This is my last post on the BBC english blog so I'll Mayte -my wife- will try to show us how to cook this mouth-watering spanish dish.

INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 people)

• Salt


• Oil (preferably olive oil)


• 5 eggs


• 1 onion


• 3 potatoes

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cut the onion in strips. Set aside.
2. Cut the potatoes in small slips. Set aside.

3. With abundant olive oil fry the onion.

4. 3-5 minutes after, mix the potatoes with the onion.

5. Let the mixture simmer for 15-20 minutes and sometines to stir with a spoon. (low-mide fire)

6. Beat the five eggs.

7. Mix the potatoes and onion cooked with the eggs.

8. Beat the mix and put it in the fry pan. (strong fire)

9. Adjust it with the help of a spoon.

10. Left fried on one side.

11. With the help of a plate, flipped over to fry its other side.

12. Left fried while adjusting with a spoon.

Meanwhile, Urko was waiting anxiously the result to give it a bite!.

13. Turn off the heat and that's all!

Cooking a Tortilla de Patata is easy as it seems to be!. Your mouth-watering Tortilla de patata will be ready in 45 minutes.

And that's all from Navarra. It has been a great experience to learn english with the excelent teacher Nuala. I have learned lots of tips, tricks and vocabulary in only a month. A stand out experience I recommend to everybody!!.

Thanks to all people around the world who keep learning with this fantastic resource. I'll keep on reading the BBC english blog and all the future students. It has been a pleasure to participate with all of us.

Can you choose the correct verb for each of these blanks? Choose from make, go, give, have, do or ask. Almost all these verbs should be in the past simple tense.

1. He _made_ a great presentation at the conference yesterday.
2. I told him to _went_ for it!
3. We _had_ a huge argument and now I'll have to apologise.
4. She _asked_ them a question about history.
5. They _gave_ her the correct answer.
6. She _did_ her homework last week.
7. But she _had_ a few mistakes in it.
8. I _gave_ a speech at my best friend's wedding a few years ago.
9. I'll _give_ this favour for you, but you have to buy me a coffee in return.
10. I said I'll _make_ the speaking if she looked after the technical side of the presentation

Not enough, too many and a few

After Nuala's explanations this expressions are clear.

[BAD] 11. Luckily for me there weren't enough people.
[CORRECTED ] 11. Luckily for me there were a few people.

The presentation day arrived, luckily for me there weren't enough people (the first presentations it's best to make it in front of not many people, I think) between ten and fourteeen attendants. The first question I did them was about their experience with the topic and half of the attendants hadn't any prior experience with the topic so I had to improvise most of the presentation. While I was speaking in public I felt my mouth dry and some words were difficult to found them due to the anxiety but at least I could finish the presentation. I showed them practical examples to learn in a easy way the topic and they asked several questions so I supposed they were interested despite some mistakes I did.

I think the best way to learn to speak in public with confidence is putting yourself in front of people even you are sure you will make mistakes. Prior to this activity the only time I was in front of public was when I was a student. Unfortunately the education in Spain don't teach us any skill in how to make public speaking. I think this kind of activity is very important in the current times. And the education should included it in his plan in some way.

How about public speaking in your country?

Arguiñano has a daily TV programme on a Spanish channel and he is very funny and probably the most famous TV chef. The Arguiñano's restaurant is located in Zarautz -Basque Country- (1 hour from Pamplona), a wonderful place to visit by the way.

We ate in the Arguiñano's restaurant one year ago with friends from Sevilla. It was a fantastic and enjoying activity. Firstly, we were introduce to Igor, he is one of his various children. We enjoy the meal with funny anecdote Igor tell us. Secondly we were delighted with the meal and the beautiful sea view. And in contrast with another similar restaurants, it's not so expensive as the people think it's. Furthermore it has economic and tasty menu with excelent food like this:

And lastly we met to Karlos Arguiñano! He is as funny as we watch him in the TV programme.

The basque country is a great place to visit and to enjoy eating. Navarra is close to the Basque country and the food is fantastic too.

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In another hand in Navarra we have tpical products such as alcachofas, piquillo red peppers, excelent Navarra cheese, seasonal mushrooms, cogollos, asparagus, fantastic meat and several more products all of them tasty with a good Navarra wine.

The previous month, the Navarra's gastronomic visited New York and Washinghton in order to promotion our maravillous tipical food.

Personally my favourite Navarra food it's a good piece of Navarra meat with piquillo red peppers. Which is your favourite food?

2. I don't mean I will speak about ...
[Emilio's response]: I don't mean I'll speak about ...

3. If you do not have to write a blog ...
[Emilio's response]: If you don't have to write a blog ...

4. And I would like to listen to your feedback...
[Emilio's response]: And I'd like to listen to your feedback...

5. I hope you will enjoy reading it.
[Emilio's response]: I hope you'll enjoy reading it.

USING CAPITAL OR LOWERCASE LETTERS
6. How I use the Internet ...
[Emilio's response]: How I use the Internet
(in this sentence I have doubts because "internet" sometimes is written with capital letteres and sometines with lowercase.

7 In order to practise english ...
[Emilio's response]: In order to practise English ...

8 ... you could write in twitter.
[Emilio's response]: ... You could write in twitter.

9. ... got get help with english and Spanish vocabulary.
[Emilio's response]: got get help with English and Spanish vocabulary.

PUNCTUATIONS
10. ".... it's what Google says it is.".
[Emilio's response]: it's what Google says it is."

11. Then write about it!.
[Emilio's response]: Then write about it.!

In response to the interesting Nuala question: "Does a crowd really always know best?." My answer is: it doesn't but It's helpful in guiding you. At this particular case with the "I miss you" in Spanish, I found the correct answere on the RAE. It has plenty of resources to manage correctly the spanish language, the "te echo de menos" spanish sentence has it's own answer in form of FAQ.

FAQ comes from "Frequently Asked Questions" document. All projects on Internet have or must have a FAQ section. The BBC learning english it has his own FAQ section. The FAQ document can be one of the best investments a project makes in terms of payoff. And usually they are reactive documents. OK, that's all for now. I am going to think about my next blog post.

Regards

Hi Emilio,

Your energy amazes me! Doing a 60 kilometre bike ride is really impressive, especially for someone who hasn't been on a bike for almost six months. Well done you!

The pilgrimage to Navarre sounds fascinating, and the photos in your last blog were stunning. My favourite one was of the Sagrada Família. It's just such an incredible building, isn't it? I've been to Barcelona quite a few times and am always overawed by all the amazing architecture.

Thanks too for your reading recommendations. The last great Spanish book I read (in English!) was The Shadow of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. I've since bought the prequel - The Angel's Game - but haven't got round to reading it yet. Have you read any of his books? If you have, let me know what you think of them.

[EMILIO'S RESPONSE]: Thanks too Nuala for your reading recommendation. No, I hadn't read this book but the title it sounds familiar to me. In some place I had listen to speak about this book with good gossips. I take note to add to my to-read-list.!

I thought today we'd look at a few things - agreement, parallel structures and the future perfect.

Agreement
In English we don't have quite as many agreement rules as other languages (like Spanish for example) but we still need a few things to agree with a few other things to create correct English sentences.

A: Nouns and verbs - singular and plural nouns need to agree with the verbs they are paired with).
His bike is impressive. (singular)
His bikes are impressive. (plural)

B: Verbs and time - verbs have to agree with a time aspect. If you use yesterday in a sentence, then your verbs will most likely be in a past tense. For example:

Last year we went to Mexico and ate lots of fantastic food. (past tense verbs for past activities)
Every day she rides her bike to work. She thinks it keeps her fit. (present tense verbs for daily habits)

So, here's your first homework task. Can you find a way to correct the agreement mistake in this sentence from your blog?

1. Several people has requested...
[EMILIO'S RESPONSE]: Several people had requested...

Parallel structures
In English to make our writing flow smoothly we need to keep our structures parallel. What does that mean? Well, if we start a description with an adjective, we need to continue with adjectives if we add more to our description. For example, this structure isn't parallel:

The film was romantic and sadness.

Can you see why? Romantic is an adjective and sadness is a noun. To create a parallel structure you need to use two adjectives or two nouns, but not a mixture of the two. Here are two correct versions:

The film was romantic and sad. (adjectives)

The film had romance and sadness. (nouns)

Your second homework task combines aspects of agreement and parallel structure. Can you find a singular/plural and an adjective/noun mistake in this one sentence? Then, once you find them, can you fix them?

2. The people from this region of Spain is more friendly and openness.

[EMILIO'S RESPONSE]: The people from this regions of Spain are more friendly and outgoing.

Future perfect
The future perfect is a tense that we don't use that much in English, but sometimes it's just the right structure for what we want to express. We use the future perfect to say that a particular thing will be finished or completed by a certain time in the future. For example:

They will have watched 25 films by the time the film festival is over.
She will have written another novel by the end of the year.

We create the future perfect with will + have + past participle (or third part of the verb) drunk, sat, worked, thought, written etc. For example:

He will have eaten far too much ice-cream by the time the party has finished.
We will have known each other for a month by the end of March 2010.

There's also a continuous form of the present perfect that uses will + have + been + base verb. For example:

They will have been working together for 25 years by 2015.
She will have been teaching this class for a long time by the time she retires.

So, here's your third and final homework task. Can you figure out where the present perfect should go in this sentence?

3. ... this weekend [will be] the first time I will go on bike since October last year.

[EMILIO'S RESPONSE]: this weekend will have been the first time since October last year that I will have ridden on bike

Your homework from last time
Thanks for doing your last homework task so well. I've just got a couple of comments to make about it - which I've marked as Nuala says:
[Wrong] 1. ... a perfect excuse to have a dinner.
[OK] 1. ... a perfect excuse to have dinner.
Nuala says: Excellent!

[Wrong] 3. ... the bull has showed an exceptional performance and being brave
[OK] 3. ... the bull has shown an exceptional performance and was brave
Nuala says: Good try. But it should be (present perfect):
... the bull has shown an exceptional performance and has been brave

[Wrong] 4. ...villages have ... festivals in honour to his patron saint.
[OK] 4. ...villages have ... festivals in honour to its patron saint.
Nuala says: Again, good try but it should be (plural pronoun to match villages):
...villages have ... festivals in honour to their patron saints.

[Wrong] 5. In Tudela ... Santa Ana is his patron saint.
[OK] 5. In Tudela ... Santa Ana is her patron saint.
Nuala says: Actually we don't usually use she for cities - although we do for countries. I know - English! Where's the logic?. It should be:
In Tudela ... Santa Ana is its patron saint.

I liked this correction:
"We've known each other since we were 17 years old"
Nuala says: Perfect!

I made a silly mistake with the New York sentence.
"New York possibly was the city we enjoyed [the most]."
Nuala says: Exactly (though to make it sound even better, you could say 'New York was possibly the city we enjoyed the most.')

That's all for now. Looking forward to your next blog.

Nuala

Vocabulary
stunning - extremely beautiful or attractive
overawed - overwhelmed or impressed
prequel - if a film or book tells a main story or film, a prequel tells the story that happened before the main or first one
express - say or show

I started writing a blog some years ago as a way to store all tips, public documentation and interesting links in a site where I could access from anywhere. Sooner I realized that it was a fantastic way to give you more visibility of some of your skills. Remember, "in Internet you aren't what you say you are, it's what Google says it is.". So, do not you think it is important to take care of our digital life?

All people have a passion, yes this thing that excites you and what scares you on a small momment-to-momment level. Then write about it!. I like technology so I write about technology as a way to put in order ideas and connect with like-minded people.

Blog: This month I'm writing in the BBC english blog in order to practise english with the best english teachers. Some years ago I were in London for one month and I wrote a blog with my month experiences. What would you like to blog about?

Linkedin: Is a bussiness-oriented social networking site. It connect you with people with jobs like you. It's based on the idea of six degress of separation. I am connected with Barack Obama thorough three people!

Facebook: I only use this social network with my friends. We are all distributed across different cities. It is a good way to get connected and to arrange meetings. Recently I discovered a page of my old school college and I could remember old times seeing old photos. I got in touch with old classmates too!

Twitter: If you do not have time to write a blog you could write in twitter. This kind of service is known as: microblogging. I use twitter in a professional way to get in touch with people from my area. We could share interesting links and thoughts. Actually it's my main source of news in Internet.

Google: Some of the ways I use Google is to get help with english and spanish vocabulary. For example, which one it's the correct word? (in spanish means -I miss you-):

• te echo de menos


• te hecho de menos

Youtube: Which one is your favourite video?. This is the best video plus music plus advice I have ever seen. Enjoy!

TED: Conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Together with the BBC is a great way to practise english. I usually watch videos from TED and in the vast majority of them is possibly to view them with translation in several languages.

Today the topic was different and sort but I hope you will enjoy reading it. I would like listen how do you use some Internet resources.

And remember, wear sunscreen.

I did this pilgrimage from Tudela for 6 years. The distance from Tudela to Xavier's castle it's 100KM (62 mile). When you are 12 years old, it's a good option to go out with your friends for 2 days and to sleep in a tent. But you have to be strong enough to walk the distance. It's a good chance as well for to know better your country.

When I was 18 years old it was the last time I did this activity. But this weekend if the weather wouldn't very cold I am going to do it by riding in bike from Pamplona -60KM- (37 mile). I think it will take me between three and four hours. It's the first time I will go on bike since october last year. I hope show you photos on next posts.

In july of last year I I took part in a extreme bike competition (120 KM -74.5mile-), my aim it was to finish the competition, and I did it in eight hours! Could you guess who I am?

Several people has requested on comments to know more from Spain culture and traditions. I have found a Spain map with the most festivities and populate customs. Enjoy!

Personally: Sevilla, Granada and Barcelona are the cities we liked the most. Omitting Pamplona of course. We were in Sevilla the last year, we have some friends there, and they showed us the city and nearest cities such as Cádiz and Huelva. The people from this region of Spain is more friendly and openness and with a touch of "gracia" maybe due to their accent, very characteristic and easily recognizable, and as well because in the south of Spain the weather is hottest than north region and almost the whole year the climate is good. This no means that people from North of Spain are closed and rude, but only that it's exist a big contrast between the north and south of Spain.

Granada is great because of she culture and the Alhambra.. A small secret: Granada is cheaper than another cities, you can drink a beer for only 1E and get a "pincho" for free. A pincho could be several kinds of food to eat at the moment. For example a plate full of squids, Potatoes with spicy tomato sauce, Tortilla de patata and several more. You can eat for only 5-6E!
In contrast, in Pamplona to drink a beer with a "Pincho" is expensive, 4-5E. Several cities from Spain are trying get this tradition without exit.

Barcelona is a beautiful city with sea and very rich in arquitecture. I would recommend us to watch this brief video from people living in Barcelona. Recently I read a fantastic novel with Barcelona as the centre of the history -The Cathedral of the Sea-. Although some people argued that it was a copy of the "The pillars of the Earth"- I enjoyed reading the novel and learning a lot of Barcelona history.

That's all for now. See you next days.

Regards

The above are the lyrics of the very famous song of Sanfermines. These days of the months are a perfect excuse to have a dinner between friends in order to celebrate the coming festival. I have started this post in this way remembering today is third of March!.

]]>I was very grateful with all people commenting in my first post. It was a very pleasant activity to read and answering all comments from worldwide people.

Answering to Nuala, my english teacher, I have to say that yes, I have run with the bulls but in Tudela -my birthplace- instead on Pamplona.

In summer at Navarra, and almost the full Spain, all villages have a full event calendar celebrating festivals in honour to his patron saint. The main roots of this festivals are almost always religious. In Tudela, the city where I was born, Santa Ana is his patron saint.

In the festivals of Spain there are two main traditional activities with bulls; running and bullfigther. The bullfighter spectacle always concluded with the death of the bull by a sword thrust. Only in some special ocassions where the bull has showed an exceptional performance and being brave, the bull can receive an "indulto" this means the bull is allowed to return the ranch where he came from. In contrast, the running of the bulls involve running in front of six bulls that have been let loose by the streets. These streets are secured with barricades made with wood and iron in order to transport them from the pen to the bullring.

If you want participate you have to enter in the itinerary one hour prior to the start, and the last years the council of Pamplona is putting special efforts in avoiding the entry to drunk people. I spoke with some runners, and they told me that after they were waiting for more than one hour prior to start the running with the bulls, they only had a few seconds of closeness to the bulls but enough to make a high quantity of adrenaline.

My take on this slice of tradition it's I think is something incredibly exciting but in Pamplona the real danger is running between the massive crowd.

Turning now to the sysadmin question, Kirsti answered the question in the comments.
Yes, sysadmin came from system administrator, It's a kind of job belonging to the Information Systems department. I will tell you some personal experiences in next posts.

By the way, my mutt Urko is very happy with all the compliments he had with his photograph where he was three months old. Now He is one year and seven months old but with the same size. Photos of how looks like now in next posts.

Thanks people for the interesting comments you left in my previous post, as you know I welcome any comment and I will try answer them.

Regards

Now let me give you a brief introduction about myself. I am Emilio Casbas and currently live in Pamplona -the Running of the bulls city- this city is worldwide famous for the San Fermin Festival mainly due to the widespread attention by Ernest Hemingway in his first novel, "The Sun also rises" but I will speak about this subject in another post, stay tuned!.

I have been working as a sysadmin for five years in the University of Navarra and at this momment I am working as a security guy in a spanish start-up for almost three years. We usually try to raise awareness of the online threats and helping the business to keep them secure on Internet.

I got married almost 3 years ago with Mayte my lovely wife. We knew each other when we were 17 years old. We like travel a lot and New York possibly was the city we have enjoyed more. In my free time I enjoy blogging and twittering about different topics but mainly: security, social media and open source. I usually practise different sports: gym, running, mountain-bike and sometimes snowboard. I like feel good and agile because my job is almost always sedentary. And finally, we love spend our time with our doggy called Urko!

I have plenty of ideas with different topics to speak this month. But I would like listen to you about some topic you would like I will speak about; maybe Pamplona my city -but not my hometown- and San Fermin Festival?, Social networks and his threats?, internet curiosities?, technology?, books?, travel?, music? movies...?

Do you have any question or something do you like to know from Spain or whatever thing? This is your opportunity. After that you can not say I don't warn you :-)

Regards and happy learning english
Emilio