Hello Graham... I see you have answered us!! So , you mention the "Tribalistas" : it is a famous group here in Brazil . The three singers are : Marisa Monte , Carlinhos Brown and Arnaldo Antunes... I love the song "Velha infância" that is making success on the radios now! I'm sure you will like it. I also learned from a friend who lives in France that "Tribalistas" is starting to appear there and that she likes a lot the songs (when she came to see me in July 2003 , she listened to this song I mentioned and she loved it , so now she's happy because she can listen to it there)... Hum , other Brazilian groups I can mention are "Skank" and "Paralamas do sucesso" that are typical from Brazil and all the teens like them! You said that when you went to Portugal you heard Brazilian music. When I went to Portugal , last year I think , in all the stores we could listen to Brazilian songs like "É o tchan" ( axé = type of brazilian music that is similar to samba , music of carnival here ) and other kinds! and all of them were Brazilian... So , I can say that Brazil music has a big influence in Portugal . On television there were some Brazilian programs too .
Well , I'm curious to know how you met our teacher. I already asked here but she told me to ask you! =)
About Spain , I don't have anything to ask!! I just wanted to say that I have the impression it is very nice to live there! Just before finishing I would like to say that I also like Portugal and that last year I was going to live there but it didn't happen .
That's it.. hope you will answer me
caroline t.

Hi Maeva! I did the route to Santiago with my friend David (the photos you see are on his website) in 2000. It was an incredible experience (I'm sure your father will say the same) , and one of the very best holidays of my life. We didn't rush the journey, usually getting up at 5.30 am and cycling until 12.00 every day (to avoid the Summer heat!). There are some fabulous places throughout northern Spain, and everywhere we went, we made friends and met very friendly people. I want to do it again, but the next time I'd like to do it on foot, although I'll need a lot longer than the ten days it took me by bike! Another possibility is to do the 'silver route', which starts in Seville in southern Spain and goes to Santiago either through spain or through Portugal.

Hello again!

Well, as Leonardo, Katherina, Andre, Caroline, Lina have all asked me about my life in Brazil, I'll explain a little. I go back to work (school) tomorrow for the first time, although the term doesn't really start until mid-September. I live in a flat in the north of the city, and work in several places, teaching English to students of different ages, but mainly those who are at university studying Tourism. When I'm not working, I have to study, but I also like listening to music (especially live music, and there are lots of opportunites to see all kinds of different music in Barcelona) and going to the cinema. Lately, I have been spending more and more time on the Internet, and have become very interested in weblogs (Hey! That's how I ended up being invited here!)

Barcelona is a nice place to live, except it gets too hot for me in the Summer! It's a very cosmopolitan city, and quite different from other parts of Spain. This is partly because the Catalan culture is very strong (Catalan is a very different language from Spanish), and the people and traditions are often different from those you would normally identify with Spain. People still eat late, however (lunch is normally taken at 3pm, and people often don't eat dinner until after 10pm), and the nightlife goes on until the early hours of the morning, which is very different from Britain! Well, that's a taster of Barcelona life. If you want to know any more, just ask.

Hello everybody!

Wow! So many people have written recently I don't know where to start! It's obvious to me that you all love your country, and one thing I can see too is what I thought before, that Brazilians seem to be very open and friendly. I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to visit, but I'll obviously need a lot of time to see all of the places you have recommended! I forgot to mention that I also like Brazilian music. When we were in Portugal, we heard a lot of music by a group called 'Tribalistas', which sounded great. does anyone know what the name of their CD is? Can anyone recommend any more Brazilian music I may like?

I saw that everybody is waiting for an answer from Graham... hehehe.. that's all...
caroline t (is that better for you katherina?)

Hello everybody

Well like Andrés and Caroline said Sao Paulo is a very interesting city. I have lived here for many years and there are a lot of people, restaurant cinemas, museums... But beware if you want to enjoy your trip. You have to live in a appropriate place because here in Sao Paulo there are a lot of places to go but it is well known for the high criminality - so be careful. Well, Graham, I lived in France too and I am saying that Brazil is the best of the best of the best for holidays. So one day try to come here and say a hello to us. Now I have said what it is like to live here in Brazil I want to know what it is like to live in Barcelona? Answer me...

Bye

Hi!
Well, I'm back and now I'm back for ever!! =P... so.. I think the story about the two carolines is too complicated,
teacher you should make a little difference between the two of them.
And Graham, I really think you should come to Brazil, is a wonderful country which can be enjoyed by all ages..
Brazilian people is very sympatic and happy...!!!
Morever, I suppose we can't judge a country (anyone) by the movies and pictures, because I saw many times
in my French history book, pictures from Brazil, but horrible pictures, about pollution and the poverty here.
In my opinion each country have their problems and their beauty, and to be honest, I think Brazil is the most
beautiful country in the world! =)

Yo, Graham! what's up?
I am Andrés, a student of the 2nde1 as well, so I think I can tell you something about Brazil... Many people say that this country is a bad place to live. Well , I don't think so and I like here a lot. There are beautiful places like Rio de Janeiro, the Northwest part, the Amazon, etc... It is kind of hard to know all of these places. I live in São Paulo ,a city that does not offer too many beautiful places but I like it. I went a lot to Rio de Janeiro and once to Maceió (Northwest).
If you can visit us sometime I believe you will really like it !!
I have to go, so see ya...

Hi Graham....
Well, My name is Caroline too... And I was reading all the posts because I didn't manage to write in Bee online in the last few weeks... Well, as you asked us about how is living in Brazil ... I am going to tell you...
I have lived in São Paulo for almost my whole life, and I just can say that the day that I move to Paris I will be very sad (I intend to study there)... São Paulo is a very big city.. There are a lot of restaurants, malls, etc.. You can do a lot of things anytime you want !!!
I just love living here !!
That's it...
byee

Hi Graham, my name's Lina. I was following the thread, and as you people are talking about mystery movies and books, I 'm going to suggest an author who is really good: Agatha Christie. I love her books! When you start reading them, it's very difficult to stop ... I think I have already read about 5 of them! It isn't very much comparing how much she has already written, but it is already a beggining! :o)
Now, I can't believe you haven't visited Brazil! You really should come, it is a great country. I know, as I am a Brazilian, I am not going to say bad things about the place, but seriously, you really should come here one day.... I would love to go to Spain, it must be wonderful, who knows one day I may go there! What are the best places to visit in Spain?
Well, that's all for now
see you soon
lina

Hi Graham! It´s me Caroline... thank you for the link! Now I can see the photos... your black cat is so sweet! He (or she , I don´t know) has beautiful eyes! Well... I saw you have never been to Brazil , so I´m going to talk a little bit about my daily life . Every day I get up early and I go to school by car... Then , at the end of the day , like at 4 o´clock , I go back home and I do my lessons... Of course , I enter the internet! I can´t stand living without checking my mails and chatting with my friends , even if I´ve seen them all the day! hehehe... During my weekends I go to the movies with some friends or we go to someone´s house... it´s fun! Some weekends I go to "Ibiuna" , it is near São Paulo , where I have like a holiday house . I love São Paulo because it´s very crowded , you never feel like if you were alone , and because you always have something to do! Like going shopping , going to the movies , or even going bowling , etc...
So... can you tell us a little bit of your routine in Barcelona?
The book I said last time I posted a topic ("Hound of the Baskervilles") , you can see it here
It´s not the same collection as mine , but it is the same history , I think... We can find this story like a movie too! I´m interested in watching it!
I think that´s all... answer me please...

Hey...Graham...You don't know me...I'm a student of the class 2nde1 too and I want to participate in the conversation...So my name is Maeva and I want to tell you about your photos... My father did the ''Santiago de Compostela'' route in July during one week on a bike with his friends...like you, I think...and I have a lot of photos like yours at home because he's crazy about his bike...When did you do the route? And how long did you stay? How many kilometers did you do each day on the bike? So, it was only that...thanks and see you later...Maeva

Hello again! Some of you have asked about my life in Barcelona, and how it is different from Brazil. I have never been to Brazil, so I don't know what life is like there (apart from what I have seen on TV and films, but they distort things and don't give a true picture of a place.) I would love to visit Brazil someday, but can't just yet. Perhaps some of you can tell me what living in Brazil is like, so I know what to expect when I eventually get to visit? In return, I'll tell you what life in Barcelona is like.

Hi Leonardo! Perhaps the statue you saw was in Baker street, London? That's the place most associated with Sherlock Holmes, and there's a statue of him near the tube station. You can see it here

There's another, better (I think) statue in Edinburgh, in Scotland. That's where Conan Doyle, the writer of the Sherlock Holmes books was born. You can see a photo of the statue here

I don't know about the bookshop, but I know that mystery novels are so popular that there are lots of specialised bookshops. I love mystery books and detective stories. In fact, with my students (I am an English teacher in Barcelona, remember!), I sometimes tell them a detective story I have made up that has no ending (I couldn't think of a good finish to the story!) and ask them to finish it for me. All of the endings they write are completely different and very entertaining!

Hi Caroline. If you can't go directly to the link, try copying this address directly in the browser :
http://homepage.mac.com/tuftywhite/PhotoAlbum2.html
Good luck!

Hi... it's me again... Graham.. I click on the link but I can't see anything! The photos...
Please , help me... Thank you

Hi everybody

I am writing only now but I have seen that you guys are talking about the movie “the name of the rose” and about detective books. Well when I have gone to London I have gone to a place that I don’t remember exactly where. There it was a street with a statue of Sherlock homes and near this statue there was a bookshop with all kind of detective books. However there you may find good mystery books because my father has bought a book there, I don’t have the name right now but he said to me that it was very interesting. By the way I also like to know about your life in Barcelona?

Well see u soon bye

Hi Graham and Lou... it's me again... As Lou said, me too I have already seen this movie.. And , specially , I thought it was one of the best movies we've seen at school! It's very interesting... We saw it with our history's teacher... I have just remembered a detective book that I read in English... it name is "The hound of the Baskervilles" , and it is with Sherlock Homes and Mr Watson . It is a little book but I liked because it is very easy to read it . The vocabulary is not difficult . Looking for this book in my "personal lybrary" I have in my room , I found another detective book named "Stories of Detection and Mystery" . It's a book that groups a lot of short stories of detectives . It is very interesting but I haven't read all the stories . Hope you'll like it...
So Graham... can you describe us your life in Barcelona? And have you ever lived in Brazil? If yes , can you say us the differences between Barcelone and Brazil?
I must go now... Waiting an answer...
caroline

Hi graham!
well, I went to your website and I think your cats are very cute! hehe! I also wanted to say that I saw the movie "The name of the Rose". Actually, the whole class saw it because it was shown to us here at school, in History classes. I thought the plot was interesting but that the characters were very strange....The manners of the detective ( his name is william baskerville, I think...) are just like those of Sherlock holmes. For example, Sherlock is always with watson, his partner, and in the movie, william is also always with a partner, a young boy he is training. Ell, what did you thought about this movie?

Hello Caroline!

Well, I can see you are a crafty detective - the 'we' refers to me and "my missus": the flamenco dancing magazine editor I share my life with. I think you should try to read one of Conan Doyle's 'Sherlock Holmes' books - they're really good "ripping yarns" . however, If you want a good original detective film, try 'The Name of the Rose' with Sean Connery.

Finally, who is Graham Stanley? He is an (almost) middle-aged English teacher living in Barcelona, Spain, with 2 cats, but originally a "Geordie". If you want, you can see pictures of me, "my other half", and the 2 cats here.

Hi graham... it's me Caroline... =)
I can see that you've came back from Portugal as Paul said! But I can't understand who is "we"... can you explain it to me please?! Sorry , but I don't know a good mystery book because I prefer the movies.. hehehe.. and I never read books in English... I think that I already read 3 books.. only 3 books in english! =(...
Hum... I don't know what to say... Just that I'm waiting the little detectives appear , like Lou and Paul to find out who's Graham Stanley! =)
See you everybody!
caroline t.

Hi everyone!

Graham here, and I've just come back from a wonderul holiday in Portugal. Well done Paul! I was in Lisbon most of the time, though we hired a car and visited some of the historic places (Tomar, Batalha, Evora) nearby. It was a great holiday, but we did see a lot of the burnt forestland - quite a tragedy!

Caroline, you say you like detectives and mystery stories. Is Sherlock Holmes your favourite detective? Can you recommend any good mystery books?

Felipe...do you remember the lyrics of that song? And what is the equivalent of Jordy in English?

Hello Caroline and everyone!

Good to see you here after all this time :-) and I hope you keep us company from now on.

Dennis has already told us who he is and has answered all the questions. He even left the address of his website where you can check all about him. So...what did you learn about him and what he said? Can anyone sum up all the information in one paragraph?

Our second mysterious guest is Stanley and from what Lou has found out by using the invincible Google search engine is that he is from Catalunia and comes from the North of England. Paul thinks he must be spending his holidays in Portugal. Can anyone explain what the clues given mean?

Hello everyone.. I'm really sorry to be writing here for the first time only now!! That can be explained by our teacher ! hehehe.. it is because I couldn't get to bee online.. a computer problem! But now I'm happy because I'm in.. I saw that this is very interesting.. specially the subjects.. Well , first , to take up the thread....I haven't seen Matrix II as I didn't like the first one . It's too complicated for my little head!! hihihi.. just kidding... then , I thought the first message that chico posted was really interesting... Sometimes I do also think about it . It's very strange not to know what we are , where we came from , what we are doing here . And what if we were like Andres said , just a computer program! All this is very strange! Well... Dennis.. I don't know about him , but as he said , he's a teacher's friend! And I think that all this was organized and that our teacher is doing this to confuse us!! =)... a very good idea!! That's all I can say... hehehe... So teacher.. leave us more information about him... I don't think he's neither French nor Spanish as everyone said! He certainly is British because of the great English he writes.. And I would like to congratulate (can we say that?) lou because of her search! She is taking this very seriously and I think that she's going to find out who Dennis is!! Congratulations Lou!! You're a great detective.. can we compare you to Sherlock Homes?? hihihi... =) Ah.. just one thing to say before I leave (Don't be unhappy because of this please people.. hehehe) the bee online.. I love mysterious things! and books with detectives.. that's it! Hope someone will answer my message! see you everyone...

I like Jordy. He was a little boy that sang a song in French saying it's hard to be a baby. Isn't that funny?

Let's wait for him to come back from his holiday and confirm...:-)

Hi Everyone!
I know the answer to Graham's third question!
It is PORTUGAL!!!

Watson was Sherlock Holmes' partner...It was Sherlock himself who always said that sentence to him...

Elementary my dear Watson!

Who was Watson? and who can this famous sentence be attributed to?

Well, to get the answers, I just went to google and I searched for geordies ( for the first question) and for the second question, I searched for Sant Jordi.
That's all!

Say Lou...could you explain to us how you got the answers?

Very good Lou! That's 2 questions right. what about the third one?

Hi!!
Well, here is some answers to the questions of Graham Stanley
1/ You are from the northeast of england
2/You live in catalonia

Grrrr!!!!!

I am not going to be defeated by a program.

That........URL........is


http://www.dennisnewson.de

I think I'm a bit lost!

That URL is:





Dennis

Greetings,

I will stick to English, because my spelling is just a little
bit better in English. Of course, I don't make spelling
mistakes, really, I just do typos. :-)

Dobri Den, by the way, was not supposed to be Polish. It was
supposed to be Bosnian.

I am sitting in an internet cafe in Cambridge, England, and the
sun is shining so brightly that I have difficulty seeing the
monitor. And I am used to a German keyboard, and some of the
letters on this English keyboard are in the wrong place.

Let me stop being so mysterious.

(1) Your teacher is a colleague of mine: that is how I got on
this list.
(2) The Queen I like is the group. Queen. Queen Elizabeth 2nd. of England is OK, but
she hasn't made such great recordings as Freddy Mercury and his friends.
(3) I live in Germany, though I am English, and I am so OLD that the day
before yesterday my mother had her 90th. birthday. That is why
I am in England. I fly back on Monday.

The sun is so warm and Cambridge is looking so beautiful - when
you can see it behind tourists from all over the world - that I
must get oputside into the real world.

If you are very curious with nothing better to do you can see
what I look like by going to:





Best wishes,


Dennis

Hello everyone! I am the new mystery weblog guest!

I have three questions for you to answer:

1) Where am I from? (CLUE: The people are called 'Geordies' and they speak a dialect of English called 'Geordie')

2) Where do I live? (CLUE: In this place they celebrate a special festival on 23rd April called "Sant Jordi", where girls and boys give each other roses and books)

3) I am going on holiday next week to ______? (CLUE: It is an astonishingly beautiful country in Europe with a beautiful coastline of beaches, the western part of a peninsula, that has recently suffered some terrible forest fires)

Good luck!

Congratulations to all the class detectives who tried to guess who our mysterious writer was from the message left on our blogger. Most of you are on target. Lou has even gone further when she found the poem online. By the way, Dennis wrote to me and asked me to post his answer but I'd rather he did it himself, so I am going to wait a little bit longer until he returns home from England.

As for vocabulary doubts that appeared -
Françoise - the word you need is deliberately, on purpose
Katherina - fantasistic does not exist - you could use unlikely, improbable, far-fetched.

Hello everyone!
well, as everybody can see, it is the first time I write in here... that's because I had problems to join this blog, anyhow...
you people don't have to be sad now, because I'm here! You should be happy! =D
And I read down there about the new Matrix film... and I saw it.. so, I think I'm gonna leave a comment about it...
Although I thought it was an interesting movie, it was too fantasistic (don't know if I can say that)... But in general, they had a good idea and the film makes us think about our lives, just like the first one...
I'm looking forward to the next one... =)
Well... See you
KaThU

Hi teacher....
I'm here again.... So...as you want me to, I'll write something else....
I don't think Dennis is French. He is neither Spanish nor from South America because he doesn't know how to write "bonjour" neither "buenos dias"...
So, he may be American or British, because he speaks English well...
But I think he is British because he likes "Queen"... And England has a Queen...
That's all....
byeee

Hi teacher!
Well, I don't know who this Dennis is but I know where the poem he wrote down came from.
It's called Antigonish and it was written in 1899 by Hughes Mearns.
You can find an analysis of this poem here: http://debate.org.uk/topics/apolog/godexist.htm
It's a little hard to understand but the first paragraph is interesting.
well, that's all
Lou

I am sorry to disapoint you Françoise but I am not the person who posted the message. However, as I said in class, I invited some people from outside to join beeonline and write to you. You do not need to worry - they are all people I trust. So it is Dennis who posted the message and he is asking if you have any questions...so it might be a good idea to ask him some ... this would give him the opportunity to answer them.

I bet he is a very smart person, he speaks 5 languages. But not a normal person, I think he is schizophrenic: he sees a man that isn't there? What the hell does that mean? It may be an imaginary friend too... but who knows?....I hope god can save his life, I hope he is a happy person.

Hi teacher, I have just finished the exercise on the Copacabana, a very long exercise.
Now the class is finished and I must go to the class of Historia do Brasil.

I agree with Chico ..he must be British as he likes toffees, dogs and QUEEN, the band or the queen, and like Maeva says he doesn't know how to write Spanish or French.
Bye!

Hello!
The only person that I imagine it is, is our teacher!!
Because: how can someone know that Dobri Den is Polish?! She is the only one who knows that. Anyway she could do that propositally (does that word exist?). She was the only one that knew that in Polish it's dzien dobry and not Dobri Den.
And there's another thing. Wasn't this blog made only for the students of 2nde? The teacher is the only one who can add more or fewer writers to this blog. I don't think she would let someone from outside to write on this blog. She probably made up that name and wrote what she wanted.
All the mistakes could have been made propositally!!!
Teacher, I think it's you!

Hi teacher,
it is me Leonardo the great intelligent important man. I don t have much to say but well I have been to the UK and now I am happy that I am back, because I can show you that my English skills have been improved. Well ,teacher that's all I have to say.

Bye teacher.

Hi teacher!! we're back unfortunaly the holydays are over... anyway it's good to see you all!
Lina

Chico...there is just one little thing I do not understand in your explanation - the correlation you make between this person and the queen, the poem and the five languages. Could you explain it better?

As for you Caroline, I think you could throw in your two cents and risk an opinion. We would all love to read what you have to say. Specially the person who posted the message we are talking about :-)

Well teacher...
I read the little text that you told us about... and....I just have one thing to say about it........
That I couldn't agree more with chico!! hehe
byeee

Hello!
I think that this guy is British because he says that he likes the Queen (and the United Kingdom is a kingdom) and dogs (I always see images of the British queen with a litlle dog). I also think that he's as rich as the Queen because of the explicity of the poem and because he can speak 5 languages; he can also be a Queen's intimate friend because he said that he likes her (supposed) dog.
Bye

Well, Maeva, I agree with you and I think this person can´t be Polish either...because you normally say dzien dobry in Polish. Where do you think this person may be from? What other clues do you find in the message that was mysteriously left on our blogger?

This person doesn't know how to write French... because of ''bon jour''... neither Spanish because you have to say ''buenos dias'' and not ''buenas dias''... jjejej... I think that he is a guy because there are only man who do this kind of things and this kind of mistakes...so bye bye and good luck for the search...
maeva