Diary of a teenager

Foreign languages, identity and intercultural competence.

2006-04-03T20:18:00.000-03:00

I am a 18- year- old French boy and I have been living in Brazil for 4 years now Before this transition I was in France, but even in France I was moving all the time. Here is my journey since I was born: Paris, Lyon, Paris, Montpellier, Nice, Montpellier and now Brazil. Taking in account that in some towns I moved twice I can’t consider myself a Parisian as I have no contacts with any of my ex-friends and I left without saying goodbye… Oh, I have to explain that my parents are divorced, and I left my mummy in France with one of my sisters. It was very difficult for me to make this choice, but I felt that this was the choice I was supposed to make for my studies. I wasn’t forced to go, but I wanted to have a decent job, or even just a job, and well, I ran away from my failure there to have a new start here.

Since I came to Brazil, things have been different. I’ve kept my buddies during 4 years, going to the same places. I have my own communities now; my own band, my music school, well and part of my roots are here, in Brazil even though the largest part is in France, with my family and because French is my mother tongue. My marks are better here though and I can think about getting a job and so on.

I am not fluent in Portuguese because all of my friends are French and I do not so many contacts with Portuguese and Brazilians. However, I love Brazil and the people who are very welcoming and affectionate, and whom I prefer to the French. In France people are cold and closed in themselves, always complaining about everything, well they can’t enjoy life as it comes.

It’s strange because when I’m in Brazil I miss my family and my country, but when I’m in France, I miss my buddies. It’s as if I were torn between two cultures, France and Brazil so only when I mix both I feel complete. This dream will come true also when I go back to France at the end of the year because my 3 best friends ever are going to come with me, maybe not stay in the same town, but will not be really far from it.

I can say that this transition brought a lot of new experiences. For the first time in my life I fell in love in Brazil (but she wasn’t a Brazilian), I built my circle of friend: we are very close and united. I’ve seen wonderful landscape, and also horrible poverty scenes, and some unusual scenes… It was a step in my life that I won’t regret. Now I can speak better English (because in France… well, you know, languages are not the strong point), also I can speak Portuguese with a certain accent (remember that I am still French) and some Spanish.

I don’t know what it is like to be forced to leave one’s country, to leave the family thinking :” And if I will never see him again?”, and I’m curious to know what feelings that may generate, and if the integration can be as easy as mine or very difficult. What are your plans for the future?

“Who in the world would you really like to send an email/letter (or read your blogposts?) and why?”

2006-02-20T15:45:00.000-03:00

“Who in the world would you really like to send an email/letter (or read your blogposts?) and why?”

I would like that somebody I don't know to read my blog. In way to know if the way I've described myself is correct or not. I mean if I'm like I'm seeing myself (kinda crazy I know), well, just to see if I am what I think I am... And of course if the people get interested in sharing ideas and to discuss about topic, like music or movies. I don't like to talk about subjects very "intellectual" because I don't think you get smarter by talking about it. I don't mean that I don't care about society or art and etc... but I think it's funnier talking about .... [To be continued]

Back In Black!!

2006-02-20T15:18:00.000-03:00

Yelllllll I´m back !!!!
I´m here for one year again, and then I go back in France ^_^.
So I´m gonna try to keep this blog a bit online in way to.... dunno why.... It maybe cuz of my teacher ^^

OMG!!!

2005-11-16T20:50:00.000-02:00

O-M-G!!!!!

I'm writting my testament cuz tomorrow it's my BAC of french n biology.... err.. I'm very afraid of that test, I mean it's the reason why I worked since I was born (well, to get job then money but without my bac I even can't have the smell of it...) n I don't wanna screw this opportunity.
I studied but, well you know, we always have this impression something is just wrong or missing.
We think we haven't learned enough (well, I think) and it's a sensation so unpleasant.

So, this is my testament:

I bequath my guitar to my buddy Jeremy (take car of it as if it was yours)
I bequath my none-fortune to my other buddy Nicolas
I bequath all my clothes to Emmaus (an organization for destitute children) so that nobody can tell I was (or I am) selfish
Well about the rest, oh! I don't wanna be incinerate (muffin is just too cool ;)) and I want to give my organs to anybody who need it.

I tink that's all (I'm ruin now ^_^) so I'm saying good luck to myself ;)

See ya!

Japan!

2005-11-07T15:38:00.000-02:00

I have comment on 43places.com on my futur Japan's trip.
I'd rather love to go there cuz I think it's THE place, THE country we must see.
I don't know if I'll like the conditions of life cuz it seems to be very strict and hardworking life, and I think I'm so lazy that I can handle this life.

Work On Guns

2005-10-17T15:18:00.000-02:00

This time is classwork, again and again.... it's a cycle.

Well I have to do a work on the referendum, working on 2 articles

First Arcticle

This is an article from the BBC's site. It's talking about the referendum which is going to happen the 23 of octobre. The referendum is about firearms : Do you want firearms or not?
Somes of the related words :
- disarmament measures
- 99 deaths per day
- Smuggling

I think this article is neutral, it's just an information about the referendum in Brazil.
Second article

This is an article from the Washington.com site. It's talking about the referendum which is going to happen the 23 of octobre. The referendum is about firearms : Do you want firearms in sall or not?

Somes of the related words :
- defenseless (people)
- Brazil has the highest number of gun deaths in the world, with 36,091 people shot and killed last year, according to government figures.

I think the first argument is against the ban, it said that people are defenseless and with a gun they are going to protect themself.

The second argument is for the ban, by saying this it shows that Brasil don't need to be an open market of firearms.

There are arguments against : the one which are talking about Nazism and Hitler (I don't get thoses points... so weird), or the fact that brasilian people is the highest number of gun death in the world.

Wow how many comment!!

2005-10-03T20:29:00.000-03:00

Well, thanks to all of the BAS student from Thailand to their posts ^^

I'll try to get contacts with all of you very soon

My Blog Work

2005-10-03T15:26:00.000-03:00

I have a homework : To mark my blog, to make a judgment about it.

Uhm... If I have to say a mark I'll put 5 on 10. Why?
Because I think I've post more things that the others one but I don't tried to make it "better". Like, I've made a post on guitars but I didn't go far in the subject, you know it's like if I can't focus on what I'm doing.

But the idea of making a post and to join flickr is a VERY good idea, thanks teacher.
Yep, we can share somes life time and it's always a pleasure when people comment on your fotos or your blog.
If I had to do it again I'll do, but with more concentration I hope.

I think it's a new way to work too, it's not the traditional way: paper pen.... BORING!!!
I don't know what I can say about this homework.... I know I can to better, but I have a poil dans la main like we say in french ^^.

Guitars

2005-09-05T15:06:00.000-03:00

Well, I'm going to do an extra post about GUITARS.

It has been two years from now that I'm playing guitar so I'm going to tell somethings about my passion.

In first : what a guita is made of?

[All take on Wikipedia.org]
Now I'll present my guitar :

Name : Esthelle
Code Name : PAC112J
Made of :

Solid Alder Body
Maple Neck
Rosewood fingerboard
1 Humbucker/2 Single coil Pickups
Diecast Chrome Tuners
Black Pickguard
Vintage Style Chrome Tremolo
Black (ex-white, I painted her)
Personals Sticks.

When I play guitar it's my way to express myself, I play metal songs the most of the time, I love training during hours with the objectif to can play a music that I love.
I have a band to, it's called "Semper Fi" (always together in latin), we are just 3 (2 guitars and a drummer) and we are looking for a singer and bassist. Actually we're training on the Simple plan's song called "Shut Up".

Perfect Blog Post

2005-08-29T15:24:00.000-03:00

Hi Alan!
I was wondering in your blog when I read your Perfect Blog Post, and I was thinking about somethings:

* I don't think that 100 words a week is very much for an BAS students, I think they have a lots of works but I'm learning 4 languages (English, Portugese, Spanish and French) and when I decided to post it isn't just 100 words that I wrote, when I'm inspirated (sometimes I do, I swear) I can wrote 200 words and more. So, in my opinion, I think 100 words is light for BAS student.

* I'm not going to critize but.... I don't think "Harry Potter" is a real book...

* I love to read comics (but I prefere mangas, the stories are better) but not in the way to get culture, it's just to learn an other way of drawing...

* I don't love to watch TV but I enjoy watching sitcom (Friends, The Simpson, Seinfield), but as I don't like to watch TV ... I don't care about missing a serie. Well, in this way it can be a good source of distraction and with somes friend you can laught a lot :-)

* Read newspaper is the better way you'll ever find to get culture! Reading a newspaper is something beautiful, when you open it you can smell the odor of the news, when your hands touch the rough paper it's a very great felling. Trust me (and Alan) you need to read some newspapers, and the best of all : it's not boring at all!!

So I comment one of your post, and I do hope to comment an other one later.

Brainstorming

2005-08-15T15:17:00.000-03:00

The word work for me is the meaning of many things :

Building, Games, Being patient, To focus, Workmanship, Hard, Hours, Holydays, Chaos, Organization, Money, War, Love, Eternity, Loniless...................................................................................................

Rebels, Sex Pistols!

2005-06-13T15:14:00.000-03:00

What are the issues today and how do young people today show their rebellion?

There is different things who shocked the British in the 70's and 80's.
In the beginning, the "punk-fashion" doesn't exist and firs emerged in the middle of the 70's as an anarchic and aggresive movement. There's somes things who chocked people in the begining:

- In fashion :
First the clothes : They made their own clothes with old clothes, because they didn't have money due to unemployement and low income school leavers. Metal was very used too, used as pendant with the razor blades, neck chains were made from padlocks. And this was very chocking because it was the first time people were seeing that.

- Self Mutilation and body piercing :
Then they started to put studs and pins on their faces, like eyebrowns, cheeks and nose. They made a lots of tatoo too. Self mutilation is a rejection against pretty.

-Hair :
Punks used to have long hair or no hair, if they have long hair they spiked them as high as possible into a Mohican style. And theses hair were painted in green red or blue.

In my opinion I think rebels was against the society. They was against the system they wanted to show all they're anger with music and look. Nobody were listening to they, so they decided to "shocked" people with look by wearing weird stuff. Being like that they'll can expressed her opinion.... In a way, expressed the "wrong" of the society, the unfair side of the governement. But it's not a good way to expressed her feeling....

Nowadays, when people don't agry with any law they make a [greve] or a manifestation. People are more educated, they won't be a vagabond to show what they want. They'll do meeting before they manifested. I don't think punk was a big changed in our society, but in the music's world they brought a lots of new things... and that's good, even if I'm not keen at all in punk-rock music, I admited that they were essential do this world...

Rebels!!!

2005-06-06T15:14:00.000-03:00

What is a rebel? A rebel is a person who used to break the rules. He do not respect laws and authority. But I don't think rebel are bad persons or drunk, sometimes it's just people who doesn't think like the others and of course it's creating conflicts. In a fact a rebel is a "diferent" person who may cares about the society.

Henry Moore

2005-06-01T17:21:00.000-03:00

Well, I was at Henry Moore's expo and it was a kind of.... strange.
That's guy was very crazy in this head to think at this amount of possibility to watch a sculpture for exemple: if you watch a sculpture by one side you'll see a woman lying and if you watch it by an other side you'll see a soldier. Henry moore also play with empty, in somes sculptures the "empty" is a sculpture too... crazy isn't it?

Floods in Brazil

2005-05-30T15:32:00.000-03:00

Thanks Rudolf, it's nice to think about us. I'm a bee's student a for sure it was a big big rain like. When I came back from school it was raining like hell, we were five in my car : my driver, Kaitlin, Camille, Jeremy and I. We saw amazing scenes like submerged bus and trucks, or part of road under water.
I was also choked, I could't believed it what was happening here close to me, it was like armagedon you know? ^_^
But fortunately, nobody I know has been hit by the flood. Unfortunately I think a lots of men and women in the "favelas" were killed, the "houses" aren't solid enough and with this flood they were destroyed.
And personnaly I don't like when it's raining hard in Brazil because in the most of the time I lost the acces's internet, and blackout lasted 3 hours. Well it's not very serious but I don't like when it happen.

My heroe

2005-05-16T17:36:00.000-03:00

Well I'm going to make a little resume of my oral on heroes....

So my heroe is Cloud, it's an heroe from Final Fantasy VII, video game created by Hironobu Sakaguchi in 1987 (my birth yaer ^.^).
Of course isn't real and for that he's my best unreal heroe.
I like somes skill in Cloud, like:

Courage : Yes he's very coureagous because he try to save the world from a meteor (which one is very very big, and he's going to make sacrifice to stop it), then he recover his health before he was paralized (he was on a rolling chair).
Focus (becareful with the pronunciation, not F*** us but FOcus, hehe) : Yes, Cloud need to focus when his friend is killed by Sephirot (the bad man of the game), he need to stop the meteor first and after he'll get revenge. IRL (In Real Life) you must focus if you pretend to do something.
Misterious : Cloud is very mysterious, we don't know much about his life and he don't talk very much, he's even distant from the party (Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, Vincent, Yufie, Cat Saith, [Aeris], Cid). And in the middle of the game you'll know much about he's life if you do some quests and extra stuffs....

Let me explain what Final Fantasy is :

Final Fantasy was created in 1987 by Hironobu Sakaguchi. First it's was to copy Dragon quest an other RPG (Role Playing Game). The five first was a little missed, but the sixth was the the revolution in RPG. And my favorite one is the seventh. Why? because the story is very beautiful and complicated in a same time, and the characteres are very attractives and pfff a lots of cool stuf.

Henry Moore

2005-05-09T15:10:00.000-03:00

Henry Spencer Moore was born on the 30th of July 1898 in Castleford (Yorkshire). At eighteen Moore was enlisted in the Civil Service Rifles. In France he suffered a gas attack and was sent back (to England) to spend two months in hospital. After recovering, he became an APTI (Army Physical Training Instructor).Then he returned home, a mature and responsible man of twenty and took his life into his own hands. He became the first ever student of sculpture at Leeds School of Art in September 1919, Moore admitted his career as an artist began with the discovery of Roger Fry's Vision and Design with tow particular essays which have been published, one on Negro sculpture and the other on Ancient American art. Moore's sculptures in the twenties and the early thirties are perfect examples of deeply romantic English lyricism with a great feeling for landscape and natural forms. Moore also rejected tradition, choosing for his inspiration not the classical figures of the Renaissance and the Graeco-Roman tradition but primitive models, as seen in the British Museum and the readily available information on non-western art that was fashionable at the time. Henry Moore died at the age of eighty-eight on the 31st of August 1986.
Source

The art of Moore is very strange, (for me because I don't get anything at paintings...) there's no structure. Well, we can see that he worked on the form and material, he tried to mix polish "gold" and "natural" rock for exemple, both are the same scuplture. He tried to play with the light, from diferent [point de vue] we see a different sculpture. When it's outside the sculpture is "clear" for you, but when the night comes, you don't even know if you have already watched it...

Well, if you want further information about this life or somes pictures, you can go on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moore (full and clear.)
http://www.henry-moore-fdn.co.uk/ (THE site about Moore.)
And two pictures about this crazy sculpter:

Pic.1
Pic.2

MollyPitcher

2005-04-11T21:40:00.000-03:00

MollyPitcher
Originally uploaded by r0m4in.

Molly Pitcher, a heroine of the American War of Independence. This is a detail of a painting called "Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth" painted by Dennis Malone Carler in 1854. This painting is divided in 3 parts: the background and the middle ground andwith the foreground.
In the Middle ground we can see Molly Pitcher. Molly Pitcher was a heroine of the American War of Independence. We don’t know much about (we don’t even know if it’s true or a legend) her but we know that she helped cool down the canon and the wounded soldier by carrying water in her husband regiment. And one day her husband collapsed in the battle, and heroically she took her husband’s place at the cannon, arging the men to tight for the remainder of the battle.
Well, in the middle ground there is Molly Pitcher and a canon used by a gunner. MP is wearing a red dress, and it’s also the only real color in this painting, the rest is very dark, like black and dark blue. At the bottom of the cannon we see a man dying, he may can been wounded by a bullet or a sword. We see that MP is defiant, she wants to go ahead, she wants revenge for her husband's so victory is needed. She is strength, she is not exhausted like the soldiers who are tired with a face of fear and physical pain. We also see some soldiers with drums who are playing to encourage the soldiers. If we pay attention there is a man hidden behind the cannon, I think he wants to escape the war.
In the background there are general who are just watching and giving orders. I think they are cowards because if they won, all the fame would be for their own person . And it’s unfair because they didn’t do anything like killing a man, having real blood on their hands, the fear of death, the pain of wound and the happiness to be alive. They’ll just receive a medal of honor.
In my opinion it must be an interesting painting but I don’t have enough culture to talk about it. But I think the colors are very expressive, all black and dark higlighting the red/pink of the dress. It seems to say that MP is the only hope to win the battle; she’s the only strength and only courage.

St George

2005-04-09T22:21:00.000-03:00

St George
Originally uploaded by r0m4in.

This time it's homework time.... I have to describe a painting called : George and the Dragon, painted by Sir Edward burn-Jones in 1868. Edward studied in Oxford when he realized that his passion was books and illustration. Then he started to write and paint (logical huh?).
He's mostly known as a painter (but he wrote some books too), his painting are very inspired in imperial classical and biblical style. There's also a purity of forms with moral tones in a romantic style.

But do you know the legend about the dragon and st George? A long long time ago a dragon terrified a village. All people sent it sacrifices trying to calm his hunger. Sheep were killed and given to the dragon. But one day a peasant said: "There are no more sheep", so the dragon said : "If there is no more sheeps give me WOMEN". So all the women of the village were killed, except one, the king's daughter. The king MUST find a brave knight to slay the dragon or the King's daughter will die.... As a reward the knight would marry the girl.
Well, now you know this legend.... It won't help but you know it.

So, I'm going to analyze this "beautiful" painting.

It's an oil-painting called "George and the Dragon" painted in 1868.

In the foreground we can see the dragon being killed by Saint George (the famous knight who says yes to the deal with the king). The dragon is painted in a darkish-green and it's got scales that make him look like an armored creature. Saint Geoge has trespassed the dragon with his spear. The knight is slaying the dragon with his holy sword called Ascalon. St George is wearing a metal armor which can be a holy one too... I don't know.He's got a red cape, which is very important too (we'll see later with the colors). He's using a shield to be protected too however he's not wearing a helmet so we see his face, he's calm and decided.
We also see that George is bigger than the dragon, he's almost the double! And I don't think this normal... a dragon must be big and black and spitting fire, not like this one.... little, green agonizing, wriggling like a worm!!! It's a disappointment for me.

In the middleground there's the princess who is tied to a pole and wearing a white dress.

In the background there's the village and somes hills, both represented in blueish, purple.

There two dominating colors, are black and white.
The white is the princess represent virginity and purity. The white is shining on George's armor, it seems like the princess want to protect the knight (if think she just don't wanna die eaten by a lizard...) and the black is the devilish force, the dragon is the evil which came to earth for destruction and annihilation of this world. So it's a fight between good an evil (as always).
And the only thing that is going to save us all is love, yes the cape of the knight is red so it's representing the passion, and as we know if the love is combined with the holy power of purity the knight must win. The village is very dark too so we can say that if the knight kills the dragon the village wich is now sad will be free again.

My opinion: This painting is quite ugly. The design is very basic without any details. The only things that I liked is the light, the play on we find on the knight's armor...
Good job Edward...

Comparatives

2005-03-13T19:21:00.000-03:00

Well, this week we see the comparatives. Do you know we're using comparatives every day?

Look : Australia is big but the US is bigger and Canada is the biggest of the three.
Bigger is the comparative, we are comparing two things.
The biggest is the superlative, we are saying that Canada is the top.

Comparatives are easy to use but the superlative is the easiest.
But I don't know how I'm going to say 200 words about superlatives and comparatives.... I really think I'm not gonna make it.... pff
I know I'm gonna do somes exercices :

In winter, the climate in England is bad but it is worse in Scotland.
Many nations claim to be hospitable but the Irish are said to be the most hospitable people in Europe.
The Scots are said to be the stingiest people in the world.

Well I'm tired, goodbye

Stereotypes...

2005-03-06T16:21:00.000-03:00

Well, I had to speak about stereotypes..... you know, homework, plague....

So, if I had to give a definition to start I would say that stereotypes are wrong ideas made about religion, kind of people, politics, well, everything around you... You don't believe?

Example (the most famous ) :..... blonds! You see... it's said that blonds are stupid.... And I'm sure you know a lots of jokes about blonds so don't be an holy man...
And you know that's not true at all! It's like the portuguese, there're not dumb at all !!
Why people say that one religion is better than an other, I don't know. Mankind is stupid sometimes... If you think it's great to hurt people's feelings go ahead I won't stop you.
I'm speaking about sterotypes and people says I'm not, well,the world is going crazy...
I don't wanna talk about stereotypes but I am, isn't great?
Another example just to show you how stereotypes are non-sense ideas :the Belgians and the French.... you know what I'm talking about...

Slayer

2005-02-28T17:35:00.000-03:00

Slayer in 2004
Originally uploaded by r0m4in.

So, this time I'm going to talk about my favorite group which is called SLAYER.
My little story about this group.
"It was a gloomy, miserable and brutally cold November afternoon back in the 1986.
They stood impatiently on the subway train as it gradually crawled across the north side of Chicago toward my stop. They were still over ten hours before the concert began, but they needed to secure their place in line to get somes good seats. After all this was not their typical heavy metal show. This was SLAYER.
And SLAYER had just released the greatest, most brutal trash metal album of all time. REIGN IN BLOOD."
For sure the lyrics aren't very.... how can I say.... they're very brutal, and I won't denie, it sometimes they talk about death, hate, war and anything of that kind..... you know....
But don't make a stereotype, they are good people with lots of qualities like humour, intelligent (yep, people doing trash-metal can be intelligent I swear!) and fun sometimes....
By the way don't me tell they're "satanic,antichrist,anti-all", because you cannont say things about stuff you don't know, isn't that right?
If you wanna say "that sux" or "wow, I had to buy the latest cd" you need to listen.....
So I suggest you listen to theses songs:

Dead Skin Mask
Angel Of Death
Raining Blood
War Ensemble
Mandatory Suicide
and the last one...... The Antichrist

Enjoy! (or not...)
Next time, I'll try to talk about Children Of Bodom's band.

PS: If you want to learn more about Slayer, this
is the link from the oficial site, or
this is my e-mail.

22/02/2005

2005-02-22T21:04:00.000-03:00

Well... pfff... that's me again...
I think you can call me lazy-boy because of the "pfff" and "..."
I'm gonna do a little summary of what I did last week :

14/02 : I met my new class and I think it's the most beautiful 1er ES for years!
(I'm talking about the girls .... I don't want any kind of.... well I don't want
any mistake.) I've seen my schedule and isn't a piece of cake, that's not kind at all....

15/02 : I wasn't lying, the beautiful girls are in our class! What a luck (for real)!
I met my french's professor, Mr.Bo, well, I'm not close to say that he's got a good way to teach but he knew exactly his subject and that's the most important ever....

16/02 : Nothing to say, litterary's day, Geo-Br, French, two hours of eco, English/Portuguese and 2 hours of spe.Math (the only subject on wensday which isn't litterary).

17/02 : History and Geography! It's not my favourite subject but.... This teacher rox! Mme.B is very very sympathic and smily (korrekt?)... okay okay, she's also Very very feminist, environmentalist, anti - internationalization and of other things but I don't remember very well.... But, as Mr.Bo she knows perfectly his subject and she loves what she's doing.... I'm okay with her.

Pffff.... It's too long to tell.... one week.... I prefer say what enjoyed me during theses weeks...
See you soon!

Well.... hello

2005-02-22T21:03:00.000-03:00

Wow That's me!
Originally uploaded by r0m4in.

So, I'm gonna talk about me, I usually don't like it but... well you know what it's to be forced to do something you don't want... We call that plague : homework!

Name : Romain
Age : 17
Birth date : 17/10/1987
Astrological sign : Libra
Things that I'm keen on : Guitar, Computer, Friends, Music, Food, Sleep....
Things that I hate : Homeworks, People who thinks they are "da best", authority, and other things I can't say...
Favorites bands (actually) : Slayer, Marilyn Manson, Children Of Bodom, Arch Enemy... what else?
Pfff I'm already bored...
My guitar heroes : Angus Youth (AC/DC), Jonh 5 (Ex Manson's guitarist), Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman...

I think that's all for this post...

See ya!