Immigration

I have heard a lot of people complaining about modern immigration. It's true that these last years the number of immigrants has increased, but do we really know why all these people come from their poor countries here? I don't think too many people stop to think about this.

I think people come to our country for economic and politic reasons. The first ones are related with poverty of the 3rd world so they try to find more quality of life. The second ones are related with their politic system which doesn't allow their freedom.

Immigrants are very different because they come from very different parts of the world: from China, South America or Africa. However, they move from their local villages to find a higher quality of their lifes and their daughter and son's future.

When they arrive here they probablyfeel shocked at the new situation: they have to find somewhere to live, a job which helps them to survive, and so on. I think integration is pretty difficult because they have to learn our language, our customs, accept the low salaries, and so on.

With this, what is our reaction? Actually, plenty of people not agree with the foreigners. We feel like they invade our culture and we tend to look down on them, we are quite afraid because we think they will take our jobs and even in these crisis times.
Luckily, there's a positive side with immigration. Some people turn solidary creating NGOs to help immigrants and also promote projects called linguistic volunteering that helps immigrant to learn Catalan and Spanish. Last year I was in one of this linguistic projects that my school organized. It was called Voluntariat per la llengua and my work was to meet with my partner (who was a foreign classmate and he wasn't able to speak Catalan) once a week during the breaktime and do some oral activities. I really liked the experience because my partner learnt some things of our culture and he improved their Catalan at the same time I learnt plenty of things of Ucrain culture!

Like everything, immigration has a negative and a positive side. We don't have to listen to other's opinion, we should observe our surrounding and draw conclusions, because everybody has the chance of improve their lifes. We are all human and we live in the same world. We should be more tolerant and forget the prejudices. They are simple words but a lot of times we forget them!

Have you ever heard of ...sustainable tourism?

What plans do you have for the next holidays? Are you going to a peaceful beach in Australia or to a crowded and modern city like New York? Are you going to stay in a cosy hotel? Or maybe in an incredible one? Are you going to go to fantastic restaurants, and buy a lot of souvenirs, and pay for transport, aren't you? Would you visit a lot of museums, too?
In fact, you probably are going to pay a lot of money to a travel agency to stay a few days in a country.


Last summer I discovered another extraordinary way to travel. I read in a magazine an unpopular type of trips that are very interesting and not too much people know about it. I'm talking about the solidary tourism, also known as sustainable tourism. It's about a type of holidays organized by NGO agencies which want to go further than usual agencies: they allow all the volunteers to discover the country by the hand of local communities. These countries are always undeveloping ones. Do you know where the volunteers sleep? They accommodate in local people's house, who they also give some food to the volunteers. In this way, the volunteers have only to pay the transport from their rich country to the undeveloping one. Don't you think it's a cheap way to travel at the same time you learn a lot of things?
And what do the volunteers do in the country? These trips are made to collaborate with a project which contribute with a necessity of that country, so the volunteers help some NGO doing several activities, for example they help building schools or helping women and child's rights.


It's true: it's impossible to solve world problems in seven or fifteen days. Solidary trips expect to involve all volunteers in microprojects of local NGOs leaving them some time (weekends, for example) to sightseeing so even though the volunteers help local people and NGO doing solidarity activities, they also can visit cultural and natural sites.

Do you know that with only a quarter part of all milion travellers that travel around the world do it through this type of trip, poverty would finish? It was said by a director of one of these NGO. Actually, the number of these travelers are increasing gradually.

How these volunteers are like? Although the majority are between 27 and 50 years old, everybody can collaborate, except under 18 that must be accompained by an adult. They are eager to learn from different people and they usually have a high social consience. All want to cooperate and make this world a better place.


When the destination has been chosen, it starts a period of training for the volunteers that prepares them for the activities they will have to do in the country.

I have read in a magazine what some volunteers said about their experience. When I had finished to read it, I would have liked to leave home and go to one of this NGO/agencies at that moment. I'm waiting to have 18 to collaborate with it. It's one of my biggest dreams.

"When volunteers arrive to the country, they think they can do more than what really do" "You learn more from them than they from you" " It's a chance to live your holidays from inside the country" " Since I came back I don't worry about things which before I was worried about and they were a problem" "Travelling in this way, you teach, you learn and the most important thing, you share" "Move, travel, know, contrast....it will change your life..."

The 20th anniversay of the Berlin fall down wall

I had heard several times of these theme, the fall of the Berlin wall, in the last years, but since I haven't read a Mark Levy's book called Las cosas que no nos dijimos I haven't noticed what an important event it was.

It's incredible how a book can change your thoughts and make you to notice about things that weren't very important for you before reading it.

It isn't a book of Berlin's history neither it talks about the Berlin wall. It is a romantic history but there is a moment of the main character's past that takes place in Berlin, in the fall down wall moment because she was in the city when the wall fell down! And the book explains it very well...it explains how she and all the other people felt at that moment and how she met her first love there...it was very romantic at the same time I learnt a lot of things.

I didn't know that this book talks a little bit of this German event, so don't you think it's a little bit ironic that when I've just read this book it's also the 20th anniversary of Berlin fall down wall? These last days I have been very attentive to any TV information and I've seen the news and some reports on TV which talks about this important event.


On 9th November of twenty years ago, a big and new change entered in many German's life. It was the Berlin's moment of freedom that turned world history.

That terrible wall was built by German Democratic Republic (GDR: the East Germany) in 1961 and it separated the German Federal Republic (the West Germany). It also divided the Berlin city in two parts. It was the most well-known symbol of Cold War ( a war after the Second War World between USSR who was comunist, and United States and its allies, wchich were capitalists). Well, Germany was divided in these two ideologies, so the wall symbolized the two worlds (the Iron Courtain).

It was 155 km long and can you imagine your city divided in two? It was almost impossible to cross it and whoever who tried it he was a dead person! What happened with families which the parents were living in the East of German and the daughter in the other side? Undoubtedly we sometimes destroy ourselves, and it's a very very sad truth that I hope someday we will learn about our mistakes and start to help the planet and the others, not to destroy it.

"Twenty eight years and 91 days!" said the elated east Berliner I met walking up the Friedrichstrasse soon after the wall was breached. On the day the Berlin Wall went up, 13 August 1961, his parents had wanted to go to the cinema in west Berlin, but he, then aged 11, had been too tired. Next morning, they awoke to the sound of tanks. In all his adult life, he had never been to the western half of his own city. He told me how moved he was by an improvised poster that read "only today is the war really over". Timothy Garton Ash (The Guardian, Monday 9 November 2009)

I am not writing this "chapter" to remember how terrible was that wall and how many people suffered, but to "celebrate" the fall down of that inhuman invent and how the world celebrated it last Monday 9th November.

Here there are two videos. They are both on 9th November, but with 20 years of difference:








While I was watching these videos, something inside of me was moving...I felt nervous,happy, free... What a touching videos! As time goes by the feelings are the same for Germans. I think all Germans were out of their houses, celebrating the most important event of their lifes, the day that gave them the freedom. Although they were milion of people, they were like one heart together which beat at the same time, with the feeling to make this world a better place. They felt stronger than ever, like they can break down any wall, like they can reach the sky!

I HAVE NO MORE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THIS AMAZING DAY.

Do you want to know about me?

Hi everybody!
I am Laura Marés Planas, a catalan girl who live in Vidreres, Girona. I am 16 years old and I study in IES Vidreres. I don't like much describing myself, I think that your friends and family are who really know how are you like, the things you like and dislike...they know everything about you! Well, is obviously that you also know about yourself, but the way they know you is different than yours, so I usually prefer how my friends describe me.

However, this is my blog so I have to tell you a little bit about me!
I have plenty of hobbies. I love doing sport, and I practice tennis twice a week in the Club Tennis Vidreres as well I go jogging on Saturday mornings. Although I am 16 years old I haven't got a motorbike, I don't like very much them, so I always ride my bike to move to everywhere: to school, to the library, to buy something at the village, and so on.
I sometimes go to "popular walks" which are every Sunday morning in one village every time. They start very very early, at 8 o'clock, so there are times that I prefer be in my bed sleeping because the night before I returned to home late. I remember one trip I did last summer which I will never forget! I got up at half past five because a bus was waiting for all the trippers and it left at 6 o'clock. At 8 o'clock we were in Vallter, in the Pirineus, everybody ready to start the trip. Can you imagine how long it takes? We walked during 6 hours! I had never walked all this time! We travelled from Vallter to Nuria between mountains and mountains, going up and going down. But I really enjoyed it! The views were fantastic and I go with some friends, so it helped me to continue the trip. When I arrived at home I couldn't move any part of the body, I had never felt so tired!
I think doing sport keeps me fit and it helps me to switch off from everything and turn me into a good mood. It's a good way to spend my free time.

I also do other things to spend my free time. I like listening to music and dancing and my favourite musical bands are Coldplay, Creedence, Queen and The beatles. The title of this blog you are reading is the title of one Queen's song.
I think both music and sport make you chill out and have a good time, so they are my favourite activities. I usually hang out with my friends on Friday and Saturday nights and we often go to the cinema or to concerts and discos. My group of friends have two bands, they are called ATK and Suma Incontinència so I always go to their concerts to support them. I think they are really great!

My favourite film is called Love Actually and my favourite book is Las cosas que no nos dijimos, of Mark Levy. I like reading books of adventures and romantic ones, and magazines about environment. I really like this theme, the world problems, like the climate change and the poverty or the injustices around this world. I am part of the environmental comitee of my school and I would like to study written journalism, but I will explain it in other chapter of this blog!

I think all this activities are typical of any teenager, but everybody organizes his free time on his way.

Now you know more about me!

It will continue...soon...very soon....