A scary vacation

A scary Vacation

This is the most frightening experience that I've had in my short life. It happened underwater, twenty meters deep. Basically scuba is my addiction and I travel to as many places I afford; therefore, I always get very excited when vacations are close; especially long vacations because I enjoy the beach even if there is nobody to go with. I’m convinced that the ocean is beautiful, but yet dangerous. One of the most unpleasant places to die is in the ocean. It started one day last summer, when my boyfriend and I decided to enjoy the wonderful and colorful islands in Thailand. After we had been been travelling for more that seventeen hours, we arranged an outing for the next morning. Then we went to a marvelous place 45 km from the island.

Surrounded by greenish wonderful nature, we started to descend through the warm and blue sea with big waves that anybody would like to enjoy. Even though I’m not a great swimmer, it was not a big deal because of the bouyancy compensater strapped on my body. Unfortunately, that day I was so excited that my air was used faster than normal. Just afterwards when the group was doing the safety decompression stop, I took off my regulator just for fun, but whet I put it back I did not have air! I tried to swim to the surface. Then somebody pulled me down to the rope and gave me his octopus regulator. I love the ocean; however, it cannot be trusted. This feeling helped me a lot being aware on trips. I need to stay focussed. Although that experience was scary, we explored dives there with exotic marine species and many different kinds of fish that I have never seen in real life. Aquatic life like clown fish, globefish, and flower horn fish among others.

Cultural Differences Visiting Friends

Cultural Differences Visiting Friends

It’s important to learn something about other cultures before visiting friends, because often there are many impolite behaviors that people do without realizing them. Many of my customs from Colombia are similar to those of Canadians. For example, if friends want to come over, they need to remove their shoes because it’s the style that I adopted. They must call before visiting, because it’s really uncomfortable when people come without a call, and especially when I am having dinner. They should not visit after 9 pm. Another example is visiting for more than four hours, because sometimes I need to do something, or get up early in the morning, or even maybe I want to be alone. In addition, when people smoke inside the house, it is required to ask first. Also, I don’t like when people open the refrigerator looking and asking for food.

Besides that, it is not polite. Finally, the living room and dining room are the appropriate areas to see visitors because the other areas are private. Compared to Canadians, we have some differences, like Canadians don’t come empty handed if they will be eating or drinking. They may bring some flowers or wine. Also Canadians don’t like visitors to snoop in drawers, or the medicine cabinet. for all of this rules It's considerate to learn another cultures.

Learning English

Learning English

I am studying English because I want to communicate with people in order to push my career forward, and so that I can find a good job in Canada. I believe it’s the language of my future. Maybe it’s the best thing I can do to improve my life. I’m majoring in commerce because many questions came to me as if they just wanted to torment my childhood. I wished, like every child, to change the world. Therefore, I decided to study business to solve some of the deep mysteries of economics. For an example, why are some countries richer than others?

I like reading mystery books, rollerblading, and studying English. I spend hours, even days studying. That’s how much I want to learn English. After the classes end, I go to the library to do my homework. Also when I am in home I try to read the news paper, watch TV and listen to the news on the radio. Besides that, I’m taking business courses like Writing for Business and The Canadian Financial System.

The most difficult thing about learning English is when I write paragraphs. I get mixed up when I have to sort all my ideas and put them into words. Therefore, I should try to expand my vocabulary. On the other hand, the easiest thing for me learning English is talking, even badly, but people understand me.

In short, I need to improve my writing, use more vocabulary, and go out more frequently and practice.