CAMAPA & THE SAMARITAN GIRL

HOW LITTLE THE WORLD CAN BE!

2008-02-08T07:29:00.001-08:00

Some years ago, on 1994, when my partner and I were travelling to China we met a Hong Kong girl called Peggy who helped us a lot. We were travelling from Kumming to Dali on a “confortable” night bus. The trip must be around 10 hours but the bus driver took only 7 hours to make the route. He was the driver from hell and I think I’ve never had prayed that much I did during that trip. Despite the rest of the chinese people on the bus were sleeping, we were thinking that would be our last night in this living world. On the bus we met Peggy who also was really scared. We stayed with her for three days and, after that, we continued our trip to other chinese cities. We told Peggy we would phoned her when we’d arrived to Hong Kong on the last days of our trip. She was a bit too kind with us during all those days we stayed with her so we told her if she’d ever came to Spain she could visit to us.
Three years later, the night of June 23th, I received a phone call at three o’clock in the morning. It was Peggy, she was quite nervous and I was a little bit drunk due to I was being celebrating the beginning of the summer with my friends. I hardly understood her so I told her to send me a fax explaining me about the problem. When I read the fax I discovered she had a sick sister in a hospital in Barcelona Can you imagine the situation???. The fact was Peggy’s brother-in-law had told her that his wife was dying. Peggy didn’t trust so much in her brother-in-law so she told us to confirm that it was true. So next day we went to the hospital and we discovered the cruel reality. Peggy’s sister, who was a very young woman, was dying because of a terminal cancer. It wasn’t a good experience for me because at that very moment my mother was also dying by a terminal cancer. I phoned Peggy and I told her brother-in-law was right. So one week later Peggy and her mother travelled to Barcelona to visit her sister who died just two days after they arrived. It is like she would had been waiting for them to die.
We stayed during those 4 days with her and she thanked us about it. How could we imagine during our trip to China we would meet again?. Sometimes I think the world is not as big as we can think. Nowadays, Peggy is living in USA and from time to time we e-mail each other.

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

2008-01-20T11:44:00.000-08:00

I don´t know if my story can be considered as an uncanny story but it is something that happened to me two years ago and many times I have thought about that day because I have never known the end of the story. It was a winter morning, not a bad morning but a different one from routine, yes, one of those morning you would prefer to stay in bed. I left home and went walking to the train station. The morning was very cold so while I was passing by the bus station I decided to catch the bus instead of the train. I waited for the bus but the first bus that arrived was completely full and didn´t stop. Ten minutes later another bus arrived and it happened the same. Finally, 40 minutes later, a bus arrived and stopped. I was late so I phoned my boss and I told him about the delay. Just in the middle of nowhere the bus unexpectedly stopped. The bus driver tried to start it but it didn’t work. Twenty minutes later, fortunately, he managed to start it. When I arrived at Plaça Espanya I walked to 27 bus station and there I lived another strange situation. A very old woman with crutches was sat at the bus stop. She was really nervous and asked me to phone the police. She explained me her daughter had gone,more than an hour ago, looking for a taxi and she didn’t return. She thought something tragic had happened to her daughter. We were at Plaça Espanya so it was not normal to wait for a taxi for more than an hour. I phoned the police and I asked for that woman’s daughter but the police told me they had no notice about that person. Just on that moment my bus arrived so I explained the old woman I was late. She, desperate and with tears on her eyes, told me to go. I took the bus but I couldn’t take that poor woman from my mind. Also, during the bus route, I had time to think about the situation. Many posibilities crossed my mind. Perphaps her daughter had abandoned her at the bus stop, perphaps something bad had happened to her daughter, perphaps the woman was mentally sick and was lying me. I really didn’t know which was the real answer so just when I arrived to my job I phoned again to the police explaining them the situation and asking them to send a police patrol to help that woman at that bus stop. Unfortunately I don’t know the end of the story but I hope nothing has happened to that woman and her daughter.

THE PROMISED LAND

2008-01-05T04:27:00.000-08:00

Hi, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Well, while we wait, unpaciently, for the Three Wise Men, I want you to see this video I have seen at YouTube. It is a bit ironic, in fact for some people can be a really bad taste video (I’m not sure if it will stay for a long time at YouTube), but it describes perfectly people mentality who think about a promised land and a better life dying as martyrs.

BEING SANTA CLAUS JUST FOR ONE NIGHT

2007-12-20T05:57:00.000-08:00

Some years ago I decided to be Santa Claus for a night. It was possibly the most enjoyable and fascinating Christmas Eve’ experience I have had in many years. My brother-in-law came home with a Santa Claus’ dress and I didn’t doubt it. I told him “Hey, this night I will be Santa Claus”. My nephew was 4 years old and my niece was 12 (unfortunately she knew the cruel reality about Santa Claus). So after dinner I went to the bathroom and I dressed myself with the typical red and white Santa Claus’ clothes (white beard and white wig included). I went out from home and I rang the bell. I still remember my husband telling my nephew “Marc, someone is calling, let’s go and see who is it”. When he opened the door he could not believe what he was seeing. His eyes and his mouth were completely opened (his dummy falled down). His words, “Tiet, it’s Papa Noel”. He had a mix of scare and surprise. I came into the house and he was completely shocked. Then I began to act like Santa Claus “Ha, Ha, Ha, I’m looking for a boy called Marc. I know he has been a very good child during all the year and I’m bringing some toys for him”. My niece, who was 12, was amazed because she wasn’t sure who was that Santa Claus (I’m sure if at the moment we tell her Santa Claus is real, she would believed again). While I was giving the presents to my nephew, he didn’t pay attention to them, he was still looking at me with very big opened eyes. Finally, I told him I had to look for other kids, specially one called Aaron (his cousin). He could not believe I should know his cousin. So I kissed him and I told him goodbye. Nowadays, he still remembers about it and he still believes Santa Claus visited him. He still says he saw the sleigh and the reindeers from the balcony!!!.

HEROES

2007-11-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

“Save the world, save the cheerleader…”, this is one of the most famous sentences at “Heroes” TV serie. But my post is not about any TV serie or any cheerleader. Today’s post is about “Save the World”. This weekend I’ve been at the countryside with my daughter and my nephew. They both have to take some leaves to school. I took them to Begues. They were excited because, as they said, we went to a big forest (how big things seem to be when you are a kid!!!). Suddenly, while I was taking them a picture I remembered about Al Gore’s film “An Unfaithful Truth” and I thought if they would be fortunate in the future and they would be able to visit a forest with their future sons and daughters. I know many people who are worried about climate change and do many things to preserve our world but, unfortunately, there are still some others who do nothing. Easy tasks like recycling, take a look at the thermostat at home, reduce water consume, use public transport (or go cycling or walking), etc.. These year I have learnt the expression “to make a mountain out of a molehill” but to save the world we just need “to make a molehill out of a mountain”. Please, let´s convince the unconvinced how important their molehill is, I think next generations deserve, at least, to see a world like the one we can see today. Let´s try to be heroes and LET´S SAVE THE WORLD!!!

MALE CHAUVINIST, ONLY A MEN’S PROBLEM???

2007-11-13T16:39:00.000-08:00

- “My husband doesn’t know how to iron”

- “He usually arrives very tired from work”

- “My husband HELPS me at home”

Have you ever listened to some of those sentences?. I hate women who accuse all men as male chauvinists only for being men. Are there male chauvinist women? Of course there are. Furthermore I believe we should have to be more worried about them than about male chauvinist men.

I know a lot of men who look for a second mother on her wife but I, unfortunately, know many women who offer themselves on that task. There is a specific question women have made me about zillion times. Does your husband help you at home? HELP??? Of course not. The word “HELP” sounds as if home tasks would be just for women. What about the expression “SHARE TASKS”?. No one help anyone. Moreover, that’s a disrespectful question for women. It is like all duties at home would be for women and you, the man, arrive home and, as a big favour, decide you will do some of those duties. There some of them who say “My husband doesn’t know how to iron”. I usually ask them “Is it necessary any special university degree for that???”. I have always thought the perfect answer for many men is saying “I don’t know how to do it” but, what it is more incredible is some women believe them when they say that.

I specially enjoy when people come home for dinner and I discover he is a male chauvinist. He looks at my partner thinking “Oh, my God, he is preparing dinner”. But I must accept I enjoy more when the male chauvinist is the woman. She usually returns back home at the end of the night angry with her husband and with many questions rounding over her head.

I suppose most of you (women) would be thinking “ Ha, the pefect man”. No, it’s not a question of perfection. It is a question of respect and a question of knowing about your duties. As usual, I’m waiting for your comments.

PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE

2007-10-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

What happens if you are accused of something you haven´t done?. Have you ever thought about that? Just read the following story.

Some years ago, a very good friend of mine who was just married and who had found a recent job received the visit of the police at his home asking him to go with them to the police station. On the way to the police station, the policeman told him he had been accused of rape by a woman. The woman had described a car similar to his car and some numbers of the registration number (not all the numbers) had a coincidence. He came into a room with four more guys and after some minutes a policeman took him to jail just telling him the woman had pointed him. The question was that on the date and hour the woman reported the rapist attack her my friend was at home, and his wife knew about it (but her testimony at the judgement has no value just because it was his wife’s testimony). My friend stayed two days (a hole weekend) in jail and on Monday, his lawyer asked for a second recognition session. Just imagine yourself arriving on a police car, handcuffed and all your family (dad, mum, your wife) crying because they know you are innocent. Fortunately for my friend, the woman pointed to another man!!!! No comments. I told my friend to report her for moral harm but my friend just decided to forget about everything. Where is the presumption of innocence in this true story?

MR. RAJOY AND THE CLIMATE CHANGE….

2007-10-23T02:47:00.001-07:00

Ahah! Here he is!!! Miiiisssterrrrr RRRRRajoy (sounding like in a ring before a fight). The BEST, SUPER, INCREDIBLE, VISIONARY man in the world. I couldn´t care less what Mr. Al Gore and the scientic community around the world have told about the climate change. Mr. Rajoy has said that´s not an important problem. There are some others more important! (in fact, I sincerily cannot imagine about a bigger problem, next elections probably???). This guy is surprising me everyday. Mr. Aznar told some months ago there was no problem if you drink wine and after that you take your car. It was difficult to fly higher than Mr. Aznar but… here is Mr. Rajoy (a really worthy heir!!!). I think I will die without knowing the reason why that man is voted by 20 millions of citizens.

COULD ….

2007-10-22T01:21:00.000-07:00

It looks like I “MUST” give some clues about my identity. Here are some of them. I COULD be a man, BUT I also COULD be a woman. I COULD be a student, but I also COULD be a worker, who knows, I COULD be also both things at the same time (for sure I’m not the teacher, that´s an important clue!!!). I COULD be sit near you or far from you. I COULD live in Esplugues or just outside. Probably I love study English, maybe I hate it, or maybe I don´t study English!!!. Probably CAMAPA is something related with my name, or probably it’s related with my life, or probably it´s not related with anything of me and it’s an invention of my mind. I like to do sport but I also like to lie on the sofa. I like music but I also like the silence. I hate winter and I love summer….. That is how I am. You COULD try to guess who am I or you just can wait until the end of the course because this is one of the funny things of this blog, GUESS!!!

OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSES

2007-10-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I have just read the teacher´s blog. It looks like if we work hard during this year we will improve our writing style. Well, I will try to work hard on this experience but I don´t know if my busy life will let me. There are going to be some important changes in my life during this year related with work and other things and I sincerely don´t know how much free time I will have to dedicate to this new experience.

What´s the meaning of CAMAPA? Well, you will have to wait until the end of this experience to know the meaning, mainly because if I should explain the meaning then I would be giving some clues about my identity.

Well, that’s all by now.