It's time to say goodbye to the open blog now and hello to our 2 new bloggers. Our student blogger for February is Olga from Siberia and our teacher blogger is Catherine. We look forward to hearing from both of them this month!

Take care

Carrie and the LE team

Time to talk about those cute friends who, with their small sizes, bring great happiness and joy to our lives. They possess such a pure aura that infuses our surrounding with a lot of positivity. Teacher Jo talked about them a lot when she blogged back in June/July 2007 and also shared so many photos with us all. I too want to talk about them and if some of the old friends will remember, I shared a picture of my dearest cat (call him Chhotoo :-)) in last year's open blogs. Since the day he came in our home, our love affair with animals has become a never ending tale of funny little things.
Here's a shot of Chhotoo. Isn't he photogenic?

I am all here to talk about animals in this post and probably the last post of the open blog. I would also like to share the pictures of some kittens that we - I and my sister - started looking after just after we came to know that their cat mum had delivered them in the compound of the place we live. They were born on 14 February 2010. They were 2 feline sisters and two brothers. We named them Snow and Floppy (girls) and Golden and Tiger (boys). Their names are cute, aren't they? Here's a picture of them:

The luck had something else with it for them. Snow passed away in an accident when she was 3 months old and just after the three months of her passing, Floppy left us in tears forever at the age of 6 months. The luck still wasn't in their favour and Golden went missing on 1st November forever when he turned 9 months old and lastly Tiger is missing since 25th January and we just pray that may he not become a mystery like his brother. I really hope so not and I wish we see both of them again.

It was just a small story I shared with you all about our kittens as how they left us. I'll come back to the reason to write this blogpost which is to spread this message world wide that animals too deserve love and care just as we humans do. Their stomachs are always empty, I always find them looking for food or something to quench their thirst. They are separated from their mums and I see loneliness in their lives infact when I see them I can feel it just when I put myself in their place.

I just want to say that when you fear that the leftover food will straight away go to the bin, don't throw it and feed a hungry animal instead. I do this and even few days ago when I was the only person left to eat the dinner, my mum asked me if I would eat rice or she gave them to pigeons. I happily decided not to as I thought that a plate for me would become a meal for many and ate bread instead. I was immensely happy to do so and very satisfied too.

It will be unfair if I don't share the lesson I have learnt from cats. They are curious for sure and they never give up trying until they not only succeed but also mastered on it. So as it's said 'Try, try and try unless you succeed.' But I have changed it to 'Try, try and try unless you mastered'. And not to forget that pigeons teach us the lesson of peace and where else you will find so honest like a dog. So when we sum up all these qualities and adapt ourselves to it we can be the best humans.

Why not share a photo of a pigeon and a dog too?

I would like to share the words of a friend of mine who loves animals very much.
She says: 'Every animal deserves a home'.

Before I say bye, I would like to thank all those lovely people who commented on my first post of the open blog and shared their word.

With this I wish you all happiness, love, health and wealth. Don't forget to drop in a line to share your thoughts about animals.

Naheed

During the winter it is dark and lack of sun shine which provides D-vitamin producing in our body system. Our central health care system and doctors have said that it is better for us is we achieve the D-vitamin from daily food. Of course there is an alternative that you are able to go a shop and buy products including D-vitamin.
I show you how it is to make a fish for food.

I had to take a pan, a plate, fishes, a wooden fork, butter and salt. The fishes are vendaces. It is a fish which grows in the inner land lakes.

I put the heat under the pan and took butter. The butter have to melt before adding the fishes on the pan.

When the pan is hot and butter cooks, I add the vendaces to the fat. I spread a bit salt over the fish and after for a while cooking turned them to another side.

When the vendace is cooked by both side it looks like having a golden cover. It has to spread salt to this side too. The time for cooking is about 3-5 minutes to both sides. It depends how strong the heat is under the pan.

I cooked also mashed potatoes. And then I just added the vendaces to my plate. A delicious lunch was ready to enjoy.

Have a nice day
Taru

Hello everyone,

Can you remember Andrew, the head of the BBC LE department, writing about the Mongolia Adventure on Staff blog in July? I am sure, you can. If not, please take a look here.

Days went by and one day I received an email saying that Andrew and Mike were supposed to be driving their ambulance, called the Beast, through Slovakia and they might be able to visit me. I was over the moon.

The day arrived. I was so excited. I knew they would arrive around dinner time, no earlier so I had enough time to think about what to cook. I was in two minds whether to cook Hungarian or Slovak dishes. (For those who do not know, I am Hungarian living in Slovakia so that is the reason why this problem might arise.) In the end, I decided to cook both. As a starter we had a very typical Slovak dish: bryndzové halušky - Potato dumplings with bryndza (sheep's cheese) and bacon. As a main course we had chicken paprika stew with home-made noodles - it is one of the traditional Hungarian dishes. And finally I baked cocoa snails. Andrew and Mike also tried Slovak and Czech beers and home made peach spirit. I believe my guests enjoyed emptying their plates. OK, that is enough to talk about food.

Getting back to the afternoon - after exchanging some short text messages about where we exactly live, the Beast and his travellers finally arrived in my teeny-weeny village and parked in our garden. Words cannot tell you how happy I was to see Andrew again. I would have never thought that there would be a day to meet him in my home. Well, after greetings we took a short walk in our garden to move their numb legs and get some fresh air. Then we had dinner together. (no more words about it, promise). Mike was quite tired and wanted to have an early night so he went to rest up for next day. But Andrew gave me the promised English class and we were talking and talking about everything under the sun until midnight. Needless to say, I had a whale of a time. Just take a look at the photo

Next morning I prepared an abundant breakfast for my lovely guests and I had a lovely time again talking over a cup of coffee in my kitchen. After that it was time to say goodbye to each other. We gave each other a big bear hug, wished all the best and the Beast and my friends rolled out of the yard and disappeared in the bend of the road.

I was following their journey and reading Andrew's blog with great interest. They arrived in Mongolia and then back to England safe and sound. Maybe we can read some lines from Andrew, what his feelings are about the whole Mongolia Rally, whether the charity was prosperous and so on. It would be really nice.

Dear friends, I think it is my last blog this January. I am looking forward to hearing from you and hope that you will drop me a line.

In the meantime, take care!

Anita from Slovakia

Some of you may remember me years back - from the time - when I was a BBCle blogger, I think it was 2007.
Since then nothing so very extraordinary has happened in my life. Luckily I am healthy enough and everyday life is somewhat in order.

This year we have had a lot of snow, in Southern Finland also. Here in Northern Finland the snow fall also has been plentiful. The picture below shows a fairly simple way of keeping small roads free of snow. Much more sophisticated snowploughs can be as wide as eight meters.

We are so used to winter conditions that our winter traffic is running more less as per usual; air, road, rail and sea, icebreakers are needed, that is for sure. With railways we have had a bit of bother this year, maybe we should go to Russia to learn! Russian trains are even more reliable during harsh winter days than ours are.
Heavy snow fall has many effects, for example houses have to carry a lot of weight because of snow fall. The picture tells more than my words; please have a look at my husband cleaning our cottage roof.

Well, that is all, I hope you guys are happy and enjoy your life to its fullest.
Leila

My name is Taru and I live in Northern part of Finland near Polar Arctic Circle. I was a blogger on June 2009. I was then and am still an adult student. I have graduated Hospitality and Tourism Management and continued studies Landscape planning for a master degree. But it was not the point to speak about education, I have been thinking recently about predictions so called before-hand signs of becoming happenings and things.

For my current location where I have lived last twenty years I have a predictor too. I am not sure should I be happy of it or very worried about it. It happened some years ago that I got a feeling that at the place where we live will be a mine one day. Just some months ago I found a map in the internet that the place and the village, where we live, is under the intension of miner industry to establish a mine. You can see the blue area at the map. It is located just over our village.

The legitimating of mining the ground doesn't give a lot of hope for the owners of the ground but there is coming a new proposal for the governmental decision making which improves the rights of the owners. At least it will mean that if all of the ground will be digged up we have to move away from here.

The blue area is over our village. The red areas are other mining areas. Minerals are gold, platinum and nickel.

My livinghood.

What do you think Does the predictions come true?
Bye, see you!

Hello to all of you!
Today I keep telling you about Bulgaria. This time the story will be about my New Year vacation at the ski resort, which name is Bansko. By the way, this is my sister Kate on the picture!

It has the skiing tracks, which are suitable for riders on different levels. So my sister was very pleased with this fact because she's an experienced snowboarder.

If you every visit this place, you have to taste Bulgarian trout from the mountain river, lying at your feet, and a flavored honey from the hillside!
At the end of my story I should say that the Birthday party was amazing! We went out and visited several bars, tasted molecular cocktails and even managed a piece of cake with candle! You could see how funny Alex makes a wish! Let it come true!

Hi everybody!
I was absent just for couple of weeks, but already missed you all!
New Year, Christmas... then there was my birthday and an exam at last...All this drew me in...

This time I was absolutely happy, because we celebrated it together at last. We haven't done it for 5 years since I entered university and went to Minsk. I usually had exams on this day or had to prepare for exams or so... and this year I got a chance to go home. So my mom got half-day-off too and we started to celebrate with champagne at 6.30 in the morning while seeing off my dad to work, it's a pity he couldn't join us and was drinking his tea. Then we went to bed and 2 or 3 hours later started our morning again, with coffee this time :) By the midday mom went to work too and I was preparing for a party, which was to be in the evening. So the day started quite unusually and ended quite traditionally. But the most important is that we were together. The next day I returned to Minsk and went to a café with my friends to continue celebration:)

So now I'm 23 and I hope this year will bring me harmony I'm dreaming of and happiness I felt on my 23th birthday morning will continue. This year I'm finishing my Master's course and then I hope to find my place in life. I wish this year brings to each of you all you are dreaming of too ;)
Yours,
Veronika

Happy New Year friends! I wish you a wonderful 2011 and I hope all your dreams for this new year come true.

2011 is a special year to me because it's my third and last year at university. Time past so fast, though it seems like I entered uni yesterday. I'm enjoying the course very much indeed and I really hope I can become a good teacher ( I'm doing my best to achieve this goal).

Well, currently I´m working as a teacher at a language school and it´s been an amazing and challenging experience, in which I´ve been learning a lot. I´m teaching kids and teenagers and they are really great.
How about you friends?
All the best,
Ana Paula.
xox

Hello everyone,
I would like to start my first blog with a dialogue between me and a customer (C) in our office;

C: I wish you a Happy New Year, good health, good fortune and luck.

C: Do you think so? The people on the Titanic were healthy but had no luck, so luck is also important.

Well friends, I wish you all the very best for 2011, good health, good fortune and lots of luck.

Not so much has changed in my life since last Open blog. I am still married (to the same man, we are going to have our 25th wedding anniversary this autumn), I have been employed full time at my husband's company, I still love cooking and baking (but have less time for it, unfortunately), and still like learning English. My children grew up. That is what children do. My daughter, Csilla has gone back to Brazil. She took a CELTA course in London last October and now she is staying and teaching English in Rio de Janeiro while studying for her Master's degree as a distance learner. My son, Peter is in his last year at high school. He would like to continue his studies as well. His dream is to become an event organizer or party planner.

The first days of the new year should be happy but I always feel a bit down in the mouth at the beginning of the New Year. My mum has been gone for 10 years now and I have been missing her so much. She quite often appears in my dreams. It is a good feeling for me because I feel that she is with me. In my dreams she is always healthy, kind and she looks well. Let me share a short anecdote about her. My mum could speak only Hungarian and she was so happy that her children can speak Slovak and Czech as well. But she was over the moon when Csilla started to study English. Every time we visited her, my mum always asked Csilla to tell her some sentences in English. She did not understand her but loved so much how Csilla pronounced the words and she was very proud of her. If she was alive she could listen to Peter speak English as well. And me too....
Take care,
Anita

Oh, I am so happy for the opportunity to write here again. How can I ever forget to thank BBC Le for this? It makes me feel good to think that we have become a part of this wonderful learning English community and is global at the same time.

Time really flies, a year has passed and it seems like it was just yesterday but when we look back then it realizes that so much has happened in those 365 days it's not just yesterday.

How about you all? Time really flies?

I have high hopes from this new year with no new goals at the moment, just that same old ones but with a fresh new start and I hope to accomplish them at my level best. Hope to read your comments and also share with us all what are your resolutions, plans, expectations and goals for the new year.

A picture of my cat and the ginger kitten you can see in it passed away on November 8, 2010. This shot was taken in late October.

With best wishes

Naheed (student blogger June 2007)

Hello, from me, Cheikh Vall to you all and happy new year.

Many thanks to BBC LE for the chance to blog here and catch up with you again.

This year I settled in Doha and start a new job as translator at a law office.

Indeed, the Qatar winning to be the spot for 2022 World Cup was to many residents here, simply, too good to be true.

They needed sometime before they grasp the reality of a big dream coming true before their eyes.

At that unforgettable night, the whole sky was lit up.

If was not for the fire works the glittering eyes and happy hearts would disperse the dark at that momentous moment.

I was out at Doha Cornish that unforgettable evening experiencing mixed emotions hoping for almost a miracle to hear the good news and secretly preparing myself for the shook of the bad.

To our surprise, Qatar name was withdrawn from the envelop of forgotten history and announced by the head of FIFA, Plater to all residents of big football we called it earth. When we received the good news and decided to capture that joyful moment.

Cheikh

My dear friends, I would like to say a short HELLO to everyone!
It was long time ago when I did it last time with 'BBC learning English" and I have just relised how much I miss it!!

Now it looks like a fairy tale and we can say that we have been living in a fairy tile world since New Year. If you want to share it with us - welcome to Russia please! Sure you couldn't forget it and Moscow will impressed you in winter.

Dear All,

Wish you a very happy New Year!

We all have new dreams, new expectations, new desires to fulfill in this New Year. The common dream, desire and expectation of all of us brought us together which is to make our English better. So.........

Let's keep trying to run this blog!
Let's keep trying to better our English!
Let's keep trying to make the blog interesting!

Regards to you all !

Kiran

Happy New Year to the BBC LE staff, my blog mates and readers!

I'm very glad to catch up with all of you and I thank the BBC team who had the brilliant idea to have this open blog in January instead of December.

December is always a rush month. I mean, we all want to accomplish and finish all the undone things before the ending. We tend to start the year more organized (at least me) and to think of how to improve the way we handle our everyday life.

Since here in Argentina is summer and hence, the synonym of HOLIDAYS, we always begin to think of them at the beginning of the New Year.

By the way, I want to tell you that we have a new integrant in my family. Her name is Lola and she is my mum's new dog. Her breed is Toy Poodle. They call it Toy because they are very little and don't grow much as the regular Poodles.
Here is a pic of her

Hope you all have peace, health, love and work.
See you,
Cris