Meet Marina

My name is Marina. I'm a psychologist, a clown and a theater actress.

I really love my life 'cause I love my work, and in my free time, I have a lot of fun.

I'm a 27-year-old woman, and I'm dating a 27-year-old psychologist, too! It's very nice 'cause we can help each other and we have a lot in common to talk about. He lives in São Paulo, which is sometimes difficult, but sometimes it's great 'cause we need to travel a lot and I love that. I love to wait for the day I'll meet Fernando.

I have a lot of friends, including my theater group, and it's wonderful to be with them. I love to go to the theater and go dancing. But sometimes we meet only to talk and drink some beer.

Now, I started to have ballet classes again. I had ballet classes when I was a girl, and I'm loving that!

Marina

_______________________________________

A Very Special Brazilian Clown


Being a clown is like a religion. You have to believe in it. You have to be part of this strange family.The red nose is the smallest mask in the world, so if you really wanna use it, you need to be able to put yourself in evidence, to show yourself.

A clown needs to know himself, know his body, and his fears because it is your worst part who will make people have fun. It is your shadow. The clown puts every little part of this shadow in evidence and gives it to the public.It Is an exercise of giving.

I spent 3 years in a circus school, learning about me, my body, and showing my work every week.Today, I still have a lot to learn. In my blood runs a clown blood, for sure. In a clown’s blood you will find a desire to be clear and true with the public, to show our disasters. In fact, every human being is a disaster, and this strange figure with a red nose and big shoes shows you that it is OK to be a disaster.

When I started to be a clown, my entire life changed. I started to understand who I was, how I acted, and who my family was, and I couldn’t be so selfish and blind like I was, for my clown gave me new eyes.I'm not a kids’ clown. I'm an adults’ clown. I show to adults how arrogant and selfish I can be. It’s funny because I shouldn't have these personality traits as I'm a clown...

I believe I'm beautiful, I'm special, I'm the best with strange shoes and a red nose...This is the beginning and, at this point, laughing evolves.It isn’t a delicate art. Some time ago, a man asked me, “Do you really think you are in beautiful clothes?” And I answered, “I think my beauty blinds you, my dear! Don't ever look at me again, you are not prepared to this much.”So, this is it...you don't need to make your public laugh, you need to make them feel comfortable about being human.

Marina



First published at http://internationalexchange.blogspot.com/2006/04/very-special-brazilian-clown-dear-all.html

Meet Rodrigo

My life is very simple, but everything is very special, and my city is really beautiful.

I live in a place in which there are some trees and birds. I like to live there. Another thing about my life in Brasilia is that I have practiced many kinds of sports since I was a child. At the moment, I have been dedicating myself to cycling, especially mountain biking.

I've been married for one year and my marriage is nice in every thing.

Well, I love very much to live in Brasilia.

________________________________________________

Dennis,

What do you like doing in your free time?


Rodrigo

Meet Alexandre

My name is Alexandre. I was born in Campinas - SP, I’m thirty eight years old and I’m married to Anny. I have two daughters, Vanessa and Julia. Vanessa is my daughter of the first marriage. She is twenty years old, and Julia is my daughter with Anny. She is five years old.

I got married early, when I was only eighteen years old and was a father with the same age. I broke up 5 years after getting married.

And now I’m married for the second time. Anny is my dear friend and my love. We have a story together of fights and victories. She gave me my treasure: Julia. She is a lovely child and I´m often touched when I look at her. I love my family and always respected my parents. I thank to God for our lives and for the education I´ve received.

I’m a calm and friendly person; I often like to spend true moments with my friends and my family.

I’m happy when I can be with my dear only brother André. I love him so much. He is a wonderful guy. We never fought seriously. Sometimes we had some differences, but we always talked to each other and usually understood one another.

I like to play soccer, but I can´t play right now, because I had a surgery of reconstruction of the crossed joint of the knee about eight months ago. I’m doing exercises at the gym to strengthen my legs. I hope to restart playing soon. I usually think about this and sometimes it lets me down, but it isn’t a problem to me.

I traveled a lot while I worked for Cervejarias Kaiser Brazil, I got to know many states and cities in Brazil. Now I’m unemployed and I’m looking for a job in the marketing area. I finished my MBA in Marketing Strategical Management at FGV about two weeks ago. The occupation that I’m looking for could be in marketing or sales too. I like both of them. I’m amazed by the many possibilities that marketing can provide us in business and administration.

My family really loves Brasília. We like so much the quality of life and I’m sure it’s very good to spend our childhood here. We usually enjoy such a wonderful city.

I love gospel music; it makes me feel very well. It makes me think a lot. I’ve had lots of pleasant moments.

I like to travel and know other places. I´ve never traveled abroad. I have a dream which is to improve my English classes and be fluent in this language. I like it so much too. I hope to be a good speaker of English soon, but I known it’s necessary to study hard.


________________________________________________________

Dennis,

It was a pleasure to see your video and hear the audio slide. Germany is a wonderful country. Thank´s a lot!

Questions:

1) Please, Dennis, can you inform us about other countries in Europe? Do you know another beautiful country like Germany?

2) How was the World Cup Germany? Did you see the final game?


Alexandre

Meet Salejandra

Hello, Dennis,

My name is Salejandra. I´ve lived in Brasilia since 1968 when I was born. I have three brothers and only one sister. They are married and have many children. My mother lives far from me in Planaltina (a city near Brasilia).

I love music, movie and books. I love my work and my friends. When I was 21 years old, I opened my own business. I worked very hard in the beginning. Now I work enough, I think. I have a good life. I love traveling and I´m going to Amsterdam and Prague next year. I´ve never been to Germany before, but now I want to visit the country to change my opinion about the German people. I´d love if you could tell me more about Germany. If you want, I could tell you more about my city.

I have some questions to you:

• Have you ever been to Brazil?
• What do you think about the Brazilian way of life?
• Do you like music? Which Brazilian musicians do you know?

Salejandra

Meet Ramon

What can I say about my Brazilian life? I will start with the general topics. First, the most beatiful women are in Brazil and second, the beaches are unbelievable. It’s true when they say that the people are poor, but we are Brazilians and the Brazilians never give up.

Now I will tell them about my life. Oh! It’s a very difficult thing to do because I love everything that I do and I’m always in peace with life. But I will try. I never worry about the little things because as Bob Marley had said “every little thing is gonna be alright”.

I study biology and I have to study hard, but I like to study because I love biology. One day, you are going to see me on TV, newspapers, magazines and the firt pages will have these words “The first BRAZILIAN NOBEL PRIZE goes to Ramon Fernandez”.

I want to know all the world, travel a lot, speak many languages, have a lot of money, help people that realy need, get an Audi TT, and I don’t know what else I want. I`m going to stop here because I´d already said all that I wanted. I will finish with a litle thing. My favorite life motto is: “Don’t live your life so seriously because life is a crazy adventure in which we´ll never get away alive”.

Ramon

Meet Carmen

First of all, I want to tell you I´m a very happy person.

I was born in Ribeirão Preto, a city in the countryside, in the state of São Paulo. But I moved many times, so I started my studies in Orlândia, São Paulo, afterwards I moved back to Ribeirão, where I studied the second and third years of Middle School.

Then, I moved to São Paulo/SP where I spent my teenage years. I was very happy when I was a teenager. I used to go out every Saturday, I used to dance and I sues to have many friends, but, at the same time, I used to study very hard because I wanted to go to College. So I took an entrance exam to study in Brasilia at the Post Office College. I passed and the Post Office Service had a house for the students in Taguatinga ( a dormitory city), so I used to live with 3 girls. It was very fun. The girls were very nice. Everything used to be a discovery. I lived in the Post Office House for two years. When I graduated, I
rented an apartment with other friends, five or six, girls and boys. It was very fun, too. I had many boyfriends and, frequently, I went out to parties and restaurants.

Now, I´m married. I love my husband and my children. They are very nice. My daughter is my friend and my son is my baby. I´m so happy and I like my life. Sometimes I remember my past, but I think my present is even better.
(Carmen is the second on the left)

Carmen

Meet José Henrique

I was born here in Brasilia ( a note from the teacher: he is from the first generation born in Brasília!). My parents came to this city in the period of its building. They are from Minas Gerais.

I have four brothers, one sister and many relatives. It´s a great family.

I had a great childhood and I grew up in a peaceful family. We always had a simple life...It´s not easy to take care of six children! When I was 15, I started working. It was a second school for me.

Nowadays, I have my family and I can´t complain about life. I like to work, but I always try to find time to stay with my family, my friends. I like to travel every year...

I´ve practiced walking and jogging three times a week in the morning, but I´m sure I still have to find a good sport to practice. I think I have a good lifestyle, always trying to run away from stress...It can still be better, of course.

All those things make me a calm person and help me get along with people.

José Henrique

Meet Sérgio

I´m Sergio. I´m 37 years old. I was born in Brasilia. My parents live in Brasilia. Their names are Miguel and Jeovalda. I have two brothers, Guilherme and Ricardo.

I´m a psychologist. I work at my own office and at a Court. I love my job. I like living in Brasilia. It´s a special city for me. It´s a modern and young city. I like the architecture, buildings, parks, avenues. I think that I will never live in another city. This is a great city to work, raise children and play sports. I like running at the City Park.

In my free time, I like reading a book, listening to music and meeting friends for dinner. Brasília has good movie theaters, but the theater programs are not good. If you want to see shows, musicals or a big play productions, you have to go to Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo.

I like to meet new people. I like talking about music, cinema, trips. If I had more time, I´d try dancing. When I was young, I loved to meet friends and go dancing. If I had more time, I´d take an acting course, too. I think that an actor´s work is admirable.

Sérgio

Byeeeee! Ex-mystery man off on holiday

I'll be with you again in roughly a month. Tomorrow I set off for Harlech in North Wales with stops in Antwerp (Belgium) and Dover, Peterborough and Cambridge (England).



Dennis

Are you married?

I was asked if I were married. (You can see I was a teacher..) I was asked: "Are you married?"

Yes - to the lovely Anke.

This is a recent photo of Anke, me and Nils too.

Nils too? Who is Nils too?

Nils too is the twin brother of Nils. (See below). You will be hearing more about Nils too in due course.

Questions and answers

Your mystery guest as he looked in 1951 - 2nd. row from the back, 3rd. from the left, next to the boy with glasses


Questions and answers
----------------------

My first name means 'God of wine', which explains why I like it so much. My version of the name has 6 letters, two of them are the same and the fifth letter is i

------
DENNIS
------


2. I live in the country that produced three great cars.
a. Clue :'Yesterday' 'Will you still need me, when I'm 64?'

------
BEATLE - sounds the same as BEETLE (VW - Volkswagen)
------

b. Clue: Two back RQTUEJG

-------
PORSCHE
-------

c. Clue CREEDS ME

--------
MERCEDES
--------

3. So? The country is: ANGRY ME-----

--------
GERMANY!
--------

4. I was born and went to school in: ...g....-----

-------
ENGLAND
-------

5. My favourite food is:GYVVC
Clue: minus 5 -----

-----
CURRY
-----

6. One of my favourite groups is "Female ruler of an independent national state."-----

-----
QUEEN
-----

7. I love SPRUCE TOM (and my wife, of course.)

---------
COMPUTERS
---------

The Mystery guest

aka (also known as):

Dennis John Newson

A few more details at:

Carla's CTJ students star in new film

Meet Nils too

You've met Nils, so I thought you might like to meet his brother - Nils too.

Nils - a bit of harmless nonsense

A bit of nonsense. Something I made for my granddaughter.

SECRETS OF GOD OF WINE REVEALED!

There is a saying in German that may shock you. Roughly translated it is:

Guests are like dead fish. If you keep them too long, they begin to smell.


Well, I don't know about guests, but so-called secrets aren't very interesting after a while. I have been appearing here in cognito
long enough.



READ ALL ABOUT HIM!
SECRETS OF DENNIS GOD OF WINE REVEALED!

Go to:

What's it like living in Germany?

Brandenburg Tor Berlin 2006

Here is one way of answering the question (Sergio's?) - What is it like living in Germany?

Here is a Bubbleshare presentation. Make sure your sound is on.


A Saturday morning in Osnabrueck

I go on holiday for three weeks next Sunday

The photo is of the estuary in Harlech, Wales where I'll spend most of my holiday

Erika and Carla and all the 'Carlaites'.

I just wrote this in reply to a comment from Erika, but thought you might not all find it there. So this is a version to appear in the main part of the blog.


Sergio, I think it was (and apologies if it was someone else) asked me what it was like living in Germany. So I took my camera with me when my wife and I went to the market in the centre of town yesterday and I'm putting the results in a Bubbleshare presentation, a link to which you will get later today.

A week today I go off to England and Wales for three weeks on holiday.

I think I must lead you to the answers to my quiz.

(1) "Minus 3" or "Plus 5" is a very simple code. To see what the words are you go backwards or forwards in the alphabet.

TVOEBZ (Minus 1) means go backwards one letter in the alphabet:

SUNDAY

Got it? (This is what young English kids say all the time, meaning: "Do you understand?)

(2) The rest of my questions, I think, are anagrams, the letters of the word re-arranged haphazardly (in no particular order). Don't fry your brains trying to guess the answers, just go to:

http://wordsmith.org/anagram/

type in what I have written, and you should be able to find the word or words that are the ones I mean in the list produced.

Mince pies

Did I really mention mince pies?


Mince pies

Here is what they look like.

Mince pies


And here is how they are made. They are very popular in England at Christmas. They have got nothing to do, not any more at least, with minced (ground up) meat.

And you need to know how to make mincemeet.

Mincemeat recipe

For those of you with a thirst for information, for more knowledge , Mr. Google (search) will definitely be able to quench it.

Dennis the mystery man's favourite food

My favourite food

Here we are. I'm almost TELLING you what my favourite food is.

It tastes much nicer than it looks.

Dennis the mystery man

Our Top Flex Group

The students in the Video:

Sérgio, generally not shy! A respected psychologist.

Antônio, the drummer and a wonderful student.

Ramon, the biologist and Carioca (from Rio de Janeiro)

Rodrigo, the funniest guy ever. Just joined the group.

Carmen, who loves the postal service! She's dying to know about your favorite food...

Salejandra, the advertiser, a very funny woman!

Karen, the architect and a very nice student.

José Henrique, a very dedicated student and also an architect.

Alexandre, who is reading the Economist!!! He needs to learn English fast for professional reasons.

Lísias and Marina were not in class, and Leolita was shy to record the video! I'll see if I can record a video with them. They are fantastic students!