There are several areas in the World quite interesting to look at nowadays. One of these places is Middle East. I found this video at TED which talks about Qatar. It is one of the Emirates in the Gulf area, which are using the money from the oil they are floating into designing attractive mini countries. These countries are becoming some of the centers of the World economy nowadays.
I have only been to the area once (apart from several connecting stops in Emirates’ Dubai airport), and it was in Winter… From what I know, summer is crazy, with temperature around 40-50 degrees as a constant. To give you an example, I was amazed when one of my colleagues there, refuelled the car without stopping the motor. At least in Europe, this is considered dangerous, as it can provoke an explosion… In Middle East, this is common practice, as refuelling without air conditioning can be even dangerous during summer. Back to the video, it does not have many components to learn from in a public speaking sense, but it does provide some good interesting data to look at:
I found these data very interesting, full of contradictions, changes and good looking plans… and also opportunities for my industry.
Conociendo las costumbres vacacionales de los habitantes de esta nuestra España, una buena parte de vosotros habréis oído alguna vez la expresión “la millor terreta del món” que, aunque valenciana, es fácilmente entendible por los castellanoparlantes. Hace unas cuantas semanas, a través de Facebook, llegué a la historia del origen de la expresión que se usa para referirse a Alicante, y qué mejor momento que este fin de semana, en el que yo mismo he venido a la “terreta”, para compartirla con vosotros.
La historia se remonta a mediados del siglo XIX, y su autor fue Mariano Roca de Togores y Carrasco, un noble de la época, de familia alicantina que, entre otras muchas cosas, fue Ministro en distintas ocasiones y Embajador en varias capitales europeas. Además, en su tiempo libre, era un escritor de todo tipo, desde historia, hasta poemas de amor.
Es en una carta en forma de poema que escribió a su amigo Manuel Bretón de los Herreros donde acuñó la expresión “la millor terra del món” hablando de Alicante:
Sepades, señor Bretón,
que de Poniente a Levante,
es sin disputa Alicante
la millor terra del món.
No tenía este poema un fin distinto que las fotos que hoy se cuelgan en Instagram: dar envidia… de lo bien que se vivía en Alicante, y de sus vistas, en comparación con Madrid. Además, envidia con conocimiento de causa, ya que el tal “señor Bretón” había pasado sus tiempos mozos en Alicante durante la Guerra de la Independencia, y Roca de Togores escribía desde su finca en Alicante, cerca de donde hoy se puede encontrar el Parque Municipal del Palmeral, en la zona sur de Alicante mirando al mar.
Me llaman la atención un par de cosas: primero el juego de idiomas que se gastaba, juntando el castellano con un par de palabras en valenciano. Y, segundo, siguiendo este mismo hilo, que el noble poeta era originario de Orihuela, tierra en la que hoy no se habla nada de valenciano, e incluso están exentos de su estudio por razones históricas.
Os dejo a continuación el poema completo. Recomiendo su lectura, ya que muchas estrofas son hoy en día más que aplicables.
“You haven’t been to Rome yet!?” I had heard this question for a long time, and I finally got a perfect excuse to visit it last month, counting with great “native” indications, which enhanced the experience in great manner.
I must admit that I was kind of skeptical regarding the “beauty” of Rome. For some reason, and in spite of the frequent recommendations, I was not expecting a big thing… but it did exceed my expectations. I confirmed that the often-heard sentence “Every corner you look at hosts either a ruin or a church” is not an exaggeration, but completely true.
It is so true, that one of the other frequent complaints, the traffic, is heavily affected by the ruins. They cannot build roads and buildings as they plan, because every meter they dig, they find something out, and must change the original project. The clearest case is how the Aqueducts force the street routes in the city.
Rome, as capital of Roman Empire, was in the “old good times” the biggest and most advanced city in the World, apart from the richest one, and you still feel it. This political power also led the Catholic Church to “set” their headquarters here. As Romans like to say (and I could agree with them) any regular Roman church could be a big cathedral in the rest of Europe.
If the historic perspective is not enough for you, add the excellent Italian food to the picture, and you get a great destination for a couple of free days. Have you been to Rome yet?
More pictures in this slideshow.