we ain´t alone. There´s a helping hand who is willing to  help us if we ask. Besides, you can also stand up to a bully without fighting.

 

For instance, back when I was in high school, there was a guy who used to tease me cause I was shy. Once, the worm turned. I actually got mad and threatened to punch him. I got amused by his reaction. Apparently, his bark was worse than his bite.

 

What I´m trying to say is that when you nerve yourselves to do something you´re afraid of, you can get amused. I mean, I´m not a violent person. Though, I´ve got my limits. In adittion,taking a karate class wouldn´t do any harm. Of course I don´t wanna fan the flames of violence with this writing either. Besides, everyone knows that Martial arts help to boost up your confidence. Anyhow, it´d be also good to consider counselling as a way to solve the problem.

 

To sum up I´ll say that there are many ways in which one can stop bullying. Just keep positive, and don´t even consider the fact that you´re worth less than those vandals.

Best Motivational Speech ~Secrets to Success, How Bad Do you Want it? {F...

You really want to be successful? I came across a motivational speech today. I was thinking about how much time I´ve been wasting by complaining about my failures. I´m going  quote the speaker ¨You gotta wanna succeed as bad as you want to breathe¨.

 

Such phrase shook me up completely. I´ve accomplished some goals in life, though those are not enough for me. What I´m trying to say is that there are not limits whatsoever for what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. No matter how many diversions cross your mind, you have to stay focused.

 

This keynote speaker even gave an example based on a story from which his quote derives from. Basically he talked about a person who wanted to be successful and contacted a guru; the guru told him to meet him at the beach the next day. If you want  hear the end of the story, watch the video I´m going to post after this.

 

Anyhow, to wrap this up, I´d say that we all know what it means to suffer while trying to accomplish an objective. Nevertheless it´s never too late to start over or move on. So remember: the only one who is preventing you from success is yourself. Nobody is going  give advice out to you on how to solve every single one of your problems. Though what you can do get is motivation from different sources.

How to Manage Your Time Better

What I´ve been thinking about recently is how one can do to prioritize their duties. It´s kind of tough to work and study at the same time. Though, most gotta do that in order to pay their bills and be able to get a degree as well. In fact I myself find it difficult to accomplish efficient time management. However, I do my best not to mess things up.  For instance., I get myself riveted by watching speeches on the Internet, nonetheless I try to leave it for my spare time. The keynote of this piece of writing is for me to encourage you to organize your time. I don´t wanna bother you with nebulous concepts either; just remember the following: The start of a path to success is like the inception of a company; it is hard at the beginning but has its rewards in the long run. One even gets at sea after running into a setback. Just keep track of your achievements and also keep them up. Personally, I´ve had to learn how to deal with time management effectively. For instance, before it was hard for me to get things done in time; such as assignments, etc. Nonetheless, I now try to set deadlines for myself, so that I can spent more time in my tasks and finish sooner. Anyway, to sum up I´ll say there is a myriad methods of improving the way you manage your time. You only gotta find the one that suits you better.

Eric Mazur, Abridged "Confessions of a Converted Lecturer"

Today I got to attend a wonderful lecture about education. This time a saw Eric Mazur deliver a sharp and fantastic speech about education. He´s a world-wide known physicist and professor. What he mainly talked about was how wrong teachers have been for so many years on their pursue to reach out to students. First, he says how important it is for us educators not to think teaching is a one-way process. During the 20th century it was thought that to teach was to transfer info. That´s not true whatsoever. In order for a student to fully learn something, there has to be interaction among them and the teacher. Besides, Eric explained how he even had at some point grown to believe that giving a lecture meant only providing info. According to him ¨ Teaching is a holistic process; which implies not only interaction, but also immersion among the learners¨. He also highlighted the fact that one teaches through questioning and not by telling. Phrase coined by Socrates thousands of years ago, but which people tend to forget. Therefore, students gotta get involved in a welcoming environment; apart from the fact that they also gotta be kept motivated all the time.  A great learner is one who can revise their believes after learning something new. Thus, allowing personal growth to take place. What shouldn't be forgotten either is what teachers actually do to make learning more interesting and accessible to students. In addition, I´d say that I don´t mean students shouldn´t put from their part either. I´m just suggesting that in order for a learner to succeed, they must study in a convenient facility. Lastly,  I´ll wrap this up by saying that us educators never stop learning, hence the need to constantly research and look for ways to improve our teaching.

Kathryn Schulz: Being Wrong

I´ve been kind of introspective lately. The reason for this is that once again I´ve been thinking about my past mistakes. I gotta be more creative on what to write, though I wanted to wrap this topic up first. We all run into logjam in the pursue of our goals. Basically because most of us gotta deal with many situations at the same time to get on in life. Here comes the big question though. How do we remain  undaunted so that we can keep going?. Well, there´s not an exact answer to that. Every single person on earth pertains to a different way of living. Not only because of how much money they have, but also because of their traditions. Besides, what grips my attention is how my life would have been if I had done things differently. Something that many ask themselves. However, as I heard in the speech I´m gonna post following this: ¨We´re all experts at doing things wrong¨. By this I don´t mean those words literally. Nonetheless, I do know that in order to succeed one has to make a lot of mistakes. Neither do I wanna say that you should just go through life following your nose. You gotta plan out your path. Furthermore, it´s also crucial to hedge your bets so that you can have a better shot. For instance, I myself like singing. Though, if I don´t educate my voice and take my chances, I won´t have any future at doing it. To sum up I´d say the following: Your behavior can either smack  of optimism or negativism. It´s up to you whether you succeed or fail in this hard journey called life. Is it worth drooping all the time. I think it ain´t. So, please never back down to any challenge and always trust your guts. Godspeed!

Surprising Lessons From 100 Days of Rejection: Jia Jiang at TEDxAustin

Nowadays, fear to rejection is getting bigger and bigger. The reason for this may be due to the proliferation and social media and other technological means of communication. They´re a double-edged sword. One of the negative aspects of them is that they prevent people from socializing among each other. Though, there´s a lot of more reasons why people fear rejection. This particular time I saw Jia Jiang´s speech about rejection. He himself is a entrepreneur who at 30 realized that he´d forgotten his original dream. His wife encouraged him to seek that goal he´d been dreaming of since before he emigrated to the US at 16. Of course it wasn´t easy for him; his original plan was to become an entrepreneur. So that he decided to venture into a creating business; unfortunately his plan fell through  cause the loan for the project didn´t get accepted. After licking his own wounds for some time, something unexpected happened. He ran into this amazing ¨Rejection therapy¨ created by a Canadian psychologist. After plunging himself into this new project he decided to do it for 100 days, and vlog it. Basically what he had to do was to go out into the street and people randomly if he could do some unexposed thing. For instance, one he asked a police officer if he could sit on the driver´s seat and pretend he was him. The officer said yes to his surprise. Of course he got rejected as well many times. Though he got more yeses. Moreover, it´s important to consider as well what he did after almost fulfilling this project. Jia got so many questions from people who´d seen his videos, he didn´t have time to answer them all. One French guy for example, told Jia his story. He´d been trying to flirt with this girl at the gym for like a month. Even though it seemed she was into him too, he was too afraid of rejection. To sum up, I´d say fear ain´t something we´re born with. We learn to acquire it. Just as we learn how to do that, we can also learn how to control it. I myself have abandoned many plans cause of fear of rejection. Don´t be like I was. Listen to Jia Jiang!

Hacking Language Learning: Dr. Conor Quinn at TEDxDirigo

Learning  English as a second language ain´t easy, neither does getting fluent at it. However, most of us can do it no problem. The important thing is to know which steps to take  in order to improve our learning faster. I myself went through a lot  to get fluent in English. Luckily, I managed to make it possible. We gain nothing by searching out methods to learn a new language if we don´t know where to go or what to look for. What we gotta keep in mind is the abilities we have to master: Grammar, Speaking, Listening, and Reading. Once we are good at all of them, the job is done. According to linguists, the best way to learn grammar for instance is by first getting the structures from context. By reading a story, we learn grammar. To master listening and speaking, you have to immerse yourself into the new culture. You can both talk to foreigners and watch films, series, etc. in the target language. Another interesting way of learning English is by singing songs in it . Even people of low income can manage to get stuff to learn it . For example, just as there are many stores in which they sell a job lot, there also is a variety of bookstores in which they sell second hand material. It is indeed a thievery from some schools that charge so much for short ESL programs. To gain in confidence speaking in English, it takes one many years of intense practice. Then again, ¨No pain, no gain¨ as they say. One never knows when we´re gonna need to master English. What if you draw lots for the right to go on a business trip to the US representing your company?. You gotta know English. Anyhow, to sum up I´d say the following: Nowadays, it´s quite necessary to learn not only English, but any other language that is getting popular worldwide. Keep in mind nonetheless, the tools you´re gonna need and how you´re gonna learn this new language. I myself wanna number among the best ESL teachers on Earth. (Since I´m studying to become one.

If at First You Don't Succeed... : John Coyle at TEDxNaperville

I´ve talked about this already. Though I wanted to go even deeper on this topic. Many people always regret things they either did or didn´t do in the past. I include myself in this list. However most of us don´t realize that the time we waste complaining, can be used to start over and move on with our lives. Our plans can be deep-sixed by our insecurity. Though, what matters is what we do to  correct those previous mistakes we made earlier. I was really depressed after coming back from Canada. Things hadn´t gone my way cause of a number of reasons. I wanted my education to be expedited from that point on. So that I could get back the time wasted. When it comes to time, I always worry. Anyhow, I the realized it wasn´t worth it to freak out about the speed at which I was growing. As long as I could get both a good education and job. My life needed to be on a Knife-edge; luckily I´m almost there. The most important thing in life is to achieve your goal. It doesn´t matter whether it takes you longer or not. No matter how up to your neck you´re in work all the time either. Usually by being wise after the event, we even get to achieve more. For instance, I´ve always tried to apply the trial and error technique in my life. I even wanted to be as wise as those scientists I watched on TV. Nonetheless, I learnt that I didn´t have to become a gnomic speaker or whatnot. What I needed is to be confident in what I did and look for opportunities to grow. One good thing to do before starting out a project is the following: Pick over all your alternatives for success. Once you´ve done that. it´s better to choose the best ones. To sum up, I´d say that it´s never good to put all your eggs in one basket. You always gotta have many options. Not only to have more chances of success, but also not to get depressed by any setback.

Education is something that should not be forbidden to anyone. Unfortunately, even if it is not, it ain´t good enough either. Especially elementary education in developing countries. I do believe public schools in North America are better structured than in Latin America. Despite the fact that many say US kids these days are getting more fool every single day that passes. The reason for this way of thinking may be due to the lack of discipline there´s in those schools. I´d go deeper, but I know you caught my drift. It´s ironic though how the educational system in South America is the opposite to  the American one. South Americans complain that public schools are so bad they have to rely on private ones and fork out a fortune; whereas in the US parents are OK sending there children to public schools because they are good enough for preparing them to attend college. Who doesn´t wanna look smug about the fact that they finally got their Bachelor´s degree from a good school without much effort?. That ain´t the case though. Besides, there are some other things to be taken into consideration. For instance, in South America, private colleges are just as expensive as the ones in the US. However they´re much worse. That´s why most people there attend public universities. Conversely, in the US there are student loans provided by the government. So that American students can get into good universities by working a little harder. Of course the US government recoups their investment by being paid in parts. Everyone knows that, that same system ain´t applied in developing countries however. Since the authorities in the aforementioned countries don´t help out people. enough. (Most of them even embezzle public funds for education). The community itself has to pool their own resources to educate their kids as a consequence. One interesting piece of info for example, is to talk about the best University in Latin America which is ¨The Autonoma de Mexico¨. It is famous for their science programs. Anyhow, managing to get a degree there for a common person is like lugging your bags up to the 20th floor of a busy hotel. The best colleges on earth may be thronging with applicants who just got in, but only the ones who get to finish the program are taken into account. To sum up I´d say that indeed education in developing countries needs to sex up its image. That´s why not only the community but the authorities themselves will have to improve it little by little.

PLAYING FOR KEEPS - Official Trailer - In Theaters 12/7

I just finished watching ¨Playing For Keeps¨ and it got me thinking how important it is for a child to grow up with a father. Indeed this film was quite moving. It´s very unlikely though ,that somebody who has already got divorced gets back their family after three years. Ever since the kid gets christened, they need their dad right beside them. Why is it that important you may ask?. Well, let me tell you about my personal experience. My parents got divorced when I was 16. Though both my folks were very supportive, which made the misfortune less tough for me. Of course I´m not gonna budge an inch on my opinion. Not having your pops around, even when you´re a teen, is hard. It seems to be quite a trend however to see couples getting divorced these days. Their children are the ones affected, and they can´t do anything to change the situation. Some just try to block out the past.  Not reminding themselves about the fact that they barely see their offspring on a regular basis. It gets worse nevertheless. Sometimes when you try to forget the past, it hunts you. Especially when you´ve done something you´ve seriously regretted. Conversely, many teens even put on a confident manner not to worry their parents. No matter how used to somebody is not to having their dad around. Whether it´s due to a divorce, decease, or even abandonment. The feeling one gets inside is almost the same in most of these unfortunate situations. Lastly, I´d say that at times we don´t even realize how wonderful those moments we spend with our dads are. Be grateful for each one of them.

Michio Kaku on Time Travel

There´s something I´ve been meaning to talk about since I created this blog. I tend get introspective sometimes; one of the thinks I used to think about was Time Travel. I mean, it may seem crazy to talk about this stuff; I´ve got my reasons though. Ever since I got into college the 1st time, I realized I´d done something wrong. I´d basically let my older brother force me into getting into school. I picked the program myself;

I wasn´t sure about it however. It was just right after I finished high school. After a time and some other failures, I thought my life was over. I wanted to go back in time. Rewind all the bad things I´d done wrong and do them again. Luckily for me, things started to pick up right away. Nevertheless, I will never take this feeling out of myself. ¨What if things had been different?¨, I make that question to myself every time I go to bed. I even took up some science.

I wanted to know, if maybe in the future it was gonna be possible to do that. I came across some wonderful physicists, such as Dr. Michio Kaku and Professor Mallet. They both gave me hope about the possibility of turning back time. Of course it wont be in the foreseeable future. Not to mention the countless paradoxes that could be triggered if it one day came to become a reality. Everyone wants to get stoked cause success after they´ve worked hard to achieve something. Nonetheless, lots of setbacks and temptations cross their paths.

Only the ones who ultimately reach their goals get to feel fulfilled. Being pent-up doesn´t help either. People gotta release all their negative emotions in order to feel relieved. The fact of one falling by the wayside doesn´t mean unhappiness though. Even if you don´t achieve what you ultimately wanted, you still can be happy. Trying is important as well. It´s crucial to stoke up courage in yourselves, no matter what happens. To recap, I´d say that even though I´m fascinated by this ¨Time Travel¨ topic, I still realize how limited our technology still is to even dream of doing that one day.

There are many private colleges, especially in undeveloped countries that profit at the expense of desperate parents. For instance, where I come from this happens a lot. Quite a lot of schools care more about cash than education these days. It´s normal for a high school student who has just finished to be bombarded with info about different schools.

It´s hard for them to make a decision in such a short time. Thus, ill-intentioned people take advantage of these confused teens. Just to make a simple comparison between the education system of my own country and the one of a first-world nation. Just in Lima (Peru´s capital), there are more than 15 universities; whereas in Toronto where I used to live there are just three.

Don´t think that private schools are cheap in Peru though. Actually you kind pay the same for a higher education here as in the US for example. I´m just talking about one South American country, not to mention all the others. Therefore, a lot of work has to be done to correct this unfair facts. One of the things that annoy me the most about these so called ¨private¨ schools is that they even preach about responsibility and values.

I can assure you they don´t even know what those words mean. Schools here are not proscribed for insanely expanding and raise their fees whenever they want. However they should be. I´m pretty sure that if one the deans of these lame schools were asked about the layout and importance of their syllabi, they´d just digress. Next time you´re planning on taking a college program, don´t let these people fool you with their bullshitty propaganda.